"Kantarou… you didn't tell Saeko that you are here, again? She was really worried the last time you know?" Shigure, the head priest of the shrine asked the boy before him.

"Well, Shigure-sama… I really want to learn exorcism! Onegai!" pleaded the young Kantarou.

"Hmm.. I'll see what Saeko says." was the priest's reply. "Why don't you go and play with Rei and Reika? I'm sure they will be happy to see you."

Kantarou nodded and left the room while Shigure thought of a way to calm the boy's stepmother down.

The priest was wrong about what his daughter's reactions would be. They were more than happy and started running about the shrine like crazy as they played.

However, Kantarou noticed that someone was watching him in the room nearby. But, he ignored it and continued to play.

Later that night, Shigure told Kantarou that Saeko had allowed him to stay, before he runs away again and told him to rest in one of the guest rooms.

Just as Kantarou was passing by the room again, he heard a faint voice of a girl sing. He want in to find out who the voice belonged to.

"Sakura… Sakura… Ah! The girl spun around quickly to find Kantarou at the doorway, they stared at each other for a moment before she started to yell but Kantarou immediately covered her mouth to keep her voice down.

"Its alright! Who are you?" He asked the girl who was crying now.

"R-Rei-Reiya…"

The next day-----------------

"I can't believe that Shigure-san actually interrogated us!" Kantarou moaned as they sat in the backyard.

"Guess they were in shock. You saw the look on their faces when I came out for breakfast right? They were priceless!" Reiya giggled.

"I know! Why don't we go to the Spring Festival, it looks really fun!" Kantarou suggested.

'I guess it will be fine with Kan around…"

"Ok!"

(15 minutes later…)

"I hope Dad's alright… he nearly had a heart attack when I said I wanted to get out of the room to go to the festival." Reiya told Kantarou.

"Don't worry." Kantarou replied. "Rei and Reika are there."

"Wanna go and play those games?" the boy asked.

"Yeah!" Reiya then took Kantarou's hand and went off to the Spring Festival.

Back at the shrine-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes Saeko, Kantarou that boy actually got Reiya out of her room! And Saeko! Stop yelling over the phone!"Shigure was yelling back to compete with the woman's loud voice. She was frantic over her stepson. Rei and Reika sighed, thinking that it would be a long day ahead of them.

At night, Kantarou was going around the festival site with Reiya.

"I think the fireworks are starting soon. Stay here Kan, I'll go get some candy for us." Reiya told Kantarou who nodded.

As soon as she came back, she overheard some boys talking about Kantarou.

"That kid is soo weird! Look at his eyes and hair!" one of them said. "I know, he is weird. No one plays with him too! What a freek!"

Reiya had heard enough. She immediately stormed all the way to them and started yelling, "Kan is not a freek! If he is a freek, you horrible people have got to be the freekiest people in the world!"

The boys froze upon hearing what she said to them and she was the head priest's daughter!

Reiya then walked poised and pretty to where Kantarou was but muttered under her breath, "Jerks!"

"What took you that long?" Kantarou asked as he led Reiya to a hill he often went.

"Nothing much." Reiya smiled sweetly to Kantarou as she ate some of the candy she bought along the way.

" Erm- Kan? Where are we going?" Reiya asked as they ascended the hill.

"You'll see… There!" Kantarou pointed to a small pond at the peak of the hill.

"Kan!" It was Kantarou's three demon friends, "Hurry! It's starting! The fireworks! Eh? Who is she, Kan?"

Reiya shivered but Kantarou grabbed onto her trembling hand. "Don't worry, they are my friends!" Reiya smiled and nodded as they all sat down eating the candy and watching the fireworks deep into that night.

Several years later…

"Are you really going, Kan?" the older Reiya asked the older Kantarou at the train station.

"Yeah, I want to study folklore, now that I've learnt exorcism…" Kantarou told the sad looking miko.

"But… don't worry… I promise that I will come back okay? And… I will always… protect you."

Then Reiya pounced onto him and gave him a hug before seeing him off.

Ever since, Reiya has been fulfilling her duties as Shrine maiden along with Rei as Reika is still learning, also going around to other places to exorcise yokais…

At the outskirts of Kyoto at a small village-------------------------------------------------------

"Many thanks! Reiya-san, You have done us a big favor by exorcising that yokai!" said the village chief. Reiya was worried for that yokai she had just chased away.

"Sure… umm… I've got to go! Bye! Reiya then gave a bow before leaving as she ran to the woods where the yokai was.

"Umm… are you alright? " Reiya asked the injured demon but it retaliated and was about to kill Reiya. Somewhere nearby, a young teen saw that and immediately chanted a prayer and exorcised the aradama in the yokai.

"You alright?" the teen asked.

"Oh my, he looks so much like Kan…"

"Yeah… Er- Thanks…" Reiya told the teen as she stood there staring at the teen's eyes like the way she stared at Kantarou's for the first time she met him.

"So… where are you heading off to?" the teen asked Reiya along the mountain path.

"Back to my home in Kyoto. Since my job here is done." Reiya said and found the teen 'inspecting' her at every angle. "What ARE you doing?" She asked as she eyed the teen suspiciously, ready to tackle him down.

"Nothing… Its just that you look so much like my childhood friend." The teen smiled back at her innocently. They then kept quiet throughout the rest of the journey.

