The Second Story: The Spirit of Arashiyama

Whilst in the middle of preparations for the upcoming Gozan Festival, the teahouse receives information about a number of attacks on pedestrians on the outskirts of the city. However, once they arrive, Tsukasa insists that they leave this matter alone…

Tsukasa smiles innocently at Shūichi from the doorway of the main room where he is laying flat on the floor, too hot to move. The sun has hardly lifted off the horizon and it's already so humid that Shūichi can feel the sweat slide off his brow even though he hasn't moved for the past twenty minutes. Tsukasa is hardly unaffected, but he still has a small bounce to his step as he walks and stands over Shūichi.

"...What."

That smile widens a fraction. "Make me breakfast."

"...Why?"

"I'm hungry," Tsukasa states as if this is the most obvious reason he would be asking such a ridiculous thing of a ghoul. Sometimes Shūichi can't help but wonder if Tsukasa really does forget that he's a ghoul.

"I can't make human food," Shūichi argues with a muffled grunt. He still doesn't want to move from the floor since the bamboo mats make it slightly cooler. "Go tell one of the birdbrains to make something."

This time, Tsukasa begins to whine. It sounds a bit odd because of his deep voice, but at least it doesn't hurt his ears like a girl's whining would. "Hakuō and Kurō are opening the shop early and told me to make it myself."

"And why don't you make it yourself?"

"I don't feel like it."

Shūichi can say no and walk out that door, leaving Tsukasa with no choice but to prepare something quick. Or Shūichi can say no, walk out the door, and Tsukasa will skip breakfast altogether and get dizzy and nearly pass out this afternoon.

"You're so stubborn!" Shūichi growls as he leaps to his feet almost faster than Tsukasa can see. The human claps his hands together and utters a little sound of victory as he follows Shūichi to the kitchen.

The kitchen is a terrifying place to Shūichi. It's constantly filled with the scents of food cooking on the stove that make him want to vomit. Today it seems that Hakuō just started boiling the dango and a pot of red bean paste sits in the back, but nothing smells terrible yet.

It's not like Shūichi has never cooked before. He just doesn't cook human food. He heads for the refrigerator and turns to Tsukasa with a scowl.

"What do you want?"

"Eggs and toast!"

Well, how hard can this 'eggs and toast' be? Shūichi takes out the ingredients and a pan, trying to remember what 'eggs and toast' looks like.

"I want them over-easy!"

Shūichi swings around, brandishing the chopsticks he was about to use to beat the eggs - he remembers seeing Kurō do that once. Tsukasa backs away when he points them directly at the human's face with a seething growl.

"No! You don't get to decide! Stop complaining and sit down like a good boy!"

Tsukasa laughs with mock-nervousness. "Alright, alright. It's more fun to eat it that way though."

Shūichi frowns because he has no idea what an 'over-easy' is supposed to be. It's probably something he should know, if he's going to keep living with this idiot who doesn't feel like making his own food half the time. "How is it more fun?"

"Well, you can cut open the yolk and all of it comes gushing out and then you scoop it up with the toast!" Tsukasa beams. He literally looks like a huge, small child. He's taken a seat at the rickety folding chair in the corner of the kitchen. Hakuō sits there plucking the ends of edamame beans sometimes in the early morning or evening, when everyone else is sleeping or watching TV or otherwise bothering each other and not him.

"And humans call us ghouls crazy?" Shūichi mumbles with the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. "You like to play with your food, too! I'll have you know that the human equivalent tastes good too."

"Ew! But it's not like the eggs are baby chicks!" Tsukasa cries out imploringly. "Unless you mean...ugh that's gross too…!"

Shūichi looks down at the innocent egg in his hand. He cracks one into a bowl, eyes widening a little when he sees that a few shells have fallen inside. That's okay, right? He quickly cracks one more into the bowl and begins clumsily beating it.

He appreciates that Tsukasa only flinches when he casually mentions eating humans off-hand. But still, it makes his throat close up and his chest ache a bit to know that Tsukasa still finds it so repulsive. Shūichi puts up with his disgusting meals of fish and beef and chicken all the time, after all.

But it's still different, he supposes, glancing at the human out of the corner of his eye. It's not like Tsukasa eats ghouls. And yet he doesn't protest when Shūichi manhandles him or when he offhandedly mentions that Tsukasa probably tastes delicious. In fact, he even lets Shūichi sleep next to him.

