Disclaimer: I do not own Kekkaishi.

Chapter 6: Protecting Is Hard

Yoshimori gritted his teeth. He didn't slow down his pace at all even though Madarao called out to him. How could Father call him selfish? He was not selfish. Father didn't have the right to call him selfish especially when Father acted more selfish than him. Sure, he may be stubborn. But, at least, he didn't lock himself almost entire day in his room like Father. At least, he didn't neglect his family members who are still alive. Hell, if he wanted, he can continue with the list.

Yoshimori slowed his pace as he's approaching Karasumori. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Okay, maybe he was too harsh. He shouldn't just yell at him like that. But, someone needed to give Father a wake up call. Father can't just live in depress for the rest of his life. Deep in Yoshimori's heart, he hoped he can tell that to his father without involving a great fight. As he jumped over the school's gate, he decided to have a heart to heart conversation when he came home. Maybe, if he told what he thought, Father would understand and accept his decision. Unfortunately, he had to face another source of his problem and irritation right now.

Tokine.

Tokine was standing at the school's entrance with his ayakashi partner, Hakubi. Hakubi was a dog ayakashi like Madarao too. He has brown furs and wore a collar around her neck. Hakubi was younger than Madarao by 100 years old. However, he can be as annoying as Tokine. That's why she and Madarao were not in a good term.

'Oh, please….. please don't let her babbling about who's the best kekkaishi or something like that," Yoshimori pleaded mentally.

Unfortunately, fate was not at his side tonight. His plead was not answered at all. As Tokine opened her mouth, Yoshimori braced himself.

"You're late, Yoshimori. If you keep going like this, I'm going to win against you," Tokine pointed finger at Yoshimori.

"Well, I don't really care about that," Yoshimori scanned the area. "Does any ayakashi show up?"

"Hey, don't change the subject. Tonight, I'm going to show who is a better kekkaishi between us," Tokine exclaimed.

Yoshimori sighed. Honestly, what's her problem with him? Why the hell she so desperately wanted to compete with him? For the sake of god, this was not some hunting game. They are fighting with ayakashi that can rip them apart instantly for crying out loud. Of course, he knew their family had a long history of rivalry. They had competed for almost 400 years. It was almost in their blood. But, that didn't mean Tokine should let the rivalry get in their way. It shouldn't stop them from working with each other.

Yoshimori could still remember clearly what happened three days ago. They had a bad luck that night. A huge ayakashi intruded Karasumori. Instead working together, Tokine tried to take it down alone. Needless to say, it almost ended in disaster. It was only because of momentary lapse of opportunity that Yoshimori could wound the ayakashi heavily. Then, Tokine used this advantage to metsu it. Of couse it ended well. But, they could end it faster if they worked together. Yoshimori had told this many times to Tokine. Unfortunately, she didn't really listen to it. He just hoped that it didn't take another person to die or hurt to make Tokine listened to him.

"Madarao, did you smell any ayakashi?" Yoshimori asked Madarao, choosing to ignore Tokine much to her displeasure.

"Hey, don't just ignore me like that," Tokine shouted.

However, Tokine didn't have time to finish her rant for an ayakashi suddenly chose that time to intrude Karasumori. Both of them glanced at each other with a knowing look. Tonight's ayakashi is big and maybe strong. But, they can still handle it without their grandparent's help. Before Yoshimori could say anything, Tokine took off with Hakubi.

"Let's see who destroy the ayakashi first," Tokine challenged.

With that, she took out a smoke bomb and threw it at Yoshimori. Yoshimori coughed becaused of the smoke. When the smoke had disappeared, Tokine and Hakubi had already gone.

Yoshimori groaned inwardly, "Great, let's just hope she doesn't get into trouble." Turning to Madarao, Yoshimori said, "Lead the way, Madarao."

"Sure thing," Madarao flashed his grin.

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Tokine was standing on a bridge over a pond. She scanned the surrounding for the presence of ayakashi. Hakubi said the ayakashi was somewhere around here. Unfortunately, she didn't saw anything. There was no sign of ayakashi, making her paused for a moment.

"Hakubi, are you sure it's here?" Tokine questioned.

"Yeah, it's around here," Hakubi sniffed the air. "If I have to pinpoint it, it's under the bridge."

"Okay, let's get it now," Tokine replied.

Tokine took her tenketsu and tried to steer the ayakashi out from under the bridge. Then, a shadow suddenly fled away from the bridge, passing through Tokine and Hakubi. This surprised them. It took a moment for Tokine to regain her composure.

"That's the ayakashi, Honey," Hakubi shouted.

"Right," Tokine responded, running to the direction where the ayakashi had gone.

They reached at school's backyard. It seemed the ayakashi was hiding somewhere around here. Then, Tokine heard a rustle from a bush behind her. She quickly turned around and casted a kekkai around the bush. In her kekkai, there was a little girl wearing a cute dress. But, Tokine knew better than that. That girl was the ayakashi that they were looking for.

"Please spare me. I didn't mean to stay here. I just want to heal my injury," the girl sobbed, showing her wounded leg.

"Don't be fooled by her appearance, Honey. She's stronger than she looks. Destroy her now," Hakubi advised.

"I know," Tokine paused. "But, let's wait for Yoshimori. I want to do it in front of him."

"Are you sure, Honey?" Hakubi asked worriedly. "What if it gets out of control if you wait too long?"

"It'll be okay. I trapped the ayakashi inside my kekkai, right. There's no way it can escape. Besides, I want to see his face when I destroy it in front of him," Tokine said confidently.

Hakubi didn't like the idea. It's good to be confident with your skill but overconfident can get you killed. Something Hakubi didn't like and try to avoid as best as he can. But, before he could say anything, they heard footsteps running toward them.

