Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hiro smiled to himself as he held Rikku. "I... Guess we could go to the springs... But no taking my swim trunks this time... And at least wear a bikini okay...?" Hiro said quietly, remembering the last time they went to the springs. He had been so embarassed he went invisible to sneak out of the whole mess. He actually wanted to go to the springs, but this time he didn't want any unneeded attention.

Akane was sitting a short distance away. Her knees were drawn to her chest, her face hidden against them. Her large brown cat ears were drooping on either side of her head, thick brown hair draped around her shoulders. She was ignoring everything around her, including the black kitten that kept swatting at her shirt with his paws. He even pounced on her limp tail a few times, but this also provoked no response.

So, bored, the kitten wandered off. Only then did Akane lift her head, staring after him through dark red eyes. Great, he's leaving me too now... she thought to herself. Then, heaving a sigh, she pushed herself up and followed him. She was unwilling to lose the last bit of company she had.

Kuro, the black kitten, wandered over towards a person who was sitting at the base of a tree. His dulled, golden eyes focused upon him and then he crept forward, pawing lightly at the man's leg, just staring up at him. Akane arrived a second later, stopping short as she watched Kuro and the man. Then she frowned as she realized something. Great, another ghost. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice cold, emotionless, along with her very expression.

Akane watched the male impatiently, waiting for him to reply. Instead he first stared at her, then towards Kuro, before sighing. Her tail gave an irritated flick behind her, then fell back to its normal, strangely limp position, like she didn't even have the energy to keep it moving like a normal cat's would. Kuro's tail, however, was never still. She placed one hand on her hip, the other dangling by her side, as she fixed the man with her emotionless stare.

"Obviously," she murmured upon hearing his response. However, her voice was still toneless, monotonous. She walked forward, kneeling by his side and gathering Kuro back into her arms. She was silent, then stared into the man's eyes. "You didn't answer my question," she mumbled. "What are you doing?"

Akane regarded him silently for a moment, wondering what he was thinking about. Since he must be thinking about something. What other reason did he have for delaying in his response so badly? When he finally replied, she became the one who started thinking to herself. What did he mean? How did she know? Well, she guessed that was a normal question. It'd just been so long since she'd met a new ghost that she wasn't used to being asked that anymore.

"I can see..." she murmured quietly. "I can see spirits and ghosts. I can raise the dead. I deal with the dead, so I can always see the dead, even if they attempt to hide. Kuro is dead, and was thus able to sense your presence. I'm not sure if he could actually see you himself." Then, abruptly, she fell silent again, dark red eyes staring into the male's. He was different than Sei, and she was glad. If they were the same, she wouldn't have been able to take this meeting. But, they seemed to be opposites.

A few seconds passed, before she suddenly spoke again. "Akane." Then, as an explanation, "My name."

Akane frowned at him when he spoke. "Well, I didn't ask if you'd like me to give it," she replied, her voice also emotionless, however there was a hint of irritation now in her eyes. "Yet I felt like stating it, nonetheless." She fell silent for a moment, listening to him speak. She didn't really understand what he was saying though.

"What do you mean? Of course you exist. You're sitting right there and I'm talking to you. I don't speak with things that do not exist." She shifted Kuro in her grasp, frowning now, her irritation finally showing.

Meanwhile, Kuro had noticed Nerus was staring at him previously, and the cat stared back through his dulled golden eyes, meowing quietly after a pause.

Akane rolled her eyes, her irritation quickly growing. Or rather, now she was letting it show. She shook her head, ears flattening back a little. "No," she said flatly. "I don't have imaginary friends and I'm not asleep. I don't hallucinate either. You are there and I am speaking to you. Why do you have trouble believing this?"

Her angry eyes softened just slightly, peering into his own. She didn't understand why he was saying those things. "...do you really think you're not here? Enough to doubt me, even though I'm completely sure that you are?"

Akane stared at him, the softened expression turning once more into irritation. "Stupid," she muttered. "Maybe I am a figment of your imagination. But at least I'm not sulking about it." She reached out suddenly, smacking him hard on the arm. "Your figment just hit you," she hissed, cat ears flattened back again.

"Just because you don't remember anything, doesn't mean you don't exist," she added a second later. Then she fell silent, thinking to herself. Her ears drooped slightly, then flattened back like before. "Maybe I don't exist either. I mean, who can exist with something like this?" She hesitated, then lifted up her shirt partway. On her side, standing out strangely against the nearly white skin, was a huge scar running jagged. It went into her stomach, then disappeared beneath her shirt higher on her side. It actually looked almost like something had simply bit a huge chunk out of her side, and then it'd been replaced.

She gazed at it for a moment, then towards Nerus in silence.

Akane let her shirt fall back in place, covering the huge scar along her stomach and back. She stared silently at Nerus, still obviously annoyed. Kuro, her black kitten, sat beside her in the grass, tail flicking idly behind him as his dull golden eyes shifted continuously between the two.

Wordlessly, Akane reached out and caught the pendant that Nerus had tossed, turning it over in her hand a couple times before seeing that it appeared able to be opened. However, when she tried it, it didn't work. She frowned, ears flattening back uncertainly. She was very tempted to claw at it, but that may damage it, so she decided against it.

Slowly, she held it back out to him. "...what is it?" she murmured, her tone dull and monotonous again. Her face lacked expression as well, as she'd begun to calm herself. She sighed, then reached down and tugged Kuro into her lap. "He's dead," she said suddenly. "But he exists."