A/N: Warning! Really strong T here for some (slightly) gory scenes (aka mentions of wounds and blood), still no strong language or sexual situations… so we should be safe right? I might have to move up the rating if this is too much? I'm not sure how graphic this is for a younger audience so I would love it if you guys gave me a truthful opinion. I tend to over think these situations. It might not be that bad… who knows…

Odds and Ends

Can You Escape?

She was growing frustrated. Every second she spent fighting this monster was to her disadvantage. She had no real way to harm it, and annoyingly enough she couldn't get close if she wanted to. The few times she had managed to, the spiked tail of that beast's would come flying at her and knock her into the nearest tree. Her turtle neck was drenched in blood from the random hits that the tail had given her. Her ribs were sore, possibly even broken, but she had no time to let her mind dwell on the pain. She heard a sizzling sound and quickly dodged behind a tree.

A second later a burst of flame erupted on either side of the tree. She saw, in horror, that her turtle neck caught fire as her sleeve had stuck out too far from the shelter of the tree. It had just been sticking out slightly, maybe not even enough to directly touch the flames, but the fire was hot enough to catch the flimsy fabric. She quickly stripped out of it and flung it away from her. She had to think fast.

Kid should be on his way, she was banking on that for her survival, but she wasn't sure when exactly he was going to show up. That roar had been too loud for her friend to ignore, of that she was positive. She had to stall and get away from this monster until then. Gritting her teeth she bit back a curse as she heard the footfalls of the monster making its way over to her.

"Hiiiissssssssss come outtssss," it called.

She shivered, not from the cold that was now assaulting the skin on her semi bare torso, but from the eerie noise the monster made when it talked. She found that she rather hated the sound, it sounded like nails grinding on a chalk board. She needed to find new cover; this tree couldn't take another blast. She looked around dismally and noticed that the beast had scorned the entire clearing. To her left lied a boulder but it meant dashing through the clearing where the Wyern's tail or fire blast could reach her.

Why the hell had Stein made such a monster in the first place? She was planning on chewing him out later for creating such a dangerous beast.

"I can sssmell your feearrrrr hisssssss," the beast stressed as a few more steps brought it closer to the edge of the tree. "Dieeee, crouching like the lowly human you are. Shivvverring in feearrrrs," it laughed again.

She bit back her retort, knowing that it would be a wasted breath and a waste of time. Still it annoyed her that she could feel herself being baited to the monsters words. She wasn't afraid, hardly anything scared her, and this monster was not on the list.

She could envision it tilting its head back readying itself for a final blast at her. She had to time this perfectly. She waited for the tattletale sizzling pop it made right before it breathed fire, and then shot out from her hiding spot. She hit the ground with a rolling duck and within a few leaps of her long legs managed to dash safely behind the boulder.

Really the temporary relief wasn't much, in seconds she was going to have to move again. Hiding from the beast was just expending valuable energy and if Kid didn't show up soon she needed to make a different plan than just running around hiding. She peeked over the boulder to glance at the enemy. It was still torching the tree, oblivious to the fact that she had even moved. If she acted now she might even be able to get a blow in… She didn't have time to over analyze this. Steeling herself for more pain and from the wounds she had already suffered Maka scaled the boulder and leapt across the small clearing at the monster.

She delivered a solid round house kick square into the monster's flaming jaw, as it hadn't noticed or turned yet because its attention was still on the tree. There was a sickening crunch at the connection of Maka's boot to its face and the monster let out a terrible howl of pain interrupting the flow of fire. Maka rolled unto her shoulder to break her fall as she tumbled down. The monster leaned forward screaming in an ear shattering tone that left her nearly crippled again.

It had no front legs, so Maka was sure that it would fall on top of her and squish her to death just from the sheer weight. Only she had failed to notice a certain part of its anatomy. As it unfurled its wings there a set of massive hooks rested where it's thumbs should have been and when Maka rolled to move she found a sharp pain erupt through her shoulders as the beast pinned her to the ground with them. It let out a barking laugh; its fork tongue came out to taste her flesh. It was cold and wet. It drew a trail of blood from one of the wounds on her chest up to her neck.

"For a human… you're pretty tasssstttty," it purred.

She felt her stomach flip in disgust before she drew her head back and spat at it.

