The prospect of Professor Stein's final decisions weighed heavily on Brina's mind over the next few days. She was really worried about what the result would be for her. She didn't want anything to change. She wanted to stay working with Kid.

She kept reminding herself that the weight of her worry wasn't affected by what had happened during the last trust exercise. But every time she told herself that, she believed it less and less. Urgh. Like she wasn't already dreading the final decision enough.

Wham. A fist suddenly connected with the side of her face. The impact was enough to make her stumble sideways. She tripped over her own feet and ended up landing hard on her side, dropping the sticks that she'd been holding.

"Ow!" Brina protested. She wasn't sure what to give her attention to - the smarting of her cheek from the blow it had just taken or the throbbing pain in her ankle, which she seemed to have twisted as she'd tripped.

"Are you alright?" asked Kid, sounding half concerned and half exasperated as he crouched down beside her.

"Yeah," replied Brina, settling for rubbing her cheek and slowly rotating her ankle to try and ease the pain. It didn't seem to be anything serious. "I think I twisted my ankle a little, but it should be fine."

"Can you stand?"

"I think so."

Kid straightened up and helped her to her feet. Brina gingerly tested putting weight on her ankle. Like she'd thought, it didn't seem to be too bad. The pain had already reduced to a dull ache. She knew that the more she used it, the quicker the pain would fade entirely.

Kid watched as she cautiously tested her ankle. "Maybe now you'll stop favouring it more than your left foot."

He'd already pointed out before that she seemed to favour one foot more than the other when fighting. Brina hadn't even realised that she'd been doing it. But of course, the symmetry freak had noticed and he definitely didn't approve.

"Yeah, yeah," Brina grumbled, sarcastically adding, "I'm glad something good can come out of my pain."

"You didn't even try to dodge me," Kid pointed out reproachfully.

"Yeah, sorry," said Brina sheepishly, though she didn't really know why she was apologising. "I guess I wasn't really paying attention."

Kid frowned. "Will you stop thinking about what Professor Stein said?"

Brina cringed. Wow, was it that obvious what was on her mind? "Sorry," she said again. She couldn't help it. Professor Stein was going to be announcing the changes the day after tomorrow.

"You shouldn't be worried anyway," Kid added surely, leaning past her to pick up the sticks that she'd dropped. "You've made too much improvement for them to split us up now."

"Right," agreed Brina, though she didn't feel as certain as Kid sounded. She was still worried that there might be something they hadn't considered that could count against them.

"Besides," Kid continued, holding the sticks out to her with a slight smile. "Who else would do this with you?"

Brina smiled back as she took the sticks from his hands. "Good point."

It really was a good point. Nobody else would have gone to quite the same extremes as Kid had to help her improve her balance. Was it really just in order for them to get a good grade on the project? Was it because of Kid's obsessive need for everything to be perfectly balanced that he'd taken it upon himself to assist Brina with hers? Or was it something else entirely?

"Why do you try so hard to help me?" asked Brina suddenly, surprising even herself. She wasn't entirely sure if it was sudden boldness or if the question had just slipped out without her realising. "Is it just to try and get good grades in Professor Stein's class?"

Kid looked even more surprised by the question than Brina was, his golden eyes widening slightly. "Well... I guess at first I wanted to make up for being such a jerk."

He looked so unusually awkward that Brina almost wanted to tell him just to forget she'd asked. But she couldn't. What did he mean, at first? Was he saying he'd had a different motive since they'd started practicing together outside of school?

She didn't get to find out though, because a loud voice suddenly shouted, "What are you guys doing out here?"

They both jumped and turned to see Black Star sauntering over to them, followed by Tsubaki, Maka and Soul. They were leaving the school quite late themselves. "Clearly taking the project more seriously than you at any rate," said Kid pointedly.

"It's just a dumb project," said Black Star with a shrug. "Besides, who cares about that? Do you guys wanna play basketball with us after school tomorrow?"

"We should really be practicing every chance we get until Friday. And you should be doing the same," Kid pointed out.

