With a contented sigh and a slight giggle of delight, Ryuto plopped down onto his makeshift bed, sending up a mild cloud of dust. As Oliver proceeded to hide away the food they hadn't eaten that night, he couldn't help but glance over at the young boy who was now complacently rubbing his full stomach. His eyes also swept over to take in the form of Yuki, bundled tightly in her thin blanket, sleeping not far off.

"That was so yummy!" Ryuto exclaimed, drawing Oliver's eyes back toward him, as he gave another bubbling giggle, "We haven't had so much food in such a long time! You should go to your secret storeroom more Oliver!"

"I already told you that I can't go all the time; all the kids on the street have to share the storeroom and it wouldn't be right for me to take all the food for ourselves. Besides, we've got enough food now to last us at least another two days." To prove his point, Oliver gestured towards the pile of food he had just finished stashing away.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ryuto said as he rolled on his side to look at Oliver, "But I just like it better when we have food; it reminds me of when mommy would cook for me."

Oliver felt himself instinctively stiffen at the mention of Ryuto's mother. An unspoken rule amongst the children of the street was that they would never bring up their parents. Talking about parents did nothing more than open old wounds that were better left closed. Fond memories didn't help you survive.

Thievery and lying did.

"She was so nice," Ryuto mumbled dreamily to himself as he continued to chatter on oblivious to Oliver's edginess, "She was the one who gave me my name you know. Daddy says she comes from some faraway country. When she left daddy said it was because she didn't want to be away from home any more. But daddy was so sad, so he went to find her and I have to be a good boy and wait for him to come back with her…I know he'll find her…then she can cook yummy food…for me and daddy…every…night…"

Ryuto's voice dropped off into silence as the strong allure of sleep and dreams finally claimed his young body. For a moment, Oliver remained crouched near the place where he had stocked their newly acquired supplies. The suffocating nature of the young boy's words hung heavy in the room as Oliver stared darkly down at the food he had stolen mere hours before. Without a word, Oliver hoisted himself off the ground and walked over to the young boy's bed. Ryuto's head was nestled in the crook of his arm as his mouth moved, forming words that were never voiced.

Even when he's asleep, he never stops talking, Oliver thought with a slight smile as he pulled a blanket over the young boy's sleeping form and gently tucked him in. The movement caused the young boy to turn in his sleep as he settled into the warmth of the blanket.

"Thanks mommy…" He mumbled barely above a whisper.

"Oliver! Stop squirming around so much! Mommy can't tuck you in if you're moving everywhere."

Before he had a chance to stop it, the memory of her warm voice and easy laughter returned to his mind. Oliver once more felt a painful feeling of powerlessness settle over him. It was choking him.

He had to get away; had to escape.

Moving quickly, close to the point of running, the boy headed for the front door of their current home. He powerfully yanked the door open as if spending one moment longer in the building would bring him physical pain. He was met with a blast of cold air that seemed to permeate every inch of his skin.

Out in the open night air with no one but the stars to keep him company, he began to feel instantly better. He took in deep, gasping breaths of the stark air and allowed its cold indifference to burn away his dark emotions. For a singular moment, he felt completely clear of responsibility; clear of debilitating helplessness. Instead of being Oliver; a ten year old boy charged with the impossible task of protecting two children he cared for like siblings, he was Oliver, a young boy with a loving family and no responsibilities.

Then the moment ended.

Responsibility settled once more like a heavy mantle on his shoulders. He had to care for both Ryuto and Yuki on his own; none of their parents would be coming back, no matter what the young boy thought. He was the only one that could provide for them; their only hope.

The other facts of his reality came back quickly as another strong gust of wind hit him and tore through the last remnants of the fantasy his mind had conjured. Suddenly and inexplicably exhausted, he plopped to the ground and pulled his arms around himself in an attempt to maintain body heat as his mind floated once more to the church and the warm jacket that hung unused.

