Inside the wreckage of the ship, the young dark-haired girl shuddered and looked at the girl who had just arrived.
"It does feel like something might appear..." she said, worriedly. Before, she had only half believed in the tales she had barely overheard on the mainland, but now, with one of her older friends backing it up...
"Yessss..." moaned the boy wearing a thick sweater. He raised his hands in a manner that he hoped was a semblance to a spirit's. "Scary ghosts will appearrrr..."
Another boy, his long bangs parted in the middle, dropped to the girl's side and began reciting the story he had already heard so many times.
"According to legend, a ghost who looks like a beautiful woman..."
---
Keitaro hollered as the wave of water carried him away from Naru.
"Geez..." muttered Motoko, walking into the hotsprings toward the other girl. "Are you alright, senpai?"
Naru lifted her head, and fixed Motoko with eyes that radiated hatred.
Except they weren't her eyes.
Motoko gasped and stepped back, her right hand grabbing hold of the handle of her katana. "You!" she gasped. "From the stranded ship before--" She broke off her sentence, dodging as the spirit used Naru's body to leap at her, only just missing.
Instinctively, Motoko counterattacked, swinging at Naru, who ducked under the blade and sprang back at a speed which shouldn't have been possible. The spirit crouched, ready to attack again.
"Damn you!" Motoko spat and prepared one of her famous attacks which she more often used to flatten Keitaro with. "Hidden Technique: Zan Kuu--" She stopped before she could even start, suddenly comprehending whose body the spirit was using--she couldn't attack, because--
The spirit chucked.
"You!" shouted Motoko angrily. "Get out of senpai's body!"
Instead, the spirit turned around, leaping atop one of the largest rocks in the pool, then over the fence--and was gone.
---
"Hey!" Keitaro yelled, looking around for the girl he had a crush on. "Narusegawa!" He turned his head towards the ocean, hearing a noise, and seeing--
She was sitting there, on one of the rocks just off the shore, where the sea began but the water only came up to a person's ankles, pretending not to notice the search party that was making enough noise to waken all but the soundest sleepers.
"Narusegawa?" the boy yelled, unsure.
Suddenly, as if just becoming aware of him, the girl raised her head and looked at him, then nodded once, a nod that had so much meaning beneath its simplicity.
The boy began a slow walk towards the girl, before suddenly remembering what Motoko had said. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "I won't be fooled this time, you monster."
The girl's body cringed back, and Keitaro was suddenly hit with a wave of guilt, stammering. "I--I'm sorry--I didn't mean--" He caught himself, his voice taking a hint of anger. "No--you may look like Narusegawa, but you're not her!"
The girl's eyes watered, as if to cry "You're wrong, you're wrong--see, I am the real Naru. Why would you hurt my feelings? Why would you say a thing like that?"
"I mustn't waver--" thought Keitaro desperately to himself, looking down at his feet--anywhere else but at that weeping face, because if he looked, he would be totally lost. "She only wants me to come close enough so she can drown me. Only then will she let Naru free. And it's the only way Naru will be free, because Motoko was unable to master that Ni no Tachi thing. So the only way she'll give up Naru is if--"
Realization struck like a bolt of lightning. He knew what he had to do.
Slowly, deliberately, he looked up and gazed into Naru's eyes, the spirit's eyes.
"If I let you kill me," he whispered so that only he and the spirit could hear. "will you let Naru go?"
The tears stopped, and Naru's eyes widened, as if anything--even some sort of secret technique or the producing of a weapon--had been expected but that. But, finally, the girl's head gave another brief nod, like the final swing of a church bell.
Keitaro stepped forwards, into the sea, kneeled down in front of the girl he would do anything to save, and closed his eyes.
There was a tremendous pressure around his neck and he was being swung around and there was coolness all around him and
---
He opened his eyes, gazing up at the bright specks that dotted the night sky, feeling the chill of the ocean at his back. He couldn't remember what had happened.
It seemed so much like a dream. There was been something important that had happened. Motoko was there, and everyone had gathered, and he had been looking for something, and then--
"Naru," he remembered.
There was a splash, and Keitaro turned his head, and saw her, standing at the shore, pulling some large object out of the water.
