Chapter Two: Reunion
Thank you for the positive response. This chapter is slightly shorter, but I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to review!
Jinghua looked up at the hospital, eyes focusing on the third floor. That's where he could feel his other half, sleeping and in pain. All hesitations were discarded at that reminder. Marching into the hospital, he headed straight to the receptionist's desk, fully prepared to bring out the greatest weapon in his arsenal if needed: teary puppy eyes. It would become ineffective after he turned eighteen and his face became mature, but for now, they were perfect as an effective weapon of last resort.
He smiled sweetly at the receptionist. "Hello Ma'am. I want to visit my friend here. He's on the third floor."
She smiled back, charmed. "Of course dear, what's his name? And I need your name too, ok?"
His smile weakened a bit at that. "His name is Duanmu Xi. And my name is Qin Yang!" He lied through his teeth, praying that his name had actually been Duanmu and not something he had adopted upon joining the main family. As for his fake name, he had no regrets, blatantly ignoring the helpless giggle fit that Luoyue had fallen into somewhere off his side. Those two truly had been meant for each other, and those names wouldn't be recognizable to someone who was not a main member of the Duanmu family household.
The lady looked through her list on the computer, locating his name. "Ah, here we go, this is your friend. He's in room 323, you can go straight up. Visiting hours are over in an hour. And make sure you two don't play too hard so he can get out of the hospital faster okay?"
The now child smiled brightly at that, opening his eyes as widely as he could in a rather effective attempt at innocence. "I promise. I don't want him to get hurt more. Thank you for your help!" And with a bow, he rushed off to the elevator, that eager expression sliding off his face to be replaced by one more stoic. That was one more obstacle down, now he just had to hope that Xi's mother was nowhere near his room. He didn't want to start a confrontation with his mother and possibly injure the other by their fight. Duanmu Xi was fragile enough as it was.
He looked at Luoyue worriedly. "Are you sure he's ok? He's not going to die now, is he?"
The spirit sighed in exasperation, "Yang Jinghua. The child survived this incident the first time around without any interference from you. Your presence now will actually just speed up his healing. Calm down."
Zicheng came forward to reassure his descendant. "Little one, it will be fine. Don't worry yourself over such minor incidents. Remember, a swordsman must be able to focus on the present instead of worrying about vague possibilities in order to emerge victorious."
He pouted up at his ancestor. "Fine, you have a point. I'll worry about the bigger stuff that we have to change instead. I just need to figure out a way to slip him my email address and phone number for when we move away at some point. Why can't I have a cell phone already?" And then he frowned, his attention caught by, "Zicheng, why do you keep calling me little? I'm in my twenties!"
He held back a chuckle of amusement. "Right now, you are ten. And you spent much of your afterlife as a fourteen year old. Besides, we have existed for centuries. Nearly everyone in the world is young to us. You just happen to currently have the stature to reflect it."
He pouted harder at that. "Unfair. I miss my older self."
Luoyue spoke up at that, voice trembling at the effort it took to restrain his laugh. "I'm sure that your spirit ocean has both that form and your fourteen-year old self saved. And perhaps you will be able to access both once my cute little descendant regains his memories. You two have done such absurd things like that before, so I wouldn't be surprised. Ah, we're here."
All levity slipped away, replaced by a determined expression. Now was the time to see his best friend, and other half.
Luoyue and Zicheng slipped into another layer of the world, not wanting to be seen by anyone else and have odd questions raised regarding their presence.
Reminding himself that he would just be a child at the moment, Jinghua walked into the room and let out a sigh of relief at the empty room; he also wouldn't have to deal with a paranoid mother at the moment. Looking over at the bed, he saw a tuft of black hair sticking out from the covers. Ah, that's right; he used to have black hair as a child. And the five-year-old wasn't asleep either; he could see the curious eyes peeking out from between a gap in the blankets. He pasted on a friendly smile and walked over carefully, not wanting to frighten the other into panicking.
"Hey kid, when someone becomes your friend, isn't it polite to give your name in return? It took me so long to figure out your name and find you when I heard that you ended up in the hospital."
Duanmu Xi slowly unwrapped himself from his cocoon of blankets. "I'm sorry. I thought I'd never see you again. Am I still your friend?"
The older child's heart melted at the look the other was wearing, unable to maintain his mock stern expression. "Of course we are. Now let's start over. My name is Yang Jinghua, and your name is?"
"My name is Duanmu Xi. Nice to meet you!" He smiled brightly, almost erasing the image of the bandages wrapped around his head.
The other smiled back, before switching to a slightly more serious look. "You too! Now I don't know what's going to happen after you get out of the hospital. You might move away or I might, it depends on our parents. But this is my phone number and my email address. You can use both or either to talk to me whenever you want. I promised to protect you, and this is one way that I can even if we're no longer in the same area. Okay?"
Xi's eyes were teary. "But I don't want you to go away! You're my friend!"
He sat down on the bed to draw the younger into a hug. "I know, but we're still kids. We can't change things that our parents tell us to do. But we can still keep in contact, right? And at some point, we can meet again. But we will always be friends, no matter how far apart we are. I promise, okay?"
The five-year-old pouted, still teary eyed. "Okay, but if you forget me, I'm going to be mad. So don't forget."
Jinghua chuckled at that. "I won't." He glanced up at the clock, surprised to see how much time had gone by since his arrival. "Xi, I have to go, visiting hours are almost over. But I will come back and visit again tomorrow."
He let go of his grip on the older boy's shirt reluctantly, not wanting to let him go away and disappear. "You better come back."
Standing up, he looked down at the younger, frowning slightly. He felt as if this would be the last time he would see Duanmu Xi in a long time, and his instincts generally were correct. So just in case, "I will. But remember, spirits are real. Not all of them are bad, but you have to be careful because they can hurt you too. Don't forget that." He leaned down and brushed a light kiss over the bandages over his head. "And that's for good luck. I'll see you again."
"Bye-bye," The child whispered, watching as his hero walked out of his sight. "Please come back."
As the door closed, Jinghua closed his eyes as his two spirits faded back into view. "He's so young and innocent," he murmured softly. "I just want to wrap him in a blanket and protect him from the world."
"He'll be fine. And in five years, he'll have his memories back and be able to protect himself. But for now, all you can do is wait. Protect him as much as you can while he's still here." Zicheng responded in an attempt to comfort his charge.
"He won't be here much longer. I'm not sure if he'll even be here tomorrow. I can feel it." He turned to Luoyue. "Will you watch out for him? Since I won't be able to?"
The spirit sighed. "I will, but I can't stay away from you for too long. But there is still the bond between you two. You will be able to feel if he needs help. And I understand why, but you keep on forgetting. My descendant is young and vulnerable at the moment, but he will survive. He is the one who managed to gain full control of the Duanmu household by the time he was sixteen, and he kept his hold on them until he died. Your worry is doing a disservice to him."
The child chuckled slightly, a small smile returning to his face. "That's true. I'm glad both of you are here to knock some sense into me."
His ancestor smiled at him. "We're both happy to be with you. Now, come, let's go home. It's almost time for dinner, and I'm sure your parents are beginning to get worried."
"Ah, you're right! Come on; let's go before they start a search for me!" Jinghua ran off, his worries and concerns forgotten for the moment. His two guardians exchanged a smile before rushing off after him.