heroes and thieves
chapter thirteen - heroes and thieves


three months later


Narumi Ayumu's release from the hospital occurs on a cold November afternoon, later than he wanted but sooner than expected. There's little fanfare, if only because he insists that it be a quiet event. A few nurses, physicians, and surgeons stop by his room to wish him well and offer small gifts, but that's as much as he allows.

After a small celebration and the removal of his piano - which has been donated to the hospital - Ayumu signs his own release papers before riding the elevator down to the first floor. When he walks outside to meet his blonde companion, it's only with the assistance of a polished wooden cane.

As the double doors close behind him, the nineteen-year-old releases his breath, loudly, almost as if he can't believe where he stands. He looks up at the gray sky, then down at the woman who has come to meet him, and the first words he speaks outside of the hospital are simple: "it's cold."

"I thought you might say that." Hiyono stands on her toes to wind a scarf around Ayumu's neck before digging a pair of mittens out of her bag. "Put these on, okay?"

He gives her a look. A very Narumi-san kind of look, she thinks, smiling. "You bought me mittens?"

"You don't want to go back to the hospital with pneumonia, do you?"

He sighs, leaning on his cane. "It's only three blocks. I'll live."

"Hmm. Well, don't complain to me if you feel sick tomorrow." She stuffs the mittens back in her oversized purse, wrinkling her nose at him. "I picked those out myself, Narumi-san. Do you know how difficult it is to find a brown scarf with a matching set of mittens?"

"I didn't ask you to buy me mittens. Or a scarf."

"But I did." She sighs, shaking her head as she shoulders her bag. "Maybe someday you'll appreciate all the things I've done for you without being asked…"

He snorts. "Don't bet on it." There's a pause as he looks away from her to the gray sky again, and he lifts his right hand to absently tug at the knitted scarf around the collar of his coat. "Are we really walking there?" he asks, one eyebrow raised.

"That's something you did ask for," she answers, "so that's what we're going to do."

He doesn't respond at first. She sees his eyes move to the cane in his left hand, then to the stretch of sidewalk in front of them. Their new apartment - where she's been living on her own for more than two months - is only three blocks away, but he hasn't walked three blocks for... well, Hiyono gives up on the mental math almost immediately. He glances back at the double doors behind them before finally resting his gaze on her, his brown eyes completely open and expression serious. "Hiyono."

She blinks. "Yes?"

He curls his free hand into a fist and taps her lightly on the top of her head. "Stop thinking about me all the time."

"That, Narumi-san," she says, and smiles wide, "is impossible."

"Heh." His hand relaxes and he strokes her hair, once, gently, before drawing it away again. "I suppose it's a good trait to have. I should be more grateful."

"Yes," she agrees, and her smile gets even wider, somehow, "you should."

"I'll have to make it up to you, won't I?"

"The only thing you have to do is be happy," she replies, and stands up on her toes again, but this time it's to press a kiss to his cheek. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," he says. "Let's go home."

"Let's go home," she agrees, and takes his free hand. And for the first time, they begin their three block walk together toward their shared apartment, hand-in-hand, leaving the hospital - but certainly not the memories they made there - behind.


When they arrive at the apartment, shed their shoes, and walk in the door, they're greeted with a tremendous shout of "SURPRISE!" Ayumu looks around at his friends and family standing there - at all the Blade Children, at his brother, his sister-in-law - and smiles, shaking his head. "I should have known," he says, leaning back on his cane, "that someone would come to mess up my place before I even get to live in it."

"Welcome home, Narumi-san." Hiyono beams up at him, twirling a keyring around on one finger. "Are you surprised?"

"Somehow." He glances down at her. "Was this your idea?"

"I'm only going to say yes if you're not mad…"

"I'm not mad at all." He rolls his eyes. "But I am starving, and I've had enough hospital food for one lifetime. So as long as there's more than store-bought cake to eat, I'll be happy."

