Well, sorry, but I was hit with an inspiration the size of a brick, so I promptly opened up Doc Manager and began to type this. I- ... I'm not entirely sure where this came from, but I decided that instead of the birthday fic I had planned for this chapter (which has now been postponed to the next chapter) I would post this instead. I really like it, and I hope you ungrateful lot do too... XD

I will answer reviews for both last chapter and this chapter in the next chapter.

Possible summary for this:

Forget and Forgive

'Or, the four times Lord Death hugged Kid, and the one time that Kid let go of his polite appearance and returned the favor without hesitation.' Father-Son fluff.

Forget and Forgive

1 ;; Age 4

"Hey, you listening?"

A muffled voice broke into Death the Kid's preoccupied thoughts, and he looked up with a bored expression. Before him kneeled a small girl, sandy hair done up in two pigtails. Of course, his first impression was The right one is a little higher than the left. Pushing this thought to the back of his mind, he muttered,

"Do you need something?"

She pursed her lips in a smile. "I just thought you looked lonely."

Kid stifled a sigh. Why had his father enrolled him into preschool? He was already at the educational level of a sophomore in high school, so this was completely pointless. His first day, and so far all he'd done was sit, ensconsed in a dark corner between two bookshelves. Just barely refraining from rolling his eyes, the young Death God replied,

"Thank you for the thought, but I do not require any company."

The girl just giggled and tugged on his arm. "'Course you do! Here, you can play with blocks or something. Want me t' call BlackStar over here?"

"No, thank you-" he started to answer, but she had already turned and hollered the name. 'BlackStar,' huh? Must be that Star Clan kid that Father spent all that time deciding about.

A stocky young boy with outrageous spiky blue hair came trotting over, a sour look on his face. "Yeah? Whaddaya want, Maka?"

Maka. So that was her name.

"Well, I thought he looked lonely, so I offered to play with him," Maka explained primly. "Would ya wanna join us?"

Kid opened his mouth to retort, but BlackStar cut him off with an abrupt, "Well, we gotta know his name."

This time Kid did sigh, and resigned himself to the fact that this was the only way to get a word in edgewise. "My name is Death the Kid," he responded neatly. Easy and perfect, just the way he liked it.

BlackStar snorted. "What kinda a name is that? What're we s'posed to call ya, Teeny Death?"

"Are you insulting me?" Kid growled, standing up.

"Maybe," the insolent little brat shot back. "Or your parents. Who names their kid Death? I know it's s'posed to be Death City and all, but that's takin' it too fa-"

Vision going red, Kid leaped forward and slammed BlackStar to the ground, bringing a small fist squarely across his face. "Do. Not. Insult. My. Father," he hissed, each word accompanied by a punch. BlackStar twisted and dislodged him, then flew forward and tried to tackle the young shinigami. With superhuman speed, Kid ducked his blow and attacked from behind, fists flying in blind rage. They continued to fight, until the furious teacher pulled them apart and seperated them.

Later, in her office, she told Lord Death sternly about the entire fight, shooting frowns at the small stripey-haired kid that was sitting in his chair, feet dangling a good foot above the ground, his cheek bruised and a scrape on his elbow. Lord Death acknowledged all of this calmly, and when she left he turned his mask to face his son.

"I expected better from you, Kid."

His son's face crumpled, but he kept his composure. Inside, all he felt was crushing disappointment. Honorable Father must hate me. Hideous, asymmetrical garbage that I am. I have dishonored his name, even though that Star Clan brat started it.

"However, I do think that you landed those punches very nicely."

Kid's head snapped up in shock. The elder shinigami was giving him a thumbs up. What on Earth was he doing? He'd screwed up. He was a disappointment. Why was his father PRAISING him?

"I-" He faltered. "I- I thought I was garbage, a huge asymmetrical failure."

Shinigami shook his head in dispair. "Of course not! I am a little disappointed, but you acted by your true beliefs and only to defend- me, that is. That is a good quality in a Death God."

Then he wrapped his son in a hug, and all was right with the world.

2 ;; Age 8

"Now, move your right foot forward a bit," Lord Death instructed, poking Kid's foot a little. Nodding stiffly, the eight-year-old Death God complied, molding his arms into the carefully practiced shape of the Stance of Sin. He'd been learning it for years, of course, but now they were on the final- most complicated- stages.

Leaning forward on the ball of his foot the tiniest bit, Kid took only a brief moment to take a breath and steady himself, then flew forward and began the complicated series of punches and kicks, interspersed with flips and other acrobatic maneuvers. All timed perfectly, all carefully and symmetrically planned. Kid never missed a beat. They continued with this particular routine for a little while, then Lord Death called a break. Sitting down on the edge of the platform, Kid gazed up at his father in confusion.

"Chichiue, why are we resting? I still have forty-nine hours and twelve minutes until my strength begins to wane."

"Precise as always, Kiddo," Lord Death chuckled, ruffling his son's hair. "I just wanted to ask you how you feel about this series of moves."

Kid blinked. "It is an essential part of the Death Martial Arts, and is an important routine to learn."

