Hi everyone! This is the fourth chapter of my story and the longest one so far. It's set during the first chapter/episode of Soul Eater NOT! I hope you enjoy!

"Are you sure it's over there?" I ask Ellis. The two of us have wandered around the DWMA for ten minutes, which is admittedly my fault. I could have sworn the orientation room was on the other side of the school, but apparently not. It's been two years and I still can't find my way around.

Ellis gives me a blank look, but I feel like there's some annoyance added in there. "Yes. I'm sure. You should have listened to me from the start."

"I know, I know." I speed up, walking ahead to get a better look, and to avoid his indirect glare. I end up at the end of a hallway long hallway. I stop walking and look around. A Death statue at the other end catches my eyes. Hmmm, I've seen that before. "I think I know where we are!" I suddenly exclaim. There's no hiding the excitement in my voice.

"I know I know where we are." Ellis says.

My smile doesn't fade as I make my way down the hall. I make another right and end up on a catwalk. There are railings on both sides so people don't fall off. I turn around to call out for Ellis, but instead I end up running into him yet again and getting knocked on my butt.

"Oh my god!" I exclaim. "Come on, Ellis don't sneak up on me like that!"

He holds his hand out to me. "I don't understand what the problem is. You were about to call my name."

"Well yeah," I reach out and take his hand. He hoists me up. "but that doesn't mean I want you making me practically pee my pants!"

"You just went ten minutes ago. You aren't going to be—"

"Alright!" I exclaim, covering my ears before he says something that will scar me for life. "I get it, okay? I was kidding. It was a joke."

He shakes his head. "You didn't make that clear."

I stare at him incredulously. "But I – I – you know what? Never mind. Let's get going before we're anymore late."

"That would probably be a good idea." Ellis agrees.

Right as we get to the other side, a voice rings out, echoing throughout the empty corridors. "The inside of the school is like a maze! I'm so lost!"

I recognize that voice. I go to the railing just in time to see the freshman girl from earlier wandering around the hall. "Where am I?" She moans.

"Hey!" I call out. The girl jumps slightly and spins around. She looks around confused. "Up here!"

She cranes her neck up, and when she sees me her face lights up. "Oh! It's you!"

"Yup," I nod "and I'm guessing you're lost?"

Her face flushes with embarrassment. "Y-yes. This school is just so huge."

"Yeah, I know." I launch myself over the rails. I bend my knees, embracing the impact. I land a few feet away from her. A second later I hear Ellis land behind me. "What's your name?" I ask.

She's practically gaping at us. Must not be use to all the crazy things the student here do. "It's Tsugumi. Tsugumi Harudori."

"Well Tsugumi-san, it's nice to meet you. I'm Cardinal Goldwing." I hold out my hand and she shakes it tentatively.

She gives me a small smile as she let's go of my hand. "It's nice to meet you to, Cardinal-sempai." Her eyes flick over to Ellis and I elbow him when she isn't directly looking.

His eyes shift over to me. "I don't understand why you did that." He says quietly.

I roll my eyes and gesture for him to introduce himself. He doesn't get the hint. Gosh, he's oblivious to social cues. "Introduce yourself already."

He stares at me for a moment, then focuses on Tsugumi. "I am Ellis King."

She bows her head slightly. "It's nice to meet you, Ellis-sempai."

He just stares at her as a reply and I resist the urge roll my eyes again. He could have at least shook her hand. "If you're looking for freshman orientation just follow us," I say, then I realize I have no clue where I'm going "or follow him." Ellis gives me a look before taking the lead.

Tsugumi looks confused as she starts off beside me. "But you're not a freshman, are you Cardinal-sempai?"

I shake my head. "Nope. Me and Ellis are both sophomores, but it's our first year in NOT."

She gapes. "If it's your first year, does that mean you were in the EAT class?" I nod. "Wow! That's so amazing!

"It's not as exciting as it sounds." Ellis interrupts. "Almost dying everyday eventually looses its charm."

"Ehhh?" She exclaims. "D-dying?"

"It's the responsibility of those in the EAT class to destroy evil and eventually train their weapons to become Death Scythes, so it's only reasonable to expect your life would be put in danger."

Tsugumi let's out a tense laugh. Her hand tightens around her suitcase, making her knuckles turn white. I inwardly groan. Now he's gone and done it. Next thing we know she'll be booking a plane ticket out of here. "That's not what NOT is like, right?" She asks.

I put my hand on her shoulder. "Oh no, not at all. You'll figure that out when you get there, right Ellis?"

"If she didn't she'd be an idiot."

Tsugumi frowns.

"Hey, don't mind him." I assure. "He's just not very good with words...or emotions...or people in general for that matter." I shake my head. "But other than that he's a good person, and an amazing partner."

