*sings* And believe me I am still alive, I'm doing science and I'm still alive, I feel FANTASTIC and I'm still alive...I don't get to write nearly as much as I'd like to. Hope everyone enjoys!

"Where is he?" Sam paced a circle into the floor in the hotel room she was sharing with Danny and Tucker, an occasional frown and stare out the large window to her right accompanying the looping march. The rain had finally cleared overnight, the sun brilliantly showcased against a clear blue sky as it shone down on the bustling morning traffic below. A cacophony of honking horns and rumbling engines made their soft, muted way through the window as Sam continued to worry.

"I don't know either, remember?" Tucker shrugged helplessly and looked down at his watch, eight-thirty JST creeping up far too quickly. "And his dad'll be here any minute to make sure we're all here." He didn't have to mention that absolutely no contact from their friend was not the norm at all.

Sam nodded before looking around the room. She then focused her attention on Tucker, an intent expression on her face. "I think it's time for Operation Stuffed Sheets." The backup plan had worked before, and they had to hope it would work again. It wasn't the first time that Danny had gotten caught up in a mission as Danny Phantom that had kept him out later than planned, after all.

Tucker nodded before the two began gathering all of the pillows they could find in the room, quickly taking them to one of the beds and stuffing them under the sheets to approximate the shape of a person. Now they had to wait and perform their best acting jobs. No sooner had they finished moving the final pillow into place than the expected very loud knock on the door came.

"Heya kids! Roll call!" Jack's cheerful voice rang through the door loudly. After Sam opened the door to let Jack in, the ghost hunter pulled out a checklist. "OK..Sam...Tucker..." Jack checked off the pair's names on a piece of paper before glancing around the room with a frown. "Uhh, where's Danny at?"

"Oh, uh, Danny's not feeling too well right now," replied Tucker as he waved towards the bed. "Bad mochi last night or somethin'. He's sleeping it off."

"Hmm." Jack seemed to think this over for a few moments before his face brightened; Sam and Tucker could almost see a light bulb floating over Jack's head. He then ran over towards the bed until Sam 'accidentally' stuck her foot out to trip him. "Oops, sorry about that." She offered Jack a hand up. "It's OK, really. He just needs some rest."

Tucker joined in the effort to get Jack out the door, offering a nervous laugh and waving to the room's door. "Yeah, that's all. He just needs some peace and quiet."

Jack mulled this over before nodding and offering a bright smile and checking Danny's name off the list as he headed for the door. "Just make sure he gets some rest and checks in with when he gets up," Jack called behind him with a smile. Tucker and Sam both leaned against the door and wiped their brows in relief before the sound of Sam's cell phone receiving a text message went off- the particular musical beep one Sam instantly recognized. "That's Danny," she sighed with relief as she ran to her phone.

No time to explain. Fine but not really.

"Fine...but not really? Either you're fine or you're not," offered Tucker with a raised eyebrow after Sam read the text aloud. What the heck have you gotten yourself into this time?

Sam offered a grim nod in agreement before replying 'What happened?'

Got caught.

"I sure hope he doesn't mean what I think he means," muttered Sam as she studied the reply with a frown. This can't be good at all...

Gotta go.

"Soooo. This sounds like it could be preeeeetty bad." Tucker shook his head in disbelief. "I just hope he can talk his way out of whatever's going on."

"Who were you texting?" asked Eri with a laugh as she and Midori reentered the room with fresh glasses of water for themselves and Danny. The two had taken the chance to have a quiet, somewhat disbelieving conversation at the water cooler. In the end, it was decided to at least hear out the young American's strange story. After all, if his claim about being 'something like' a ghost was true, he should have some kind of proof, right?

"My friends. I figured they were wondering where I was." Danny offered a shrug and small, nervous smile before tucking his phone back in his pocket. He then sat fully upright on the couch with a light groan.

Eri nodded before handing Danny his water. "So back to our earlier conversation," the lawyer began with cocked eyebrow and curious tone. "So you're a ghost?" Yeah right, kid...but I'll at least indulge your little fantasy for now. She had no doubt that he thought he was telling the truth- but ghosts? Really? The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded.

Danny shook his head before looking at the ground for a few seconds, his face showing concentration as if thinking of something or how to phrase it. The halfa nodded to himself before looking up at the two women. "I guess you'd like to know what's going on, right?"

"Of course." Eri nodded and gave the boy her calm, but undivided attention.

"Well." The halfa suddenly had a plan spring into his mind as he slowly stood up and faced the two women, one he hoped like heck would work. In spite of his mind churning with misgivings and his heart racing, Danny somehow managed to stay composed while he spoke. "I guess I'll start by showing you what I really look like." He then looked at the ceiling and raised his hands before the two familiar, brilliant rings of bluish white light signaling his transformation surrounded him. Here goes nothing...

After being momentarily blinded by the brilliant rings of blue light that had come out of nowhere and surrounded the boy, Eri still hadn't been prepared for the sight that met her eyes after she could see again and dared look over at where Danny had been standing. Her eyes widened as she took in the snow white hair and almost glowing...no, definitely glowing green eyes that had changed from the black and blue that they'd been mere moments ago. The lawyer then noticed that he was in a completely different black and white outfit as well before she tried to ask what in the world had just happened, but found that her mouth was just opening up and down slightly like a flabbergasted fish needing water to breathe. Danny shifted his feet slightly as he looked between the pair, clearly somewhat uncomfortable.

