Gokudera sat down in his seat, his eyes glancing down to the shivering, transluscent boy curled up by his desk. He could see the ghost there when he walked in, that being the first to grab his attention as he ignored the scent of the room. Nobody spared the little ball of fluff a single look, as if he weren't there.
This was normal. Only Gokudera could see them anyway, he didn't expect to find anyone else who could as well any time soon.
Gokudera internally sighed, blocking the choked sobs coming from the ghost from his mind. He'd have to get Shamal to take care of it.
A horrible, bitter smell wafting throughout the room invaded his nostils, and he wrinkled his nose, blinking as stormy green eyes looking over to see a small black creature floating around behind the teacher, Nezu. It had a large toothy grin, sharp, paper white eyes and a little wispy tail behind it. The small chitter chatters of more spirits caught his attention, and he looked up at the ceiling where multiple of the little things were floating around, muttering jabs and discouragements and gossip.
He hated those types. He wouldn't have expected there to be so many in Namimori.
The ghost by his side continued to cry as the teacher kept going on about alegbra bullshit (not that anyone not aiming for some kinda special job like scientist or something would need anyway).
The ghost merely buried his face into his knees as the little gremlins, as Gokudera liked to call them much to Shamal's annoyance, whispered "Dame-Tsuna Dame-Tsuna finally gone gone gone dead!" None of his new classmates noticed.
Gokudera closed his eyes with the mental note to tell Shamal of the infestation of gremlins. They were annoying.
...o0o...
After class ended, Gokudera sat at his desk as everyone else left, scaring off anyone who tried approaching with a feirce scowl.
The sky outside started to dim into a warm orange, as Gokudera finally got up, tired of watching the ghost and the gremlins fly about. The silveret kneeled in front of the ghost, taking in the wild, fluffy brown hair, painfully thin frame, short stature and round golden-brown eyes that looked red and puffy from crying for who knew how long.
Honestly, it was a rather pathetic sight, but not really uncommon among all the ghosts Gokudera's seen, unfortunately. "Oi, twig." He said, trying to keep quiet at least a little so the ghost wouldn't try fading away into nothingness to escape.
The ghost- no, boy, he was alive at some point too- snapped his head up at Gokudera, looking hopeful for a second, before said hope fizzled and died in his eyes, disbelief and doubt replacing it.
Gokudera hated that look. It was so pathetic and... sad. Just sad, he could see the hurt clear as day.
"Oi, I'm talkin' to ya, yanno." The gh- no, boy sent him another weary glance, sniffing and tears threatening to fall again. The brunet glanced around, in search of anything else this new boy could've been talking to.
Nobody wanted to talk to the Dame when he was alive and everyone ignored him when he was... no. He wasn't dead, there was no way...
Gokudera scowled, fazing a hand through the boy's translucent shoulder. It was freezing to the touch, and the clearly dead boy jumped, yelping at it.
Gokudera knew touch to a ghost felt scorching hot in comparison to what a living person felt, Shamal had told him.
"Got your attention now, brat?" The brunet stared at him, a dictionary's worth of emotions dancing across his face. He was an open book in that sense.
"Y-You d-don't..." His voice was soft, slightly higher pitched than a normal boy's as well. Gokudera merely nodded, training his eyes on the brunet in front of him. The boy looked ready to cry again. "G-Gokudera-san...? How...?" Of course he knew his name. He had been there the whole time, including the introduction to the class. He mumbled and stuttered, but Gokudera just sighed, deciding to take it slow.
From what he could see, this ghost was a victim of sorts, bullying, likely considering his attitude. It was harsh and cruel, but he couldn't deny what he saw. "I see you." He said steadily, keeping eye contact.
The brunet's already expressive eyes widened, and he scooted back, speechless and staring at him dumbly. He opened his mouth, changed his mind, and closed it. Multiple times. The brunet was starting to resemble a gaping fish.
Gokudera just stayed rooted to his spot to let the brunet absorb that. It was likely the kid hadn't had any actual communication in a while if his reaction said anything.
It was a shame there weren't many people in the world who knew how to send stray ghosts on their way. But this one... Gokudera frowned at the strong tug he was feeling from the brunet. This one seemed tied down to Earth, not just lost.
This was a rare case.
They sat in silence, the smaller's quiet hiccups being the only noise to be heard inside. "I see you." Gokudera repeated. The other boy froze. "It runs in my family from my mother's side." He explained, and the ghost gave him a confused look, but absorbed the information. Gokudera pursed his lips, before carefully saying, "My guardian is well experienced in cases like yours, he can help no matter how pervy and useless he may seem."
The boy tilted his head, even more confused. "Cases like mine...?" Denial.
The silveret paused, before deciding on not sugarcoating the glaring obvious fact. "You died, and your soul is trapped here."
The brunet shook and started crying again, eyes wide and fearful and full of denial. "N-No I'm not! I can't be dead I-!"
"You're dead, you can't hide from the truth any longer."
The ghost wailed, slumping down and curling up into a tight ball again, muttering protests and choking on his own sobs.
He really should know he's dead now, denial is an ugly thing, Gokudera thought sadly. He stared down at the shivering form as he faded away to somewhere else to mope and grieve for himself.
Gokudera sighed, running a hand over his face tiredly. Shamal, that pervy supernatural doctor, no matter what, was better at interacting with the dead than he was. Gokudera figured he probably shouldn't have said anything to the boy, leaving it to Shamal. The doctor had his work cut out for him once Gokudera went home with the report.
A ghost in denial, a ridiculous infestation of grimlins in the classrooms, he swore he saw some low level demons in the alleyways hanging around the thugs and yakuza earlier. Who knew what else was there?
That idiot Iemitsu had once said a couple months ago that Namimori would be a perfect place to settle down and relax, in case the doctor and his charge would be interested. He had even said something about him befriending his 'adorable' son. If the kid took after his father then Gokudera didn't think he could handle a mini-Iemitsu around. Gokudera growled, not for the first time cursing and swearing to not trust people without the Sight or at least some proper information to tell them stuff or give suggestions.
...o0o...
Tsuna curled up outside the middle school, watery, dead eyes watching as the baseball team practiced, his former classmate making another homerun, recieving cheers from his teammates.
"I see you."
He shivered at those words, letting the tears fall as he buried his head in his arms, which were propped up by his knees.
I'm not dead I'm not dead I'm not dead I'm alive alive yeah alive not dead-
He can see me.
Tsunayoshi Sawada, age thirteen, deceased. Three gunshot wounds, to the right thigh, to the collarbone, and to the head, shooter had been caught a few minutes after and identified to be a member of a local yakuza. His only explaination for why was "The Boss paid for the brat's head."
Tsunayoshi Sawada's ghost was chained to his old school to watch as his classmates could have and enjoy what he couldn't.
"I see you."
The brunet cried, shaking his head.
I'm dead dead gone dead foreve-! But h -
"I see you."
...o0o...
A/N: Well then. There's that, poor Tsuna, he didn't deserve it. This idea's been brewing for a while in my head so I just went and typed this up, not sure when I'll continue it, so don't expect anything too soon. Sorry if anyone was OCC, but I guess they have a small excuse of this being a bit of an AU so... still though. Idk what to call the little things floating around either, they arent anything real, I'm just making this crap up. I actually have no idea what I'm doing but I hope y'all like it somewhow anyway XD
Anyhoo, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this idea in the reviews! I love hearing other people's thoughts!
