The journey to the location Maka had described as 'a firewood haven' had been fairly uneventful and even more awkward. It was obvious they wished to speak to each other, even if it was simple small talk, but whenever one would turn to look at the other, an impending conversation on their tongue, all words seemed to vanish and their head would snap back to its hanging position, eyes fixated on their feet. After a few minutes of failed speech, Kid settled on trying not to speak at all, unless provoked, of course. Instead of busying his mind with what to say, he simply raised his head and observed his surroundings. He should be happy, shouldn't he? He was alone, yet again, with the girl he was certain he harbored feelings for. What does it matter that they weren't speaking? If they were upset with each other, that would be a different story, but they were simply both in a mutual silence. The situation only felt awkward to him because he made it feel awkward.

He couldn't help but let a small smile creep on his face. He was alone, yet again, with Maka; and it wasn't under forced circumstances. As his eyes scanned the bare trees and bushes around him, the young shinigami took in, for the first time, how beautiful it really was. The leaves that covered the ground were a multitude of assorted colors, both dead and alive, the bare tree branches seemed to make a variety of unique patterns against the slowly darkening sky, even the sun, though slightly covered by clouds, seemed to be tamed by the tranquility of it all (though it may also be due to the fact that it was winter). Was the increase in beauty of this hell hole really simply due to the fact he was in Maka's company? The wind picked up slightly and Kid let his eyes drift over to the scythe meister just as the breeze made contact with her placid face, causing her cheeks to flush in involuntary response. Maybe it was.

"It's just up here. I don't think we'll even have to break any of it up too much, they all seemed to be a decent length." Maka commented, her voice effectively breaking the silence.

"Well, that's convenient…" Kid muttered, awkwardly searching for something to kindle their conversation. "Hmm… I don't like the look of those clouds…It really has gotten a little chilly out here, hasn't it?"

A smile tugged at the blondes lips. "Yeah, it has." Her eyes widened slightly as she looked up at the graying sky. Her smile seemed to be contagious as Kid's mouth began to quirk upwards as well. That light. Even reflecting the dull, dark clouds, her emerald eyes shone with a new playful light as she spoke the next sentence. "I hope it snows…"

"What?!" Kid gasped before even thinking it over. That was definitely the last thing he would hope for! Everyone was already complaining about the cold as it was and it wasn't even anywhere near freezing. Noticing he had paused mid-step, Kid quickened his pace to catch up with the still-walking meister.

"I know, stupid, right? Snow would be horrible for us right now, without shelter and all; but no matter how much I tell myself I don't want it to snow, the more the voice in the back of my head wishes for it. I've only ever seen it snow once, and I was only 8 at the time… All I remember is that it was so beautiful… Everything was so pure and soft…" Maka trailed off, reminiscing in an old memory.

Kid was about to comment on how it was a shame that it hardly ever snowed in Death City, and how the chances for it to snow were next to null, but he bit his tongue and simply stole glances at the girl walking next to him in a dreamy state. He recalled the snow day Maka was remembering quite well; he was sick at the time and remembered cursing the horrible weather for giving him such an illness. Again, he decided to withhold this information from Maka. Against his better judgment, Kid wished it would snow as well.

"Up there!" Maka pointed just up ahead where decent firewood logs lay lazily, just begging to be carried away and burnt up by the teens. They collected their pieces in a comfortable silence and headed back to the cave.

"You weren't kidding. I think this might last us at least two nights." The reaper commented, shifting the weight of the wood into a more comfortable position.

"Unless it snows." Maka grinned, bumping into Kid's shoulder playfully.

"Right. Of course. Unless it snows." He chuckled, relief flooding over him as he realized the blonde wasn't so naïve to truly believe it might snow. Frost maybe, but not snow.

"You know what sounds really good right now?"

"Hmm?"

"Hot tea." Maka purred, a hum of delight lacing her voice.