"That's Narumi-otouto for you," Kousuke speaks up, laughing, "seeing some of us for the first time in months and only thinking about what there is to eat."

"And whose fault is it that they didn't come to my hospital room?" Ayumu returns, with a grin.

Beside the redheaded Blade Child, Ryouko snorts. "He's right, you know…"

"I was busy! With school! And a part-time job!"

"And a girlfriend," Rio teases.

"Shut up!"

"I agree. Shut up." Ryouko pretends not to be embarrassed, motioning for Ayumu and Hiyono to come near where the others have crowded around a table of food. "Come on, you two. Let's get this party started before Kousuke and Rio ruin it for the rest of us."

"For once, Ryouko-san," Hiyono says, sneaking a glance at Ayumu's face and smiling, "I have a feeling Narumi-san would be happy to hear Asazuki-san and Rio-san fight a little bit."

Ayumu doesn't comment, because he's already eyeing up the food, but Hiyono knows she's right. When it comes to Ayumu, somehow, Hiyono is always right.


The party, although small, lasts for several hours, longer than expected. Ayumu stays in good spirits the entire time, seeming grateful for the gathering, food, and few gifts he's given. The biggest surprise of the evening comes when Eyes Rutherford presents a very large, heavy box that is revealed to have a digital piano inside - carefully selected, he explains, for their apartment's size and sound needs. Ayumu gives the Blade Child a half-hearted scolding about spending too much money on him, and Hiyono ends up thanking Eyes profusely for the extremely thoughtful gift.

All in all, the gathering is a success, and it's Kousuke and Ryouko who end up leaving last. Kousuke somehow gets roped into helping Ayumu assemble his piano, while Ryouko insists on washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. "Like otouto said," she tells Hiyono, "we came and messed up his place before he even got to live in it. It's not fair if I don't help clean it up."

When the two Blade Children eventually say goodnight, it's almost ten in the evening. Hiyono ends up showing Ayumu around the apartment, looking to him for approval every few seconds, but he seems uninterested in anything but taking a bath and going to bed. "I'll look around tomorrow," he tells her, grunting and leaning heavily on his cane as they finish peeking into the second bedroom, which is hers. "I don't mean to sound like I'm not grateful for all this, but all I've wanted to do since I woke up this morning was sit in a hot bath for an hour."

She smiles. "Go ahead, Narumi-san. I promise there won't be any more interruptions."

"Well, if it's you interrupting me - "

"Go," she demands, pushing on his back, laughing at him. "And don't get any ideas!"

"Too late," he retorts, but walks away anyway, a grin on his face. And all Hiyono can wonder is when, exactly, the switch got flipped to make him joke about that, with her, all the time. It's not that she doesn't think about it, too, but still…

She watches him go, swallowing, and wonders if they're going to get themselves in trouble, living alone like this.

And she realizes that she really doesn't care if they do.

Two hours later, when it's midnight and they've gone to bed in separate rooms, Hiyono is wide awake on her futon and thinking about how she really doesn't want to go back to work on Monday. And then there's a shuffling in the hallway, and she sits up in bed, watching as Ayumu's figure comes into view, illuminated only by the dim glow of a plug-in light she put there to make her feel less alone at night. "What is it?" she asks.

"You're awake?"

"Mm…" She nods, rolling back her blankets. "I can't really sleep. What about Narumi-san?"

"About the same. I've spent months sleeping alone in the hospital with only the nurses to keep me company." He shakes his head. "I should be used to it. But knowing you're here, in the next room… There's something about that… it makes me feel more lonely than before, and sleeping is hard like that."

She studies his profile in the low light, thinking, and there's a moment before she finds the courage to speak the words waiting behind her lips. "Would you… like to stay with me, Narumi-san?"

"Just for tonight," he answers. "Especially because I'm almost certain you snore, based on that one time you did stay over, and I'm sure I won't be able to rest anyway - "

"I do not snore."

