These are the Moments . . .

Ja ne, Kat

Okay, this is currently a ONE-SHOT because I have no clue what else to do. So please do not ask me for a second chapter. I have no clue when or IF one will ever be up but the idea for this hit me hard after watching the last episode and it wouldn't get out of my head. And since it was keeping me from writing anything ELSE ( like the two Labyrinth stories that I should have been updating, or even the Dragon Age 2 one) I finally had to cave and write it out . . . And it sat there glaring up at me till I typed it out.

Kazuma maybe a little OOC in this chapter . . . Cause he's sick, and I've never met anyone who runs at 100% when you're a sick as he is.(And I'm a nurse, I am in a position to know such things to be true.) Ayano's tiny bit of OOC-ness is caused by something else entirely.

So here we go and as far as I understand it they are SECOND cousins. Which makes it perfectly okay for them to get married in almost any country. I have to say . . . I like them as a couple, they just flat out balance the other. Kinda like Doumeki and Watanuki.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

It had taken her a few days after the celebration party to notice it after the Belial incident but when she finally did, it felt like she was surrounded by an invisible cocoon. One that she couldn't see but could feel if she concentrated on it like she would to find a Yoma. She had panicked over if the first day thinking that it was something that their enemies had done to her, but that was only until she noticed that the point of origin for the magic seemed to come from her neck. At first that had made no sense to her since the only person who had been near her neck had been that lazy pervert Kazuma . . .

The realization had hit her hard in the middle of class, which had not impressed her teacher when she'd flipped over her school desk shouting about the nerve of arrogant perverts! Which brought her back to where she was now, walking down the road to the building he was staying in late after detention.

"Stupid Kazuma." She muttered under her breath, she'd been going over to his place everyday after school so far and hadn't even been able to see the Contractor let alone get any answers from him. Their best guess was that he'd used up so much of his powers not only sealing Belial but keeping them from being injured in the fall out that he had made himself sick. Because instead of passing out and letting his body recharge like he should have, the idiot had forced himself to stand before his enemies, (Which for Kazuma also included his father.) acting as if the whole thing was no big deal.

In fact the only time she had seen him in the resulting days had been the day after when he'd pushed her into the pond. He had seemed alright when she had been chasing him around the yard, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that he had run from her blasts rather then deflecting them as he normally did.

Almost without her noticing, her hand moved to cover the spot where the once steady power now flickered under her palm. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling, it was more like she was permanently wrapped up in his arms, the thought causing a blush the spread over her face. Taking a breath to help dispel the feeling she realized that she had arrived at the hotel.

"They're just going to send you away again." She muttered as she pushed the door open. She really hoped not though. She had been avoiding her father lately because he would be able to feel the barrier too, and she didn't have an answer to give him when he started asking his nosey questions.

"Good evening. I was wondering if Mr. Yagami is taking visitors yet?"

The same young blonde woman had been manning the counter every time Ayano had come. Instead of giving the her a sad smile, this time she looked around before turning to the teenager.

"No, I'm sorry he's not, but if you can seem scary enough I may be persuaded to call the elevator for you anyway. We haven't heard a peep out of his room in days and the employee's are growing concerned."

Ayano blinked at the older woman for a few seconds before summoning up Enraiha and leveling it at her.

"I am going to go up there and drag his lazy butt outta bed . . . It there a problem?"

A small smile before the girl fixed a horrified look on her face.

"N. . . no ma'am. Please go right up."

If he was just resting to recharge he was going to be pissed at her, but really he could have a least called to warn them he was going to be out commission for a few days, rather then leaving them to clean up the left over transformed Yoma by themselves. Though most of her injuries weren't as bad as they should have been, she had a couple of fantastic looking bruises on her arms and legs, her stomach had been tender for days, breathing too deeply hurt, and she had a pretty impressive gash along the right side of her face.

Taking a deep breath to help keep hold of her temper she used the key he'd given her to unlock his door, only to have it blown out of her hand by the windstorm dancing through the suite. A soft gasp before she dashed inside and slammed the door closed behind her, before heading, with some difficulty, through the blustery suite to the only room she'd never been in before.

