Summary: "I wonder if Rokudo-kun ever feels angry about his situation. Being that poor, unable to go to the dance with the girl you like, that's harsh." Throw in jealous rivals and a spirit who just might have to kill you for buying a dress, and its chaos. RxS.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rin-ne/Kyokai no Rinne. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Media.

Note: Spoilers up to Chapter 51 of the manga. This story veers away from canon after that point.


Sayuri Minamoto was having the time of her life. Recently her long term boyfriend had dumped her for another girl and she had been devastated. Her neighbours constantly complained because her nightly wailings about 'that damn bastard' wouldn't cease after two o' clock in the morning. When she went to work her friend commented on her dishevelled appearance and her zombie-like face. To say that her life had gone downhill as a result of the break-up would be understating it.

Tonight she had nothing to worry about. Because of a brightly lit letter that had been delivered to her door from a secret admirer the aspiring lawyer was having an amazing date with her new love Ikki. At the time that Sayuri had received her love letter she had been a bit doubtful; since when did something so cliché happen in her life? But when she met him, Ikki, she had been sold.

The man had a sculpted body like Adonis, his smile was a killer shine and he had the most beautiful and oddly coloured orange eyes. Even his hair was strange, yet so enticing, a light blue colour, spiked at the edges to make him look more feral. But Sayuri thought it was sexy. She really liked it when he wore tight shirts and kissed her like that. Yup, this date was going great and she wouldn't miss it for the world.

They were holding each other tenderly (making out intensely) in an ally several blocks from the bank. Sayuri had no idea why in the world Ikki wanted to meet her there, but if he was in to that dark and dangerous love thing, then who cared? She'd go along with it if only to taste his lips again and to see him look at her like she was the most valuable thing in the world. After several long moments of lip contact, Ikki pulled back leaving Sayuri breathless.

He smiled charmingly at her once more, making her sigh with pure adoration. "Babe… I was wondering… I want to buy you a beautiful necklace… but I don't have quite enough money for it. Could you…," he lowered his voice so that it was deep and husky, "lend me some? Just a bit? I promise I'll pay you back…"

"Oh honey!" Sayuri crooned, clapping her hands together, "Of course I will! Anything for you! Just a second, I'll go run to the bank. Can you hold my purse please?"

When Sayuri looked up, her boyfriend had mysteriously vanished. For several weeks she would mourn the loss of yet another potential husband, only to hook up with yet another man with brightly coloured hair (she seemed to have a fetish for it).

Ikki, on the other hand, was not so lucky in his fate. He had been hauled by the cuff of his shirt from the sky and then thrown onto the roof of a tall apartment building. The view from there was wonderful—a complete map of downtown Tokyo. Of course, Ikki had more pressing matters to deal than how beautiful the scenery was.

Currently, he was staring up at the vengeful face of a certain female shinigami. Ageha glowered at him, "So… damashigami, you thought you could get away with toying with a girl's feelings did you? And then running off with her savings?"

Cover blown, Ikki was beginning to sweat coldly, "No! I'm not a damashigami, I was just… uh… well—"

The scythe cut into his spiky hair, shaving him half-bald. Ikki now looked as if he was trying to be a gangster, and failing. His petrified face did nothing to earn Ageha's mercy. In fact, it merely fed her anger. The girl hit him hard with the end of her blade, watching in satisfaction as he grunted in pain, a card from the damashigami company showing his true identity falling out of his pocket.

Ageha smirked, "You shouldn't have lied to me. And now I'm going to make sure you'll never see the human world again."

As she drew closer Ikki was beginning to realize that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to upset her after all.

His screams could be heard for several more hours after that before he was thrown into a shinigami prison in the otherworld.

Ageha, in the meantime, sped off to find her next victim—er, assignment. The shinigami was beginning to crave her crush Rinne's presence once more. She wanted to see him again very badly; the thought had been growing in her every day, like a craving to a drug addict.

"Oh Rinne…," Ageha sighed in ecstasy. "If only I could help you with an exorcism again… Hey wait," she paused, sensing something strange. "This feels like the presence of a ghost… though its very faint, and weak. For some reason… it kind of doesn't feel like a ghost at all… that's weird."