"I should have moved just a little bit faster to get it…" He mumbled to himself. Even though the night air was biting and caused his cheeks to burn, he wasn't ready to head back inside just yet.

As he sat staring up at the brilliant and cold stars far above him, he allowed his mind to wander until his subconscious settled on the conversation between the two women that he had overheard in the kitchen. He wasn't quite sure why his mind latched on to that conversation in particular. Perhaps it was because it had involved boys his own age.

"They may be young professionals, but they're still just ten year old boys… have you heard their voices? They sound like little angels!..."

"'Their voices?'" Oliver thought to himself, "So they…sing for a living?"

He hummed a singular tone before he cut himself off. The heavy silence of the night settled once more and Oliver felt the desire, almost need, to interrupt the silence. Before he really had time to think it over, he pulled up an old memory from the recesses of his mind and heard the notes of a familiar melody begin to play. His small voice began to fill the night with the frail melody. As he reached the chorus of the song, he cut himself off prematurely.

He had been singing his mother's lullaby.

He fell back into silence as his thoughts and mood soured once more.

A soft sound broke through the silence.

Oliver recognized it instantly.

A footstep; a singular footstep. Oliver strained his ears as he heard the sound of several more footsteps. The owner of the footsteps was advancing slowly towards where Oliver was sitting.

Instantly on full alert, he tightened his muscles and methodically worked himself into a crouching pose with his small fists balled in front of him. With a small exhale to calm his mounting nerves, he turned quickly, fully prepared to take on any unknown assailant. When he saw large, brown eyes staring back at him he allowed his muscles to relax once more.

"Oh Yuki," Oliver said as he sat down once more with his back against the building, "It's just you. You should warn me next time. I was just about ready to attack you."

He knew it was pointless to tell her to warn him; the little girl never spoke. Oliver wasn't quite sure weather is was because she chose not to or because she couldn't. He assumed the later only because, at least in his mind, if you knew someone for over half a year and they still hadn't spoken a word, it meant they couldn't.

Though I guess Ryuto does enough talking for the both of them, Oliver thought subconsciously as he scooted over slightly and patted a spot next to him. Needing no more encouragement, the young girl scampered to where Oliver was indicating and took her seat.

"So what are you doing up?" Oliver said as he turned to look at the girl. She stared up at him and her eyes seemed to say 'I could ask you the same question.' At least that's what he read there and Oliver liked to believe that after knowing Yuki for as long as he had, he had at least some idea what she was feeling even if she couldn't or wouldn't speak.

"Fair enough," He responded with a slight smile, "But if I tell you why I'm up you've got to tell me why you're up, deal?"

The girl responded with a bob of her head.

"I'm out here looking for a shooting star."

The look on her face informed her that she didn't believe him in the least.

"No I'm serious. You know how they say wishing on shooting stars makes your wish come true? Well, I think we could use a wish right now. I mean we have food for now, but with winter coming things are only going to get more difficult."

The lie came easily to him. He found the more he did it the easier it was.

He could tell the little girl was still suspicious of his true intentions but, not willing to miss the chance to make a wish, she looked up to the heavens and allowed her eyes to scan for a shooting star. She looked for several seconds before she looked down with clear disappointment on her face.

"Couldn't find one, could you?"

Yuki shook her head sadly.

"Don't worry about it," He said as he lovingly reached out and ruffled her hair, "We'll just have to be on the lookout for one every night from now on."

The young girl's face lit up considerably as she turned toward Oliver and nodded her head. His lie had worked for now; he could continue to hide away his fear and insecurities.

"Alright then, now that I told you why I'm out here, it's your turn."

When he saw how quickly Yuki's smile fell, he knew he had said the wrong thing.

"Is something wrong?" He asked as he evaluated the young girl's face. But despite the dark look on her face, any indication of what was causing her discomfort had been carefully hidden away.

Yuki gave no response as she pulled her knees to her chest and stared at her feet. As he looked at her, he realized just how thin her dress was and the fact that she wasn't wearing shoes. She must have been as cold as he was.

