So, this was meant to be a one-shot, but it ended up getting too long, so I cut it in half and turned it into a two-parter.

Anyway, this is an AU in which Nine and Twelve are just normal kids, although they're still orphans. Also, they still call each other Nine and Twelve, although I'll refer to them as Kokonoe and Hisami in the story. I felt like our trio deserved some happiness, especially after the feels trip of episode 9, so here it is.

Anyway, as this is AU, I've re-ordered and mixed up the anime scenes to suit this story, and made up names where they weren't given/ I could not remember them. I also decided to skip the swimming pool scene as that would virtually be the same as it was in the anime, therefore, no point. So, I hope you enjoy this.

"So, I see you've dried off, then." Kokonoe said when he got to the roof. Hisami merely grinned at him, causing him to roll his eyes in exasperation.

"People have been talking about you, you know. Didn't I tell you not to make an utter fool of yourself, Twelve?"

"Ah, it's no big deal, really. You're way too uptight, Nine. Speaking of which, people have been talking about you too, you know."

This was news to Kokonoe. He preferred being on the side-lines, and so during that first morning he had tried to not draw attention to himself.

"Shiori Sakakibara, Eiri Akazawa, Yuuto Sanada, Haruki Satou. To name but a few." Hisami informed him when he didn't respond.

This made Kokonoe laugh.

"You don't need to memorise everyone's names, you know. Especially not all on the first day."

They watched the view from the roof for a while, not saying anything, but simply enjoying the wind and the sky and the serenity. Then a girl ran across the courtyard, hugging her bag to her chest and running towards a small, squat building.

"Isn't that the girl we saw earlier?" Kokonoe said, squinting. From this far up, her features weren't distinct, but there was something in the way she ran that seemed familiar. He recalled the incident from that morning-the girl at the swimming pool, her jeering classmates. The way Hisami had, for reasons unknown, decided to jump into the pool himself, distracting the jeering classmates long enough for the girl to escape (one she had realised what was happening). He couldn't remember what the girl's name was, or even if she had been referred to by name then.

"Lisa Mishima. She's in my class," Hisami told him. "And those are the old toilets she's running to. Is she going to eat lunch there or something?"

"Is that really any of our business?"

Hisami shrugged, and then watched Lisa Mishima intently as she disappeared into the building. He continued staring for a few moments after that, and then said.

"I'm going down there."

Kokonoe gave him a questioning look. Hisami shrugged, and then ran to the roof entrance.

"I'll see ya after school, okay?" With that, he was gone. Kokonoe stood there for a moment, confused, and then shrugged and continued looking out at the view.

…

Her phone vibrated as soon as she sat down. Breathing in, she made a point of ignoring it as she dug out her bento box, settled it on her lap, and opened it. But her phone kept vibrating, and eventually, she fished it out of her bag and stared at the messages, which continued coming.

There was no respite. School was a hell-hole, home was a permanent storm. Nothing could be done. Whenever people asked 'how are you', they didn't want the truth. Whenever she tried to reach out herself, she was ignored, or laughed at.

It was just the way things were, she knew that. Didn't mean she had to like it.

Trouble is, there was nothing she could do.

Another text came in. Asking her if the lunch was tasty. All of a sudden, she lost her appetite. She shoved her fist in her mouth, attempting to stifle a scream, all too ready to throw her lunch away when a cheerful voice asked.

"Why are you in here?"

Surprised, she looked up. The new transfer student, Hisami, was standing in front of her, regarding her with a quizzical look. She let her hand fall back to her side.

"Are you following me?" she asked, quietly, masking her turmoil. He was there that morning, too. Witnessing her usual ordeal. Was he stalking her or something?

"Well, this isn't a nice place to eat, is it? Why would you eat here?"

"With all due respect, why is this your problem? I don't even know you." She didn't know how to feel about this boy.

"Because you lied to me," He said cheerfully. "You were being bullied this morning."

Not what I was expecting.

"Again, why do you care? Nobody else does." A blush rose on her cheeks. She'd already revealed too much. Quickly, she closed her bento box and shoved her phone in her bag, ready to make her exit.