The female shinigami hovered quietly in the mid air, trying to pinpoint the location. It was difficult to do so, as the 'signal' seemed to switching on and off like a very badly connected radio. She was beginning to get a headache when finally—for a half-second—she found the general source.

Her face brightened, "It's coming from Rinne's school!"

Well, this would be interesting.

A Shinigami Ballad

-3- Uneasy Alliances

"You can't just kill anyone who goes to the dance! Mamiya-san and I are going to have a fabulous date there; a ghost will just ruin the atmosphere!" Tsubasa lamented loudly.

Everyone in the class stared at him oddly, while Sakura blinked and Rinne fought the urge to strangle something, mainly the headstrong exorcist.

"Did he just say 'kill'?" asked one of their classmates.

"Uh, no... he meant, you can't just... bill anyone who goes to the dance! It's an atrocity to monopolize money from poor high school students," Rinne proclaimed just as loudly.

He's talking about his own situation, the entire class thought at once, isn't he?

They gave the broke shinigami pitying gazes before returning to the spectacle of the haunted chalkboard. Several girls in the class were still clinging to each other, though in less fright. Some of their classmates began thinking up conspiracy theories.

Tactlessly, Rika, who was still showing interest in this what Rinne had said, whispered to Miho, "I wonder if Rokudo-kun ever feels angry about his situation. Being that poor, unable to go to the dance with the girl you like, that's harsh."

At that moment, Sakura's traitorously keen ear heard the last sentence. She tensed at the words "girl you like" thoughtfully. She knew that Rinne wasn't interested in things such as dances... but what if he had lied? He was an ordinary high school student like everyone else. Maybe he had been hiding his true feelings so as to not bother her. He was that kind of person.

For some reason, she felt a bit cold and shaken at that thought and she tried to ignore it.

She couldn't just expect a week of study sessions to bring them closer together. She couldn't just expect him to trust her wholeheartedly as if they had known each other for years. It was only natural that there would be things that he wouldn't tell her.

"Yeah, I know...," Miho nodded sympathetically. Both girls broke away from the trio to discuss the latest gossip.

Sakura frowned to herself once more, before putting her thoughts to the back of her mind and resuming her attention to the ghosts that was in their classroom.

The ghost had long hair, which was tied in pigtails. Her eyes were cold and glowing green while she wore a long flowing dress that was a mix of western and eastern styles. The top of the dress had a traditional kimono's look to it, embroidered with flowers, while the lower have of the dress seemed to turn into a western style evening dress which brought attention to the ghost's waist and legs. Her sleeves were fitted around her arms and made of lacy material. A big bow was located on the back of the dress.

Oddly enough, one of her shoes was missing, while the one that remained was a classic high heel which looked like it had been rained on, stepped on and thrown into the dirtiest lake imaginable. What was more concerning was the bruising around the girl's neck... as if she had hung herself. But, Sakura reminisced sadly from her previous experiences with the supernatural, it could've been the case. However, Sakura's attention was mostly fixated on the much gruesome details of the girl's body... it seemed as if she had been stabbed multiple times and thrown into a blender.

Her scars were wide open, allowing Tsubasa, Rinne and Sakura to see the innards which used to flow with blood. The sight made caused a shiver to flow up Sakura's spine, but she held her ground. In her old neighbourhood, when her father was alive, Sakura had unfortunately seen worse things floating around. What saddened Sakura the most was the girl's age... The ghost couldn't have been any older than seventeen.

"Who are you?" Rinne asked calmly, as she would expect from him. He showed no fear.

It was as if Rinne had taken out a wooden stick and stabbed her in the stomach for the ghost started to writhe in the air, spinning around in circles around the classroom. Papers fluttered around and chairs moved forward. Their classmates, obliviously, assumed it was a draft from the window (though Miho pointed out that the windows were closed).

"My name? My name? I have no name! They took it from me! They took it from me! Only he called me by my name... but he killed me! He killed me!" The ghost screeched, putting her head in her arms as her torn dress fluttered violently behind her.

