A/N: Sorry again for all the late updates! I've been swamped with end of the year major projects, studying for finals, and doing anything around the neighborhood I can for cash. Anyway, I hope you enjoy =)

"Uuuggghhhh," The sword technician grunted as she collapsed onto her bed. Who knew cleaning was so hard? – or so time-consuming… Though the girl was relieved at the fact that it was not blood that she had to wash from her door, but mere red paint, she was still tired.

Having grown up under a witch, Chrona had eluded the need to learn everyday skills. Having only being taught the absolutely necessary – just enough to get her by, but not enough to get her clever enough to ever question her mother. This fact left her practically disabled in modern society; having such little experience in cleaning, cooking, first aid, and everyday life in general. At times it made her feel quite inferior, but her friends were always there to teach and encourage her.

They unfortunately however had neglected to teach her how to properly remove well-dried spray paint from a steel and brick surface. So Chrona had to experiment through the night with any materials she could find lying around the huge school that she dubbed would not be missed. The long list included a scalpel from Stein's lab, cotton puffs from the nurse's office, and a mysteriously placed rubber duck that reminded her of someone, but wasn't quite sure who... While everyone else slept, Chrona had been working tirelessly through the night to remove the evidence that she was being targeted. And now that she was finally finished, she was eager to get some much needed rest. As she flopped down onto bed, the loud ringing of Shibusen's bells shattered any hope of dreams.

Knowing that it may cause either suspicion or concern among her friends, the young meister halfheartedly hauled herself up from her warm bed and went to class. Once there, she slumped into her seat, late, but luckily no one seemed to notice. Eyes half-lidded, she tried in vain to pay attention to the lesson that Marie-sensei was giving, but found that her teacher's words were slowly fading into white noise. Unknowingly, as the chalk written notes on the board blurred, Chrona accidentally fell asleep onto her desk. This went unnoticed by Maka even though she was sitting right next to her, but only because she was "in the zone" as her scythe partner liked to call it, meaning to say that she was in such an intense state of hard-core studying that she couldn't clearly see anything that happened around her.

However, the girl's boyfriend wasn't so ignorant; he almost immediately took note of the situation. Try as he might, he was not able to do anything about it, for he sat a few rows behind her. He hated feeling so useless, it was that same sense of powerlessness and frustration he felt when the all the paintings in his house weren't just so. Not to say that he wasn't genuinely concerned for the girl, though he was known to be a bit of a worrywart. Yes, his obsessive compulsiveness for symmetry was notorious, though he had recently found a new obsession – Chrona.

Not wanting to draw the teacher's attention to the slumbering girl, Kid decided to cease his attempts at telepathy and let her rest. After all, she obviously needed it if she was going to fall asleep in class like that. But why was she so tired? Kid pondered over this as he looked at her pink hair …yet another thing he could do nothing about… Well, no matter. That was a task for another day. After class, he'd have to ask her if she was alright.

Kill Kon! Kan Kon!

The odd bells of Shibusen rang interrupting Chrona's nap. Thankfully, they were enough to wake her up and she wasn't the heavy sleeper that Ragnarok was. She turned her still droopy eyes to see what time it was on the clock and nearly swore –she had missed the whole class! Luckily, she bit her tongue just in time. Obscenities were not separated from normal speech in Medusa's lair and on the battlefield, but at Shibusen her friends specifically Maka and Kid, had told her that it was unladylike to swear so she immediately halted her bad habit. Though she still had many others that weren't as easy to eliminate…

'Ah, she's awake,' Kid thought to himself as he rose from his seat, but just as he was about to reach Chrona he was beaten to the mark.

"Wakie, wakie, sleepy sloth!" Chrona could hear the giggling tune of Patty's voice, but it was too late for her to react or respond, since Patty had found it necessary to poke the pinkette in both her sides. Knowing Chrona, very few people ever considered that she had a weakness, nonetheless such a normal one as being ticklish.

"A-! Ah-! AH-!" Chrona had to hold back from a yelp at the sudden surprise in her still half-asleep state as she bolted upright from her desk. "I-! I'm already up…! P-Patty-san!" she stuttered as she tried not to slip on her still numb legs from sleeping for so long.

"Ooooo~!" the childish adolescent cooed in wonder, "Chrona's ticklish~! Chrona's ticklish~! Heeheeheehee~!" she sang as she began to tickle the poor young girl all over, trying to find another weak spot. Chrona flailed her arms up with a surprised shriek as the blonde continued to laugh. She couldn't escape in these narrow rows and found it was hard to move once the laughter became too much to bear.

Kid watched this from his seat. He saw a smile on her face that he'd never seen before, and from something so simple, so…normal. He smiled as well, supposing that Patty would be better suited to cheering the girl up as he packed up and headed out the door.

The demon sword wielder was now on the verge on tears when the elder of the Thompson sisters finally looked up from her nails to see what was going on.

"C'mon Patty, don't kill the poor kid." Liz advised with an amused smile.

"Aaawww~!" her little sister whined, "But I was just getting to the best part~!"

"No buts, now come on." She said, trying to aid the girl her sister was tormenting, "Besides, we've gotta make sure we're home on time or Kid'll throw a fit."

The blonde only pouted in defeat as she released Chrona, only for the girl to completely slump onto the floor. Liz helped the younger girl up while Patty laughed when they all noticed that they were the only ones remaining in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, the three girls waved goodbye and dispersed.

Chrona watched as the happy sisters walked away, a big part of her wishing they didn't have to go. She sighed as she began to turn around and walk away.

"Hey look, there she is…" Chrona heard someone whisper as she trudged her way down the hall.

"You mean that girl? That's her?" another voice answered the first.

"Yeah, there's no mistaking it." The harsh mutters slowly became spiteful hisses. "Did you hear that she almost became a Kishin?"

"Ahh! What a monster!"

Chrona couldn't take it anymore, she bolted outright out of sight down the hall. She ran and ran, clutching her schoolbag in to her chest, trying to will the tears away. She didn't even think, she just let her feet take her as far away as they would permit her. All she knew was that she had to get away, that she couldn't be there any longer.

When Chrona finally slowed her pace due to exhaustion, she found that she was in a part of Death City she didn't recognize, and that it was getting late. She sighed once again –she seemed to be doing that more and more these days.

"What now…?" she thought to herself with a feeling of despair, undoubtedly brought on by a mixture of things. It was at times like this she wished Ragnarok was still around. It's not that he was gone, he was still within her, but he always seemed to be resting. She wished he would come out so she could have someone to talk to…

"Hey, you!" she suddenly heard a commanding voice shout from behind her as she spun on her heels. "Hah, I knew it was you."

Chrona's eyes widened as she gasped in dreadful recognition.

A/N: I can't wait till summer! I'll be writing nonstop!