She didn't look at any of them, though her lips were quirked up in a smile. "So we don't do the feelings shit through that." Takara's image turned as if to head up the stairs and disappeared.
They were all silent for a while, then Kaito let out a soft chuckle. "Even when she's dead, she still can't stop drilling that into my head, huh?" Aiki reached over and hugged him.
"I—what? Who was that? Was that-" Cole stuttered, Liam also frozen in shock. What had they just seen?
Kumori gaped. "Does this happen—"
"Often? No." Kaito stared at the spot where his sister's image was. "It's the first time."
No one answered Cole, because no one had any idea what the thing was. Or at least, no one wanted to say that it was a ghost. Or spirit, same thing.
"Kinda like Kaguya just now…" Liam muttered.
"Meow?" Kaguya blinked up at him. Liam glanced down at him for a moment.
"Yeah, like Kaguya." Cole agreed.
"Just, real." Liam added.
"Why's the damn door open?" Koru's voice came from outside, followed by two streaks of black leaping towards Kaguya and sending him tumbling across the floor.
"Why are you all standing in the doorway?" Cayne questioned.
"What he said." Koru nudged Kumori. "What the hell happened?"
"Uhh, we may or may not have just seen Oba-san's spirit… at least, I think it's a spirit."
"What?" Cayne asked, "How?"
Cole shrugged. "How would we know?"
"Right, you know nothing," Koru said flatly.
"Yeah, so what do you think, if you know something?" Liam shot back, hating how Korū spoke as if he was to be looked down on.
"Spirit." Koru fixed him with a chilling gaze. "If it isn't, then all those I've seen are just my hallucinations, which I'm pretty damn sure aren't."
"You've been seeing things?" Cayne turned to him. "Did you tell anyone?"
The way Korū held his gaze in defiance gave him all the answers he needed.
"Then why isn't my mum coming to haunt me?" Liam questioned. "Why is it just this spirit that I've—we've," he gestured towards Cole, "never seen before?"
"Why the fuck would anyone want to haunt you?"
"'Cus they're dead and bored?" Liam suggested, rolling his eyes. "This entire thing is confusing."
"Why would your mom want to scare the living shit out of you by appearing in your face?"
"Maybe because she died during the rabies outbreak?" Liam blurted, immediately regretting it. And however much he wanted to continue saying "and the last thing I know about her is that she was paralysed and her wolf went psycho," the words could never come out of his mouth. There was never a time for self pity and trying to attain the unattainable, especially with more important things to do. It didn't change the fact that he missed her, though.
It also didn't change the fact that he's an idiot of an Alpha's son.
"Okay, fine, I know nothing about people who actually care about you appearing in your face," Korū huffed, "Because the only damn things I've ever seen were those I've—" he paused. "Killed." A glance at his hands, stained with the blood of his packmates and that of his enemies', the blood that, like Akui, he'd never be able to wash off no matter how much he tried. Nothing really went away. It was always there, lurking in every corner, every shadow, haunting his every move. No matter where he looked, the eyes were always there. Watching. Always watching. Those accusing gazes, red, green, brown, amber, yellow, black, so full of malice and pain that mirrored his.
He acted like those lives he had taken meant nothing to him, as though everyone was just a disposable piece in a bloody game of chess. But in all reality, he did care. The very title of a Bloodmoon warrior screamed blood and violence and death, something that, unlike some others, he couldn't bring himself to ignore or live with.
Of course he fought for his position, to retain that bit of pride in his pack that he still had, to keep a grip on the bit of respect his packmates had for him, but if he had the choice, he'd have left that crimson-stained life of his behind. Maybe that's why he didn't hate Akui as much as Hikari did. Because they were both cursed. Both of them were to die, Akui if he didn't kill the Okazaki, and Korū if he didn't manage to summon that strength that he needed to keep himself alive in the "pack of bloodbringers", as others called it.
The two of them only wanted to survive, holding on to that tiny shred of hope that they'd be able to see that day when the curse was lifted, when they could all drop their weapons, cleanse their hands, and maybe make up for everything they'd done.
"Koru." Kaito's voice shook him from his thoughts and he glanced over at his uncle. "You shouldn't be walking around."
Korū pulled on his mask of mild annoyance. "I'm fine."
"Couldn't stop him," Cayne told Kaito, inching towards Korū as he sensed his mate's mood change, offering as much physical comfort as he could without crossing any lines that were not ready to be crossed. "Anyway, why are you guys here?"
"To ask about what you wanted to ask about," Liam looked apologetically at Kaito, "Sorry for intruding on your break."
"Mh." Kaito lay back down. "Anything else?"
Everyone glanced at everyone else, and Cayne answered, "Don't think so. Now all we need to do is pack, then we'll head back."
"I hope one of you can drive."
"Yeah…" Cayne muttered.
Liam turned to Kumori, "Are you coming with us?"
"Yes, duh." Kumori replied. Liam grinned for some reason, pushing his other, more intruding thoughts away.
"What about keeping the peace in the pack?" Cayne inquired.
"Does it look like I'm making much of a difference?" Kumori laughed. "It's fine, one of the other mediators came back from somewhere far far away, so I can ditch duties now."
"Uh, okay." Cayne said, anger that wasn't his coursing through him as he quickly slammed the door between him and Alina shut, a door he hadn't realised was open.
"We should go now. We need to get our stuff." Cole said.
"Yeah, thanks for your assistance, Kaito." Liam said, and after a chorus of "thank you's", they finally made their way out of the house.
"Is Korū okay?" Kumori asked Cayne as they walked. "He looks like he just died inside again."
Cayne was just silent for a moment. "You think?"
"Yeah." Kumori gestured at Korū. "He's like five times stiffer than he normally is."
Cayne sighed, "He has a lot of things hounding him, we all know that. Sometimes, they just dance after him, and mock him. Other times they come with knives and arrows. It's like this for most of us. I think you know that."
"Of course." Kumori glanced down to see Kagami bounding along next to her. "But he seems... Really affected today. Like, way more than he usually is. No one normally notices, but I've been taught to watch for these things since I was five. So... yeah, just, maybe, talk to him, would you?"
"Yeah." Cayne answered simply. Did she really think she had to tell him that?
"Thank you," Kumori said with a smile. "Well, I've got to tell that senior of mine that I'm ditching him, bye!" And she disappeared into the shadows of an alley.
Cayne forced a little chuckle as they made their way to the rooms where Cole and Liam have been residing in.
Shōhei remained at the door, Kage pawing at him. Korū went over to him with Kaguya, who had gone after them a while after they left Kaito's house.
"Do you need to pack anything?" Cayne asked Korū.
"Yeah." He left Kaguya with Kage and Shohei and set off down the street. "You coming?"
"Mindlink you later. My stuff are in the guest room." Cayne told him, "I'll go with Cole and Liam first."
"Mh." He walked away, brushing past a family of three who watched him with hateful eyes.
"Let's go," Cayne told Cole and Liam, who had stopped to wait for him to catch up.