* Kaede lays back in the hospital bed, eyes closed, looking like death warmed 
over. Or more to the point, like a table smashed over his head. But since not 
many people know what the second looks like, we'll just stick with the first. He 
looks like he's having a rather fitful sleep.
* Rei comes walking along, humming ever so cheerfully. She walks by his room, 
stops, backs up, looks in, and enters without so much as a how-do-you-do. And 
then, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump (but more like walking across the room) 
to sitting on the back of a chair, feet planted where the butt should go, at his 
beside, tail swishing the air.
* Rei drops her backpack to the floor with a satisfying thunk.
* Kaede snaps his eyes open at the thud and flies up to an awake position, or at 
least an upright position, breathing heavily and sweating. His eyes dart around 
the room wildly as he looks ready to fight something.
* Rei holds her hands up in a peace position with a smile. "Relax. I'm not here 
to kill ya, or even do mild bodily harm. Or anything even close, come to think 
of it."
* Kaede looks at Rei and looks about ready to snap out at her for a split second 
before his body relaxes and slowly starts to drift back onto the pillow. He lets 
out a long sigh. "You'd be a first."
<Rei> Damn, I hope not.  Then everyone's out to get you, and how can you 
possibly feel safe here?  Don't answer that, 'cause you don't, or you wouldn't 
be ready to bolt.  Doesn't look like you're goin' anywhere in that condition, 
though.  Need help with it?
* Kaede closes his eyes. "No. Actually more to the point, Yes, no, you're right, 
and no thank you in that order."
* Rei holds up a hand which starts to glow, then goes, "Awwww," and puts it out, 
along with folding it with her other.
<Kaede> We've got a healer, thank you.  <lets out a long sigh> Which is the only 
reason I look this good.
<Rei> Oh, well.  I'm my group's band-aid, and I regularly work overtime.  Must 
be tough on her if you were worse than this.  What happened?
<Kaede> I'm <wrinkles his brow> not sure.  It's all a blur.
<Rei> Yeah, getting hit on the head too many times can do that.  People used to 
think I got hit on the head a lot, but really, that's not true, so I can't say I 
have total firsthand experience, but that's what I've heard.
* Kaede narrows his eyes at Rei..but only for a second. It's too much effort. 
"This isn't a cause of getting hit on the head."
<Rei> Funny, 'cause it sure looks like you got a nasty bump right there.
* Rei points.
<Kaede> Yes.  And I'd kindly ask that you quit staring...and pointing.
* Rei lets her hand drop. "Okay, I was just saying. If you don't want me to look 
at you, I guess I can change position.
* Rei hops up into the air, turns the chair under her, and sits, facing the 
window. "How's that?" You can hear her grin.
* Kaede leans his head to the opposite side away from her, not really caring 
what she does. "That's fine."
<Rei> Uh huh.  And if you want me to leave, that's okay, too.
* Rei checks her watch. "But I've got some time to kill before I have to bail 
for Greece."
<Kaede> I don't really care whether you stay or go.
* Rei looks over her shoulder at Kaede. She frowns, just a teeny bit, and hops 
down, turning the chair so she's sitting on it and looking at him again. "Okay."
<Rei> I'm no stranger to depression.  Spill.
<Kaede> Spill what?
<Kaede> Oh, perhaps you mean the fact that someone close to me got replaced and 
was within an inch of death before we found her?
* Rei blinks, once, but nods. "Yeah. That'd do it."
<Kaede> Or maybe the fact that another apparently said she was fine but I found 
out she was in this very same hospital..and I still don't know what's wrong with 
her.  And they're using her as a lure to get to me.
<Rei> What, bait?
* Rei frowns.
<Rei> Who's they?
<Kaede> Maybe the fact that my sister thinks I'm going to kill her.  Or the fact 
that I put someone in a coma without even trying.  Maybe that's a good reason...
* Kaede closes his eyes and slowly sinks into the pillow without another word.
* Rei leans forward and folds her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. She 
watches him. "You're not letting it out."
<Kaede> Letting what out?
