A/N: Hi and thanks for reading! This fic is a rewrite of an older version I had written years ago, now with an added flavour very loosely inspired by my own real-life transition into a quarter-life crisis (I laugh to hide my pain, ha ha ha). The idea originated when I noticed that, in Tamers, Henry and Hirokazu's respective friendships with Takato are given a lot of depth and focus whereas they're not really seen interacting with each other in that way. I thought it was such a shame; I always imagined their personalities having great chemistry together, and could see them becoming close friends as they got older beyond the show. My only hope for this story is that you can come to see that, and enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

By the by, there are a few (Japanese) culture-specific things that are alluded to in this chapter. I only really describe what is relevant to the story, but if you're having trouble understanding some motivations or you want to know some backstory, feel free to let me know in a review/PM and I'll be happy to divulge.

Thanks for your patronage. Onwards!

Junctures

Chapter IV
"Less Than Friends"

"Aren't you coming to class?"

"Later."

"Someone could catch us out here, you know."

"Relax, yo, I'll only be a minute."

Hirokazu reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it as he crouched down against the wall. It looked different from his usual ones.

"This is from Alice," he beamed. "They're Irish."

The other boy eyed his friend from where he stood with his arms crossed. "Does she even know your name?"

"Who cares? We have a meeting spot now."

"If everyone goes to smoke there in secret, it's hardly a meeting spot. And—" He coughed as the smoke rose, "—Woah, Mr Kanazaki's definitely gonna smell that on you."

Kazu huffed. "Could you not to be such a killjoy for once, Hen? And just sit here with me?"

When Kazu didn't budge, Henry sighed and gave in, dropping his bag and sliding down the wall to squat down next to him. "I'm not covering for you again if you get caught."

The tall-haired boy blew a cloud of smoke directly onto Henry and he jumped up with a squeal, swatting the air around him in a frenzy. "What the hell are you doing!?"

Hirokazu laughed and took a puff. "Too bad, bud, we're in this one together."

Grey eyes stirred open, adjusting under the lights to find an unfamiliar room.

Beige walls. Pink bedsheets. Polaroids of people he'd never seen before scattered on the mirror near the bed.

Then a wave of nausea hit him.

Where the hell am I?

"Thanks, Hirokazu. I'll give this back to you tomorrow."

"Hey, it's no problem," he replied, eyes fixated on her backside as he watched her walk away. He called after her, "and please, call me Kazu!"

She turned her head to look back at him with a smile. Henry, next to him, leaned into Kazu from his desk. "Uh, and how are you supposed to do your paper without the textbook?"

A stupid grin still lingered on Kazu's face. "Isn't she cute? That blonde hair and those blue eyes… And that awesome rack."

He shook his head. "Are you even listening to me? You do wanna graduate, don't you?"

Kazu turned to him with his best serious face, a finger in the air. "Ryo says that you've gotta make sacrifices for the ones you love."

"I'm pretty sure this isn't what he meant when he said that."

"Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same if she asked you."

Henry rolled his eyes. "One, she's not really my type, and two, she didn't even ask you; you butt in after eavesdropping on her, ya creep." Henry began to pack up his books, "Anyway, I actually want to finish the paper due tomorrow, so I'll see ya."

"W-wait. Where you goin'? Aren't we sharing your textbook!? Kenta doesn't let me copy anymore!"

Henry laughed. "No way!"

"You want me to graduate, right!?"

He groaned, but a little smile gave away his amusement.

"…Fine. But you're paying for snacks."

A gasp was heard from the doorway. "You're awake!"

Suzie hurried to his side, a steaming cup of tea threatening to spill over in her hands.

Oh, God. That's right. Suzie's place. Henry began to recall the fluorescent hospital lights, the IV hooked to his arm, the silver-haired doctor. They did say there'd be some spaces in his short-term memory.

"Here." She put the steaming cup on the nightstand beside him.

"Thanks." He paused, struggling to remember more. "What day is it?"

"It's Thursday, big brother."

"What? How long have I been out?"

"Relax, you've only been asleep for a few hours. You don't remember coming home from the hospital?"

He shook his head; that one didn't come back to him.

