THE CLOCK HAD already struck midnight, but Tsukimi still wasn't home. Akaashi had already climbed into bed and was reading a book as he waited for his lover, although anybody could tell that by the way he was flipping through the pages with unseeing, skimming eyes, he wasn't actually taking in any info.

Finally, once the clock was displaying one on their nightstand, Akaashi decided to call. He'd given Tsukimi the benefit of the doubt that she'd been caught up with some other task, but she was just checking measurements, right?

She'd have texted me if she knew she'd have to stay later, he internally reasoned.

Swiping on his contacts from his screen, he pressed Tsukimi's name, raising the phone to his ears.

The first call rang before reaching voicemail. Then the second one. And the third one. When Hoshiko still didn't answer on the fifth call, Akaashi was slowly beginning to panic.

What's going on? She's not... hurt, is she? his mind was spinning as his usual rational self ran through lists upon lists of possibilities. Swiping down his contacts list, he opted to call his girlfriend's cousin, Sugawara.

It took the new father five rings to answer. "Hello?" his voice was sleepy. "Hey, Suga, it's Akaashi–so sorry to bother you," Akaashi was quick to apologize for the untimely call.

"Nah, you're good," yawned the former setter. "I just changed Haruki's diaper, so I was already up anyway," he assured his friend. "Did you need anything?"

"Yes, actually," Akaashi anxiously turned to look at the clock. "It's about Hoshiko. Did she text you, or anything? She said she'd be going down to the lab to check some measurements for research, but it's been four hours, and she's not replying to any of my calls or anything."

There was a beat of silence on the other side of the call. "Shit, man," breathed out Suga, sounding much more alert after hearing about the news concerning his cousin. "No, she didn't tell me about anything..."

"Shit," cursed Akaashi. If Suga didn't know where she was, then possibly nobody knew where she could be.

"Hey. Maybe try calling her advisor, or something? She was at the lab, right? Maybe he'll know," Suga suggested.

Akaashi perked up at this idea. "Good point. Thanks, I'll call him right now."

"Text me updates, yeah?"

"Of course, Suga. Thanks so much, man."

"No problem. Night!"

Quickly hanging up, Akaashi then dialed the number of his girlfriend's advisor. He was a kind old man that Tsukimi talked about a lot, about how good of a mentor he was to her. He's practically my father, he remembered her saying.

Tanaka Tsukiya answered on the second call. "Hello? Who is this?" his gruff voice crackled over the speakers.

Akaashi was breathless as he replied, "This is Akaashi Keiji, sir. I'm Tsukimi's boyfriend–she said she'd be going to the lab to check some measurements, but it's been four hours and I'm starting to get worried–"

The editor was cut off by an uproarious laugh that forced him to pry the phone away from his ears, with how loud it was. "Oh, you children. Worried about all the silly things."

Akaashi stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. When Tanaka didn't, he continued. "Well–I just wanted to make sure that she was safe. Is she still at the lab?"

"Oh, no, not anymore. She left maybe... thirty or so minutes ago. She should be home at any time now."

The stressed ravenette breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah, I see. That's good to hear. Thank you so much, Dr. Tanaka–I apologize for wasting your time."

"No worries, not at all," replied the seasoned astronomer airily. "Tsukimi is... a very special person that I'm honored to work with."

Akaashi thought the comment was strange, but did not point this out. "She's always talking about you," he offered instead. "She says you're the best mentor and teacher, and she's learned a lot from you."

A low chuckle rumbled from the other side of the call. "That kid. Always rambling and romanticizing everything," Akaashi could imagine the astronomer shaking his head.

Right at that moment, the sound of the door being opened and slammed shut reached their ears. Akaashi heard a quick intake of breath crackling from the other side of the phone. "Sounds like Tsukimi's home. I'll hang up now, I'm sure she's practically bursting to tell you." Without any further explanation of his words, Tanaka hung up, leaving a relieved yet somewhat confused Akaashi holding his phone.

Stepping out of his bedroom, the editor speedily made his way into the living room where his girlfriend was setting (throwing) her things down on the counter. "Hoshiko? Thank God you're finally back, what took you so long–?"

"Keiji!" Tsukimi interrupted her boyfriend as she dashed over, encircling her arms around her lover's neck and kissed him, hard.

