Keitaro stayed in bed with Naru until she fell asleep, and had then carefully excused himself to his own room, where he got dressed again. Once dressed, Keitaro went to Kanako's room and found that she was not there. Not finding her anywhere downstairs either, he then took a short walk to the nearest payphone and called the watch officers of both his Den and Gennai's headquarters to make sure that there had been no new developments that would require his and Kanako's immediate presence. Both times he was told that things still seemed likely to hold to the original time estimate.


It was when Keitaro returned from making his calls that he first noticed that Kitsune's door was open and that she too was not home. He quickly figured that Kitsune must have taken Kanako out with the hopes of having some fun and breaking the ice a little. He had thought about what Naru had said, and while he still thought her jealousy accusation against Kanako was absurd, he did have to admit that Kanako had not exactly come across as outgoing thus far. Kitsune was loathe to coexist with someone who had not at least proven privately to The Fox herself that he or she was capable of having a good time. Keitaro smiled at the thought. He suspected that it had been a long time since Kanako had been around someone like Kitsune. He became curious to hear from both of them what each thought of the other after this night. He had not been toying with those thoughts for too long when Kitsune returned. Keitaro had wound up swinging softly on the swing bench on the front porch by then.

"Good morning, Kitsune," Keitaro said once Kitsune was within range of normal speaking voice.

"Right. Good morning to you too," she said back.

Keitaro then frowned slightly, and looked past Kitsune. "Is Kanako with you?"

Kitsune's expression became something of a cross between amusement and concern at his question. "Well, she was earlier, but ... we sort of went our separate directions a couple hours ago."

Keitaro cocked an eyebrow. "What? Why? Did she say where she was going?"

Kitsune just shook her head.

"Is something wrong? I assumed that you had taken her out to try and wrestle a little more good-time spirit out of her."

Kitsune smiled and yawned. "No, nothing's wrong ... I was just getting tired and suggested that we head home, and Kanako said that there was somewhere she wanted to go first and that she'd be back later."

Keitaro regarded her for a moment, then grinned very weakly out of the corner of his mouth. "You're not as good a liar as you used to be, old friend."

Kitsune visibly slumped a little at Keitaro's calling of her bluff.

"Is there anything I should know?" Keitaro said, in a tone that was still friendly but was growing more serious.

Kitsune sighed in defeat and walked over to the bench. Keitaro stopped swinging and Kitsune sat down next to him. Keitaro also sighed, put his hand on his forehead and leaned backwards as Kitsune sat down.

"I thought bringing Kanako here would be fun. My friends could all meet my sister, she could meet them and we could all have a little fun together. Looks like my idea is zero for two so far."

Kitsune turned to look at him and frowned. Putting her hand on his shoulder, she gently but firmly pulled him back upright. Keitaro seemed slightly surprised by this, and looked at her expectantly.

"It's not like that, Keitaro. I'm sorry if I've given you the wrong impression."

Keitaro nodded lightly.

"No one dislikes your sister, least of all me. I can certainly vouch for Shinobu and Suu as thinking fondly of her. I mean, come on, all you had to do was say that Kanako was your sister and Shinobu especially was sold on her," she said with a smile, a wink and a friendly nudge.

Keitaro could not help but smile back and let out a weak chuckle. "Alright then, so what's going on?"

"What makes you so sure anything is going on?"

"Naru's got this notion that Kanako doesn't like her. And she also thinks that Kanako has some bizarre little crush on me. She told me these things barely a few hours ago and now here you are obviously not telling me something after spending some time with Kanako. Whatever's going on, I'd like to know about it. This little group of ours doesn't exactly have the best track record for misunderstandings. This week is supposed to be a vacation and if there's something going on that is going to spoil it, I'd like to knock it out."

Kitsune had barely avoided cringing visibly after Keitaro's first two sentences. When he had finished talking, she sucked in a deep breath and was obviously unsure of whether or not she was doing the right thing as she replied.

"Um ... Keitaro?"

"Yes?"

"Kanako ... well ... she does have a crush on you."

