It was only Uruha's third day with Aoi, and he had caught a cold. The storm was over now, but that didn't mean the weather wouldn't be cold and rainy during the night. Uruha could barely do anything, and slept most of his time. Aoi, who was naturally worried to death, had used all of his money on medicine and hot, steaming cocoa he'd bought from a café nearby, so he had to earn the food and drink in the old-fashioned way.

Aoi hadn't stolen a thing in years, so it took a little while to get used to it again, but he quickly re-learnt the best ways to snatch a few coins, fruits and bread from the market and... well, water wasn't a problem because there was a public fountain where everyone could drink. With money he had stolen he bought a few blankets for Uruha, and the latter mostly stayed wrapped in them.

It was late night and raining again when Aoi sat by Uruha, his hair and muttered softly: "Maybe it'd be better if you returned home..."

"No... I wanna stay with you", Uruha replied in a raspy, quiet voice beneath the blankets. Aoi sighed, laid beside the honey-blonde and pulled him into a warming embrace. "I'll be fine. I just want you to be safe."

"I don't want to!" Uruha protested, like he had done every evening.

"Then please get better soon", Aoi whispered in a begging, silent tone Uruha wasn't able to hear.

...

Meanwhile, even though Reita, Ruki and Kai were worried of the other two, they were having plenty of fun now that the rain had stopped. One day they went to the garden to eat their lunch, and had a nice picnic-kind of thing under the trees and rose bushes.

"Aaah... Nearly all the clouds have drifted away", Ruki commented thoughtfully as he gazed at the blue sky. True, there were only a few small, puffy clouds slowly drifting to the North. Just yesterday the sky had been almost black, filled with the dark, heavy clouds that made it seem like they would soon fall on the ground.

"Yeah... It's pretty, huh?" Reita answered and glanced at the sky too. Kai, who was sitting on his lap, didn't pay any attention to it, though. He looked at a few birds, not too far away from them, that kept eyeing their food. Kai cocked his head to the left and muttered: "The birdies want food."

"Huh?" Reita said in surprise. Ruki took his eyes off the sky too, to look at Kai. The latter crumbled a some bread and threw the small pieces to the birds. They happily started eating their treat, and it didn't take long for them to finish. Kai smiled as the birds took off, their stomachs full, ready for a new journey.

"I wish I could fly too", Kai said dreamily when the birds faded away. Ruki raised his eyebrows slightly. He had heard this from Kai before, but those times had always been in the orphanage. Kai  - and Ruki and Uruha - had always wanted to fly to the freedom, away from the prison they called orphanage, but which no one was able to call home. Ruki understood this, but had no idea why Kai would want wings now, when he already had his freedom. He ignored this, though, and continued writing words to his notebook, which was already near full.

"What're you writing, Ru?" Kai asked curiously, probably for the fifth time today.

"I've already told you, it's a secret", Ruki muttered. Kai pouted and was about to say something, but Reita placed his hand on Kai's shoulder and said softly: "Kai, if he doesn't wanna tell you he doesn't have to. I bet you'll find out eventually anyway."

...

The next day Uruha had gotten slightly better, thanks to Aoi's care and the weather getting a little warmer. And the day after he even managed to go out with Aoi, walk around the town a little. The dark clouds were back, though, and it was really gloomy outside.

"I remember when me and Reita were little and lived here..." Aoi muttered, smiling softly as he wondered in the streets with the honey-blonde.

"What's it like? Being homeless", Uruha asked curiously.

"It's... It's not a paradise. We stole for living and often got ill and stuff, but in a way it was kind of nice. I mean, of course it wasn't nice to be cold all winter and get sick for sleeping out, but it was nice to be huddled together in a corner of some shed, have freedom to do whatever we wanted. We could anytime just go out to play and we could go to sleep anytime we wanted to. Before that, I never had a family. But ever since I met Reita, I've had someone to share with... And someone who loves me back - even if he would never admit it", Aoi explained quietly, looking into the distance as he remembered all those times. He faced Uruha again and asked what the life in the orphanage was like.