<Kaede> Oh, and for the record, I hate hospitals.  
<Rei> The emotion.  You tell me everything that's wrong, or just some of it, 
whatever.  But you're not letting it out.  And yeah, me too.  It's why I'm 
trying to fastforward our visit.  Well, that and we really don't have much time 
to waste before we try to talk to a god or two.  Shit, how are we gonna- oh 
yeah.  But, like I was saying, you're not letting it out.
<Kaede> So?
* Kaede closes his eyes. "I feel like I have all the time in the world. The more 
I talk to someone outside of all this, the further I am away from being beaten 
to within an inch of my life.
<Rei> I've been doing the same thing, lately, and it really hasn't been good for 
me.  I don't think it's good for you, either.  So let it out.  I can take it.  
It's not even like I'm a good friend or something, or like we're gonna have some 
sort of lasting relationship.  We don't work together.
* Rei flicks her tail, watching him.
<Kaede> Sometimes it's better when you don't work together.  But I don't see the 
point of letting it out.  I've been dealing with this sort of stuff for years.
<Kaede> Well, not exactly THIS stuff but....I'm used to my life getting screwed 
over time after time.
<Rei> And you don't see the point?  Damn.  When you explode, you're gonna kill 
yourself.
<Kaede> Explode?
<Kaede> I'ma fraid I don't really see it, no.
* Rei grins. "Nope. Nobody sees it coming. But trust me, it'll be due for you, 
like it's due for everybody, not that I know a whole lot about tons of people. 
But I do see lots of people in really high-stress, life or death situations."
<Kaede> I don't...explode.
* Kaede turns slowly to look at her.
<Rei> That's what *you* think.  Everyone can explode.  The longer it takes them 
to explode, the bigger it's gonna be.
<Kaede> You're not helping you know.
<Rei> That's okay.  I know I kinda suck at this whole helping-people-out thing.  
Most of my life, I didn't have anybody I wanted to help out.
<Kaede> So what makes me the lucky soul of the week, eh?
* Rei shrugs. "I came in to heal a few friends, noticed you were holed up here, 
and decided to drop by before they boot themselves out of the hospital and we 
head off to Greece. We don't have much time, either. My best friend's turning 
into a vampire, and we sorta have to stop it."
<Rei> So chance, I guess.
<Kaede> Yep.  Friend turns into a vampire.  Other friend turns into wondering 
whether she's really going to be my friend when I see her next.
* Rei tilts her head. "One of your friends is turning into a vampire, too?"
* Rei actually looks completely serious. Guess she wasn't kidding.
<Kaede> No.  Though according to the newspapers, one of our acquaintances 
already is one
<Kaede> Though we seem to think she's a zombie instead.
* Kaede looks completely serious too. imagine that.
<Rei> Oh, okay.  Zombies are easy to tell.  Maybe I can meet her sometime and 
diagnose her, if she doesn't wanna eat my brain or something.
<Kaede> No.  You really can't.  Thanks for the thought though.
* Rei sighs, running a hand through her hair. "Things just haven't been good for 
me. I was hoping they've been better for you, though."
<Rei> And... I suck at this.  I should go.
* Kaede tilts his head slightly. "We both do."
<Kaede> Hey, look at it this way.  Maybe they've been worse for me, making your 
problems seem less devastating by comparison.
<Rei> Yeah, well.  I suck at talking about my problems, and you suck at talking 
about yours, so go us!  Or something.  Damnit.
* Rei blinks at him, then laughs, but it's not the usual manic laughter she 
gives out. "If your problems are really worse, I feel so sorry for you."
<Kaede> Is that pity?  I don't do the pity thing...
<Kaede> I'd get far too much of it.
<Rei> Nah, more like sympathy.  My problems, let's see.
* Rei reclines, putting her feet on Kaede's bed and pushing her chair back so 
it's only on two legs. She looks at the ceiling.
<Rei> Well, Chie's turning into a vampire, and we have two days to stop it, max.  
