Merry Christmas all from Singapore! That's right, Upon the Rocks, reporting from Singapore! *winks* Now then, away we go!

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With each breath, the winter air created steam and stung one's nose, sometimes dotting it with the white flakes known as snow. Sounds around were muffled with only the harmony of crunching of feet, moving in rhythm, and the occasional giggling from friends and family playing around. The corners of one's lips were tingling from the ice cold temperature, your hands even colder with the tips becoming too numb for you to feel them.

The world is blanketed with snow, the sight relaxing for the eyes and the ears. With the roads almost identical to an ice rink, people were running across them, sliding or maybe even skating across the perfect frozen sheets of frost and water. Some others, their coordination or attitude slightly poor, walked from sidewalk to sidewalk, chatting with their friends and sipping a hot chocolate for the soul. The day was December 24, 2009.

Christmas eve.

As Rhyme skidded from place to place, she stumbled and laughed, the sound like a bell, her arms swinging around as she slipped and landed on her lower back, injured, but ignoring the pain as she laughed. She had on a large tan coat, reaching her waist from which a longer tan khaki pants swung low, gathering the dust and chips of ice. They were both old, but effective and helpful in the freezing, bitter, and seemingly unending cold. She pushed her black hat up and brushed a strand of hair from her eyes.

With each laugh, her jacket lifted and fell, the fabric very loose, as she liked her clothes.

"You ok Rhyme?" Shiki asked. Her glasses were still on, but she had a small Santa hat on her head, the cotton ball on the end of the hat flopping with each step. Her green shirt remained, her pants jeans with red and white socks underneath. Her cat was, as usual, gripped tight in her hands, as well as a small green jacket. Her face was an attempt to be making sure Rhyme was ok, but it quickly turned into a smile, laughter being as contagious as it is.

"Haha! Of course!" Rhyme laughed, her breaths coming out in short puffs. As her laughs slowed down, she let out a small sniff before standing and brushing herself off. As she glanced at her friends standing on the sidewalk, she waved and shouted for them. "C'mon guys! You gotta try this!"

Neku, the resident half-emo was standing and looking at the ice like it would kill him, which it might. He had covered his normal shirt with a blue hooded jacket, his hands in the pockets. His pants were khaki, dotted with white flakes from walking in the snow. His headphones were hanging around his neck while he turned to Rhyme with a small smile.

"I'd rather not," he remarked, sitting with one leg outstretched sideways onto the ice while the other was bent, sitting by his body with an arm perched on it. As he turned to the other boy beside him, he remarked on how warm the boy seemed, despite the walking through the frigid weather. Beat was standing with a little more than his normal clothing, the white undershirt slightly covered with a red jacket. The jacket was unzipped, letting in the extremely cold air, but Beat just stared on at his sister, smiling as he took a step forward towards the ice.

"Yeah, I think I will, yo," Beat answered, taking a small step on the ice and slipping already, his hands flailing as he slipped towards his sister. With a yelp, he slipped onto his back, his laughs able to be heard around him as his sister joined in. Neku laughed quietly on the sidewalk, his left hand pointed towards the boy who had just made a small fool of himself. Shiki was giggling to herself as she glanced at Neku. She walked/slid over to him and grabbed his hand.

"C'mon, get up here," Shiki gripped his hand, pulling the stammering boy up onto the ice and letting him slide off.

"Hey, wait, Shiki!" he shouted, slipping and falling onto his stomach. Rhyme, Beat, and Shiki all laughed at the boy on his stomach. He got on his hands and knees, looking up to a pile of snow. With a grin, he grabbed some and packed it close and stood up, slipping and sliding towards Shiki.

"Haha, Neku, careful! You might slip again," Shiki called, not noticing the snowball in the boy's hands as he got closer. With a whip of his hand, Neku threw the snowball and landed a hit on the girl's shirt, tipping the careful balance she had and causing her to fall on her butt. As she rubbed her painful backside, Neku laughed and pointed at the girl on the ground. Rhyme and Beat followed suit as Shiki picked up a pile of snow and threw it at Neku. As Neku brushed some of it off, he picked up another piece of snow and lobbed it at the girl, beginning their snow fight. They didn't bother to pack the snow together, just having fun and laughing in the frost. Rhyme turned to her laughing brother and picked up a pile of snow, packing it into a snowball before throwing it at her brother's head, making him shout and turn to his sister.

"Hey, Rhyme, yo that ain't cool," he argued as she threw another one. With a third coming his way, he stood up and picked up a large pile of snow, holding it in his arms as he ran towards his sister. Rhyme immediately noticed the danger and let out a small shriek, standing up and sliding away from her laughing brother who was now running while losing snow. With another yelp, Rhyme bumped into a boy a little taller than her. She stumbled back and looked up, the girl's face still happy and gleeful.