Keitaro's expression did not change but he froze, as one does when they have absolutely no idea what to think of what they just heard.

"And I'm afraid she definitely doesn't like Naru because of that. She's got jealousy written all over her."

"Damn it, not you too. What on earth are you talking about, Kitsune? Did neither of you hear me when I introduced her as my sister?" Keitaro said with exasperation bordering on anger thick in his voice.

"But she isn't really your sister, right? Not by blood?"

Keitaro opened his mouth to speak but Kitsune interrupted him.

"I understand that she's just your sister in your eyes. I swear I'm not accusing you of disloyalty to Naru. But the fact that you consider her your sister is a choice you've made based on how you were raised, not an issue of biology. It has nothing to do with you if she has made a different choice on the matter. I'm not trying to offend you, but you said you wanted to know what was going on, so I'm telling you."

Keitaro's rapidly rising irritation seemed to reverse itself at Kitsune's disarming words. He took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Kitsune. I didn't mean to get angry with you," Keitaro said softly.

"It's alright. I understand."

"I myself have been guilty in the past of jumping to conclusions, but I'm beginning to get the terrible feeling that my good intentions in bringing Kanako here are going to backfire messily," Keitaro said with another sigh.

Kitsune did her best to smile soothingly, although she wondered if Keitaro was also keen to the fact that she most definitely shared his concern. Nevertheless, she offered him a mischievous smile, and it was not entirely forced.

"You just deal with Naru. Leave Kanako to me," The Fox said with as much flair as she could muster.

Keitaro again fixed his eyes on her. He appreciated both Kitsune's well-meant attempt to cheer him up and her no doubt sincere intention to assist in the matter. However, in the past, virtually anytime Kitsune had entered herself into a situation of this sort, things had come off the worse for it. Granted, Kitsune, like the rest of them, was a very different person now than she was then, but Keitaro really did not want Kitsune subjecting Kanako to the sort of antagonizations that she had once inflicted upon him.

"Please be nice, Kitsune. This is most definitely not the scenario for your antics of old. Whatever the underlying reason may be, I'll be the first to admit that I've always been something of a touchy subject for Kanako. I want this week to be pleasant for her too, so please don't add any fuel to the fire, alright?"

Kitsune feigned indignance. "Just what are you implying, huh? That I mean to stir up trouble?"

Keitaro just gave her a look that clearly sounded an affirmative.

Kitsune smiled reassuringly, and in what was still something of a rarity for her, there was no sign of mischief behind it. "Don't worry, Keitaro. I just want to help, no jokes, no pranks this time. I promise."

It seemed to Kitsune that Keitaro took a moment to accept her promise, but he quickly smiled back at her and nodded his head.

"Thanks, Kits. I appreciate it. I suppose if anyone can bring pleasantness to an unpleasant situation, it's you."

Kitsune blushed very slightly. "Aww, you called me 'Kits.' That's real cute. I like it." She leaned over and gave him a light peck on the forehead as she stood up.

Keitaro's smile widened as he gave The Fox a hearty pat to her side. "You don't have to leave. I'm quickly discovering that this graveyard schedule I'm on makes for some lonely hours, particularly if Kanako's not around. I wouldn't mind the company."

Kitsune smiled, yawned, and sat back down. "Well, I was telling the truth when I said that I was getting sleepy. I'll stick around for a little while though."


Kitsune did stick around for a while, but it was still several hours after she went to bed before Kanako returned. As she came into view the moonlight reflecting off her dark clothes and pale white skin gave her a ghostly appearance that was both attractive and frightening at the same time. Keitaro had allowed himself to sink into something of a trance as he had sat there on the bench waiting for her, but as she got closer he pulled himself out of it.

"Good evening to you, brother," Kanako said quietly as she walked up the stairs.

"And to you, Kanako," replied Keitaro. "Where on earth have you been? It gets mighty lonely around here when everyone's asleep," he added with a playful wink.

"I'm sorry, Keitaro. I went for a walk while you were ... with Naru ... and I suppose I lost track of time."

