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Something was coming... pursuing him, hunting him, coming closer and closer. He was the prey, unable to hide or escape. He was frozen, helpless in the path of the coming hunter...
Ikeda Mitsuru woke up screaming. For long moments, he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling above him. Wait a minute. Ceiling? He sat up shakily, feeling his clothes stick to his sweat dampened skin and ran a hand through his hair. God what a nightmare... He looked around. He was in the top bunk. Must have fallen asleep while I was reading.
Rolling over onto his stomach he peered out the window. It looked clear outside, no sign of clouds or anything. I could've sworn I heard thunder. Was it only part of the nightmare?
He leaned over the side of the bed. "Hey, Shinobu." He pushed aside the curtain and lowered himself down to hang upside down so he could see the other boy. "Did you hear thunder or something just a second ago?"
Shinobu opened his eyes and turned slightly to face him. "No, but I did hear you screaming. Did you have a dream about being chased by a pregnant girl you dumped?" The tone of voice was teasing and on any other occasion, Mitsuru would have risen to the bait, but the memory of the nightmare was still too fresh.
A dream...?
****
"uh. My shoulder's killing me!" Mitsuru rubbed his arm and rolled his shoulder, trying to relieve some of the tension.
"You sound like an old man," Shinobu teased him.
"Maybe I'm getting sick. I've been getting chills lately." All day as a matter of fact. Ever since he'd woken from that nightmare. Come to think of it, that's when his shoulder had started to ache as well. He'd been looking forward to getting out of class all afternoon hoping he'd be able to take a hot bath and work out the knot in his shoulder.
"Mitsuru!" Shun ran up alongside him and stopped in front of him. "Are you heading back?" He nodded and the younger boy beamed up at him. "Would it be okay if I watched another video in your room tonight? Huh?"
Mitsuru slumped. "You know, there are times I wish I was as carefree as you are."
Hasukawa came up to stand beside Shun, probably having been left behind when his roommate ran to catch up with Mitsuru and looked at Mitsuru strangely. "What's with you, Mitsuru?"
Shun's attention was diverted. "Oh! It's Tac!" He rushed off ahead, leaving his three friends to stare after him. Mitsuru followed Shun and saw the orange and white tabby cat perched atop the fence that surrounded Greenwood. Shun reached up to pet it and it meowed.
"Tac?" Hasukawa asked.
"Yeah, Tac!" Shun replied. "It's cat, backwards."
"That's just like you," Hasukawa scoffed. "I suppose you'd name a rabbit Tibbar."
"And a panda Adnap," Shinobu added in a steady voice, getting in his own little teasing.
Mitsuru ignored them all and walked past them through the gate, intending nothing more than a hot bath and maybe some tea. He heard a hissing and stopped, looking up at the cat. Tac was growling at him, spitting. He stared at the cat as it jumped down and ran away.
Hasukawa huffed. "You must've been teasing that cat, Mitsuru!"
"I've never seen her before," Mitsuru shrugged, a little surprised at its actions.
"She looked scared of something!" Shun said accusingly.
"Who cares?" Mitsuru decided. Stupid cat.
"Mitsuru!"
"huh?" He glanced up, straight into the fierce gaze of his best friend and lover. He stood uncomfortably for a long moment as Shinobu's gaze seemed to pierce right through him. He fought back a shiver. Usually he didn't mind, but something in Shinobu's expression made this less intimate and more infiltrating. He was about to say something, ask what was wrong, when Shinobu spoke. "A spirit is haunting you."
Mitsuru froze. It wasn't like Shinobu to play games like this, not with Mitsuru at least. And the idea of a a spirit was too... too close to home right now. A shiver spiked down his spine and the ache in his shoulder suddenly intensified. He remembered the nightmare from that morning and frowned suddenly. Ridiculous. Suddenly angry he glared at his friend. "Will you cut it out, Shinobu? You know, sometimes your jokes aren't as funny as you think they are!"
"Who says I'm joking?" Shinobu asked quietly as he walked past him.
Mitsuru watched him go, suddenly very nervous.
