Haruka marveled at the dinner that was set before him. The presentation had been perfect – beyond perfect. As an old man he'd had yakitori more times that he could remember in his life but never had it looked so good. One bite, all it took was one bite of that food and he was hooked.

A small part of him was already starting to feel guilty because he knew he would want Watanuki to cook every single night if he had his way. It was no wonder Doumeki was so content to stay with his peer without going home even once if the food was this good.

And the gyoza, oh, the gyoza! Fantastic! And the vegetables! Miniature pieces of artwork! The food nearly belonged in an art gallery!

"Kimihiro-kun, where did you learn how to cook?" Akane asked in amazement. She marveled at the watermelon she'd originally chilled that Watanuki had taken the liberty to cut into adorable heart and star shapes.

Watanuki flushed a little at the praise. "Self-taught mostly, but I remember my father used to cook a lot when he was alive. I learned a lot from him."

"It's good," Haruka agreed. He savored another steamed dumpling.

"Not enough salt," Doumeki deadpanned.

Watanuki scowled just a little. "I didn't have my soy sauce on hand. You're already not used to the different taste in salt."

"Hm," Doumeki agreed. He bit another piece of meat off his yakitori skewer. "You need to make more."

Haruka raised an eyebrow curiously. "You brew your own soy sauce, Kimihiro-kun? I understand it's very difficult."

"Not much harder than brewing sake," Watanuki replied humbly.

"Grandfather brews his own sake," Akane smiled. "It's become quite famous."

Doumeki swallowed the last of the sake in his cup and held out his hand for a refill to Watanuki. The shorter teenager bit back the scathing remark he would have said about Doumeki's big black hole for a stomach had they not been in his family's company. He frowned and obliged the empty cup with more alcohol.

Yes, Haruka decided, Watanuki was moving in that night. He'd never have to endure another dinner made by his poor daughter. Thoughtful as the woman was she had always been a rather terrible cook.

They continued to make polite conversation during dinner. Watanuki and Doumeki were very careful to not mention anything about the past two weeks and Akane seemed content to wait for an explanation until the meal was over. Haruka savored every last morsel he'd been served and tried not to laugh at the dark look on Watanuki's face when Doumeki asked for seconds.

Living alone on government supplemental checks... Watanuki was probably a very frugal individual. There wouldn't have been any way his meager income could afford Doumeki's large appetite for longer than a couple of weeks. Haruka was immediately grateful he was still alive. He did not know how the two would have managed on their own without him as Akane would have been impossible to persuade alone.

Near the end of dinner Watanuki kept nervously checking the clock on the wall. Haruka silently watched him fidget more and more as the minute hand drew closer to the hour. The moment it struck six Watanuki nudged Doumeki as discreetly as he could and motioned checking the time on his wrist. Doumeki's eyes followed the movement then looked at the clock himself.

Haruka noticed the nearly missed sigh at the inconvenience of the time. "Shizuka-kun, what time did you wake up this morning?"

"About six o'clock," Doumeki answered without hesitation.

Haruka hummed to himself, his suspicions confirmed. "Every twelve hours, right?"

Watanuki squeaked a little and blushed hotly at the other end of the table.

"What's that?" Doumeki's mother asked curiously.

"It's all right, Kimihiro-kun," Haruka consoled as he ignored his daughter. "You're safe on the temple grounds. Nothing will harm you here."

"Really?" Watanuki asked in shock. "Even if we don't..."

"That's right."

"Father?" Akane asked, the only one at the table left out of the conversation loop.

Haruka stood up from the table. "Come, leave the dishes for now. We should go for a walk around the grounds. Kimihiro-kun, Shizuka, Akane." At the doorway Haruka looked back to his grandson. "Shizuka, grab your bow."

Doumeki raised an eyebrow but he did not question his grandfather. He snatched up his bow by his school supplies and slung it over his shoulder.

Watanuki gulped nervously because he knew Doumeki's grandfather was going to explain to Akane just why her son had been gone for ten days without a single word sent home. Oh how he did not want to be there for it!

The temple grounds were gorgeous in the late afternoon light. Haruka was explaining to Watanuki how the shrine maidens would care for the plants and the lake that was in the very back of the compound surrounded by trees but the poor boy was too nervous to really absorb was he was being told. Haruka also explained that he took care of funerary services and would often perform the purification ceremonies at places such as sumo tournaments and the breaking of ground for new construction projects. The Doumeki temple was a very profitable one in these ways.

By the time they reached the back gate Watanuki's face was as pale as a ghost.

