An even shorter chapter, and this time with no action whatsoever... well. This feels kind of like an interlude, or something. A little moment of quiet before things start happening again. I just wanted to end this chapter where it ends... Next one will be longer, I can promise you that. And as the chapter's shorter you're getting it faster. Not all bad, right?

Chapter 5

The car came to a stop in front of a white picket fence in a quite pleasant and expensive looking residential neighborhood. They got out, and Sai gave the house behind the fence a long look. This… wasn't exactly what he had been expecting from a safe harbor strong enough to defend them against such creatures as they had just seen. The wooden house brought to Sai's mind the houses from the period drama Hikaru's mother liked to watch, painted in ivory and burgundy, with elegant trim.

They walked in trough the gate. The front yard was covered with green grass, here and there were a few shady trees and well-kept shrubs. Arriving to the front door, Dresden rang the doorbell. In a moment the door was opened by a large man, shorter than Dresden but still tall, and more muscular, with dark hair streaked with grey. A smile appeared on his face as he saw them, spreading to his grey eyes, and Sai took an instant liking to him.

"Harry," he said warmly, grasping Dresden's hand, and nodded then to Hikaru, gesturing invitingly with his hand. "Do come in."

Hikaru stepped in, and Sai followed him – or tried to. It was as if he had hit a solid wall, a wall that hit him back, so that he staggered a few steps back to the yard.

"Sai?" Hikaru spun around to look at him with startled eyes. "What happened?"

"The ghost," Dresden said, and an understanding look spread on the other man's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have been more specific. Please enter, you are both warmly welcome in my home."

Sai didn't quite understand what he said, but he felt a change in the threatening force in front of him, and approached again, very carefully.

"It's alright, just come in," Dresden said. "You've been invited."

Sai stepped in feeling a slight tickling sensation, but that was all.

"What was that?" Hikaru asked.

"The threshold. It's a… field of energy that separates a home from the outside world. You know how vampires need an invitation before they can enter? Same thing."

"But Sai came to your place without any trouble…"

"I invited you both in right away. Besides, my threshold is nothing compared to this. A rental apartment where I live alone, compared to a real home with several children… the threshold this place has is more solid than the Great Wall of China."

Their host was watching them with raised eyebrows. "Harry, when did you learn Japanese?" he asked, and Dresden visibly cringed.

"It's complicated," he just muttered, and turned to Hikaru. "This is my friend, Michael Carpenter," he said. "You'll be staying here at least for the next few days. This is Hikaru Shindou, and his invisible companion Fujiwara no Sai," he said to Michael.

The man nodded at the boy. "Welcome," he said. "We are happy to give you whatever aid we can, until this unfortunate business is solved."

Dresden translated, and Hikaru gave a bow. "Thank you…" he said, and seemed to want to say more, but couldn't find the words in English. Possibly not in Japanese, either.

A woman had appeared behind Michael, dressed in worn, comfortable looking clothes but still managing to look stylish and beautiful, the effect partly ruined by the stern, frowning look she had as she watched the newcomers. Her golden hair was tied in bun on the back of her head, and judging by the size of the bun, she had to have quite a lot of it.

"My wife, Charity," Michael said.

Hikaru gave another bow. "Thank you to… for… letting me come," he finished in Japanese, which Dresden translated.

Charity gave the man a curious look that echoed the one her husband had given him a moment earlier, though a little sharper. Then she turned to Hikaru and her stern expression softened into a smile.

"Welcome," she too said. "Please, come in and don't just stand there." She gestured with her hand and led them to the living room.

Sai paused at the door, startled to see three children in there. The youngest, a boy who couldn't be over five years old, bounced to his feet at the first sight of Mouse and rushed to the dog, shrieking happily. He was followed by a little girl, maybe a year or two older. The oldest of the three, a girl not over ten years, looked up from her book. She didn't join the younger children who seemed to be trying to ride on the dog, but lowered her book and smiled at the sight.

"That's my little namesake, Harry," Dresden said pointing at the boy. "And that's Hobbit…"

"Hope!" the girl who had managed to drag herself on Mouse's back exclaimed in a bright voice, glaring at Dresden.

"Right, Hobbit. And Amada on the couch. The three youngest of the Carpenter children."

Three youngest? Sai blinked.

"Umm… Sai is asking how many children they've got?" Hikaru said.

Dresden seemed to pause to count. "Seven," he said then.

Sai shook his head, disbelieving. And this is where we are hiding from the ghouls? Among so many children?

Hikaru repeated his words aloud.

"Well, yes," Dresden replied. "This is one of the safest places I can think of. The ghost is worried about drawing the bad guys to a family with children," he said then in English.

"I am happy someone is giving that some thought," Charity muttered, a little sharply.

"We all are," Michael said softly. "Please assure them everything is quite alright."

Dresden seemed to hesitate himself. "I did consider taking them to Forthill," he said.