Shūichi pours the egg mixture into the hot pan slowly. Maybe he should stop joking about those things. For a little while, at least.

"So…" Tsukasa drawls as they stand in the kitchen listening to the water for the dango gently boil and the eggs frying on the pan. "We have a new request…"

"A new request!? So quick? When did this happen?" Shūichi says. He almost knocks the pan over as he swings around to listen. Tsukasa stifles a laugh behind the square sleeve of his yukata. He doesn't move his mouth away as he speaks, so his voice is muffled.

"When I was at Mount Hiei yesterday with Hakuō and Kurō, one of the ayakashi came up to me and asked that I take a look at the area around Arashiyama. There have been a few incidents around there in the last few weeks, if you remember? No one has been seriously hurt yet so it's probably not the work of a ghoul, but it's starting to scare the tourists away. Of course, the CCG can't find anything since there's nothing for them to find."

"I see," Shūichi nods. That district is located on the western outskirts of the city. He has never been there himself, but he already knows what Tsukasa is about to say.

"So...I was thinking of making a day trip over there to check it out! We'll have to leave someone behind to mind the shop, but what do you think? By the way, I smell something burning."

"It's- what!?" Shūichi spins around and is hit in the face by a wall of heat and a stench so strong he almost vomits over the pan. Seeing this, Tsukasa runs over and waves his hands uselessly over Shūichi's pounding head, trying to make him move over before he ruins the stove. "Urgh!"

Tsukasa manages to push him to the far wall before he returns to the stove to turn off the flame and move the half burnt eggs onto a plate. Shūichi watches him move about the kitchen with jerky motions like he hasn't cooked before, either. His nausea fades a little now that he's away from the source, but he ends up crawling into the next room for some fresh air.

Tsukasa returns sometime later with his burnt breakfast. It has cooled down by now and looks even worse than before, but at least it doesn't smell. Shūichi's eyes widen as Tsukasa lifts his chopsticks and starts eating.

"You're still eating that? Isn't it gross?"

"Food's food," Tsukasa hums. "You bear with it all the time for us when we go out to eat at festivals and such. Besides, it's not burnt beyond repair. Nothing a little salt won't fix. So, so, what do you say about Arashiyama? We could go for a boat ride on the river...or go see the monkeys! Why not take a look?"

"Seeing as it's a request, I don't really have a choice, do I..."

Shūichi, Tsukasa, and Kurō are the ones who end up making the trip to Arashiyama by way of the Sagano Line. Yūgiri refuses to go on account of the copious amounts of water-based activities that Tsukasa wants to participate in, and Hakuō is the one homebound most of the time because he always gives a sour face whenever someone mentions going out.

"I've been wondering…" Shūichi muses in a low voice as they walk through the bamboo groves, the long stalks of green towering above their heads. There isn't much of a breeze today, so the entire grove stands silent. It is somehow eerier than the whistle of the wind through the stalks, the sound that Yūgiri makes when he hums.

"Yes?" Tsukasa prompts him. Shūichi flushes and looks back up at the bamboo, not having realized that he never finished his sentence.

He takes a quick look around them, but the closest pedestrians are a family of tourists a few meters away. "Why is it that both you and your brother go to restaurants or festivals with us sometimes, Kurō? I thought one of you always had to stay at home to 'watch' the house."

Kurō turns to him and blinks. The brown of his eyes are even darker in the shadev and his hair seems to meld seamlessly into the shadows. The smile that he flashes under the mottled lighting is wide, showing just a sliver of teeth.

"The house will be protected so long as at least one of us remains on the property," he says. As usual, his voice is clear and carries a hint of a vague, meaningless tune. It fades like bird calls into the bamboo grove. "When we are gone, the teahouse is simply a teahouse again. But without Tsukasa there, it's a fairly safe place. Nothing more than the weak ayakashi should have cause to wander inside."

"Oh," Shūichi utters, glancing at the human man. He whistles into the humid air somewhat breathlessly, but it does not sound like metal slicing through air and does not succeed in making Shūichi shiver. "I see. Is there a reason we have to leave your brother behind today?"

Shūichi still doesn't understand all of these matters having to do with the ayakashi and yōkai that haunt this world, invisible to ghouls and humans alike.

"Why is it that I can't normally see them?" Shūichi asked once, long ago, to Hakuō. It was even before he met Tsukasa that he asked the white haired man this question. "I'm not human."

