Give the Ghosts,

"This is bullshit!" A female voice could be heard from outside of the newly purchased house. Naiomi, a blonde young woman, grunted as she dropped a heavy box at her feet. She hissed, massaging her upper arm, which still burned with pain and unforgotten misery.

"Yes, this is bullshit," agreed a man with dark red hair and a large portion of the right side of his face dedicated to scarred over flesh, which blinded his right eye. The left was perfectly capable on its own. "But, at least the kitchen is nice." The man gave glances to the countertops, the stove, and was admiring the amount of cupboard space in that room, "We might need to buy more shit to fill this up proper,"

The group was so used to the small quarters of a Japanese styled house, that they've all learned how to pack lightly. Well, that and the fact that Naiomi was the only one who really had to pack.

"I don't want to cook in this kitchen!" Naiomi shouted, frustrated that she even had to move. Mercuriee gave her a knowing look. He was right; Naiomi didn't cook because Mercuriee didn't trust her too. "Well," she huffed, "I still think we should be back in Kyoto," Naiomi stuck her hands in her pocket and turned to continue out the door for more boxes.

"Naiomi, you stole company money to pay for that house, you're lucky you didn't get fired." Hammii's British accent followed Naiomi outside, as he, too, was on the hunt for more of their belongings from the rental car he drove the group in from the airport. He and Mercuriee were used to the roads in England, so it was only fitting for them to drive. "Then, we'd all be shit outta luck," Hammii gave a chuckle as he tested a box's weight. He handed it to Naiomi. "It's not too bad, right?" He asked. Naiomi nodded and began walking towards the front of the house.

A man from the garden next to theirs approached the fence that divided them. This man waved down Hammii, who had already been trudging with a hefty box. Hammii looked at the man at the fence, who asked for names.

"I'm Harry, and that's my girlfriend, Naiomi." Hammii smiled as Naiomi tried to rotate her shoulder in the doorway, but she couldn't get through an entire circle. She winced in slight pain and reemerged from the confines of her new home.

"Cool, I'm Josh," The man bent down and grunted, popping back up with a small toddler in his hands, "This is my nephew, Danny; I live with my sister, Amy - she's inside." The small child wriggled in Josh's hands as the man showed him off. Hammii nodded. He really wanted to finish unpacking by sundown, but he knew that it would probably not happen if Josh kept talking to them. "D'you need some help with your boxes?" Josh asked, disappearing for a moment to place his young nephew onto the grassy ground of their segregated garden.

"Uh, it's just a few more, but I suppose the others need a break from lifting," Josh nodded at Hammii and walked around their fence to the rental car. He shook hands with Naiomi, whose grip was very weak. "Thanks," Hammii continued to carry his heavy box. Josh took a box and left two others in the boot of the large car.

Josh entered the house, placing his box in the sitting room, and looked at the blank and bland walls. "The last family who lived here..." Josh whistled to Domi, who was hooking up their electronics. Domi was an American teenager when he first met Naiomi. His hair was dyed black on one half of his head and only bleached brown on the other half. "They always believed that this place was haunted." Domi let out a snide laugh. "What? Don't believe in ghosts?"

"Hm, something like that, I guess..." Domi simply answered, keeping his attention on the wires he was told to plug into each device. Domi was very technologically savvy, and he often was ordered to teach the older guys how to use different things. Andre and Anna walked in from their room, where their boxes had been placed, and she practically froze, looking at Josh.

"Yeah, I didn't believe them either, but who knows; maybe there really is something going bump in the night, and we just don't see it," Josh hummed, then caught the two girls in the doorway leading to the downstairs bedrooms, where they and Domi were to stay, in their own respective rooms, of course. "H-hey, my name's Josh, by the way. I'm the next garden over," The man introduced. Mercuriee came from the downstairs restroom, and halted behind Andre and Anna.

"Hey," the Irishman's voice was gruff and low, but there was a familiar softness in his voice that usually let the girls know that he wasn't upset, just trying to get their attention. Mercuriee saw Josh and decided to wait for the man to notice him before trying to draw any attention to himself. A lot of outsiders tend to give such prying questions to figure out where he got his scars from. It was always an unpleasant endeavor - so much so that Mercuriee had just accepted that it'll always be a part of meeting new people.