"Why would I wanna do that?" Black Star raised his eyebrows. "I can't wait for Professor Stein to change our partners! I hope I get someone new - why would I care about practicing?"

"Well, some of us do actually care," said Kid, causing Brina to flush slightly. Thankfully, nobody else seemed to notice.

"How about you do it after classes on Friday then?" Maka suggested instead, clearly still not intending to play herself. She didn't seem particularly worried about Professor Stein's plans, but then she and Casper had been one of the better teams on the project.

"Okay," said Brina, finding that she was actually quite eager to play again. It had been long enough since their last game for her to have gotten over her little incident of running headlong into the post. "I'm in."

"Alright," agreed Kid. "Count me in too."

"Cool," said Soul. "We'll try and round some more people up to play. Shall we say about five o'clock?"

"Four," said Kid automatically.

Soul shrugged, unconcerned. "Alright. Four it is."

"Why four?" Brina asked Kid, a confused frown furrowing her brow.

"Because even numbers are better."

Brina rolled her eyes. Of course they were. Why had she even asked?

XXX

Brina was so nervous that she felt quite ill. It seemed to be the general consensus amongst the class. She'd never known the classroom to be as quiet as it was that afternoon, everyone waiting on Professor Stein to make his announcements at the end of the lesson. It had turned out that, for the most part at least, everyone had grown quite attached to their new partners.

"Now then," Professor Stein began, as they were nearing the end of the last period. "There's no sense in beating around the bush, so let's start discussing the changes... I'm sure it'll come as no surprise, but the first team that will no longer be working together are Black Star and Blood."

"Yes!"

"Thank god!"

And to everyone's amusement, the two boys actually high fived one another. Several of their classmates laughed. It seemed ironically fitting that the only time they'd be in union was at the prospect of not having to be a team anymore.

Professor Stein shook his head. "If only you could have shown such enthusiasm as a team before now... As from today, Blood, you will be working with Cory instead." Cory and Danny exchanged surprised glances at that. "Cory, as a flail meister, I believe that you will fare better with a fellow melee weapon user. And Blood, I think that you shall find Cory much more level-headed than your former partner."

"Amen to that," Blood muttered gratefully. Black Star was too busy still fist-pumping the air in his delight to overhear.

"Danny, this means that your new partner will be Ao," Professor Stein continued, causing another wave of surprised murmurs. "She's pretty fiery for a scythe meister, so you'll have to step up your game to keep up." Ao couldn't help but laugh at that. "Ao, I hope that working with a projectile weapon user will in turn be a challenge for you too."

"I'm sure it will be," Ao smiled, whilst Danny simply looked embarrassed. Though still feeling very nervous, Brina watched them in mild interest. She'd noticed Danny hanging onto Liz's every word on more than one occasion before now. Maybe the guy had a thing for blondes.

"This means that Marista, you will now be teaming up with Black Star," Professor Stein directed. "I wanted to split up one of the scythe meister groups. As you know, Black Star is one of the highest-ranking meisters in this class. Whereas some may think I'm throwing you in the deep end, I simply think I'm giving you the chance to bring out your potential."

Marista nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Professor."

That was three pairs who had been swapped so far. Everyone at least seemed to be fairly happy with their new partners. However, Brina was starting to feel sick again. If she and Kid were the next team to be changed around, then she didn't think she'd be feeling positive about it like everyone else.

She snuck a sideways glance at him. He was sat up straight with perfect posture, staring ahead with his full attention on Professor Stein. Damn him, why was he always so composed? What she wouldn't have given to feel even half as confident as he looked.

"I don't want any of you to think that because I've changed your teams, you were doing anything wrong," Professor Stein continued. "Although I admit that Black Star and Blood were an experiment that went badly," he then added, to several laughs in response. "The teams have been swapped because there is always room for improvement. New challenges unlock that extra potential, so don't waste it. Class dismissed."

Brina sat up to attention, hardly daring to believe her ears. Did that mean what she thought it did? Murmurs rose around the classroom again and she noticed several of her classmates exchanging shrugs and glances, clearly thinking the same thing.

