Ch 10: Her Reason

"Who on earth are they?" Gen asked when Kukiko finally arrived home with 3 more in tow.

"These are my younger siblings and our spirit dog." Kukiko said cautiously.

"Why are they here?"

"They followed me onto the train." Kukiko explained, "I can send them back home if you want them to leave."

"No its fine but I don't have any more extra beds."

"That's ok they'll sleep with me"

"Ok then we better go now."

"Oh, right." Kukiko nodded.

….

"I need you guys to stay here and be quiet, can you do that for me?" Kukiko asked her siblings who she hid behind a bush.

"But I wanna stay with you." Jun protested.

"Yeah, what if an ayakashi comes after us?" Genki asked.

Kukiko sighed, "Satu is just a few feet away with the other spirit dogs, I'm sure they'll help, and remember, you begged me to take you with me so this is your payment. Now stay here got it!"

The pair nodded sadly, satisfied, Kukiko left to join the others.

Meanwhile….

"She's very quiet, Madarao, do you think she's shy?" Hakubi said as to two floated over to the lone female dog.

"She doesn't look it, but maybe." Madarao replied.

When they stopped in front of her, she bowed her head slightly in greeting.

"Hi there, you're Satu, right?" she nodded.

"And you are Madarao, and Hakubi."

"Oh, so you're telepathic, huh?" Hakubi said.

"Yes, I am" she answered them with her telepathic powers.

"So, can you speak out loud at all?" Madarao asked.

"No."

As Hakubi examined her more he noticed that she had a small scar just below her right eye, she had a simple silver chain collar, and light jade wisps floating around her. She also had a diamond shaped jewel that was light green on her forehead. Suddenly, they sensed the presence of an ayakashi and went to their masters, who were trying to find the little monster.

Hakubi and Madarao sniffed the air, "It's that way." They both pointed to opposite directions.

"Alright, let's go." Yoshimori took off in one direction while Tokine ran off into the other.

"How could it be in opposite directions if we only sense one?" Kukiko wondered aloud, then started to think. Then she saw Gen take off, "Wait," but he left before he could hear her. Maybe it can multiply itself…. No those are rare.

Then she too took off to investigate. The ayakashi she found was small, but fast, it looked like a giant beetle as it flew through the trees. It took her a little, but she finally captured it, but before she could destroy it, it disappeared, leaving a puff of white smoke. "Darn, it got away." And she took off again.

She ran into the exact same ayakashi 3 more times, but it always disappeared. Then she found Yoshimori.

"I was able to destroy it but I could still feel its presence." He told her.

"Yeah, same here." Tokine said, joining the two.

They heard leaves rustling and turned to see Gen standing in a tree.

"Do you think it's possible that this ayakashi can multiply itself?" Kukiko asked

"Yeah, that might be it, but we don't know where the real one is." Tokine replied.

"Don't worry, Satu, if you could please demonstrate your locating power." Satu nodded and moved into an open area and closed her eyes.

"It's on the school's roof top." Satu transmitted her message to everyone.

"Right, let's go." Kukiko started to make a staircase, but once the Kekkaishi got up there, Gen had already cut it into pieces. "Wow, Gen make us come up here for nothing." Kukiko said sarcastically.
Gen somewhat smirked and said, "Not my fault you guys are so slow." Kukiko playfully glared at him.

After they cleaned up the mess, which consisted of fallen trees, chunks of the school building gone, and holes in the dirt, they went to leave when Satu stopped Kukiko, "Aren't you forgetting some one, or some ones?" the dog asked.

"Oh, right," she ran to the bush where her twin siblings were hidden, "Ok, you two can come out now." After a few seconds, she saw two heads peer from the leaves.

"Can we go home now?"

"Yes, we're leaving." And they scrambled out from behind the bush.

…..

"There," Kukiko said as she tucked Jun and Genki in, "You know, you have to go back tomorrow, back home."

"Aww, but why?" Jun protested.

"Because," Kukiko looked at the closed door to the balcony, "You have already just come here unexpected, I don't want to inconvenience him any longer, okay?" they both nodded glumly.

"Alright, night you two." Kukiko said as she stood up and went to the balcony. When she got outside and rested her arms on the railing, she saw Gen looking at the sky again and was about to ask him what he was looking at but his words beat hers.

"Why did you leave?"

"I told you.."

"The whole reason, because I know there's more to it."

She hesitated at first, but then opened her mouth to answer.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." He changed his mind after a while, not hearing an answer from her.

"No, its ok, I think you've waited long enough for the reason." She stopped again, placing her words carefully.

"The reason I left was because of my powers, and because of some family issues. When Jun and Genki were born, my parents didn't have enough money to pay their expenses, we had to sell the house and move in with my grandmother. Originally, only I was going to move so she could help me with my powers, she wasn't a Kekkaishi, but her great-grandfather was, and a teaching was passed down in the family, that's why I have a different point of view when it comes to using the kekkai technique. Then my father was arrested for stealing, money, a lot of money. He didn't even steal that money, he was framed, but we had no evidence of that so he got set away for a few years." She took a pause, "Jun and Genki had to live their first four years without our father, and taking care of them was hard on my mom and me. But eventually, Dad was released and everything got better, and it still is going good." She finished with a small smile on her face.

Gen kind of felt bad that she had to go through all that at once, "So tell me, how were you in the time I was gone?" he knew what she was referring to, the time when he first got his ayakashi powers.

"It was hard at first, but I got stronger and was better able to control myself." Was all he said, "We should get some sleep." He changed the subject.

"Right." She nodded ad followed him into the house. I guess he's not ready to tell me, to trust me just yet. She got into the bed with her younger siblings and fell into a light, peaceful sleep.