A little girl with tawny blonde hair poured ketchup all over an unsure ebony haired boy, sprawled out on the playground floor. As each minute passed the little boy grew more and more apprehensive about their whole plan.

"Shizuru-chan, are you sure about this?" The boy spoke, still staying completely motionless.

The blonde child stopped soaking the boy in ketchup for a moment and looked at him with a serious face. "What's not to be sure about?"

"Well I've only been here for three weeks and Haruka already doesn't like me…" The boy confessed, averting his away from Shizuru's intensely annoyed gaze.

"Your point?" She asked calmly, although her gaze showed irritation, there was no trace of it in her voice.

"My point?!" The boy snapped his head at the girl next to him, anger building up in his voice. "What if I wanted to be friends with her?!"

Shizuru's face was now a mixture of anger and something the boy couldn't quite place his finger on, jealousy perhaps? What ever the case, it was a face she'd never shown him before.

"Reito-kun has me and that's enough." She told him and then continued her task of covering the boy in ketchup without looking at his face again.

These words confused the boy's seven year old mind. He had to think about it for a moment before coming to the conclusion that Shizuru must've meant that she'd be lonely without him. A smile glowing with pride grew on his face. It felt nice to be needed by someone, he couldn't remember if he was ever needed by someone before, all the memories he held before three weeks ago were hazy. The only thing he remembered clearly was waking up in a room, meeting his 'parents' and being brought to Fuuka Elemantary.

And that's where he had met Shizuru, Haruka and a shy little girl named Yukino. He secretly thought of them as 'The PMS trio.' Though he kept it to himself in fear of being murdered by said trio.

Sometimes he wished he'd never been dragged into their little group, they were all so odd. Haruka always seemed to be yelling about something, anything actually. Yukino trailed behind Haruka like a shadow or a fly on a dead animal and never really talked; the most she'd ever say was less than a sentence. It seemed Shizuru was more normal than the rest, she had a couple quirks, but she was nonetheless normal.

To be honest, the three girls were his only friends. He didn't even know if he could count Haruka and Yukino as friends, per say, the only time they interacted was when Shizuru and him decided to rile them up. So in truth, Shizuru was his only friend. In retrospect, he'd actually never got the chance to make friends with the other kids in his class because Shizuru was always dragging him away to do whatever it was she decided they'd do that day.

Today, they were going to play a prank on Haruka. The plan was; they'd cover Reito in ketchup and pretend he died, then Shizuru'd run to Haruka in hysterics and ask her for help, then Haruka'd come over and Shizuru would ask her to check his pulse, at which point, Reito'd jump up and pretend to be the living dead and scare the living daylights out of the girl.

Suddenly, Shizuru hopped up off the ground. "Okay, you're done." She said, studying him from a higher distance. "You look beautiful!"

If by beautiful she meant; lying in a puddle of ketchup and bleeding the red condiment from several different locations while his limbs were thrown about in a disorderly manner, then yes, he looked magnificent.

Shizuru started gathering up the numerous empty ketchup bottles. "Stay put Reito-kun, I have to throw this all away." She said before running off with an armful of ketchup bottles only to return no more than a minute later empty handed.

She crouched down next to the motionless boy, "You remember the plan, right?" She asked for precaution. It wouldn't be funny if things didn't go the way she had planned. She smiled in determination when Reito nodded his head. Though the guilty look on his face annoyed her, she said nothing about it and just thought about her plan. "I'll go find Haruka." She said quickly, standing up.

Shizuru ran, not wanting to leave her friend waiting. She exited the playground and darted towards Haruka's house, which was conveniently close to the park. The tawny blonde slowed down once she got to the enormous front yard and changed her pace to a speedy walk.

In case someone other than Haruka answered the door, Shizuru knocked three times; the polite number of knocks, as her mother had taught her. This action was un-needed as the one to open the door was Haruka herself.

"Fujino?" The blonde girl asked, surprised to see Shizuru's uncharacteristically messy demeanor.

Shizuru grabbed the girl by the shoulders and shook her slightly in a panicky manner. "Haruka! It's Reito! You have to help me!"

"What happened to him?" Haruka asked, getting worried.

"I don't know! I just found him like that!"

