• “Were you listening to our entire conversation?!” Leiko exclaimed as she stomped over to Miki and pulled him closer to her face, this was a fantastic feat considering that Miki was almost three feet taller then Leiko.
    “No, I just overheard you all saying you have to get in to see Shin…she’s in room 666 am I right?” Miki asked her while attempting to push Leiko off of him so that he could once again breathe easier, everyone looked at him
    “what are the chances of her being in room 666?” Yuki asked looking over at Kinoko
    “Well there are almost 1,000 rooms here in this hospital, so I’m going to go ahead and guess 1 out of 1,000” Kinoko smiled while looking at Miki who was still waiting for them to accept his offer
    “Alright…how do we do it?” Leiko said looking at him suspiciously
    “Well I can only take one of you…is that alright?” Miki smiled looking up at Suichi then over at Meicho and finally back down to Leiko who was still standing in front of him, looking up at him from about chest height
    “Fine…I’ll go…because I have Malik” Leiko said frustrated as she walked towards the hallway
    “who’s Malik?” Miki asked looking after her, everyone clasped their hands over their mouths as Leiko froze on the spot trying to think of something slick
    “uhm…Malik is…uhm…is…” Leiko stammered, Kinoko quickly picked up the hospital blanket that they had been using and tossed it to Leiko
    “Malik is the name Shin gave her blankie…” Kinoko retorted quickly, Miki smiled as if he understood and he lead the way.
    Half way down the hallway they passed rooms 622 and then 626, Miki finally spoke
    “so what is really going on?” Miki stopped in the middle of the hall and stared deep into Leiko’s eyes, Leiko felt a shiver run up her spine and she shook it off
    “we told you, we’re giving her, her blankie…” Leiko flashed a fake smile up at him but it was obvious that Miki didn’t believe her
    “Leiko…this is a hospital blanket…I work here, I can spot one of those mile away…” Miki smiled as he grabbed the blanket and folded it in his arms, Leiko’s mouth fell open as she searched her mind for an answer that would convince him
    “Fine…it’s a very long story, would you believe that I have a mouse in my pocket that is the key to her survival?” Leiko shot back at him, Miki seemed amused at the truth that had sprung from Leiko’s lips
    “Alright…I believe you” Miki smiled as he started walking down the corridor again and around the corner towards Shin’s room, with Leiko in tow
    “I sense a great evil…” Biru whispered into Leiko’s ear from the top of her zipped up backpack
    “Did you say something?” Miki asked looking over at her, Leiko quickly shook her head and kept following
    “Hmm..it must be this hospital…they say it was buried on a burial ground, what if it’s haunted?” Miki joked, Leiko forced a laugh but she too could feel the darkness eminating from the room at the end of the hallway, Leiko even noticed that it was getting colder as they walked down the hall.
    “Here it is…” Miki shivered as he pointed at a large silver metal door with three large sixes that she could hardly make out because the light above the door seemed to have gone out
    “Do you hear growling?” Miki asked her confused as a low pitched growl reached Leiko’s ears; Leiko and Miki finally opened the door and entered the room and noticed that there was absolutely nothing wrong: Shin was lying on her back in the center of the room on her hospital bed, the window drapes were pulled closed so that she could sleep easier, but shin’s heavy breathing filled the room and with each deep breath more of the Darkness seemed to emanate from her body
    “is she alright?” Leiko looked up at Miki with a worried look on her face, Shin didn’t look very good, Miki shrugged as he rubbed his eyes; he felt very tired all of the sudden
    “alright…let’s do this…” Leiko’s expression hardened as she pulled Malik out of her jacket pocket and held him in the palm of her hand
    “what now?” Leiko asked him as she glanced at Miki
    “There’s no time to worry about exposure…just place me on her heart…” Malik replied as he looked down on Shin with a sad expression, she was sweating bullets and looked like she was losing color in her face with every breath
    “talking mouse…awesome” Miki smiled watching Leiko place Malik on Shin’s chest.
    Malik looked into Shins face and his eyes filled with tears and he turned around to look at Leiko and Miki
    “I…I…don’t want to ask you guys for this but…I need your energies…” Malik frowned and looked down at the blanket that he was standing on
    “What do you mean? Leiko and Miki asked looking down at them
    “she is too far gone…I either need the power of a god, the life of a human being…or the life of a spirit guide…” Malik frowned as a small tear fell down his cheek
    “take my life then…it’s why I came to work at the hospital…I want to save lives…and if that’s what you need…take my life” Miki said with a determined look on his face, Leiko looked over at him
    “you’re kidding me…” Leiko exclaimed as she pushed him away from the bed
    “I can’t let you do this…this is our fight” Leiko frowned at him, Miki shook his head
    “No…I want to help…” Miki shouted back at her, Leiko shook her head but Miki pushed her off him and walked over to Malik who was waiting patiently
    “We don’t have much time Leiko…” Malik frowned as he ushered Miki to bring his head down so that Malik could place his small paws on his forhead.
    Malik had one paw on Miki’s forehead and the other on Shin’s chest as he started whispering something inaudible
    “Thank you so much Mikio…” Leiko said as her eyes welled up with tears and she turned her back to the scene so that she wouldn’t have to watch Malik take the life of Miki and give it back to Shin.
    A golden aura appeared around Miki as if his lifeforce was reacting to that of Shin’s, Malik kept his eyes closed as he siphoned the energy from Miki into Shin.
    Shin’s eyes opened wide as she gave a ear splitting scream, the heart monitor starting beeping and going insane as Shin’s heart was pushed to the breaking point, Miki started to become weak, the golden aura was starting to fade and his eyes went In and out of focus, he was giving his life for Shin’s; Shin’s heart rate slowly started to recede as doctors pounded on the metal door that they could not get through
    “What is going on in there!” they screamed as some of the started throwing their shoulders into the metal door, but it would not give way.
    Miki slumped to the floor and his hand landed against Leiko’s ankle as she stood crying in the corner, Leiko looked down at Miki’s lifeless and and she kneeled next to him and took his hand in hers
    “You’re a hero…” Leiko choked as her black hair fell into her face obscuring her eyes from his lifeless face
    “Leiko? What happened?” Shin had sat up on her bed and she was cradling the small mouse in her hands, Malik had fainted.