She looks at Ellis's back warily, but eventually the tenseness in her starts to dissipate. "Well, if you say so, then I believe you Cardinal-sempai."

"Great," I smile at her. I kind of like this kid. She had a certain something inside of her, a spark. "and it's just Cardinal, okay?"

She nods. "Okay!"

"We're here." Ellis says, stopping outside a door to our left. He pulls it open an holds it for the two of us as we enter. What a gentleman? When I walk inside I see there is already people in the room. There's a girl with long blonde hair and a white dress by the window, and a girl in a yellow sweater with short orange hair standing in the middle of the room. She looks lost somehow. Two guys, older looking than everyone else in the room, are standing by the back wall, a raven haired guy with glasses, and a tall blonde one.

The three of us make out way to Sid's podium at the front of the room. "Hey, Sid-sensei."I say.

"Cardinal, Ellis." Sid greets as he hands me a red weapon pin and Ellis a blue one, then he looks over my shoulder at Tsugumi. "New student?" He asks.

"Y-yes!" Tsugumi stutters. I nudge her to let her know me and Ellis are going to go talk to some other students and she acknowledges me with a nod. I am about to move away when the door opens, hitting me in the back and sending me tumbling forward. I knock into Tsugumi, who in turn knocks into the orange haired girl and the three of us go down like dominos. The orange haired girl is on the bottom of our pile and I'm on the top with Tsugumi trapped in the middle. Her face is pressed up against the orange haired girl's ample chest.

"Ah...I'm so jealous..." Tsugumi cooes, groping our chests. I'm surprised, the orange haired girl's chest is even bigger than mine. Tsugumi suddenly seems to realize what she's doing and it causes her eyes to widen. "Oh! Cardinal! I'm so sorry!" She exclaims, blushing furiously.

I shrug it off. "Don't worry about it Tsugumi-chan." I pull myself off of her and Ellis helps me to my feet.

"Everyone in the room saw your underwear." He informs me.

I can feel my face turn the same color as my hair. "Why were you looking, you pervert!" I exclaim, giving him a playful shove. It's the first day and I've already managed to flash the whole class. That usually doesn't happen until at least the third day. Well, on the bright side at least I made sure to wear cute underwear today. If I didn't it would have been an even bigger disaster.

It pleases me greatly to see the small tinge of pink in his face as he answers me. "It wasn't on purpose. As a male it is in my genes to be attracted to–"

Oh god no. I clamp my hands over my ears and turn away from him. "Lalalala! No, I've heard enough!"

"Oh, Cardinal!" Tsugumi taps me on the shoulder. When I turn around she gestures to the orange haired girl. That's weird, I could have sworn her pink hair ribbon was on the other side of her head just a minute ago. "This is Meme Tatane."

"It's nice to me you, Meme-san. I'm Cardinal Goldwing, " I gesture to Ellis "and this is my Meister Ellis King."

She smiles. "You too, Cardinal-sempai, Ellis-sempai."

"It's just Cardinal." I insist. They don't need to use honorifics for me.

"Cardinal?" Meme puts her finger to her chin, like she's in deep thought. "What's Cardinal?"

I blink in surprise. "My name. Cardinal is my name."

Her eyes brighten and she clamps her hands together. "Really? That's such a pretty name!"

I just look at her, unsure what to do. Is this girl serious right now? I'm about to open my mouth to ask when the blonde girl by the window catches my eyes. She's staring in our direction intently, too intently.

I scowl slightly and nudge Ellis. "Who's that?"

"I don't know," Ellis narrows his eyes, focusing in on her. He's probably looking at her soul "but she's a Meister."

"She's so pretty, almost like a princess." Tsugumi interjects. She's staring at the blonde girl with a star struck expression. When they make eye contact Tsugumi smiles sweetly at her, but the girl looks away with a scoff. "Gagantous!" Tsugumi exclaims, putting her hands up in front of her.

Ellis and I exchange looks, mine confused and his as blank as ever. But I know we're thinking the same thing. Gagantous? What's a gagantous? I know Ellis is probably running over his mental encyclopedia of everything to see if he can figure out the meaning. I, however, will take a more direct approach.

"Hey, Tsugumi. What's a Gag–"

"That's everyone, right?" Sid's voice cuts me off mid sentence. I cross my arms in a huff. That's the second time someone had interrupted me in less than three minutes. "Welcome to the DWMA. I'm Sid, one of the teachers here. There are those of you hear that transform into weapons, and there are those of you who wish to be Meisters, who fight with those weapons. There are probably those of you among the weapons who are not yet able to transform under your own will yet. But there is no rush. This is the school where will learn that. "

I can feel Tsugumi shift uncomfortably as he talks. She must be one of those people. No wonder she's acting so scared. She can't even transform full yet, so this all a big change for her. Just last week she was probably just your average girl, in your average school. Finding out you're not who you thought you were, and having to completely switch up your life so suddenly can be hard for anyone, but that's okay. She'll get there eventually, and if she needs help I'll help her.

