DISCLAIMER: I now own Mr. Mustache (long story). I do not own FY.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Woot! I am back to update peeps! I just hope people haven't forgotten this story ^^;;;;

Well, I tried to be mysterious at the end of last chapter, but I shoulda known that it wasn't that hard to figure out (with only four left, there's only so many possibilities). Congrats! You all did well! Now take some Ritalin before you freak out into an early grave! They don't want to scare the poor boy out of his wits!

Lib-chan, I don't do it on purpose (athough I do cackle in evil glee when I see the results)! The stories just get written they way they get written, I barely have any say in the process! The characters possess my brain and fingers and make them type what THEY want to happen! Or, well, what's in-character for them. More than once I've had something planned in my head only to get to that part and write something completely different - because it wasn't in-character. What's all this have to do with anything, you wonder? So do I ^_^ I think what I mean is there will/won't be romance when the story calls for it, and only if it fits the characters. And please don't kill me for it! ~hides in a bomb shelter~

Mikka-chan, I hereby and forthwith ignore your obsession with "where are the twins" ^_~

CLAMPraven, thanks for saying Risako is a good character! It means a lot to me, I've grown very attached to her over the past year ^_^

~gives CLAMP, Elwing, Mikka, Kryssa, Stormlight, and Draconsis Milano cookies for guessing correctly! Also gives Ice-Goddess Goldfish crackers for most original guess~

Okay, I have a poll for all of you. For once, my readers get to influence my story! (Although you won't see the results for awhile ^^;;; Sorry!) Should there be shoving-in-the-closet action later on ("later on" meaning 'round chapter 25)? The "shovers" would most likely be Gesshin and Kadiri, and the "shovees" would be Reijirou and Risako. Now I make no guarantees as to what would happen once they're actually in the closet, or if anything would at all, but... Ahh well, I feel like being devious and wanna see what you think! ^_^

I love you all! ~glomps and lets them read~



*************************************************************************************




Obinata Hokusai, for all intents and purposes, didn't look like he'd been an over-cheerful wandering monk in a past life. But, then again, Reijirou would never suspect that his past life had lived as a woman for half his life just by looking at himself. In fact, Obinata Hokusai didn't look much like the wandering monk at all. He had both eyes, for one thing, and of course there was no mask. His bangs flopped into his face like a normal person's, not sticking in every direction like wacky pipe cleaners.

But his hair was still the same color, and his build was exactly like the monk's. Hokusai also had the same friendly, relaxed air about him. There was no way he couldn't be Chichiri.

Reijirou wondered for point seven seconds exactly how he knew all this, since he hadn't actually known the monk, but pushed that aside as Miaka wandered dazedly over to him. Yui was still chattering excitedly with Hokusai and Morin, and from the look on her face Risako hadn't figured it out yet. She would soon though, she wasn't dumb. But the question was would she go on with the hunt?

"Tell me I'm dreaming," Miaka whispered raggedly to Reijirou. "Tell me Chichiri did not just walk through that door married to one of my friends."

Reijirou gave her a helpless look. "I'd like to, but…"

Miaka groaned. "Oh good lord," she muttered. "They keep popping up all over! And now one of my best friends has married one of my seishi!"

"Look, I can't really do anything about tha… Oh no." Reijirou quickly caught Miaka as she fell in a shocked faint.

"Is Miaka-san all right?" Hokusai asked, crossing over to inspect her worriedly. "She seemed fine when we came in…"

People dropping left and right here, and for some pretty stupid reasons too. Reijirou rolled his eyes in exasperation and picked up Miaka easily. "TAKA! Taka, come here, now!"

"Oh no… Why this time?" Yui came up next to Hokusai, Morin right behind her, peering curiously over the blonde woman's shoulder.

"I'll explain later. Taka! I'm not kidding when I say now!"

The door to the kitchen swung open again and Taka emerged, grumbling. "What now, we were…" He stopped moving forward as he saw his wife and Reijirou's "take her or prepare to suffer the consequences" look. Reijirou knew a little too well what Miaka did to guys when she woke up suddenly, even if they had only been helping her. He really didn't want to end up with gigantic handprints covering his face, or his teeth falling out from one of her punches. "I see. Here, let me have her." Taka held out his arms to take his wife and Reijirou gratefully dropped her into them, then watched as Taka carried her to their bedroom, kicking open the door and walking inside. He didn't once catch a glimpse of Hokusai, which Reijirou could only be thankful for. They didn't need TWO people freaking out over Chichiri's rather sudden appearance.

