I'm still crying from the previous chapter. And I haven't even gotten to the worse parts yet.
Kid wrapped an arm around Kenna as she cried on his shoulder, she wasn't sobbing loudly anymore, but her tears soaked the shinigami's shoulder. The blood on his other shoulder wasn't even dried up all the way. Soul had dug a hole in the ground next to a stone that had Anna carved into it and Free was collecting Bre's ashes and putting them into a large bowel. Black-Star had been asked to carve Bre's name into a new stone and everyone else was inside getting lunch ready. The day was only halfway done and Kid was already exhausted. After the ashes were covered and buried, the rest of them went back inside and took their plates of pig in silence like everyone else.
"The pig's gone, we're going to need more meat soon." Tsubaki said quietly to Free. "We have plenty of vegetables and fruit, but we could always get more."
"I can go hunting later." Free responded.
"No." Tsubaki snapped, loud enough for the silent group to snap out of their daze. "Not today, please."
"Fine, but I'm leaving first thing tomorrow."
"Thank you." The group went back to silence and only chewing and the ripping of meat could be heard. Kid couldn't stomach anything after eating several bites. He gave the rest of his food to a young boy that was near him and he went to the room Black-Star and himself shared. Kid knew someone was following him, he assumed it was Black-Star and he didn't bother looking back or taking more effort to truly discover who the person was. He walked into the room, leaving the door open behind him and when the click of the door being shut rang in his ear, he turned around as he slipped off his shirt.
"Black-Star I'm f-" Kid stopped when he saw that the person following him hadn't been Black-Star. "What do you want Kenna?" The shinigami asked, grabbing a shirt and putting it on before sitting himself down on the bed.
"You're a lot like my dad, before he ran off." Kenna sat down next to Kid. "He left us when I was only five but I can remember everything about him." The girl leaned her head against the man's shoulder. "He was so nice to me and Bre. He'd take the effort to make sure that we were okay, even with Bre being from another father, he didn't care, he loved us. He had black hair like you, minus the stripes of course and his eyes were blue as well. Other than that you look just like him and even act like him sometimes..." Kenna raised a hand and wiped her eye, she had already shed enough tears for one day.
"Your dad could still be out there, waiting for his little girl to find him." Kid put a hand on Kenna's back and started to rub it, feeling her shoulder blades sticking out farther than they should.
"He's dead, I found his body two years ago while a group of kishin demons were eating him." Kid felt Kenna stiffen from the memory. "I found my mother the next day...hanging from a tree with a note in her hand that said she loved us...but she couldn't deal with this world anymore..." Kenna held back a sob. Kid felt a wave of guilt go through him, he thought he was having a hard time with this place. But his friends, his very close ones, were still alive, his father was still alive, even if he wasn't very happy with him and he still had Black-Star. Kenna just lost her sister today, she found her mother hanging after seeing her father being eaten by kishins. He's had an easy life compared to Kenna and she was only fifteen, too young for any of this. "At least I'm not alone." Kenna curled her feet up and wrapped her arms around the shinigami's stomach. Kid froze for a moment, hands in the air. When Kenna had started crying again, he relaxed and continued rubbing the girl's back, his other hand on the bed to keep them up.
"I won't leave you." Kid said softly, knowing he was saying that to more than one person. He was promising everyone that sat in the other room.
Kid was too busy with Kenna to notice that Liz was standing at the doorway, seeing her meister comforting a girl about his age when he ran off. Liz lightly knocked on the door before walking in.
"Hey Kid. Tsubaki sent me to make sure you two were alright and to tell you that there isn't a planned dinner tonight, to just eat if you get hungry."
"Thanks Liz." Kid said, still looking down at Kenna.
"Patty missed you." Liz said suddenly. "She wouldn't stop crying for weeks after you and Black-Star ran away, then she went silent for even longer, we were scared for her. She wouldn't eat or sleep, she'd just sit at the window, looking for you Kid. You really hurt her and you still haven't apologized for leaving her."