"When you put it like that, living in the streets seems like a paradise compared to the orphanage", Uruha started slowly. "We were treated really badly there. There were some kids who the caretakers liked, but some - like us - were just filthy, ugly dogs to them. We had to clean up while others played in the yard and we never got early for the lunch, so all we got was some moldy bread. Not even hot soup in the winter. Our room was really cold and dirty. We had to sleep in the same bed to keep ourselves warm, and if it wasn't for Ruki, we would've died. He always had a solution to all problems, and it's all thanks to him I can read and count and Kai knows something about the world. When it was announced we would get adopted, we felt like the luckiest kids in the world... We were so excited for it, we talked about it for the whole night. Ruki was wishing for a massive mansion and a huge library - which he got - I wished for caring parents and family, and Kai... Well, all he wanted was candy and a nice, warm bed."

"Wow... I had no idea", Aoi muttered, frowning at Uruha, who was now deep in his thoughts. Uruha looked at him, smiled and said: "But now we have more than we could wish for. Reita and Kai are in love, I have you and Ruki... Well, I'm sure he'll find someone too."

"Yeah... Hey, you wanna learn how to steal?" Aoi smiled mischievously.

"What? No! Stealing is wrong, it's mean and stupid!" Uruha protested like a child, but Aoi just laughed and insisted: "C'mon, it's not like I'm robbing a bank or something. It's just snatching some stuff away, stuff people won't even notice is missing. I'll show you!"

He motioned Uruha to stop while he sneaked behind a wealthy-looking man. 'Sneaked behind' wouldn't be a proper verb for this, though, because Aoi just walked there casually without the old man noticing. Then, quickly - so quickly that Uruha had hard time seeing it - he took a few heavy coins from the man's pocket.

"Well? Whadd'ya  think?" Aoi asked happily.

"It's still wrong..." Uruha mumbled and they continued their way. With the coins, Aoi bought them two apples to eat from a stall in the street.

"Have you ever seen the sea?" Aoi suddenly asked. Uruha shook his head and answered: "No. We never did any field trips in the orphanage, we could just play in the yard for a few minutes and then go back inside."

"Come on, then! I'll show it to you, it's beautiful!" Aoi laughed, grabbed Uruha's wrist and they ran to a nearby beach, just outside the town. It really was pretty. The sea was very dark at the moment, and the waves were heavy and strong. But Uruha liked it like that, it showed what kind of a freedom the ocean truly had.

They sat on the cold, soft sand of the beach and started eating their apples as they watched the gloomy sky that looked like it was melting with the ocean - it was hard to tell where the sky started and the sea ended.

"Does water really cover most of the world?" Uruha asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah, in my opinion. Some people say it's not possible, but I think it is", Aoi replied, taking another bite of the fruit.

"Woah... Wouldn't it be cool to travel around the world? See all the different countries..." Uruha said dreamily.

"Me, Reita and our adoptive parents once went to Paris", Aoi stated.

"Really? What's it like? It's pretty far away, isn't it?" Uruha said, curious and impressed.

"It's not really that far away, England and France are both in Europe, at least. Just imagine going to Asia or something! Paris was really cool, but the language is so weird..." Aoi answered.

"Can you speak any French?" Uruha asked.

"Uh... Bonjour?" Aoi said in a very heavy accent. Uruha laughed and commented: "It is weird!"

"Imagine what it'd be like to sail the seas... I've only been in a ship when we went to France and from France back to England... But what would it be like to live in the sea?" Aoi said, gazing at the dark waves again.

"Like pirates?" Uruha asked with a grin.

"Yeah, like pirates! You know, there have been a lot of attacks here during me and Reita's time, maybe next time they'll take us with them", Aoi suggested jokingly.

