"Hey, Kisaragi, you ready to leave?" came Kido's voice.

"Not yet! I haven't finished changing!" She whispered through the door. "And keep it down, I don't want Shintarou or Konoha to hear!" Kido pulled down on the handle, and swung the door open. The room was empty.

"Before you ask, it was the wording. She would have said leader, and called Shintarou 'my stupid brother' or something."

"There's just no fooling you, is there, courageous leader of mine?" The fox-eyed boy stepped out a nearby room. "And before you ask, she's already waiting for us, packed and all." Kido rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving Kano where he was, but not before a quick punch to the gut.

"Oof! What was that for?" He complained.

"Come on, idiot. We'll miss the bus to the airport." she cringed away and sped up.

"You still feel bad about leaving them don't you? Look, Konoha would trigger the metal detectors and scare the guards, and he'd be all alone without Shintarou to keep him company." He arched his eyebrows. "Plus, Momo only agreed to come if Shintarou stayed, and who would you rather holiday with?"

"Anyone but you." She muttered.

"Hey, leader! That's unfair! How could you go without your dear companion Kano?" Kido cringed more and blushed. She pulled her hood further over her face, so as not to be seen.

"Are you trying to deceive the deceiver? Because I'm telling you, it can't be done."

"Maybe not, but I can sure ignore you."

"Oh come on, brave and fearless leader! How could you say that? Well, I know you care, and that's enough for me!" She punched him again, harder this time. He stood in place for a second, before slowly beginning to topple. Kisaragi caught him before he fell.

"Shut up and get out! We've got five minutes before the bus arrives, so we can still make it if we hurry up."

"Yes Kisaragi." He said, wincing. They left the apartment, to see Seto and Marry already halfway down the street, chatting spiritedly clutching each other's hands.

"This will be your first holiday, won't it Marry?"

"Yes!" She said gleefully. "But I'm really nervous. What if I freeze a guard by accident?"

"Don't worry Marry. There won't be guards, just a couple of security people, that's all. There's nothing to worry about." Marry smiled at that. She was just looking up at the tall boy lovingly when a low, rumbling voice deeper than anything she'd ever heard came from behind her. It said five words to Seto in deep monotone.

"Get a room, frog man"

"Kano, that voice was scary when I was six. Now I'm big, and of course brave. So no, that doesn't bother me."

"Courage really means a lot to you, huh?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer," replied Seto. Marry turned to look at the fox-eyed boy in anger- he had ruined one of her treasured moments with Seto. Kano began to shrug, and stopped abruptly. A careless taunt had cost him his motor skills, as so often happened when Marry was around. Kido didn't even protest, just picked up the statue mid stride. She was used to this.

"Something about being in leader's big strong arms fills me with a warm feeling!" Came a voice from the 'statue'. Seconds later, it was on the floor, with a small pool of red coming from it's nose. Kido walked away, and tried to mask the smile on her face.

Hours later, the five of them were sat on a bus, heading for the nearest airport. There were about a hundred miles to travel, so they got comfortable. Kido found herself gravitating towards Kano without even thinking. Why? She didn't even want to be with the little shit. Just something inside her told her to sit next to him, and she felt the need to. You know, Leader related stuff only. If he broke something, or hurt someone, it wouldn't do for her to be somewhere further away from him. Content with the excuse, she decided to sleep. The day was still young, after all. She tilted her head to the right, and closed her eyes.

She woke up a while later, and her first thought was I can just feel the little shit's grin. She regained lucidity to find her head was rested on Kano's shoulder. She threw her head up as quickly as she could, and punched the boy in the chest. He groaned, and bent double.

"Now, now, leader, there's no need to be so moody. Besides, I quite enjoyed-HUH!" She had kicked his groin. "Please, leader, I could need that!" Her elbow connected with his jaw with a satisfying CRUNCH. "I should point out you tend to talk in your sleep..." he rasped. The final blow smashed his head against the window, cracking the glass. "Are you still mad about the PV thing? I'm sorry mine was so cool, with all the graffiti and stuff..." He didn't finish the sentence. The one big rule with Kido- DON'T MENTION THE PV. Legend had it a man had died from mentioning the PV. It was a mistake Kano would usually only make if angry. "Why are you doing this?" He asked, struggling to retain some primitive form of consciousness.

