Paperwork was tiring. Still, Raizel carefully read through everything his manager had given him and corrected the details of the report that didn't match up with what had happened. They'd dealt with an S-rank villain this time, and one he suspected to be a General. The blond man had been terrifyingly quiet with shadows lapping at his heels like loyal hounds ready to pounce on whatever prey he was chasing. Because he had been chasing something. Someone. He pitied whoever it was since they hadn't managed to detain the Shadow, only kept him from destroying the city in his search for his target. Especially since the obsession in the Shadow's eyes hadn't been one of bloodlust. Rather… it was the same look his elder sister had when she had talked about the man she loved.

A sudden tap on his shoulder chased his thoughts away and he spun around, fingers at the throat of the person who had disturbed him in less than a second. Only after his reaction did he realise who it was.

"Honestly Raizel, you need to be more aware of your surroundings-" Ashoka was frowning as he uncrossed his arms, one hand gently wrapping around his as he pushed it down, not matching his exasperated tone or expression at all- "I've been calling you for a while now."

"…Ah."

It had just been his partner. Of course. Who else could it have been? He was the only one Raizel had lost all wariness around and relaxed with, making him vulnerable like he had been mere moments ago. After all, he was powerful enough to deal with any villain as an S-rank hero, their morals matched, and strangely enough, he'd stayed by Raizel's side for several years now even after he'd caught the villain he'd been chasing. That had nurtured a trust in him that he rarely gave to anyone.

"Sorry," he said, glancing down at their hands.

The warmth Ashoka always exuded was like the sun and his touch was comforting… Raizel supposed he didn't mind admitting that the years had nurtured a little more than simply trust for his partner. Once he'd locked away all notions that he'd have a life outside of his work, but perhaps it wasn't impossible if it was with a fellow superhero.

Ashoka's expression softened and he sighed, "What am I going to do with you? I'm happy you're not on guard all the time anymore but… well, no matter."

"What did you need?" If he didn't ask Ashoka would end up on some long tangent before finally returning to the original point. If he remembered it at all.

"Right!" Ashoka clapped his hands, finally letting go of his as he did- "I was going to ask if we were still going to visit your family's graves again this Thursday. You're swamped with even more work than I am so is that still on? Or do you need to reschedule?"

So that was why he'd interrupted him. Raizel had asked him for help on choosing flowers once about two years ago and somehow it had ended up with the two visiting his family's graves together every other week and having dinner after. It was pleasant enough. Though Ashoka had been surprised at learning that his knowledge of the local restaurants was abysmal.

Yet, despite how much he enjoyed their time together- "Not this week. I won't have enough time."

"Mm, I thought so. I guess we'll have to see if things calm down by next week. There's just so much to go through! Can't the two-bit villains space themselves out or something?" Ashoka complained. "That S-rank got away too so we'll definitely have to deal with him again."

Raizel listened to his partner's complaints as he returned to his paperwork, amused. Sometimes it felt like they did an ordinary office job with the way he talked or came over to gossip. It did lighten the load everyone involved in this line of work felt though, so it was fine. Whether it was his manager who thought Ashoka was godsent, or the lower ranked heroes that often asked them for advice, or the public, everyone adored his partner. That was why, even though he'd been the one to cancel their plans, Raizel felt disappointed.

It really couldn't be helped though. Unlike the graves of his family, there was one place he visited almost daily no matter how much work he had. A grave visit now would only mean that he'd miss a day so he buried his disappointment as deep within him as he could.

…

…

…

Ah. Perhaps…

As Ashoka uttered the last of his complaints, Raizel raised his head- "On Thursday, will you come with me elsewhere instead? That way, we can still have dinner together."

"Huh?" It was obvious Ashoka hadn't expected him to say anything and he remained sprawled over a chair he'd sat on partway through complaining. Not that it lasted long, a bright understanding look coming over his face- "Sure! It's to that place you disappear to everyday after work, right? I'd love to see where you go; I just hope it's not as depressing as going to the cemetery~"

Raizel frowned. He… definitely couldn't reassure him by saying it wasn't depressing.