Sakura felt a pang in her chest and her eyes went wide. "Who killed you?"

("Who is Sakura-chan talking too?" Rika wondered.

"She likes talking to herself, remember?" Miho reminded her. "Then again, so do Rokudo-kun and Jumonji-kun. They make an odd trio."

With that, they returned to gossiping.)

The ghost stopped so suddenly that Sakura pondered on the theory that maybe the ghost was possibly bi-polar because the temperature of the room suddenly dropped rather low to a chill. Sakura felt her cheeks becoming rosy and her hands slightly numb. She shivered just as the ghost bellowed, "I'll never forgive him! I'll never forgive him for what he's done! And for that, I'll make sure no one else gets to enjoy a dance at Saikon High again!"

Ghost girl's hands clenched and she flew towards Sakura so suddenly that she didn't have time to move. Sakura had been more focused on the fact that there seemed to be some sort of bluish crystal coming from the girl's fists and before she could think more on it, Rinne had pushed Sakura into the desk, his body covering hers. He put his arms on both sides of her, shielding her from what was actually a cold gust of snow which covered him from head to toe.

Rinne sneezed against Sakura's cheek, his face scrunched up in a rather adorable pout. She would've smiled thoughtfully if it weren't for the fact that ghost girl was preparing to throw another snowy blast at them.

"Rokudo-kun!" Sakura tugged at his sleeve and pulled him down. He nearly fell on top of her, for the top of his chin banged against her forehead. They both looked at each other and apologized quickly (Rinne was red again; she made a mental note to ask again if he had a fever. This was getting serious.) before peeking up to see what damage had been done. (Off to the side, Tsubasa was spluttering angrily about his Mamiya-san being taken advantage of... or something like that.)

The top of the desks were covered in a fine sheet of snow, much to their surprise. Sakura gingerly placed her hand on it and pulled back, finding that it was extremely cold. She shared a bewildered glance with Rinne. Was it possible for spirits to have additional otherworldly powers? Was this normal behaviour?

"Whoa, what happened? The desks are icy!" One of their classmates, a boy whose name slipped Sakura's mind at the moment murmured. He had large spectacles, so Sakura just labelled him glasses-kun. "And those desks are becoming icy too!"

The ghost was busy trying to freeze Tsubasa to death. The exorcist was running around the classroom while snowed over desk surfaces seemed to follow him, much to the amusement of the other students.

"Uh... well," Sakura said slowly.

"It was a science project. We messed it up," Rinne said with as straight a face as possible. Honestly, if that guy went and played poker, he would probably win.

The question was, would Glasses-kun believe such a blatantly illogical lie?

Glasses-kun folded his arms and nodded, "Oh. Ok." Then he walked away.

I can't believe he bought that... Both Tsubasa and Sakura thought at the same time.

"We have to get out of the classroom. She's putting the entire class in danger," Rinne said in a low tone to them both.

"Alright, but we need to bait her then... it's the only way she'll follow us..." Tsubasa yelped, dodging another snowy blast from the ghost.

"She hates dances, so that means she'll go after anyone who is going," Sakura said quickly to Rinne.

Rinne's eyes widened, "Brilliant idea, Sakura Mamiya!"

And before Sakura could say anything else in response, he had grabbed her left hand and put it in between his. His hair was still matted with snow, but it made him seem more masculine somehow. Sakura suddenly became very aware of every strand of hair he had, of the hues of his face and of how nice his hands felt around her own. He bowed low until their noses were a few inches apart and met her shocked violet eyes intensely for one moment before he spoke the words that would change their relationship forever.

"Sakura Mamiya, will you go to the dance with me?"

Never once did those red eyes shy away from hers.

Her mouth hung open for a second and she found herself in the rare position of being speechless, her mind blank of any thought.

"Oh my god, Rokudo-kun actually went and asked Sakura-chan to the dance!" Rika said excitedly to Miho.

"Wow... he has guts..."

