At the Sumeragi's invitation, Mitsuru sat down. Shinobu did not. He stared first at his roommate, and then at the other violet-eyed boy.

Kamui was the first to get the point. "Well. I think I had better get back to the Campus, Subaru-san. I'll see you later this evening." As he rounded the table, he swiftly pulled out Mitsuru's chair and grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, Ikeda-kun. You promised to help me with my essay, remember?"

Shinobu waited until younger boy had pulled the bemused Mitsuru completely out of the shop before he sat down. He gazed out the window where he could see the chocolate-haired boy berating his much taller companion. He smiled. "Your friend is much stronger than he appears. He looks like he'd blow away in a breeze, but he managed to pull Mitsuru right out of here."

Subaru inclined his head as he sipped his tea. "He's certainly stronger than what most people think." With a faint clink, Subaru set his cup in it's saucer. "I suppose they meant well enough when they arranged this."

"Mitsuru always means well. Things don't always turn out the way we want them too, though. In fact, they rarely do." Shinobu looked up when he heard Subaru chuckle softly under his breath. "What is it?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking that the Sumeragi must be predisposed to that particular attitude." Well, most of them, at least. Hokuto had been the exception to that. Subaru split his almost untouched scone in half and handed half to Shinobu.

Shinobu accepted it and took a bite. "Possibly. Though my brother wasn't particularly affected by it, if that's so. His reaction to the pressures of my father's expectations was to leave and not return."

"Do you blame him for that?" The Sumeragi nibbled on his half of the scone thoughtfully.

"No. I just would not have been able to make the same decision."

Subaru nodded. Responsibility, that was something he could easily understand. It had been an ever-present weight on his shoulders for most of his life. First, he had been the responsible heir, then the responsible Clan Head.

And now, of course, the responsibility was even greater--now, he had the responsibility for the survival of humanity to consider as well.

His responsibilities had limited his choices and even suffocated his own teenaged dreams. Subaru was suddenly determined that Shinobu's did not do the same to him.

***

"So," said Mitsuru as he slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and sauntered down the street. "Does this essay actually exist, or was it purely fictional?"

"Oh, it exists, all right," laughed Kamui, an uncommon sparkle lighting his eyes. "I finished it at lunch, though."

"I see. So what are we going to do for the next couple of hours? Those two aren't going to sort themselves out quickly. They're both too…" Mitsuru paused as he searched for the right word to describe the cousins' temperment,

"Self-reliant?" supplied Kamui.

"Stubbornly self-reliant," embellished the tall blond boy. "And that's not going to be changed any day soon. So what are we going to do until then?"

"Well, we could go back to CLAMP Campus, but…"

"But?"

"But," continued Kamui with a heavy sigh, "most of my housemates are insane."

"All of my dormmates are insane." Mitsuru paused a moment. "Including myself. The guys next door are pretty normal, though." If, he continued to himself, one forgot about Shun's long pink hair and overtly feminine appearance.

Kamui shot Mitsuru a level look. "My next door neighbor wakes up with a level of energy that should only be reserved for those who have consumed large quantities of stimulants."

"Really?" Kamui nodded. Mitsuru shuddered. "That's inhuman."

"Tell me about it. So, do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, everything in the city will be getting crowded around now," mused Mitsuru as he glanced at his wristwatch. It was 4:30, and the high schools and junior highs would all have been dismissed. "We could go back to Greenwood, I suppose. There's the gauntlet to consider, however."

"Gauntlet?" asked Kamui, mystified.

"There are three girls' schools between here and there. They should all be letting out about now."

Kamui's eyes widened. "Three? Well, I can take it if you can."

"You shouldn't say things like that until you've experienced the terror personally."

Kamui decided he didn't like the almost somber tone in Mitsuru's voice.

***

They had fallen into another uncomfortable silence, and Subaru had resumed picking at his scone.

He knew what he wanted to say to Shinobu, he reflected. The words echoed in his mind, the remains of a thousand lost wishes. But he couldn't say them, he thought, without sounding hypocritical.

After all, who would listen to a man who had already given up on most of his dreams?

Shinobu was staring out the window at the sea of people bustling down the street. There were students in an array of uniforms, some salarymen skipping out of work early, women walking downtown for some afternoon shopping. All of them undoubtedly had problems of their own, had things that they had given up on.

The world always looked more carefree when you were viewing it from behind glass.

"I wonder if their lives are really as weightless as they seem," murmured Subaru.

Shinobu slanted his cousin a glance. "No one's life is without weight, Subaru-san."

Subaru met Shinobu's gaze evenly. "No, I don't suppose it is. But that doesn't mean that their lives are ruled by that weight, either."

