Disclaimer: Knite and all other related subjects belong to the awesome Wenqing Yan.

"For the last time, I'm not going to your stupid Christmas party." Sen said, irritated, as he twirled some kite string around his fingers, head bent low.

"Aw come on, Sen." Kai leaned forward and ducked his head just a little in order to meet Sen's eyes. He grinned at the annoyed expression on the boy's face. "Just this year? It'll be fun, I promise."

The both of them sat on the cement ledge on the rooftop, overlooking the city below. Smoke drifted up from the numerous chimney tops and factories scattered across the city. There was a constant chill in the air and the sky was a steely gray. The dirt and smog mixed with the snow that had fallen over the past few days and created a ghastly shade of gray.

When Sen had come up here, intending to fix his broken kite string despite the cold weather, he had expected to have at least some peace and quiet. However, he had not been expecting the company of a rather annoying, arrogant son of a politician that he dearly wished he wouldn't meet that day.

"I said it already." Sen pushed Kai's head away from him and stood up. "It's a no and if you keep this up, it'll stay that way forever. And anyway, I don't celebrate Christmas."

Kai pouted. "You're no fun, Sen. And what kind of a sick person wouldn't celebrate Christmas?"

"It's not part of my religion, stupid. Nor yours, for that matter."

Kai blinked then laughed. "Well, I guess you did make a point there. But even if we don't believe in all that, can't we at least get together and like, celebrate the end of another year?"

Sen scowled at him. "What's the use of celebrating this year? It wasn't anything extravagant. In fact, it was actually quite disastrous."

Kai frowned and got up. "Why do you say that?" he asked, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

Sen stared coldly back at him. "I met you, for instance."

Kai's eyes widened then he chuckled. "Aaw, that actually hurt my feelings, Sen." He clutched his chest in mock hurt and his face twisted into a pained expression. "My poor heart, it's breaking!"

Sen scoffed softly and shook his head. He pushed past Kai and took his swallow-shaped kite, which had been leaning against the ledge. Slowly and carefully, he re-attached the string, making sure not to create any more knots or breaking it.

"Did you mean it?" He heard Kai ask suddenly, his tone now much more serious than it had been just a while ago.

"Mean what?" Sen replied, not turning to look at Kai as he was busy inspecting the now re-attached string on his kite. He pulled at it experimentally, making sure that it was strong enough.

"When you said that it was a disaster that you met me." Kai replied. Sen's eyes widened in surprise but he shook his head. "Why do you ask?" He asked, turning sideways so he was facing the high steel railing that ran along the edge of the rooftop. He ran his hand along the string before casting the kite into the air. It stayed up in the sky for a moment before slowly fluttering downwards, coming to land at Sen's feet. Sen reached down and picked it up.

Kai shrugged his shoulders. "I just wanna know. It concerns me anyway."

Sen didn't know why, but something about Kai's last sentence struck a nerve. He turned and glared coldly at him. "That's all you ever think about isn't it?" Kai blinked. "What is?"

"Yourself." Sen spat at him and without another word, walked briskly towards the door.

"Sen, wait!" He felt a hand fall on his shoulder, just as he was turning the knob and pushing the door open. He didn't know why, but Sen stopped. His mind told him not to, told him to go on and run, but he didn't. He turned and looked coldly at Kai, waiting for him to say something.

"You still haven't answered me." Kai said. Sen shrugged his hand off his shoulder and sighed exasperatedly. "Okay no, I didn't mean it." He turned and was about to run through the door when Kai grabbed him by the hand. Quite suddenly, Sen could feel the heat rushing to his ears and his cheeks going red.

"No, I meant, are you coming to the party or not?" Kai asked. Sen didn't know what to say. Words of harsh rejection were forming on his tongue but he just couldn't find the strength to let them out. He didn't even know it needed so much strength to say something as simple as a 'no'. He gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I-I…don't know." He managed to let out.

Kai sighed. "Come on Sen, I need a straight answer. Yes or no?"

Sen scoffed exasperatedly. "Just….leave me alone, will you!" He pulled his hand away and ran down the stairs, going as fast as he could and never looking back, all the while feeling his face go as red and hearing Kai's voice ringing in his ears.

