The drink was bitter, even more so than Lin thought it would be. Bourbon whiskey - freshly poured into his glass by Fang. The brother of the recently deceased Dajun Lin had made an unspecified stop on his way to the Lin household after the funeral. He hadn't told Lotus where he'd been going, though his Sister-in-Law had known him long enough so that she did not have to guess where he'd gone.

Fang had stopped at a liquor store that was on the way from the funeral home. He'd spent a large quantity of money purchasing assorted alcoholic beverages for his nephews and himself to enjoy. Whiskeys, Gins, Wines, you name it, he'd thought of it.

As soon as he'd shown his family his offerings, Lin had grabbed the bourbon - whiskey had become his preference after his twenty-first birthday when Draidyan and Lukida had taken him out for his first drink as a legal adult.

The Omnyouji sat on the living room couch, leisurely drinking his fill of the dark beverage. It stung his throat when he swallowed, though after the third sip, he'd almost stopped noticing it - or caring.

Draidyan sat on the window seat, his silver eyes watching everyone as they drank in silence. He was on his third glass of whiskey and showed no signs that he was ready to slow down. His gaze fell on Madoka who sat beside Lin, calmly sipping on a glass of water.

Drai raised a curious eyebrow as he stared at the pink haired lady. Madoka slowly met his gaze and offered him a small smile. Draidyan returned the smile before taking another sip of his whiskey. "Madoka - you're drinking water. It doesn't exactly seem to be the most popular beverage around here at the moment. Do you not drink?"

Madoka shook her head. "Its not that at all. I don't mind drinking actually."

Draidyan stood up from his seat at the window and walked towards the coffee table in center of the room where all of the assorted drinks were situated. He picked up the half empty bottle of whiskey and poured some into a glass.

He thought about holding it out to Madoka but changed his mind quickly - judging by her appearance and the glass of water in her hand, she wasn't a heavy drinker. Whiskey could put her under the table quicker than she was prepared for.

Drai held out the full glass of whiskey to Lin, who had just finished the last sip of the glass that he'd been working on. The Onmyouji took it and drained it within a few gulps. He was still sober - too much so for his liking. He normally refused to let himself get carried away, but tonight, he really wished that he could stop caring.

As he was pouring himself yet another glass of the amber colored substance, Draidyan was skimming through the drinks on the table, searching for something that would be easier for Madoka to drink. He found a strawberry wine cooler and grabbed it, tossing it to Madoka who caught it just before it hit her in the face. She glanced at it warily before shaking her head no. "I can't drink this."

Draidyan raised an eyebrow. "For curiosity's sake, why can't you drink it?"

Madoka blushed as she laid the wine cooler back on the table. "I might be pregnant." she replied. Lin who had just taken a sip of his drink, began choking uncontrollably at her announcement. He hadn't forgotten their conversation, however the shock of hearing it out loud and within ear shot of his entire family was nearly enough to give him a heart attack.

Lukida handed Lin a glass of water. He drank it quickly in an attempt to quiet the harsh coughing. It worked, though one glance at the expressions of everyone in the room was enough to make him feel like choking again.

Fang in particular looked incredibly shocked. He stared at his nephew for a moment before shaking his head and taking a sip of whatever he'd chosen to drink. "Boy, your mom is going to kill you."

Just as he said that, Lotus stepped into the room with Lifen trailing behind her. The mother of five stared at her son with wide blue eyes. "Koujo. Did you ask this woman to come into your bed before asking her to marry you?"

Lin stared at the glass in his hand and made a decision. If he was going to answer the question that his mother had so crudely asked him, he was going to be one step closer to being blissfully unaware beforehand. He tipped his head back and drained the glass that he'd been working on. He then moved off the couch and grabbed a full bottle of whiskey.

Before taking a sip he met his mother's disapproving gaze. "Yes mother, I did in fact have sex with her, and as you're all too aware, we're not married. I could try to give you excuses for my actions, but I won't as I don't think I need to explain my decisions to you. I may be your son, but I'm no longer a child who you can chastise for doing what you perceive to be against your moral standings. I'm a grown man - please understand that." He now lifted the glass bottle up to his mouth and took a long gulp of it.

