Hello everyone! To continue the celebration for Sorato's 19th Birthday, I'm bringing over the fanfic I started writing for this year's Nanowrimo. It's a multi-chaptered AU story set between the ending of Kizuna and the 02 epilogue. I hope you enjoy it! Don't forget to leave a review after you finish reading.

Chapter 1: Home

The hot air immediately came into contact with the red haired woman. It was a typical summer day in Odaiba, a place she hadn't been to in the last two years. She breathed in and let out a smile. The baby in her arms seemed to have enjoyed the weather just as much as her. This pleasant sensation only lasted for a couple more minutes though. Soon her heart started pounding. She knew her past would come back to bite her whether she liked it not. She was aware of everything she left behind. Still, she couldn't turn away from the opportunity that she was offered. She sighed. They all probably hate her for leaving the two most important people behind, but she couldn't blame them. She would do the same in their shoes. The baby stretched his little arms and yawned softly; his eyes almost falling shut. She caressed his hair while he finally gave in to sleeping.
"It was a long flight, but we're finally home, sweetie."

Yamato rolled on his bed and groaned when the alarm went off. He always kept it on the opposite side of where he usually slept at, so he had to wake up to turn it off. He checked the time - 6 a.m. - and dropped his head into his pillow, face down. Even though this has been his routine for the past two years, he was still struggling with it. It had gotten worse after she left and little Aiko was in the phase where she started talking and walking around. Yamato had to balance his time between his work, which demanded a lot of his time, and taking care of her, something that demanded the other half of his time. He only felt the weight on his shoulders get lighter when Takeru told him that Hikari suggested he enrolled her at the Odaiba Nursery School, a part of the Odaiba Kindergarten School she taught at. Things got a little easier then.

Yamato sat down and looked at the empty side of the bed. His expression turned into sadness when he remembered the moments where he used to wake up and Sora lying next to him, most of the times she was even in his arms. He would kiss the back of her neck and she would shiver because of it, and then turn around so she could look at him with the same passionate cinnamon eyes he fell in love with sixteen years ago. Two years, and he still missed her everyday. He missed her when he looked at their daughter's eyes and saw the same look Sora had, or when Aiko did something only Sora would do. He couldn't understand why she had left them. She had left them for no reason. She simply told him she couldn't turn down a big opportunity that had appeared during the Fashion Congress she had attended to in Paris. Yamato had even volunteered to ask Michael and Naomi, his mother's parents, if she could stay with them during the event and they gladly agreed. When it was over, she simply left their house, but never returned home. Sora ignored his calls and text messages. Not only his, but everyone else's too. It was like she didn't want to be found. The man ran his hand through his blond hair and sighed deeply before jumping out of his bed and heading towards Aiko's bedroom.

As soon as he opened the door, he was met with a rather illuminated bedroom. The light yellow from the walls were highlighted by the first rays of sun that went through the window. Most of the times he had to wake Aiko up, usually by singing a lullaby song. That day, however, she was already awake and was waving her little hands and legs excitedly in her crib. Yamato tried several times to get her used to a bed, but she ended up crying or even falling out of it, which led to crying as well. So the pediatrician advised him to put her to sleep in her crib for some months before making another attempt.
"Good morning, sweetheart." Yamato couldn't help but smile when he approached the crib looked down at her. He picked her up right after. "How's my sunshine today?"
"Good." Aiko immediately hugged her father. "Where's mommy?"
Yamato felt like his heart had been shattered into pieces. She hadn't asked about Sora for weeks. He never knew what to answer when she made this question, so he went for the same answer. "She didn't come back from work last night either." He quickly put on a smile and shook his head. "Come on, let's get your milk heated in the microwave. Aunt Hikari should be here soon to take you to school."
"I want mommy, daddy." Aiko's blue eyes were watery and Yamato felt the pain in his chest grow stronger. The little girl rested her head on his chest and began to sob.
"I know, sunshine." Yamato said softly as he grabbed the baby bottle from the fridge and placed it on the sink. He had learned the hard way not to put it straight into the microwave. "I promise you tomorrow she will be here."
He had no idea why he had made such promise to her; it slipped his lips before he could control his tongue. He cursed himself for this while he went back to Aiko's bedroom to change her. It would give him enough time for the milk to be less cold, as Aiko can't stand still whenever he has to change her clothes or diapers. For some reason, she seemed quieter that morning.
"Is everything okay, Aiko?"
The little girl simply looked at her father. Her eyes were very teary and some tears fell down, wetting her yellow bear t-shirt. Yamato picked her up after putting on dark blue shorts on her and stroke her red hair. "Someone is missing mommy today more than she usually does."