"I didn't leave-" Liz had walked away before Kid could finish. "-you." Kid sat there and thought, he thought about everything Liz and Patty must have gone through when he left and what the war had done to them as well, he felt terrible. Why was this happening? Why can't they go back to the days of basketball after class?
Kenna eventually fell asleep and Kid gently took the girl off of him and laid her on the bed, covering her small body with the blanket. He brushed away Kenna's bangs out of her face before walking away, looking for his weapons.
"When's Bre coming back?" A little boy, no older than ten, asked. He sat on the lap of Patty, playing with the string of her hoodie. Patty didn't answer the boy, instead she set him down on the ground and told him to play with the other child of the group, his twin and the two boys ran off in search of their mother.
"Hi Patty." Kid said, joining the woman on the bench she sat on. The main room was almost empty except for himself, Patty, Black-Star and Liz who walked in the room a moment later.
"What do you want?" Patty asked.
"I want to talk to Patty." He said.
"She's dead, like most of Death City, she's gone like the DWMA." Patty gripped the bench and glared at Kid. "She left, like you." She snapped, eyes filled with tears threatening to fall.
"Patty, I didn't leave you."
"But you did, you didn't even say good-bye!" Patty cried.
"I came back." Kid protested.
"Five years later, when I thought you were gone forever!" Patty finally allowed her tears to fall down her face. "I kept waiting for you Kid, I kept telling everyone 'Kiddo will be back, he always comes back, why would he leave us? He loves us'. But you never came back. You never sent a letteror a phone call or anything and I thought you were dead. It was back to just me and Liz again. The Thompson sisters...we were no longer the Kid trio...It was just like when mom and dad left!" Patty got up to leave, but Kid caught her shoulder and turned the woman to face him.
"Patty, I'm sorry. Don't you think it killed me to leave you guys behind, you're my family and I'm an asshole for running away like that."
"Yeah you are." Liz said and Patty hugged the shinigami.
"Promise me you'll never run off again." Patty said, removing her arms.
"Or if you do, tell us." Liz added, resting a hand on her younger sister's shoulder. "It hurt all of us."
"I can't deal with all of this seriousness anymore." Black-Star sighed.
"Welcome to our lives." Soul said as he and Maka entered the room.
"We need to do something fun." The star said and got up.
"What are you doing?" Kid asked, seeing Black-Star throw open a door and walk in.
"What do we keep in there?" Patty asked Liz.
"I don't remember." Liz answered truthfully.
"This is awesome!" Black-Star's cheer made the group flinch.
"How are you guys doing?" Tsubaki joined the six in the room.
"We're playing basketball." Black-Star stepped out of the closet with a ball in one hand and a hoop in the other.
"It's been years since I've played basketball." Tsubaki said.
"Let's do it. Me, Patty and you against Kid, Soul and Liz. Maka can be the referee."
"I don't know..."
"Come on Tsubaki, please?" Tsubaki found herself getting the 'puppy-dog eye' treatment from Patty and Black-Star.
"Fine."
"Yay!" Patty giggled and ran off for a moment, soon returning with a box of nails and a hammer. "We can go to the roof."
"It'll be the seven of us again." Maka said with a smile. The group shared a look before they all took off, up the steps and ended up on the roof in seconds. Maka sat on the ledge and had a hard time breathing. "This baby is taking my ability to move." She groaned. "I have to deal with two more months of this shit?" She asked.
"And then you give birth." Kid said.
"Soul, hit him for me." Soul gave his partner a thumbs up and punched Kid's arm, knowing it wouldn't hurt the other man.
"Let's play ball!" Black-Star cheered, sitting on top of the door that stuck out of the roof and the hoop was attached to the side.
"We have to set up the rules first." Maka stated, moving herself forward so she could lean back some more. "Same rules as before but when the possession of the ball changes you have to go to the opposite sie of the roof before you can make a shot."
