Note: I have nothing to do with Here is Greenwood and its characters except to be a fan who enjoys the OVAs a lot. This story is my extrapolation of the storylines as seen in the OVAs. I apologize if this story doesn't quite fit in with the manga.

Kazuya spent the entire day in a restless state of frenzied inactivity. Thanks to the plaster prison around his leg, he was of no use whatsoever around the house. He couldn't help with the dishes, he couldn't help with the cooking and cleaning, he couldn't help period.

Just to get out of the house and do something, he went with Sumire to the market. However, he still couldn't help out since he needed both hands for his crutches. He did manage to carry two small light bags by wrapping his fingers through the handles and then taking hold of the grips on his crutches. Still Sumire was forced to carry several bags on her own.

He felt awful about the whole thing. And even though Sumire and Kazuhiro had insisted that he come home for winter vacation and that he didn't need to do anything, he still felt like a freeloader sponging off of his relatives.

He considered calling Igarashi Miya, the girl who had stolen his heart. He considered it for all of one second before he was picking up the phone. He was right on the verge of punching in the last number before sense and consideration kicked back in.

He couldn't call her. Despite how much they cared about each other, despite how much they had each sacrificed for the other, he couldn't reach out to her now. Because while he had given up his health (which he'd recovered), many hours of worrying (which had proven fruitful), and a lot of missed classes (which he'd made up), she had given up more. Not only had she flown in the face of her mother's wishes by choosing him over her then boyfriend, Koizumi Tenma, she had also sacrificed the safety and security of the routine she'd grown comfortable in, of Tenma taking care of her in all things. She'd made that decision, but now she had to deal with repercussions of it. And Kazuya calling her at home would not help her.

He wondered if she would call him, but he knew she wouldn't, for the same reasons that he couldn't call her. If she did call, it would be to arrange a meeting away from her home. She knew his predicament, however, and therefore wouldn't call except in the case of an emergency.

Which left him stuck at home, where he was very definitely going stir crazy.

He briefly considered calling Mitsuru and asking him to arrange a meeting with Miya, or just asking him to meet him somewhere, just so he could do something interesting. Then he remembered that the Ikeda family did their annual cleaning of the temple during the winter vacation when Mitsuru went home. So he'd be too busy to visit.

Which left him still trapped in a house that was very definitely beginning to close in on him.

Finally, Kazuya decided to just go upstairs to his room and get all his homework done. Of course, if he did it all now, there was every chance that he'd get restless again on another day, and he'd again have nothing to do. Still, what choice did he have now? So he started on his homework, stopping only to eat dinner and take a bath.

He was halfway through his assignments--which meant that he'd have at least something to do tomorrow when he got bored again--when he felt a presence near him. He turned around.

He felt his malaise drop away. "Haru!"

"Good evening," the other boy said. "How are you tonight?"

"I'm glad to see you," Kazuya said happily. "I've been bored out of my mind all day!" He scowled at his cast-covered leg. "I can't do anything with this thing."

Haru patted his shoulder. "I know," he said. "And there may be something we can do about it."

Kazuya's eyes widened. "Really? You mentioned that last night."

Haru nodded. "And I said I had to think more about it."

"Well? What is it?"

Haru held up a hand. "Wait," he said. "We have to take care of some other business first."

Kazuya frowned. "Other business?" Then he thought he understood. "You're thirsty." He reached up to his collar, but Haru reached out and stopped him.

"Not yet," he said. "I need your mind clear and your thoughts coherent."

Kazuya blinked. "Okay. So what do we need to do right now?"

Haru sat down on the bed. "Talk about your safety, for one thing."

Kazuya shook his head. "I am safe."

"Not from me," Haru pointed out. "Or you wouldn't be if I were some other kind of vampire. And remember, there was also the succubus your roommate called up."

"You said you destroyed her," Kazuya said. "She's no longer a threat."

"But there may be other things out there that are threats," Haru said, "things that you friend inadvertently called up." He held up a newspaper. "Things like this."

Kazuya read the headline and studied the picture on the front page. "'Egyptian Mummy Still Missing'," he read aloud.

"Your friend called up a mummy, didn't he?"

Kazuya shook his head. "He didn't mean to," he said. "The spell was supposed to send a spirit to the underworld."

"And instead it called one up."

Kazuya shook his head. "You don't understand," he said. "The one that summoned you, the one that summoned the succubus, they were all supposed to banish evil spirits, or at least hold them at bay."

Haru stared at him. "You mean they were supposed to be protective spells?" he demanded incredulously.

