[ /author's note ] Whoo! I had fun writing this. xD I was at my cousin's house and they got a new dog named Sully, and BAM the inspiration hit me. xDD;; So yeah, hope you like it. n 3n [ /end author's note ]

"Ohh! So cute!"

Standing feebly in one of the corners of the crowded classroom, Chrona watched as the girls of the class flocked to Marie's cluttered desk. The teacher herself was lost in a sea of meisters and weapons, her own squeals mixing with the others'. Chrona really wasn't sure what was going on at the moment. It had been just a normal school day and they had just shifted chasses when it had all started. The lavender haired girl had been minding her own business, catching up on a book that Maka had lent her while waiting for Marie to arrive – she had made it a habit to be late for her own class – when suddenly, the sliding door had busted open. Without warning, all the girls (and some boys) shrieked and sprinted over to Marie in frenzy. When Chrona's head had finally snapped up in shock, it was too late for the startled girl to see what the ruckus was all about, since Marie was already out of sight. It was a good thing Chrona's assigned seat was in the corner, because if she was in the middle of all that, she would most likely have another one of her infamous anxiety attacks and pass out in front of everyone. That would be far too embarrassing for her to be able to handle, and she wouldn't know how to deal with it.

And now, the helpless meister was in the corner, panicked blue eyes darting about frantically, trying to see what everyone was freaking out about. She stood on her tip-toes in her old-fashioned black shoes, struggling to see over the others. Despite her attempts, she didn't succeed, and the noise was beginning to get to her. She clenched her teeth and gripped her arm tightly, slumping her shoulders in defeat and whirling around to crouch in the corner, her back facing the other seemingly entranced students.

Just what were they so happy about, anyways? Chrona didn't know what to do with squealing girls, they made her feel weird, knowing that she was the only female not getting so excited and . . . well . . . squealing. She was beginning to wonder what it s. She really wasn't sure what made 'normal' people happy, considering that she was a bit new at experiencing the feeling of joy or contentment. And it didn't help very much that the people she grew up with weren't exactly considered 'normal', in the eyes of others. But Medusa-sama and Ragnarok were perfectly normal to her. She fixed her eyes on the carpet, tracing small circles with her index finger, pondering silently inside her head. Okay. What does . . . Medusa-sama like? She asked herself, digging through her memories of her mother. She liked snakes, Stein-sensei, and torture. Chrona shuddered when she thought about Medusa; the snake witch didn't like many things, anyways. Now for her weapon, whom she knew a lot better than she knew her mother. Ragnarok liked violence, eating souls, and harassing/abusing/bullying Chrona in any way, shape or form. He didn't like many things, either. That didn't really seem to help very much, and she frowned sadly. Nothing 'normal' was coming to mind, and it was bothering her. And Chrona couldn't really use her own opinion, since she was too scared of everything to like anything, really. She bit her lip quizzically. The meister was stumped.

"Hey, Chrona!" she heard a familiar female voice and she immediately turned her head, looking behind her and upwards to see the blond scythe meister. Blood rushed to Chrona's cheeks at being near her friend, but she tried holding it back. She was unwilling to turn around, even for Maka. Not that anyone would really be fooled, or anything; it was obvious Chrona would go to the ends of the earth for the twin-tailed meister, but Chrona was too afraid to face her when she was in a room as noisy as this one. Yes, the timid girl would do anything for the other, except for things involving socializing. She didn't know how to deal with that.

Maka's cheery smile blamed down at the scrawny girl. "Come and see, Chrona! Come look at what Marie-sensei brought!" she said happily, her cheeks tinted light pink for some reason Chrona didn't know about, though they were not nearly as flushed as her's.

Chrona hiccupped, tightening her grip around her knees. "Wh-what about Soul-san . . . ?" she questioned quietly, a hint of unheard jealousy lingering in her soft voice. It was hard to believe that Maka couldn't tell about her feelings, considering Chrona had been told it was so obvious by Ragnarok – then he proceeded to pulling up her dress, of course. But Chrona did her best to hide her jealousy of Soul. He was so lucky, getting to be with her 24/7, practically. Oh well. Whatever made Maka happy.

