A/N: Thanks to everyone who's been reading this! More and more coming, it seems.


She'd been looking forward to this day.

Why? Because-!

"I hope that everyone's studied. You'll all have an hour to complete the test. Any incomplete answers will get zero points, so if you get stuck on a hard one it's better to move on to the next." Her hands practically shook as she accepted the sheet of paper that their teacher was handing out.

"Good luck, Maka." Hero, now sat to her right, was nice to say that.

"Thanks. You too." She didn't want to admit that she was more worried about his performance than hers. While they'd had a couple of study sessions, it was clear some of the more technical things went over his head. He would try his hardest though, that much Maka was certain of. That was the most she could ask from her right now. Sparing a look to her other side, she saw the albino eying the test with contempt. Given his attitude, she really doubted he'd studied. Still, he was her classmate. "Good luck, Soul."

"Heh?...Yeah, sure. You too." The albino fiddled with his headband. "I don't really need luck though."

Something about that bothered her, but. Well, she'd already spent enough time talking to him and she could feel Soul's meister glaring holes into the side of her head.

"Is everyone ready?" Nygus called from the front. "Alright…" She had a stopwatch in her hand. "Begin!"

The room filled with the sounds of pencil scratching as everyone took down their names. The scribbling noticeably died down just after though, as people slowed to read the questions and decipher the answer.

She didn't need to though. She'd learned all this stuff ages ago and spent the last week brushing up on it to make certain she hadn't forgotten anything.

That was right! She'd been prepping for Shibusen since before any of her classmates! It wasn't a stretch to say she'd been preparing for this moment her whole life.

"Teacher."

She, like many others, glanced the way of the student who had raised his hand and broken the silence. "I've finished."

What.

"That's excellent, Ox. Just lay it on my desk and wait outside until everyone else finishes." Nygus waved him along, seemingly not surprised by this.

Maka, meanwhile, was trying not to stare holes into the back of that bald head and failing. How could he have answered all of it so fast?! Well, it wasn't like it was impossible, but that left him no room to check over his answers! Even if he'd studied more than her, he couldn't be certain he hadn't made a single mistake!

Hmph.

Well, it wasn't anything for her to worry about.

She wasn't going to lose to some overconfident… baldie!


"Maka Albarn, right?"

She squeezed the book in her arms closer to her chest. "Yes." She fought hard to keep from glaring at the bald boy who had been waiting outside the classroom for everyone to finish. Even going as fast as she could, it had taken her until the last second to triple check over all her answers.

"Your mother…" He adjusted his glasses as he spoke. "…would you get me her autograph?"

She almost fell flat on her face. "I-I'm sorry?" That- What? He wanted- "Why do you want that?!"

"She's…the entire reason I became a meister!" The cool atmosphere around this boy seemed to give way to what she could only describe as 'hot-blooded guerilla-ness'. "Please, I would be eternally grateful!"

T-this guy… maybe he wasn't so bad… a little creepy, but anyone that could see that her mother was the best meister in Shibusen couldn't be all bad. "I'll, uhm, bring it up to her-"

"Ox Ford! Or, just Ox, and she can sign it however she likes!" Something told her that unless she got this autograph from him, she'd find herself being stalked around the school until she did.

"O-okay." She glanced around, wishing Hero was around to at least provide some kind of buffer between her and…whatever this was.

"Thank you!" The bowing he was doing now was just embarrassing. "It's my goal to surpass her!"

And, just like that, he'd gone from 'creep' to 'competition'. "…sorry, but." She bawled her hands into fists as she looked him square in his goofy glasses. "The one to surpass my mama will be me."

All his excitement and goofiness seemed to melt away with that and he was standing tall again, more than a full head higher than her. She fought the urge to stand on the tips of her toes. "Pardon me, but, that isn't really possible, is it?"

Oh. He'd gone there. He'd really gone there, hadn't he?

"It is." She ground out, wondering how much trouble she would get in if she just decked him right there.

"Hmph." He adjusted his glasses once again. Did he think that made him seem smart? It didn't. "I guess we'll see."

"Yeah! We will!" Maka knew how childish that sounded but did not care and was going to prove it and shove it right into this baldie's stupid face.


