A/N: Been wanting to write a Tokyo Babylon fic for a while now, but I wasn't too confident in being able to write the characters well. I'm still not sure they came across very in-character – especially being kids in this – but I wanted to write a little thing for Hokuto and Subaru's sibling relationship, regardless. So I chose a reunion scene, from when they were said to have been separated for a year. I tried to keep the details a little vague, since the manga didn't talk about it much, outside of the 'bet' happening.

I hope you enjoy!

…

Subaru kicked his feet anxiously from the back seat of the cab he was currently riding in with his grandmother. It was a cold evening and the boy could only see sparse flashes of the outside, in between the glare of the streetlamps off the chilled mist. He wasn't sure if he was truly anxious, or excited, or both. But it had been a year since Subaru had seen his sister, Hokuto, and he supposed he was feeling apprehensive about their reunion, in some way.

He'd been lonely. A life without Hokuto was something he had never experienced before he'd had to undergo his ceremony of succession, and he wasn't sure whether she had felt the same for all that time. She loved him, but was she as upset about his absence as he had been? Hokuto was always more adaptable than himself, and he didn't know what he'd do if this separation had created any distance between them. Thinking about it made him a little self-conscious.

Subaru jolted out of his thoughts at the feel of his grandmother's hand on his shoulder. "Subaru-san, calm yourself. Stop fidgeting."

He immediately did, leaning back into the seat, instead. His hands rested against his lap, hoping to find a little comfort in the softness of his onmyouji robes, but his new gloves prevented him from feeling it.

"Sorry, grandmother..."

The woman watched him for a good moment before turning her gaze forward again. "Hokuto-chan will surely be happy to see you. You can tell her about your training, and everything you've learned."

Subaru thought about that. Hokuto would definitely be proud of him. Even if she hadn't been as lonely, she would be proud. He smiled before murmuring a quiet agreement.

…

"Subaru!"

His twin was rushing across the yard, nearly tripping over her own robes in her effort to get to him. Subaru's heart swelled upon seeing her, and his own feet were moving well before his brain caught up. Her arms came around him as they collided, her cheek warm as it brushed against his when he hugged her back.

Her voice was muffled by his shoulder as she babbled about how happy she was to see him – how much she'd missed him. Subaru dimly registered the fact that he was going to cry, and in front of his grandmother. But it was a fleeting worry as Hokuto held him closer, as if sensing his emotions. Or maybe he was already crying. He couldn't think straight about anything, and couldn't bring himself to care; his head and stomach a mess of happy relief.

To his immense surprise, it was his sister who broke into tears. Subaru looked at her with wide eyes, glancing around a little helplessly as if to find something that would soothe her. Gently, his hand reached out to pat her on the head. He must have looked quite dejected, too, because Hokuto seemed to make an effort to stop, for him. She pulled back the rest of the way, before rubbing furiously at her cheeks. Then she smiled, putting Subaru's quiet fretting at ease.

"C'mon," she chirped, grabbing his hands, "I want to hear all about how you managed to fare without me! I'm sure you must have had a hard time with only grandmother for company, so your big sister is going to make sure you get all the attention you could ever want!"

Subaru smiled indulgently, allowing himself to be led inside. He was a little surprised that the elderly woman behind him hadn't rushed them in from the cold, but looking back at her, she seemed to lost in thought while she studied their joined hands. He couldn't tell if she was looking at his hand, Hokuto's, or both, but soon the moment was gone and she was following the two children into the house.

Dinner was quite the affair, with Hokuto talking to him a mile a minute and Subaru being unsure whether to reply or not when their grandmother kept telling his twin to hush and behave at the table. Usually she listened for the most part, but tonight was an exception, and Subaru actually felt a small swell of elation that she would risk the wrath of the former Sumeragi head just to make him feel at home with her, again.

"And then the cat left. I think she lives around here, but oh – I'm sure you would have loved her! She was that pretty cream color you like, and I hope she comes back so you can play with her. You always like playing with animals, so I know-..."

The inevitable interruption of her chatter came. "Hokuto-chan!" the angry woman scolded, voice much more commanding and holding a tone of warning, this time.

Hokuto only huffed in resignation before quieting down and going back to her food. Subaru tried to hide his smile as he fiddled with his chopsticks between bites.

…

Evening fell gently over the park. The temperature had risen from yesterday, but the playground was still relatively empty. Only a few families dotted the area, talking and watching their children play. It was peaceful, and Subaru listened calmly to his sister talking beside him. Their joined hands swung merrily between them, and Hokuto suddenly looked at his, as if just noticing that she was only feeling fabric. Sometimes it still startled him how quickly her mind could change subjects when she was in one of her moods.

"What's with the gloves, anyway? You finally got to change out of your robes, but you left those on. I've never seen you wear them, before, either." Hokuto let go of his hand to hop up onto the thick cement lip of the park fountain, splaying her arms out to keep her balance.

Nervous because she wasn't supposed to be doing that, he reached for her sleeve, hoping to dissuade her. If she knew that's what he was doing, then she ignored it completely, merely re-gripping his hand with a pleased smile.

