Cross Life

Hiroyuki gave Kazuhiko a somewhat childish glare when he was called naive, but didn't say anything back since he wanted these two to work things out. He removed the look from his face and instead look to Shiyuchi to see what he would say.

"I-" Shiyuchi began, hesitating in speaking. He wasn't used to this sort of thing, talking about feelings and all. "I...don't want you to get hurt, okay."
There he said it. He didn't meet Kazuhiko's eyes, still just staring at the ground, not knowing if he was ready for whatever Kazuhiko might say.

"I...don't want you to get hurt, okay."

Oh. Well. That was unexpected.

Kazuhiko just stared at Shiyuchi for what felt like an entire minute, not really knowing how to respond to that. He didn't think Shiyuchi would be capable of feeling, even less saying something like that. Was he... was he blaming himself for what had happened?

"I-, uhm..." What was he supposed to say to that? He didn't blame Shiyuchi. Wow. Sure, it had been kind of his fault, but it had also been his own. It was him the one who got sent to a hospital, but it hadn't been anything too serious, and Shiyuchi wasn't to blame that when they separated, he got kind of blown away while Kazuhiko stayed in place.

"If that's true, then..." If Shiyuchi was feeling guilty, that meant he actually cared, right? Beneath all the yelling and insulting and fighting and humiliating, he cared? Why would anyone go out of their way like he did to make someone's like impossible if they cared? Well, he didn't hate Shiyuchi, and he started at elast half of their fights.

"...Did I just think that I don't hate him?" Was he overthinking things?

"Yes. Definitely."

"...Then we need to fix things. Properly."

Shiyuchi glanced at Kazuhiko, not really sure what the other was getting at with that.
"How? Even if we manage to get a high enough sync-rate, if we go out there, there's a chance we could lose it and you'd get hurt again. You may have been fine last time, but what if you're not after this. It might be better if you get a new ghost partner..."
He didn't see how things could be fixed. If anything another ghost would probably be able to do a better job.

"If we manage to get a high synch rate it'll be because things are better stupid, so nothing should happen if we don't start fighting again." He counted down from ten while taking a deep breath before continuing, hitting Shiyuchi right now wouldn't help at all.

"And you know how specific the compatibility between a medium and a ghost is, it could be years before another one I could partner with getting a high synch rate came around." He was already used to working with Shiyuchi. They had improved a lot in their time together, he didn't want to throw all that hard work away because of some stupid fight.

Shiyuchi hated to admit it but Kazuhiko was right. Right now they were partners, and there was a mosnter there that needed to be defeated. Besides, they've stopped ones before without Kazuhiko getting hurt. Shiyuchi wasn't angry with Kazuhiko at the moment, so it was just his stupid shortcomings that were preventing them from getting a better sync-rate.
He glanced over at Kei and Hiroyuki, thinking that with this monster those two couldn't do it alone. What was he doing? He had to stop thinking like this. The whole point of a ghost working together with a medium is because they were stronger together. Shiyuchi sighed at his foolishness.
"We've done this before, let's take care of this monster," Shiyuchi said, feeling much more confident himself again, and in Kazuhiko, as he held his hand out for the other again.

((GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY))

Kazuhiko was surprised, he didn't expect Shiyuchi to not even blink after being insulted. Usually just one little word like that would spark a heated argument and fight. He just stared at Shiyuchi for a couple of seconds before nodding, then taking the other's hand. He had been so shaken up when Shiyuchi admitted that he didn't want Kazuhiko to get hurt, he wasn't even angry at the ghost anymore. Maybe their synch rate wouldn't be at its best right now, but Shiyuchi should be able to possess him. He had to.


Kei watched in silence as the pair worked some of their problems out. When they tried possession for the second time, he put his free hand on Hiroyuki's shoulder, quietly calling for his attention. "We should move too. They might still be unstable, so the faster we finish this, the better," He half whispered after bending down a little so he was closer to Hiroyuki's height.

This time, it did work, even though it may have not been as high as preferred, but it was enough. Now as one ((heehee)), Shiyuchi could tell that Kazuhiko wasn't really angry with him, which he was glad for. Last thing they needed was to be upset at the other. It was best if they got this done quickly. Besides, it seemed there was going to be a lot that Shiyuchi and Kazuhiko needed to talk about.

Hiroyuki nodded to Kei, placing his hand on top of Kei's as a signal for Kei to possess him. He hoped their plan would work. They would have to strike their hardest at that dome to break it and destroy the core underneath, which he hoped it was there ((and it is)).

As soon as Kazuhiko felt Shiyuchi entering his body ((teehee)), he looked to his side, just in time to see Kei doing the same with Hiroyuki. "Should we take the risk and summon our weapons...?" Doing both of their finishing moves at the same time would be their best chance at destroying the dome and the core that was hopefully beneath it in one hit. On the other hand, if it didn't work or if the core was somewhere else, the four of them would end up basically defenseless.


