Chapter 1

Posted January 22, 2006

Disclaimer; See Prologue

Akiko yawned. It was only her second week working at the hospital after she had asked for a transfer and she had already fallen into a boring routine. Wake up at six, get dressed, take a shower, eat breakfast, wake Hikari, prepare bag for Ken and lunch for Hikari, wake Ken up, feed him breakfast, get Ken dressed, see Hikari off for the bus, take Ken to daycare, go to work, do rounds at the hospital, find a quick lunch, continue rounds, meet Hikari at the entrance and bring her to the office to do her homework and get her to help with some of the nurses after, finish rounds, get Hikari and pick-up Ken from daycare, go home, prepare supper, play with kids, read for a bit then finally go to bed.

She checked her watch. It was almost four in the afternoon; Hikari would be arriving any minute then. She stood up from her small desk in the cramped nurses' office and made her way through the labyrinth that was the hospital.

As she neared the entrance, she immediately recognized her eldest child; it wasn't by her chestnut brown hair that reached a little past her shoulder blades, that her and her younger brother had inherited from their father, although Hikari had several small strands of her own raven hair, nor was it the calming brown eyes that were partially hidden behind her glasses, which were tinted due to the large amount of sunlight this part of the country had been receiving lately- she had inherited from her; no, it was the fact that she was the only person that had a spirit floating around their heads.

Akiko sighed at the sight of the black ghost cat. She had appeared not long before they had moved and had attached himself to Hikari and refused to go anywhere she wasn't, which had caused problems for Hikaris' own Guardian; Shigure, an Inugami. Her own Ghost; a deceased doctor named Tom she had acquired when she was a little girl, had no problems with the slim black cat, but the cat was a nuisance to the Inugami; him being a dog-spirit and all.

She couldn't quite remember when Hikari had acquired her own spirit, he had appeared during a short time after her husband, Alex, had died in the hospital and she had been suffering from a depression. She greatly admired her daughter for her strength during the few weeks after her husband had passed, for taking care of the rest of the family. From making sure she got to work to taking care of her little brother.

She didn't know what she would have done without her.

"I hope you had fun at school, Hika-chan. Did anything interesting happen today?" She asked her daughter, whose head swivelled her way when she heard her voice.

"Nothing much, Kaa-san. We had a test in ecology, but I am sure I did well." Said Hikari, turning around to greet her mother. She followed her mother into the maze, all the while watching where she was going for future reference; in case she got lost or something. When they reached the cramped office, she went to her mothers desk, barely noticing that there were no other people there and began to place her school work, the cat still circling her head. Satisfied, Akiko left to continue her rounds, taking her clip-board with her.

Hmm, let's see, she thought, flipping through her papers. I only have three more people to see before I can leave.

She had to visit the elderly Mrs. Dubois and give her medication, making sure she took them and then she was off to the maternity ward to make sure that everyone was comfortable and finally, a John Doe. He had been admitted late last night after he had been found on the side of the highway, just on the edge of town. He had no sever injures, only a few small burns on the chest and fingers and a fractured rib, but so far didn't look to be causing major pain. Also, he was only wearing a pair of jeans and some dog-tags with the word Hiro written on it, as well as some red device on his arm. There was no other identification whatsoever on the body.

They had done all they could to make him comfortable and all they had to do was wait for him to wake up and ask for his identity. They had already taken finger prints for the police to search through records, but it could take weeks to get results. He was to have someone with him 24 hours a day until he wakes up. Sara, a co-worker of hers, would replace her at the end of her shift. Akiko sighed; it was going to be a long evening, watching a sleeping boy for several hours. Maybe she could get her daughter to accompany her and help her with her homework?

So, she went on with what was left of her shift. Finally, one hour after she had met her daughter, she found herself in front of the John Doe, surprisingly; her daughter was already there, using the table as a desk. She was about to ask what she was doing here when her daughter spoke.

"Kayla-san asked me to take what was left of her shift, something came up at her sons' after-school activity and she had to leave immediately." She said, turning a page in her text book.

She calmly walked towards her daughter and hugged her in a motherly embrace.

"Hika-chan –" Started Akiko, but she was interrupted.