"What? Have you actually seen pirates?" Uruha gasped. Aoi laughed bitterly. "Yeah, once. It was when Reita and me had just arrived here some days before. Suddenly there were people screaming and running in the streets. There was so much blood and dead bodies around, and the pirates stayed here for a few days after it because they needed to have some supplies before leaving again. After the attack it was calm again, though, but people were avoiding walking alone or during the dark when the pirates were still here. If I remember correctly, the ship's name was Red Desire..."

"Red Desire...? Somehow the image I get is a bunch of erts on a red ship", Uruha muttered, making Aoi laugh loudly.

"Well, I only saw the first mate and the captain. I gotta say, they looked nothing like pirates. I mean, I'd imagine pirates to be like old, stinky men, but these ones were actually good-looking!" Aoi said.

"Oi, don't call other men good-looking", Uruha muttered.

"Sorry", Aoi apologized and gave a quick peck on Uruha's lips.

"We should go back, it's getting dark", Aoi suggested. They threw the remains of the apples away and left the beach.

"I wonder how the others are doing", Uruha said as they walked down a street.

"They're fine. Maybe worried, but physically okay", Aoi answered. He wrapped his arm around Uruha and pulled him closer since there was no one in the streets to see them except for a couple of kids who played tag in muddy clothes.

"They're so carefree. I wish I could play around like that", Uruha stated, watching the kids.

"Who says you can't?" Aoi grinned and suddenly pushed Uruha on the ground and then ran away. Hissing in anger, Uruha pulled himself up and started chasing Aoi. And so started a long, tiring round of tag that ended when full moon was already shining up in the black sky. They were both panting and dirty when they returned to their shed, and collapsed tiredly on the fabric they used as a mattress.

"You're so childish", Uruha muttered, snuggling closer to Aoi.

"And you're a fast runner", Aoi commented with a soft smile before he pulled the honey-blonde into a gentle kiss. They fell asleep quickly despite the cold wind blowing into the shed, and the next morning they woke up to see the sun shining brightly at their faces.

"G'morning", Aoi muttered.

"Has it been a month already?" Uruha muttered, his eyes still closed.

"Nope."

"Then don't wake me up."

"You lazy bum", Aoi snapped playfully. Uruha snorted, wrapped his arms better around the raven's torso and hugged him as tightly as he possibly could.

"Uru, I can't breathe!"

"Whatever", Uruha mumbled and fell fast asleep again. Aoi sighed and ran his fingers through Uruha's hair. He couldn't help but snort as he heard Uruha was snoring quietly against his chest.

"If it was with you, I wouldn't mind becoming homeless again", Aoi whispered without Uruha hearing and continued sleeping with the younger male.

...

"Hey, Rei, what is ?" Kai asked that very morning from the sleepy blonde beside him.

"Why do you wanna know?" Reita asked tiredly.

"Because I'm curious! Everybody else knows..." Kai pouted, but Reita didn't tell him what is. Instead he kissed Kai deeply and then pulled him up from the bed. They walked out of Reita's room to wake up Ruki, and then the three of them had a breakfast in the dining room.

"Ruki, what is ?" Kai repeated and Ruki almost choked in his orange juice.

"Kai, you don't need to know that yet... I'll tell you when you get older..." Ruki answered calmly. Kai pouted and pointed out: "But you're younger than me."

"But you have the brains of a six-year old", Ruki snapped.

"Hey, don't bully the poor kid", Reita said, but was smiling too.

"I wanna know what is..." Kai muttered and continued eating his porridge.

"I can show you what it is", Reita said, grinning, but regretted his words immediately as Ruki took his joke too seriously and threw a plateful of porridge at him.

________________________________

Eeeh, sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than usual ^_^'

The pirates Aoi mentioned will be appearing later on in this fic if you're wondering~ Some of you might already guess who they are by the ship's name. I was struggling between 'Felony' and 'Red Desire', and ended up with 'Red Desire' because DAMN, don't you think it'd be a ing awesome name for a pirate ship? Or is it just me...?

Aaaaaanyway, I hope you liked this, I'll try to update the next one sooner, BUT... Well, you guys already know how bad I'm with updates :/ But HOPEFULLY I'll be able to update sooner :)