Why can't they see me?
I've tried everything. I've tried throwing something at them.
I've tried yelling at them.
I've tried simply waving my hand in their faces.
It doesn't work. They continue their daily lives, as if nothing happened. As if I never happened. I was replaced, my best friend now travelling with someone else, a new group, a new… friend. It hurts me.
They can't see you. Live with it.
Why can't they? They've noticed me before! Why should that change anything?
That was then. This is now.
So I follow her around.
I love her hair. Sometimes I run my fingers through it, just to touch the silk, but then she screams and jumps back as if I'm some repulsive thing. Why does she notice me all those other times? She certainly can't when I'm sitting next to her, or standing two feet from her very nose. She ignores me, day after day after day, unless I touch her.
Then she gets creeped out.
The other boy. I don't like him. He's got long dark hair, and he seems to radiate malevolence and ill-being. I don't want my friend hurt by him, and I can tell that he only wants in her pants. She's a strong, smart girl, I know, but he's clever. He's fooling even her closest friends.
They think she'd finally found a boyfriend – a young man who ran away from home, a total rebel, tall, masculine, 'The One' that's better than the other. He dresses darkly, he's pale and wears the dumbest pair of shorts I'd ever seen. She's attracted to this man, though, despite the fact that I've tried to make them see.
But they can't see me anyway.
They can't see me anyway.
I can see others like me. They follow other people around too, and sometimes I stop for a few moments and talk with them. It's funny how they can acknowledge my presence, but the others are incapable.
"Oh, Hikaru-kun! You're so funny."
It's him again. Taking her away from me, not letting her see. I think he's manipulating her into thinking I don't exist. So I never leave her side, never to leave her unprotected ever again. I made a promise.
I place my hand on her shoulder.
"Aah! Hikaru-kun, it's cold in here."
Nothing.
No reaction, excepting the comment directed to that bastard.
"Don't worry. Here, have my jacket."
He removes his disgusting black leather jacket to reveal a skin-tight torn-up black shirt, mesh fishnets peeking through the holes and his straight black hair touching his shoulders. Stone grey shorts to match, along with generic black sandals and chipped black nail polish garnishing his fingernails. Weapons hidden all over his slim body, just for show. Bracelets dangled off of his wrists. Bandages, similar to her last crush's, decorated his calves. Gross. They looked better on the last guy, my other best friend.
I want to kill him.
I can't stand it. He's embracing her, hiding her under his jacket. Her beautiful green eyes gazed into his glassy dark blue ones, eyeliner smeared underneath them. What the hell could she see in him? I see nothing but trouble and misery.
A few of the others don't like him either. They have no clue where he came from. He just… showed up one day, a couple weeks after her inability to see me started.
Murder seems like a pretty good option at the moment. I softly call out her name.
She freezes. "What was that?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's just the wind."
Bastard.
"Yeah… maybe."
I curl up under the nearest tree and weep, turned away from the couple now sucking face. I wanted to be her first.
---
"I wonder what happened to him."
"I don't know, Mom; he'd been missing for weeks. We can't find him."
"Such a pity. And he was such a nice boy…"
She looks down at her plate of food, playing with her rice. She's silent now; I wonder why. She's always saying something at her dinner table; I've seen her at it a few times before.
I had to stay at her place for a while. I couldn't get to mine. I think my manager changed the locks on me. I have no idea, since he didn't see me either when I demanded to know why I was locked out.
I couldn't sleep, though.
I stayed in the living room. Often enough, I'd sit on the couch and people would look at me, their eyes wide but not much reaction otherwise.
The moon was beautiful that night. It wasn't as pretty as her face, but it was nice to look at nonetheless.
---
"Hey babe."
They're at it again.
Ignore it, ignore it…
"Oh, Hikaru…"
I recollect myself and think about the good times she and I shared. Like the first 'date' we ever went on. My past missions with her, how we fought to save each other's lives. I trusted her with all I could offer.
And she's being so insensitive. Can't she see me? I want her to see me so badly. I sit there, ten feet away from the cuddling couple. She's looking in my direction, her eyes half-closed. I want her to see me, I want her to know that I'm here.
And she screams.
"What's wrong, baby?"
"N..Naruto…?"
Does she finally see me? I look up, my heart racing. I stare straight into her eyes. Relief washes over me, and I smile.
"Sakura…"
She screams again and faints.
She'd screamed like this before. I've heard it, but I can't remember where from. It sounds so familiar…
And then it hits me. Memories rush at me like a tidal wave, making my head pound. I see short scenes here and there.
She's on the ground.
I'm trying to help her, I can't help her, I'm standing up to look for help…
I'm on the ground.
All I can see is red – red everywhere, and the pain. The pain was incredible. My back hurt, my arms hurt, my head hurt. Then I black out.
Next thing I know… I'm in Konoha, people making a huge fuss over something. She's crying, covered in red, dark red.
"I t-tried to help him. They… they snuck up on u-us and I couldn't find them and… and…"
Her face was covered by her hands, smearing red stuff all over.
Who snuck up on us?
"I can't find hi-his body. I l-looked everywhere… and I can't find it."
What?
What did she say?
Now Sakura's woken up, in the arms of the bastard. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"What did you see, sugar?" He's looking around, furiously. I don't think they can see me anymore.
I'm on the ground again. I touch the back of my head, suddenly struck with pain. My hand is covered in blood as I take it away from my head.
"Sakura… Why…?"
That explains everything. Why they can't see me. Why I can't leave Konoha. Why I'm following her everywhere.
I'm non-existent.
I'm dead.
And she'd killed me.
The one I loved so much…
Why, Sakura…?