"Yeah, spending time with Kitsune can do that to you, I know."

Kanako almost seemed to do a double take when Keitaro mentioned Kitsune. Keitaro couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"I'm just teasing you Kanako," he said. "Anyway, the sun will be up soon, but we've still got a while before anyone else is up. Until then it's just you and me. What do you wanna do?"

Kanako thought for a moment, and then, with an only just barely detectable hint of hesitation that Keitaro in fact missed, said, "Well ... it's been ages since I've been in a hot spring."

Keitaro smiled heartily. "That's sounds like a great idea."


Being that his room was closer and that he'd taken to keeping a 'hot spring' bag at the ready as a matter of habit, Keitaro made it down to the hot springs ahead of Kanako. Setting the back down on a rock and taking out his towel, he spread the towel over the top of the bag and took off his robe. He was wearing a pair of shorts underneath.

"I should have invited everyone here first thing when Kanako and I got here," he thought to himself as he lowered himself into the water and was instantly reminded of its extraordinary relaxation properties. Settling in up to his chest, he leaned back against the side of the spring, put his hands behind his head, closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

He soaked for perhaps 5 minutes before Kanako arrived. Keitaro did not open his eyes, but smiled as her listened to her footsteps drawing closer. Only when she stopped just in front of where he was did he open his eyes and look at her. She smiled lightly back at him and dropped her robe. Keitaro didn't have much time to react to the fact that she had nothing on underneath the robe before she slid into the water beside him.

His immediate reactions were much less than they had been that time in the guest quarters and Gennai's place, but Keitaro nevertheless blushed quite visibly and chuckled lightly as he looked away until Kanako was fully in the water.

"I forgot what a little nudist I have for a sister," Keitaro said playfully but without returning his gaze in her direction.

Kanako returned a smile that had a somewhat different sort of playfulness behind it. "Nudity is the body's natural state," she replied, her tone matching her smile. "I thought you Lycans were all about the natural."

"You could say that weGAHH!" Keitaro's startled yelp cut off his reply. Kanako had been sliding closer to him all the while that Keitaro hadn't been looking, and now she snaked her arms around his chest and ran her fingers between his ribs.

"Kanako, what are you ...?"

"Geez Keitaro, I thought I was the one in need of relaxation. How can you be so steady in the heat of battle and so jumpy in such times of peace and quiet?" Kanako spoke in an almost mildly scolding tone. Gently but firmly, she then pulled Keitaro away from the edge of the spring and turned him so that his back was facing her. Keitaro did not resist but clearly tensed up.

"Wait a minute, wha .." Keitaro stammered.

"Please ... just relax ..." she interrupted again, this time in a remarkably soothing voice, and she began to lightly rub - almost tickle - his back.

Keitaro was beginning to blush again, and although he had the mind to protest, this time the feeling of Kanako's fingers on his skin drained any energy with which he might have protested right out of him. For just a few moments, he allowed his mind to be free of objections. By the time they tried to come back, some almost supernatural soothing sensation being transmitted through Kanako's light touch gently extinguished them. He smiled. "Just like old times ..." he thought. "I really don't know why I get so jumpy when Kanako gets a little touchy-feely. She has always been very affectionate with me. So what if she's quick to pick up where she left off ..."

Kanako, on the other hand, despite her supremely calm exterior demeanor and her lecture on relaxation, was twisting herself into knots on the inside. This time, her testing of Keitaro's reactions was very deliberate, and once again, she was gravely discouraged by the results.

"You'd think that my fingers were cast from ice the way he reacts when I touch him," ranted silently to herself as her fingers continued to play across Keitaro's back. She sat with that thought for a short while before the rest of her thoughts began to fire. "He really is infatuated with that human, isn't he? He's got this lovely little fantasy that he's living here that doesn't seem to recognize that he's not human anymore. This would never have happened if he'd been bitten by a vampire instead. Rikyo, it seems, can be too kind for the good of his own people. Gennai is no tyrant but he'd have made Keitaro accept the reality of being an immortal if he had to write it down, stick it in a bottle and shove it down his throat."