"Ah, hah, sorry," she said, looking up and meeting purple eyes. "Joshua?" The said Composer was standing and smiling with a light blue coat on, his right hand popping out of his pocket to wave, his jeans crunching in the snow as he moved.

"Hello Rhyme. Having fun?" Joshua glanced at Beat, who was now frozen in place. Neku and Shiki were still fighting with each other, a good layer of water on them as they threw frost after frost. Neku turned to where Rhyme was with a smile on his face before he scanned the area, coming to Joshua and frowning slightly. Shiki's eyes followed his and looked at the boy, her grin still slightly visible.

"Hello Joshua," Neku greeted as warm as he could, which still wasn't that warm. Joshua pouted slightly before putting back his smug grin and lifting his head slightly.

"Is that any way to treat your partner?" Joshua asked, smiling as the boy stared at him. "I'm just here to enjoy the scenery. Rhyme here bumped into me." Joshua put a hand on Rhyme's head, rubbing her head as he talked. Rhyme let out a small laugh before looking up at Joshua's face as he continued, "Oh, and after this, CAT wants you to spend Christmas Eve at WildKat." Neku nodded, but Shiki let out a small shriek.

"We're going to meet CAT!" she shouted, but Neku quickly shushed her and Joshua giggled, earning a frown from Neku.

"You've already met him, you just don't know it," Joshua said, adding to the conundrum and making Shiki tilt her head slightly.

"Is it Mr. H?" Rhyme suddenly questioned, earning a couple surprised looks. "I don't know, he just is out a lot and has a cafe named WildKat."

"Took Neku quite a while to figure that one out," Joshua mused, earning a glare from Neku. "Yes, Mr. H is CAT. Don't spread it; he wants it to stay secret."

"Will do!" Rhyme dragged her fingers across her lips as if zipping them up then crossed her fingers, giggling softly as she did her little promise. She smiled and turned, walking on the ice again. "C'mon guys, let's play some more!'Mirth is God's medicine!'" After some reluctant glances at Joshua, who waved slightly, Shiki walked over to Rhyme and held out her jacket and stuffed animal.

"Can you hold these?" Shiki asked politely, answered by a nod by Rhyme as she took it in her arms. Neku and Shiki restarted their snowball fight while Beat glared at Joshua for his act of messing with his sister. His mouth opened as a snowball crashed into him, made by Neku. As Beat turned, he grinned and picked up a snow ball and joined in their fight.

"Why don't you go join them?" Joshua asked politely as the blonde girl sat down. Rhyme looked up at Joshua and shrugged, stretching her jacket out as she answered.

"I don't know, you just seem so lonely over here.'It is strange to be known so universally and yet be so lonely,'" Rhyme mused, her eyes following her friends as they lobbed snowballs at each other, their laughter ringing in the air. Each shriek from Shiki and each yell from Neku and Beat earned a small giggle from Rhyme, her laugh ringing in Joshua's ears as he wrapped up closer to his coat to hide his smile.

"Albert Einstein," the boy murmured, recalling the famous scientist. It was true, he was known as God, yet he had very few friends. Neku wasn't counted; he was the Composer's proxy. Shiki wasn't known well, not counted again. Beat... Beat wanted to kill him for messing with his sister. Of course, he'd fail each time. Rhyme... Rhyme was the only true friend he had. Was she a friend? Or maybe something mo-

"Joshua!"

The boy looked at Rhyme as she lifted her head and looked up in the sky. Joshua looked up as well and a snowflake fell on his nose. He smiled and gazed up at the sky, watching each flake fall on his city, the white material sending gasps of surprise and happiness echoing through the streets. Joshua turned his head down to Rhyme and watched the blonde girl stick her tongue out and catch the snowflake. With a giggle, she stood up and twirled around, laughing quietly as she spun in the snow. Joshua looked at her and smiled, watching her laugh made him begin to giggle as well. Rhyme stopped spinning and sat down, giggling still while she held her head still.

"Whoo! Hah, that was fun!" Rhyme laughed and dusted some snow off her jacket, the flakes coming down as big as dimes now. Rhyme turned and looked at Neku and Shiki who were currently gazing up at the snow falling down at them. Beat was watching the flakes of frost as well, his arms out and his gaze upwards. Joshua turned and looked down on Rhyme, her eyes shimmering in the snow and her black hat becoming whiter with each passing second. Rhyme turned up to look at Joshua and their eyes met.

Joshua turned away, trying to hide his smirk in his hair as his heart raced. Rhyme blushed slightly as well, but turned away and looked at the sky again, her arms behind her as she spread her legs out. Joshua's eyes moved over and glanced at her fragile form, almost as fragile as the snow falling on him at the time. With a slender hand, he held his hand out and caught a snowflake. It didn't melt immediately due to his low body temperature, but he managed to touch it softly before it shattered and melted into water. He clenched his hand and looked at Rhyme. He reached over and brushed a strand past her ear, smiling as she tensed up. Joshua then noticed her breaths coming out slower than usual to attempt to calm down, visible in the ice cold atmosphere. With a tip forward, he slipped his lips over Rhyme's earlobe, nibbling on them slightly as Rhyme's breath came out in a rush.