The boy knew she wasn't in the mood to get down just because he wanted her to, so he only fiddled with his free fingers, letting the fabric of the gloves shift and slide under his ministrations.

"Grandmother told me not to take them off, no matter what," he answered. He felt bad leaving out what he'd seen in the former Sumeragi head's face at the time; that she'd specified that he was forbidden to show his bare hands to anyone – even Hokuto. He didn't want to make her worry.

Hokuto abruptly stopped, and Subaru was a little startled when the hand holding his started tightening against him. "Did something happen?" she demanded. "Something bad?"

Realizing he had worried her anyway, but unable to find a suitable answer to assuage that, the boy fidgeted a little. "I don't know. I think it's probably something to do with protection. Maybe grandmother wanted to ward off spirits and grudges." It was vague, he knew, but he didn't really know very much, himself. But he had taken the elderly woman's words to heart, and he trusted her judgment. He only hoped Hokuto wouldn't ask him to take them off. She wasn't really what he would call forceful, but she could be very hard to say no to, when she set her mind to something.

His twin pursed her lips a little and looked at the gloves for a long few seconds. Suddenly the disturbed expression was hidden behind a smile. It seemed a little off, but genuine enough. "I see. That's okay, then."

Subaru thought it a little strange that she let it go so easily, considering how she wasn't as reserved and accepting as he was of these things. However he could still read the fact that something about it was affecting her, and opened his mouth to reassure her, again.

He was abruptly interrupted when Hokuto jumped down from the fountain, and excitedly tugged on his hand. "Oooh, let's go to the swings! Those are your favorite, right? Your perfect and beloved sister will push you just the way you like it!" The statement was punctuated by her signature chortle, and Subaru let himself be pulled along as the girl flounced over to the equipment in question.

Sitting in the swing was surprisingly strange after only one year. He used to come to this park a lot with his sister, but his succession training had been too intensive to allow for such simple pleasures. It made him a bit self-conscious.

"Um... Hokuto-chan, maybe someone else wants this swing. I mean, I don't really need-..."

"Out of the question! You need to live a little after being cooped up with grandmother for a year! I bet she barely let you have any fun."

With that statement, Subaru felt his sister's hands press softly against his back. There was a second of pressure, before it was gone and all the boy felt was a sweet rush of air and weightlessness. It made his heart leap, before settling into an excited thumping that he relished. The wind tickled his hair, and he realized that Hokuto was right – this had never felt more heavenly.

He giggled as his return to earth was accompanied by the return of warm hands. His sister's confident but soothing presence was washing away the stress that he hadn't even realized had built up so tightly, and he could practically feel the satisfaction exuding from her.

"Higher, now?" she asked, and he could swear by her accuracy of his feelings that she had some mental counter for how he liked his buildup. Turning his head towards her a bit, Subaru nodded, before he was sent towards the evening sky, again. His toes curled a little from the thrilling shift in equilibrium, and he willed the sensation to stay.

After a few minutes of this, Subaru had completely forgotten that he'd been lonely for so long; that he had endured a hard year of severe training and discipline. Hokuto was here with him again, and he could savor this feeling of freedom brought on by even such a simple activity as playing on the swings.

But after countless descents, Hokuto's pushes grew more languid and her catches grew slower. Wondering if her arms were getting tired, Subaru craned his head to look at her again, only to find her seemingly in thought.

"Hokuto-chan?"

The sound of his voice seemed to snap her out of it, and she began pushing regularly again, though she still kept him from going too high so that she could speak to him.

"Subaru..." she started, "I don't want to be separated from you ever again... So I promise to always make sure nothing happens, okay?"

That confused him. "Why would anything happen to separate us, again?"

"I don't know," she answered simply.

Hokuto hadn't properly looked him in the eye since starting this conversation, and it was starting to scare him a little. Subaru angled his toes, letting them drag in the sand below him to stop the swing and look at her properly. Finally his twin looked up, dark green eyes returning the gaze of his own. The silence stretched between them and tied Subaru's stomach back into knots.

Suddenly, with as little warning as he should have expected from her, Hokuto burst back into her usual energy. The shimmering eyes and bright smile were his only warning before she launched forward to grab him into a hug. "But it's all right," she said with happy conviction, "Your one and only fabulous big sister is going to look out for you!"

With that, the girl pulled him in closer to plant a somewhat messy kiss on his cheek, nuzzling her forehead into his until Subaru couldn't help but beam back. She smelled like vanilla and a hint of cinnamon – clean and lively, and it always comforted him. He hugged her back.

"Thank you," he said, squeezing lightly.

"I love you, Subaru."

"I love you, too, Hokuto-chan."

…

A/N: I feel like this came out really boring and I was testing the waters too much, without jumping in at all. I really don't think I should have written from Subaru's point of view, since I don't feel I captured him very well and didn't know how to make his more reserved nature interesting in this scenario. But oh well... I hope it was at least somewhat enjoyable, though, and that my rustiness didn't rear its ugly head too badly.

Thank you so much for reading!