Professor Stein was almost completely out of the door when he raised his voice, "Oh, and in case you didn't guess, the rest of you are staying in your original teams. I'll see you all next week."

Several students took that as their cue to escape for the weekend and started to file out of the room, but Brina slumped back in her seat and laughed in relief. That was it. She'd been worrying about this all week, but she and Kid were still staying together. She didn't have to worry now. Unless Professor Stein decided to drop anymore bombshells later on. But for now, they were safe.

Kid chuckled at her reaction, getting to his feet. "You were really worried, weren't you?"

Brina grinned sheepishly as she followed suit. "What can I say? You're a good partner."

Kid looked quite mollified by that. "You know, even if we had been split up, I still would have tried to help you practice during free time if you'd felt that you needed it."

Brina looked round in surprise. "Are you serious?"

Kid shrugged like it was nothing. "You were clearly really worried about it. And like I said before, who else would put in so much time to train outside of class? I wouldn't want all of our hard work to go to waste."

Brina stared at him. She felt really touched. How did he always manage to surprise her so completely? "That's so sweet, Kid!" she exclaimed and, without thinking, threw her arms around him in a hug.

Kid tensed in embarrassment and very awkwardly patted her on the back. "Err, thanks... It's nothing really."

"Hey, guys!"

Brina quickly released Kid as Black Star bounded down the steps to their row. Thankfully, neither he nor anyone else seemed to have witnessed the impromptu hug. Though Brina did notice that Kid seemed to struggle a little more to regain his composure than she did.

"What?" he asked Black Star, almost defensively. It seemed that Brina had been the one to embarrass him for once. She hid a smile. Personally, she thought that was totally adorable.

"What's up with you?" Black Star raised his eyebrows, as Maka and Marista - who had been enlisted before class - joined them. "I was just gonna say since we're all here, why don't we go grab our partners and head straight to the basketball court?"

"Oh. That's fine," said Kid, more dignified now.

"Cool with me," Brina agreed. She felt much happier with Professor Stein's announcements over and done with. Now she could look forward to their basketball game without any niggling worries at the back of her mind.

"Great!" Black Star enthused. He then called out to the mousy-haired boy who'd just passed them on the steps. "Hey, Danny, are you playing basketball with us again or what?" When he'd taken up Brina's position at the last game after she'd had to go to the infirmary, he'd turned out to be a surprisingly good offensive player.

"Oh, err, sure," he said, sounding surprised but pleased.

"Awesome! Then let's go get our partners!"

The group of meisters left the classroom together and headed down to the next corridor to meet their weapon partners. The twins spotted Brina as they were leaving their classroom. "Hey, Bree," Jesse greeted her in surprise. "We didn't know you were coming to meet us."

Brina hesitated awkwardly. "Um, actually, we were just getting our other players. We're gonna go play basketball."

"Of course you are." Adrian rolled his eyes, looking thoroughly uninterested.

Brina bit her lip, feeling guilty. "Don't suppose you guys wanna come too?"

"No thanks," the twins replied in unison without having to think about it.

"We'll just catch you another time. Like usual," Jesse added with a half shrug, whilst Adrian merely grunted in response.

Brina watched them disappear down the corridor, still chewing her lip. Urgh. Why did she have to have the most antisocial partners in the whole school? Was it really that weird that she liked to try and socialise with everyone?

She supposed she should try and spend more time with the twins outside of lessons. She'd just been so caught up with the class project. Not to mention the fact that she'd spent all week worrying about Professor Stein's latest decisions. After that, all she wanted was to just have some fun. It sucked that she couldn't even have a game of basketball without a guilty conscience.

She turned away to see that Kid was watching her. "What?" she asked defensively.

"I just thought most weapons would have more respect for their meister," said Kid coolly.

Brina shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "They're the Carrows. They tend to do whatever they want," she said offhandedly.

"Probably because you allow them to," Kid replied over his shoulder, turning to follow the rest of their group out of the classroom.

