-Oxford - Thursday: Part 11-

Reino laid on the bed. His room had been set up to hold a barrier, nothing in and nothing out. At least not when it came to spirits. Which apparently worked with grudges too, but that hasn't stopped him from putting a leash on the little creature. A leash that held rudraksha seeds within it. He had thought to use one with human bones but thought better of it in the end. Yet he was supposed to be helping to heal Kyoko of sorts. Not that it would do much good, the little grudge didn't seem to like it. Not that he could blame it, he wouldn't like being forced to wear a leash either, but they would help strengthen the body, hopefully just not the grudges as well. It was not improving its personality at all, which was a real shame if you asked him. He would have had enjoyed a more calm and charming grudge than this one who doing everything but being calm. Then again calmness was not natural for grudges but anything had to be better than this little beast of a creature.

He narrowed his eyes as the little grudge zoomed down grabbing his phone, "What are you doing?" he growled at the little creature who stuck out his tongue once more before seeming to bash its little hands on the screen of his phone. "Whatever" it wasn't like it would actually be able to harm it, the fact that it was able to touch anything was likely due to the beads on the leash. At least that was what Reino was going to have to believe, spirits rather they be from the dead or the living could only change air pressure. The sudden chill, someone breathing on the back of your neck, the slamming of doors and so on, they all were due to the air pressure, the more pressure they could give the better the chance of moving something like a door but it was not very common. The thing that bothered him as he was really more flying blind when it came to this creature, the fact it had his phone alone was something of an amazement, but all could be explained away, now if he this little creature wasn't on the so-called leash he highly doubted that it would be able to do half the annoying things it had been doing to him. Yet it seemed to realize the flaw in leashing it. It could use the leash to knock things over.

Reino sighed, 'Only need to get to the dinner right?' He narrowed his eyes as he stared off into the distance, not really seeing anything around him at the moment, 'This is...' he wasn't sure anymore. He wasn't sure at all, the fact that Tomi had been able to hide his memories without making it known he was doing so to him, the fact that he had been able to know what was going on in her head, or at least seemed to be able to realize when he was there. 'Why would he need to know then though?' He placed his hand over his eyes trying to grab the memories of when Tomi had been there. Trying to replay them but he always knew that it was more like knowing too much information and things just got lost, always got lost. Taking a deep breath he tried to once again relax by the small river that was not of his dreams, seeing it through her eyes, the feeling of peace. If there was a place to ever feel calm and at peace in this world it seemed to be there, wherever there was he wouldn't mind going there. 'Then again maybe it was that blue stone' but the biggest issue of living things through another person's memories was that he couldn't pick up the other things in the world. He couldn't see the dead for example, he couldn't see the supernatural, it was all through their eyes, he couldn't change anything, he was just along for the ride.

'She been...' he would never have thought it possible. There had been so much pain but not he knew it wasn't due to what had happened to her recently, how he knew that he wasn't sure. Yet the pain was more of the heart, not of the body. 'How could she be...' he sighed heavily as he tried to put everything together in his head which he was having a hard time doing. Too much, it was too much to fully focus on, the connection between his cousin and this girl. The trust she clearly must have in him, even though he allowed so much more pain, he could have stopped it at any time. 'What were you thinking Tomi?'

He winced as his phone on his stomach, his eyes shot back towards the little grudge. 'It's bored' he wondered for a moment how that could be possible, sure it could, in theory, be said to have it's own thoughts and feelings but boredom wasn't or correction shouldn't be a feeling that they felt at all. No more than being scared and happiness were questionable. 'Plus I never actually seen a grudge before so why can I see hers so clearly.' He tugged on the leash pulling it closer to him, his eyes narrowing.

Too many questions, far too many questions and he didn't have the answers. He placed his hand around the little grudge as he closed his eyes sending the healing vibes, it squirmed in his grasp yet he knew as well as the little creature did this was important and while it was not pleased with being held it was not biting him, which was an improvement. He opened his eyes slowly releasing the little creature and it flew upwards, glaring at him. Reino sighed heavily as he looked down towards the phone that it had dropped upon him or perhaps thrown he wasn't so sure when it came to that creature sometimes. "I need more information..." he thought, yet to get that information would not be easy at all. He was blood but not trusted with that information, it didn't matter that he had awakened the powers that they held so tightly to themselves. They gave him the basic information just because of that but anything else, he had learned or was given the information by Tomi, for his personal amusement. He always had a task for Reino to do, something he wanted for the information. 'Maybe there is something more he wants, he wants Kyoko safe...' he sighed heavily. 'He allowed that to happen to her, she's no weakness to him. Just another toy to play. One that has information though...'

