Onto chapter 4

Shinichi wasn't sure what to do. Here was a random woman he'd never met coming into his hospital room, able to see his ghost, and announcing she was meant to help him with his abilities. He was saved from having to say anything when his father spoke up.

"Not to be rude Koizumi-san, but I'm afraid we'd like for you to elaborate. You said you're here to help Shinichi?"

"That's correct," Akako nodded and tucked some stray hairs behind her left ear. "I'm afraid I deal more in magic than spirits, however I should be able to help Kudo-kun begin to control his powers."

"Not to sound ungrateful," Shinichi said, "But I don't know you except from what Kuroba has mentioned. Why are you helping me?"

Akako stared at him seriously, no hint of deception on her face. "You are favored by death itself Kudo-kun. I may be powerful, but not even I can go up against something so powerful. As for Kuroba-kun…" She shook her head with a small smile.

"You said you deal in magic."

"I am a witch, Kudo-kun. Unlike Kuroba-kun and his silly little sleight of hand tricks, my magic is real. Spells, potions, demons, and visions. I was the one who supplied Kuroba-kun the spell that allowed him, Hakuba-kun, and Hattori-kun to enter your dreams." Shinichi knew something had been weird, but he hadn't realized the three had actually entered his dreams. He hadn't realized that was possible. As much as he wanted to be upset, he was thankful to them. For the three to go that far for him…he was lucky to have them as friends.

"Demons?" The blue eyed teen had almost forgotten about his parents. He'd let go when Akako had entered, so they had only been hearing half the conversation. Moving back over to them, he put his hands through theirs again in order to allow them to hear what he said as well.

"Yes Kudo-san. My powers allow me to call upon demons, such as Lucifer, to do my bidding."

"Is it your powers that is allowing you to see me?" Shinichi wondered aloud. "You said you didn't deal with spirits earlier."

"Spirits are not within my realm of powers. I am only able to see you now because you are radiating power. It is because you let your powers consume you that you have had problems with your powers, yet allowing it to do so is also what is granting the ability for those you touch to hear you speak in this form."

Gliding over to the bed, she gracefully sat on the edge of it and folded her hands in her lap before continuing. "When you stop letting your powers control you, and you learn to control them, you won't have need to rely on those meaningless objects such as those." She waved one hand dismissively towards the bedside table where his parents had set his glasses, gloves, earplugs, and the charm he'd been given when he was young. "By learning control, your powers won't radiate from you as they do now. Unless you want it, they won't affect others anymore."

The blue eyed teen swallowed. So if he learned to control his abilities, he wouldn't have to worry about people touching him and seeing what he saw. He wouldn't have to worry about his abilities getting out. He wouldn't have to deal with people leaving him because of it.

Turning to the young red haired woman, he bowed his head slightly. "I would be grateful for your help."

"Shin-chan," Yukiko said, standing up along with her husband. "We'll leave you and Koizumi-chan alone to work on this. We'll be back later, alright?"

Yuusaku nodded to the girl on the bed. "Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help."

As his parents left, the blue eyed teen suddenly thought of something. "Koizumi-san, if I learn to control these abilities, will I be able to return to my body?"

Akako shook her head. "It is possible. As I stated before, spirits are not my domain. I was simply instructed to come and begin your training. Once you have control, my job will be done. I do know this however. The longer you stay separated from your body, the weaker the body becomes and the harder it will be for you to return. Think of it as a time limit. If you are unable to gain adequate control over your powers within a certain time frame, it may become impossible to return altogether."

Shinichi grimaced. "And how long is this time frame?"

"I cannot answer that. For now, you should just concentrate on mastering control as soon as you can."

The blue eyed teen studied the scarlet eyed teen sitting on the bed for a few moments. "You seem very concerned that I return for someone who was ordered to come and help."

The female narrowed her eyes before sighing. "I cannot stand to see Kuroba-kun so distressed. The sooner you gain control and return to your body, the sooner he will return to normal."

"You care for him." Akako flushed slightly but didn't answer.

"Let us begin. Kudo-kun, I want you to start by thinking about where your powers are located. Find the source." Shinichi didn't both pushing her and closed his eyes. He'd never thought about where his abilities were located. He'd always just assumed they were part of him as a whole. Logically he would put them in his mind, but in every story or myth powers were located near the heart. However, being a ghost, did he even have a heart? Or a brain for that matter? What was a ghost composed of? He'd seen earlier that with his soul outside the body, his body held no powers. So that meant it was contained within his soul. Yet-

"Kudo-kun," Opening his eyes, he blinked at the female. "You're thinking too much about it. Your powers are a part of you. You should be able to feel where the source is." Shinichi stared at her. He'd never been much for feelings. He preferred logic and rationality. If he was supposed to feel for his powers, then learning control would become much harder than he originally expected.

Remember how I said I didn't know how to write Akako since I'd never written for her before? Yeah. This chapter is shorter, but it's actually a really good place to stop. I'm not going to cover the whole of his 'training' because I have another part I want to get to (and I have no idea what to write for the whole 'controlling his powers' thing). Let me know what you thought!

Also, I really hope this story is turning out to be what you all hoped it to be. There seemed to be some pretty high expectations in the reviews and I just hope for an ending story this is living up to those expectations. Still not sure how long it's going to wind up being.