Sure enough opening the door to his bedroom showed a trembling body on the bed, covers in a crumpled heap near the door.

"Kazuma." She called softly, not want to startle the Contractor. No answer met her soft inquiry and so she slowly edged around to the other side of his bed to get a good look at his face, trying hard not to notice that he was wearing nothing but his boxers. His face was tight with pain and his breathing was irregular due to the shivering he was doing.

Truly worried now, she knelt beside the bed and framed his face with her hands, trying to ease him into waking up and trying not to panic over how warm his skin felt even to her.

"Kazuma?" she called again, a little louder this time. His face tightened in pain but his hands came up slowly to hold hers in place, before his eyes finally slipped open, glassy and fever bright.

"Aya-" her name was broken off by more shivering, before he managed to raise his eyes up to hers. "I'm cold. I never used to be cold . . ." He trailed off and she nodded slowly to show that she understood. Back when he'd been a Kannagi, his internal fire would have kept him warm.

"I know. I'll help with that in a second but first you have to get control of your powers okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Kay." He whispered up to her softly, letting his eyes drift closed again, but before she could shake him, she felt the wind in the apartment slowly, far too slowly for Ayano's comfort, die down. Only when it had finally come to a complete halt did his eyes slide halfway open again to stare at her.

"Thank you." She told him, making sure to keep her voice soft and even. "Now hold on a second and I'll grab you some blankets."

"Alright."

Ayano went into the guest room to collect the extra blanket from in there and before bending down and grabbing his from off the floor. She held them as close to her as she could before spiking her body temperature so they would be warm when she settled them around him. As she did she noticed for the first time the scars that decorated his body. No wonder he always wore jeans and a jacket, although she didn't remember having seen them when they were at the Onsen.

He watched her blankly through half open eyes the whole time and by the time she'd gotten both blankets secured around him, his shivering had lessened enough that his breathing was closer to normal.

"Okay, I'll be right back. I'm just going to call cousin Genma and -"

He shot out his hand faster then she would have thought possible and dragged her to kneel on the bed by her wrist.

"Ouch! Kazuma! Your hurting me." She told him sternly, trying to tug her now aching wrist out of his grasp. He simply tightened his hold on it till she felt the bones shriek in protest and she was afraid for a moment that he might break it.

"No." He told her simply in a dark voice that she had never wanted to hear again, and caused her eyes to jump from her wrist to his face to make sure his own weren't that glowing, haunting red again. "No, I don't want him near me. I don't trust him, or any of those other bastards, not to make it worse."

Other bastards. He was talking about her family. No . . . really, he was talking about their family. He didn't, couldn't trust his own family not to hurt him more while he was already so sick.

"Aya?" He called out to her softly, snapping her back to the room she was in and she realized with a start that she was crying, weeping for the young boy she had unknowingly destroyed. She gave another little tug now that she had his attention.

"Please, let go . . . Your hurting my wrist." she told him in a voice filled with tears.. He left go of her so fast one would have thought that she had let her inner fire cover her body. His release of her didn't help her though, her wrist still twinged in pain and she knew there would be a perfect imprint where his hand had been when she woke up in the morning. "Okay, Kazuma, I won't call him then, but I'm still going to need medicine and other things, so how about I call Ren and he can drop them off for us? I won't let anyone else into your apartment, okay?"

He nodded before his body gave out and he collapsed back on the bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow. If he was too sick to keep his magic contained, she couldn't risk taking him to the hospital. A wind storm there could get someone else seriously hurt. So, she called Ren and gave him a list of things she needed and told him to get them over the Kazuma's ASAP, before hanging up and seeing what was in the apartment that she could use to help him before they got there.

Heading to the bathroom a few minutes later she filled a bowl she had found in the kitchen with cold water and the ice she'd found in the freezer before grabbing the face cloth and heading back into his room, setting the bowl down on the bedside table and the now cold cloth on to his forehead.

An hour later there came a knock on the door and so , she left her space beside him and went to check who was there. To her surprise Genma stood beside Ren, holding her travel case.

