あなたは敵ではない

Kouta figured the gig was up as soon as the Shin walked into Kanou's infirmary and saw Pai's ashen face as she stared woodenly at the ground while Kanou bandaged her wounded feet.

Of the other three people in the room – himself, Shiori, and Kanou – no one said a thing when Shin crossed the space from the door to the bed Pai was sitting on in two seconds flat and enveloped her in his arms. He held her close as she weakly hugged him back and hid her face in the front of his shirt. She'd been looking half-dead, dully answering Kanou's inquiries when he fixed her up in a monotone. But she visibly brightened, if only minutely, at Shin's appearance, the tension ebbing out of her body at his touch.

Shiori's jaw dropped straight to the ground.

It was quite a comical sight, and Kouta would have loved to snap a picture of her looking like that to tease her endlessly about it, if not for the tension stiffening the atmosphere in the room. Kanou raised his grizzly eyebrows sky-high before stepping back with a gentle pat on her knee. He recovered much faster than Shiori.

Then again, he was old. He'd seen a lot of things. Kouta doubted there was much that surprised the healer.

"There," Kanou said with a kind smile. "Just be careful not to walk around too much, and when you have to, use these," he reached for the crutches he'd set against the headboard of the bed she sat on. They clattered as he laid them on the bed beside her. "At least for a day or two. The glass cut your feet quite deep. Put too much pressure and you'll split the wounds open and make them worse."

Pai nodded absently, eyes glazed over. She clung close to Shin, who didn't look like he'd be letting go of her any time soon. "I understand. Thank you, Kanou-san."

He nodded, turning and walking over to his desk. He sat down heavily in his chair and immediately opened up his notebook and started scribbling something in it. Kouta arched a brow at the nonchalance. Kanou seemed to know that whatever it was Pai wanted to tell all three of them, it would be happening now, in his infirmary.

Admittedly, after Pai's disturbing reaction to the news report only ten minutes before, what better time was there to do it?

Shiori swung her astounded gaze to him. The question in her eyes was obvious. Kouta shrugged. Obviously, he knew about their feelings for each other – he wasn't dense as she, thank you very much – but he acknowledged that it was their news to tell. Not his. He respected Pai and Shin both enough to afford them the courtesy of revealing what they were to others when they were ready to do so themselves.

He could only imagine how irritated Shin would be with him if he ousted them without their approval. What with how Shin was becoming Kamigami now, Kouta knew the man could make him very sorry during their trainings together. He got enough bruises on a daily basis without that added lingering threat.

Of course, that didn't stop Shiori glaring daggers at him for not telling her anything. As he pondered all the creative ways Shiori could pay him back for that one (it could be really, really good, or really, really bad. There was no in between), his hand trailed up to his hair. It would probably be a good idea to hide his only hair tie and hope she didn't get Ryu to find it. The boy was terrifyingly good at that.

"What happened?" Shin asked her as he tucked her head under his chin, pointedly ignoring everyone else in the room. It was obvious that whatever had happened to Pai, he knew more about it than the others.

"Fujikage...they burned it down," she murmured back in a dull voice. "They burned it down."

Kouta frowned. True, the fire was tragic, with now six people found dead, and the number of casualties climbing. But he hadn't thought she could react so strongly to it. There were worse things she'd seen reported on the evening news. Why did this particular one get to her so?

And, most peculiarly, who was this 'they' she mentioned?

"Mitti-chan..." she mumbled, so quiet that Kouta could barely catch what she said with his hearing. "Chiasa...they were both there."

Shin stiffened at the mention of Pai's sister. He looked back and saw the curiosity clearly evident on Kouta's face. He shook his head in warning, and Kouta didn't need to be psychic to see that Shin didn't want him asking anything yet, for fear it may set Pai off again.

Kouta tipped his head in acquiescence. He trusted Shin. If he'd waited this long to tell Kouta whatever this was about, he trusted it was for a reason. Kouta was patient. He could wait. For a little while, at least.

Shin nodded gratefully, then turned to Pai and leaned back a bit. He took her face in his hands, looking her dead in the eye. From his periphery, Kouta could see Shiori busy losing her mind over how very obviously gentle Shin was being with Pai.

"We don't have to do this now. We can – "

She shook her head roughly, eyes flashing with determination. "I have to."

"Pai – "

"Kahori Saeki," she cut him off numbly. "One of – his name was Kahori Saeki."

Kouta startled – how did she know Kahori?

He'd met with the Tanuki a couple of times over the years to discuss business matters. Sometimes they'd gone out for a drink or two after meetings neither particularly enjoyed. Whenever the Tengu built something in Hokkaido or any of their other territories, it was mostly Yamauchi Industries they went to for the job. It was usually Kouta who handled that end of business in Sapporo.

Kahori was the son of the Tanuki CEO whose family ran Yamauchi Industries, and as such was the representative the company regularly chose to meet with Kouta because of his position as Heir. He was saddened when he learned of Kahori's death due to a ruptured brain aneurysm. It was something that caught everyone off guard when he was found collapsed at Maruyama Park one and a half years ago. As far as Kouta was aware, Kahori had always been a fit and healthy man.

He glanced at Shiori as she stepped up beside him, but she shook her head. She had no idea what Pai was talking about. He looked back at Kanou. The healer remained quietly watching the four of them with a puzzled frown on his face. He didn't know what was happening either.

But Shin did.

Kouta reached over and draped an arm around Shiori, noticing the glazed look in her eye that she only got when she was thinking about what she'd seen in Pai's subconscious. Whatever was happening now, it unsettled Shiori enough for her to be remembering that. Last time he'd seen that look was after she talked to Pai when she and Shin were on Ukabarenairei with Kagetora.

A pained look flashed across Shin's face as Pai ruthlessly continued.

"Tanuki. Thirty-two years old. Seventy-eight kilograms, height at one hundred and eighty-seven centimetres, building contractor. I was assigned to him because he tried to escape. They told me to ask him what business he had with Fujikage Media House, but they didn't care. They already had what they wanted. His body was found at Maruyama Park after they faked a brain aneurysm on him, Shin."

Kouta frowned at her, a shiver of unease traipsing down his spine. How did she know all that? What was she saying? Even the Daitengu didn't know how he'd died. Only Shin knew, and that was because he'd been with Kouta when he received the call of the Tanuki's death. A chill crept down his spine as Kouta watched her pale face, at the strange whirl of pain and grief swirling in her eyes, at how protectively Shin held her in his arms.

Just what the hell was going on?

He chose that moment to step in, cat's curiosity getting the better of his waning patience. "I think it's safe to assume that Fujikage is related to what you want to tell us, Pai-chan?"

And what does a dead man have to do with it? He added silently to himself.

Shin shot him a black look, but Pai caught it. She reached up and tugged the front of his shirt so he would look at her again. Her eyes darted to Kouta's before skirting away to focus on her fingers clenched around his shirt. "I need to, Shin. I need to, for what I did to him, what I did to them all. Those I can remember, and those I can't yet."

"You didn't ask for any of it," he shot back viciously.