With a wide yawn, Ikeda Mitsuru propped his head up on his arms, laying sprawled across the floor of his dorm room. The small television on the bookshelf was playing a movie which only half held his interest. He tipped his head to the side and watched the flickering images, one hand absently reaching to rub at his left shoulder.
"Is that still bothering you?" Shinobu was sitting at the desk, reading, but he glanced over as he asked.
"Yeah," Mitsuru admitted. "I must've pulled it, or slept on it funny." He leaned his head back to smile up at his lover. "The pillow on the top bunk isn't half as comfortable to lie on as you are."
Shinobu smirked. "That's what you get for falling asleep in the wrong bed, isn't it? Would you like a backrub before we go to sleep tonight?"
"Would I," Mitsuru echoed delightedly. "Promise?"
"Only if you behave yourself. I have to be up early for an exam tomorrow." Shinobu turned back to his book. "I doubt a massage will do much good, but perhaps it will make it more comfortable for you to sleep on tonight."
Mitsuru scowled. "No more of that spirit talk, all right. It's nonsense."
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"Of course not!" Mitsuru said adamantly. He narrowed his eyes. "You have been known to creatively withhold certain key elements of the truth, however."
"If you're implying that the incident with Nagisa would repeat itself-" Shinobu's voice sounded pained and Mitsuru shook his head, fiercely denying that had been what he meant. "I wouldn't throw that in your face, Shin. We've been through that, over it and passed it. I was only teasing..." Mitsuru knew how much his lover regretted the time he'd sent Mitsuru after Nagisa without explaining what would happen, or even who he was dealing with. It had been a desperate gamble to rescue a hostage, and Mitsuru had understood, but once it was over Mitsuru had Shinobu's vow never to repeat it, never to set him against Nagisa unprepared again.
The reassurance seemed to assure the other boy. "How else do you explain the nightmare you had last night? The ache in your shoulder? You know I can see things sometimes."
That was true and the implications bothered Mitsuru. If Shinobu was serious. "Why would a ghost want to haunt me?"
Shinobu chuckled deep in his throat. "I can think of a few reasons," he said meaningfully.
Mitsuru reached out and smacked the back of his leg, the only part of him he could reach from his prone position on the floor. "Baka. Be serious. If you're so sure I'm being haunted, put that second-sight of yours to good measure and figure out why."
"It is not," he said with an air of wounded dignity, "as if spirits wear some sort of sign advertising their intent."
"So you don't know anything."
"It doesn't seem malicious," Shinobu said thoughtfully. "Merely restless."
"Great." Mitsuru's eyes drifted back tot he movie. Any lingering belief he'd had that Shinobu was merely teasing was now gone; his lover was serious. "Spirit or not, I'm still collecting on that backrub."
"My pleasure."
Mitsuru checked the clock, noting the time. It was almost lights out. "What test do you have tomorrow?"
"Physics. He just announced it today."
"ugh," Mitsuru commiserated. "Takehito-sensei's a stickler."
"Indeed. Fortunately I-" Shinobu paused in the middle of his sentence. His eyes narrowed and he stood, quickly. "It's here."
"What?" Mitsuru blinked up at him.
"The spirit. It's here. Stand up." He offered his hand and pulled the other boy to his feet.
Mitsuru scanned the room quickly. "Are you sur-"
The lights went out.
A thrill ran down Mitsuru's spine and he shivered involuntarily.
A flare of light from the television drew their attention, but it wasn't the power coming back on. A glowing sphere of white light started to form in the center of the screen, wispy tendrils escaping to dissipate into the room. Eyes wide, Mitsuru took a tentative step forward. All at once the light coalesced and drew in on itself, then expanded, bursting out of the television and taking on human form.
"K'so!" Mitsuru jerked backwards. It was hideous; scraggly white hair framing a bony, blue-tinted face. It drifted free of the television and hovered in midair; narrowed, yellow eyes raising to fix on Mitsuru's face. With a cackling laugh, it lunged at him.