Maka tilted her head, and sighed, irritated, it seemed. "Psh. Soul thinks it's 'uncool'." she said blankly, and then smiled back at the other girl. "So anyways, come on!" she insisted merrily, putting her hands on her knees to look down at Chrona.

The demon sword wielder pulled at her hair, twirling a lavender lock around her pale, bony finger. "Ano . . . " she began, and her eyes glanced around the room uncertainly. "B-but Maka . . ."

"No buts!" she interrupted, causing Chrona to recoil back slightly, fearing that she might've upset her. But the soft smile on the girl's face told a different story as she held out a hand to Chrona in that familiar gesture the shy girl liked so much. "Don't worry about it, Chrona, you'll like it. You definitely won't have to worry about this." she assured her, her smile telling no lies. Chrona couldn't help but trust her.

She stared up at her, feeling her cheeks heat up as she hesitantly took her hand, pulling herself up with the help of Maka. She smiled dumbly, though as she stood up, she nearly tripped over her feet awkwardly. Chrona face flushed lightly as the blond giggled at her shy and clumsy nature, letting her hand go subconsciously, which Made Chrona cling to Maka's sleeve instead. The blond pushed their way through the crowd of girls in that polite way of hers, muttering 'excuse me's along the way. Chrona just followed close behind her, trying not to touch any of the others, in fear that they might think that she was weird, or intruding them, or something. Though, the crowdedness caused Maka and Chrona's sides to briefly touch, making the timid girl's heart flutter in her chest. Even so, she stayed quiet about it as usual; and anyways, there was no way that her already barely audible voice could be heard from where they were now.

Chrona could tell that they were growing closer to their destination, because she could just see the top of Marie's head. "Sensei! Let Chrona see!" Maka called out and waved at Marie, eyes darting downwards slightly to look at something that the teacher was holding. Chrona saw her giggle and wave at whatever that was, too, though she still wasn't able to see what it was.

The scatterbrained Marie looked up from whatever she had been staring at, smiling cheerily at the two girls, and giving a small wave at Chrona. She motioned frantically towards them, and Maka pulled her along by her sleeve. "Chrona! Look!" both of the females chanted, pushing Chrona towards Marie enthusiastically.

"Wh-what do you want me to . . ."

Chrona cut herself off when she saw the object of seemingly everyone's attention. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped as a small bundle of light brown fur squirmed and yipped softly in the teacher's arms. The creature had eyes as black as the buttons on Chrona's collar, with a twinkle in its hard orbs. Its tiny tan nose sniffed the air momentarily, and then sneezed innocently, causing the crowd to let out another set of squeals and wails. Noticing this, the animal wagged its tail, letting out a happy little yelp and licking Marie's finger in an adorable fashion.

It. Was. Too. Cute.

All Chrona could do was gape at the thing, her face turning twelve different shades of red, from light pink to scarlet. She seemed to be frozen as she stared silently, her expression practically screaming that she didn't know how to deal with this. Only when she felt much too soft fur brush against her arm did she snap out of the daze that the creature had put her under her and yelp softly in surprise. Marie was holding out the whatever-it-was in front of her, flashing her a sunny smile.

"You wanna hold him, Chrona?" her teacher asked, and Chrona just blinked in shock. She snapped her mouth shut to keep herself from looking weird, but opened it again, attempting to speak.

Nothing came out and she felt like an idiot, standing there like she was. "Uhh . . ." she drawled stupidly, staring at the animal and Marie and Maka and then back to the teacher. After a few failed attempts, she finally managed to sew her splutters of 'um's and 'er's together to make words. "A-ah . . . I, um, n-no, I sh-shouldn't . . ." her soft, nervous voice could just barely be heard as it shook slightly with anxiety.