"Like what?!"

"I'll show you, come with me! Hurry!" Shizuru yelled, grabbing the girl by the wrist and trying to pull her out the door.

Haruka ripped her hand away, "Hang on, let me go get Yukino!" She called before disappearing into the large house and coming back with a mousy girl by the wrist.

Shizuru lead them both out the door and back to the park where Reito was stationed. Shizuru had made up two different scenario's in her mind while she had been concocting this plan earlier this morning. One with Yukino and one without. The one with the mousy girl was the obviously entertaining one; that way, she could scare both of them…two is better than one.

The two girls were frantic. They'd be even more frantic when they saw Reito in a puddle of his own blood. Haruka would try to act brave and assess the situation by checking his pulse. Reito would surprise her by grabbing her shoulder and act like a zombie then Haruka'd scream and back away from him; probably move back to protect Yukino. At that point, Reito would readjust his target and pounce Shizuru, she'd scream at them to get help effectively making them run home and get their parents or possibly the law. But when they came back, Reito'd be cleaned up and all traces of ketchup would be gone; the two would act as if they had no idea what was going on.

Shizuru giggled inwardly; it was so perfect.

When the three girls reached the park, Shizuru led them to the spot where she had left the ketchup covered boy. Only to find a big puddle of ketchup with the absence of the ebony haired little boy.

"Where is he?!" Haruka boomed causing Shizuru to wince slightly.

'Where's he gone to?! He's ruining the plan! Did he have to use the restroom?! Men are so unreliable! …Okay, calm down…we can turn the situation back into our favor….' Shizuru thought in a panic. Ideas raced through Shizuru's mind a mile a minute. She hadn't planned for this scenario. Inwardly she was panicked but outwardly, her façade hadn't changed. Suddenly an idea popped up.

"He must be…" Shizuru whispered just loud enough for the two girls to hear her.

Haruka grabbed her shoulder as if willing her to talk more. "He must be what?! What's going on?!" The fear in her voice was evident.

Shizuru turned around with a face full of fright. "Haruka…what…what does it mean when dead people walk around?" She asked, her voice only slightly higher than a whisper.

"He's a zombie?!" Haruka shouted.

"He's going to eat us!" Yukino squeaked, now on the verge of tears.

Haruka snapped her head towards her scared friend. "I won't let him!" She yelled in determination.

"It's alright, you two go home, warn your parents and I'll go look for him." Shizuru said feigning concern.

"But--" Haruka tried to protest.

"We don't have time to argue, hurry!" Shizuru commanded. "I'm counting on you!"

With that said, Haruka nodded and took off towards home with Yukino hastily shadowing behind her. Once the girls were out of sight, Shizuru let her façade drop and a wicked smile formed on her seven year old face.

"God, I'm such a good actor." She chuckled darkly. "Now to find Reito-kun."

She searched far, she searched wide, but there was no sign of her best friend. She investigated his house, she checked the pond that the kids in town frequently hung out, she scoured the local supermarket from top to bottom, the little girl even went far enough as to check the mens' restroom; only to be yelled at by a couple men actually using said bathroom.

She had looked everywhere that the boy could've been and yet no sign of him! She hadn't even seen any ketchupy foot prints! It's like the boy had just up and disappeared….wait! That's it! Disappeared! He disappeared! Reito once showed her a place where he said he went to, to 'disappear' from the world. It was a place he had found two weeks earlier when they went on a treasure hunt to better familiarize him with the area.

Shizuru only vaguely remembered how to get to his special place; most of the way she had been too delighted that the boy wanted to share a secret with her that she hadn't noticed the directions. She wasn't sure where to start. So she used powers of deduction; something her father had taught and urged that she used it whenever.

To begin, the only thing that she remembered clearly was that it was in a wooded area. In town, there were only two wooded areas as such: the one behind the local supermarket and the one that surrounded the ever popular lake. Obviously, the one surrounding the lake wasn't it, seeing as all the local kids played there; if Reito were hiding, he wouldn't hide in such a populated area. Though hiding in an open area is a tactful, Shizuru had played enough games of hide-and-go-seek with the boy to know that Reito preferred hiding in dark and quiet places.