"I will kill you," she assured it.

Her confident words brought more barking laughter from the beast, but it didn't respond with words. Instead its tongue trailed down to an open cut. The barbed wet flesh pressed down and with a sickening pop Maka felt a white hot pain lace through her chest. Hot fresh blood surged forth as the monster lapped up her life source. She repressed the bile that threatened to rise to her throat. Her vision blurred, and she knew if she passed out now she was going to die, that this sick and twisted monster was going to eat her alive. She was going to suffer and die slowly.

… Kid… help me, she thought fighting the burning tears as they poured down her face.

"Don't cry sssssweet. I'll be ssssure to tell Ssssttttein," the monster purred.

Its tongue shot up to lap away some of her tears. She struggled to move her arms to try to break free but let out a scream of pain as the monster dug its barbed thumbs deeper into her flesh.

Suddenly the weight of the monster was thrown off her. Its claws ripped out of her skin painfully but she was free. She shot to her feet, a bit unsteady, and swayed when she finally gained her footing.

A warm familiar hand caught her wrist and pulled her to a familiar chest. Her legs were scooped up against her will and she felt them hop onto something.

Suddenly they were in the sky and their surroundings were a blur around them.

"What are you doing Kid? With both of us we can finish that thing!" she snapped.

She looked over his shoulder and to the ground but the clearing she had been in had already disappeared from view along with the monster. Kid snorted in response and she glared up at him.

"You aren't fighting like that. You're bleeding out. We need to treat those wounds," he told her sternly.

There wasn't panic in his eyes, but he was definitely upset. His tone gave that away, and the wind seemed to add a hint of distortion to his appearance as they flew at neck breaking speeds. The whipping wind around them caused her to shiver, and suddenly she was very self-conscious of the fact that she was no longer wearing a shirt, and only a bra was covering her chest. Blood was soaking through Kid's jacket but he didn't seem to be paying any mind.

"Maka wrap your arms around my neck and hold on tight," he commanded.

She did as he bid, no questions asked as he suddenly veered right and titled them sideways. A fireball whizzed past and nearly collided with the board. The sudden heat created suction in the air and shot the pair higher. The gravity caused Maka's grip to loosen for a fraction of a second before Kid's adjusted his grip to hold her tightly to his chest.

"Dammit…" Kid cursed.

Maka didn't need to look over his shoulder to know that the beast was now chasing them.

"Kid… we can't go back to the shack. We need to fight that thing," Maka shouted over the roar of the wind.

"That isn't happening! I'm not risking your life!"

"We'll figure something out," he reassured not giving her time to respond. Leaning forward he seemed to urge the board to fly faster, the biting wind seemed to be freezing Maka's blood to her skin, the pain was nearing the point where she couldn't bear it anymore.

"Kid… I'm sorry," she whispered as her consciousness slipped and the world faded to black.

()()()()()(KiMa)()()()()()

She was dimly aware of her surroundings. There were shadows and they danced in crazed patterns. There was cold. So much cold, yet she didn't have anything to block it. There were blurred imagines, fuzzy distant voices, someone calling her name in panic. Something kept stroking her cheek and apologizing. She was pretty sure at one point she was dreaming. As her mother came to her and had a long conversation with her about boys. Yet at a different time, Kid was there, his gold eyes glimmered in the night so very close by. She reached out and he caught her wrist and kissed it before pulling her to his chest. His heart beat lulled her back to sleep. She wasn't sure if she was still dreaming or not. She couldn't piece it together as her mind slipped in and out. At one point she woke screaming in pain as something hot seared against her flesh, her arm became a blade as she whipped it around to defend herself, only her gaze locked on a pair of golden eyes and stopped her. Kid, she had mouthed, before fainting again. She could trust him to take care of her.

()()()()()()(KiMa)()()()()()()

"Wake up," Kid's voice called to her.

There wasn't any tenderness in his voice. In fact he seemed down right pissed, but it wasn't the tone that woke her. It was the feeling of something warm being ripped off her that caused her to jerk awake.

She hissed in pain as Kid's hand caught her shoulder and lowered her back down.

"I said wake up, not sit up," he told her.

