Shizuka sat at the kitchen table of her and kankyo's apartment studying a notebook, pen in hand. It had been a little over two weeks since their encounter with Black star and his crew and she had been on edge ever since. The only thing calming her now was the smell of the chili Kankyo was making; he was going heavy on the garlic again. Normally she would cook, but ever since their run in with Black Star he's been doing more work around the house so she had less to worry about. Truthfully it gave her less to distract herself with, but she would never tell him that. Tonight they were comparing notes on what they learned about the new threat in their life. They planned to weaken Black star's crew before they took him on finding places to knock each of them down a few pegs, throw them off their game anything to get them distracted. They decided to start with the albino and his partner.

"Ok" shouted Shizuka "I'll start with pig tails."

"Who?" Questioned Kankyo leaving the Chili to look at her notes.

"Pig tails."

Kankyo chuckled and leaned over her shoulder "you mean Maka." he informed her as he took her pen and started writing names next to her notes he was lucky her Nicknames were easy to figure out Pig tails, Albino, Striped hair the only name she had right was Black star. 'Bad with names like always' he thought as he finished and went back to the dinner. Shizuka looked over each of the names his handwriting was ridiculously neat for a guy. It made her chicken scratch look like a foreign language in comparison.

"Maka" Skizuka sighed "Top of the class, her main competitor for this position is Ox, It seem to be a big deal to her if she is not at the top. Can control witch hunter, anti-magic wave length, her father is Death Scythe and her mother is nowhere to be found." She finished looking at Kankyo.

Kankyo brought over two bowls of food on a tray with two cans of soda. "She also hates her dad because he cheated on her mother, she and Soul have had problems getting along in the past, and she blamed herself for Soul getting injured a couple months back." He added as he places a bowl in front of Shizuka.

Shizuka took a bite of the warm chili 'it was just like him' She thought 'he got the emotions behind the person while I have the facts, maybe that was why they worked so well together.'

"So any ideas?" Shizuka asked

Kankyo mouth was full so he tapped his chin to signal he was thinking about it she nodded in response. Shizuka took this time to study Kankyo something she did often it helped her get a new perspective to focus on something else for a bit and he was always around, always had been from the time they were kids. It was Saturday night so he was in his lazy clothes. He was wearing a black long sleeve shirt that had a few buttons at the top which he left undone of course; the sleeves were pulled up so she would not yell at him about how it's dangerous to cook with long sleeves. He matched that with green camo P.J. bottoms, his hair was messier than usual and his glasses were beginning to slide down his nose. He was humming tunelessly like he always did when in deep thought. It used to bug her when he hummed but now it just something he does.

Kankyo finally spoke "you said Maka fights to stay in the top of the class right?"

"Yeah against a kid named Ox."

"Well the test for class ranking is coming up next week professor Stein said he does not expect us to know everything on the test because we joined the school year late but knowing you, I bet you have read all the class textbook already right?"

He was right when they were given the text book a week before their first day of school right after they agreed to join the school. She had read it in the first few days ever since then she has read more advanced versions of the textbook she could find in the library. She had just finished the last textbook she could find that didn't dive in to just one subject. She knew enough that a test would be easy for her.

"Yes I have."

"Good then become top of the class." He grinned "It should be easy for you and she would never expect it"

Shizuka nodded She had planned on staying in the middle of the class so she didn't stand out, but she thought it was a good plan.

"We will have to do to more to throw her of her game but it's a good place to start. What about Soul?" Questioned Shizuka

"He's from a rich family of musicians, talented at playing the piano but feels inferior to his brother when it comes to music so he rarely plays, he tries hard to be cool and cares a great deal for Maka." Listed Kankyo "What about you?"

"Not much he is a slacker tried to cheat on a test in the past, is willing to give his life for his partner, was injured and almost killed a few months ago, Never goes by his last name, tries to team up with Black star once but failed due to incompatible wavelengths, Is the first weapon in his family." Read Shizuka

"Sounds like the place to hit him is his insecurities about his family and his bond with Maka."

Shizuka stood up and stared to collect the dish to clean up, Kankyo watched her. He had been worried about her since discovering there was a member star clan still around, he knew what she had been thinking if one managed to hide how many others were there. She had been quieter the usual and was rarely taking her nose a book these days. She was closing herself off not only was that bad as a weapon and meister pair but it meant she was having the nightmares again. He had heard her screaming in the middle of the night, it took all he could not to run in there and check on her but he knew if he did she would feel bad about waking him up. Another part of him would wait for her to crawl in to his bed like she did when they were kids and she had the nightmares, she had not done that in years. He would still make room for her if she ever decided to sneak in but she never did. So he was stuck with studying her and waiting for when she fell to pieces. He hated it but that was the only time she would accept his attempts at comfort anymore. She pulled at the arms of her hoodie sliding the thumbs out of the holes she cut in the sleeves. Today she was wearing his old pull over faded blue hoodie; He had grown out of the hoodie a few years back, And gave it to her knowing she would find some use for it. Earlier he had seen her in an hole filled light gray tank top so he guessed that was Underneath the hoodie. She also wore her favorite pair black basketball shorts. He continued to watch her as she cleaned up after dinner he could tell she was thinking about what to do about Soul, she was biting her lip like she always did when she was in a deep thought that worried her. Shizuka finally spoke snapping him out of his train of thought.

"Well if we start to mess with Maka, Soul will most likely get on her nerves and she will lash out at him, like what I do when I have had it with your jokes."

"Hey, what wrong with my—"

"After She as yelled at him once or twice it will be easier to knock him down a few pegs."

"All right then." said Kankyo Standing up, he walked over and kneelt down in front their DVD collection "You up for a movie night I was thinking a comedy."

"Hmm I prefer horror." Shizuka said as she sat down on their black couch with her hands in the front pocket of the hoodie.

"Romantic comedy?" Kankyo asked with a playful grin as he waved some cheesy rom-com at her from across the room

"You know I hate those." She replied with a smile.