No Good Deed Goes Uncomplicated Part 4

Rumi sat cross-legged on the roof of a random wooden house - not the place she was crashing at, but just a completely random house she'd picked because it looked taller than the rest in the neighborhood.

It was the only place where she could be alone with her thoughts. Away from Kaito's concerned spiral-eyed stares and Yuki's knowing smiles.

She stared at the official letter in her hands for what had to be the hundredth time that day. A good chunk of those reads had been in the morning, and she'd deliberately hidden the letter's existence from Kaito and his sister.

From the esteemed Hiroshima Hero Academy...

Congratulations, Miss Usagiyama...

The words blurred together as her eyes traced over them again. She'd done it. Actually fucking done it. After weeks of cramming through boring textbooks that made her brain want to melt, taking that brutal exam, and somehow passing both the written and practical portions - well, she'd had zero doubts about the physical tests. Either way, she'd gotten accepted into one of the better hero academies in the region.

This was it. Her ticket to going pro. To finding the best fights and getting paid for it!

All legal, too!

From this point forward, she'd be making a real name for herself beyond the underground circuits. Everything she'd been working toward, everything she'd been fighting for.

So why was her duffel bag still sitting unpacked on Kaito's couch?

The academy started in a week, and she needed to get to Hiroshima to find a place and settle down quickly. She should be excited, rushing around, preparing to leave. It would be fast because she had so little to pack, anyway. Instead, she'd been sitting here and there, letter in hand, unable to make herself actually do anything about it.

Why?

Her ears drooped slightly as she folded the letter carefully, then unfolded it again. The sun was starting to set, painting the sky in those familiar oranges and reds she'd watched so many times from park benches and street corners.

She thought about the apartment. The lumpy couch that she'd somehow gotten used to. Yuki's terrible morning coffee. The way Kaito would absently check her for injuries with his funny eyes whenever she came back from a fight.

It's just temporary, she reminded herself. Always was. I was never supposed to stay this long, anyway.

But "temporary" had somehow stretched into months. Months of smoothie runs,  medical supply hauling, walks, dinners, and so many other things.. Of Yuki teasing them relentlessly. Of falling asleep and waking up with a drink when she woke up.

When had that little apartment started feeling like... like something she didn't want to leave?

"This is stupid," she muttered to herself, running a hand through her white hair. "It's a hero academy. It's everything I wanted. Why am I being weird about this?"

But she knew why…

For the first time in her life, she had people who actually gave a damn about whether she came home at night. Who patched her up not because she paid them, but because they were worried. Who made her laugh and annoyed her and somehow made even the boring days feel less empty.

And she was about to leave all that behind.

"It's not like I'm never coming back," she told the setting sun. "I can visit. It's not that far. And they'll be fine without me hogging their couch."

The letter crinkled slightly in her tightening grip.

They'll be fine.

So why did the thought of telling them make her chest feel so tight?

Rumi decided to lay back on the roof tiles, staring up at the sky as the first stars started to appear. The letter rested on her stomach, rising and falling with each breath.

She thought about how Kaito would react when she told him. He'd probably do that thing with his funny eyes, and he'd start bombarding her with too many questions.

"Did you find a place to stay?"

"Do you have enough money for the trip?"

"Are you going to be careful?"

Like she was some helpless kid who couldn't take care of herself instead of someone who'd survived just fine on her own for years.

The thought made her smile despite everything.

And Yuki would probably make some joke about finally getting her couch back, then immediately offer to help pack and slip her extra money "for emergencies" that Rumi would pretend not to notice.

"Ugh," Rumi groaned, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes. "When did I become such a sap?"

This wasn't like her. She was Rumi Usagiyama. Tiger Bunny. The badass who'd fought entire underground rings by herself and walked away grinning. She didn't get attached to places or people. She was supposed to be independent, self-reliant, someone who didn't need anyone else.

She moved forward, always forward, chasing the next fight, the next challenge.

Except... when had that stopped being entirely true?

She remembered that first night, bleeding and barely conscious, feeling someone catch her before she hit the pavement. Waking up in a strange bed, ready to fight her way out if needed, only to find Kaito with his annoyingly helpful advice and his even more annoying tendency to actually care.

‘Just until I get back on my feet,’ she'd thought then. ‘Just until I figure things out. Just until…’

"Just until I had somewhere else to go," she whispered to the empty sky.

And now she did.

Her ears twitched as she heard voices from below - someone coming home, calling out greetings to their family. Normal people doing normal things in their normal houses. The kind of life she'd never really had, never thought she wanted or needed.

But these past few months...