"None of us did. Not me, not Akane, not Rikuto," her voice broke. She cleared her throat and shook her head glumly. "It doesn't change what I did. It doesn't change what any of us did, not just me."

Shin's lips thinned. He clearly didn't like any of what she was saying. Kouta knew he wouldn't if it was Shiori, not with how utterly drained Pai looked as she said it.

Shiori snuggled closer into Kouta as she watched them with a bewildered look on her face. He traced small circles on her back through her school dress shirt as reassurance while they waited for Pai and Shin. From behind them, Kanou continued watching silently, noting the pallor of Pai's face. She looked like she was going to collapse.

Finally, with a reluctant nod, Shin stepped away, but only to sit by Pai's side on the bed and hold her close to him with an arm around her waist. She relaxed into his side, but the haunted look in her eyes remained. Kouta took note of the tension in Shin's body, and wondered about it. Shin only acted like this, territorial and possessive like a panther, when he was around someone he didn't trust. But the only ones here were him, Shiori, and Kanou.

Was...was it him Shin didn't trust right now? Why?

"Uh," Shiori spoke hesitantly. She lifted a hand in an awkward wave. "Can I ask what's going on? Pai-chan, you're...you're not okay. What's wrong?"

Pai looked up from her hands to Shiori, and for a second, a look of such tortured devastation crossed her face that Kouta almost decided not to listen to whatever it was she wanted to say. It was something that hurt her, something she was terrified of saying aloud, and something she didn't want to say. That was what Kouta didn't like – he didn't want her to feel like she was forcing herself to do anything.

Then the look flitted away as quickly as it came, and Kouta was left wondering when she'd learned to control her emotions so well that such a strong one as she'd felt only a moment ago could disappear so fast.

"I think you should sit down." An empty smile twitched at her lips as she sat up a little straighter. "Both of you, please."

An odd mix of curiosity and dread growing by the minute, Kouta and Shiori sat down together opposite Pai and Shin on the bed beside them. He angled a look at Shin, but the other man just shook his head minutely and kept silent. Kanou pushed himself out of his seat and wandered closer to them. He leaned back on the table opposite the two occupied beds, watching Pai closely.

Once they were settled, she started talking.

"Kanou-san..." she gulped as she looked up at the elderly healer. "It is not actually possible for humans to see Ayakashi, is it?"

Kouta glanced at Kanou in time to see the odd look in his eye, the knowing that lingered there. Without a word, he nodded.

She continued. "It is only possible to see Ayakashi if you have some of the supernatural in you."

He nodded again.

Kouta frowned.

If that was the case, it meant Shiori could see Ayakashi because she was Konohana's Chimei Yoki. Ryu, too, had the excuse of being directly related to the bloodline Konohana regularly used. Obaasan because she had the potential to be Konohana's Chimei Yoki as well on the basis of being a woman from the same lineage.

But what about Pai? Going with that line of reasoning, why was she able to see Ayakashi the way Shiori could? Shiori had even once told him that Pai was the more sensitive of the two to the heat they said they feel around Hengen.

Shin was watching Kanou as he silently answered Pai. He leaned forward, fixing a wary look on the old healer. "You know what she is, don't you?" he asked. He tilted his head to the side. For some reason, to Kouta it looked like the other man was listening to something. "You've known for a while."

Pai's eyes grew big as she looked at Shin, and then stared at Kanou when he didn't deny the accusation in Shin's words. "You knew?"

Kanou's grey brows lowered. He had a dark, sad look on his face. "How did you come to realize it?"

"Aihara-san," she answered slowly. "The nurse at school. She says she is one, too. She figured I must be. I do not know why she thinks so."

"Okay, no, hold up." Shiori lifted a hand again, gaze swinging from Pai and Shin, to Kanou, to Kouta, and back again. Her brow was crinkled in confusion. "Seriously, what the hell is going on? 'What' she is? What's that, human? And what does Aihara-san have to do with this? Come on, Pai-chan," she implored. "I don't understand. You're not making any sense. I don't understand."

Pai's lips twitched. "I barely do."

"Then I think it best you start with what you do know." Kouta spoke up.

Everyone turned to him. He caught the warning look Shin sent him at the tone of his voice. Shiori nudged his side with her elbow, and nodded at Pai. He saw how tense Pai had gotten, and he gave her an apologetic look as he eased himself out of the automatic Heir's persona he assumed when he needed to find out something. Pai was already half-scared out of his wits, and he knew what effect he could have on her if he got too serious.

"I..." she licked her lips nervously as she dropped her eyes from Kouta and Shiori. She focused on her hand intertwined with Shin's. "One of my parents is not human. That is how I can see Ayakashi. It is because I am half-Ayakashi."

Shiori sat stock-still by her side, jaw dropping as she stared at Pai in disbelief. Kouta was more successful in hiding his shock behind an unfazed façade he fixed his face into, though her words left him bowled over.

For years, he'd heard faint whispers of beings that weren't completely Ayakashi or human, but not Onmyoji either – he'd just never thought they could be real. Such a thing had never been outright discovered or admitted by any Hengen, so far as he knew.

The human world had their myths about the Ayakashi world, but so did the supernatural have their fair share of half-truths and fantasies.

The more he thought about it, though, the more it made sense. Ayakashi and human relationships weren't unheard of. They just rarely worked out, the two being too different from one another. Even if such a relationship proved successful, he doubted a hybrid of that sort would go about screaming, Look at me, look at me! I'm half-Ayakashi, half-human!

It was almost notoriously difficult for Ayakashi to get pregnant in the first place due to some biological phenomena because of their humanoid forms clashing with their supernatural natures. Children of Ayakashi and humans were near impossible to find.

If they did exist...would anyone actually know? Would their Ayakashi parent ever risk letting the rest of their world know that their child was half human?

It made more sense that they would stick to the shadows than the light, where they could be judged just because of what they were born as, just for being different, something others weren't used to. What concerned him now was, if Pai really was half-Ayakashi, how hadn't he sensed it? How had none of them realized it? She'd been living with them for over a year, yet there was no clue she was one of the almost mythical hybrids.

"They are called Hanyou," Kanou's gravelly voice put in, keeping an eye on the pale girl as he briefly explained to Kouta and Shiori. "Beings who have one Ayakashi parent, and one human parent." He angled a look at his Heir and the Koki Sakura Hime. "If you two were to have children, they will be Hanyou, regardless of Shiori-hime's connection to the supernatural, because she is still biologically human."

"What? How is that even..." Shiori trailed off, unable to speak around the shock coursing through her.

Kouta could understand her. She'd known Pai's parents. From everything she'd said about them, there was nothing remotely inhuman about them. Kouta had never yet thought about children he and Shiori may have – she was far too young for him to be contemplating anything in that direction – but he'd never expected something like this. Some may call it an oversight on his part, but he'd genuinely never given thought to what kind of children he and Shiori could one day have.

And Kanou was saying that Pai was what they could be?

"How do you know about them, Kanou-san?" Kouta asked, looking up at the healer with new, wary light. He'd always been aware that Kanou knew many more things than he ever let on. He just didn't expect that one of those things happened to be about Pai.