Aiko snuggled into Yamato's chest when they were sitting on the couch looking at a family photo album. He had already fed her and prepared her school bag and were only waiting for Hikari to arrive.
"This was taken when you were expecting you. You were growing inside mommy's belly."
Aiko looked at her father and then to the picture. It was a photo Hikari had taken of Yamato and Sora when they were being spontaneous and didn't notice she took it until she showed it to them. He was knelt down in front of her with his ear against her growing belly, simply listening to Aiko moving around. Even then, she was an agitated baby. Sora was stroking his hair and had her eyes closed. She looked so peaceful and serene. Yamato slowly traced his finger over the figure in the picture and then the doorbell rang.
"That must be aunt Hikari." He stood up and put Aiko on her baby carriage and proceeded to open the door. "Good morning, Hikari."
"Good morning, Yamato. How are you and Aiko today?"
"We're…"
"Hello, big brother." Takeru surprised him and almost had the door shut on his face.
"Takeru?!" Yamato blinked, visibly surprised. "When did you come back?"
"Yesterday, actually. Hikari was surprised herself."
"Yes, I was." She looked up from the living room. She had gone straight to check up on Aiko. "Yamazaki loved having his father back, though."
"Can I ask you a favor, Hikari?" Yamato addressed to his sister-in-law when she walked into the kitchen, pushing the baby carriage.
"Sure, what's it?"
"Aiko isn't feeling good today, so I want you to check on her more often, if you can. I know she'll be staying in a different building, but…"
"Don't worry, I'll ask Mrs. Mizuno to take extra care of her and inform me. But… is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah." Yamato rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just one of these days, you know?"
Both Takeru and Hikari looked down, fully aware of what 'these days' meant. Neither of them knew what to say, and Takeru had always been good with words.
"Okay." She said at last. "I'll let you know right away if something happens to her."
"Thank you."
"I'll see you tonight. Don't be late for work." Hikari kissed Takeru goodbye and then left with Aiko.
"So…"
"Yeah, it's one of these days." Yamato finished the sentence for his brother, running his hand through his hair for the second time that morning. "Before you and Hikari arrived we were looking at a photo album. It's still open over the table in the living room."
"I assume it's one of these days not only for her, but for you too."
"Why? I don't get why she's gone for two fucking years and ignored all my messages and calls! I could understand it if we were going through a difficult phase and agreed to take a break from each other, but no… we were happy. Aiko was about to turn one year old. She missed Aiko's first birthday party."
"I know, brother. None of us can understand what happened either. I never lost my hope that she would come back one day."
"I wish I could be as hopeful as you." Yamato stood up to pour himself a cup of coffee. "Want some?"
"No, thank you. I already had breakfast."
"Today Aiko asked about her and once again I didn't know what to say. It was like…"
"What?"
"Nevermind, it sounds ridiculous." Yamato leaned his back against the sink.
"Say it."
"I had the impression it meant Sora will finally come back."
"So you think it was some sort of a prediction?"
"Maybe, I'm not sure. It could also be my wishful thinking for having our family reunited again."
"And you said you wish you were as hopeful as me. As far as I can tell, you're still very hopeful to me."
"Yeah, well…" The astronaut shrugged. "Where's Yamazaki by the way? I thought he'd be with you."
"He slept at mom's last night, so she took him to school."
"Hikari agreed to let him sleep over there on a week night?" Yamato questioned with his eyebrow raised.
"Well, she said that she missed her grandson and that fact won Hikari over right away, so…" A mischievous smile appeared on Takeru's lips. "In the end, it was the best idea. We also wanted a time alone to… catch up."
"Oh God, please save me the details from your sex life."
"I wasn't going to share it anyway." Takeru stood up and stretched his arms above his head. "Well, I should get going to the publisher office now. Hikari will kill if I don't arrive on time."
"Okay. I should get to work too." Yamato said rather tiredly.

The taxi stopped at a very large and beautiful building and Sora got out after paying the woman, who drove off right after. She took an intense look up. There it was again: the pounding in her chest. Swallowing hard, she held her sleeping son tighter and entered the building. Everything was still the same as it was when she left. For a moment, she pondered going back down and to another place. But it's what they say: there's no place like home.