"Father," Akane finally spoke up. "I should like to know now why my son has been gone for so long."

Haruka lit a cigarette and breathed deeply on it. The amber color of the lit end flared slightly as it was burned away. "Yes, I suppose you should." He turned his dark yellow eyes to Watanuki as they stood near the entryway of the back gate. "Forgive me, Kimihiro-kun."

Doumeki felt his heart fall to his knees when his grandfather pushed Watanuki over the threshold of the gateway and onto the sidewalk on the other side. "Kimihiro!" He yelled.

Black billowing smoke swirled quickly around Watanuki's legs and snaked up his body. He was coughing instantly and unable to move. Doumeki made to run for him but his grandfather's hand on his arm was strong and held him back. "Wait, Shizuka!"

He turned accusatory eyes on his grandfather but the older man's gaze was already turned to his daughter.

"Dad?" Akane asked quietly, worriedly.

"Look, Akane-chan. Look at that boy. Do you see what is happening to him?"

Watanuki managed to gasp out a scream around the choke hold the smoke spirit had on him. His feet lifted off the ground a good foot and his hands clawed at his bruising neck.

"What's happening to him?" Akane asked in horror.

"Grandfather!" Doumeki yelled. He tugged at the hand still on his arm.

"Go ahead, Shizuka. Use your bow to kill the spirit."

"I don't have any arrows!"

Haruka puffed out a breath of smoke. "You won't need them." His eyes did not stray from the struggling boy before them.

Doumeki frowned but quickly drew the string of his bow back without an arrow docked in it as normal. Unsure how this would help he aimed where he would have liked to send an arrow and released his hold on the string.

Something gold and sparkling flew across the threshold and buried itself deeply in the dark smoke. Watanuki's feet dropped six inches. Satisfied with the first result Doumeki continued to fire until the smoke disappeared. Before anything else could find him Doumeki threw his bow to the ground and ran to Watanuki's side and lifted him in his arms. Watanuki half stumbled in Doumeki's grasp as they reentered the temple grounds proper, coughing and wheezing and trying to get his breath back.

Doumeki tucked Watanuki into his arms and glared at his grandfather. "Was that necessary?" The shorter male was still gasping and clinging to him tightly.

"I'm afraid it was, Shizuka-kun. If anything else less dangerous would have worked I would have never pushed him outside of the temple grounds."

Doumeki's mother had been very quiet until then. "Father?" She asked again.

Haruka looked at his daughter with an unreadable expression. "This boy is plagued by spirits, Akane-chan. They want nothing more than to consume him, kill him and take him away from this world. Your son has been protecting him this entire time. It is why he has been unable to come home."

"That smoke..." Akane began. "It was a spirit?"

"One of many," Doumeki bit out.

Akane brought her hands to her mouth and her eyes grew wet. "After all these years, I never believed...Oh father, I'm so sorry," Akane whispered. "All these years I've thought it was only for tradition, out of sentimental value. I never believed... how foolish you must have thought me to be!"

"There's nothing to be done about the past now, Akane-chan. What I want from you now is your support for this boy and your son's decisions."

Akane nodded vigorously. "Yes, of course. How has he... do his parents know? How do you keep him safe, Shizuka-kun?"

"I'm afraid he has no parents. He has been an orphan since he was six," Haruka started to explain.

"You poor boy!" Akane placed her hand on her chest and felt her heart beat as it started to calm down. "That's just terrible. Still, how does Shizuka keep you safe?"

"Er," Watanuki mumbled, face red with a blush. "I… uh…"

"Intimacy," Haruka explained with a smile.

Akane paused as the word soaked in. "I… what?"

"Intimacy," Doumeki repeated. This was certainly the strangest conversation he'd ever had with his mother. "It's the only ward strong enough to protect him."

"You… and him…" Akane stared, open mouth gaping like a fish.

"I think they make a handsome couple," Haruka grinned around his cigarette.

Akane's body started to lose its upright angle as she tipped backward. She was caught quickly by her father who promptly chuckled over her suddenly unconscious form. "She took it better than I expected."

"She fainted!" Watanuki gasped.

"I thought she'd have started screaming," Doumeki confessed. "She does talk about wanting grandkids a lot."

Watanuki tugged at his hair. "She's going to hate me!"

"Nonsense," Haruka assured him. "Now, help me bring your mother back inside, Shizuka-kun. She'll wake up soon enough."

