Summary: Hikaru never knew that helping a dying man would mean his spirit would attach itself to him and thought it's a punishment. Now though, he felt that the ghost is the help God sent for him when he realized Sai would be able to help him for his artist career through his knowledge of Go. He just have to be careful he won't be dragged into the world he really doesn't have any idea of.

Disclaimer: Come on guys, we all know fanfiction authors are just that, fanfiction authors. We are – and that means I am – not the owner of the original story. The plot I have here is mine though along with OCs I might introduce.

Note: Unedited. No Beta. Short chapters. Irregular update, not to mention the long wait in between. Slash. Character-Death that of course we already know who.

Pairing: So that you all know, since my first chapters or so will be slow. The end pairing for this will be Seiji/Hikaru or Seiji/Hikaru+Sai in his ghost form. I just have that craving and I wanna make it work. Anyway, enjoy reading!


The Haunting Of

01:

Sometimes, being a good person is not good for a person's health... or life.

Hikaru only knew of one person having a seemingly normal black hair with an honest to goodness natural gleaming violet color when hit by the light in the right angle in his entire short 23 years of life. And he had seen that for only 20 minutes in that day.

That was even under the situation when he decided on a whim to help someone who called out for help weakly in a narrow alley while he was on his way back to his small and rundown apartment.

It was the first thing he noticed almost immediately the second his cellphone flashlight hit the downed man he decided to help - because how unusual is that? - before he kicked that thought out of his mind when blood registered inside his mind pooling around the man.

He called for help even as he tried to keep the man from falling unconscious, talking to him about inane and not-so inane things just to get the man to pay attention and not 'fall asleep'. He did not touch him because he did not know anything about first aids aside from doing CPR, and that is useless at the moment.

Upon coming back to his apartment, now cleaned up and ready to fall asleep, he realized how idiotic it was to focus on unusual hair color when a man is dying. Because priorities. Also, how could he even say it was a natural color? Plenty of people nowadays color their hair for various reasons. Even he had done that, bleaching his bangs to make him different from anyone else.

No matter that it was the reason why he wasn't immediately accepted in any job he applied. After all, another reason why he could not hold a job longer than a month is because of his attitude of speaking up his mind when he was slighted.

He had not always been a calm person no matter how he was now. He was an energetic and and hard-headed kid, impulsive and reckless teenager and a confrontational adult who had too much self-respect.

Granted, he still is that. Only he had learned pretty hard how to be patient and the art of holding his tongue. He thinks any of the words he lets out carefully and makes it precise and to the point without any deflection. He comes across as blunt and brutally honest and that was the reason why his bosses and co-workers often does not ask for his input unless they absolutely needed it.

It works for him because he really did not have much time for socializing. After all, he really did not want to remain as someone working as a cashier forever.

As a high school graduate with an okay to outstanding grade, he could have entered any other high salary paying job than being an overqualified cashier, and he had before. Only, he realized office job was not for him and that he hates being told what to do like a glorified slave. He hates sucking up and he hates having to curb his tongue just so he won't offend any of his bosses.

He had gone through all the jobs he could take and found all of them to be something he did not like nor would he come to like.

He knows himself. Even before his parents were alive, and when he had come to live with his grandfather until he died himself, he has always been aware of himself. He never doubted what he could or could not do. Eventhough he had the tendency to lie while he was still a child and a teen, he has always been brutally honest with himself.

He knows that though he can adapt to an admirable level, though he can learn something if he tried, if he did not like it, he won't ever thrive. It's the reason why he was so good in soccer upon deciding it would be his ultimate sport, why he knows math so well in the later half of his high school. It's because he had come to like them, knows right from when he started learning whatever he did decide to do that he would come to like them.

And if what he was doing was something he never could like no matter how much he could tolerate, he would drop it before his hard-earned patience worn out and he snaps.

With that concluded and a small, passing thought that he hoped the man - he remembered his name was Sai - would make a recovery before he fell asleep. If only because it'd be a waste if he died since he was the lucky person he stumbled upon when he had the whim thought of helping and being involved.

Yes, he has become a callous person. At least it was the only thing that came out of him being disillusioned living in a cruel world.

