With keen interest, teal eyes watched Doctor Marluxia make his way around the room as the man said good night to the children he was responsible for. Riku saw him kiss each of the other kids' foreheads and pulled his blanket closer to his chin nervously. He didn't want any kisses from the man. It wasn't that he disliked the doctor, just that he didn't know him well enough to be comfortable with such an intimate thing as a kiss good night. No one had been that affectionate with him in a long time, and he wasn't ready for anyone to try. It wouldn't be the same as…well, before.

He shrank even farther under the blanket when the pink-haired man approached his bed, and Marluxia smiled knowingly.

"It's okay," the doctor signed. "I won't until you're okay with it."

Mildly surprised but grateful, Riku blinked up at him then nodded before rolling over and closing his eyes, much more relaxed than he had been a moment ago. The sounds of Marluxia and two other men—one broad-shouldered with short brown hair and the other skinnier with long black hair streaked with gray, an eye patch and angry-looking scar—leaving the room were replaced by the slow, quiet breaths of the other children as, one by one, they each fell asleep. Except for Riku.

Despite being tired and ready to sleep lying comfortably in a soft, warm bed, the nine-year-old couldn't manage to drift off. It occurred to him after several minutes of this that it was much quieter than he was used to. He was more accustomed to the sound of a TV, the voices of foster parents or other children, trains or cars passing by outside, not this peaceful quiet. Even though he rather liked how quiet it was, he felt restless.

Time passed and still he didn't fall asleep. He knew it had been a long time once he heard the door open then close a few moments later. Someone must have been checking on them, and he finally resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to be able to fall asleep in such a quiet room even though he was so tired his eyes were starting to hurt and he had a headache.

Slipping out of bed, Riku glanced over to where Sora was sleeping and considered waking the brunet. Maybe signing with his new friend would help him to feel tired enough to sleep. But he remembered how annoyed his old foster siblings were if he woke them up and he hated the idea that Sora would be upset if he woke him, so he let the other boy sleep and crept out of the room. The hallway beyond was dimly lit and he had to pause to let his eyes adjust before moving off towards where he thought the front door was.

He somehow wound up at the cafeteria and was momentarily confused by the folded up tables and stacked chairs, the shapes odd and unfamiliar in the shadows. Once he realized where he was, he started off down another hallway with confidence, staying near the wall so his footsteps made less noise. So far, he seemed to be the only one up and about, and that was perfectly fine with him.

Movement on one of the monitors caught Xigbar's eye and his head turned swiftly, peering at the black-and-white picture. There was nothing there.

Brilliant. Now I'm imagining things.

The next screen flickered as something passed through the image and this time Xigbar managed to look in time to see a small figure disappear from the camera's view. Suspicious now, he focused on the next screen and saw the same figure appear near the wall, walk down the hallway, then disappear without showing its face to the camera. It didn't look the masked killer he always imagined would show up, and it was heading away from the dormitory sector. The next screen revealed that the figure was heading towards the Home's main entrance, and Xigbar wasted no time in grabbing his flashlight and taser before practically running out of the room in the hopes of cutting the figure off before it reached it's destination.

Lights glowing through the front windows attracted Riku like a moth to a flame. He'd finally found it, the front door, and just beyond that, freedom. At long last, he'd be able to sleep.

Small fingers wrapped around the door handle and pushed. The door shifted just slightly then hit something and stopped; a frown creased the boy's forehead and he pushed harder, but it was no use. The door was locked and he had no way of opening it.

Riku tightened his grip on the handle, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on the cool metal. He was so close. So close. The faint sounds of the city reached him and only made him want out more, but how? A glance was all it took to tell him the windows here didn't open, so he wouldn't be able to climb out of any of them, and the door remained firmly locked no matter how he pushed and shoved and even pulled.

Huffing impatiently, he released the handle and glared at the door, willing it to open with all his might. Suddenly, he froze. There were footsteps from behind him, echoing quietly in the otherwise empty hall. Panic rose in his small chest and he darted away from the door in an attempt to blend in with the shadows along the walls. He was almost definitely going to be in trouble if he got caught out of bed, and he didn't want to be taken away from the first friends he'd had in years after only one day.

