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It wasn't very often that Kanade woke up in the middle of the night, but it was seeming to be that tonight would be one of those nights. They awoke with a jolt, arms wrapped around nothing and the cover halfway up their face. At least that hadn't changed. Their eyes were bleary as their hands unfurled from their blanket cocoon, coming up to rub the little crusties from their eyes.
There was no light in their room (Mafuyu had forced them to go to sleep earlier than normal and turn their PC off) apart from from what was coming out from the open do- Wait. Why was the bedroom door open? Furthermore, where was Mafuyu? She had fallen asleep next to them, as the two had settled on three days after Mafuyu had ran away from home, drenched and shivering from the cold, rainy night air.
That was the first time in three years that Kanade had gotten ill.
Kanade found themselves getting up from the bed on weak legs, leaving both their blue track jacket and purple vest down the end of the bed. They were left in only their black sports bra and shorts, which they'd completely forgotten they'd wore only those to sleep, the night being far warmer than the others for some reason. As they stepped out, the hallway light was blaring into their eyes, having to rub them again to adjust to the new lighting, not that it would matter as they would just end up dimming the lights anyway. The bathroom door was slightly ajar, something that was easy to spot as a difference when everything in your house was mostly untouched.
A sob. It was quiet, broken.
And if Mafuyu wasn't in bed with them, then...
Kanade opened the door to see the girl hunched over the sink slightly, a lock of her long purple hair in her hand, a pair of scissors in the other, dangerously close to cutting it off. The scissors were probably the same ones that Kanade's own mother used to cut their hair when they were a child, but their memories were hazy and they had to focus on the present now. Mafuyu's hair was in the sink, it was shorter and choppy around the sides, but longer at the back. She obviously wasn't too confident in cutting the back lest she mess it up.
"Kan..ade?" A choked sob. It was painful to watch Mafuyu like this, red faced and sobbing as the scissors went through her hair.
Snip. Snip.
The once long strip of hair fell into the sink, Mafuyu sniffling as the scissors were placed to the side of the sink, a quiet clatter as the metal met the porcelain bowl. She was teary-eyed as she stared at Kanade, looking like she hadn't slept for the entire night, even after the smaller girl had fallen asleep. It wasn't a pretty sight, and it wasn't a sight that Kanade wanted to see from Mafuyu. It took only for Kanade to open their arms for Mafuyu for her to melt into their embrace, bawling into their shoulder, nails digging into Kanade's bare back.
---
"I don't know... I don't know it..." Mafuyu mumbled into Kanade's shoulder with a slight hitch still in her voice, but the tears from before nearly gone. "I don't think I'm a girl, Kanade."
It was a sudden revelation that Mafuyu had while laying awake, the grasp of sleeping slipping from her... him? Mafuyu couldn't sleep, so decided to recklessly, impulsively come to the bathroom to have an unplanned breakdown haircut. It wasn't like Mafuyu knew what he was doing, either. It was a mindless decision, really, not knowing what he was really doing with himself until Kanade walked in on him.
"That's okay. You don't.. You don't need to know. It's fine not to know, Mafuyu." Their back was scratched and itching, but Kanade could put that in the past for now. They couldn't worry about that yet, not when their angel was in their arms, previously sobbing his eyes out. He had nails like talons that caused them such harm, but pain was the price for love.
Kanade made a mental note to ask Mizuki or Ena for an impromptu makeover session to touch up Mafuyu's hair and to file his nails down at the earliest possible convenience.
It was then that Kanade noticed Mafuyu's hair again. It was short at the sides, down to around his jaw. The front stayed the same, it was short enough for him to not care, probably, and the back was still long.
"Do you want me.. to help cut the back, Mafuyu?" A hand ran through his hair, pulling out and loose strands of hair and shake them into the sink. A nod followed.
---
After wetting Mafuyu's hair and combing through it, Kanade sat at the edge of their bathtub, Mafuyu inside it, his back facing Kanade. They had the scissors that he was using in one hand, holding strips of hair in the other. It was almost therapeutic for the two of them, in silence like this. The quiet snipping of the scissors soon filled the empty air as Mafuyu's hair soon began being cut, Kanade humming a familiar melody under their breath.
Kanade knew the bare-bones of taking care of hair, knowing little to nothing about cutting it. Luckily, Ena had rambled one night about a "shitty hairdresser" that she had encountered and raved about the proper techniques to wetting and cutting hair. They cut Mafuyu's hair at an angle, snipping away slowly and making sure it looked alright by combing through it occasionally.
To say that Mafuyu's hair was a mess would be an understatement, but it was cut now, and there was no turning back from it. It was far shorter than the purple cascade that it was hours ago, but it was a weight lifted from the poor boy's shoulders. Metaphorically and physically.
"I'm done." Was all that Kanade said as they put the scissors down on the hamper basket lid, getting up and stretching their legs slightly. A chaste kiss to the top of Mafuyu's head and a quick ruffle of his hair before letting him get up from the bath, washing away the hair from the tub. Meanwhile, Mafuyu looked in the mirror, turning his head around to look at the finished product. It was uneven, shaggy, it was everything his mother would hate. It was absolutely perfect, to him, anyway.
"Thank you. It looks.. Nice. I think I like it." A gentle smile graced his face as he looked at himself properly. He played with it, his hands moving up to play with the choppy ends. Kanade stood behind him the entire time, admiring their... Below average handiwork.
---
The two slept through the night carelessly. Mafuyu didn't appear at school the next day. It was the first day that he hadn't gone to school since he was 7 or 8.