Just a short one-shot I figured out to write while working for Earth Day...couple of weeks ago...months...Read and enjoy.

Do I own School Rumble? Heh, I wish.

"All alone...with an old book and a sister who has never change. Is this what you really want? All alone? All alone..."

Yakumo Tsukamoto - End of Episode 24 Second Semester.

Trail of Broken Hearts

It was a silent lonely night as Tsukamoto Yakumo walked home, only light rain fell from the skies with the occasional thunder crash. Being able to read the minds of those infatuated by her, she was able to walk home safely as she could evade the men who had dark thoughts for her.

Despite being able to read minds, there was one she could not. That was why she trusted HIM the most. She knew HE was not like other men who only saw her for her silent beauty. She knew HE saw her more then just the innocent shy girl. But alas, HE only saw her as a friend, but at first she didn't mind. Then after a few months of working by HIS side, she began to fall for HIM. She then wished she could read HIS mind, but no matter how hard she tried, there was only one thing on HIS mind.

Silence.

She wondered why she couldn't read HIS mind. She continued to work by his side, studying his actions to find out why his mind was silent. Harima Kenji, the only male who only produced silence in his mind. Then finally, after reading his manga countless times, has she finally found out why his mind was silent. It was already filled by another. His heart belonged to someone else. Someone else she loves...

Her sister; Tsukamoto Tenma.

She actually felt jealousy for her for the first time. In fact, she even joked to herself on how stupid and dumb their children would be. (AN: Okay, it was jealousy who made her think that. She would never berate others.) But after a while, she found out why. It was actually Tenma's stupidity that drew him to her. He was unlike others. Instead of being one to leave her behind, he would stop and wait for her, even so much as to help her. Yakumo admired that about him.

Despite what other people may think, Harima can actually be the perfect one. He was protective, hardworking, and not afraid to stand up for others. She then decided, she would not step in the way for her sisters happiness. After all, she deserved it. After everything Tenma has done for her, she deserved a man like Harima. Even though it pained her inside.

Still, it would be nice to know if he saw her more then just a friend.

A thought then hit her. She remembered why she shouldn't think these thoughts. Because...

"Are you regretting your decision?" The ghost who loved to torment her whenever she feels empty would appear.

Yakumo looked behind her and saw her, red eyes and long hair. "Please, go away" She pleaded.

"Are you scared I might dissuade your decision?" The ghost girl continued.

"As long as my sister's happy, I'll be happy." She answered in a confident voice.

"Even if it grants you eternal loneliness?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure you can endure it? With loneliness comes despair. And with despair comes hatred. You might hurt your sister AND Harima." The ghost pointed out. "Loneliness can do wonders to the mind."

"I know...that no matter what, I'll stay on the path I've chosen." Yakumo once again replied with confidence.

"Then I'll ask you this. Are you sure your sister will be happy with him? You already know her heart belongs to someone else." The ghost reminded.

Yakumo remained silent, lowering her head and raising a hand to her mouth.

"Heh, it seems we have a trail of broken hearts. No matter what, someone's heart will remain broken." The ghost continued to torment.

Yakumo looked up with a gasp.

"I can see I've broken your path a little. Then I will tell you, if Harima confesses to your sister and accepts it. Your sisters heart will be broken as she already planned a life with who she truly loves. If she confesses to the boy she truly loves, Harima's heart will remain broken. You fit as the final piece." She explained.

Gasping again, Yakumo widened her eyes, "You don't mean..."

"No matter who confesses to who, only your heart will remain broken. And your too scared to reforge it"

"Please. Stop." Yakumo pleaded.

"There is another way to escape loneliness and everyone's heart fixed. Would you like to hear it? But it's so simple that I think you would already know it." The ghost suggested.

Thinking for a moment, Yakumo silently muttered, "If I confess to Harima. Then wouldn't his remain broken?"

"That is one key to breaking the trail. Harima's will is strong, he's not scared to reforge his heart, but only if someone helps him and a certain rich girl may take what you truly want. If your wondering how I know, I spoke to him just after you left." The ghost pointed out.

"Eri..." Yakumo mumbled, but quickly dropped that thought at the last part of her words, "You spoke to Harima?" She asked bewildered.

"He's more braver then you. Although he did almost jump out the window." She replied amused. "I think I helped him get back on the path again. What happens now is up to you." She added about to vanish.

"Wait!" Yakumo called out, halting her progress, "Why are you helping me like this?" She curiously asked.