"Yes," Kazuya said. "Except that Shun was reading these spells in foreign languages, and we didn't know until he read the spell to banish a vampire that we were actually summoning you."

"I take it that your friend is multilingual?" Haru said.

"No, not really," Kazuya admitted. "The only reason he could read Dutch, or Russian, or ancient Egyptian is because the person who sold him the book also provided him with a pronunciation guide."

Haru blinked. "Kazuya, do you really think that a simple pronunciation guide would allow anyone, even the world's best scholar, to read Ancient Egyptian perfectly? Or Russian or Dutch? Or even English?"

Kazuya frowned. "No, I guess not." He shook his head. "It made sense at the time."

Haru sighed and fell back on the bed. "I don't like this," he said softly. "It must be the book. Somehow that book allowed your roommate to read it perfectly in those foreign languages."

"The book?" Kazuya demanded. "How could a book do that?"

Haru shook his head. "I don't know," he said, "but it is. Kazuya, the first night I arrived at Greenwood, I was following the aura of the book, not your friend. That book is powerful, and it is evil. I mean it, Kazuya, that thing makes the succubus it summoned look like an angel."

Kazuya started to tremble. He tried to stop himself from shaking, but it just got worse. "Haru," he gasped.

Haru jumped up. "Kazuya! What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Kazuya stammered. "I can't stop!"

Haru lifted him up from the chair and wrapped him in a tight embrace. "You have to calm down," he hissed, his voice soft but urgent. "You have to relax!"

"I'm trying," Kazuya whispered. He tried to wrap his arms around his friend, but they were shaking so violently that he couldn't lift them at all.

"I'm sorry about this," Haru whispered in his ear.

"About what?" Kazuya began, then his eyes widened as Haru bit down into his throat. For a moment pain washed over him, causing even his arms to stiffen at the shock. Then the pain vanished, and his muscles went limp. He sagged into Haru's arms, relief and joy flooding him as Haru continued drinking his blood and he himself didn't start shaking again.

Finally, just as he was starting to see spots dancing in front of his eyes, Haru released him, gently lowering him down to the bed. Kazuya could only vaguely feel as Haru helped him to stretch out on the bed. Then the other boy sat down on the edge, gazing down at him.

"Are you all right, Kazuya?"

Kazuya nodded. "I think so," he said softly. "Thanks."

"What happened?" Haru asked. "Do you usually have that sort of attack?"

Kazuya shook his head. "It's never happened before," he said. He closed his eyes. "I don't know what it was. You said something about the book being evil, and then I just couldn't stop shaking." He opened his eyes. "I felt something, though. It was sort of familiar." He frowned. "I think...I felt something like that when my mother died."

"Tell me about it," Haru said softly.

Kazuya closed his eyes again. "I was...I am really afraid. Mother's dead, and I'm so afraid that I'll be taken away someplace. I don't know who my father is--I've never known--and the only relation I have left that I know of is my brother, Kazuhiro. But someone said that I'll have to go to an orphanage because I'm too young and Kazuhiro's too young to take care of me."

"How afraid are you?" Haru asked.

Kazuya opened his eyes. "The night after Mother's funeral, I started crying, and I couldn't stop. And...I think I started shaking that night, too. I couldn't stop. Kazuhiro held me for nearly an hour before I was too tired to do anything anymore. That's when he told me that he'd always be there for me, to take care of me like our mother had." He sighed. "And he has, even though we sometimes don't see eye to eye."

"You were afraid then," Haru said. "Were you afraid tonight?"

Kazuya nodded slowly. "I think so," he said. "I think what you said about the book terrified me somehow, and it caused that reaction."

"And how are you feeling now?"

Kazuya managed a small smile. "Tired," he said. "Really, really tired."

Haru sighed. "Because I took your blood," he said. "I shouldn't have."

"It was the only thing you could do," Kazuya said. "Otherwise I'd still be shaking and flailing about like a marionette, and my brother and Sumire would be up here trying to calm me down themselves."

Haru shook his head, but his lips twitched as he fought back a smile.

Kazuya pointed at him. "I'm right," he said triumphantly, "and you know it. Now quit berating yourself, all right?"

"Okay," Haru said. "Do you have anything to eat?"

Kazuya sighed. "Not right now. I couldn't manage anything up the stairs anyway, and besides, I didn't know when you'd come."

"So should we wait until your brother and his wife are asleep before we go downstairs for food?"

"That would probably be best," Kazuya said. He sighed. "If only I didn't have this cast on my leg! Then I could just go downstairs and bring something back up."

"Well, maybe we can fix that soon."

Kazuya blinked. "That's right," he said. "You said there might be a way to help me with it."

