A/N: Sorry this took me so long to post. ^^' I had it about 2/3rds of the way done and it was just sitting in my laptop for the longest time because I've been super busy lately. I know I say that all the time, but it's even truer now. Soccer season just started, c'mon guys, cut me some slack. Anyway, it's up now. Made it pretty long just for you, so I hope you enjoy it. =)

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Chrona stared at the astounding heated scorch marks that Maka had left on the stone floor leading out of her room and into the hall. They were very impressive, yet terrifying at the same time. The devil sword wielder had never seen her friend that angry or that scary before, and they had even battled on numerous occasions. Not even the time when Maka let herself be overcome by the black-blood that resulted in the blonde trying to eat her stunned her this much.

"Urgh, what's going on, Chrona?" the rosette heard a familiar voice grumble, she looked up to see the familiar black and white face of her partner. "Your hearts beating pretty fast, what's wrong?" he asked again as he rubbed his x-shaped eye with his tiny fist. Chrona blinked with curiosity and surprise, he seemed much nicer than he usually was. Was he actually worried about her?

"Hey, answer me when I'm talking to you!" Ragnarok barked with a sudden burst of energy. Chrona pouted, realizing that his temporary kindness was only out of grogginess.

"…It's nothing." She replied softly as she turned to resume her packing.

"Hey, what's all this about?" he queried leaning on the edge of his meister's head to get a better look at what she was doing.

"M-Maka invited me to go to a 'sleep over'…" she said the words 'sleep over' oddly, still not completely understanding what the event entitled.

"Humph, sounds boring," he huffed, "I'm going back to sleep." And with that, he dissipated into her back, and for the first time in her life, Chrona wished that he had stuck around.

She sighed stuffing the last of her things into the old borrowed suitcase. She picked up her bag and began to head to her door to leave, but stopped mid-way. The all too familiar nag of her worry and doubt had returned to eating away at the corners of her mind. If she went to the mansion again, she'd finally have to face him. They hadn't spoken for so long, she didn't know how do deal with seeing him again. Even though a part of her did want so desperately for the two of them to meet again. For things to return to the way they were before, though she knew deep in her heart that it was not to be. Going to this party would undoubtedly only remind her of this painful fact.

But…Maka was so kind and sweet; there was no way that she'd lead her down the wrong path. She had done so much for her. She believed in her and supported her when no one else would. The least she could do to repay her was go to this strange 'sleepover' for her. If she didn't go, then she might make Maka sad…she certainly didn't want that. She'd just have to go, no matter how uncomfortable it would be for her.

'For Maka's sake,' she declared in her mind, the phrase giving her courage she didn't know she possessed. With that resolution in mind, she grabbed a firm hold on the door's handle and left the room.

The pinkette had shuffled her way outside of Shibusen and down the road towards Kid's house when it suddenly began to pour as dark grey clouds hid the yawning sun.

'For Maka's sake,' she tried to encourage herself, but the rain only seemed to fall harder.

'For Maka's sake.' She repeated mentally before sneezing; it was getting really cold now.

'F-for Maka's sake.' This was a problem; her determination was beginning to deteriorate. She could barely see where she was going it was raining so heavily. Her pace slowed as she began to wonder if maybe the bad weather was a bad omen, telling her not to go. Maybe she should just go back…

The easily startled girl nearly jumped out of her skin at what she heard right as she conceived the thought of giving up. It was the boom of thunder and the crack of lightning along with probably the worst, most frightening cry of agony she had ever heard in her entire life. The wail even rivaled that of her and Ragnarok's scream resonance. She couldn't imagine what gruesome, horrible torment whoever was screaming was being given, but she could tell that it was coming directly from Shibusen.

Well, if the unfavorable weather was a bad omen, then that couldn't be anything less than a death warning. Upon hearing another dreadful holler echo through her ears once again, she quite literally ran from the source of the sound toward Kid's house, thinking that anywhere must be better than there at the moment.

After what seemed like miles of running, Chrona had finally made it to Death the Kid's massive front door. She hunched over, panting and gasping for breath before opening her eyes to marvel at the huge, intricately decorated door. It seemed so intimidating that she was having a hard time bringing up her fist to knock on it. Right when she had strained her hand about halfway to it, it suddenly came rushing toward her, and before the girl could even react; it had opened and hit her hard right in the face.

Then, everything went black.

********

Death the Kid quickened his pace with newfound determination and drive as he walked down the halls of his house, his two weapons right on his tail.

"Don't worry, Kid. We know you can do it!" Liz said encouragingly from his right.

