"So what's your plan, Onoto?" the second cousin asked the first as he picked up a can, studying it before moving onto the next option.

Onoto followed him down the aisle of the store. "We wait," he answered. "They'll come back."

"Should one of us be back at home, then?" the second asked.

"No, we should be with him, Shinji," Onoto declared, nodding his head down the isle at Jirou.

Shin glanced over. "Yeah, you're right," he answered, tossing the decided can in the cart as he moved on. But Onoto hesitated, hearing something through the shelves:

"Hey- Ren? What are you- Stop yelling at me, Ren! I didn't mean to wake you up, the sun's down I thought you would be awake... I was calling Ivy, stop being so mean! Can you put Ivy on the phone?...Hi Ivy. Um, sorry, I'm at the grocery store and I was wondering, what kind of cat food does Tarot like again?"

Onoto was quick to put it all together when she talked about being awake and the sun. He leaned on the cart as Jirou caught up, adding something of his own.

"Geez, this girl in the next aisle is really bent out of shape about cat food," Onoto led in casually. "I can't imagine having to take care of a damn cat. It must all be expensive, too." He looked at Jirou. "Any of your old broads have a cat?"

Jirou accepted the casual nature of the conversation and didn't look up. "Yeah, Yuna did and Ivy did," he answered.

"Ivy? The redhead?" he clarified. Then he had a thought. "...European?"

"Yeah," Jirou sighed, thinking about her.

"Did she give it a stupid name?" Onoto dug.

"She named it Tarot, called him her 'familiar.'"

Onoto lowered his brow. "Like a witch?" he pressed.

Jirou shrugged. "Yeah, something like that."

Onoto straightened, kindly hitting Jirou with the back of his hand. "Hey, sorry for bringing it up. I'm going to find Shin." And with that he hurried off.

He was quick to find him around the corner. He spoke softly yet clearly. "Hey, I think I have a lead. I'm going to take off, stay with Jirou. It's still possibly a kitsune-mochi, maybe a tsukimono-suji. But she could also be a European witch. It seems she has a cat familiar and her name is Ivy."

Shin didn't look at him, but furrowed his brow. "Ugh, I hate those things and their bodily fluids. They're nasty. Still more likely than vamps, though."

"Yeah, this girl that mentioned her could be a part of a coven, especially since she was concerned about the familiar. She didn't seem too smart, probably a new member. She was talking to someone named Ren, but he or she seemed to be more experienced and higher up in the ranks. So it is possible the redhead took blood for a spell."

"Shit. I'll start looking up what spells it could be potentially and counter measures. Either way, we're going to have to do some homework," he answered.

Onoto quickly finished, "Yes. This is personal. Get whatever we might need for the spells while you're here. I'm going hunting."

"Damn sister," Ren spat, taking the phone from Ivy and hanging up. He was still tired, and now irritated at being woken up. "Are you hungry?" he checked first.

Ivy yawned. "Not really, not yet," she answered, snuggling back into him.

It was settled, they were sleeping in, or so they hoped. After a bit, there was a knock on Ren's door.

"Um, so sorry to bother you, but I wanted to get going," came Henry's humble voice.

Ren's eyes shot open. "Go away!" he hollered.

"I just want to ask Ivy if she could tell me where to get more of that blood. Carrera loves it."

Ivy started to ease up, her eyes opening to slits. "I'm popular today," she mumbled before calling, "I'll be down to tell you in a minute."

As she drearily rose, Ren clawed at her. "No, you're not going to," he snapped, sitting up as she slipped out of his grasp.

Ivy glanced back at him. "I'm not worried about your father. I have confidence in his capabilities to go back. What harm is there in him getting it and making your mother happy?" she asked as she started to pull her clothes on.

"I don't want it in my house," he responded.

"Well I don't want him to exist," Ivy countered.

"I can make that happen," Ren answered seriously.

Ivy wearily smiled. "I'll be right back."