"Come on Yuki, let's head back inside. It's too cold out here."

The girl gave a vehement shake of her head. Obviously she didn't want to go back inside yet.

"…Did what Ryuto say bother you?" Oliver ventured. There was a moment of hesitation before Yuki gave another shake of her head. For Oliver that was answer enough. She hadn't been sleeping when Ryuto was speaking; she had been listening.

Due to Ryuto's innocent ramblings, he had brought forth demons of the past for both Yuki and Oliver. If it was difficult for Oliver to face his past, he couldn't imagine what it was like for Yuki.

Impulsively, Oliver gave Yuki a quick hug. He felt the little girl stiffen at his touch at first before she warmly returned his hug with one of her own. They stayed locked in their hug for a moment before Oliver broke it off and gave a slight smile.

"We really should be getting back inside," Oliver said in what he hopped was a comforting voice, "It's not going to do any good for us to both get sick."

The young girl hesitated for a moment before she stood up and headed back into the drafty building to try and get some sleep. Oliver followed after her, but paused in the doorway and looked out once more into the starry night sky.

"Wishes, huh…" He mumbled under his breath before he headed into the building and closed the door behind him, shutting out both the darkness of the night and light of the stars.

"It's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing!"

Oliver opened his eyes to the sound of a young voice calling to the heavens and the weak morning light streaming through the window.

"Oliver wake up! Yuki wake up! It's snowing outside!"

"It snows every winter," Oliver mumbled as he tried to settle down once more in both the warmth of his blankets and his dreams.

Of course Ryuto wouldn't have any of that. He ran around the small building yelling for both Yuki and Oliver to wake up and exclaiming every possible praise he could think of for the snow. With grudging respect for Ryuto's complete disregard of other people's sleep, Oliver rolled himself out of bed to find both Ryuto and Yuki pulling back the curtain on one of their makeshift windows and looking outside.

"Just look at it come down!" Ryuto exclaimed as he gestured outside, "We're going to make snow angels and build a snowman and build forts and have a snowball fight and, and…" Ryuto finally gave into to the need to breathe as he cut off his excited chattering. Yuki had been nodding her head in agreement with everything Ryuto said and her eyes glittered just as much as his.

"I don't know about the two little kids by the window," Oliver said as he finally got himself out of bed, "But I think I'm gonna have some breakfast."

At the mention of food, the two kids in question looked at one another before quickly scampering to where Oliver was begging to pull food from their stash. Even as he continued to stuff his face with food, Ryuto happily chattered about everything the trio would do for their day in the snow.

Oliver listened for a few minutes before he gave a sigh of resignation; it was now time for him to ruin all their fun.

"You two know that you can't go outside to play," Oliver interjected when Ryuto paused for a breath.

Both set of eyes turned instantly to look at him with utter shock and horror. It was as if Oliver had just told them the world was going to end.

"But why!" Ryuto whined the moment he recovered from his shock.

Because the number of soldiers has been steadily increasing; they need only the flimsiest excuse to haul in a child off the streets. Besides, news of the Child Sweepers has been unusually quiet recently and that bothers me.

All these ideas flashed through Oliver's mind, but all he said a loud was, "You guys don't have any shoes or coats. I don't want either of you to get sick; we don't have money for medicine."

No need to worry them.

"Yeah, but…" Ryuto trailed off in disappointment as he tried to come up with a reason why they should be allowed outside, "…But what if we only go outside for a little bit? Then we're not gonna get sick 'cause we'll only be outside for a little bit!"

"It doesn't matter how long you're outside, you could still get sick."

"But Oliver-"

"No more 'buts' Ryuto!" Oliver nearly yelled as his patience reached its end. The second the words were out of his mouth, he instantly regretted them. At the sound of his raised voice, both Ryuto and Yuki shrunk back from him and scooted slightly closer to one another.