She sat up abruptly, clutching the letter. "Okay. Okay, I'm going. I'm definitely going. I'm not going to chicken out just because-"

Just because what?

Because she'd gotten used to Yuki's terrible coffee and teasing? Because Kaito's constant mother-henning had somehow become reassuring instead of annoying? Because falling asleep on their couch felt safer than any place she'd ever crashed before?

The letter crinkled again in her grip.

‘Things I'm apparently going to miss way more than I ever expected to.’

"Dammit," she muttered, lying back down and holding the letter up to catch the last rays of dying sunlight. "Why does everything have to be so complicated?"

Hero academy was supposed to be simple. Go there, train hard, become a pro, kick ass legally and get paid for it. Easy. Everything she wanted.

Nobody had mentioned the part where leaving would feel like this. Like she was abandoning something… something heavy. Something she hadn't even realized she'd found.

That was when her phone buzzed in her pocket, making her jump slightly. She pulled it out to see a message, and of course it was from spiral-eyes.

'Where are you? Dinner's ready. Yuki made your favorite.'

Her favorite. She had a favorite dinner now. When did that happen?

Rumi stared at the message for a long moment, then at the acceptance letter still clutched in her other hand, then back at the message. 

She could see the apartment from here if she looked in the right direction. Could picture Kaito checking his phone, probably frowning. Could imagine Yuki setting the table, making extra because she always made extra now, ever since Rumi had moved in.

‘This was always temporary.’

But temporary had started to feel an awful lot like home.

'On my way,' she typed back, then stuffed both the phone and the letter into her pocket.

She stood up on the roof, stretching her legs and rolling her shoulders. The jump down would be easy - she'd done harder plenty of times. And the walk back to the apartment was familiar now, a route she'd memorized without meaning to.

One week to figure out how to say goodbye to the first real home she'd ever had.

"One week," she said out loud, then jumped off the roof, landing easily in the alley below. Her legs absorbed the impact without effort, muscle memory from countless similar jumps.

As she walked back toward the apartment, hands shoved in her pockets, Rumi made a decision. She'd tell them tonight. No point dragging it out, making it weird. Just rip the bandaid off, let them know she was leaving, thank them for everything, and...

And what?

Her steps slowed as the apartment building came into view, warm light spilling from the windows.

And figure out why leaving feels harder than any fight I've ever been in.

-------------------------------

Rumi and Kaito walked together through the familiar park, the same one where she'd almost frozen to death months ago. The night air was cool, street lights casting long shadows across the path. She was wearing his hoodie again - had been wearing it more often lately, actually.

She had been talking nonstop for the past ten minutes, kicking a rock along the path with increasing aggression as words spilled out of her mouth.

"And you know what else pisses me off? Those stupid energy drinks at the convenience store raised their prices again. Like, what am I supposed to do, just stop buying them? And the guy at the counter always gives me this look, like I'm some kind of delinquent-"

"Mm-hmm," Kaito agreed, hands in his pockets as he tried to keep up with both her pace and her rant.

"And another thing - that underground venue we went to last week? They're talking about shutting it down because apparently someone complained about the noise. The noise! It's underground! Who's even hearing it? And now I'll have to find a whole new place to-" She kicked the rock harder, watching it skitter across the pavement. "Not that it matters anyway since I can't fight for another week, but still!"

"Sure," he agreed, nodding along.

"And your sister's been on my case about washing dishes immediately after eating. Like I get it, I live there, I should help, but does it really matter if I wait five minutes? It's not like the dishes are going anywhere! They're not gonna sprout legs and run off!"

"Uh-huh."

She pulled the hoodie sleeves over her hands, bunching the fabric in her fists as she walked faster. "And the weather's been weird lately, can't decide if it wants to be cold or warm, so I never know what to wear, and people keep bumping into me on the street like they don't see my ears, which are pretty hard to miss, by the way,  and the training gym I like changed their hours so now I have to-"

"Right..."

"Are you even listening to me?!" Rumi suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, whirling around to face him with her ears standing straight up.

"I am!" Kaito insisted, raising both hands defensively. "You were saying something about... the gym hours?"

"UGH!" Rumi grabbed her own ears and pulled them down hard in frustration, a sharp yell escaping her throat that echoed through the empty park.

"Whoa, hey!" Kaito rushed forward immediately, his hands reaching for her hands. "Are you insane? If you pulled any harder, you would've torn something! Those are still healing from last month!"

"Oh shut up, twerp!" She shoved his hands away roughly and stormed off ahead, her ears still pressed flat against her head. She felt angry - angry at herself for not being able to just spit out what she needed to say, angry at how she kept creating bullshit excuses to keep postponing everything, angry that she was wearing his stupid hoodie and didn't want to give it back, angry that everything felt so complicated.