At Kyoto------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both Reiya and the teen bid farewell to each other.

A few days later…

Reiya reached the train station with a panicking Rei waiting for her.

"Reiya! Quick! You have to come home now!" She told Reiya as she dragged her back to the shrine.

"Someone is waiting for you" Rei old the clueless sister of hers as she prepared her best kimono for a dance.

"Please tell me who it is!" Reiya begged Reika who ignored her by going o play 'oni tag' with her other mikos in training.

"Reiya!" Shigure called out to his daughter. "The mystery person is waiting." He then led her into a guest room.

In there, was someone extremely familiar to Reiya, sipping green tea.

"AHH! You!" the two people then pointed to each other. It was the teen that Reiya had met the other day.

"I se that you two are enjoying yourselves, Reiya, Kantarou."

"What!" the two of them started to stare at each other.

"Its been awhile, Reiya." Kantarou spoke again.

"And you have not changed at all, Kan"

"Looks like you're much more feminine now" Kantarou told Reiya after She had danced along with Reika to the tune Rei was playing.

"Hahaha, bad joke Kan." Reiya told him sarcastically. "Will you be staying, Kan?"

"That is until the Tokyo University accepts me though, and I heard from Shigure-san that you requested to do the 'calming' for this year?"

"My blood pressure went up as a result," Shigure mocked, ignoring the glare from Reiya.

That night by the lake, Kantarou and Reiya sat beneath their favorite Sakura tree.

"Was Rei the one who told you about me doing the ritual?" Reiya asked.

"Yeah, and I kept my promise right? By coming back for you. Don't worry about getting the ritual wrong, cause I'll be there, kay?" Kantarou replied.

"It's so beautiful at night," Reiya spoke again, "but… no one can believe that a demon lies beneath this beautiful lake."

Kantarou then turned to face Reiya, "Kiren…"

"Kantarou?" Reiya called without looking at him, blushing a little. "Promise me, that you'll be there, at the ritual, watching me…"

Kantarou smiled and said "Promise."

"Ore… omai no… mamoru." (In Romanji Japanese) I'll stay and protect you

Both of them smiled as they gazed at the lake.

The last day of Spring, is also the day of the 'Ritual of calming', which would begin only when the sun sets, at dusk. The main person doing the ritual will chant a prayer will chant a prayer while 10 miko below the age of 12 will form a ring around the main person like in the game Kagome, and sing a ritual song.

During the ritual, everything went rather smoothly but Kantarou felt something wrong. His bells had rung meaning that there was a demon nearby other than the one in the lake.

"I better exorcise the demon before it comes, disrupt the ritual and harm Reiya and the others" Kantarou thought and left the ritual ground secretly.

However, Reiya saw him leaving.

"Kantarou? Is he leaving? No… No way!" Reiya thought but no matter how she tried, she was still puzzled at his disappearance.

That made her mind not concentrate on the ritual and the lake serpent awoke from its sleep and summoned a massive flood.

Kantarou, managed to exorcise the demon and when he went back, it was too late. The serpent had flooded the whole region.

"Where's Reiya?" He asked Rei, panicking as Rei and Reika were helping the young mikos.

"She's not here!" a young miko, who was clear of what was happening, told the three of them.

"Shigure-san!" Kantarou called out to Shigure who managed to get out of harm's way. "Take care of the others, I'm going to look for Reiya!" Before Shigure could reply, Kantarou was gone.

"Grab my hand Reiya!" Kantarou yelled as he grabbed on to her hand, but the serpent saw them both and it attacked Kantarou straight on. However, Kantarou did not release his grip on Reiya though he was badly wounded. The whirlpool then became stronger and so did all the currents. As a result, Reiya's hand slipped through Kantarou's

"KAN!"

Kantarou, being wounded, was unable to do anything and lost his conciousness.

"Is Kantarou alright?" a female voice asked Shigure. "I don't know, but that serpent left a pretty big scar on him though."

They were all in the hospital, Shigure and all, by Kantarou's bedside. Kantarou shifted and woke up with a jolt, causing Saeko to jump in fright. He noticed that Reiya was not around.

"Where's Reiya?" the exorcist asked anxiously. Shigure and everyone else hung their heads, wondering if they should tell him. Rei then said, "I- I'm sorry Kan…" as she started to cry.

"So that's what happened..." Rosalie said quietly as they returned to reality while Kantarou was still fast asleep. It looks as if not even a minute passed at all.

"Its really bad…" Rosalie said as she stood up and hugged Mu-chan tightly. She was crying herself! Haruka was a little dazed. He pitied Kantarou a little now. He stood up and patted the nymph's head.

"Stop crying now and get some sleep. We have to help in tomorrow's preparation of the ritual." Haruka told Rosalie as they all went back to bed.

The next day, Kantarou was much gloomier than the night before but nonetheless gave a feeble smile at breakfast saying that he was fine. Haruka was still a little worried.

Too bad for him, Kantarou noticed and said, "I'm fine you know… So just relax."

"How did you…"

"By the looks on your face." Kantarou laughed a little before going to change into his ritual clothes (his exorcist clothing)

Haruka stared at him for a while before going off to find Rosalie, Yoko, Sugino, Mu, Rei and Reika who were in the backyard playing 'oni tag'.

"I hope that baka is fine like he says he is." Haruka sighed and muttered, 'That baka master of mine…"