Kaname chooses not to act on his visitation rights. Although, he does stop by for rooftop visits when Ichiru hangs around (which, usually, is always). And with Kaname's presence comes a grumbling Zero, but Hiro doesn't mind either of them so much; she's already broken some pretty hefty social norm rules, but the non-fangirling population of Cross never really ticked her fancy anyway.

Sometimes Ichiru doesn't come, and with no Ichiru comes no Kaname. For that Hiro is thankful, dealing with Kaname on her own makes her shiver. Even with Ichiru giggling and dancing around them, it takes a lot of will power to keep her heartbeat steady, to remind herself that she shouldn't know the things she does. Although, perhaps Kaname knows more than he lets on himself.

Kaname comes as a package with Ichiru.

Zero, surprisingly, does not.

Even on nights that Ichiru does not have duties, and Zero shares them with Yuki, he stops by to play with Maru on the rooftop. They don't speak much, neither Zero nor she are known to be talkers, but Hiro considers this a significant jump in their friendship. If the silent, widely hated Kiryuu twin can spare her a head nod in the mornings, Hiro figures that's as friendly as they'll get.

She still tries to talk to him sometimes though, and tonight happens to be one of those times. "Where does Yuki go when you leave her anyway?" She questions.

Zero sits across from her, one hand lazily thrumming through Maru's fur and the other being used to stifle a yawn. He doesn't answer at first, and Hiro thinks he'll ignore the question altogether when he shrugs. "To Kuran, probably."

Hiro doesn't answer that, she sees the sore spot beneath his eyes. She isn't a nice person, not even a little, but that doesn't mean she'll prod at him for the sake of sating her own curiosity. She chooses to speak on something else, "You don't like him very much."

Zero shrugs but shifts uncomfortably, the topic of speaking without growling out commands seems a little novel to him – talking to him at all is still novel to Hiro. "No, I don't." Hiro senses him choosing his words carefully.

For a second she considers saying something about Ichiru liking him. She almost says something about Yuki liking him, too. But underneath the careful wording, there's something akin to sadness in Zero's eyes. Something that he wants to tell but he forcibly holds down his tongue. Hiro has a strong guess of what that could be, and she'd want to scream it out too – when the two people you care about the most are chummy with the one man you hate the most.

She bites her own tongue, thinking of a careful phrasing for her own words. All in all she finds it ironic, the first person she was somewhat nice too was a Kiryuu, and the second person turns out to be his twin. She smiles at Maru's broad yawn, "If it's any consolation, I don't like him much either."

The words pull out a soft smile, a sincere one, and although she's seen that same smile dance on Ichiru's lips thousands of times, something about it makes her grateful the cold bite of night air makes the red color of her cheeks normal. She doesn't expect Zero to continue – and it comes as a surprise when he does, "Why not? Most people do, he has this charm to him," he scoffs.

"Didn't peg you as the jealous type, Kiryuu-kun." Hiro teases, it's hard to make fun of him really, and she has to wire her brain into pretending he's Ichiru.

Zero snickers softly though, and for a split second Hiro sees the same childishness she finds in Ichiru. At times, the two of them resemble the other in more ways than just looks. "Zero," he says flatly. "You call Ichiru by his name, don't you?" Hiro feels a warm tingle in her heart. "And you avoided the question."

"Ah, you caught me," Hiro smiles, "He just has this vibe, don't you think? Something about him is too…" she searches for the word, a word she can use without giving herself away, "Proper? Snobby?"

"Like he's above you?" Zero supplies.

Hiro agrees but still hums in thought, "Well that too but there's just something about him that makes me…wary."

Zero chuckles when Maru licks at his fingers, "Smart of you to say so,"

Zero does not show much emotion – he never did nor will he ever. But Hiro learns to read people well over the years and she sees the hidden feeling of relief in his eyes. She sees the way they soften slightly, at the thought of someone understanding. All humans crave acceptance, all humans want to be understood. Zero is no exception, and someone else he considers a friend agreeing on his hatred for Kaname (although Hiro's dislike of him is nowhere near as strong as Zero's) seems to make him happy – even if only a little.

Unfortunately it doesn't last long.

Kaname saunters onto the roof with a soft smile, "Hello," he gives Hiro that smile that makes her blood run cold and passes a similar one to Zero. It takes him a moment in the dark hues of night to realize that Zero is not Ichiru, but Hiro can catch the exact moment that he does when the flicker of hate crosses his eyes. "Kiryuu-kun,"

Zero narrows his eyes, "Ichiru isn't here," he snaps.

