His breath was released from his mouth in a semi-transparent cloud as it caressed the cold, winter air. A wind from the side picked up his short locks and blew them sideways and into his eyes. The snow around his feet glittered with a powdery fineness, newly fallen with a peaceful beauty to it.

However, he noticed none of this. It was all he could do to be pushing up his glasses to see in front of him as his feet crunched over the snow in a hurried pace. As he turned his head to glance behind him, a rock whizzed by, a mere centimeter away from the tip of his nose. Incensed by the threat of pain, he picked up his pace and ran faster, his chest rising and falling as his boots sent snow particles flying. The sound of shouting and feet chasing only served to spur him faster, away from the threat of pain. He gritted his teeth and clutched his books to his body as he ducked his head to avoid a rock flying by. More soon followed, passing by him every which way, all (thankfully) missing their mark.

"Hey! Get back here!" He let out a little squeak of fear as he picked up his pace even more, more than humanly possible at least.

Then again, he wasn't human.

He had to get away from this pack of boys, who knew what they would do if they caught him? He had already had one ripped coat and broken pair of glasses from a run-in just that week, and he knew that they couldn't afford to pay for another of either. Within a few feet, he saw just what he needed at the moment. A low-hanging tree branch. With a leap that would have impressed any professional athlete, he launched himself up to the branch and proceeded to scurry up the attached trunk like a squirrel.

Down below, the group of boys that had been chasing him stopped. They looked all around, scowling like dogs who had lost prey.

"Where did he go?" "Why're you asking me?" "How did he get away again?!" The lead boy of the group, one with black hair and yellow-green eyes exactly the same as his, yelled out.

"You got away this time, you red-haired freak! But I know you're around! We'll get you next time for sure!" After doddering around and muttering a moment more, the boys disbanded and went their separate ways. The black haired boy went up the path, while the rest went down. He waited until he was sure they were all gone before making his move.

With more graceful movement, he slipped back down and crunched quietly onto the snow. With a few more backwards glances, he went up the path, the same way the black-haired leader boy went. He wished he didn't need to, but he did. This was the way home after all. He trudged the rest of the way home, not in the least exhausted by the mile-long run he had just completed. He had more stamina than most, mainly due to the fact that he was constantly fleeing from those boys on a more-often-than-daily basis.

Home was a welcome relief when it finally came into sight. It was a small, simple place, dwarfed certainly by the larger home next to it, and the ones all down the street, but it was what he called home. The woman who lived next door smiled and adjusted her half-moon spectacles as he walked up the path to his house.

"Good afternoon, Grell," she greeted sweetly. He offered a half-hearted smile of his own as he pushed up the bridge of his own glasses, which at this point was being held together by glue and some very strong twine. He nodded to her and went up the path, avoiding the eyes of the kind woman's son behind her, the black-haired boy who had been chasing him not long before. The woman looked at her son and gave him a light tap on the head. "Go on," she whispered gently, "say 'hello', William."

"Hullo," the boy muttered sullenly, though loud enough for Grell to hear. He acknowledged the half-hearted greeting and pulled out his key to the house. He made sure to slip inside quickly and lock the door behind him. He let out a breath and leaned against the door as soon as he was sure he was safe. He took a deep breath in through his nose and let the warm, familiar smells of home soothe him.

"Welcome home, big brother." Grell opened his eyes and offered a smile to his little sister.

"Hey there, Bella." His younger sister was sitting on a worn chair, apparently reading some schoolwork when he had come in. She waited until he had all of his things set on the table before putting her book down and coming over to hug him. He returned the gesture with earnest, even going as far as to lift her up off her feet for a moment. When he had put her back down, she stared up at him seriously and pointed at him.

"You got chased by those bullies again, didn't you?" Grell felt his eyes widen as she pointed at him.

"What? But how did you-"

"You've got a cut on your cheek." He halted mid-sentence and touched his fingers to his face. He could feel something wet there and found blood on his fingertips when he pulled them away. He sighed, one of the rocks must have nicked him when the boys were throwing them. So much for getting home unscathed. Taking in a deep breath, he straightened up and wiped the rest of the blood away with the back of his hand.

"Right, well, that doesn't matter. It's just a little scratch. You hungry?" Bella nodded enthusiastically and he pointed to the bathroom. "Go wash up, I'll start up dinner." His little sister immediately rushed to the bathroom, and he could hear water running in a moment. When she was out of sight, he tossed off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves to start.

