Andromeda

The Inner Man – Episode 7 – Ghost

It had been nearly two weeks since the events that took place at the school and everyone was still going around the school tense. Most of the student had managed to return to their normal lives, though it would definitely not be something that they would forget. It was hardly something Chiko could forget and he had been through worse. He did not know how close he came to dying then, but it was still terrifying knowing that the scarred man of his nightmares was in Osaka.

The scarred man was enough to terrify him; that day was the wake up call that he was expecting. He did not know when it was going to happen, but he feared the day that it was going to happen. The day that his safety would be in jeopardy and the forces that were against him moved closer to their goals. It was apparent that they did not know who he was inside the body of the girl and he had solace in that thought, but even that might not last.

Chiko entered his class a little late to hear some announcement from Mrs. Shimasuke that had the entire classroom quiet. It was a little eerie not to see everyone out of control when he arrived. He did not know what was going on, but he was about to find out as Mrs. Shimasuke stopped talking to look at him. She was giving him that look again; he fled for his chair trying to get out her sight.

Sakura was facing attentively forward until Chiko sat down. "Good morning, Kohana!"

"Hey, Sakura. What's going on?"

"Mrs. Shimasuke got a big announcement. She was just about to tell us."

"I see." Chiko looked forward at the teacher to only get that stare again from her. He slid in his chair a little to try to hide himself behind the student in front of him.

"Now then, as I was saying, I have some important news for everyone. I have planned a field trip to one of the last remaining shrines in Osaka. I know you are all so excited!"

'I don't know about that, I think you are more excited than us,' Chiko thought. He watched her get excited; she was probably trying to get the rest of the students excited. They were not so easily entertained, but they all did seem interested in the change of venue. It would get their minds off of everything that had happened at the school.

"So you need to speak with your parents to let them know about the trip and get their permission. We'll be going this Friday, so get ready!"

Chiko was not really sure if he wanted to go on this field trip. It seemed a little to risky for him, if something happened Mashiro would not be able to rescue him like before. There was nothing that would protect him except for his being a child. Besides he really was not interested in going to some old shrine.

There was a reason it was one of the last shrines. Most of them were being closed down or abandoned as technology over took people's beliefs. There were not many people left with an interest in the shrines of the old days, just stubborn people who could not get away from the past. Most were just tourist spots now with the keepers selling talismans and charms hoping to keep the place open one more year.

Chiko return home after school ended having not given much thought to the field trip. He dropped his things on the floor in the living and dropped himself in the chair. It was a little oversized for his body, but it still comfortable for him.

He heard Mashiro in the kitchen and decided to get up and go see what he was doing. Mashiro was preparing dinner as usual. Chiko sat down at the table to watch him, he just felt like relaxing.

"Welcome home. Anything interesting happen at school?"

"Not too much, just the usual boring stuff," Chiko said casually not really thinking too hard. "Oh, and Mrs. Shimasuke apparent has some field trip she is planning for the end of the week."

"Really? You're going right?"

"Huh? I don't feel like it."

"So you're going then."

"Hey! Didn't you just hear me?"

"Yeah, I heard that you were going."

"Grrr…I said no such thing."

"Now, now, you need to blend in at school don't you? Going to be a little strange you not going on the field trip. It'll be fun. You won't have to worry about the syndicate, as long as they don't know you're who you are now you will be safe."

"Like my school was…"

"They were looking for Chiko, not Kohana. Besides they thought you were hiding in the school, not as a student. Nothing to worry about."

"You never worry."

"And you worry too much."

"It's my life, I have a right to worry!"

"It'll be fun, enjoy yourself."

"I'm not going," Chiko said crossing his hand.

"You will be when I call Mrs. Shimasuke to let her know that you're so excited."

"You wouldn't…" Chiko paused looking at Mashiro. "You would…"

"Then it is settled. Try this, I decided to add a little extra spice to it." Mashiro rammed to the spoon into his mouth before he could even object. Chiko's face turned red as he coughed the sauce back up. He grabbed the water glass near by trying to cool his mouth down. "Too much?"

