Enya looked super excited up until the point where they told her she had to go home. It was a single second where she frowned and it happened every time. “Oh, okay.” She didn’t want Genjiro in trouble and the less her folks knew the better. She looked happy about the snack and they had fun while they walked her home.

The dread though filled her as she went quiet. Her house looked a bit more wealthier than that of most people around it. Family money some would say but it didn’t compare to the coldness inside. Enya took a breath and cradled the pastry in her arms. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She had let him get a foot from the front door before almost shooing him away.

She was proud of Genjiro and she would have never done it to anyone else. She slipped the pastry inside her kimono before going inside. The voices were loud enough for the outside. “You were almost late home again Enya.”

“I’m sorry Uncle…”

“Was it that boy again? He is bad news.”

“No, he is the one who helped me get home Auntie.” Her voice was so faint it was hard to hear it over the yelling.

“It won’t matter in a few weeks once Daiki is here. Then all this foolishness can end.”

“I don’t want to have anything to do with that man!” Enya’s voice raised up. “You can’t make me.”

“We are your legal guardians Enya. You will do as your elders tell you.”

“My parents would never ever do this to me!” She sounded more upset.

“Your father is the reason why your mother is dead. It’s a disgrace to this family.”

Enya got upset and ran up to her room. She was crying and it was fairly obvious what room was hers from the way the candles got lit up. She hated it here and she hated them too.

Genjiro hid out of sight to see her go in, wondering what sort of people her relatives were. Unfortunately he would find out very soon… Enya's voice was so soft that he could barely hear, he had to strain his ears and close his eyes to focus. There was a man's voice and a woman's, both didn't sound like nice people. Even somebody like him could feel it. What made him really mad wasn't the fact they didn't like him, it was when he heard they were trying to force her to marry somebody she didn't want to be with. And then they spoke ill of the dead. Enya had always spoken of her parents fondly, and she wouldn't have if they weren't good to her. Hearing people speak badly about good parents was a sore spot for him too. He might not have remembered much about his mother, but he knew without a doubt that she loved him more than anything. He didn't care what other people said.

When the argument was over, he watched as one of the rooms lit up. He guessed that was Enya's room, and waited a bit to make sure he wouldn't be spotted. Listening for any movement in the rest of the house, he crept over into the bushes below her window and kept watch. When he felt the coast was clear, he poked his head out and tried to climb up. Slowly, carefully, he made sure not to make too much noise. Getting caught outside was one thing, but if they found him on the roof he might never be allowed to see her again. Once he had safe footing, he shuffled over and tapped the window while keeping an eye out for anybody coming outside. His face was pressed up against the window, hunched over like he was trying to make himself smaller. It looked rather silly since he was six feet tall. 

Enya hadn’t even bothered to change out of her kimono. She just laid on her futon and cried. She felt so sad because she knew she loved Genjiro deeply and truly. He was who she was supposed to marry and be with. Why couldn’t they see that? This whole thing started because she told them about how happy he made her. Why didn’t they want her happy?

After a long time, she heard the tapping? “A bird?” She got up and covered her mouth from letting out the scream. Genjiro was pressing himself against the window. Had he heard everything? She got up and opened the window quietly after looking around.

“Genjiro?” She rubbed at her red, sore, and puffy eyes. Enya even had to sniffle. “I thought you went home… Why are you here?” Not that she wasn’t happy seeing him. Actually seeing him made her cry again as she latched onto his neck pulled him slightly but not enough to make him fall on her floor. They didn’t need to know he was there.

She'd been crying, he could tell. Not for very long though. But Genjiro had a wonderful, marvelous, absolutely incredible idea while he carefully scaled up to the roof by her window. Whispering as quiet as he could, he patted her head and said: "Enya…do you wanna run away with me?" In most situations this would be a very abrupt question, probably not the best timing either. However he had a plan, and like always–he was completely serious. Enya wasn't happy here, but she was happy when she was anywhere else. So all he had to do was find a reason so she didn't have to live with her relatives anymore. Why not have her live with them too, like Effie? From what he heard in Effie and his brother's conversations, Effie was happier after she stayed at their house. Mom and dad were liked by everybody and Nui always found ways to make things fun. And as soon as she said 'yes', Genjiro would break into a grin and sweep her off her feet–and out of her room. 