Brina felt herself flush. It wasn't her fault that the twins were so antisocial. Nor could she help the way that they spoke to her sometimes. And she certainly didn't need anybody else trying to get her to stand up for herself more.

Kid stuck his head back round the door to see Brina still standing at the front of the classroom, silently glowering to herself - partly over the fact that Kid had a point, but mostly because she didn't need him to tell her that. "Hey, are you coming to play basketball or what?"

That snapped Brina out of it, leaving her feeling silly instead. "Err, right, of course!"

She soon forgot about her little tiff once they'd gotten down to the basketball court and started their game. She found herself on a similar team to the last time, playing alongside Kid, Soul, Patty and Matt in what seemed to be a grudge match continuing from their last game. Black Star, Tsubaki, Danny, Marista and Ciarin made up the opposing team, whilst Maka and Liz watched on from the sidelines again.

"Brina, pass it to me!"

Brina no longer had the luxury of not being marked by anyone. From the last time, people had started to pick up that she always tried to stay open and closer to the basket, since everyone tended to target the stronger players instead. Now, however, everyone had their own mark.

Brina was okay at catching and dribbling, but she didn't fancy her chances at going head on against another player to keep possession of the ball. Especially Ciarin, her marker, who was a lot taller than she was. So now she just made sure she passed the ball along as quickly as possible.

She did just that and hastily threw the ball to Patty, who zipped past, parrying the ball back and forth between her and Matt as they raced down the court. Whereas his brother seemed a little more than interested in Liz, Patty's bubbly temperament suited Matt much more. And they made a pretty good team on the basketball court.

Annoyingly, Black Star was waiting to intercept. He tackled the ball out of Matt's hands and it was then swept back up towards the other basket. So far, he and Tsubaki had already scored a basket apiece. The ball passed between Tsubaki and Marista and back to Black Star, then to Ciarin, who sank it straight through the hoop above.

Damn, thought Brina. Now they were in the lead again. The two teams had been tied for quite a while. They only had twenty minutes of play left. They had some serious catching up to do if they wanted to win this match too. Brina wasn't generally much of a competitive person, by any means, but she was definitely a team player.

"Hey, pass it to me!" she called to Soul, who was being plagued by both Marista and Ciarin, who had abandoned ship to help out.

It was the first time that Brina had ever specifically requested the ball to be thrown her way, but it seemed the most logical option seeing as she was the only one who, once again, wasn't being marked. Soul looked sceptical, as expected, but he did as Brina said and lobbed the ball towards her.

She caught it neatly and proceeded into dribbling it as far down the court as she could before Ciarin returned to take up his position. Brina hesitated. Matt was only just a way behind, but Ciarin was too tall and too fast for her to try and get the ball past him.

"Brina!" Kid shouted from behind her. He'd sprinted almost the length of the entire court, leaving Danny somewhere in his wake.

Brina hastily turned on her heel and passed the ball to Kid as hard as she could, who caught it and continued on towards the basket. Seeing Danny starting to catch up, Brina ran after him too, hoping she could try and play back-up. If they could just at least tie up the scores...

Danny made a wild bat for the ball as Kid neared the basket, who was forced to stop dribbling the ball and try to protect it instead. Seeing that Brina had managed to get even closer to the basket, he passed the ball back to her. "Heads up!"

Brina just managed to grab the ball with her fingertips as she leapt away from Ciarin's side at the last second. Danny was still blocking Kid as best as he could and Tsubaki was stopping Patty from getting any nearer to them. Urgh. Brina hated it when she was only left with this one choice.

Still, she bit the bullet and pitched the ball at the basket. It ricocheted off the edge of the ring. But Kid then feinted past Danny and quickly dove for the ball. He caught it and hurled it up at the basket in the same movement. It hit the backboard, bounced once off the hoop and then sailed smoothly through the middle.

Somewhere further down the court, Patty, Matt and Soul all whooped in delight. Brina felt the urge to do the same, allowing herself a little bounce up and down on the spot. Kid grinned proudly. "Now that was teamwork!" he said, slapping her a high five.

