This song is for Lazzy, who said that Shin Hye is Yong Hwa's Waterloo.

Hibari wanted to get up, but something was stopping her.  Something kept her glued to her seat and facing the mirror.  She stared at herself until her reflection blurred away into blobs of colour.

She felt lost.

The key turning in the door’s lock was almost a relief to her.  Her pride wouldn’t allow her to let the others see her so dejected, but she really needed help.  It didn’t even matter that it was Shin Hye who came to rescue her.

“Hibari-ssi?”  Shin Hye’s head tilted to one side so that they could make eye contact through the mirror.  Hibari tried to look at her, but she was still only seeing watercolours.

Instead, she listened to Shin Hye’s approaching footsteps, followed by the gasp of horror when her roommate noticed that Hibari had ripped down every single photo of the boys she had idolised.  The photos were now scattered on the floor like leaves.

The photos made crunching noises under Shin Hye’s feet as she came up behind Hibari, and put a hand on her arm.

The tears came fast as soon as Hibari felt the warm hand patting her.  She let herself sob and then fall apart, and Shin Hye patted her arm like an Eomma.  She cooed soothing words that Hibari didn’t register, and handed out tissues until her nose was irritated from using them.

When Hibari felt comforted enough to stop crying, Shin Hye walked her to the couch and tucked a blanket around her.

It didn’t take long for the Osaka girl to fall asleep.

In the staff quarters downstairs, Yong Hwa was pacing up and down the hall.  It wasn’t unusual for him to have bouts of insomnia, but this night his thoughts were racing a mile a minute about Shin Hye, no, Snow White, no, that dumb idea of his to draw a smile on the apple to make her laugh.  Why did he do that?  Was he five or twenty three?

“Aish!”  He massaged his forehead and turned towards the mess hall.  When he couldn’t sleep, he often went to play on the dorm’s old piano.  It wasn’t a great instrument; the keys were yellow, and the music stand on it was broken, but he found it more satisfying to play on than a keyboard.

The first melody he keyed after he sat down on the wooden stool was the blues.  He didn’t stay with the song for too long before he switched to a lullaby.  It was better to play soft music at night so that the students didn’t wake up.  If they did, then they’d think that the Hibari ghost was back.

Yong Hwa shook his head at the thought.  When he’d first started his job as a teacher, his insomnia had been acute and the black dog that had followed him had been all-encompassing.  Back then, he’d played the piano from dusk til dawn every night (He preferred the guitar, but playing it all night would have cut his fingers), and it wasn’t until he’d heard the students talking about a Hibari ghost during classes that he realised he’d been disturbing them with his night habits.

The lullaby finished, and he played the introduction of another when he heard the footsteps of someone behind him.  He didn’t turn around.  There was no point.  He already knew who it was.

It was his ghost.

He stumbled on an octave change as she placed a cup on the top of the piano with one elegant hand.

“I was making tea.  I thought you might want some,” she said in her gentle voice.

Yonghwa continued to play the song.  He was making mistakes, but he wanted her to think that she didn’t bother him at all.  “What is it?”

“Ah.  Nothing.  I just couldn’t sleep.  I thought I’d offer you a drink while I was making it.”

“No.”  He nodded at the drink.  “What is it?”

“Ah.”  She blushed just as turned to look at her.  “Camomile.  It’s good for sleeplessness.”

He reached for the cup and allowed it to warm his left hand.  His fingers got cold at night, which made it harder to play well.  He inhaled the steam and then took a small sip of the tea before putting it back.  “Sit.”

“Sit?”

He moved to the left side of the stool and patted the space he’d left behind.  “Sit.”

When Shin Hye didn’t respond, he was forced to look up at her.  He frowned when he saw Shin Hye’s white pyjamas and wavy hair.  They made her look just like a ghost.  His ghost.  A girl that he’d last seen being locked up in a dark prison.

Shin Hye’s shoulder brushed against his as she sat down, nudging him out of his thoughts.

“Aren’t you going to keep playing?” she asked.

Yong Hwa studied Shin Hye.  This girl didn’t hate him.  He searched her face for any sign that she’d been locked away, but he didn’t know what to look for.  Bruises?  Cuts?  A phobia of some kind?

It was time to test her.

He put his fingers back on the piano and decided to play the lullaby that he’d heard in his head a thousand times.  It wasn’t easy for him...just thinking about it wasn’t easy for him, but he had to find out who Shin Hye was.

The song flowed out better than he thought, and he felt sick as it reached his ears.  He remembered how the girl used to hum the melody late at night.  How she had been happy then.  Seung Gi used to fall asleep to the sound of her voice while he tried to do his homework on the arm of the couch.

“Stop!”

Yong Hwa flinched.  His fingers jumped off the keys.  The girl’s image melted away, and Shin Hye’s face reappeared.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  Her hands were gripping the edge of the seat.  “I...I’m sorry.”

After a long pause, he shrugged as if it didn’t matter.  He could pretend not to know anything about the past if that made her happier.  “Why?  Is my playing that bad?  I know I made a couple of mistakes but I thought it sounded okay.”

Shin Hye hesitated.  “No.  It sounded good.”

“Too sad, right?”

Her shoulders relaxed.  “Yes.  I think that might have been it.”

“I knew it.  Then here’s another one,” he said, tinkering lightly with the keys again.  “You might like it better.”

Yonghwa played the intro, and then looked at her.  “It goes...the cats nestle close to their kittens now.”

She coughed.

“Yah, don’t interrupt.  The cats nestle close to their kittens.  The lambs have laid down with the sheep.  You’re cosy and warm in your bed, my dear.  Please go the to sleep.”

Shin Hye choked on her tea.  She snorted out a laugh and then quickly covered it up.

He looked at her, and then one tooth appeared, followed by another, and another, until it was a whole smile.  Finally a whisper of a laugh escaped from his chest.

Shin Hye gasped.  “Teacher Jung!”

“What?”

“I...you’re...that is...”  She shook her head.  “Nothing.  Nothing at all.  So, I-is there more of this lullaby, or are you telling me to go to sleep?”

His second soft laugh made her jump.

“No, I didn’t make it up just for you,” he told her.  “Someone else wrote it, but I think that they must have read my mind somehow.  There’s more if you want to hear it.  I think I can remember the rest.”

She looked confused, but delighted.  “I...good!  And if you play the rest of it, then I promise you that I will go sleep afterwards.  But Teacher Jung, there is something that I have to say before you go on.”

“What, Shin Hye?”

She stared at his smile for a bit longer, and then blushed.  “Don’t swear.  You'll get in trouble.”