By then, the entire class was bubbling and flocking around the two suddenly popular individuals. Tsubasa, still running around and trying not to get frozen, very nearly tripped and fell on the desk. "Rokudo, you traitor!"

The ghost, who had been focused on freezing the exorcist, now set her attentions on the odd pair. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

It suddenly occurred to Sakura that this was merely a farce set up by Rinne to lure the ghost away from the classroom. It was the only possible (and very obvious) explanation, though she felt a slight twinge of disappoint that the request hadn't been made out of a genuine desire (wait, where had that sentiment come from?).

She smiled at him, "Yes, I'd love to."

For a minute, Sakura could have fooled herself into believing that the smile coming from Rinne was also genuine. But it could not possibly have been. This was business to him, so there was no reason to feel disappointment. They were just friends.

Ghost girl turned to them, breathing low. When she looked at them both, it felt as if daggers of ice had been plunged into their skin. It may have been Sakura's mind playing tricks on her, but she was sure that the lights were beginning to dim to a bluish hue and that all of the cold was now being centered on Rinne and herself.

Rinne squeezed her hand tightly, paying full attention to the bristling spirit. "That's perfect, Sakura Mamiya," he replied, keeping his voice as casual and formal as possible. But Sakura could hear the undercurrents of urgency beneath his words. "Why don't we skip the next class to spend the whole day together?"

Murmurs of appreciation and delight spread like wildfire among their fellow students as Rinne pulled Sakura out of the classroom, but Sakura and Rinne were way too engrossed in getting away from the enraged spirit to pay it any mind. The spirit's aura had turned colder than the waters in the Arctic Ocean and she had begun her pursuit after them.

"Hang on, Sakura Mamiya," Rinne said quickly as they dashed down the hallway, hands still intertwined.

Sakura nodded, thankful that they had baited the spirit out of the classroom. She had confidence that Rinne would come up with a plan to exorcise the ghost and put her to rest. Tsubasa, on the other hand, was a different concern...

"Rokudo, you damned player, get back here right now! I'm going to kill you!" The exorcist's voice rang down the hall as he ran like a mad man after them. In fact, judging from the homicidal fire burning in his eyes, Sakura wondered if he would be the bigger threat to worry about. What had Rinne done to make Tsubasa so upset anyways?

The ghost, who had swooped down the hallway, causing the lights she passed to blink out and freeze to ice, snarled as Tsubasa ran past her to the pair. She hissed at him and threw another torrent of icy air towards the exorcist, her pigtails twisting wildly behind her like snakes.

It was never good to provoke Tsubasa when he was enraged. The exorcist turned on his heels, having caught the signs of attack from the corner of his eye and pulled out his holy wire. With a roar, Tsubasa twisted his wire around the ghost girl and threw her against the windows.

She twisted and struggled against the confines of the wire but was nevertheless wound against planes of glass. The windows shattered into pieces all around, gaining attention from the neighbouring classrooms. Second and third year students peeked out curiously from their doors, awed at the sight of vandalism by the weird Jumonji.

"Whoa, what did he do that for? Was he role-playing or something?" someone wondered aloud.

"Take that, stupid ghost!" Tsubasa declared boastfully, "you're no match for a professional exorcist!"

("Now he's talking to himself!" Another upperclassman said.

Others began taking pictures with their cell phones.)

Snarling, the ghost hissed, her eyes resuming that green glow, much to Tsubasa's dread. His own anger faded quickly when the ghost rushed through the broken window, unfortunately dragging Tsubasa, who was holding the other end of the wire, with her. He yelped, howling loudly as his body was unwillingly soaring through the school yard towards the gates like a dog's chew toy.

Of course, the second and third year students were still taking pictures, thinking this to be a marvellous spectacle of some kind.

("He must be part of the film and stunt club," provided one girl.)

Meanwhile, only just making it out the main doors, Sakura and Rinne had made it outside. They stopped for a minute, checking to see if the ghost had followed and to catch their breaths. Only a little bit tired, they looked up at the same time, meeting each other's eye. This only seemed to trigger another fever for Rinne, who looked away quickly. Sakura wanted to recommend going back to the nurse's office after this ordeal was over.

