Haruka stuffed the crutches under his arms and tested moving with them. He hadn't been injured like this for many years and he'd never even needed crutches on those few times he had been. They seemed solid enough and he could get by until his ankle healed.

"Who knew these crutches would end up getting so much use," Akane mused aloud. "And to think just a few days ago I was contemplating throwing them out."

"Lucky you didn't," Haruka agreed. "With the Old One dead we shouldn't have any more dangerous encounters. Hopefully we won't need them once I'm done with them."

Akane closed the closet she had retrieved the items in question from and looked at her father. "Didn't you say there are more of those spirits out there? Will any more look for Kimihiro-kun?"

"I should think not," Haruka replied. "The spirit world keeps a close eye on the happenings between them and us. A strong message has just been sent to all of them to leave that boy alone lest they encounter the same fate. I expect a long period of quiet to come."

"I'm glad," Akane sighed and helped her father to the kitchen. "I have been so worried."

A few feet from the kitchen and they caught sight of the boys. Doumeki was currently wrapping his arms around his partner and holding him very close. He looked intensely relieved.

"Shizuka," Watanuki could be heard mumbling into his chest in protest. "The food will overcook."

"Hn," Doumeki grunted. He didn't let go.

Akane smiled, slightly surprised. "I've never seen Shizuka-kun show so much emotion before. He really was worried," she whispered to her father.

"Kimihiro-kun is a good match for Shizuka," Haruka agreed. "He brings out your son's best qualities."

They made their presence known in the kitchen, which allowed Watanuki to wriggle out of Doumeki's hold and finish with lunch.

Once they were done eating Haruka knew he couldn't procrastinate saving the hydrangea bush any longer. "Shizuka-kun, Kimihiro-kun, I will need the both of you to take care of purifying the hydrangea bush, as was originally promised to Ame-Warashi-san."

"What are we supposed to do?" Watanuki asked. "I don't even know where to begin."

Haruka smiled easily. "I'm sure you'll do just fine. You both will need something of value, though." He turned his gaze to his daughter. "Akane-chan, do you still have the temari balls you made a while ago?"

"Oh, you mean the ones I attached to ribbons? Yes, I believe so. Just a moment I'll go get them." The woman got up and hurried to her bedroom to retrieve the traditional gifts.

Doumeki pushed the last piece of sushi in his mouth as he waited for his mother to come back. "What will we need those for?"

"Your mother put many temari balls on her ribbons, so that they would both ring like a bell and hold a wish for your future. They are good things to have for a mission like this."

Akane came back to the kitchen and set two items on the table. Each ribbon was long and blue. At the ends of the ribbons were two small decorative balls made in the traditional fashion with bits of patterned silk and fine stitch work. One on each of the ribbons made a faint tinkling noise as it was set down. "I know it must look silly to have them on ribbons," Akane admitted, "but Shizuka was often surrounded by many people during the New Year's festival here at the temple, so I would tie the ribbon to the side of his obi on his kimono. If he happened to drop the temari balls he would not lose them in the crowd."

"That's... actually really smart," Watanuki realized. "I must have lost dozens when I was little."

"One for each of you," Haruka instructed them. The boys each took a ribbon. "Take Mugestu with you. The hydrangea is located in the center of the park."

"But he's so large!" Watanuki exclaimed. "People will see him!"

"Only those that are meant to," Haruka grinned. "You should go before it gets any later."

"What are we supposed to do once we get there?"

"You'll know what to do once you're there," Haruka said cryptically. "Good luck, boys."

. . . . . . .

Watanuki was admittedly jumpy as they walked through the park to the flower bush. Even though they had triumphed over something so awful he still worried there were be more trouble yet from the spirit world. Years of habit did not leave so quickly.

"Relax," Doumeki told him. "You're not going to get attacked."

"Easy for you to say, you've never had your head stuffed halfway down a spirit's throat," Watanuki groused. He folded his arms and shuffled a little closer. "I don't like parks. Too many weird emotions everywhere. Spirits feed on those, you know."

"Hn."

They rounded a turn in the sidewalk and came upon the large hydrangea bush. "It's huge!" Watanuki said in shock.

Indeed, it was larger than the trees next to it. "I've never seen one so big before," Doumeki agreed.

"Are some of the flowers supposed to be red like that?"

Doumeki stopped looking up at the heights of the tall bush and looked down to where Watanuki was pointing. Mugetsu sniffed at the flowers in question and whined, apparently finding something wrong with them. "I've only seen them be white or purple, but not red like that." The flowers near the bottom of the bush were nearly the color of blood.

Watanuki walked a little, not sure what to make of the situation, before he felt something tug at his pant leg. He looked down and noticed a branch had caught him. He knelt down and tried to untangle it. "Careful," he said to the plant. "I don't want to pull any flowers out, so let me untangle this."

Doumeki watched, felt his heart stop, and did not feel it start back up right away. One moment, Watanuki was kneeling on the ground right next to him, then next he was gone. All he did was blink and without even a noise the boy was suddenly missing.

Mugetsu called out in its strange, lonesome melodic voice and poked its nose under the bush, tails twitching in agitation.

Doumeki fell to his knees and looked under the bush, but he didn't see anything either. "Kimihiro!" He yelled, hoping the idiot merely was on the other side or stuck somewhere underneath. He heard nothing at all.

Mugetsu started digging with its long sharp claws at the earth. Doumeki followed the action, now realizing that those red flowers were a lot more malicious than previously assumed.

It wasn't fair, it just wasn't. He worked so hard to save him from the Old Spirit that had killed the boy's parents, injured his own leg and nearly ended Watanuki's life so recently. It wasn't fair to lose him like this, so quick and silent he could have pretended nothing had happened at all.

