We've reached the next chapter, and Kage's only met Maka and Soul. So, I'm going to introduce them both to everyone else, in a way you all will probably expect. By the way, they use the Halloween song like a charge-up, to make their attacks more powerful, in case you're confused. When you get to that part, listen to the song (This is Halloween, by Marilyn Manson)it makes it really epic. I do not own the song though!

Kage's POV:

Morning was heralded by a pounding at my door. I jumped out of bed, hearing Akuma on the other side, yelling "Get up, we'll be late!" I speeded to my closet, threw on my ensemble, tore over to the kitchen, rapidly brushing my hair as I went. I ate an apple, a bowl of oatmeal, and drank some milk before my brother dragged himself out of the bathroom. He ate his breakfast as I took a super quick shower, and I met him at the door as he was still munching on a pear.

We both had our stuff, which was really just our registration papers, since we didn't have a class yet. I gunned the engine of Stein's bike as we sped through Death City, getting closer and closer to the Academy. I felt I had enough time to say "You know, this Death City architecture reminds me a bit of home." Akuma nodded, looking around us.

I parked the bike at the bottom of the long staircase, and we were on time enough to walk the rest of the way. About twenty minutes later, we got to the top, looking around for directions. I spotted a blue-haired guy standing by what seemed to be the entrance, but before I could ask him anything he started yelling at us. "ARE YOU THE NEW KIDS?! IF SO, I'M GONNA STOMP YOU INTO THE GROUND FOR TAKING MY SPOTLIGHT! FOR I AM-" he struck a dramatic pose "BLACKSTAR!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Can you wait to stomp us after we're registered? We might be late if we fight now." He glared at us. "Why, your scared aren't you? I understand. I'm the man who's going to surpass god after all!" I narrowed my eyes. I can take a lot of insults, but being called a scaredy-cat was not one of them. I was going to fight him, but I wanted to push his buttons first. So I yawned.

"Scared of you? I don't see why I should be scared of a little boy with an ego problem. If anything, I think you should be the scared one. After all, most people who come here have a lot of fighting skill, although they must have made an exception for you." Ohhh, his face then was priceless. He charged at me, and I could see from the way he moved that he actually did know how to fight.

I ducked his blow and casually used its force to knock him over my shoulder. "Do you want to help, or should you go get the teachers?" I asked Akuma. He shrugged. "Teacher, but I think it won't last that long." The guy was almost speechless with fury. "NONE CAN IGNORE THE GREAT BLACKSTAR! I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE BEATEN BY A GOD!"

I laughed and we began to fight in earnest. I started to hum our song in my head. Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange? He swung at me again and missed, and I ducked and vaulted him over my hip. We began circling each other, measuring the opponent with our eyes. Come with us and you will see, this, our town of Halloween. This is Halloween, this is Halloween. He moved in, trying to hit me with a soul force, which I dodged. Pumpkins scream in the dead of night.

I moved in low. This is Halloween, everybody make a scene. I hit him once, twice, three times, just punching, no soul force from me yet. Trick or Treat till the neighbor's gonna die of fright. He jerked back, stunned. It's our town, everybody scream! I settled back down into a crouch. In this town of Halloween. A flash of light leapt into his hands, forming a chain scythe. I am the one hiding under your bed. He hurled it at me as soon as it was fully formed. Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red. I slid under its trajectory, moving towards him. I am the one hiding under your stairs. I jerked a hand up, hitting him with my Soul Force. Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair.

This is Halloween. We shifted back and forth, trying to find an opening. This is Halloween. He suddenly charged towards me, poking at me with swift, jabbing attacks. Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween! I dodged them all, aware that we were drawing a crowd. In this town we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin Soul! I hit with my wavelength again, seeing him stumble and almost fall. He countered, sweeping the air with razor sharp blades. In this town, don't we love it now; everybody's waiting for the next surprise! He hit me this time, with his wavelength, and I felt how strong it was.

I staggered backward, pretending to be much more hurt than I actually was. Round that corner man, hiding in the trash can, he ran towards me, intent on finishing me off. Something's waiting now to pounce and how you'll. I hit him, hard. Scream! I attacked him in an onslaught, pounding on his defense. This is Halloween, red and black and slimy green. He fell down, still holding up. Aren't you scared? He glared up at me, suddenly changing his weapon to a shuriken. Well that's just fine. He threw it, and I dodged, once, twice as it boomeranged back at my head.