"So the idiots gone beyond his limits has he? Well, fine then, let's see what he's done to himself."

And with those caustic words he tried to enter past her. As he did her mind flashed back to scar covered skin and dark desperate eyes and she'd summoned Enraiha pointing it at him before she could think better of it.

"Your presence is not required." She told him calmly as she shifted so the Ren could squeeze past her and drag the bags he had in. "He doesn't want you near him and doesn't trust you not to cause him more harm." She watched with a certain sense of detachment as the look of pain flashed across the older man features, before Ren opened his mouth.

"Why would you say something so mean, Ayano? He only wanted to help."

She hadn't taken her eyes off her opponent. Even if he had not personally been the cause of those marks, his abandonment of his son surely had, so that pain could still be laid at his feet.

"I said it because it's true." she told them both coldly before grabbing her bag and slamming the door in his face.

"Ayano!" Ren yelled.

"Shhh, he really is sick, so keep your voice down. I promised him not to let anyone but you in. If we ignore his wishes when he's this sick do you think we'll ever be able to earn his trust back again? This room was FULL of wind magic when I got here, so he can't be taken to the hospital, he's going to need to trust someone to help him get better."

Ren took a deep breath but finally nodded.

"Your father had the maids pack up your clothes and toiletries for you for the next three days. He also had the kitchen make up two different kinds of soup broth for us to reheat. He thought that we might get more food in him if we alternated the tastes. There's also a box of lemon tea, a jar of honey and of course the Tylenol and Nyquil you asked for."

"Thanks Ren."

"I just brought the stuff Ayano, you father thought of all the rest. He also said to tell you he'd have your friend Yukari deliver your school work to the house tomorrow. I am being made to go to school tomorrow but I'll be back after my Friday evening club ends."

"Sounds like a good plan. Now you had better get going, because I bet your dad's still out there waiting for you. I'm going to set up in the second suite and I promise I'll take good care of your brother Ren, don't worry so much."

The younger boy only nodded sadly and left, so Ayano got started putting away the food stuffs from the bags and medicine in places so she would know where they were, before heading to the guest room and setting her stuff in there. All that done, she took off her school uniform and put on her favourite set of pale pink P.J's, then went back to check on her charge.

He was shivering again and both of the blankets in the apartment were already covering him and her earlier search had not yielded a hot water bottle or a heat pad, though the girl at the front desk was trying to find one for them. For the moment though she only saw one option, so she shook him gently till his eyes opened.

"Ayano?"

"Slide over." She told him.

"Why?"

"So I can act as a hot water bottle." She snapped. He just stared at her blankly for a minute so she softened her tone and tried again. "I can warm the blankets up for you."

He just nodded and finally slid to the other side of the bed farthest from her. She took one more deep breath to help her keep her cool. This was not how she had wanted to spend her first time in bed with a boy, but his health meant more to her then her modesty and her romantic ideas, so she lifted the corner and slid in as close to the edge as possible without falling out, raising her internal temperature again as she did so. A few minutes later she felt the mattress shift as he moved to lay on his side next to her, maybe only an inch separating their bodies, staring down at her.

"Hey! Kazuma-!" she started to whisper harshly when he cut off her protests by sliding his arms around her. One under her head and the other over top of her waist as he dragged her tight against his body, causing her to flush scarlet as she sucked in a breath.

"Warm." He breathed softly into her hair, his breathing already matching it's self to hers as his arms tightened around her.

"You are so lucky that your sick, pervert, or I would be forced to kill you." she muttered.

"Shh, sleep now Ayano. Yell at me later, k?" He told her before dropping back into sleep.

"Like that's even remotely possible." She complained under her breath, but to her surprise she found that it was. After few minutes, her body relaxed into the warmth and comfort of his arms of it's own accord. One thing was for sure, the barrier had nothing on really being wrapped up in his arms.