"I think that is under stating it a little."

"Oh well, back to the drawing board."

The day came and Chiko was with the rest of the students at the shrine. It was far on the edge of Osaka, he could see the forests in the distance. There were few things even near by the massive building that spanned much of the area with halls and small rooms for whatever purpose they had. It was actually a fairly impressive sight for him to see.

The class followed Mrs. Shimasuke into the shrine grounds that lay at the bottom of the entire shrine. He looked around to see stairs leading up to a building hidden in the forest. All around him was the main shrine forming a wide "U" shape. From the roof dangled charms and talismans blowing in the wind calmly.

Two men in robes walked out of the building approaching them. They stopped in front of Mrs. Shimasuke the three of them bowing to each other. Chiko figured that they were probably the caretakers of the shrine and their guides on this tour.

"Good morning. We are delighted to have your class visit us today."

"Thank you, now children, remember that everything in the shrine is very old and important to these people. So do not go wondering of on your own and do not touch anything."

"Please follow us inside." The men turned around and walked back to the front of the building with everyone following. The inside of the building had a long hallway with several doors along it. They followed the two men as the tour began.

There was not anything too special about the place from what Chiko could see; he was bored following along with everyone else. Sakura seemed enthralled but that was hardly surprising considering how carefree she was about everything. The halls and rooms all looked the same to him, he was just glad to be following along with everyone else. He would have gotten lost in this place already.

An hour had passed and Chiko as well as several of the other students to quietly voicing their boredom. Mrs. Shimasuke was trying to maintain her excitement, but there were few students that were as thrilled about it as her. Sakura was one of those; it made Chiko sigh to listen to Sakura's happiness it was a little hard to handle sometimes.

"Hey, you guys just see that?" one of the boys said.

"What?" another boy responded with.

"I just something strange at the end of the hallway down there."

"You're just imagining things."

"Really, Tamura so bored that you are making things up now?" Hakuro said as she had her arms crossed looked down at him. The other three girls in her group followed up around her.

"Honest, I'm not lying," he said. The boy was Kazuo Tamura, generally soft spoken, especially around Hakuro. But even Chiko was scared of Hakuro, so it was not really that surprising. He did not really know Kazuo too well, but it was doubtful that he was actually lying about seeing something.

Everyone that had been listening to the conversation looked down the hallway where Kazuo was pointing not seeing anything at the moment. Kazuo looked a little nervous since whatever he saw was gone now.

'This is more interesting that what is happening right now…' Chiko thought and sighed as he walked forward towards the direction. "If he saw something, then it is probably in one of the rooms, lets just check them."

"What about the rest of the class? We'll get left behind," one of the boys said.

"It's a shrine, how many hallways could there possibly be," he replied. The group followed up behind Chiko gathered around him suddenly making him jump. He looked behind him to find that everyone that had stopped was now behind him. It was the four girls, Sakura, Kazuo and another boy. They all were more interested in finding out what it was, even if they did not want to admit to it.

Chiko slid open the first door finding nothing of interest, just a normal room for someone staying in the shrine. The next room was the same as well. The group was starting to get restless for not finding anything. Chiko really do not know what he was supposed to be looking for, but he kept search until he came to the far end room.

He was about to slide it open when the door glowed brightly. He jumped back as everyone else did. Everyone looked at each other not knowing what was happening, the light faded away after a moment. Chiko approached the door carefully.

"Be careful," Sakura said.

Chiko slid the door open quickly only to find that there was nothing in the room. Everyone sighed, though secretly disappointed that it was nothing. They were all about to return to the class wherever that might have been when the other boy screamed. Everyone looked in his direction, which was followed by the group of girls with Hakuro screaming as well.

Before them was a ghostly image of a woman, pale white and floating in front of them. It then suddenly dashed away through a wall. The girls were unable to move, but Chiko rushed after it along with Sakura who was giggling for a reason that Chiko cared not understand. Chiko rushed to the room that the ghost disappeared into unfortunately it was already gone when he arrived.

