Chapter 7

Luna wakes in the chair next to Tatsuma's hospital bed. He is awake and watching her. She can see the sun shining in the window. "Good Morning Mr. Suguro."

"Good Morning Miss ah…"

"Luna Wilk sir."

"Miss Wilk you didn't have to stay with me all night."

"Yes I did." Luna nods her head.

Tatsuma looks at her and waits for her to give him more of a response.

"I had to stay with you because I promised your son that I would take care of you, as if I were taking care of my own father." She rubs her eyes and yawns. "Excuse me."

"What an honor it must be to be your father."

Luna smiles and sighs, "Not as much of an honor as it was to be his daughter."

Tatsuma's forehead furrows, "Was as in?"

Luna looks down at the ground and says nothing.

His face softens as he realizes what he was asking her. "Ah! Well, thank you Miss Wilk."

The doctor walks in. "Mr. Suguro, your wife and son are here."

Luna gets up to give them some privacy.

Tatsuma calls out to her. "Miss Wilk!"

Luna turns and looks at him.

"Thank you for praying for my son."

"You heard me? I thought you had passed out."

"I was merely resting my eyes." He smiles a toothy grin. "Please keep praying for him."

Luna nods her head and starts walking to the door. She steps aside as Mrs. Suguro bolts past her. Luna cannot help but watch them.

"Tatsuma!" She grabs her husband around the neck. "I'm so glad you are alright. Don't scare me like that again."

"No dear, I promise." He rubs his wife's back.

Luna turns to leave again but Suguro stands directly behind her blocking the exit. She smiles at him.

He looks down at her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you Luna." He bows.

"I was honored to be able to help you…Ryuji." She bows back.

Ryuji smiles, "We'll go on our run later." He pats her shoulder and goes over to the bed. He takes his father's hand and then leans down hugging him.

Luna walks back to the inn and sits on the porch leading to the garden. She watches the water sparkle in the sunlight as the coy fish swim and catch bugs on the surface. Luna laughs to herself. Just like the card Suguro made me my second day of school. The only thing that's missing is the sakura flower floating on top. After a moment she goes inside to get it from her bag. Walking carefully through the halls so not to wake anyone. Retrieving it she goes back out to the porch and sits down. Scanning over the card for the first time in a month.

'Wilk, I thought a nice way to welcome you to Japan would be by giving you a traditional homemade Japanese greeting card. My card skills are not the best but it turned out nice I think.' She skips the part about the sweet shop and looks at his signature instead. 'Suguro, Ryuji.'

"You undermined yourself too much Ryuji." Luna says talking to herself. "If only you realized." She closes the card and slips it in her pocket. She then closes her eyes and lays back on the porch with her hands behind her head and her feet dangling over the side. She falls asleep as the sun warms her skin.

Luna feels something tug at her pocket and she slowly starts to open her eyes. Suguro sits next to her looking at the card and his own handy work.

"Hm… The sakura flower isn't right." He says quietly to himself.

"I think it's perfect." Luna says sitting up. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Not long, we only stayed with my dad for an hour before the doctor said he could go home."

Luna smiles, "I'm glad. Should I change so we can go on a run now?"

"Actually, can I show you something instead?" Suguro says handing Luna her card.

"Okay."

Suguro stands and offers his hand to help Luna up too.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He releases her hand when she is on her feet. "This way." Suguro leads her out of the inn and up toward the mountain where they had fought the Impure King. They stop about a quarter of the way up the mountain where there is a clearing with a large statue of Buddha along the trees.

Luna walks over to the statue and marvels at the sheer size of it. "This is beautiful. Is this what you wanted to show me?"

Suguro shakes his head no. He then starts to chant and make hand signs until a flat golden circular filigree light shines in front of him. "When I was fighting with Okumara I was able to hold him off with this."

Luna walks over to it and follows the curves of the shield with her eyes. She then reaches out to touch it but changes her mind at the last moment pulling her hand away.

Suguro smiles, "It's okay, go ahead."

She puts her hand on the shield and rubs her palm along the surface. "Wow, this is amazing! It's like, sun warmed glass." She presses against it harder pushing her body on it. It disappears and Luna gasps as she starts to fall.

Suguro catches her.

"What happened?" Luna looks up confused.

"I took it down."

Luna looks up at him as he lifts her back to her feet. "Why?"

"Because Luna… you belong on the other side of the shield with me."

Luna takes two steps back. "That's not fair. You can't go saying those things to me after that statement on the train about focusing on being an exorcist and not chasing after the first girl that bats an eyelash at you. Furthermore," Luna points a finger at him, "you're the one that was chasing me. Not the other way around."

Suguro takes a deep breath and a step towards her. "You're right. I need to apologize for what I said on the train. It was not meant towards you. I was just stressed out about being forced to come home when I hadn't talked to my family since I started school."

"Why wouldn't you want to see or talk to your family?"

"My father didn't approve of me being an exorcist. So when I left I cut myself off from them."

"Why would you do something so horrible?"

"What? Become and exorcist?"

"No, disown your family because they disagreed with you."

"I wasn't going to disown them. I just wasn't planning on talking to them till I graduated."

"Four years is a long time Suguro, and a lot can happen in that time. I mean a lot has happened to us at the cram school already and it's only been a few months."

Suguro nods his head. "A lot has happened to us, and a lot more will as we keep studying to be exorcists. But Luna I'm serious. As my teammate I want to make sure that you are always on the same side of the shield as me. I don't want to be butting heads with you about trivial things. You are too good of a friend for me to lose and I want you to feel free to call me Ryuji from now on."

Luna looks down at the ground and blushes. She sorts through her thoughts so confused. She looks up after a moment of collecting herself. "Ryuji Suguro. I'll be your friend. I can't guarantee that we will not fight over things that are trivial, but I can guarantee that you will always have my friendship and that I'll always be on the same side of the shield as you."

He arches an eye brow as he mauls over her preposition. "Does that mean I can still be your Musketeer?"

Luna laughs and offers out her hand to shake. "It's a deal."

Suguro smiles and takes her hand. His palm is sweaty but Luna doesn't care. They've reached an understanding. Even if it's not what she was hoping for, it was a step in the right direction.