Ashoka's smile faltered upon his reaction. "Not that I wouldn't want to go even if it is! Being depressed is only normal for the places you frequent. Oh that doesn't sound any better," he mumbled the last sentence before smiling brightly, "What I meant to say is-"

"It's fine," Raizel said, cutting him off. He knew Ashoka hadn't meant anything untoward. It was true that his original attitude in the cemetery had only made the atmosphere gloomy. It was his partner who'd made the visits enjoyable after all, not him. "So you're coming?"

"Mm, yeah," he said with a relieved smile, "Wait up on me after work on Thursday and I'll meet you at the…"

"Back entrance."

"At the back entrance. Got it!"

Waiting patiently, Raizel spotted Ashoka running out towards him immediately once the latter was out of the tinted doors of the official government building they worked in. His partner stopped right before him, heaving a relieved sigh. He wasn't out of breath, but that was only natural. If just this had an effect, he wouldn't be qualified for being a B-rank hero, much less the S-rank he was.

"I'm sorry for being late; they forced a trainee on me at the last moment. You weren't waiting for long, were you?"

"Just half an hour," Raizel replied as he opened the door of the car.

"Half an hour?! You should have just sent me a text and we could have gone together some other day!" Ashoka covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath before he lowered them, sitting beside him in the backseat.

Raizel shrugged. It wasn't as if he wasn't causing people to wait for him often enough whenever he got lost so he didn't mind doing the same. He'd have left before the sun set in an hour anyway.

"The usual, sir?" asked the chauffeur as she started to drive and Raizel nodded, knowing she'd see him through the mirror.

"Honestly," Ashoka muttered, "Don't wait so long next time."

Next time? "Will you be coming with me from now on?"

"I meant in general but I don't mind," he said, readjusting the large dangling sun earrings he always wore when they weren't out dealing with problems, "Probably. Depends on where you're taking me, Raizel. I might have to pass if it's another cemetery."

The chauffeur snorted- "No worries there, sir. From grandmother to sister, everyone sir Raizel knows is buried in one place."

"Really? He's even more asocial than I thought."

…She'd always been very talkative but Raizel hadn't realised that would mean she'd end up talking with Ashoka the entire way. It wasn't bad, he enjoyed listening to them, but it was a little embarrassing having them tease him together.

"I'll pick you two up afterwards, then. Remember to message me, sir," she said as she stopped the car in front of a hospital. Raizel nodded as the two got out and she drove off, likely to find parking space so she could browse through some app or another on her phone.

"I did think it might be a hospital but…" Ashoka frowned as he looked between the grand building and Raizel, "This place is pretty expensive and it's a private one."

"It is," he said, heading towards the entrance.

"They're specialised too. Do you have to come here to get check-ups or something?" his partner kept up with his quick pace and soon the cool air inside the hospital struck them as the sliding doors opened- "Like some rare disease?"

Raizel didn't reply, stopping to talk to a familiar nurse instead. She smiled before looking towards Ashoka hesitantly- "And he's with you, sir?"

"Yes."

The reply seemed to surprise her but that was expected. He'd been coming alone for years now, and before only his family had accompanied him. She didn't say anything though and started to lead them through the halls.

The higher up they went, the more curious Ashoka seemed, and once they were in a quiet area with few people aside from the occasional staff, he smiled uneasily- "So… not a check-up?"

Raizel's eyes flickered to him and he shook his head. The nurse finally stopped before a door, opening it for them. It led into a large furnished room but Raizel ignored the expensive furniture and made his way to the bed where a woman laid fast asleep. Sitting beside her on the bed, he took her limp hands into his own, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"Hulda, I've come to visit again today. It's Raizel, your younger brother," he said as he did every day. This time though- "I've brought a guest too. Everyone else has already met him, so I'm sorry for only introducing him to you now."

He looked up to Ashoka who was standing beside him with a complicated look on his face- "I didn't know you had family still… alive."

"Few do. You should introduce yourself."

"I-" Ashoka's expression seemed even more strained. He had taken learning of his family's fate like this too; grieved even though it wasn't his own family. "Of course. I am Menodara Gouyen di Ashoka. I'm Raizel's best friend, I'll have you know~ His only too but I suppose you already know that as his sister," his voice had become more chipper as he went on but it toned down again, "Can she hear us?"

