It had been a while since Ghost had gathered the courage to visit the boy's hall. She used to frequent a certain room or even the hallway itself quite often, but those days seem to have passed along with a certain individual's agenda. Luckily, moping was not her way. Not even with the events present and past of this stupid, evil, cold month. January. Probably nothing would ever convince Ghost of the merits of said month.

With a sigh, Ghost checked and rechecked things off of her mental list. Flowers? Check. Lighter, incense, and censer? Check. Pictures and ihai? Check. Everything was stowed safely in a dish cloth furoshiki-style except for the bunch of red chrysanthemums that Ghost held in her hand. She had everything physically ready, but it wasn't the physical things that had hurt so much this month.

The Mansion didn't have any visiting hour rules for the boys and girls halls. To Ghost's knowledge, there were no rules keeping the opposite gender at bay beyond common courtesy and the girl's propensity to start throwing things at the boys who came sniffing. She had every right to be here, but that didn't make it any easier.

Ghost's face scrunched up as she retracted her hand from the door frame before even knocking. She kept her feet rooted on the hall carpet and forced herself not to run. She had no choice in this matter. She needed help and she didn't exactly feel like explaining everything. So she had to find someone who might already know... enough. Enough to make this easier. Ghost stood firm wrapped from head to toe in her cold weather gear --mid-length skirt, tall boots, long sleeve shirt, scarf, and hat complete with pom pom-- and gathered her courage again.

She'd pulled away from the people at the mansion recently, but it was time... it was time to trust someone again. It was time to make new friends.

Ghost knocked on Tetsuya Shinbo's door and hoped against hope that someone was home.

The pages rustled in the dim, lava-lamp-lit, room. Shin turned another page of his Japanese comic book, face lit from the lamp’s red glow. Yotsuba was at it again, and this time she was anti-air-conditioner. Shin smiled at the manic expression on the young girl’s face, then looked up when he heard the knock on the door. Who could it be at this time of night? Slipping a lime green bookmark between the pages, he closed the book and set it on the nightstand by his bed. His feet slipped into the pair of fuzzy slippers he had sitting at the foot of his bed, and shuffled across the carpet of his room to the door.

“Yes?” Shin opened it a crack. When he saw who it was, he relaxed his guard. “Oh, hey. What’s up?” The door swung open the rest of the way, revealing him in a white-and-red striped sweater and gray sweatpants. Apparently, it had been very cold in his room when he decided to put them on.

It seemed Ghost was prepared for cold weather also. Lots of turquoise. “Going somewhere?”

“Yes?” Shin seemed suspicious until he realized who was peeking out from under all that turquoise and gray. “Oh, hey. What’s up?” And he opened the door. That was a good sign right? Ghost bowed an awkward bundled up half bow. "Sorry, It's so late, I just got back from... uhh... job hunting."

It truth she had only been half-heartedly looking. There were just too many other things on her mind. She'd picked up the fresh flowers on her way back.

“Going somewhere?”

"Not far, actually." Ghost pulled the scarf away from her face so that she could talk without her lips hitting wool. "I was actually hoping you'd join me. Uhm, no big if you want to stay in where it's warm." She shifted the funerary flowers in her hand nervously. They'd been out of white, but red was better somehow.

"I just need some help with something then you can ... uhm, do whatever you like?" She shrugged. Ghost was trying to make it seem less important because it meant a lot to her. And if Shin wouldn't help she would have to find someone else and start the whole process of gathering courage over again --which she probably wouldn't.

Somehow, she seemed uncertain about herself. He’d seen it before. People tended to make excuses and pass things off as ‘small’ or ‘trivial’ when they didn’t want to get hurt. The mention of ‘job searching’ brought back the memory of the broken book store, and shattered dreams. It was hard to keep up the happy hippy mood he’d had reading ‘slice of life’ comedy.

>>"Not far, actually.” She was hoping he’d join her, and needed help. His next lines came off of a sobering change in mood.

“Yeah,” Shin put a hand to his face, clearing his head. His voice was calm, if not slightly confused. What it could be was only a vague mystery to him, but whatever it was… “Yeah,” he repeated, softer this time. “I’ll get my things.”