Akaashi eventually had to pull away to gain a breath from the unexpected surprise and looked down at his girlfriend, confused, but stopped as he watched her. Her short black hair was in disarray, green eyes sparkled beneath the ceiling lights as they looked up at him, wild with excitement.

What a sight for sore eyes, he thought.

She was breathless, grinning almost maniacally as she uttered the words that would change both their lives:

"Keiji, I just discovered a star!"

. . .

Tsukimi was thanking the good Lord when the weekend had finally come up. She didn't know what she would do if she had to spend a day with the gremlins again while writing up her many reports that were expected from her before she would self-implode.

And so that weekend was spent entirely awake, just barely avoiding sleep with cans upon cans of energy drinks and coffee which Keiji oh-so kindly provided, along with murmurings of love and affection whenever she needed a quick break.

"Please get some rest," he'd begged her, which would then rouse Tsukimi to sit up straighter, wiping the exhaustion from her eyes. "I have to get at least two of these fucking guys done before the weekend ends, 'Kaashi," she mumbled sleepily.

Akaashi would've then sighed in defeat, rubbing her back under her shirt and pressing a quick kiss to her lips before standing up to return to his own side of the study. "Right. Good luck, love, I'm right here if you need me," he would remind her softly. To which Tsukimi would smile endearingly at her boyfriend and whisper, "I know," before she continued her work.

And yet perhaps a weekend of no sleep was a worse idea than Tsukimi estimated it to be. When she appeared back in school, her exhaustion was evident, which frightened her students to a certain extent.

"Are you ok, Ms. Tsukimi?!" Questioned Riko worriedly at lunch. "You look a lot like Daddy right now!!"

"I'm fine, Riko, thank you for your concern. I just had a lot of work to do this past weekend," Tsukimi attempted to put her student to ease as she ruffled her dark brown hair. Turning to the girl's twin brother, she continued to speak: "What about you guys, Riku, Riko? What did you guys do this weekend?"

Riko's eyes positively lit up as she took the narrative. "We went to watch one of Daddy's games!" she exclaimed proudly. "Daddy's team won, of course. And after that, we had a big party with Uncle Atsu, Uncle 'Samu, Uncle Omi, Uncle Kou, Unc–"

"We had fun with our usual uncles," Riku cut in exasperatedly, obviously annoyed with how repetitive his sister was being. "They started playing volleyball, and Riko and I got to play a little." His usually deadpan expression turned into something proud as his little chest puffed forward.

Tsukimi listened on with an attentive ear, watching as the two children spoke in front of her passionately. She'd learned by now that their father was a professional volleyball player–for what team, she didn't know, but it seemed like they had many volleyball connections.

Who're probably all earning ten fucking times my salary, Tsukimi internally groaned.

"Do the two of you want to be volleyball players when you grow up, too?" Asked the teacher, studying the expressions of her two students curiously.

"Yes!" Riko piped up instantly, raising a hand despite not even officially being in class. "I wanna become an ace! Like Uncle Kou!" Her voice was high with enthusiasm as she mimicked the form of spiking a volleyball, pale amber eyes sparkling with delight.

Chuckling lightly, Tsukimi turned to Riku. "What about you, Riku? Do you also wanna be a volleyball player when you grow up?"

To both girls' surprise, the younger twin slowly shook his head no. "Ehh??? Really? Then why do you keep asking Uncle Atsu to teach you volleyball?" asked Riko in confusion. Riku bristled at his sister's remark, glaring pointedly at her as he replied, "Just because I don't wanna go pro like Daddy doesn't mean I don't wanna learn it!"

"Then what do you want to be, Riku?" cut in Tsukimi, genuinely curious about what this quiet, solemn little boy had his eyes on as a career.

Turning to his teacher, Riku lowered his gaze and began to nervously fiddle with his fingers. He mumbled his response under his breath, making his answer completely inaudible to both his teacher and his sister.

"Sorry, what was that?" Tsukimi leaned forward, trying to hear better. "Speak louder, dumb dumb! No one can hear you!" complained his sister in a much more crude fashion.

Riku huffed, glaring daggers at his sister before repeating his answer, red-faced: "I wanna do what you do." Response complete, he looked away with an exhale.