"I think Professor Stein would be proud," Brina smiled back.

Matt ran to retrieve the ball and it was put straight back into play. Everything had happened in the last five minutes - they still had fifteen left to play. With the score tied again, everyone was now even more determined to get another basket. As team captains, Kid and Black Star were playing particularly furiously.

Black Star came dangerously close to scoring again, but was blocked quite spectacularly by Patty. She passed the ball along to Matt, who launched it down the entire court in a surprising display of strength. Soul caught it and passed it back and forth between himself and Kid, trying to deter Danny and Marista.

"Kid, I'm open!" Brina called, just able to put enough space between her and Ciarin.

Danny just about managed to bat the ball with his fingertips as Kid threw it, knocking it off course. Brina was forced to dart to one side to try and catch it. However, Ciarin had the same idea in mind. She tripped over his sneakers as they both made to move at the same time and ended up sprawled on the floor.

"Okay. Not so open anymore," she winced, feeling her ankle throbbing. Great. Now she'd gone and twisted that one as well. Both feet in the space of a few days wasn't very good, even for her.

"Err, sorry about that," Ciarin apologised, looking sheepish. "You alright?"

"Ciar, I've told you to watch those big feet of yours!" Marista exclaimed, as she and the rest of the players congregated over, the ball rolling away across the court by itself.

"It's fine," Brina insisted. "It was my fault; I just wasn't looking."

"Geez, Brina. You sure know how to put a game on hold," Black Star sighed.

Tsubaki elbowed him in the side. "Don't be so inconsiderate. Brina, do you need a hand up?"

"I'm okay. I just need a second..."

Brina tried testing her ankle against the ground again. Another wave of pain rolled through it, making her grit her teeth. That wasn't good. It was definitely worse than last time. She wasn't sure if she'd even be able to stand on it.

Everyone seemed to have realised that she wasn't getting up. Normally. she was up on her feet again straightaway, trying to awkwardly brush off whatever mishap she'd just gotten herself into - whether it was from falling over or walking into something. But not this time. Instead, she was sat in an awkward position, clutching her ankle and wishing for the whole ordeal to just be ignored.

Kid elbowed past Black Star as well and came to crouch down in front of her. "What did you do?" His voice took on that usual half exasperated tone.

"Think I've twisted my ankle," Brina mumbled. She sounded uncertain, but she knew what she'd done. She was just embarrassed about it.

"You should go to the infirmary," Tsubaki advised concernedly.

"Can you stand?" Kid asked, reminiscent of the other night, his gaze scrutinising her ankle for any obvious signs of damage.

Brina hesitated. "Err..."

"So that's a no," Kid finished for her knowingly. "Come on, let's get you to the infirmary."

He helped pull Brina up into an awkwardly balanced standing position, with Tsubaki jumping in to assist as well. Brina automatically transferred all of her weight to her good foot. It wasn't like this sort of thing was new to her after all. Technically, she should have been a pro at hopping by now.

"Do you want me to help you along?" Tsubaki offered sweetly.

"It's fine. I'll take her," Kid said briskly. Brina had to resist the urge to groan. Like this whole thing wasn't bad enough already.

"It's okay, Tsubaki," Black Star cut in. "Kid can take her on his own." He knew that without Kid, the other team would have a distinct disadvantage.

"Then we'll be down two players!" Soul protested.

"Maka and Liz can stand in."

"Oh, great..."

Brina wasn't even listening to them. She was all too aware of Kid's arm around her waist, whether it was as support or not. "Put your arm around my neck," he told her.

Brina felt heat rush into her cheeks. It was always humiliating enough having to hobble along like an invalid, but why did Kid have to be the one to take her? "I'll be fine really."

Kid sighed. "Will you please just let me help you?"

"Fine," Brina agreed reluctantly, tentatively putting her arm around his neck. What she didn't expect was for him to then sweep her legs out from underneath her and lift her up into his arms. She let out an embarrassing squeak. "What are you doing?"