It only took a moment for him to walk over to a shoe rack in the corner and snag a pair of shoes. Unfortunately, he hadn’t thought to buy snow boots like Ghost, so he had to settle for a fresh set of white tennis shoes and a few thick pairs of wool socks. His sweatpants and the sweatshirt at least prepared him for going outside. He was thankful. No awkward instances of asking her to leave while he changed. As he bent to tie his shoes, thoughts raced through his mind like comical carts in a Hannah-Barbera cartoon. So much had happened in the past few weeks, from the bad to the good. For her…? He had no idea...

“I’m ready,” He bounced up, snugging a wool cap down on his head. Whatever it was, he'd try and be understanding. That was the best he could do.

Ghost hesitated by the doorframe watching as Shin went to and fro for the last necessary items to complete his winter wear. After the severe talking to she'd had from DocProf about hypothermia around Christmas time, Ghost had gone out and bought some cold weather clothes. It wasn't her fault that her mutation made her less sensitive to temperature even if her body still needed to be kept warm.

Even the way that Shin had said yes made Ghost happy. He was kind and gentle and so very... undemanding. She had made the right choice in the end. Honestly, anything was better than going up in flames.

Ghost cleared her throat and conjured a paper smile for Shin as he came out of his room. "Sorry to put you on the spot, I just need some extra hands that aren't so.. flammable." She shifted her parcels and dipped her head politely again before leading the way down the hall. "I guess it doesn't have to be outside either, err... I may actually have to ghost you there. I don't think climbing through thorns is a wise decision at night. I mean, it didn't work so well when... yeah." Ghost shifted her things around again as they headed down the stairs.

"Sorry. I'm babbling." She chuckled nervously. In all honesty, Shin and Ghost had only met a few times. This was a big favor for an acquaintance. "And-- I don't mean to pull a cloak and dagger or anything, but it's just that some things are more personal, you know. I just thought that... I mean, you're nice and... you know... stuff." There went all her hopes at making simple or even coherent conversation. She kicked herself mentally and went for the kitchen door that lead out to the expansive backyard. "I hope you're up for a walk."

She had to bite back yet another 'Sorry' before it slipped out. There were lots of things that she was sorry about, but none of them remained at the Mansion. Once outside, Ghost seemed to relax a bit. The natural breeze that kicked up to greet the two made Ghost's pompom dance. It helped her clear her head. "Your mission, if you so choose to accept it, is to light the incense on a funerary censor. Last time I tried was... kind of a disaster so I promised never to play with fire alone ever again." She nodded in affirmation to herself before re-wrapping the scarf around her face and turning to check on Shin. "Last chance to back out, Shin-san."

Stepping through the darkened hallways this late at night felt strange. It was like they were on some secret mission, just the two of them, like spies… not that it was a particularly important mission, but… Shin nodded as Ghost mentioned needing an extra set of hands that wouldn’t burst into flames… Apparently, someone’s fate did rest upon it. His feet clopped silently down the stairs.

"Sorry. I'm babbling." Ghost chuckled nervously. "And-- I don't mean to pull a cloak and dagger or anything, but it's just that some things are more personal, you know. I just thought that... I mean, you're nice and... you know... stuff."

With her babbling on like that, it made it hard for him to get a word in edgewise (not that he minded). As she fought to find words to fill up the silence, he just smiled and nodded, trying his best to give her a sympathetic ear. Obviously, she had a lot on her mind. By process of association, so did he. All the things that had happened recently… it was hard thinking about some of them. As the kitchen door swung shut behind them, the skies opened up overhead.

The cold of the outside seemed to calm her spirits a bit. Shin wore a faint smile as he admired the stars.

“It’s a beautiful night for… whatever it is we’re doing…” He added breathlessly. “And I suppose,” he looked back down at her, still wearing the smile, albeit a more-serious version of it. “I can help you.”

She mentioned playing with fire; He didn’t want her getting burned.

Ghost wasn't afraid of the dark. She knew what the Mansion's campus looked like in the light. What it was supposed to look like. What it was supposed to be like. The starlight seemed to paint everything in shades of gray. She watched a color-sapped Shin as his own thoughts trickled down toward his mouth, and Ghost was nervous. Not nervous that he would say 'no,' but nervous of... having to rely on someone.

“It’s a beautiful night for… whatever it is we’re doing…” He added breathlessly. “And I suppose,” he looked back down at her, still wearing the smile, albeit a more-serious version of it. “I can help you.”