"Yes or no?"

Sen had told himself countless times not to go back up to the rooftop. What if the stupid psycho of a politician's son was still up there, waiting to interrogate him again? The thought itself was enough to convince Sen to stay in the apartment. But by the time evening rolled in and his irritating stepmother was criticizing him again, he couldn't stand it.

He took his kites and climbed up to the roof, hoping that Kai wasn't there. He pushed against the old door gently. It creaked open at his touch. Poking his head through the crack, Sen scanned the area. Nothing seemed to be wrong. There was nothing (or should we say, no one) in sight and all he could hear was the usual traffic from below. Sighing heavily, Sen walked in and stood up on the ledge. He had strung some lights on the kite string earlier and had some spare ready in case they didn't work.

One by one, he cast each kite into the air, a trail of lights following after them. Before long, the sky was filled with tiny pinpricks of golden light, each hanging from the strings of ten swallow-shaped kites. Nodding his head, Sen sat down on the ledge, staring out at the spectacle.

He couldn't help but think of the time when he had first met Kai. It was on a night much like this, he remembered. He had been singing a song, hadn't he? An old, twisted lullaby about a swallow. He could still remember when Kai had paid him in thanks for cheering up his sister and complimenting him on his work.

Sen chuckled, without knowing why and he shook his head. "That idiot…" He muttered.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Sen whirled around and stared wide-eyed at the figure of Kai standing in the open doorway of the rooftop, hands in his pockets. Kai grinned, "What's wrong, Sen? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Sen scowled back at him frostily and turned back to the lights. "What are you doing here?" He said.

Kai sat down beside him. "You missed the party." Sen shrugged. "So?"

Kai looked at him with an almost-angry expression on his face. "So, you could've at least told me you weren't coming before I got my hopes up!"

Sen regarded him with a nonchalant look of amusement. "I thought I already told you, it's a no."

Kai frowned and shook his head. "No you didn't."

Sen scoffed, "Uh, yes I did."

"When?"

"This afternoon."

"When this afternoon?" Kai crossed his arms over his chest, a smug look on his face. Sen sighed exasperatedly. "I'm not doing this anymore, you're just being childish."

"Who're you to judge me?" Kai rallied, a smug smirk on his face. "Easy for you to say." Sen looked away. "You're the son of a politician. You can get away with anything."

Kai chuckled. "Yeah, anything, but not everything."

"Doesn't that mean the same thing?"

"To you maybe…"

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"Duh, talking to you."

Sen gave him a "Are you serious?" look. Kai laughed. "Okay, I wanted to invite you one last time to the party. I lied, sorry. It hasn't ended yet. But come on, Sen! Even Ling dumped her homework to come."

Sen scoffed. "Nice try. I know for a fact that you don't have any homework today."

Kai raised his hands in defeat. "All right, you got me. But believe me when I say that everyone is waiting for you there." He smiled. "And I'm sure Min-Min would be more than happy to finally meet you."

Sen looked away at Kai's smile, suddenly feeling embarrassed without knowing why. "I don't know, okay? So please just leave me alone."

"Tut, tut, tut." Kai closed his eyes and shook his head, imitating a fussy mother. "Doctor says that you shouldn't spend too much time alone or else he'll be seeing you in the psycho ward soon."

Sen glared at him. "And exactly which doctor said that?"

Kai grinned and winked at him teasingly. "Doctor Kai PhD, at your service."

And then Sen couldn't help it. A laugh escaped his lips before he had time to stop it and by the time he had realized it, Kai was staring at him wide-eyed, a mixture of surprise and wonder on his face.

Sen felt himself flush. He slapped a hand over his mouth and turned away in embarrassment.

Then Kai started giggling absurdly. "Did you just…" The giggles turned into chuckles. "Sen, did you…" The chuckles turned into (barely) contained laughter and before long, Kai was laughing his head off. "Hey…Sen…You just…You just laughed!" He managed to say in between noisy gales of laughter.