A door not as far along the corridor opened and a small, light-brown head popped out. "What's the yelling about?" Naora hopped outside her door and looked at her parents' room curiously, then ran on short legs in the other direction, towards the gathering in the main room. "Reijirou-san, why were you yelling?" she asked, attaching herself to his legs again.

Once more that morning he pried her off and picked her up, stroking her hair to calm her. She was worried now, her large eyes said plainly. "It's all right, your mother just needed to… lie down for a little. She's fine." He scrambled for something to keep her occupied while they dealt with Miaka and Chichiri-incarnate, then widened his eyes as if he'd just had a sudden idea. "Ne, Naora-chan, your Uncle Keisuke said earlier he'd love to go for a walk with you. Do you want to do it now?"

"Wai!" she cheered, struggling to climb out of his arms. He didn't let her go, but carried her into the kitchen. "Uncle Keisuke, let's go for the walk you said you wanted to go on!" she chirruped cheerfully.

Keisuke started to open his mouth, no doubt to protest that he had no idea what walk… but immediately closed it as he saw the very Nuriko-like death glare Reijirou was shooting at him. Reijirou mouthed I'll explain later, just get her out of here at the older man over Naora-chan's head, and Keisuke nodded slightly at him before pushing back his chair and rising to his feet. "Of course, Naora-chan! Come on, let's get your coat and then we can leave."

"Hai! Down pwease," she chirped at Reijirou, who complied. She barely had both feet on the floor before sprinting through the door again. Reijirou and Keisuke heard the closet door crash open, and both shook their heads.

"She's got wayyyyy too much energy this early," Reijirou muttered. "Sorry about this, but Chichiri just walked through the door and Miaka fainted."

"What?!" Keisuke barely remembered to keep his voice down to a fierce whisper. "Chichiri's here?!"

Reijirou nodded. "Yeah. His name's Obinata Hokusai, he's married to that friend of Miaka and Yui that came to visit. Only Miaka and I recognized him, don't act like you know anything, if you can." He ducked a playful swat at his head. "Good luck."

"Yeah, I'm gonna need it with that kid. Oh well, she could be a lot worse I guess." Keisuke jokingly saluted and grabbed his jacket from where it was draped over the counter, shrugging into it before taking a deep breath and stepping onto the battlefield.

The kitchen was silent until the front door clicked loudly closed. "Moooouuuuu… Another one," Nuriko groaned. The seishi was sitting in one of the chairs scattered around the table and now mostly abandoned, except for him and Tetsuya, who watched with what was probably a neutral expression. Nuriko's head fell forward to thunk against the table in a perfect imitation of Yui earlier, except this time the motion was made much stranger by the semi-transparent nature of the mover. "Another one… Another one… How many more do we have left then?" Nuriko didn't raise his head, but his tone became much more optimistic at the thought that their search, for the Suzaku at least, was almost over.

"Let's see… We've got us, Dr. Seo and Mitsukake, Gesshin and Tasuki, Suezo, Hokusai, and Taka," Reijirou counted on his fingers. "So, six down, one to go. Chiriko. And then we've got to find the rest of the Seiryu, we've got Akihiko, Kadiri, Katai, Shuurai, and…" he paused a moment with the thumb of his left hand still extended, refusing to fold. But there was no getting around the fact that one was already dead, as much as he refused to acknowledge it. He physically reached over with his right hand and folded his thumb down, a task that took a surprising amount of willpower. "And Adam. So that leaves whoever Tomo is and Miboshi."

"Just three? We're doing better than I thought." Nuriko finally picked his head up and sat upright for a second before slouching in the chair. "Why did Miaka faint? She should know by now to expect anyone, anywhere."

"You know Miaka," Tetsuya spoke up for the first time, standing calmly and walking around the table to the cupboard above the sink. "She always has to be dramatic." He pulled open the little door and looked around inside, then dug his hand into the back corner and came out with a small bottle of smelling salts. "Here, take these to Taka, I'm gonna go fill Yui in and help her corral the company. Is Risako-san still out there?" Tetsuya's mouth narrowed as Reijirou nodded dismally. "I'd say you two'd better get her out of here. There's going to be a lot going on for awhile, and she… doesn't seem up to it."

"If you're trying to say she's sullen and moody and not fit to be seen in public you can say it straight, she's all of those things." Reijirou's voice was flat and blunt. "Pain… I'd understand, but being angry at everyone? Something's wrong with that, especially with her."

