Seph didn’t know what to make of them. First they prove he never sealed Hachiman, they stop him from sealing Krazat, then they knock him unconscious, force him to help with their stupid ritual, and ask him if he needed a place to live? I mean, yeah it was accepted in the end but the whole thing was preposterous. Him, a LeVay, doing their petty work. Psh. But it was true that he had very little power. In fact, almost all of it came from the sword he had, and he wasn’t even sure if it was the legendary sword he made it out to be. It had power, it enabled him to be an exorcist. That was all that mattered. As long as he could make the family proud, he could bear it. Suddenly he heard a tree branch snap and whipped around, sword out. It was Koichi, yet again.

“How’s the business?”

“What do you want?”

“Me? I can’t be worried about a friend?”

“Friend my ass, you just want to keep all your little laws and programs in place. Just like the rest of the bigwigs in the good old capital.”

“Law and order yes, that is important. You don’t think using that sword without proper knowledge is dangerous?”

“Oh but it is LeVay property, so you can’t legally take it, now can you Mr. Detective?”

“You would be correct. So let’s talk about a more pressing matter that I, well we, can deal with.”

“Such as?”

“The little situation with Lawrence, Hato and Oku.”

“How’s that.”

“As an exorcist under president Laverne you agreed to a few things. You agreed to the treaty which states that exorcists will uphold Youkai laws and agreements. Of course you know what relationships between humans and Youkai are, correct?”

“Illegal.”

“Right! So if you don’t help me with that you would be…”

“Breaking the law.”

“Right-o. So, to keep that exorcist license, and your father’s business, you’re going to help me out.”

“What exactly do you have in mind.”

“I believe bringing a war hero like The Orchid back would go a long ways in the Youkai capital, both for you and me.”

“Forcing her back into the capital? Are you insane?”

“Sort of.”

“Those people give you a place to live, food, everything and you just turn your back on them?”

“Is doing my job unimportant suddenly?”

“You barely do your job at all…”

“I do what I have to do! Are you going to help me or not!?”

“I’ll do what I can. But if this goes sour I’ll drop you quicker than a chisai when it’s found. Honestly the only possible way to get her back there would be if she'd broke the law, right?”

"Yes, that is correct."

"Is the thing we did to bring the bird back legal?"

Suddenly Koichi's eyes lit up as he realized something.

"I'll be going back to the capital. There's a matter I need to attend to. I have your word?"

“Yeah yeah, just don't expect me to follow through if I catch wind of you being a prick."

"Deal."

With that Koichi disappeared into the trees and Seph was back on his way. Dealing with the government was bullshit he hated to deal with. He’d always thought the Youkai having a government was bullshit after all. Instituting a government right after a war with that corrupt a leader that created so much of these idiotic laws. He wished they would just get over the past.

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Though he needed to get over the past too.

“Damn that fox.”

Back with the Itsuki's gramps was just getting the finishing touches done on their little ritual circle.

“It’s a transfer of power circle! Right before I really kick the bucket I’m planning on just giving it all to her, but that would effectively end me, so I’m holding that off a bit longer bahaha!”

“Can you see Youkai sir?”

“Me? No, I can see their mere shadows every once in awhile. But when Inari told me she’d gained the power to I was amazed! We’ve had seers in the family for generations, but never one that had full sight! I was damned proud.”

“Alright gramps let’s just started.”

“Oh come on Inari I can’t show how proud I am? Heh heh! Let’s go!”

He clapped his hands together and the ritual started. Inari, in the middle, closed her eyes and suddenly right above her head there was some sort of projection. He could see her memories? He saw the instance she had talked about at the fireworks, with her friend and the car, and he saw her parents fighting with a bank statement in their hands. Then he saw her coming to college and having that terrible roommate, and finally her smiling that she’d met someone she could truly call friends. Suddenly Inari’s grandmother nudged Lawrence and whispered to him.

“This is where it gets interesting!”

The projection changed and he saw Inari inside of a small white room. Soon it changed, and she was standing in the inn. He saw himself pop up and they began talking. It seemed like they were the only ones there actually. Then dream-Lawrence took Inari by the hand and they went into one of the rooms together, smiling. Real Lawrence’s cheeks flushed and he turned to granny once again, who had a full grin on her face.

“Oh by the way, what you saw at first were dreams of the past, these are dreams of what she wants. What she dreams about now. The non-prophetic dreams. As in…”

“As in what?!”

“Well you see exactly what she thinks of you right?”

He looked back up at the projection, and saw the dream version mouth the words, “I need you”. Inari was the only one that he’d thought had no interest in him that way, but… He definitely didn’t hate her. Man he needed to sit down sometime and think about what he was going to do with himself if he became a terrible womanizer…

A few minutes later the ritual was done and Inari was helped up by her grandfather.

“What did you see!”

“Nothing!”

“I can tell you’re lying because your eyes keep darting to the left!”

“What? No way!”

His eyes darted to the left once again.

“Tell me dumbass!”

She punched him lightly and he just brushed it off.

“If you really want to know I think only your grandmother would utter something like that!”

He walked off, leaving Inari, color draining from her face, to try and get the info from granny. This proved difficult as she dodged every question wtih another, and in the other room, her grandfather was tidying up.

“Ah damn that takes a lot out of these old bones!”

“Hey, how often does she have to do that?”

“Oh not that much, but there’s really no set date. Once she feels low on power she comes, simple as that!”

“Oh really?”

“Yep! Oh by the way, I expect to see you come with her next time too. She’s too proud to ever say it but she had a lot of fun with you tonight. Oh and there’s a train at seven if you want to head back tonight.”

“I thought you said-”

“No no! I wouldn’t embarrass her like that twice in a night heh heh! That was just a threat if this didn’t go over well. She really came through though!”

“Yeah…”

“Oh here’s some money for the ride back, you were nice enough to come around with her, it’s the least I can do.”

“Thanks a lot, but besides the… dream, I learned a lot about her that I hadn’t know about before, so the experience was definitely worth it.”

“Good to hear! Oh, I’ll wrap up some divinity for you. Granny!”

“What!”

“They’re heading out!”

She quickly came into the room with a still dazed Inari and packed up a few of the small candies for Lawrence and inari on the right back. It was six fifty, so they were quickly ushered out and into the dark night. Until they were on the train Inari didn’t say a word.

“So that’s what you saw then.”

“Well… yeah. But I don’t hate you or anything, no fear there.”

“That’s good. So. Um. What do you… think of me?”

“What do I think of you.”

“Yes that is the question I asked.”

“Well… I think you’re stubborn, introverted, and sometimes you would rather be alone than with others.”

“Hey-”

“Wait you didn’t let me finish! You care about friends as if they are treasures, you love, but only enough to not bother others, even at the cost to your own feelings, and you get angry at us to help move us forward. I don’t think that’s bad at all.”

“O-oh. I see. I. Um. Think about you. Quite a bit.”

Lawrence felt a grin tugging at his lips.

“I can see that. Almost like it was on a fifty inch screen actually.”

“Hey shut the hell up!”