"Can you believe he said that!? 'That isn't really possible, is it'? Isn't that… discrimination!?" She could report this kind of thing, couldn't she?

"Maka-chan, that's going a bit far." Tsubaki was always there to calm her down. Bless her.

"Just because I'm a stupid weapon, he thinks he's sooo great-!" She stomped down the hall. "And he finishes his test that fast and thinks he has a good grade? I bet he didn't even check his spelling!" She turned at the end and stomped back. "I'll crush him!" She clenched her fist. "He'll be begging for my signature when I'm done with him!"

Tsubaki placed her hands on her shoulders. "Come on. What you need right now is a nice meal." The taller girl pushed her along, but she couldn't let it go. Not when all she could think about was how badly she wanted to knock his teeth out.

"At least let me put gum on his shoes!"

"Maka-chan, there are times when you have to be the bigger person."

"Being the bigger person stinks!"

"Yes."


If there was one bad part about test-taking, Maka realized the following morning, it was the wait to be graded. She'd hardly been able to sleep at all.

And she still had almost a whole week left before scores were posted.

"Maka. Are you doing okay." It was a question even if it wasn't phrased like one. Her eyes darted over to look at the blonde boy she had come to call her meister. Something about her stare seemed to unnerve him.

"I'm fine. How are you?" His concern was flattering, but unnecessary.

"Well, actually…" Oh. He was talking. He was talking a lot. Something, something about his new hair product and fashion. It was a little… well. She didn't dislike having a partner who was more 'hip' to the things she wasn't, but the way he went on and on about it… it wasn't very manly, was it?

"…r-right, sorry, Maka." Eh? Why was he apologizing? …she hadn't said that out loud, had she?!

"N-no, I'm sorry, Hero." She mentally kicked herself. Repeatedly. "I think your sense of style is…" Uhm, what could she say about it? Think! "It's very trendy!" That was something people said, wasn't it?

Her meister sat there, staring at her for a full minute, before… "Of course!" Sweeping his hair off his face, sparkling as though he'd suddenly been dipped in glitter. "The important thing though isn't to follow the trends though, Maka! It's to set them yourself! If you come with me after school, we could do something about…"

Her hand reflexively reached for the nearest text book.

"W-what I mean is-" Oh, had he noticed? Fast learner, her partner. "-we just need to get you some clothes that show off your good qualities. You're pretty cute, Maka!"

There she went, fumbling her book and dropped it onto the head of the student sitting below her. If things like this kept happening, everyone would think she was clumsy!

Had a boy ever called her 'cute' before? Did he mean it? Was he just trying to keep her from doing what he'd seen happen to her Papa? Probably. Knowing that wasn't enough to diminish the nice feeling in her chest or cool her warm cheeks.

"Cute? You know, that's some real avant-garde taste you have there, Hero." That drawl could belong to just one person.

It was almost amazing how quickly her joy turned to irritation as she whipped around to glare at him and his stupid face. "Soul." Her hand inched for another book. "Explain to me how I'm 'avant-garde'."

He snorted. "…should ask that 'trendy' meister of yours, bookworm." Then, he yawned at her. At any other time, she would have focused on his razor-sharp looking teeth.

Maka was certain he was teasing her.

"Maaaaaakkaaa….!"


She took more satisfaction than she would have liked to admit in how in his last few moments, her fellow scythe's usual cool expression showed only fear and regret.

Five days left.

Gym class again.

"He's a gorilla. A really small, angry, stupid gorilla." Maka's assessment of Black*Star, while harsh, was fair in her eyes.

As long as the rules were simple and he was kept from cheating, the ninja who claimed he would surpass God remained comfortably at the top of all of their evaluations. The only one who came even close to him was a quiet boy in glasses by the name of Kilik, but even then it was always a narrow victory for the louder of the two.

"Well, I'm not going to say I know him well enough to say he's not that…" Tsubaki laughed nervously, though it was always apparent how proud she was of her meister. With her as his constant support, he'd even managed to earn the envy of practically every boy in their class. "But. He works really work though. Harder than anyone, I think."

They'd started doing pull-ups almost half an hour ago and he was still doing them. At this point, it wasn't even about the evaluation and was going for a school record some other gorilla had set several years back.