Kanako was not aware of the fact that the subtle signs of discomfort had returned to Keitaro's demeanor as her inner monologue got louder within the confines of her own skull.

"One way or another, sooner or later, this is going to end badly for him. Even if this war ends happily ever after and Keitaro and his human bride ride off into the sunset, in another 30 or 40 years Naru will be some hideous old hag who could only drag Keitaro down with her. Or even worse, if something happens to her during the course of the war ... that could end up costing him his own life as well. Or what if she or his friends try to bring human authorities into this somehow? Haruka I'm sure knows better, but what about the rest of them? Dammit, there are reasons why humans and immortals do not interact!"

"Kanako?"

"Well, it's in everyone's best interest - Keitaro's, mine, Naru's, and everyone else's - that someone break Keitaro into the fact that his human life of old is over and that he has to accept the fact that his destiny has been rewritten, whether he likes it or not. It might as well be me."

"Kanako?"

"He may get angry with me at first, and it may tear my heart out, but in the end, he will thank me, and maybe, just maybe, I can convince him that the immortal who could keep him happy forever and ever is me. I ..."

"KANAKO ..."

It took Keitaro raising his voice to snap her out of her thoughts. Her fingers stopped moving and Keitaro turned at the waist to look at her, putting his own hand on his back and rubbing it.

"If you're trying to make me appreciate your lighter touches, you've made your point," he said in a voice that was still playful and friendly, but his eyebrows were cocked in such a way that said something to the effect of, "what the heck was that?"

Kanako looked down at his back where his hand was rubbing it just in time to see some light bruises in the rough shape of her hands finish healing. Embarrassed, she herself blushed slightly and she looked slightly away to the side.

"I'm sorry, brother. I ..."

"Please, call me Keitaro. I've got this issue around here with no one calling me by my name," Keitaro said with a light chuckle.

Kanako's blush faded and she had a blank look on her face for a moment, then she just barely suppressed her urge to laugh out loud at the way she'd managed to turn the tables on herself so ingloriously just now. Her spirits also took a great boost by virtue of the fact that Keitaro now seemed to be inviting her to continue rubbing his back and that he was no longer radiating discomfort. Granted, it was a drop in the bucket towards her ultimate goal, but the first small hint of possible success was all her morale really needed for the time being.

"Ah well," her thoughts began again as she smiled and again set about gently rubbing Keitaro's back. "I suppose the longest of journeys always begin with a small step. Though one would hope that the pace picks up after a short while ..."

Keitaro and Kanako stayed in the hot spring together until the first light of morning signaled the imminent rising of the sun. Keitaro had accompanied Kanako to her room and bid her a goodnight before retiring to his own room.


As she usually was, Shinobu was the first one up. She could easily fulfill her breakfast-making duties while sleeping in at least half an hour later than she typically did, but true to her colors she liked to put a little extra pride into her work. She dressed herself with much of her usual good cheer and quietly left her room.

Just before Shinobu started down the stairs, she stopped. On the rare occasions when someone had a guest over for the night - it had only ever really been Kitsune when she had Koan over for the night, and given his work routine that was not common - she had always gone the extra mile for them and asked the guest if there was anything special they'd like for breakfast. Koan had never made a special request, and given that there likely wasn't anything that she could make for Kanako, Shinobu didn't really know what she could do for her, but she nevertheless decided to at least drop in and say Hi if she was still awake.

Knocking softly a few times on the door to Kanako's room, Shinobu waited quietly for a response. Nothing. She knocked softly again, and once again there was no response.

"Kanako? Are you awake? I was just .." Shinobu began as she cracked the door open, but she stopped speaking when she saw that Kanako was not in there. She opened the door the rest of the way and looked around. Kanako's bedroll was not even rolled out. Shinobu was puzzled, but saw no cause for worry. She went about her business of making breakfast.