Chomei's turning into a demon, and he doesn't want anyone to know, but I figured 
it out.  It's not hard.  Dad was possessed by a sword and nearly killed my 
entire team.  My brother was possessed by the same sword earlier, killed me, and 
was almost killed by my own team, again.  He should be dead.  As is, he'll just 
never be the same.
<Rei> My biological mom's the one to blame for turning Chie into a vampire, and 
half my team wants to kill *her*, but it isn't her fault.  The entire reason 
she's in this is- damnit, why can't people see that possession is called 
possession for a reason... uh, anyway.  Makoto, my boyfriend, has been suckered 
for his entire life by an organization we all hate and is responsible for 
putting toxins in my *blood*.
<Rei> And Maria, she's one of my friends, she's being stalked by some crazed 
killer.  It scares the shit out of her, so it scares the shit out of me.  
Meanwhile, I just... can't do anything, you know?  Outside of sit and stew in my 
own anger.  I can't save anyone, I can't protect anyone, half the time I hurt 
people.  When I try to stop things, I die.  I died.  I'm just a liability, and 
not even a very likeable one.
<Rei> Almost everyone disagrees with me.  I know they do, even if they're 
silent.  They don't trust my judgement or what I think.
* Rei shrugs. "Oh yeah, and we have to fight Dracula, which is a death sentence. 
But I figure that's way down on the list."
* Kaede closes his eyes and gives a slight smile to himself. "And you haven't 
exploded yet?"
* Rei grins. "I dunno. I have a lot of time to think. I sit, eight hours, by 
myself, every night. Don't sleep, see?"
<Rei> But I figure I'm due.  I'm just not very destructive when I do it, maybe.
* Rei leans forward and takes her feet off the bed, landing the chair on all 
fours.
<Kaede> Why don't you sleep?
<Rei> Because when I fall asleep, I go astral.  Which is... just like being 
awake, only not in your body.  And then when I figure I'm all rested, I wake 
myself up, check, and if I am, I'm good for the day.  I'm still trying to figure 
out why I haven't gone insane from sleep deprivation... but then, I'm not 
entirely human, and the part that is has probably been modified, so my brain's 
probably just wired differently.
<Kaede> Maybe it's just the same as people going into dreams...I've heard our 
dreams aren't going to be..pleasant soon enough
<Rei> Yeah?  How so?  I've never had a dream.  I kinda wish I had.  The entire 
idea sounds so interesting.
* Kaede chuckles. "We're not supposed to have dreams that much anymore. Not that 
so much as 'memores'"
* Rei blinks. "Memories? Of what?"
<Kaede> Us
<Rei> Wait, so when you go to sleep, you think about what happened before 
instead of thinking about penguins and waffle pies or something?
<Kaede> Well, that's not exactly accurate.  I don't recall dreaming about that 
either
<Rei> That's where the or something comes in!  Then it could be something else.  
Possibly.
* Kaede sighs and huddles up. "I couldn't imagine what Katie's dreaming right 
now.."
* Rei blinks. "Katie?"
* Kaede nods but doesn't add anything further.
<Rei> Is she... I mean, is she okay?
<Kaede> She...hasn't been herself lately.
* Kaede looks slightly down at that.
* Rei blinks again, then scoots her chair closer. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
<Kaede> Well, first off, that statement is literal.
<Rei> Um, how?  She got possessed or something?  Possession's a bitch.
* Kaede shakes his head. "If it were simple possession, it'd be easy."
<Rei> Not really, but yeah, you could tell something else is making her do 
stuff.  Uh, if you knew her to any reasonable degree before the possession.
* Kaede sighs and looks down at his sheets. "That's not it. We could tell it was 
really her, even if something was controlling her."
<Rei> Okay, you lost me.  So your friend isn't herself, but she is, but 
nothing's controlling her?
<Kaede> Exactly.
* Rei ticks that off on her fingers. "So it's not possession. Okay."
* Kaede takes a deep breath, realizing he's going to have to be more direct. 
"There's a double."
* Rei furrows her brow. "A double?" And then recognition. "A double! Like a 
doppelganger?"