Haru shook his head. "Not now," he said. "Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow night."

Kazuya sighed. "All right."

Haru patted his shoulder. "In the meantime," he said, "I still need to know a little more about the book and what your friend did with it."

"Okay," Kazuya said. "Ask, and I'll try to answer."

"First of all, what did your roommate summon? Or, rather, what was he trying to banish?"

Kazuya thought for a moment. "Well, I think he only read four spells before Shinobu-sempai took the book away."

"What were they?"

"A vampire and a succubus, of course."

"Of course." Haru pointed at the newspaper that had fallen to the floor. "And a mummy."

"And a mummy. And there was one more thing." Kazuya frowned. "It was a Russian spell, and its name started with an 'R-U-S'. Russell...rusalk...rusalka, I think it was. What is a rusalka?"

"It's a Russian water spirit," Haru explained. "It's actually the ghost of a drowned maiden. I don't think you have to worry too much about that one for now."

"Why not?"

"As a water spirit, a rusalka can't leave its body of water...the place where it drowned...unless it's being compelled to do so. But, if it does, it has to have a fairly large body of water where it must rest. And it has to be a reasonably natural body of water, too, not a swimming pool or fountain. Are there any places like that near the school?"

Kazuya nodded. "There's a koi pond between the dormitory and the school. We usually pass through it going to and coming back from classes. Would that be big enough?"

"It should be. As long as no one tries to swim in the pond, no one will get hurt."

"Well, I don't think anybody's going to go swimming at this time of year."

Haru smiled. "You're probably right." Then his smile fell. "But there's still the mummy to worry about."

Kazuya nodded. "Shinobu-sempai told us. It's coming this way, and it's leaving a trail of sickness behind it." He pointed to another article on the front page. "Doctors and scientists still don't know what to make of it all."

Haru read through the article. He sighed when he finished. "Well, I guess at least we'll know where to find it."

"That's not much of a consolation to the people getting sick," Kazuya pointed out.

"I know," Haru said, "but it's all we have right now."

"I suppose."

"There's one more thing," Haru said. "What happened to the book?"

"Shinobu-sempai took it," Kazuya said. "I don't know what he did with it afterward. Maybe he left it in the dormitory."

Haru shook his head. "I didn't sense it there."

"Then he probably has it with him." Kazuya inhaled sharply. "Is he in any danger from it?"

Haru sighed. "Probably not," he said. "Your friend has a very strong will, and he knows that the book isn't what it appears to be. But I'm afraid of what might happen if someone else accidentally reads a spell from that book. Maybe you should call him and warn him."

Kazuya shook his head. "He'll be coming over here in a couple of days to spend Christmas with us. I'll tell him then."

Haru glanced sharply at him. "He's coming here?"

Kazuya nodded, puzzled. "Yes. I invited him. I didn't want him to spend the holiday entirely alone. Why? Is there a problem?"

"He may sense my presence here."

Kazuya's jaw dropped. Then he closed his mouth and crossed his arms across his chest. He knew he probably looked like a bulldog--Mitsuru had teased him about it often enough--but he didn't care.

"So what if he does?" he demanded. "I love him and I'll do anything for him, and he may be taller and stronger than I am, but I will not let him do anything that will hurt you!"

Haru's eyes widened and a flush rose in his cheeks. "Kazuya," he whispered.

"He's my friend," Kazuya said, "but you're my friend, too. If he doesn't understand what's going on, I'll make him understand."

* * *

Haru gazed down at the sleeping boy before he gathered up the dishes they'd used and headed downstairs.

Kazuya's vow of loyalty--both to him, Haru, and to his sempai--had been touching, but he wondered just how effective he'd be if things came to a head. He hoped that Kazuya's influence with his friend was as strong as he seemed to think it was.

He had sensed the strength of that Shinobu-sempai when he'd peeked into the boy's room. The boy's spirit was powerful, and from some of the things Kazuya had said, he was sure Shinobu-sempai was also sensitive to supernatural phenomena.

Of course, he was on an entirely different level from ghosts, but he had little doubt that the boy had sensed him in the dormitory. There was the possibility, though, that the book had affected the boy's sensitivity. Then, he might have avoided detection.

Still, several questions plagued him as he silently washed the dishes.

What did the boy make of the book? Had he made any progress on reversing any of the spells Kazuya's roommate had cast? Had the boy sensed him in the dormitory? If he had, why hadn't he mentioned to anybody?

He muddled over the questions until he was finally back up in the attic. Then, only one nagged him for the rest of the night.

What would happen when the boy visited Kazuya for Christmas?

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