"Okay." He bent down and lifted up his mother by her legs while his grandfather carried her by hooking his elbows under her arms. Watanuki tripped over himself a little in his haste to open the doors for them once they made it back to the house.

"We'll set her down on the couch in the sitting room," Haruka said, giving Watanuki some idea on which doors to open next.

Akane woke minutes later, her head spinning and feeling like she'd just had the strangest of dreams. She could have sworn that her own father had just told her that her son was romantically involved with another boy. Considering her son's personality, it seemed unlikely to be true. And yet, she sat up slowly, breathing deeply, there they were – all three of them. Her father, her son, and her son's… spirit plagued boyfriend?

"So… this actually happened?" She heard herself say.

"Quite so," Haruka answered her. "Are you all right?"

"I…" She paused. Was she all right? She felt like she'd just been electrocuted, she was still so shaken up. She looked over to Watanuki and studied him. His face was downturned, his skin color ghastly pale. He wore thick glasses, yet she could still see the fear written plainly in his eyes behind them. It was hard to miss the purple and yellow colored bruise spreading across his neck and the torn, bloody skin of his hands. He had been bruise and blood free at dinner, of this she was certain. The harm he had encountered was very, very real. In fact, she was still in better shape than he was. "Yes. I'm all right."

"And this is okay?" Doumeki asked of his mother, one eyebrow raised in question.

She put a hand over her heart and felt it start to slow down for the second time that night. Her father was looking at her with one of those looks, one of the ones that made her feel like an eight year old girl again that was being stubborn and petulant for no good reason. "Yes," She answered at last. "I… don't have much say in this anyway, do I? Yes. It's all right. I…" her voice broke off momentarily as she tried to gather her wits again. "I'm not the one injured, am I? Kimihiro-kun is."

Haruka looked over at the boys. "Are you alright, Kimihiro-kun?"

"I'm fine," the boy replied, never mind the blood that dribbled down his shirt collar.

"Shizuka-kun's affections tonight should remove the bruises and any other injuries you sustained."

Watanuki blushed darkly. "I-I know. It always has before."

"I'm sorry," Akane felt the need to speak up. She may have been shortsighted, but she never wanted to be the direct cause of pain to anyone. "Shizuka, Kimihiro-kun. If you should be upset with anyone, be upset with me. I am the one that needed convincing, and my father knew the only way to do that. It's my fault that Kimihiro-kun was hurt tonight."

"No, really, it's fine," Watanuki insisted. "Most people need proof. I wouldn't have believed it myself if it wasn't my own problem."

"That's beside the point," Doumeki said lowly. "We would not lie about something like this. Harming you should not be required for proof."

"Shizuka," Watanuki growled. "I told you already, I'm fine! Knock it off already!"

"Hn."

Haruka smiled. "Kimihiro-kun, I think you should move in immediately."

Watanuki stood silent and stunned for a good half a minute. "Move in? Here?" He gasped.

"Really?" Akane asked. "You mean like… tonight?"

"Precisely," Haruka affirmed. "If you think this boy is hurt now, what do you supposed would happen to him if he went home tonight and off temple grounds?"

"Oh," Akane said, still feeling slow. "Oh!" She said again, realization dawning on her. If stepping off the temple grounds had done that then… then he'd be dead if he went somewhere else. Now there was something to sit heavy on her conscience. "My father is right," she said, realizing the logic behind the request. "Besides," she reasoned to herself out loud, "It's wrong for a young boy to live alone. We have plenty of room here."

"But my apartment-"

"Is tiny," Doumeki cut him off. "And the heat and air conditioning suck."

"But-!"

"Kimihiro-kun," Haruka started. "You can't live like this much longer. What would happen should one of you become ill and you are unable to be intimate? Shizuka cannot stay by your side every minute of the day for the rest of your lives."

"I," Watanuki began, but already the fight was leaving him. He clearly did not want to lose his independence so fully but he was left with little choice.

"Please," Doumeki said softly. He took Watanuki's bloody hands loosely in his own. "You will be safe here."

Watanuki dropped his head in defeat. "Okay."

Haruka smiled. "Good," he said. "We'll go to your apartment after school tomorrow and pack up your things."

Doumeki pressed a kiss to Watanuki's temple. "Come on. I'll bandage your hands. Then let's clean up the kitchen and go to bed."

"You clean the kitchen," Watanuki growled. "I still have to make our lunches for tomorrow."

"Fine."

"I'll help," Akane offered. She stood and ushered the boys into the kitchen, grabbing the first aid kit from the bathroom on the way.

Haruka smiled, please with the evening's results.