"You've been awfully quiet." Kid commented, looking over at the small boy sitting next to him, a makeshift fishing pole in hand. Robin simply shrugged and looked gloomily out at the waters in front of them. Kid and Robin had been put on 'fishing duty', Maka and Soul were hunting, Liz and Patty were collecting and filtering water and Staz, Blackstar and Tsubaki were rotter hunting. Since the group had united a week ago and decided they would stay at the cave for a while longer, they figured they should have a daily 'rotter hunting' to at least thin out some of the rotter crowds. "So what do you think of everyone?" Kid started, trying to make small talk.

"Blackstars pretty cool. He can do some pretty neat tricks and he's really strong. He's a good fighter." Kid nodded in agreement at the boy's statement. "And Tsubaki makes good food. Don't tell Maka or Staz this, but I think Tsubaki might be a better cook." Robin grinned at the statement. Kid was quiet, and waited for his final friend's evaluation from the eyes of the small boy; but it never came.

"And what about Soul?" He prodded, honestly curious of what the child thought of the scythe.

Robin was silent for quite awhile as he fidgeted with his fishing pole before he finally spoke. "I miss how things used to be…" He muttered.

Kid let out a sigh, and hesitantly rested his hand on the boy's shoulders. "We all do. No one wants to live in a world with rotters."

"No… I mean, when the others weren't here." Robin wouldn't meet Kid's eyes. "When it was just you, me and Maka. Even with Staz, Liz and Patty it wasn't so bad… But now I can't spend time with everybody…" He frowned. "Remember that time when you, me and Maka were fishing? When we were catching the bugs for bait? That was one of the best times I can remember; and that's including before the rotters… I remember Liz saying we were like a family; a mommy, a daddy, a child, two crazy aunts and an uncle. But now we just seem like a group…" He knit his eyebrows and hid his face. "I don't really get to spend time with Maka anymore. She's always with Soul, o-or Tsubaki, or too busy-" his small voice was interrupted by sobs, but he finally looked up and faced Kid, his face flushed and tears welling in his eyes. "Th-They took Maka away!" He sniffed, "Th-The last time I went hunting with her w-was the day they got here. N-now I hardly see her! A-And you don't either!" At this point, Robin had flung himself at Kid, clutching on his jacket, tears steadily streaming. Kid frowned, unsure of what to do other than comfort the small boy with and arm around his petite frame. This was so out of character for Robin; it must've been eating at him for some time. "I s-see the way you look at her! I know you see it t-too. They've taken Maka away from both of us and it's not fair! You don't even offer to take jobs with her, she always goes out with Soul." He spat the name as if it were venom.

Kid searched for words of comfort, but drew a blank; so he decided just to go with the truth. Or part of it anyways. "Soul and Maka have been friends longer than I have known them. Of course they're going to want to be together a lot." The reaper tried to ignore the lump in his throat as he said it. "A-And we can still be that family. But this family, just like all others, is growing. Now we have more members, and we just have to all get along." He began stumbling over his own words as he contemplated his group of friends being an actual family; and who exactly filled the place of 'mom and dad' in the small boy's eyes.

"But you and Maka are better!" Robin proclaimed.

"What do you mean we're better?"

"Maka's the mommy; and you were the daddy, but now Soul is here and I don't want him to be the daddy! You're better! You and Maka are better! You're both smart, and you both read and you're both funny and you're both just better!"

Kid chewed at his bottom lip, not meeting the small child's face. Guilt welled in his stomach as he realized at some point he had thought these very things out of pure jealousy. He was far smarter than Soul, even the albino himself would admit to it; he could share conversations with the meister that he could never hope to understand. Of course, he and Maka clicked instantly upon meeting each other, though it had been nothing more than a friendship at the time, they still had shared their moments of conversations over their latest read or a complicated homework problem. If Kid were looking in on this situation from a third party perspective, the beautiful, smart blonde girl should end up with the OCD underdog; it was very stereotypical in romance novels. But he had to face the cold, ugly truth. Soul had been there first; he found Maka first, fair and square. He also couldn't deny that extra shine that hit the girl's eyes when she was around the scythe. The only male she had been the closest to, in her eyes, came back from the dead, and it was obvious she wasn't letting go of him. Not now. Maybe not even ever. Kid always knew this, it always ate at the back of his mind; but he hadn't faced it until now, and it hurt. He truly felt all the energy drain from his body.

"D-did you two get in a fight?" Robin muttered, wiping his snotty nose with the back of his sleeve. Right. He forgot the little boy was still crying into him.

"Hmm?" Kid hummed, not trusting his own voice. He didn't think he would cry, but his voice was sure to be shaky; he didn't want to push it.

"Y-You and M-maka… I know Soul has been hogging her… But you seem to be avoiding her. You never talk, not even when she is around…" He trailed, his sobs decreasing, but the desperation in his voice never wavered for a second. "Are you mad at her?"

