AN: Alrighty, here we go at the dead of night. I wanted to finish this before I went to sleep. And this is the first chapter, finally complete. I worked hard on trying to get each character's conversations correct, and I think I nailed it, but really, I have no idea... It feels right...ish... to me. Also, I should note here and now, some critics give flak that some OCs end up being Mary-Sues. I'm trying to avoid that, because in my personal opinion, Tsushima is not my mouthpiece in this story. If she seems Mary-Sue-ish at first, I apologize, but I'm trying to set up her parameters right now. Anyways... R&R, and more importantly, enjoy!


A Sound Soul

Dwells Within A Sound Mind

And A Sound Body

Maka awoke, earlier than normal. She looked at the souls around her, but all she could see was that they were all still asleep. She stretched, and looked at the ground blearily. In the fringe of her vision, she could see through her window the new dawn. Clouds were present and growing slightly thicker, but otherwise it seemed like it would be a beautiful day.

Hearing movement coming from below her, she dressed herself in her Academy uniform. Leaving her purple room and seeing the time, she decided to open a book and read. After half an hour past, she could hear noise coming from Soul's room. Eventually, Soul stumbled out of his room, bags under his eyes and had the aura of someone who had stayed up the entire night. As he closed the blue door behind him, he nodded towards Maka as he went to a cupboard to look for something to eat.

Their morning progressed like normal, and in due time, the two were at Death Academy. Sitting in their usual spots, Stein slowly wheeled in the room on his chair. When he reached the center of the platform, he stood up, and pushed his chair to the side.

Clearing his throat, he addressed the class. "In addition to regular classes, we will be holding a Weapon Meister gathering in two hours, starting during first Break. Those who want to participate in the gathering should meet with me before you leave during Break, in case you happen to stay longer than you predicted. Also, Lord Death has asked that those who are willing to participate in Sponsored Partnerships should ask for a meeting with him." He paused, sweeping his eyes across the room. "Other than that, the first topic on our agenda for the day is…"

Lord Death stood from a balcony overlooking an auditorium. The gathering of Meisters and Weapons was still ten minutes from actually taking place, but some new students had already entered the room and were looking around. Spirit stood by his side, overlooking the slowly growing body of students. As the minutes passed, there were easily around thirty to forty new students in the room. Finally, Lord Death cleared his throat, and poked Spirit.

Rolling his eyes, Spirit stepped forward. "Thank you all for attending this gathering today. The purpose, as you all should be aware of now, is to help match both Meisters and Demon Weapons together to create teams and make your partners stronger. Those of you who are Weapons will in due time become Death Scythes for Lord Death himself, and Meisters who create them will become strong warriors capable of wielding such weapons."

Lord Death nodded. In his whimsical voice, he exclaimed, "Have at it you guys! I'm looking forward to hearing good news about you all."

The mass of people mixed. A few late newcomers arrived as well, and dispersed in the crowd. After several minutes, Death the Kid, in his usual attire entered the room looking from afar at the mass of new students. Liz and Patty followed in suit, Patty in awe of how many students there were. Watching the tide of students wax and wane as they talked created a white noise.

However, Kid's watchful eyes eventually found a glitch in the mix. One student seemed to be unable to find anyone to talk to. Simply, it seemed as if people were avoiding her. She stood out awkwardly in the crowd as the mix ignored her. In desperation, she toyed with her messy black hair. The girl wore a silver and red jacket extending to her midriff, where a white shirt took over. She wore black pants, which the legs were slightly too long for her. Black tennis shoes, and three silver bangles on her left arm, and a typical Meister badge on her chest completed her outfit

Deciding on relieving the tension for her, Kid stepped forward, Liz and Patty following. The girl sighed, and tried to talk to someone else, but bumped into Kid.

"Uh… S-sorry!" She bowed. "I didn't mean to-"

Kid smiled. "It's alright, you don't have to worry. You hit me directly in the center of my chest."

Liz sighed. "Is that your greeting?" She responded for the girl, who was taken aback by Kid's acceptance.

"Are you guys already Meister and Weapon?" The girl asked. She paused, and remembered her manners. "Sorry, my name is "Tsushima. Natsumi Tsushima."

"My name is Kid. Death the Kid. But I'm fine with Kid. On my left," he pointed at Liz, "Is Elizabeth Thompson, and on my right," pointing at Patti, "Is Patricia Thompson."

"You can call us Liz and Patti for short." Patti interjected.

"N-nice to meet you. A-as I was saying, who is who here? If Kid's the Meister, than which one of you is the Weapon?" Natsumi asked, tilting her head.

