She updated!!

Um... enjoy.

xoxo

kyo

"Sweetie~!"

I'd like to get something quickly out of the way: Matt's mom was nothing like Matt. Aside from their eyes. She was a perky, open, fun-loving woman who immediately came sprinting out to give Matt a big hug. He, in turn, quietly hugged her back, burying his face in her stomach. I was a little surprised at her height. She had to be at least 6' to maybe 6'3". She gave Roger a firm handshake, thanking him at least five times, before she let her attention fall on me, Matt still bundled up in her arms - seeming perfectly content there anyway. "You must be Mail's friend." She smiled warmly at me.

She wasn't wearing any makeup, but she had a natural beauty. Her long auburn hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail so that tendrils of it fell in her face and cascaded over her shoulders. Roger cleared his throat heavily, but she ignored him. "F-friend...? Oh... y-yeah." I nodded, wondering if that was what I was. I had never thought of myself as anything but a roommate. "I'm... Mello." I held out my hand with hesitation.

"Mello?" She blinked. "Nonsense!" She tsked at me. "Your real name, now. I don't like secrets. I'm Aida. Aida Jeevas, since I bet he's never told you his name." She mused her son's hair. "It's Mail Jeevas."

"Madam, they aren't supposed-"

"Oh, hush!" She shushed Roger. "It's fine here. There isn't any harm. Your name?" She looked at me with her big, emerald eyes.

"M...Mihael Keehl." I answered.

"German?" She smiled. "It's a very lovely name." She added, patting my head. "I'm making dinner. It's alright for you all to stay, right?" She asked Roger. He nodded curtly, not looking very pleased with the idea, but letting it slid anyway. Matt loosened his grip on his mother to take my wrist.

"Mello, let's go somewhere before we eat." He added, a spark in his eye.

How was I supposed to know what that spark was? That it was just a small bit of the bottled-up Matt. That that spark might one day spark a bit brighter. And brighter still. That that spark may start a fire that wouldn't be put out. We were just kids. Brilliant kids, striving to win, and hold back the pain. Being better than the rest. Wanting and hating, pushing and pulling, ebbing and flowing. How was I supposed to know anything would change about it? How was I supposed to know we wouldn't stay that way forever? That that spark was a glimpse of a smothering flame that could, any minute, be re-ignited. That thought would never cross my mind as Matt tugged me to the yard, and Roger tried to argue - first with us, but Matt wasn't listening, so then with Aida, who was just as stubborn.

"Don't stray too far!" She called. "Hearing distance, Mail! I'll call when dinner is ready!"

Matt didn't answer, but I felt like a silent acknowledgement had happened between the two as he pulled me past his backyard, like any other. The grass was starting to wither from the cold, there was an abandoned swing set, rusting from neglect, and a dog house. Out of which a Siberian Huskey sprang out to charge straight at us. I let out a squeak as I jumped behind Matt. But the dog came to a quick halt before it trotted at his side, instead of devouring him alive (which is what I thought might happen.)

"Hey there, Kita." Matt patted the dogs head, who lovingly nuzzled him back. "My dog." Matt added for me. "She's getting old though." A lingering note of sadness was in his voice. He stopped to kneel down and scratch the dog behind her ears and give her a kiss on the head. She licked back. "She might not be around the next time I come home... she's older than me." He hugged her around the neck and she looked up at me over Matt's shoulder. "She has eyes like you." He added, laughing. I looked at her crystal blue eyes before remembering that I once read somewhere that looking a dog in the eyes was challenging them, and quickly looked away. She barked loudly at me, making Matt throw his head back to laugh loudly as I flinched away.

He quickly shifted to his feet, giving Kita one last pat on the head before he nodded for me to follow him again and led me through the yard. I threw a glance back to see Kita waiting with a longing look in her eyes, like her master might never again return from where we were going. "Can... can your dog come with us?" I asked quietly, feeling bad.

"Hm? She could, but she won't. She's scared of the woods, and she hates water anyway, so she wouldn't follow us." He shrugged.

"Water? What water?" I gave him a disdainful look.

"We have to cross a pond-y lake."

"... A what?" I gave him a look. He laughed a bit.

"A small lake."

"Um... you do know it's... like, I dunno, freezing?" I bit.

"It's fine. It's a still lake, so it'll be mostly frozen over. You'll just have to be careful of thin ice."

"Wh-what if I fall through?!"

"I'll pull you out." He waved a hand.

"I might freeze to death!!"

"Relax, Mello. We aren't in Alaska. It's not that cold. If you fall through the ice we'll go back home and get you dry clothes." He assured.

"What if you fall through the ice?" I dared.

"We'll keep going, probably." He shrugged. "There are worse things than catching a cold. But I don't want you to get sick."

