Author's Note: A few things you need to know for this chapter. Konbanwa= Good evening; Otosan= father; Okasan= mother; Haha= mommy; Chichi= daddy; Arigatou= thank you; Oyasuminisai= good night. And…I think that's it as far as translations go…now enjoy!

The crisp smell of winter filled the air, as the two boys walked home from school. Winter was definitely here.

The trees looked skinny and frail, branches twisting and turning toward the ever cruel sun that was approaching the horizon line. Soon it would be dark, and nothing would be warming the trees at all. The soft pitter-patter of winter boots echoed down the street as Beyond and Lawliet walked in unison.

Beyond tugged at his scarf, pulling up until it covered his nose so his breath could warm the practically frozen extremity. Meanwhile, Lawliet wiped at his nose with his blue mitten-covered hand. They both walked in silence until they got to their destination.

Or, detour, rather.

The two, now third graders, had the responsibility of walking to and from school unsupervised (seeing as it was only a short walk). And through the few months of walking to and from, they discovered a special spot. A place they could play and relax.

It was a quaint, little river, where the boys would play in during the summer season and sit by during the winter.

"Umph!" Lawliet muttered out as he plopped himself on the cold, frozen ground. Beyond followed suite and sat at the edge of the river bank.

Lawliet looked at him with tired eyes, "Hey, B? Why don't you ever wanna go home?"

Beyond looked out at setting sun and chewed on his bottom lip. Since their first encounter in kindergarten, Beyond's communication skills had improved immensely. However, they only improved with Lawliet. He did not particularly enjoy talking to anyone else, be it a child or superior. The thick built eight year old extended his legs and laid back on the ground, looking up at the twilight filled sky.

He opened his chapped lips, "Isn't the sky cool?"

Lawliet furrowed his eyebrows, not exactly sure how to respond.

"B…What are you talking about?"

Beyond sighed, "W-well, I'm just sayin'…it's kinda cool how, ya know, the moon is already out…" he pointed a small finger up in the air toward the waning moon, "…and the sun is still here too." He moved his arm down to point at the wide, almost set, sun.

"Well sure it's cool but…at the same time…I mean…what's the big deal?"

Beyond appeared to be flustered with his friends obvious disinterest.

"Are you crazy! I mean, think about it! Two totally opposite things somehow being able to exist together in the same sky!"

Lawliet raised a thin eyebrow at him.

"You sound like an old person."

"Huh?"

Lawliet giggled, "You talk like an old man! No one else in class would say something like that. Some barely even know what the moon is!"

At that comment, they both laughed and continued to lay on the ground.

About twenty minutes of silence passed when Beyond spoke up again.

"She's sick."

Lawliet sat up and looked down at Beyond, who had surprised him when he began speaking.

"What?"

Beyond sat up as well and hugged his knees, looking down at the flowing ice water.

"You asked why I never wanna go home, right?"

Lawliet nodded his head, anticipating an answer.

Beyond's face turned lazily towards his and spoke again, "I never wanna go home cause my mommy is sick."

Lawliet looked down at his sneakers in confusion.

"Well…I know that that seems like the wrong thing to do- stay away from home, I mean. But…" he cleared his throat as he started to choke up, "…b-but every day I see her, I'm afraid her death day is going to change!"

Lawliet's eyes widened at the thought. How horrible it must be!

Beyond started crying when Lawliet sat next to him and put and arm around his shoulder.

Lawliet, still a child himself, wasn't exactly an expert on consoling either but he knew the simple powers of a hug. Beyond buried his face in his friend's warm shoulder and cried softly, silently.

'"B…" Lawliet started, "…do your parents know?"

Beyond lifted his head a little from his friends arm, "Know what?"

Lawliet shut his eyes, "Do they know, what I know, about you?" He looked down at the beautiful caramel colored hair. "Do they know you can see death?"

Beyond shuddered a little and nibbled on his bottom lip. "N-no…actually they don't…" He pulled away from Lawliet and looked at him, "They know I can only see red but they don't know about the other thingy…"

Lawliet nodded his head and looked down towards his watch.

"Oh shoot! My parents are gonna kill me!" He jumped up and scooped up his backpack. He turned back when he didn't hear his friend following as usual.

"B…" he looked at the boy still sitting on the cold ground, "…you coming?"

Beyond looked back and forced a smile, feigning togetherness, "I'm fine. I think I'm just gonna walk home by myself though. You go ahead, don't get in trouble!"

Lawliet turned away hesitantly and continued on his way home, still unsure whether leaving Beyond there was a good idea or not, even if home was only a short distance away.

After a few moments, Beyond got up and gathered his things, guessing that his friend was close to his house by now and started walking home, himself. The truth was, although Beyond had stayed at Lawliet's house countless times, Beyond had never invited Lawliet to his. He was afraid of what Lawliet would think, and tried to talk about his family life as little as possible. As he turned to knob to his front door, he took a deep breath and stepped inside.

As soon as he walked in he could smell the odor of something burning, most likely food seeing as his father was not the best cook and often burned everything.

He walked into the kitchen and sure enough, his father was practically sprinting around the kitchen trying to put out the roaring flames that were consuming the wok. Beyond, as nonchalantly as ever, picked up bowl, filled it with water and pour it into the pan.

As the smoke curled up to the ceiling, Beyond's father looked down with surprise.