* Kaede furrows his brow too. "I guess you could say that."
<Rei> Makoto's a doppelganger.  He almost tried to kill me when he shifted into 
me while I was around, once.  But he didn't, which is good for everyone 
involved.  They're nasty as a whole.
<Rei> So did she try to kill you?  The doppelganger, I mean?  But while she was 
pretending to... be... wait, did she try to kill Katie?  Usually they don't 
change into someone unless they're gonna kill that person...
* Kaede looks down at his sheet and chuckles nervously. "Take out the 'almost' 
and tack that onto 'succeeded' and you've nearly got it right."
* Rei opens her mouth, then it snaps shut with an audible clamp. And then: "Oh."
* Kaede curls up into a ball.
<Rei> So, the real one.  She isn't dead, right?  I mean, you said it'd be nearly 
right, which means she wouldn't be dead?
* Kaede replies weakly. "No. She's not."
* Rei watches him for a moment, and then is sitting on the side of the hospital 
bed, giving him an oddly gentle hug.
* Kaede just looks up at her and stares, not really moving from his curl, but 
looking curious.
* Rei must notice the look, because she starts to speak, still not letting him 
go. "I'm sorry. Whatever it is, I'm sorry. And it's not pity, it's sympathy, 
because I kind of understand."
<Rei> And... I wanna say that you guys will work through it, but I don't know if 
you will.  I hope you will.  I wanna say that it won't change anything, but we 
both know that'd be a lie.  Even if you win, things'll change.  So, I'm sorry.
* Kaede very hesitantly puts his fingers around one of her arms and buries his 
cheek in the side of her forearm, staring off distantly towards the corner where 
the floor meets the wall. "I'm scared, Ueda-san."
* Rei nods, and she just might be crying. "I am, too."
* Kaede keeps staring away for a wh ile before slowly releasing his grip.
* Rei lets go when he fully does, but doesn't get off of the bed yet. She rubs 
self-consciously at one of her eyes, then the other one.
<Kaede> What's wrong?
* Kaede 's finally totally looking at her suddenly if she hadn't noticed.
<Rei> I got watery.  Leaky.  I think I forgot to turn the faucet off or 
something.
* Rei isn't quite looking at him.
<Kaede> You mean teary?
<Rei> That too.  No wonder I'm bad at composition.
<Kaede> As if that really matters..
* Kaede slowly unfolds imself to relax on the blanket.
* Rei shrugs. "It doesn't. I don't need to get through college."
<Kaede> No?  Why's that?
<Rei> Outside of the fact that I might not *live* to get through college, we'll 
be optomistic and say I do.  Now, what do I do with a degree?  What do I really 
learn in college?  I'm learning a lot more from hands-on Interpol experience 
than I could ever ask for at an academic institution, minus the prereqs and plus 
a few more life and death situations.
<Kaede> Well, at least you generally have something to keep you alive, don't 
you?
* Rei looks over at Kaede, now. "Like what?"
<Kaede> You can go into the fray without really being too much of a target if I 
recall.  I'm a target daily so don't knock how useful that is.
* Kaede closes his eyes. "But at the moment, I need my rest."
<Rei> Yeah.  I can.  That didn't stop me from dying.
* Rei gets to her feet. "It's easy to think you're immortal until something 
proves you wrong. And a lot of things can prove me wrong."
* Rei reaches down, picks up her backpack, and slings it over her shoulder.
<Kaede> I don't think I'm immortal. I don't think I'm going to die either but 
you never know..
* Kaede hasn't opened his eyes..he looks very tired.
* Rei smiles. "Yeah. Get better, Kaede. Help your friend get better, too. I'll 
work on mine."
<Rei> Next time, I should be all giggles.
<Kaede> Wonderful..just what I need.
* Rei reaches down and taps at his forehead, right above the bandages, the tip 
of her finger glowing where it touches. Some of Kaede's headache subsides, and 
he feels a bit more comfortable. "And your healer missed a spot." She pulls the 
hand away and turns, heading out.