Based on prompt 8 of 'Fuzzy and Contradictory'. I hope you enjoy it.

She had known from the start that it would be a long shot, but if she'd been right, then the outcome of that totally outweighed any drawbacks. And so she left them, quietly, and began to build her case.

She'd had every intention to return as soon as possible, but the people she was with now had their own agenda, something thick and murky that muddied their voices as they proclaimed that they could give freedom for them all. Freedom. What lies. Once they had realised that she was friends with Ratio and Birthday, and that they were her reason for coming to them-for she sure as hell didn't believe in their phony crap-they hadn't let her go.

And the irony of all of it was that she had been right. The owner of the Healing Minimum that Birthday needed was here. She had come to the right place. But at the same time, it was the wrong place.

But at least they let her paint. For now. Ratio, Birthday, and painting. Those were the three most important things in the world, to her. And she didn't know if she'd ever see them again, but with the paintings, perhaps she'd be able to leave them something. She knew that they were trying and trying to find her, but she had kept herself away because she'd wanted to come back to them with the answer to Ratio's prayers. She was so stupid, and now she was angry with herself.

She released the anger into the paintings, for if it bottled up inside of her, which would not be good. The colours she used were bright, and they shouted, and so they perfectly matched her mood. Right now, she was using red, filing up the page. Scarlet, blood, rose, crimson. Red, bright red.

She paused for a moment, and then considered the paper. The faces of Birthday and Ratio flashed in her mind, smiling at her. God, she missed them. She picked up her brush again, then moved it across the paper , imagining that she could run along that bright red line without stopping until she finally found her way back to them.

"Light blue, yellow…"

If someone observing her heard her words, they'd look at her page and think she was insane.

…

6 years later

She suddenly found herself craving some sort of food, so she decided to come in from her studio and fix herself a meal. Or grab something from the fridge.

She moved slowly, for there was no need to rush. Most days, she usually had somewhere to go, especially as being a freelance artist meant she had a variety of clients in a variety of places. But these days, she was just doing her work at home. It wasn't as if she minded though. It was Friday, and that meant when Ratio finished up at the GP practise where he worked, they'd go over to Café Nowhere. Most of their circle would be there at any one time, but Friday evenings were the times they all made an effort to be there.

She heard the door open, and turned her head to the sound. A moment later, he appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. Smiling, she left the fridge and went to him. He kissed her briefly, and then stepped back to take a good look at her.

"You're not pushing yourself, I hope?"

She shook her head. He took of his eyepatch and looked at her some more. His eyes travelled down to her stomach, and nodded, satisfied. Then, he put his eyepatch back on.

"Good."

"We're both fine, really." She told him, carefully. He nodded, serious.

"But if something was to happen…"

She smiled at him again. Even now, Ratio worried about her. It touched her, every time. Of course, now he was worrying about two people. Which reminded her.

"Indigo."

"Hmmm?" she pointed, and his face lit up in that quiet way he had.

"That." He said "Is a perfect name."

"Yes, yes it is!"

"Birthday! What are you doing here? And why are you dressed as a burger?!" Ratio startled as Birthday suddenly appeared in the kitchen. Chiyuu giggled.

"They wanted to promote the new line of burgers, but I was the only one who'd volunteer, so they gave me the afternoon off. Now Three wants me to do a magic show at one of the little one's birthday parties, so I should be off to change."

Ratio rolled his eyes.

"So…why are you here?"

"Grey." Chiyuu reminded him.

Birthday held up the spare keys as a confirmation.

"Oh how I regret that." Ratio said. But he made no move to take the keys.

"Okay, whatever. I'm gonna scoot. See ya Nowhere!" Birthday waddled off looking ridiculous. Once he had gone, Ratio turned back to Chiyuu.

"Well, um. The Surgery's kind of quiet today. Do you want to come and sit in with me, until I finish? Then we can go straight to meet Nice and the others."

Chiyuu had done this a few times before, as Ratio's workplace was a small, family-run practise. So she nodded. Then, she remembered something.

"Wait. Multi-coloured."

"Ah, you've finished it? I've still got a while before I need to get back, so I'll take a look." They went upstairs, Chiyuu leading the way (but being careful not to run too fast) to the spare room that they had been converting into a nursery. She had taken it upon herself to paint the walls, and she had finished that morning.

She had covered the walls in an abstract, almost constellation-like pattern, with swirls and star-shaped motifs all over the walls. She had edged various patterns in sparkling paint, and in other areas she had stuck the type of gems found in craft sets. There were many colours on those walls-some of them, shades of red. But not a single area on this wall had a red line across it. And even as Ratio came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her as a way of showing her that he liked what she had done, she knew why.

Because she had found her way back.

You'll notice that Chiyuu seems to be able to say more than just colours. I have a reason for that, and it'll be explained in the next oneshot I write for this fandom. Look out for this.

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