(Originally published in Distracting Drabbles)

Misaki exited the locker room and wandered out onto the main floor of the gym, pulling her hair back into her usual ponytail, then knotting it into a bun - loose hair was a bad idea during judo sessions. Section Four had the floor reserved every Monday morning from six to seven for official training, but she always liked to arrive an hour early to get in some time in the pool. It was almost six now, but both the pool and the gym floor were still deserted.

She gazed around the high-ceilinged, empty room, looking for Hei. He had begun going early with her so that they could have some public together-time without it being really public; he'd even tried swimming with her, but - while he was a perfectly good swimmer - he wasn't used to doing laps. After two weeks of watching him swallow pool water every other breath, Misaki had practically forced him out.

She didn't know exactly what he did while she swam; he'd told her that he liked to do the types of workouts that he didn't want the others to see, lest it tip them off that he wasn't being completely open about his true skill set. What that all entailed, and whether he'd be more forthcoming now that they knew the truth, she wasn't sure.

Hoping to get a glimpse for herself, she'd finished her swim a little early this morning. Not that he'd ever hidden anything from her; but she was curious, and knew that asking to watch would just make him self-conscious. But if he didn't see her watching…

But as she glanced around the room, she didn't see him anywhere. The bulk of the floor was covered in cushioned mats for practicing falls and rolls; two long ropes for climbing hung from the exposed steel rafters; a couple of punching bags and wooden wing chun dummies lined one of the walls. There was even a balance beam and some other gymnastics equipment for evening classes. But no Hei.

Then she spotted him - against the far wall, doing a straight-armed handstand.

Misaki approached slowly, carefully placing her socked feet one at a time so as not to startle him. As she got closer, she saw that his eyes were closed. He was about a foot away from the wall, apparently not needing it for support as he swayed slightly, his hair hanging straight beneath his head. His breathing didn't alter from the slow, even in and out as she reached him and squatted down on her heels to look into his face.

Part of her was tempted to give him the slightest of nudges and watch him topple over; another, more insistent part of her was tempted to lean forward, and -

"Is it six already?" Hei asked without opening his eyes.

Misaki smiled to herself; she doubted that she would ever be able to sneak up on him. "No," she said, "it's about a quarter til; I finished my swim early."

Hei folded himself down, one leg at a time, until he was standing on two feet again. Misaki took the towel from around her neck and wiped the sweat from his unnaturally red face; she ought to be used to it by now, but the sight of him, sweating in his department-issued navy blue tee shirt and track pants, never failed to melt her insides just the tiniest bit. Okay, more than a bit.

"How long have you been doing handstands?" she asked, replacing the towel on her shoulders.

He shrugged. "I think it was about fifteen minutes."

"No," she laughed, "I mean, when did you first learn?"

"Oh." He rubbed the back of his head. "I don't even remember learning; I've been doing them since I was a kid. My grandfather used to use them as a punishment for me and my cousin when we misbehaved."

Misaki raised an eyebrow, smiling. "I can't imagine you misbehaving."

"It was mostly Jiang," Hei said, reaching forward and tucking a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "He always managed to drag me into it with him; I must have spent hours of my life upside-down, and I hated every minute."

"Then why do you do them still?"

"It's…relaxing now, actually. It helps me recenter myself, and focus. I needed a lot of that, after I first left the Syndicate."

There was a distant look in his eye, one that he always got when he was thinking of some unpleasant memory or other. "I've never done a handstand," Misaki said, trying to bring him back to the present. "Is it hard?"

Hei's brow furrowed as he considered. "I don't think it would be too hard for you; your arms and shoulders are pretty strong from swimming."

"Well, we've got time before the others get here - teach me."

He blinked. "Okay. You've never done any kind of inverted balance work before?"

Misaki didn't even know what that meant, so she shook her head.

"Alright; you should probably start out using the wall." He led her forward, until they were both about a foot from the blue padded surface. "Form a wide base with your hands." Folding at the waist, he planted his hands, palms open and fingers spread, about shoulder width apart near the base of the wall. Misaki mimicked him, though she had to bend her knees a little to get her palms flat. The towel dropped from around her neck; she tossed it behind her.

"Keep your gaze focused directly between your hands," he continued. "Then step forward with your right foot and bring your left leg up with the right immediately after it."

"Okay…" Misaki took a deep breath, suddenly nervous - then stepped forward and pushed her legs up. But the fear of falling and breaking her neck gripped her suddenly; she lost her momentum halfway and her feet crashed back down.

"It's a step, not a kick," Hei said patiently. "You have to take your time, make your movement deliberate. Do you want me to help support you?"