There's a quiet snicker from the back of the classroom. "How lame. You got people like that here?"

I tense and Ellis grabs my arm. "Cardinal." His tone has all the reminder I need. It's saying don't, you'll only cause trouble. If it wasn't for him I would have went back there and kicked that cocky idiot's ass myself.

Sid's eyes are on the two of us for a moment, but they quickly shift off before it becomes noticeable to the rest of the class. "From here on, you will have to choose partners–" he announces "Meisters with Weapons, and Weapons with Meisters." I hear Tsugumi mumble something to herself. "For still inexperienced Weapons in particular, the Meister tho partner with is important. Just as one cannot become parent without a child, without a Meister that can use a Weapon, it will be difficult to become a Weapon. Take your time and find a partner you have good chemistry with."

"What should we do?" This voice is deeper than the guy's from earlier.

I grit my teeth as I hear the voice again. "I know I want a girl." It says. "If both of us are guys, I'll have to go to the filthy guys dorms, and having a girl partner seems like it will be easier."

Ah, they must be friends.

"I'm not an eloquent man." Sid says. "I think it will be quicker for you to understand if you actually see partners with matching wavelengths." He turns to the door. "Come on in."

I grin as Maka and her albino Weapon Soul enter the room. Maka stands tall, eyes wide and ready, while Soul slouches down with his signature lazy look. "These are your seniors. The Meister Maka Albarn, and the Weapon Soul Eater."

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Maka." She looks at me and smiles. I smile back. Then she notices Tsugumi, who has that amazed expression from the stairs plastered back on her face. She blushes bright pink as Maka smiles at her too."

"Okay, you two, begin."

As soon as he says those words Soul is enveloped in a pale blue light. He floats upwards for a moment before Maka grabs him and the light fades. In mere seconds be turned into his weapon form, a black and white scythe with an eye at the top.

"He turned into a Weapon!" Tsugumi exclaims. Wow, she really must be new to this whole Weapon thing, newer than I thought.

"Harudori, you're a weapon too, aren't you?" Meme asks.

"Oh..." Tsugumi looks down at her feet. "...I still can't do it like that..."

"You'll get there." I assure. "It took me almost six days to figure it out, that's even with the DWMA's help." Six long, terribly embarrassing days. I cringe just thinking about it and decide to turn my attention back to Maka to spare myself from reliving the embarrassment.

Maka is standing in the middle of the room now. "The weapon and Meister are both people. That is not just a 'thing'. If we acknowledges each other's wills and match our breathing, then without even any added force..." Soul starts to spin around her arm expertly. "he'll move!"

"Amazing..." Someone to my left whispers.

I watch as Make moves around, Soul matching her every move. Everyone gasps as she completely let's go of the scythe. He continues to spin around his Meister, almost faster than I can see. Maka jumps up, spinning the Weapon around underneath her. She moves back to the other side of the room and slices through the air a couple of times before bowing. I notice marks that weren't there before on the podium, and the look on her and Sid's face when it begins to fall apart is priceless. A snicker escapes my mouth. I'll never let her live that down.

"This is a Weapon and Meister partnership." Sid gestures to Maka and Soul as he speaks. He is completely ignoring the broken podium. "You will learn all about it little by little in your classes. Right now, just sense out your feelings. That's all for today. You are dismissed."

"Wasn't that amazing? Tsugumi asks. "I'm surprised by how all of the upperclassman here are so incredible."

The blonde girl, once again, scoffs and turns away from her. She exits the room in a huff. Man, what's her issue? Does she think she's better than us or something?

Everyone begins to leave, but Ellis doesn't even budge. And I, as his partner, stay too. I wave at Tsugumi and Meme as they walk out the door before turning back to him. "So what are we waiting around for?" I ask. Most of the time he's the first person out the door.

His eyes shift over to the other two people in the room, the blonde and his raven haired partner.

The black-haired one is the first person to break the silence. "You two aren't your average NOT students." He says.

I narrow my eyes at him, but Ellis speaks up before I can. "That is correct."

"But neither are you." I add. They have too much chemistry together, and too much confidence for NOT freshman.

"That's true." His eyes shift between Ellis and I. "What are you two doing here?"

The blonde one crosses his arms over his broad chest. "Yeah, are you spy's or something? Assassins?"

Ellis sets his eyes on him. "Something like that." EAT students are taught all types of combat, so something like that is correct.

The four of us glare at the other partnership until Sid breaks the silence. He comes over to stand next to us. "They're students from the EAT class who dropped down this year."

The black-haired guy looks at him. "For what reason?"

"Personal ones." I say. Really? He could have just asked us. We're standing right here. "Why are you here?"

