Chapter 1: Rumors

"Have you heard? Manta Oyamada says that he's actually seen ghosts!" a girl in my class said after school.

I stopped packing my bag as my (e/c) eyes widened in surprise and I listened to them intently.

The girl that spoke was Mai Yamamoto. She was fairly tall and had short brown hair that went to the top of her shoulders and dark chocolate brown eyes. Just like me and the rest of the girls in the school she was wearing a white short sleeved buttoned up shirt with a green pleated skirt.

"What?" her friend, Rei, asked in confusion.

Her friends name was Rei Urameshi. She was fairly pretty and looked like she could be a model of some sort with her black hair in perfect ringlets that went down to the small of her back and pale skin that looked flawless. Her eyes were green like emeralds and bright as she talked animatedly with her friends. She didn't have a small bust either which made her the envy of a lot of girls in my class. I was one of the few exceptions since I didn't really care either way and my chest wasn't small but it wasn't overly large either.

"It's true! One of my sisters friends is in his class and she said that he keeps insisting that he's seen ghosts and that the new kid in their class is involved."

"New kid?"

"Yeah, apparently they have a new transfer student and Manta completely freaked out when he saw him!"

"Is he cute?"

"I don't know I forgot to ask."

"How could you forget to ask? You know what never mind I already know the answer to that question…"

"I thought it was more important to hear about the fact that Oyamada seems to think that he saw ghosts."

"Hm, I beg to differ but it is strange… Do you know the new kids name?"

"I think I heard that it was Yoh Asakura but don't quote me on that and I've heard that he is cute among the girls in my class." said another girl as she jumped into the conversation after walking into the room from a different classroom.

Their other friend was named Midori Sohma. She was shorter than her two friends but still taller than I was and had medium length blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes.

"What? Really? He's that cute?" Rei asked.

"That's what I've heard."

"Let's go see if we can catch a glimpse of him before we go home! Even if he's only in the Junior High division, age doesn't matter when it comes to love!"

"You haven't even seen him." Mai said incredulously.

"Details, details, let's go already!"

The three girls walked out of the room with their backpacks on their backs as they hurried to make sure they were able to see the new kid. I, on the other hand, hurried to pack my things because I was worried about my younger cousin after hearing that he said that he had seen ghosts.

That's right. I am Manta Oyamada's older cousin (First Name) (Last Name) though most people don't know that since we don't look like we're related and I don't normally talk to him since my parents believe that he and I are competing against one another. However, this was one time that I was going to make an exception considering the rumor that's going around.

After I finished packing my bag I quickly walked out of the room towards my locker and then made my way out of the building to head for the Junior High building that was on the other side of the large courtyard. Even though I was 16 and in my second year of high school I ended up at the same school as my younger cousin Manta who was only 13 years old and in junior high. Right now though, I was happy about it considering how it made it easier to figure out what was going on because of my overly gossipy classmates.

The wind blew through my shoulder blade length (hair color) hair and pushed my bangs out of my eyes while I walked to the other side of the courtyard. If it were under better circumstances I would have liked to have enjoyed the warm sun on my (skin color) skin but at the moment I was worried about my younger cousin. I didn't want him to end up becoming an outcast amongst his friends and the entire school.

When I made it to his building I asked around to see what classroom he was in and somehow made it there before he left for the day.

"Manta?" I asked him as I walked through the door.

I immediately noticed the frustrated look on his face while he packed is bag.

Somewhere along the way he lost his ability to grow any taller and stayed stuck at 2 foot 7 but it seems to be a family trait since his father and younger sister are pretty short as well. Luckily for me I'm not blood related to the Oyamada family since it was my aunt that married into the family and I was able to be 5 foot 3 even though I'm still considered short amongst my piers. His short sandy-brown hair looked a little messy like he had been brushing his hands through his hair. He was wearing the boy uniform of our school which consisted of a pair of green pants, a white buttoned up dress shirt, and a tie.

"(Name)? What are you doing here?" he asked me as his brown eyes widened in shock.

There was a look of surprise on his pale face as he stopped packing his bag.

"Are you okay?" I asked in concern.

"What do you mean?" he mumbled before he started to pack his bag again.

