"M-me?! What for?"

Donghae stepped back, suddenly feeling more then a little anxious at the thought of being followed around by a 17 year old ghost who was killed 30 years ago; thrown off the very bridge that towered above them and drowned in the very river that flowed beside them.

Hyukjae kicked at a rock on the ground, watching in dull surprise as it actually flew a few feet towards the moving water, "You're in danger, Donghae." He said abruptly, "I would have told you sooner, that I was here. That I was watching over you, but you couldn't see me. You couldn't hear me either. You had no idea that I followed you to and from your house everyday."

Donghae looked a little scandalised and Hyukjae quickly rectified the statement;

"Don't worry though, I've never actually been inside your house. I just made sure you were safe walking to and from school."

The tenseness in Donghae's shoulders lessened at the slowly revealing information, "D-do you know... How y-you... Died?" Donghae asked quietly, not quite being able to keep the stutter out of his voice as the moonlight reflected off of Hyukjae's pale skin and bright blue hair.

"I drowned... In this very river."

"Is that why you're still here? I mean, instead of somewhere else?"

"I guess so. I never felt an attachment to any other place. Just this river. And to you."

Hyukjae shifted his piercing gaze to Donghae, who was frozen still on the riverbank. He shivered as Hyukjae moved towards him, closing the distance between them and looked down at Donghae - almost fondly, "You really are gorgeous, you know that?"

Hyukjae chuckled as Donghae flushed red, bringing a ghostly pale hand up to lightly caress the boy's reddened cheeks. He smiled wistfully, "I wish you were like this all the time, Hae. So innocent and shy, not closed off and emotionless."

Donghae shuddered at the coolness of Hyukjae's fingertips and he subconsciously found himself leaning into the ghost boy's touch - surprised to feel solid flesh on his skin. His surprise must've shown on his face, because Hyukjae started to laugh, "I may be dead Donghae, but I have my own quirks. I can touch the people who see me, but they're few and far between."

Donghae caught himself before he pouted at the loss of contact, as Hyukjae dropped his hand and stepped back. "Well I can see you." Donghae said, reaching up to lightly finger the soft but thick strands of Hyukjae's bangs, "Although I don't know why."

Hyukjae smiled slightly and closed his eyes as Donghae traced his facial features with a light hand, "I've been appointed as your guardian, so I guess you've been allowed to see me. Or you have a history of Seers in your family?" Donghae paused with his finger at Hyukjae's cupid bow;

"A history of what now?"

Hyukjae chuckled and the gummy smile made Donghae's heart flutter, "Never mind. Clearly no history of such people in your family. Otherwise you'd know what I was talking about." Donghae smiled at the other boy, but he frowned when he remembered something else Hyukjae had said;

"What did you mean when you said, I was in danger?"

Hyukjae's mood suddenly turned dark and he removed Donghae's hand from his face, holding it in his own and playing with Donghae's long fingers. "I'm not the only one following you, Hae. There's someone else. I've never seen them, but I've felt them. You have too. Every time you've called for help, who did you see in your mind?"

Donghae thought for a moment, remembering the time he got caught in his father's fishing nets, the time he was jumped by some lowlife thugs walking home from school who demanded his wallet and the most recent when a vicious Rottweiler had broken it's chain and chased him down the street.

Each time he had been screaming for help and had seen a flash of blue before being rescued.

"You remember, don't you? The fishing net, the gang of thugs on your way home from school, the dog that broke its chain?"

Donghae nodded, finally piecing everything together. Each time he'd been in trouble, when he'd called for help, the flash of blue he had seen so quickly, had been Hyukjae - more specifically, Hyukjae's hair. Donghae felt his legs give out beneath him as he landed heavily on the grass, "A-all this time..." He whispered, staring blankly in front of him as his mind worked to make sense of it all.

Hyukjae smiled at him gently and crouched down into his line of sight, "Hey, you're not a Seer, so you wouldn't have been able to sense me anyway." As Donghae continued to shake his head and mutter things about how stupid he was and how he should have noticed sooner,

Hyukjae couldn't help but chuckle, "Y'know your dad was right, you do like to blame yourself." Donghae's head shot up;

"You've seen my father?"

Hyukjae nodded, "Well he died in my river, so... Yeah, but only long enough to get some info on you before he passed on. Don't worry. He's safe and happy." Donghae nodded, his frazzled emotions calming down somewhat before he caught a glance at his watch.

Catching Donghae's movement, Hyukjae nudged him gently, "Go. Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you whatever you want to know, okay?" Donghae gazed up at Hyukjae's soft expression and couldn't stop himself from leaning forward - pressing his lips against Hyukjae's.

After a second, they pulled apart, Hyukjae's eyes wide in surprise and Donghae burning red, "I-I'll be b-back tomorrow." He stuttered, before jumping up and sprinting back towards home, leaving Hyukjae alone on the riverbank. The ghost boy passed a hand over his face, replaying the sudden kiss over and over in his mind, finding that he enjoyed the strange tingling sensation Donghae had left behind.

"Caught yourself a fish, have you?"

A snide and mocking voice washed across Hyukjae, making the hair on the back of his neck stand to attention, "W-what... Who's there?" He called, whirling a full 360 to scan the banks of the river. Finding no one, Hyukjae scowled heavily when a cruel chuckle sounded from the darkness, "I'd keep a close eye on your prize, because it may be stripped from you very soon."

Covering his ears as evil cackles filled his head, Hyukjae could feel the sensation of his dead heart hammer against his ribcage - something he hadn't felt for over 30 years...

Fear.

Shaking his head, Hyukjae clenched his eyes shut tightly. He'd already lost his own life...

He wouldn't let Donghae lose his.