"Tokine, did you destroy the ayakashi?" Yoshimori asked but looked puzzle at Tokine when he saw the ayakashi was still trapped inside her kekkai.

The first thing that entered Yoshimori's mind was 'Why on earth she didn't destroy the ayakashi?' It didn't make sense for Yoshimori. Tokine can easily metsu the ayakashi. But, here she was. Standing there and do nothing. Madarao told him that they were facing a strong ayakashi. Surely, Hakubi had told her about that. So, what she was waiting for?

"About time. See how I destroy this ayakashi," Tokine smirked, turning her back on ayakashi.

Yoshimori was confused before the word fully sank in his mind. "You mean you don't destroy it because you wait for me," Yoshimori asked dumbly.

"Yup, that's right," Tokine chirped.

Yoshimori didn't know how he should react to Tokine's stupidity. Should he yell and smack her head? She surely needed a wake up call. Maybe that'll teach her not to be stupid. However, before Yoshimori could respond to Tokine's remark, the ayakashi suddenly changed from a little girl into a large ayakashi with sharp claws.

"Tokine, watch out!" Yoshimori shouted.

Tokine turned around only to she fell on her butt. She was so shocked with the ayakashi's transformation that she froze on the spot. Something that was consider deadly in their profession. Tokine was too shocked and scared that she forgot to concentrate on her kekkai, making it easy for the ayakashi to break it.

"Foolish girl, you should destroy me when you have chance. But, thank for allowing me to absorb Karasumori's power," the ayakashi said, showing its large sharp teeth.

With that, the ayakashi raised his large claws at Tokine who froze on the ground. Tokine's eyes widened as the ayakashi brought down the claw. Blood splashed on the ground. But, it wasn't Tokine's blood. It was Yoshimori's blood. Tokine colud see clearly blood dripping from Yoshimori's right hand. The wound was deep. Ignoring the pain, Yoshimori quickly made a kekkai.

"Ketsu!" Yoshimori yelled. A large kekkai surrounded the ayakashi. The ayakashi yelled in rage. Before the ayakashi destroyed the kekkai, Yoshimori shouted, "Metsu!", killing the ayakashi. Then, he quickly used tenketsu to send away the dust of ayakashi into the otherworld. Tokine was still shaking in fear. But, Yoshimori's panting and wound snapped Tokine from her stupor.

"Yo – Yoshimori, are you okay?" Tokine asked.

Turning to Tokine, Yoshimori yelled, "Are you out of your mind? Why the hell did you let the ayakashi alive? You should destroy it when you have chance. To them, spending more time at Karasumori means more power. They'll kill, lie or do anything to buy time."

Tokine was speechless. She never saw Yoshimori so angry like this. Normally, she would argue back what Yoshimori said. But, she knew full well it was her fault. What made her more worried was Yoshimori was starting to pant heavily. He didn't look good.

"You should be ….pant…..grateful…. Next time, …..pant…you won't be …..pant….so lucky …like …today." As soon as Yoshimori said that, he collapsed on the ground.

"YOSHIMORI!" Tokine screamed.

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For some reasons, Shuji suddenly had unsettling feeling. It was as if something bad is going to happen. He didn't know if this was some kind of bad omen or perhaps it was because he had a fight with his son. Shuji sighed and stared at his tea. He was still trying to sort out his feeling. What wrong did he have done? He just wanted to protect his sons from meeting the same fate as his wife. Was he wrong for doing such thing? He didn't understand. Why can't Yoshimori understand it? He was so deep in his thought that he didn't notice Shigemori at all.

"May I sit with you?" Shigemori asked, startling Shuji.

"Ah, yes," Shuji nodded quietly.

For a moment, silence reigned in the kitchen. The two adults didn't make any move to start a conversation. It was as if they were in deep thought.

"You know, you're too harsh on Yoshimori," Shigemori broke the silence.

Shuji flinched inwardly, "Well, I have to make my point clear."

"Shuji…"

"He's too young for this entire kekkaishi thing."

"I don't think…"

"What if he ends up like Sumiko?"

"Shuji..." Shigemori said slowly, "Yoshimori is not Sumiko."

Silence reigned again. Shuji didn't know what to say to his father in law. However, Shigemori just let it continued so that Shuji can absorb and digest what he had said. It was a short sentence but said everything that Shigemori wanted to say.

"But, Father, Yoshimori resembles Sumiko a lot," Shuji snapped and added slowly, "…..especially in personality. I just want… to protect him."

Shigemori frowned, "But, that doesn't mean…"

Before Shigemori could finished what he wanted to said, someone bang the door loudly and yelled on top of her lungs. There was a great urgency and panic in the yell.

"SOMEBODY, OPEN THE DOOR!"

Shigemori and Shuji looked at each other before bolting to the doorway. They had a bad feeling about this. Shuji was the first who reached the door. When he opened the door, he was horrified. There, in front of him, Yoshimori was carried on Tokine's back. There was blood on Yoshimori and Tokine's clothes. To be more precise, it was Yoshimori's blood. Shuji could see deep wound on Yoshimori's right hand. It'll definitely leave a scar. This really brought back unwanted memory on certain night.

The night of Sumiko's death.

Shuji's mind was too numb to think. He didn't notice how shocked Shigemori was. He didn't pay attention to Tokine's story. He didn't notice how Toshimori woke up and cried in the middle of commotion. Hell, he didn't even realize how he carried Yoshimori into their house. His mind only realized one thing.

Yoshimori was bleeding just like Sumiko.

He always feared that Yoshimori will end up like Sumiko. Now, the thing that he feared the most had become reality. At that point, sudden realization came to Shuji.

He had failed to protect Yoshimori.