Matsuda burst into Matt room. The boy was standing; his face was pale from shock. He seemed to be staring at the wall.

"What, Matt, what is it?" Matsuda grabbed the boy and turned him to himself. "What is wrong?"

"I saw- I saw-"

"What?"

"I-I just saw a spider. I'm sorry, I saw a spider." Matt gulped and refusing to look at his tutor. Matsuda paused slightly before replying, "No, you didn't Matt. You told me that once before, and I believed you then. But you lie sometimes, don't you?" Matt finally looked at him, tears in his eyes.

"It isn't good to lie, Matt," Matsuda pushed, despite hating the distressed look on Matt's face, but it needed to be done, for Matt's own good. "It isn't good to lie, especially if it means you are scared and alone. If something is frightening you, you must tell me, even if you are embarrassed or think it's stupid." Kneeling down, he lifted Matt's head so that they were looking directly into each other's eyes. "I promise, whatever you tell me, I will not hate you. I will just try to help, alright?"

Matt nodded dumbly before looking at Matsuda's hand. He was holding the apple. They both stared at it for a moment. Matsuda didn't remember taking it with him...

The moment of silence was interrupted when Mello ran into the room. Pushing Matsuda aside (but not roughly) he hugged his brother. "What's wrong Matt?"

"I saw a spider," responded Matt before looking at Matsuda anxiously. Matsuda kept his face as straight as possible, but he was sure that Matt saw the hint of disappointment in his eyes.

Mello did not pick up on the atmosphere, or at least he ignored. He stood and laughed, calling Matt silly.

He turned to face Matsuda. "When will we be learning lessons sir?" He smiled, his beautiful blue eyes shined like sapphire. Matsuda gulped, trying not to be overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the boy. He did not notice Matt's expression darkening slightly with a hint of jealousy.

"We will be doing the odd light lesson here and there over the Summer," he responded as amiable as possible. "But on the whole, you guys have free reign until September."

"Because then I will go back to school?" Replied Mello without hesitation.

Matsuda looked at the boy in slight confusion; did he not know he was expelled? Mello had to know! Or was Mello lying, araid that if he admitted the truth he would be in trouble (which was technically true)? Maybe he was in denial?

"Erm, yes," Matsuda responded awkwardly uncertain of how to respond. Mello's smile widen cheerfully and Matusda felt his stomach turn warm. There was something about Mello, something that made him happy without knowing or understanding why. With Matt, even though the boy seemed happy, there was always a slightly dark layer underneath. Matt's apparent happiness could be construed as him being a simple and easy to please creature, or to someone who knew him quite well such as Matsuda, it seemed superficial.

The rest of the day went well. They had gone outside and played cricket. Then Matsuda had sat by the lake and watched the boys begin to fix together an old boat that had fallen into disrepair. If they got it working, Matsuda had said they could go on it on the lake. Hey had worked well together; Mello, unlike normal big brother, never got frustrated with Matt. Matt in turn obeyed his big brother without question.

Matsuda felt uncomfortable. The sun seemed too bright, lighting up the world so much that the whole thing seemed like a mirage. He sat under the shade of a tree, hoping to find solace in the slight dark. He shivered. Looking down at his lesson plans for the up-coming weeks, he realised he hadn't written much. He couldn't concentrate. It all seemed too odd. Why was Mello such an angel? Watari seemed to adore him, but the boy had been expelled from school. He had also spent his time with the late Light Yagami, a man who sounded like a demon in human form. Wickedness was the only explanation for Mello's expulsion. After all, it was clear he was not stupid or incapable in anyway. The only reason for such a dishonourable expulsion could be wickedness.

"Something is wrong here," he thought. "Why do I feel as if I am being lied to? It's like being back in university, where all the pleasant and handsome boys had mocked and derided me. I feel like that again, as if, somehow, behind the smiles, they're all laughing at me."

The heat bore down, the laughter of the boys fading as his consciousness shut down. Slowly, Matsuda fell into sleep.

