After that night, Kaiki spent very little time with myself or his sister. He would be found pacing the halls surrounding his quarters with surprising regularity, seemingly unwilling to leave areas that he knew well behind. It would seem that the demons that awakened that night were going to take more time to leave him alone. I began to include him in my prayers when I visited the temple, wondering if perhaps the other world might grant him some type of protection.
The winter was bitter and cold, fuel was scarce. I had enough to keep my chambers warm for sleep and many of my ladies chose to winter with me, everyone breathing a sigh of relief when one of us would stay in someone else's chambers. As a consequence, Tsukimine and I slept in AAta's chambers often, the great fires of his rooms