Hakuō merely cast a slim, rare smile in his direction and continued to draw swirling Chinese characters on a slip of paper. He was making wards, which they sold for extra profit. "Perhaps you have more in common with human beings than you think."

It still confuses him to this day. He can see the twins and Yūgiri perfectly, but when they go searching for ayakashi on a clear day like today, his eyes perceive nothing more than trees and the sky and a river that stretches beyond the horizon. Meanwhile, Tsukasa's eyes are always moving from place to place, clearly staring at something meaningful. His lips slide into a smile when he is unaware of it, as well.

Just like now. Tsukasa is looking up at the treetops when Kurō answers.

"Hakuō just doesn't like to leave the house much. He was the last to fly the nest when were little, too," Kurō laughs and his voice is normal again, less like a creature of the mountains and more like a young man in his twenties, bored with walking through the bamboo groves with his male friends. "Come on, let's go see the monkeys!"

"Oh! We get to see the Togetsukyo Bridge! I haven't seen it since I was little!" Tsukasa's eyes suddenly return to this side of the world as he darts forward, grabbing Shūichi with his right hand and Kurō with his left. He walks backwards as he drags them, although it really isn't necessary seeing as Kurō is just as excited.

Shūichi smiles and shrugs out of the loose grip the human has on his wrist. "Okay, okay! Let's go!"

They end up stopping by Tenryuji Temple before crossing the bridge, thanks to Tsukasa who has a friend he wants to visit. Shūichi simply sits back and watches the human dart through the crowd. He might not be able to see the ayakashi very well without help, but there is always more than one thing that can hurt a frail human like Tsukasa in a crowd like this one.

Kurō lingers by his side. He watches the birds flit between the lush greenery around them with the amusement of a child.

"Don't you want to go?" Kurō asks.

"Why? He's a big boy," Shūichi retorts. "What about you? Don't you want to see the temple? I thought you liked that sort of stuff."

Kurō smiles thinly, his smile almost like his older brother's, except it is set against a darker face. Once again, it is the smile of something inhuman, making Shūichi shudder and turn away. "Not temples. We prefer shrines."

Shūichi doesn't know the difference, but he doesn't ask either. He has never been religious - he has only ever been to a shrine or temple or whatever they are called because Tsukasa and Kusaka before him were going.

A long time ago he had probably asked his parents why they never went when all the other children got to go for Children's Day. He doesn't think he ever got an answer. Of course now he knows, not that it matters.

"So why is he going there?" Shūichi asks to distract himself from the thought of his dead parents.

"Probably to ask about the ayakashi. I think his family knows the people who work here."

At the mention of Tsukasa's family, both young men fall silent. They listen to the people on the paths chatter, but it is mere white noise to them. When Tsukasa returns, they are wearing twin smiles of false cheer.

"Suwa-san told me that there have been a lot of thefts near the Okochi Sanso Villa back where the bamboo groves are," Tsukasa says. "Suwa-san set some wards up a while ago, but something broke through them recently."

Kurō's eyes widen as they lift themselves from the ground, dusting stray blades of grass and dirt off their pants. "Broke as in…?"

"It wasn't the work of a curious or ignorant person. An ayakashi broke through the barrier surrounding that area."

They return to the bamboo groves and suddenly, the dense forest around them and the gentle whistle of a breeze blowing through the stalks is less peaceful as it is eerie. Okochi Sanso Villa is made up of various gardens and buildings, and is an area that once belonged to a famous actor from the Meiji Era, or so Tsukasa tells him. They pay to get inside and are walking down the road when Tsukasa steps off the path.

"Tsukasa! The woman at the front gate said we can't go into any of the buildings!" Shūichi hisses. But this doesn't stop the human from slipping around the back of one aforementioned building, Kurō following right behind him with a bounce to his step. "Kurō, don't encourage him! Get back here you two!"

"Shush, Shūichi. I'm not going into the building. Look at this ofuda," Tsukasa says, moving aside to point a slender finger at the door frame. A rectangular strip of white cloth has been pasted to the wood. Calligraphy of some mysterious Chinese characters stains the cloth, but Shūichi cannot read it. The alarming part, he assumes, is that it has been cut in half and is charred around the edges like someone took a lighter to it. The edges dangle in the wind.

