I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Thank you for reviewing:

Crimson Firefox – Thank you :) Mr. Ghosty is my second favorite character (Tasuki and Chichiri being tied for first). And his name is reviled, but you might be able to guess it before it's said.

Chichiri's Wanderer– Lol. I did leave a nasty cliff hanger with the ghost didn't I. But the wait is nearly over as you'll find out in this chapter.

Pil-Z– Thank you :) Yes, it is indeed one of her powers, but there's more to it than you've seen thus far. Sorry for the spelling. I reread the last chapter when I was dead tired and my brain was about to shut off XP I'd have picked up more of the mistakes had I been awake.


Chapter 13

Lily found herself staring questioningly at the ghost only a few feet away from her. She hadn't the slightest idea who he was and she had never heard about him from Tasuki, leaving her to wonder his true purpose.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's rude to stare?" the ghost asked. There was no sign of offence in his voice, but the smile had vanished from his face.

"Sorry," Lily murmured. "Who are you?"

The ghost seemed to ponder the question. "Someone who wants to help, that's all you need to know at this point in time."

Tasuki raised a brow as he looked down at the girl in his arms, "Lil, who are you talking to?"

Before she could answer the seshi the ghost spoke once more, "You need to follow me, time is running out." He stood up and took several steps backwards, gaze staying upon her.

Lily's eyes widened, "You mean we've found what Byakko wanted us to?" The ghost nodded in response.

"Lily?" Tasuki was getting rather worried about the girls' odd behavior.

"It's a ghost," Lily answered the question he had asked before as she tried to get out of his embrace.

Tasuki did not release her however, he was concerned that she might be imagining things due to all the stress she'd been under. "I think you should get some rest."

"Genrou let go," Lily tugged on arms to no avail.

The ghost frowned, "It would figure that they would be most obstinate when it is least necessary."

"Tasuki let her go," Chichiri commanded.

"Do you see what she's seeing?" Tasuki asked in confusion.

The monk shook his head, "No, but perhaps we're not meant to. After all it is Lily's duty to free the gods, not our own."

With an agitated sigh Tasuki let the girl in his arms go, but suddenly missed the feeling once she was gone. "What do we have to do then?"

"He said to follow him," Lily told them as she brushed off her cloths. She looked to the two seshi's, "Common you two, we can at least explore some of the cave to see if what I'm being told is right or not."

Chichiri got to his feet, "That sounds like a good idea." Tasuki said nothing on the matter, or nothing that anyone could understand from his mumbling as he too stood.

Smiling Lily turned back to the ghost, "Let's go."

"Very anxious aren't we," the ghost chuckled. He turned and walked deeper into the cave.

Lily made to follow, but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder. She was turned around to face the one who stopped her; the redheaded bandit leader. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Before she could ask he held out Kouji's sword.

"Oh, thank you," she blushed in embarrassment as she took the sword. With a bit of help from the bandit she had it properly tied around her waist; she had a problem with tying the knot.

Tasuki smiled softlt at her, "Don't be in such a rush alright." He gave her a fond pat of the cheek, letting his hand linger where it was for a brief moment before pulling away completely.

"We'll be needing these as well," Chichiri said as he handed Lily a torch. A knowing smile played on his face as he handed one to Tasuki as well, causing the bandit to give him a confused glance.

"All set?" the ghost asked patiently from somewhere in the darkened area of the cave.

"I think so," Lily answered. With a final glace at her two friends she picked up her bag and made her way towards where the ghost lay hidden in darkness. She found him easily enough standing in front of a large boulder, his hands resting in the sleeves of his garment.

"This way," he turned and walked through the boulder.

"But-"

"It's an illusion," the ghost cut her off.

Taking a breath Lily closed her eyes and took a step forward. When she reopened them she found herself in a dark tunnel, the ghost standing a few feet away. She was shocked only for a brief moment, for when her friends came through her attention was diverted to them.

"Another passage," Chichiri said in wonder as he looked behind him at the illusion of the bolder. "Fenrir must have placed the illusion there."

"Correct Houjun," the ghost replied even though he knew the seshi could not hear him.

Lily gave him an odd look, "Ho-"

"Don't repeat it," the ghost said sternly, but is voice quickly came back to a normal tone, "It is Chichiri's rightful name, but if you use it he'll know who I am."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

The ghost sighed and turned around, "You would not understand." Without glancing back he started forward.

"Of course I can't if you don't tell me," Lily frowned as she followed, the two Suzaku seshi's not far behind her with confused faces.

"How is it that you were deathly afraid of me not ten minutes ago but now you're not afraid to badger me?"

"Because you scared me at first, but I remember back when you spoke out against Fenrir," Lily smiled, "You tried to get him away from me, so you can't be all that bad."

The ghost slowed his pace to allow her to come to his side. "Are you that trusting?"

"A life for a life is the old saying," Lily smiled up at him, "So I feel trust is the least I can do to repay you for trying to save me back then."

There was only silence between them for several moments. The only noise was the soft patter of feet on stone and the occasional droplet of water falling from the ceiling. It was an awkward silence, one where words could easily break it, yet they did not, at least not between the two of them.