"We're both his Weapons. It's uncommon, but it still happens. There are a few other students who have more than one Weapon as a partner." Liz explained.

Natsumi was struck with awe. "Amazing… I never knew about that…"

"It's probably because you've never been to Death Academy before. You'll get used to this sort of thing." Kid's eyes glinted as he noticed a spark between their souls. "Why aren't you mixing here? This gathering is meant to help Meisters and Weapons come together to form partnerships."

Natsumi's eyes hooded over. "N-nobody seems to be able to keep a conversation with me for over a couple minutes…"

"I… I see. It is kind of difficult for some people to have their souls connect, since everyone's so different." Liz nodded.

"How about we have lunch one of these days together?" Patti asked. "If you didn't know that, then there is a whole bunch more that we could teach you about!"

Natsumi flinched. "A-ah… Sure." Kid's eyes glinted again. He noted his observation, but said nothing.

"Anyways, Kid, we have to get going. You haven't forgotten have you? We accepted that mission on the bulletin board to hunt the souls that have been antagonizing Paris lately." Liz reminded.

Kid nodded. "Good luck, Tsushima. We'll be back." Kid turned around, and Patti waved as she and Liz followed as well.

"Huh. Two Weapons and a Meister. That'd be pretty cool." She closed her eyes, and imagined herself with two blank figures while the three performed a successful Soul Resonance. She sighed as she opened her eyes, looking down. "As if that'd happen at this rate." Looking back up, she scanned the room for someone looking for someone to talk to.

The gathering of Meisters and Demon Weapons continued, and eventually, after three hours it ended. Acquaintances were made, and several new partnerships were made. After the pairs who had successfully gotten together were led off to basic Supplementary Classes in the Dance Studios, the individuals remaining were left in the room. The few, numbering eight, looked out of place. Standing on the side of the group was Natsumi, still unpaired.

Lord Death, who had been dozing off during the gathering snapped to attention, and stood up from his chair. He looked down on the group, and addressed the remaining group. "Well, not everyone can find a suitable partner their first time around. We'll be having another one of these little gatherings in around a month or two when we have enough new students again. Don't be distressed, you'll all meet someone who'll be your Meister or Weapon soon." He consoled. "But anywho, in the meantime, we'll get you guys situated in Death City for now."

Spirit took over. "For now, you'll be orientated with your classrooms and teachers now and be relocated to your new apartment once classes are over." All present shuffled a bit. "For now, I'll be dividing you amongst the classes you'll be attending." Jumping over the edge of the balcony, Spirit made a complete flip and a solid, perfect landing, his arms outstretched in a dramatic fashion. A couple students flinched in exasperation. Gleaming in a self-imposed glorious pose, he quickly realized that the students were slowly backing away from him.

Lord Death assumed control. "Now, now… My eccentric friend will direct you outside so you can get started…"

Outside of the auditorium, Spirit had divided the remaining eight into three groups based on information Natsumi could not discern. Three had gone to one class, four to another, both of the classes' names she couldn't remember. All she knew is that she was the only student to be sent to a class on her own, being Class Crescent Moon. Spirit personally attended to escorting her to her class.

Along the walk, passing through the huge building of corridors and pathways, Natsumi watched Sprit's facial expressions. He seemed ecstatic as they approached their destination, and as his expressions continued to change, she tilted her head as he continued guiding her. Does he even remember that I'm following him right now…? She wondered.

Eventually, the two came open a room with a sign hanging out from, declaring the room Class Crescent Moon. Natsumi welled up her courage, but with supremely dazzling force, Spirit burst open the door, in a rosy and overly cheerful aura.

"Maakaaa!" He yelled out in bliss. Natsumi was taken back in utter shock at Spirit's behavior. She took a hesitant step into the lightly crowded room, when a book flying out of nowhere collided directly into Spirit's forehead.

"Papa! Don't just come barging in here, fool!" A voice called out. Natsumi looked curiously, still recovering from the recoil of the shock of recent events.

"Your glorious father has come to your class and you treat him so harshly!?" Spirit whimpered, a book-shaped indent in his head. Natsumi looked closer into the room, and found the subject of Spirit's fondness, Maka.

Completely ignoring her father, Maka looked at the newcomer. "Huh? Who are you?" She asked, recovering her book from the floor.

Stein, previously ignored until now, spoke up. "Spirit? This is Free-Study, but you're creating a commotion. Are you here because we have a new student?"

Spirit's demeanor shifted. Natsumi was shocked at how quickly the happy-go-lucky aura had changed into a business-like one. "Yes. One student who was unable to find a match at the gathering. She'll be spending the rest of the day here, then the rest of her orientation will continue after classes."