"You can live at my house from now on, just like Effie and Nui! Everybody's probably asleep so we have to be quiet, but you can stay in my room. I'm gonna bring all of your stuff once you're in, it'll be fun!" This boy was talking about moving the entire contents of a girl's bedroom out of the second floor, through the window of all things–right after saying he would be keeping her in his room. But this was Genjiro after all, and that wasn't going to stop him. If you said 'no', he would ask why. And if he still didn't believe you, he'd go ahead anyway. Making sure she had her slippers, Genjiro snuck Enya into the house promising he'd be back in a jiffy. He lent her his pillow, blankets, and futon while he went to move her stuff out. For somebody as boisterous as him, he was surprisingly competent at being stealthy. With the window still open, he began to systematically remove the furniture starting from the biggest items. 

He carried back her bed, her dresser, and her bedding before someone in the Kaname household caught on. It was Nui who got up to use the bathroom a few hours after dark. She heard strange footsteps and a weird creaking noise that made her fur stand on end. No this was silly, there wasn't anything there–she told herself. The house definitely wasn't haunted. She'd slept over a hundred times. Still tense, she peered through the crack in the door to see a strange shape wobble its way down the hall. She held her breath as it passed by the bathroom, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. There was the sound of a door sliding open and it closing. Then, it opened and closed again. 

Hurrying over to Effie and Rashomaru's room, Nui frantically began shaking them awake. "Guys, guys, wake up! Wake upppp–there's this weird noise and I saw this thing down the hallway and it's gone now but I'm scared!" She begged them to stay up and watch, swearing on her unnamed ancestors that she wasn't seeing things. And so Rashomaru groggily sat up, eyes half open and mind foggy. There was a long silence before the sound of the front door was heard. Nui's ears stood up and her tails were twitching all over the place. Squeezing Effie's hand, she held her breath as a weird looking shape ambled down the hallway again, the shadow showing up against the sliding door. The door to Genjiro's room opened and closed, then footsteps went back outside. 

Curiosity and a bit of fear got the better of the trio as they went to follow after it, only to find themselves at Enya's relatives' house. A window on the second floor was open and something was climbing in. They were all hiding in the shadows, Rashomaru letting Effie up on his shoulders to see what was happening. It was too dark to tell what was going on.

Enya looked at him a bit. “Like… in the fairy tales?” She only paused for a few moments before she got excited. “Yes!” She controlled her voice so they didn’t find her out. She held onto him as he swept her up like a literal princess. She was brimming with happiness. It really felt like he was a prince in that moment. “Okay… but be careful and don’t get caught.”

She curled up on his futon after he covered her up and she nodded to him. “I’ll do my best to sleep. Be careful!” She had an exhausting day and Enya had yawned almost instantly. Her little eyes closed and she left Genjiro to do what Genjiro did best. If there was anything no one could argue it was that the boy was a problem solver… Even if the means didn’t always make sense.

Effie woke up groggily as she rubbed her eyes and pulled herself up. She had a little covering over her hair to keep it out of Rashomaru’s face that looked like a little bun. Her hazel eyes were confused. “Calm down… I’m sure it’s not what you think it is.” But then the front door slid open and Effie was alert. She took Nui’s hand and they moved to watch this shape move back and forth.

Effie even had the shivers as they followed the shadow into the night. Rashomaru put Effie on his shoulders and she balanced herself so she could see. Now the room had candles still lit thanks to Enya. Effie squinted a bit and finally, she saw who their mystery spirit was. “You won’t believe this but… Your idiot brother is taking stuff out of a girl’s room.” She whispered down. “And if I had to bet what girl’s room this was… Well… Do we even have to say it?”

