Would you look at that, I skipped two entire months (just about). My only excuse is that November was hectic and kind of terrifying from a school perspective. December was also hectic and terrifying from a school perspective (points at the failing grade in calculus), so hopefully I'll be able to take care of my grades, otherwise my updates will be worse.

I promised myself I'd update all my multichapters before New Year's. Consider it a gift :) Happy (almost) New Year!

Review! :D

When Kano woke, the difference between how he'd felt the night before and how he felt now was staggering. Yesterday, he would've sworn on his illness; today, his head was clear, his body felt sound, and the only thing wrong with him was the growling hunger in his belly.

He made to move, but chubby arms were holding him from the back, hugging him tightly, and the umbrella salesman suddenly remembered Seto. Carefully, as to not wake the child, he turned, and the little stripe of gray sunlight illuminated the small face. The pale skin seemed to glow from within, and Kano recalled a half-delirious thought about Seto and sunshine and child models.

For a moment, he let himself lie there and be loved, but illusions were just that; ephemeral. Kano entertained no thoughts of being able to live with the boy forever. He'd probably end up getting him into a mess, and ditching him as he did for Kido, and another mistake like that - inconceivable. He wouldn't allow it to happen again.

(Bad luck follows you like your shadow, silly boy, something will happen, whether you like it or not.)

He reached out without thinking to feel for his umbrellas, found them, thought about escaping to the welkin -

As his hands grasped the shaft, there was a juddering glimmer, two contorted limbs reaching around him from behind, blackened and hot. Why did you leave me behind? exhaled Kido, and he could see her shadow behind him, actually see it. It wasn't just a figment of his imagination this time, she was actually there, sprung from the ashes of the house he'd burned down like a malignant plant.

You know, since you left me like this, you should come with me. She whispered in his ear, crooning, and he found himself unable to move, as if he were a deer in headlights. He was sure it was a strange tableau. A burned girl with hot pits for eyes (his imagination went into overtime, painting in the melted blotchy smear of a mouth, the places where the skin was a dark scorched red, a clutch of blisters festering in the once-porcelain area behind one ear), wrapping equally burned arms around a trembling blond boy in the morning sunshine.

C'mon, Kano. Let me in. I'll introduce you to my sister, we'll have a grand old time. Her arms felt as light as a bundle of twigs.

"Are you all right?"

Seto sat up and put his head on one side, and just like that, Kido vanished. Kano glanced at the space her shadow had been, and that too was gone. "Sure I am," said Kano reassuringly. If his voice was uneven, well, that could be blamed on a lot of things, now, couldn't it?

Seto continued to look at him, making eye contact, and Kano felt uncomfortable, finally having to break off the eye lock. He bent all his attention on busily sweeping his umbrellas into a pile. Behind him, Seto said softly, "I don't think you're okay."

The umbrella salesman jerked back around and stammered out, "Ah - why would you think that? I'm fine, that's me." And he pasted on an artificial grin.

Seto didn't back away as Kano half expected him to, but eventually asked, "Who's Kido?"

The blond's hair stood up. "Kido? How'd you know that name?"

"You were saying it in your sleep." Seeing Kano's expression, he added, "Should I not talk about her? I won't, if her name makes you remember bad things."

(blackened twig girl from the ashes from the ashes from the ashes)

"Nah, it's fine." Kano sat back heavily and put his face in his hands. "I just..." After a moment, there was the warmth of another body at his side. "I just...I messed up, you know? Kido was nice to me, and I wound up..I did a bad thing..." To his horror, his eyes were stinging with impending tears. He choked them back the best he could and tried to continue. "I think...I think I might've killed her...her house burned down..." Now they were overflowing, but he kept his hands firmly over his eyes so the other boy wouldn't see.

A sudden terrifying thought came to him. Now, after I've revealed my terrible secret, maybe Seto would want to leave me alone... As if feeding off that fear, the presence next to him vanished. Seto had moved away, and the blond lifted his head, revealing tear-stained features. Ah, so I'll be rejected after all-

For a moment, he thought he felt her breath on his ear, but that was dispelled by Seto tentatively wrapping his small arms around him. The boy looked at him seriously (or as seriously as a little boy could look, anyway), and he said "That's a reason to be upset." Which sounded like a thing that wouldn't really help him feel better, but it did. After a long hesitation, Kano returned the embrace.