His tone wasn't full of malice but his biting tone confused Maka. She blinked a few times trying to take in their surroundings. They weren't at the shack that much was obvious judging from the lack of the bed that she wasn't lying on. There happened to be several blankets and articles of clothing that took its place and she noticed a large comforter that had been tossed aside.

They had to have been in a cave of some sort. They were surrounded by dark stone looking walls, and there seemed to be a light source behind Kid somewhere. The space they were in wasn't very large. It looked tall enough for Kid to stand comfortably, and it was long enough for both of them to lie down side by side. There was a small fire a few feet away with some skinned rabbit's slowly roasting over it. The smell filled their camp with a delicious scent that made her mouth water. Her throat was dry and scratchy too. Her head was pounding. Before she could voice any of this Kid lightly pulled her hand into his and wrapped her hand around a bottle of water.

She greedily ripped the cap off and downed the precious liquid.

She coughed, inhaling the water too quickly before she took slower sips and slowly sat up. Her back leaned against the cold wall and Maka noticed that she had several bandages wrapped around her chest yet she was still missing a shirt as she drew the discarded blanket closer to cover her. Her ribs were sore, and so was her arm but other than that she was fine. Fine, meaning that at least she was alive. She gave Kid a weak smile, one her mesiter didn't return, before sighing.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

She was surprised at how scratchy her voice sounded as it echoed softly off the cave walls and bounced back to her.

"2 days," Kid responded. "I had to wake you up. You need to rehydrate and eat something."

"What happened?" she asked after a long pause between them.

How had they escaped? Where were they? What were they going to do from here? What happened to the shack? What happened to the beast? Had he talked to his father? Had he talked to Stein? All these questions danced around her head like a whirl wind, and the need to know the answers burned inside her like a red hot iron.

"You just so happened to stumble upon the Wyvern you've been dying to go after and decided to fight it by yourself despite the fact that you can't master transforming completely yet," Kid snapped. His eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before his composure returned and his stoic expression masked his features.

He's upset with me… she realized.

"I didn't feel it coming, I couldn't sense a soul," she told him. "I promise I did not go out searching for it."

His mask didn't drop as he handed her another water bottle.

"Drink," he commanded.

She placed the water bottle aside and reached out to grab his hand. His sharp gaze caught her eye but she didn't back down. "Kid… I said I was sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"You didn't—"

"I did right before I passed out," she reminded him.

He snorted, but his expression changed slightly. He rolled his eyes before he moved so that he was sitting beside her. They lapped into a comfortable silence, Kid squeezing her hand reassuringly from time to time as she sipped from her water. He leant forward and grabbed the cooked rabbits before handing her one. They ate in silence, both lost in their thoughts before Kid finally cleared his throat.

"Look I'm sorry. We shouldn't have been acting so unprofessional on a mission and I shouldn't have encouraged anything no matter what my feelings were. We need to focus on healing you up and training again. We only have 21 days left and I have a feeling we are going to need every second," he started bluntly. His voice cracked slightly but he hummed to correct his speech. "Our goal here is to capture this monster. I was out of line. I'm sorry… if I hadn't been so forward you wouldn't have run off to begin with," he finished the last part with a gentle whisper.

His words surprisingly put a sharp pain in her chest, but she couldn't help but agree with him. They shouldn't have acted on their feelings for one another, not when they were in such a dangerous situation. They needed to have their guards up, and their minds sharp. They couldn't afford the luxury of personal things like crushes at the moment. His hand slipped out of hers during his speech and she couldn't help but feel colder from the action.

She hummed in agreement. She needed to talk to him about that, before that damn thing had snuck up on her, she had been resolved to talk to him about this. It was almost refreshing that he had caught on to how she felt without having to explain it, but he did get one thing wrong. She didn't blame him for this at all. She leaned off the wall to pop her back and stretch her arms over her head. She hissed in pain just as her arms rose slightly over her chest and they locked in place. Kid was close enough and noticed what happened. He caught her hands on either side of her and helped her slowly lower them back to her sides.

"Right… about your injuries… I had to cauterize your shoulder wounds… You were bleeding out and I didn't have time to stitch them…" Kid's face twisted in remorse and pain for a second. His hand fell gingerly to her shoulders and he lost eye contact with her as his tilted his face towards the ground.