"Really?" it took her a moment to realise he had responded to what she had just said. She looked at him. He seemed almost wistful as he regarded her. She held the bento box closer to her, although she had no intention of eating it.

"That's a bento box?" all of a sudden, he was inquisitive again.

"Yes…"

"Lucky. We've never had bento boxes before. "

Lisa couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. Really? Was such a thing possible?

"Are you going to go somewhere else to eat it? Why not come up to the roof? It's nice there, and Nine's up there too."

At that point, she lost it. It vaguely occurred to her that she had no idea who this 'Nine' was, but she didn't care.

"Leave me alone!" Almost without thinking, she shoved her bento box at him and ran off. To where, she didn't know, but she wanted him to leave her alone. She wanted everyone to leave her alone.

When she had been running a while, she turned, almost expecting Hisami to follow. He hadn't. Breathing a sigh of relief, she decided to spend the rest of lunchtime in the library.

The lessons afterwards were relatively uneventful. For once, Asami Iguchi and the other girls decided she was too much bother and left her alone. She felt Hisami watching her, but he didn't try to approach her, which she was glad of. Five minutes with him and her heart was on her sleeve. Exactly where she did not want it.

At the end of the day, she packed her bag slowly, as usual, waiting for as many people as possible to leave. After putting the things on her desk into her bag, she lifted the lid of the desk to get some exercise books she needed to use for homework. But instead of seeing her History textbook on top of the pile, she saw her pink bento box, empty but pristine.

Well, almost empty.

Curiously, she picked up the folded piece of white paper that was tucked in the box, and opened it.

The food was tasty. We both enjoyed it. Thank You!

-Toji Hisami

She looked around for Hisami, surprised, but he had already left. She put the bento box and relevant exercise books in her bag, and zipped it up. For reasons she herself didn't know, she kept the note in her shirt pocket.

…

Almost as soon as Kokonoe left the locker area, he came back.

"You're still here?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hisami replied. "I've yet to decide where to go kill time. Anyway, aren't you going to be late?"

"I found these." Kokonoe said, holding up a pair of indoor school shoes. Girls ones, by the looks of them. The blue sole suggested that the girl was a second-year, like them.

Lisa, he thought instantly, despite the fact that there was no reason to.

"Strange. Where'd you find them?"

"Wedged underneath the stairwell."

Hisami took the shoes from Kokonoe and inspected them, looking for a name label of some sort. He found the name written in tiny print inside the shoe. Lisa Mishima. It seemed he was right.

"Someone was hiding them for fun." Hisami concluded.

"And, pray tell, how did you know that?"

"They're Lisa's."

"Oh."

"Anyway, I'll wait here with them, for her. You go. "

"Are you sure?"

"Go, go. Lateness isn't going to impress the press now, is it?"

"You're an idiot. Thanks."

Once again, Hisami was left waiting by himself. He sighed, and sat on the step. He wondered how long it would take for her to arrive. Those girls had arrived very early, and all to hide her shoes. He wondered if it was a daily occurrence. Judging by the way she had hidden herself on Friday, as if she was well versed in such things, suggested yes.

Strange, then, that she had such a rare-coloured voice.

"Oh, Lisa, Ohayou!"

The girl stopped in her tracks and regarded him warily.

"Are those my shoes?" she asked, checking her locker at the same time. When she realised it was empty, she looked back at him again.

Hisami paused a moment, not wanting her to lash out again. Then he replied.

"Yes. Nine found them near the stairwell." As soon as he said that, he realised he probably shouldn't have referred to Kokonoe by nickname, as Lisa now looked utterly stunned.

I'm an idiot.

"Arata Kokonoe, I mean," Hisami clarified quickly. "Anyway, here you go."

Lisa took the shoes carefully, and then put her outdoor ones into the locker, and the indoor ones on her feet, watching him all the while. Finally, when she straightened, he saw her voice again, although it was too quiet to hear.

"Thank you. "

"Not a problem!"

