On the way back to Mokou's house, Shin was struck with a thought: how would Mokou react? Keine and Mokou, according to how he understood it, didn't exactly part on the best of terms. Shin parlayed his concern to Keine, but he was greeted with a smile.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Shin. Mokou may be brash, but..."
Shin finished her sentence for her. "Mokou's kind on the inside too?"
Shin received a slight rap on the head for the interruption, but a quick nod for the confirmation.
For Mokou's part, she had been anticipating Shin's return as well. When Keine snuck Shin out of the house, Mokou hadn't noticed it until Keine had opened the door. The distance between them was just enough to get Keine in the air, flying over the cliffs that the day before had nearly claimed one of Mokou's infinite lives. With Mokou's inability to fly, the chase was over as fast as it had started.
Mokou had spent the next couple of hours doing some introspection, and realized that she hadn't actually been hospitable to Shin. Sure, he had lodging and food, but it wasn't as if there was much in the way of talk between them. Keine had known him longer, and Mokou was sure she had her own reasons for letting him stay here instead of in the village. In fact, Mokou was almost sure that Keine was instrumental in having him kicked out of the village; it was way too convenient. But that was beside the point. Anything involving Keine could wait. Shin was the main goal, and if she didn't want any defections, it was up to her to make sure that he felt at home.
Of course, Shin had no idea what was awaiting him at his destination.
---
Keine had dropped Shin off close to the front gate of the house, but left as quickly as she had come, citing an emergency back at the village. It was obviously untrue, but it wasn't hard to ascertain the reason anyway. Shin took a breath, then moved up to the door and knocked on it. While waiting, he wondered what Mokou would look when "he" would see him (after all, the only male parental figure he had known was his dad, and he wasn't exactly the best example of parenting). And, as Shin had feared, Mokou was standing at the open door, holding what seemed to be a disapproving frown on "his" face. Mokou motioned Shin inside wordlessly, and Shin couldn't help but juxtapose Mokou's face with his dad's as he entered the house.
Once inside, both parties realized the atmosphere and the tension, though neither seemed sure what to do about it at first.
Finally, Mokou spoke up. "How was it." There was no hint of emotion in her voice, and Shin sighed in anticipation of the near future.
"How was what, Mokou?"
Mokou turned her back to him and responded with a grunt: "Keine."
This conversation wasn't going to go anywhere fast if he took the bait, so Shin continued to provide polite answers while aiming to 'please' Mokou. "Well, for one, she dropped me. I ended up being rescued by the shrine maiden."
Admittedly, this wasn't what Mokou was expecting. She had only dealt with men in an abrupt and brash way, if only to prevent them from latching on to her in a romantic way. The responses she gave were just the results of her many years of conditioning, and it wasn't going to change any time soon. "And."
"Well, Keine found me, and we spent some time in the Field of Summer, and had a fight." Shin suddenly realized he was off the floor, and before he knew it Mokou had thrown him into the wall, not unlike what his father had done in a drunken rage two weeks before.
"A fight? Did she ever do THAT!" Mokou spit her words toward Shin, to which Shin winced. Mokou took a step forward, and then suddenly stopped, in realization of what she was about to do. Shin looked up to see a face twisted in comfort and pain, which started to speak. "I can't do this, Shin. I can't be this mean. I can't..." Shin, despite what had happened, rushed to Mokou's side as she fell to one knee, her stoic mask being flooded by her instincts and the fact that this time, a man was her goal.
"What's wrong, Mokou?" Shin was still wary, however, and while he was close to Mokou he had his free hand in a defensive position. However, the fight was completely gone from Mokou, and as proof tears started to fall from her face. Shin, sensing the change in mood, lowered his guard and held the teary-eyed Mokou in a hug. They stayed in that position for a good 30 minutes, long enough for the moonlight to trickle into the house.
"Look, Mokou." Shin cleared his throat, then started speaking again. "I don't know you, you don't know me. We've known each other for practically three days, and already, this is a bad start. I won't lie, that really hurt when you threw me into that wall, just like I probably hurt you by spending all this time with Keine." Mokou's head slightly bobs at this statement, and Shin continues. "Okay, so we got off to a bad start. That doesn't mean we can't change." Shin was now in autopilot, repeating the same words he had echoed to his dad after any particular drinking day. "As long as we start over, we can right the wrongs between us. What do you say, da- I mean, Mokou?"
Mokou's thoughts were anything but coherent, most of them seemed to say the same thing: 'Treat him differently.' Unfortunately, the one that didn't was the loudest. "D-did you just call me dad?"
"Well, yeah." Shin was trying to save face, trying to not let Mokou notice his slip-up. "Mokou, you're a guy, and while it may not have been the most ideal way to obtain it, you allowed me to have free lodging and free meals. Just by that alone, you're better than my dad is on a bad day. But obviously, that's not enough. I want you to be better than my dad is on a good day, too."
Mokou, having not completely heard the male comment by Shin, was all ears, ready to put into practice whatever it was that Shin asked. "How do I do that?"
"Well for starters," Shin answered pensively, "you can start by eating together with me even when Keine isn't here. That way, you don't have to prove something to her; it's you."
'But that's not me!' almost escaped Mokou's lips, but, for the first time, she may have obtained some self-control over her mouth. The first time in over eight hundred years. "W-well, I can try. Don't expect me to get it right on the first go, though!"
Shin's smile answered her back. "Of course. But for now, we should get to sleep. We can talk about it in the morning." Mokou nodded and slipped away from Shin's arms, standing up and walking off to head upstairs. But before she could even touch the first step, Shin asked "him" to wait.
As soon as Mokou did, Shin hugged her from behind. "I want you to be like the dad I nev-no, that's not right. You ARE the dad I never had. Don't forget that, alright?"
Mokou nodded, Shin let go, and she slowly traisped up the stairs. Shin waited until he couldn't see Mokou any longer, and then went to his room.