It was two weeks later that his whimsical decision to be helpful, to be good resulted to him now housing a real life ghost in the form of the man he had helped that day, in the same bloodstained white suit he wore that day and hair ridiculously violet in color.

. . . . .

The shock came when it happened, followed by disbelief. Hikaru admit that he had internally freaked out. A real freaking GHOST is inside his apartment, the person he had helped two weeks ago. Apparently, he had died and went straight to him and is now unable to leave his vicinity. In other words, both of them are stuck together.

All his issues regarding the supernatural - as in a freaking GHOST - being real already gone by and passed and now he is concentrating on the resounding single word of 'stuck'. They're stuck together now. Sai accordingly could not leave and he is the only one who could see him.

"I want an exorcist," Hikaru said, quite serious at what he had told the now clearly freaking out ghost.

"Wait! I'm not going to be a bother! Please don't make me go away!" the ghost wailed. He honest to goodness wailed. Even when he had first seen Sai in that alley, he had always figured he is rich. Probably dignified and acts like a calm royalty from ancient times. Not arrogant as he had never been conceited to him even once. Now, his image is all but destroyed with that wail.

I thought I got out of freaking brats, he grudgingly thought to himself. Sai continued wailing and he looked upset. His tears were falling on his cheeks and dropped from his face but vanished when it left his translucent skin.

It was then that nausea hit him hard like somebody punched him out of nowhere. He slapped his hand onto his mouth and ran towards the sink where he proceeded to puke his guts out.

He did not hear Sai's panicking inquiries of his health, but he did feel sudden coldness passing through him and he shivered, already knowing that it was probably Sai trying to touch him like he had done before while he was still sleeping. It was actually the reason why he woke up and shrieked so hard the landlord of that rundown apartment came in and told him to shut up as he woke up with a ghost's face right in front of him.

Hikaru immediately went and rinsed his mouth before he gave Sai a look when he got his bearings back. "Stop it! You can't touch me. You're already a ghost. The only thing your doing is making me sick."

"I'm sorry," Sai remorsefully said, eyes starting to leak and radiating sadness through his ghostly pores. At once, nausea started and he vomited again.

The cycle repeated. He thinks he gets why he, out of the blue, currently feels like this. Especially when he is freaking healthy and maintains to stay that way as he could not afford to be sick. Also, how could this one appear out of nowhere without any sort of warning?

There was only so much he could take. Despite Hikaru finally finding his zen-like patience, he still is an impulsive person that has a short temper and was easily angered. He just had a better grip on himself these days as it was something he needed. But he was only human and sooner or later, he would snap.

Given the current situation he is in, he thinks he should be given a leeway.

"Stop freaking out, dammit!" he snapped, voice sharp as he finally regained himself once again. Sai's tears thankfully stopped and he immediately felt better. As I thought, this unusual sickness is because of him. "Get a handle on yourself and stop being extreme in your emotions. The only thing it's doing me is making me sick and at once wanting to find a legitimate exorcist to get rid of you!"

Sai stared at him dumbfounded. Hikaru did not care. Frankly, he had used up all the goodness he could give. Not to mention that this is the result of his rare goodwill. Excuse him for currently not feeling the need or even courtesy to be good.

He reached for his temple and massaged his head, trying to stave off the surely upcoming headache that this incident will undoubtedly follow. Or the next ones to come since the ghost could not apparently leave him with too great a distance to each other.

Is Kami punishing him for being a little shit before? He thought he had already been sufficiently punished by being an orphan.

"Here is what I think is happening," he started speaking even as his eyes are close. Hikaru knew that Sai is listening to him because the ghost gave a small sound of intrigue. "You can influence me through your emotions by making me sick. I hate it." He opened his eyes and looked at Sai to puncture the next words that would be coming our of his mouth. "I hate it. I hate that I have to be cautious speaking to a ghost just because he could somehow make me sick. I don't like to be sick. I can't afford to be sick. You are an adult so I know you can control yourself so please do it."

Hikaru had a few seconds to feel triumphant and relieved to have said all of that before his irritation deflated when a sudden blankness enveloped Sai's features.

