February 2005 drew closer and closer, and while Zafkiel was sorry to leave behind all his new friends, and all the great experiences he'd had, be couldn't deny that he would be happy to go home and see Mikael again. Nor would he mind finally being able to get away from Kael once more; he had not welcomed Kael's constant intrusion at all.
Zafkiel and Raziel started preparing for the trip home, and made a few last minute roadtrips to see some friends once more and say their farewells. Kael seemed unperturbed by their imminent departure.. that is, until he stumbled across a picture of Zafkiel and Mikael together, and saw for the first time the gorgeous creature that Zafkiel called 'boyfriend'. It was then that he got a very evil glint in his eyes, unnoticed by Zafkiel, but that made Raziel very nervous about what he might do next...

On the plane ride home, Zafkiel heard a voice whisper in his ear, and discovered, to his horror, that Kael was sitting just a few aisles behind them, determined to follow Zafkiel no matter where he went. By then, it was too late to just slam the door in his face and hope he went away; there was nothing Zafkiel could do. Helpless, he allowed Kael to return to their apartment, for Kael had made no effort to organise anything in Sydney, not even accommodation. And no matter how much Zafkiel disliked his brother, he could not bring himself to leave Kael on the streets.
He was not impressed, however, when he entered his apartment to find that Kael had entered ahead of him while he struggled with luggage, and had impersonated him in order to take advantage of Mikael. There was a brief fight, but in the end, Mikael and he were too glad to see each other again to let anything get in the way, and Kael soon found himself ignored. Raziel tried to comfort Kael afterwards, but Kael seemed unbothered; if anything, he seemed pleased, though Raziel could not be sure why.

About a week and a half later, Gavrael, who had been mysteriously absent when Zafkiel and Raziel returned, finally arrived home. It turned out he had been staying with a friend of theirs, Emil, in order to avoid spending five months alone with Mikael.
Raziel, who had been afraid that Gavrael had given up on him and left, was overjoyed to see him again. And Kael, who is normally best known for getting in the way of other people's relationships, showed an uncharacteristic side of himself by helping their reunion along; taking Newt with him and leaving the two alone so that they could sort things out by themselves. It seemed that Kael took his friendship with Raziel more seriously than Raziel had previously thought.

Time passed, and Kael stayed on. At first, Zafkiel hoped that Kael would find somewhere else to live, but Kael seemed more than happy to set himself up a sort of makeshift bedroom in their tiny study and consider it permanently his. He went out a lot, particularly on weekends, coming home at the crack of dawn more often than not, and when not sleeping off hangovers spent a fair amount of time with Raziel. But his constant presence made Zafkiel more and more uncomfortable.
Mikael, growing tired of this situation, delivered an ultimatum to Kael -- that he move out, and now. But Kael countered him, saying that Zafkiel wouldn't really want him to leave, and that they just needed to talk about it. Mikael grudgingly agreed, and Kael went to try his hand at convincing Zafkiel.
With a little sweetness, and a lot of mention of 'family' and 'patching up differences', Kael managed to convince Zafkiel to allow him to stay. Zafkiel put a condition on his staying -- no more physical contact. But Kael seemed fine with that, so long as he was allowed to stay. And so, the tension in their household remained unchanged...

Not long after that, during one of their rare moments alone, Mikael pressed Zafkiel to find out why he had allowed Kael to stay, despite how much he disliked having his brother around.
It was not easy for Zafkiel to explain how seriously he took family, especially not to Mikael, who placed no importance whatsoever on family ties. But he tried anyway, because it meant so much to him.
In the end, he could not really get Mikael to understand what he felt, but because he was so earnest about it, Mikael relented. He agreed to let Zafkiel do as he wished about Kael, so long as Kael did nothing to hurt Zafkiel.

Meanwhile, the friendship that had formed between Raziel and Kael was growing stronger, as the two spent more and more time together. This growing bond did not go unnoticed by Gavrael, who was not pleased about it; he had not warmed up to Kael. He tried over and again to draw Raziel back to him, but it seemed as though every attempt he made was rejected by Raziel almost without thinking; as if Raziel didn't even notice that Gavrael was trying.
Frustrated beyond belief one day, Gavrael gave up even trying, and instead stormed off in anger, leaving behind him a puzzled but as yet clueless Raziel. It was at this point that Kael chose to intervene -- not in his usual smarmy fashion, but rather with some good advice. He pointed out to Raziel exactly what was going on. Raziel, horrified once he realised what he'd been doing, hurried after Gavrael, not even stopping to wonder why Kael would be so nice for a change.
After much searching, Raziel finally found Gavrael.. and discovered that Gavrael had found someone else, too. A tiny kitten, the spitting image of Newt, had scampered into Gavrael's lap and into their lives. Gavrael dubbed the kitten Axolotyl, and Raziel used the good cheer of the occasion to sort things out between them, and reaffirm his devotion for Gavrael.