Effie looked around and watched as Genjiro climbed back down with more stuff in his arms. It looked like more big stuff. Out the window after a few seconds of trying to figure out how best to do it… It looked like the boy had brains after all. “We should head back and figure out where Enya is. I don’t see her up there.”

"What?" Nui said when Effie told them who she saw. Her ears were flat and she couldn't believe it. But then they all saw Genjiro carrying a big box in his arms while trying to safely come down from the second floor. He tested his balance for a moment, then jumped straight down into the grass. Rashomaru was shook. Heavens above, Genjiro was breaking almost every rule of etiquette in the book right now. No only was he trespassing, he was sneaking into a girl's room and taking things out! There was only one girl who Genjiro would do this for… "This is Enya's room…isn't it?" He groaned. Once Genjiro was on the ground and Effie was off his shoulders, Rashomaru was quick to stop his brother from going any further. "Genjiro, just what do you think you're doing?!" Genjiro's arms were full with big boxes and he froze at the sound of his voice. "I can explain! Just…not right now? Here, take this." One of the boxes was shoved into his arms. "What is this?" Rashomaru demanded, eyes narrowed at his rather distracted younger sibling.

"A box of clothes, duh. I'm not gonna move a full dresser by myself. I pulled out all the drawers first." Before he could continue to protest, Genjiro stuffed a bag of things into Nui's hands. "Hurry up, I'm only halfway done! We gotta finish before her mean aunt and uncle find out!" Nui opened the bag to find it full of stuffed animals, while Genjiro was already running back to their house. There was no other option but to help him out, as Effie discovered the room's furniture was mostly gone when she climbed in. There was no sign of Enya, but it was clear that Genjiro had been at work. And so the four of them cleared out the entirety of Enya's room, taking everything except the built-in closet and wallpaper. And when all was said and done, everyone returned to their rooms and fell asleep. The next morning they would realize it wasn't just some crazy dream. 

He could explain? Effie was definitely in shock as she took a step back. Effie was handed what looked to be a set of curtains that went around a bed. She had only seen these in a rich kid’s home. She paused a bit and looked at Rashomaru confused. “Aright Genjiro but tomorrow morning you’ll tell us.”

They hurried up through a bit of the night before they were finally done. Enya had been woken up briefly to change out of her kimono and found herself in one of her cute pink nightdresses from Karith. She climbed back into the futon hazily and snuggled up to Genjiro. It wasn’t weird in fact it was very nice. Genjiro was warm and he held onto her and HE SMELLED GOOD TOO!

In the morning, Enya came out of THEIR room to the smell of food cooking. She had been to the Kaname house so many times that she didn’t even think about the problems that she could bring without them knowing. “Good morning Yukari and Masashi.” She gave them her best smiles but even they would notice that something was off.

Effie came out of Rashomaru and her’s room she was yawning still. Her hair still up in the bun cover and she stopped short of the kitchen. “RASHOMARU!” She turned around as soon as she saw Enya. “WE WEREN’T DREAMING.” Oh man, they had so much to explain… and worst yet is that they had helped Genjiro effectively kidnap his girlfriend and steal all of her things.

Enya smiled that innocent smile and waved. “Good morning Effie! Genjiro is still asleep but I finally got him to let me go! Though he looked a bit cold when I left so he should be out any time now!”

Everyone except Genjiro was stunned when Enya emerged out of his room! His mother put a hand to her mouth while his father was most definitely going into shock. They slid the bedroom door open to see it had been converted into Enya's 'new room' with all of her furniture and belongings more or less in the places they were in her relatives' house. And the fancy curtains that Effie had helped to bring back was now around the canopy bed. Poor Masashi was ready to faint. And as soon as Genjiro was awake, Rashomaru grabbed him by the front of his clothes and started shaking him. "EXPLAIN, NOW!" Nui was now up and her eyes were wide as the realization hit. "Oh man…we've really done it now." With all eyes on him, Genjiro had a sheepish little smile as he put his hands up slowly. "Um, so I walked Enya home yesterday and I hung around a little after she went in. Her aunt and uncle aren't very nice people, so I thought she'd be happier living here with us. I asked her if she wanted to come, and she said yes!" At the end there was excitement in his voice, meaning this was most definitely his idea. He was fully admitting to it instead of blaming Enya. 