The edges of her eyes pulled tight over the rim of her scarf indicating that she had smiled. With her heart in her throat, she vowed right then and there that it was okay to cry. She could tell already that she wouldn't be able to hold it back anyway.

"Saying goodbye." And there was only one place that was appropriate for saying goodbye to all the things she needed to let go. From then on she operated in relative silence.

Even somber, Ghost had a certain peculiar grace that was evident in her every step. She made descending the back stairs look like a sort of ballet move and gliding through the dried and hibernating winter garden was a like ballroom dancing. But they didn't stop there. She led him farther and farther across the lawn until they reached the tree line, it was a short distance to the wall and yet she led on. She led Shin to the very back corner of the Mansion grounds, in the corner of the outer wall where a thick pile of brambles stood.

Ghost stopped abruptly and swallowed. The pile of thorns easily reached 7 feet and inside Ghost knew there was a safe hollow place. She chewed on her lip as she inspected the pile of brambles. "There was an incident here involving a student who had a... power malfunction after he had been shot. Neena, the assistant headmistress, and another student, Nika, were incapacitated and ... thrown onto this pile of thorns."

Her throat was tight. Inside this hollow of thorns was where she had shared her first kiss with Garrett and outside was where he had hurt her friends... and where Ghost had taken her first truly offensive actions against another living being. "Inside is a safe place. I would like to go there and the best way to avoid injury is to ghost." Ghost shifted the parcels around in her arms again, though this time with purpose. She offered Shin her cool, bare hand. "I can take us both if you trust me."

Unlike Ghost, Shin had never been graceful. He’d tripped whenever he tried too hard in training, and in Kendo class he’d had the reputation for being as heavy in swing as he was in step. The first 182 days of Kendo training had taught him one thing: disparity of motion. The remaining six years up till that date had existed to help him chip it away. Moving along the gray slopes of the mansion grounds like a specter, his mind fell back to those days… and of course, saying good bye.

He’d been an insolent child.

Insolence aside, it was always there. You trained by your friends, fought with them, left them. Abandoned. It echoed in his head. As he played ‘Follow the Leader’ with Ghost and the thorn mountain loomed up in the distance, he thought how the thorns pushed people away. Her words guided his thoughts.

Within that bush, there’d be peace, serenity. It was the eye of the storm in a whirlwind of sharp ends. To some, that serenity might have represented Paradise, even Gaea. Outside? Well, they’d covered that. It bore thorns, no matter the name.

"Inside is a safe place. I would like to go there and the best way to avoid injury is to ghost." Ghost shifted the parcels around in her arms again, though this time with purpose. She offered Shin her cool, bare hand. "I can take us both if you trust me."

Trust? He raised his hand, shifting his own inner reflection to a cold mental triangle in the back of his mind and compressing it there.

“Into Gaea…” His voice came cool and soft, considering. Maybe he’d trust her into the center of paradise. Maybe he’d trust her into the pits of Hell. What’s in a name? “Alright, I trust you.” He took her hand.

She didn't quite catch what he had said first, but considering Shin-san's expression, Ghost wasn't the only one being introspective. “Alright, I trust you.” He took her hand. Ghost closed her cold fingers around the weight of Shin's, but just couldn't make herself smile. But he wasn't asking for a smile. He was asking for safe passage.

A sharp intake of breath and Ghost was gone, or rather physically gone. She always changed like that that, though usually not with so much to bring with her. The ghosting only extended as far as Shin-san's wrist at first. Until she breathed out a long sigh pushing the state change farther along his arm. "Don't let go."

It took time and concentration. The incorporeality would creep along, stealing Shin's senses as it claimed his body. Ghost's only tether to Shin was the phantom feeling of Shin's hand. As long as they were touching she could extend the etherealness. Ghost was used to the change in vision and lack of feeling, and wasn't quite sure what it was like for others she brought over so she hadn't thought to warn him about anything beyond letting go.

After perhaps two minutes of complete concentration they were both gaseous enough to seep through the brambles. There was no way to read him, so Ghost didn't bother. "Hold on. We're going in." And she summoned a breeze to push them through, another strange disembodied sensation.

Once in the hollow, the breeze let up. "Make sure your feet are under you, and when you're ready you can let go. You eh - may need to duck a bit in here." Once he was safely solid, she would start her own process.