"Beyond! There you are!" He smiled, happy to see his son and he hugged him tightly.

"Konbanwa, otosan." He replied as his father set him down and patted his hair.

The extremely tall and thick, lightly muscled man grinned at his son, "How was your day, kid?"

Beyond remained uninterested and unmoved by his father's affection for him. "Where's okasan?"

His father sighed, "She is resting right now Beyond. She's doing just fine, so don't worry." His gaze lingered on his son's rather stoic face. "Come on now, let's go out to eat or something. How about that? Since you saved me for almost burning the kitchen down anyways… Would you like that?"

"You almost burn the kitchen every night, and besides, I don't wanna go out. I wanna stay right here." Beyond started walking towards the hallway that led to his parent's room.

His father, realizing where Beyond was going quickly went to him and scooped him up. "U-uh, Beyond…I told you she is resting. You can see her tomorrow, I promise." He put his son down, and looked at the smaller version of him. "Please listen to otosan. Please, son."

Beyond's lip quivered a little bit as his fists clenched, "If haha is fine, then why was the doctor's car outside?" His eyes began to swell up with tears.

Beyond's father looked down, defeated. "You saw that, huh?" he ruffled his son's caramel hair, "Always too observant for your age…" he chuckled half-heartedly.

The young boy stared at his father waiting for an explanation.

Only when Beyond tugged on his pants did he comply.

"Oh…Alright, come, have a seat with me."

He pulled his son onto his lap and let his head fall back on the couch, wondering how to go about the news.

"Son…you know that your mother loves you very much, right?"

His offspring nodded quickly, of course he knew it.

"You know that she never planned on being sick, right?"

Again, Beyond shook his head eagerly anticipating the news.

"Well…Beyond…know one really knows why these bad kind of things happen to good people, such as your mother, but…they do."

"Chichi, I know haha has cancer…we've known for a while."

"Exactly son, a while." His eyes appeared to be growing moist, "It has been a while…and they thought they could cure it but…it looks like God wants haha to be up there with him, so she can look down on us, and protect us. To watch over us and not be in pain anymore…"

Beyond let the tears leak out of the corners of his eyes, "Haha is going to die…sooner than we thought?"

His father coughed and looked at him, "It looks like this will be haha's last Christmas…" seeing his son's reaction he quickly added, "…b-but it's okay because she's going to heaven. Everything is going to be fine."

He reached a hand to Beyond when it was suddenly smacked away.

"Beyond!"

"When?"

He father grew angry it his actions, "When, what?"

"When is she going to die?"

"Beyond…I don't kn—"

The little boy gripped his dad's shirt with his hands and buried his face in his chest. "Yes you do! You do! You do!" He started sobbing, "Please chichi, just tell me! I'll hate you if you don't!"

"Beyond, stop this right now."

Just as his dad started calming him down from his heaving-chest state, the door to his parent's room opened and Beyond sprinted to the room.

Doctor Suzuki was there, with wide eyes surprised as the boy ran to his mother's side, eyes clenched shut.

"Suzuki-san, I'm sorry…" Beyond's father started, "…he is a little sensitive right now."

"It's perfectly all right Birthday-san. I actually think it's a good idea he see her now."

Beyond stayed by his mother's side, sobbing into her blankets, as they continued to talk.

"Now, regarding your wife, by all of the tests I've ran, I'd say that she has about—"

"Twenty-one days."

"Three or four weeks left…"

Both of the adults looked at the child who said the outburst.

The doctor tilted his head, "What was that, child?"

Beyond, looking down, caramel bangs shadowing his face, spoke, "You heard me…" he lifted his head, eyes wide, the crimson color glowing in the dim lighting of the room. "…She has 21 days left to live."

Surprised the doctor raised an eyebrow, and turned toward the child's father. "Well…yes, that is correct. Expect three to four weeks." He said in a solemn tone. "I'm terribly sorry."

As they exchanged a few single words, Beyond ran up to the doctor and stared.

"You're wrong. Twenty-one days. That's all haha has left." A frown had been on his face so long, it may as well stay permanent.

His father spoke up, "Beyond, it is extremely rude of you to say that, both to Suzuki-san and to okasan. Apologize."

"But chichi it's the truth! I promise!"

"Beyond! That is enough."

"I'm sorry doctor…you know how kids can be with this kind of traumatic experiences…"

The doctor eyed Beyond, curiously, "Yes, well, the best of luck to both of you. You will be in my prayers."

"Arigatou."

"Oyasuminisai."

The doctor left Beyond and his father alone to be with the mother and wife. As each day passed by, Beyond grew more and more anxious, terrified when the numbers above his mothers head started counting down, growing smaller and smaller. But what was worse? In exactly twenty-one days Misaki Birthday died of cancer while sleeping next to her husband.

After that, Beyond's father rarely spoke to him as he made funeral arrangements. He didn't even want to look at his son, right when his child needed him most. Instead of being the warm, over-loving father that he usually was, he grew cold towards Beyond and only talked to him when necessary. The eight year old, Beyond Birthday, was hated by his father and now had no mother.

Author's Note: Me again! (Big surprise, eh?) So…that was a depressing chapter! Well, please leave reviews! I like hearing feedback, also, I have a question: Should the next chapter be the funeral? Or should I just continue to the next stage of school like I planned? Let me know! Thanks for reading!