"Usagiyama-san, wait-" Kaito jogged to catch up with her.

She stopped walking, her shoulders tensing. The use of her last name somehow made it worse. Like they were back to being strangers instead of... whatever they were now.

"You know you're not really good at hiding things, right?" he spoke up, coming up beside her but maintaining some distance.

She didn't turn around rubbing her left arm. "Was it that obvious?" 

"Well, considering you barely touched your favorite meal tonight and were completely silent at dinner - yeah, compared to the girl who's usually loud enough to make my sister threaten to install a volume control on you, it was pretty obvious something's wrong."

Rumi stood there for a moment, the acceptance letter feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds in her pocket. Then, in a burst of frustration and without really thinking about it, she yanked it out and threw it at his face.

"There! Happy now?!"

Kaito caught it reflexively, his funny eyes widening as he carefully unfolded the wrinkled paper. Those green rings spun faster and faster as he read. She watched his expression change - surprise, then much to her dismay to… joy?

"Oh..." A smile spread across his face. "Oh, this is- Rumi, congratulations! This is really amazing! Hiroshima Hero Academy, that's-"

"Really?!" she exploded, spinning around to face him with her fists clenched at her sides. "That's all you have to say?! Congratulations?!"

Kaito blinked, clearly surprised by her reaction. "I... what else should I-"

"I don't know! Maybe something else! Anything else!" Her voice was rising, frustration and something she couldn't quite name bleeding through every word. She pulled the hoodie tighter around herself, gripping the fabric like a lifeline. "Like maybe how Hiroshima is really far away, or the program is way too intensive, or hero school is full of stuck-up rich kids who've never been in a real fight in their lives, or the dorms are probably terrible and cramped, or-"

She threw her hands up in the air. "Or how it's probably a waste of time anyway because underground fighting is where the real action is, or how their training methods are probably outdated and won't teach me anything I don't already know, or how I'd have to follow all these stupid rules again just like high school, or-"

"Hey-"

"Or how maybe I'm not ready yet!" She cut him off, her voice cracking slightly on the last word. "Maybe I need more time to prepare, or save more money, or get more experience, or- or something! There's got to be something!"

She was breathing hard now, panting. The cool night air felt too cold suddenly, or maybe she just felt too exposed.

"Just-" She turned away from him again, staring at the ground because looking at him was too hard right now. "Just tell me it's too soon. That I should wait. That there's no rush. Please."

Kaito was quiet for a long moment, still holding the acceptance letter. "Why would I say that?"

"Because-" She struggled with the words, pulling at the hoodie sleeves. "Because maybe I asked you nicely? Maybe I'm not- maybe there's still things here I need to-"

She couldn't finish the sentence. 

"But this is what you've been working toward. What you've been talking about constantly. Making a name for yourself. Going pro. Getting to fights and getting paid for it. This is your dream."

"I know that!" she snapped, whirling back to face him again. "You think I don't know that? It's everything I wanted - hero license, steady pay, big fights, all of it! Everything on my own merits, proving I can make it! I know all that!"

"Then what's-"

"I just-" She spun around in a frustrated circle. "I just think maybe there's other things to consider, okay? Like- like the distance, yeah, Hiroshima is pretty far, and I don't even have a place lined up yet, and moving is expensive, and what if I can't find somewhere affordable, and-"

She was grasping at straws and they both knew it.

"And your sister's been really helpful with… some stuff, so maybe I should stick around to learn more about that first aid thing, you know, for emergencies. And you've been helping me study so maybe I need more time with that, make sure I'm really prepared. And the couch is actually pretty comfortable now that I'm used to it, and I know where everything is in the apartment, and-"

Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "And maybe I don't want to leave yet."

The silence that followed felt heavy, pressing down on both of them. Rumi kept her eyes fixed on the ground, her ears drooping lower with each passing second.

Then she felt Kaito's hand grab hers.

The contact made her flinch like a jolt of electricity had hit her, her head snapping up to stare at him with wide eyes. His spiral eyes met her red eyes before he gently pulled her toward a nearby bench.

They sat down, side by side, and he still hadn't let go of her hand.

Rumi glanced down at their joined hands, then quickly at his face, then just as quickly looked away as she felt her face heating up.

"You know," Kaito said quietly, his thumb absently tracing small circles on the back of her hand, "it's actually a good thing."

"What is?" 

"Being scared to leave."

She scoffed, though it lacked her usual fire. "How is that a good thing? Sounds pretty pathetic to me."