Tetsuya chuckled lightly and tossed Reijirou the bottle, which he easily caught. "I was trying to be diplomatic, but since you said it… You're right. She needs to go home, be in familiar surroundings. Look on the bright side, at least she didn't say she didn't want to see you anymore."

"Why does everyone assume we're a couple? We're not, we're just friends." Reijirou huffed with annoyance, then stalked out of the room and down the hall, hearing Tetsuya's laughter from the kitchen.

He pushed open the door of Miaka and Taka's bedroom without bothering to knock. Taka was standing next to the bed, looking crossly down at his wife. The room didn't have much personality: a monotone shade of paint on the walls, a couple of lamps, two dressers, a closet, and two bedside tables. But every flat surface seemed to be covered with photographs in discount store frames. There were several pictures of the Sukunami family, more of Naora by herself from birth to her last birthday, of friends and family in all seasons and places. On the table next to Taka there was a very large picture of the Sukunamis on their wedding day, posing in front of the church in their formal finery, smiling at each other instead of the camera. The Miaka in the picture looked radiant, an angel descended to Earth in her flowing white, but the Miaka on the bed… definitely was not.

Reijirou stifled laughter as Taka looked at him and said in an irritated moan, "Why me?"

He grinned outright and tossed him the little white bottle, which Taka snatched out of midair. "Hey, you picked it sensei, don't come crying to me." At times it was very hard to remember that the blue-haired man was really his teacher. Probably something having to do with the book and all… "Hey, Taka."

"Yeah?" It was one of those stupid childproof caps, and it had gotten stuck, and he was struggling with it, much to Reijirou's amusement.

"When are we going to call Tamahome? I mean, since you already know about the book and all, there's no reason to put it off."

"There's also no need to call him." Taka straightened up from the Battle of the Smelling Salts and a bright red light caught Reijirou full in the eyes. He threw up a hand to shield them and blinked rapidly, trying to disperse the after images dancing playfully over his retinas. When he could at least half see again he looked at Taka, and his jaw dropped.

Glowing eerily neon red over the bottle of smelling salts Taka held extended to him was the kanji "Oni". Ogre. Tamahome's mark. And it was on Taka's forehead! "Can you open this? It never likes me."

Reijirou took it but continued to stare at his teacher. "What? This?" Taka inquired casually. "You know what this is. I repeat, there's no reason to call him." He shrugged and the light died slowly, leaving his forehead blank again. "Now get that open before she goes comatose."

His tone was very teacher-y, and Reijirou quickly and easily popped the cap, making Taka growl and glare at the bottle. He gave it back to the older man, trying to contain the flood of ideas in his mind and form them into something even slightly resembling an intelligent query. "How… How…"

"How did this happen?" Reijirou nodded, too stunned to speak. Taka shrugged. "At the end of the whole memory jewels escapade, I took Tamahome into myself. We became one person. And I guess he's still here, but I'm him and he's me. Whew," Taka gasped, holding the bottle away from his nose. "That's gonna wake the dead." He held it under his wife's nose. "Hopefully it'll wake Miaka too."

Reijirou was tempted to throw open the window to let out the overpowering stench, but after a second Miaka's eyelids slowly rose, and she blinked once, twice, bringing the world into focus. Then she remembered.

"HE'S GOT BOTH EYES!" she shrieked, sitting bolt upright and grabbing Taka's collar, yanking him down to look frantically at him. Taka couldn't keep hold of the bottle and it went flying into the corner, where Reijirou chased after it with the cap. "He's got both eyes! And hair that behaves the law of gravity!"

Taka threw a scared, freaked-out, tortured look over his hunched shoulder at Reijirou. "Wh-What's she talking about?"

"Oh, didn't you notice?" Reijirou grinned impishly and tossed the now-capped bottle up and down in his hand, talking casually and leaning against the wall. "Chichiri's out there right now."

"Chichiri?!"

"Yep!"

"Suzaku… How'd THIS happen? Is he a traveling salesman or something? Miaka, dear, please let me go." His wife sheepishly complied with the request and moved so her legs were dangling over the side of the bed. Taka sat next to her, looking between the two. "From the top, please."

Reijirou nodded at Miaka. "Well…" she began, trying to find the best way to phrase it, "remember that Yui-chan said we'd be having another visitor today? Our friend Morin, to be exact."

"Yeah, and I remember the way you two tore out of the kitchen when the doorbell rang as well."