Say it once say it twice, take a chance and roll the dice. I caught it just as he was about to grab it and threw it away. Ride with the moon in the dead of night. I hit him again and again with my soul. Everybody scream! Everybody scream! He fell into a crouch, and I noticed he was breathing hard. In our town of Halloween. I decided to end this. I am the clown with a tear-away face; I sped up, darting around him like a fly. I hit him on the back of the head, and he almost fell. Here in a flash and gone without a trace.

I was pounding him now, but he wasn't giving in. I am the" who" when you call "who's there?", I am the wind blowing through your hair. I jumped into the air, knowing I was running out of time on the song. I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright. "Soul Smash!" I called, and a bubble of bluish light appeared between me and him, grinding him into the ground. I let the song in my head fade away; knowing I had almost come to the part where you-know-who comes in.

Everyone in the crowd stared as Blackstar lay on the ground, not moving. A girl with a weapons soul and black hair ran back over to him. "Blackstar! Are you ok?!" She turned him over, and I wondered if I hit him too hard. He coughed and stared breathing. I faded into the crowd, not wanting the publicity of being the victor.

I went inside, and saw Akuma leaning against the wall with his arms folded, glaring at me. I hung my head, not even needing our mental link to know what was wrong. "I know sometimes you really can't help it, but this is not a place where we can just throw our powers around. Too much and Jack will find us, Death City or no." I sighed. "Sorry, but he was just asking for it. Where's our class?" He looked at the papers in his book bag. "Class Crescent Moon." We both looked at the map, and headed there.

Maka's POV:

We were just settling down when Stein remembered something. "Class, as I'm sure you know, two new students will be joining us today." A knocking at the door interrupted him. He turned and wheeled over, opening it. The girl I saw yesterday and a boy wearing the same clothes as her walked in. "Ah, welcome. Why don't you come up here and introduce yourself to the class?"

They both walked up to the front, not saying anything. The girl spoke first. "My name's Kage, I'm a meister. This is my partner, Akuma. He's my brother, and he's a sword. Thank you." She bowed slightly, and waited for Stein to say something. He looked at her for a moment, and then shrugged. "You can sit over by Soul and Maka." He said pointing to us. "I think those two are a bit shy, don't you?" I whispered to Soul. He shook his head. "I don't know about Kage, but Akuma looks cool." I looked at Akuma, and he did look a bit like a "cool" person, staring at all of us with a scowl on his face, hands shoved in his pockets.

They sat next to us, getting out their books as Stein began his lecture on Soul Resonance. I paid attention, although I looked over at one point and saw them staring off into space, not paying attention at all. Stein noticed too, and asked "But what will happen if a meister resonates with a weapon not attuned to their wavelength? Kage, would you answer for us?" She blinked, and said "It's different for every person, but you won't be able to wield the weapon, or you'll have some sort of physical difficulty with it, I guess."

Stein raised his eyebrows, but before he could ask more the bell rang. Kage and her brother got their books without talking and left the room, along with most everyone else. "Hey, where's Blackstar?" Liz asked, noticing how quiet it was. I looked at where Tsubaki usually sat, but she wasn't there either. I pointed this out, and Soul said "She probably is trying to talk Blackstar out of skipping, and skipping herself on accident."

Kid said "I bet he's waiting by the entrance to fight those two new kids, like he did for me." We all shrugged it off and went to lunch, but when we got there we noticed the two new kids sitting in our usual spot. They were eating, and when they saw us they looked around, a bit guiltily I thought. "Sorry if we're in your spot, but it was the only open ones." Kage said, starting to get up. We all sat down, and I said "Don't worry; you can have Blackstar's spot, since he hasn't shown up yet. They both sat down, looking grateful.

We ate in silence, until Kage spoke up again. "What's with all this three-star, two-star, one-star meister business?" I, happy to explain, said "A one-star is us, meisters who haven't made a death scythe yet, two-stars are the ones that have, and a three-star meister is one who's made a Death scythe, and can fight without a weapon."

They both nodded. Patty, ever the obvious one, said "You guys don't talk much do you?!" Liz scolded her. "Patty, some people are just shy. Let them eat. I'm Liz, this is Patty, and you've met Maka and Soul already." She nodded to all of us. Kid was focusing on his plate, trying to eat symmetrically. She nudged him. "And the quiet one over here is Death the Kid, but just call him Kid for short." They both stared at Kid. "He's a Reaper, isn't he?" Akuma said, turning back to his food.

We all stared at him now. He didn't even look up as he said "I know what you're thinking, but I'm part meister after all, just like my sister's part weapon. We can do small things. I just can't wield anyone." Kage looked up at us. "And I can't transform fully, but we can give the enemy one heck of a surprise when I stab him." The bell rang over head, and a voice called "Meister Kage and partner please report to the Death Room immediately." They both got up and walked away, dumping their trays in the trash bin. "Bye, see ya." Kage called as they walked out.