As Ren pouted, Ivy crossed her arms and turned. She trotted down the stairs, stopping in the dusty study to grab a pen and scrap of paper. Armed with the parchment, she went to the family room.

Ivy slid on to the couch just across from Henry, going straight to writing. Carrera watched as she occupied herself again with a smoke.

"Go to this address," Ivy directed as she scribbled. "It's a young guy. I think he lives alone but two other guys were coming in when I left." She wrote a brief description of what he looked like, finally adding, "And I think this is where he works." With all the information, she handed it off to Henry.

He paused to look at it, saying, "Thank you Ivy, that's all. You can go."

Ivy lingered a moment.

"Was there something else?" Carrera asked.

Ivy cast her eyes down. She took a breath, then caught it, hesitating. Finally she decided to ask, "You have mentioned before about Ren being different. Around me, I mean."

"Yes," Carrera answered, taking another puff of smoke. Ivy said nothing. "Was that all?"

Ivy shrugged. "I guess, I just wanted to know if it's true. No, that's not the right question." She glanced up, finally putting it together. "I guess I was hoping you could help me understand how he's different, to what degree, and help me understand the significance of it."

Carrera turned to her husband, who knew it was his turn. "You're the first person who Ren's has really kept in is company. With anyone else he becomes annoyed very easily. To be honest we were hoping your being here would make him more pleasant to be around, unfortunately that's not the case. He goes out of his way for you. Before you, he only ever aided us and did so reluctantly. He could honor his duty to his family, but you could tell he would rather be doing something else. I'm guessing he's not that way with you."

"No, I haven't seen that," Ivy answered, darting her eyes away as she thought.

Then Ivy heard, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go!"

Ivy's eyes shot back, thinking at first that Carrera was addressing her. She soon saw that it was Henry she was shooing, who quickly and coweringly arose with a, "Yes, dearest."

As Henry passed Ivy, he tried to get away with telling her quietly, "And I'm guessing Ren likes you because you're not bossy-" But when he was interrupted with a slipper to the face, it became clear that he had not been discreet enough. "Sorry, dearest! I'll be on my way now."

"You're lucky Ivy showed you where to get the good stuff!" Carrera threatened. The eyes from Ivy's favorite creepy painting followed him until he slipped through the door.

Carrera settled back into the couch as a bird settles after it ruffles its feathers. "So, Ivy, how did you find this stuff, anyway?"

Ivy thought fast. "I saw the guy try to convince a girl he had stopped smoking while he had a cigarette behind his ear. Seemed pretty pathological to me," Ivy tried to play off casually. Carrera just looked at her over her hand as she continued with her cigarette. "Well, I'm going back up. Glad I could help."

Ivy snuck away, back up to Ren who waited irritably for her. "Are you done?" he asked as she slid in the door.

"Yeah." Ivy paused, leaning on the closed-door, then huffed.

"What is it now?" he asked, irritated.

"You said we'd have to go back there to check his memory." Ivy looked straight at him. "I don't want to go back."

Ren relaxed. "You don't have to."

"But, how-" Ivy began as Ren reached for his phone waiting patiently at his bedside.

"Hey, old man," Ren greeted condescendingly, looking to Ivy. He reached out his empty hand to silently beckon her toward the bed. She complied, slowly. "When you get that blood, erase through the other night when Ivy brought it home...Because I only erased the incident and since then Ivy has worried that he may have noticed us before...Just do it," he finished, giving no further explanation and hung up.

"That will take care of it?" Ivy asked hesitantly as she sat on the bed.

Ren abandoned the phone and dragged her down, completely engulfing and sedating her. He closed his eyes. "It will, but you won't get your answer," he disclaimed.

Ivy's eyes stayed open at the thought of it all. "That's fine," she conceded. The prospect of independence had lured her for such a long time, but she had recognized her feelings in these past few days. She embraced the safety of Ren's arms, now knowing that was what they offered. The alternative was to make herself relive something painful to feel alone. Ivy reached up, grasping Ren's arm as she settled. She didn't want to be in pain, and she didn't want to be alone.