Breakfast was no more or less an affair that it always was, save for the fact that Keitaro wasn't there. Everyone was already finding odd to have Keitaro around but on such an opposite schedule. The subject of Kanako was also brought up. Haruka was inwardly surprised to find that most everyone's first impression of Kanako was, at worst, on the positive side of neutral. Shinobu and Suu in particular seemed to like her a lot. Only Naru seemed hesitant when she said that she 'was pleased to meet her,' the way one does when they don't want to be the lone rain cloud over a sunny day. Motoko openly said that there was something about Kanako that troubled her, but that she couldn't put her finger on it. However, she did say that Kanako seemed amiable enough. Haruka had just cocked an eyebrow but, in the spirit of her and Kanako's impromptu agreement, she restrained herself from doing or saying anything else.

"You know, does anyone know if she stayed somewhere else tonight?" Asked Shinobu, as the subject of Kanako seemed on it's way out.

"What?" Was Naru's response to the question.

"It's just that ... I stopped by her room this morning before I came downstairs to make breakfast and she wasn't there."

"Is Keitaro still here?"

Shinobu paused a moment and then said, "I didn't check."

Naru's facial expression became one of sudden concern. "You don't think they got called away during the night, do you?" She asked no one in particular.

"It hardly seems like Keitaro to leave without so much as letter," interjected Motoko.

"I can't vouch for Kanako, but I know that Keitaro was here at least as of early this morning. I spoke with him," offered Kitsune.

"Well there's a simple way to put this question to rest. I'll go see," Naru said, as she stood up and pushed her chair in.


Keitaro slowly awoke to the sensation that he was being watched. He happened to be facing away from his door and he sat up and shook his head a few times. As he sat up, he felt his blanket pull taut along its full length. Keitaro was familiar with this feeling in his blanket. Naru had a way of coiling herself up in it in her sleep. Naru? He looked as his watch. It was after 9am. Why was she in bed? Then he noticed the scent. He knew Naru's smell backwards and forwards, and this wasn't it. His heart skipped a beat as his memory matched the new scent to its owner. Turning around with an expression of disbelief on his face, he pulled back the blanket to the shoulder level and revealed Kanako's sleeping form - naked, it seemed, going by the lack of any straps on her shoulder, and more significantly going by the small pile of female clothing that sat just next to his bedroll. But the thing that quickened Keitaro's heart rate the most was not who was in his bed. It was who was standing in his doorway. Only a moment after he'd fully taken in the image of Kanako's face he noticed the source of the sensation that had awoken him in the first place. Naru stood there in his doorway, her mouth agape and her face a slightly more pale shade than usual. There was no anger on her face, just stunned disbelief. For a moment, the two stared into each other's eyes without a sound. Then tears began to form just visibly in Naru's eyes.

"Na ... Na ... no ... I ... this isn't ..." Keitaro stammered. But both his words and, he would have guessed, his heart stopped when a tear fell from Naru's eye to the floor.

"Keitaro ..." Naru said softly, her voice painfully choked.

Keitaro had not felt this frozen by absolute dread in a very long time. "Na ... Naru ... I swear ... I don't ... I didn't ... she ..."

But Naru just slowly turned around in silence, and began to walk away. Keitaro remained frozen for a few seconds and then fumbled out from under his blanket. His adrenaline surge permitted him to move.

"Naru ... please wait," he said, as he caught up a few paces outside his room to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Naru stopped walking, but didn't move or speak.

Once again Keitaro's coherency was built solely on adrenaline. "Naru .. I swear, I don't know what she's doing there. She wasn't there when I went to bed. I promise, I ..."

"Not right now, Keitaro. Not right now. We'll talk later, OK?" Naru spoke in a whisper, and the fact that she was fighting back more tears was evident. It killed whatever energy his adrenaline had offered. He weakly lifted his hand off her shoulder and she started walking away again. She disappeared up the stairs.

Keitaro somberly closed the door behind him as he stumbled back into his room. He was shaking a little. He looked over to where Kanako was still sleeping with a blank expression. He was just too stunned - or moreover, fearful of the night to come - to feel anything towards Kanako. Slowly, rather numbly, he went into his closet and pulled out his spare futon.