Kage's POV:

"So what do you think Death wants?" I asked as we walked along the hallways. Akuma shrugged. "He might be yelling at you for knocking out the Blackstar guy." I swallowed. "He won't kick us out will he?!" Akuma shook his head. "Unlikely, we've only been here for a couple hours." We arrived at the Death Room's door, and we opened it. Lord Death was bouncing around by his giant mirror, and a man in a suit with red hair was standing by him, with Stein.

"Hello, hello, wazzup, WAZZUP!" Lord Death said, talking in a little kid voice. "Erm, hi…" I said, not getting up on the platform. "It's ok, he's normally like this." Stein said, shaking his head. We walked up onto the platform, keeping away from Lord Death in case he tried to do one of his famous Reaper Chops. "Stein here says you two are a pair of mixed souls, and Death Scythes at that." Lord Death said, clapping his giant white hands together. "I hereby nominate you both the official title, and Kage, you are now a two-star meister." He put his hands behind his back, humming.
"Um… sir?" The red-haired man said. "Yes Death scythe?" he said, cocking his head in a pronounced fashion. "Aren't you going to test her like you said? You even brought Stein here for it." I gulped. Any sentence that involved Stein and test, you knew you were in trouble. "Oh, I almost forgot." Lord Death spun in a circle, and pointed at me. "Stein is going to test you to see if you have the potential to be a three-star meister." I immediately lunged out of the way as Stein hit the ground beside me with a Soul Force attack.

"Excellent reflexes." Lord Death said, peering at me. Stein shifted position and I blocked his kick. "I may need to remind you, but in this test you get no help from your weapon. " Lord Death said, laying a hand on Akuma's shoulder. He nodded stiffly, and I saw the message in his eyes. No help from our special connection either. Stein tried to hit me with a soul force, and I grabbed his wrist, swinging him off the platform and into the grove of crosses off the main path.

"A thorough understanding of the martial arts." Death scythe commented, watching my stance. Stein lunged at me again, and I backed up. "I think we need to step it up." He said, starting to grin like a maniac. He held out his hand and Death Scythe transformed. He swung at me and I blocked with my hands on the intersection of his blade and handle. He started moving wildly, and I jumped up and did a handstand on his shoulders, vaulting over his swing. "You flips won't help you." He said, turning as I landed and swinging for my head.

I caught the scythe again, its blade a few inches from my head, and he strained to bring it down. I fought back, knowing there was only one way I could end this. "Soul Link Snap!" I yelled, starting to resonate. But not with my brother. Death Scythe's stunned face appeared on the blade as I he felt me resonate with him. I resonated higher and higher, knowing this was going to be close. I felt something give, and shoved the power from my resonance at that weak point. It broke, and Death Scythe, Stein, and I were blown apart.

Stein and Death Scythe looked stunned, and I grinned at them as I sat up. They both looked at me, but it was Lord Death that broke the silence. "What on Earth did you do?" I stood up, wobbling a little. "I forced a resonance with Death Scythe, sir. I resonated past his or Stein's limit, and the results are that neither of them can resonate now, nor even use each other. Also the usual damage from resonating with a weapon that isn't yours."

Stein rubbed the back of his head. "Is that what always happens?" I shook my head. "It's either that, or both of you gain a boost of power at my expense. It's a final solution move. Also, I probably won't be able to do it again to you, since you'll be ready for it." Lord Death clapped. "Well, I'm impressed. Kage, you are now a three-star meister. I ran my hand through my hair. "Wow." He continued cheerfully. "But you'll stay in Class Crescent Moon, since you need the book learning."

We bowed respectfully and left the room. "I honestly thought it would last longer." Akuma admitted to me as we walked back to class. I shrugged. "I wanted to get this. We're like the cream of the crop now." I high fived him. "Death Scythes and three-stars forever." He said, grinning. Maka turned the corner in front of us, and looked surprised. "Oh hey you two. What did Lord Death want?" I shrugged.

"Nothing much. You looking for something?" She nodded. "Actually, I was looking for you. We're having a party at me and Soul's to celebrate a new school year. Want to come?" I nodded. "Yeah, sure. When is it?" She smiled at me encouragingly "Tonight." I gave her a lazy thumbs up. "Yay. See you then." We walked back to class, Death Scythes and a three-star.

Next one is coming up. I can't believe the restraint it took not to work on this when I was doing my Hellsing. R, R, Rcomment. Auf Wedersien!