Author's Note: Wow, I wanted a lot more to happen in this one than what actually did, but it was getting really long so I cut it off there. On the bright side, it is a snow day for me and I may be able to get another chapter up. Even better, though, I decided something important about Kisa, but you can't know what it is yet! Ha! I'm really excited about it though. I should be able to tell you in the next quiz, though. Sorry :D. Oh! And just so you know, I decided to go with the bat...(You'll see) I was sitting there thinking, I'm not really going to do that am I, and then I just decided Heck Yes I am!

Kisa stood outside of the graveyard's tall, metal gate, shivering in spite of the fact that she had swapped her sleeveless hoodie for another one. She grudgingly admitted that part of it must have been her nerves, too. This was it, after all. These remedial lessons would decide her career as a weapon. It could all end, right here and now.

Taking a deep breath, Kisa started across the wet, brown mud that made up the cemetery landscape, tiptoeing carefully over the more...um...fresh patches. She pushed past the lined headstones, sometimes brushing up against the jagged edges, which produced a cold, scratching sensation on her bare legs. Her tennis shoes were getting soaked, and she began to wish she had worn something other than her usual shorts.

Everyone seemed to be there, though. They were about as willing to fail as she was, apparently. If only that were enough.

Kisa looked over at Aido, who was standing against a crooked, old tree, watching the others and not really doing anything. She felt a bit indignant at the sight of his disinterested face. After all, he had certainly been interested this morning. Annoyed, but trying to fight it, Kisa turned to watch the others as well.

Black Star and Tsubaki were standing over a grave--Kisa assumed it was Sensei's--and checking for any signs of him in case he was still there. He didn't seem to be around, though, which made Kisa so nervous she jumped when she heard Soul Eater start to yell from somewhere behind her. She couldn't really hear, but it sounded as if it were directed at Sid-sensei, and not very nice at that. Looking around for Maka, Kisa spotted her lying against a tree, slumped over and hopeless.

Things were going well.

Reflexively, Kisa's hands tightened on something she had been carrying behind her back just as Aido turned and realized she was there.

Kisa blushed.

It had seemed like an excellent idea at the time--really, it had. But now with Aido's mocking eyes upon her, it just seemed like a stupid one.

The thing in her hands was a bat. A baseball bat, to be precise. One of the metal ones.

Kisa let her hand drop to the side as she dragged the thing behind her. Aido looked at it for a moment, puzzled, before raising his eyebrows in a bemused sort of way. But he didn't say anything, though, and that was something. Sometimes, Kisa actually appreciated him.

Sometimes.

And anyways, what else were they going to do? They both knew she wasn't going to transform, and standing around letting the others do all of the work was hardly going to win them any points with Shinigami-sama, right? She didn't want to be helpless tonight. At least for her own protection, if nothing else. After all, Sid-sensei had been a three-star meister in his time, before the incident...and then there was the person who was behind all of this to think of...

Kisa quietly rested the bat up against Aido's tree, feeling subdued. Thinking about all of this was only making her nervous, but they needed a plan--something to build off of. Tearing her eyes away from the others, Kisa turned to Aido.

"So what's the plan?" she asked, looking to her meister for guidance. She prayed that he, at least, had come up with something better than an aluminum baseball bat.

Almost as if he had read her mind, Aido looked from the bat, to her, and then back again, a smug smile on his face.

"Looks like you already have one," he commented. He looked at her as if he found it funny that a person he knew could be so hopelessly inept.

Flushing horribly, Kisa folded her arms and fought the urge to pull her hood down over her face.

"Well, what are we going to do?" she demanded, struggling to keep herself calm. She was begging him to try. Try just once more to make their team work.

"Well..." Aido began slowly, looking at his watch as if he were waiting for something," have you turned into a weapon yet?"

...Silence...

"...No," Kisa said at last, repeating the words she had used just that morning, "No, I haven't."

But she was smiling this time.

"Well then WE are not going to do anything."

And for the first time, Kisa didn't try to argue.

She smiled at Aido, sincerely. Taking his hand, she tried one last time to turn into a weapon. She tried really hard. She envisioned it in her head. She focused on it with all her might. But in the end, it worked just as well as it always had. Squeezing his hand, Kisa looked up.

"Sorry, Aido."

And with that, Kisa picked up her bat, spun around on her heels, and flounced off as if she were going to take Sid-sensei down single-handedly, with nothing but a baseball bat.

Aido actually smiled.

But even if they passed these lessons tonight, they both knew that they wouldn't be a team anymore.

It was a happy and a sad kind of feeling all in one.

And that was when the ground shook.