Shūichi's entire body shudders against the sudden gust of air that has swept between the buildings. With a flinch, he tries to shove Kurō's hair out of his line of vision. The dark strands stab him in his sensitive eyes and he winces as he pulls away, sputtering, wondering…

...wondering why such a strong wind is blowing at the height of the summer. The air itself is still saturated with humidity, he realizes after he stops moving for a second. Shūichi tosses his head from side-to-side rapidly, heartrate climbing as he desperately tries to see that which cannot be seen by normal eyes. All he sees are leafy trees that cast long, demonic shadows across the ground.

"Shūichi," Kurō calls out softly. When he turns around, he realizes that Kurō has been calling his name this entire time. His brow is drawn slightly in annoyance, but he shakes it off and waves Shūichi over to his and Tsukasa's side again. "There's nothing there."

"But that wind…!"

"Shūichi, there is nothing there. Trust me." It is Tsukasa who speaks this time, his voice calm and airy. That voice swims in Shūichi's mind as the human reaches out to hold Shūichi's head between his hands, cradling it gently as if a ghoul can shatter from a human's touch. It's the opposite, Shūichi wants to argue, but he is too dizzy to form coherent words.

Dizzy…? Yes, the world before him is blurred and wavers like a mirage on a hot summer's day. Tsukasa's face fades in and out of focus, but he can hear that voice through the buzzing in his head and it makes him smile or grin - he can't tell which one.

"Shūichi, please lay down," Tsukasa says in a whisper. Or maybe it isn't a whisper at all. He can hear the bird calls in the distance loud and clear, but Tsukasa seems intangible. It is only the feeling of those hands that pulse with life that keeps him grounded. Before he knows it, he is staring at the blue sky. "Shūichi, listen to me. The ayakashi…"

Shūichi needs to apologize to Tsukasa for always joking about eating humans. He knows that Tsukasa isn't some naive little boy who just thinks ghouls are monsters from stories meant to scare children. Because Shūichi can remember a time when Tsukasa was not so calm and unaffected. He swallowed his horror and grief in order to fulfill his job. And ultimately, he left the violent world of ghouls and those who hunt them behind him.

Tsukasa smiles more often these days. But why isn't he smiling now?

"Tsukasa," Shūichi slurs. "Smile? Come on, smile~"

"Okay, this isn't working. Kurō, hit him," he hears Tsukasa say. An outraged squawk comes from some unseen place. "Just do it. We won't be able to snap him out of it otherwise."

Tsukasa fades from view, but just as Shūichi is about to formulate a coherent question, he sees a narrow object come flying at his head. Though he watches it descent in slow motion, he can't react fast enough to stop it, and a bright starburst of pain blossoms between his eyes as he hisses and claws at the dirt, wanting to bring his kagune out but not.

Because Tsukasa is here, he reminds himself through the bright spots of pain that throb in his head. Humans are so frail. If he so much as touches Tsukasa with his kagune, will he split the man's skin open like the belly of a fish?

The pain shoots further into his skull and seems to last for minutes without stop before it finally begins to fade and Shūichi opens his eyes - really opens them - to see Tsukasa sigh in relief and Kurō clasping his hands together in forgiveness. He eyes the tall staff propped against Kurō's chest and shoulder, the top rungs jingling slightly in the breeze. And Shūichi realizes that it is no longer a strong and bitingly cold breeze, either.

Warmth wraps itself around Shūichi's face.

"What...happened...?"

"It seems that our little ayakashi friend is more powerful than we thought," Tsukasa says with a tired smile. His pale skin is smooth, but Shūichi can almost imagine the worry lines he'll have by the time he's thirty. "It tried to bewitch you. If it wasn't for that barrier Kurō set up, we might not have been so lucky in snapping you out of it. A possessed human can only do so much damage, but a possessed ghoul…"

Shūichi's eyes widen. "Me, possessed?" he echoes, voice climbing. "I didn't even see anything."

"There wasn't anything to see," Tsukasa says, climbing to his feet with a groan. "Come, I want to run a few more tests before we try to antagonize this thing into coming out."

Shūichi moves to get up as well, groaning when he realizes that the staff Kurō hit him with was not an ordinary monk's staff. A dull, burning pain spreads through his head and he cradles it tenderly. He supposes that he is too accustomed to being invulnerable to almost all weapons except kagune and the Doves' suitcases.

"Why did you have to hit so hard…" he groans.