When people think of a body slipping away, they usually think of an all-defiling cold creeping across consciousness. When she’d told him to hold on, he hadn’t been sure what to expect, but why then… he’d expected it to be cold, but as his senses dulled away from the air around him the chill became a non-issue. Somehow, it felt…? Warm?

It was getting harder to think about how it felt. All senses failing him but sight, sound, and then… even those. As the wind whipped by his ears and his body became incorporeal, all he heard was the dull pounding thrum of nothingness.

And then a push. Gentle, like a day at the beach. The image of the wind tussling his hair as he looked off towards the sea flashed in his mind. His gaseous form drifted through the bramble with hers, shifting and pulling inwards slightly to compensate for the thorns around it. For some reason, it reminded him of squeezing out a tube of tooth paste…

"Make sure your feet are under you, and when you're ready you can let go. You eh - may need to duck a bit in here."

“Huh?” Shin’s senses suddenly flooded back in around him, and he lost his grip. His feet were under him, all right. He landed hard on his knees. Biting back a grimace, he shifted to a more comfortable sitting position and thought of the positive. At least he hadn’t needed to duck.

The misty form of Ghost condensed down toward the ground and eventually she was kneeling on her knees, solid and in the dirt and leaves next to Shin.

"Sorry." She whispered because it was somewhat like being in a sacred space and when you're on holy ground you whisper. Shin wasn't the first person to fall out of etherealness and become overwhelmed by the influx of their returning senses. She didn't bother to wait on him, though as she still had some work to do before he had to play his part.

First she lay the flowers to the side and set about untying and unpacking the kitchen towel bundle. She pulled out the sandalwood incense cone and set up the censor. It wasn't exactly traditional, really none of this was, but it was the thought that counted. Ghost needed something formal. She next unpacked the pictures, one of a Japanese gravesite and the other captured two young and in love twenty somethings. The pictures were propped up behind the censor against the Mansion wall that was free from prickles.

Lastly, and most importantly, Ghost unwrapped a funeral tablet, an ihai. It lay naked, cold and heavy in her hand for perhaps the third time ever. The front was smooth, polished to a reflective surface and the words had been carved into the stone and then painted with ebony enamel. The sides and the back of the stone were rough hewn natural stone. The coloring was grayish and beautiful and it proclaimed the merits of her mother, now one year deceased.

The ihai settled between the pictures and behind the censor. Ghost lay the flowers at the base of the tablet and then sat back on her heels to admire her work. It was almost as good as the real thing. She fished the lighter from between the loose folds of cloth and held it out for Shin. Should she explain? Did he want to know? She wasn't sure of what to say to in this situation and so she said nothing. She just supplied the please with her eyes.

Shin watched as Ghost went to work setting things up. Out came the incense and the photograph. It was put into its place so fast, he didn’t have time to see much past a blur of colors. In the dim light of the bramble patch, the colors dulled to blacks and grays. He bit his lip in recognition of the funeral tablet as she set it in place, remembering the last time he’d seen one like it. That had been at his grandfather’s funeral.

As she held out the lighter, he took it wordlessly. Nothing needed explaining here; he’d done it before. With a click, the incense lit at the tip. Shin stowed the lighter in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, scooting back to watch the smoke trail. She’d done a good job setting it up.

“Who are we honoring?” Words finally bubbled up in his throat. He almost wanted to cover his mouth after he’d asked. To him, it sounded more like a croak. He cleared his throat tactfully and tried again. “Did you want to say a few words for them, or…” Maybe she wanted them to sit in silence some more.

It had been a nice silence. He’d hated himself for murdering it. It was probably something personal that he wouldn’t understand… but maybe the most important thing was that he wanted to. Maybe it showed he cared…

It was lit. One year later after wounds and healing, gains and losses, camps and escapes, hate and love and sorrow and happiness and everything in between: it was finally lit. Ghost sank back onto her heels and took the time to admire the trail of smoke that wafted upward. Some part of her was finally relaxing. One year. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. Man... so much had happened. It was a lifetime ago that Ghost had even been a part of the family that had taken such losses. She couldn't even imagine going back, not that that was an option.