He smiles smugly. It makes me want to punch him. "Personal reasons."

Sid sighs. "Akane and Clay are here for similar reasons. That's all I can say. Now you four can leave. I already dismissed you."

Ellis turns to leave without another word. I give Akane and Clay one last hard look before following him out.

When I get out that what I see slightly surprises me. The two guys from earlier are facing off with Meme, Tsugumi, and the blonde girl. Those three fighting? Already? Normally I would have expected it, but not from them. I move to break up the fight, but Ellis stops me. When I look at him he doesn't give me an explanation, he just focuses on the brewing fight.

"If you can't transform, then go home!" One of the guys exclaims. His voice is grating, like nails on a chalkboard.

Akane and Clay walk out right after he says that. Akane stops Clay from interfering, just like Ellis did to me.

"Hey!" Clay exclaims, obviously not understanding why his partner stopped him.

"Oh, let's have a look." Akane insists. "Our school life is just getting started, after all." Clay doesn't look happy with his partners explanation, but complies.

Sid comes out of his room, probably attracted by all the racket. "What's this?" He asks. "Trouble already? Well, it is this kind of school, after all."

"You're not going to stop them, Sid-sensei." Clay asks. There's a hint of mocking in his voice.

Sid shakes his head. Either he didn't notice his tone or he didn't care. I'm voting for the latter. "Nah, it is this kind of school, after all."

"The fight is over before it even started!" The one with the lighter hair exclaims. He's the one from the classroom. "Transform!"

He is enveloped in green light. It swirls around for a moment before the dark-haired Meister reaches out and grabs it. When it fades a tanto appears in his hand. Well, sort of.

"How 'bout that!" The weapon exclaims. "I can completely transform everything but my head!" His head is where the grip is supposed to be, so the last part of his sentence gets muffled by his Meister's hand. I can't decide whether it's extremely disturbing, or extremely funny.

The blonde girl looks over her shoulder at Tsugumi. "If you don't hurry up and transform, we'll get beaten up."

Tsugumi looks down at her feet in a mixture of embarrassment and shame. "But I can't. Not when I'm suddenly asked to do so."

"I heard that commoners were strong, powerful, cheerful, fun people." Ah, that explains her attitude. She's up there in the one percent. "But you do not seem to be that way. How disappointing."

The male Meister gets into the blonde's face. There's a cocky look on his face that I would just love to wipe off...with my fist. "So you don't need a weapon, then?" He asks in a condescending tone.

She doesn't reply, just winds up and slaps him right across the face, sending him rearing backwards. "Weapon or not I am not going to fall behind the likes of you!" She asserts.

Yes! I clap my hands together. "You go girl!" I exclaim. I like her. Maybe she's not as prissy as she comes off. The four guys I'm surrounded by look at me, two entertained, one exasperated, Ellis completely blank. I shrug. "What?" Akane and Clay chuckle, but don't say anything. Sid just shakes his head. Ellis, as usual, doesn't even blink.

The two guys advance on the three girls, and I realize they aren't in such a good position. It's probably time for some Weapon to Weapon advice. "Tsugumi! You have to visualize it!" I call out. "That blade sleeping within your soul! Awaken it so you can fight for what you believe is right, for your friends, for yourself! Because as of today...You are a DWMA student!"

Everything is still for a moment, then a bright pink light bursts from Tsugumi. Yes! She did it! She cries out as she begins to float above the ground. The light swirls around and shoots downwards towards the blonde Meisters hand. I raise an eyebrow when I see her weapon form. Tsugumi is a halberd? That's impressive.

"This is...me!?" Tsugumi asks. I can't tell whether she's impressed with it, or terrified.

"Look at that, you've got no blade." The other Meister sneers.

The girls ignore him. "He we go!"

They charge at him and the two weapons connect with a fierce set of blows. The black-haired Meister lunges at her, and the blonde side steps him, using Tusgumi's hilt to knock him off-balance. They don't give the two men time to breathe before attacking again, hitting the tanto straight in his face and knocking him out of his Meisters hand. The girls hit the Meister and he literally goes flying into the air. They charge and slam the bottom of Tsugumi's hilt into his stomach. He goes flying, once again, down the hall. Meme jumps over the oncoming body and he ends up in an upside down heap near where the rest of us are standing.

"One of you go to the nurse's office and ask Medusa-sensei to come here." Sid commands.

"Okay, I'll go." Clay offers.

Ellis nudges me, but when I look at him there's no visible sign of what he wants me to do. I don't know why I insist on looking at him when he does things like this. It doesn't help at all. It's a good thing I know him so well.

I nod at Ellis, but address Sid. "I'll go too."

"Okay, hurry up."

Well, review and tell me what you think! I'll update as soon as I can, probably Monday though. Thanks for reading! ^_^