"Think of it as me toughening up your bones," she said, and immediately regretted it. A smile crept over the shit's face.

"And why would you want to do that?" Before losing consciousness, he managed a bloody smile and an "Oh my, how dirty" before he succumbed to the void. Even in his last words, he had managed to fit in another reference to that FUCKING PV.

"That's for breaking the fourth wall, you little shit."

When Kano finally regained consciousness, his head was resting on Kido's legs. She had felt guilty after all, and had spent most of the time trying to clear up the blood on his face. He thought of moving, but a short opening of the eyes showed him the way she looked at him, the only reason he kept himself crawling through this miserable life he hated so much. He was such a monster, he didn't even deserve to live. But when he saw Kido, his 'spirits' were lifted enormously, and he felt as though he had a reason to live. He hated his life as much as he hated this world, and himself. He wished he could have died a few days later, or earlier, and just stayed in the ground where he belonged. He was walking a world he didn't belong in, that merely dismissed him as a monster. Everyone had looked down on him, before he met Kido, then Seto and Ayano etc. This was why the Dan was so important to him, and why he was so determined to get rid of his powers. Maybe, just maybe, he could retain some form of dignity, or respect. Kido and Seto understood him- they hated their powers as well, as did Kisaragi. Even Hibiya (somewhere at the back of the bus, with Kisaragi) hated his- not so much the powers themselves, but what they represented- Hiyori had died to give him that power, and he had never even wanted them in the first place. He wasn't alone in the group of misfits, and when he was with Kido, he actually felt like he had the chance to be happy. So he made it look like his eyes were closed, and just gazed into Kido's face. He used to do this when he was depressed, just gaze into her face for hours on end sometimes. He could just lose himself thinking about the two of them together. He once stayed awake for a whole night, pretending his eyes were closed, staring at her face. He hadn't used his powers- he wanted to stay as human as possible. As children, he saw them as a brave king and queen of a new nation of monsters who wouldn't need to be monsters anymore, and they could be together forever. Of course, then came adolescence, and he started to think of her in a different way. The details could vary infinitely, but all of his dreams ended with the two of them, together. Sometimes, he would even pretend to be frozen by Marry (like earlier) just to experience the contact of her skin on his, to make him feel almost human. He felt bad for the Medusa, but he just added that to the list of reasons why he should hate himself. It was a long list. But he didn't even care, so long as he could be with Kido. He would do anything for her, give his own life (if it was enough), to make her happy. A world with him and Kido together was perfect, but he'd settle for a world where Kido wasn't held back by him, and she could achieve all of her ambitions without being bogged down by his pathetic being. So he would just sit and gaze at her, keeping up the 'little shit' façade for as long as he had to to make her

value him less- when something did happen to him, he did not want her to cry, even for a second- he weighed her down, and stopped her from being who she deserved to be. The beatings were his way of telling himself not to fall in love, for all the good that did. It was a constant reminder that he didn't deserve her and that she was too good. It stung, of course, it stung to know they couldn't be. He knew Kido thought of him as just a brother, if that. If she were to end up with any sibling, it would be Seto- he had done things with the life given to him. He had rescued Marry and he would always cheer Ayano, and by extension Kido, up. Even in his own wild dreams, when Kido admits her love for him, he is forced to decline her against every bone in his body, because she deserved better. And if he could just kiss her once, just let himself experience her love, then he would die a happy monster.