Kid looked away, yet again, guilty. He had been avoiding Maka. At first, he didn't want to allow himself to look at the girl he let get kidnapped, but he had long since gotten over that; now it was out of pure self pity. He let his jealousy of Soul get in the way of his relationship with the girl. Thinking his answer over carefully, he finally let his gold eyes meet the small boy's blue. "I'll try and fix it… There's no guarantee…" He sighed, tightening his grip around Robin, comforting himself more than the child. "But I'll try… It's getting late. Not bad for a late start, don't you think?" The reaper asked, looking from the darkening sky to their decent collection of fish, all the while valiantly trying to change the subject. The boy shrugged, bringing in his line, tucking the pole under his arm and grabbing two fish by the lower jaw. Kid grimaced at followed after Robin's lead and collecting the other two fish.

Every since they had moved from their place in the woods to the cave, the walk to the small stream was slightly further away; leaving this particular walk back extremely quiet and long. Kid shivered as the cold began to eat through his thin jacket. The temperature over the past week seemed to do nothing but drop, leaving the group more dependent on their nightly campfires than ever. He looked up to the slowly setting sun, and more importantly, the collection of grey clouds, feeling his stomach sink at the thought of snow.

"Any luck?" The reaper looked up at the familiar sound of his weapon's voice. He gave her a half hearted smirk and lifted his fish-baring hands; she smiled in return. "Well, if you thinking optimistically about it, at least we know we won't be going hungry anytime soon." And she was right, abundance of food or lack there of hadn't particularly been an issue; that is, if you didn't mind the same meals day after day. None of them seemed to complain, however.

"Looks like Hasenpfeffer tonight!" Maka's voice chirped somewhere behind them.

"Those are huge!" Liz gasped, looking at two plump rabbits in the petite blonde's grasp. "How did you guys manage to find those?"

"I found and caught them." Maka muttered, giving the white haired boy trailing behind her a playful smirk. "I'm not even sure if Soul knows the difference between an arrow head and the fletching. These things left such obvious footprints; they were basically begging to be caught." Was it just him, or did Kid see Maka's eyes flash to his for a split second? He couldn't hold his stomach from doing summersaults. "Hey Staz, you mind cleaning these for me?" She called over to the brunette who was warming his hands by the slowly dying fire. "I'm going to go out for some more wood."

"I'll go with you." Kid blurted out without thinking. Everyone seemed to pause what they were doing for a moment and looked at him. Was the tension between him and the blonde really that obvious? Shock crossed Maka's expression for a split second before she regained her composure; time seemed to resume as everyone looked away, carrying on with their own business.

"Alright, sure." She shrugged, and Kid could faintly see a smile playing at the corner of her lips. Setting her hunting equipment down, she walked over to the reaper and tilted her head. "I found a few perfectly sized pieces a little ways back. You wanna go now, or…?"

"Now's fine." He replied awkwardly with a shrug. "Any later and we'll run out of daylight." Kid couldn't help but notice Robin's blue eyes grow wide as a wide grin spread across his face.

I think it just needs to be a given that I apologize between these updates; they have been getting worse and worse and I really regret that. No matter how long it is between updates, just remember that I WILL NOT give up on this, I WILL finish it.

That is all.

No, wait.

I saw someone with an awesome Attack on Titan jacket at a shaved ice place today. It was epic. Now that is all.

Replies~!

DeathTheKidsDinosaurRawr- Well it all works out then. I actually stayed home 'sick' today and still didn't write crap…. I'm ashamed :/

Guest- Yes, no, maybe both? Hmmm I think I got a few tricks up my sleeve.

SecretFantacs- Oh, don't get me wrong, I'd take Maka chops for Kidd, but at the same time I think Maka would do a better job at comforting him than I ever could XD

S1T2A3R4- Haha! The next episode? And maybe, I dunno. *coughIkindaforgotaboutitcough*

Shell-kun- Thank you! I love writing witty comedy just almost as much as I enjoy writing gory stuff. Ohh! And I hope to see a picture of that some day when it's finished, it sounds cool!

Chocolateapples1432- A fight for a girl between both Soul and Kidd would be rather interesting, like as in a fist fight. And angry Kidd kinda scared me a bit. Just a bit. But thanks for the compliments!

Khfan12- You know all little kids just judge people by their looks XD Robins just smart enough not so voice his thoughts. And the rotter drama is over for now… but what about the rest of it all?

Mikaela- I know! It only took like what, 25 or so chapters? Oh, and those guys? I guess we'll just seem about them… And this is a KiMa story, after all :) more is sure to come.

Giraffe Overlord- There are some many because it's hinted at SO MUCH in both the manga and anime. I have to admit, I shipped SoMa when I first started watching it, but then I converted to KiMa after seeing some of its fan art. And sorry about the updates, it's my senior year and I'm juggling highschool, college and I'm looking at universities.

Juvieyumi- But of course he is! Why not?