"I understand," Sai murmured in a subdued manner. Hikaru blinked at that. Sai might look neutral in front of him but he could feel echoing feelings of sadness, distress and lastly profound resignation inside him that he knew did not come from him. For one thing, it was muted. Also, he really did not have any reason to feel like that.

That only means one thing. The emotion came from Sai.

For some reason, he felt himself start at that. He feels guilty.

How could a ghost make him feel guilty when no other has managed to make him feel like that before ever since he started not caring about other people?

Caring is a hazard. It's not healthy. It's not good. People can spot it immediately and will exploit and use it as his weakness. He could not afford weakness especially at this time when he is still struggling to live.

Granted, Sai is a ghost so the potential to care for the other would not be a hazard. Still, he do not want to start getting used to it.

"I'm not saying that you should suppress your own personality," he started again, carefully projecting a nonchalant aura even as he sipped his now going cold coffee. "I just want you to think about my welfare too." he let the cup own gently back to its saucer and continued. "You have power over me. I hope you realized that."

"I won't ever use it against you!" Sai indignantly said. Hikaru involuntarily gave a small smile.

"I know," he simply said and it made Sai shut up. It's true. He had already known that Sai won't use his peculiar power against him. He just did not have that aura nor that temperament. The ghost is just childish and is often persuaded by his emotions.

At least that's how he knew him by the day he had known the ghost. How he was before when he was alive he did not know.

"Anyway, I have to go and look for a job now if I wanted to stay in this apartment still," Hikaru said as he stood up, gathering the cup and saucer along with the cellophane that had the bread he had eaten before as his breakfast.

"You have no job?" Sai asked after he they were out of the apartment. Hikaru sighed before he took his phone from his pocket, silenced it and just placed it on vibrate so if ever someone called him it won't ring on his ear and put it on his ear before speaking.

"I... quit," and by quit he meant he shouted at the top of his lungs in front of his boss how much of a freaking dictator he was and that he was not a slave that he could just call 24/7 just because he was his secretary and threw his resignation letter at the man before walking out of there.

At least he lasted two months before he snapped and managed to save a lot of money in the process. That was his high-paying job in all of the ones he had earlier.

"Oh." Sai fluttered around him and he rolled his eyes at that, not even sure why. "Isn't looking for a job difficult? Why did you quit?"

"Because of reasons," he politely said. There was silence after that and he was about to take the phone off his ear as he thought Sai would not talk anymore when he suddenly spoke.

"What would you do then if you haven't found a job?"

"Get by with the money I have while trying to continue creating a story for my manga that the publishers will accept," he did not even hesitate in answering that as it was already on his mind.

Quitting his previous job has two cons and two pros for him.

The two cons are: 1) Now he had to look for a job again before his funds run out and 2) No income is coming his way for the duration of him being unemployed once again. But he was already used to that status so he did not really mind that much. He could get by.

The two pros are: 1) He gets to rest a little just like he had always done whenever he was unemployed because he always work long hours when he finds a job to gain additional income as he wasn't sure how long he could stay in it. 2) He gets to continue drafting manga to pass to a publisher that they would keep and hence, get him a steady and also enjoyable job.

He knows how to draw and has an overactive imagination ever since he was a child and he decided to use that now, those skills to get a steady job by only staying at home and giving life to stories. He had finished drafts before but was never accepted in any publishing house.

He would continue doing it until it really becomes a hopeless case. The publishing house he went to never really told him he would not succeed. Just that the story he had given, the p lot was already overused even if he twist it a little or a lot. It's common and they wanted something uncommon, something unique.

"Manga?" Sai's clueless inquiry snapped him out of his thoughts and made him whip around to stare at the floating bloodstained ghost, ignoring the other people around looking at him in bewilderment.

"What?"

TBC.


A/N:

It's getting long so I stopped and will continue in another chapter. Anyway, it's a slow start but I hope you continue waiting for more. I admit, this is kinda tame than all of the HnG ones I wrote, not to mention a little boring but it is necessary to build up something between them as Hikaru and Sai are starngers to each other..

Also, a little help for the manga-publisher thing? I'm a little lazy researching.

Anyway, what do you think? Any questions? Comments? Violent reactions?