"Well, I hope you don't mind that I helped myself to your house keys—I needed to get your things. I ran out of Taka's clothes to give you."

"No, of course that's fine. Though… wouldn't he mind me staying here?"

She tucked a short strand of maroon hair behind her ear. "No, actually, we broke up."

"…Ah." He gestured to her cropped hair. "So that's what the haircut's about."

"…Yeah, sorry I didn't mention it. You were real busy with work, so…" She trailed off, and her gaze fell to the floor.

Henry slowly propped himself up and took a sip of his tea. She watched him; every sluggish turn of his head, and his tired, glazed eyes. They'd been so close, and as kids he would always be the one to stick up for her when their older siblings didn't. But seeing him like this… She almost forgot. She'd almost forgotten that, as he turned into an empty shell, he was once—to her—the greatest man alive. And he was now sitting broken on her bed, gangly fingers wrapped around one another.

"Big brother?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

He didn't look up from his mug. "No, not really. I'm really nauseous, and my head's kinda spinning." He tried to manage a laugh, but didn't quite get there.

That wasn't what she meant, but she let it slide. Beside being a little thinner and scruffier, he looked different even from the last time she'd seen him, the otherwise-charming smile lines now like creases on an unironed shirt—when did he get those?

"Big brother?" she called again.

"Yeah?"

"Just—if you need anything… I'm here."

He paused for a moment to look at her, before breaking into a smile—his first real one in a while. "Thanks, Suzie."

Overlooking the lights dotting the skyline and the busy streets below, solitude was found at last. Henry breathed a long sigh of relief and closed his eyes to bask in the warm spring air, liberated from the haze and trashy eurobeat mix thumping on inside.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Henry didn't have to turn around to know who the voice belonged to.

"I'm surprised you're out here," he said, "you seemed pretty cozy with that crying girl back there."

"Oh God she wouldn't stop!" Alice cried. Henry burst into laughter, thoroughly entertained by the sight of the girl buried in the crook of Alice's neck, blubbering unintelligibly about a boyfriend or something or rather. "It's not funny, Lee. I've got freakin' cling marks on my arms."

"It's a little funny." That earned him a jab to the shoulder. "Okay! It's not funny."

The upward twitch of his lips didn't fool her, but it kind of made her feel better.

Alice came to lean on the rail next to him with her beer in hand. They stood in comfortable silence, elbows dangling freely over the balcony railing. Though they didn't consider themselves the most social of butterflies, after Kazu had dragged them both to his college's famed start-of-the-semester party, then to the end-of-semester party, mid-semester party and almost-mid-semester parties, they kind of missed having actual coherent conversations. Eventually, they'd both end up in all the quiet spaces and settle with only having each other to talk to. They were never really friends, despite having attended the same high school and, now, the same university, but the mutual contempt for crowds and annoying drunk people finally got them acquainted as more than just Kazu's unfortunate tag-alongs. It was all Kazu ever wanted.

"So are we taking him to your place or mine tonight?" Henry asked. "I think your place is closer."

All the nights ended up the same way anyway. With Kazu staggering to the nearest toilet bowl and Henry and Alice both at his side, propping him up under each arm.

She flicked a blonde strand out of her eye, her hair falling back to rest perfectly in place at the top of her shoulders. "Yeah, but you guys have that basketball thingy tomorrow."

"Oh, right. Guess you're off the hook then."

"Hey, I'm still trying to get the spew smell out of my favourite sheets, I deserve some downtime," she laughed.

A calming breeze washed over them. It was a shame that Henry's otherwise-pleasant walk home would have to have a drunken Kazu in tow tonight. Oh well, Kazu was an interesting conversationalist either way—he could be surprisingly perceptive when they'd least expect it.

"Oh yeah," Henry piped, "Congrats on the anniversary."

Alice took a sip of her beer. "Thanks, Lee."

"First one's the big one," he continued.

"So they say."

He laughed. "Why do I get the feeling that you're not that excited?"

She turned her head in his direction and her eyes, crystalline blue, pierced right through him. "I guess you don't know me as well as you thought."

Unfazed, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Well give me a chance, will ya."

Ruki toppled onto the sofa as soon as she came in the door, Ryo trailing behind her with their forgotten convenience store dinner still intact in a plastic bag. It was well into midnight, just having made it in time for the last train from the hospital, and neither eating nor speaking were very high on the agenda right now.