"Yeah! Go for it, Kid-kun!" Patty cheered from his left, "Be a man!" Kid nodded, not entirely hearing what they were saying.

'Chrona…I'm coming now,' he thought to himself, the sound of his weapons' chanting turning into white noise as he neared his front door.

'Chrona...' He reached out and grabbed the door's handle.

'Chrona,' he swung the door open with full force, intending to dash out immediately after opening it, when he heard a loud bang and a thud from the other side of it. He looked over its edge as his jaw dropped to the floor.

"Chrona!" he yelled, completely flabbergasted. He had unintentionally hit her with his own front door so hard that she fainted!

"Eh, 'Chrona'? Chrona-chans here?" the twin pistols blinked in wonder before seeing just what their technician was flailing so smazzmatically about. It was the familiar girl that they hadn't just been talking about less than a minute before, lying on their doorstep, unconscious with a thin trail of blood trickling down from her forehead.

"What you'd do that for, Kid?" Liz asked as she bent down to pick up the knocked out girl, "Now that was uncalled for."

"Wha-what?! But, I-I didn't-!" Kid wheezed, still shaken by the strange and extremely unlucky turn of events.

"Hahahaha! Chrona went boom!" Patty laughed from the background as her sister turned back into the house, carrying the sleeping girl on her back.

"Patty, can you get me a towel and a change of clothes for Chrona? She's soaked to the bone," the brunette prompted, completely ignoring Kid as he slumped to the floor behind her.

"Ha~i!" her sister replied cheerfully as she skipped off to complete her assigned task. They were all gone now, leaving Kid to wallow in his misery.

********

A while later, the tall girl shut the guest room door behind her as she shushed her sister, telling her that if she's not quiet, she might wake Chrona up. The shorter blonde only grinned in reply when they both turned to the sound of muffled sobs. They exchanged glances in dreaded recognition as they went into comfort mode.

"Let's go, Patty."

"Heeheehee! Haha!"

When they finally found Kid, he was curled up with his head buried in his arms that were wrapped around his knees. He was in the corner, muttering something that they couldn't quite decipher. The sisters bent down on either side of him.

"Urgh! I can't believe I did that!" he suddenly bellowed before slumping his head back onto his knees. His position made the girls think of Chrona, she must be rubbing off on him.

"C'mon now. It wasn't that bad." The elder of the girls tried to soothe, but the boy only groaned in protest. "Well…look at it this way; this is a perfect opportunity for you!" Kid glanced up at her with a look that said that he thought maybe she had lost her mind.

"Okay, just hear me out," Liz pouted, reading his expression, "I mean, think about it. In all honesty, things couldn't have turned out better for you. You were going to go to her, but she came to you. That must mean something, right?" She continued, looking over at her sister who smiled from ear to ear, feeling like she was in on the funniest secret ever. "Besides, she's here now, right? It's raining, so we can use that as an excuse to make her stay. She's already in the bedroom-"

"Stop right there." Kid instructed with an embarrassed glare and a raised hand. Was Spirit rubbing off on her? …Wait a minute, was he only rubbing of on Liz? Well, that certainly wouldn't do. If he was going to rub off on one of them, he should at least rub off on both of them. …Wait a minute…did he really want that…?

"Calm down, Kid. I was just joking." She chuckled with her hands up apologetically. "But anyway, she's here now, so why don't you just tell her when she wakes up?"

"Oh, yes, indeed!" Kid jerked with angry sarcasm, "And just what do you suppose I should say? 'I know it may not seem like it, seeing as I knocked you out cold, but the truth is that even though I probably gave you severe brain damage, Chrona, I actually love you!'"

"Yeah, that sounds perfect!" Patty agreed, not understanding that Kid wasn't being serious.

"Ugh! Just let me die! I'm worthless trash!" Kid cried as he pounded his fist into the floor, "Oh, no… what if I gave her a bruise or a scratch on only one side of her face?!"

"Kid! Get a hold of yourself!" Liz demanded as she shook him vigorously, "Is that really what's most important right now?"

"…N-no, I suppose not," he murmured, seeing stars.

"Okay, good. Well, now that you understand, we'll be on our way." Liz informed them as she rose from her place at Kid's side, "Let's go, Patty."

"Awwww~, but I wanna see the show!" she whined in protest.

"I know, I know. I want to see it too, we all do," Liz started in a very motherly way.

'Wait, just who did she mean by, 'we all do'?' Kid considered as he watched the two, 'And what show?!'

"But we can't stay, or we'll make them nervous. Okay?"

