Maka sat on the couch, flipping through channels on the television set.

As usual, there was nothing interesting to watch.

She sighed, turning it off and glancing at the clock with eyes that were still swollen. 9:13 AM, it read.

She hadn't heard anything from Crona for the past three hours, and only silence and faint shuffling could be heard from the bathroom.

The shape or form doesn't matter.

Isn't that what she had said so many times before- to not judge something based on its cover? Yet, stripping away that façade of a normal teenage boy… wasn't that removing the cover, too? Seeing what he really was… it wasn't really a feeling that she wanted to go over again.

Maybe it would be easier to just pretend that it never happened.

Once more, the question tugging at the recesses of her mind re-stated itself. When would he be willing to come out of his hiding place?

Her lips tightened thoughtfully. As much as she would like to see him again, she was almost afraid of how he would act now that she was aware of how he had changed. Maybe she wasn't just scared of how he would act… perhaps she was scared of him altogether…

Not that she'd be willing to admit that.

…maybe he was going to hide forever…

She really screwed up.

He might hate her now.

She might never be able to see him a-

"Hey, Maka!"

Never mind.

Maka's head quickly whipped to the side and her eyes fell on Crona as he walked nonchalantly into the room. He was running a comb through his perfectly-groomed hair, smoothing out any last knots.

He looked exactly the same as the day prior, though donning different apparel. This time, he had a simple black t-shirt with vividly yellow short sleeves; a white skull on the front. He wore white jeans, accompanied by the shoes she was so familiar with. Several bracelets and watches were wrapped around his wrists, none of them matching another. Resting atop his head was a pair of goofy-looking green shades, as if he didn't look odd enough already.

"Crona…" she murmured, blinking. She definitely didn't expect to see him so quickly.

She stared; trying to imagine how he could possibly be the thing she had set eyes on last night.

"So Maka, I was thinking," Crona began, tossing the comb onto the ground carelessly. He paid no attention to her mood. "I'm getting really bored of sitting around in this dumb, boring apartment!" A quirky grin settled on his lips, and he crossed his arms. "Can we go to the Death Bazaar, hm?" Leaning forwards, he giggled. "I didn't wreak too much havoc there, I promise."

"Uhm…" Maka blinked, dumbfounded. "Aren't you… upset…?" Maka wasn't sure how to put her concerns into words without offending him, and hesitated. She felt a nervous sweat beginning to form on her forehead, and she bit her lip.

"Upset? What about?" he questioned sweetly, innocence written on his face. "I just barely came in here!" He was quick to push the subject aside, and Maka could have sworn that she saw something bitter flash through his eyes. "That Bazaar is in Death Pain Square, right?" He scrunched up his nose, frowning distastefully. "You can really tell that the old Lord Death named everything. What a loser!"

Maka couldn't help but stare at him just a bit more warily than before.

She tried to register the fact that what she was looking at… wasn't really him. It was a disguise, some sort of façade of normalcy that he hid himself in. As this frail teenage boy, he looked fairly innocent, besides that devilish smirk he was so insistent upon carrying now.

In actuality, his form was enough to make her cry.

Before, Maka was actually coming closer to feeling comfortable around him, but all of that was shattered. In a way, this entire form was a lie- it was all fake.

"Crona…" Maka began in a whisper. She had to know more about this. "…I-"

"Let's get going, okay?" he interrupted, grabbing her roughly by the wrist and tugging her out of her seat. A thin film of emotion lined his voice, his eyes shaking slightly.

If Maka pressed any further, Crona would snap at her. She knew he would.

"Check it out, Maka!" Crona exclaimed, his cheery façade cracking for a mere second before retaking its carefully aligned place. "You don't even need to go change or anything before we leave!" His fingers snapped together, and Maka suddenly found herself wearing a casual skirt and t-shirt. Her shoes appeared on her feet, and a handbag slung over her shoulder.

"C-Crona," Maka stammered again, attempting to pull out of the painful grasp he had around her wrist. Fear was beginning to root itself in her mind, tugging at the edges of her soul. She looked up, eyes meeting his.

Although his face was still plastered in that lopsided grin, she saw something beneath it.

Ferocity?

Rage.

Oh, he was mad, alright.

"Is there something bothering you, Maka?" he questioned, eyes narrowing into a glare as his voice gained a deep undertone. "Do you have something you need to talk about?"

Her mouth snapped shut.

Maka shook her head quickly.

She didn't want to die today.

Crona's grip loosened on her wrist, and the sharpness of his eyes faded into something more rounded and satisfied.

"Yeah… that's what I thought."

He sounded very smug, obviously enjoying the feeling of being superior over her.