"I heard that-"

"Ah! (Name) sorry but I have to leave." he said suddenly in a rush.

He looked at the door and quickly shut his bag before he headed out of the room.

"But-"

"I can't talk right now. Tell me later." he said before he walked out of the room.

I just blinked at the door in confusion before I sighed and shook my head. The three girls that were from my class finally made it to the room but only came to a mostly empty room except for me and a few stragglers. All of them looked at me in surprise and confusion before I quickly walked by them and headed to the doors of the building. Manta was already gone by the time I made it to the lockers near the front doors and I walked out of the building before I headed home.

Once I made it outside the front gate of my school I felt a strange yet familiar presence around me just like I did everyday but it was always calming, comforting, warm, and inviting so I welcomed it with open arms whenever it was around. When it first appeared I wasn't particularly keen on the idea of having something strange around me that I couldn't see and yet could feel but in the end it somehow helped me during the darkest period of my life so I eventually managed to get used to it being around as it supported me. Later on I found out that it seemed to also guide me physically by using the wind to gently push me in the direction that it felt like I should go. There were times when it would lead me in the opposite direction that I wanted to go but eventually I decided that resisting it was futile since I always would end up going in the direction it wanted me to go in anyway because of the strength of the wind that it would start producing would stop me from going any further.

It didn't take me very long to arrive home and when I did I went straight to my room like I always did to work on my homework. Unlike the last house we lived in this one was just a normal sized home that was simple and just right. When it was time for me to go into the 8th grade my parents immediately decided that we needed to move and this was the only home that they could come up with on such short notice. They were tired of the rumors that were going around at the time about me and didn't want their reputation to be tarnished any further then it already was after it was found out that I was somehow involved in the incident 5 years ago. In general I was happy when we moved so I wouldn't have to be constantly reminded of it day in and day out.

"(Name), it's time for dinner." I heard my mother say as she opened my door.

"Okay." I said before I quickly abandoned my homework and walked towards her.

She was a fairly pretty woman with silky brown hair that went down to the middle of her back and deep green eyes. Today she was wearing a pair of black slacks with a nice blue buttoned up dress shirt. Under normal circumstances she was kind but when pushed she can be cruel and unforgiving especially when it comes to the reputation of the (Last Name) family. In the end I've learned to just follow what she says but now my relationship with her is strained just like it is with my father.

Once we made it into the dinning room I saw my father was already at the table as he waited for us both to sit down so we could eat dinner together.

He was fairly handsome for his age with short blonde hair and striking blue eyes and I'm sure was a heart throb when he was younger. Just like any day he wore a three pieced black business suite with a blue tie. I suppose having dinner together was just for the sake of having some sort of normalcy but it was more of a show then anything in an attempt to seem like everything was just like it was before but it was far from it. We were civil towards each other but that was as far as it went. My father was just like my mother, kind under normal circumstances and yet won't flinch to strike you if you do something out of line that may hurt the family reputation. He was a successful business man that built his company from the ground up and his reputation was the most important thing to him.

It only took me 30 minutes to eat dinner before I excused myself and headed back to my room to finish up my homework. This was my normal life. Eat, sleep, and study nothing in between. I didn't have any people in my life that I could say that I was close to only acquaintances that were in my class. Sometimes I find myself wondering what it would be like to have friends again but I can't seem to bring myself to get that close to anyone.

When I was finally finished with my homework I looked at the clock and noticed that it was already 11 before I closed my books and decided to get ready for bed. After I showered, brushed my teeth, and changed into a pair of purple shorts and a black tank top I climbed into bed.

It still worried me that Manta said that he can see ghosts. I don't remember him ever mentioning that he could before so I don't understand what could have triggered it. Those girls said that he keeps insisting that the new boy in his class had something to do with it and I know that Manta isn't the type of person to lie. Whoever this boy is definitely had something to do with it but what that is I'm not sure. I just hope that whatever it is doesn't cause Manta to lose all of his friends. At this point I'm sure that everyone is calling him a liar and knowing him I'm sure that he's going to try to prove that he's telling the truth but I know for a fact that you can't take a picture of a ghost. In this instance I want to help Manta and support him even if it goes against what my parents want me to do. I want to tell him that I believe him even if no one else does…