"Narusegawa!" he shouted, smiling. "We've been trying to find you--"
And then he suddenly stopped short, as he realized that the object was his body. Naru was pulling his body out of the ocean by its neck, and he was looking at his body and the reason he was looking at his body was because he was dead. He was dead. He was dead because Naru--no, because the spirit that had taken voer Naru's body--she had killed him.
He was dead, and he wouldn't be able to go to Tokyo U, or kiss a girl and mean it, or find out who his promised girl had been. He couldn't do anything and wouldn't be able to do anything because he was dead. He was dead. He was dead.
He look on, numbly, as Naru--Naru's body dragged his body back to land, then sat back against a rock, looking at the empty face at her feet. And then, Naru just collapsed, and Keitaro could see some silver mist spilling into the air, out of her body, and then it wasn't silver mist anymore.
It was a woman. It was the spirit, the one that had taken Naru's body and killed him.
He watched as the woman walked away across the water, walking away on the surface of the water, no doubt back to the island which she had come from. The woman stopped, and turned around, gazing at Keitaro--not his body, but the Keitaro that was conscious and lying, floating atop the swells of the sea.
He watched as she turned her back to the shore again, and finally disappeared from sight.
He watched as Motoko arrived--too late to do anything to save him from death.
He watched as Naru woke from unconsciousness and as she screamed, discovering Keitaro's lifeless body nearby.
And then, as she cried tears that were real tears, wailing that she couldn't remember what had happened, he found that he couldn't watch anymore and followed the spirit's invisible path back to the island.
---
He island was a lovely place.
He wandered it, not because of a need to explore, but because he had to do something, do anything, to relieve the boredom that was already beginning to set in.
He had to find a way to relieve the boredom. After all, he was going to be around for eternity. Such was his justification as he stepped through the forests of the island.
The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and he spun around.
She was there.
The spirit was there, the one who had killed him. She was standing there, leaning against the trunk of one of the largest trees, gazing at him, just like she had gazed at him after she had killed him.
Keitaro gulped.
"I hate you," she said, and walked away, unconcernedly.
---
"Why did you do it?"
Keitaro lost his balance, falling off of the branch of the tree and slamming into the ground. He staggered to his feet, look around for the person the voice belonged to.
The woman landed in front of him, crouching, using her hand and her knees to absorb the impact.
"Er..." Keitaro look around nervously. "Why did I do what?"
The woman's face took on an annoyed expression. "Why did you give yourself up?"
"Oh. Well..." He looked down at his feet. "Motoko--that was the girl with the sword--she was trying to perfect a way to destroy you without destroying Naru, you see. But she couldn't figure out how to do it."
"But surely there were other people who could remove me." she moved in closer, leaning toward Keitaro. "Why did you get someone?"
"Well, there was an excorcist or something from Motoko's school--where she learned to fight with the sword, I mean. But whoever he was, he wouldn't arrive for a while, and..." he trailed off.
"And?" she pressed.
"I was afraid of what you would do to Naru in the meantime."
"How do you know I would've done anything?"
Keitaro became indignant. "Well, you could have!"
The woman shook her head. "Stupid male..." she muttered, and slunk away.
---
The next day, the excorcist arrived.
She was a tall woman, dressed the same way Keitaro had often seen Motoko dress. She began spreading wards of some sort, and muttering under her breath--it could've been a spell of some sort, but he didn't know; he'd never studied anything like this.
He watched the woman sit, cross-legged, in a clearing, and wait.
And wait.
And wait.
And wait--
"Peeking on women?"
He spun around. The spirit of the woman was there again. "What--wha--no!" he stammered, his face red.
She gave a snort of disgust, obviously not believing him.
He turned back to look at the sitting woman. "I think that's the--"
It happened too fast for Keitaro to see. One second the woman was sitting there, as she had been for minutes. The next, she was standing, he sword slicing the air in his direction, creating a wave of brightness that hurt his eyes.
He didn't even realize he'd moved, but suddenly, he was in front of the spirit, trying to shield her from the wave, hoping against hope that this was one of the less advanced techniques that would send him flying instead of passing through him and eradicating the woman behind him.