Raizel continued to stroke his sister's hands, the callouses that had once hardened them having long faded. He missed how they felt as she hugged him or held him in her arms, the ink she always smelt of that stained her knuckles black from her work at the judicial offices, her strong voice and the muscles she'd boast about laughing even as she complained about how much she hated exercise. Of course, all that had faded too, his sister had been asleep for too long. So long that the hair they had shaved off when she'd first come in had grown back enough to cradle her thighs.

It was the nurse who answered Ashoka, "Somewhat. She's aware of noise and touch but not much and we aren't sure to what degree. It's not always either. Her level of awareness fluctuates wildly."

Ashoka hummed at the answer, and there was a long silence with it being the only sound, before he asked, "Raizel… when did this happen? You always spoke as if all your family had passed. I hadn't even known you had an older sister."

He carefully laid his sister's hands down, his own trembling, and took the comb on the side table. Slowly, starting from the ends, he carded through it gently. Hair as long as hers required this daily work.

"Hulda was the first victim," Raizel said, focusing on the repetitive nature of his task, "The people who came after our family went after her first. She lived alone and away from the rest of us." That was probably why. "Since mother was a famous hero, we'd all kept our relation to her relatively secret. So even though there was a fuss about an important official, everyone forgot about it quickly. We thought it was because of Hulda's own work that she'd been targeted, but about a month after our younger sister, father, and grandmother were killed at home. Then mother a year after. And then our brother a year after that."

His brother… his elder sister's twin… had been killed right in front of him. And although they hadn't been able to kill him, he hadn't been able to get them either. The streaks of blood had laid around him like wings, rivulets from his eyes like tears, it was the same way the rest of his family had been posed and he wanted to tear apart the monsters who had treated his family's bodies so mockingly.

Even as grief and rage consumed him, Raizel' hands remained methodical. His sister deserved the best of care. That was why she was here.

Ashoka tapped his shoulder and he looked up at him.

"May I?" he asked, looking to his sister and then back at him. Raizel didn't know what he meant but nodded anyway.

At his permission, carefully, Ashoka swept the hair out of his sister's face. For a while, his partner simply stared at her. When he finally spoke, his words were soft enough that Raizel wondered if the nurse could hear him.

"You look quite like her, did you know that?"

"She's my sister," was all he had to say in response.

Chuckling, Ashoka took a seat on the nearest chair, a plush armchair- "Of course. Is there some reason she's still wearing her earrings? It seems strange for a comatose patient to have such a gaudy and inconvenient accessory on. Only makeup or other types of piercings would be worse."

Ah, his sister's beloved crescent moons. Raizel's eyes went to them and he tilted his head slightly in thought.

"She hated taking them off, even when going to sleep, so I asked if she could keep them on." As for makeup… his sister had hated it, saying it felt like hell. The idea of pain had also turned her off of more piercings and tattoos even though she always said she wanted them.

"Menelaus cleans them when she comes by," the nurse said, "so it was allowed."

"She has other visitors?"

"Her friends. She met them through her work," Raizel replied, glancing at the flowers all around the room, "They bring her flowers. Which ones was it today?"

The nurse smiled in amusement- "Menelaus brought what she said smelt best, Philemon always brings what he thinks will look pretty on Ms Hulda, and Amabilis brought sunflowers like he does every day. Rousare brought something he called moonflowers when he came by last week. They're the small white ones. They look normal but glow in the dark. Horea brought all the pink and purple ones."

Studying the various flowers around them, Ashoka hummed, "Moonflowers are very rare. I don't think they can even be grown here."

Raizel just looked back to his sister's hair. He didn't particularly care about what flower was what in all honesty. Neither would his sister. It was only if the sunflowers were missing that there would be a problem. They were her favourites.

Ah, before he forgot- "Please note Ashoka down in the list of visitors. He'll be coming with me from now on."

"Of course. Sir, could you please come with me for a few minutes? I'll need your details."

By the time the two returned, Raizel had finished brushing his sister's hair and sent a message to his chauffeur- "Ashoka, where do you want to go for dinner?"

Ashoka blinked upon hearing the sudden question, then smiled, taking his hand as they left. Raizel knew it was only out of habit since he got lost so often that his partner did this, but he still felt his neck warm as his heart stuttered.

"Why do you always ask? The usual place is fine."