"Son, are you sure you're not a stalker?" Yamamoto asked, his face nothing but serious. He had actually turned off the television for once. His focus was entirely aimed at Kirihito.

Kirihito eyes twinkled with amusement for a brief moment, before he said, "Ayaka's boyfriend wants to know where her school is. What's so strange about that?"

Yamamoto's expression was somewhere in between intense worry, excitement, and curiosity. Kirihito wondered how he could even pull off such a face. After a moment, Yamamoto asked, "Are you glad I gave you the information of the mixer?"

Kirihito grinned, leaning across the countertop. "Very."

"Brat."

"So, what do you say, uncle?" Kirihito asked, his tone teasing. He hadn't noticed until now, but he rather enjoyed talking with Yamamoto. He seemed reasonable, but still flexible.

Yamamoto's mouth twitched upwards. "Don't you go there. But anyway, she goes to Hamasaki High. It just a few blocks south of here. It's a Saturday, so she has a half day. Let's see… I believe she gets out in about a half hour."

"Knew I could count on you," Kirihito said, winking.

"Don't get too confident, boy. It's starting to get annoying," Yamamoto said, but his entertained expression betrayed him.

{{{/}}}

"Hey, look over there!"

"How old do you think he is?"

"Not too much older than us… Wanna try picking him up?"

"Are you an idiot?! If he's here, he's obviously waiting for someone!"

"That, or we'll start calling him 'sensei' soon!"

"Then we aren't allowed to flirt with him…"

Kirihito found gossiping teenage girl to be incredibly annoying, but perhaps it was just because he always overheard gossip about him. It made a chill go down his spine when a bunch of sixteen-year-old girls were staring daggers at his face. And avoiding every single one of their gazes always proved to be difficult.

Today, however, it was even more annoying. To think he had to go through this for that girl… She'd better be grateful.

While Kirihito had certainly never hated being the center of the attention, he also liked having the freedom to move. If he was at some random mall with all eyes on him, he could still cause chaos without any issues.

At the school of his new "girlfriend", he wasn't able to do much but lean against the school gate. He got bored of this rather quickly, though, and decided to speak with one of the gossipy girls.

"Excuse me, but do you know where I might find Tsukino Ayaka?"

The girl immediately flushed and nervously answered, "Ts-Ts-Tsukino-chan, h-huh? I th-think I saw Oshiro-kun and the g-guys taking her s-s-somewhere…? Behind the s-school, I believe."

"Ah… And I suppose you didn't think to alert a teacher or something?" Kirihito interrogated, agitated.

"H-huh? O-of course not. I mean I d-date one of those g-guys," she answered, unashamed. Kirihito started walking away. "W-wait! What does Tsukino-chan have to do w-with you?"

Kirihito craned his neck toward her and smirked. "As you humans would say, she's my girlfriend." He watched with amusement as her eyes widened, before walking calmly around the building, his eyes narrowed.

How often did this girl get herself into bad situations? He hadn't known her for a week, yet she had already shown up bloody, gotten cornered at a mixer, and now bullied behind the school?

Then it hit him.

"Oshiro-kun" must have done that to her. He remembered sliding her messy locks through his fingers, examining the droplets of blood that rested there. He remembered the eyes that attempted to hide fright as they looked down at the crimson liquid that stained the usually pristine shoes…

He turned the corner to find his eyes met with the image of a boy almost as tall as himself holding a blade to Ayaka's cheek, slowly cutting into the skin. Fresh blood spilled quickly on the metal, all in what seemed to be slow motion. Steady laughs passed through the air as Ayaka simply avoided their gazes, not making any sound or movement.

Then the knife was flipped easily around, and Kirihito held it against the boy's neck. "Oshiro, I take it?"

The boy flinched away, managing to escape Kirihito's hold. "Yeah, what's it to you?"

Kirihito flipped the knife around in his fingers, examining the red stain. "Do you know whose blood this is?"

Oshiro looked confused, but answered nonetheless. "That chick's, of course."

"And do you know who that chick is?" Kirihito questioned, his cold gaze locking on that of the boy's.

"She knows her own name. Ask her," he replied, nodding toward Ayaka.

Kirihito sighed, looking over Oshiro's two companions, neither of which seemed especially intimidating. "I'm not talking about a name—I know it well." He glared back at Oshiro. "Her name's Ayaka, and she's my girlfriend."

"Mori-kun!' Ayaka suddenly exclaimed. Kirihito's head snapped to her, worried at the sudden outburst. Her hand covered the cut on her face, but the blood was slipping through her fingers. One of her eyes was closed slightly in pain. But none of that was responsible for her interruption. Kirihito's eyes locked on the blood dripping down the back of her hands, to her wrists.

"What is it, Ayaka?" he asked, voice holding no emotion. Her blood was still reflected in his eyes, and the blood of those who had spilt it still stained his thoughts.

She shivered slightly, but looked him straight in the eye, pulling his gaze back to her face. "Leave it. Please."

Kirihito went back to flipping the knife around in his hand. Looking down again at the blood on it, he gritted his teeth. "Leave it?! You might be nice enough to endure all this—to keep them out of trouble, but I am not. They physically harm you and you think I should ignore it?!" He was shouting now, a drastic change from his earlier blank tone. Ayaka tilted her head in an attempt to grasp the situation. "I refuse, Ayaka. I refuse."