And the wave came upon him, and he was suddenly in terrible pain, but happy, too, as he absorbed the force of the entire attack and was sent flying into the sky
---
"Why did you do that?" she shouted at him, waking him fron his slumber.
He sat up, spreading his legs over the waves that washed up on the shore, and look at the woman. "Well..." he muttered nervously.
"I said, why did you do that?" She grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him to his feet.
"I--I didn't want you to get hurt!"
She threw him to the ground. "So, you think just because I'm a girl, I was going to get hurt?"
"No..." He shook his head, and stared across the sea, at the setting sun. "I just didn't want you to...die again..." His voice was barely a whisper.
The woman raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Well, I think..." Keitaro's mouth was suddenly dry. "I think that...you're not a bad person."
The silence was heavy, pressing down on him.
"Because...I think there's no such thing as a bad person. All people, even the ones that seem bad--I think they all have some good, inside. So...I didn't want you to die." he finished lamely.
She snorted, and rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot. People are scum." She turned around. "And I am a bad person."
---
"Why do you stay on this island?" he asked nervously.
The woman stared at him. "What? What difference does it make to you?"
He cringed back from her sharp retort. "I'm just curious..."
"Oh, fine. Jeez." She rolled her eyes. "Don't you have a spine? Seriously, you're so pathetic." She took a deep breath--mimicked the action of taking a deep breath. "I died here. Happy?"
Keitaro furrowed his brow, confused. "I died on the mainland..."
"Okay, fine!" she shouted. "I came here because it's nice here, okay? I think the whole place--with the trees, and the beach, and everything--I think it all looks lovely, and that's why I came here!"
"Oh."
The two of them sat silently, as a bird sang in the trees above.
"So? Just say it already!" the woman spat.
"Huh?"
For the first time, the girl looked--not angry, or irritated, but just confused. "Are you going to say it or not? You know, 'I guess girls are more sensitive than boys' or something."
Keitaro shook his head, gazing upwards to where the sun shone through the leaves. "That's why I'm staying, too."
---
"Please don't kill him?"
She had taken over another girl's body, and stood over an older man--a fisherman--just about ready to shove his head under the water and wait until he had stopped struggling. She turned her head to look at him, grimacing.
"Are you crazy?" She muttered. "Look at this guy--this pervert. Probably preys on small girls, too." She shoved his face into the sea, watching, grinning, as the man waved his arms and kicked, attempting but failing to escape the girl's vicelike grip.
"Please?" Keitaro whispered.
She stared at him quietly as the man struggled, her expression one of slowly growing annoyance. Roughly, she threw him aside, then spilled out of the girl's body and reformed in front of Keitaro. "Fine."
Keitaro was about to thank her when she stuck her index finger in his face, silencing him. "But you owe me!"
"Sure..." Keitaro squeaked.
---
A few nights later he woke up when she kicked him lightly in the side. "You don't, okay?" she yelled.
"Ow...what?" muttered Keitaro sleepily as he rose to sit, cross-legged.
She woman reddened, and she bit her lower lip. "You don't--you don't owe me, okay? So--don't worry about it."
"Oh." Keitaro nodded. "Okay." he said, and lay back on the ground, ready to go back to sleep.
She fell asleep as well, a few paces away.
---
"Maybe I was a bit too harsh, I keep thinking." she said out loud, poking at the dirt.
"Hm?" Keitaro looked up.
"I..." she hesitated, then began again. "The reason I did...what I did...was because I was mad. When I died, I was..." She trailed off, looking at Keitaro's face, making sure he was listening.
He was, entirely engrossed in her story.
"I was lonely, I guess..." she muttered, looking back at the dirt, her face reddening. "So, I tried to...make other people die lonely..."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Well..." began Keitaro quietly. "I think that...if you're really, truly sorry, you should be forgiven."
"Yeah."
There was another short period of silence, but this one was considerably less uncomfortable.
"You know what?" she said, grinning at Keitaro. "Thanks."
---
"Whatever happened to that excorcist?"
She looked to her side at Keitaro, who was sitting on the branch beside her. "Sorry?"
"You know, the one who was...ah, sent to destroy us."
"What'd you say?"
"The one wh--"
"No, no." She held up a hand, cutting him off. "The last part."
"Uh...you mean...'sent to destroy us'?"