"Nonsense ~ I'm sure Sully would love it if you held him!" Marie insisted cheerily. Maka bobbed her head up and down excitedly, her golden pigtails swaying with her movement. The creature's eyes were glued to Chrona, a little pink tongue rolling lazily out of the side of its mouth.

Chrona really wasn't sure what to do in a situation like the one she was in at the moment. She bit her lip and blushed noticeably more than she had already been. Its name was . . . 'Sully' . . . it was such a cute sounding name. She pondered what she could do, but she wasn't allowed to think about it for very long, because she felt the bundle being placed into her arms. Chrona flinched and looked down, wide-eyed, at the squirming Sully. "Sh-should I put him d-down?!" she pleaded, assuming that he was trying to get away, and she inched closer to her teacher in the slightest, ready to give him back, or let him get down, if he wanted.

Marie shook her head, patting Sully on the head. "No, he just wants to do this." Chrona blinked in curiosity, giving her a quizzical look, when Sully pushed himself up with his little paws on her arm, his tiny pink tongue licking her hot cheek cutely.

Chrona's eyes grew wide, and she darted her gaze from Marie to Maka. "H-he licked me!" she gasped, and the two females looked at each other and giggled. Chrona wasn't sure what to do, other than support him so he wouldn't fall, or anything. It was obvious that the others were enjoying this, and Chrona, being the self-conscious girl she was, looked up at them, a frightened expression laid out on her face. "D-did I say something w-weird?" she asked worriedly, nervously biting her lip.

Marie shook her head with a friendly laugh, and Maka put a hand on Chrona's shoulder reassuringly. "No, it's just kind of funny seeing you with a dog like this." She chuckled to herself, and Chrona's eyes widened. "No, not like that! I mean . . ." Maka trailed off, putting a finger to her lips. "I've just never seen you with a pet before."

Chrona blinked, trying to comprehend the words she had said. Sully was a dog? Chrona had never seen one up close, only in the picture books and the internet pages that Maka had shown her. Chrona's expression said it all and Marie patted Sully's head, smiling at the girl. "Sully is my new puppy. I just got him over the weekend!" she squealed, pressing her lips to the small dog's forehead, who, in return, barked playfully. "Isn't he cute, Chrona? Don't you think he's absolutely a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e?" she said in baby talk; it seemed like she was aiming it at the dog.

Chrona glanced down at Sully, who was wagging his tail and leaning against her chest in contentment. She stayed quiet for a moment and let Marie rub his head before speaking very quietly, "Y-yes . . ." He really was cute, probably the cutest thing she had seen in her life. It really wasn't common to find cute things in Death City, and it was a blessing that Sully was one of the rare ones.

Maka giggled, rubbing the small dog's ears between her fingers. He barked again, but this time clung to Chrona, licking her own finger that was cautiously inching its way towards his head to pet him. "Hey, Chrona, I think he likes you!" the pigtailed girl exclaimed, and Chrona blushed.

"You. . . y-you think so?" she asked shyly, her hand almost on his head, when she felt the familiar pain in her back. She flinched and hiccupped as the dog buried his nose into her arms, folding his ears over his eyes. "Ugyuu . . ." she gurgled as her chibi weapon burst out of her back, throwing his arms in the air and down onto Chrona's head.

"Chrona, you stupid idiot!" he screeched, pounding his fists into her head. "I thought I told you to ditch this class today and bring me food in the bathroom! Bitch!" he slammed his hand into her head and ruffled her hair, giving her a rough noogie.

Chrona wailed, hugging the dog closer to her so he wouldn't fall out. "A-aah, Ragnarok, st-stop . . ." she whined softly, though her pleas did nothing. He tugged at her hair and nearly made her fall over, but she caught herself, along with Sully, who yipped in complaint.

Ragnarok stopped when he heard the dog, holding onto her hair for support as he raised his 'eyebrow' questionably. "Eh?" he peered around her head at the thing, and dropped down to her shoulder to get a better look at it. "What the hell is that?" he jabbed a bubbly hand towards Sully, who growled and nearly bit him. "Tch. The thing's feisty." He pulled away, scoffing, and raised his fist in the air, about to hit him over the head, when Chrona blocked him with her free hand, cradling the dog in only one arm.