"That was really good big brother." Grell nodded as he finished up with a bite of his own food, Bella had just finished. "Delicious." He smiled a bit at the complement.

"Have you finished your homework, Bella?" His sister nodded that she had. "Then go on and take a bath, then tell me when you're going to bed." Bella got up from the table and placed her dishes into the sink, then grabbed a teakettle full of water that he had been boiling and put it into a bucket before carrying it to the bathroom with her. When she was out of sight, Grell got up from the table and began cleaning and putting everything away. As he stood over the sink, washing the dishes, a strand of his bloodred hair fell onto his forehead. He let out a breath as he pushed it aside with a sudsy hand. Red hair, one of the reasons others his age made fun of him, looking different than the rest of them.

Out of all of them, he knew some with orange hair, some with blonde, brunette, black. He was the only Shinigami child he knew of who had hair as deep and red as he did. The only other Shinigami he even knew of who had his natural shade of red hair was his big sister, Mary. Bella was lucky, she had inherited black hair from their mother and father, their parents had had no idea where he and Mary had gotten their red hair from. He pushed these thoughts out of his mind and kept them away until he was done with the cleaning up. He had just sat down to do his homework when Bella came back in, wearing her little blue nightgown.

"Going to bed, Bella?" She nodded quietly. "Need me to come and tuck you in?" He smirked a bit as his sister playfully pursed her lips.

"I'm not a child, I can put myself to bed, big brother." He chuckled and put his book aside for a moment.

"Of course, I'm sorry." He held his arms wide. "But are you still too old to give your big brother a hug and kiss goodnight?" Bella quickly shook her head and rushed into his arms, which he wrapped tightly around her. She placed a light kiss on his cheek as he held her close.

"Big sis isn't home yet?"

"No, but don't worry, I'll tell her you said goodnight if she comes home before I go to bed." He placed a kiss on his sister's forehead before he would let her go, after which she said a hurried 'goodnight' before going off to bed. He smiled as she retreated from the room and went back to his studies by the light of the lone candle next to him.

The clock striking ten told him that it was time to quit for the night, which he did. With a sigh, he put his book in his bag for the morning, all homework and studies completed. He looked a bit solemnly at the clock as he passed it.

Big sis must have taken an extra shift again, he thought sadly. Their big sister worked far too hard, she had to in order to support all three of them. An orphan, the second thing that the other children made fun of him for. If there was ever any reason to hate someone, it was having their parents be dead, he always thought with a dark bite. One who seemed to hold a special amount of hatred for their family, though he had no idea why, was the next door neighbor, William.

He shook his mind of these thoughts and headed for his room for his nightly sleep. However, just as he was going down the short hallway, the doorway to his sister's room opened slightly, and her eyes glimmered out at him in the moonlight. He looked at her with surprise, he had expected her to be asleep hours ago.

"Bella, what are you still doing up?" His sister didn't answer, but looked down at the ground. Grell sighed, understanding what had happened, as it happened quite often. "You had another nightmare, didn't you?" Again, no verbal answer, but he saw her nod a bit. "You want to sleep in my bed, I'm guessing?" This time, the door opened all the way and Bella came out and wrapped her arms around him as she buried her face into his stomach. Grell sighed heavily and patted her on the head. "Okay, one more time, and that's it." It wouldn't be just one more time, though. He was always soft when it came to his little sister, and he knew it. He would always allow her in his room after a nightmare, no matter how many times she asked him.

Bella went ahead of him and was lying under his covers before he was even in his own room. He tossed off his day-clothes and pulled on night-clothes as quickly as possible. He crawled into bed and pressed the side of his face into his pillow after placing his glasses onto his bedside table. He was just dozing off when Bella spoke to him again.

"Did big sis come home?" He forced himself to stay awake in order to answer.

"No, but she'll be around in the morning. She always is." His sister let out a sound, and soon made no more as her breathing steadied and softened to a sleeping pace. Grell smiled gently and turned to his other side, allowing a sliver of moonlight from the window to fall over his eyes. "Goodnight," he mumbled. Then, he too fell sound asleep.

Okay, I'm really not sure how many people are going to like this, but here's the thing. If enough people review and tell me they like it, I shall put it on my list of stories to update a.s.a.h.p. If not, it will be only a 'once in a while' update. Either way, let me know if you're liking where this is going so far.

Thanks all you readers!