Chiko looked back to where everyone was still at, they were slowly coming towards him. Kazuo seemed a little frighten, though excited as well. It was obvious now that he had seen something, though it was a ghost rather than a person. But even that did not make any sense to Chiko, he did not believe in ghosts or the supernatural. There had to be an explanation to the ghost, one that could be explained.

"What to chase it?" Sakura said smiling. "Looks like a lot of fun."

Everyone sighed, sweating in embarrassment for her. Though they were all looking at each other with the same thought. They were curious to know what it was, and it was certainly more fun than the tour was.

"I want to find that ghost," Hakuro said raising a fist. "I'll make it pay for scaring me."

Chiko stared at her mute, 'Who is worse Sakura or Hakuro?' He looked to see that everyone was nodding in agreement wanting to hunt down the ghost. "Well it floated off this way, it could be outside already."

"Well let's hunt it down."

The group rushed into the room that Chiko pointed to, not even caring that it might have been someone's room that they slept and lived in. They looked around to try to find anything, the closet, under the bed, in the dresser (seemed like a strange place, but it was Sakura's idea). Chiko however, went to the window, figuring it probably was not hiding in the room anymore. He looked around to hopefully see the ghost.

He stared for a while, the racket behind him taking place when he saw it around some of the bushed near the stairs of the forest. "Its outside in the bushes," Chiko said immediately regretting it as everyone was pressing against him. His was face flatten against the window with everyone trying to look out as the window and wall came crashing down.

They all fell into the dirt outside some lying on top of others dazed by what happened. Sakura was sitting on Chiko, who was hardly surprised. He looked up her to find her smiling at him. "I need to get up, Sakura."

"I'm sorry."

Everyone dusted themselves off and looked around for where Chiko had seen it. Kazuo then alerted everyone that he found it and they all ran off in a burst of dirt leaving Chiko staring bewildered and coughing. Sakura smiled at him with dirt on her face. 'Does nothing faze this girl?' He looked at the dust cloud following behind the others and looked back at her. "Well, we'll lose sight of them too if we stand around here any longer."

Chiko and Sakura rushed off to catch up to them as they charged into the forest looking for that ghost. They caught up to them at the stairs half way up into the forest that surrounded it. Everyone was looking around at the edge of the stairs barely going into the forest trying to figure out where it went. None of them wanted to go into the forest too far knowing that they would get lost easily.

The forest was thick, but Chiko could see something barely in the distance that looked like the ghost, it was white and stood out in the green. He stepped further into the forest to see if he could make it out any better. It was definitely something strange in the forest that did not belong. "I think I see it there, something white." Chiko immediately ducked down holding his arms around him hoping not to get trampled.

However, he was not even touched, he looked back to see that they were not moving but staring in the distance. He looked back to make sure that the ghost was still there, which it was.

"I don't see anything," Kazuo said.

"Just trying to get attention Kitayama?" Hakuro said.

'It's plain as day, why can't they see it?' Chiko looked at the ghost in the distance, he could barely see it as more than a white spot. He marched on through the green as the group followed behind him. It was there he could see it and it was getting closer.

"Hey, I see something!"

"See I told you it was there."

They immediately rush off in the direction making a racket through the forest that was scaring everything away. Chiko was thankfully spared from their assault, but Sakura grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along with her as she gleefully chased after them. As he expected though, the ghost was move away as they were getting closer.

Every step they made towards it the ghost backed away drawing the kids even further into the forest until Chiko could no longer see the way out. He could only follow the ghost until it disappeared. It was his hope that it would not disappear though, since it would leave them lost in the forest. Then everyone would realize that they were lost and that would be even worse than having to face Mrs. Shimasuke.

The chase became a climb as the ghost went up hill. The kids continued to follow it around forest not realizing that they were becoming lost. The ghost was leading them around and Chiko was beginning to worry how long they were actually chasing this stupid ghost. The teacher probably realized that they were gone by now.