"But why?" Shinigami pressed.

"Without Order, the world falls to chaos. It is the job of the Death Gods to protect Order, and fight chaos and Madness," Kid recited easily. "We preserve peace, but to do so we must have the ability to fight for our ideals. Death Martial Arts is simply one tool for us to use in this process, but is a big part of our battle style, and so must be performed perfectly each and every time."

Silence. Then, with a long sigh, Lord Death conceded, "Correct."

Kid grasped his hair, wanting to tear it out. "I said something wrong, didn't I? I'm horrible, asymmetrical garbage and I don't deserve to exis-"

"Don't EVER say that!" his father interrupted sharply. Kid stopped immediately, looking up in surprise. "Don't ever say you don't deserve to exist," he continued, more softly.

The young shinigami looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, chichiue," he whispered.

Lord Death just gathered his son into his arms and hugged him tight.

3 ;; Age 10

Kid sighed and rested his chin on his hands, watching dully from his high-backed golden chair as Lord Death and Spirit bantered good-naturedly back and forth. His father had called him here because he'd said he had important business they needed to discuss, but somehow it had turned into an argument over the cuteness of ponytails versus pigtails. Spirit, naturally, had called his 'darling Maka' into the debate, the girl in question being currently with her mother. Kid vaguely remembered Maka. Preschool, was it? Ah, yes. His brawl with BlackStar.

He had half a mind to stand up and yell at the two, tell them to stop arguing childishly and act their age (when Kid seemed the only one in the room that could. Act like an adult, that is). But, being the incessantly polite and proper child that he was, Kid kept his mouth shut and just watched as the ship sank deeper and deeper into boring, dull waters. The argument WAS getting a little out of hand, though. Five Reaper chops had already been dealt, and Spirit's blue eyes were unfocused and his voice a little slurred as he mentioned for the sixty-fourth time how cute his daughter was in pigtails.

Yes, perhaps he should stop it.

Just as his hands dropped, his mouth opened, and his legs tensed in preparation to stand up, Kid was cut off by Lord Death winking at Spirit and pushing him through the mirror. Kid froze, a little surprised.

"What-" he started to say, but Lord Death knocked his huge white hands together and created a puff of confetti, unearthing from the folds of his cloak a pristine black-frosted chocolate cake, with white bordering, three white stripes across the whole caketop, and the words 'Happy Birthday Kid' written in pure gold letters. Kid's mouth dropped.

"Happy birthday!" Shinigami cheered.

"H-how- wha- why- whaaaa...?" Kid stuttered.

In answer, Lord Death set down the cake and hugged him.

4 ;; Age 14

"Come on, that's not necessary. Do you really have to go?"

"I've been cooped up here for an unbearable amount of time, Spirit. I believe I have earned a breath of fresh air."

"But this is absolutely... we could send anybody, why do you have to go?"

"Are you suggesting I cannot take care of myself?" Kid leveled a piercing golden glare at the Death Scythe before him.

"No, but the 'Devils of Brooklyn'? They're just some rogue weapons. We might as well send BlackStar to restrain them."

"No way. That blundering idiot would only make things worse. I can and will handle this on my own."

"B-But-" Spirit spluttered for a moment, then turned to Lord Death. "Sir!"

Sighing, Lord Death turned and hugged his son. "If you believe that you can handle this, then go. Come home soon."

Kid blinked in surprise, but nodded stiffly and was off faster than they could blink.

5 ;; Age 15

Panting with pain and exhaustion, the group of battered, bloody students stumbled into the Death Room and assembled before Lord Death. Soul was supporting Maka, but only a little. BlackStar was standing on his own, albeit a little wobbly, with a frantic and worrying Tsubaki an inch away. Liz and Patty had their arms under Kid's shoulders, keeping him upright as the Death God trembled and winced under the pressure of lots of torn up Arachnophobia's soldier's uniforms wrapped tightly around the gaping hole in his abdomen. Dull, pain-filled golden eyes looked up slowly. There was his father, full of holes and covered in dirt. Horribly asymmetrical. But all the young shinigami could think was I almost lost him.

Everything around him seemed to slow down.

Spirit racing forward, hugging both Soul and Maka - and for once the blonde meister didn't protest, just slumped against her father in exhaustion.

BlackStar managed to stumble forward towards Sid, who embraced the blue-haired assassin briefly, then ruffled his spiky hair.

Marie, left with Tsubaki, wrapped her arms tight around the black-haired girl and started sobbing in joy.

All of this passed in a blur, and yet took forever, in Kid's eyes.

A few tears welled up in his gaze of pure gold, and without a moment's hesitation, he flung himself into his father's arms and hugged him tight, tears streaming down his cheeks.

For a moment, he felt like he was three, and his father was comforting him after a nightmare.

He felt the Death God's large hands tighten around his back, and, ignoring the pain, Kid screwed his eyes shut and held on for all he was worth.

Even though the memories we will forget
A lesson we have learned
And through our hardships and our happiness
Hug us once we have returned...

Kat