Chapter Six: Questions and Answers
Morning came early for Chris and in the rudest way possible.
No sooner had Chris opened her eyes that Patti had burst in through the door with a loud and cheerful "Good Morning" that had Chris fall out of bed in pure panic and sword in hand. Luckily, Liz had intervened before any damage became irreversible and pulled her sister out of the room while telling the terror-stricken guest that breakfast was ready.
When Chris entered the eating room, dressed and ready for the day, she again had to hold the urge of holding her nose against the many different and overwhelming scents that came through the door. Kid, Liz and Patti had already began to eat, so Chris set herself down without a word at her plate and began to eat.
She didn't gorged this time as her stomach was a little sore from the amount from the previous night, but did manage to eat the food without any discomfort. Chris could feel Kid's eyes on her, but she shook it off.
Guess he still isn't use to the idea of me being here, Chris had told herself as she bit into the scrambled eggs, almost flinching at the rubbery texture. Figures, no one besides Iki-san had wanted her after her parent's death, and she was only here now as an assignment from Shinigami.
Still, Chris couldn't help from not wanting to be wanted by others; Aniki had been the only one to understand her for years, but now Chris was ready to reach out to others.
The only question was how to do so.
"Hey, Chris," Liz said, breaking the silence then. "Can you see souls?"
Chris glanced up over at the older girl, a little puzzled by the girl's question.
"Why do you ask, Liz-san?" She asked, taking another small bite from the food.
"Well, from what we saw yesterday," Liz began, clearly ignoring the glances from Kid. "You knew that the Evil Human was in the cemetery, yet you acted like you didn't even notice it. Maka was able to sense it from the minute we came to the cemetery, so I figured that you could as well."
"Don't all Technicians see souls?" Chris asked, confused at the explanation.
"Eh, not all do," Liz admitted. "Black Star can't read souls worth a grain of salt and Maka is on the same level of Soul Perception as Stein, or perhaps even higher."
"Is that so?" Chris looked down at her dish in deep thought.
"I don't know if I can or not," she admitted after a while, earning puzzled looks from the trio.
"Then you'll have to find out," Kid said then, finishing his meal. "I understand that Chichue wants you to take a placement test?"
Chris nodded. "I guess he wants to know where I stand among other Meisters."
"Don't worry, Chris-chan," Patti said happily as she ate. "You'll beat them up no problem!"
"Patti, don't talk with your mouth full," Liz said under her breath. She then caught a small curve of Chris's lips and couldn't help not to smile herself; Chris was going to do fine.
An hour later, the four were heading toward the school; Kid was silent while his two weapons were happily chatting amongst each other.
Chris followed from behind; Maka had come by way before daybreak to deliver Chris's clothes, which she now wore with her tattered cloak with a newly repaired clasp. She made a mental note to thank Maka for returning her clothes the next time she saw the Scythe Technician.
Now, Chris's thoughts drifted to her evaluation test; Shinigami had said he wanted to know what rank to give her, but Chris wondered what was so special about rank. Iki-san had trained Chris on the belief that you are strong if you can survive a fight, and one's rank didn't say anything about one's skill.
Still, Chris wondered who she would be up against; she doubted it was the Stein fellow, as he was still recovering from his wound or so she believed. She also doubted any of the students would be willing to come up against her after witnessing what she had done the previous day.
Now that she thought about it, Chris wondered what they would be testing her on. Her fighting skills weren't a possible question after seeing what she could do; perhaps her control on her soul's wavelength?
Iki-san had trained her relentlessly over the two years she had been his apprentice to manipulate her wavelengths as, according to him, if you control your soul, you control the result of the battle. He had taught her everything about the Two-Hand Style and for that Chris was grateful; she didn't need a partner in order to perform a Soul Resonance, yet Chris wondered at the same time if others could do so as well.
At that moment, Chris realized what she was thinking and shook her head; no way could she be the only one, since Iki-san could do the same despite his old age. She knew that she shouldn't freight over such things, but there was a sickening feeling in her stomach that wouldn't go away without a fight.
"Hey, Chris," Liz said then, breaking Chris's train of thought.
"Yes, Liz-san?" Chris replied.
"Are you planning on taking a partner, by chance?" Liz asked.
"Why should I?" Chris asked, puzzled. "I have this after all." She gently touched the hilt of her giant sword with a hand.
"Well, yeah, but I think you'd be a great Technician if you had a partner of your own." Liz said. "Besides, every single weapon is going to be asking to be your partner after seeing you in action yesterday."
"Is that normal?" Chris couldn't remember anything that Aniki had told her during the time he would talk to her about Shibusen that spoke on weapons asking people to be their partners. And Iki-san had taught her that relying on a partner could lead to trouble in the future.
"Of course," Patti said cheerfully.
"I've never heard of a Meister without a partner," Kid added. "Even though I'm a Shinigami myself, I decided to have partners."
"Is it because their weapon forms look the same?" Chris asked with a sly smile.
Kid stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at Chris with a shock expression.
"Who told you that?" he asked.
Chris shrugged with a roll of her eyes. "Just something I heard; people talk after all. Besides, your father did say you had a little obsession for a while."
Liz laughed then and slapped Kid on the back. "She's got you on that, Kid!"
I'm definitely going to speak to Chichue on this, Kid thought as he turned around to continue walking.
"So are you going to get a partner or not?" He asked over his shoulder, not really expecting a reply.
"I'll think about it," she said simply after a while of silence that had Kid surprised.
Sorry that this is such a short chapter, but I didn't want to make it too long.
Please review and let me know what you think!
