Tai leaned back against the tree thinking about a certain pair of eyes. The owner was normally so cold and distance, but once you really began to know him you could read his eyes.

Tai would never cease to be amazed at how deep the beautiful blue eyes could get when Matt was happy. But whenever he was sad or upset a wall went up behind them.

It always hurt Tai to see Matt so closed off. Lately Matt's eyes were constantly walled off. Occasionally you could see a flicker of something like shadows behind a smoke screen but that was it.

Tai sighed and squirmed to get into a more comfortable position. He let his own eyes drift close as he imagined making Matt's eye's light up in joy.

Matt watched as Tai's breathing evened out and he fell asleep.

Matt had gone out there to think and had climbed the tree for privacy. So no one could see his tears if they wandered out to where he was. He had been really surprised when Tai had collapsed underneath his tree, apparently deep in thought

Matt hadn't been able to move for fear he might make a noise and Tai would look up and discover him.

Now that Tai had gone asleep he scrubbed the tears off his face, angry with himself. Matt wished he knew what was wrong with him, he had been so depressed lately. Feeling completely hallow, and knowing it was wrong.

This wasn't just being unhappy, it was forgetting what happiness was. The worst part was that Mat knew it was getting worse everyday and there was nothing he could do about it. He could feel himself sinking deeper and deeper into a black, colorless abyss.

Matt hated thinking about it, but it was hard not to when it was starting to affect his daily life. He had been able to escape the emptiness while singing or playing the harmonica, but that had lost all meaning to him.

Matt spent a lot of his time alone, worried that someone would be around when he started crying. He cried a lot those days, as if trying to fill up the hole inside of him with tears. But the hole just kept growing to accommodate the tears.

Still the tears brought a small relief with them, because if he could cry that must mean that he could still feel and there was something inside of him other then the yawning pit. He wished Tai would wake up and leave so he could go home and cry in piece with out worrying about the boy below him.

Unbidden tears welled up n his eyes and started dripping down his face. He shifted his weight in faint irritation and to his horror his foot dislodged a few twigs and small branches.

To Matt the falling sticks sounded like they crashed to the ground instead of the small rustling sound that they really made. He sucked in a sharp breath as he saw one of the twigs land on Tai.

Tai jerked awake as something fell on him. He laughed at himself when he realized that it was just a twig. Probably knocked down by a squirrel or something.

He sat up and stretched widely, titling his head back in a yawn. For a second he thought he had seen somebody in the branches above him but that was so ridiculous he didn't even bother a second glance upwards.

Tai's stomach grumbled at him and he checked his watch seeing that it was a quarter past four. He headed home to get a snack to tide him over until dinner.

Matt heaved a sigh of relieve as Tai disappeared from sight. He climbed down from the tree, dropping the last few feet and landing on his hands and knees. He stood up and brushed himself off and headed to his own house.

Matt let himself into his house and went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face. As he was drying off the water someone knocked on the door. He wondered faintly who it might be as he walked to let them in.

"Hey Matt!" TK said loudly as he threw his arms around Matt's waist. Matt patted his little brother on the shoulder as he looked at his mother.

"Your father invited TK over for dinner, why do you look so surprised? Isn't he home? Didn't he tell you?" his mother asked peering into the house looking slightly worried.

"It's okay," he assured his mother wondering if his dad had told him and he had just forgotten. "You can stay for dinner too if you want," he offered politely.

"No thank you, I think I might enjoy a quiet evening at home," she said with a hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

"Hey!" TK protested pretending to be offended.

Matt cooked dinner for them while they waited for their father to get home.

When the boys heard the door open TK rushed to hug his father. Matt stayed in the kitchen glad for the few moments of peace.

Matt absolutely adored his little brother but he was having problems stomaching his enthusiasm. He could hear his brother's excited voice relating all the events of his day to his dad.

Matt wasn't sure he could ever remember being that excited his dad had finally made it home. His dad made his way to the kitchen with his arm wrapped around TK's shoulder.

"Sorry I'm late. I meant to get here early today but things at the office got really," he started to explain.

"It's ok," Matt cut in. He knew all of the reasons his dad got home late. He had a last minute deadline, traffic was bad, meetings had run late. He had heard them all at least a dozen times.

"Are you sure?" his dad asked.

"Yeah. Set the table, this should be ready in about ten minutes."

"What is it? It smells great," his dad said as he grabbed some plates.

"It's stir fry," TK announced. "I helped make some!"

"Did you now?" his dad asked smiling. "Two cooks. I'm going to a very happy old man."

Normally Matt would have said some teasing remark, like aren't you already, but he just couldn't get up the energy to make the effort,

When the dinner was finally on the table TK and their father dug in with such vigor you would have thought they hadn't seen food in about a week or so.

"This is really good, my compliments to the chefs," Matt's dad said.

"Aren't you going to eat any?" TK asked Matt. He had noticed his brother was just poking his food with his fork, moving it around his plate.

"I'm not really that hungry, I must have eaten too much at lunch," Matt lied. He hadn't eaten lunch at all. He just hadn't been in the mood to eat and he still wasn't.

Matt noticed his father watching him closely, as if trying to decide whether Matt was lying or not.

"I don't want to catch you digging in the freezer for ice cream later," he said after a minute.

Matt agreed doubting he would want to eat then either.

His father did the dishes that night after TK went home and was surprised to find Matt already in bed when by the time he was finished.

He stood in Matt's doorway for a couple of minutes watching his son sleep, turning every so often

The next day Matt got out of bed groggily and pulled on a shirt when the door to his room opened.

"Matt, if you aren't feeling well you can stay home from school today,' Matt's father said knowing full well that Matt wasn't going to admit he was feeling sick unless he was on the floor heaving.

"Thanks dad," Matt muttered. He flopped back onto the bed without bothering to take the shirt off.

"Try and eat something later today if you feel up to it,' his dad said before leaving. He didn't want to be late to work.

Matt didn't even hear his father leave, he was already asleep again.

Half an hour later someone banged loudly on the front door. It took Matt a second to realize it was probably Tai who normally waited for Matt to meet him outside of the building.

Matt stumbled out of the bed, blinking to clear his sight.

"Hey Tai," he yawned after opening the door.

"Aren't you coming to school today?" Tai asked looking Matt over and tried not to appear to be checking him out. Matt was just wearing his boxers and a shirt that looked relatively clean.

"No, sorry, I should have called to let you know," Matt said, trying to offer an apologetic smile that came out as more of a grimace.

"I'll see you later then. Maybe I'll head by after school," Tai said before turning to leave.

"Good-bye Taichi," Matt called after him. Matt's voice sent chills down Tai's spine. It seemed final.

Matt spent a good deal of the rest of the day sleeping. When he finally woke up enough to get out of bed he made his way over to the living room.

He wondered what to do. If he felt like eating he might have gone into the kitchen but he didn't really feel like doing anything. He sat on the couch with the TV remote in his hand but he didn't turn the set on.

Matt spent the next hour or so trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He didn't bother thinking about the rest of the afternoon.

He needed to do something that would affect him for quite sometime. He wanted to get rid of the spot in him that made him feel like there was more emptiness then him in him.

Finally he came to a decision.