A startled scream tore lose of him as he dodged frantically. He felt a spasm of cold air as it nearly caught him, then he was on the other side of the room, back pressed against the bed as the creature slowly advanced on him again.
He heard the door open and the sound of footsteps, then Shinobu's quiet voice, echoing his earlier words. "It's here." Mitsuru wasn't able to tear his eyes away from the ghost long enough to see who the new arrivals were but he heard their startled gasps. "Where did it come from?" Hasukawa asked in a wavery voice.
Shinobu said something, but Mitsuru was past hearing as the ghost came closer and closer... he could feel the cold practically pouring off the creature... Maybe that was why he was shivering...
It leaned in close and raised two cloth draped hands to touch the side of his face, sending a iceblade of cold through him. It lowered its face toward his and Mitsuru had the insane thought that it was going to try and kiss him... Better that then trying to bite his face off, he supposed. He closed his eyes and tried to turn away - and in a rush of frigid air it was gone, and a young girl appeared in it's place, arms in the air and a wide smile playing over her face. "Boo!"
Suka and Shun were shouting, and the lights were flickering back on as Mitsuru remembered how to breathe. He took one look and the smiling, laughing young girl in front of him and facefaulted.
Shinobu set down a mug of hot tea. "Here you go." They - Shinobu, Shun, Hasukawa, three other boys, and of course, the ghost girl - sat around the table in the center of Shinobu and Mitsuru's room, discussing the situation. Mitsuru sat on the far side of the table from Shinobu, behind the ghost girl, his back turned to them all. Judging by the defiant set of his shoulders, Shinobu could tell that his lover was less than ecstatic with the recent development. Probably mourning the loss of his backrub.
The girl looked up at Shinobu. "hmm? Oh, thanks very much but I can't drink anything. It'd just pass through me." She giggled and waved her hand through the mug. The other boys leaned forward, eyes wide. Shinobu watched, unimpressed. "And I can do cool stuff like this! Just watch!" She reached beneath the table and her hand passed through the wood, two fingers up in a 'V' sign. "Umm... My name's Misako and in case you're wondering, I'm sixteen years old!"
Shun was watching her curiously. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Misako, but is this how you really look?"
"Uh-huh."
"Then that scary version we saw before?" Suka asked.
Misako beamed. "Oh no! That was just artistic license. After all I am a ghost, so I try to look the way everybody expects me to at first, so they're not disappointed!"
"Smart idea!"
"Yeah," Mitsuru snapped without turning around. "Real smart."
Deciding it was time to take control of the conversation before Mitsuru started breaking things, Shinobu stepped in. "So Misako, I take it you're here to haunt Mitsuru. Is that right?"
"Yeah, that's right!"
"Well, in that case, I wish you the best of luck, and very happy haunting."
"Oh thank you!" she cheered, throwing both arms in the air.
"Now wait a second!" Mitsuru snapped. "I just-"
Shinobu cut him off smoothly. "We've had a lot of excitement, so maybe we should say good night."
Somewhat predictably, they were more interested in talking to the pretty girl than in taking a hint. "Hey Misako, how long are you staying here?"
"Well, because I'm a ghost, I have to clear up all my old loves and regrets before I can move on from here," she pressed a finger against her lips, thoughtfully, "and I just don't know exactly how long that's gonna take me yet."
"So you're staying for now?"
"Yep!"
"All right! Finally something good is happening here at Greenwood!"
One of the boys clapped a hand on Mitsuru's shoulder. "Mitsuru, you lucky stiff! I wish a cute girl like Misako would come live with me for a while!"
"Oh?" Mitsuru said darkly. He turned and fixed him with a deadly glower. "Why don't you try being haunted instead?"
"Don't make him mad, you idiot!" Hasukawa hissed.
Shinobu decided they were two degrees from the boiling point and hurried to clear the room before Mitsuru could explode. Standing he quickly ushered everyone out of the room, Shun and Suka, more familiar with Mitsuru's temper and more able to read Shinobu's intentions, complied, returning to their own rooms after making their good byes. The other three lingered in the doorway for a moment. "Good night, Misako! See ya tomorrow!" they chorused before they finally left. Shinobu gave the door a tired look, then turned and regarded the unlikely pair. Mitsuru had gotten up to sit in the desk chair, while Misako sat crosslegged at his feet. How... cozy. He stood. "Well, I'm going to bed now."