Domi turned on the telly and went through each HDMI to ensure that its connection was suitable for when they play games or watch a movie. "Mercuriee!" The American shouted and called for his crisped housemate. The Irishman sighed, rolling his eyes. There goes staying quiet, he supposed, as he made his way to the newer of the five. "Okay, so. D'you see these wires? This is the HDMI cord. It connects the TV to the DVD player or the game console, here..." Hammii came back in with the last of the boxes as Domi continued to explain to Mercuriee the workings of the telly inputs.

"Why aren't the settings just... I dunno, built in?" Asked the redhead. "I mean, wouldn't it be easier to understand?" As the two continued through their conversations, Naiomi and Josh got to talking outside when the man was returning to his own garden. Naiomi thanked him and offered her dinner table open for a night, to repay Josh.

"I really appreciate you helping us. If there's something that we could do in return..." the foreign accents were thick when Naiomi spoke. She never really considered it a problem, though. "Would you like to arrange a dinner at my house sometime in the next few weeks?" She asked, sharing her idea.

"Oh, sure! I didn't really expect anything in return. I only helped because my sister was getting on my case about playing video games all day," Josh said, scratching the back of his neck bashfully.

"Well, you can bring your games when we have dinner," Suggested the woman. Josh nodded with a smile and went to his own garden. Naiomi walked back into the house and began hearing something quite disturbing.

"So, what you're saying is, if I can find some original home videos, I can burn them on... CD's?" Mercuriee asked, leaning into Domi with a half-desperate look. Domi corrected him saying, CD's are for only audio recordings, but DVDs were what he needed if he wanted to watch them. "Okay, you could burn a DVD, then?" Mercuriee questioned after a moment's pause. Domi nodded with a hum, and Mercuriee looked excited. Turning to head to his room to begin unpacking and setting up his bed - newly bought and delivered to the house a few hours before they arrived - Naiomi decided to speak up.

"I hope you aren't stupid enough to go digging in Ireland," she said. Mercuriee paused. He said nothing for a minute,

"I'm not stupid, Naiomi," Mercuriee snipped, retreating back to his room. It was probably for the best, too. When they still lived in Japan, adn Naiomi was just a teenager, the two loathed each other.

"That boy is going to get me fired," Naiomi said with an exasperated breath. She began pulling her hair up when she heard Domi behind her,

"He's not a boy, Naiomi; he's just dead," He didn't even bother to look at her when he said this. Hammii felt that Naiomi was upset from where across the room.

"Fine, okay! That boomer is going to fire me, then!" Naiomi shouted, earning a bang on the wall to Mercuriee's room. She snickered to herself, feeling dignified with her remarks. "Okay, do we still have those energy drinks in the cooler?" Naiomi asked. Andre and Anna nodded and pointed to Domi, who had been sitting on the plastic container while wiring up the telly. Domi stood, took out an energy drink, packaged in a can, and tossed it to her, forgetting for a moment about her right arm. He made a noise, kind of like a warning, as Naiomi skillfully caught the can with her other hand, no problem. She gave Domi a look, then opened the can and began sipping.

Hammii was sent to organizing winter clothes, which they'll then move to the basement, with Andre and Anna. They talked about telly shows that Hammii used to watch when he was younger. And, because Andre and Anna are both Germans, they often liked to discuss the traditions that come from their country. Andre was thinking about bringing up something from Germany, but she faltered, making them look up and out the window, seeing only the evening sky from her sitting place on the carpeted floor.

"Andre," Anna said, feeling concerned for her other half. "We're... we're so close," Andre almost whispered. Andre and Anna were very good at whispering; they would stay up late at night talking to each other. Andre was startled back when Hammii placed his hand on Anna's arm, looking softly at them.

"You know that you can't go back," he gave with a condolence-laced look. Anna knew the rules. Everyone knew the rules. However, whether they will follow the ruled and regulations of the society they lived in was up to them. Andre glanced at Hammii.

"I didn't die in Germany," The young woman said, "I only lived there," Hammii sighed. "I think he means that you shouldn't risk us just because you want to visit the wall," The other girl's very different voice said with a hint of aggression. Andre bit back, "Yeah? What'd you know? You were taken in your sleep," Andre and Anna stood up and left Hammii to go work on their room. Hammii sighed again.