Shinobu bent his head and stirred his cooling tea. "Neither of us are those people outside the window."

"No," agreed Subaru. "But we are like them. They have expectations to live up to, as well."

Shinobu's lips thinned. "My father would never forgive me if I were to study onmyoujitsu."

"So you said before."

"He would prefer it if I exiled myself, like Akira."

"But you want to learn 'jitsu. Why?"

Shinobu hesitated. He had never told anyone about the day his mother died. "My parents argued the day my mother died."

Subaru said nothing, but he leaned in closer. And Shinobu began to speak of what he had heard that day in his eighth year.

"I'm sorry," murmured Subaru. The words were more than inadequate. "So you want to honor your mother's wish. And you want to honor your father's wishes."

"And it's impossible to do both," finished Shinobu with a bitter smile.

"Then decide which is more important to you. You can't possibly live up to all of the expectations people place on you."

Shinobu sighed. "No. But I've done pretty well so far."

"The only expectations you have to live up to, Shinobu, are the one's you place on yourself. And those are the ones that are the most important, I think." Subaru glanced up at the clock mounted on the teahouse wall. It was getting late. "I have to go."

"A job?" inquired Shinobu, almost involuntarily.

"Yes," said Subaru as he shrugged into his ivory trench coat. "Do you want to come?" he offered.

Shinobu hesitated, and then shook his head no.

"Very well." Subaru left the table, paid for his tea and scone, and headed towards the door. He stopped cold in the doorway, and turned back to his young cousin. "On second thought, no. You're coming along."

"I thought it was my choice," murmured Shinobu dryly.

"It is. But you should know what the choice is, at least."

***

Mitsuru and Kamui peeked out from behind the corner of a worn brink building. In front of them was the seemingly innocent fortress of the enemy.

A girls' school. And out the front gates came an endless stream of chattering junior high girls in crisp white blouses and navy blue jumpers.

"When I give you the word," whispered Mitsuru. "Run like hell."

"Got it," replied Kamui breathlessly. After their experience passing the last academy, he was more inclined to be cautious. One thing was for certain.

He was going to have nightmares about Black Watch plaid skirts and black uniform blazers for the rest of his days.

"Now," murmured the older boy. The two of them shot past the front gates with incredible speed. But not quite incredible enough.

"It's Ikeda-sempai! And he has a new friend with him!"

"Oh, wow, he's beautiful."

"Even more beautiful then Tezuka-sempai!"

"Oh, no! They're getting away, hurry!"

Kamui felt, rather than heard, the stampede behind them. He exchanged a wild look with Mitsuru, and decided that it was not the time for hesitation.

He grabbed at the front of Mitsuru's shirt, and with a single burst of speed, carried them over the top of the building next door to the school. They landed softly on the ground.

Mitsuru turned at stared at the younger teenager. "I'm going to guess that this is something I shouldn't ask about."

"That would be an excellent guess."

"Got it. Well, Greenwood's straight ahead now. We managed to bypass the third school there by leaping over it."

"Thank the Lord for small favors."

"Agreed."

***

Subaru and Shinobu had walked, then rode the train, then walked again. Finally they arrived at a tiny shrine in a tiny park.

It was old, and it showed it's age. It was obvious that the shrine-keeper's tried their best to keep it up, but they didn't have much assistance in doing so.

Subaru pulled a worn and ragged silk cord that had once been a vibrant scarlet. Almost immediately, the door slid open revealing a tired lady of his grandmother's generation. Her white hair was styled neatly but plainly, her kimono was clean but clearly aged.

Koizumi Kimiko, the last priestess of the Juu Kaji shrine, showed it's condition just as well as everything else around it did.

"Sumeragi-sama," she murmured, bowing her head. "Thank you for coming." She lifted her eyes, a vibrant blue that dominated her otherwise pale face. They flitted from Subaru's serious face to Shinobu's equally solemn coutenance. "You have brought someone with you?"

"A cousin," replied Subaru simply, allowing the elerly priestess to draw her own conclusions. "So you have a girl in your care who has been possessed?"

"I believe so," answered Koizumi-san softly. "Her relatives left her here, complaining that her behavior was erratic."

"I see. We will need to be alone, if that is the case."

"Of course, Sumeragi-sama." Kimiko led the two young men to the room where the girl rested, and then left them alone.

"Here," said Subaru, handing Shinobu a single slip of white paper. On the back was the Sumeragi symbol, a pentagram, and on the front some dark slashes of black ink that he recognized as being a middle Asian language. "This is an ofuda--a protection spell, in this case. All spells in onmyoujitsu are written in Sanskrit. Hold on to it. It will protect you if things get out of hand."

