The hospital room was dim, lit only by the soft glow of the bedside lamp and the city lights filtering through the window.
Sora sat propped up in bed, looking small but brighter than the day before. His surgery was scheduled in three days Haruka's team would handle it.
Kaito sat on one side of the bed in a simple black sweater, sleeves pushed up to reveal faint burn scars on his forearms. Haruka on the other, white coat off, hair loose for once.
Sora held a children's picture book about a little star who got lost from the sky.
"Will you read it to me?" he asked Kaito shyly.
Kaito hesitated he'd faced stadiums of thousands, but this felt harder. He took the book.
Haruka watched, heart aching in the best and worst way.
Kaito's voice was low, gentle the same voice that narrated her dreams for eight years. He read slowly, adding soft piano-like hums between pages when the star "sang."
Sora's eyes grew heavy, but he fought sleep.
"Doctor-neechan… Music-man… are you married?"
Haruka choked on air. Kaito froze mid-page.
"No, sweetheart," Haruka said softly.
Sora yawned. "You should be. You look at each other like Mommy and Daddy in stories."
He drifted off innocent words hanging in the air like cherry blossoms.
Silence stretched.
Kaito closed the book carefully.
"He doesn't know," he whispered.
"I know," Haruka answered, voice thick. "Every time he calls me 'Doctor-neechan'… it hurts so much I can barely breathe."
Kaito reached across the bed hand hovering over hers, asking permission.
She turned her palm up.
Their fingers intertwined for the first time in eight years scars touching scars.
"I missed this," he said. "I missed you every single day."
"I hated you for a long time," she admitted. "Then I just… missed you more than I hated you."
He brought her hand to his lips gentle kiss on her knuckles.
"I'm not leaving again. Not him. Not you."
Haruka's eyes filled. "We can't tell him yet. He's about to have major surgery. He needs calm."
Kaito nodded. "Then we'll be whatever he needs. Friends. Doctor and donor. Until he's strong enough for the truth."
They sat like that until the nurse dimmed the lights further hands linked over their sleeping son.
Later hospital rooftop again. Rain starting, soft Tokyo drizzle.
Haruka leaned against the railing. Kaito stood behind her, arms caging her in but not touching.
"I used to play that melody on every stage," he said against her hair. "Hoping somehow you'd hear it. Hoping you'd know I never stopped."
"I heard it tonight," she whispered. "And I cried in front of five hundred strangers."
He turned her gently to face him.
Rain dotted their faces.
"I'm sorry, Haruka. For the years. For the silence. For not being strong enough then."
"I'm sorry too. For not fighting harder to find you."
They leaned foreheads together breathing the same air.
No kiss yet.
Just the promise of one.
Below, in the ward, Sora dreamed of piano notes and gentle voices.
Above, on the rooftop, two hearts began very carefully to beat as one again.