It was warm for starters and far more comfortable then she would ever have imagined or admit to. The barrier also didn't have a steady and reassuring heart that beat under her ear or it's own smell. To her he always smelt the same way the breeze did after a thunderstorm blew out, fresh and mysterious. She felt safe and cared for just laying there, like finally coming home on a cold winter night. Ya, she thought sleepily before following his example, he feels just like coming home.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

A small sound woke him and his first thought was that it had been years since he'd felt this warm. When the soft pained sound came again he let his eyes slide open slowly and was greeted with unending red. Long red hair splayed over his pillows like a living blanket and his eyes followed all that hair to it's owner. Ayano, fit so snugly into his side he wasn't sure he could magic air between them. Her head tucked under his chin and her face buried in his neck. His hands were keeping the living flame he was holding securely in place. His free hand at the small of her back just above the band of her pyjama bottoms. The hand she was laying on tangled in the warm silk of her hair at the base of her skull. He took a full minute just to brand the image of her laying content in his arms into his memory. Then her arm tried to move and she made the small whimper again.

"Ayano?" He called out loud. She didn't move so he used his hands to shake her. Not his best idea as every muscle in his body screamed in pain at the action but it was worth the effort as her eyes finally opened. Seeing him though had her attempting to jerk back out of his hold.

"Kazu- ouch!" she exclaimed as the hand he had in her hair had tightened in protest at her movement. The pain seemed to help her pull her thoughts together though as she took a deep breath and tried again. "If you're feeling better then you had better remove your pervert hands from my person before I do it for you!" She growled up at him.

Did she really think he was going to let her off that easily?

"Now tell me, why would I do that? You seemed pretty comfortable where you were before I woke you up." He told her leaning the few inches between them to drop a kiss onto her forehead, forcing himself relax his hold on her as he did so that she could escape if she wanted.

"Why you-" Her exclamation was cut off as she jerked away from him and fell off the bed. Her landing wiped the smirk that had been on his face right off as two things happened at once. The first being that he got a good look at the other side of her face and the second when she grabbed her wrist as tears sprang to her eyes.

"Ah!" A soft gasp of pain before she managed to pull herself painfully to her feet, moving stiffly to avoid stretching bruised muscles before they were ready. "I'll be right back. You stay there and get some more rest."

He wanted to demand to know how she had gotten hurt right then but filed the information away for later as she slipped out the door and he closed his eyes so he could follow her around the apartment by sound.

XOXOXOXOX

After a quick stop in the other bathroom, Ayano dragged her sore body into the kitchen. She set the kettle on to boil, put some of the soup broth in the microwave to heat up and found the fixings to make herself a PB&J. She found a tray under the sink and placed both sets of meals and 2 teas on it with some Tylenol before heading back into Kazuma's room. He started to reach for her sandwich but she smacked his hand.

"Idiot! That's mine. The soup is for you. Clear liquids for empty stomachs otherwise you are going to be puking on top of your fever." she told him sternly as she handed him the soup and the tea she had fixed for him along with two of the four Tylenol she had brought.

"Is that all your eating?" The question sounded as incredulous as he looked, and so reminding herself he was sick, fought down her rush of temper.

"I'm not a breakfast person."

He only nodded at the simple explanation and they ate in strangely comfortable silence with no death threats issued and no smug remarks. When they had both finished and she watched to make sure he had taken the pills she brought, she restacked the tray with the dirty dishes.

"Now get some more sleep." She ordered him before heading toward the door.

"And what will you be doing?"

That dark tone had yet again crept into his voice, but reminding herself she wasn't scared of perverts like him, she squared her shoulders and turned to level her own glare at him.

"Not that it's any of your business, but the windstorm you caused in here knocked the pictures off the walls. I'm going to be cleaning up the glass off the floor before you or Ren, who should be here in a few hours, hurts yourselves on it."

Her piece said she spun on heel and swept out the door aware that his eyes followed her every movement till she closed the door on him.

XOXOXOXOX

She was still tidying up things that had been blow over an hour later, when she noticed a small tugging. The wind barrier she was wrapped in was getting pulled to it's point of origin.