The ghost remained silent for a moment, "I'll tell you a short story about another girl." She replied, "Just like you, this girl was caring, kind, everything a perfect girl could have, but the world was still cruel at the time. The boys only saw her for her beauty, they didn't care if they broke her heart. Then finally, she met a boy, one who could care for her forever. But his heart belonged to someone else. Being the kind girl, she let him pursue the one he believed was the one. After awhile, he married the one he chased. Even though her heart was broken, she was happy that he was happy. She figured that is all she needs for him and vowed to never love another." The ghost narrated, every word filled with wisdom.

Bewildered and shocked on how familiar it sounded, Yakumo managed to say, "What happened to her?"

"She fell to despair, she succumbed to hatred, she hurt those around her, took her own life and became me" She revealed her story.

"What?"

"I roamed this earth, regretting that one decision of staying all alone. I was granted the curse of remaining on this earth not knowing love nor peace. I decided to help others with similar problems, others such as you. So you see..." She replied starting to vanish, "I'm trying to prevent you of such a terrible fate. I don't want others to feel what I feel. Only you can prevent this. Don't go on the path of loneliness, don't fall to despair, don't succumb to hatred..." Her words echoed as she again vanished, "Never become me"

With those last words repeating in her ears, Yakumo looked down in deep thought, still saddened by the story and the path she has taken, she turned around and ran back to Harima's place.

Half hour before

It was quite late at night, even though the deadline isn't a month due, he had to do a special story as marking of his 100th story. As a result, the chief asked him to draw 750 to 1000 pages within the month. With a month, this seemed easy at the moment, but of course, with 99 stories of almost the same thing, he was requested for something new, but remaining in the same storyline. This is what made it hard for him.

He already had the beginning of the story finished. Where the villain has made plans of capturing the heroine; Princess Ten Ten (AN: Tenma) and force her into marriage so he can take over her Kingdom while getting respect from her people at the same time. Where he further plots to take over the world. As usual, the Sorcerer Knight Hanio (AN: Harima) goes on the quest to save her. He repeated the same thing over and over again, but different scenarios to keep it fresh and new. But that still didn't satisfy what little fans he had, not to mention that every time he repeated these, it was only 30 to 60 pages long. So, to help him with ideas, he called his assistant; Yakumo, who was always glad to help.

So she arrived and began to brainstorm. Eventually, she came up with the idea of the hero to go on quests to become stronger and defeat the villain who also has powerful minions at his disposal. She also suggested that Hanio should have allies traveling along with him. So they went on brainstorming on who his allies should be. Well, they figured they shouldn't have all the allies joining at the same time. Yakumo came up with the idea of having Ten Ten's younger sister join him. The name? As much as she despised it, she came up with Yamo; (AN: Yakumo) Sorceress in training. In truth, Yakumo designed her off herself, such as Harima designed Hanio off himself and Ten Ten off Tenma. Secretly, she was hoping the fandom would pair Hanio and Yamo together. (AN: She figured Harima would be too dense to see it, so she created Yamo.)

Sorry, sort of trailed off here. Back to the main storyline.

With that done, they drew a few pages until it was late and Harima quit for the night. Yakumo already left and Harima was tiding up, the power again went off and Harima looked up as darkness enveloped his room, "Not again. Good thing we decided to call it quits." He replied to himself.

"Why are you so silent?" A young voice called out and an ominous green light filled the area.

"Hmm?" Harima muttered quietly, turning to face the girl. Seeing her small size, he bent down to reach eye level, "How did you get here? Won't your parents be worried? And what's with the light?" He asked, not knowing she's a ghost.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" She asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Harima retorted.

"Answer me"

Harima stood up and crossed his arms, "Hmm, you know. I never really thought about it." He answered looking down in deep thought.

The girl tilted her head, "How about if the ghost appeared out of no where, carrying a light around?" She pointed out.

"Just like you?"

"...Just like me" She answered, clearly running out of patience.

Harima gave a careful look, "I guess so. Heh, good thing your not a ghost." He replied.

"..."

Noticing her silent glance, Harima finally popped in the puzzle piece, "You don't mean..."

She tilted her head.

"Your here to claim my soul!" Harima shouted defensively. He then turned towards the window, "You'll never have it!" He shouted as he started to run towards it. He then jumped, but the ghost wrapped her hair around his leg, preventing him from crashing through his window. He fell onto the floor and her hair pulled him closer. Harima then clawed onto his floor, making marks as he was pulled. She then wrapped her hair around his limbs and turned him over. Refusing to be overpowered by a ghost, he struggled violently and seeing her grip not loosening, he did a desperate movement, he brought his right arm closer and began to gnaw on the ghosts hair. After a few seconds, he finally gnawed himself free. "Ah ha!" He shouted and began to tug on the other strands of hair on his left wrist. The ghost then wrapped her hair around his waist and neck and squeezed tightly, having his breath taken away.