"Akiko! We need your help! There's been an accident on the Highway; we need all available personnel ready. We have four wounded on the way; they should arrive any minute now!" Said a doctor, standing by the door.

Akiko sighed released her daughter and got up, following the doctor, she smiled at her daughter before leaving.

Hikari waited until her mother was out of the room before shutting her Math text book with a snap and leaning back in her chair. She shrugged off her jean jacket; it was warmer in the boys' room than in her mothers' office and stretched her arms. Her eyes were tired, so she removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes before leaning back on her chair and relaxing for several minutes.

After looking at the back of her eyelids for several she slowly opened them and looked up at the ceiling, silently wondering why everything was blurry and then realized that she hadn't put her glasses on. She did so then look at the only patient in the room.

He seemed young, probably her age or at the most a year older. He had brown hair that was only slightly paler than hers, they were also a lot longer than hers and she estimated that they reached his waist or so, if his bangs were anything to go by.

She played with a strand of her for a while, but quickly grew bored. She looked at her homework that was splayed over the table, before grabbing her sketch book.

"Ne, Shigure, how about we catch up on some art homework? It's due tomorrow." Said Hikari, looking down at her memorial tablet she had removed from her bag. Out of the tablet came a large Siberian husky. He was all black except for his muzzle and paws, which were white and he had the most striking blue eyes imaginable.

He looked up at hi mistress, growling at the cat that was still going in circles around her head, before jumping on bed and curling up. Hikari grabbed her bag and took out her art pencils and grabbing her sketch book from the table.

She opened the book to her book and found a blank page, then leaned back, thinking on what she could draw. Her art teacher had given her class free reign, the only rule was that it had to be a living person and she was stumped on what to draw.

She could draw Shigure, but she had done a lot of that lately, besides, it had to be a person. Her little brother, perhaps? No, he'd never stay still long enough to draw him. Her mother perhaps? No, she wouldn't have enough time; it'd over an hour to draw completely. She looked around blankly at the walls, lost in thought.

She couldn't ask anyone in her class, she had just transferred there a few weeks ago and didn't know anyone. She looked at the boy on the bed. She thought for a bit, maybe she could draw him? They weren't going anywhere for a little while, so why not?

She grabbed her pencil and started drawing the sleeping boy before her. An hour or so later, she was done, it wasn't perfect and was in black and white, but she figured her art teacher would be pleased. She had given it her best shot and had done what was expected of her.

Just as she was putting the finishing touches on his hair, her mother walked in.

Pain. That was the first sensation he noticed. It wasn't an intense I'm-dying-a-very-painful-death type of pain, more little a dull throbbing that originated in his head. The next thing he noticed was that he could hear some voices around him. He couldn't tell make out what was being said clearly.

The next thing he noticed was that all he was seeing was a black void and he silently wondered why. Was he blind? No, it's just that his eyes were closed. He thought blankly. Why not open them? So he did, but he was blinded by the light of the room and quickly shut them again. He groaned.

This action caused the voices to stop, which he was partially grateful for, the humming of the voices was giving him a headache.

Slowly, he opened his eyes again, ignoring the glare of the harsh lights above him. He looked around. At first, everything was blurry and he couldn't make out anything very clearly.

After several seconds, his vision cleared and the first thing he saw a young girl, she had brown hair and eyes. He looked to the right and saw a woman older than the first one, she had darker hair and eyes than the girl, but other than that, they had similar features. Must be related, he concluded.

Then he noticed that there was a third person just behind the second woman. He had short, dirty blond hair and green eyes; all he could see of his clothes was a long white jacket. He seemed…different from the first two women. He looked at the man a little more closely and then he noticed what was different with the man. He was transparent.

Authors note; Well, here's chapter one, all finished and ready to go. I've already started working on chapter two and I hope to get it up by next Sunday (I'll try to go for one a week). I hope that my old readers like this version of my fic better than my old one and that new readers like it period. If you have any comments or if you find any errors, I would greatly appreciate it. Until next update! Remember, reviews are greatly appreciated, even if it's to say it's a good fic; who knows, I get enough reviews, I might write faster!