"Easy enough." Black-Star said and hopped off the door. The star picked up the ball from the ground and stood in front of Kid. Soul and Liz were behind Kid while Tsubaki and Patty stood behind Black-Star. "Ready to lose?" Black-Star asked and passed the ball to the shinigami.
"I should be asking you that." Kid chuckled and passed the ball back.
"We'll just see." When Kid got the ball for the second time, he quickly passed it to Liz and pushed past the star. Tsubaki went in front of Liz and held her hands out as Patty followed Soul and blocked him. The scythe managed to get away from Patty long enough for Liz to throw it to him and he caught it. He turned around and shot the ball, it made it in the hoop without touching the rim.
"Looks like I'm not as rusty as I thought." Soul chuckled.
"Lucky shot." Black-Star scoffed and dribbled the ball as he went to the other side of the roof.
"Like you could do better." Soul said and stood in front of the star. Black-Star stopped dribbling and shot the ball without a second thought. The ball bounced on the rim before going in. "Shut-up." Soul said to Black-Star's smirk.
"Two to two." Maka said from the sidelines. The scythe stepped out of the way and allowed Tsubaki to walk by him and she and Black-Star traded spots. Before Black-Star was even ready, Tsubaki threw the ball over the star's head and Liz caught it. The older twin took several steps and bounced the ball towards Kid. The shinigami was about to get it when Patty cut him off and she tossed the ball to Black-Star. Black-Star dribbled the ball a couple times and Soul took the ball away from him, shoving his shoulder in the star's chest and knocking him over. "That's a foul shot." Maka said as Black-Star got back up.
"That's not a foul, this is a foul." The scythe punched the star across the face without a warning.
"Soul!" Both Maka and Kid snapped.
"It's okay." Black-Star chuckled, rubbing his jaw. "I deserved it. Next time though." Black-Star took the ball from the scythe. "I'm hitting back." Black-Star threw the ball and it went in the hoop. "There's the foul shot."
"Two to three." Maka sighed, knowing that she would never understand men. Liz caught the ball from under the net and ran over to the other side of the roof before passing it to Tsubaki. Tsubaki took a step to throw the ball back since Kid was completely covered by Black-Star.
"What in the world is going on up here?" A low voice interrupted the game.
"Can I join?" A higher pitched voice asked behind the large man.
"You're already up?" Kid asked Kenna.
"Free woke me up when he was looking for you two." Kenna answered, pointing to Free.
"I was originally looking for Tsubaki, but she kind of disappeared." Free raised his eyebrow at the woman who still had the basketball in her hands.
"Think fast." Tsubaki threw the ball to Free and the wolf caught it easily.
"I'm not participating in a child's game." Free handed the ball to Kenna.
"I want to be on Kid's team." Kenna dribbled the ball with both hands.
"Then we would be uneven." Tsubaki said with a smile at the wolf. "You wouldn't want to upset Kenna, would you?"
"I hate you." Free said through gritted teeth.
"Whatever you say." Tsubaki winked at Free and the group when back to their first positions, this time with Kenna joining Kid's side and Free at Black-Star's.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." Free sighed as the ball as thrown to him. The wolf faked to the side and passed it to Black-Star. The star stepped to the side to avoid Kid and he was back to back with the other man before he passed the ball to Tsubaki. Tsubaki threw the ball and it rolled along the rim, falling away from the center and landing in Soul's hands. The scythe ran several feet away before bouncing the ball to Liz.
Kid watched the game go by. Maka stopped paying attention to the score and started doing commentary instead, insulting and complimenting everyone at one point as time passed by. They didn't notice the sun going down until Patty saw the sunset and pointed it out to the others. None of them believed that time had passed by so fast. They finished their game and went back in when their stomachs growled loudly. Everyone forgot the pain, they forgot about the death and misery of their lives as they were being normal. They were teenagers again, playing a game of basketball with friends. Kid was happy, but he knew the happiness wasn't going to last for long.
I tried to make this chapter a little happier at the end.