Lotus sighed as she glanced towards Madoka. "Do you wish to remain with Koujo?"

Madoka nodded wholeheartedly. "Yes, I do. I lost him once - I don't want anything to jeopardize having him again."

Lotus chanced a look at Lin who was still drinking on the bottle of whiskey. He didn't seem anywhere close to being drunk though he'd already out drank everyone - including Fang, who was notorious for his ability to drink and remain perfectly sober.

Lin's mother swallowed her criticism of her son's choices and opted to change her opinions to be more supportive of him - he had in fact been honest with her when she'd asked him what he'd done. And he had also made a very valid point. He was twenty seven years old - quite a bit over the age where she was legally able to control his actions.

One thought was still prominent in her mind as she watched her middle child casually drink his pain away. "Do you intend to ask for this woman's hand in marriage?"

Lin slowly looked up before nodding. "Yes, I intend to ask her to marry me at a later date, most likely after everything that is currently happening has been resolved."

Madoka stared at Lin with wide eyes. "I had no idea that you intended to ask me to marry you."

Lin laughed at her expression. "You truly believed that after knowing that I might have fathered you child that I would't ask you to marry me? I have enough sense of honor to marry you."

Madoka sighed. "Is it just because of your sense of honor that you'd ask me to marry you?"

Lin gulped more whiskey - the bottle was now less than half full and he was beginning to feel the effects. "Not at all. That does give me more of a reason to marry you than I already had, however my main reason for wanting to propose to you is that I love you, Madoka."

Madoka stood up and walked to Lin who opened his arms for her. She nuzzled into his chest, taking in his scent of soap and aftershave that contrasted perfectly with her own scene of roses and lavender.

The Onmyouji leaned past Madoka and sat the bottle down on the table. Draidyan grinned at him wickedly. "Done already? I never took you for a lightweight, Ko."

Lin glared back coldly. "I assure you that I'm not a lightweight."

"You sound a bit defensive. Perhaps you're a lightweight who wishes that he could hold his liquor like the men?" Lukida said as he came out of the kitchen with several cups in his hands. "Why don't we have a little drinking competition to see who can drink the most?"

Lin sighed in frustration. "If you really want to suffer through the embarrassment of me beating you, then I'll participate in this game of yours."

...

"He should have cut himself off." Fang Lin muttered as he watched his nephew Koujo Lin drink another shot of whatever had been poured into his glass. The Onmyouji was now most definitely wasted, though refused to stop drinking until both Lukida and Draidyan could no longer drink.

Both older Lin brothers were secretly laughing at him - they knew that the only reason that they were still partially sober was that they had not drank anywhere close to how much Lin had before starting the competition with him.

In reality, they didn't want to be as drunk as he was. They could already tell that their hangovers would be massive enough as it was - neither could imagine how Lin would be feeling in the morning.

After his last shot, Lin had laid his head on Madoka's shoulder and closed his eyes. The pink haired lady stared at him worriedly. She could feel his chest rising and falling against her, so she knew that he was alive at least, but whether or not he was still conscious was still up for debate.

Madoka nudged his arm gently. Lin blinked and slowly opened his eyes, though closed them almost immediately after. "I'mgoingtosleep." he slurred. Madoka raised an eyebrow in confusion - she hadn't been able to hear what he'd said. His words had come out jumbled together.

"He's going to sleep." Lotus said warily as she walked over towards the closet in the living room where extra blankets were stored. She grabbed a thick blue blanket and a pillow and walked over to the couch. "Sit up, son." she muttered to Lin while gesturing for Madoka to get off of the couch.

Madoka did as she was bid and Lotus laid the pillow down where Madoka had been sitting. With a bit of coaxing Lin had his head propped up on the pillow and the blanket draped over him.

Lotus sighed deeply. "We should all get some rest."

...

Several uneventful days passed after Dajun's funeral. To Lin, they went by in a blur, blending together with all of the other days that he didn't care to remember. The Onmyouji had very little to do around his childhood home other than read and catch up on missed sleep.

