"You want what?" Mizuki asked into the phone, staring stunned at Fuji. Fuji looked back at him with his ever-present smile on his lips.

Fuji had handed him the phone as soon as it rang, and Mizuki hadn't been on stable mental ground from the time Atsushi said hi.

"I want you to come and look at my brother," the younger Kisarazu twin said. "I don't know what's going on, but you're seeing ghosts, and he's dreaming of Saeki. Or... not seeing ghosts you should be, I guess."

Mizuki stiffened. "He's what?"

"Dreaming of Saeki," Atsushi said. "About him coming in and talking to him. And he's tired all the time," he added. "And pale."

Mizuki looked at Fuji, who stiffened as well. Mizuki no longer wondered when he did that. "When is he off work? We can meet you at his place or at yours."

"Mine. He's staying here as of today. I hope it'll stop these dreams, but I still want you to look at him. Talk to him. Can you tell if someone's being haunted, even if the ghost isn't there?" He sounded desperate.

Mizuki blinked. "Uh... no. Sorry. What's your address?" He wrote it down, said good bye, and hung up. "We have an appointment tonight," he said. "Seven, at this address." He handed the paper to Fuji, who took it and then shrugged. Mizuki shrugged as well. Sometimes Fuji got something from addresses, sometimes he didn't.

"Good. I'll call An, and Jirou should be in by then." Fuji got up and started to move away, then turned to look at Mizuki. "How did he know to call you?" he asked.

Mizuki shifted. "He overheard me say that there were no ghosts at Saeki-san's funeral," he said.

Fuji nodded. "Ah," he murmured. "That would do it." He turned away and left the room, heading down the hall way toward his own office.

Mizuki shook his head and scowled. Some days, Fuji could still get on his nerves.

Jirou's first question, when he got in, was to ask if they'd gotten their passports and all necessary paperwork for visiting the United states. He'd been at them for the last weeks when he'd woken from one of his stronger prophetic dreams. Whatever he'd dreamed had lit a fire under him. As soon as he got their affirmatives, he turned to An. "Have you gotten permission to take your sword?"

"It's hard to come up with a reason if you can't tell me one other than 'to cut off a vampire's head,'" she told him.

Jirou blinked at her, startled. Mizuki stifled an urge to giggle.

"I sent it in yesterday," An said and smiled. "To the address you told me to."

"Good," Jirou said, and his short moment of wakefulness ended. He slumped into a chair and closed his eyes.

Mizuki shook his head. "When do you want to leave?" he asked Fuji, who looked up from the calendar on his desk.

"In a couple of hours," Fuji said. "Is everything else taken care of?"

"I think so," An said. "The incubus is dead, and the rumor of the ghoul turned out to be just that, a rumor. Someone tried to drum up customers, but it backfired. No one would go near the place."

Mizuki shook his head. "Idiots."

:It's hard to argue with An when she's got a sword at your throat,: Kippei said, smiling at An.

"I bet the guy needed to change his pants," Mizuki muttered, not surprised.

"Who are you talking to?" An asked.

"Ghost," Mizuki said, and she nodded. He watched her a bit, wondering how she really felt. He didn't know her very well; most of what he knew, he learned from her brother, who followed her around, watching over her. Kippei didn't try to do anything for her or direct her life, but he was there supporting her as best as he could. And in accordance to Kippei's original request, Mizuki had never told An her brother watched over her.

A couple of hours later, they all got into Fuji's car and headed for the area of Chiba where Atsushi lived. Jirou sat in the back seat with Mizuki and leaned against the car window, eyes closed. Mizuki regarded him for a moment, then went back to his laptop, looking up the area and anything else he could find. "Find anything?" Fuji asked.

"Something," Mizuki said, glancing up and meeting his gaze in the rear view mirror. "There have has been some increase in people feeling dizzy, but nothing really stark. That's not a good measure, if they're like Ryou and didn't or won't go to the hospital. There has been reports of a slight increase in bodies, but they don't say if they're bloodless or not."

Fuji nodded, focused on the road. "Is there an alternate route?"

Mizuki checked. "Yes, if you take the next left. Traffic?"

"No."

Which was all the answer they got most of the time. An glanced back at Mizuki, confused. She said nothing before she turned around to look out the window again. Mizuki went back to his reports, unable to figure out what was going on. Nothing pointed to anything drastic happening in Chiba, nothing about the area around them. It made no sense. He knew better than to hit his laptop, but he wanted to.

And that Ryou dreamed of Saeki? It might be shrugged off, if it hadn't been so often. Four times in a week was just a bit too much. And he was dizzy... Brow furrowed, Mizuki went back to researching, putting in the symptoms instead of trying to figure it out by looking up what he thought it might be. Fuji's group wasn't the only one around that did this, and they all tried to help each other, posting their experiences on the web. None of them listed anything like what they had, but all of the websites were relatively new. At least the active sites were. The older sites weren't updated any more, which made him wonder what had happened to those groups.