Mitsuru stared at him. "Aren't you going to do anything to help me?" he demanded expectantly.
"What can I do? This is for you two to work out on your own. In this case," he added only a little sarcastically, "three is definitely a crowd."
"That's right Mitsuru. Why don't you just give up and sleep with me?" Misako asked innocently.
"Uh.. Sleep with you?!" Mitsuru stared at her.
Sleep with her? Shinobu schooled his expression. Is that what she's here for?
"Right!" She smiled at him. "I'll be back in a second, I have to change!" She ran toward the wall and disappeared through it, giggling.
Mitsuru stared after her, eyes wide.
Shinobu fought back the urge to smack him upside the head. It was not Mitsuru's fault that only he would have the sort of luck to be haunted by some sort of hyperactive harlot who giggled entirely too much.
"I can't believe this is happening." Five minutes later, Mitsuru could still only blink at the wall "This is... this is..."
"Extraordinary?" Shinobu suggested dryly.
Mitsuru glowered at him. "Don't be cute. This isn't funny."
He shut the bureau drawer and moved away to change. "I'd recommend changing quickly before Misako returns. Unless you'd like an audience, that is."
Mitsuru stared at him. "You're not seriously implying that we should let her come back, are you?"
Shinobu gave him one of those looks that always gave his roommate the feeling he was mentally calculating Mitsuru's IQ and coming up short. "How do you propose to stop her?" he pointed out. "She's a ghost. We can't touch her. Locking the door won't help. I suppose we could get the room blessed, but it's too late to find a monk or priest to carry out the blessing." He shrugged and pulled his shirt off. Mitsuru was momentarily distracted by the smoothly muscled chest and perfect, unblemished skin. "As much as I dislike the notion, she'll undoubtedly be back as soon as she's done 'changing.' "
"Well, then, best make this quick, hmmm?" Mitsuru crossed the room in three large steps and hooked an arm around his waist, pulling the other boy against him in a deep kiss. "You taste so good," Mitsuru mumbled against the soft skin of his cheek before turning his head and stealing another heartfelt kiss. His hands slipped down to Shinobu's waist, pulling their hips tight together.
Shinobu sighed against his lover and pulled him close as well, lips parting and tongue slipping into that warm mouth to stroke against Mitsuru's own, exploring the well-known caverns and hollows of his mouth. Just as Mitsuru became convinced he was going to melt, Shinobu made a regretful sound and broke away. "She'll be back," he said with no small amount of regret.
"So she'll get an eyeful," Mitsuru said dismissively, catching his lips in a quick kiss. "I don't want to let go. Spent all night without you." He pouted at his lover and caught his bottom lip, worrying it with his teeth.
"It's your own fault for falling asleep while you were reading," Shinobu pointed out, but he wasn't trying to pull away. On the contrary, he was leaning into the embrace, and he was holding onto Mitsuru as tightly as the other boy was holding onto him.
"You could have put me into bed," Mitsuru replied, a few words at a time between quick kisses.
He made a rude noise. "As if I was going to drag your heavy carcass off the top bunk? I'd have dropped you. Or worse yet, you'd have fallen on me."
"You could have joined me," Mitsuru suggested. "Maybe even woken me up." He grinned at him and waggled an eyebrow in a ridiculously suggestive manner, then gripped Shinobu's hips tightly, grinding his own against him. "Could've had some fun." He felt his lover's arousal as he thrust back and surged up to claim Mitsuru's mouth again in a much harder, more heated kiss. This time, when they broke apart, his chest was heaving and his emerald eyes were darkened to nearly black with passion. "We have to stop this, Suru," he said and his voice was the heavy, throaty purr Mitsuru loved so much.