"ONE HUNDRED." His cry was almost deafening and, with some reluctance, a few people even clapped as he dropped from the bar. It was impressive. Had it been Nygus doing the assessment, he might have even been praised for it. Unfortunately, it was…

"Congratulations. It's too bad that on that last one you didn't go all the way down so it didn't count." Sid must have been tough to have as a parent.

"What?! I totally did!" And she had no idea how hard it must've been to have Black*Star for a child.

"If you'd like to try again, we'll have to start over from one since you let go without me telling you to." Were they really going to have to watch Black Star do that again?

"Ugh! This is a waste of time, old-man! What's up your ASS-" She winced as the boy was downed with one hard chop from their teacher's clipboard.

"Because, I said at the start that if you did twenty then you were finished so everyone else had a turn. If you're going to waste their time, I'm going to waste your time. No special treatment, that's the kind of man I am."

Harsh.

It was almost cute how much the ninja-boy was sulking as he clomped over to his weapon. "He's stupid. And dumb. He just doesn't want me to break his stupid record, but just wait. Next time, I'll do two hundred." Alright, that actually was pretty cute…

A second later, she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming that she'd somehow associated 'cute' with Black*Star.

"Maka!" Hero was there to pull her from her thoughts before she had a complete mental breakdown.

"Hero? Done already?" Sid did seem to be rushing people along now that they had half the time they should have thanks to his son's stunt.

With a proud smile, her meister gave her a thumbs-up. "I did one!"

…'one'. Forcing a smile in return was one of the hardest things she'd ever done and she applauded quietly.

"Hurraaaaaay."


The weekend passed uneventfully.

It wasn't anything unusual. She had better things to do with her time than go out with friends.

Yeah.

She did try to go see a movie based on her favorite book, but apparently it recorded parental supervision.

She was pretty sure after what she'd done, she wasn't allowed back at that movie theater anymore.

Just two days left now.

"Maka? Can you stay for a bit?" She'd almost been out the door when Nygus had called for her. Ignoring the peanut gallery's 'Ooooh's', she hung back and watched the pretty woman shuffle some papers around her desk.

"How are you liking it here? At Shibusen?" Nygus's question was simple enough.

Unfortunately, answering was… "…it's fun." She did mean that. "Coming to class. Training. Getting to see my friend…s." Hero counted as a friend too, didn't he? "Sometimes, though…" A lot of the time, actually.

"Sometimes, you wish you weren't a weapon." Her thought was finished for her and her head snapped up. "A lot of people feel that way." She shuffled uncomfortably at her teacher's words. "It's not really clear what dictates whether the weapon gene will be active or not." With who her Papa was, she'd always known she'd had it. "Families like Tsubaki-chan's… well, some say that the blood runs stronger in theirs than most. They're almost guaranteed to have a child that turns out to be a weapon."

As uncomfortable as the topic was, she couldn't say she wasn't interested. "So… I just had some bad luck?" She didn't know how else to put it.

"Bad luck…no. What I'm trying to say is, there have been plenty of students like you that awoke to that power who weren't prepared for it." It was different though, wasn't it? She had wanted to be a Meister. Wanted to be a part of this as something else. "They might have had their whole lives planned out. Some of them might have wanted to be musicians. Or artists. Or hadn't even known what they were going to be, but wanted to figure it out. Then, one day, they start sprouting big hunks of metal where their limbs used to be."

Maka pulled at her pigtail, looking anywhere but at her teacher as she spoke.

"…what I'm trying to say is, there are other people who feel the same as you do. Felt the same way you do." Her teacher's hand coming to rest on her shoulder made her whole body lock up. "And, even if it doesn't seem like it's something you want now, give it some time."

A little reluctantly, she peered up at her teacher. "It just feels so unfair." She managed to get out.

"I know, Maka. I know."


"Maka!"

Gah! She'd almost made it out the school's doors too! Did her Papa have a tracking device on her or something?!

She was going to check her things later.

"Yes, Papa?" She'd made it through the final, agonizing day of class and all she wanted to do was go home and go to bed. The wait for grades to be posted was almost over. "If you don't have something important to say, I'm going home."