The ghost suddenly disappeared on them and everyone stopped. They looked around trying to find where it went to when it reappeared behind them coming after them. Everyone screamed as it started to chase them. Chiko went along with it, though he was equally surprised by the sudden reversal.

Ahead of them was light as the forest came to an end; Hakuro was the first one out with the three girls following her close behind, the two boys and Sakura with Chiko nervously following up the rear. The ghost chased them in circles around the shrine grounds at the top of the hill for several minutes.

The ghost then giggled and went through Hakuro making her run away franticly until she tripped over a stone of the walkway. Everyone rushed to her to help her out ignoring the ghost. The girls with her stopped suddenly, being the first to aid her. The boys were confused and rushed around to see what was wrong. Chiko had to admit to his own curiosity and joined them with Sakura tagging along.

Chiko's eyes widened along with everyone else's. Hakuro had very indelicately fallen with her skirt up showing off her panties with a large smiling bear on them.

"Aw, he is so cute," Sakura said being the first one to from words. Everyone looked at her sweating. Hakuro was still dazed by her fall not to realize the spectacle that she had created around her. Chiko wanted to laugh, but the boys were already beating him to that. They were rolling on the ground as the girls tried to help Hakuro up.

Hakuro looked around confused why they were laughing at her until she realized and immediately pushed her skirt down over her legs again. Her face immediately turned red embarrassed and then in anger as she chased the boys around the shrine grounds trying to catch them.

"I'll get you for peeping!"

"We didn't mean it!"

"Like I'll believe that. Get back here!"

"Hey! What is all of the noise out here?" voice said from inside the shrine.

Everyone paused to watch an old man walk out of the shrine. Hakuro was holding the two boys under her arm in a headlock. She stared blankly at him as he approached her.

"My, I haven't seen so many guests at our shrine in some time. Especially, ones with so much energy." The old man smiled, coughing suddenly. "Dear me, seems that the dust is thicker than usual today."

Sakura dragged Chiko across the ground to the old man to see him. "Good morning, sir."

"Morning? I think its afternoon now."

"Really?" Sakura looked at her watch confirming it for herself. "I'm sorry, you're right."

"So what are you children doing at the shrine?"

"We came with our class to see your shrine, mister."

"Really? That so, well then I'll have to show you the shrine behind me. It is really quite a sight."

"Really?!" Sakura was the only that was truly excited by this prospect, but they all followed the old man in the shrine.

However, the old man was actually telling the truth. Inside were several samurai armor on display along with various other old objects that Chiko had little idea about. He basically knew what they were, but there was probably a purpose or reason for them that he was not aware of. But it was definitely impressive room.

The old man let them look around while he was doing something in the back room. They stared at the armor for a while, as it seemed to stare back at them. It was a terrifying mask that was on it and probably even more so when it had someone inside it moving around. The condition of the armor was surprising considering its age had to be several hundred years.

The old man returned from the back room with some green tea and sat down letting everyone sit around him. "So where is the rest of your class and your teacher?"

"Well, we don't know," Kazuo said.

"So you are lost? How did you find your way up here?"

"Umm…"

"We were chasing a ghost in your forest!" Sakura said without care.

Everyone looked away from her sighing, though the old man did not seemed mind. He just smiled at her. "Is that so, there are rumors of a wandering spirit on our grounds that comes out every so often."

"Really?!" Sakura was already hooked in by the old man. But it did grab the attention of the rest, curious about what the old man had to say about the ghost. They refocused their eyes back on him waiting for him to continue.

"My, this is quite the audience. It has been a while since I told this story. So listen carefully while I remember the tale of the Samurai of the Waiting Lady." The fire seemed to almost on cue burst up for the old man to emphasize the moment. He had all of them waiting for him to continue.

"It was years ago, long before the land was tamed by technology and the people. When it was still green hills as far as the eye could see and the only metal you saw was one's sword.

"There was a man, a samurai of the lord over this land here. He was captured by the beauty of a woman in his lord's court. But she did not notice him. He always watched her carefully from his place longing to be with her. However, fate would not be so kind to them.