"I know." Mitsuru released him reluctantly and stepped back. Another few moments and neither of them would have been able to stop until they reached completion - and god only knew when the ghost girl would chose to come back. Interrupted sex was, Mitsuru had decided, worse than no sex at all in a lot of ways. He sighed and couldn't help a flash of intense irritation at Misako. He had fallen asleep on the top bunk last night while Shin was still awake studying, which meant he'd ended up sleeping alone, although Shin had tucked him in. He grinned at that thought, looking over at his lover fondly. Sometimes he wondered how he ever could have doubted how Shinobu felt, when he was showing it in a hundred different little ways every day.
Shinobu looked back at Mitsuru, a little smirk playing across his lips. "She'll doubtless be back any moment now. Maybe you should hurry and get changed?" he quirked a brow. "Unless you were waiting for young Misako to return first?"
"What do I look like?" Mitsuru retorted. "An exhibitionist?"
"I should hope not." He had finished changing and Mitsuru watched him do up the last button. "You know how much I hate to share."
"Possessive bastard. I bet your teachers were forever sending notes home to your father. 'Dear Mr. Tezuka. Shinobu has trouble sharing with other children.' "
He had already turned down the blankets and he paused to look back at Mitsuru, his eyes dark and promising proper retribution as soon as they could be guaranteed time alone. "Change, Mitsuru."
Mitsuru flashed him his best teasing grin and stripped quickly, dressing again in pajamas. He stuffed the clothes into the hamper and moved to hit the light switch. Shinobu's voice stopped him halfway. "Suru?"
"Hmmm?" Shinobu looked a little reluctant to say what he'd about to say and that set off the alarm bells ringing in Mitsuru's head. "What is it?"
"Tonight - since it seems we will be having company," he scowled just a little, but enough for Mitsuru to notice, "perhaps it will be for the best if you-" he tipped his head toward the top bunk. Mitsuru grimaced, showing he caught his meaning. "Separate beds so the ghost girl doesn't get suspicious?" He nodded and Mitsuru felt his annoyance at Misako's sudden intrusion increase. Damnit, he'd spent last night alone and that kiss just a few minutes ago had been the only chance he'd had to hold Shinobu all day. Now he had to deal with another night by himself? "I wanted to hold you tonight," he sighed, switching off the lights. Shinobu had the light at the top of his bed on, so there was enough light for Mitsuru to walk back toward the beds.
"So did I," Shinobu said regretfully. He leaned over and kissed Mitsuru quickly, gently. "Good night, koi."
Mitsuru felt the jump in his chest as his heart skipped a beat, just as it did every time Shinobu called him that. "Night, Shin-chan." He climb up onto the top bunk and lay sprawled across the sheets and blankets, waiting for the inevitable response.
"Don't call me that."
He managed not to chuckle, but his smile was wide enough to be seen a mile away. "Oyasumi."
The light was gone now. "Oyasumi, Suru."
Mitsuru lay awake for several long minutes, wondering if Shin was as well, knowing he probably was, but unwilling to call down to him and risk disturbing him if he wasn't. He lay quietly, waiting to see if Misako was coming back. He rather doubted she'd be helpful enough to just up and disappear. She'd seemed pretty happy at the thought of going to sleep-
"Oi! Shinobu!"
"Yes, Mitsuru?"
"She's not planning on actually sleeping with me, is she?"
"What do you think?"
"What?!" Mitsuru sat up so rapidly he was surprised he didn't give himself whiplash. "No way!" Bad enough this girl had apparently been haunting him for a couple days now, invading his sleep and damn near scaring him to death with that vision. He could sympathize, he supposed, she was just a kid after all, but damn it he was not sharing a bed with a ghoul!
Mitsuru groaned. "Are you sure I can't just stay with you? Let her have the top bunk to herself?"
"Then she'd just end up sleeping with both of us," Shinobu pointed out. "I'm afraid the idea does nothing for me."
He flopped over the side, hanging upside down and pushing the curtain aside, almost exactly as he had this morning after the nightmare woke him. "Funny. Very funny. Just throw me to the wolves. This is your revenge, isn't it? You're as mad as I am." A speculative sparkle glittered in his eye. "Or maybe you're jealous. I'm spending the night with a cute girl after all." He snorted. "Three's a crowd indeed."