"Sorry! I had no choice since you wouldn't come out of it! I didn't want you to accidentally hurt Tsukasa-sama!" Kurō implores with a quiet whine as they start walking back to the path. The golden staff fades, seemingly into dust, before Shūichi's eyes. Within seconds there is nothing left except the dull ache in his skull to prove that it ever existed.

With a small sigh, Shūichi waves his apology away. All he wonders as they make their way back to the bamboo grove is whether or not the other two saw that which is invisible to him - was an ayakashi looming over his back, tying him in its puppet strings as his companions looked on with dread?

No matter how much he lingers on it, Shūichi will never come to a certain answer. But he doesn't ask Kurō or Tsukasa about it, either.

A warm breeze blows through the bamboo grove. Kurō's long hair, tied into a high ponytail, gently wraps itself around his arms and torso, but he must be used to the feeling because he doesn't even attempt to brush it away. It is slightly cooler beneath the shade, even if the air is moist as ever, and Shūichi takes a moment to close his eyes and make sure his breathing evens out as they walk.

How is he supposed to protect Tsukasa from a creature he can't see? Can his kagune even touch it, if he was to bring it out?

It takes a long time to pass through the forest for the third time. The path is fairly empty of tourists and eventually it is only the three of them walking beneath the jade green bamboo stalks. Shūichi looks to the sky and sees the stalks sway back and forth like giant blades of grass on a nice day in spring.

This time, he only notices that something is wrong when Tsukasa stops in the middle of the path, breathing hard, eyes flicking between the bamboo on either side of them as if he expects a monster to jump out from them. Shūichi and Kurō both are immediately on guard, but there seems to be nothing there.

"We've been walking for far too long," Tsukasa says into the wind. He reaches one hand into the folds of his blue and grey striped yukata and takes a folded paper fan out. He opens it to fan himself, looking far more out of breath than either Shūichi or Kurō.

He continues to wave the fan back and forth. The tiny light pink flowers printed across the paper seem to dance, mimicking the fall of the cherry blossoms in the spring.

"Kurō, give him an omamori," Tsukasa says. Kurō pulls one of the small protection charms from his pocket. It is immediately recognizable as one of the green tea colored ones that Hakuō painstakingly sews while outside in the garden on nice afternoons. Kurō shoves it into Shūichi's hand with a wink.

"Is this another…"

"Yes," Tsukasa confirms, looking about. It is strange that he doesn't move, but the poor human does look like he's about to collapse. Shūichi approaches him with deliberately slow steps like one would walk towards a skittish animal. There is nothing wrong besides the sweat rolling down his neck and the occasional shiver that runs through his shoulders from the breeze passing through the grove.

"Tsukasa?"

"I know who you are. Come on out." Tsukasa suddenly snaps the fan closed and a whirl of wind and leaves, so sharp Shūichi fears that they might cut Tsukasa's face, jump into the air.

Kurō steps in front of both the human and the ghoul, his stance wide but firm.

"Is there something-"

A scream splits the air in two. Shūichi flinches, the dull pain from before returning full force. When the sound fades, he realizes that it isn't a human scream. It tapers off into something feral, a howl that sounds like the cackle of a fox.

"She's here," Kurō hisses. He points one clawed finger (clawed?) at the bamboo grove to the right. Shūichi tenses and thinks that perhaps he should take his kagune out. It doesn't seem like anyone else is around here.

However, something begins to come into focus. Shūichi's eyes widen as he realizes that he is staring at the form of a woman wreathed in hair so red it seems like the flames of autumn. Around her hips and waist are three long tails - the tails of a fox. At first Shūichi growls and tries to shove Tsukasa and his frail human body far behind him, because she looks like a ghoul with a rinkaku kagune and Shūichi finally has an enemy he can see to fight.

Tsukasa, however, places one of his hands at the small of Shūichi's back, making him tremble at the unexpectedly light touch. For just a moment, his blood had run hot and he almost drew his own kagune out - if he hadn't stopped in time, he would have sliced Tsukasa's palm clean open.

"Tsukasa! Stay back there!" Shūichi snaps, trying to shake the unpleasant feeling off.

"No," the human says firmly, eyes fixed on the form of that woman in the groves. She stands tall and silent, but her eyes are piercing gold. "She isn't a ghoul. Take a good whiff."

Shūichi does so and blinks in confusion.

"There are many ayakashi that excel at bewitching unsuspecting people with illusions. Won't you please leave my poor friend alone?" Tsukasa asks the woman, who gives him a wide grin. "Neither his soul nor his body will taste very good to you, I imagine."

