To The Sky, To Love's End, there was another song but I can't remember it. Bleh.

Added a new Chapter 38 after checking my calender and figuring out that I was leaving Mr. Hakudoshi in the dust. Too many characters, says I!

Aaand I totally forgot it was Sunday again. Sorry about uploading so late!

Taking Care

Technically Speaking...

So Rin and Karan had made friends, huh? How the hell had he missed that? When had it happened? What the hell did they have to talk about? Why did it bug him so much?

"Oi!" What? "This came for you, aren't you gonna check it out?"

Hakudoshi paused while putting on his shoes, a new pair of runners snug and comfortable around his feet. He had his bag slung over one shoulder with his WacDonald's hat and shirt stuffed inside, a light jacket for the spring weather all he really needed, one hand in his pocket where he'd been checking to make sure he had his house keys and phone.

It was a Saturday so it didn't surprise him when Byakuya handed him a small letter-sized envelope. His half-brother was dressed down in jeans and a tee-shirt, but just because he wasn't headed in to work today didn't mean Byakuya had the day to himself. He had a bunch of work from his boss and looked like he was getting ready to spend the entire day holed up in his room with those big textbooks of his. Who the hell would want to study the law?

"It's from that school you applied to." Datsuki? He took the envelope and read the information on the corner, an office name and address printed there like a string of nonsense while Haku's name sat alien in the middle of the rectangular fold. Probably a rejection letter. 'Better luck next time!'"You want a ride to work?"

"Nah, it's fine." Stuffing the envelope away Haku turned and unbolted the front door, his alright mood hitting the floor with the memory of that miserable exam- and the terrible party that had followed. Rin had accused him of skipping their school's graduation party and this was true: he'd spent it at home with his family instead. Having your birthday in March could really suck sometimes, but this year it was a perk. Sixteen.

Cars were expensive, even old used ones. Catching the bus from the stop a few blocks from their complex it was standing-room only and Haku closed his eyes lazily while keeping his balance. He'd have been closer to his goal if he hadn't bought the shoes he was wearing, or if him and Byakuya hadn't tried figuring out what was wrong with his car's engine. Bya kept suggesting that they ditch his old rust bucket and the two of them manage a newer car together, but plans always fell-through.

At least the rust-bucket gave Hakudoshi something to practice on. Byakuya was pretty useless but the internet was good for things like oil-changes and fluid checks. Well, at least it had been when they had internet. After the little photo incident on Bya's computer they'd cancelled the service. Either Hakudoshi had to carry the internet bill from now on or they were gonna stay offline. Pfft.

His stop rolled up and Haku jumped off, keeping an eye out for puddles as he walked along and avoided walking in to anybody. He could have run and grabbed the next bus as it pulled around the corner but he felt like walking today, letting the over-packed vehicle chug away with its load of Saturday morning shoppers and students. Spring vacation was short, but Haku wished it would last a lot longer: that way no one would notice when he wound up in a cram school or just gave up and dropped out all together. He'd be working fast-food his entire life if he did that though, there was just no up-side.

He regretted his transfer as he saw the WacDonalds' sign come into view, the Datsuki Technical School looming over the little red and yellow outlet like some sort of monster. It was even worse going there after Rin's scene at the front register, but at least the management hadn't put him through the ringer for it. If you hired high school students, you got high school drama.

'When did she become friends with Karan?' There was no point in wondering how she knew Sesshoumaru. In the almost two weeks since the outburst Haku had been forced to start answering his phone and talking to the chatty brunette. He didn't mind it so much when he stopped thinking about his application to Datsuki. She'd showed up at WacDonalds a few more times with a much better attitude, remembering what he'd said about his shift and appearing just as his time behind the fryer or salad station was winding down to an end.

She was cute, okay, he could admit that. She was funny, sometimes, or she was just so pathetic that it was easier to smile and laugh at her than try to fix whatever was wrong. He'd seen her mad all of the one time- but she could get huffy and puff out her cheeks like she was going to hold her breath until she got her way. He knew her family lived and took care of a shrine somewhere along the Oedo line, her father had been in big business before he died in a car-accident, their mother some kind of society heiress who preferred to play house-wife and hostess at the shrine.

