AN: Hi, minna-san! This is fanfiction, right? So I can do ANYTHING I want in my story. I mean, this story is a little weird for me. Tell me what you think of it, okay? If it's good, then I'll continue it. Otherwise, I'll just leave it like that.

Another Note: This chapter will be about the cat pair, but in later chapters, it will eventually turn into a thrill pair. That is, if I DO continue this…

Prologue:

Echizen Ryoma supposedly had a psychic talent. He could see, hear and feel spirits. But his ability was unique from the others who had this ability. Phantoms could do things to Ryoma what they could when they were still living. Like, for example, when a ghost slapped our poor Ryo-chan, Ryoma would react the way he would when a normal person slapped him. It would hurt him depending on the force used by the spirits like in normal people. Most of the times, it's hard for Ryoma to tell whether that being was a spirit or not. He talked to his family about it, but they didn't believe him and said that maybe, it was just his imagination. So he thought that it might be better if he just kept it to himself, and that's the reason why he was so quiet and didn't usually give replies for more than one sentence or syllable. He wasn't sometimes sure whether he or she was a person or not, unless other people could see him or her, too.

...

Chapter 1: Mienai

It was Sunday, and Ryoma was having a restless night. He was just staring blankly at the ceiling of his room while lying on his bed. It wasn't just today. He didn't get any sleep last night either. He then realized that it was no use tossing around in order to have the right position to be comfortable with it and have a nice and peaceful slumber. His precious Himalayan feline had already been sleeping, so why hadn't he? He sighed and thought that he had nothing else better to do, so he tried to shut and conceal those golden eyes with hint of annoyance and kept himself still. He had school tomorrow, and he needed his rest as much as possible.

...

Apparently, it was useless. Ryoma didn't get any sleep at all, and he had just gotten out of the bed resignedly when he heard his clock went off. Bags had grown under his eyes and fatigue hit him. He ate breakfast in order to have at least enough energy for the whole day. He scowled when it wasn't Japanese style. But he just ignored it, including the fact that his family was worrying about him about how he looked like- well, his baka oyaji was making fun of him and that his kaa-san reprimanded the pervert for doing such a thing, but he knew that he was also worried about him.

...

He walked to school- just walked- not caring if he was going to be late for practice. After all, if his beloved buchou ordered him to run a few laps as punishment, it might ease that drowsy feeling that he had right now. Then, he yanked his head backward, covered his mouth with his hand partly, and yawned.

After that, he cursed when he felt his head throbbed. Before he entered the club room, while he contemplated on how many laps his evil buchou might give to him, at the corner of his eye, he noticed that the tennis courts were empty. He raised his brows in perplexity. Then, something or someone interrupted his thoughts when a certain annoying senpai suddenly came out of nowhere like a mushroom and hugged him like there's no tomorrow.

The young boy struggled to free himself, and at the same time, he tried to inhale as much oxygen as possible. "K-Kikumaru…sen…pai…c-can't…b-breathe…" He managed to choke out, and the red-headed player quickly let go of his poor ochibi-chan. "Oh, sorry, ochibi-chan. It's just that I really miss you so much, nyaaa~" Ryoma didn't look at his senpai, not showing how irritated he was for being so tired- he didn't want to be rude to his senpai.

"Demo, Eiji-senpai, we just didn't see each other for two days…" 'Don't you think you're just over reacting, ne, senpai?' Ryoma took note that something was odd about his hug, but he just dispelled that thought away. Maybe it was just him- not having enough rest. He turned the knob of the door, only to witness a really atypical scenario of the team.

Ooishi was mourning and the others were shaking, as if they were confining themselves not to cry. His buchou was standing by the corner; his face stayed nonchalant, and his arms were crossed, though there seemed to be something peculiar about the expression of his eyes. The usually closed eyes of the sadist, Fuji Shuusuke, were open, and being serious. Momo and Kaidou were not having a warfare. The two were doing the opposite. They were just not in their usual selves. And the not-so-good-with-his-two-years-of-tennis-experience Horio was behaving! Something was definitely wrong.

"Echizen…" Someone finally noticed the arrival of the ever-so-late prince. 'Did someone die?' Ryoma thought before he muttered, "What's wrong?" The others gaped at him like he was some sort of man who didn't know that the world was ending. "R-Ryoma-kun… you m-mean you didn't know?" Katou's eyes were swollen and red, obviously due to crying, and his voice was hoarse and broken. Ryoma raised his brows, looking like a curious little kitten.

Momoshiro leaned to his best friend, knowing for the fact that he hadn't checked on his phone, because the kid hadn't answered their calls and messages. He wanted to go to his house, but he had to look after his siblings while his parents were away for the weekend. He explained to their baby boy why they were acting like that.

What Ryoma had heard made his spine chill and made his face go pale. 'Eiji-senpai is dead? But-' Fuji, upon noticing his kouhai's reaction, began to worry and muttered, "Echizen…?" And for that, the whole team noticed the look on the freshman's state.