He didn't expect it to be easy for them to be so close to somewhere they used to call home. Hammii grew up in Bathe, England and died on the Welsh border. It was extremely difficult for him to resist the urge to return to his 'resting place.' He continued to organize the seasoned clothes, folding them up into separate piles to make it easier to carry down the stairs into the basement of the newly bought house. Hammii did this until there was nothing left for him to. By the time he was ready to begin carrying the clothes, the others had placed their storage around him, surrounding the man, who grunted upon seeing the large amount of everyone else's shit.

"Need help, Sailor?" Naiomi asked with a smile. She picked up a tall pile of clothes; Hammii opened the basement door, turned on the light, and let Naiomi go down first. Naiomi made it halfway down the stairs before an eerily bone-chilling breeze snuck through a crack somewhere. "You would think this place has good insulation because it's so dry down here." The basement was where the water heater and ventilation systems were located in the house. She was told the inspection went just fine, so Naiomi wasn't sure what made this basement different than the others she'd been in.

Naiomi headed over to a metal shelf and placed the pile of clothes on one of the shelves, nearly in the middle of the rack. She knew that Hammii stood behind her, waiting for her to move, so she took her sweet time taking out the label paper from her back pocket and the marker from behind her ear. Hammii, a few times, tried to push past his partner, but she would only twist and turn just to block his way. She loved causing inconveniences to the others in the house. She loved teasing them, just as they loved teasing her.

Hammii grew a bit frustrated and very impatient as he whined about the cold, wanting to return to the ground level. Truth be told, Hammii was very uneasy of basements, since he was a kid. "Aw, poor baby," Naiomi said mockingly. She leaned against Hammii for a moment, getting close to him. They looked at one another for a moment or two. "Y'know, the others are probably all busy with trying to unpack..." Naiomi began, letting her left arm come up to place her hand on Hammii's cheek, caressing the pale skin with her thumb. She leaned in and kissed him, "We could take a break, if you want," She murmured between the kisses she gave. Hammii whined once more,

"I don't like it down here, love," he gave with a shiver. Naiomi took a frustrated step back, her hand on her hip with he lips pouted slightly,

"For a sailor, you're a big baby, you know that?" She huffed, "How much colder can a dead body even get! Jesus,"

"Don't say it like that, first. Second, be cheesed if you want; I'm going back up to finish bringing the other piles down," The English man walked up the stairs, leaving Naiomi to grumble as she wrote on the labels.

"Stupid. You eat cheese, not be it...!" She gave a snarky chuckle.

Up in Mercuriee's room, the man was trying to set up his bed, which had been a loft set up.Domi and Hammii's bunk-bed was going to sit in the same room, despite everyone knowing that he'll never use it. The Irishman had a difficult time working on his loft bed, and he couldn't seem to block out Andre and Anna arguing in their room, juxtaposed to his own. One mouth making all that noise, he groaned while rolling his eyes. Mercuriee dreaded when they went at each other's throats as it usually meant irritability for the whole house. He was getting so fed up with it.

"We're all bloody suffering, alright!? Shut your muff already!" The Irishman called through the wall with a kick or two to direct the comment at the girls. Something sounding much larger banged itself against the thin barricade in return. They most likely threw something to shut Mercuriee up. The redhead sighed heavily and massaged his forehead with tired hands.

Mercuriee felt his stomach growl, hungry from all of the work he was doing on his own, he stood, feeling his knee chaff from the leg he'd been wearing all day. Which box were his others in? Mercuriee was hungry enough to not be able to think straight. He drank from the water bottle he set on his loft desk which had been successfully set up. Next was to figure out his bed. But first, food.

Mercuriee limped out to the kitchen, still hearing the girls snipping at one another from the hall. Domi had some music playing on the telly as he was putting kitchenware away in the cupboards. The young American looked at Mercuriee and gave an awkward smile, his lips tightened with stress. The young man ran a hand through his half n' half hair as he stood and stretched.

"There's no way they're going to finish unpacking by the end of tomorrow," Domi solemnly shook his head. The Irishman only but sighed loudly with a nod of agreement. "You okay? You've been in that leg all day." Domi had his moments of being nice to Mercuriee, who appreciated it, considering it must not be easy to be a young ghost in the world. Mercuriee wouldn't know about that. He glanced down, trying not to put pressure on his already irritated skin.

Mercuriee gave a light chuckle as he scratched his forehead a bit. "Yeah, I just thought about that..."

The basement door opened, letting Naiomi and Hammii walk out, Hammii was rolling his eyes, listening to Naiomi go on about how much she'd probably hate the new headquarters she'll be assigned to. "Then, maybe you shouldn't have embezzled all that money..." he murmured, making Naiomi's face go near red with frustration.