"The samurai was drawn away to a battle to protect the land. He was slain in battle and left unable to fulfill his wish. However, he was unaware that the woman had been aware of his gazes. It was improper of her to approach him, so she had been waiting for him. The news of his death broke her heart.

"Her wish was unfulfilled as well. She slowly faded away not eating or speaking to anyone. It is said that her wondering soul still lingers on this grounds seeking her unspoken love that died on the battlefield.

"The armor behind me that you were staring at so intently was that samurai's armor."

Everyone was in tears listening to the story, though Chiko was a little skeptical. He looked at the armor and in surprise saw several cuts that he not noticed before. The armor had seen battle, then the man's story could be true. It seemed so far fetched, but the proof was there in front of him. Then that woman they saw really could be the same woman that was from the story.

He did not want to believe in ghost stories, but it seemed possible. It could not be explained what that was they were seeing. Could it really be that it was the woman's soul that was unable to pass on from the world? That thought was hard to accept, but he could feel inside himself wanting to cry as well. He figured it was the other half of him that was lingering around inside him.

Suddenly the doors opened and everyone looked behind to see what it was. It was the rest of the class and the teacher. Her expression suddenly changed that made Chiko shake in fear. She was angry, he could tell though the rest of the students were more scared than anything else. It did not seem that the teacher scared them though, as he and the others inside were.

"What are you doing here? We have been looking for you for hours! I'm going to be having a talk with your parents."

Mrs. Shimasuke came into the room starting to discipline them when one of the men that had been their guide spoke up.

"What have been you doing with these children grandfather?"

"Just telling them a story," he said smiling sheepishly.

"Grandfather?" Chiko said.

"You have been scaring them again with your stories and your holographic ghost."

"I don't know what you mean."

"We saw it floating around outside, frightening the children completely."

"What?!" Hakuro said having dried her tears. "You've been lying to us old man?"

"But what about the armor, those marks on it?" Kazuo said not able to believe that everything was a lie.

"Oh that, I accidentally cracked it while I was cleaning a few days ago. It is getting quite fragile these days," the old man said casually.

"What?!" everyone said in complete disbelief. Even Chiko had been drawn in by his story, he could not believe that it was all just a work of fiction. 'He makes for a great storyteller, reminds me of Mashiro!' Chiko suddenly got up and kick the old man in the shins. "Argh! Mashiro I'm going to kill you!"

"Hey, wait, what are you talking about? Gah!" The old man collapsed to the floor in pain holding his leg. Sakura grabbed Chiko as did Mrs. Shimasuke holding him back from assaulting the old man anymore.

"Kohana! Stop it!" Mrs. Shimasuke said nearly picked him up. Her glare into him broke his fit of rage that had over taken him. He looked at her unable to break away from her face. Her look nearly turned him blue. Chiko had forgotten how scary she could be when the woman wanted to be. "Now children, I won't say it again. Get back with the rest of class so that we can finish the tour!"

"Yes, Mrs. Shimasuke," they all said to her.

They walked back down the stairs, Chiko thinking about what he had heard. It was still infuriating for him to know that the old man had been playing them, but there did seem to be something in him that still wanted to believed it. He did not want to, but he could not shake the thought.

The tour continued its boring way, everyone silently following along not wanting to create any more trouble. They were in enough trouble to last them awhile. Kazuo was the unfortunate scapegoat of them to release all of their troubles on. They were blaming him for making them follow him around chasing that ghost. It was not completely his fault, though he had been the one that first saw it. Chiko had a hand getting it started as well, but he was not about to add fuel to the fire, especially if it meant the glares of Hakuro and her girls.

The tour was coming to an end when the old man appeared almost out of nowhere to them. His appearance knocked Chiko and everyone to the ground. He smiled at them kindly and then his expression changed to be a little more serious. Chiko was cautious about what this old man wanted from them this time. He had already fooled them all once before. Was he coming to gloat over his victory of a bunch of children?