“Who are we honoring?”[/color] The words made her jump. She'd almost forgotten anyone else was even present. She wiped at her eyes again erasing all traces of excess precipitation.
"My mother, Meredith, specifically." Besides that there was so much more to mourn, but where to even begin?
“Did you want to say a few words for them, or…”

Ghost cleared her throat so that her next words would sound less watery. A few words? Right. That was probably customary. Ghost seemed to shrink in on herself a bit as she thought. "To Mom, the woman who birthed me, raised me, and taught me everything I know." Ghost wiped her eyes again and then fixed them on the picture. Treacherous tears made the happy and young face of her mom blurry.

"I wish... you could have been here to see me continue to grow, and to... warn me... about who to trust." Though the last bit came out a bit strangled. She couldn't say everything that she wanted to say because her throat was tight. Ghost had to take her time calming herself before she could even speak again. "It's been a long time in coming. I'm sorry for the wait. I hope I haven't let you down. I..." She hesitated. "I love you, Mom. I miss you and I hope you're happy wherever you are."

She nodded with some finality. So what if it was more of a toast? She didn't give eulogies every day. Ghost wiped at her cheeks and eyes and mustered a watery smile. It was lit. "Goodbye, Mom." and goodbye, Evan. Goodbye, Dad. I won't be thinking of you again. Again she hesitated, even though the train of thought was only in her mind. Goodbye, Garrett. I hope you're happy.

"Would it be overkill to burn this whole thing down?"

Shin nodded understandingly when he heard her reply. He nodded when she said a few words, nodded through the hard silence she had to take in finding them. And finally, he nodded with her as she reached her tone of finality. Yet all that nodding did nothing to prepare him for the next line.

"Would it be overkill to burn this whole thing down?"

At that, he nearly fell over out of shock. “What?” He nearly laughed. Nearly. Through all of that, he’d kept silent. His silence had opened up the canvas for her to paint those beautiful words, and now they’d been said, and then… what?

Maybe… what were the cultural ramifications of that? Burning down memorials, a moratorium on memories, paths past, lost in flame? It–He couldn’t follow. It was one of those do-or-die moments, a point-blank question: Yes, or no. What should he…!?

Or, right… a joke. It was joke. He’d stared there looking at her dumbly for a moment that seemed to last a lifetime, and it was a joke. Or was it?

““Do you really want to cast all those memories aside?” Shin asked her, quietly. He’d seen the tears on her face earlier, so he knew this meant a lot to her. But still… but still. His brain trailed smoke trying to work his way through the logic.

“I mean, it's getting rid of something, and letting go, but still... the past is important, too." Ugh, he was such a social Luddite when things all burned down to this. He only hoped she understood.

She had chosen well. He wasn't trying to keep her from shedding tears or adding his two cents or laying his arms on her shoulders. He was a silent supporter of the funeral, nodding his assent and making no outward judgements. She sat with her own strength and spoke her own words. He did absolutely nothing to engage beyond lighting the censor until Ghost specifically addressed Shin-san.

“What?” She supposed that her words probably did come a little out of left field. Even Ghost wasn't sure that she kidding, though Shin-san's response was enough to turn the corner of her lips upward into less of a frown and more of a neutral expression. A clean slate, some called it. It was sounding less crazy the more she thought about it.

“Do you really want to cast all those memories aside?” Shin-san spoke quietly like someone might speak to a crazy person or maybe she was just projecting and he was still trying to be respectful. Ghost pulled the loosened scarf and hat completely off. She felt a bit stuffy suddenly. She needed air as she thought about what Shin-san had asked her.

“I mean, it's getting rid of something, and letting go, but still... the past is important, too."

"It's kind of already too late. Heh." The past had most decidedly already dropped her. The only living member of her family sent her away to the American internment camps. She supposed the purging began there where she had been stripped of everything Ghost once though important. She'd reclaimed only those few things in this clearing and a few more relics remained in her room. "Shin-san, did you... were you in the camps?"

Ghost scrubbed the last saline trails from her cheeks. "The only things they didn't take from us were our hopes and memories. I was lucky to recover these things. Maybe I would keep the pictures... but can you blame me for wanting to get rid of this place? --for wanting to start over again with a few less thorns?" She looked around at the innocuous interior of the brambles and had mixed feelings. "Good and bad has happened here." but even the supposed good made her chest cavity squeeze uncomfortably. "I just want to say goodbye already."

She fidgeted with her aqua colored hat in her hands before she asked him again. "So would it be overkill to burn this whole thing down?" and watched curiously for what he might be thinking.