"What kind of...." I muttered, but followed him through the dying woods, bare branches scratching at my cheeks. He led me sure-footedly through the trees, while I stumbled over upturned roots and fallen branches behind him. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Somewhere." He answered.

"Where is it?"

"Nowhere."

"How long will it take?"

"Some time."

I was getting impatient. "What is it?"

"... Elsewhere."

I think it must have been that pause. That split second of hesitation that did it. That made that simple word, that normally would have pissed me off, instead become a rock. And Matt dropped it onto thin, thin ice that shattered beneath it, and it sunk. Elsewhere sunk somewhere deep inside of me, never to resurface. Somewhere now sunken to the depth of me. So my tone became less curt, and I became more willing to hear more about Elsewhere.

"Is it from when you were a kid?"

"Yeah."

"How many people have been there? Besides you?"

"No one." He admitted. I couldn't find a question that mattered more than the answer to that one. Since I was silent, he rambled on. "Not even Yusuke. I-it was my place growing up... wh-when my dad left us, I spent a whole night there. Mom was worried sick when I got home, and I caught the flu. I still think I wouldn't have gone home if it weren't for that. I would have stayed there forever if I hadn't gotten such a high fever. I had to go to the hospital and everything. Mom took me too a psychiatrist, too, just in case. She was worried about me. I saw the guy for a few weeks... but...." His voice disconnected, and I imagined his eyes might have, too. "The guy... my psychiatrist used to go to Wammy's... he's the one who noticed that I was different. He recommended me here... I didn't know what I was getting myself into. He said it was a school for the gifted, that's all. It was only after I entered that I found out that it was a competition... and that I couldn't see my Mom anymore. It was an orphanage...."

"Matt?" My voice cracked. His attention snapped to me.

"But it's okay. I got to meet you, anyway." He grinned. I knew he was trying to distract me. Make me forget I had heard all of that. I saw right through it... so I pretended it worked. Because Matt had accidentally showed me something he didn't want to be seen. So I tucked it away in my pocket, and pretended I had never picked it up to begin with.

He continued leading me through the woods until, lo and behold, we came to an almost frozen pond-lake. And by almost frozen, I mean hardly at all frozen. "Matt," I started as he studied the pond-y lake, "this is definitely not safe." I concluded.

"It's fine. Don't be scared."

"Can't we... I dunno, walk around it?" I offered instead. Although as far as I could tell, it may not end - the water just pulled back into thick trees - I supposed it HAD to stop, or else it would be a river, and therefore be in motion.

He shook his head though. "It goes a long ways away from the path, and a mean old man owns the land on the other side. He sets up bear traps on the side. I almost stepped in one once." He admitted.

"... Matt, I'm thinking we should turn back and forget about this. What if your mom finishes dinner? We can't hear he from here."

"It's fine." He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket.

"When?!"

"Mom slipped it to me. We'll be fine. Come on, now." He took my sleeve and tugged me towards the dangerous-looking body of water. I tried to dig my heels into the dirt, but he wasn't having it. "Look, Mello, it's easy. It's a lot stronger than it looks." He let go of me and stepped onto to ice, sliding a bit, slowly making his way halfway across. "Are you coming?"

I almost bid him a farewell, but a thought snagged me. The rock in my soul felt heavier. Elsewhere was just a bit away. Just a pond-lake away. Matt was headed for that Elsewhere, and I was letting it slip away. "W-wait up!" I tentatively stepped where I was pretty sure Matt had started and tried to follow his expert steps across the icy death trap. I am proud to say that I almost made it all the way across without any casualties. Almost. Not quite, though. Last minute, once Matt was already across and I was just a few steps away, I heard the distinct, loud crack. Matt's eyes got wide for a split second, and I mentally prepared myself for the cold water (and long walk back to the house) but Matt reached out to grab my hand and quickly jerked me forward so the ice made a fine crack across the whole of the pond-lake, and I - again, may I remind - fell onto Matt. "Y-you know, it's only when I go places with you that I always worry about getting back more than getting to." I muttered at him, sitting up - so that I was still sitting on his legs. He leaned up with me.

"It's par for the course." He promised, reaching up to my face. "You're cold." He added.

"You're warm." I frowned, liking the feel of his hands on my cheeks. "But really, Mail, how are we getting back?"

"Well, Mihael, I guess we're gonna have to run like hell across the ice." He grinned, patting my cheeks once. "Upsy daisy!" He chirped, and I stood up obediently, as he shifted to his feet. My face felt cold without his hands.

Like when he had run his fingers through my hair, I felt the strongest urge to inform him of this. I bit my tongue and watched as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Only a little farther." His warm voice spilled into the air, and I felt my face warm up, more than his hands. I slapped my own cheeks and followed after him, wondering if I was getting sick.

But my buried instinct knew. I was already on thin ice.

Kita is named after my extended family's huskey, Nakita (whom I always call Kita)