They stood there for a moment, looking at each other. For some reason, Lisa didn't immediately leave, like he would have expected. Instead, she reached in her bag and pulled out a pink lunchbox that he recognised from Friday.

"Erm…there's a bit more in there than last time…I'm not going to eat it…"

"Actually, why not keep a hold of it, and come hang with us at lunchtime." He said on an impulse. He smiled beatifically, hoping for a yes. He wasn't sure why he had asked her that. Maybe it was something to do with her voice, the colour of it, and the cadence of it. The fact that she, as the owner of such a voice, was an unexpected quantity. Or maybe it was because she was like looking into a mirror. There was a look in her eyes that reminded him of his childhood. The childhood shared with Kokonoe. And that gave her potential to be another friend. He had always wanted to be part of a group of friends.

So maybe that is why he wanted her to take him up on the offer. Maybe.

"I…suppose I could," Lisa said eventually. "But…you're friends with Kokonoe-kun, right? Would he want me there…?"

"Ah, don't worry about him! He's a bit frosty, but he's a good guy, really!"

Lisa nodded at that.

"In which case, OK." She said, sounding a little surprised at herself.

"Okay! Anyway, I'm going to the library until homeroom. You?"

"I think I'll head to class." And just like that, she disappeared.

Hisami grinned at the space she left behind, and then left the locker area himself.

…

"Oh, I see you managed to find them yourself! What a miracle!" Lisa flinched as Asami came behind her. She felt Yuuko Nakazawa pull at her short hair, but she continued looking down at the book she'd put down on the desk.

"I...did." she muttered. She had been arriving at school earlier and earlier each day, hoping to get to her locker before the girls did, but she hadn't succeeded yet. On the plus side, leaving very meant escaping home for longer. As if school was an escape.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or maybe your mother took it?" At Asami's joke, all four girls laughed. Lisa flinched at the mention of her mother.

The teasing and baiting went on for a while, and then the girls got bored and drifted off, laughing loudly at some joke. Knowing them, the joke was Lisa herself. She sighed, and put her book away.

Her attention drifted to Hisami's desk, directly in front of her. She had no idea what to make of the new transfer student, and the way he kept on managing to find her. Surely he had noticed what an outsider she was? No sensible person had associated themselves with her, and for a very good reason. But yet he had been over-friendly on Friday, and had waited for her with her shoes today, just to make sure that she found them.

Hisami was a strange one, certainly. And yet she had found herself persuading her mother to make extra food so that she could give it to him. Sure, the request had been a way of diverting her mother's weepy mood that weekend, but she couldn't deny that Hisami had been her motive. And she had found herself saying yes to his lunchtime invitation.

She shook her head. It was too much to think about.

At that moment, Hisami came in, talking to a bunch of other students. He came and sat at his desk, and continued the conversation for a short while before the others went to either start other conversations or just sit at their own desks. She gazed at his curly brown hair for a while, before he turned around, catching her in the act and making her go a bit red.

"We still a go for lunchtime?" Lisa winced instantly, sneaking a glance at Asami and the others. Hisami looked at where she was looking, and grimaced.

"Sorry, sorry. But..?"

Lisa nodded, quickly and frantically. Hisami smiled at that, in a way that was so happy that she felt almost bad about worrying about Asami's reaction.

"Okay," Hisami whispered conspiratorially. "I'll keep quiet until lunchtime, okay?"

Lisa gave him a smile in return. It was the least she could do.

…

When Kokonoe glared, Lisa wondered if maybe Hisami had been wrong about him.

"Erm…Hisami-kun told me I could…if you want me to leave I…" great, unfinished sentences. Good job, me!

Kokonoe simply looked at her with the gaze she'd thought of as icy when she had first spotted him by the swimming pool. Then he nodded.

"I suppose if this was Twelve's idea, it's fine." He paused, and then amended that "At least, it's something I'll deal with."

Again with the numbers. She wondered if they were part of some sort of weird nicknaming system the two boys used with each other. Pondering the thought, she sat down at a respectable distance from Kokonoe, and took out her bento box, handing it over.