Stein grasped the screw in his head, and twisted it a couple of times. "That's fine enough. You can go."

In a fit of annoyance, Spirit stomped at the ground repeatedly. "You can't just dismiss me like that! Who do you think I am!"

"An annoyance, right now." He said blatantly. "Anyways, why don't you introduce yourself? There are no unpaired Meisters or Weapons in my homeroom at this time, but it never hurts to make acquaintances and friends."

Natsumi timidly stepped past the still recoiling Spirit. Not many heads looked up, but she could sense that they were all paying attention. "U… Uh… My name is…" Her voice faded out for a second. "My name is Tsushima Natsumi. I just arrived here… I don't have a partner…" She faded out once more.

At that precise moment, an overpowering and exorbitant soul appeared behind her. "Yahoo! Don't worry guys, I know you guys probably were dreading every minute not being in my awesome presence, but I, great Master Assassin Black Star have returned!" He yelled, strutting into the room. "Oh. Someone else has taken the stage from me!?" He pointed his finger at Natsumi. "And who are you!? I've never seen you before!"

Tsubaki, standing behind him, grabbed his ear and pulled him back, whispering into his ear. "There was another gathering for new students! Don't you pay any attention to things I say?" She moaned.

"O-Of course not! I'm the great Black Star, how dare you think I've forgotten something like that!" Black Star retorted. Black Star returned his attention to the new student, but was taken aback when she was no longer present. Searching the room, he noticed that she had hid herself in one of the corners of the lecture hall. "I guess I was a bit ahead of the times."

Stein sighed impatiently. "That was Tsushima Natsumi. Now, for the rest of the students, since concentration will most likely be unable to be obtained at this point, class is dismissed." He sighed, and pulled out a cigarette and walked to the corner seat that Natsumi had hidden by. "I'll be taking over from here Spirit. You go…" He twisted the screw in his head again. "Do something."

Several more minutes of banter passed, during which almost all of the students save for Tsubaki, Black Star, Maka, and Soul left. Stein extended his hand to Natsumi. "You're going to need to have a place to stay, so we should get around to finding an open apartment for you." Natsumi accepted the motion, and after standing up, Stein led her to a receptionist after a quick farewell to the others.

It took several minutes of dialogue, and more waiting, but eventually the receptionist had managed to find an open apartment. Natsumi got directions from Stein where her new place would be, and after meandering through Death City; she eventually wound up at the apartment building she would be staying at. She stared at the multi-colored building and debated the stability of how some of the rooms stuck out of the building. Never the less, she stepped foot inside the building, looking at the slip of paper her room would be.

"505." She thought aloud. The apartments near her were all labeled 100 something or another. The building was multiple stories tall, so she reasoned that her room would be on the fifth floor. It wasn't difficult finding a staircase, and she was on the fifth floor in no time. "515…" She counted the doors she passed aloud. "510, 509, 508, 507… Ah, that should be it." She skipped over to her door. The door of 506 opening intercepted her, however. Curiosity stopped her, and she saw Maka exit the apartment. Both stood extremely still.

"Oh, you're-" They both said consecutively.

Natsumi bowed. "S-Sorry, you can go first."

Maka put a hand behind her head. "No, that's okay. We met at Death Academy. You're… Tsushima, right?"

Natsumi nodded. "Y-yes. I was just headed towards my room. Do you live in 506?"

"Yeah, I do. I also live with Soul and Blair. Which apartment are you living in?" Maka asked.

She smiled, flashing her slip of paper which had 505 written on it. "I guess I'm your neighbor then!"

"What's going on?" Soul's voice echoed from the apartment.

Maka opened the closing door. "That girl from earlier is here. She's our neighbor now."

Soul appeared shortly after, crossing his arms. "Odd. You got an apartment this far out, but you don't have a-" He stopped, noting that Natsumi appeared crestfallen. "Normally, partners are given apartments this far away from the Academy." He shrugged.

Natsumi tilted her head, remembering what Maka had mentioned earlier. "I thought someone else also lived there?"

Soul stretched. "Yeah, there's a cat by the name of Blair that lives here. Don't be surprised if you see a Witch. She's… Eccentric like that. But don't worry; she's just a cat. If you're really curious, she should be working at Chupa Cabra's right now." After looking at Natsumi's confused expression, he explained the purpose of the place. Natsumi blushed.

She shook her head. "A-anyways, I think I want to go look at my new place. Anyways, if I held you up any, I apologize." Natsumi said.

Maka waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, no, it's not a problem. When you get time to chat again, my door's open."

Natsumi blushed slightly. "Th-thank you a lot!" She exclaimed, and then opened the door to her new home.