It started raining very heavily. The earth turned to mud under Doumeki's hands and his jinbei was turning black with dirt. He ignored the weather and kept digging, and he ignored the sharp jab of pain whenever his fingers cut across a hidden rock or root in the ground.

Mugetsu pushed against him suddenly, distracting him from his wearisome task. Doumeki tried to move against the creature and keep working but the fox was persistent as it nosed his pocket. "What?" He finally asked.

Mugetsu cooed and nosed his pocket again.

Doumeki shoved a dirty and shaking hand into his pocket and extracted the temari balls and ribbon his mother had given him earlier. His hand made a fist around the pale blue material. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Mugetsu made a show of sitting on its hindquarters and patiently staring ahead. The spirit flicked its tails and looked back at him, confirming if the instructions were understood.

"You want me to... wait?"

Mugetsu cooed again, then lowered itself to lay down and rested its head on its crossed front paws.

Doumeki felt helpless, unable to take any action at all to retrieve the boy, but the fox had not failed them before, so he sat on his knees, clutched the ribbon and bells, and waited.

Rain pelted him for what felt like hours. He didn't know what to think as he sat in the rain, worrying over and over again that maybe this time he wasn't going to get Watanuki back. His stomach turned over itself unpleasantly, painfully even. He was certainly hungry as the sun began to set but he was so stressed he wouldn't have been able to eat anyway.

Mugetsu scooted closer to him and nosed the end of the ribbon where the two balls were sewn in place. The one bell jingled slightly. Doumeki lifted the item in his hand and listened as it jingled some more. He wondered if it would be loud enough for Watanuki to hear it, wherever he was. Restless and tired all at one Doumeki wiggled the ribbon and listened to the sound. He wished harder than he ever had in his life that Watanuki would hear him and come back.

After about ten minutes he gave up and his arm went still again. Full darkness had descended and if Doumeki could see the sky above the clouds he knew the moon would have been high.

Mugetsu pulled at the ribbon again and made it chime.

Doumeki lifted his hand back up. "Does he need to hear this?"

Mugetsu cooed and batted at the end of the ribbon. It chimed merrily in the dreary weather.

He was so tired... Doumeki shook his head to wake himself up and shook the ribbon again so it the temari ball made more noise. He kept at it again, but it still felt so futile. Just as he was about to drop the bell again the ribbon suddenly tugged tightly at the other end. Doumeki tightened his grip and watched with alarm as the balls disappeared under the muddy ground. The tugging felt like something had grabbed it from the other end and was engaging him in a tug of war game.

Doumeki would not lose.

Mugetsu bounced to its feet and started poking its head underneath the bush. White and red flowers shivered as the spirit moved them aside, petals falling to the ground in a damp mess. Doumeki didn't move until he felt the tension melt away from the ribbon. When it did he darted to where Mugetsu was and finally, after so many hours of nervous waiting, he found Watanuki, pale and skin damp with the cold, laying on the ground just under the bushes. "...What?" The boy asked.

Doumeki's strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him out of the bush and held him tightly.

"Shizuka, what are you doing?" Watanuki complained. "I'm fine, hey! Let me go!"

"Oh, shut up," Doumeki managed. The tension in his chest finally started to loosen. "I'm so tired."

"What, tired? Why?" Watanuki looked around them and noticed the lack of light. "What time is it?"

"Late. Past midnight. I don't know," Doumeki sighed.

Mugetsu cheered with a call and nuzzled Watanuki's cheek. "Has it been raining this whole time?" He noticed the hands around him were dirty, bloody and scratched. He must have been under there for hours. Strange, how it only felt like a few minutes for him.

"Don't do that to me again," Doumeki said huskily.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Watanuki huffed.

Doumeki did not bite back as he normally would. Watanuki felt his anger fizzle out as he noticed this. Doumeki was actually, visibly distressed whenever he was in danger. He was overcome with the guilt he felt, knowing he had caused such trouble. "It's not my fault," he mumbled. He turned into the hug and returned it. It didn't matter that Doumeki was soaked through and his clothes smelled like mud. "But I'll try, okay? I'll try not to do that."

The arms around him shook with exhaustion. "Good."

. . . . . . . .

Watanuki came to learn that Doumeki had been waiting in the rain for him for ten hours. He hadn't moved for anything. Watanuki wondered how he managed to not even go to the bathroom, because ten hours was a long time. It was no wonder he was shaking like a leaf when Watanuki finally emerged from the ground.

As Watanuki bandaged Doumeki's hands the taller teenager learned there was a girl that had died and was nearly buried under the hydrangea bush. Her spirit was afraid to move on and her body was slowly destroying the hydrangeas with its impurity. Watanuki had convinced her to move on in the right direction and not down below where the lost and terrible spirits beckoned her.

Haruka called the local police and informed them about the bones Watanuki had found. The remains were identified as a child that had died six months previous. The police were puzzled at how she wound up under the hydrangeas, but the spirit had now moved on and Watanuki was unconcerned with the rest of the circumstances.

They rested another two days, but school could only be put off for so long. Eventually they had to return.

Watanuki was not looking forward to it.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Author's Note:

Temari balls are a traditional gift usually made by mothers and given to their children during the New Year's festival. They are a long time tradition in Japan dating back more than a thousand years. They are a treasured gift and symbolize loyalty and deep friendship.

Temari balls attached to a ribbon meant to keep them in place for a child seemed like a fitting replacement for Himawari's ribbons. Hopefully everyone enjoyed learning about them. Thank you for reading!

P.S. - School is about to explode in all the wrong ways...