The footsteps quickly drew closer, and a tall figure emerged into the dim light coming through the windows from the lights outside. It was one of the men that had been there when he and the other mute children were put to bed, the one with the eye patch. He appeared to be scanning the room for movement, head turning slowly so his remaining eye could get a good view.

Riku held his breath so the sound wouldn't betray his location. If he was fast enough and quiet enough, he might be able to sneak back to bed and wouldn't be punished for breaking what he was sure was more than one rule on his first night. He started to inch along the wall, then, to his dismay, the scarred man took a flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. The beam illuminated the dark corners with ease as it swept across the floor, eventually landing on Riku.

Relief flashed across the man's face and he moved closer to where the silver-haired boy stood, the flashlight lowered so it didn't shine into Riku's eyes and hurt them.

"What are you doing out here at this time of night?" the man asked quietly, obviously concerned, then he paused for a moment. "…Riku, right?"

Surprised that this man knew his name because they hadn't been introduced, Riku nodded and stopped pressing himself back against the wall as if it would swallow him up and hide him from the brightness of the flashlight. It didn't sound like he was in trouble, at least not yet.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Another nod.

The scarred man nodded, pursing his lips as he examined the child before him. Then he looked at the front doors. "You were trying to go outside?"

Riku nodded yet again when the one-eyed gaze returned to him, hopeful now that perhaps this man would unlock the door and let him go outside, just for a little bit, rather than putting him in time-out like his previous foster parents would have. Actually, if he'd been caught trying to go outside in the middle of the night by his foster parents, they might have called his social worker and complained to them that he was a troublemaker. But that didn't seem to be happening here.

He pointed at the door then at his ear, trying to communicate that he needed to hear the sounds of the city because it was too quiet in the room where the other mute children were sleeping. The man seemed to understand because he pulled a ring of keys from his belt and selected one that Riku hoped was for the front door.

"Just a moment." He pulled something else from his belt and flipped it open, proving it to be a cell phone, and held down one of the buttons before putting it to his ear. Riku waited, curious, as the man listened to it ring several times.

"Hey, Doc, sorry about calling you so late, but I got one of your kids out of bed and he wants to go outside."

The name "Doc" caught Riku's attention and he strained to hear the other side of the conversation, wondering if the scarred man had called Doctor Marluxia.

"Yeah, he's fine."

It must be the doctor. Riku couldn't think of anyone else for this man to call who would ask if he was okay, especially so late at night.

"He says he couldn't sleep and he keeps pointing at his ear." The man paused to listen then nodded. "That makes sense. All right, thanks, Dr. Shizen, and sorry again about waking you." The phone was closed and returned back to its place on the belt and the man turned to Riku. "Doctor Marluxia says you're allowed to sit outside until you fall asleep. Is that what you wanted?"

Riku nodded earnestly and took a step towards the door, his green-blue eyes never leaving the man. Anxious to be outside, he waited as the door was unlocked and opened before slowly moving past the man and stepping into the cool night air. The sounds of cars driving by surrounded him, oddly soothing after the quiet of inside, and he headed straight for a bench beneath a nearby tree. It was easy enough to hop up onto the bench, though his feet didn't quite reach the ground as he sat there, and soon enough he moved to lie down, pillowing his cheek on his arms.

Lying there, listening to the traffic and the wind in the tree branches, he felt his eyelids grow heavy within mere minutes. It was perfect, not too loud but not as oppressively quiet as the bedroom was, and Riku barely had time to register that the man who'd opened the door was standing nearby before he fell asleep.

Xigbar watched the boy, Riku, from his place near the front doors of the Home. It bewildered him that the kid couldn't fall asleep in a peaceful room like the Silents' bedroom yet the traffic was practically a lullaby to him. Already, Riku's was curled up on the bench as if it was the softest bed in the world and he looked like he was sound asleep.

Huh, guess the doctor was right.