"Genjiro…did you ask her aunt and uncle's permission before you brought Enya to our house?" Their mother asked, but they all knew the answer. "…No?" Masashi had to sit down and put his head in his hands. Yukari rubbed her temples as she now had to figure out how to handle this situation. Technically it wasn't a kidnapping, as Enya had given her full consent. However, as her aunt and uncle were her legal guardians this would be a big problem. If they knew what Genjiro had done, their family might face charges or at least be on the receiving end of nasty rumors which they'd never hear the end of. Masashi had gone through great pains to start a new life here with her, if people started digging into his past things could take a turn for the worse. Being angry would solve nothing, so she turned to her youngest son with a smile. "I know you were only thinking in her best interest Genjiro, however once her relatives find out they have the right to take her back. As long as she is a part of their household, she will be subject to their decisions. Enya can stay with us for the time being, but until I have a better grasp of the situation she will have to stay indoors. No one is to mention anything about this to anyone outside of this house until I say so. Is that alright with you Enya?"

Thanks to Genjiro's good intentions, they were all sworn to secrecy. There was no doubt that Enya's family would come looking for her, and they would have to keep her out if sight before they had a better solution. And so when they heard a knock at the door, everyone nearly jumped out of their skin. Masashi broke out in a cold sweat, and Yukari gave him a nod. He went back into the kitchen to keep busy while she quickly prepared a few concealment spells for Enya and Genjiro's room. Nui made herself scarce, trying to see who was at the door from a higher vantage point using her fox form. Enya was ushered away back into Genjiro's room to hide while Yukari went to get the door.

Enya was quiet while Genjiro explained. Well, he didn’t really explain the whole situation. Enya went to explain fully why she was there but the knock had her spooked as they shooed her off. The town guards were at the door, however, the one who spoke up was what spooked Enya a little bit more. “Mrs. Kaname. Where is your son Genjiro Kaname? He’s wanted for the kidnapping of Enya Ito.”

He stepped inside and looked behind him. “Go, I have this under control.” The other guards left as he closed the door. “…Now,” there was a sigh from him. “Enya, I can literally smell your perfume.” No amount of enchantments could hide her scent and this man was an oni.

Enya shyly opened the door and came out. “Cousin Etsuji… I can explain.” Her eyes got all teary. Now really looking at the two of them it was obvious they were related. They held the same red eyes though Enya’s were much softer. “Please… Please don’t make me go back. They are going to marry me to that awful man.”

The man sighed a bit and looked at the Kaname before looking back at Enya. “They are actually going through with that?” Enya nodded and ran over to the table patting the cousins before running into the kitchen.

“Can we have some tea?” Enya asked politely to Masashi. “Please?” She scattered back out and pushed her cousin to the table. “You wouldn’t let them do it… Would you?”

“I don’t like the idea no. I’ve expressed my dislike of it. Daiki is a fifty-some-year-old man. The dowry my parents were going to get for you is… Well, enough. Normally it's the bride's family who would pay but this is a unique and complicated case.” Etsuji let out a sigh as he shook his head. “Enya is also the heiress of her father’s fortune which my parents had no idea about until a few months ago. They had always thought Enya’s father was scum and living on the streets. I don’t know why but Lei was an airship mechanic. He built and fixed them for the Karithian government and as a side job. My grandparents knew this and allowed him to marry my aunt, Enya’s mother. My parents couldn’t understand why. Enya and her mother used to visit us all the time when they were little. They would come here and Enya would play with the village children. That was until Daiki tried to marry her. Something about getting rid of Lei would be easy enough.”

Enya looked sad but Etsuji continued. “Upset, her mother left and never brought Enya back until the accident happened. My parents were eager to take Enya in and claimed she should be where she was familiar. My grandparents live in the capital and wanted Enya there but agreed that Enya might like it here more. I’m afraid that this has all been a plot.”