Rinne continued to act as if nothing else had happened. He looked back towards the doors, eyes widening slightly when he saw only empty space.

"Where did the spirit go—"

Sakura's body went tense as her senses seemed to lurch urgently. She looked upwards, seeing a shimmering blur accompanied by a black one. Then, comprehending what it was, she pulled Rinne down, narrowly dodging another icy blast.

When she looked up again, she saw Rinne glowering up at the vision of the ghostly girl. Tsubasa, it seemed, was hanging a few inches from the ground, holding on to his wire which was looped around the ghost's waist. He stubbornly held on to the wire, hoping to bind the ghost down somehow, though Sakura could see that the effort was proving futile. The ghost was powerful, and judging from the patch of pavement which had been turned into an ice rink, her powers were growing stronger.

"Darn it, where's Rokumon when you need him?" Rinne muttered under his breath. Without his scythe, which was usually kept with Rokumon for safe keeping, he had little to work with against such a powerful opponent.

"Revenge," the ghost hissed, raising her hands towards the pair, "you will die before you can dance!"

Without any warning, Rinne yanked Sakura into his chest and threw his haori of the underworld over them both. His right arm was wrapped under her right shoulder, curled securely around her waist. Their legs tangled together momentarily before Rinne shifted their bodies so that they were meshed together more comfortably side-to-side. In the moment, Rinne had slipped his other hand into the left sleeve and was now hovering above the ghost girl, holding Sakura against his side. The haori rested comfortably around both of their shoulders, as if it were made for them.

Sakura's heart rate accelerated so much that she could hear her heart beating in her ears. She was grateful to Rinne for saving her once again and wondered worriedly if having her by his side would slow him down.

"Mamiya-san, Rokudo-kun!" Tsubasa cried out from below. "Are you alright?"

And what was the big idea behind pulling Mamiya-san against you, Rokudo? Tsubasa's inner thoughts yelled out. The more rational part of the exorcist, one that had been growing since he and Rokudo were getting to know each other on more amicable terms, pointed out that if Rinne hadn't done so, Sakura would've been hurt. He knew Rinne better than that.

"We're fine!" Sakura answered. She wanted to reassure their friend that they weren't in any danger. But by the looks of things, and how she was probably holding Rinne back by merely being there, they were.

She frowned. Rinne would probably be able to fly quickly to Rokumon and back if she and Tsubasa could distract the ghost, even for a moment. They would exorcise the spirit more quickly this way and she'd be useful to Rinne instead of mere baggage weighing him down.

Right, it was decided.

"Rokudo-kun," Sakura said firmly, surprising the other, "drop me. I'll be bait for the spirit. You find Rokumon-chan."

It felt like a spasm had run through Rinne's body (Sakura would know, being side by side with him) as he retorted sharply, "Sakura Mamiya, don't be ridiculous. I will never endanger your life in favour of my job as a shinigami."

She frowned, feeling slightly frustrated, "But if you don't—"

I'll be holding you back, was what she had wanted to say before Rinne flew up suddenly, taking Sakura with him.

Narrowly, they had avoided another icy blow and were now running away towards the abandoned school building, the ghost (and Tsubasa who was still hanging on to that wire) in hot pursuit.

"Just hang on to me, Sakura Mamiya!"

They dived down towards the roof, where Rinne's room was located. Sakura wanted to open her mouth to protest when she remembered that the haori of the otherworld made its wearer (or in this case, wearers) as corporal as spirits. They weren't going to crash, instead they would phase through the roof.

The roof was getting closer, the air rushed up against their faces making the haori flutter violently behind them. The grip Rinne had around her waist closed so much that Sakura felt he could've crushed her if not for his control. She closed her eyes, still unsure of what it would feel like to phase through a roof when—

The spirit flew just in front of them. Sakura's breath caught. The ghost girl grinned manically as Rinne reached a halting stop, trying to swerve in a different direction. But it was too late, the girl's hands were already raised and that snowy aura was emerging from her palms. Tsubasa screamed out a 'no' from the top of his lungs and Sakura tried to think frantically of what they could do to escape.