"Maru is," Kaname smirks.

"He doesn't like you," Zero snarls back.

Kaname chuckles, "Where would you ever get such an impression?" He reaches to give Maru a tentative pat but the cat hisses at him in warning. Hiro holds back a laugh at the smug look Zero tosses at him. Kaname grimaces, "Yes well…" he tosses a quick look at Hiro, "Animals aren't the fondest of me, but he'll get used to me soon,"

Zero snorts, "Used to you? You…" Zero swallows and Hiro almost finds it laughable how they try so hard to beat around the bush. "You probably stink, animals can smell evil when they see it,"

Kaname glowers, and opens his mouth to snap something back but Hiro stops him with words, "Can we not make me play peacemaker? That's Ichiru's job,"

They both roll their eyes, but comply silently. Before Kaname gets to leave, a night class student comes to fetch him.

Hiro swallows.

It's him.

Of course.

"Kaname-sama," The boy bows deeply, blonde hair covering his shining green eyes. He holds the same suave smile she remembers so well, the same one that comes back in her nightmares with a vengeance. She reminds herself that this is a different Ichijou, a nicer one, a kinder one, but with such striking resemblance it's hard.

Takuma opens his mouth to speak again, but his breath catches in his throat when he finds her gaze. His green eyes always stayed so calm back then, but now they widen, almost comically. Kaname catches on and raises an eyebrow – he also gives Hiro a suspicious glare. "Takuma? Is something wrong?"

Takuma doesn't speak. Too stunned for words and his hands shake a little. Hiro would be too, but Maru curls up against her hand, and the warmth of fur brushing against her fingers forces words from her mouth. Someone needs to address the situation, obviously. "Hey," she swallows.

Zero glowers at her, she feels it prickling the back of her neck. This will inevitably require some explanation. Takuma breathes out a whisper, "Hi."

She waits for him to continue.

He doesn't.

Hiro lets out an airy laugh, but even she can hear the crack in her voice. "How've you been?"

Takuma swallows. "Well. I…" he stops, glances at Kaname and Zero, and bites his lip. He takes a huge swallow of air before he continues. "You've healed well. I'm happy."

Hiro feels the strong force of Kaname's aura swallowing her whole. Maru whines loudly and she feels Zero's hand grip at her shoulders. To give him credit, he doesn't whip out Bloody Rose just yet, but she's sure one hand rests at his hip.

"Yea…you're grandfather probably isn't too happy about that." She tosses him a smile, but it feels fake on her face.

Takuma looks anguished, she sees the raw emotion in his eyes. All the pity, all the sympathy, she sees it all. "I'm…" he starts again, but can't finish. "I'm really…"

"Don't." Hiro cuts him off sharply, and it's the most venom she's put to her voice in a while. "I don't need to hear it from you." She holds off the words of comfort on her tongue. She holds off telling him it wasn't his fault – because although it wasn't, although he didn't do anything – he promised to help. He never did, though.

Takuma looks hurt. "I'm happy." He says instead. "Happy that you're still alive,"

She lets out a dry laugh, and for a second she feels the familiar feeling of raw pain flowing in her blood. She almost succumbs to it, again, like in the nightmares.

"I stopped feeling alive the year I turned six," she spits at him.

Kaname speaks at that, and Hiro hears the realization come to his voice. "That human child that your grandfather…" Takuma stops him with a whimper and a small sliver of tears. Kaname shuts up quickly – Takuma doesn't cry often.

Takuma tries to answer, but Hiro beats him to it.

"Yea, that was me."

Takuma whimpers again, and the confession make his green eyes go wide with fear. He reaches a hand out – to be comforting? To be like old times? Or to do the same that his grandfather did? Hiro doesn't get the chance to find out.

"We're leaving." Zero says gruffly, and the hand on her shoulder is surprisingly gentle. His fingers curl around her in a comfort she hasn't' had for a long time. And she almost lets out a dry laugh again, because he probably knows.

There were probably stories about it, even in the Association.

She wonders what kind of headline must've been printed. She runs a couple in her head and smiles at a few of them until she settles on her favorite.

Asato Ichijou's Experimental Human Escapes.

She ponders over what the next one would have been – when her life truly went to shit.