"OH, SHIT!"

"CHRONA!"

Before I could turn my head, Ragnarok did it for me, shouting something my mind didn't have time to process.

I dropped the herbs and ducked just as Ragnarok shrank back into my skin.

The engine roared, and the brakes screeched. The noises pulsed through the air, louder than thunder. The vibrations made me tremble against my will. Dust, sand, and rocks pelted me, scraping my hands and sticking to my hair and clothing.

I stayed perfectly still, afraid to move.

The sandstorm raged relentlessly when a new sound erupted not too far away: a booming crash—metal colliding with rock. It happened so suddenly; I couldn't stop myself from gasping. This, of course, caused me to choke on all the desert sand flying around. I coughed until the dust settled.

And, for a moment, I couldn't hear anything. I panicked, thought I was going deaf. I felt too heavy to stand up.

"Chrona? Chrona!"

Maka.

I carefully opened my eyes. I managed to move a few of my fingers. My toes had feeling in them again. I lifted my head. Sand spilled.

Then I saw nothing but Maka. She knelt down in front of me, wiping the dirt away with strong, fluid strokes. She prattled at a mile a minute.

"Talk to me, Chrona. Anything broken? Are you okay? Were you hit? Does anything hurt? Here, look at me."

She grabbed both sides of my face and gently blew dust out of my eyelashes. She leaned in and rested her forehead against mine. She closed her eyes, and her heavy breathing began to slow down.

I didn't know what to do.

I just waited.

Her eyelids wouldn't stop shaking. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek. I tried to think of something to say. I should tell her I was alright. I didn't want her to worry. My mouth was so dry, though.

Maka's face was so sad when she looked at me. Her green eyes were glossy. Our noses almost touched.

She bit her lip. "I could've sworn that… I thought…"

"My baby…" Soul's voice whimpered, startling both of us. We turned our heads in his direction and saw that he was on all fours, reaching an arm out helplessly toward… his motorcycle.

Or, what was left of it.

Soul's bike had slammed into an enormous boulder. His whole body shuddered violently as he crawled to it.

Maka took my hands in hers and pulled us up.

"Soul…" she warned.

Ragnarok took the opportunity to emerge and shake his little fist at Soul. "Why dontcha watch where you're going, punk?-!"

Before I could tell Ragnarok how impolite it was to call him that, the weapon in question sprang to his feet and glared at us.

He pointed an accusing finger at his partner. "This is all your fault, Maka! If you hadn't distracted me—!"

"That's no excuse to take your eyes away from what's in front of you, Soul!" Maka stomped her foot. "Chrona could've been hurt! Or worse!"

"Hey! What about me, huh, she-pig?-!" Ragnarok pushed down hard on my head, forcing me to look at my shoes. "I bet if you weren't there, this wouldn't have happened! Probably flappin' your mouth off at him about some stupid crap!"

"That's exactly how it was!"

"FINE, THEN! GO AHEAD AND BLAME ME! IT WAS ALL MY FAULT! HAPPY NOW?-!"

Even Ragnarok seemed shocked at Maka's reaction because he loosened his grip. I was able to lift my head again. Maka stared at the ground with her hands clenched tightly to her sides. For a while, no one spoke. Nothing could be heard except for the sun's panting high above.

Soul sighed. "It's too hot to argue."

Maka sighed, too. The frustration on her face melted away as she turned to address me. "What were you doing out here, anyway?"

I thought about it for a second, then my mouth dropped open in horror. "The herbs!" I rasped. Getting on my knees, I swept some sand away. It didn't take long to find them, but by then it was too late. The fragile plants were ruined. Encrusted with dirt, they crumbled in my hands as I stood. Ragnarok voiced what I felt.

"All that work for nothing! Sucks to be you, Chrona!" He punched the top of my skull and disappeared, cackling. The remains slid through my fingers.

Maka stepped forward. "I'm sorry…"

I shook my head. "Don't be. The important thing is that n-no one was hurt, right?"

"Not really…" Soul muttered, gazing at his mangled vehicle.

"Hey…" Maka reached out and pulled my left hand up to her eye level. "You have a cut. See?"

She was right. A thin black line, maybe an inch long, ran down my pointer finger.

It didn't sting or anything, so I decided to tell her that it would surely heal on its own. But I never got the chance, because Maka then did something unexpected.

She put the cut finger in her mouth.

A million things happened at once. My heart stopped. I stopped breathing. I couldn't think. I couldn't blink. My stomach flipped. My knees buckled. I couldn't see. My other senses ditched me.

And then I felt lighter than air because of a sensation I rarely got to experience.

A tickle.

Maka's action made me happy—it made me want to smile and laugh.

I did everything in my power to hold back.

"Maka, that's gross," Soul scoffed as she finished and used her thumb to apply pressure over my cut. "And kinda dangerous, too."

"Shut up." Her answer was mild.

A warm breeze passed by, and I shivered.

Maka took hold of my wrists and said, "Let's get going. You can get a bandaid at our place. And besides…" She stepped even closer and looked me full in the eyes. She smiled. "I think you need a bath."

I gulped. The heat rose in my face, but it had nothing to do with the weather.

A/N: Welcome to my (pointless) fluff story! =D Allow me to explain a few things.

First, as you can tell, this fanfic has Ambiguous!Chrona. Using first person point of view makes it very easy for me to avoid picking a gender for Chrona. You wanna imagine Chrona as a boy? Girl? Neither? Both? Then go for it!

Second, there's lots of ways to spell Chrona's name. I usually switch between "Chrona" and "Crona," so, for the sake of this fanfic, I'm going to make sure to stay consistent.

Third, this doesn't really take place in the anime nor the manga, although there'll be occasional (and subtle) references to both.

Fourth, there will be ten chapters.

Fifth, this is rated T for some swearwords and for having Too many kinds of fluff: dirty fluff, romantic fluff, sappy fluff, crack fluff, creepy fluff, fluffy fluff, and a little bit of angsty fluff.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! I've saved the best for last! *sarcasm*

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater or any of its characters. They belong to Atsushi Ohkubo-sama.