"My old mentor," he answered solemnly. "Kobayashi Hiro-san. Daichi's grandfather. You know he was a scholar, yes?"

Kouta nodded, sobered at the mention of the man who taught Shin how to swear kishoumon, a man who'd died from insanity Kouta had never been sure was entirely natural. The man's mind had been far too sharp for all the time Kouta had known him for it to have suddenly been muddied the way it had been towards the end of his life. "Yes."

He caught Pai watching him fixedly with a frown on her face as she mouthed the name to herself. He wondered after it. Did she know about Shin's kishoumon?

"I know barely half of what he did," Kanou continued. "But before he passed on, he mentioned to me several times that such hybrids – Hanyou – exist, though that is a rather broad term for them. Anything that's one parent is supernatural and the other human can be classified as Hanyou." He shot a morose look at Pai. "He also told me what happens on the first full moon after their sixteenth birthday."

Pai's gaze skittered away from his.

Shiori tensed at Kouta's side, as did he. That was an oddly specific thing to say.

"What?" she asked. "What happens?"

When Pai remained silent, unable to look up from her fingers laced with Shin's, Kanou answered for her.

"The inherent nature of Hanyou is split in two distinct patterns that dictate what they can do." He raised his hands to indicate his words. "Their human side, and their Ayakashi side. It is their Ayakashi side that allows them to perceive the supernatural world, and their human side that hides them from detection by most other Ayakashi. The problem is, neither can remain in one body for very long, especially if the Hanyou is particularly strong." He laced his fingers together firmly. "They cannot fit in one body. At that point, it is like two fighting in the space of one. They are driven mad if they try. That is why, on the first full moon after their sixteenth birthday, Hanyou must make a choice to reconcile both halves of themselves."

"What choice?" Shiori asked, frowning as she tried to keep up with the shocking revelations being thrust upon her.

"To become human, or to side with their Ayakashi half. Once they make their choice, and the period of time varies, but once Hanyou decide, they....they die soon after. Legend – and this is what Kobayashi-san always called it – legend claims that something brings the Hanyou back to life as their choice, either human or Ayakashi."

"Die?" she whispered, stunned. "And then – and then come back? Is that possible?"

"Kobayashi-san always thought it to be a legend."

"Aihara-san doesn't agree with you," Shin remarked flatly. He was watching Kanou cautiously. "You know quite a lot yourself, don't you?"

Kanou glanced back at Pai, noticeably not answering Shin.

"That is why you've grown steadily weaker over the last year, why your hands shake the way they do," Kanou ignored the irate look from Kouta at this. Kouta really hated not knowing things. "And why, no matter what I did, or will do, nothing will work to stop it from happening."

Pai nodded slowly. She stretched her free hand in front of her face, flexing the fingers. Everyone watched a fine tremor shake her fingers minutely before she curled them into a fist and dropped them back to her lap. It couldn't have been because of the cold when even the mountain was reflecting the change in season, from winter to spring, the air warmed enough that that chill was chased away.

"I am dying."

Her final, decisive words were a bomb dropping on all their heads. Shin was a marble statue by her side, immovable, expression set in a perfectly still poker face that gave away nothing as he fixed a barely-there scowl on the ground. Kouta could hardly move, either, as he stared at Pai, wordlessly aghast.

He couldn't believe what she'd just said. She was dying? No, that couldn't be. True, Obaasan mentioned that she didn't want Pai doing too much work because the young girl was weaker than she should be. Daichi and Kaede had noted that her strength seesawed a lot, going up before she slowly grew unable to do workouts during her trainings with them that only a few weeks ago she could've done with ease, before swinging back to top form again as the cycle repeated itself. Kanou kept poring over Pai's hospital records, searching for something he never named.

But dying?

"That's not possible." Shiori hissed angrily. Kouta looked at her, saw her bottom lip trembling as she stared at Pai incredulously. He could only imagine how she felt, after everything that had happened, everything she'd done to stop this exact thing from happening all those months ago. She said again, "That is not possible."

Kanou looked down sadly at his princess. "I'm afraid it is, Shiori-hime."

"How?" She was still hopelessly confused, so firmly entrenched in the belief that both Pai's parents were human. "Pai-chan, you would know if your mom or dad was Ayakashi, right? How – how can you – how can you be dying?"

Pai nodded slowly. "I would know. And I still think that, but," she hesitated. Shin's hands tightened around hers. Though he was keeping mostly quiet throughout all this, his presence seemed to give her what courage she needed to continue. "My being Hanyou makes sense."

"Sense with what?" Shiori demanded. "Okay, so you can see the Ayakashi. That doesn't automatically mean you're not human. Maybe – maybe you're Chimei Yoki, like me. Maybe there's some Kamigami out there messing with us because they think it's fun. It doesn't mean – it doesn't – "

"It does when being Hanyou is the reason why I..." she trailed off and hunched her shoulders, as if she was trying to curl into a ball to make herself as small as possible. Her voice dwindled until they were all straining to hear her. "Why I was in an organization that hunts down Hengen."

Her words were met with pin-drop silence.

Kouta's muscles locked as he stared at her, and suddenly, several things clicked into place. Things he'd noticed about Pai since she came to Ayashi House, things he'd read in reports his father forwarded to him over the months and years, whispers he caught from Hengen who operated in the underworld. Even hearsay Shin told him about in his time with the Yakuza Ayakashi.

An organization that hunts down Hengen.

Her words echoed dizzyingly in his head as he fought to keep himself silent and let her continue. That couldn't be all she had to say. That wasn't nearly enough. She couldn't just drop a bomb like that and expect it to be enough. He needed to hear the rest of it, the rest of her story, before he said anything more.

"Do you remember the Nue I killed, Kouta?" Shin finally spoke, watching for his best friend's reaction, gauging his silence, as if he was ascertaining whether or not Pai was safe in the room with the Heir. Kouta nodded. "Haru told you one of them kept saying 'total negative' to him before. He meant to say So Fu. That's what they call themselves."

"Since what happened in the Torimaku," Pai continued, speaking in a quiet, harried rush, like she was afraid that if she didn't let it out quickly she wouldn't at all. "My memories have slowly been coming back."

"That was four months ago, Pai," Kouta said, astounded that none of this had been brought to his attention since.

She ducked her head in a nervous bob. "I know. Midori..."

"Your sister?" Kouta asked, puzzled. What did her missing sister have to do with it?

She nodded. "Yes, Midori. I do not know how, but she is involved in how I got into So Fu," she shook her head with a frown. "No, she...she is the reason I was there in the first place, I think."

"What are you talking about?" Shiori asked harshly, a furious scowl on her face. Kouta could tell just from the look on her face that she was remembering the memory she'd seen of Pai being tortured so much so that her hair bled white. "Mitti-chan did what?"

Pai nodded at the door. "It was Midori I saw in the crowd, on the news report. You saw her, Shii-chan," she added. "You saw her there."

Shiori didn't deny it.

