Gentle hands were stroking my hair, and a heated fluffball vibrated in the crook of my neck.

It was warm and cozy, and I awoke dazed but smiling. The hand vanished from my head, and Kaoru leaned back, breathing a sigh of relief.

He grinned. “Glad you’re back with us. How are you feeling?”

I contemplated my situation for a moment, allowing my body to speak to me. My side was still tender, but unless I moved it, I barely felt anything. Otherwise, I felt mostly fine. Perhaps minorly disoriented and a little weak, but I figured that would pass when I woke up more. Maybe had a cup of coffee.

I was struggling to remember what had been dream and what had really happened.

“I’m fine,” I decided. Which seemed to be the overarching truth. I wouldn’t be running a marathon anytime soon, but I’d have trouble with that on any given day.

“Good. Give me a sec, I’m just going to let Natsu know you’re up. She’s been chewing my ear off since she got back.” He grimaced and left.

I had barely closed my eyes again when Natsu and Toshi stormed in, and I do mean stormed—it was like their arrival created a mini-blizzard in my room. Some of my drawings on the table were caught in the icy gale and carried all the way to the far wall.

Natsu dropped to the floor beside me, clasping my hand, while Toshi remained awkwardly standing behind her.

“Mi, I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to help! You’ll be okay though, won’t you? I promise, I’ll never leave you again!”

I managed a smile and squeezed her hand.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “I promise I’m alright. You’ve got your own life to worry about, so stop fretting about mine.”

Her lips curled into a smile as well. “Spoken like a true angel,” she said, and kissed my forehead.

Toshi cleared his throat. “You know, angels are actually just dove tengu…”

One icy glare from Natsu shut him right up.

Suddenly, the past events caught up with me. That’s right, Toshi’s father, the fan, the fight!

Panicked, I looked up at him, already half-way to trying to get up, but he pushed me back down, gently, swapping places with Natsu who left the room. “Toshi, your father, is he…? And the fan? And what of Katsuki?”

My begging gaze was no good. He shook his head, sadly, kneeling down next to me.

“We dealt with Katsuki, but we were too late. My father became one with the wind while we were bringing you to a healer.”

I closed my eyes and bit my lip. If it hadn’t been for me…! Guilt washed over me.

I found his hand and clasped it tightly, looking him straight in the eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” I said earnestly. “If there is ever anything I can do to help, please let me know.”

I wanted to hug him, to give him comfort, but I didn’t have the strength to move. He smiled and shook his head.

“I’d make the same choice every time.  Besides, aside from Katsuki, there’s no one who wants to challenge me, so I’ll be going to Izumo to speak with the kami no kami for a new artifact.”

I’d heard that said before, but it didn’t make any more sense to me than it had previously. Still, it was nice to see that he hadn’t lost everything yet. There was still a chance to continue his father’s legacy. I sincerely hoped that this kami no kami would be sympathetic to Toshi’s plight. After all, his clan depended on him.

“I wish you the best of luck,” I said, smiling. Then I clutched my side and frowned as I mentally went through my human anatomy studies. “But this shouldn’t have been that bad. A wound in that spot isn’t life threatening, at least not for a little while.”

“It is when the wound was inflicted by yokai metal,” Kaoru said, leaning in the doorway. “It’s lethally poisonous to humans. Even a small cut on your finger could mean death.”

I shiver ran down my spine as I thought of the few times I had cooked in Kaoru’s kitchen. Could I have accidentally committed suicide any day?

He seemed to read my thoughts, because he smirked.

“I replaced my knives the day you showed up, to prevent something like this from happening.”

Toshi watched him for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll be doing the same.”

There seemed an unspoken understanding between the two of them, and they both smirked at one another. I was glad to see them like this, without any animosity. The friendship I had previously suspected was unravelling before my eyes.

Some clattering and clunking resounded through the house from the direction of the kitchen, disturbing the moment. Panicked, Kaoru’s fox ears perked up, and he raced there, probably to stop Natsu from destroying something. This left Toshi and me alone again.

Only a moment later, he bowed formally, deeply, his face almost touching the tatami mats. “I deeply regret to have dragged you into this. Please find it in your heart to forgive me.”

“You don’t need to apologize! Please, it’s okay, really.”

He sat back up and looked at me, his gaze making me feel hot. There was a lot more tenderness in that look than I’d been expecting. And he was a good-looking man on top of it—wings and all. Like a fallen angel of some sort. Girls would be falling over one another to get to even speak to a guy like this in the human realm. He really ought to consider a career as an idol.

I suddenly felt awkward, not quite knowing where to look. Anything but directly at him.

“So,” I tried to change the subject. “Did Kaoru end up bringing the fan?”

Toshi sighed. “We got it after we came back here. As it turned out… They didn’t steal it. My father lost it to his grandfather by gambling drunk.”

Kaoru poked his head in. “And trying to cheat, don’t forget that, oh honorable tengu.”

Toshi’s expression darkened, but Kaoru seemed chipper as always. He sat down beside us, placing a plate of mochi on the table. Luan prodded over to sniff at them, before curling up on my legs. Then Natsu returned with tea and brought me a large pillow to lean against so I could sit up as well before the four of us sat around the table eating mochi and drinking tea.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Toshi said and pulled a book out of his garb. It was the second unreleased Tohikito Masato mystery I’d found on his shelves. Caught in the Owl’s Beak. “Since you asked if you could borrow it.”

“Thank you so much!” I beamed at him.

Kaoru whistled impressed and stage-whispered to Natsu. “Misaki must be special, huh? He’d never let me read any of his works before they’re released.”

Natsu shook her head, a mischievous glint in her eye and whispered back. “Me neither. That crow is playing favorites—how despicable!”

Toshi was reddening at their words, but I was only understanding half of it.

“What do you mean?” I asked Kaoru, holding the book in hand.

He sat up, grinning. “Oh, you didn’t know? Toshi here is an author in the human world. His pseudonym is—”

“Tohikito Masato,” I finished his sentence, whispering. My eyes, wide as they could be, turned to Toshi. “You wrote these? You’re Tohikito Masato?”

He didn’t meet my eye, but his cheeks were flushed once again.

He got to his feet. “I should go.”

He crossed over to the door abruptly. Natsu waved a white handkerchief at him.

“Safe travels, Toshi. Don’t stray too far from the air currents!”

He ignored her. Instead he turned back to me once more. “Take a look at the inscription.”

Then he was gone.

“Ah, that Toshi,” Natsu sighed amicably. “Just as awkward as he’s always been.”

“Isn’t he just,” Kaoru agreed. “Now come on, Misaki, open the damn book!”

I hurried to follow his request, but on the inscription page, I almost dropped the book.

To Misaki. For showing me there is light outside my duties.

Such simple words, yet they held so much meaning. I felt honored. Embarrassed, too. And to think that up until a moment ago I hadn’t even known that I was in the presence of a prestigious writer!

Natsu pulled the book from my hand and showed it to Kaoru.

Her face lit up with a big grin, but Kaoru’s smile held a more pensive aspect.

I felt my side throbbing once more. Perhaps sitting up and eating had been a little too much after all.

I carefully laid back down but continued to watch Kaoru and Natsu converse by the table, just happy they were here with me.