A/N: I just want to say that before you read this, the mood from the beginning of this chapter to the end of this chapter might change a lot. This is because I started writing this chapter near the end of ninth grade and now it's the end of tenth grade, so of course I have different ideas now than from when I started writing.
I also wanted to say that this story is probably not going to be as cute, innocent, and happy as the first story because I finished the first story about two and a half years ago and back then I was just a cuter, happier, more innocent person.
Also, this is my first completed fanfic chapter in more than a year, and it's one of my first chapters in a long time that's longer than two pages. I feel special.
So without further ado (God knows I've been keeping my readers waiting long enough)...
"GET UP!" Ji-na was awoken by Hikou screaming into her ear. "GET UP GET UP GET UP!"
"Why?" Ji-na whined, pulling her covers up over her head in an attempt to block out Hikou's voice.
"Because Chichiri has something important to tell his beloved."
Having just been woken up, Ji-na was rather groggy, so it took her a second longer than usual to precess what Hikou was saying.
"Unless he's dying I'm not going to him."
Normally Ji-na would have run out of her room to greet Chichiri in her nightclothes. She, however, wasn't a morning person and didn't like being woken up by other people.
"You have to go now!" Hikou insisted.
Ji-na burrowed deeper under the covers.
"Go away."
Instead of respecting her wishes, Hikou reached his transparent hand through Ji-na's covers and touched his fingers to her neck. Being a ghost his touch was icy cold. It made Ji-na shriek.
"Stop it!"
"I'll only stop if you get up," Hikou said teasingly.
Ji-na pretended to ignore Hikou as he kept placing his hands on her neck.
After about five minutes, Ji-na finally gave in and got up out of bed. The first thing she noticed was that it was completely dark outside.
"Hikou!" she shouted. "What time is it?"
"Oh, I don't know," Hikou said calmly. "Early morning. I'm not quite sure of the exact time."
Mumbling and cursing under her breath, Ji-na grabbed her pillow and followed Hikou out to the garden.
In the garden, through sleepy eyes, Ji-na saw Chichiri sitting in lotus position with a small smile on his maskless face.
"Hello Ji-na no da," chichiri said, spotting her. "I'm glad you came outside."
Ji-na grumbled in return. "I didn't come outside. I was forced out of my bed by Hikou in the middle of the night."
"I sent him to ask you if you wanted to watch the sun rise with me no da."
"You made me get up out of bed for that?" Ji-na practically shouted, raised up her pillow and brought it down firmly on Chichiri's head.
"I thought it would be a romantic moment no da. Though since you're obviously not a morning person, I suggest you go back to bed." His tone was frank, but getting hit on the head with a pillow by the girl you love is not exactly a smile-worthy moment.
Without a word, Ji-na turned on her heel and stomped off to her chambers. When she reached her bed she got in it and was out in a few minutes.
"Well," said Hikou, turning to Chichiri, "I don't think that was one of your more successful plans."
"Oh, be quiet no da." Chichiri was still upset from being hit with Ji-na's pillow.
"Well you gotta ask her sometime, Juni-boy, otherwise she'll be back home before you know it."
"I know, I know, but I think asking her when she's mad enough to hit me with a pillow is kind of a stupid idea no da. I want to ask her when she had he full senses about her."
"When you ask her she's not gonna have her full senses about her, believe me."
"Maybe I'll ask her tomorrow no da."
"Yeah, O.K.," Hikou said, rubbing his transparent temples, giving Chichiri a skeptical look.
Several hours after the encounter with Chichiri early that morning, Ji-na arose from the dining room table, her lunch finished. When she left the dining room, her little cousin Boushin ran up to her and tugged at her skirts.
"Do you want to come outside with me?" Ji-na asked him. Boushin nodded. Ji-na gave him a kiss on the nose, picked him up, and the two of them went outside to the courtyard.
"Let's go to the pagoda!" Boushin said excitedly. He pointed to the pagoda by the pond. Ji-na looked at the direction he was pointing his chubby little finger in and shivered. Three years ago she had been in that pagoda during a flood. When she had stepped out of the pagoda, she got dragged under by the water. She would have drowned, but she was saved by Chichiri. Since then, she had been more than happy to avoid sitting in that pagoda.
"How about we go over there, Boushin?" Ji-na pointed to a sunny patch of the courtyard that was far away from the pagoda.
"But I want to go to the pagoda!" protested Boushin.
"Why?"
"My father's there."
Ji-na slowly looked up at the pagoda, and felt her insides replaced by a block of ice. Inside the pagoda was Hotohori, sitting and staring into space. He looked just the way Ji-na remembered him, except that he was transparent.
Ji-na opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to make a sound come out of it, but none did.
"Come on, Ji-na!" Boushin said. "Let's go over!" Boushin ran over to the pagoda while Ji-na followed behind holding Boushin's hand, as if hypnotized.
"Daddy!" Boushin cried as the two of them neared the pagoda where Hotohori sat. "Daddy!"
Slowly, Hotohori turned his gaze to where the sound was coming from and broke out into a smile.
"Boushin!" he cried out happily, doing the best he possible could to give Boushin a hug. Then he looked up at Ji-na. "Hello, Ji-na," he said calmly, though he was very happy. "It's great to see you again."
Ji-na was still trying to make her voice work. She moved her jaw up and down, seeing if that would produce a sound. Acknowledging the fact that her voice had abandoned her, Ji-na tried to put her thoughts into arm gestures, but, alas, Hotohori was unfamiliar with arm gesture-ese.
"What are you doing here?" Ji-na finally managed to choke out.
"The same thing all the other dead seishi are doing," Hotohori said, his words carefully chosen and spoken as sweetly as when he was alive. "Hanging around to look after the ones I love."
"That's sweet," Ji-na said, meaning it.
"And over there it looks like someone else is looking after the one he loves," Hotohori said, nodding at someone over Ji-na's shoulder.
Ji-na turned around to find where Hotohori was nodding and saw Chichiri. He was fidgeting. Ji-na was surprised, because Chichiri was not the type of person to move in a nervous fashion. As she approached him, she hoped nothing was wrong. When she approached Chichiri and asked him if everything was alright, he assured her it was.
"Can... can we just go to a more private place in the garden?" Chichiri asked.
Before Ji-na could reply, Chichiri had grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away so quickly she had just enough time to call out, "Bye, Hohotohori!" before Chichiri brought her to a more secluded place, raising up a force field as soon as the two of them stopped walking.
"So no one can hear us," Chichiri said, responding to Ji-na's shocked expression. "This is also ghost-proof. I don't want any ghosts sneaking up behind us. What I have to say is very important."
Chichiri took both of Ji-na's hands in his and looked her straight in the eye.
"Ji-na," he said. He paused to take a deep breath. "Will you marry me?"
A/N: As always, leave reviews. As any fanfic author knows, reviews are much appreciated.