It...was Danny still, right? But how and why had his appearance changed so drastically? Her eyes narrowed slightly as she quickly ticked off things in her head. Same eye shape...same hair style...same weight...same height...same weight...Yeah, it's got to be him. Eri managed a glance over at Midori, who looked equally as stunned, before she turned her full attention to the strange teenager. She then noticed a slight tilt of Danny's head as he wore a somewhat wary and expectant look while glancing between the women, clearly waiting for one of them to start asking questions. There's no way...what is this? What IS he? Eri's eyes then widened a little, hearing Danny's earlier words clearly as a bell in her head.

Do you believe in ghosts?

"How...? What...?" It was Midori that finally broke the silence, choking out her words and staring at Danny with a mix of shock, fear and curiosity, the secretary pressed against the very edge of the couch and clearly ready to flee for the front door at a moment's notice.

"I didn't mean to scare you guys. Sorry; I should've warned you." Danny shrugged and offered an apologetic look from where he stood. "I just figured it would be easier to show you how I really look, then explain things."

Her heart still dancing around madly in her chest, Eri took a deep, calming breath before finally managing to speak. "What...what are you, exactly?" She was fairly certain she already knew the answer, though. She noticed Midori finally seemed to be calming down as well, the other woman finally relaxing enough to actually sit on the couch again.

Danny gave a single nervous laugh, looking at the ground before shrugging and sitting down in the love seat opposite the couch. "I'm a ghost, but you probably guessed that already." Yep, just a ghost. No halfa here... He'd have to come up with some reason for him to be able to go visible, but he could think of that later. There was no need for them to know about what he really was, right?

Eri slowly nodded, thinking of the million questions she wanted to ask and filing them away in order of importance. "Well, I have a lot of questions, of course." She shook her head in bemusement, the sheer enormity and improbability of the specter quietly sitting in front of her still processing in her mind. If she hadn't had him sitting about five feet from her, she would have sworn that her eyes were still playing tricks on her. "So ghosts do actually exist, then." She thought she was doing a marvelous job of keeping her composure, but Eri supposed it helped that this ghost seemed so...well, nice.

After nodding in the affirmative, Danny's look grew serious. "Yeah, we do. And there's a big problem going on right now with one of us." He gave Eri a firm look that she knew meant there was very serious business at hand. "I know you probably have a lot of questions, but we've gotta talk about that first." OK, a lot a lot of questions, but for now I've gotta take a look at your files if I can. He fully expected a game of Twenty- no, One Hundred Questions later on.

Eri and Midori glanced at each other before Eri spoke. "A big problem? Like what?" May as well go all in now, the lawyer figured with an internal shrug as she warily continued to study the impossibility sitting before her. Maybe some of those old ghost stories have some truth to them after all.

"Yeah." Danny shifted a little in the couch, clearly thinking of the best way to phrase things. "Uh, you know Takeo Suziboshi? The guy they arrested for Akai Yorinoko's murder?"

"Mmhmm. I've been following the case." Eri leaned forward ever so slightly, her interest piqued. "Is there something special about it?" It was somehow easier for her to relax when she put the ghost in the mindframe of a client, even though her mind was still trying to fully accept the fact that ghosts existed, as if her mind didn't believe what was right in front of her eyes.

"A ghost actually killed the guy." He stood up and began pacing back and forth between the couch he'd been sitting on and the one Midori and Eri were, looking down at the floor as he spoke. "As best I can tell, the ghost I'm trying to catch did something called 'overshadowing' and used Takeo's body to kill Akai." He paused his pacing long enough to face both women. "Basically, most ghosts can overshadow- it's totally taking someone's body over. The person that's taken over will usually have no memory of what they've done while they were overshadowed either." He then waved his hands in an apologetic motion, his expression and tone condoling as well. "I know, this has gotta be a lot to take in all at once."

"S-so why did you b-break in here?" Midori finally spoke after several seconds, her tone wavering as she openly stared at Danny with fear. "W-what does t-this office have to d-do with a-anything?"

"Akai Yorinoko was a client here, right?" Danny's eyes roamed the office briefly. "I was trying to see who his enemies were."

"Was a client, yes." Eri's tone brooked no nonsense. "He was dealing with me through proxies. Once I figured out who he was, I refused to take any of his cases anymore." The lawyer crossed her arms, her face a mask of irritation.

The halfa looked a little disappointed before he seemed to get an idea. "Well, do you still have any of that information? I'm trying to help Takeo out."

Eri turned to Midori. "Actually, do we still have any of that stuff? I remember asking you to mothball some of my old cases a while ago."

"I-it's at the storage across town," replied Midori as she nodded. "B-but it's still there."

"Well kid, you've got a lot of explaining to do to me later," Eri noted as she looked sideways at Danny before getting up, "but for now, let's see what I've got. We can do a little exchange, your information for mine." As she headed towards the door and grabbed her coat and purse, she gestured to Danny to follow her. "Midori and I can drop you off wherever you're staying while we're on the way there. After you...uh, change, of course."