Well it works just a well as yelling for me I guess. She thought as she headed back to the bedroom to see what was wrong. Opening the door gave her the answer, as the man under her care was going into convulsions on his bed. Running over she placed her hand on his head to see if his temperature had gone back up, and got an instant reaction. The barrier stopped tugging at her and Kazuma settled and lay still. Surprised she jerked her hand back and just stared at him in shock for a few minutes, when she noticed he was starting to shiver again and it was getting worse as she stood there staring. So, to test the theory she was starting to get, she framed his face with her hands again as she had done last night. Once more as soon as her skin touched his, his body settled.

"You stupid jerk!" she whispered harshly. "If the barrier is making you sick take it back, I will get stronger I promise, there's no need for all this." She was not really expecting an answer and was quite surprised when his hands yet again snapped up to hold hers in place and his eyes opened to glare at her.

"How did you get injured, Ayano?" He asked, letting go of her uninjured wrist and letting that hand drift up to trace her injured cheek.

"Yoma . . . Ren. You know the usual."

He gave her a look that not only demanded a better answer, but let her know clearly that he was unimpressed with the one she had given, and gave her injured wrist a soft tug. Following the silent command she slipped into bed with him again trying to keep her blush under control and letting her body rest against his, giving an unconscious sigh of contentment as she did so. With a smile at the teenager, he once again wrapped his arms around her and let his hand run threw her hair feeling her relax before he repeated the question.

"How did you get injured Ayano?"

This time the sigh that escaped was annoyed and he could feel her roll her eyes at him.

"We couldn't get a hold of you but there were still some transformed Pandemonium Yoma to clean up. So Katharine, Ren and I have been doing it. They come in groups of mostly three or four and the first time Ren asked if I would distract them while he tried to save them with his purifying fire, since he's also gotten stronger helping us out. So I agreed to act as his decoy. Out of the 18 we've fought he's managed to save 2, I thought that was worth the little pain I received."

He took a moment to consider her answer. That meant that the Barrier was doing its job, because all things considered she should probably have be more hurt then she was. In fact it made sense for all but one thing.

"And how did your wrist get hurt? Its not a minor anything, in fact it is close to being sprained." And whatever had done it was going to pay dearly, he thought as her eyes flew up to his for a second before she buried her face in the blankets.

"None of your business!" she snapped and it had his own temper raising along with a growl in the back of his throat as he rolled so she was now pinned under his body. He waited her out as she struggled to get out from beneath him and called him ten types of pervert, making sure to hold her injured wrist straight so it wouldn't get more hurt.

"GET OFFA ME YOU, PERVERT! SEE IF I EVER HELP YOU AGAIN! TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A YOUNG MAIDEN LIKE THIS, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!"

An impressive 10 minutes later, found her finally spent and panting, still pinned beneath him, her chest heaving as she sucked in air. The visual was certainly not helping him disprove her accusations of perverseness. Though he was being careful to keep her from becoming aware of the effect she was having on him. He dropped his forehead against hers, as he fought to get his body back under control.

"Idiot. Do you really think so little of me that you believe I would force your compliance?" He wasn't feeling well enough yet to inject his usual cockiness, so he settled for blank.

She blinked up at him a few time as the hurt in the under tones of the question hit her, though the face leaning against hers was carefully neutral.

"To get your answer? Obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. For . . . Perverted things? No. Why would you want to bother with a kid like me when you could have someone experienced like Detective Tachibana."

A familiar smirk finally, before he took her wrist and held it between their bodies.

"Jealous are we, little girl?" He waited a few seconds while she spluttered denials beneath him. "I wouldn't worry about the detective if I were you, unlike some people I frighten her. Now, how did you get hurt, Ayano?"

She wasn't going to give in that easy. She didn't take his orders and wasn't about to start now and because she really wasn't afraid of him she just glared right back up at him.

"How about I trade you. I'll tell you how my wrist got hurt and you can tell me about this barrier I seem to be wrapped in." she made sure to hold his gaze. "I don't think you're feeling well enough the try and keep me here all day and besides . . . Ren will be here soon."

