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"Hey, you awake?"
Naga stirred and rolled over. He didn't open his eyes.
"Naga, I just really need to talk to you," Balance whispered.
Naga rolled back over to face Balance and finally opened his eyes. "Balance? Are you all right?"
"Not really," Balance whispered.
Naga sat up slowly.
It had been only a couple of hours that they had tried to sleep. The Orion-gou was gone, and Raptor had found an abandoned warehouse, and managed to scrape up food, water, and blankets.
Balance knew Naga had had a hard time falling asleep, and he felt guilty for waking him up. But there was too much on his mind.
"We can talk," Naga whispered.
"Not here we can't," Balance said. "Everyone's here. They'll hear us."
Naga looked around for a moment, then turned back to Balance and nodded.
Balance stood up, holding his hand out for Naga. Naga grabbed it, and the two walked outside, carefully and quietly. If they had woken anyone up, no one had said anything.
When they got outside, Balance started walking, and Naga followed him. He noticed something.
"Balance, why are you staring into the sky?" Naga asked quietly.
"It's a clear night," Balance said. "And I never noticed before."
"Noticed what?" Naga asked. He looked up into the sky, and then back at Balance.
Balance had been calm, and quiet. Not like himself. He had always been noisy, no matter his mood. But Naga was almost concerned about this. Perhaps Balance was only tired, or stressed. But his voice was gentle. Soothing, a bit.
Naga was confused by it... but seemed to enjoy it, however much he could.
"The constellations," Balance said. "No wonder Earth is just so popular. I've never been anywhere where you could see so many constellations at once. Look." He pointed up. "That's Libra."
"Libra," Naga said, looking up to where Balance was pointing. "That is where you grew up?"
"Sure was," Balance said. "I miss it there sometimes. It was really pretty. But you couldn't see the stars, not from my planet. See, my planet's tidally locked."
"Tidally locked?"
"Yeah. It only faced our sun. I mean, there was a dark side of the planet, but we couldn't survive on it, so it was mainly used for cold storage and exploration. Nobody lived there. They'd starve to death."
"You don't eat food."
"No, we take in sunlight," Balance said with a chuckle.
"Like photosynthesis?"
"Something like that. A bit different, though." Balance stood there for another minute. "Check it out, Naga." He pointed again. "You recognize that place?"
Naga looked up. He tilted his head, apparently deep in thought.
"That's the Ophiuchus constellation," Balance said. "You don't recognize it?"
"This is the first time I've ever really been away from home. Guess I need to learn the constellation shapes, instead of just the names and coordinates."
"I know all of them," Balance said. "I can help you learn."
"You would do that for me?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I?"
Naga turned away from him.
"Naga," Balance said. "We need to talk about it."
"I do not want to," Naga said. "I don't like it."
"I know, and I understand. I don't like it, either. Please look at me."
"I can't."
"Sure you can, Naga."
Naga got quiet for a moment, then turned around. His face was red and covered in tears.
"Naga," Balance whispered.
"I am sorry," Naga said. "I've never cried in my life, and suddenly, I've done it twice in one day."
Balance pulled Naga in, giving him a bigger hug than he had earlier in the day when Naga had finally returned to the Orion-gou after they rescued him. This time was different, and though extremely awkward, Naga attempted to hug him back.
"You don't have to cry," Balance said.
"I don't know why I am," Naga said.
Balance pulled out of the hug, but kept his hands on Naga's arms. Naga tried to breathe.
"It's ok," Balance said. "The nightmare is over. You're home now, and no one's going to hurt you again. I won't let them."
"I did it on purpose," Naga said. "I want emotions so badly that I went to her. I still want emotions. I want to find my heart."
"You're crying, Naga. You have more emotions than you think. You definitely have a heart."
"You don't know that."
"Naga," Balance said slowly. "I wish you could see yourself as other people see you."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Someday, you will."
They started walking again, and got silent for a few minutes, until Naga spoke back up.
"Can I ask you a question?" Naga asked.
"Yeah, of course."
"Why did you cry and hug me when I came back?"
"Because I missed you, Naga."
"What does that mean?"
Balance stopped walking again. He looked around for a moment. They had ended up in a park of some kind. Benches, trees. A few lights, but not much else. He pulled Naga over to a patch of grass, and they sat down.
"It means that I want you around," Balance said. "I feel sad when you're not here. I'm happy when you are."
"It made you sad when I was gone?"
"Yes," Balance said. "I cried a lot. It got so bad that I left. No one knew where I was for a while. But I couldn't let them see me like that. I was scared."
"Scared that I would kill you?"
"No," Balance said. "I was scared that you were gone for good. I didn't know how we were going to get you back."
"I am sorry I hurt you."
"Don't mind, desu!" Balance said, the cheeriest he had been since waking up Naga. "I'm going to be fine, and so are you. I'm sorry I woke you up. But I want you to be ok. Since you had gotten back, you were immediately thrown into a new fight. I almost protested you going, but you didn't waste any time getting back out there."
"Sorry," Naga whispered.
"Don't be sorry. You did great today. I'm really proud of you."
"Thank you," Naga said, even though he didn't quite understand it.
"Naga, I just want you to know something," Balance said after a minute. "I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. I know that you probably have a lot on your mind right now. And my keeping you awake probably isn't helping you. Talking things through helps, and I need you to know you can trust me." He chuckled. "You know, we lost the Orion today, and everything on it."
"I'm sorry," Naga said. "All of your treasures are gone."
Balance shook his head. "I don't care about those, they're just possessions."
"I never thought I'd ever hear you say that. Does that mean we won't be treasure hunting anymore?"