It felt nice, to love and be loved. It was a brotherly sort of thing, a familial thing, and even though he was certain his mother had loved him, this was a different feeling. It was warm. Seto was a cute kid, he was a polite, nice one as well. Most kids would think nothing of another boy freezing to death under an umbrella, but in an amusing irony, the younger of the two was the one to extend the help. Without Seto, Kano would likely be entombed in the snow, ice-cold, chilled, clutching his umbrellas as if they were his entire world. (Which they had been, and still were.) It was about time for an expansion of it, though...judging by Seto (and Kido, don't forget), not everyone was as bad as he'd originally been led to believe.

He allowed himself to soften in the embrace, but as he was on the cusp of relaxing, a narrow thought like a splinter of ice was driven into his head, as if an orbitoclast was being hammered through his frontal bone.

(and new things are dangerous and you will kill him with your curse of bad luck)

It was an image so strikingly profound, a vision sharp-edged and tart in its temporal impermanence; this little boy, dead. Unmoving, bleeding, as if dropped from a great height (from the bellies of the clouds), altogether silent and still. The snow was darkening around him, and the gray shapes of people stood around him and chattered. Kano was there; the air was cold, it smelled of metal, and his fingernails bit his arms, leaving vivid red crescents.

A shame.

Kano jolted as if he'd been physically struck and extricated himself from Seto's hug. "Anyway, thanks for taking care of me," he said, almost hurriedly, "but I don't think I should trouble you anymore - "

"Why not?" As he'd come to expect of the boy, Seto seemed at once to possess a strange blend of shyness and boldness; he blurted out the words, but at the same time they seemed controlled. Kano had a sudden vision - not as intense as the one of Seto's death - of Seto, older, maybe sixteen, tall and strong, and everyone loved him because he loved everyone. Unlike the other, this daydream deteriorated into wispy shreds, and then not even that much, and Kano blinked, taken aback.

"I don't think I'd be good for you, that's all." Kano tried to maintain eye contact, but Seto's dark stare was intense, almost electric, and it took all his effort to keep his eyes on the other boy.

"It's because of Kido, isn't it? Because she died, you think I'll be unable to take care of myself." Seto's voice was slightly accusing, and at that, Kano straightened his back.

"Well, yeah...I bring bad luck with me, don'cha know. I'm like, cursed or something. Boo!" Kano's attempt to play it off as humor went off wrong, and it just sounded very flat and fake. He flushed when Seto failed to react.

"I can take care of myself," Seto insisted after an awkward pause, and he folded his arms and closed his eyes, as if that solved the argument.

Kano wanted to pull his hair out; in fact, he tried to. He tangled his fingers in gold locks and yanked on them in frustration, closing his own eyes. If I stay with you, you'll die! I know it! I feel it! I saw it! Don't you understand? I'm doing this to save you!

He heaved a sigh, opened his eyes, and found Seto staring at him intently again.

"I think I get it. You think I'm going to die." The boy seemed closer than he had a minute ago, and Kano wondered if he was still sick after all. Is my face that easy to read, or did some sort of magic happen and he picked it out of my mind? "I'll tell you what, Kano, I can take care of myself. The only thing I need is company." Those dark, compelling eyes were trained on him, and Kano felt his will eroding. He talks like a political speaker! thought the blonde in awe, never mind the fact that he was young, and the only politics he'd ever learned about were the ones his mother used to rant about, and political speakers didn't frequent this small town.

(stay away boy you'll murder him) (fading) (shhhh)

"Are you absolutely sure you'll be okay?" His voice quivered with trepidation.

Seto nodded, radiant in his certainty. "I'll be fine. Now, are you gonna stay? Because if you're not, hurry up and get out, you're taking up space." The words were harsh, but there was a certain jocularity about it that assuaged the blond's fears.

"Well, all right..." Kano had to relent - he hated confrontation.

Seto tackle-hugged him around the midsection in a complete surprise maneuver, and this time, Kano didn't hesitate to return the hug.