"Fujikage Media House, or the Ayakashi who run it, they are being watched by So Fu. I do not know why. Maybe this is what they wanted to do all along." She shrugged helplessly. "She was in the crowd, Shii-chan, with another Agent. Haruguchi Chiasa. Her brother, Kiku-san, is – was – my handler. We – trainees – we called her Mad Chiasa because she has an obsession with Hebi." She ducked under the loose white waterfall of her hair, unable to meet their eyes. "With killing them. Her uniform was custom made," she said bitterly. "She always wears snakeskin boots, jackets. It was sickening."

Well. At least now they knew the reason behind Pai's glass-shattering reaction. Seeing someone like that on TV was bound to make anyone upset.

"What were you even doing in such a place?" Kanou asked gently. "I cannot imagine you were planting flowers and making peace with Ayakashi if they hunt us down, as you say."

"Killing." She replied bluntly.

Shiori flinched at the hard word, and Kanou's eyebrows shot to his grey hairline.

"I was killing for them. Hengen, and humans too close to them as well." She reached back and tapped her nape. "They implant microchips here, and use them to make sure we do as we are told."

"That...Pai-chan, that's not possible." Shiori whispered.

"I have killed forty Hengen, Shii-chan." She answered in a dead voice. "I do not remember most of them. I only know how many because someone asked me, in my memory, and that is what I told them. I had no reason to lie. If I lied, I would be punished." She threaded her fingers through her snow white hair. "My hair turned white because of a punishment for something I did that they did not like."

Kouta leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees as he gave Pai his undivided attention. He could no longer keep silent anymore. Not if she claimed to have killed forty people.

Walking into the room and watching the way Shin acted with Pai, he'd thought that what they wanted to tell him had something to do with their relationship. He never would have expected something like this. Pai's explanation was wandering, confusing, and left him reeling. He felt like he'd stumbled into an endless maze that had no centre, no exit.

She blanched at the intensity behind his eyes, but he held her gaze. He needed answers. "Can you prove any of what you're saying, Pai-chan? About So Fu, and what they do. What you did."

She hesitated. "No."

"Is there any chance that they are Onmyoji? That this So Fu is run by Onmyoji?"

If So Fu were a human organization picking off Ayakashi...he didn't even want to ponder the consequences that led to. He knew that if other Hengen were to find out about this, a full-scale war against humanity wouldn't be far off. If So Fu were real – and he was inclined to believe Pai, if only because he knew her and knew she wouldn't lie about something like this – and they were hunting down Ayakashi, it meant that there were many Hengen who'd pin the blame of their troubles on So Fu, and return the bloody favour.

But if So Fu were Onmyoji, that would be worse. Onmyoji and Ayakashi had as sticky a relationship as Ayakashi did with Oni. Onmyoji hunting down Ayakashi would be the final straw to ignite that war.

It made sense, but Kouta prayed that wasn't the case. Both sides were strong, Onmyoji being humans who could use Ayakashi powers. If war broke out, it would be long, with a body count so high he didn't want to think about it.

Humanity would not escape unscathed; the Ayakashi would target them because they were the Onmyoji's weakness, they were who they protected. The Kamigami would likely be drawn into it, but the Ayakashi would not back down, not after So Fu's crimes against them. And if that happened, the potential for war with Kamigami wasn't far off, either.

Ayakashi could not fight a war on two fronts, with enemies so strong as Onmyoji and Kamigami were. Even if the Kamigami sided with the Ayakashi, something he considered a possibility now he knew from Shin that Kamigami were just Hengen merged with their True Ayakashi, knowing that Kamigami were closer to the Ayakashi than they were to humans and Onmyoji, the casualties and fatalities of such a war would tear the world apart. But then again, Kamigami worked to keep the world in balance, to protect humanity, as was their age-old decree given to them by the Kigen. Would they let themselves be drawn into the conflict?

Spirits above, Kouta didn't know what to think, what to do.

Pai frowned at him. "I do not know. I am not sure. They might be, but I do not remember. I still do not remember everything."

"Is it only Ayakashi they are after?"

She nodded, still refusing to look up from her hands. "They do not know enough about Oni to try going after them. I think they are scared to because of that, but they want to. I think they want to wipe out all supernatural beings in this world."

The likelihood that they were Onmyoji was increasing by the second.

"And Kahori-san," Kouta asked quietly. "Who killed him?"

After what she'd just said, and what he knew of how healthy Kahori had always been, he knew without a shadow of doubt that the friendly, outgoing young Tanuki had been murdered.

She finally lifted her head and looked at Kouta. He was startled by the depth of sorrow and regret in her eyes. He could see that she was trying to hide her emotions from them, but telling them everything that had happened to her, everything she was put through, made it difficult. He knew that no matter how conflicted he felt about what she must have been through, it was nothing compared to what she felt about it.

He knew what it was like to kill someone. He carried that terrible guilt that came with taking a life. Shiori kept him from dwelling too deep in those thoughts and memories, even if she didn't know it. Shin may be that for Pai now, that buffer she needed, but she hadn't had anyone like that for her back then. If Pai had ended forty lives, he couldn't imagine the weight she carried on her shoulders.

Even just one life was enough to crumble the strongest person.

"It was not me," she mumbled. "I...I was supposed to torture him when he tried to escape. But I did not." She looked away.

Kouta frowned at her. There was something she wasn't saying about it.

"Pai-chan, I need to know. I knew him." She flinched at the words. "What happened to Kahori-san?"

Pai bit her lip anxiously, so hard he worried she'd tear through it. She leaned against Shin again, closing her eyes as her brows creased. When she opened them again, he stilled. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were too bright, like she'd trapped the stars in them. She was visibly fighting to keep herself from letting the tears out.

This was the first time Kouta had ever seen her come close to crying in front of other people. She kept everything locked in, all the time, helping everyone else and acting like she was fine, like she didn't ever need help herself. She was the one who comforted everyone else when they sobbed their hearts out. She was the one who gave them a shoulder to cry on.

He knew it was unhealthy, to bottle up your emotions and seal them in so tight whilst helping others deal with their own emotions, but he'd never really known how to approach Pai about it without it looking like he was reproaching her for it. She was already uptight enough around him as it was.

But he'd never seen her cry.

"So Fu does everything they can to keep Hanyou from going insane and taking their lives. We – we tend to do that. Go crazy." Her voice trembled with unshed tears, but she went on. He had to commend her for her resilience, especially when what she was saying clearly hurt her. "I wanted to kill myself. I tried to, many times. But couldn't – Hanyou are rare. So Fu wants all the Hanyou they can get their hands on. To force us to fight their battles."

Kouta noticed Shin tensing at what she said about trying to kill herself. She must have noticed too, for she paused momentarily, and her eyes flickered in his direction. Shiori and Kanou could do nothing more than gape at her in total silence, trying to digest her words, the meaning lingering in them, the knowing that she'd once been at so low a point that she was driven to attempted suicide weighing heavy on their minds.

Pai shook her head and looked back at Kouta. "I couldn't do it myself, so I tried to use him. I was assigned to torture him as punishment for trying to escape, under the pretence of asking him about a contract he was supposed to sign with Fujikage Media House. I tried to make him angry enough to kill me, but I...failed."