"Now, now. At least give him a chance to say the wrong thing before you get mad." Her eyes widened and she spun around to see-

"Mama! Papa! You're… together?" What was going on? She didn't dislike this situation, but something about it put her on edge.

The two only laughed at her in response. "Our daughter's so paranoid." "She gets that from you." "I wonder why I would be the suspicious type." "Erp." Their back and forth had her head snapping from one to the other.

It was almost, almost, like things were back to normal.

"What are you two up to?" And, because of that, she only became more suspicious.

Her parents exchanged a look.

"Maka, it isn't good to think so little of your mother." The disappointment in her mother's voice was enough to cause her actual physical pain.

"Yeah! Don't think little of her!" Her dad made a better cheerleader than Tsubaki.

"I'd understand if it was just your father, but…" Her mama shook her head, feigning despair. She saw right through it, but it being her mother made her desperate to stop it anyway.

"Yeah!...wait a minute." And her Papa… sigh.

She couldn't stop herself from giggling though.

"Maka, Mama and I were thinking… there's a movie playing based on that book you like so much, isn't there?" They must have seen the advertisements for it.

Shuffling her feet, her hand found one of her pigtails and she gave it a little tug. "I tried to go see it." Tried. "They wouldn't let me in." It was a struggle to keep from pouting.

"Mnn… if it's something Maka shouldn't be seeing then-" Her Papa was silenced as his foot was crushed under her Mama's heel. "R-right! If Maka is able to read it, she should be able to watch it! That's common sense!"

She was glad one of her parents had common sense.

"Well, did you want to go?" She didn't even need to think about her mother's question.

"Yes!...will, uhm… bo-both of you be coming?" Her Mama took hold of her right hand and her Papa her left.

"Of course!" "There's nowhere Papa would rather be!" Her parents were really making a show of this, weren't they?

"C-come on, let's go! Everyone's staring! They're gonna think I'm a little kid…" As much as she complained, she couldn't bring herself to let go though.


It was here. After all this time, it was finally here!

"I want everyone to take a good look at where they placed. Think about what got you that score and how you can improve on it or keep it where it is."

She swallowed and started from the very bottom. The first name she saw was something of a surprise.

"HEY!" She glanced over to see her fellow scythe on his feet. "Why am I deadlast?!" He had seemed awfully sure of himself.

"Because. Cheating is an automatic failure." Their beautiful teacher tilted her head to the side and smiled sweetly as she said as much.

Ouch. She'd caught him and not even told him to stop? Sid was harsh enough as is, but Nygus was a whole other level. She must have been right to because the boy beside her slumped into his chair, defeated, while his partner looked understandably pissed.

Tsubaki was in the upper half of the class and she sent a smile her friend's way. It wasn't near the top, but she looked pleased with where she'd pleased.

She could feel her heartbeat pick up as she scanned higher and higher for her name. When she finally reached the final three. This was it.

She wasn't third. Good.

He wasn't second though.

It couldn't be-

1st: Maka Albarn & Ox Ford

She stared at it for what felt like an eternity.

When she looked towards the bespectacled boy, he was already staring her way. Even through the lenses of his glasses, she could tell there was fire in those eyes. The same one blazing in her own.

After class, she and he met again outside. They both took each other's hands and gave each other a firm shake.

Words weren't needed at this point.

They were rivals now.

Until the day they died.

…or, well, at least until they graduated.


The results weren't quite what she'd been hoping for, but she'd still placed first in her first ever real test. Tried as she might to contain her excitement, she found herself skipping down the steps of Shibusen that afternoon.

It was true that things had been hard, and that she'd have to study a lot more now to keep from falling behind, but she'd taken Nygus's words to heart. If she gave it some time, she might come to like being a weapon. If she did well enough, maybe she could even be a teacher like her?

When one door closes, another one opens, right?

"Mama!" She probably didn't need to be that loud as she came through the front door. "I got my test results!" If Papa had already told her and taken that chance, she was going to clobber him herself.

She waited and waited, but got no reply.

"Mama?"


A/N: Well.

Maybe she's in the bathroom?

Probably.

Maybe.

Please leave a review if you have a chance!