"You know, that actually does sound good…" Kid sighed with longing, almost able to feel the warm liquid running down his throat. "You're a cruel person, you know that? Tempting me with such greatly missed creature comforts." He joked, bumping into her shoulder just as she had done moments ago.

"We have some, you know." She cocked an eyebrow and looked at him fully to take in his expression. "I could make some when we get back."

"I just might have to take you up on that offer." Kid smirked, his heart feeling lighter than it had for days. This was what he missed, casual, yet playful conversations with the blonde meister. In the past, the thought of conversations like these had been so foreign to him seeing as his tone was generally professional to uphold his father's image, but with Maka… Things just seemed different. A good different. "Thank you."

She smirked. "It's just tea." Kid smiled but didn't reply; it was so much more than just tea…

"It's about time you guys got back! The fires almost out!" Liz chirped from inside the cave as the two neared their makeshift home. The older sister walked out rubbing her hands together as if that bit of friction would warm her entire body.

"We weren't out there that long." Maka retorted, though her voice still held that playful air to it.

"Well hurry up and get those logs on the fire, I'm freezing!" The blonde grinned and winked at Kid when Maka wasn't looking. "Sooo? How'd it go?" She purred once the scythe meister had passed and was out of earshot. Damn Liz and her teenage girl senses…

"How did what go?" Kid raised an eyebrow. Sometimes it was just easiest to play dumb with the pistol. He walked past his weapon with a small grin, his mood substantially lighter than it had been when he left, and everyone seemed to catch on and feed off of that positive energy. Everyone except…

"Hey, Kid… You mind if we have a little… Talk?" Soul's tone was neither positive nor hostile, but with the white haired scythe, sometimes that was when he was the most dangerous.

Kid shrugged, unfazed. He had seen this coming, though he didn't realize it would be so sudden. He looked around at the rest of the group, Maka and Tsubaki ineffectively trying to ignore Blackstar as they prepared to brew some tea, Robin was playing with Thief and Liz, Patty and Staz were exchanging small talk while trying to rekindle the slowly dying embers. No one seemed to notice the two's conversation.

Soul nodded towards the mouth of the cave, gesturing that they should take their conversation outside and Kid followed his lead, any playful, light-hearted feelings were replaced with a cool, professional mannerisms.

Yeah… I know…

Replies~!

Checkered Brook- Yeah, that just doesn't particularly seem like Kidd's style. I would absolutely love to give Robin a hug! He'd probably shank me though… Oh, the joys of being an apocalypse child…

Giraffe Overlord- I'm actually seriously considering going to Sam Houston for computer animation, it's in state and has my major so… *shrugs* why not? It'd be easy to get in with the grades and recommendations I have. And I've never actually read a SoMa… Not that I hate like SoMa, it just seems to only work for me in the actual series and not in made up fics. Oh! And I'll read your stories if you want, I'll just have to find time, so don't expect anything super soon ^^' sorry.

Courage-Earthworm- No! Don't die! It's not good for you D:

Mikaela- I do believe Robin is a huge KiMa fan XD Man, wouldn't that be a crazy family? Liz and Patty as aunts…

DeathTheKidsDinosaurRawr- That's no good o.o Oh well, I kinda waited super long on this chapter, so I really have no room to judge…

SecretFantacs- I know… That feels train can be a biotch sometimes, can't it?

Samurai5461- I actually thought about what would happen to Excalibur… And actually I came up with the same conclusion you did. He annoys the hell out of the rotters, but there's no one there to take him out of the ground, so he stays put.

Shell-kun- Even Robin is a KiMa shipper :D oooh, that sounds pretty cool!

Juvieyumi2500- Sorry about the long wait for this chapter! Tell your puppy I'm sorry as well!

Guest- I think Robin is just one big ball of adorableness with a knife XD and wow, one go? I was actually looking it up, and this fic almost has as many words as the first Harry Potter book o.o I almost flipped.

Ringochan- Thank you so much for such compliments! I'm sorry for the long wait, but I hope you continue to read and enjoy it!

PyschopathicXangel- Sorry for the wait…