They didn't even bother turning the lights on, letting the moon illuminate what it could through the kitchen window. Finally, Ryo's legs gave in and he collapsed onto the sofa beside her, sprawling his legs out and angling his body just enough to lie on his back.

'Traumatic Brain Injury' kept floating around in his head. Henry had apparently collapsed from severe hypoglycaemia before concussing after hitting his head hard on a sharp corner. The doctor explained that his body simply hadn't roused itself because of the condition that it was in.

'Simply'. That's the word the doctor had used. He was 'simply' unconscious for too long. None of it felt simple to Ryo. His hand hovered above his face, staring at the fingers that had been on Henry's pulse. He'd felt it dwindle with his own two fingers, almost felt it go out. If they'd been an hour later…

No, he shook his head. That's not what mattered now. For lack of a better word, Henry was lucky. He wouldn't be suffering any severe long-term damage. There was no bleeding in the brain. The side-affects would be bad for a while, and it'd take him some months to recover, but he'd be okay. He'll be okay, he assured himself.

Ruki had felt his head shake against her thigh. "You okay?"

Sometimes, he could be just as transparent as she was. The faraway look, the furrowed brows, the visible contours at the clench of his jaws. The way his mouth would open slightly, striving for a word but his throat feeling too strangled to speak.

Unwavering, she lifted his head into her lap and her fingers began to sweep at his temples, her touch straying to his hair. Ruki's caress was loving, reassuring. "Shh…" she soothed, "you did good." He let his eyes drift closed, and his body relax. He was far too wired to fall asleep, but he could definitely stand to cool down.

As Ruki continued her ministrations, she thought back on the night they'd just had. Sirens still rang in her head, her heart beating like her body was still running. And her own problems suddenly felt small.

She drew lazy circles on his scalp as his breathing began to slow. "I wanted to save the world," she suddenly said. Ryo cracked an eye open to look up at her, but her eyes were somewhere else. "Make a difference, or something. But everything I've worked towards has fallen on deaf ears. That's what I'd been thinking about." Her voice stayed low and steady. It didn't quiver nor was it irritated. "I realised… that they haven't implemented a single proposal that I've submitted. Not a single one in six years."

'Too controversial,' they said. 'We don't want to rock the boat,' they said.

"Do you know what that means?" she asked, not really anticipating an answer. "…It means I've worked for nothing."

Ruki thought that she'd done everything right: She went to a great university. Graduated with honours. Got the job she'd wanted as a policy advisor despite all the warnings that they preferred more 'wholesome'-looking candidates. She'd written a detailed personal game plan for her career—all the great strategies she could introduce and how she could potentially have a hand in catalysing the next economic revolution through progressive social reform. It was shamelessly blunt and a little self-aggrandising, but it was comprehensive and, for the most part, feasible.

But prefectural government was a fickle—and stubborn—machine. She'd found out the hard way.

She just wished she hadn't found out so late.

She thought back to Kenta again. They'd started at the same orientation. They'd both minored in biology, and graduated at the same time. But in a year, he would probably be one step closer to a cure while, if she resigned, her own job prospects would be withering because she was at the mom age. Employers were practically allergic.

Why did her career have to have an expiry date? Why did any woman's? That was what she'd wanted to change, but…

She sighed again, long and deep, and Ryo could only take her hand and place a comforting kiss on the underside of her palm. There was nothing else they could say. In just a few short hours, they would have to be up again to start the day and get on with the Monday grind. The spill of principle and resolve would disappear with the night. For now, they'd just have to soldier on because somebody out there was faring much worse.

Dapper in his best grey suit, Henry manoeuvred through the bustling dormitory hallway, passing by jubilant graduates congregating and snapping photos in their kimonos and formal garb. The air was electric, the excitement from the morning's graduation ceremony still running high. Four years and a gruelling thesis period later, they were finally students no longer.

Arriving at the end of the hall, he knocked briefly before popping a perfectly groomed head in the door.

"Hey, you coming to the after party?"

Alice looked up at him from where she sat on the floor amidst books and miscellaneously labelled boxes strewn around the room. Piles upon piles of clothing filled in all the gaps in between.