Smiling slightly, he approached the bench and peered at the figure sitting there to make sure Riku really was asleep before he carefully picked the boy up and carried him back towards the Home. It was a little bit of a challenge to unlock the door, open it and make sure it was locked again behind him without jostling Riku too much so that he would stay asleep, but Xigbar managed. After that, he just had to carry the sleeping boy back to the bedroom where the other Silents were still asleep and tuck him into bed. Should be easy enough.

He had to shuffle the body in his arms a little in order to open the door, then tiptoed between the occupied bunks to the empty bed Riku had abandoned in favor of wandering the halls and falling asleep outside. The blankets were already pushed out of the way, so Xigbar leaned over the bed, gently laid the still-sleeping boy down and set his head comfortably on the pillow before pulling the blankets back up to cover the small body. Straightening, he felt a smile tug at his lips and fixed the blanket, though it didn't really need fixing.

"Good night, Riku," he whispered, then glanced around to make sure the other children were in safely bed and fast asleep before leaving just as quietly as he'd arrived.

The walk back to the security office was uneventful, and Xigbar sighed as he sank into his chair. His eye flitted from one monitor to the next, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing caught his attention and he relaxed a little more, content with how the night had gone. It wasn't the first time he'd found a child out of bed, but it was the first time he'd then allowed that child to go outside only to carry him back to his bed mere minutes later as said child slept.

He can't have been awake since lights out, just waiting to fall asleep. No kid can stay awake that long, especially when they're as tired as Riku looked.

It made him uncomfortable to think the boy might have been lying awake all those hours and had gotten desperate enough to sneak out of bed and try to leave the Home. Well, not uncomfortable exactly, but he felt bad that Riku hadn't been able to sleep and that there hadn't been anyone he thought would be able to help him. Hopefully, he wouldn't think that way for long.

When Xigbar's watch beeped to alert him that it was 7:30 in the morning, he stood from his place behind the desk and stretched, his joints popping quietly after sitting for most of the night. Even though it was too early for the children of the Home to be up yet and most of the employees wouldn't be here until 8am, he went through a door at the back of the room and began flipping large switches to turn on all the lights in the Home safe for those in the dormitory quarter. Those lights would remain off for another hour, and by then Lexeaus would be there to wake the children and start getting them ready for breakfast. That's when Xigbar's shift would end and he'd be able to go home and sleep, but first he wanted to discuss last night's events with the Home's resident psychologist.

The sounds of the Home coming to life reached him as he walked through the halls, but he didn't stop until he reached Dr. Shizen's office, where he knocked. He waited until the familiar voice called for him to come in, then entered the office and smiled in greeting.

"Morning, Doc."

"Good morning, Xigbar." The doctor certainly didn't look like it was a good morning. His hair wasn't as neat as usual and he had the beginnings of dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept well the night before.

"I wanted to talk to you about last night."

Marluxia nodded and gestured at the chair in front of his desk as he sat in his own chair. "Of course, have a seat."

"Thank you." Xigbar sat and tapped his fingers on the armrest before he began. "What do you think we should do about Riku?"

"I would say we start him on a program to help him grow accustomed to the dormitory quarters here so he'll be able to easily fall asleep in the future."

"And how do we do that?"

Sighing, Marluxia closed his eyes and rubbed at them with one hand, grimacing as if he had a headache. Xigbar felt a pang of guilt when he realized his call in the middle of the night was probably the reason the doctor was so tired now.

"I'll talk to him during his individual session today and ask him what he wants to do. We'll come up with something."

Xigbar hesitated for a moment. "I'd be willing to take him outside until he falls asleep then carry him back to bed like I did last night, if that's what it takes. Though it'd be best to do it before midnight so that he actually gets enough sleep."

The doctor nodded in agreement, gazing at the ceiling as if he would find the answers to all of his problems hidden there. "Perhaps in the beginning. We'll just have to try a few things and find out what works."

Content with that for now, Xigbar stood and headed for the door. "Let me know what you decide to do," he said before leaving, on his way to perform his regular morning tasks. First things first, he needed to unlock the front doors and make sure the classrooms were ready. It was time for yet another day to begin at Fuseiai's Home for Troubled Youth, and Xigbar was the first step in everything going smoothly.