As much as Maka despised admitting this, she was horrified by him. She didn't want to fight or argue with someone who was like… him.

Releasing her wrist entirely, he started towards the door, glancing back expectantly. "You coming?"

Maka felt completely frozen to the spot, her feet as heavy as lead as her heart pounded loudly in her ears. Why was she so terrified?

Those odd eyes of his true form kept flashing through her head.

She shuddered.

"Maka, move," Crona commanded, and Maka avoided looking into his eyes.

"Move."

Maka complied, finally walking to his side, her head bowed.

"Alright, let's go," She mustered up an attitude less negative than the one before it, beaming at him with a smile. "Which kind of shop are we going to look for?"

He visibly relaxed, a tension vanishing from his shoulders as a weight seemed to be lifted from his back. "Mmmm, I don't know!" Without waiting for a response, he entwined the fingers of his left hand with those of her right, and opened the door of the apartment. "I've never actually been to a bazaar or anything like that before. What do they sell…?"

"You don't even know what it is?" Maka's fingers didn't leave his grasp, and she blinked quizzically. "You're excited over something you haven't even been to before!" With a small laugh, she followed him as they closed the door behind them and proceeded to leave the apartment complex.

"D-don't laugh at me!" he stammered, face slightly red.

When he realized what just happened, he covered his mouth with his free hand and coughed as if he had just choked on his own words. Quietly, he hoped that Maka hadn't noticed what just happened.

He stuttered.

Oh, Maka noticed.

She was careful to hide her attentiveness.

"It's okay, I can explain it for you," she began, her free arm swaying cheerfully at her side. "Pretty much, people just come and sell random things on the side of the street. It's neat; you can find all kinds of things. When I have books I've read too many times, I go over there and sell them."

"Huh!" Crona pondered, putting a hand to his chin. "I didn't think you'd be okay with giving away any of your books."

"Well, I like books a lot, you know that! But…" she paused, thinking. "I guess that it isn't really the actual paper that matters. It's the words inside that count."

Maka paused abruptly.

…huh…

Books were a lot like people.

She continued, trying to hide her thoughtful expression as quite a few things occurred to her.

"What I mean is… I won't forget what the book is about. That's what's important. I don't need to read it again to understand what it was, unless it's just been a while." She found a small smile threatening to appear on her face, and her eyes gained a far-away look. "No matter how beaten and worn the cover gets, it still says the exact same thing… it-"

Maka stopped as she felt Crona's hand moved to cover her mouth. She blinking quizzically, looking at him for answers.

"Maka," he grunted, taking his hand back. "You're rambling about books. It's kinda boring."

"Oh…" Maka grew red-faced, looking away with embarrassment. "Errr, sorry."

Was it really books I was talking about…?

"It's okay!" he chirped, taking her hand in his own again and running down the sidewalk, pulling the hapless girl behind him. "I just wanna hurry and get where we're going, not sit here and talk about books all day!"

Maka stumbled clumsily, unable to run as quickly as him when she was being dragged forwards, the soles of her shoes scraping against the cement. "Hey, slow it down, would you?!"

"No need!" Crona replied, coming to an immediate halt. Maka slammed into his back, letting out a yelp and nearly falling backwards. "We're heeeere~!"

Maka rubbed her forehead and groaned, looking around him to stare at the people gathered just beyond the stairs they stood at the top of. They were busy chatting and mingling, just as they had always been… unaffected by whatever madness Crona had spread.

He totally left that place untouched on purpose. He just wanted to take her there.

"Come on!" he exclaimed, running down the stairs with a skip in his step.

"Yeah, I'm coming," she sighed, taking her time following. If he got lost, he'd find her again eventually, anyway. It wasn't that big of a place.

Besides, she had a lot to think about.

"Oof!"

Well, maybe later.

"Watch where you're going- oh! Maka!"

Aforementioned girl looked up to find Liz, whom she had accidently bumped into. The girl wore designer jeans purposely torn at the knees and a white tank top. (Maka never really understood the whole "ripped jean" fad.)

"Hi, Liz," Maka greeted, smiling. "What brings you here?"

"Shopping, obviously!" the young lady grinned, holding up a few bags triumphantly. "The stuff here is mostly used and shit, but hey. There are some pretty neat homemade trinkets out here." She brushed a strand of hair from her face, glancing around. "Hey, have you seen Kid and my sister anywhere? I totally lost track of them."

"Nah," the Meister replied, adjusting the handbag that still slung over the shoulder. "But hey, you can hang out with me until you find them, right?"

Liz smiled. "Sure. What, did you come here by yourself? No Soul?"

The girl's face fell. "Well, Soul's been gone from the apartment for a few hours, so he isn't here. Crona wanted to pay a visit to this place, because he's never been to a bazaar before."