(Meanwhile, at Shibusen...)

Shinigami-sama stood in front of the mirror in his office, intently watching the scene unfold.

The students were doing well so far, and putting up an excellent fight, he might add. They were a bit clumsy at times, it was true, but they held their own. It was good to see them progressing so well. After all, they were a strong group of souls.

But there was one out there who Shinigami-sama was particularly concerned about--young Kisa.

"O-Oi! That girl has a bat!"

Shinigami-sama turned to look at his son as he leapt from his chair and joined his father at the mirror. He stared at the screen incredulously, pointing to one of the figures with a ringed finger. His mouth was hanging open in a perfect expression of astonishment.

Smiling to himself, Shinigami-sama turned back to the graveyard scene. His son, Death the Kid, was a young grim reaper himself, but also a rather particular child.

The two watched as Kisa, shouting like a madwoman, flew out of the air and took a vicious swing at Sid-sensei's head with an aluminum baseball bat, Kid's finger tracing her progress all the while.

"Hmm.......that's strange," the grim reaper remarked thoughtfully, an idea coming to mind. This comment was just vague enough to incense the boy standing next to him.

"Strange?! I thought she was a weapon!" he exclaimed, staring at his father in disbelief. Then, in case he hadn't heard him the first time, he added, "She has a baseball bat!"

Shinigami-sama smiled under his mask. Kid really was an excitable child.

"Yes, she is a weapon," Shinigami-sama assured him, never taking his eyes off the screen,"but it is a bit odd for a weapon to take the initiative like that."

"It's odd to attack a zombie teacher with a baseball bat!" Kid argued. His father was obviously missing the point.

Suddenly, Patti, one of Kid's own weapons, started to laugh and point excitedly.

"She missed! She missed!" she cried happily, turning to her big sister Liz.

Liz put a hand on Patti's shoulder and leaned in for a better look at the screen as Kisa swung around and charged back at her former teacher.

"Uh...she seems..." and here she broke off, her expression unsure.

"Awesome!" Patti shouted intensely as she tugged on her sister's sleeve,"That's what you were going to say, Liz, right? Right?"

"Uh..." Liz began unsurely, scratching her head,"That's one way of putting it I guess..."

Kid gave a sort of half-laugh, and Liz smiled. Patti just looked confused.

"What?" she asked curiously, looking from one to the other, but Kid was already focusing on the mirror again.

He scanned the scene carefully, looking for someone.

"But, Father," he began slowly, confused,"If she's a weapon...than shouldn't she have a meister?"

"Ah," Shinigami-sama said, nodding in agreement,"Yes, young Aido-san."

"Hm?" Kid questioned, looking at his father,"Is he there, then?"

"Yes, I believe so," Shinigami-sama replied, leaning forward.

He was quiet for a long moment, looking for the boy in question before he straightened up, pointing triumphantly.

"There he is."

Kid glanced at the boy briefly as he leaped into the air and delivered a swift kick to the back of the zombie teacher's head.

"Then..." he began slowly, trying to understand,"why isn't he...?"

"Using Kisa?" Shinigami-sama finished, used to the question,"Well, you see...it's an odd thing, really...um...Kisa can't transform."

...Silence...

"What?" Liz exclaimed incredulously, looking up from where she was entertaining Patti,"What do you mean, she can't transform? You mean she can't change into a weapon, like, period?"

"How is that even possible?" Kid asked, disbelief etched on his face. Even Patti turned to the grim reaper for an explanation.

"Well, now," Shinigami-sama began carefully, trying to think of the best way to explain. He looked at the three expectant children in front of him and suddenly had an idea.

"Well, just look at the two of you, Liz and Patti," the grim reaper began, addressing his son's weapons,"You girls lived on the streets and were utterly defenseless without the use of each other as guns. But weapons growing up in more steady environments often don't discover their talent until later. And besides that, changing before a certain age would be impractical."

"Impractical?" Kid repeated, not understanding.

"Well, just imagine if a little five-year-old child suddenly discovered that they could turn into a scythe," Shinigami-sama reasoned, turning to his son,"It would be a complete mess."

"But all the weapons who come into Shibusen--"

"Yes, I know," Shinigami-sama cut in, looking thoughtfully at the girl fighting in the mirror,"And that's the part that I don't understand, either."

He watched Kisa silently for a long time, examining and evaluating as Kid stood quietly beside him.

"I just don't understand..."

Disclaimer:

I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters. Kisa and Aido are mine.

Oh, and sorrow for the cheesy (Meanwhile, at Shibusen...)

I just couldn't help myself. For those of you who didn't know, I'm a sucker for Superheroes! :D