"Destroy..."
"Um...'us'?"
"Yeah." She smiled, staring into the distance at nothing in particular.
The island was peaceful. A light wind pushed at their hair as the sun shone down on them, creating an enjoyable warmless against their backs. Birds sang joyfully to each other as they flew in loops above the foliage.
"Um..." Keitaro murmured.
"Oh!" Her face reddened. "Ah, she left. I guess she thought since she hit you, she must've gotten rid of me. Funny, huh?"
He nodded, grinning.
---
"Are--are you okay?"
She turned her head to look at him, sitting at the water's edge, a small smile on her face, a tear running down her face. "Keitaro..."
He sat close, to the side of her. "If there something bothering you, or..."
Another tear ran from her eye, down a blushing cheek. "Why do you do that?"
"Do what? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry, if I did..."
She laughed. "No! No, you didn't do anything wrong. I just--just--" She stared at him, into him. "Why are you so nice to me?"
Keitaro shrugged, confused. "I dunno. I just think people should be nice to each other..." He trailed off as he looked at her, at the way she was staring at him, at the way they were so close together. He felt his face turn hot.
"Keitaro..."
She leaned close, towards his face.
"I'm sorry...for killing you." she whispered, on the verge of completely breaking down.
Keitaro's reply shone with honesty, his mind unable to even contemplate falsehood as he replied, even quieter. "I already forgave you."
"When?" She asked. It was the beginning of so many questions. "When did you forgive me? When did you become part of my life? When did it become hard to think of life without you, Keitaro?"
"When did I fall in love with you?"
"The moment you killed me." He answered, and their lips met.
---
Another boy, his long bangs parted in the middle, dropped to the girl's side and began reciting the story he had already heard so many times.
"According to legend, a ghost who looks like a beautiful woman and a ghost who looks like a man walk together, hand-in-hand, every night about the island."
"It is said that these two are fated lovers, born too many years apart--but even though they were unable to encounter each other during their lives, they were able to meet and fall in love after their deaths."
He finished the story, grinning, proud of himself.
"Ah..." said the young girl, starry-eyed. "that sounds so romantic..."
---The End---
"It does feel like something might appear..." she said, worriedly. Before, she had only half believed in the tales she had barely overheard on the mainland, but now, with one of her older friends backing it up...
"Yessss..." moaned the boy wearing a thick sweater. He raised his hands in a manner that he hoped was a semblance to a spirit's. "Scary ghosts will appearrrr..."
Another boy, his long bangs parted in the middle, dropped to the girl's side and began reciting the story he had already heard so many times.
"According to legend, a ghost who looks like a beautiful woman..."
---
Keitaro hollered as the wave of water carried him away from Naru.
"Geez..." muttered Motoko, walking into the hotsprings toward the other girl. "Are you alright, senpai?"
Naru lifted her head, and fixed Motoko with eyes that radiated hatred.
Except they weren't her eyes.
Motoko gasped and stepped back, her right hand grabbing hold of the handle of her katana. "You!" she gasped. "From the stranded ship before--" She broke off her sentence, dodging as the spirit used Naru's body to leap at her, only just missing.
Instinctively, Motoko counterattacked, swinging at Naru, who ducked under the blade and sprang back at a speed which shouldn't have been possible. The spirit crouched, ready to attack again.
"Damn you!" Motoko spat and prepared one of her famous attacks which she more often used to flatten Keitaro with. "Hidden Technique: Zan Kuu--" She stopped before she could even start, suddenly comprehending whose body the spirit was using--she couldn't attack, because--
The spirit chucked.
"You!" shouted Motoko angrily. "Get out of senpai's body!"
Instead, the spirit turned around, leaping atop one of the largest rocks in the pool, then over the fence--and was gone.
---
"Hey!" Keitaro yelled, looking around for the girl he had a crush on. "Narusegawa!" He turned his head towards the ocean, hearing a noise, and seeing--
She was sitting there, on one of the rocks just off the shore, where the sea began but the water only came up to a person's ankles, pretending not to notice the search party that was making enough noise to waken all but the soundest sleepers.
"Narusegawa?" the boy yelled, unsure.
