The fragile rays of early morning poked through the branches of the tree above her, and Nanami laboriously pushed herself off from the hard bench she'd spent the night on. She groggily rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand, and focused on the faint sound of barking nearby. A moment later she found the source, and her lips stretched into a small crooked smile as she saw a man hugging a tree to escape a rather small dog.

She looped her mauve scarf around her neck, walked over, and made a shooing motion. The dog ceased its barking and turned to observe her quizzically, cocking its head sideways as she approached. When she neared it with the intention of giving its head a few pats, however, it growled, backed away, and ran off. Nanami shrugged and watched the man gingerly lower himself from the tree. She really did like canines of all sorts, and would from time to time try to feed the strays that came around the old apartment with small scraps of meat. It was a meager pleasure of hers: food for the dogs (whenever she could spare some) in exchange for a few minutes of furry companionship. Her father mostly sneered at the 'disease-ridden mongrels', as he called them, but though she couldn't take them in she was happy to do what she could.

When the man finally peeled his fingers off the bark, he rubbed his head and grinned sheepishly, "Whew! It's been awhile since I came back to this town! Thank you very much! To think I got cornered by a dog as soon as I got here."

He readjusted his glasses and winced, "Looks like I'm not welcomed by the local people. Sorry, I'm not too good with dogs…" He peered down at her through his round spectacles. "Are you a local here, perhaps?"

She responded positively, but added quietly that she had already lost a place to live in.

He's a strange man, but he has his own circumstances too…

The man noticed the pain in her eyes, his expression turned sympathetic. "Will you tell me your story?"

The directions the man had crudely drawn onto the crumpled sticky note were rather hard to read, but nevertheless Nanami determinedly followed them the best she could. After all, it couldn't hurt to check out the place. If nothing else, it might mean she didn't have to sleep on a bench tonight.

She had deliberated a few seconds on the ludicrousness of telling a complete stranger her life story, but dejectedly decided it really didn't matter in the end. It was nice to have someone lend an ear to her plight, as sad as that sounded, and though she had a few friends at school (an almighty sum of two), she didn't think she could stand seeing the pity in their eyes. At least with a stranger she didn't have to worry about any future awkwardness in their interactions. The man had proved to be a surprisingly good listener however, notwithstanding some (hopefully unintentional) displays of drama...

"You must hate your father, who ran away from home right?" He wailed.

Taken aback, Nanami started to answer in the negative, but the words would not leave her throat. She looked away and started, "Hate may be a strong word...but he's always been...troubled, ever since I could remember. I -" Here she hesitated. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive him for all the wrongs he did to my mother, but I gave it a lot of thought last night. He's made his decision, and wherever he is right now, odds are, our paths won't cross again. Even if we see each other by chance on the street, I doubt he'll acknowledge me." Her hands tightened against her threadbare scarf.

The man was silent for a few seconds, then quietly began, "I'm ashamed to admit it, but I also...abandoned my home." Nanami inhaled sharply, but he continued as he buried his face in his hands, "I wonder how everyone in my family is doing...I'm sure Tomoe will attack me as soon as he sees my face."

A small bubble of amusement rose up in her at his choice of words, but his admission still rang between her ears. She reached out for his hand and smiled, but her tone was serious. "Even so, it's alright. To have a home to return to...is fortunate. And to know that you intend to go back...I want to believe that your family would eventually accept your reasons. Because it's true what they say, right? Better late than never?"

He regarded her without response, and suddenly proclaimed, "I'll give you my home."

"Eh?"

"I can't leave my home empty forever. Besides if you live there, I'll feel relieved of my burden. You're so much more suitable to be the master of that house than me."

Before she could protest, she felt his hand brushing back her ebony strands and his lips laying a gentle kiss upon her forehead. Stupefied, she looked up as he started to walk away.

"Go to the place written in this memo. Just tell them that you came as Mikage told you to. I'm sure everyone will welcome you as the new master."

She had spent a good amount of time pondering the oddity of the situation. Granted, he hadn't done anything too inappropriate, and she'd deduced from his mannerisms that he was somewhat an eccentric character, but she had to wonder what kind of man would offer his home on a whim with that kind of greeting. (It was a greeting, right? Right?) Nanami couldn't imagine that the burden he had mentioned would be more than what she would impose by staying there, but as she climbed up the steps toward her destination she started to doubt his sincerity. He had directed her to a shrine, and one that was anything but well-kept. The rundown courtyard emitted a gloomy aura that made her shiver from something other than the cold, and the crunching of the leaves under her boots sounded loudly against the eerie silence. It was still daytime, but she couldn't help but feeling a dark presence of something other.

Nanami sighed and muttered, "I'll never trust adults again…To think that what awaits me was a shrine!"

It wasn't right, she thought dejectedly. It wasn't right that he had been intending to go home and then decided against it at the last minute. I wanted him to be reunited with his family! I wanted to believe that his reasons were true! I believed him…!

She slowly crossed into the shrine grounds under the torii gate, and was abruptly surrounded by a blue ring of fire.