She ignored his smart comment. "Well, she showed up, and you know we haven't really heard from her in awhile. So we didn't know what was going on with her, other than that she was going for her degree and all… And apparently she'd been even more busy than we'd thought."

"Did she give birth to him or something?!"

"NO!" Miaka smacked him in the shoulder, hard, nearly making him fall off the bed. "You idiot! Turns out she MARRIED him! Sheesh. Men."

"Owwww…" Taka rubbed his poor abused shoulder and gave her a Look. "So what you're saying is that you fainted because you saw a man you knew in a past life and now he's slightly different and got married to your friend and turned up unexpectedly at our apartment door and Tetsuya and Yui are now playing the hosts in our home?"

"Yep."

"Suzaku…"

"Umm…" Reijirou broke in. Two pairs of eyes turned to regard him, both with a "what now?" look. "I'm gonna take Risako home now, her parents are probably worried. I don't know if she called them."

Miaka nodded slowly. "Yeah… yeah. Take her home. Familiar surroundings are good after the shock wears off."

"That's what Tetsuya said. I'll see you two later; tell Naora-chan I said good bye, okay?" He opened the door and walked out as they called acknowledgements, waving over his shoulder at them.

"Ne, Reijirou, ready to go?" Nuriko was in the hallway, leaning against the door to the guestroom where they'd spent the night. "She's getting changed in there." He jerked his head to indicate the room.

"So that's what you were doing."

"Yep, two people worrying over one of Miaka's hysterical fits is enough." The seishi rolled his eyes and giggled. "I've seen too many of them to think that this one would be any different."

"Yeah, well, thanks for convincing her to leave, you spared me that job." Reijirou leaned against the wall next to his "twin", folding his arms over his chest unconsciously in the same manner Nuriko had.

"Eh, she couldn't hurt me." The seishi grinned impishly. "There are some advantages to being the equivalent of a ghost."

Reijirou laughed lightly. "I bet there are." Suddenly he turned and rapped on the door with his knuckles. "Risako? You almost ready?" he called, loud enough to reach through the door, but soft enough to not disturb the small talk he could hear coming from the living room.

"One minute," her voice replied. A few moments later the door swung inward to reveal Risako, dressed, as he was, in the clothes she'd been wearing the day before – long, loose skirt, somewhat fancy shirt, and her thin coat. Her face, although not quite as inaccessible as before, was still shut, keeping her emotions hidden. "Are you taking me home?"

He nodded. "Your family's probably worried…" Somehow the reason he'd given Miaka and Taka sounded feeble when he told it to the one in question.

But she didn't pick up on it, simply nodded and stepped out of the room, brushing past him and Nuriko to continue down the hall. The boys looked at each other with identical "How long will this go on?" expressions, then trotted after her, catching up as she was collecting her shoes from next to the door and saying cordial farewells to the assembly in the room. Reijirou flopped on the couch next to Tetsuya to pull on his own shoes, giving reassurances that yes, Miaka was fine, yes, she was awake, and no, she wasn't strangling Taka.

Taka and Miaka emerged from their room as they were preparing to leave and Reijirou and Risako thanked them for letting them stay the night. Nuriko whispered something in Miaka's ear and she struggled to keep a straight face, but managed it. The seishi looked like he was about to give Taka a friendly parting smack on the back, but stopped just in time, seeing as there were a couple people there who wouldn't understand if Taka suddenly went flying into the wall.

In all the "thank-you's" and "good-bye's" Miaka leaned over and whispered to Reijirou. "We'll call you when we know when the next summoning will happen. Can you get Gesshin for us?" Reijirou nodded minutely, remembering what she'd said about the other seishi helping the summoning.

Then one last "Bye everyone!" and they were out of the crush of people. Reijirou sucked in a deep breath. "God, that apartment was NOT meant to hold that many bodies."

Nuriko grinned impishly. "That's another one of those benefits…"

"Can we get going now?" They broke off their conversation abruptly to look at Risako. She was staring out the window that was across the hall from the Sukunamis' home, slightly wistfully, the first expression her face had held in hours. Her fingertips and forehead rested lightly against the cool glass, eyes half-unfocused, as if she was looking into the past.

Reijirou stood there, confused out of his mind. What was with the sudden mood swings?

There was a slight stirring of air as Nuriko floated up behind Risako, putting his arms around her shoulders and hugging her tightly. Risako's eyes flew open for a second, then closed themselves just as the faint reflection of tears appeared.

