The rope to the ivory tower.
Set ten years into the future. The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for March 13, 2008.
The first thing Kyoko Sawada does, the moment she wakes up, is kiss her husband good morning. They cuddle for a bit, exchange the usual pleasantries before they both decide that it's time to get up. She watches him dress up, helps him with his tie, then sends him off with well wishes and the assurance that she'll be perfectly fine on her own and he really ought to focus on what he's got to do, they're going to see each other again later tonight anyway.
Breakfast is spent in the company of Haru and Hana, where they speak of the places they've been to, the places they ought to go to, their loved ones, needlework and cooking. Kyoko is distracted, for a moment, by the glimpse of a familiar shadow in the doorway – her companions do not notice who she was looking at, and she only smiles and shifts the gears of the conversation when they ask, never answering.
The hours before lunch are idled away in books and cross-stitch patterns, in sunlight and nibbling on fruits. Her brother arrives at twelve o'clock sharp, and Kyoko is only too happy to listen to him babble on and on and on, all the way until he has to extremely go, because there's an extreme job coming up and he has to extremely train!
It is only after she has seen Ryohei off that Kyoko ventures up to the rooftop, up to where the sun's brightest and the breeze is best, and sees the shadow she had spotted earlier than morning: he's lying on the ground at the very center of the rooftop, arms pillowed behind his head, eyes shut, pet fluffball resting on his chest. She laughs, walks right up to his head to peer down at him with a smile.
"You'll catch a cold like that, Kyo-chan."
Hibari Kyouya snorts, but doesn't answer. He doesn't move either, when Kyoko settles down, taking a seat beside him.
Neither of them say anything, all the way until sunset.
