Haruka slung his bow over his shoulder and turned back to the flailing teenager in the entryway. "I promise I will be fine, Kimihiro-kun. You worry too much."

"But-but!" Watanuki spluttered. "It's still out there! It will try to attack you, I'm sure of it!" His face was a picture of concern.

"It may," Haruka agreed, "but I didn't reach this old of an age without learning a thing or two. The spirit will not be able to harm me while I am out."

"But is this really necessary? What if something happens while you're gone?"

After announcing that he was taking a trip to the drug store Watanuki was all but convinced someone was going to die while Doumeki's grandfather was away. Whether that death occurred to Haruka while he was out or to Watanuki as he was stuck on the temple grounds were both likely scenarios in his horrified opinion. Haruka had been doing his best to assure the worried boy that yes, he did need to go and no, disaster was not yet going to strike. "Nothing will happen while I am gone," Haruka insisted. "Stay in the temple with Shizuka and Akane. I will not be gone long. If the rain spirit is to be believed I must make this trip."

"But-!"

"You do worry too much," Doumeki said from behind Watanuki as he entered the doorway.

"Don't sneak up on people!" The teenager shrieked in surprise.

Doumeki stuck a finger in his ear. He had to carefully lean on his crutches to do this. "Oh, shut up. You're so loud."

"And you should be resting!"

"I'll be back soon, boys," Haruka grinned as he left the house.

"Be careful!" Watanuki urged.

"Pick up snacks," Doumeki added.

"You uncivilized jerk! You don't ask for snacks when someone is going on a life-threatening mission!" Watanuki's voice carried over as Haruka made his way down the path.

"You're acting like a drama-queen."

"And you're not getting any dessert tonight!"

Really, the two of them were just too funny.

The trip to the drug store itself was rather uneventful. Haruka felt the eyes of the old spirit staring at him as he left the area, but being an exorcist made it nearly too difficult for the spirit to touch him. It seemed it was far less effort to continue to try to get to Watanuki directly, even if it was impossible for it to break the wards and enter holy ground.

Well, no one ever said this was a particularly smart spirit, just a really old and brutish one.

The drug store was further away from the temple than even the high school was so it took Haruka nearly fifteen minutes before he reached it. He smiled up at the sign that read 'The Green Drugstore.' It had been too long since he last visited.

The door chimed when he opened it in greeting. Two young men were working at the moment. One of them was ringing up a customer's purchase while the other was busy restocking the shelves. Haruka waited at the counter for the transaction to finish. The customer, a woman with wavy brown hair and a pink summer dress, smiled brightly at the man behind the counter. "Thank you so much! I just love coming here!"

The young man nodded politely but he could not hide the boredom in his expression. It seemed this was something he heard often. Doumeki himself often had that expression whenever a girl from school would confess her love to him. "Have a nice day."

The woman left and Haruka smiled in greeting. "Good afternoon. Is the manager Kakei-san available?"

"He's in back; can I help you with something?"

Haruka folded his hands into his sleeves. "A request for the Anything Store."

The bored look immediately vanished from the man's face. "Oh. Right this way." He left from behind the counter and directed Haruka to the back of the store where a large office was. He knocked sharply then opened the door right away. Haruka entered. "Thank you."

"Oooh! Is that Haruka-san?"

The priest turned to the person that just spoke and grinned. "Kakei-san. How are you?"

The drug store manager was a pretty man in his mid-thirties with platinum blond hair and sharp blue eyes. "Fine, quite fine! It's certainly been a while since I've had such a distinguished visitor." He smiled and shook Haruka's hand in a very western style. "You don't normally need my shop, Haruka-san. What brings you here today?"

Haruka pulled out a small envelope from his pocket and heard a snore from the couch that was against the far wall. He looked over and saw a large man sleeping, dark sunglasses covering his face. "Does Saiga-san ever wake up?"

Kakei grinned. "Don't mind him." He walked over to his desk and gestured for Haruka to sit down, which he did. "Now, how can I help you?"

"A certain rain maker suggested I come see you. You likely can access something that I cannot."

Kakei knitted his fingers together. "The Ame-Warashi?"

"The very same."

The pretty man frowned slightly. "This is quite serious, then. What are you looking for?"

Haruka opened the envelope in his hand and passed a picture from inside of it to the other man. "Anything that once belonged to these people."

Kakei looked at the picture of Watanuki's parents with an unreadable expression. His eyes became suddenly distant, is if he were remembering a long forgotten dream. It was a few minutes before he said anything. "These people are dead."

"They are. Murdered by one of the Old Ones."

"...Yes. I see that. It was... very awful for them." He set the picture down carefully on his desk and breathed deeply. "And the boy? I cannot see anything about him."

"He is alive."