He knew her sister was engaged to Kagura's boss. And he knew that Kagura's boss was her boyfriend's half-brother.

Hakudoshi really wished he was okay with all of that.

He also wished he was okay with what was waiting for him come April.

Hakudoshi checked the envelope just before going on his shift, changing his shirt and putting on his hat in the back room before hanging up his bag and seeing that stupid white slip sticking out of the front compartment. Might as well start his shift in a bad mood, that way he could take out some frustration on the over-packaged over-processed whatever-it-was they really served here.

He got the thing open with his teeth while trying to get the coat-room door open with one hand. Who the hell rolled the trolley up behind the door? Thanks, guys.

'Dear Mister Onigumo.'

Y'know what, Kagura was right: that name did suck. He'd always had it but maybe Hakudoshi would look into figuring out his mother's maiden name. He just didn't like the look of it under the Datsuki school crest, the bright red letterhead dancing across the top of the page like it had something to celebrate.

'Dear Mister Onigumo.

'We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Datsuki Technical High School. You may pick up your academic calende-'

"YES!"

Oh shit, was that out-loud?

"I don't think he'll wanna see me."

"But you're friends! Friends always like seeing friends!" Karan still wasn't sure how she'd wound up as one of Rin's friends, it was more like the other girl had taken one look at her in second year and gone 'Yes! That one!'. Or Toran was a snitch. Both options seemed plausible.

'She gets commission for a condo and I get a groupie, I don't get it.' Letting the other girl take her by the wrist Karan didn't dig her heels into the pavement but she didn't do much to help Rin along either.

Part of the red-head was happy she'd put in the extra effort at Toran's request and had been accepted to Midoriko- it was a hell of a lot better than what Shuran had done what with getting himself expelled. The big oaf probably wasn't even going to high school, but she didn't know that for sure: his last fight with Toran about bad behaviour had led to him walking out. Great role-model, that one. So part of her was happy she got to go to Midoriko, the part that was more amused than frustrated with Rin as she was dragged off the train where they'd been sitting, then up the stairs, then around the corner, and another corner.

Right past Datsuki Technical school, the place Karan had wanted to go a little bit more than Midoriko. Their automotive program was something to die for, but she'd just have to wait for college. Maybe Midoiko had a mechanical club or something, just 'cause it was all-girls didn't mean it had to be all poems and archery.

"Please, Rin?" Karan dug her heels in, actively resisting now as the WacDonalds loomed closer and closer. The two of them weren't much different in size, eventually coming to a stand-still with Karan letting all her weight go and Rin kept her upright by the wrist, the other girl struggling to take another step forward. Karan didn't care if she hit the ground, her jeans had a stylish hole in the knee already and the half-gloves on her hands would keep it from hurting. Rin, on the other hand, was wearing a pleated yellow skirt and a white sweater, so falling over wouldn't be so great for her.

"Your friends and you never talk to him!" Which meant they weren't really friends! "He's sorry about missing graduation! He told me!"

"He told you-"

WHOOSH!

"Omph!"

Rin dropped her and Karan caught herself on one hand, the brunette tumbling behind her and blinking vacantly after the force that had just barrelled past them both. It looked like a run-away advertisement, all WacDonald's red and blue as a familiar white-haired boy bolted out the doors of the restaurant and his hat flipped back off his head. He had a backpack in one hand, a piece of paper in the other, and was sprinting like there was a pack of dogs on his heels.

"Was that-?"

"-I think!" Since when did Hakudoshi grin like that?

"Onigumo!"

Helping Rin off the ground with a laugh, Karan turned as the glass doors opened again and a young man wearing a white manager's shirt stepped out. He had one hand reaching out the way Hakudoshi had vanished, holding a familiar black jacket in his other hand.

"Woah, did Haku steal something?" Rin gasped at her question but the red-head asked it anyways, not ashamed as the manager blinked behind his glasses and the noticed them. She gave him a nasty little grin but the man just sighed and held the coat out to her.

"Do you know him? I've no idea what happened, he just started yelling and jumping and then he ran off like a maniac!" And left his jacket behind? "Now I gotta call someone to cover..."

"We'll take his jacket!" Rin announced the words and Karan quickly snatched it from the manager. Sure, she'd been dragging her heels and making up excuses not to go have an awkward meet-up with the guy her brother kicked the crap out of, but this?