"N-no! Just leave him a-alone," she stammered, glancing back down at the small animal. "Th-this is Sully-san. He's M-Marie-sensei's new . . . p-puppy." She tried the word out on her tongue; it sounded weird to her, since she had never actually seen one before. Like Maka said, there was a first time for everything.

Ragnarok 'tsk'ed, propping himself up on Chrona's shoulder, irritated. "Sully, eh? Psh, well, a terrible name for a fugly mutt, I s'pose." In response to this, Chrona felt Sully squirm a little and closer to Ragnarok. The weapon blinked when he felt a small tongue lick his cheek, and he shot the dog a dirty look. "Eww, gross! The thing licked me!" he complained, though he gave the dog his punishment softly, poking him in the side of his head a bit less harshly than he usually did to Chrona.

Maka crossed her arms, sighing with an annoyed note in her voice. "I think he likes you too, Ragnarok." She said, though it obviously wasn't a good thing in her mind. "God knows why . . ." she murmured under her breath, and Ragnarok's gaze snapped to the blond.

"What was that, bitch-stealer?!" he demanded, and Chrona struggled to keep him quiet with her small whines of protest. He reached across and yanked on the girl's pigtails, causing Chrona to bend over and nearly fall yet again. The puppy leaped out of her arms and back to Marie, who caught him automatically.

The teacher giggled, stroking her dog's fur happily. "Er, maybe we should start class now?" she suggested, and the others groaned and whined, wanting to pet the dog as well, and just plain not wanting to start. Marie took that as a yes, clearly, and signaled for them to go back to their seats. "Come on, everyone! Don't be bad apples!" she flicked her finger at the air and the students sulked back to their desks.

Maka glanced over at Chrona and her weapon that was sitting on her shoulder. "Come on, let's go back." Chrona nodded submissively and Ragnarok rolled his eyes, but before they knew it, they were seated back in their chair in the corner of the room. Maka sat next to them silently as Marie started the class, and Ragnarok decided against going back inside of Chrona; he seemed to have made up his mind when he poked her cheek, unwilling to dissolve into her back.

"Hey, we should get a pet." He suggested at the seemingly concentrating Chrona, who was trying desperately to pay attention to what Marie was saying, though she was repeatedly getting distracted by the little bundle of fur that was sleeping on her desk. Though, she heard Ragnarok, and she glanced up at him questionably. She thought that he didn't like dogs. That was what she had assumed by the way he had acted around Sully, anyways. "Maybe I can have it as a snack, next time you forget to fucking feed me." He pounded his fist into the top of her head, grinding his knuckles into her already messy hair, until he felt a piece of hard chalk pelt him roughly.

"What the –"

"Ragnarok! Shut up and pay attention!" Marie hollered at him, and Ragnarok huffed, slinking back into Chrona. The teacher smiled sweetly again, looked around the room to make sure no one else was misbehaving, and whirled around, continuing her writing on the chalkboard.

Chrona stared at the dog the whole time, who twitched when she yelled, but rolled over on his back when she stopped. The little pink tongue rolled out of his mouth, and he sneezed again. His tail wagged and he was sleeping; he must be dreaming.

Chrona snatched up her mechanical pencil, pulling out a small, black notebook and clicking the top so that she could get more led. She flipped open to the first page and scribbled something down, smiled to herself, and closed it, tucking it back into her bookbag. Maka glanced over at her curiously and gave her a questioning look, but Chrona only shook her head and averted her gaze to the teacher.

How to deal with dogs:

-pet them

-cuddle them

-love them

[ /authors note ] Yay! Chrona knows how to deal with PUPPIES. :'D Anyways, I need ideas for the next chapter. What should Chrona learn how to deal with next? o: Tell me! n wn [ /end author's note ]