“You mean… someone had my parents killed?” Enya was teary-eyed. “All for money?” Etsuji reached over and pet her hair. It was clear maybe he was the only one in the house who cared for Enya.

“Should Enya get married she’ll inherit all of what was left to her… I imagine there was a deal met so they get a chunk of it.” He let his hand fall and looked at Masashi and Yukari. “When they told me they thought it was Genjiro… I already knew she was here. She spoke highly of him to me but was scared that they would take him away from her. She was right to be scared. They got spooked that there might be a loophole in their guardianship. There is. I’ve been filling out the paperwork for weeks after getting in contact with my grandparents.” He looked tired. “They aren’t happy that Enya is being mistreated and have asked for guardianship of her… Normally this would mean she would have to go to the capital but I’m going to talk to them and see if Mrs. and Mr. Kaname could be given guardianship. If that is alright with you all?”

Out of pure luck or coincidence, the guard who came to check on Enya's whereabouts happened to be her cousin. Everyone was on edge when he dismissed the other guards, expecting the worst. When the man then called out to Enya stating he recognized and could smell her perfume, Rashomaru's heart dropped to his stomach. There was no point in trying to hide her anymore. She came out and begged her cousin not to have her go back, and Rashomaru was wondering what reasons she had for willingly going along with Genjiro's rather haphazard plan. None of them had the chance to ask him last night, as they were too busy moving things as fast as they were able before daybreak. Apparently Enya was already engaged, and Etsuji took the time to sit down and explain the situation for them all. His father went to get the tea ready as his mother reassured him with a gentle press of his hand. From the looks of things, they weren't in trouble for what Genjiro did. At least, not yet.

Enya's fiance, to everyone's horror, was a man old enough to be her grandfather. If one married and had children early they could easily become a grandparent before the age of fifty. Before the untimely passing of her parents, Enya had been living in Karith. Her mother had married her father with the blessing of Enya's grandparents, but the woman's sister and brother-in-law had disapproved of the union. When Etsuji mentioned Enya's father had been an airship mechanic, Yukari raised an eyebrow. Karith was a very clandestine city beneath general trade and commerce, so the fact he was well-paid for his work was no surprise. There had been threats made towards Enya's father and that marked the end of her visits to Nisshoki. One thing led to another and Enya fell into the custody of her aunt and uncle, but the true legal guardians were her grandparents. It was a lot to take in, but the temptation of wealth was known to drive people towards immoral ends. 

If Enya were to marry, she would inherit her late parents' fortune and whoever was legally in charge of her would get their cut as well. Then she met Genjiro. It was no secret that Enya had told people about her new friend, and that must have been why the guards thought of searching their house the moment she went missing. But not all hope was lost–Enya's grandparents had been informed of their granddaughter's treatment by her aunt and uncle and were filing for her guardianship. They were much more reasonable and humane than the aunt and uncle, but Etsuji had come today to ask his parents if they wanted to be Enya's guardians instead. The tea was on the table and both of his parents were present. His father after hearing the whole situation furrowed his creased brow deeply, not saying a word. It would be expected if they said yes, after all Enya was like a daughter to them and no parent would want to see their child married off to a man more than thrice her age. But they had no blood relations with her, so was it truly alright for them to make such a decision?

Silence hung over them all as Yukari and Masashi contemplated the consequences. At last, Yukari broke the silence speaking for herself and her husband. "My husband and I have given this matter some thought, and while we understand that we may not have as strong of a position to request guardianship of Enya as her grandparents–if she wishes for it, we will gladly accept the responsibility in their stead. In these past weeks, Enya has become like a daughter to us and we only wish the best for her life and future. She may be young, but I believe she should be allowed the choice to pick whom she wishes to marry and how she wants to live."  It was a very diplomatic answer, but it communicated that they were willing. Nui's ears were erect at the thought of Enya not having to move, after all everybody had grown to like the soft-spoken girl.