children

"We're going to school?" Liz looked away from the Death City newspaper to glance over at Kidd who seemed immensely proud of himself.

He gave a quick nod, "I requested it from father the other day."

Liz frowned a little, "Not that I don't want to go to school or anything, but aren't we like…totally over their heads?"

Kidd shrugged, "I'm sure we can adapt just fine. Besides, it's an excellent way for us to become socially accepted; so to say, hear the voice of the people." He stood in front of the full length mirror, adjusting his lapels, smoothing them over.

Liz smirked, "You just want an easy time so you don't have to be all serious all the time."

Kidd sniffed indignantly, starting to comb his hair, "That isn't true. As son of Shinigami-sama, it is my duty as their superior to ensure that they" –

Hands clapped over his cheeks and started pulling in opposite directions, "Wuh oo y'oo wan' Atty?"

Kidd looked in the mirror at Patty's smiling face, giggling when she pulled on his face. "Kiiiiiiiidd," she sang in a faux ghost voice. "At school do they have jungle gyms?" she asked, completely serious.

Kidd was silent and stared at Patty's reflection without blinking for a long moment before he slapped her hands away. She let his cheeks go with a wet slap and Kidd rubbed them. "What are you talking about?" he questioned.

"Do they have jungle gyms, like the kind where ya climb on 'em and ya look like a monkey!" she jumped about and scratched under her arms like a chimp would before she hopped over to her sister to look through her hair like a monkey would.

Kidd sighed, "We're not going there to just" –

"Ah, Kidd do they have swings?" Liz asked, suddenly excited about the conversation. She folded the paper and lay it down on the table.

Kidd blinked, stunned, "Swings?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah swing sets! Man those're fun. They're the greatest. When Patty and I lived in Brooklyn, we used ta go to this old abandoned playground and everything was really rusted so nobody was ever there and…" she continued to blab about the "good ole days" while Patty combed through her hair with her fingers and ate the invisible bugs.

Kidd stared at the Thompson sisters. The terrible, Demonic Thompson who had been the nightmares to every person ever on the streets of Brooklyn – played in a rusted playground no one used.

They really were kids once, not for a long time because they had to adapt to survive, but in rare moments their inner children peeked through.

"I'm sure they do." He said and continued straightening his tie. In the reflection of the mirror, he watched Patty pretend she was a fighter plane and gave chase to her sister; shooting at her in her alt form despite Liz's objections.

Kidd filed away a reminder to ask his father to build a playground at the school later.