Enter Yuki

[Jefferson]

Jefferson had watched as the poltergeist disappear. Jefferson was beginning to feel numb all over, which was a much worse feeling to him then pain. At least with pain you know you're still alive. This feeling told Jefferson nothing. He stood up, and began to walk around the room, hopefully enough to gain back some feeling. When he felt better, the poltergeist had already vanished. Smiling, Jefferson headed toward the door. Yuki asked him if the poltergeist was already gone.

"Yes it is. We are almost done for the day. We have one more problem to solve though. How are we going to wake up Aiden? I don't want to wake him up, the kid has anger issues, but it won't do him any good waking up and finding out that we took his truck. Then again that would be funny." Jefferson headed out the door and toward Aiden. He still hadn't decided yet whether to wake him up, or take his keys. He hoped Yuki will decide for him.

[Yuki]

Yuki breathed in deeply. It was over. It was really over. She couldn't believe that had actually worked. This meant everything her mother had said, everything she had told her since she was little, everything Yuki had believed to be a lie...it was all true. The rants about the demons and ghosts and other wordly beings, of being able to see wandering spirits, of confronting vampires and werewolves, of "hunting," as her mother had called it--it had all actually happened. They weren't rants at all. They weren't heretical. They weren't because her mother was so intent on what she believed that she had imagined everything. They were real.

Yuki stayed quiet for a bit. The decision of whether to wake up Aiden or not seemed trivial. She didn't care if he had "anger issues," as Jefferson had called them. He was going to wake up, and he and Jefferson were going to explain this matter properly to her. They were going to explain what this was, why they were doing this, and why her mother was involved in such a dangerous field of work, if it could even be called that.

"It would not be funny to take his car, it'd be childish," Yuki snapped. "I'll wake him up, seeing as you two have quite a bit of explaining to do. I want to know everything you can tell me about all this, and information from one source will not do when I can draw it from two." Yuki walked over to Aiden in the other room. He was on the floor, seemingly unconscious. "Aiden, wake up," Yuki said loudly, nudging him on the side with her foot. "Oi, Aiden!" No reaction. She bent down and shook his shoulder. Still nothing. She saw the slow rise and fall of his chest, so he was obviously breathing. Yuki sighed. she would have to use her knowledge of pressure points to get him back up. Placing two fingers on the right of his neck, she applied pressure. That should temporarily increase the flow of blood to the brain...

"Aiden, are you awake?"

[Aiden]

After being knocked unconscious, the rest of the fight was lost to Aiden. He was lost in his own delusions of grandeur, of him and Malcolm fighting supernatural beings in the past, watching as Malcolm ended the reign of a vampire, remembered as he helped to root out the sweater that bound a ghost to its dwelling. He then watched as the wretched Ariel appeared, watched as Mal stood in the way and sacrificed himself for Aiden to run, much like some sympathetic flashback of a cartoon character, only that time the blood had been real, the pain had been real, and the anger that he felt now for the same event was real.

Once Aiden ventured back out to Malcolm’s body, fire erupted from around him, and suddenly, his eyes fluttered. “Please don’t die,” he breathed, both in the flashback and in his current time. His mind then re-synchronized with the moment, and he sat forward, going to draw his gun but finding it missing. His eyes danced around the scene, meeting Yuki’s harsh gaze next to him, and Jefferson standing some feet away. Judging by the calm and relieved looks on their faces, he could only assume that they had banished the poltergeist without his help, which was probably a good thing, it wouldn’t be that enjoyable for Aiden to wake up, and then have to fight it first thing. After all, he was still getting his sea legs back; it’d be a quick process, but nonetheless, fighting a poltergeist while disoriented would probably result in his death.

Looking at Yuki, and seeing that look in her eyes, her words from before, that had seemingly been lost on him, suddenly flowed back through his mind, and he gave her a look of confidence before sitting up into a more comfortable and relaxed position. “So, my friend that would be a poltergeist. Like your domestic ghost, only with a temper of a Tasmanian devil. And I can only gather that you’ve figured out that such things exist?” He looked down, knowing that there still must have been another thing more pressing on her mind. “Look, I apologize for not being able to find something out about your mother, but like I said, I’ll be helping you look. The realm of the supernatural…well, its existed for centuries, easily, but it seems like over time, the legends have become the reality, when the true reality is that these creatures still roam the earth and kill people for whatever reason, blood, revenge, that sort of thing. And then there are people called hunters that well, hunt them,” he explained, making himself stand and looking over to Jeff. “I’d better have my keys, because I wouldn’t put it past you to try and leave me here,” he said with a frown.