"It's your call," Kei spoke inside Hiroyuki's mind, he felt the risk and reward were pretty equal. Hiroyuki tended to make better decisions than him when the outcome revolved mostly around luck, Kei was well aware of his tendency to over analyze things.



((BTW yus to magical bow and arrow pwnage))

((teehee))
"Um, that sounds like a good idea," Hiroyuki said in agreement with Kazuhiko that they should summon their weapons in order to try and swiftly deal with this monster.

They positioned themselves where they were in line with the dome covering that they wanted to destroy, coordinating how they would attack. Once all was set, they summonded their weapons before launching their surprise attack. Timing it just right, they both struck at the same time with as much power as they could. The rock monster lurched forward from the attack, not expecting it. They looked intently on at where they just attacked, but sitting right there, now gleaming in the light was its core, unharmed. At least they were right about where the core was, but unfortunately they only destroyed the cover on it. Since they used their finishing move, both were unpossessd by their ghosts.

The monster began to slowly turn around to put its attention on the ones who just attacked it. At this rate they would have to run and recover before being able to tackle it again. However, before any of them could run to safety, a flash of light suddenly pierced the core of the monster, causing it stop where it was. The core was destroyed and the monster returned to the pile of rocks it was.

Shiyuchi stared on, wondering what just happened, but of course the only explanation would be another medium and ghost.

"Yoohoo!" They heard someone call out, seeing two girls approaching them, one waving her hand in the air to get their attention.

Kazuhiko had been just about ready to grab Shiyuchi's wrist and make a run for it when the flash of light struck at the monster's core, removing whatever had been possessing the now lifeless pile of rocks. "What the-" A loud voice cut him off, and as it downed on him that it had to be another medium and ghost, two girls walked up to their group.

"That was quite a lucky break!" Emi yelled at the boys, trotting a little past Motoe until she was at a talking distance from them. "We were just looking for an opening when you guys made your move, thanks for clearing up the core like that! We wouldn't have been able to do anything by ourselves," She smiled again, waiting for her ghost partner to catch up before continuing. "I'm Emi by the way, and this is Motoe, my ghost partner. You are?" She didn't bother to try and hide the excitement in her voice, this was her first time meeting another medium, and other ghosts aside from Motoe. She was curious, wanted to know where they came from, where they went to school, did their families know about mediums, and if so, what did they know? She started bouncing a little on her feet, forcing the questions down her throat for the time being. First things first, which in this case was introductions.

((Kazuhiko, we both know you would grab his hand, not his wrist :D Though Shiyuchi will be grabbing something else later~ ;D))

"Uh, you're welcome? Name's Shiyuchi, Kazuhiko is my medium," he answered, motioning to Kazuhiko next to him.

"I'm Hiroyuki! This is my ghost partner Kei," he introduced them, "man, we were lucky you guys were here. I didn't know what we were going to do when we saw the core was still intact!" Hiroyuki was probably equally excited as Emi to meet another medium and ghost, especially one as energetic as Emi seemed to be. No offense to Shiyuchi and Kazuhiko, but those two weren't a lot of fun, and neither was Kei.

"Nice to meet you all!" Motoe chimed in, draping an arm over Emi's shoulder, standing there comfortably.

((I get the feeling Yuki-chan and Emi will be the bestest of friends or something XD))

"...Nice to meet you," Kazuhiko straightened his back and bowed, after 16 years of living with his parents, manners were kind of a second nature to him. He inspected the new pair of ghost and medium carefully, and sighed. He already thought one hyperactive kid was more than enough, now it seemed there were two. Except the girl, Emi, wasn't exactly a kid. Joy.

Kei nodded in the direction of the newcomers, crossing his arms and leaning back against a tree. Weird, how they got to meet two pairs of ghost and medium in about a month when they had never seen anyone before. The world has a weird way of working.

"Are you guys from around here?" Emi smiled, relaxing into Motoe's half hug when the ghost came up to them. Maybe they were from different neighbourhoods, or maybe they had just moved in. Maybe they were from here, but they hadn't met each other by chance? "You seem to already know each other, so are there any others? Mediums or ghosts, I mean."

((haha look at what I haven't replied to for months. well we're both busy so yeah...))

"We recently just met," Hiroyuki answered Emi, referring to him and Kei meeting Kazuhiko and Shiyuchi. "We'd assume there'd be more mediums and ghosts elsewhere, but so far we haven't met too many."

"Hmm, you four seem quite the cute sets of mediums and ghosts," Motoe teased, "but my Emi here is the absolutely best medium I could have ever asked for. She is just too amazing~". Motoe rubbed her cheek against Emi's, wrapping her arms around the other as she showed her affection for the other.

Shiyuchi wasn't very happy at being called a "cute set" but didn't protest when he saw the two girls suddenly acting a lot more intimate with each other. He wasn't really sure what to say at that.