"Crona, huh?" Liz's eyes got a far-away look as she spoke, contemplating. "…he's the Kishin now, right?"

"Yeah," Maka replied, staring in the same direction as Liz in attempt to find what she was looking at. "It's kind of weird, I'll admit… but… I don't know, I'm starting to feel like it's… okay."

"Huh," was all that the weapon said in response.

Maka coughed lightly, breaking the silence between them. "And what about Kid? He's Lord Death?"

Liz's face grew confused, and her head whipped around to face Maka. "Hey, you know what? I don't really know… I should ask him if this actually makes him replace his dad." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I've gotta say, I miss the old guy. Sure, he could be pretty freaky, but he's Kid's daddy and everything… and isn't Kid… like… asexually produced?"

Maka blinked.

"What?"

"Well, how else would he be born? He doesn't have a mom or anything."

"You're calling it 'asexual reproduction' now?"

"Well, do you have anything else to call it?"

"N-not really," Maka admitted, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "So… technically, that means that Kid is Lord Death, in a way…?"

"Well… yeah, pretty much!"

There was a long moment of silence, which Liz finally broke.

"Let's not talk about this anymore, it's too weird."

"Y-yeah, sounds good to me!"

They promptly dismissed the subject, beginning to walk through the crowd once again. They kept a subtle eye out for any of their companions, but remained focused on starting conversation.

"Liz, have Black*Star and Tsubaki been seen around lately?" Maka asked, glancing up at her friend again. "I haven't heard from them."

"Oh, they've been seen, alright," Liz groaned, slapping her forehead. "I swear, the madness that Crona spreads is even scarier than what Asura used to do…"

"What do you mean by that?" the girl questioned, confusion clear on her face. "What happened to Black*Star?"

"Well… uh… it's hard to expla…" she paused, her eyes widening as she saw something ahead of them.

"…shit."

"What?" Maka raised an eyebrow, turning to face what Liz was looking at.

Kid was standing there, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. His well-groomed appearance told no tales of the animalistic rage that was building within him. His sharp eyes were narrowed and threatening, his lips turned down into a frown. They moved as he spoke to whatever he was looking at, jaw clenched.

Maka had a bad feeling about this.

Moving quickly, she pushed through the crowd, hurrying towards the young shinigami. As she finally stumbled towards him, she saw what just what he was staring at with so much hatred bubbling in those golden eyes.

Crona was standing in front of him, his eyes glaring right back into Kid's own. He seemed less trained at keeping a hold on his emotions, and appeared just about ready to lash out at the boy. His face was contorted in a fierce scowl, showing an anger she had never expected to see paint those pale features.

She could feel the rage of their souls pulsing through the air, and even through whatever soul protect Crona had covering his wavelength wasn't strong enough to mask it.

"Crona," Kid continued from wherever he had left off, his eyes never wavering. "I would like to clarify that I'm only telling you that it is unsafe to have a Kishin walking around the city as if it were perfectly normal. Such behavior is unacceptable if we are to be on positive terms with each other." He didn't as much as twitch as Crona's face grew even more bitter, the shinigami's confidence showing clearly. "We… wouldn't want anyone getting hurt, would we? I know you aren't a completely irrational person. Surely you see the reason for my concerns. The people of this city are my number one priority while my father is… away."

"You're telling me to get out," Crona growled, his voice low and filled with scorn. "I'm not going to listen to you. Who do you think you are- running around like you own the place?"

"I do own this entire city and all of the individuals residing here," Kid said, something hostile appearing beneath his expertly trained business-like attitude. "I'm not sure you understand what I am saying." He took step forwards, fists still clenched at his sides. "I am telling you not to terrorize this place any longer."

"Terrorize?" Crona scoffed, the edges of his lips turning up into a mad smirk. "I'll show you the meaning of terrorize, you bastard."

Maka's heart sank as she realized what she was witnessing.

What was in front of her… were the successors of Asura and Lord Death themselves. Madness and order; standing right in front of her in its purest form.

This was not going to end well.

A/N- I suck, haha. Well, how's this sound: fast updates, shorter chapters? It's easier for me. Just thinking about how I need to type long chapters makes me go slower, but I just started this chapter yesterday (because I'm stupid).

Errr, reviews are really shweet, by the way. c; Y'all don't seem to review very often, haha.

Also, in case you were curious, there is NO Kid x Crona in this story. Sorry to disappoint. I am also sorry if I accidently repeat anything or if there are any inconsistencies in this story, heh. I lose track of what I've already written.

Next time, we get to catch up with Black*Star and a daily dosage of random comedy.

See ya!