"O~h, I see," Patty said with a finger to her chin. "You can do it, Kid-kun! Fight-o!" she cheered as she pulled out and began to respectively wave green and orange flags with the phrase Fight! written on their surfaces.

"W-wait! Where are going?!" the boy reached out from the tiled floor.

"Don't worry, we'll be back eventually. I feel like doing some power shopping." The brunette stated as she dragged her sister trough the front door, "We know you can do it." They said simultaneously before they both gave him one last thumbs up sign as they slipped through the front door.

"But-!" he tried again, but it was too late, they had already left. He waited a moment before sighing as he pulled himself up off of the floor. Having nothing else to do, he began to pace as he rehearsed his speech of what he was going to say in his mind, just the mere thought of it racking at his nerves.

********

When Chrona awoke, she found herself in a dark place. She waited for her eyes to adjust when she started to make out shapes. She could see that it was a lavish, yet somewhat familiar room. Her mind a blur, she grabbed at her throbbing head as she rose into a sitting position. Her head hurt so much; it was hard to focus so she first tried to figure out where she was. Her dark eyes scanned the room, and then it hit her. There was only one place on earth that was this black and white, sophisticated, and ridiculously orderly. She was in Death the Kid's mansion.

Upon realization, Chrona immediately panicked and followed her first instinct-run. Mind racing to a point of colorful, nonsensical haze, Chrona grabbed hold of the warm sheets over her legs and tossed them aside as she pushed herself onto her feet. Unfortunately for her, the girl was much too hasty in her desperate escape and lost her footing. Causing the young technician to stumble and fall, sending new waves of pain through her already abused enough head. The pink-haired girl clutched her head in a futile effort to dull the painful ringing.

She peaked an eye open when she caught the sound of excited yelling a ways outside her door. She couldn't quite place whom the voices belonged to, but something told her that she recognized them. She crawled to the edge of the door as silently as she could.

"Calm down, Kid. I was just joking." She heard a voice laugh nervously.

"But anyway, she's here now, so why don't you just tell her when she wakes up?" Her eyes blinked in recognition; that was Liz-san's voice! But who was she talking to? And who was she talking about?

"Oh, yes, indeed!" Chrona jumped back at the sound of the angry, deep voice. There was no mistaking it. That was Kid's voice! "And just what do you suppose I should say? 'I know it may not seem like it, seeing as I knocked you out cold, but the truth is that even though I probably gave you severe brain damage, Chrona, I actually love you!'"

Chrona's petite hand shot up to her mouth in an attempt to mute her gasp as she fell back, unable to hold herself up.

Just now…what was that?

'Chrona, I actually love you!' the words resonated in her mind over and over again, as if she needed to hear them again just to be sure that they were actually spoken and not just a figment of her imagination. She wasn't even thinking; all she could hear was Kid's unintentional confession replay in her ears. With each time the phrase repeated in her mind, her heart beat faster and faster. The complete tremor and surprise she felt hit her blocked the chance of any thought process. It was as if she was frozen solid where she sat.

What finally snapped her back into reality was the sound of the front door slam. Did that mean they all left? She waited a moment to listen and make sure they were all gone. Nothing. The coast must be clear. She stood and slowly creaked her door open, as her eyes grew wide. For not a few feet directly in front of her was the one person who made her feel as if she was about to burst. Death the Kid was standing towards her with a look of equal surprise on is face as they both stared at each other in awkward silence. Both teenagers were desperately scrambling for something, anything to say.

"C-Chrona…" Kid at last began and Chrona finally snapped as she bolted for the door. Hearing him say her name was just too much. Her mind was a jumbled mess and she didn't understand any of it. How could they be friends, then him not even speak to her without explanation, then him suddenly say something like that? There was no way he could love her. No way anyone could ever love her, nonetheless someone like him. It had to be a lie. It had to be. She knew this. She knew this from the very beginning. But then, why did it hurt so much?

"Chrona!!" the young shinigami yelled in desperation. Without thinking, he instinctively took off after her and caught her by the wrist just before she escaped.

"No! No!" she screamed in response, her eyes rimmed with tears. At this Kid didn't know how to react.

"Chrona…. Chrona…!" Kid tried in order to get her attention so that he could possibly calm her down, but it only seemed to make thing worse as she continued to struggle in his grasp. He tried to restrain her as things became more violent, but he didn't want to hurt her. Finally, he grabbed both her wrists and pinned her to the wall. Chrona's eyes grew wide once again as she stared up at his looming figure above her. She gasped when his head rose and his bangs revealed tender, concerned eyes. She hung her head in the other direction as she made one last effort to escape, but Kid had stepped closer to her to signal to her that she wasn't getting away. The demon sword wielder took the hint and halted her attempts, still not facing him.