Suddenly, as if just becoming aware of him, the girl raised her head and looked at him, then nodded once, a nod that had so much meaning beneath its simplicity.
The boy began a slow walk towards the girl, before suddenly remembering what Motoko had said. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "I won't be fooled this time, you monster."
The girl's body cringed back, and Keitaro was suddenly hit with a wave of guilt, stammering. "I--I'm sorry--I didn't mean--" He caught himself, his voice taking a hint of anger. "No--you may look like Narusegawa, but you're not her!"
The girl's eyes watered, as if to cry "You're wrong, you're wrong--see, I am the real Naru. Why would you hurt my feelings? Why would you say a thing like that?"
"I mustn't waver--" thought Keitaro desperately to himself, looking down at his feet--anywhere else but at that weeping face, because if he looked, he would be totally lost. "She only wants me to come close enough so she can drown me. Only then will she let Naru free. And it's the only way Naru will be free, because Motoko was unable to master that Ni no Tachi thing. So the only way she'll give up Naru is if--"
Realization struck like a bolt of lightning. He knew what he had to do.
Slowly, deliberately, he looked up and gazed into Naru's eyes, the spirit's eyes.
"If I let you kill me," he whispered so that only he and the spirit could hear. "will you let Naru go?"
The tears stopped, and Naru's eyes widened, as if anything--even some sort of secret technique or the producing of a weapon--had been expected but that. But, finally, the girl's head gave another brief nod, like the final swing of a church bell.
Keitaro stepped forwards, into the sea, kneeled down in front of the girl he would do anything to save, and closed his eyes.
There was a tremendous pressure around his neck and he was being swung around and there was coolness all around him and
---
He opened his eyes, gazing up at the bright specks that dotted the night sky, feeling the chill of the ocean at his back. He couldn't remember what had happened.
It seemed so much like a dream. There was been something important that had happened. Motoko was there, and everyone had gathered, and he had been looking for something, and then--
"Naru," he remembered.
There was a splash, and Keitaro turned his head, and saw her, standing at the shore, pulling some large object out of the water.
"Narusegawa!" he shouted, smiling. "We've been trying to find you--"
And then he suddenly stopped short, as he realized that the object was his body. Naru was pulling his body out of the ocean by its neck, and he was looking at his body and the reason he was looking at his body was because he was dead. He was dead. He was dead because Naru--no, because the spirit that had taken voer Naru's body--she had killed him.
He was dead, and he wouldn't be able to go to Tokyo U, or kiss a girl and mean it, or find out who his promised girl had been. He couldn't do anything and wouldn't be able to do anything because he was dead. He was dead. He was dead.
He look on, numbly, as Naru--Naru's body dragged his body back to land, then sat back against a rock, looking at the empty face at her feet. And then, Naru just collapsed, and Keitaro could see some silver mist spilling into the air, out of her body, and then it wasn't silver mist anymore.
It was a woman. It was the spirit, the one that had taken Naru's body and killed him.
He watched as the woman walked away across the water, walking away on the surface of the water, no doubt back to the island which she had come from. The woman stopped, and turned around, gazing at Keitaro--not his body, but the Keitaro that was conscious and lying, floating atop the swells of the sea.
He watched as she turned her back to the shore again, and finally disappeared from sight.
He watched as Motoko arrived--too late to do anything to save him from death.
He watched as Naru woke from unconsciousness and as she screamed, discovering Keitaro's lifeless body nearby.
And then, as she cried tears that were real tears, wailing that she couldn't remember what had happened, he found that he couldn't watch anymore and followed the spirit's invisible path back to the island.
---
He island was a lovely place.
He wandered it, not because of a need to explore, but because he had to do something, do anything, to relieve the boredom that was already beginning to set in.
He had to find a way to relieve the boredom. After all, he was going to be around for eternity. Such was his justification as he stepped through the forests of the island.
The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and he spun around.
She was there.
The spirit was there, the one who had killed him. She was standing there, leaning against the trunk of one of the largest trees, gazing at him, just like she had gazed at him after she had killed him.
Keitaro gulped.
"I hate you," she said, and walked away, unconcernedly.
---
"Why did you do it?"
Keitaro lost his balance, falling off of the branch of the tree and slamming into the ground. He staggered to his feet, look around for the person the voice belonged to.