He'd been doing the former quite a lot, reading through books on shikigami in an attempt to find anything that would help him exorcise Kanon. He had found nothing positive - everything he found stated that exorcising a shiki that has escaped its master control could easily end with the death of the Onmyouji in control.

The thought that he could lose his life meant something to him now more than ever. Madoka. The petite pink haired woman whom Lin had fallen for. Lin couldn't imagine leaving her alone after they had rekindled their thought to be long lost romance.

He had to find a way to defeat Kanon that would not drain his energy to the point that it killed him. He had a few ideas but could not put any of them into action until he had a more solid plan, and more importantly, knew where Kanon was hiding out.

Though he had made slight progress, the research was still providing less results than Lin would have hoped for the amount of hours he had spent reading through books and web articles. It was a grueling task and the lack of fruitful insight into the solution for his predicament was beginning to wane on his patience.

Sighing in frustration Lin stood up from the desk in the living room and moved to the couch. With the intention of watching television to distract him firmly in his mind, he cut on the flatscreen, quickly turning it to the news channel.

The caption on current story that was being broadcasted instantly caught his attention. 'Unexplainable Murder in Local Prison Facility' - he read the words again before glancing up to the news reporter who was discussing her findings on the case.

The newscaster wasn't who grabbed Lin's immediate focus. It was the small picture of the 'victim' located beside the reporter's head. The image made Lin's fist clench in anger, at the same time that it made his stomach flip.

The victim was none other than Tai Song - the father and murderer of Shun Song. Lin's gaze hardened as he glanced away from the mugshot of Tai to the reporter's face. For the first time he paid close attention to what she was saying.

'Tai Song, an inmate incarcerated due to the convicted murder of his teenage son Shun Song many years ago was killed while sleeping in his cell last night. The exact details of his death remain a mystery, though I've been told that police are questioning whether or not this gruesome murder was the result of human involvement. Photographs of the deceased will be disclosed to the public after the commercial - viewer discretion is strongly advised.'

Lin cut the television off instantly, feeling slightly sick at the thought that Tai had been killed so brutally that discretion was advised. He had hated the man with a passion, however ever since childhood, he had never wanted revenge for Shun's death. He'd only wished that he could have saved him. So many years later, he still didn't desire revenge. Tai's death seemed so... pointless now. He'd been in prison for years, wasting most of his life behind bars. What would killing him now do when he'd already lost his youth?

Shaking his head, Lin sighed. He was restless - torn between wanting to do something but not knowing what needed to be done. There were few options, though one thing in particular came to mind.

The prison facility where Tai had been killed was the last known place where Kanon had been. If there were any clues to his whereabouts, they would most likely have been left at the scene of his latest murder.

The only thing Lin could do was head to the prison to investigate. That would give him something more to do than sit around and wait for Kanon to strike again. With that decision firmly in mind, Lin left the house and got into his car. He felt no reason to tell his family where he was heading - it was still quite early in the morning and everyone aside from himself were still sleeping. If they needed to know where he was, he had his phone on him and they all had his number.

Everything should have been in order for him to leave, although as he was pulling out of the driveway, Lin felt a slight twine of unease. Should he really leave without telling anyone where he was going even though he was sure he could be back before anyone woke up?

Lin shook off his concern - if on the off chance that someone did wake up and wonder where he was, they would know to call him. It was common sense really. Plus, he was an adult - would anyone really feel the need to call and ask where he'd gone?

Lin drove for only about twenty minutes before his phone began ringing shrilly. Rolling his eyes in annoyance as he slipped it out of his pocket and flipped it open. Glancing at it quickly let him know that it was Draidyan calling. Lin was almost shocked - it was barely seven thirty am. Drai typically wouldn't open an eye until at least nine.

Ignoring his suspicion, Lin answered the call. "Dyan?"

"Koujo, where are you?" came the reply on the other end.

Lin glanced out the window to the nearest road sign. He figured that he was about twenty five minutes away from home at the least. He told Draidyan this information, hoping that it would be enough to avoid a more lengthy explanation.

It was good enough for Draidyan, though only for one heart wrenching reason.