"I wanted to apologize for confusing you with my story and scaring you with my ghost. Truth be told it is not really ghost, but you know that already. Though what I mean is that is not suppose to appear to be a ghost. You see my daughter, she died years ago and this is memento for me to remember by. Unfortunately time has not be kind to the color projections in the holographic matrix and left it pale white.

"I let her wander, letting me think of her still being alive. I'm sorry for confusing you, forgive an old man's exocentric ways."

The children were crying again at his story. Chiko was having trouble believing him, but it did seem a little more reasonable this time around. It seemed strange for someone to have a holographic ghost. There was no purpose to having one other than scare people, seemed a little twisted if that was how that old man really was.

He suddenly started to cry unable to do anything to stop himself. 'Oh, not you too. Come on let me have my own body!' Unfortunately he was not able to resist the urge that washed over him it was too much for him to handle. He could feel the emotions washing over him, even though they were not his own. 'This body has too much of a mind of its own. I swear.'

The old man was about to leave them when someone came up the stairs from the street. It was a woman that looked surprisingly like the ghost that the old man had. They all looked accusingly at him. He simply smiled trying to hide his guilt that was quite apparent.

"Grandfather! What are you up to?"

"Grandfather?!"

"She doesn't look dead to me, mister!" Chiko said crossing his arms along with everyone. They had stopped crying almost immediately changing their expression venomously. The old man was trying to back away slowly.

"Dead? Not again," the woman said.

"Again?!"

"Grandfather, you really must stop telling people those stories. I swear you have such an active imagination sometimes. Always picking on outsiders. Brother will be disappointed."

"I already caught him up in the armor room telling a different story," her brother said appearing from behind the crowd, who was also their guide. He sighed. "He is hopeless."

"I'm going—" Chiko said starting towards the man when someone pushed in front of him knocking him down. "Hey!" he said until he saw who it was that had pushed him. It was Mrs. Shimasuke to his surprise. He jaw dropped, as did everyone else's when she grabbed the old man by his robes and punched him clear to his shrine at the top of the hill.

Mrs. Shimasuke breathed heavily staring at the distance. All of the students barely managed to clap still in awe over what she had done. They just stood in the middle of the shrine grounds hardly able to say anything, though as Chiko managed to pull himself back together he saw the siblings. Though the two siblings did not seem to be worried, but more embarrassed.

"We're sorry about our grandfather, he gets like that every so often."

"Oh my, what did I just do?" Mrs. Shimasuke said as though she had just come out of unconscious state. She looked around at the children a little confused.

"You punched the old man, Mrs. Shimasuke," Sakura said grinning.

"I did what? I'm so sorry," she said apologizing to the brother and sister.

"Don't worry, he should be used to it by now. It is a pretty common reaction."

"Still I'm sorry. I shouldn't have over reacted like that."

Chiko smiled, though he was still angry with the old man fooling him twice there was something satisfying to him seeing his teacher slug the old man across the forest. He could not have done it any better himself. She looked at him a little confused why he was smiling at her, but he just walked away looked at the horizon of the fields.

"Turns out that this was not such a bad trip after all."

"Kohana?" Sakura said walking up next to him.

"Its nothing, it was actually rather fun."

"Yeah, it was. I had a lot of fun!" she said smiling as she always did.

Preview for the next episode :

"So many things have been happening, I think we need to talk."

"This is sudden. Why do we need to talk?"

"Well we need to talk about your grades."

"What about them? School is pretty boring, but it's easy."

"Yes, your grades are too good."

"Huh? Why is that a problem?"

"You need to start doing worse."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Well you are making all of the other students look bad."

"I don't see how. Hey, you’re making me miss the preview. Next episode of The Inner Man, Sports! Huh? Sports, but we were talking about grades. How are those two connected?"

"Good grade means you can play sports."

"What does that have to do with the episode? I'm going to kick some sense into you!"

"Hey get away from me!"

"Don't miss it! Watch me kick everyone's butt in soccer! Tee hee!"

"You do know that it’s a team sport?