Daiki eyes trailed towards Kyoko and Keiji. He knew that he could not allow either of them to know everything he had found, not first without letting Leiko know, but even then he wasn't so sure it would be the best thing to do for her. Keiji wouldn't be the problem, he wouldn't take anything he had found to be personal, Kyoko very well might. She likely would blame herself, she was doing it now because she had not thought of everything at once, as if anyone had the ability to do such a thing. No everyone made mistakes, but owning up to them, working through them. That was how to make things better, she couldn't just keep hiding to protect everyone 'Then again she is depending on people isn't she?' She had come to him this time, asking first for his laptop, then asking if there was a way to go through the data of missing persons in the area, not just this area but elsewhere as well. 'So she will seek help when she truly believes she needs it or has no other choice but to get the help.'

One last look towards the two who were looking at his laptop, looking up information most likely on Alice Patterson he turned his eyes finally back towards his screen, the biggest issue was Ruto. He might realize that he was hiding something at this rate, he really didn't like the man around him at all, or at least not when he was doing his job not that he saw it as one, more like blackmailed by the Queen Mother herself. He sighed as he scratched the back of his head before going back to his 'so-called coding' no he had finished that some time ago actually not that they could know that. What he was really doing was trying to dig up information any information about the two women who had danced with Ren or perhaps it was Kuon last night. He really hadn't much luck other than the fact that the police officer clearly had some connection to the one girl. Cinderella Mianju, 19 years old and in college. Yet there wasn't much more about her the school records had her listed but from what he could tell she wasn't actually in those classes it was rather odd, she was homeschooled, those records but that wasn't the part that bothered him. No, it was her father, he could not see anything that made them look alike.

'Kyoko could actually be related to Leiko...' Leiko had once been a real beauty and it went without saying that Lory wasn't bad looking himself add in the son and how cute Maria was there was no way one could deny that they held something that managed to make them look like blood relations. 'Maybe not father and daughter but still... that could be explained away enough to being her mother and still allow Lory to shine through, her height for one thing.' Actually, Kyoko didn't look much like her mother either when he thought about it, no he could see the mother but whoever Kyoko's father was he had a feeling that she didn't look much like him either, no if anything she was a very nice blend of the two. Where he looked like his father and Keiji looked more like their mother. One would find it hard to see them as siblings if it wasn't for minor things.

"Is something the matter Daiki?" Kyoko's voice startled him and he felt stupid for being so easily startled.

"I was thinking actually... kids tend to look something like their parents right?" He shook his head as Kyoko looked down, he supposed maybe it bothered him that she didn't see herself in her father or her family members. 'Ah you are so wrong' she also had stated once she couldn't see herself in her mother and he had a feeling that part of the reason her mother had never been able to look at her and love her like a mother should be because she only saw Kyoko's biological father in her. That if she could have seen herself as he did, then perhaps she would have but then they wouldn't have Kyoko here with them, part of their family. "Don't worry, you truly look like you belong with them all." Her eyes turned towards him as if he had just shone a candle in the darkness of an ocean storm.

"You aren't just saying that?"

"No, I'm not. Kouki is written as half-siblings but even if that wasn't the case, you can see each other between the two, much like Keiji and myself. We don't look anything like not really but there are small things that shine through that makes it clear without a doubt. It's the same with you and Lory, you and Kouki and even you and Maria. Harder with Queen Mary and the rest of them, but that's easy enough to explain as well. You are distance enough and they are by far more English and you. You need to remember they are basically three-fouth and one-fourth Japanese. The Queen is half Japanese, so the more you mix your blood with other cultures the less you can see yourself in others."

Keiji shook his head, "Why were you thinking about something like that anyway?" There was a hint of annoyance in his younger brother's voice but he shook his head, "Well Alice Patterson, she's only one-fourth Japanese, one-fourth Korena, she's half Scottish." He looked between the two of them for a moment, "If they really wanted to use her as a double it would show up in the testing." He watched the wheels turning in Kyoko's mind before she shook her head.

"It wouldn't matter, you said it yourself. I look like I belong and we all know I'm not..." Her voice started to crack as she spoke. Keiji pulled her to him shushing her quickly, his eyes darken for a moment to a point of almost blackness.

Daiki shook his head for a moment, "It would matter, your skin tones don't match and makeup wears off, you also have to remember your position now. Who you are in the world, who your family is. They would need more than just her to look close enough to match, they would need too..."

"More than one person inside..." she said softly.

Daiki shook his head "No they wouldn't need any more than one person on the outside, someone who can hack into their systems, to change information, images, add information that wouldn't be there before." He sighed heavily as he ran his hand through his hair, "or someone with tight family ties to the Royal family because those medical papers and information are not stored on any server... well not for long anyway." No, that data would all be on something like a flash drive.

"Then how can they change it?"

Ruto, "They would just need to know when the other person was logged in using that drive to get that information. It means they need one of the Ankou and that means they know about us." His eyes darken as he thought about it, "Whoever he works for, Heth has a strong connection to a powerful family."