"We can't find Madoka. Mom woke up and she wasn't in her room. She's with you, isn't she?"

Lin felt his heart stop beating instantly. Madoka wasn't at the house? Where would she have gone without telling someone? Better yet, how had she gotten anywhere? The only car and keys that she would have been able to get access to were the rental car Lin was driving. That left only one option.

Madoka had driven anywhere... She'd been kidnapped. Lin didn't have to take a second guess to know exactly who the culprit was.

No doubt it had been Kanon.

...

"What the hell do you mean that she disappeared?" Lin asked, his voice a low hiss, somewhere near yelling and trying to keep a facade of calm. Draidyan sighed deeply, unable to be angry with his brother's outburst - it was obvious how much Lin cared about Madoka. The worry in his eyes was tangible, not to mention the agonized expression that appeared on his face whenever he felt like no one was watching.

Deciding to be as calm and gentle as the situation would allow, Drai met his younger brother's gaze carefully. "I meant what I said. We were all sleeping until mom woke up and found that you were gone, though so was your car. We figured you'd went somewhere. Mom went to check on Madoka and realized that she wasn't in her room. She asked Luk and myself to check around before calling you, just in case you hadn't gone together. We found no traces of her so we called you."

Koujo looked away in anger. Fury coursed through him, though it wasn't directed at Draidyan. No.. it was directed at himself for not taking Madoka with him, and better yet, not leaving at all.

More prominently, he was furious with that bastard Kanon to stooping to such a low level. Madoka was an amazing researcher and a highly intelligent woman, however she was no spiritualist, or even a mere combatant. She had no way to defend herself except for her basic instincts, which with someone like Kanon who Lin had learned first hand could beat him at marital arts he had trained in, basic instincts would never be enough to even hold Kanon off.

Hell, she could be dead for all Lin knew. But that wasn't plausible, was it? Kanon more than likely had taken Madoka to use as leverage against him. He wouldn't have killed her directly after taking her, would he? Before he'd had a chance to torment Lin with her absence? Lin paused as an ironic thought crossed his mind. His main issue with K thus far had been the amount of torture he'd endured by Kanon's hands. Now he was hoping to receive more torture to symbolize that Madoka was indeed still alive.

Lin chuckled lightly at the thought. Draidyan raised a startled eyebrow, though quickly lowered it when he noticed the far away look in his brother's eyes. He wasn't laughing at anything that had been said out loud - he was laughing about what he was hearing his head.

Somehow that realization didn't comfort Draidyan. In fact, it frightened him. He reached over towards Lin and grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it firmly. Lin jumped in shock but met his gaze easily. Lin noticed that the complete awareness was back in his eyes . "Draid, what is it?" Koujo asked warily.

"Nothing important." Draidyan answered secretively. Lin blinked before shaking his head. He wasn't in the mood for cryptic conversation.

"All right.." he muttered in response. "I don't think I need to tell you who took Madoka, do I?"

Draidyan shook his head sadly. "No, I think its easy enough to guess now who she's with and how much danger she's in while with him." The ghost of a memory of the flesh on his back burning, of the searing agony that shot through him.. Agony which even today had not entirely healed, plagued him again. He swallowed before forcing himself to finish speaking. "I don't think I need to tell you how serious the situation is, do I?"

Lin clenched his fists in anger. "No, you really don't. I've seen what he's capable of firsthand."

Draidyan looked down. "I've felt the extent of his powers, Koujo. I- I for a few moments, before Nazuke was hurt, I thought that he was going to completely incinerate me. I thought that he was going to make sure that I could never be identified." he swallowed again. "Look, what I'm saying is that its not just that he seems incredibly powerful. He is powerful. He's not someone to be taken lightly."

Lin couldn't help but agree. "Indeed. He's a force to be reckoned with. But I won't let him continue tearing my life apart - I guarantee you that I will stop him.

Draidyan glanced out the window at the sun that was beginning to come over the horizon. "I hope you're right brother, I really do."

Lin closed his eyes. He hoped that he was right too - Madoka's life depended on it. He refused to allow himself to lose her again. Especially not now.

The circumstances were about to get real