"You did what you had to," she told him grinning. "I'm alive because you saved my ass," she added when he still didn't make eye contact.

"You wouldn't have those injuries if I had come sooner," he growled. "I didn't know where you were. I couldn't find your soul… I was scared…" his voice dropped and his face turned sharply so that he glared at the wall and away from her completely. "You almost bleed out because I didn't even notice you had other injuries… I was so useless—"

Despite her pain Maka reached over and slammed her fist across his skull in her infamous Maka-Chop. She gritted her teeth and refused to whimper when, wide-eyed, Kid looked up at her.

"You saved my life," she hissed. "You aren't useless. You got us away from that… that thing and found shelter where it hasn't been able to track us. You've treated my wounds, kept me warm in this frozen waste laid while I was practically dying, and even found food."

Panting she glared at him before finally he broke out into a wide grin.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, but you opened your wound again you idiot," he said with a laugh. He guided her back down to sit upon the makeshift bed and started to unwrap her bandage.

"What are you doing?!" she shrieked and winced as her voice echoed loudly throughout the cave.

Kid tilted his head to the side giving her the strong impression of a confused puppy. She wondered if he even noticed that he did that and that it was unsymmetrical but she decided to not bring that to his attention.

"I have to retreat your wound…"

She was almost tempted to tell him not to bother, but she couldn't bear to be rude to him. Her cheeks flushed at their proximity as his face neared hers as he slowly unwound the bandage.

"It's fine Maka. I've done this several times already to keep your bandages fresh," he reassured her.

Only it was a vain attempt because saying that merely made her more self-conscious. Instinctively she tried to cover her chest, before she realized that Kid hadn't removed her blood soaked bra, but had cut the straps so that they were away from her shoulders. She was very grateful for his gentleman behavior but that didn't help her relax as he peered at her shoulder with an intense gaze. By now Soul would have said something along the line of tiny tits, she inwardly noted and cringed. Kid suddenly sighed and tsked in disproval.

"I burned the flesh around the wound too much to be able to get stitches in there. We'll just have to tightly wrap it and if it starts to bleed again we'll have to figure something out."

"What did you use to cauterize my wounds?" she asked suddenly.

She hadn't looked over her body yet. She knew that she wasn't going to be too pleased with what she saw and she felt so dirty. She was sure Kid had somehow washed the blood off of her, but she hadn't showered in two days…

"The wounds on your shoulders just so happened to be a perfect fit for my rings," Kid said sheepishly holding up his hands to show her. The once silver rings were blackened and charred from being heated by fire. "I had to stitch up your chest and reset your rib the best I could. I'm afraid we don't have the means to make sure I did that correctly."

"If you ever paid attention in Stein's class I'm sure you did fine," Maka praised him. In fact she felt little to no pain unless she moved, and half of moving was just soreness from her fresh battle.

Kid's hand slowly went behind her back. Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned forward and his sweet breath ghosted against her lips. He wasn't close enough to kiss her, but the motion was intimate and she lost herself for a second. Slowly his hands worked to rewrap her shoulder.

"Take it easy and go back to sleep," he told her in a softer command that he had used when she had first woken up.

"I've been asleep for two days," she protested. "You need to fill me in on—"

Kid's sigh cut her off.

"Maka just sleep and rest. I'll fill you in the morning. You'll feel better then," he promised.

She glowered and crossed her arms over her chest with little difficulty. She made sure to keep her face straight and to ignore the pain as she sized up Kid.

"Don't be stubborn right now. I'm still mad at you," Kid warned.

"I'm still mad at you," she shot back.

"What for?"

She couldn't help but notice that Kid's tone was lighter and that he almost seemed like he was bantering with her. He also sounded confused over what she could have possibly been mad at him for, but there was more of a playful tone in his voice. It must have been a lonely few days for him, and now more than ever she refused to drift off to sleep before him. It had been something she hadn't noticed before, but she had never really caught Kid sleeping…

"You are blaming yourself for this happening to me. I'm a meister too, Kid. I have seen Soul get hurt right before my eyes in the middle of battle to protect me. You can't carry that sort of guilt around, especially when it isn't your fault. We are agents of Death, our line of work isn't exactly the safest," she added, "being in the line of fire comes with that title."

