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Ankh lay in their makeshift nest, and hmphed in frustration. Eiji was thrashing around in his bed again -- it was the third time this week. And the thrashing -- combined with Eiji's intermittent screams of terror -- wasn't making it easy for Ankh to be able to sleep.
With a huff, they jumped down from their perch, and sat gingerly on the edge of Eiji's bed. Mustering up the detective's memories -- though, by now, they practically knew the words by heart --, Ankh recalled how the detective would soothe Hina from her nightmares years ago. And they began to sing.
It was a simple, quiet song. Ankh believed that it had been passed through the Izumi family for generations. It offered words of safety, of comfort, of home and love. Ankh could see why it would be soothing for somebody to hear it.
Ankh looked away from Eiji as they sang, not caring to be reminded of the humanity they were so openly displaying.
And, predictably, Eiji's writhing slowed and then stopped all together, and his screams ceased. Ankh wasn't entirely sure why this song calmed him down so well, but they were above trying to understand humans.
Even once Eiji had calmed down, Ankh continued to sing -- they had learned the hard way that if they didn't make sure Eiji was in a deep enough sleep before they stopped singing, the nightmares would return.
It wasn't until they took a breath that they noticed that Eiji's breathing wasn't the deep breaths of sleep -- and with a look of horror, Ankh's head snapped around to look at the sleeping figure on the bed.
Or, he was supposed to be sleeping, anyway. But when Ankh looked, a pair of sleepy, brown eyes were staring back, and they accompanied a smile. Ankh's eyes widened, and they were frozen in place, unable to believe that they had been caught singing, of all things.
Eiji finally broke the silence once it was clear that Ankh wasn't about to say anything, with a murmured "What was that song?" Ankh blinked, and tried to look anywhere besides the eyes that were directing such fondness their way.
They used their taloned hand to point at their head. "Here," they managed to say, still trying to ignore Eiji as much as possible, but also making no move to return to their nest. When Eiji gave no response, they briefly looked back at him, and saw that he didn't get what they meant. "The detective's memories. Apparently, Hina had nightmares when she was younger. He would use that song to... help her fall back asleep," they elaborated.
"Oh." It was silent for a few seconds again, before Eiji said, "Well, it's nice. I like it." Ankh made a noncommittal noise in response. "Why were you singing it, though?" Ankh was amazed. Didn't he remember his nightmares? But then they remembered that no, he never had any recollection of anything strange that had happened during the night. Perhaps that was for the best.
"You keep having nightmares. And they're a nuisance, and keep me up. So I decided to try this, and it worked. It's nothing more than that." Again, Eiji only responded with a quiet "Oh." Ankh looked away from him, and once again silence descended over the small room. But then Ankh felt a hand on their shoulder, and turned back towards Eiji, only to find that he was a lot closer than Ankh had anticipated. And, before they had a chance to react, Eiji's lips met their own.
It was over as quickly as it happened, and then the lips were gone. Ankh was frozen in shock, their eyes wide and their taloned hand gripping the edge of the bed.
"Thank you," Eiji said, smiling softly. And then he laid back down, and Ankh would swear he fell asleep almost instantly. Ankh stayed still at the edge of the bed for a few minutes, to make sure Eiji didn't start having another nightmare right away. And, touching their human fingers to their lips, they walked back to their nest and finally managed to fall asleep themself.