This just sounded fun.

He had a head-start on them but it wasn't that hard to follow the wild teen in red and blue, Karan tossing his jacket on over her arms because it was easier than carrying it around as they sprinted down the street. He crossed at a busy intersection and Rin shrieked a little when Karan pulled her along to cut across the street before they reached the cross-walk.

Where the hell was he headed? They vanished under the street as he found a train station, Karan slapping a hand over Rin's mouth when the brunette got on her toes and took a deep breath to yell his name.

"Shh!"

"But he's right there!" SHHH! No shouting! She smooshed her palm back over Rin's mouth, the other girl giving her a look that was both innocent and critical at the same time, her brown eyes sparking. So Karan asked:

"Do you have his cell number?" Rin mutely nodded, a hand on Karan's wrist telling her to let go, which she reluctantly did. At least Rin hadn't tried to lick her. "If we lose him then we'll call. I betcha he gets all the way to wherever he's going without noticing us!"

"I don't think so..."

"A hundred yen says he's clueless!" Rin pursed her lips, the moan of an incoming train telling them they didn't have time to quibble about this.

"Done." Hell yes!

On the Oedo line, transfer to Hibiya. Off to a bus-stop about a block from the station he left the train at. Really, where the hell were they going? Karan had no idea where they were but the commercial district had vanished, Tokyo's skyline off to the south behind them as the girls kept an eye on their pray.

Rin got in on the game, quickly pushing Karan behind a small display at a local shop when Haku stopped and pulled out his phone. He didn't make a call, it looked like he was texting someone- probably wanted the bus times.

Karan pulled his hood up to hide her red hair when they got on the bus, Rin taking out her tell-tale pigtail and binding up all of her hair in a long pony-tail instead as they took a seat. The girls used Rin's pocket mirror to check where he was standing at the back door of the bus, pretending to look at themselves without having to turn around and risk discovery.

"I think I've driven past this way before." Rin stated after the fun of tittering behind their hands began to wane. This was a long bus ride, the stops were few and far between, more and more greenery showing up.

"Me too, can't think of when though." They weren't leaving Tokyo, but they were far from the sky-scrapers and flashing lights. "Look at him, he's still grinning like a dolt." The only time Karan could remember Haku looking like that had been the time Shuran and Ginka had got their hands on some pot. Maybe fourteen was too young for that but it'd been fun to sit behind the dumpsters hours after school and watch the world turn. He didn't look high though.

Haku signalled for the next stop.

"Huh? Why here?" They both started looking around, a gated property to their right and a couple of houses on the other side of the street.

"There's no shops or anything..." Maybe his girlfriend lived out here? "Girlfriend?" Rin's face looked... funny when she repeated the word like that. The bus wasn't empty but it was quiet. The two of them quickly climbed out of their seats and jumped off onto the side-walk.

"Hey, um..."

Karan didn't feel like running anymore as they took a look around, Haku already sprinting off again but not in the direction of any of the houses. It wasn't fun anymore when Rin read aloud the cemetery name and Karan realized that the front gate was open, Haku's blue and red shirt vanishing past the bars. Why were they here?

"Hey, Rin." Karan played with the words before she spoke them, figuring out what it was she wanted to say as she stuffed her hands inside the pockets of Haku's jacket. Rin was looking at her though, so she made herself just say it. Just ask. "Haku told you he lives with his sister, right?"

"Yeah, his sister works and takes care of the baby, I'm not sure what kind of job his mom has." Haku wasn't really one for explanations...

'Don't you talk shit about my mother!' No, he was a bit too reactionary to ever go explaining his position on anything, he just assumed you already knew or just blind-sided you after he changed his mind. 'You have no fucking clue what happened! You breathe another fucking word I'll snap your god-damned neck!' He was scary when he got mad, loud and wild-looking. Of course she'd told Shuran about it, she'd run so hard to get away when Haku went ballistic on her it was a near thing she hadn't called the cops on him.

It'd been over a year now, but still...

'I think I know what happened.' Or maybe he'd been really close with his grandma or something, or he had a girlfriend who liked to creep around grave-yards in the middle of the afternoon. She was jumping to conclusions.