Something sparked in Reijirou and suddenly he felt angry – very angry. For no reason he could see, either. He spun on his heels and marched to the stairs, this time leaving Nuriko and Risako to give each other confused looks and follow quickly in his wake. He already had the car idling and his seat belt buckled when they climbed into the car, and he pulled away from the curb and into the morning commuter traffic.

The wind whipping his hair around his face seemed to carry away the anger as well, and he relaxed against the cracked leather seat and simply let himself enjoy the driving, leaving the puzzle of the sudden emotion for a later time. He swung a left, in the direction of Risako's home, patting himself on the back for remembering the way. None of the three were speaking, but the noise from outside the car easily made up for the lack of talk.

"So," he said into the silence when they were about halfway there, "how'd Chichiri look to you, Risako?" He had a sneaking suspicion that she hadn't noticed just who'd appeared at the door with little to no warning while she was sitting there in Miaka's nightgown.

He was right.

"Chichiri?!"

"Is everyone gonna react like that when they hear?"

"Most likely," Nuriko added, lounging sideways in the backseat with his arms folded behind his head. "It is quite amusing, after all. 'Oh, Chichiri just walked in.' 'Great! Invite him in, give him a drink, bring the book, we can tell him about his past life over tea.' 'Of course!'" The seishi laughed quietly at the thought.

"As if that's ever gonna happen."

"It might, you never know. Most of us are insane enough to try it."

"That's true."

"You weren't supposed to agree with me on that."

"Too bad, you can't stop me."

"We'll just see about that."

"Oh yeah? What're you gonna do?"

"Take a right here," Risako interrupted, pointing. They had nearly driven by the turn. Reijirou quickly switched lanes, earning an angry honk and yell about damn reckless teens why don't you try driving correctly and leave innocent people out of your crashes which he paid absolutely no attention to as he checked for approaching traffic and made the right. All conversation in the car died, leaving a slightly uncomfortable not-silence where the sounds of the city around them seemed to press in worse than silence ever could.

Damn. What's going to snap her out of this?!

A few minutes later Risako's apartment building loomed into view as they topped a small hill and ducked under an overpass. Reijirou could just see, out of the corner of his eye, two radically different emotions cross Risako's face: hope and fear. Well, she was going to go home, whatever she said, thought, or did, and that was that. He would get this entire situation off his hands, as she didn't seem to want his help anyway. Well, that was fine with him.

"What the…?" Risako pushed herself a bit up, trying to see over the windshield. "Wha… what are my parents doing outside?"

"Your parents?" Reijirou craned around the windshield on his side, trying to catch a glimpse of what she'd seen. Sure enough, there was a man and a woman, both just on the far side of middle aged but healthy-looking, although their hair appeared to have gone white early. As they got closer it was plain to see the woman was standing on her tiptoes, sort of leaning out into the street, watching them coming. The man stood solidly beside her, a pipe clenched in his teeth. "Are those your parents?"

"Yeah, but how…?" She shook her head slowly in amazement. "How'd they know I'd be coming now? I didn't call them…"

Reijirou was forced to park a few spaces down from the building, but the Daishis ran down to meet them. At least, her mother did, with an anxious expression on her face; her father followed a bit more sedately, eyes narrowing at the car. Reijirou felt himself shrink back from that gaze, as if Daishi-san was glaring specifically at him, even though he wasn't really glaring.

"That is one impressive man," Nuriko whispered behind him. Apparently he felt the same thing.

"Risako!" her mother exclaimed, yanking open the car door as her daughter unfastened the seat belt, then pulling her up by the hand, receiving a startled squawk from Risako. She ignored the squawk and wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter. Reijirou absently noticed that they were the same height before her father, who was still regarding him with that direct look, pulled his own door open.

"Ummm… Daishi-san?"

The man nodded. "Come inside, we need to talk."



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




"What's going on here?" he muttered to Nuriko bare minutes later, seated on the Daishis' comfortable couch, but possibly in the most awkward situation of his life. The seishi next to him was in no better condition; both were sitting rigidly upright, hands and arms held in to their sides, as the Daishi family occupied themselves in the kitchen.

"I don't know, but something about this is starting to feel weird." Nuriko had no need to lower his voice, but he did anyway. The atmosphere of the apartment – a large one, like the Enomotos had – seemed to weigh physically on his non-physical shoulders and make any large noise seem out of place.

"Starting to?"

"All right, is."