"I would never eat one of those," the woman calls out, her voice so faint he can hardly hear it. "But it's easy to play with those like him."

"Why do you want to talk to us?" Kurō interjects, straightening his back and relaxing his posture. His legs are still braced somewhat, ready to lunge, but he seems comfortable with giving her the benefit of the doubt. "That is what you want, right?"

"I want that which has been stolen from me," the woman says. "That which human beings have stolen from me. If you can do that, I will leave this place and its people alone. If you cannot, I will take what is due to me."

This makes no sense to Shūichi and apparently to Kurō as well. However, Tsukasa closes his eyes for a moment and thinks.

"I cannot fulfill your request," he says at last, opening his eyes and staring straight at the woman, whose tails curl idly. Then he turns to Shūichi and Kurō and says something that Shūichi has never heard come from his mouth before. "Forget this one. We're going home."

"Wait a minute, what!"

"Tsukasa-sama!? Do you know what you're saying?"

"Oh," chuckles the woman, her pointed incisors showing through a thin, pale smile. "That little onmyōji knows. Are you sure about this? Your little friends don't seem to be in agreement. I'm kind, so I'll give you a second chance: can you fulfill my request?"

Shūichi expects Tsukasa to think about it again. Despite how he looks, Tsukasa is remarkably introspective and never makes a decision as important as this one without consulting with everyone else - but this time he doesn't.

"I cannot," Tsukasa says. "What you ask of me is impossible."

"Even so, we can't just leave her be, Tsukasa!" Kurō hisses, as if doing so will mean that the woman can't hear him. She chuckles from afar, voice melting into the wind. "She'll become a vengeful spirit!"

"Vengeful spirit…? Anyone mind telling me what's going on?" Shūichi finally snaps, raising his voice. "What's her request!?"

Tsukasa closes his eyes and sighs quietly. Pain pulls at his expression as he stands behind two people who will gladly toss their lives aside for his small, insignificant existence. Shūichi will not move until he has an answer. Kurō refuses to leave until they finish the business they came here for.

"Shūichi," Tsukasa says. "Kusaka once told you that the price for stealing another's life is very high. It is a price that accumulates interest and can only be easily bought out by the most depraved of individuals. Both you and I know this well."

Shūichi flinches at the mention of Kusaka, the previous owner of the teahouse.

"Do you want to live? If you want to live, you must promise me something."

"What, 'please don't kill anymore'? Don't be ridiculous, human!"

"I never ask the impossible."

The fox woman begins to move towards them, each of her tails flickering as she walks. They look like flames licking at the stalks of bamboo.

"She wants revenge for her children who have died," Tsukasa finally clarifies.

"How...how do you know that?"

Tsukasa smiles and taps his own chest, right where his heart is located. "Unfortunately, we humans are somewhat weak when it comes to the subconsciousness. It's easy for thoughts to get through."

"So you did see that," the fox spirit says through a mouth full of fangs that glisten. "Won't you fulfill my request? To kill the family who killed mine?"

"No," Tsukasa says. "Go do it yourself."

Kurō whirls around, lips pulled into a snarl, his eyes a definitive molten gold. The tips of his hair sharpen and flatten, rustle in the breeze, and the claws of his fingers begin to look more like the hooked talons of his true form.

"Tsukasa!" Kurō snaps, voice shrill. "You're going to let her curse an entire family for something one of their ancestors did three hundred years ago?"

Shūichi doesn't think that Kurō will turn those talons against Tsukasa, but places himself between the human and the young man morphing into something far from human just in case.

"...If you let her have her revenge, won't she turn into a vengeful spirit?" Shūichi concludes slowly. He may not have ever gone to school, but he isn't stupid. It's easy to piece together now.

Tsukasa smiles, but it is a rather empty smile that lacks humor, cruelty, or joy. "If that time ever comes, then we will return here to complete the job. But for today, we are leaving. If you aren't happy with that decision, then do something about it yourself."

But they both know that Kurō will do nothing, not because he believes Tsukasa is correct, but because an ayakashi has no right to pass judgement upon another ayakashi.

Not Kurō, anyways.

The fox woman stops walking. She is nearly to the edge of the grove, but she merely stands tall amidst the bamboo and folds her hands in front of her with a small smile. Almost as if she's grateful.