[Jefferson]

Jefferson felt Yuki's small amount of anger toward his little joke. He clenched his teeth together, not wanting to blurt out anything that would cause him harm in the future. Standing his ground, Jefferson watched Yuki apply pressure to his neck, which seemed to work. Making a mental note of this helpful tactic, Jefferson stood quietly, waiting for Aiden to fully wake up.

"Please don't die." These three words came as a shock to Jefferson. There was only one person Aiden would say those words to, and it caused Jefferson to remember him. Damn it Malcolm, we need your help, Jefferson thought to himself while Aiden was explaining to Yuki about supernatural realm. His mind focused back into reality when Aiden asked for his keys. Taking them out of his pocket, Jefferson threw that at him. He nodded toward him, indicating it was his turn to take up the subject of hunting.

"As Aiden told you, the supernatural still roam this world and we have to hunt them down. Now as I say this, it doesn't mean you have to join us. Aiden and I were forced into this life style, and it isn't one we take lightly. I do make jokes at the end of the hunt, but that is just my way of dealing with all this. A poltergeist is nothing to the psychological damage a demon can cause," Jefferson stopped here and shot a glance at Aiden. Turning back to Yuki, he continued, "My question to you is simple. Will you continue helping us or will you ignore all that has happened today and go on with your life?"

[Yuki]

Mendokusai. Troublesome.

That's what this situation was. Minutes ago, she had fought a..."poltergeist." She had seen it, felt it. There was no doubt in her mind that it existed, or rather, had existed. Still, the whole ordeal was absolute madness. Had she not experienced it firsthand, she wouldn't have believed any of it. Even so, her mind was having issues grasping the concept of intangible beings that somehow roamed the earth after their living bodies had deceased.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice, a whisper coming from Aiden. She looked down at him. It was low, hardly audible, but she had perceived it distinctly, three words, solemn. "Please don't die." Yuki blinked, wondering if he was referring to her, Jefferson...or perhaps, someone else? A dream? She said nothing, and suddenly, he opened his eyes and stared back at her. Aiden seemed confused, disoriented. Clearly, he was unsure of what had transpired during the time he had passed out. She stood up and took a couple steps back to give him space, but noticed that he was starting to realize that Yuki and Jefferson had dealt with the poltergeist. As he sat up, he asked no questions about the fight that had just ended, and instead began to explain poltergeists and the realm of the supernatural. As Jefferson threw him the car keys, he picked up on Aiden's discourse and expanded on it.

And yet, as she listened to Aiden and Jefferson, the two so-called "hunters," she stared blankly at them. What did they want from her? All she wanted was to find her mother, then return to Japan. That was it. She wanted to make sure she was safe. After that burdensome note, and the acquisition of her mother's knife, she couldn't walk away. But this...this was insane. What the hell had her mother gotten into? How long had she been at this?

Yuki bit her bottom lip in thought. Her mother...all this time, when she had been away--those "business" trips (which, perhaps she had indeed called them so in order to shelter Yuki as a child), the talk of being able to communicate with the spiritual realm, her summer lectures on different supernatural creatures--they were true. Of course, she hadn't believed a word of what she had said before. She had regarded them as heretical. Pure delusions. But now, everything was different. This was real. Most definitely not a delusion. But it didn't feel real. And these two people before her, how far could she trust them? What was the extent of the supernatural realm? Just how much of the world she had lived in for 20 years was a misperception? What legends and stories that she had disregarded so blatantly before were actually true?

She sensed Aiden and Jefferson were giving her the option of accepting this life of a hunter. They weren't forcing her into it. But she saw no other option. First and foremost, there was her mother. She was obviously caught up in this mess somehow, and if she walked away, what were the chances she would see her again? Her mother had told her to talk to Jefferson, knowing full well that he was a hunter. She wanted this life for her daughter. But why? Then why had she sent her to school? Why had Yuki spent her whole life in a rigorous academic environment? And then, there was the simple matter of not being able to ignore reality. If these creatures were out there, if there were more, then someone had to stop them. People could be hurt. Innocent people. And if Yuki could do something to stop that, she would. Third, there was a part of her that felt as if this was right. She could do this. She had hated school. She knew she didn't belong there. Her peers steered away from her, teachers praised her intelligence, but she sensed that even they isolated her to a certain degree. She didn't know if the people around her were afraid, or if it was that they disapproved of her dress and attitude outside of class so much that maintaining a distance was the only way to show it. Whatever the reason, they didn't like her, and she didn't like them. Not that she liked Jefferson or Aiden any better, but she felt they had sustenance. They weren't useless walking sacks of skin, wasting away their life, spending it aimlessly through parties and other social functions.

She crossed her arms, briefly closed her eyes, then opened them to look at Jefferson, and then at Aiden. "Fine," she stated calmly. "But I am here to find my mother. What my course of action will be afterwards remains unclear, but until I find her, I shall provide assistance where I can."