Kido looked down into Kano's face, She could stare for hours, and sometimes did. She would pretend her eyes were closed when they slept opposite each other, but just stare at him for hours. She once stayed up for six hours, just staring at him. If she had had one wish at the time, it would have been that he was staring back at her. She would dream about him, that they would spend the night together. She loved him, she knew. With her whole heart, she loved him, and the only thing she wanted was for them to be together. She would sacrifice anything to be with him, even just for a night. She loved him with her whole heart and mind and body and soul. She just wished he felt the same. He was so carefree, and he'd just glide through life without caring about anyone. He'd joke about the two of them, and that was what hurt the most. The insincerity, the way he seemed to mock her feelings- gah! It pissed her off! If he'd care about her for a few minutes, he'd see how she felt, the way she'd stiffen when he sat next to her and they were alone, the way she'd hide her face when he joked about the two of them. It seemed so inevitable to the others, as if they knew how she felt. She was so jealous of Marry. She was obviously in love with Seto (in a fairly creepy way- sometimes it would creep into stalker territory) and Seto obviously loved her back in a whole-hearted way. If only she could have such a Romeo and Juliet relationship- well, it had lasted 24 hours and like three people died- but missing that bit. She would look at the carefree Kano, and every time she would want to tell him how she felt, but he would laugh it off. No, he would deal with it sensitively at least- he was a nice enough guy when it came down to it. If only... If he could just pay attention to her, he would fall in love as well. She wasn't going to cling though- that would just show off her insecurities. Every time she hit him, she would feel so horrible, and begin to hate herself. She sometimes even wished he would hit her back, but she knew he was too gentle for that- he cared about her, at least. Maybe not in the same way she cared for him, but at least he cared. She didn't care what situations conspired against her, she just wanted to be with Kano. So when she stared, maybe she'd wish he would stare back, but he would never think of her that way, no matter how much she desired it. She wished she could just shout how much she loved him, but in this bus and with Kisaragi and Hibiya around, it wouldn't be right. It would need to be personal, and... intimate. She just wished this hellish bus journey would end at some point. When they got to the hotel, she would tell him, she decided. Due to a booking mistake on Kano's behalf, they had been booked into the same room. She occasionally pretended it was on purpose and that he would confess his love, but that wouldn't happen. Just wait for the hotel, she told herself. Her favourite part of their current living arrangement was that they shared a room. The rooms each had two beds, and since Shintarou needed his own room for reasons best left undisclosed, the arrangements had to be made. Momo and Konoha shared one, Hibiya had his own, and of course Marry and Seto would stay up late into the night together- nothing adult, just talking. Everyone seemed to be happy, so they stayed like that. Momo was more than happy to stay with Konoha, and in fact volunteered to share before the arrangements had been fully finalised, and of course he didn't seem bothered anyway. She waited for this damn bus journey to end so that they could get to the airport then finally to the hotel.

Two hours later, the bus pulled up. The first thing they saw at the airport was the fact the only runway had been torn up to pieces- rubble was scattered everywhere. "What the hell happened?"

"A storm, I think," said Seto. Marry looked disappointed.

"We're very sorry to announce that all of today's flights are cancelled due to unexpected circumstances. Refunds will be issued by your respective travel agencies. We are deeply sorry for any inconvenience." Kido felt deflated- there went her plans of a holiday romance. All of her dreams were denied, by some stupid 'unforeseen circumstances'. She would learn later a terrorist attack had failed and the plane had blown up on the runway, but she wouldn't care. Her dreams had been denied from her.

After the long journey home, Kido sat on her bed. It was pitch night outside, about midnight. She had been denied everything she had wanted, and now her and Kano couldn't- wait. She would tell him tonight. She would wait until the right moment, and then tell him in a calm, and dignified manner.

"Hey Kido." Came Kano's voice.

"I love you!" She blurted.

"Wasn't expecting that." He smiled that fox-eyed smile of his that she adored so much, and they just sat there awkwardly. He wouldn't break from her gaze, and she didn't want him to. She wanted to be with him, she knew. Kano, on the other side, felt both dead and alive. She actually loved him back, even though he was, well, him! But he didn't deserve her, so he couldn't possibly-

"I love you too." He inadvertently said. They sat for another moment, in silence. He reached for her face, and she didn't seem to mind, so he kissed her. She kissed him back. He didn't care what happened for the rest of his life, and neither did she- they were finally happy.