"I did want to have a taste of you," she chuckles, eyeing Tsukasa with a worryingly familiar predatory smile. "But it looks like your little guard dogs would sooner bite my face off. Are you really okay with not exorcising me?"

Tsukasa merely nods. "You're free to go today, Okitsune-sama. I think we can still see the cormorant fishing if we leave now. There's no point in coming all the way to Arashiyama if we don't see the cormorant fishing."

"Wait, doesn't that event take place at night?" Shūichi says, puzzled.

"It is night," the fox spirit laughs as a heavy wind blows across the path again. The air around them darkens and soon they find themselves in the middle of the bamboo grove, staring up at the moon. "Have fun, you three…"

"...What just happened?"

Kurō is silent throughout the entire trip to the riverside. His appearance as returned to that of a young man, but Shūichi still watches him carefully. He knows that he will never live long enough to ever really understand either of the twins, but he is just realizing how much he doesn't know about them, about the world of spirits, and about the spirits themselves.

Just like when Tsukasa wrapped his wounds after he fought that ghoul Maeda, Shūichi wonders if he should learn more. Tsukasa patiently listened to him talk about what it's like being a ghoul - complete with Shūichi cursing the CCG and spitting on the kitchen floor with disgust.

They watch the cormorants tethered to the fishing boats bobbing in the river. It's a strange event that Shūichi hasn't taken his eyes off of for the past twenty minutes. He can almost ignore the tension rolling off Kurō in waves.

"Ah, I can't believe we wasted our whole day in that bamboo grove!" Tsukasa exclaims with a slight whine in his tone as he stretches his arms above his head. "I wanted to go to the monkey park, too…"

Shūichi's eyes are transfixed on the lanterns that light the fishing boats up, so he doesn't notice that something is wrong until Kurō yanks his shirt.

When he turns around, he sees a crowd of humans on the path behind them. Their voices steadily climb, wavering and trembling with worry, anxiety, and finally, a shriek of terror.

Shūichi starts slightly, sniffing the air and realizing that he smells the slightly salty, but savory scent of human flesh.

A woman's scream tapers into relentless sobbing and someone cries, "Call an ambulance!"

"...I was hoping she would choose to go down a different path," Tsukasa says quietly beside him. His head is bowed and his right hand holds the fan from before loosely.

Kurō stands, but he doesn't confront Tsukasa. He snatches the fan out of the human's hands and makes a run for it, following the river away from the considerable crowd growing in the streets.

After a moment, Tsukasa sighs and goes to follow Kurō.

"Come, Shūichi. We have an exorcism to perform."

Shūichi nods even though he knows Tsukasa can't see it with his poor eyesight. "...Tsukasa?"

"I hoped she would choose something different, after three hundred years of waiting to get her revenge," Tsukasa mutters. "But in the end she couldn't forgive the ones who skinned her children alive for their pelts. It's just like you told me ghoul are like, right? Well, it's not like humans are any different..."

He says it very softly, but there aren't any around to hear their words.

Shūichi can only bite his tongue and hum in agreement. How many countless ghouls have been orphaned because of the Doves? How many have lost children and lovers and friends? He's certainly lost people to them - to humans almost as frail and puny as Tsukasa, who cuts himself on paper and bruises if Shūichi holds him too tight.

They catch up to Kurō in a remote part of the riverside, where the boats used for daytime sightseeing bob gently in the water.

Kurō snaps the fan open and waves it once, inviting a cool gust of wind that swoops down from the sky. Tsukasa hurries to his side, sweeping aside his sleeves as he reaches for the fan.

"I'll say the lines, you lure her here," Tsukasa says quickly.

And then, Tsukasa begins to chant. The words are alien to Shūichi, who lingers in the background utterly useless. An exorcism isn't something that a ghoul is capable of, Tsukasa tells him, and Shūichi watches with a body so tense he wants to scream, but he can't move from this spot once the ritual has started.

There aren't any physical markings on the ground, but Tsukasa swings the fan in the air as if he is dancing, and Kurō emerges from the darkness that has begun to seep through the space between the water and the shoreline. A ball of fire hovers behind him.

That ball of fire glows like a miniature sun for two seconds before it dims and expands, shifting, sharpening, and it splits violently into three pieces that fly in different directions. Those pieces, he realizes, are taking the form of a beast with four legs, a snout emerging from the light.