The thoughts were all over the place inside Sora's mind that she barely processed her actions after the elevator stopped in the requested floor. Everything was pretty much the same: the halls, the apartments. Nothing had changed since she moved out years ago. Now she was back at the place she had grown up at. She took a long look at the view from the balcony and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

Sora opened the door and walked inside. She quickly opened all the windows, so Kouji wouldn't sneeze or become allergic to dust. The sun illuminated the apartment right away. Sora put Kouji on his crib and was glad he didn't wake up. He's always been a heavy sleeper; he never wakes up that easily. The first time she found out about this, she was in panic thinking something serious had happened to him. She only felt relieved when his pediatrician said it was normal for some babies.

Sora slept the whole morning, since Kouji was would take her a few days to adjust to Tokyo's time-zone again. When she woke up again was around noon. She heard a cry through the electronic babysitter and moaned before fully opening her eyes. She wondered how many hours had gone by since she fell asleep. It felt like only minutes. She stood up when the crying got louder.

Sora approached the wooden crib and her face lightened up when she saw Kouji was smiling at her. He was a perfect replica of Yamato, except he had the same cinnamon eyes as her. She couldn't help but think about her husband every time she looked at Kouji. She wondered how Yamato would react when she'd show up at his door after so long. If she knew him any better, he would probably act coldly and have his walls all put on really high. She couldn't blame him at all though.

There was not a single day that went by that Sora didn't think about Yamato and Aiko. Their daughter must be so big now. She wondered how she was and if she would remember her after two years. Would Yamato tell Aiko about her despite everything? Was he single? He was probably dating another woman. Why wouldn't he be? Not only was he very handsome, he would always help with housework and with the children. Basically, he was every woman's dream and Sora couldn't help thinking she was a fool for handling the things the way she did. Despite all of this, she was still hopeful she would win him back. It wasn't going to be an easy task and she was fully aware of such fact, but Sora wasn't the type to give up easily.
"Hello, sweetie." Sora said at last, smiling back at her son. "It was an unusual night for you, huh? It was just a one-time situation. Soon you're gonna meet your daddy and sister."
"Mommy!" Kouji stretched his little arms towards her and she picked him up. He immediately hugged her. "Daddy."
"Yes, you'll meet him very soon." Sora noticed he tried to pull down the thin strap from her top. "Looks like someone's hungry."
She headed to a comfortable pink chair in the room and sat down. She laid her son down in comfortable position and then pulled one of her breasts out. Kouji got it right away. As Sora watched her son being breastfed, she couldn't help but compare to when she was breastfeeding Aiko. She was much gentler than Kouji, and Sora didn't remember her nipples hurting so much or even bleeding with her. Her son, however, gave her a lot of trouble in the beginning. The woman lost count of how many times she'd cried during and after he was breastfed. Eventually it became easier for her, but it was a hell of a long way to get there. She wondered if Yamato was the same with Natsuko when he was a baby.

Sora wasn't sure of how long she had been lost in her thoughts. When she looked down at Kouji, she saw he was already sleeping peacefully in her arms. His mouth still holding her right nipple. She carefully took it off and fixed her top. She slowly stood up and put him back on the crib, watching him with enchantment. She stroked his hair and he let out a soft smile, even if he was sleeping.

Sora closed the glass door that led to the balcony, walking to the edge of it right after. The sun was about to set, which meant they would be back in a matter of minutes. She was beginning to get nervous with the encounter. How would she explain to them she was pregnant when she went to the Fashion Congress and gave birth to another baby without telling anyone? How would they react? So many questions were in Sora's head at the moment and the mere thought of having to deal with everyone holding this against her was enough of a reason to make her quit and go away again.

But there was something holding her back. She didn't know what it was, but she felt like something was making her stay in Odaiba. She grew to love that place like no other in Earth. And then she realized. Half of her heart was there, inside an apartment on the opposite side of the Tokyo bay. And she wanted to make it whole again.

It was already dark when Sora stepped out of her apartment once again. Kouji was still sleeping, but could be waking up any moment, so she had to be fast. The pounding on her chest grew stronger and faster as she approached the door of the apartment next to hers. The apartment she was staying in has been a property of the Takenouchi family for many years now, but rarely somebody stayed there. Sora stared at the door and the tag with a couple and the kanji for her last name hanging on the upper part of it. She swallowed hard before knocking on the door.

It seemed like years when someone opened the door. The look of surprise in the person's face was exactly like Sora had predicted, but she couldn't blame them. It took the person a while to understand what was happening. Her face was even touched to make sure it was real.
"Sora, is that really you?"
"Hello, mom." She said with a smile.