He was so still like he had just seen a ghost- well, in a matter of fact, he did feel AND heard his dead senpai. He tilted his head and for some reason, the red head phantom was still there, waving his hand at him and jumping like an idiot. "O-oi, Echizen, daijoubu ga?" 'What happened to him? I didn't expect him to act like this. And why does he look like he hadn't gotten any sleep for days?' Momo noted.

"D-demo, senpai-tachi…" The 12-year old in shock muttered, almost inaudible but loud enough to be heard by the others inside the room. Tezuka took a few steps until he was right in front of Echizen. "Doushita, Echizen?" He demanded. "K-Kikumaru-senpai…" Ryoma wasn't looking back at them. He's still looking at Kikumaru in disbelief and in a sinister way. Tezuka furrowed his brows and scowled.

Finally, Ryoma averted his focus back to them. The next thing that he had stated to his teammates made everyone fall into silence. Kikumaru had given him a death hug before he entered the room? Kaidou paled after hearing that. Earlier that day, he was in distress and now, he's downright so scared. No! He had to be brave! Damn it! He hated scary things, like Inui-senpai's poisonous concoction, not to mention of what was happening right now. Then, he wondered what happened to that cursed racket and to that Echigo guy. At that time, he ran off and hid himself inside the science lab. He couldn't bear hearing Inui-senpai's story about it.

"Echizen, don't joke about Eiji!" Ooishi reprimanded. He would NOT tolerate this. How could he be so insensitive! He was really depressed about it. The last time that they had seen each other, the two had a quarrel. Ooishi was stressed at that time and couldn't help himself to be irritated by his partner's childish behavior. The mere disagreement of the two turned into a big fight, and for that whole day, they ignored each other's presence. When he got home on that same day, he felt really guilty, and that, he wanted to apologize to his partner personally at the next time they would see each other. But now, that wouldn't be possible.

"Yeah, Echizen, you shouldn't do that. You just couldn't." Momo agreed with his senpai. "Fsssshhhh…"Kaidou tried to calm himself down. Then, Inui suddenly spoke. "Knowing Echizen, he isn't a type of person who would make some sort of a joke." Tezuka looked at their youngest teammate intently. He had to agree with Inui. Echizen was more sophisticated to just make up something like that. But the thing that he had just said was just impossible to happen. "Are you sure about that, Echizen?"

If Ryoma had worn his cap, he would have tugged it down. But he wasn't changing to his proper attire yet, so he just merely said- "I-ie, betsu ni, senpai-tachi. Just forget about it." After that, he strutted off. Of course, no one would believe him. Stupid senpai-tachi. Stupid Kikumaru-senpai. It would be pointless to say something any further, so he just headed for class.

Unbeknownst to the young prodigy, a certain tensai was watching him intently, as if he knew that Echizen wasn't lying at all. "Saa, Echizen, so you could see him, too… Omoshiro ne… "

Class was really boring, especially when Echizen knew that it's English time. He wanted to doze off, but his dead senpai would't let him, so he just focused his attention on the view by the window. "Nyaaa, ochibi isn't listening." Said the red-head ghost while hanging around his former kouhai. The latter just continually ignored him. It would be weird if someone else in this room would see him talking to no one. They might think that he's crazy.

Eiji pouted. Ochibi was being mean. Afterward, the teacher caught their attention. "Echizen-kun, will you go to the board and write your own examples of sentences including their sentence patterns?" Che, that was so easy. And so, said lad stood up and started showing off. Kikumaru and the others stared at the board. It's written in English. It's written in cursive. His other classmates couldn't understand what's written on it.

Even the teacher was surprised. He had to admit- his student might be better than himself. They were written in perfect English, and his ideas were impressive. He even used up the whole board for it. But he wouldn't want to say those muses out loud. He sweat-dropped. "V-very good, Echizen-kun. You can now return to your seat."

Ryoma didn't pay any heed to him and returned to his seat. Then, he twitched at Kikumaru's behavior. "Sugoiiii, Ochibiiii! You're really good at this, nyaaaa~" The hyperactive ghost cheered while he kept on poking Echizen on the back of his head. Subsequently, the younger boy just decided to play along and smirked. "Mada mada da ne, Kikumaru-senpai" The latter pouted. "Ochibi, don't be so mean!"

After that, Eiji accidentally hit Ryoma a little too hard, which made his former koukai cry out "I-itte!" It's almost inaudible, though, but that's enough to make his other classmates tilt their heads and stare at him with sheer perplexity. "Is something wrong, Echizen-kun?" It seemed that his sensei also noticed. "I-ie… It's nothing…" By the time that no one else would notice him anymore, he turned to his idiot former senpai and gave him his death glare and supposedly, it only made him look really adorable. "Oh, sorry about that, Ochibi-chan~"

The bell rang- signaling that it's lunch time. Echizen wasn't really in the mood to eat, so he decided to get some sleep at the rooftop. But Eiji wouldn't stop following him. He sighed resignedly. Maybe he could just talk to him when he got there.

Well, that's chapter one! I hope you liked it. ;3

I'm still working on my other story, "Recollecting and being recollected". I don't know when will I post it, though, but I'll try as soon as possible. ^.^

That's all! PLEASE REVIEW! =.= If you don't like it, then I won't continue to the next chapter!