"No; let me try it again." Misaki pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose - they had slid down slightly on her first attempt - and planted her palms once more. Walking her feet forward until her butt was embarrassingly high in the air, she pushed off again, this time determined to not undershoot. But as soon as her left foot came off the ground, she was seized with another flood of panic that she was going to drop flat on her face and her elbows buckled beneath her. She collapsed back onto the mat.

"Damn it," she said, rolling over onto her back and staring at the ceiling thirty feet above. As Hei sat down next to her, something white caught her eye. "Hey, it's still there."

"What is?"

She pointed a slightly shaky arm straight up. "That volleyball. A few months ago we had a tournament with a couple other departments, and the ball got wedged in the rafters. I think Kouno did it. Seems like it's been too much of a hassle for the management to get out a ladder and get it down."

Hei gazed up at it for a moment. Then he said, "Ready to try again?"

Misaki sighed in frustration.

"What is it that's making it so hard?" Hei asked, not unkindly. "I know you're strong enough; you do just fine climbing."

"I guess…it's the upside-down part. I'm just afraid that once I get there, I won't be able to hold myself up, and I'll get hurt. I've never done it before."

"I'll be standing right beside you," Hei said. "If you let me hold you, do you think you'll fall?"

Misaki smiled. "No. Okay, let's try it again." She rolled to her feet, then folded forward and positioned her hands once again. But before she could step forward, Hei reached down and plucked her glasses from her face. "What -" she began, looking up at his blurry expression from her awkward position.

"They're distracting you."

"No they're not - I need them to see!"

"You don't need to see anything except the mat that's right in front of your face, and you don't need your glasses for that."

She scowled at him, but he made no move to return the glasses.

"Try it again," he said. "I'll hold you up."

"Fine."

Hei stood expectantly beside her. Misaki fixed her gaze on the mat (he was right, she could see it just fine - but she wasn't going to admit it). "You'll hold my legs?" she asked, suddenly nervous again.

"Yes."

"Okay." She took a deep breath; on the exhale, she stepped forward and pushed her feet up. Hei's warm hands wrapped around her ankles and guided her legs up against the wall. Misaki's arms shook under the strain of holding her own weight, but she didn't let them collapse. She wanted to shout, I did it! but was almost afraid even to breathe.

"Keep your shoulders open," Hei was saying. "Pull your shoulder blades away from your ears but keep pushing your palms into the ground. Extend in one long line up through your toes."

Blood was pooling in her face, but she kept her eyes fixed firmly on the blue mat between her hands. Hei was gently squeezing her ankles.

"Pull your navel towards your spine; keep your ribs tucked in."

Misaki shifted her focus to her middle and tried to follow Hei's directions. She breathed in and out deliberately, contracting her abs to hold her stomach in. That left less room for her lungs to expand, and she struggled to find a compromise. Then she noticed that Hei's touch on her ankle was fading from her awareness.

"Don't let go!" she gasped.

"Misaki, I already did."

He was right, she realized; for the past few seconds his fingers had merely been brushing her skin rather than gripping.

"I'm doing it on my own? I'm -" But with that realization, she lost all focus on what her body was doing; her legs swayed and her arms shook dangerously. Hei caught her around the hips with one arm and steadied her so that she could lower her legs down without tipping over or breaking her neck.

She straightened up and staggered a little as the blood rushed from her head straight down to her toes. Hei kept his arm around her waist, on the narrow section of bare skin where her shirt had pulled out of her waistband. "I can't believe I did it," she said, turning in her excitement to see him smiling calmly at her, her glasses perched on top of his head.

"I told you you could."

A loud cough sounded from the door to the locker rooms. Misaki turned abruptly; three blurry, navy-clad figures that looked like Saitou, Kouno, and Matsumoto were coming out onto the floor. Hei removed his arm from her waist - though not as quickly as he would have done so a week ago - and returned her glasses to her. Misaki was grateful that she could blame her flush on the minute she had just spent upside down.

"Handstands?" Kouno said. "I thought we were going to learn some kick-ass assassin move, not gymnastics."

"Um, it's good for your core," Hei said, suddenly awkward. "A strong core is important for, well, everything."

"Good to see you here, Matsumoto," Misaki said, hoping to change the conversation as soon as possible. She tugged the hem of her shirt back down.

The older man was using a cane to help support his weight, but otherwise seemed to have no problems in his walking cast. "A little bird told me that Kouno was going to get his ass handed to him today," he said mildly. "I thought I'd stop by and watch."