"But if you hurt them, you're going to have a lot of issues," she mumbled. "Even if it's taken as defense, you still aren't even allowed to be on school grounds. It'd probably be fine in the end, but it's still a 'probably'. You're an adult and these are minors."

Kirihito stared at her a moment, surprised. That was the last thing to cross his mind as he ran into this situation. Then, he stated blankly, "I don't really care."

He turned back on the three boys who had done nothing but stand motionless. Perhaps they were simply confused about the situation, perhaps they were scared of Kirihito, or perhaps they were taken aback by Ayaka's defending them. It didn't really matter, though. They were still there. And, Kirihito suddenly noticed, there was just a speck of Ayaka's blood on Oshiro's cheek.

Something urgently tugged at Kirihito's wrist and, taken by surprise, he dropped the knife. He looked back, pure anger in his eyes, to see Ayaka. His expression calmed just slightly, but he still left a trace of annoyance in his features. "Ayaka?"

"Mori-kun, stop. Please. For me?" she asked, her eyes flickering to the boys behind Kirihito. They finally seemed to find this a good time to run off. Kirihito twitched in response, but didn't let his focus move from Ayaka.

"Why?" he asked her softly.

"I don't like when… people are injured. Especially when there's blood," she explained.

Kirihito removed her hand from her cheek, replacing it with his own. "And what do you think this is?"

She laughed lightly. "It's different when it's me."

Kirihito let out a long breath. "It's different for me, too. It's much worse." He took a clean handkerchief out of his coat pocket, pressing it against cut. She gave a crooked smile and sighed in defeat.

"I'll tell you if it happens again, okay?" she said, her tone genuine. She took the handkerchief from Kirihito and dabbed her cheek. He was certain that, had she not been such a ridiculously polite individual, she would have rolled her eyes.

"Heh. Do that. Unless," Kirihito began, cocking his head to the side in fake innocence. "You would like me to come to your school before class, at lunch, and after class."

She laughed. "Possessive much?"

"You can do what you want, but it becomes my business when you get hurt," he replied. Then, "And, yes, I'd imagine you know I can be a bit possessive by now." She grinned. "Nurses office?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Don't want anyone to find out about… this. If you don't mind. It's high school. Rumors spread quickly, right?"

It wasn't until now that Kirihito fully realized that he had never even been inside a high school, much less attended one. He had gathered basic education and, with the changing times, he was sure he had more than a high school level education. Regardless, he couldn't very well claim he understood how social situations worked in Ayaka's high school.

He sighed. "Then let's get you to Yamamoto-san." Then it dawned on him. "Ayaka… Why hasn't Yamamoto said anything about this to the school?"

Ayaka shrugged, still smiling. "I asked him not to."

"Is that… so," Kirihito replied, a dark tint entering his gaze.

{{{/}}}

"Hmm? Are they really that good this year?" Ayaka asked, practically laying across the counter.

"Yeah, their setter just transferred this year, and he's their best," Yamamoto replied.

It was after hours, but Yamamoto and Ayaka were still chatting. Kirihito sat in his usual seat, coffee in hand, as he tried not to die of boredom. Just how much longer could it go?

Then, remembering the location of her apartment, he suddenly spoke up. "Hey, Ayaka. Don't you have a train you need to catch?" He leaned his chin against him palm, a bored expression spread across his face.

"Oh!" Ayaka shouted in response, looking at the wall clock. "Thank you so much! I'll see you, Yamamoto-san, Mori-kun!" She sprinted out of the café, leaving total and utter silence behind her.

After a few minutes, Yamamoto asked, "Don't you have a train to catch?"

"No, I don't." Only a slight tinge of anger leaked into his words, but Yamamoto caught on.

"Is there a problem, boy?"

"Yes. The bigger issue, though, is that you are fully aware of this problem, but will not do anything about it," Kirihito spat.

Yamamoto's eyes widened slightly, having never seen Kirihito angry before. Irritated, yes, but not angry. And this wasn't just angry, this was furious. "What, exactly, are you referring to?"

Kirihito took a deep breath, clenching his fist, as he tried to control his emotions. He was too angry to bother trying to rationalize them. The reason he was so angry about someone like her just wasn't the issue at the moment. The issue was that it did anger him. And if it was something that angered him, it simply needed to disappear.

"Ayaka… She told you about her bullying issues, and the other day could simply not have been the first time she came back with such an appearance. You weren't surprised, she wasn't worried about your reaction… Regardles, you knew…"

Yamamoto's expression became calm again as he realized the issue. "Tsukino-chan can handle herself."

Kirihito stood up, rushed over to Yamamoto, and gripped the front of his shirt. "They had aknife to her face, Yamamoto-'san', and I don't appreciate your staying uninvolved in this issue."

Yamamoto's eyes hinted at panic, but the rest of his expression remained unchanged. "She asked—"

"I don't care what she asked you!" he shouted. "She hates inconveniencing people, which goes for not only you, but the people doing this to her! She's too self-sacrificing to take care of herself! How is this going to make amends for what your sister did?!"

Something between surprise and hurt darkened Yamamoto's face. Voice solemn, he replied, "I just don't know how to handle these situations."

Kirihito clicked his tongue, sending one last glare, before letting Yamamoto go. He turned around and, walking out of the store, told him, "You should figure out how. But since you 'don't know how to handle these situations', don't even bother. I'll just handle it then."

{{{/}}}

A/N Thank you so much to yumiarantes for reviewing this story and being so supportive! It made me really excited to write more!