"I'm not here to harm you. I just want some answers." She reassured, retracting her hair. With a breath of relief, Harima laid flat on the floor. The ghost looked at her hair where Harima gnawed into and bit off, "I have to admit, that stung." She mumbled.

Taking another deep breath, Harima sat up, "No one can't ignore the pain of Harima Kenji. No man nor ghost."

"How peachy" The ghost stated sarcastically. "Anyways, I wanted to know. Why are you so silent?" She repeated her question.

Harima remained silent, staring at her in confusion.

"Your mind is silent to the one who can read them. You know who I'm talking about" The girl continued on.

"Tenma's sister?" Harima asked.

"You always refer to her as younger sister. Why? Will she never become Yakumo to you?" The ghost pondered on.

Harima remained silent, he really only called her younger sister out of respect, "I only call her that out of respect. What are you getting at?" He answered. Out of the two individuals in the room, the only other sound was rain hitting his window.

The girl let out a creepy laugh, "Poor naive man. Can you not see it? She's in love with you." She revealed.

Harima remained silent, a thunder crashing as if on cue. Finally, he managed to speak, "Tenma's sister...loves me? Why?" He wondered outloud.

"She only started noticing you when you showed up at her house that summer. That cat with a thorn stuck in its paw, you helped her cat. She then saw how empathetic you were to animals, but alas. It was not your empath towards animals, it was your silence that drew her to you. After spending time with you, she now yearns to see what's on your mind, but no matter how hard she tries, she can only see silence." The ghost explained.

"Wait. So she can read minds? Wow, and I was only guessing at the time." He remarked, crossing his arms and looking down.

The ghost floated towards the window and looked out, "You only got half of it right. She can only read the minds of those that has romantic feelings for her. This tires her out greatly as all the boys only see her for her body. She used to find comfort in your silence ever since she first met you during the summer. Now she wants to know what you think of her." The ghost explained, looking at the far retreating form of Yakumo. "Isn't it sad? For the past few years she wished she never had it, but now when she wants to use it on the one man she truly loves, she cannot." She added.

Harima only listened in silence, looking down quietly. "So she can't read my mind because I only think of her as a friend." He muttered to himself, still trying to take in what she said.

"Your mind is already preoccupied by another. That is what clouds your thoughts from her."

"Tenma?" Harima called out, knowing what she meant.

"But you already know she loves another, yet you still try to confess your feelings to her. Why?" The ghost continued to ask.

Harima looked down in thought, "Even if she won't accept it, I'll be happy. As long as she's happy, I'm happy" He answered honestly.

"You sing the same song. But what about after that? What will you do once she rejects your feelings? Once she walks up that altar with the man she truly loves?"

"Then the hard part. Letting go. Something I should do myself." He answered.

"Why fight alone?"

"..."

"What if you can't do it alone? What if your too weak to move on? One wrong decision could grant you eternal loneliness." She pointed out, "No matter how you look at it. You and Yakumo sing the same song. But I wonder, will you be strong enough to move on?" She added.

"I'll do it. It's going to be hard, but I can assure you, I will do it." Harima resolved, clenching his hands.

"Hmph, I can see why she loves you. Despite your tough appearance, your very sympathetic and would do anything to achieve your goal. Even so much as to become someone else." She continued speaking, looking deep into Harima's eyes with her red ones. "But I wonder, after you get over Tenma, will you seek another to spend your life with, or will you become like me and roam this earth without knowing love?" She added curiously.

Harima was taken back by both her words, he did change himself to become closer to Tenma. She was his reason to go to school and actually work and participate in class activities. Even though he almost dropped out countless times, she motivated him to stay strong and keep on working hard. Even though he learned it wasn't him she loved, but Karasuma, he still tried to take her.

For the entire school year, he chased something so one sided. To escape the harshness of reality, he began to draw manga. Even though he almost quit that countless times as well, he would become motivated one way or another. He almost quit when he was told to get someone to read it first. Seeing he couldn't tell anyone of his manga, he almost stopped there. That's when Yakumo came into the picture, even though she knew nothing about manga, she has helped him countless times, even staying overnight to help him finish. Then she became his assistant...

Wait.

Fate is known to be a cruel mistress, what if this is what she planned? Saving Tenma to start attending school, drawing manga to escape reality. Becoming closer to Yakumo; who he claims as his only best friend, what if Fate gave him false feelings for Tenma just so he could become the one for another? The more he thought about it, the more sense it made, (AN: For Harima, it's suprising) He was never one to play by Fate's rules, but he figured he could do so once.

"Well?" The ghost asked waiting for his answer.