In his dream, he was once more a little boy. His dark hair was too long, the black bangs affecting his vision. Brushing them away he saw the face of his father bearing down from the pulpit. They were in church. Their father's church. It was a simple place, much like their home. The Lord, they were told, did not appreciate pompous shows of wealth, too much bright colour or loud sounds. Sometimes, when Matsuda was being wicked (though he honestly could not help it) he wondered if his father was telling the truth about god. After all, god made all the colours, all the sounds of nature, in fact the whole world was like a big showing off. It was bright and beautiful and grand. Matsuda wondered if god liked all those things, but his father did not and being a man of god, put his own views as god's views. But then, Matsuda would remember that he was wicked, and questioning the law of god was blasphemy. Matsuda would then pray hoping to appease YHWH who, in his mind, whenever he imagined god angry, it looked like his father.

From the pulpit, Father was giving one of his favourite sermons. It was about corruption. Father did not scream and shout like some other pastors. Instead his voice was low and deep, reverberating around the small, modest church. It was like a growl rather than a roar.

"Corruption," he intoned, "comes from the adult. It spreads to the child and infects him also. Then he infects his friends and other family members. The disease of Wickedness. Of Jealousy. Of Disobedience." He looked directly at Matsuda for a moment, and the child felt as if he could wet himself then and there. But he did not. He would not dare shame his father.

"The disease," continued Father, "the sickness continues to spread and infect the brain and the soul until it is all black and vile. And then they spread it onto their children. And so the cycle continues. This is why we stay away from such peoples, as the Israelites stayed clear from the pagan nations around them. Remember, 'bad associations spoil useful habits.' However, there is a way we can save such ones. If we pluck them," Father made the motion of plucking something small, like a flower bud from a branch. "If we pluck them from a young age we can cleanse them with the Holy blood of the Lamb. We can still save them." Again he looked at Matsuda, only this time he focused on him. Father's watery pale blue eyes were nothing to Matsuda's dark Asiatic ones. "Well, some of them."

Matsuda opened his eyes with a gasp. He was cold all over despite. The sun was now gone, and angry dark clouds rumbled over head. Scrambling to his feet, Matsuda looked over to where the boys had been. Only now they weren't there. Desperately he began to call for them. The boat was gone. Matsuda felt his stomach drop. Could they really have disobeyed him? Of course, Mello was wicked! He was sure of it, despite the smiles and seeming benevolence he was sure Mello was wicked. Why else would he have been excluded?

He began to run down the river bank calling for the boys all the while. The water on the lake was getting choppier as the winds picked up. Matsuda remembered the story he had told Matt about the Greek god of wind who was so jealous of a young pretty prince and his new lover that he had killed him. Matsuda did not know why, but the story kept repeating itself in his mind, as he screamed their names over and over again.

He heard a whispering a chuckling behind him. Spinning around he saw nothing. It was the odd but familiar feeling he had gotten when the apples fell down the stairway and when he had first arrived, just before he had met Matt. What the two situations had in common the location, the hallway in between the stairs to the battlement and the boy's bedrooms. But now this feeling was outside. The chuckling continued and Matsuda was sure he felt things brush by him. They were big, whatever they were.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it," Matsuda found himself muttering. He momentarily wondered if he had just gone completely insane. However, a loud clap of thunder awoke him from his fear. He remembered the boys. The sinister chuckling was gone, but he could hear the real laughter of young boys.

He ran in the general direction of their laughter, every now and then getting confused as the winds threw sound off balance. Finally he saw them in the distance. They were very close to the water, and the reeds were very long. Only from their chests onwards could they be spotted; had the knelt down or fallen, Matsuda would never have spotted them. They were spinning around together, revelling in the chaos of an up-coming storm. Matsuda called for them, but the wind snatched his words away.

Sighing in frustration, he stepped into the bog and reeds. Above the sound of the wind he could hear the feel the squelching mud. He shivered once more as cold, slimy mud crept up his shoes and into his trousers. He decided to focus on the boys. When he looked up he saw them embrace.

And then they kissed.

Authors Notes: Thanks to everyone who faved, I wasn't sure if anyone really liked this (other than the three people who have reviewed past chapters). Could some more people please review? I mean, I've written like ten chapters now all with word counts of around 1500 plus and I put a lot of hard work into this. If you like it, please say so. If you don't, please tell me what I've done wrong. I won't know if no one ever reviews.