Kokonoe took it, and put it down next to him, before fixing her with an intense stare.

"You should eat, you know." He told her. Lisa made a vague noise of agreement, but didn't touch her food. No matter how hungry she was, the swirling feelings at the pit of her stomach made consumption impossible. "Didn't you make this, after all?"

"No…my mum…." Of all the things she didn't want to talk about, her mother was at the top of the list. She didn't want to explain how her mother had always been walking a tightrope, but that she had lost balance when her father had gotten impatient and left. She didn't want to speak of how she came home every day wondering if her mother would be in a weepy mood or an angry mood, and how although both were equally dreaded, she preferred the weepy moods because she knew how to handle them. She didn't want to talk about any of it. Luckily, Kokonoe took her trailing off as a hint and didn't pursue it.

"Also, you should get a padlock."

It took Lisa a moment to realise that he was referring to her locker. She recalled Hisami telling her that it had been Kokonoe who had found her shoes.

"Thanks for finding my shoes this morning." She said, genuinely.

Kokonoe merely nodded, and began eating from her bento box, while she sat. Eventually, Hisami arrived, carrying a bag from the school tuck-shop.

"We're having a picnic!" he declared.

"You're too loud!"

Hisami grinned at him, and sat down so that he was facing both of them, before upending the contents of the bag on the ground.

"Here." He threw a packet of crisps at Lisa.

"Erm…"

"Just eat it." Kokonoe said. Lisa hesitated, and then opened the crisp packet and tasted a crisp. And another. And another.

They ate in silence for a while, and then Hisami asked.

"Isn't the Tokyo Government Building school trip today?" Kokonoe asked suddenly.

"Yeah, it is. " Hisami said. "It's after lunch, I think. "

"We're supposed to make our own way there." Lisa said, recalling what the second-year students had said the previous year.

"Oh, is that so? Let's go together then."

Kokonoe considered this.

"I suppose that would be the logical thing to do." He said eventually.

"Of course it is!" Hisami said, pleased. "What do you think, Lisa?"

She thought. She still didn't understand what Hisami's interest in her was. Whether she was setting herself up for more crap. But at the same time, life couldn't get any worse, so she nodded.

And once again, Hisami gave her a hot-summer's smile, and she felt guilty for being so cynical.

After that, they finished eating pretty quickly, and they left the school to get to the Tokyo Government Building. Hisami and Kokonoe chatted most of the way, with Hisami doing most of the talking. They occasionally asked Lisa a few, impersonal questions (although Hisami pushed the boundary many times), but they seemed absorbed in their own world. Still, the feeling of walking along with someone was nice.

When they got to the building, a waiting teacher registered them, and then they were free for more wandering around. They encountered a few other students from their year group, who didn't pay much attention to them. Luckily for Lisa, none of these students were Asami, Yuuko, Ai or Tomoko.

"What are we meant to be doing, exactly?" Kokonoe asked.

"I'm not sure." Lisa confessed. Hisami laughed, and Kokonoe shrugged, and they continued wandering. Eventually, they came across the souvenir shop.

"Why is there a souvenir shop in a place like this?" Lisa wondered aloud.

"For people like us!" Hisami said. "Look, there's Kururin!" He immediately gathered up a large armful of the pink stuffed toys.

"Are you actually seriously considering buying the entire stock?!" Kokonoe asked, looking faintly outraged.

"Why not?" Hisami seemed oblivious to his ridiculousness.

Kokonoe shook his head, exasperated.

"Seriously, think!"

Hisami pouted, and then thought.

"Fine. I'll just buy six of them."

"That's still too much…"

"Actually, it is perfectly reasonable!"

Lisa stared, stunned, and then grinned. These two boys were crazy.

Soon after Hisami had bought all 6 Kururin toys, it was time for them to go home. They walked part of the way together, Kokonoe still arguing. When they got to the crossing at which they had to part ways, Lisa was stunned to see a Kururin shoved at her.

"A present," Hisami explained. "Because we're friends, right?"

