So, yeah. This is a remake of Nigami to Amai. It didn't get a lot of hits when it first started out, and I wanted to remake it into a real story, rather than simple drabble instalments. So, yeah, enjoy.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

-Proverb

Chapter 1: Pinky Promise

"Tomoe-chan, this is Kyouya-kun. You two will be playing together from now on okay? Please take good care of her Kyouya-kun." I held onto the bed sheets, trying and failing miserably to climb up on the bed where my sickly mother was laying. The boy behind me only nodded, shuffling his feet uncomfortably on the linoleum. He made a noise, something between a cough and a grunt, to show he had heard her, despite how quiet she was.

I pouted, looking away from the strange boy to stare up at my mother. "But mommy, I want to play with you today. You promised." My mother had only promised that she would play with me when she got better. I wasn't aware that 'better' meant something entirely different in her mind.

She smiled, pale chapped lips flaking in the process. "I'm sorry sweetie... but I won't be able to play with you anymore... but that's what Kyouya-kun is here for. He's going to play with you when I can't, okay?" Being the ignorant toddler I was, I kicked the tile of the hospital floor and pouted. "Now now, don't be that way sweetie... I can't play with you here... but if you put a picture of me under your pillow at night, I'll play with you in your dreams. Okay?"

I suddenly found the energy to smile. I grinned up at her, bouncing up and down on my toes.

"Really, Mommy?"

Her weak smile still haunts me to this day.

"Of course."

I didn't realize that I would never play with my mother again until Mrs. Hibari took Kyouya and I to her funeral just four days later. The sound of mourning cries, the smell of incense, it all took all of my other senses away, numbing me. My fingers were red and cold. Mrs. Hibari held them tightly, her cold hands proving to be a lost cause as she attempted to warm them. I wasn't aware that her son, who already stood a good two inches over me, was staring down at me.

I remember seeing the woman who was supposed to be my mother, looking nothing like her at all. My mother was bright and smiling, and had an energy about her that burned like the sun itself. She never wore make up, she didn't have to, and she never sat still for this long.

It wasn't until they closed her coffin, that I realized what was happening.

I turned to the boy, Kyouya, and asked him what they were doing with mommy. His cheeks, red with embarrassment and wind burn, were dark as he averted his gaze. Who would have thought that at that age he would have been shy.

"They're gonna burry her."

My throat burned with longing. Longing for my mother, for the summertime when she would take me to the park and push me on the swings, for her strong and healthy embrace. All I could ask was, "But why? Mommy said she was gonna play with me. She still hasn't played with me yet, Kyouya."

His unblinking sapphire orbs watched me carefully, his hand twitching by his side. "Um… you're not crying…" I was aware that I wasn't. I could only stare at the coffin in terror. He exhaled, reading into my silence. "Oh."

"I want to play with Mommy, Kyouya." It seemed, with some internal debate, He turned to me and patted my head. My eyebrows knit upward, lip trembling.

"You can't. She's an angel now."

Everything seemed to fall silent, then. The sound of melting snow falling off of the barren sakura trees and the sound of the first birds of spring all quieting as if in agreement with his words. Feeling an emergence to hear the theory of his words, I grabbed his arm, tugging his down so that he was eye level with me. I shifted my gaze to the soggy earth before looking back up at him with unsure eyes.

"An angel?"

He turned his head to the coffin, his face half hidden by his navy colored scarf. I followed suit. "Yeah. It's like she said. She can't play with you here, so she'll play in your dreams. Angels can do that. And even though you can't see her, she'll be watching you from up in heaven. Like my Mom's mom and Dad."

I relaxed my grip on his arm, but he remained in his position. "Do you mean that? Mommy's really up there?" He nodded, gaze falling to the ground now. I looked down again. "But... I'll be lonely... No one is going to play with me, and cheer me up when I'm sad, or tuck me in for bed..."

He clicked his tongue and glared at me. "Aren't I cheering you up now, stupid? Besides, Kaede-san said I was gonna play with you, so stop being stupid..." I looked up at him and scanned his face to see if he meant it. His hard expression changed so drastically into embarrassment that I almost laughed.

"Pinky promise…?"

I held out a chubby pinky for him to take. He glared at it before looking away. "Yeah, whatever."

"No! You have to take my pinky, Kyouya!"

He exhaled sharply before whipping around and entwining his pinky with mine. "Happy?" His hands were cold. I took my hands and overlapped them on his, nodding vigorously as I breathed hot air on them. "Yes!"

For the first time in the last few days, he smiled softly, putting his other hand over mine and touching foreheads carefully. "Stupid."