"Ah...Joshua...C-can you-" Rhyme murmured into his ear as she moved her head towards him.

"Shh... I want to have some fun with you," Joshua cut in, moving closer to her as he slipped his lips to her cheek, kissing her softly as he flipped over, moving on the girl like a snake slithering up her body. With a slight breath over her cheeks, he leaned forward and inched closer to the small blonde's lips. Rhyme was actually willing him to come, the torture becoming unbearable.

Inches away, he pulled away, smiling for a second with his bangs flopping down and hiding his face from those around them.

"Not just yet," he whispered as he slightly leaped up to his feet. Joshua looked down at the girl and held a hand down. Rhyme blinked, her mouth open slightly as she looked at Joshua. He seemed like an angel, the snow falling down and covering him in an outline of white, his hair dotted with white snow that seemed to blend in with his silvery bangs. With a reluctant and warm hand, Rhyme reached up and grasped the Composer's hand. It felt cold against hers, but as she pulled herself up, he grasped her hand and put a small kiss on Rhyme's lips before letting her go. She fell forward into the snow and pulled herself out of the snow as Joshua began giggling, his eyes examining the small girl in front of him who was blushing slightly. She looked back at Joshua with a trace of anger on her face, but it quickly subsided into laughter and happiness.

"Joshua," Neku called, walking to the boy. His hands were in his pockets, his face stern. "What are you doing to Rhyme?"

"Nothing. Just playing around." Joshua smirked, looking at Neku with his hands in his pockets. He put his right hand on his chin, his mock surprise/thinking face on as he looked to Neku. "Why? Were you thinking we were doing something bad?"

"You killed me. Twice." Neku stared Joshua down, the Composer's smirk back.

"Well, I brought you and your friends back, I do hope you can trust me," Joshua said, his hand on his cheek as he giggled softly. Neku growled softly, looking at him carefully.

"You better not be planning something to do with Rhyme." Joshua smirked, seeming to wave the notion away.

"Why would I do something like that to dear Raimu?" Joshua responded, looking at the girl behind him.

"Because you're Joshua."

"Tsk tsk, what bad trust in a partner," Joshua scolded, giggling softly. Neku sighed quietly, staring at the boy carefully.

"Neku!" Shiki slipped/walked to the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder. She panted as Beat walked over as well. Beat let out a small glare while Shiki blinked to Joshua and turned away, looking at Neku again. "Let's get going to WildKat! We're soaked!" Her shirt was plastered to her body, earning a quick stare from Neku. Joshua cleared his voice, making Neku's sight snap up to the boy.

"WildKat?" Neku blinked, nodding and turning, walking with Shiki towards the road leading to the cafe. Joshua stayed back, walking with Rhyme carefully stepping behind.

"I haven't seen it snow for a while..." Rhyme licked a snowflake up, and then brushed snow off her hat, the piece of clothing weighing almost twice its original weight in snow. "What a rare sight!"

Joshua smirked, shrugging and looking to Rhyme with a bored expression. "I have to use my powers in some way." Anything to get a smile from you. He looked away, glancing at the sky. "Snow just came to my mind." Especially when I think of you. As he drew a strand of hair away from his face, he looked down to Rhyme, smiling as he watched the girl look at a pair of friends, throwing snowballs at each other. To tell the truth, he couldn't actually control weather, but with a few of his other skills, he could predict when the snow would fall, or how badly it would freeze.

"I'm happy you chose snow! It's always fun to have a calm day, snow having that effect. 'When snow falls nature listens!'" A single snowball flew at Rhyme, the original target dodging it easily. After a quick sorry, Rhyme waved back, smiling softly. She looked at her shoulder, dusting it off carefully.

Joshua leaned in, whispering softly, "Do you really think so?" His breath sent shivers down the girl's spine, gliding across her neck from the proximity. Rhyme stiffened, and began turning, but Joshua was already walking ahead. She began walking after him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course! Whenever it snows, it seems to quiet the world down, y'know, muffle everything away," Rhyme explained. Joshua giggled softly, looking away. "Something funny?"

"Nothing. Let's get going." Joshua looked away and began speed up, not running, but barely walking. Rhyme followed quickly, looking at the boy's ashen curls as if to find out what he was thinking.

Joshua looked back, recalling the Composer clairvoyance skill he had been using in the morning. He smirked, recalling the next scene that would occur. He stretched his arms then watched the group almost disappear in the picking up snow.

All according to God's vision.

***

Part two ish next! Now get goin' ya radians!