"This is a mess."

"Yes, Henry, thank you for your observation."

Henry came in and closed the door behind him. He made a move to find a place he could sit, or lean, or something, but every surface appeared to be covered. Surveying the room, he noticed the various pieces of her kimono forgotten on one of the piles instead. "You should probably hang that," he said pointing. "They're kind of expensive."

"Trust me, I would if I knew how to."

"It's not terribly hard, you just take the…" He stopped when he noticed her smile and bat her eyelashes at him in a rather theatrical fashion. He shook his head with a smirk. "That's not gonna work on me, McCoy. There are like a hundred parts to that thing."

"Could you at least help me put some of this crap in these boxes then? It'd be a huge help."

Yeesh, that sounded tedious but eh, why not? He had some time to kill. Henry picked up the fluffy thing next to him—a coat, maybe?—and neatly folded it before placing it in a box full of other clothing. He picked up a folder full of loose notes next, scanning the room for a box it might belong in.

"Oh! Those are my Contract Law notes. Here, pass them over." She reached her hands out to take the large folder, Henry fumbling to keep the loose papers in. He tightly clamped over the top and bottom of the folder and handed it to her. Alice received it carefully, her fingers just touching the top of his hands as she did.

They flinched as their hands touched, and Henry jerked his hand away. They'd been doing so well to avoid any awkwardness since the 'accidental' kiss last week at another party Kazu had dragged them to. The stairwell was all dark and they'd been drinking a little bit, was all. It was nothing—less than nothing—so there was no reason for Kazu to know.

Packing suddenly seemed like the more pressing matter.

After a while of awkward conversational eggshell-walking, they slowly fell back into their regular pattern of banter and completely immersed themselves into packing up Alice's room. So much so that hours had passed and the room suddenly had visible surfaces again. Finally, though some knick-knacks were still scattered over her desk and bed, the only things left on the floor were just the mostly-filled boxes and the two bodies sitting cross-legged in the middle of it.

"Oh," Henry checked his watch. "It's eight o'clock already. You still wanna go?"

"I guess. You hate parties though."

"So? So do you."

"So, why even go?"

Henry shrugged. "'Cause it's graduation, maybe? Last chance to make memories and all that? I dunno."

"I kinda just had fun here packing."

He smiled, almost a little bashfully. "Me too."

"So, we going or what, Lee?"

"I guess?"

She laughed, propping her head up on her hand, "Why do I get the feeling that you're not all that excited?"

He turned to look right at her, his grey probing deep into her blue. Alice felt herself shiver.

"I guess you just know me too well," he said.

She wasn't sure what made her do it, or where the boldness came from, but Alice found herself leaning forward into him, stopping just inches away, as if to dare him.

When he didn't make a move, she suddenly realised what an idiotic thing she just did.

"Shit, I'm so—"

But her next word was muffled as he closed the gap between them and consumed her in a kiss. His lips were moist and languid against hers, applying just the right amount of pressure. It was a kiss for all the nights they'd spent talking. A kiss for all the study dates at the uni library. A kiss for how they would drive each other insane in all the right ways. A kiss for all the times she'd wanted to cry his name while she bucked and writhed.

The kisses grew intense. Needy. Lips and fingers wandered all over and the perfect marriage of desire and ecstasy overtook them. In a hot and heavy flash the bed was cleared and the recently tidied room was now re-littered with clothing, precautions the last thing on their minds.

Henry slumped back onto the couch with a blanket draped over him, dismissively flicking through endless channels, more of an idle dabble of his hands rather than an actual desire to watch anything. Well into a week staying at his sister's place, other than "eating properly" and then spewing it all back up, it was all he'd been doing. He shaved today, that was a start. At least when he threw up every few hours it wouldn't get caught in his scruff anymore. Suzie suggested that he should probably take walks—but he declined; walking left way too much time for thinking.

The doorbell rang, and Suzie walked right passed him for the door. His trance-like gaze remained fixated on the TV while the indistinct chatter, the clacking of the door and shuffling of shoes sank far into the background. He didn't even notice the voices suddenly grow quiet as they approached him.

"Daddy!"

To be continued