"Should we go home?" Rin was looking down the road in the direction their bus had come, another one rumbling its way down the narrow lane towards them to take them back to where they'd been. Karan couldn't read the number at first, but then she got it: the five-fifty-eight. Felt like something to remember.

"Yeah..." They looked back at the cemetery entrance, the wrought iron bars looked both forbidding and yet not, red-brick and concrete making up columns interspersed along the length and breadth of the fence. Places like this closed late at night, but during the day you could just walk in and pay your respects without comment. "Yeah that might be best..." She still had his jacket, but...

"We should hurry, the bus's almost here." Okay. It was just a quick jog to get across the narrow street, the two of them standing nervously on the side-walk as the large machine rolled up to a stop. Karan didn't know what they had to feel ashamed about, or nervous, or a little bit guilty, but the thought was there and the feeling persisted as they were carried away.

Maybe it was better this way.

"I did it..." He'd done it. "I really, really did it." Datsuki just had really crappy office staff, that was all. Or maybe he should have gone to the graduation celebration and checked the boards to see if he'd been accepted or not. Who knew. At the time it hadn't felt like the sort of humiliation Hakudoshi'd wanted to endure.

"I bet you never thought I... Or maybe you did." She probably had, she was always talking about the good in people, always expected that there was something more lingering beneath the surface when people said or did bad things. Hell, that was why she'd died, wasn't it?

He'd run as far as he could, hating how slow the trains and buses felt as he was whisked across the city and found his way back here. He'd actually misplaced her grave at first, getting the wrong row and running back a few times before recognizing the split tree standing not far from the family grave.

It had only been a few months since they'd last come here but there was already a film of dirt clinging to the black granite, Hakudoshi using his sleeve to wipe off the stone around his mother's name. He couldn't explain his reaction to finding it, how he'd run up shouting as if she could actually hear him or maybe she was really there. He'd just done it that way, holding the letter up as if she could read it and babbling for a few minutes about nothing. Then he saw the dirt. Then he wiped it off.

"You'd like Bya." After that he didn't know what else to do, she couldn't reply to him, he was speaking to a slab of dead rock and nothing more. But he didn't want to leave yet either. Haku just set his backpack down and sat down with his back against the stone monument, because leaving so soon didn't feel right. He'd left his jacket at work and lost his hat while he was sprinting through the streets, never mind the fact that he'd burst out of WacDonalds three minutes before his shift started.

If he was playing hookey, he'd make it worth his while.

"You'd like Kagura's boyfriend too." That bastard. "You liked everyone." What else? "The baby's walking- well, I guess he's not a baby anymore..." Toddler, he was still the baby in the family. He wasn't talking yet, babbling more and more, coming up with words every now and then when he wanted something and no one could read his grunts and glares.

"I'm going to high school, Mom." He looked up from where his hand was rubbing his arm through his sleeve, that nervous habit that came and went like Kagura's lip-biting and Kanna's whispering. Hakudoshi could only feel the scar under the white sleeve because he rubbed it so much, feeling the rough bind in his skin whenever he changed or showered. No body asked why he always had long sleeves on, the school had been lenient about him wearing a second shirt under his summer uniform and gym equipment- even if it was damn hot in the summer. WacDonalds didn't care if her wore sleeves so long as he wore the tee-shirt, put on the hat, washed his hands and wore the gloves.

"I'm gonna go to high school and graduate from that." Unlike Kagura, something she always pointed out whenever the topic of school came up between them. "Then when I'm eighteen I'll sell the house, and I'll go to college." He had no idea what he'd study, but he'd go. Byakuya was always talking about his years in an American University. "Kagura always talks about that house like it's a gift from you." That was bullshit, but... it kinda made Hakudoshi smile a bit too.

"And I'm gonna get a car." Eventually. "And... ask Rin out." At some point. Before he finished high school and sold their house and went to college- maybe after he was settled at Datsuki- which, by the way, he'd been accepted to.

The sun was warm, he noticed that now as he stopped thinking so much and closed his eyes, legs stretched out and back leaning on the grave. He folded his arms and thought of one more thing to say, smiling a little and murmuring the words to the dead ashes underneath him.

"You'd like Rin..." She'd liked everyone...

Doop Doop Doop~