Which was a little to close to the truth for Kazuma's liking but he found that he wanted to grin at her stubbornness. Oh yes, he had chosen well.

"Fine, but you can go first, since you set the terms." he finally relented rolling back onto the bed and fitting her stiff body back along his.

"You can let me go you know!" She complained sternly even as her body shifted to get comfortable.

"I could but this is a good way to keep you from bolting from the conversation when it gets to hard for little girls like you."

"I do not do that! I-" He cut her rant off by placing a finger over her mouth.

"Just stop stalling already, and tell me whatever it is that you think is so bad, Ayano."

Her eyes instantly lowered to the covers again and her body tensed in his arms.

"You did." She told him softly. When he gave no response she clenched her eyes shut and stammered on as though she thought he wouldn't believe her. "Last night after I finally got you covered up, I said I was going to call cousin Genma and you grabbed my wrist to stop me and didn't let go until I said I was only going to let Ren in. I mean-" She shrugged and trailed off uselessly.

He was the bastard that had hurt her. He sucked at protecting things, he really did. Not only was he the cause of her pain but he'd forced her to come and smack some sense in to him. He raised her wrist again to get a closer look at it. It was turning a lovely blue and purple colour at this point and he could count the impression of each of his fingers and placing his hand over it found it to be a perfect fit.

"It's not that big a deal Kazuma. Geez you were really sick so don't worry about it. More importantly why am I covered in an air bubble?"

He sighed at her question and shifted his grip so that he was now cradling her injured wrist between both palms.

"Don't move." He told her before closing his eyes so he could better concentrate on want he was going to be doing.

.

Oh healing winds, I invoke the Contract to ask for your aid and power to undo the wrong wrought on this body I claim as my own.

.

She gasped as he started to glow blue and a warm wind started to swirl inside her body, giving her internal fire a sharp boost, but before she could panic and lose control of it, he started talking and she forced herself to concentrate on the flow of his voice and his words instead.

"It works as a minor version of my own wind barrier and it lets me know where you are at all times if I need to. Concentrating on it also lets me hear what's going on around you. I figured that if you're going to be my partner, you're would need all the advantages you can get. Its not an easy thing to be a Contractor's back-up."

"Hey! I can take care of myself you know! I don't need you to be making yourself sick trying to protect me when I didn't ask you to."

He smiled a little at the worry and indignation in her voice, letting his now blue eyes, open to look at her.

"Making and maintaining the Barrier isn't what made me sick, at least not all on it's own. It was more a combination of a couple of things. Don't worry about me, I should be fine in a couple of days."

Saying so, he let her now healed wrist go and moved one of his still glowing hands to her injured face and the other to her stomach, healing the damage done from the blows she'd taken there.

"Still Kazuma, I want you to be able to trust me enough to take care of myself. We agreed we're partners didn't we? That means you shouldn't have to protect me, that I should be strong enough to stand beside you on my own power."

The words bothered him and he lowered his hands, as he let go of the magic and the Contract link, before turning his attention back to her. Her face flushed, amber eyes dulled of doubt and shame.

"Since I leave you to fight alone on the battlefield, I would have to say that I trust you plenty to take care of yourself, even though there are times when you prove me wrong, like against the wind clan or when we fought the dragon. As far as power goes . . . Well you had enough to help fight the embodiment of Mt. Fuji and help seal Belial. You also managed to hold your own against both Katharine and Lapis. More importantly though, you had not only the power but the skill to knock some sense back into a Contractor. Right now the Barrier is mostly there, so that if I have to I can find you where ever our enemies try to hide you."

"Right now?"

He sighed at his own poor word choice. His sickness and her warmth and presence were lulling him into a sense of contentment.

"There's a little more to it then that, but do me one favour and ask me again when you turn 18."

"I'm turning 17 soon . . . You want me to wait for a whole year?"

"Yes. Now, let me get some more sleep before Ren gets here okay?" He felt her nod against his shoulder before she tried to slip out of his hold. His arms tightened around her preventing her movements. "Where do you think your going?" He asked fitting her back against his side where he knew she belonged, letting his hand yet again find it's way into her hair.