"Not so fast! Take this!" A voice from up above yelled enthusiastically. They only just noticed the shadow covering them.

A white and pink blur moved in between the ghost and the pair, wielding a heavily bow and pink-decorated scythe. Prettily tied skull grenades slipped from the figure's fingers, hitting their target straight on. The shinigami girl smiled vindictively, raising her scythe when the ghost girl screamed and writhed from the impact of the grenades.

Ageha managed to slice into the ghost girl's stomach with her blade. The shinigami girl's looked wild and every bit like a dangerous warrior.

As she did so, Tsubasa, taking his chance, had thrown up his sacred ashes. The combined attack of the scythe, grenades and sacred ashes made the ghost girl holler in pain. The ghost snarled her cries like something inhumane. It looked as if she were going through the worst torture imaginable.

And just when everyone thought she was going to be purified, like any normal spirit should have been, the ghost girl slipped out of Tsubasa's wire, looked more transparent than when they had first met her. Tsubasa fell on the roof top, his wire following after him. Her image flickered violently, like an old eighties film. She glowered and pointed a finger at Ageha, Rinne and Sakura, but her gaze told them that her words were meant for all four of them.

"I'll make you pay."

Then she vanished.

Silence tied the four of them as only one thought raced through their minds: what the hell had that been about?


"Gah! Rinne-kun, I was so worried about you! Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" An insistent chattering, which had latched itself to Rinne's arm, was saying.

Rinne had flown Sakura down to the rooftop after the ghost had disappeared. A very worried Tsubasa greeted them, bombarding Sakura with questions about her safety and even inquiring about Rinne. When he knew that they were safe, a rather eager shinigami girl had interrupted the trio's exchanges and attached herself to Rinne's arm.

From the expression on Rinne's face, it seemed like he would rather drown in a pond than answer. Rather monotonously, he replied, "I'm fine. It's just another exorcism. We'll get it next time."

He attempted to get her off of him, but she was as clingy as a leech.

If anything, Rinne's reply seemed to encourage Ageha's antics even more. Her eyes lit up with stars.

"We?" Ageha squealed with delight, "oh yes, Rinne-kun! You and I will definitely catch that spirit together!"

For some reason, when Ageha had said that, Sakura's heart felt as if it had been crushed. She frowned, looking at Rinne and Ageha intently. It was clear that Ageha had romantic feelings for Rinne. She had known it for a while. It wasn't as if Rinne had ever implied that he was interested in anyone. He had made his feelings clear about 'frivolous' things like that.

She smiled, "I'm sure you two will make a great team."

They all stared at her—Tsubasa with a mix of pity and anticipation, Ageha with glee and Rinne with something akin to the utmost horror.

"No!" Rinne said loudly, "Sakura Mamiya, you don't understand. When I said 'we,' I meant the three of us, Jumonji, you and I. Ageha-san was not included."

"Eh?" Ageha stepped back from him as Sakura blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"It's true," Rinne went on formally, "Sakura Mamiya and I are going to go to the dance together in order to lure the spirit out and exorcise her. It's part of the job, after all."

To prove his point, he even held up their hands, which Sakura noticed, had actually never let go each other through out the entire ordeal since Rinne had 'asked' her out. She wondered why she had never realized up until now that they were still holding hands. It explained why Rinne had pulled her close and put the haori over both of them rather than just putting it on himself and then flying Sakura up separately. He had already been holding her hand in the first place. Besides, it would've been odd to see a girl flying up in the air alone.

(Though it had been odd to see Tsubasa hanging a few inches above the ground holding a wire too, but there was really no logical explanation for that. The students at Saikon High merely took all the weirdness in stride.)

"What?" Ageha exploded. She had only heard a few select keywords out of Rinne's explanation and was already overreacting. "Rinne!" she burst into tears, crying into her palms, "I thought that you and I had something special!"

"Er, which reminds me, Sakura Mamiya and I have to go talk alone for a second, see you later!"