"Go to sleep, Mitsuru. The sooner you do, the sooner morning will come." He opened his eyes and gave Mitsuru the smile, the one only he got to see and Mitsuru felt a warmth spread through his stomach. To see so much emotion shining through Shinobu's normally guarded eyes... "Baka," he breathed. "You're just bribing me into letting you go to sleep."
"Is it working?"
It was, but Mitsuru wasn't about to admit it that easily. "Call me koi again," he demanded brashly, wanting to hear it.
With a forced sigh, Shinobu rolled over onto his side and one hand slid free of the blankets to reach out and touch Mitsuru's cheek. "Mitsuru-koi," he murmured softly. "Go to bed before I pull you down here with me and really give that girl something to see when she gets back."
Mitsuru swallowed. "And I'm the exhibitionist?" Pressing his cheek into the soft touch for just a moment, he brushed a kiss against the palm of Shinobu's hand before pulling himself back up to the top bunk. He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling, a smile spreading over his features. "Tomorrow, Shinobu," he whispered.
"I heard that."
"Go to sleep. You're tired, remember? Long day and all that."
There was a chuckle and the shifting of sheets, then silence fell in the darkened dorm room. Mitsuru closed his eyes and after a few minutes felt himself start to drift.
Until he got the feeling he was being watched.
Half-hoping there was a burglar in the room, he opened his eyes. Floating about two feet above him, was the ghost girl, in a pink nightgown. She floated down until she was just a few inches above him.
He heaved a heavy sigh. "Why are you haunting me?"
She blinked at him. "Pardon?"
He tried to be a little more specific. "Are you mad at me for something?"
She clasped her hands together. "Ah. Well, yes I am."
"How can that be?" Mitsuru objected. "I don't even know you!"
"It's possible to hurt someone without knowing it right?" she asked in a young, sweet voice. "Well you can hurt someone without knowing them, too."
"Why don't you tell me what I did to you then?" Mitsuru was unimpressed. He didn't know this girl and didn't know what he could have don to hurt her. She pouted and he frowned, wondering if he'd upset her. He hated seeing girls cry. "What's wrong?"
She pouted more. "I'm cold."
He stared at her. "huh? A ghost can feel cold?"
She nodded once, a little. "Can I get into bed with you?" she asked plaintively.
He half sat up, angry at her forwardness. "Absolutely not!" he said loudly, remembering at the last moment not to shout.
She whined and put both hands to her mouth, her eyes starting to tear up. "Oh please?"
He froze. Anything was better than making a girl cry. Even one this annoying. He turned his head and lay back down, purposefully closing his eyes so he couldn't see her. "Do what you want."
"Yay! Thank you!" Her cheerful shout was too loud, probably carrying at least two doors down. He grimaced and opened his eyes as he felt something cold run through him. He goggled at the sight of Misako halfway through the bunk and raised his own voice. "Take it easy!" Damnit, if she woke Shinobu...
"Oh!" her bright voice carried up from the bunk below. "Excuse me!"
He clapped a hand over his eyes. Great.
Shinobu's quiet voice reached him easily. "There's something I should warn you about, Miss."
"Yes?" her voice was inquisitive and Mitsuru fought the urge to grab her by the feet and pull her back up.
"Mitsuru snores very loudly." At this, Mitsuru felt his eyes go wide. He did not!
"I never thought of that." Misako sounded disappointed and Mitsuru felt his hopes rise. If it got rid of her... "Thanks!" she continued brightly, before floating back up to the top bunk. No such luck, then. Mitsuru eyed her darkly as she settled in beside him, then rolled over until his back was to her. It was going to be a long night.
Ignoring the cold presence beside him, he curled up beneath the blankets and remembered Shinobu's words. He's definitely jealous...
Unreasonably pleased, he slept and didn't dream of Misako.
Unseen beneath the blankets, Shinobu's hands curled into fists.
Continued in The Second Night.
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