"It'll be much faster this way," said Kid indifferently. "You may not have noticed, but you really don't hobble very quickly."

Brina could hear several people giggling, making her cheeks flood even darker. "Jerk," she muttered. God, what she would have given to just evaporate on the spot.

The voices of the other students died away as Kid carried her back towards the school, though it didn't make her feel any less embarrassed. She allowed herself a few sneaky sideways glances at Kid's face, trying to gage his expression, until he noticed her looking and she quickly went back to staring straight ahead.

She was actually quite surprised. He didn't seem to be showing any signs of exertion from carrying her. She knew that she was only short, but Kid wasn't exactly tall either. Not to mention he only had a very slim build. She wondered if it was to do with him being a grim reaper.

Once they were inside the school, her curiosity became too much and she had to ask. "Does being a grim reaper make you strong?"

"A little. Not much more than most my age," Kid replied. "I'm sure that Black Star's physically a lot stronger than I am."

"Huh." Maybe Brina was just lighter than she'd expected.

The nurse looked surprised to see Kid carry Brina up to the infirmary and hurriedly ushered them inside. Brina had never been so happy to see the sick bay before. Besides her grim reaper question, they hadn't spoken two words to each other on the way over. It had been very awkward.

Kid helped her onto one of the beds, where she could have sighed with relief. "You really didn't have to go to so much trouble, y'know," she told him.

"You do know that friends areallowed to help each other, right?" he pointed out in return. "Besides, I feel it was my fault for weakening your ankle during our practice the other night."

Brina opened her mouth, then closed it again. She had a feeling that telling him now that it was actually the other ankle she'd injured earlier in the week would only make it more awkward for both of them. Plus he'd even said that they were friends. It was nice to actually hear it from him.

"Now let's have a look at you..." The nurse bustled over with an ice pack before Brina could say anything else.

"You should get back to the game," Brina advised Kid instead, whilst the nurse busied herself with easing Brina's boot off. "See if you can score a miracle basket in the last few minutes."

"I think the emphasis is on the word miracle there," Kid smiled wryly. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?"

"I'll be fine," Brina assured him, though she felt quite touched by the gesture. "It isn't like this is new territory for me."

Kid chuckled. "Alright. Then I hope your ankle gets better soon."

"Thanks." Brina smiled at him sincerely. "And thanks for helping me over here." As embarrassing as it may have been, she knew that he'd only wanted to help her. And she certainly appreciated that.

She wasn't entirely sure if she'd imagined it, but she could have sworn she'd seen the slightest blush tinge Kid's face. "It's no trouble," he said, somewhat uncomfortably. "I'll see you on Monday then."

"See you."

Brina watched as Kid left, then turned her attention to the nurse, who was now pressing the ice pack to her noticeably swollen ankle. "It's a little swollen, but I don't think it's a bad sprain," the nurse told her. "It should be okay after a few days. Make sure to keep using it as much as you can, but at the same time, don't overdo it. I can give you a crutch to use as support for getting back home."

"Okay, thanks." Again, these were all procedures that Brina was very used to.

"You have the weekend now to recover," the nurse pointed out. "So hopefully, it shouldn't affect any of your physical activities in school too much."

"It should be alright," said Brina lightly. "Apparently I favour my other foot more anyway, so I guess I..."

She trailed off as she realised something. Kid had definitely seen which ankle she'd injured - he'd been examining it when she'd been sitting out on the basketball court. So he would have known that it wasn't the foot he reckoned she always favoured and therefore, that it wasn't the ankle she'd sprained during practice.

Most people might not have noticed something like that. But this was Kid. Kid noticed everything. He was the one who'd noticed that she favoured one foot over the other in the first place. So why had he made such a fuss over helping her? Why had he lied and said that it was his fault for weakening her ankle? He had to have known...

Had it just been an excuse?

"Is everything alright?" the nurse questioned, seeing her gazing over towards the door again.

Brina felt a smile creep across her face. "Yeah, it's fine. In fact, I suddenly feel a whole lot better..."