"Ryuto, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell-"

Oliver stopped his apology abruptly as Ryuto stood up with his eyes firmly fixed on the ground. He refused to meet Oliver's eyes as the world around the trio seemed to stand still. Without a word, Ryuto ran away from Oliver and scampered up a ladder to one of the lofts in the building.

It was only when the young boy was alone could Oliver hear the sound of him crying quietly to himself.

He took one tentative step towards the loft before he felt a small hand tugging on his sleeve. When he turned to look at Yuki, she was looking up at him with her large eyes and giving a soft shake of her head. Her message delivered, she climbed up the ladder Ryuto had just ascended. Oliver watched her until she disappeared over the edge.

Oliver felt even more helpless than he had the night before. He knew that once more he had to get out of the building. The soft sound of crying and the knowledge that he had been the one to make the boy cry was ripping him apart.

Moving as silently as possible, he headed out the door and on to the now snow covered street. Oliver shivered slightly and hugged his arms to himself as he began his aimless wandering. He wanted desperately for the cold to dispel the dark emotions like it had the night before, but no matter how many deep breaths he took, the cloud of what he had just done hung heavy over him.

I shouldn't have yelled; I shouldn't have lied, Oliver thought as his feet continued to carry him to place unknown I should have just told him why I didn't want him to go outside. I know he's only five but he deserves to know…

Truth doesn't help; lying does.

It had become his credo; his motto. When he first started living one the streets, he had learned early on that the world had no mercy for honest people. Life was much simpler when someone simply lied their way through.

Of course, things got a lot more complicated when the people you were lying to were your friends.

Oliver gave a vicious shake of his head to try to get rid of his dark thoughts as he looked up from the street for the first time. He felt his eyes spread slightly in surprise when he saw where his feet had lead him.

He was outside the church he had stolen from the night before.

As he looked at the small, inconspicuous building, a smile spread across Oliver's face as a wonderful idea dawned on him.

Maybe the kids would be able to play outside today after all.

His mind instantly made up, he walked quickly towards the building and around the back where he had found the window open the other night. He found, to his infinite delight, that the window was still hanging open even as the snow continued to fall about him.

"Thanks for being overly trusting," He muttered under his breath as he gave a repeat performance of his entrance the other night.

As soon as his feet touched down, he began to move busily about the room looking for clothing and shoes that would fit both children. He knew he couldn't be picky, but since he had the opportunity to get them some real, warm clothes, he wanted to make sure they got the best.

But as he continued to look for clothing for them, his eyes couldn't help but wander over to where the coat that he had tried to steal last night hung. It remained untouched, the two buttons he had managed to get open still hanging open. The thought that they hadn't even noticed his attempt to steal such an expensive looking coat filled him with equal amounts of comfort and anger.

Momentarily abandoning his search for clothing for the younger two, he headed over to the cabinet and finished the work that he had started the night before. With one more quiet snap, the last button came undone and Oliver felt a distinct feeling of triumph as he pulled the coat down from the hook. For a moment, all he could do was marvel at the coat; now that it was in his hands, it felt even more important and expensive.

Shaking off his wonder for the moment, he flung the coat over his shoulder and resumed his search. He lost all sense of time and the world around him as he hunted feverishly for clothing that would fit the children. When he finally found things he generally believed would work, he took the small bundle of clothing into his arms as his awareness of the world returned to him.

He felt his heart stop in his chest.

There were voices and footsteps just outside the door. He knew instantly that he wouldn't have time to escape through the window. Fighting rising panic, he looked furtively around the room for any other means of escape.

He found his salvation in the form of a door set in the back of the room. Not taking the time and risk of second guessing himself, he yanked open the door and entered into the other room. As he closed the door behind him, he put his ear to the door to listen to the voices on the other side and wait for their departure.

I just have to wait till they leave and then I can sneak out the window li-

"And just who exactly are you?"

A/N: As a general rule of thumb, this story will update on Thursday evenings/Friday mornings. But I'm not making any promises. Anyways, hope you enjoyed.