The future is a fragile thing. Like a painting, one mistake throws the whole thing off. Nothing is set in stone; one small act done wrong could send everything tumbling downhill.

CASE ONE
Lonely Girl I

"I'm home!" a dark blond haired girl called out as she entered her house, dropping the shopping bags that had been cutting into her fingers on the floor. She rounded the corner, finding her older sister frantically flipping through papers at the kitchen table. "Found us another place?"

The older woman nodded, pushing her reading glasses on top of her head. "This one's at an inn with reports of seeing a girl in room 13, standing on a blood stain on the floor and disappearing into thin air. The blood stain appears every Thursday at five thirty-seven PM like clockwork. They've had to replace the carpets every time, because the stains won't come out."

"Ugh, Rei… Blood? Really?"

"Oh stop it you," she told her younger sister, cocking her head to the side. "You really need to get over that fear of yours. This should be perfect practice."

She whirled around, going back to get the bags, and began putting everything away, ignoring Reiko's jabs at her phobia. "Sure," she muttered, tossing the plastic bags in the trash.

"Come on Kohaku. You'll be fine. You've been through worse, after all." Reiko let out her quirky little laugh, throwing an arm around her sister's shoulder. "We're leaving tomorrow, and I reserved us a room for tomorrow night, so you might want to grab some clothes for the next day, since I know just how forgetful you are."

"At least I'm not old," Kohaku muttered under her breath.

"Ah, I didn't hear you. It must be from my old age," Reiko hissed, squeezing the blonde's shoulders a little harder than necessary.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Kohaku cried out loudly, smacking Reiko's arm. "Now let me go so I can pack." The older woman released her grip and shooed the light haired girl away, turning back to her papers.

Sitting in the car, Kohaku and Reiko stared up at the 20-room inn. "Looks old," the younger girl commented, leaning down to grab her bag. Reiko reached back to grab her own bag and the manila folder containing their case. She opened it up quickly, grabbing a pen and writing a few things down before snapping it shut again and opening the car door. Kohaku followed, adjusting the strap on her bag. They were greeted by the owner of the inn, Satou Jin and his wife Kazue. They'd had a significant loss in business since the haunting had begun. They'd recently inherited the inn from Jin's father, who mentioned there'd been a girl who committed suicide there.

"It's haunted," Kazue stated as she led them to their room, "because it's thirteen, after all. I doubt much will change if you do whatever you're going to with it."

Jin had mentioned that when she was young, his old wife had been raised to be extremely superstitious as everyone in her family, and blamed the haunting on plain misfortune. Kazue refused many times to enter the room herself, and refrained from doing so as she unlocked the door for them. Reiko nodded her head as thanks, and Kohaku did as well, giving the woman a worn smile. They closed the door behind them.

"Well," Kohaku began, glancing around the room. "Feel anything?"

"It's faint. But I can feel it."

Kohaku glanced down at the floor where the carpet was just a shade lighter than the rest. She gulped. I guess that's where the stain kept appearing. Clutching her stomach, she flopped down on the bed as her sister began blessing the room. It's Thursday, too. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, she was sickened to see that it was five thirty on the dot. Grimacing, she rolled over, face hidden in the pillow.

"Hurry up," she groaned, voice muffled. "I don't want to stay longer than necessary."

"Oh, quiet you," Reiko replied after she finished up. "I swear you act twelve." The woman laughed, plopping onto the bed next to Kohaku. "We should be done by three or so tomorrow. I want to make sure this girl is gone. Ah!" Kohaku lifted her head to see Reiko staring at the clock, which read 5:37. Shivering as Reiko looked over to the floor and began scouring it for any red, the younger girl buried her face in the pillow again.

"It's there, isn't it?"

"Actually no." Reiko smirked. "So you can rest without worries tonight."

Reluctantly lifting her head from the pillow, Kohaku rolled back over, staring at the ceiling, which she'd been told was recently repainted due to stains from leaks. This place just can't escape any type of stain, can it? Chuckling to herself-God knows why-she hopped up and said, "How about dinner?"

"Sounds good," Reiko said, pulling her shoes back on. "You're driving."

Kohaku grimaced. "Why? You never trust me with driving."

"Well, I'm tired from driving all the way here, so I'm making an exception." Tossing the keys to her sister, Reiko headed out the door, Kohaku trailing behind.

The sisters were awoken at five-thirty AM by a shrill shriek emanating from downstairs. Together they rushed down in their pajamas to find Kazue, hands covering her mouth, and Jin talking heatedly on the phone.

"Yes, you can go ahead and come today. Goddamn medium can't do anything worth sh-"

He hung up the phone as Reiko stepped forward, asking boldly, "What's going on?"

"Your little exorcism or whatever-"

"Blessing," Kohaku corrected quickly.

"Blessing my ass!" The man began walking in circles, clearly fuming. "That thing's not gone. Some job you did."

"That's exactly the reason why not only do I stay for a follow-up, but we're non-profit as well." Rei sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple. "What exactly happened?"

"A girl," Kazue said shakily, pointing to the balcony where they'd just been. "The same one from thirteen. She jumped from the balcony and just… disappeared… into the ground…" The obviously shaken woman was taken by her husband to sit on the couch.

"It's alright honey," he murmured reassuringly.

"It's not," she insisted loudly, drawing a man from his room on the first floor, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Since that stupid woman can't do it, we've gotten professionals to come. They'll be here later today, so you can just pack up your things and leave."

Gripped in the woman's hand was a rabbit's foot and Kohaku tried her hardest not to roll her eyes. She thought she heard the woman mutter, "Why'd we have to choose 23rdstreet?" but didn't say anything.