The woman landed in front of him, crouching, using her hand and her knees to absorb the impact.
"Er..." Keitaro look around nervously. "Why did I do what?"
The woman's face took on an annoyed expression. "Why did you give yourself up?"
"Oh. Well..." He looked down at his feet. "Motoko--that was the girl with the sword--she was trying to perfect a way to destroy you without destroying Naru, you see. But she couldn't figure out how to do it."
"But surely there were other people who could remove me." she moved in closer, leaning toward Keitaro. "Why did you get someone?"
"Well, there was an excorcist or something from Motoko's school--where she learned to fight with the sword, I mean. But whoever he was, he wouldn't arrive for a while, and..." he trailed off.
"And?" she pressed.
"I was afraid of what you would do to Naru in the meantime."
"How do you know I would've done anything?"
Keitaro became indignant. "Well, you could have!"
The woman shook her head. "Stupid male..." she muttered, and slunk away.
---
The next day, the excorcist arrived.
She was a tall woman, dressed the same way Keitaro had often seen Motoko dress. She began spreading wards of some sort, and muttering under her breath--it could've been a spell of some sort, but he didn't know; he'd never studied anything like this.
He watched the woman sit, cross-legged, in a clearing, and wait.
And wait.
And wait.
And wait--
"Peeking on women?"
He spun around. The spirit of the woman was there again. "What--wha--no!" he stammered, his face red.
She gave a snort of disgust, obviously not believing him.
He turned back to look at the sitting woman. "I think that's the--"
It happened too fast for Keitaro to see. One second the woman was sitting there, as she had been for minutes. The next, she was standing, he sword slicing the air in his direction, creating a wave of brightness that hurt his eyes.
He didn't even realize he'd moved, but suddenly, he was in front of the spirit, trying to shield her from the wave, hoping against hope that this was one of the less advanced techniques that would send him flying instead of passing through him and eradicating the woman behind him.
And the wave came upon him, and he was suddenly in terrible pain, but happy, too, as he absorbed the force of the entire attack and was sent flying into the sky
---
"Why did you do that?" she shouted at him, waking him fron his slumber.
He sat up, spreading his legs over the waves that washed up on the shore, and look at the woman. "Well..." he muttered nervously.
"I said, why did you do that?" She grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him to his feet.
"I--I didn't want you to get hurt!"
She threw him to the ground. "So, you think just because I'm a girl, I was going to get hurt?"
"No..." He shook his head, and stared across the sea, at the setting sun. "I just didn't want you to...die again..." His voice was barely a whisper.
The woman raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Well, I think..." Keitaro's mouth was suddenly dry. "I think that...you're not a bad person."
The silence was heavy, pressing down on him.
"Because...I think there's no such thing as a bad person. All people, even the ones that seem bad--I think they all have some good, inside. So...I didn't want you to die." he finished lamely.
She snorted, and rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot. People are scum." She turned around. "And I am a bad person."
---
"Why do you stay on this island?" he asked nervously.
The woman stared at him. "What? What difference does it make to you?"
He cringed back from her sharp retort. "I'm just curious..."
"Oh, fine. Jeez." She rolled her eyes. "Don't you have a spine? Seriously, you're so pathetic." She took a deep breath--mimicked the action of taking a deep breath. "I died here. Happy?"
Keitaro furrowed his brow, confused. "I died on the mainland..."
"Okay, fine!" she shouted. "I came here because it's nice here, okay? I think the whole place--with the trees, and the beach, and everything--I think it all looks lovely, and that's why I came here!"
"Oh."
The two of them sat silently, as a bird sang in the trees above.
"So? Just say it already!" the woman spat.
"Huh?"
For the first time, the girl looked--not angry, or irritated, but just confused. "Are you going to say it or not? You know, 'I guess girls are more sensitive than boys' or something."
Keitaro shook his head, gazing upwards to where the sun shone through the leaves. "That's why I'm staying, too."
---
"Please don't kill him?"
She had taken over another girl's body, and stood over an older man--a fisherman--just about ready to shove his head under the water and wait until he had stopped struggling. She turned her head to look at him, grimacing.