It was silent for a long while before Kid sighed in defeat.

"You're too smart for your own good sometimes," he breathed out.

His shoulder gently brushed against her as he readjusted himself beside her and gave her a small smile. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"So fill me in first and then I can sleep on it," she told him.

He gave a dry laugh and with a shrug relented to her will, "What do you want to know first?"

"How did you get all these clothes and blankets?"

"I went back to the shack after you were stable. I couldn't risk bringing you with me, but it seems that thing hasn't found our shack yet. Or it has and left it alone. It wasn't a safe resting place but I salvaged all I could carry and brought it back here."

"So where are we now?" she asked timidly looking around the cave. Kid shrugged as if to say her guess was as good as his. The silence fell between them again for a few moments as Maka thought over her questions.

"Have you talked to Stein?"

"Yes and no… he was surprisingly unhelpful," Kid growled.

Maka waited patiently for Kid to elaborate.

"I wasn't in the clearest mindset when I went back to the shack. He happened to be waiting on the mirror clock. I tried to fill him in on what happened but he just sort of danced around the subject and asked if you were still alive. When I told him yes and that you were stable he cut the connection."

"Sounds like him," Maka agreed cheekily.

"You have no idea," Kid grumbled with a breathy sigh. "Anything else you want to know?" he added.

She would have asked a lot of things, but her mind was shutting down. She let out an exaggerated yawn before slowly starting to shimmy down the wall so she could curl back up in the blankets. Kid grimaced and stopped her, he grabbed her waist and helped her slide down. This led to him towering above her and having to maneuver so that he was resting intimately above her before both teens flushed. He rolled to the other side to quickly grab some water and busy himself about the camp. Maka laid there silently for a bit but her mind raced and danced around a subject it shouldn't be broaching. The subject that Kid had so effectively swept under the rug earlier by saying he shouldn't have acted on his feelings… her cheeks burned at the thought. Why were they making this so difficult? Was it because the amount of time hadn't been very long at all or was it that they were both so new at this subject?

"Goodnight Kid," she called out, breaking the silence she had instilled.

Kid looked over his shoulder from his place at the fire and gave her a warm smile, "Goodnight Maka."

A few hours of silence passed before Maka rolled over in complete frustration and shouted at him. Really it might have only been minutes but the agony of being tired exaggerates time and makes it move slowly. Maka was stuck in a state where all she could remember was how comfortable she had been in that dream… where she had fallen asleep resting her head on Kid's chest.

"Will you just lay next to me already? I can't sleep!"

He glanced over at her wearily before letting out a deep sigh.

"We shouldn't—"

"Just once," she hissed interrupting him.

She didn't want to hear those words again, or feel that odd sensation of how they seemed to sting inside her chest. She didn't want to process that, this crush she had on the young Death Lord was starting to get dangerous. However, even recognizing that she wanted to be selfish for the night, she knew that continuing down this path would only bring her pain. That wasn't going to deter her when she knew that she was likely going to be unable to sleep until she felt him sleeping next to her. They hadn't really slept apart since they had left home. She didn't need to convey that out loud, in her weary state she was sure it was written all over her face, as Kid seemed to be weighing out the pros and cons.

The pros must've won because he slipped under the covers with her and in one fluid motion pulled her so that his arms wrapped securely around her without bothering her injuries. It surprised her that he was holding her, but she didn't argue and burrowed herself into the crook of his arm. A soft sigh escaped her as her lids started to drift close. She had just wanted the security of knowing he was next to her. But the way he did this felt so familiar… so very much like a dream…

He's done this before… it wasn't a dream.

She took a deep breath. His earthy scent that reminded her so much of Halloween and being back home smoothed her. She was sure he even had a pumpkin scent, there was something sweet mixed in his musk. Whatever it was, she loved it and took another deep breath as her head found a comfortable place on his chest. Her nerves disappeared and she drifted off to sleep. She wondered if she was dreaming again when she felt something warm gently press against her forehead, but even the flutter in her stomach she got from that action wasn't enough to keep her awake to question it fully.

A/N: Went on a massive writing spree and pumped out this chapter after a test on Tuesday. You guys got this finished and polished result because why should I make you wait? Don't worry, things between the two will pick up again... or will they? ;)