Kurō runs to stand in front of Tsukasa, but doesn't take out his golden staff. He stands there until all three flaming foxes are flying straight for them. Shūichi grips his left hand hard, willing himself not to move.

"Ghouls can be affected by an exorcism. If you are ever in the vicinity while we do one, you must not move, you hear me? Or there might not be enough left of you for us to salvage."

Shūichi can't hear anything but the words, "...oh vengeful spirit..." before he realizes that the fan glows a calming white. That light seems to absorb the harshness of the red spirit foxes until there is nothing left but a few tendrils lingering in the air.

Tsukasa snaps the fan shut, slicing the remaining strands, which dissipate into the air. And with it, the howl of a scream that sounds awfully human echoes in the mountains across the river.

Tsukasa collapses as soon as the ritual is complete, dropping the fan into the grass.

"Tsukasa!" Shūichi runs over as fast as possible for a ghoul, which means that he makes it before Tsukasa's torso hits the ground. He catches the human in his arms, careful not to hold him too tightly as he shoves the hair from Tsukasa's eyes. "Are you okay?"

He sees Tsukasa's pale lips smile. A voice answers him, weak and hoarse, but alive. "I'm just tired. Shūichi, go home?"

His voice is as small as his life in Shūichi's hands, but Shūichi cradles that life gently between arms that can snap a human's neck in two. He doesn't know where Kurō disappeared to, only that he is following somewhere in the darkness as they make their way back to the teahouse.

Shūichi carries Tsukasa inside the house through the back door, which leads into the kitchen filled with the scents of warm tea and cloying desserts. Yūgiri is standing at the stove, scooping green round dango from a tall pot when Shūichi walks past him with Tsukasa, limp in his arms and a complete dead weight.

"Welcome ho…What happened!?" Yūgiri cries out, his hand jerking in the process. The net that he was using to scoop the dumplings out of the pot falls, splashing hot water across his hand. However, Yūgiri doesn't even wince.

Tsukasa has enough presence of mind to lean his head back and mutter with slurred words, "Yūgiri, run your hand under cold water. I'm fine. Just sleepy."

Shūichi's arms don't hurt even though he's carried a full grown man clear across the city, but he utters an impatient grunt as Yūgiri scurries over with worried eyes. His hands grip Shūichi's upper arm to prevent him from escaping so tightly that it actually makes the ghoul cringe.

"Yū-chan, he's fine. The exorcism made him tired." Kurō's head emerges from the back door as well, his dark hair swinging back and forth as he walks inside with an oddly wide grin. "Let Shūichi put him to bed. We ate dinner already so it's fine if he just goes straight to sleep."

"He's already halfway there," Shūichi murmurs as Yūgiri finally releases him. He escapes the kitchen before they are held up any longer.

The living quarters attached to the teahouse are awfully small, even for a place in a major city such as this one. It takes some maneuvering to work his way through the main room, which has fabric, an upturned sewing basket, and calligraphy brushes and ink scattered everywhere, to the narrow staircase in the hallway.

Tsukasa's head rests against his chest, but the human doesn't make a sound as he carries him up the stairs and into the second bedroom. He doesn't even utter more than a small "...night…" when Shūichi kicks open the futon and lays him down on the poofy bedding.

He can leave now, if he wants. It's been a few days since he last ate, so he could go for a quick hunt or scavenge around for the rest of the night, but for now Shūichi stays by Tsukasa's side. He flops on his belly and props his head up between his hands, watching as the human curls up and tucks his arms close to his body, as if he's cold on a warm night such as this one.

Shūichi allows a small smile to tug at the edges of his lips.

Before he leaves, he opens the windows in the room. There is nothing, not even a breeze.

I'm not 100% satisfied with this one. It dragged on and on because there was never meant to be much action in this chapter in the first place.

So, to recap: The fox spirit's request was for Tsukasa to kill the humans responsible for the death of her children. Although the original culprits are long dead, the descendants still bear a portion of their ancestors' "sin" so to speak. Tsukasa refuses this request for obvious reasons, but he angers Kurō because he refuses to exorcise the spirit at first as well. Tsukasa, just as Shūichi says in the first chapter, favors ayakashi. So he gives her one chance to go back on her plan for revenge. However, she isn't able to get over her grudge and attacks one person from that family at fault for her children's deaths. Well, it's up to interpretation as to whether or not she killed him. Afterwards, Tsukasa and Kurō exorcise her by sealing her away into the fan. So she's not actually dead, per se...