"Still waiting?" he said, with a smile.

"Yes." she quietly replied.

"So, what’s up between you two?" Horo Horo said. "I mean, why do you guys hang out?" Kirol paused.

"I can’t tell you."

"Why not?" everyone said.

"It’s a bit personal."

"We won’t tell." Pirika said. "The only one who will even think about telling is my brother, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t." She glared at Horo Horo who hid behind Tamao. Tamao flushed a bit. Kirol sighed and stood up.

"When I was a child, I lived in a small village. Very few were shamans, but we all could see ghosts. We respected ghosts as we did people, and we all lived happily amongst them. But then, one day, a horrible event took place. Spirits that were alien to our village began to possess people relentlessly. The possessed people destroyed the homes and eventually incapacitated the hosts. Everyone died and the village was destroyed. The spirits fled and I was the last survivor."

"Wow." Yoh said.

"I was left alone, wandering the land. I kept searching for some salvation, but a few nights later, I ran into the same specters who devastated the village. I was trapped. But, then someone burst out and attacked the spirits, forcing them to be sent back to where they came from. I knew he was a shaman because he attacked with an oversoul. Exile was that shaman." Everyone was quiet. "I swore to help Exile forever. He told me that I didn’t have to, but I just felt right being by him."

"He is a bit protective of you." Lyserg said.

"I know. I’m not a shaman, so I can’t fight. Exile does all the fighting."

"I can tell." Yoh said. He still felt a bit tired from the battle.

"Exile is not as serious as you may think. Back at our home, he actually laughs." she said, with a giggle.

"So you live together?" Horo Horo asked.

"Of course." she said. She looked to the sleeping Exile and turned back toward everyone else. "Exile is a good person. We all will do all we can to save the realms." After she spoke, Exile sat up from the bed. Kirol looked at him and gasped. "Exile! You should be resting!" Exile slid the blankets down, showing his bandaged chest.

"I’m fine. I got enough rest for today." he said. "Thanks for caring though." Kirol flushed a bit.

"It was nothing." she said. Exile moved out of the bed and stood up. He looked at Kirol.

"You just can’t help but worry about me, can you?" he said.

"......you never know when to stop fighting." she said.

"Heh.....guess I don’t." he said, with a laugh. "Suke." Suke materialized behind him. Exile turned toward everybody else. "You all haven’t met my guardian ghost, have you? This is Suke."

"Greetings, everyone." Suke formally said.

"Suke is a warrior." Exile said. "As I said, he doesn’t rely on one weapon."

"Cool." Yoh said. "You have to see this Amidamaru." Amidamaru appeared behind Yoh.

"A multi-faceted guardian ghost?" he said. "You were quite a powerful opponent."

"Thank you." Suke said. "You’re a samurai, correct?"

"Yes."

"You were very good as well."

"Thank you."

The ghosts continued to talk. Bason and the other spirits joined in later. Yoh, Exile, and the others sat down in the living room.

"I don’t presume we’ve met the rest of you all." Exile said.

"Yes, we haven’t." Kirol said, with a smile.

"You know me; I’m Yoh." Yoh said.

"I’m Horo Horo." the blue-haired boy said.

"Are you an Ainu?" Exile asked.

"Yup." He pointed to a blue-haired girl next to him."That’s my sister Pirika." The girl waves and smiled. A small spirit appeared. "That’s my guardian ghost, Kororo." Kororo smiled and flew next to Horo Horo. "Kororo is a Koro-Pokkur."

"She’s adorable!" Kirol said.

"Koro-Pokkur..." Exile said.

"My name is Ren." a spike-haired boy said. "Your kwan dao skills were not bad."

"Not bad?" Exile said. "‘Not bad’ must mean ‘enough to make you all scared to death of me’." He laughed a bit. Ren scoffed at him. A giant Chinese warrior ghost appeared.

"I am Bason, Master Ren’s guardian ghost." it said.

"You look strong." Suke said.

"I am."

"My name is Tamao." a pink-haired girl said. She seemed shy.

"Where’s your guardian?" Kirol asked.

"I was told not to bring them."

"Yeah, Konchi and Ponchi are bigger party animals than I am!" a tall man said.

"And you are..." Exile asked.

"I am Ryu of the Wooden Sword, but you call just call me Ryu." A sinister-looking spirit appeared.

"I am Tokageroh." it said.

"My name is Lyserg Diethel." a green-haired boy said. "And this is Jeanne." He pointed to a silver-haired girl next to him. She nodded in greeting. A small fairy appeared. "This is Morphine, my guardian."

"Where is her guardian?" Kirol asked. Jeanne shook her head.

"Her guardian was unable to come." Lyserg said.

"Oh." Kirol said. She noticed a blonde girl standing in the corner. "Who is she?" Yoh walked toward her.

"This is Anna." Yoh said, putting his arm around her neck. "She’s my fiancee."

"Fiancee?" Exile asked.

"Yup." Yoh said. A fist rained down onto his head, grounding him.

"How dare you touch me!" Anna yelled, as she sat down. "Don’t mind Yoh’s ignorance."

"Well, she seems nice." Exile said. He turned toward Yoh, who was now sitting by everyone else. "I must ask you something." Exile said.

"Go ahead." he replied.

"You are the sibling of Hao Asakura, correct?" Yoh paused.

"Yeah. Why?"

"No reason. Just clearing something up. But, we must plan how to seal the hole between the realms right now." Exile seriously said. "I can take you all to the breaking point."

"Breaking point?" Yoh asked.

"The location of the fracture." Exile said.

"We can deal with that tomorrow." Yoh calmly said. "Tonight, we need to prepare."

"Point taken." Exile said. "Then it’s decided. We will leave at dawn. Everyone get some sleep."

"Exile, where will we sleep?" Kirol asked. Exile seriously did not know.

"You can stay here." Yoh said. "We have plenty of beds."

"Are you sure we won’t be a problem?" Kirol politely asked.

"Of course." Yoh replied. Anna scoffed at the idea a bit, but allowed them to stay. Everybody walked upstairs to their rooms and got to sleep.