Kouta frowned at the traces of disappointment tingeing her voice. Even after all this time, was the guilt that consumed her so whole that she didn't mind if she died now? He glanced at Shin, sitting still beside her. Shin had hardly moved this whole time.

He hoped that Pai would realize she wouldn't be abandoning her life alone if she died. She would be deserting them all as well.

"After that, he was sent to solitary confinement," she continued. "Last time I saw him was his – h – h – his body, carted out to be taken away."

Kouta paled, sick to his stomach at her words. He looked away from Pai, turning to glare out the window behind her as he tried not to let the stewing anger inside him burst out.

He'd known Kahori. Kahori had been a good man, better than many. He always knew how to make those around him laugh, and he never let anyone feel left out. He was like a magnet, drawing people to him with his bubbly personality.

And now he was dead. Killed by So Fu, for what? Just because he was Tanuki? Was that the best they could come up with, killing people just because they didn't fit their narrow perspective of what it meant to be human?

That wasn't even the end of it.

He could see that what they forced Pai to do was ruining her. Remembering the things she'd done was eating her up from the inside out. The insanity he sometimes saw in her eyes? Clearly, it was not something he'd imagined it. It was real, it was there, and that was thanks to So Fu. From the way she spoke, there were others like her, other souls trapped in the desolate black hole that was So Fu.

"Kouta-sama, I am sorry," she pleaded. "You have to believe me, I did not want to do any of it."

He looked back at her, trying to temper his anger so that it didn't look like he was mad at her. He wasn't – just the people who'd forced her to do something that went so totally against her nature.

"I understand. But Pai," he said levelly. " I need you to tell me absolutely everything about them. There has to be more."

She hesitated. "I do not know enough. I do not know what they are. I do not know why they do what they do, or what their end game is, or how I got out. I do not know why they have not come after me for escaping – I don't – I do not even know if I got out on my own at all. All I know is that I was with them for the three years I was missing, and I killed on their orders. Hanyou are rare, but they have enough of them that they send Agents, or high-level trainees, to kill or kidnap Hengen individuals."

"You didn't get out without a fight," Kanou muttered to himself, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Pai closely.

She looked up at him cautiously. "How do you know that? I do not remember how I got out."

Kanou didn't say anything for a moment, the silence growing to almost unbearable tension as they waited for him to speak. He sighed heavily, pushing himself off the table and walking over to his desk with shuffling steps, clearly hesitant. He opened the tableside drawer and pulled something out before closing the drawer with a resounding click that could have been an explosion in the silence of the room.

He came back to the small group, this time sitting himself on the small table set between the beds the two couples sat on. Kouta watched the older man closely as Kanou stretched his upturned hand out to Pai. In his palm was a small Ziploc packet, half-full of vaguely suspicious-looking white powder.

Kouta noted how pale she grew at the sight of it, the hardening of Shin's jaw.

"What is that?" Kouta asked, eyeing them both.

Pai lifted her head, a mildly panicked light in her eye. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Shin glanced down at her before tightening his arm around her shoulders. She looked at him with wobbling smile before she shook her head and looked Kouta in the eye. He applauded her for that – not many could meet his eye as unwaveringly as she did now, especially with her present state of mind.

"A few months ago, I was sleepwalking." She said slowly, carefully. "My memories, they come in my dreams. I was having one, and when I was sleepwalking, I – I attacked Shin. I found a gun, and I was trying to shoot him. He woke me up before I could do anything more."

Kouta stared at her. "You found a gun? Where?"

There were no guns in the house. He was dead set against their very existence. Not that he wasn't aware of their usefulness, but the need for that utility was what he hated. Besides, Hengen didn't typically fight with such modern weapons. Maybe it spoke to how old they were, but they preferred the old methods of battle; swords, bows and arrows, axes, the like. As unfashionable as the modern world seemed to regard those weapons, they did have their uses.

After all, people used to use them to kill all the time.

"I dug it out of the ground by the elm tree, outside." She answered. "It was in a tactical rifle bag. I do not know how I knew it was there."

He blinked like a confused owl for several seconds before swinging his astounded gaze to Shin. "When did this happen?"

"A week after Teke Teke." Shin answered, saying no more on the incident than was necessary.

Kouta remembered that night. He'd been talking with Shin about why Teke Teke targeted Shiharu, and then Shin flew off on his own. He'd seen Pai walking through the woods, thought everything would be fine since Shin was obviously going to her.

Clearly, everything had not been fine.

"That's why you started going to the school, isn't it?" he asked Shin, giving him a stern look. Shin nodded tersely. "And when were you going to tell me this? Or were you ever going to?"

"I asked him not to," Pai cut in before Shin could reply, immediately placing herself right in the direct path of blame, if it came. "At least until I had answers for what was happening."

"After I convinced her not to leave." Shin added, shooting her a warning look.

Kouta only had a fraction of a second to watch for Shiori's reaction to that – he was remembering the hours they'd spent arguing about whether or not to let Pai stay, more than a year ago. Those fights between them made him realize that Shiori was so vehemently against letting Pai go off on her own that she would fight tooth and nail to keep anyone from even suggesting it.

Just as he suspected – Shiori was livid. Her eyes blazed with anger as she rose from her seat, clenching her fists at her sides like she was physically stopping herself from punching a wall. There was hurt in her eyes, too. Hurt that Pai would even think something like that without telling Shiori. Without telling anyone.

"What?" she seethed, glaring. "You were going to leave? Just like that, no warning?"

Kouta winced at her tone. Pai didn't quail under Shiori's withering glower. She had more experience with dealing with Shiori in this anger than anyone else in the house, besides Ryu.

"I attacked someone, Shii-chan. I had a gun and I was shooting at Shin, with the full intention of killing him because I thought he was Ayakashi, and – " she paused, drawing in a deep, shuddering breath before she went on to relentlessly drive home what she was telling them. "So Fu mandate says Ayakashi are 'a cancerous disease that must be cleansed from the world in order for humanity to survive'. That is the person I became when I was sleepwalking."

Shiori, to her credit, despite her eyes widening at those hard words, was unperturbed from her anger. "So you were going to leave? Leave me? Why?"

"Because I was sleepwalking, Shii-chan!" she exclaimed. She shot out from under Shin's arm, stumbling on her cut feet. Kanou started to say something, and Shin moved to stand after her, but she shot him a sharp glare that kept him still – with a hand at her back to keep her steady – before turning back to Shiori.

Despite being two inches shorter, her glare matched Shiori's in every possible way – and Kouta could see that the pain of saying what she was hurt her more than she would ever voice. It was like she'd temporarily forgotten everyone else in the room, and only she and Shiori existed in that moment.

"I was sleepwalking, and I found a gun I don't remember ever seeing before, and I was trying to kill a Daitengu." Her voice shook with the effort to reign in her volatile emotions.

"Then you should have talked to us about it, not taken it upon yourself to walk away!" Shiori shouted. A cold look crept into her eyes. "Not to run away."

