He felt as if his feet were going to give way beneath him. Just how long had he been running in this never-ending darkness? But he had to keep going; else the madness would swallow him. His whole body ached as he panted for breath, each step only intensifying the pain. Red began to seep into the corners of his vision as he quickened his pace.

'Neeee, Kid. We can make all the pain go away.'

'Silence! Be gone!'

'We can give you power. Power to never feel fear or pain again.'

'Shut up! Power like that…I don't need it!"

'All you have to do is accept it. Accept the madness within you, Kid!'

"I said; SHUT UP!" Kid yelled as he jolted from his bed into a sitting position. He was in a cold sweat and was gasping for breath.

'Just a nightmare…' he tried to assure himself.

"A-ano… um, a-are you alright?" he heard a frightened voice murmur. He whipped his head in the direction the voice came from. He nearly jumped out of is skin at what he saw. It was Chrona, sitting at his bedside with a look of great concern in her eyes. He looked down and suddenly noticed that he had been grasping her hand rather tightly.

"Oh, uh, sorry," he mumbled as he pulled his hand away, a blush on his face. "And, yes, I'm fine. It was only a nightmare."

"O-oh…I see." The pinkette said, "I-I have…n-nightmares…too sometimes."

An awkward silence hung in the air for a few moments before, oddly enough, Chrona broke it.

"W-well…i-is there anything…I-I could d-do for you…m-mi' l-l-lord…?" the small girl finally managed to squeak out.

Needless to say, that this caught the young boy off guard. Had she just called him mi' lord? Well now he didn't know what in the name of Shinigami was going on…He began to turn his head back to her to question her strange formality, but suddenly found that he couldn't speak. For what he saw was not the usual Chrona clad in her amazingly old-fashioned and conservative black dress.

It was still Chrona, but she was wearing a beautiful and rather skimpy maid's uniform. It was dark blue in color and it had puffed sleeves tied with thin, white ribbons at the ends. The rest of the long sleeves fit her arms, then flowed away just above her hands like flower petals. There was a layer of lace underneath it along with an intricate design decorating the ends of the sleeves. The neck of the dress dipped rather low, but wasn't revealing, for it had a few layers of white frills emerging from the droop. Just below the bust, a white ribbon was tied around her waist that continued on to be a rounded apron with frills on its edges. Flowing perfectly from underneath the apron, were slightly puffed long layers of dark blue, each with more white lace highlighting their ends. As if all that wasn't enough, she had a matching blue ribbon with ruffles blooming out from the top and bottom of it tied around her neck, that met in the center tied in a bow, with a rose in the middle of it. She also wore a matching head band that was just like her choker, but had several roses on each side of her head, just above her ears, that were each adorned with more ruffles and bows.

All he could do was stare. She looked…stunning. Now, Kid had always found Chrona rather charming and cute and couldn't help but admit to himself that he was rather curious about her. He had figured it was his guilt; for judging and hurting her before he even knew anything about her. He wanted to make amends by becoming a friend to her and helping her adjust to her new life. However, he had been so occupied and indulged in all of Shibusen's recent battles and intrigue that he unintentionally forgot about her.

Well, …he certainly could see her now.

"O-oh, my! A-are you alright, mi' lord?" the girl asked worriedly, "Your face is all red. …Do you have a fever?" she questionedas she placed a cool hand on his forehead.

"Huh? Uh…oh! Y-yes, …wait-!" Kid was stumbling over his words and could barely think straight "… I mean, no…! I-I'm fine!" he finally managed to choke out, while turning away from her, trying desperately to calm himself down as discreetly as possible. Once he believed to have collected himself enough, Kid turned back to the girl next to him.

"Chrona-san?" he asked, trying to get the young girl's attention on him and off of the floor.

"Y-yes, …m-m-m…"

"Um, excuse me for interrupting, but, please…don't call me that." Kid said with a streak of light pink painted on his cheeks. "Also, and I hope I'm not being too frank but, what are you doing here?"

'And why are you wearing something like that?!' he wanted to ask, but just couldn't bring himself to do it. Even though he would never admit to himself or anyone else that he rather enjoyed it…

"W-well, … you see, it's…" she sighed, "a long story."

********

Flashback

"Osu, osu! Thanks for coming!" Shinigami-sama waved as she entered the room. She couldn't explain why, but Chrona suddenly felt as if a very dark storm cloud was hovering toward her.

"As I said before, Chrona-chan, there's something that I'd like to discuss with you…" The Death god began, "and that's your re-admission into Shibusen!"