"Hate to interrupt, but Andre and Anna are fighting in their room, and we're hungry," Domi chimed in before Naiomi could begin shouting at her partner.

"Then, make something to eat," Naiomi gave, frustrated. "Or, we could get takeaway," she sighed, seeing that they weren't really energized enough to make something,

"That's a better option," Hammii said with a smile, "I'll call, and you can calm the girls down?" he asked. Naiomi nodded and began down the hall way towards Andre and Anna's room.

"Hey, It's Naiomi; can I come in?" She asked with a knock or two, but entered anyway. "Hey, I heard that you two are having a disagreement," She said, seeing the girls standing by the closet, yelling amongst themselves, "Wanna talk about it?" Naiomi said, shutting the door. Naiomi was technically responsible only for her housemates' physical well being, but she'd grown up in a house where her father tended to the emotional needs of his Ghostly friends.

"Andre wants to visit the wall!" Anna spilled, "And, just because I wasn't out and about when I was brought to the faction, doesn't mean that I don't wish I could go back!" Andre let a tear escape her eye, "But, I just feel so close...!" Andre said, bringing her arm across her chest to hold Anna's shoulder.

"I get it. In Japan, I felt so close to Russia, and I just wanted to go back. When I found out what happened, I felt like the only way to be whole again was to go back, find someone who would help me figure out more about my family," Naiomi confided, "but, I knew that I couldn't. I was intended to move forward, continue no matter where it'll lead me, even on the battlefield, I..." Naiomi quickly trailed off, looking absently forward for a moment, "I wanted to go back home... But, my people - and yours, too - they needed me to continue." She looked up at Andre and Anna, who was crying still. Naiomi embraced them in a hug, letting them just sob. Everybody needs to cry on someone's shoulder every now and then, she considered.

Pulling back from the girls, Naiomi smiled happily, "Anna, are you guys hungry? Hammii's ordering food," Anna smiled, both of their faces red and puffy from the tears.

"Ja, danke," She responded.

Hammii ordered Italian from a place not too far from them, Domi got the food from the door when it arrived and gave the driver a pound for a tip. They ate on the floor in the kitchen, and it was actually fun. Mercuriee took off his leg and rested his knee against the cool flooring. It was late in the night when they all returned to unpacking, content with full stomachs. Andre and Anna kept their door open and was putting her clothes on hangers, hanging them up so they won't wrinkle. Domi called for Mercuriee who was ecstatic to see that he found the box labelled, 'Leg' containing the Irishman's prosthesis and crutches. Mercuriee shouted and sung loud praises.

"Ugh! Can someone bring a cup of water outside...?" The man asked, as he couldn't seem to wiggle his residual limb from the carbon fiber socket. Mercuriee groaned irritably as he walked outside and sat on the step of the short porch in front of the house. Naiomi turned on the outside light and carried a bottled water to the tired Irishman. "Ta," he gave as Naiomi passed the liquid over to him. Mercuriee managed to wriggle free from his prosthetic trap, panting slightly as he didn't like to exert himself for escaping his legs. The air was cool, and the dawn sky draped purple across the clouds, filling in between the early stars. Mercuriee drank the rest of the water from the bottle. There, Naiomi left him to sit and reentered her new house.

Domi had started to work on the bunk-bed with Hammii, who thought it was only fair because half of it was intended for him. Music was playing in their room, and Naiomi was up in her room, building the various furnishes.

It was around 3 AM when Naiomi looked around and found that everyone had fallen asleep in their respective beds, even Hammii, who must've been too exhausted to go up the stairs; She smiled lovingly at them. Naiomi made a cup of coffee and kept working on her own. She was on a roll, her room was done and bathroom cabinets stocked with her and Hammii's products. She moved on to her home office, grateful for the good neighborhood people who hadn't taken any of the deliveries made beefore they'd arrived at the house. She set up a computer, printer, organised her filing cabinets, connected a landline to the room, and placed her father's photo behind the small sandbox-like zen garden on one of the filers.

Dusk had soon settled amidst the skyline and Naiomi was finally worn out, having accomplished so much throughout the night, and decided it was fair for her to go to sleep for at least a few hours. The young woman flopped onto her bed and was finally dozing off to sleep, when she felt a strong wave of emotion wash over her. One of the ghosts was having a nightmare.

"Fuck."