"Of course not! We're still the BN Thieves, aren't we?"
"I do not think that changed."
Balance chuckled. "You know, I think if you were still gone, and the Orion was gone with all of my things, I would be upset. But... this whole experience... it taught me something."
"What did it teach you?"
"That things are just things," Balance said. "But you... I can't ever replace you, Naga."
"You could go back to my home planet and replace me easily," Naga said.
"No way!" Balance cried out. "It doesn't work like that. You are the one I care about. I would never replace you with a clone."
"Not a clone."
"You know what I mean. I can't lose you, Naga."
"I don't know what to say," Naga replied after a moment.
"You don't have to say anything." Balance paused for a moment. "Naga, I really care about you."
"You do?"
"Yes. I don't want to be separated from you ever again."
"I don't want that, either."
"I want to get to know you, who you really are."
"Who I really am?" Naga asked. "I do not know who I am."
"I know you don't. But I want to help you find out."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. Just don't leave me again. My heart can't take it."
"Heart," Naga replied. "Do you think I will find mine?"
"Of course you will. It might just take time. You're trying to hurry things along. You need to take your time. I told you that."
"I didn't listen."
Balance chuckled. "I know you didn't."
"I'm so sorry for the bad things I've done," Naga said. "I injured people. Including you, my partner."
"Well, you didn't kill anybody," Balance said, trying to laugh it off. "My leg will heal just fine, too."
"I have this weird feeling in my chest," Naga said. "It feels... heavier? Yeah. And my heart feels like it's beating faster than normal. And I can't think about anything except for what I've done to you and everyone."
"That's guilt, Naga," Balance said.
"Does everyone hate me?" Naga asked.
"That's a strong word, Naga," Balance said. "And it's not true. Nobody hates you. They're all glad you're back."
"Because I'm Hebitsukai Silver?"
"No, because you're Naga, and everyone thinks of you as a comrade."
"Comrade?" Naga asked. "You even think that way?"
"Well," Balance said. "To be honest, I think of you a little more than that."
"How do you think of me, Balance?"
"Naga, do you want me to tell you the truth?"
"Yes."
Balance stood up. He took a moment to think. His moment was a little too long for Naga's comfort, and he stood up as well.
"Naga, you're my best friend," Balance finally said. "You're not just somebody that I fight with. You're somebody that I care about... and love."
"Love?"
"Well, not like a romantic love," Balance said quickly. "More like... best friends? Maybe brothers?"
"Brothers?"
"Something like that. I want to get to know you more, Naga. And I'm willing to wait until you're ready."
"I want to learn how to smile."
"Smile?" Balance asked. "You learned how to smile for my birthday."
"I learned how to use my muscles," Naga said. "But I want to learn how to experience happiness, and smile without having to work for it."
"You'll get there, somehow." Balance sat back down, and patted the grass. Naga sat back down, sitting a little closer to Balance than he had been earlier.
"Balance... thank you," Naga said.
"Choriisu!" Balance said, chuckling. He paused. "Hey, uh, this reminds me. You never told me your birthday."
"My birthday?"
"Yeah, you know, the day of the year you were born?"
"My birthday," Naga said again, softly and thoughtfully.
"I know you don't understand the concept of celebrating, really, but I'm sure you know when you were born. All of you Hebitsukians looking alike, you gotta have ways of telling each other apart, right?"
"July... 4th," Naga said.
"July 4th? We passed it already?"
"I thought about telling you, but that's when Stinger was fighting with Scorpio," Naga said. "I didn't want to bring it up."
"That's why you didn't tell me?"
"It didn't seem appropriate."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-one."
"Wow," Balance said. "We have a two hundred and seventy-nine year age difference." Balance stood up again. "We have a problem, Naga."
"A problem?"
"Yeah. We need to celebrate. Your birthday is important."
"Celebrate? But it's October."
"Don't care," Balance said. "You're my best friend, and we're going to celebrate. Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise."
Naga stood up, and Balance took him by the arm. They started running.
Naga was exhausted, but he kept up with Balance, who had eventually stopped in front of an old, run down restaurant.
"Wait here," Balance said, dropping Naga's arm and running inside.
Naga was confused as he waited for Balance. It didn't take long before Balance came back out, carrying a box.
"What is that?" Naga asked.
"You'll see," Balance said. "Follow me."
They headed back towards the warehouse, but they didn't go in. Instead, they ended up next to it. Raptor and Garu had started a fire there earlier, and Balance quickly got the fire going again. There were a couple of blankets left behind, and Balance grabbed one. He finally sat down on the ground, and asked Naga to sit with him.
Naga sat down slowly, sitting close to Balance. Balance wrapped the blanket around him.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes," Naga said. "Thank you."
Balance nodded, and after a moment, handed Naga the box.
"What is this?"
"Just look inside."
Naga slowly opened the box. "Pie?"
"Apple pie," Balance said. "They didn't have any cake. It was the best I could do."
"You didn't have to do this."
"I wanted to," Balance said. "You tried so hard to make my birthday special. And I want to return the favor. I really did miss you, Naga."
"Balance?"
"Yeah?"
"Maybe finding my heart won't be so hard after all."
"Don't force it," Balance said. "It'll find you when you least expect it. Okyuu?"
"Okyuu," Naga said. He looked into the fire, and back at Balance. He smiled at him, and nuzzled close to him. Balance held him tight, just watching him eat, and listening to the sound of the fire. Soon, Balance had looked down, and realized that Naga had fallen fast asleep.
"Happy birthday, Naga," Balance whispered, pulling him in tighter. "You have the most beautiful smile I've ever seen in three hundred years."