"Chrona…" Kid tried one last time, trying to get a glimpse of her deep magenta eyes.

"No…" she almost whispered, "I- …I don't… I don't understand." Kid looked at her face with confusion of his own.

"Why…? …How…? …H-How could you h-hate me, then suddenly s-say something like that…?" she managed to coke out between sobs as she finally looked up at him, tears streaming down her face.

Kid felt as if someone had just punched him in the gut. Was this how he made her feel?

"Chrona…I don't hate you. I don't hate you at all." He said his voice laced with guilt. The girl raised her tear-streaked face as her cries quieted down. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry I made you feel this way. I'm such a coward. …All this time I was running. Running from a reality that I didn't want to face. The reality that I love you, but that I couldn't be with you." The air hung silent for a moment.

"B-but…why?" the girl asked, her heart swelling from the knowledge that the one she loved the most felt the same way about her, only to crumble at the sound of his words.

"Chrona… As much as I wish it weren't true, it is. Even if we could be together, it would only be for a short time." Kid's heart sank as he watched her shake her head and her tears return. "I'm a shinigami. This fact I cannot change. So, undoubtedly my lifetime will greatly exceed yours, meaning-"

"Well, aren't you full of yourself." They both heard a smarmy voice comment as they spun their heads up in unison. "I was trying to ignore your stupid little love-fest, but it just got so annoying I couldn't take it!"

"Just who do think you are, stripe boy? You really think you're so great and holy that you'll outlive everybody else?" Ragnarok questioned deciding to pop out in the middle of the adolescents' tear-jerking conversation. "Don't make me laugh! You really don't know anything, do you?" Both teens got the feeling that they were about to be schooled by this little blob. Could he have done it at a more awkward time though?

"At the very least you get that Medusa is Chrona's mom, right? Well, even though Chrona never learned magic and was forced and raised as a meister in favor of witchcraft because of her mother, Medusa is still is her mother. Nothing will ever change that fact. So even though she doesn't know how to cast a spell, she still has the physique of a witch. So thanks to her genes, her body will grow and develop and age the same as a witch's body would. So if anything, she might even outlive you, stupid!" he added with a sudden burst of anger, completely ruining his somewhat smart, cool speech.

"…Hmph, the body of a witch, the blood of a weapon, and the soul of a priss, you're one seriously screwed up bitch, Chrona." He grunted just before finally deciding to take his leave.

There was a moment of very awkward silence as this major discovery slowly sunk in. This wasn't just a surprise for Kid, this as the also the first Chrona had heard of this. She always knew that she different from her friends and the other girls around her, but was she really that disgusting? She looked down in shame, feeling like some sort of freak of nature, when she heard Kid laughing.

This caught the girl off guard as she perked her head up in continuous surprise. Her curiosity and wonder at the first time seeing him genuinely happy like this overwhelmed her sadness.

"I-…I'm sorry, Chrona… It's just…" the boy wheezed as he ran his hand through his bangs. He just couldn't contain himself. He was just so overjoyed with relief that he burst out in laughter. "It's just…I'm such a fool. All this time, I've been so blind."

"Do you know what this means?" he questioned as he took hold of both her hands, his smile even outshining the sun. "We can finally be together! …That is…if you'll have a fool like me…?"

Chrona could tell by the sound of his voice and the look on his face that Kid was putting himself out on a limb. She couldn't take the uncertainty and sorrow in his eyes. She flung herself into his chest, this time out of joy, not sadness. Kid quickly got over his surprise in time to hold her back.

"Y-yes…Yes, I will." She replied, "I-I think…I love you, Kid." She mumbled through his shirt. The boy smiled at the fact that the girl was now comfortable enough to call him by his first name. And he beamed at the fact that the one he held most dear somehow felt the same way about him.

"I love you too, Chrona." He declared at long last, his voice unwavering, "Would you maybe consider going out with me?"

"Y-yes…" she whispered, beginning to cry again, "I would like that very much."

He shushed her softly as he stroked her pink hair, trying to calm her newfound sobs. But these cries were born of happiness, and even though Chrona still didn't know how to deal it the tears, she didn't think she minded at all.

********

A/N: Can you guess who made the "dreadful wail of agony"? XD Here's a hint, reread chapter 5.

God bless all of you who actually read till the end of the story. I love you! =D Hope you enjoyed it. I guess I'll see you in my future stories and fics. Bye, bye. ;)