It was no exaggeration to say Kouta saw those last words make something in Pai snap. Kouta glanced at Shin, worried that this would escalate to something physical, but Shin shook his head warningly. He frowned at the other man, before looking back at the two girls.

"I wasn't running, you idiot, I wanted to protect you!" she exclaimed. "What do you think would have happened if I fell asleep while we were in the living room, with the kids, or Yukiji-san, or Obaasan, or you, and I started sleepwalking again? What if I went to the kitchen and took a knife because all around me, all I could see, were Ayakashi?"

At that, Shiori froze. She stared at Pai, gaping like a flabbergasted fish. "No way."

"Yes way." Pai hissed. "What do you think that me would have done if I went up against a Daitengu when we're told, we're told to never go after anyone stronger than us, anyone we can't handle, and then there you are, such an easy target?"

She blinked, and suddenly all her ire was gone. It was like a tap switching on and off – one second her voice was rising with her anger. The next, she blinked, as if she realized what she'd just said, like she realized she'd started talking as if she was still in So Fu, and everything in her deflated.

Her shoulders slumped, energy visibly seeping away as she stumbled back on her wounded feet. Shin rose and caught her around the waist before she would have fallen, and as they moved to sit again Kouta could see her rapidly blinking as she tried to control her breathing. The hard steel in Shiori's gaze waned, though she remained standing, her fists clenched so tight that her knuckles were white.

"I wasn't running away." Pai whispered hoarsely, eyes fixed on the ground. "I just didn't want to hurt you. Anyone. That me doesn't see 'friends'. Anyone who is Ayakashi is an enemy, and anyone who is human is weak. Collateral damage," she ended in a harsh whisper.

She leaned back against Shin, turning her pale face to press into his shirt, muttering something under her breath. A dark look crossed his face at her words, and he lifted a hand to her chin to make her look him. He looked into her eyes for a long moment, searching for something, before he spoke to her quietly.

Though Kouta didn't mean to, he heard what they said to each other as Shiori spun around and started pacing the length of the room, back and forth, back and forth, raking her fingers through her fiery hair as she struggled to get her temper under control.

"Do not talk to her," Shin said. "Not now."

"She won't keep quiet, Shin," Pai mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. "She hates her. She blames her, she hates her so much."

Kouta had a feeling she wasn't talking about Shiori. But who, then? There was no one else in the room with them.

"Block her," Shin said, glancing at Kouta. He saw Kouta watching and frowned slightly. The message was clear; Stop listening.

Kouta shrugged helplessly. He couldn't turn his ears off, and if Shin lowered his voice any more than he had already, Pai wouldn't hear him. Unless Kouta walked right out of the room, he would hear what they were saying. Shin gave him a flat look when he came to same realization and sighed before turning back to Pai. Her lips were curled over her teeth in a look that was so very irritated. He wondered who it was she was angry with.

"She's tearing the walls down. She's laughing, everything's a joke and she just won't shut up – " she drew in a sharp breath, wincing.

Kanou moved slightly, as if he was about to start inspecting Pai up and down to see what was wrong. Kouta was pretty sure everyone had forgotten the old healer's presence in the room until then. The man had an unsettling habit of sitting so perfectly still that he blended in to the surroundings. He could be wearing neon clothes and clown's mask and he would still be able to do that. Only, he'd scare off thirty years off someone's life that way. Kouta was pretty sure he'd aged rapidly several times since he'd known Kanou.

Shin shook his head at Kanou when she let go of her breath, some of the tension in her body easing as she did. "Gone."

Kouta did not miss the relief that flickered over Shin's eyes before the poker face settled in again. He raised a brow at Shin, who caught the look, shook his head once, and mouthed, Later.

Kouta nodded once, holding Shin's gaze for another moment. Later had better mean in a few hours, maybe days, and not months like all this had taken. They might not have months, this time.

He glanced back to watch as Shiori slowly walked back to them and sank beside him again, as if the brief fight had exhausted her as well as she stared unseeingly at her shoe. Kouta glanced around at their little group.

Kanou kept his attention pinned on Pai, watching for any sign that she'd had enough. Kouta was surprised he hadn't already tried to stop this, what with the clear strain this 'talk' was having on her. Shin wound his arm around Pai's waist, keeping her steady when she looked ready to drop. Beside him, Shiori leaned her head tiredly against his shoulder, and he twined his fingers with hers as he gripped her hand tight in his.

Deeming everyone to have calmed down, Kouta aimed a severe look at Kanou. "What does that packet have to do with this?"

Kanou eyed Pai carefully for another long moment before hesitantly turning to the Heir.

"It was in the rifle bag I had with me when I went to Tokyo, while the rest of you went to Kyoto for the signing of the Treaties." The healer answered. He carefully set the packet on the table next to him, as if it was a living creature spitting poison at him. "The same bag Pai-chan dug out of the earth that had the gun she used to attack Shin-kun."

Kouta raised a brow, waiting for the rest.

"Even though your memory was gone," he said, looking at her as he spoke. "For a few days after you woke up, you acted strangely. Do you remember?" he asked, glancing at them all. "Jumpy all the time. Dilated pupils. Insomnia. Nervous and agitated."

Kouta remember it clearly. It was one of the reasons why he'd been hesitant to agree to letting her stay with them. She'd acted like she had a secret to hide, despite Shiori's insistence that it was just because of everything that had happened; her entire family's disappearance, discovering she wasn't fifteen anymore but eighteen, her amnesia. All that took a toll on a person, he'd admitted that, but what if it was something else?

"I thought that was because she was suddenly in a house full of Tengu," Shiori said in hushed tones. "We grew up avoiding Ayakashi. I thought that was why."

Kanou shook his head gravely. "Tell me, have either of you," at this he gestured with a wave of his hand to both Shin and Kouta. "Ever wondered why I don't prescribe any kind of narcotic medicine to Pai-chan? Even herbs of the like."

Kouta frowned. He'd noticed, but never questioned the healer as to that unusual decision. It had never been something he was concerned about before she came to the house. Now that he thought about it, he remembered that Kanou had once gone out of his way with Yukiji to find fever pills for Pai that didn't induce numbness or stupor of any kind. He hadn't let the doctors at Dokokai Hospital give Pai any regular morphine – again going out of his way to obtain an alternative – when she was recovering after the Onihitokuchi debacle, either.

His eyes drifted to the packet of white powder clamped between two wrinkled fingers. He had a feeling that he knew what the powder was.

"Why?" Pai asked quietly. Her voice was husky. Bags sat under her eyes, and there was a dull quality to the light brown, as if she didn't care anymore what anyone said.

Kanou shot her a worried look, pursing his lips before sighing heavily and continuing.

"This," he shook the packet. "Is cocaine. Consumable, digestible cocaine."

Holy fucking hell.

Everyone's jaw dropped straight to the ground – except Pai and Shin. Shin looked like he'd been blasted by a hurricane of ice, staring at the packet of white powder with an inscrutable look in his eye. Kouta could feel the bone-breaking tension in Shiori's body as she stiffened at his side. He could hardly breathe.