Then Subaru turned his back to his cousin and began setting up more ofuda in a pentagram around the young teenager lying on the futon in front of him. When these were set up, he began to chant.

It wasn't as simple a job as banishing Misako had been. Shinobu, though he was loath to admit it, would have been able to send on the mostly cheerful teenage girl without much difficulty.

This was an entirely different matter; a matter of possession and banishment. It would take both skill and diplomacy to first extract the spirit for the girl, and then to persuade the spirit to move on to the next realm.

He wanted to learn how.

And that, Shinobu reflected with sheepish humour, was probably why Subaru had brought him along. He had already admitted a desire to lean the art. He would, in all probability have found a demonstration of what he could learn to control irresistible.

If that had indeed been the Sumeragi Head's plan, it had worked perfectly.

"I still don't know how I'll handle Father," Shinobu murmured to himself.

"I think I will be able to work around your father, if I have to," replied Subaru, amusement lacing his voice. "I've been finished for five minutes now. Are you ready to leave yet?"

"I think so," replied his younger cousin.

The two walked outside. It had been twilight when they had arrived; it was full dark now. Shinobu tipped back his head and stared up at the sky. "There aren't many places in Tokyo where you can see the stars so clearly."

"No, there aren't," agreed Subaru softly. "Tokyo makes it's own stars."

The two men walked in mostly silence. In the strange way of cities, they were now closer to Shinobu's dormitory than they had been when they were at the café. Soon they reached the gates.

"Can you meet me on Wednesday evenings?" Subaru asked, tilting his head to the side. "The middle of the week is generally slow. Though there are occasionally, ah, unusual situations that crop up."

Shinobu gave his older cousin a piercing look. One day, he thought, he wanted to know what those unusual situations were. But it wasn't something he was going to get answered tonight. So he smiled. "Wednesdays are fine. I'll clear it with the dorm lady, so that I don't have to crawl in the window every night."

Subaru raised his jet eyebrows. "I can clear it with her tonight, if you'd like."

"No," smiled Shinobu. "I'll go in through the window tonight. Don't worry, we've all done it before."

He left Subaru standing at the gates, wondering just why his cousin had done it before.

***

Kamui sat on the floor of Mitsuru's room and stared in puzzlement a the boy in front of him. He had a shock of bright pink hair, and he was thumping his head, hard, repeatedly against the table in font of him. Mitsuru had been tutoring him, but had long since given it up in favor of reading a manga instead.

"Are you sure he's alright?" Kamui whispered to the boy next to him.

Kisaragi Shun shook a fall of pale pink hair out of his face and looked up at his roommate. "Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it; Suka-chan reacts like this to everything."

"I do not react like this to everything," retorted the boy across from them. Hasukawa Kazuya momentarily lifted his head to fix them both with a narrow-eyed glare before resuming his thumping.

Mitsuru snorted. "Right. Name one thing you don't overreact to."

"Don't bother," came a softly amused voice from the doorway. "Because you do react like this to everything."

Kazuya groaned into the pale wood under his face. "Oh, what's the point?"

"Exactly what we've been saying!" exclaimed Shun. "But don't worry, we like you anyway. Now, come on, we might as well go to bed. You're not going to get anything else meaningful done tonight."

Shinobu shifted as Shun pushed the half-conscious Hasukawa out of his room and shoved him into their own. He slanted Kamui a glance. "Subaru walked back with me. You could probably catch up with him, if you wanted."

Kamui nodded. "Then I'll be going now. It's been fun, Ikeda-kun. We'll have to do it again sometime."

"Preferably minus the junior high girls."

"Definitely without those." Kamui paused in the doorway and bowed slightly. "It was nice to meet you Tezuka-san. I hope I see you again, as well."

"Yes," replied Shinobu simply. Kamui smiled.

It was amazing just how alike Subaru and his cousin were, sometimes.

Mitsuru waited until Kamui had left the room and was well down the hall before he spoke.

"So you were with your cousin all this time?"

"Mm," grunted Shinobu as he unknotted his tie and folded it neatly in his drawer. "Yes. Remind me to tell Shun that I'll have to tutor him on Thursdays now."

"Aa."

There were a few moments of quiet, and then Shinobu felt a tissue box hit the side of his head. He blinked down at it. "What was that for?"

"Because I'll never get anymore information out of you than that," replied Mitsuru.

"Ah," Shinobu turned and placed the box on the shelf where it belonged. Then he continued with his methodical changing for bed.

Normalcy, such that it was, had returned to Greenwood again.

~fin

Part 2