#9618

She asks him the strangest of questions as they sit on the roof of her apartment, blankets draped over their shoulders. He blinks slowly, readjusting his gaze from the black sky to her violet eye. She pulls the blankets tighter around her, as if she can feel the cogs whirring in his head while processing her question.

"Stars can be light-years away from each other, Dokuro," he finally responds, as if that is a proper answer.

Chrome shakes her head. "N-no, I mean..." She cuts herself off and laces her fingers together. "Constellations? They're... They're pictures created when people connect stars, aren't they?" She lifts an arm, finger pointed at the sky as she begins to trace imaginary lines between each star.

"I-I think that one over there it -- it looks like a bear?"

"It looks nothing like a bear."

Out of the corner of his eye, Hibari watches Chrome deflate visibly. So he lifts his arm and points to the sky, tracing a line between the stars as well. "It's not a bear. It's a bird."

"A-A bird?"

"Yes."

Chrome frowns, deep in thought as she studies the network of stars that he has pointed out for her. She allows a small smile, then a slight nod. "It... it does look more bird than bear."

But the unsure expression is back on her face again.

"Cloud man?"

"Hibari."

"H-Hibari-san?"

"What is it now."

"I-I was thinking that... it looks a b-bit like Hibird?"

Now, it is Hibari's turn to frown, gray eyes glancing at the bundle of yellow feathers resting on his knee. The canary is fast asleep and breathing softly as he tugs on the blanket, pulling it tighter around a shoulder.

He feels a slight tug on the opposite end as Chrome wraps her side tighter around herself. It isn't uncommon for the two of them to sit together on the roof of her apartment and stare at the stars, but it had begun when Chrome, one day, took it upon herself to toss a spare blanket over him if he happened to fall asleep there.

One evening, he opened an eye and told her to stay awhile.

Chrome did most of the talking, and Hibari would only glance over his shoulder to look at her when she stopped. Sometimes, he would see her with her head tilted up to the sky, violet eye full of wonder. Other times, he would feel a weight on his left shoulder, head nestled comfortably on it (which is strange, considering that Hibari doesn't consider his shoulders a particularly comfortable place to rest a head).

Sometimes, it wasn't either of those, and he'd catch her looking at him.

"... Cloud man?"

"What do you want."

She points at the sky, tracing over the stars with an index finger. Hibari watches with an arched brow; she's taking longer than usual to draw out this particular constellation, nor can he tell what she's trying to draw out by following the movement of her hand. Finally, she laces her hands together, resting them quietly in her lap.

"... what did you see."

"I-I, um... I-I saw a pineapple."

"You saw a pineapple."

"Y-yes, I did -- but I, um, I-I also saw a cloud. Do you see it? Up there?" She has to use both her hands to point at the sky now. "Th-they share some stars though, b-but I think that's okay...?"

He yawns. "Spit it out, Dokuro."

Chrome lifts a hand, curling it slightly into a fist as it rests against her chest. She looks at him, then tilts her head to the sky again, eye filled with wonder. "I... I think that hearts can be connected like stars, maybe?" She can feel Hibari's eyes burning holes into her as if to demand a further explanation. "I, um, I-I was here by myself. N-no one knows where we are, Cloud man. B-but I found you? Boss too, and Bomber man, Ryohei-san, Yamamoto-san, um, L-lambo-chan."

"I, um, I-I found Mukuro-sama again too."

They'd compete against each other as they sat on the rooftop, making the loser whoever fell asleep first.

"Cloud man?"

She gets no answer, blinking as she realizes that tonight, she has won their little competition.

It isn't the first time that she's won, but it always catches her off guard to see him with such a peaceful expression on his face, without intense eyes, without a smirk that concealed his unique brand of blood lust. Only when she sees him sleep does she realize why he refuses to do so in areas with other people. Only then does he let his guard down (it's times like this where she's reminded that he's human too).

He either feels that Chrome is no threat to him, or he feels safe around her.

She shifts herself closer to him, pulling the blanket tighter around both of their shoulders. The yellow canary on Hibari's knee stirs, and she presses and index finger against her lips. The bird blinks, preens at a wing, before going still again and falling asleep.

Chrome reaches out, petting the canary's head with a finger. "Good night, Hibird," she says quietly, before glancing at the Cloud Guardian fast asleep at her side.