Oto V

The girl, Yuzuriha, cheers at how delicious the dessert is with the fork still in her mouth. The man, Shiyu, agrees with her. The two customers sit at the bar. It turns out they're oni-hunters that Kurogane and Syaoran met while hunting earlier.

Anna smiles at Shiyu and points to Fai. They both stand behind the bar. "He did most of the cooking," she says.

Fai giggles. "I'm glad you like it!" he exclaims. "Taking Mokona's advice, I poured in some fresh cream."

"If you add cream," explains Mokona, "It makes it even more yummy!"

Sakura hands the girl a cup of tea. The girl thanks her.

"We're going to have to tell other oni-hunters all about this place," he man says.

"Please do," Anna says, smiling with her head tilted to the side.

The girl asks if they just came to the country. "Yes, just yesterday," answer Sakura.

Kurogane stands to the side of the bar, leaning against it. Anna thinks he's still upset about the weird name thing. What did he expect though? It was Fai who was registering them. Something about him screams weird names. However, he doesn't have weird names for the princess or Syaoran. Why is that? Anna doesn't ponder the thought for too long.

Fai explains that a demon attacked their house on the very first night while he hands the man and Syaoran a cup of tea. He then hands one to Anna and points to Kurogane. She takes it with a nod and she heads down the bar to where he stands, grumpy looking. She sets the cup on the bar and slides it over to him. He looks at her then down at the cup.

She smiles at him and says, "I'm the one that made it." He grumbles under his breath and looks away. Anna leans against the counter near him. "I can assure that Ms. Yuko has nothing to do with it." He's reluctant but he takes it. Anna bites her lip. She wants to say that she was joking, just to get a kick out of him. But that'd just be too cruel. Amusing, but cruel.

Fai asks the girl about the rankings of the demons, that the girl at City Hall mentioned something about it. Yuzuriha explains that there are seven different ranks; I, Ro, Ha, Ni, Ho, He, and To. I is the highest rank and To is the lowest. Within the seven ranks, there are five levels. For example, Ho-1 would be the strongest of the Ho rank and Ho-5 would be the weakest.

"That would mean the strongest is I-1," declares Syaoran.

"You got it!" the girl coos. "The dream of every oni-hunter is to defeat an I-1. That's what we work so hard for!"

It turns out the oni Syaoran defeated yesterday was a Ha-5. That's slightly above average.

Shiyu says that that's a bit odd though. Usually the only oni that would attack a house is a Ro rank or higher. Anna notices Kurogane paying close attention to that last part.

The dog perks up then. The man and girl stand from their seat, declaring that there's an oni nearby. Anna stands from the counter. Sakura questions how they know. The girl explains that her dog can smell oni.

Anna looks to Kurogane then and gives him a smirk. He glares back at her. She smiles at him with her eyes closed. With a "tsk," he looks away.

"Thanks for the cake," the man says to Fai.

"It was really delicious!" adds the girl.

"How much?"

"We'll say it's on the house," answers Fai, "But only if you tell everyone about us."

The man nods. "Of course! We'll make sure you get business." He heads for the door and the girl follows. She waves goodbye to Sakura before leaving.

Looks like the princess made a friend, Anna thinks. She wraps her arms around herself and a shiver runs up her spine.

"Looks like we have some regular customers," Fai says. He looks to Kurogane. "Don't you think, Big Puppy?"

Kurogane pulls out his sword. Anna smiles and covers her mouth.

Syaoran asks if Mokona can sense a feather. Mokona answers that it's a faint feeling and can't tell where it is exactly.

Kurogane chases Fai out from behind the bar. Fai yells playfully. "Big Puppy's trying to bite me!" Fai runs back behind the bar and behind Anna. "Protect me, Wifey-chan!" Kurogane stands on the other side of the counter, angry and holding his blade in the air, ready to strike. Fai bends down and wraps his arms around Anna's waist, hiding behind her. Anna puts her hands in the air as if to say she's unarmed, which she is.

"Get out here, you coward!" barks Kurogane.

Fai shakes his head with a grin. "Don't wanna," he says.

"I think you should just calm down a little," she tells Kurogane. He glares at her. She tries to reason with him. "Cutting up Fai isn't going to change anything. Can't you just tell people that you're name isn't 'Big Puppy'?" His glare doesn't waver and Anna decides to change to subject. "How about you tell me how your first demon hunt went?" Fai opens his mouth to say something but Anna covers it, shutting him up.

With a groan, Kurogane puts away his sword. He turns and walks away. "I'm going to bed," he grumbles.

Anna drops her hand from Fai's mouth with a sigh. "Thank you, An-chan!" he coos.

Anna pushes him off and says, "You really shouldn't upset him like that."

"Hmmm. You and Kuro-sama seem to be getting along well."

Red crosses her cheek and she brushes a finger over her bangs. She crosses her arms and shrugs. Fai leans over the counter with a cat's grin on his face. He doesn't say anything, only looks up at Anna. "What?" she finally asks.

"Oh, it's nothing."

Anna lets out a yawn then.

"Maybe you should go to bed too." Anna nods. Fai wishes her sweet dreams. "Goodnight, Wifey Bird," he says.

She pretends that she didn't hear that. She says goodnight to the princess, Syaoran, and Mokona.

"Goodnight, Anna-san!" says the princess.

"Night, Anna-chan!" coos Mokona.

"Goodnight, Anna-san," say Syoaran.

Anna smiles to them and heads up the stairs. She starts to remove the tie as she rounds the corner and to her surprise she finds Kurogane standing there, looking out the window. She passes him on the way to her room. She looks out the window as she passes, she doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. The night sky is clear and the moon is full. "Is something the matter?" she asks him.

"No," he answers. She doubles back and stands next to him. Normally, she would just leave him be. She's not sure why she's not. A moment passes and he doesn't say anything and neither does she. Another moment passes and Anna yawns again. Kurogane speaks first, "You have a bed now so you should get some sleep."

Anna nods. "You should get some proper rest too," she says. "You'll have a busy day tomorrow hunting oni and all." He doesn't say anything. Leaning over, Anna looks up at him. He looks down at her, a little annoyed but not angry. She smiles weakly. "Goodnight, then."

He looks away. "Goodnight."

With a sigh of disappointment, she heads for her room. "And here I was hoping you'd say my name again," she utters under her breath.

"Goodnight, Anna."

She stops but doesn't turn around.

"Or should I call you Odile?"

" 'Anna' is good for now," she answers with a smile in her voice. She looks over her shoulder then and gives him a smile like she used to give Odette when she did something cute. "See you in the morning." He nods and she returns to her room.