"Come on," Kouno said. "Like hell you'd miss a chance to see the Black Reaper in action."

"He's been working with us for months," Matsumoto pointed out. "We've all seen him."

"Yeah, but not, you know, him him. Anyway, I'm still not sure I buy his story; I need to see the proof for myself."

Misaki could tell that Hei was growing extremely uncomfortable with the attention. It had been a week since he had - according to him - accidentally told his partners who he really was. They'd mostly treated him the same as ever for the past few days, and Hei hadn't changed in his behavior in the slightest. Apparently that status quo didn't apply to training. "We're focusing on strength and teamwork exercises today," she reminded her team sharply. "There might not be much time leftover for sparring."

Kouno made a face. "Push ups, huh. Come on, Chief, aren't you always saying that we need to step up our game when it comes to hand-to-hand? Now we've got the perfect teacher!"

She was always saying that. Misaki glanced over at Hei, who stood with his shoulders hunched slightly and his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"I don't know," he said. "It's not…I can't teach you to fight the way I do." Both Saitou and Kouno's expressions turned offended, and Hei hurriedly added, "It's not because you're not good enough or anything. It's just - you have to practice the way you expect to perform. I spent the past ten years of my life training to kill my opponent, and I can't teach you that. When we spar, I have to concentrate on not acting on my training, so I don't accidentally hurt anyone. That's not going to change just because you know more about me now."

"We train to kill with firearms practice," Kouno pointed out.

"You're aiming at targets then, not real people."

Kouno looked suitably sobered at that explanation, while Saitou's frown deepened. Matsumoto, however, gestured to the wing chun dummies against the wall. "What about learning some new drills? You could show us a few things on the dummies."

That seemed like a perfectly reasonable compromise to Misaki; but at the subtle stiffening of Hei's posture she realized that that must be one of the workouts that he preferred to do in private. "We can discuss it for next week's sparring session," she said. "The schedule for today says strength and teamwork."

Hei flashed her a grateful half-smile amidst Kouno's disappointed grumblings.

"How about some climbing," Saitou said, gesturing to the two ropes that dangled from the center of the ceiling. "We haven't done anything like that in a while."

Misaki nodded. "Good call. Matsumoto, you'll have to sit this one out - but you can do the timing. Saitou, you and I are up first."

Saitou visibly blanched at the idea of having to go up against her. Section Four's competitions were friendly in nature, but for some reason the detective always seemed to feel guilty when he beat her in particular. But he nodded, and positioned himself beneath one of the two twenty-foot ropes; Misaki stood by the other. She took a moment to shake out her arms and roll her shoulders.

Matsumoto had his cell phone out. "And…go!" he said.

Misaki jumped up as high as she could and grabbed the rope, then hauled herself up the first few feet. She trapped the tail of the rope beneath the arch of her right foot and over the top of her left; this way she could brake herself as she climbed and not have to worry about sliding back. Hand over hand, she pulled herself up, her feet automatically adjusting the set of the brake and allowing herself a micro-rest with every reset of her hands.

Rope climbing had never been her favorite activity. She could still remember the first time during Academy training when she'd reached the top; it was that feeling of pride in accomplishment that drove her up every time after that. As she climbed now, Hei's earlier words rose in her mind: I know you're strong enough. She kept hauling herself up.

She wasn't concerned about beating Saitou; although he had twice as much weight to haul up as she did, he had far more upper body strength and thus was the longstanding record holder for fastest climb in Section Four. Kouno was a much more evenly-matched competitor. But still, she always had her own record to beat.

At last she reached the top. She lifted one hand to slap the steel girder that the rope was tied to to signal her achievement. Saitou was already on his way back down; Misaki followed, letting the rope slide evenly between her feet, tickling the soles through her socks, as she lowered herself back to the ground. At the final four feet she let go and dropped lightly to the mat.

"Thirty-two seconds for Saitou, up and down," Matsumoto announced. "Thirty-five for the Chief - hey, I think that's a new personal record!"

Misaki nodded gravely, as if she had expected nothing less - but inwardly she was beaming. "Alright - Kouno and Hei, your turn."

Kouno stepped up to the rope that Saitou had climbed, eying Hei suspiciously. Thus far, Hei had beaten Kouno and Saitou once or twice each, but never consistently, and never by more than a hair. Misaki was sure that he was capable of doing better, but she'd never met a person less inclined to perform his best in front of others than him.

As she exchanged places with Hei, she caught his elbow.

"No one gets hurt climbing ropes," she whispered, and thought that she glimpsed a flash of understanding in eyes before they passed. If ever there was a time for him to show off, it was now.