He glanced at Pai. A tired chuckle breezed out of her as she shook her head. She didn't look surprised, as if every terrible blow dealt to her was to be expected at this point. She lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes as she tried to massage away what was clearly a headache.

"They put chemicals in our food," she mumbled, leaning forward to brace her elbows on her knees as she pushed trembling fingers through her shock of loosened white hair. Her shoulders heaved as she drew in a large breath and held it for a moment before letting it go.

"What kind?" Kanou asked.

She shook her head, remaining as she was, avoiding the eyes of everyone around her. Her voice came muffled when she spoke. "I do not know. All I know is that we consume those drugs because they keep us sane, and they are addictive."

Kanou licked his lips, nodding like her words confirmed something to him. "I don't know if I'm right, but it's possible you started taking this," he carefully put the packet back on the table before turning back to them. "In replacement of what So Fu administered. When I first examined you, after Shiori-hime found you, there were still traces of this in your body. I don't let any narcotics go into your system because I didn't want to risk a relapse, conscious or not, no matter how long it's been since you got out."

This just kept getting worse and worse. Kouta was sick to his stomach at everything he'd heard, but he knew that no matter how bad all this made him feel, it could never compare to what Pai was going through. She looked like she was barely holding herself together, even with Shin beside her, keeping her steady when she seemed ready to let herself fall.

"Pai-chan," he leaned forward. At the sound of his voice she sat up, shuffling backwards so that she was upright. She swallowed when she met his gaze. "I know you don't know much, but you know more than anyone else. I know it's painful, but I need you to tell me everything you can remember about them. It's important."

And then Shin spoke, seeing right through him like he was made of glass.

"Kouta," he asked, eyeing Kouta as he tightened his arm briefly around Pai's waist. "What are you thinking?"

He glanced at Shin with a sad smile. Shin knew him better than anyone – of course he could tell Kouta already knew something. For a moment, he wondered if he should say it out loud or privately to Shin when they were alone. He decided against it. What he was about to say wasn't exactly private information, and he trusted every single person in the room with his life.

True, one of them had been keeping this monumental secret from him for months, but he wasn't blind; he could see how torn up she was over what she did, not just while in So Fu, but for keeping it secret. If nothing else, this proved that Pai could keep a secret. There were ups and downs to that, he realized sadly.

"For the last couple of years," he admitted slowly. "I've noticed a disturbing trend in reports my father sends me. The ones about missing Tengu."

Every once in a while, administration who served his father directly sent him regularly updated reports naming Tengu who'd been missing for more than a week, to spread word of their names around Hokkaido and see if they turned up there. The lists were then updated to exclude the names of those who were found, then sent around to other Kings. It was a system that had been in place since a few years after the end of the Territory Wars, and was incredibly useful in locating missing Hengen.

Kouta saw that those Tengu who'd gone missing were rarely found, the names that came back always remaining. It wasn't just Tengu, either. When he'd noticed it, he'd asked his father to send another list that the other Kings had provided his father, and when he saw the lists, he'd seen the exact same thing happening there. He'd looked at those lists so many times already that he could remember their names off-head. The lists had grown over the years, worryingly including Yukiji's sister and husband and child.

Sometimes those on the list ended up dead, found after a few days in a hospital morgue. Sometimes they'd just return home after going AWOL, though the latter was rare. Turning up dead didn't happen frequently enough for Kouta to point it out to Sojobo Kurama without his father thinking he was seeing things that weren't there. Most of the time, Tengu simply remained missing, and Kouta had no choice but to go on with daily life.

Now he wondered if he finally knew the reason why those Tengu – and other Hengen – were never found.

"It is most likely So Fu," she said quietly. "You can look for evidence, Kouta-sama, but all you will find of them is the shadow of their footprints. They are good at what they do. What I know of them is little, but I know they have been around for almost two hundred years."

"Two hundred years?" Shiori echoed, astonished.

A frown darkened her face as she thought about the time. Kouta remembered that, for some reason, Shiori loathed the Meiji Era. She absolutely hated it, to the point that she blackmailed Haru (and Kaede when Haru purposefully trawled memes on the internet instead of actual research) into doing the assignment her History class had been given for it. Shiori could be lazy about school work more often than not, but she was honest about it, at least.

As far as he knew, the Meiji Era was the last time Hiyori reincarnated, as Manami, though precious little was available in records of that particular incarnation. All that was really known was that her name had been Manami, and she'd lived in Hokkaido without ever tying herself to any Hengen or Oni the way Hiyori's reincarnation tended to do.

He often wondered if the reason Manami was so scarcely mentioned was because she didn't survive for very long after her sixteenth birthday. There was no way she could have, without the protection of either Hengen or Oni Clans. Even if she tried to live in hiding, who she was would have attracted supernatural attention to her no matter what she did.

Pai nodded. "They know how to hide themselves when they do not want to be seen."

Kanou shifted his footing, getting more comfortable as he leaned against the table. "Two hundred years, you say?" She nodded again. He glanced at Kouta. "I could take a look through records Kobayashi-san left behind for me. I may find something there."

Kouta raised a brow. "Would he know about something like So Fu?"

"He was a scholar of all things, Kouta-kun, not just the past. He was three hundred and eighty-two when he died, older than So Fu, if they have truly been around for two hundred years. He was tenacious with his notes," he gently reprimanded. "It is worth looking in to."

Kouta nodded. "Okay. You do that, and tell me what you find. Even if it doesn't seem important." The smallest detail could prove to be monumentally ground-breaking, in the right light.

Kanou bowed his head gravely to his Heir as he stood, wanting to set immediately to his task. He paused, and looked back at Pai. "You say a nurse, Aihara-san, is the one who informed you that you're Hanyou? She claims to be Hanyou herself?"

"Yes," she answered. She was slumped against Shin's side, exhaustion etched onto her face as deep shadows nestled under her eyes. Kouta couldn't imagine how much it had taken out of her to let go of everything she'd been keeping inside for all this time. "She says she chose her human side."

That made him think of something. "How do you know she isn't with So Fu?"

"I do not," she admitted honestly. He blinked – he was used to people trying to evade his questions, something that was regularity in the business he did with other Hengen. Sometimes Pai's stark honesty surprised him. "But I doubt she is."

"How can you be sure?"

"We do not mean to, but Hanyou in So Fu all have the same look in our eyes." Pai waved in front of her eyes. "After everything we've done, even if we try to hide it, you can see it in our eyes, either the guilt or the madness in us from what So Fu makes us do. Aihara-san does not have that."

Her words made his heart weigh heavy in his chest, because he'd started to see that look creeping into her eyes a few months ago...around the same time she started remembering what she did, it would seem.

Something needed to be done. So Fu could not be allowed to go on any longer, doing whatever they wanted with those they manipulated into doing their bidding.

"Plus," Shin added. "She wasn't lying."

Kouta nodded heavily, trusting Shin's judgement. It wasn't easy to lie to a Daitengu, or even in the presence of one. Perhaps it was some aspect of their Abilities that allowed them to sniff out whenever someone was lying to them. A little part of him was slightly disappointed, though. If Aihara was So Fu, at least they'd have someone to get more information out of. They'd have somewhere to start, instead of fumbling in the dark.