"Are you crazy?" She muttered. "Look at this guy--this pervert. Probably preys on small girls, too." She shoved his face into the sea, watching, grinning, as the man waved his arms and kicked, attempting but failing to escape the girl's vicelike grip.
"Please?" Keitaro whispered.
She stared at him quietly as the man struggled, her expression one of slowly growing annoyance. Roughly, she threw him aside, then spilled out of the girl's body and reformed in front of Keitaro. "Fine."
Keitaro was about to thank her when she stuck her index finger in his face, silencing him. "But you owe me!"
"Sure..." Keitaro squeaked.
---
A few nights later he woke up when she kicked him lightly in the side. "You don't, okay?" she yelled.
"Ow...what?" muttered Keitaro sleepily as he rose to sit, cross-legged.
She woman reddened, and she bit her lower lip. "You don't--you don't owe me, okay? So--don't worry about it."
"Oh." Keitaro nodded. "Okay." he said, and lay back on the ground, ready to go back to sleep.
She fell asleep as well, a few paces away.
---
"Maybe I was a bit too harsh, I keep thinking." she said out loud, poking at the dirt.
"Hm?" Keitaro looked up.
"I..." she hesitated, then began again. "The reason I did...what I did...was because I was mad. When I died, I was..." She trailed off, looking at Keitaro's face, making sure he was listening.
He was, entirely engrossed in her story.
"I was lonely, I guess..." she muttered, looking back at the dirt, her face reddening. "So, I tried to...make other people die lonely..."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Well..." began Keitaro quietly. "I think that...if you're really, truly sorry, you should be forgiven."
"Yeah."
There was another short period of silence, but this one was considerably less uncomfortable.
"You know what?" she said, grinning at Keitaro. "Thanks."
---
"Whatever happened to that excorcist?"
She looked to her side at Keitaro, who was sitting on the branch beside her. "Sorry?"
"You know, the one who was...ah, sent to destroy us."
"What'd you say?"
"The one wh--"
"No, no." She held up a hand, cutting him off. "The last part."
"Uh...you mean...'sent to destroy us'?"
"Destroy..."
"Um...'us'?"
"Yeah." She smiled, staring into the distance at nothing in particular.
The island was peaceful. A light wind pushed at their hair as the sun shone down on them, creating an enjoyable warmless against their backs. Birds sang joyfully to each other as they flew in loops above the foliage.
"Um..." Keitaro murmured.
"Oh!" Her face reddened. "Ah, she left. I guess she thought since she hit you, she must've gotten rid of me. Funny, huh?"
He nodded, grinning.
---
"Are--are you okay?"
She turned her head to look at him, sitting at the water's edge, a small smile on her face, a tear running down her face. "Keitaro..."
He sat close, to the side of her. "If there something bothering you, or..."
Another tear ran from her eye, down a blushing cheek. "Why do you do that?"
"Do what? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry, if I did..."
She laughed. "No! No, you didn't do anything wrong. I just--just--" She stared at him, into him. "Why are you so nice to me?"
Keitaro shrugged, confused. "I dunno. I just think people should be nice to each other..." He trailed off as he looked at her, at the way she was staring at him, at the way they were so close together. He felt his face turn hot.
"Keitaro..."
She leaned close, towards his face.
"I'm sorry...for killing you." she whispered, on the verge of completely breaking down.
Keitaro's reply shone with honesty, his mind unable to even contemplate falsehood as he replied, even quieter. "I already forgave you."
"When?" She asked. It was the beginning of so many questions. "When did you forgive me? When did you become part of my life? When did it become hard to think of life without you, Keitaro?"
"When did I fall in love with you?"
"The moment you killed me." He answered, and their lips met.
---
Another boy, his long bangs parted in the middle, dropped to the girl's side and began reciting the story he had already heard so many times.
"According to legend, a ghost who looks like a beautiful woman and a ghost who looks like a man walk together, hand-in-hand, every night about the island."
"It is said that these two are fated lovers, born too many years apart--but even though they were unable to encounter each other during their lives, they were able to meet and fall in love after their deaths."
He finished the story, grinning, proud of himself.
"Ah..." said the young girl, starry-eyed. "that sounds so romantic..."
---The End---