"We'll see about that." He starts to enter her room, then hesitates; she notices he hasn't brought his cane, and that he isn't wearing a shirt. "Are you - "

"I'm sure," she answers, softly, because she knows what he's going to say. She pats the space beside her, scooting slightly to one side, and watches him approach. "I have plenty of pillows, too," she says, grabbing for the extras around her futon, and as he carefully sits down beside her, she positions two beside her own. "But…"

She sees him cringe slightly as he drops onto the futon, too much weight placed on his left leg for a moment. She'll have to mention that to his physical therapist, she thinks. "But what?" he asks.

"But wouldn't your bed be more comfortable than this…?" She purses her lips. Kiyotaka had gone out and bought, unprovoked and unannounced, a very large, very comfortable, very expensive bed for Ayumu, meant to support his body and provide ongoing relief - much like his custom hospital bed. "I can move…"

"Hn." She hasn't heard that noise in a while. He practically flops down onto the futon beside her, his brown hair messy on the pillow on which his head lands. "Aniki didn't get you a bed. That isn't really fair."

"Narumi-san, I'm not the one recovering from surgeries…"

"And he isn't the one who went out and found out a bunch of ways to keep my body from destroying itself, either."

She exhales, carefully lying down beside him. "I told you I volunteered…"

They lie there together in the near-dark for a while, silent on her futon, facing each other but not touching. Hiyono closes her eyes, but she doesn't think either of them are planning on sleeping; her suspicions are confirmed when, after a few minutes, Ayumu clears his throat and speaks, quietly. "It's strange."

"What is?" she asks.

"That I really couldn't foresee any of this."

"This?"

"Everything. Not just tonight - your surprise party - or even getting out of the hospital. I couldn't see anything in my future. Living to this age, befriending the Blade Children… you…" He exhales, shifting his head on the pillows. "Before I faced my brother, I thought I could predict everything. I was able to see every action through to the end, as if my life was a game of chess. But when I prevented the board from being cleared, things became far more complex than I ever anticipated."

She considers this for a moment, opening her eyes and studying the curve of his jaw in the dark, thinking to herself that he really ought to have a haircut soon. "Life isn't supposed to be predictable," she says finally, softly, with a smile. "At least, that's what I think. If you know what's going to happen next, it kind of takes the fun out of it… doesn't it?"

"Fun," he repeats, and chuckles. "That's not something I have much experience with."

"Well, I'll be certain to make things fun for you." She smiles wider, reaching out to clear the messy locks of hair out of his eyes. "Narumi-san and I will go on trips, and visit the zoo, and have ice cream whenever we want. And we can make dinner together, and make messes in the kitchen - although we'll have to clean them up, of course. And we'll go on shopping trips, and have parties, and - "

"Don't get carried away," he chides her, but she can hear the warmth in his voice and it makes her heart just flutter. "Too much fun might kill me."

"Narumi-san," she deadpans.

"Hm. I suppose that's still a touchy subject." He lifts a hand to catch her wrist before she can draw it away, pressing a kiss to the back of her palm. "But if you can accept the fact that my life may still be shortened… I can handle some fun."

"Can you?"

"Yes," he replies, and there's that grin - that mischievous, up-to-no-good grin she's come to love so much, "starting now." And before she can do or say anything, he's wrapped his arms around her, pinning her to the futon, and her very first squeak gets muffled by his mouth on hers.

"Narumi-san," she manages, breathless, after a few kisses, "you didn't come in here because you were having trouble sleeping at all, did you?"

He grins again. "You really are getting better at knowing when I'm lying."

She groans. "I knew it…"

"I don't hear any objections."

Hiyono bites her lip, considers this, and decides not to object.

"Good," Ayumu says, as if he's read her mind, and sweeps the blankets up over their heads. "Now teach me how to have fun."

"Narumi-san," she says again, but this time she laughs, because she's definitely going to oblige him. And there's nothing else she would like to do better than to stay up late with him on her uncomfortable futon, alternately kissing and talking and pretending to argue, because that's what makes her - them - the happiest.