Michael was shaking his head. "No. They would be safe from anything unnatural at the church, but Father Forthill could do little in the case of mortal attackers. We can defend them from both."

Dresden nodded, though he didn't seem happy about it, and translated to Hikaru and Sai.

The doorbell rang. This time Charity went to open, and soon returned with four other people: Mitchell from the consulate, Tomoko Hart, and two other police officers, male and female.

"Sergeant Murphy," Dresden introduced the female officer to them. Sai looked at her with some surprise. She was blond, short, and simply too cute to be taken seriously as a police officer – or so he thought, until he caught the sharp look of her blue eyes, as she was eyeing Hikaru evaluatingly. "Henry Rawlins," Dresden said of the man, but Sai was too focused on Murphy to pay him much attention.

After introductions were done, Mitchell turned to Hikaru. "Shindou-kun," she said, disapproval clear in her voice. "I have been trying to reach you the whole day. You weren't supposed to leave the hotel."

"Oh? You didn't say that." Actually, Hikaru, I think she did, Sai whispered to the boy who shrugged. "I'm sorry. I… forgot to charge my phone." In truth he had kept it turned off in Dresden's presence.

The woman sighed. "Well, no harm done, in the end. But this arrangement…" she shot a glance across the room, "is quite unusual. There are other places where you could stay at, with Japanese speaking people. This…"

"But I want to stay here!" Hikaru exclaimed. "Why can't I?"

"You can't even communicate with these people! If anything happens…"

"I'm sure all will go fine," Dresden put in. "Please, Mitchell-san, take a seat and let's talk about this."

Mitchell gave him a surprised look, apparently not having expected to hear Japanese from him. Then she nodded, and all the adults sat down. Hikaru listened to their discussion a moment, but as he understood nearly nothing he soon turned his back to them. He sat down on the floor, next to Mouse who was lying on his side, still being overrun by the two smallest children. Now Amanda too had joined her siblings and was rubbing the dog's belly.

Amanda smiled up at him. She was a pretty girl, with curly blond hair and a red, frilly dress. "Hi! What's your name?"

"Hikaru," Hikaru replied. That much he could understand.

"I'm Amanda," Amanda said. "Though Dresden told you that already." She leaned over the dog to whisper to him, "Is it true you have a ghost with you?" The smaller children stopped immediately their play with the dog, and Hikaru had their unwavering attention. Too bad he hadn't understood the question.

"Umm… what? Sorry, I… I don't… understand?"

"Ghost!" Amanda whispered fervently. Hope stood up and raised her hands up, and gave a wailing sound that was probably meant to imitate a howling ghost.

I think they're asking about me, Sai said.

Hikaru was quiet for a long moment, and Sai knew what he was thinking. Was it really smart to let little children know about these things? Finally the boy nodded. "His name is Sai. But…" he raised his finger on his lips and made a hushing sound.

Amanda nodded smartly. "It's a secret. Don't worry, we can keep secrets. Right?" she gave a very stern look at her younger siblings who were nodding eagerly.

The matter settled, Amanda jumped to her feet and grasped his hand. "Come! I'll show you the house. I'll show him the house!" she called to the grownups too, and dragged Hikaru out of the room with her.

"Here's the kitchen. If you get hungry you can come to make a sandwich but clean after yourself or mom will get mad. There's fruits there, you can have those too if you want. And then, here…" she grasped Hikaru's hand again. "Here's the downstairs toilet and bathroom."

Hikaru nodded. He didn't really understand anything the girl was babbling, but, as he whispered to Sai, it was always good to locate a toilet.

"Let's go up!" And up they went. She led him to a room with a bunk bed and dropped to sit on the lower bed, bouncing a little. "This is my and Alicia's room. She's not home yet, she's playing softball."

Sai let his gaze wander across scattered pink clothes, dolls, stuffed animals and schoolbooks, and correctly deduced whose room this was.

"Alicia doesn't like it when you jump on her bed," Hope said from the door in a very serious voice. Amanda shot her tongue out at her and bounced once more. Then she jumped up and rushed to another room.

"This is…"

"Me and Harry's room!" Hope exclaimed happily. "Look at my building blocks! You can make a real castle!" She settled down to a rather impressive set of wooden blocks, half built into a complicated castle structure.

"My blocks!" little Harry shouted, entering the room.

"They're both of your blocks," Amanda said. "And it's 'my and Harry's room', not 'me and Harry's'." No one was paying her any attention, and with a deep sigh she turned away. "There's Daniel's and Matthew's and Molly's rooms," she said with a wave of her hand. "And mom and dad's room. But this," she spun around with a raised finger, "now, this is important. Understand? Im-por-tant."

Hikaru blinked. Followed the girl's finger when she pointed toward what appeared to be a door to a closet, next to the master bedroom. Hikaru looked at the door, then at the girl, and raised his eyebrows. She looked quite smug.