"Are you getting this one sided conversation?" Tasuki whispered to the monk beside him, unfortunately for him the tunnel let it echo just enough for Lily to hear.

Chichiri gave him a look, "It isn't hard to understand, at least not yet. Besides, do you realize that they can hear you?"

"Eh?" Tasuki looked glanced forward in time to see Lily turn her head back forward. He laughed nervously, "No offence Lil."

Lily did not respond, but mentally she forgave the bandit. She turned her attention back to the translucent man beside her, "So mister Ghost, what is your name. You told me before not to call you 'it' so what should I call you."

"For now I am just a nameless ghost and I intend to keep it that way," his tone was calm, but his words were meant to be taken seriously.

She frowned, but let the subject drop. To busy herself she glanced around the passage as they continued their trek. The walls were ragged from the water that leaked down from the ceiling and even the floor had its ridges. Every so often a stray passage leading off of the one they were on appeared.

"Where do those passage lead?" Lily found herself asking.

"To different places all over Kutou," the ghost answered. "None of which will be of any use to us."

"Oh, al-YAH!" Lily broke off screaming and stumbled to the floor as something rather large ran out at her from a passage they were just passing. That something turned out to be a lizard like creature with extremely sharp teeth and drool dripping from its jaws.

The ghost grabbed her, protecting her from a vicious bite that would have left her badly wounded, but it did hit his forearm. His face scrunched up in pain as the animal bit down harder, trying to remove the lib.

"What the hell is it biting!" Tasuki yelled, relieved that Lily unharmed.

Getting away from the ghost who had saved her she quickly got to her feet and took out her sword. "Hold still," she told the dark haired man before raising her sword into the air. Feeling that it was in the proper place she threw her arms down, letting the sharp blade slice through the animals neck before it had time to turn and attack her.

Lily was left shaken and stumbled backwards, falling to her behind once more. Never before had she killed anything and even though she knew she had saved someone's life doing it she didn't feel any better. She watched the ghost take his arm from the jaws of the beast and gingerly hold it as it bled.

Forgetting the blade she moved to the injured man. "How could it hurt you?" She asked as she made a move to take his arm, only to fail as he waved her away.

"Fenrir has granted these beasts such abilities," he answered through clenched teeth. "He deems us a nuisance and wanted to get rid if us before you arrived."

"Us? There's others like you?" She asked.

"Only one more, she's farther ahead."

Lily nodded and sighed as she watched the man cradle his arm. "Can you just let me see it? You did get injured protecting me."

"You wouldn't be able to do anything," he told her, "The cave doesn't have Fenrir's spell on it, only the creatures."

Tasuki appeared at Lily's side with the blade she had neglected, the blood wiped from it already. "Here," he carefully handed her the hilt so she could put it away.

"Thanks Genrou," she said softly as she took the sword.

"Welcome," he replied as he looked curiously at the ground. "There's blood here and it's not from the lizard." He looked up, "Are you hurt?"

"No," Lily replied. With the ghosts distraction she snatched his arm away, but was mindful of the wound.

The ghost was clearly shocked beyond belief, "You- you can touch me."

Lily looked at the arm in her hands and blinked, "I guess so." She didn't know whether she had initially thought she could touch him or if she had thought her hand would go strait through him, but whatever she had thought she had proven his claim incorrect.

"How can you touch me?"

"Honestly I don't know," Lily replied, still in shock herself. With a slight shake of her head she cleared her mind, "But it doesn't matter, just let me tend to this nasty bite." She carefully removed her bag from her back, always keeping one supporting hand on the injured limb. She handed the bag to Tasuki, "Can you take out the bandages that Kouji made me pack?"

Tasuki nodded and shifted things around until he found what was wanted as well as some ointment. He knew now that this ghost she had been talking about was as real as he was, the blood had proven that.

Without a word Lily lifted up the ghost's sleeve, grimacing at the wound for only a moment before she took the objects from Tasuki. Quickly but gently she applied the ointment before handing the bottle back to the bandit and tightly wrapped the area up to stop the bleeding.

With all that done she let out a sigh, "I hope that helps."

"It will, thank you," he replied with a smile as he took his arm back, only to gasp.

"What is it?" Lily asked in worry.

The dark haired man flexed his hand, "This can't be."

Lily looked to Tasuki, silently pleading for him to tell her what she had done wrong. Her look was quickly wiped from her face as she saw the bandit standing there wide eyed and mouth agape. She turned to see Chichiri not far behind her and he seemed to be in a complete state of shock as well.

"I can see him!" Tasuki suddenly yelled. "Oi, Chichiri it's him!"

"What?" Lily was deeply confused.

Chichiri remained rooted to his spot, his gaze now locked with the one who had once been invisible, "Hikou."


The ghost is Hikou! … You meet him in the OVA's. For anyone who hasn't seen them Hikou was/still is Chichiri's best friend. I love Hikou! I completely misunderstood him the first time I saw the episode (oops), but when I re-watched it I understood his pain and suffering.

But somehow he's become visible... or at least partly so. How?

Please review.

Thanks!