Lisa was stunned, again, but managed to choke out a response which pleased Hisami.

"Okay, see you tomorrow then!"

"Yeah."

As she made her way home, she found herself clutching the toy tightly. A storm was coming.

And sure enough, as soon as she opened the door, it did.

"Why didn't you reply? Are you ignoring me? You're going to leave, aren't you? Just like your father! AREN'T YOU?" Her mother's arms shot out, and her hands grabbed onto Lisa's shoulders, shaking her back and forth.

Just a typical angry mood.

Finally, she managed to break free from her mother and ran to her room. She threw her bag in the corner and curled up on her bed, still hugging Kururin.

It took her a long time to fall asleep, the way it always did. But this time, she didn't shake so badly.

Because today, she had made a friend.

…

Not much changed over the next few weeks. Her mother still veered between weepy and angry. Asami and the others still insisted on picking on her.

But some things were different. She bought a padlock and affixed to her locker, wearing the key on a chain around her neck, which saved one hassle. Hisami and Kokonoe came up to her often, and she spent many a lunch time with them. And when her science class were put into groups for a project, she found herself actually having a somewhat friendly conversation with the two girls she had been paired with-twins called Hanayo and Kotori Sasaki, both very sporty girls who claimed they were one-eighth Spanish. The three of them didn't automatically become close, but whenever Hanayo's lunchtime swim meets were cancelled or Kotori couldn't be bothered with hanging with the girls' basketball team, they would join her for lunch with Hisami and Kokonoe, who welcomed them both happily. Well, Hisami did. Kokonoe would just nod.

So in a way, things were better. But she still found herself wondering-why did they bother with me?

…

One evening, Kokonoe found himself asking Hisami what it was he saw in Lisa Mishima.

Hisami pulled a face from where he was sitting on the sofa reading a novel.

"Dunno. Why'd you ask?"

"Because I am genuinely curious." He responded. This was true. It wasn't that he didn't like the girl-she was actually good company, and a lot quieter than either of them (which was always a good thing). It was just he was wary of her. And, given the way his life had been up until now, he felt justified in being that way. All their lives, they'd never been somewhere long enough to grow roots, and even if they had been, they were isolated for lacking a family, for not having a real home. Now that they were actually in possession of what they'd always longed for, Kokonoe found himself floundering.

Hisami let out a breath and then thought about it.

"Her voice." He said eventually, "It's a pale yellow. That's a rare colour."

Now that made sense. If he had felt like a sore thumb for being haunted by nightmares, Hisami stood out even more for having synaesthesia, seeing colours with voices. He often liked to describe the voices of passer-by to Kokonoe, and he found it riveting, imagining the world a more colourful place. But it was one more thing that isolated them.

"But isn't that a…flimsy reason for getting so involved with someone? Aren't you going in too deep?"

Hisami laughed.

"This is coming from the guy who joined the school newspaper."

Grudgingly, Kokonoe did have to concede that point. Not that he felt like admitting it.

"That's completely different. I enjoy writing, not fame."

"You're wrapping yourself in cotton wool, Nine. Don't you think?" Hisami put his book down completely. "In any case, I thought Lisa would ease your dreams, somewhat. Doesn't she look like the kids at Sarasa Memorial?"

Sarasa Memorial. At that point, they had been 9 years old, and this was the third orphanage they'd been in, and the sixth place they'd ever lived in. They'd been living there for 6 whole months and were only just starting to settle. And then the fire broke out.

They had been the only ones who'd survived. And ever since then, he had been plagued by images from that day.

"She's helped, hasn't she?" Hisami pressed.

Kokonoe thought, and then nodded. He had to admit his nightmares had lessened in intensity and frequency ever since she had started joining them for lunch.

"You might be right. But if I'm going to get rid of the cotton wool, I need to do it at my own pace. It's great that you've adjusted and all, but I'm not like you."

Hisami chuckled at that "Of course you're not like me. Enjoy it. But sure, whatever. I just want you to be happy, you know."

"I know. Anyway, I should go, or I'm going to be late for my job."