With that, the sort-of shinigami ran off with a very confused Sakura in tow.

"Come back here, right now!"


When they were several meters away from the school (as well as murderous shinigami women and maybe even exorcists too) Rinne stopped a few blocks from park. There was a small playground to their left and several tall trees to provide shade upon the toddlers who were playing in the sand. It was a nostalgic sight to see so many children swinging on the swing set and going down the slide. As the wind blew through the grass, Sakura couldn't help but reminisce that this was a park she often walked through when she was a little girl.

Rinne finally let go of her hand, and she noticed, because an ache welled up inside her as if something was missing when he pulled away. Sakura dismissed this thought, she could think about it later.

Instead, she waited for Rinne to speak, because it was obvious that he had something important that he wanted to say. She didn't question why he had led her away from Ageha and Tsubasa. In fact, she felt a bit relieved, though she didn't know the reason why. She trusted Rinne and his judgement. There was always a good reason behind everything he did and she believed in that side of him more than anything.

"I'm sorry for getting you involved like this, Sakura Mamiya," came the quiet response.

Sakura blinked. "What are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong."

"I shouldn't have asked you to the dance."

There was a deep pang in her chest, making Sakura wince. She quickly hid it behind a serene smile, waving it off as nothing.

"It's fine. I knew that you were only doing it to lure the ghost out."

Instead of the monotonous reply she had expected, Rinne had sort of toppled over, a bland and dejected expression on his face. As she moved closer she could've sworn she heard a mumbled 'I should've expected that response.'

"Rokudo-kun?" She inquired hesitantly, "Are you alright?"

"Yes. Of course," he said briskly. The same blank, yet observant, expression was on his face as always. "But…," his voice was careful, "are you sure you want to go to the dance with me, Sakura Mamiya…?"

She felt something inside herself soften—just what it was, she didn't know—and she couldn't help but laugh softly, "I'll be fine if I'm with you."

Those words… she really meant them.

She heard Rinne gasp and look away. His fists, she noticed, were shaking lightly (another symptom of the fever?) and it seemed as if Rinne was surpassing something.

Before Rinne could open his mouth and say something, Sakura continued on, "Anyways, more importantly we have to figure out who that ghost is and how to put her to rest."

Rinne fell over for a bit, before he straightened up and nodded. "I've never seen a spirit like her before… I'll have to ask Granny about ghosts which ice powers. We can look through the school newspapers in the library tomorrow for any record of the ghost, ask the teachers for information… We also have to keep people from discussing the dance openly or when the ghost returns to full strength again, she'll kill them."

His brow furrowed in worry.

Sakura reached for his hand again, "We can handle it."

"Yeah…"

They stood in silence, watching the families spending time at the park with fond smiles.


"How long are you going to keep crying like that?" asked the irritated Tsubasa Jumonji.

He wasn't paid enough for this, the exorcist concluded. In some way or another, he had ended up sitting together on a rooftop with a blubbering (and annoying) shinigami. To make matters worse, she was Rinne's fan girl.

Earlier, when Rinne and Sakura had made a run for it, Tsubasa had figured he'd follow them too. Unfortunately, Ms. Cry-my-eyes-out decided to choose that moment to latch onto the nearest object (i.e. a certain exorcist) and burst into tears. She had refused to let going of him, even wiping her nose on his sleeve. Great, he'd have to wash it later.

At first Tsubasa had reacted quite harshly.

("Damn it, woman, get off my arm!")

Of course, that had gotten him well acquainted with her scythe and he did not want to go through such a painful experience again. So Tsubasa was forced to be held prisoner and play comforter/tissue box. What fun.

"You—" she sniffed, "don't understand—" sob, "anything—" sniff again, "about women!"

"Well who would want to understand you?" He retorted.

This time he narrowly avoided her crazy blade, "You jerk! Get out of my way! Why am I up here with such a meanie like you anyways? I just got dumped by the guy who I like! Waaaaa!"

Oh dear god, make it stop, he pleaded silently.