It took a few moments for the true meaning of what the Shinigami had said to sink in. Once it had, Chrona felt as if her heart was going to burst with happiness as her eyes began to sting. She had been so concerned with everyone else's well being, she hadn't even thought once of her own. She could stay! Even after all she had done, after everything that happened because of it… Even though she felt she didn't deserve it…she was being not only forgiven, but given a second chance. She didn't know how to deal with such a shock! She quieted down for a moment when she felt a large, soft hand on her head.

"There, there. It's okay." Shinigami-sama soothed, "If you don't mind, could I ask you for a small favor, though?"

The pink-haired girl could only manage a small shake of her head, saying 'no' she didn't mind.

"Grea~t! In that case, I'd like you to look after Kid for me." The Shinigami sang.

"E-eeehh?" was all she could reply. That was by far the last thing she had expected him to say. She didn't know how to deal with so many surprises! Sure, Chrona could handle and take care of herself to an extent, but she certainly had never cared for someone else, especially not someone injured. She didn't quite know how to deal with sick people…

"B-but… I don't know…"

"How to deal with him?"

"…M-mn."

"That's okay! You two get along, right?" Shinigami-sama assumed with a wave of is hand, "Besides, I'm worried about his and your health. Since I need all the help I can get making repairs to Death City, I can't ask Liz, Patty, or any of the others to do it. I also need anyone with medical knowledge to help treat the sick and the wounded. Since the both of you have already been treated, all you need now is to get plenty of rest. Besides, I don't want you to continue to stay in the guest rooms here at Shibusen until the repairs are finished."

"W-why…is that?" the girl mumbled with a curious look on her face.

"We~ll, Chrona-chan, along with most of the city, Shibusen is pretty unstable after Death City fought so bravely and heroically." The God of Death stated with pride. "Besides, I do need someone to look after him. I need to make sure that he doesn't leave the house no matter what until the repairs are complete."

"A-and… w-why is that?"

"Knowing Kid, he'll probably slow down the repairs wanting to make sure that the whole city is perfectly symmetrical, but I'm sure you can keep him entertained while we do damage control."

"B-but, I…" she began, "I don't know how to… d-deal with… entertaining someone…"

"Leave this one to me, Shinigami-sama!" Spirit said boldly, seemingly popping out of nowhere, giving a big thumbs-up.

"Oh, ho~! Alright, Spirit-kun, I'll leave the rest to you!" Shinigami-sama sang giving a thumbs-up as he slowly disappeared from sight into the mirror.

Chrona looked up at the tall, red haired man. Before she could say anything, Spirit had whipped his head almost all the way around to face her with bright stars in his eyes. Chrona flinched back a couple steps, obviously startled by his sudden change in demeanor.

You see Chrona hadn't been at Shibusen very long and when she was there her shyness kept her from meeting most people, which just so happen to include Spirit. So Chrona had no idea that Maka's father was a major pervert. All she knew was that this man was obviously a friend of Shinigami-sama's and was Maka's papa, so he that must make him a good person, right? So, that also meant that she should be able to trust him…right? She kept trying to reassure herself with that, but was finding it hard to deal with his strange stare.

"Ne, Chrona-chan," Spirit crooned in a friendly voice with a smile.

"Y-y-yes?" Chrona stammered, nervous.

"I know the perfect way for you to entertain Kid."

"R-really?" the innocent girl asked, a tinkle of hope in her eyes.

"Mmn, and you don't even have to do anything!" he said stepping towards her, "All you have to do is…"

"Why, that lecherous…!" Kid bellowed, interrupting Chrona's story. He then took his hand and slammed it to his forehead as he slumped back down on his bed with a grunt.

'That Spirit…! I had heard from Maka that he was a pervert, but I never expected him to stoop so low!' Kid thought to himself with a scowl, 'As to be expected of Chichiue as well…he certainly has looked at this from all angles. …It's as if he wanted to make sure that neither of us could refuse…'

Before Kid could further ponder over his father's intentions, the sound of a small bell in the distance broke him from his thoughts.

"O-oh…the soup is done…" the young girl mumbled more to herself than him as she rose from her position at his bedside. She lightly dusted off her apron and skirt before turning and shuffling out of the room and into the hall. Kid watched her leave. Sighing to himself thinking that this was going to me a long, long day…

********

A/N: Chapter two is up! Man, I feel like Kid proof-reading this so much ^^' just hope I didn't miss anything. Chapter three will be up soon, I promise. It'll be really funny, so stay tuned! I will most likely update over the weekend if I'm not busy.

Oh, and before I forget, I didn't design Chrona's outfit. I simply described a really cute dress I saw in a picture. I think it was of Shia from Pita Ten…? I'm not sure…

Rate & review and I will be eternally happy. =D