"Okay. Don't forget to bring back the mistake pizzas!"

"I know."

He left, and wondered at what the future might hold.

…

When her head hit the wall, she knew a line had been crossed.

Her mother's angry moods always left her with bruises on her arms, or at least the feeling of bruises. Most of the time, her bones felt like they had been rattled, and occasionally, she felt herself go ragdoll-soft.

But never had things been so violent that her head ended up spinning. They had never been so bad that she had been shocked out of numbness.

And now, she cannot stay any longer.

She packed on autopilot, snuck to the door on autopilot. Even sneaking out and then running away, away, away, had required very little thinking. She had panicked when her mother stirred, though, that much she had been able to think.

After a lot of running, she eventually decided to stay at a train station for the night, and sleep. The floor was hard, and cold, but it was better than home. She slept fitfully, and at the first signs of morning, left the station and went into town

And then, it rained.

...Just my luck.

…

"Something is wrong." Hisami said all of a sudden over their ready-meal dinner. He didn't know why, but he felt that.

Sure enough, Kokonoe stared at him as though he was utterly nuts.

"With Lisa. Something is wrong." he clarified.

"How would you know that?"

"I don't know.," Hisami admitted. "I really don't. But I do know that something is wrong."

"Summer break has begun. She's probably at her house. Are you sure your fears have any roots?"

"I don't think Lisa's home life is something she relishes, either. But the fact remains, something is wrong. "

Suddenly, he couldn't stand just sitting there when he knew for sure that something was wrong.

"I'm going to go." He said, getting up.

"To find her?" Kokonoe said. "Really?"

Hisami didn't bother to answer as he left.

…

This was why she should have thought about things before leaving.

Night had fallen a while ago, and she had no idea where she should go. Instead, she had spent the past few hours on the sidewalk, and she just watched the traffic go by. Thinking about her general stupidity.

She shivered. She hadn't been able to find anywhere to change, and her soaked clothes clung to her skin, making her feel practically frozen. Was it going to be like this all the time?

Maybe I should have just stayed at home.

Yeah, and then maybe the next time she would have died, or something. And it would be forever before anyone noticed.

She barely registered the sound of the motorbike, as it blended in with all other traffic noises. But she did notice the footsteps that came towards her. She turned, ready to escape.

Hisami.

"Hisami-kun?!"

"What are you doing out so late, Lisa?" he asked her.

She just blinked at him. She had not imagined, in the wildest of her thoughts that Hisami would bump into her.

"You should go home, Lisa." He told her.

"How can I?" she rounded on him suddenly, feeling broken "How can I?"

"I don't…Lisa, I don't really understand. "

"For so long, I've been waiting for someone to take me away from the world. But nobody is going to do that, are they? I'm so stupid. "

She expected him to say something, anything. Get mad at her in return. But instead, he just looked at her, sadly. As if he understood. But how could he? Even after these weeks, neither had told of their pasts. Or anything like that. They had just talked of school, and food, and books, and other, lighter things. So how could he understand anything?

"I...I…leave me alone!" she made to run, but all of a sudden Hisami reached out and hooked an arm around her gently. He pulled her in a little bit, but not close enough for an embrace. Indeed, he didn't even attempt to make it an embrace. He just held her there, in place.

And strangely enough, it wasn't scary. If she leaned back just a little, she could feel his arm. The warmth of it. How miraculous it was, that skin and bone and muscle could come together to equal a sense of safety, so much more than the sum of its parts.

Hisami looked at her, sadness at the edge of his features. He seemed to be collecting his words, trying to find the right thing to say. While he did so, he scrutinised her, carefully. She couldn't begin to imagine what it was he was thinking, but for some reason, she was no longer scared.

Eventually, he spoke.

"What is it that you want?" He asked.

Her eyes widened, and she felt them well up.

"Please…" she said. "Please, take me away."

Hisami withdrew his arm, nodded, and then crossed the road, standing next to a motorbike. Lisa hesitated for a moment, and then followed.

As they sped off into the night, her heart sang.