It was around this time that Zafkiel found out that he had received another scholarship to return to Japan to study again for another six months from September. He was elated at the prospect of returning to Japan, for a number of reasons.
But things at home were still unsettled, and after an unfortunate encounter with Kael one morning, Mikael put to Zafkiel the question of where Kael would go during that time. He made it very clear that Kael was not staying if Zafkiel was not, and Zafkiel promised to talk to Kael.
After mulling it over for a few weeks, Zafkiel finally worked up the courage to breach the subject with Kael, only to find that Kael was already one step ahead of him. Kael assured Zafkiel that he already had plans to stay with Raiden, a friend they had met while in Japan. And though Zafkiel was worried about Raiden's well-being, he couldn't help but be relieved that he didn't have to press the issue and force Kael to leave.

In late August, Zafkiel unexpectedly fell ill with a very serious illness, and he found himself afraid to tell Mikael how sick he really was. After hearing about an overseas doctor who could help him, he instead turned to his brother, Luciel, for help. And with his aid, Zafkiel left suddenly in the middle of the night, leaving Mikael nothing more than an apologetic note, promising to be back when he was well.
Mikael spent many long, sleepless nights alone before Zafkiel finally returned. And Zafkiel, for his part, recovered admirably, and made some new friends at the same time, in the form of Gavrael's brothers, who happened to live with the doctor he'd gone to see.
When Zafkiel came home, Mikael was understandably angry, and Zafkiel came to realise how much he'd misjudged him; how in his panicked, sickened state, he'd forgotten that Mikael's cold, calm exterior did not mean that Mikael didn't try and understand the way he felt about things. And being reminded of that made him gladder than ever to be back home, especially when Mikael forgave him so quickly for leaving.

By that time, September had rolled around, and there was very little time left before Zafkiel had to leave again to go to Japan. But there was time enough for Zafkiel to have a little talk with Raziel, and let him know that should he choose to, he would be more than welcome to go to Japan again with Zafkiel in his luggage. An offer Raziel was more than happy to take him up on, after a somewhat token resistance about how Mikael should be the one to go.
And so in the few remaining days, the two couples spent as much time together as they could, and then it came time for final farewells to be said, and for the four to part again. And Zafkiel and Raziel made their way off to Japan once more, to make the most of their time there, and whatever might await them!

Zafkiel and Raziel settled into Japan again with little problem; they were used to living there by now, and used to sharing a small place with each other, and there were no problems for Zafkiel settling back into the Japanese University lifestyle again, either.
Then in October, Zafkiel took a trip to visit friends in Nagoya for a couple of days, and came back with a little more than he'd planned.
Caught out in an unexpected rainstorm, he chanced upon a young man sitting on the side of the road, looking injured. He stopped to make sure the man was alright, and soon found himself making a new friend, Hanael. And when he heard that Hanael was soon headed to Tokyo with no place to stay, he found himself offering their place. He could not say why he was so quick to do so, except that Hanael made him feel very comfortable and safe.
Hanael returned to Tokyo with him, and soon made friends with Raziel as well; he seemed to have a gift of putting people at ease. He spoke little of himself, and provided board and food money with no explanation of where it came from, for he did not seem to have a job. But Zafkiel and Raziel enjoyed his company so much that they did not mind his reticence about himself.

In early December, Raziel went out for a quiet picnic with Newt in Yoyogi Park and ended up with more than he'd bargained for when a young boy running past tripped over his feet.
The boy, Rafariel, promptly turned around and begged for his help, telling Raziel that there was a bad man chasing him who meant him harm. Raziel could not ignore such desperate pleas, and vowed to help him. And although his original plans of hiding Rafariel from his pursuer did not go quite as he would have liked, he nonetheless helped Rafariel escape from the man, and took him back to their place to hide.
Rafariel was distant and aloof, and did not wish to talk about what had befallen him, but it was clear from his tears - brought on by Hanael's gentle reassurances - that he'd been involved in something that frightened him badly. And he made it obvious that he felt he had nowhere else to go. So after some discussion, Zafkiel, Raziel and Hanael agreed to let him stay with them as long as he wished, and promised to protect him, for which he seemed very grateful.

Although the place was quite crowded with the four of them, none of them seemed to mind, even Rafariel, despite his original doubts about living in such a small place. He still refused to speak of the circumstances that had brought him to them, and he went outside as little as possible, but he slowly relaxed somewhat and became a little more comfortable around them. He particularly warmed up to Hanael, who he seemed to see as a sort of big brother figure.
In late December, yet another unexpected arrival appeared - this time in the form of Gavrael, on a two week vacation in Japan with a little help from their friend Raiden. Raziel was absolutely overjoyed to see him, and vowed to make the most of their two weeks together in Tokyo. And never mind Gavrael's reservations about the new arrivals in their household.
They had a wonderful two weeks together, Raziel dragging Gavrael to all of his favourite places, and Gavrael showing Raziel a few of his own favourite hangouts from his teenage years. But eventually Gavrael had to return to Australia, no matter how unwilling Raziel was to see him go, and Raziel suddenly found himself looking forward to their return home a lot more than he'd thought he'd been.