Anything to help him feel better about not being able to find any information. But nothing came of that search, either.

"Here," Fuji said, stopping in front of an apartment building and saving Mizuki's laptop from a flight out the window, even if he didn't know it. Fuji looked up at the building, then shook his head and pulled into the parking lot. Mizuki slammed his laptop shut and nudged Jirou awake. The blonde stretched and yawned. Mizuki yawned in response - and rolled his eyes.

Climbing out, Mizuki looked up at the building. "He's on the seventh floor," he said. "The elevator is rickety, but it works fine."

"Rickety is ominous," An said as they walked toward the door.

Atsushi stood at the door to his apartment when they got off the elevator, looking worried. "Thank you for coming," he said to Mizuki, bowing to the rest of them. "Please, come in." He backed up to let them in.

Mizuki kicked his shoes off and followed Atsushi into the main room of the apartment. He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Kippei drift off down the hall farther into the apartment. Probably checking to make sure nothing there would hurt An. The sun shone in the windows, lightening it up, framing Atsushi's twin.

He looked horrible, his face pale, eyes sunken, and he looked like he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. "Hello," he said, and started to stand up. Atsushi slipped around his guests and went to stand next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to keep Ryou in his seat. "Forgive me, I'm not feeling well."

Fuji glanced at the rest of them, his expression unreadable (nothing new there). "Can you tell me about your dreams?" he asked, sitting across from Ryou. Mizuki moved to stand behind Fuji, and An joined him. Jirou didn't move. When Mizuki looked back to check on him, it looked like he had fallen asleep on his feet. As it was Jirou, he probably had.

Ryou shrugged. "It's... I'm in bed, and it's night. Saeki comes in..."

"Where?"

Ryou blinked. "Where?" Fuji asked. Misuki gave himself a mental shake and turned his attention back to the conversation.

"How does he get in?"

Ryou tilted his head, brow furrowed. "I... don't know. He's just... there."

Fuji nodded. "You don't see him come in."

"No." Ryou closed his eyes. "But he sits next to me, and he tells me how lonely he is, how he wants someone to share this experience with him."

"Does he tell you what experience he means?"

"No." Ryou looked up at Fuji. "Do you think he means death?"

:No, he doesn't mean death,: Kippei said, and Mizuki jumped. An glanced at him, and he started.

"I don't know. Then what does he do?"

Ryou looked embarrassed, and probably would have colored if he'd had enough blood to blush. "He... kisses my hand."

Fuji started. "He... kisses your hand? He didn't do things like that."

"I know," Ryou said. "But he does now."

"Which hand?"

Ryou held out his left hand. "This one."

Fuji got up and knelt by him, taking Ryou's hand in his own. He touched it, fingers gliding over the skin. "Where, exactly?" he asked.

Ryou pointed to a spot on his palm, just under his thumb. "It's weird, but it's not, you know? Like it's expected... Ouch. Odd things are normal in dreams."

Fuji looked up at him and immediately eased the pressure he'd put there. "It hurts?"

"Like I've bruised it or something. But I haven't that I know of."

Fuji looked up at Mizuki. "Anything here?"

Mizuki glanced at Kippei, then shook his head when Kippei did. "No. Not that we can find, anyway."

"Hm." Fuji looked up at Atsushi. "Did you tell him what you overheard?"

"No."

"Overheard when?" Ryou asked, pulling his hand free. Fuji stood and backed up a little.

"At the funeral," Atsushi said. "Mizuki said that there weren't any ghosts."

"No ghosts?" Ryou stared at Mizuki like he'd grown a second head.

"They are usually pretty thick at a funeral, trying to comfort the mourners, there to help the deceased go on. There was only one, and he was attached to a specific person for a specific purpose," Mizuki explained. "I don't know what that means or why they wouldn't be there. But then you started dreaming about him..." He shrugged. "It can't be a coincidence."

"Why not? We were good friends," Ryou said, shooting his twin a glare.

"Factor in your health, and it's quite obvious something is wrong," Fuji said. Ryou scowled.

"We just don't know what. Yet," An said.

"Will it be okay if one of us stays with you tonight?" Fuji asked, looking at Atsushi.

"All of you can," Atsushi said immediately. "If you think it'll help, then stay."

Fuji lifted an eyebrow, and then looked at Jirou, who blinked sleepily at him. "No reason not to," he said, which was as close as a confirmation as Jirou sometimes gave. Mizuki stifled the urge to roll his eyes.

"Thank you," Fuji said. "We'll take you up on that."