He grunted loudly, "I won't do it alone. If Yakumo helped me with everything else, she can help me with this." He answered proudly, turning towards his drawing table to prepare another drawing.

The ghost smiled, now that she prevented one from loneliness, now it is time for the other. "Your resolve is admirable. I can see why Fate decided to toughen up your rules. Goodbye Harima Kenji, we may never meet again." She concluded, vanishing from view, leaving the room in darkness and conveniently, the power turned back on.

Harima then began drawing panels.

Half hour later. After Yakumo's part.

Yakumo continued to run, she was sure this time. She would be the one to claim Harima, not Eri or some other girl. She entered his apartment and ran up the flight of stairs since the elevators were still coming online.

Harima finished a quick eight page story, "Not exactly appealing, but that won't matter. This is not going to be published." He replied to himself, straightening the papers. He then heard footsteps running into the apartment. "Hmm? A little late for kids to be running around." He stated, opening his door. In a blur, whatever was running ran into him in a tight embrace.

"Why are you so silent?" Yakumo asked, nearly bursting into tears. "I want to see your thoughts, what you think of me, but your so silent." She continued, her voice quivering, her arms latched around Harima tightly.

Harima stood bewildered, this was too much of a coincidence, not only did he decide to try and be with her, but now she runs in with tears? "Once again, Fate plays another card." He thoughted quietly to himself.

"Younger Sister; I'm not exactly one to show much emotion, so I drew a one-shot to express them." Harima replied, grabbing his eight-page one-shot. "I would like you to read it." He added, handing over the papers.

Yakumo looked at the papers and grabbed onto them. She then started to read it quickly.

After quickly reading it.

Yakumo smiled after reading it, but frowned quickly..."Why did you kill off Ten Ten?" She asked. The first few pages resulted in Ten Ten's death, in which Hanio grieved about for a long time, (AN: There was a bar saying "A Year Later") just then, Ten Ten's sister; Yamo came up to him and asked for his assistance in helping her rule a Kingdom. Not a marriage proposal, but just a hand. Yamo was still young and didn't know much of the basics of ruling a Kingdom. So, she was asked to get Hanio out of grieving and to help this Kingdom go to prosper.

Before the author could get off the trail again, Harima cut him off, (AN: Apologies) "Well, the fans were asking for a major plot twist. I figured this could work. Meaning I know exactly what to do for the manga." He announced. He was currently lying on his bed, relaxing on his bed with his left leg over his right knee and arms behind head.

Yakumo again smiled, she figured it out as fast as he announced it. The death of Ten Ten symbolized him letting go of Tenma. Hanio assisting in ruling the Kingdom represented that they were together as of tonight. "So...you knew about Yamo?" She asked suddenly.

Harima scratched the back of his head, "Well, after talking to that ghost girl, my realization in your actions started to surface." He admitted shyly.

"Oh..." She blushed a little. "I should get back home" She replied, no longer feeling empty.

"Yeah. See you in the morning" Harima waved.

Harima then fell asleep as Yakumo exitted the apartment, with one of her hard earned smiles on her face.

Far off in another dimension

"Well, looks like I won the bet." Fate pointed out, holding out her hand towards her companion, Lady Luck.

"No fair. You had Mother Nature help you." Lady Luck whined, refusing to give what Fate wanted.

Mother Nature; on the other hand, was tending to her gardens nearby, "You know, for an entity called Lady Luck, you sure have bad luck." She pointed out.

Lady Luck only crossed her arms and looked away.

Fate on the other hand, held out hers, "There was no rules against asking for help. I won, fair and square, now give it to me." She added a death glare to the last remark.

Sighing in defeat, Lady Luck placed a toy in her hand.

"Finally. Got you back." She replied, hugging the stuffed bear.

Lady Luck walked away, "I'm going in my own dimension to sulk." She replied, vanishing from view.

"We'll come get you for supper" Fate mocked and continued to cuddle the stuffed bear.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Hmm, I got to stop lying about my one-shots being short.

Anyways, there it is. Took two days to write this. A month to make a few changes and upload it. I'm not exactly proud of the last part. I felt it was too forward and rushed, but what can I say? Romance isn't really my best department, although I must say I'm quite proud of The Ghost's lines. Not really proud of the three entities; Lady Luck, Fate, and Mother Nature, being a part of this, but after much thoughts, I decided to leave it in.

On the sidenote, I have another story planned. Princess Ten Ten gets kidnapped by the villain who is based off Karasuma; forgot Harima's name for him. Sorceress Knight Hanio goes to save her along with allies. Yakumo adds herself in as Princess Yamo; Sorceress in training...What? People fantasize in the anime, I mean look at Magical Mai. XD

Constructive Criticism welcome. Reviews especially welcome.