So therefore, he was hiding in the forest behind the super market. As to narrow down her searches even more, Shizuru tried to recall what his special spot had actually looked like. She thought intensly, desperately rifling through her memory to piece together the image of Reito's special place.

All she managed was that it was up on a hill, and if you looked past all the tree you could see the whole town…with no other choice, Shizuru made her way into the forest hoping that seeing some kind of tree formation or something of the like would jog her memory.

Shizuru searched through the forest, it took her a couple minutes, but she soon started seeing things that were familiar. It was exciting, she suddenly knew her way through the labyrinth and towards her prize. Of course, once she saw the hill all that excitement crashed out of her system. The girl hesitantly eyed the steep, muddy hill. She knew that her friend was at the top, waiting for her patiently. Shizuru shook all thoughts of de-motivation out of her mind and started up the hill.

She struggled up the mountainous hill, silently cursing her lack of strength. Never had this girl, Shizuru Fujino, in all her seven years, ever needed to execert herself and do such physical activity. She always had people there to do it for her. At home she had her maids, at school she had the boys and curiously a small number of girls at her every beck and call, anywhere she went, there was always someone. But not this time, this time she had no one but herself to get her up the hill. She tried to boost her willpower by thinking of Reito waiting for her at the top. The thought alone made her climb faster and soon enough, she was at the top.

Shizuru looked down at her clothes which had been stained with mud from the climb, despair briefly shot through her veins when she saw the mess. She wasn't distraught because her clothes were dirty but the thought of what her parents would say when they saw her clothes. Oh the trouble she would be in….

"Shi…zu…ru…"

The voice was enough to break her out of her thoughts. The girl's head snapped up to peer at the boy in front of her. "Long time no see, Reito-kun." She teased.

Reito turned back around, though she couldn't see his face, Shizuru could tell he was upset. Everything was silent. Finally, he spoke, "I'm sorry…" The words came out shaky, like he was about to cry.

Immediately, Shizuru was at his side. She put her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to make him feel better. "Sorry about what?" She asked.

"Well, I just…left and ruined the whole plan…aren't you upset?" The boy still hadn't looked at her, he just continued to stare at the ground.

A smiled tugged at Shizuru's lips. What a silly boy, how could she be upset?

"Of course I'm not upset!"

His head shot up in confusion. "You're…not?" He asked, now looking her in the eye.

"I could never be upset with you! You're my best friend, Reito-kun!" She exclaimed, suddenly hugging him tightly.

Although too shocked to react at first, he soon hugged back just as tight. With the warm feeling that filled his heart, it was hard to stop the docile smile that formed on his lips, "Yeah, you're my best friend too…" He said quietly.

Best friends… that's what they were…She had just found out how quickly you could lose a best friend and the immense pain that it caused deep within your heart. Her heart broke in two as she saw the life slip away from her friend in her very own lap. There was nothing she could do to save him, she simply had to watch him go limp as he spoke his last words to her. She couldn't believe the sight of her dead best friend, so she just stared for a moment before a pathetic smile formed on her lips. "You're not dead, right? This is just a prank, right? Did Haruka put you up to this?" Her voice started shaking.

When he didn't answer, reality started to sink in, "Reito…no…you…you can't be dead…" It was painful to speak, the words didn't want to come out, her throat closed up and the girl felt like she was choking.

It was mere moments before the ambulance showed up to take away the dead body. As ever thing and everyone ruched around her, Shizuru couldn't help but feel stuck, the only thing she could do was stare at her best friend's peaceful face. It was almost as if he was sleeping and she could wake him up at any time, but deep down she knew this wasn't the case.

When the ambulance workers came over and took the body away, she made no struggle, she just watched as they took him away on the gurney. Her expression was dead, no sign that she was there. She simply sat on the ground as she had been and made no attempt to get up. Police came over and tried to coax her into standing up but she just ignored them and continued to stare at the retreating ambulance car.

It wasn't fair.

He was gone.

Now she was all alone…

Hey all you interested readers! I just feel the need to tell you that if you didn't get that the italic words were a flash back and the normal words were present time, get out. ^-^

Well drop me a review telling me what you think!

(Btw, this is not a ShizRei fic)