Matsumoto held out his phone, finger poised over the timer button. "And…go!"

Both men sprang up. Kouno, lacking Saitou's upper body strength, followed more or less the same procedure as Misaki. He was stronger than her, but less disciplined, and was making about the same pace, if a bit jerkier.

Hei, on the other hand…Misaki had never seen anyone climb like that. Before, Hei had always used the brake and squat method like her and Kouno. Now, he was climbing using only his arms like Saitou did, except…he wasn't using just his arms. At first Misaki thought it must be impossible to make any upward progress, the way he was twisting his body - then she saw what he was actually doing: by bringing the opposite knee up at the same time he reached up with his hand for a new grip, he could use his whole body for momentum. No wonder he couldn't swim without choking on water, she thought with a tiny laugh to herself, if that was how he was used to propelling himself. He was at the top in a matter of seconds.

Kouno, his rope having twisted to face away from Hei's, was oblivious to his competitor's progress. At last he reached the top, slapped the beam, and slid back down to the mat. "Ha!" he exclaimed as he landed. "How was that? How did - hey, where's Li?"

He turned to the right and the left, then glanced over at the rest of the team in confusion. Misaki, awash with a private pride, pointed wordlessly up towards where Saitou and Matsumoto were both staring opened-mouthed.

Hei was walking lightly along one of the girders, headed away from the ropes and towards the far wall. Occasionally he would move around a crossbeam, out into open air as if he was merely stepping around a puddle in the sidewalk. Misaki's heart was in her throat as she watched - one tiny slip, just one - but she trusted him to know his abilities. He never showed off for the sake of showing off.

"How did he get up there?" Kouno asked, his jaw dropping along with the others.

"He just sort of…" Saitou made a confused motion with his hand. "And then he was up."

"What's he doing?"

Misaki had asked herself the same question, until she saw where he was headed. Hei reached the last cross section of beams, where the white volleyball was wedged. He stooped down, freed it, then turned, mindless of the twenty-foot drop, and trotted back to the ropes.

Misaki held up her arms. "Toss it here."

Wordlessly, Hei dropped the ball; she caught it against her chest. Then he squatted down on the beam, and in one heart-stopping motion stepped off of the beam, twisted, and caught the rope in a complicated wrap. He slid back to the mat in a quick and controlled drop, landing lightly on his feet.

"How…" Kouno began. "I mean, I saw, but how?"

Hei looked up at the beam, then back at his partners and shrugged. "It takes a strong core."

"Can you teach us -"

But Misaki cut Kouno off; the last thing she needed was her team killing themselves trying to climb the rafters. "This just reminded me," she said, holding the volleyball out. "We could use some teamwork and cooperation practice; volleyball drills will be perfect."

The others sighed goodnaturedly and nodded. Hei half-raised his hand. "Um, I've never played volleyball," he said.

Saitou looked at him in open disbelief, but Misaki smiled. "Good. Then you'll learn something."

~~~~o~~~~

"Well, I guess we both learned something today," Misaki said, wrapping a plastic bag full of ice cubes in a towel. It probably wasn't much use, twelve hours later, but she needed to feel like she was being helpful. That, and she hadn't been able to comfort him the way that she'd wanted, in front of the others. "I learned how to do a handstand, and you learned to shout mine before you go after a volleyball."

She returned to sofa and sat next to Hei; instead of handing him the homemade ice pack, she pressed it lightly against his eye herself. "I'm really, really sorry," she said yet again. "I was sure you saw me, and I did call it."

"I did see you," Hei told her, again. "I just didn't expect you to actually dive for the ball; which was stupid of me, because of course you would. It's my own fault."

"Can I get you anything else? Aspirin?"

"Misaki, it's fine, really - I've had worse."

She traced a thin scar that ran along his collarbone. "I know." She sighed. "Well, aside from my nearly knocking you out, I think it was a good training session this morning. You got to show off a little, and I did something I've never done before."

"Punch me in the face?"

She elbowed his ribs lightly, then settled against his side; he wrapped an arm warmly around her waist, dropping the ice pack.

"You could be really good at handstands if you practiced."

She smiled. "Maybe we can start working on that in the mornings before the group training."

Hei pulled her a little closer, his hand sliding down to stroke up the curve of her outer thigh. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"No? Why not?"

"Seeing you with your ass in the air like that...you were lucky the others walked in when they did."

Misaki laughed. She knew that he would never act on such an impulse, but the idea still sent a delicious shiver down her spine. "I guess we'll have to practice at home then," she murmured.

Hei leaned in and kissed her softly. "That's a good idea."