She opened the door to a linen closet and gestured to Hikaru to follow. The boy did, though not without sharing a very skeptic look with Sai. Amanda led them to the back wall of the closet, and then she placed her hand against the wall, glanced back to check that Hikaru was following her closely, and pushed. The panel slid aside, and revealed a hidden room.

"Wow." Hikaru stepped in after Amanda, who had turned on the light. Sai followed them, curious. The room was small, but big enough for the whole family to fit in with some comfort. There were water canisters, canned food, mattresses, even some books.

"Panic room," Amanda said very seriously. Hikaru blinked at her. "Safe," she said with emphasis.

There were steps in the corridor, and a worried look passed over the girl's face. Then Dresden peeked into the closet.

"There you are! Showing him the important places, huh?"

Amanda nodded, and all the children left the room. She closed it carefully after her. Sai gave the wall a good look, and didn't see any sign of a potential door.

"So that's a… safe room?" Hikaru asked.

Dresden nodded. "Yep. Get in there at any sign of trouble. Follow the kids, even the smallest ones know what to do."

"So how safe is it?" Hikaru asked, eyeing the closet's back wall thoughtfully.

"Safe enough." Dresden smiled, a little wryly. "Angelic protection."

"What?" Hikaru looked at him with wide eyes. "Angelic? You mean… as in…"

"Exactly. As far as I know, one of the archangels was involved. That room isn't easily found by anything that's not supposed to find it."

"Archangel?" Hikaru remained standing where he was, as if frozen.

"Yes." Dresden seemed to consider a moment and went then on, in low voice, "Michael is a Knight of the Cross. Real one. There's only two of them in the entire world at the moment." He gave the boy a look. "So they are not entirely unused in this house to dark things going bump in the night."

Hikaru stared long at the man. Then he looked at the children standing in the corridor. Hope gave him a bright smile. She was holding one of the blocks in her hand. "Come build with me?" she asked happily.

Dresden shook his head. "Not yet. The guests are leaving, he has to go to say goodbye to them."

"And after that play?"

"She wants you to come to play with her with the blocks," Dresden told Hikaru as they went down.

The boy gave a little smile and nodded. "Fine for me."

"Yes!" Hope gave a happy shout. "I'll wait there!" she rushed back up.

Mitchell and the police officers were waiting at the front door. "Well, Shindou-kun," she said, face impassive but disapproval evident in her voice. "We have reached an agreement. You can stay here for now, if you really want to."

"Yes!" Hikaru exclaimed. He placed a hand Mouse's shoulder as the dog sat down next to him and hugged the dog close to himself. "Thank you."

The woman nodded. "I am still not quite certain if this is the best place for you, but it's certainly better than the hotel."

Tomoko nodded. "I think this is good. Good to have other children with him. And the dog." She smiled at the way Hikaru was fondling the dog.

The two women left. Murphy and Rawlins remained a little longer.

"He has my phone number?" Murphy asked, eyeing Hikaru. "Tell him to call me at any time, if need be," she went on as Dresden nodded. "Tell him to say where he is, if he just knows it, and 'help' if he needs immediate help. We'll come."

Dresden translated this, and the boy nodded. Murphy gave the man a long look.

"Since when do you speak Japanese, anyway?" She sighed as Dresden just shrugged, looking ill at ease. "Whatever. Let me know of any new developments. And I mean that, Dresden." One more sharp look, and she and Rawlins said goodbye as well and went their way.

"Time for me to go too," Dresden said to Hikaru, and Sai could feel the nervousness stirring up inside the boy. It had been an eventful day, and Hikaru had gone from rather skeptic to counting on this man's protection more strongly than Sai had even guessed. Still the boy just nodded.

"Thanks for everything," he said quietly.

"I'll let you know if and when I find out something new. Oh, and," Dresden had already been about to go but turned yet back. "Molly, their eldest, is my apprentice. She should be coming home soon, she was out with her friends. Now – she's just started to learn this stuff and she'll never be great with things that go boom, but she's got knack for the more delicate stuff. And she's got the Sight, so listen to her if she thinks something's dangerous."

"Things that go boom," Hikaru muttered, amused despite himself.

Dresden grinned at him. "Yeah. She does the subtle part, me the quick to anger part." As the boy just stared at him, not understanding, he rolled his eyes. "Don't you have Tolkien in Japan? Seriously."

He had still a few words with Michael, and then the wizard too left.

Hikaru looked after him a little forlornly. Sai placed a hand on his shoulder. Best this way, so that we're out of the way so he can do his job.

Another hand settled on Hikaru's other shoulder, above Sai's, and the boy looked up, surprised. Michael smiled down at him, squeezing his shoulder a bit. "It's alright," he said slowly. "Harry is a good man. He will help."

Hikaru said nothing but nodded, very slightly. Then he glanced up. "Hope?" he said quietly, pointing up, and after Michael's nod headed back there to join the girl in her castle building.

A/N: I wanted to have more Murphy here, but she didn't feel like hanging around. :/