Sen felt his face go red. "I know that, idiot!" He snapped at Kai without looking at him. Kai wiped at the tears in his eyes. "This has got to be a world record. I made Sen laugh! Man, if the others were here…" Kai chuckled at the thought and he grinned at Sen's back. "Hey Sen, did it feel good, to laugh I mean? Because if it did, then you'll be sure to do more of it at the party!"

Sen shook his head. "No it did not. I just completely humiliated myself."

"Hey." Kai inched forward. "It's okay to laugh. It shows that you're having fun."

Sen laughed sarcastically. "Does it?"

"Okay, maybe that one didn't, but trust me, it's all right to laugh. It wouldn't be natural if you never."

There was a long, silent pause. Kai stared out at the kites while Sen still had his back to him.

"All right Sen." Kai said suddenly. "I promise you that this is the last time I will ask you. Are you going to the party or not?"

This time, Sen didn't reply immediately. In fact, it took him some time to reply. He sighed inwardly and fiddled with a chip on the ledge. His mind suddenly refused to work. It was a simple question with a simple answer yet he couldn't reply. What was wrong with him?

"Come on, Sen." Kai urged. "It'll be fun, trust me."

Sen turned to look at him and there was a spark in Kai's brown eyes. A spark that Sen couldn't really bear to let down. A spark that made his pulse quicken and his heart pick up pace.

"Trust you…" He scoffed. "Yeah, right. Give me one good reason to."

Kai's eyes widened for a second before they eased into a smug smile. "Fine then." And before Sen could say anything, Kai had closed his eyes and was leaning forward, getting dangerously closer, intruding on his personal space. Sen's eyes widened, his palms getting sweaty and his body heating up. His heart was pounding against his chest, which was the first time it had ever done so in Kai's company.

"W-What're you-?" Sen began to say but Kai crushing his lips against his own cut him off. He hadn't even been expecting it. Nor had he expected that he might even enjoy it. But he did.

The feeling of Kai kissing him was like nothing Sen had ever felt before. It was soft and warm, tingling and inviting. However, it only lasted for a moment.

Just as fast as he had kissed him, Kai drew back and laughed, though his cheeks were sort of pinkish. "You look like a tomato Sen!" He said.

Sen blinked and realized that his face must be really red. "O-Of course I do! You just…I mean, you just like…How does that even…trust you…Aaarggh!" Sen turned his back on Kai, frustrated. He was blushing like mad and his heart was sill pounding.

Kai chuckled and sidled up behind him. "Was that enough for you?"

Sen didn't answer. He didn't want to answer.

"So have you made your decision yet? Are you coming or not?"

And just as suddenly as the kiss, Sen felt the answer in his gut and on his tongue. He didn't know how or why but it was just there and he could do nothing to deny it. "Yeah." He said nonchalantly. "Sure. Why not?"

Kai's eyes widened and he looked surprised to say the least. "Y-You mean it?" He said disbelievingly. "Y-You're really coming?"

Sen glared at him. "Do I freaking need to repeat myself?"

Kai laughed, though he still looked surprised but relieved. "Of course not." He got up and extended a hand for Sen to take. The smile that he gave him then was enough to put Sen's doubting mind at ease and convince him that he was making the right choice.

He swatted Kai's hand away and stood up. "I don't need your help." He grumbled. Kai chuckled and before Sen could protest, entwined his fingers with Sen's.

"You won't regret this." He said as they walked hand-in-hand towards the door.

Sen raised an eyebrow at him. "Not if you make me regret it."

Kai smiled. "I won't. Trust me."

I am so done with this fanfic (and with my muse) and it's (and my muse's) irrational hate for me.

So let's just pretend that all that angst with Zhen, and Kai leaving for America and all never happened. Or at least, didn't happen yet….

Anyways, this is my very messed-up, very…terrible, Christmas gift (Can this even still be legitly called a gift?) for my best friend, Hatsunefangirl!

Merry (late) Christmas and I hope you like it! (You better, dude, cause I worked on this for 6 freaking hours + 2 days and all the while with a very uncooperative and thoroughly short-tempered muse. Might as well call him Romano.)

Goodbye and out!