"Leaving so that you can get some sleep." She told him, trying to loosen his hold on her so that she could slip out of his reach.

"Don't bother. The magic searches for you if your not here."

He felt her tense for a moment before she forced her self to relax.

"Is that the tugging I felt earlier?"

"Hmm." he said by way of answer, already mostly asleep. "And the cause of the wind storm when you got here."

Which left her feeling pleased with herself for the praise she had received, but with more questions then answers. Would the tugging let her find him if they somehow managed to get a hold of him? Would the storm have kept spreading out into the city if she hadn't come to check on him? And what else could it possibly entail. With a soft sigh, she gave into an impulse she often had while arguing with him, reaching up to brush his bangs off his forehead.

"Stupid jerk. How can I ever possibly even the scoreboard when you can do things like this?"

Minutes later she dropped into sleep and he opened his eyes to stare at her, once again her body had shifted to fit snugly against his.

"I'm sure I could think up a couple of ways you could even it out. And I don't protect you because I have to, stupid. I protect you because I want to."

It was the closest he could get at this point to giving her the truth.

XOXOXOXOXOX

An hour later found Ren letting himself in to the strangely quiet suite. He felt a little better seeing the glass from last night cleaned up and dishes drying beside the sink. He headed to the guest room the drop off the school work Yukari had collected for Ayano and to ask her how his brother was. He knocked on the door and when he received no answer he let himself into the room slowly. Ayano's bag was sitting in the middle of the empty bed and since there was no cover on it, didn't appear as if she'd slept there last night. Worry creeping back in he set the school bag on the bed and headed to his brother's bedroom. If Kazuma had been in really bad shape last night, Ayano might have slept on the couch in there to better keep an eye on him, or maybe she had gone out for food and he could find out how Kazuma was first hand and ask if his brother knew where Ayano had gone. Just before he touched the door however a blast of wind passed through him, causing him the shiver and goose bumps to form at the coldness of it.

"Kazuma? It's me Ren."

He wasn't sure if calling would help, it felt more liked he'd touched one of his brother's barriers then something the Contractor had just cast, but after a few seconds the barrier in his way dropped and Ren took it as permission to enter.

Opening the door caused him to both blush and smile at the same time. Ayano's back was to him and the door so that all he could see of her was the top of her head and her long hair. He couldn't tell if she had buried herself into his brothers arms or if Kazuma had folded himself around the girl. He sincerely hoped that it was a little of both. He was still standing there staring and grinning like an idiot when his brother's eyes opened, still pain filled and cloudy on a slightly flushed face.

"What do you want, Squirt?" The nickname had his grin widening, it had been years since his brother had called him that.

"I was looking for Ayano to ask if you were feeling any better and to let her know I brought her the school work she missed today."

His brother nodded tiredly and Ren noticed his hand tightened it's hold on Ayano's hair.

"I feel better the I have the last few days, due mostly to the fact that Ayano was willing to help by acting as a hot water bottle for me to help with the fever." He let his eyes drift closed again. "I'll let her know about the homework when she wakes up."

"Does that mean you want me to go home then?" Ren asked, disappointment plain in the words and made worse when his brother only nodded.

"There's no reason for both you and Ayano to run the risk of getting sick when Ayano seems to be doing and okay job on her own, beside you know she'll call you to help the minute something goes wrong."

"Oh. Okay then." Ren said turning to go.

"Hey Ren?"

"Ya Kazuma?"

"Thanks for checking on me Squirt and let her old man know I want to speak to him no sooner the Monday."

A small smile as the boy nodded.

"Okay I can do that."

XOXOXOXOXOX

And these are the moments,

I thank God that I'm alive.

.

And these are the moments,

I'll remember all my life.

.

I have all I've waited for . . .

And I could not ask for more.

.

Yes I know those aren't the right words to invoke the Contract, I'm sorry but I've been up almost 24 hours and didn't feel like looking it up, besides I like what mine implies better.

Let me know what you think. I am a Review slut . . . I do it for fun.

Ja ne,

Kat