He knew their best shot now was for Pai to remember, but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted her to. She was already in this state now, and she'd barely scratched the surface of what lurked in her memories. What would happen once she remembered everything?

Shin looked at Kanou. "Why are you asking about her?"

"I want to meet her," he said. "I'd like to pick her brain, if you will. See exactly what it is she knows. Can you arrange a meeting with her?"

Pai nodded. "I will tell her. She says that she only wants to help me, and she – she does not seem interested in Shii-chan, so I thought it was okay to trust her."

Kouta shook his head wondrously as Kanou talked to her a little more about when and where he wanted to meet Aihara. He and Shin shared a knowing look over Pai's head. They both knew that she was especially protective about Shiori, going as far as accompanying her to school after Shiori's sixteenth birthday when she didn't particularly need to. She'd been willing to leave them all because she was afraid of what she could do when her past memories claimed her while she slept. Even now, she was still putting Shiori before herself.

He knew it ran both ways. Shiori had risked her life to save Pai once, and he was certain, without a doubt, that she would do it again, many times, if need be. He glanced down at Shiori. She'd fallen quiet for far too long.

She was staring at Pai, lips pursed, her eyes glassy as she tried to comprehend everything Pai had revealed. She kept mouthing something unheard, then shaking her head and frowning.

She was shell-shocked. He guessed that the full impact of what Pai said would only hit her later, after the first blow of Pai dying receded somewhat. Kouta squeezed her hand reassuringly. She looked up at him with a small, sad smile. Worry and concern swirled in equal measures in her eyes.

With a final nod their way, Kanou turned and left the infirmary, leaving the four together in strained silence. Pai couldn't look at either Kouta or Shiori, and Shin was looking down at her as he watched her to make sure that she was still all right – as much as she could be, considering the circumstances.

Finally, after a long minute, she licked her lips, and without looking away from her bandaged foot, she said quietly, "When do you want me to leave?"

For a moment, all Kouta could do was stare at her.

He was genuinely surprised by the question. Shiori looked ready to hit something again (he was a little worried it would be him she hit, simply because he was sitting right next to her), and Shin scowled furiously but said nothing as he glanced at Kouta. Her words registered, but Kouta wasn't sure he'd really heard right. He didn't understand them.

Leave? Leave where? What's she talking about?

"Eh?" he asked, making a face. "Where are you going?"

"I do not think you would want someone like me living in your home, Kouta-sama." She mumbled dishearteningly. "An assassin, and ex-drug addict. Who knows what else."

Oh, he thought, scratching the back of his head. That was what she meant.

"'Someone like me'?" he echoed. "What, do you mean my friend?"

Her head shot up, and her eyes widened as she wordlessly repeated the word.

He tipped a sad smile at her. "Why the hell would I ever want you to leave, Pai-chan?"

"What if they come after me?" she pressed, ignoring Shin tensing beside her. "You do not leave So Fu. The only way out is to die. What if they come after me and find me with everyone here? What if they decide it will be a good idea to assassinate the Heir of the Tengu?"

"You said it yourself," he answered cockily. "They don't come after Hengen stronger than they are."

"Kouta-sama."

"I don't deny it's dangerous," he admitted, waving his hand in assent. "But I can take care of myself. There are eight Daitengu here, and we've all fought to protect those we love. We know what war is. We know how to do it again." He shook his head. "I'm not going to kick you out, Pai-chan."

"But – "

He knew what she was going to say, but he wouldn't let her say it. "Listen, this mess we're in, it's fucked up. There's no other way to put it. But you're still our family. What your sister may or may not have done for you to be there is bad, but we're not like her. We don't turn our backs on family just because they did something bad."

"I did not just do something bad," she insisted, eyes glittering. "I killed people."

He didn't miss a beat. "Would you kill now?"

Pai stopped dead, mouth opening and closing as she gaped uncomprehendingly at him. She looked up at Shin. He gave her a half-smile as he nodded gratefully at Kouta. He didn't know what the smile Shin gave her meant, but clearly it meant something to two of them.

He wondered if they'd shared a similar conversation. Was that why Shin was so tense, acting like a territorial tiger? Because he thought Kouta would try to kick her out of Ayashi House?

This bloody man is in for it.

If that was the case, he needed to give Shin a serious brow-beating in training later that night. There was no way he had so much as thought about turning Pai out. The only way he'd even consider it is if she'd proven to be a true traitor in their midst, remorseless in her past actions. He was shocked enough that Pai had wanted to leave on her own accord.

She turned back to him. "Never."

Kouta spread his hands out, as he would if he were a presenter introducing a grand performance. "Then that's all there is to it."

Shiori spoke then, with a hard, unflinching voice. After knowing her for so many years, Shiori could easily see what the others – except Shin – missed about Pai.

"You're not the enemy, Pai-chan." She said in a hard, unflinching voice, brooking no room for argument whatsoever. "Stop looking at yourself like you are."

Pai stared at her, stunned into silence by the vehemence in Shiori's words, lips trembling. She wanted to speak, he could see that, but something stopped her.

It started with a single tear creeping down her cheek. Another joined it.

Another.

And then she did cry.

In seconds, she was hiccupping and sobbing and trying to hide it all behind hands she lifted to cover her face. Shiori shot up and crossed the few feet of space between the two beds. She practically shoved Shin out of the way as she wrapped her arms around Pai's neck, fiercely hugging her.

"I'm sorry," she cried, tears streaming down her face in rivers. Her hands fluttered, like she didn't know how to react to Shiori's embrace. "I didn't – I didn't mean to, I didn't want to – " the pain in her voice, the tears flowing down her face, broke Kouta's heart. "I didn't want to hurt her, Akane didn't see, I didn't want to, I was protecting Rikuto, I was only protecting him but I swear I didn't want to – "

"Shh, it's fine," Shiori murmured soothingly, holding her tighter. Her own eyes glistened with tears she held back. "None of this is your fault. None of it."

"I'm so sorry, Shii-chan, I'm sorry." Pai's arms came up, and she wound them around Shiori's waist, gripping the back of Shiori's shirt in trembling fists and hugging her back as she squeezed her eyes shut. She hid her face in Shiori's shoulder as overwhelming cries shuddered through her small body, and Shiori ran her hand down the back of Pai's hair as she closed her eyes, too.

Shin stood and walked to Kouta's side, never looking away from Pai. Both remained silent, the two men watching the loves of their lives holding on to one another; the one who always hid her true emotions from everyone else breaking down in the arms of her closest friend, the one who always tried to draw the other out of her shell. Both knew that this had been a long time coming.

All the while Pai kept saying sorry, so many times that Kouta lost count, naming people he didn't know, crying over one particular sin she'd committed that was eating her alive, her voice breaking as she cried and apologized to infinity. The sorrow and grief brought a lump to Kouta's throat as he and Shin turned to leave, sensing that the girls needed time and space to themselves. They needed to talk between themselves, too. They had a lot to talk about, more than would be done here.

Shiori didn't let go of her for even one second.