Risako came out and handed Reijirou a glass of water, then turned without speaking and disappeared down the main hall. Reijirou started to get up and go after her, but Nuriko's hand on his arm prevented him from standing. He glanced at the seishi, then settled back into his original position, staring at the glass in his hands.

A minute later he heard footsteps approaching, and looked up to see Risako's parents sitting in chairs across from him. No one said anything for a few moments as the stare down began, two against one. Well, really two, but they didn't know that.

Nuriko matched them look for look, but Reijirou, who was the real target, soon began to sweat. What would they do to the guy who'd brought their daughter home in the morning after going out the night before and not telling them she wasn't coming home? And she left with a completely different guy to boot! Most parents would get the completely wrong impression from all that. Of course, the truth wasn't that happy, or easy to explain, but he sure as hell didn't want them to say she couldn't go out any more or he couldn't see her because of what they assumed happened and not what really happened before even asking any questions-

"First of all, Reijirou-kun, thank you."



What?!

He felt Nuriko's look go from stare-down mode to puzzled regard next to him, his own doing much the same, as Risako's father continued speaking. "Thank you for taking care of Risa-chan last night."

"Yes, we can't tell you how much we appreciate it," her mother chimed in.

"Uh… confused?" Reijirou ventured, raising his hand.

"He's not the only one," Nuriko muttered next to him.

The woman chuckled and the man permitted himself a small smile, drawing on his pipe occasionally. "I don't blame you, dear. My husband jumped into this rather… abruptly. Should you explain or should I?" She turned to observe her husband.

"I think I'd better, you know what would happen if you did." She laughed a little and nodded. He nodded back, placing his hand in hers. "Our names are Daishi Ryobe-" he gestured to himself, and Reijirou lowered his head just a tad in the impression of a bow, not wanting to take his eyes off them and wondering what was coming "-and Hoshiko." He performed the same head-twitch to Risako's mother. "But we used to be known by other names."

He held back a moment before asking, as Daishi-san obviously wanted him to. "What other names?"

Then he was blind.

There was a sudden brightness as if someone had pressed 100-watt bulbs to his eyes and turned them on simultaneously. Both he and Nuriko yelped (loudly, but no one could blame them) and covered their eyes hurriedly with their hands. It was even worse than Taka's display earlier in the Sukunami apartment; his retina was one solid after-image that looked something like a sunburst. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised to find out that's what it was.

"Overdid it again," he heard Daishi-san mutter, and the light retracted to a bearable level.

"Dear, you really should watch that, it got to me." His wife. She was having problems too.

"I know, I know… all right, you can stop hiding now, Reijirou-kun."

He slowly unwound his arms from around his head and blinked his eyes clear once more that morning. Was this entire day going to be a series of repeats?

"Reijirou!" It was Nuriko. He was startled. Something was up.

He glanced up at his ghostly twin, and his jaw dropped. If it was possible, Nuriko had gone even paler, as white as paper. That in and of itself was a shock, but Nuriko was standing on both feet on the couch cushions (although he wasn't making indents) where he'd been sitting when the brightness came, and he was pointing a bit too dramatically in front of him. Reijirou swallowed his questions and looked where he pointed.

He was really not prepared for what he saw. Sitting complacently there, still smoking his pipe idly and holding his wife's hand, was Ryobe. They were both watching the couch amusedly.

And there, on his right cheek, was the glowing white symbol "kei". Stride. Holy Suzaku…

"B-B-BYAKKO!"

"Oh, so there you are," Hoshiko commented, looking up at Nuriko, who'd only been able to stutter out that one word. "I was wondering. Now sit down."

Nuriko obeyed, dazedly.

Reijirou just stared. And stared. And stared…

"Close your mouth boy, you look like a fish."

He unconsciously followed Ryobe's direction and swallowed, hard. "Wh… Who… Who…"

"Who are we?"

He nodded silent agreement.

"I was – or am, depending on your point of view – Tokaki."

"And I'm Subaru."

"Byakko seishi…" Nuriko choked out. Hoshiko – or should I call her Subaru? – looked at the seishi worriedly. "Are you all right? I can do a lot of things, but I don't know what I can do for semi-ghosts…"

Reijirou didn't wait for Nuriko to answer. "How… How do you know?"

Ryobe/Tokaki looked at him in surprise. "What, you don't think this is the first time something like this has happened, do you?"



*************************************************************************************




AUTHOR'S NOTES II: ~grins innocently~ You couldn't expect me to leave them out, could you? Remember to respond to the poll! Bye peeps! ~poofs~