"Alive," Kakei said at length. "Alive, yet I cannot discern anything of him. No past, present, or future. He is much stronger than I am."

Haruka resisted the urge to cross his arms. "That is startling, then. He does have magic, as I believe his parents did, but he has never used it, even in self-defense. His instincts about the spirit world are impeccable, but other than that..."

"No spells at all? Not even by instinct?"

Haruka shook his head. "No, but he is affected by everything. The spirit world plagues him relentlessly. The one that killed his parents is after him still."

"Then he will be dead soon."

"Not if I have any say over it." Haruka leaned forward and retook the picture. "His red string of fate is tied around my grandson so tightly I shudder to think what might happen to one of them should it be cut."

The manager nodded his head. "Then, your grandson has inherited the family gift?"

"He has."

Kakei stood up and Haruka followed suit. "Then it might be enough." He shook his head in a rueful way. "I should charge you a fortune for this, but with the circumstances..." He walked back to a picture on the wall and removed it. Haruka was not surprised to see a secret safe tucked away in the wall behind it.

When the sound of the safe clicked open the man on the couch snorted loudly once then woke up. "Oi, Kakei, what are you getting in there for?"

"Ah, good afternoon, Saiga-san," Haruka greeted.

The tall and broad shouldered man stood up and rubbed his head. "Priest. What are you doing here?"

"Picking up something that has been waiting for him," Kakei explained. The item he brought over to Haruka took his breath away.

"How did you get a hold of this?" Haruka asked. He reverently took the green and gold sheathed sword from the other man. It looked exactly like it did in the picture with Watanuki's parents. Li's sword.

"Many years ago. An antique dealer managed to get a hold of it from a government auction, but it was such a curious sword no one would buy it. He asked me to take it off his hands. It's been here ever since."

Haruka placed his hand on the handle and unsheathed it. The metal made a soft hiss of noise against its casing as it was exposed.

A sudden, overwhelming feeling of anger and betrayal sang through his blood. There was grief, and loss, and so much anger Haruka nearly dropped the weapon. His hand vibrated around the handle and he struggled to quiet the storm raging inside of him. "This sword..."

"A living weapon," Saiga said. He crossed his arms and leaned against the desk. "It hates everyone that touches it. No one has been able to use it."

Haruka gasped and the sword clattered on the surface of the desk when he dropped it. "It misses its previous owner. I think it knows of the boy's existence and wants to find him. I seemed to gain that impression through all of that anger."

"As I said," Kakei smiled. "For something like this I should charge you a fortune, but with the circumstances, it's not really mine to charge. You should take this back to that boy. He needs it. The sword needs him."

Haruka tried to picture Watanuki using a sword and had to stifle a laugh. While the boy was graceful while cooking and cleaning, he was also quite clumsy during the oddest of times. He couldn't imagine Watanuki holding anything larger than a cooking knife without the boy looking panicked about it. "I will take it to him."

Haruka looked at the etched details carved in the blade. There was a name written there. He studied it and realized it was written in Chinese. He nearly gasped for a second time that day as he looked at the name and translated it in his head. "Of course. I should have known. With parents like his... it's no wonder."

"What is it?" Kakei asked curiously.

Haruka pointed to the name on the blade. "The name on this sword. It says Shaoran. Li Shaoran. Kimihiro's father was named Li, but the surname..." He shook his head. "Watanuki, written like the word 'decoy,' and Kimihiro, written like 'April first'. A false name, to protect him."

Saiga watched as Haruka carefully put the sword back in its holder. "He had good parents."

"He did," Haruka agreed. His eyes met Kakei's again and he smiled. "Thank you. I hope you can keep an eye out for anything else that may have belonged to these people. Kimihiro-kun lost most of their possessions when his parents died."

"I think we should actively look for these items. They wouldn't have only had a magical sword – there will be more things, perhaps even more dangerous for strangers than just this sword. I will have my employees start looking for the retrievable items right away."

There was a loud crash from outside of the office door. "Rikuo,you big jerk!" Someone screeched.

Saiga sighed. "Speak of the devil."

Haruka grinned. "It sounds like your employees are as close as ever."

"More like 'as dense as ever'," Saiga corrected.

The manager chuckled. "They are good boys and work hard."

Haruka grabbed his items and heard another crash as he walked to the office door. "You have my sincerest thanks, Kakei-san, Saiga-san. I will make sure we send you regular shipments of my sake."

Saiga grunted. "Fair enough."

The walk home did not feel nearly as long. Haruka's feet carried him swiftly back to the temple.

The sword vibrated and suddenly felt hot even through the sheath in his hand. The closer he came to the spirit that was next to the fence the hotter the sword became. So, it knew this spirit, and knew what it had done to Watanuki and his family. This would prove to be very interesting.