"Because it means you have something worth coming back to."

Rumi was quiet for a moment, processing that. "That's... that's a stupid way to look at it."

"Is it?" He shifted slightly, still holding her hand. "Think about it. Before, you didn't care about leaving places because there was nothing tying you down. You could just move on without looking back."

"And that was easier," she muttered.

"Easier, yeah. But was it better?"

She didn't answer.

"Having people who care about you, having a place that feels like home - that's not a weakness, Rumi. It's not something holding you back." His looked at the streetlight. "I believe it is something that gives you a reason to push harder, to come back in one piece."

"Sounds like something from a cheesy movie," she grumbled, but her grip on his hand tightened slightly.

"Maybe. But it's also true." He paused. "You think pro heroes don't have people waiting for them? People they want to protect, people they want to make proud?"

"That's different. They're saving people."

"And what do you think you're going to be doing?"

Rumi finally looked at him properly, her red eyes meeting his green. "I'm just going to kick villain ass and get paid for it."

"Right. And when you do, who are you going to tell about it?" He tilted his head slightly. "Who's going to patch you up when you inevitably get hurt doing something reckless? Who's going to listen to you complain about the academy's stupid rules?"

"I..." She trailed off, then frowned. "You're really annoying, you know that?"

"You've mentioned it. Multiple times." There was a hint of a smile. "But you haven't answered the question."

She was quiet for a long moment, staring at their hands again. "You, I guess," she admitted quietly. "You and your sister."

"Exactly. So you're not losing anything by going. You're just... temporarily relocating. We'll still be here. The couch will still be here when you visit."

"The lumpy couch," she corrected automatically.

"The lumpy couch that you've claimed as your territory and refuse to let anyone else sit on."

She felt a small smile tugging at her lips. "It's a good couch."

"It's terrible and you know it."

"Yeah, but it's my terrible couch." The smile faded slightly. "Was. I guess."

"Still is. Like I said, we're not going anywhere." He squeezed her hand gently. "And neither is your spot. Even if my sister threatens to burn that hoodie you've been stealing."

"I didn't steal it, you gave it to me!"

"I lent it to you. Six months ago."

"Same thing."

"It's really not."

They fell into a comfortable silence, just sitting there on the bench under the stars. Rumi felt some of the tension slowly bleeding out of her shoulders.

"I'm still going to complain in my messages," she said finally. "About everything. The academy, the students, the teachers, all of it."

"I'd be worried if you didn't."

"And I'm definitely going to get into fights. Probably with the other students. Maybe some teachers too if they piss me off enough."

"Wouldn't expect anything less."

"And I'm keeping the hoodie."

"Figured as much."

Another pause. "And I'm going to miss you guys. A lot. Even if it's stupid to say."

"It's not stupid," Kaito shook his head. "And we're going to miss you too. The apartment's going to be way too quiet without you yelling at the TV during fight broadcasts."

She let out a loud laugh. "Those commentators are idiots though. They never know what they're talking about."

"I know. You've explained it. Many times. Loudly."

"Because they're wrong!"

They sat there for a while longer, neither one moving, neither one letting go. The park was quiet around them, peaceful in a way that felt right.

"Okay," Rumi said finally, so quietly he almost didn't hear it. "Okay, I'll go. I'll do the hero school thing."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She took a deep breath. "But you better answer when I call. And don't you dare give away my couch to someone else."

"Deal."

Before she could say anything else, she felt herself being pulled gently off the bench and onto his lap. She stiffened immediately, her ears shooting straight up in surprise.

"What are you-"

"Relax," Kaito said softly, and then his hand moved to her head, fingers gently running through her long white hair before carefully, carefully touching one of her ears.

Rumi froze completely.

Nobody touched her ears. Ever. They were sensitive, and she'd knocked out more than one dumbass who'd tried to pull a fast one on her. But now, as Kaito's fingers gently caressed the soft fur, tracing along the edge, she felt herself melting into the touch.

It felt... nice. Really nice. Safe.

She'd never let anyone do this before, she realized distantly. Never trusted anyone enough to be this vulnerable. But sitting here, in his lap, with his hand gently stroking her ear while his other arm wrapped loosely around her waist...

She was happy it was him. Happy it was Kaito who got to be the first. 

The only one.

Her eyes drifted closed as she leaned into his touch, a soft, contented sound escaping her throat before she could stop it.

"Rumi?" His voice was soft, questioning.

"Shut up," she mumbled, but there was no heat in it. "Just... keep doing that. For a bit."

She felt him smile against her hair. "Okay."