Tsukimi leaned back, surprise decorating her pretty features. "You wanna be a teacher?" she queried, puzzled.

Sighing, Riku shook his head. "No! I wanna be... wanna be an a-astronomer," he corrected his teacher, fiddling nervously with his fingers all the while.

Riko was confused. "Huh? An astro-what?"

"An astronomer," Tsukimi gently rectified her student but looked curiously down at Riku. "How did you know I was an astronomer, Riku?" she asked, pleasantly surprised. Shrugging, the deadpan boy began to spoon some of his lunch into his mouth. "I saw some of your papers on your desk. It was about stars, and Uncle Kou told me once that people who study stars are called astronomers," he explained.

Question answered, Tsukimi sat back and nodded her head in understanding, but Riko pressed on. "Eh? Why would Uncle Kou tell you something about that?" she asked, nose scrunching up in confusion.

Huffing at his sister's persistence, Riku dabbed at his mouth before answering, "Because he said his best friend's girlfriend studies stars, so she's an astronomer."

"Ehh?? He never told me!"

"That's 'cause you never asked!"

Tsukimi laughed at the twin's antics. Wonder who this other girl is, she thought to herself silently. She might go to the same lab.

"Say, Riku. Why'd you wanna be an astronomer?"

Riko had taken up a slightly more serious tone, watching her brother with perked interest. Tsukimi tuned back into the conversation, watching with an intrigued gaze as well.

There was something sad about the way the young boy shrugged his shoulders. "Mama's turned into a star now," he offered quietly. "Maybe I'll see her then."

The atmosphere of the room seemed to totally change. Tsukimi's dark green eyes softened as she looked down at the little boy, now silently eating his food. His twin sister, at the mention of their mother, also turned solemn. She, too, mirrored her brother's actions and began to eat again.

Their teacher watched on with a pitiful gaze. Their mother had died giving birth to them, she knew, so they'd never even gotten to meet their mother.

As she processed Riku's last words, her mind flitted to the star she'd just discovered last week.

She briefly wondered if it just might be the twins' deceased mother.

. . .

It was a quiet night–as quiet as a Tokyo night could be, at least. The twins were finally asleep in their bunk beds, thanks to their father's soothing voice reading them fairy tales, leaving Suna Rintarou alone in a home that felt too small to house the loneliness that impositioned him.

Making sure that the front door to his penthouse apartment was securely locked, the middle blocker made his way to the elevators where he declared his destination to be the first-floor lobby with the click of a button.

Once he'd stepped outside, Suna started on the route that he had gradually familiarized with himself over time. He walked quickly, quietly without disturbing anybody until he reached the hill of the local park where he lay down.

The night was, thankfully, clear for once–allowing Suna to exhale slowly as he was stargazing, observing the sights that were so familiar after years upon years of watching.

The news anchor on the TV that evening had spoken about the discovery of a new star–being the enthusiastic stargazer he was, he'd decided he would take a look for himself.

His eyes flitted back and forth as he identified constellations and planets–and while he did so, he could feel the stress slowly seeping away from his bones. Finally, the pale amber eyes of his which he passed down to both his children rested upon his own star sign: Aquarius. Slowly, his irises traced the path of the stars along his own constellation.

But something indeed felt off–something was different about the constellation that he was born under. Shifting his position so that he was resting on his elbows, the volleyball player stretched his neck up as if the minuscule distance he was closing between himself and the star would help his observations. Where is it..?

Finally, he found it. And when he did, the realization of its position hit Suna like a truck.

Heart pounding, the usually stoic middle blocker could feel his eyes watering as he looked up at the sky, and sweeping emotions of grief, pain, and terrible, aching love overcame him.

Suna Rintarou began to cry–he began to cry for all that he'd lost, all that his children had lost, and all that she'd lost.

Finally, he twisted up to face the merciless night sky again, desperately reaching for the newfound star that had situated itself right in the heart of Aquarius. He opened his mouth and uttered only one word–a name infused with bitter longing, weighted grief, and yet there was relief. She was there. To watch over them from above.

"Ochika!"

A singular thought ran itself through Suna Rintarou's mind then:

Those we love never truly leave us. There are things that death cannot touch.