"See?" Ageha blubbered, "You're making that face again. You think I'm pathetic and stupid. You don't care about my feelings. You probably think I'm annoying and weird, don't you?"

Despite how she looked at the moment, Tsubasa couldn't help but think that the venom and anger in Ageha's voice suited much better than tears. He rolled his eyes and pulled out a handkerchief, holding it out to her face.

Ageha made a face. "What?"

Tsubasa raise an eyebrow, "Are you going to use it or not?"

She scrunched up her face and scowled, "No way! I'm not touching anything that belongs to you, moron!"

"Oh just be quiet and take it!" He threw it at her. It landed on her head. "Those tear streaks are an eyesore!"

"Take it back! There's no way that I'm using it!"

"Too bad. I don't want it anymore!"

"Moronic fake exorcist."

"Annoying bumbling hag."

Sparks flew as they glowered at one another with pure loathing. After a long staring contest, they crossed their arms and turned away from each other at the same time, thinking thoughts of poison.

It was extremely isolating to be stuck on a rooftop with someone you couldn't stand.

After a few minutes, Tsubasa heard Ageha fidget nervously and he smirked to himself. Obviously he was winning in terms of who could put up with the awkward silence the longest. He mentally did a victory laugh before he allowed himself to relax a little bit in the hag's presence.

Of course the hag just had to break the silence again. She spoke so softly that for a moment Tsubasa doubted it was the same person speaking.

"Hey… did you know that… that Rinne-kun was… dating her?"

He tensed.

"They're not dating," he told her carefully. "If you were listening, you'd know that they were only saying so to lure the ghost out. Rokudo is like that."

He expected this to reassure the other shinigami girl or at least get her to be quiet. But instead, Ageha whipped around and grabbed Tsubasa around the shoulders, and shouted hysterically, "But it's not a farce! You can see it in his eyes! He really likes her! If they keep pretending to be a couple, they could actually end up as one!"

"Get off me!" Tsubasa brushed her hands off, dusting off his black coat. "It's not like its any of my business, just leave it alone. Besides, the important thing is to protect our classmates from the—"

"But you like her—Sakura Mamiya-san."

Tsubasa froze.

"…Yeah I do… So what?"

Over the past week he had gotten fairly close to Rinne and Sakura. He liked the friendship they shared now. It was nice. He didn't want to ruin it by getting into a fight with Rinne over Sakura Mamiya. Not only would it make Sakura hate him, but there would be no point.

If Sakura was going to ever reciprocate his feelings, he wanted it to be out of a genuine desire.

But Ageha, it seemed, had other intentions. Her lips widened into a rather evil-looking smile (one that usually came before she hit Tsubasa with her scythe) and her eyes regained that passionate gleam. "Alright then… we have no choice but to try and break them up before they can start to fall in love!"

The question of what was the thought that ran through Tsubasa's mind when Ageha grabbed him by the collar and flew into the air, dragging him with her.

"You, exorcist, are going to help me!"

He should've jumped off the roof when he had the chance, anything than participate in this uneasy alliance.


"Oh," Sakura spoke up, breaking their peaceful quiet.

"Hm?" Red eyes looked up to meet hers.

"Rokudo-kun, not to be a bother or anything but… how exactly are you planning to pay for everything for the dance? I mean, before, you were just going to abstain from participating…"

They stared at each other for several long minutes as the sort-of shinigami grew paler and paler.

Then, without any warning, he fell flat on his face.

"Rokudo-kun?"

Oh dear.


Heavy breaths filled the empty room, a room that no one had entered for years. There were stacks of boxes everywhere and dark shadows to hide their surroundings.

The ghost, weary, lay against an old crate of Italian masks, decorated with glitter and bright colours. Some had feathers or cat ears. Others had long noses and comical expressions. The ghost's eyes flickered for a minute towards the masks before she punched them, her hand running through the box.

She cursed to herself.

When I get my strength back… that couple is the first to go.

-Chapter 3 end-

Note that Sayuri and Ikki are OCs, once again, minor and of no significance to the plot. I hope you liked this chapter! Please review if you get the chance, let me know what you think :D