"I believe we paid you to stay in that room, so we have the right to stay for the rest of the morning, I believe," Reiko told the woman, turning on her heel to return to their room.

"You just be out by the time the professionals are here!" Kazue called loudly, as the dark haired girl was already upstairs.

Kohaku gave a slight bow of her head before rushing upstairs to go back to bed. She found her older sister on their bed, staring down at her hands and shaking her head.

"Professionals," she scoffed, looking up at Kohaku. "Ten bucks says they're some fake ghost hunting team." She fell over, hair spreading out around her head. Kohaku patted her leg.

"Come on, scoot over so I can actually sleep. It's way too early for… anything." Groaning as she eased herself onto the bed, Reiko settled herself before Kohaku turned the lights off, rolling over and attempting to sleep.

It didn't come.

Long after she had become aware of Reiko's loud snores, she sat up, moving to the window where she looked over the countryside, nostalgia overtaking her. We've lived in the city for too long, she thought, remembering the small town her family grew up in. Sighing, she threaded her fingers together as she eased herself into the chair by the window.

A flash of white passed her vision and she yelped softly in surprise, covering her left eye. Her eyes were wide as saucers, and she shook her head a little, wondering if it'd come back. No way, she thought frantically. I'm mostly blind in that eye. It couldn't be coming back, could it?

She shook her head. Climbing back into bed, she caught a few hours of sleep before the sun had risen all the way.

They were awoken, once again, by rather loud knocking, or rather banging, at their door. Sleepily, Kohaku rolled out of bed, landing on the floor. "Ow," she muttered, rubbing her soon to be bruised hip as she opened the door. She was met face to face with a partially scowling Kazue.

"The professionals are here, so you get your and your fake friend's butts outta here." Running a hand through her hair, Kohaku turned to go wake up her half-asleep sister, proceeding afterwards to get dressed and run a brush through her hair, which was tangled into oblivion. Brushing her teeth quickly, she evicted the bathroom for her sister's use and began stuffing her few things into her bag, doing the same for Reiko's things, who as always had things scattered around the room. As she passed the different-colored carpet, she let out a very audible gasp. For a split second, blood stained the cream of the carpeting, but when she blinked it was gone. Growling to herself, she found her shoes and pulled them on.

She jumped as the pounding on the door began again, Kazue's harsh voice telling them to hurry. "They're ready to set up in there! Decent or not, get out!"

A frazzled Reiko came out of the bathroom, a toothbrush hanging from her mouth. "Yeah, hold on!" She spat the toothpaste into the sink and rinsed her mouth quickly before stuffing the remaining of her things in her bag. She grabbed the light green duffle and opened the door, Kohaku two steps behind her. Behind the old woman was a young teenage girl, short hair a brunette color.

"I can't exactly leave if you're in the way of the door," Reiko sighed. She was never a morning person, a complete opposite of Kohaku. As they exited into the hall they were met with a blond haired boy, and a black-haired girl.

"Ah, Hara-san! It's been a while."

"Indeed it has, Shizuma-san," the other girl replied, bringing a kimono sleeve to her mouth.

"Eh? You know her?" Kohaku asked, looking between her sister and the famous TV medium.

"Yeah, I did a show with her a few years ago." Reiko smiled politely.

"She's not a fake as you say, Satou-san," Masako informed the woman, her voice soft and light. "Shizuma-san and her sister have been doing smaller cases like yours for several years now."

Kohaku faintly heard the brunette girl behind her say something along the lines of, "I guess somewhere under the ice Masako has a heart as well…" Kohaku chucked, uncomfortable at the somewhat tense silence that ensued.

Spluttering, Kazue replied quickly, "Well she didn't do a very good job." Turning to leave, the two girls noticed a young dark haired boy standing in the middle of the hallway.

"I don't pay you to standing around chatting, Mai," he said, only giving the sisters a passing glance. The teenage girl mumbled something incoherent under her breath before stomping into the room, presumably to set up the camera that she'd held tightly to her chest.

Reiko passed the medium and the blond boy, and made to pass the dark haired teen.

"You're Shizuma Reiko, I assume?"

"Indeed."

"And your friend?"

"My sister and assistant of sorts, Kohaku."

The boy bowed his head a bit. "I see." Reiko turned her head, looking back at Kohaku.

"C'mon, let's go home." Kohaku came hesitantly, glancing back at the unfamiliar faces and coming to the balcony to find more unfamiliar faces downstairs. Standing by the balcony was a girl with long black hair. Kohaku went walking on, but an arm blocking her from going any father was in her way. Reiko stood in front of her, eyes wide. "That's her."

In a raspy whisper, Kohaku inquired, "Her? As in her her?"

A small nod from her sister confirmed. Words began flowing from Reiko's mouth, a small prayer, but before she could finish, the girl ran towards the balcony, and burst through the railing, ghostly splinters of wood raining around her. They ran to the railing and looked down, but the girl was gone. The yelp from one of the people downstairs was from one of the supposed 'ghost hunters'; or whatever they were.

"See?" Jin yelled, pointing towards the two girls. "I said she was fake. She couldn't get rid of it like she said she would." For a second Kohaku felt like animals being pointed out at the zoo. Reiko simply sighed and began walking down the stairs, past the strangers. Kohaku caught up with her short legged pace quickly. A large black van was parked near the door.

"Equipment much?" Reiko muttered as she caught a glimpse of the inside, walking straight to the car and climbing in. Kohaku took another moment to peer in the van before running to the car.

-end-

Sooo? What did you think? :D Did I do somewhat well? This chapter is pretty long, too. More so than usual anyway. I'll try to do longer chapters on this one, as much as I can anyway.

Next chapter: Visions! Headaches! Revelations that were already made by The Boss-man! Poor Reiko can't even get a word in!