In Love With A Ghost
"I don't know what happened after that..." Kazune said.
Karin looked at Kazuma. "It really was her..." She told him. "Kazuma, after you saw Kazune get thrown down the stairs, what happened?"
Kazuma took in a deep breath. He was relieved that Kazune was beginning to remember his past, but that was one memory they were all better off not remembering he felt.
"I ran to the staircase and saw Kazune's body lying all the way at the bottom..."
13 Years Ago... (continuation)
"Kazune!" He ran to the staircase and saw Kazune all the way at bottom, motionless.
Suzuka came running when she heard the scream. Even Micchi heard it and he too ran inside to see what happened.
"Oh my God, Kazune!" Suzuka cried out.
Micchi covered his mouth with a gasp. He bent down to poke Kazune until Suzuka slapped his hand away.
"Don't touch him Michiru! We might end up hurting him even more." She looked up to see her oldest son at the top of the stairs. All color was drained from his shocked face. "What did you do!?" She yelled at him with tears in her eyes.
"I- I..." Kazuma didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure what happened. One minute he's talking to Kazune and the next, he sees him tumbling down the stairs as if he had been pushed with force...
Suzuka called 911 as fast as she could.
An ambulance arrived around 4 to 5 minutes later.
Arriving from work, Kazuto pulled up and got out of his car to find his youngest son being put into the back of an ambulance. Suzuka swiftly made her way to him. "It's Kazune." She choked out. "H- He fell."
She didn't want to mention Kazuma possibly having been the cause of the accident. Not until it was confirmed at least.
"Go with Kazune." Kazuto instructed. "I'll take the kids and meet you there."
Suzuka nodded as she quickly jumped onto the back of the ambulance, holding her son's hand. "You'll be okay..." She kept murmuring over and over.
Kazuto went inside and scooped up Kazusa in his arms. He turned to see his oldest son at the top of the staircase talking to himself. "Kazuma, we have to go. Now." He said sternly.
When he didn't respond, Kazuto went up the stairs and knelt down before him. "Kazuma, what is it?" He noticed how pale Kazuma's face was.
"There's no way... He was right... She's... all this time... real..." Kazuma incoherently said.
Kazuto figured he must have seen what happened and was traumatized by it. "It'll be okay. We need to be there for Kazune, alright? That means we have to go now." With Kazusa in one arm, Kazuto took Kazuma's hand and led him downstairs.
He put Kazusa in her car seat as Micchi and Kazuma got on both sides of the back seat.
The ambulance was long gone by now. Getting in the car, Kazuto tried driving as calm as possible.
Once arriving at the hospital he spotted his wife in the waiting area with her hands covering her face. "Suzuka, have the doctors said anything?" He asked.
Doing her best to wipe away all her tears, she smudged her makeup in the process, making the areas under her eyes seem darker. "Th-there's some swelling in his brain, a br-broken arm and rib. They're gonna take him in for s-surgery in a bit."
Kazuto sighed. "I'm gonna go take Kazusa to the daycare here. She shouldn't see all of this..." Micchi joined him and the 3 left to the daycare that was a floor above them.
"Mom, I don't know what happened..." Kazuma said with his head hung low. "One minute I was closing his door and, and we were talking and then he just flew down the stairs! He said Katherine was trying to hurt him. I think she did mom! She's real!"
Suzuka turned away. "I don't want to hear it..."
"But mom!"
"I know what I saw!" Suzuka snapped at him.
Kazuma's lower lip trembled. He backed away slowly and made a run for it down the hospital hall.
Suzuka sighed as she rubbed her temples in a futile attempt to alleviate her growing headache.
Around 4 hours later Kazuma decided to return to the waiting area. He was bummed his parents didn't care enough to go look for him, if they had even noticed he had been gone so long.
They weren't there when he arrived. Not too far away he saw them talking with a doctor and overheard their conversation.
"We were able to stop the bleeding though he did sustain a head injury and there was substantial swelling in the brain. He is in the ICU right now. We won't know any further of his condition until he wakes up. Though given the force he was pushed, you may want to prepare yourselves. I'm sorry." The doctor explained.
Suzuka sobbed into Kazuto's shoulders at the news no mother ever wants to hear about their child.
"W-when can we go see him?" Kazuto stammered.
The older male doctor removed his glasses with a stern look on his face. "I'm afraid you won't."
"What? Why?" Kazuto asked confusingly. Suzuka looked up.
"There are marks on Kazune's body. Hand marks. Judging by the size of the hand prints left on him I would say they were of either a teenager or young adult. Do you have any teenagers living at home? Or any other adult?" The doctor asked.
"No. We don't understand, what does this mean?" Suzuka quietly asked.
The doctor took out a photograph from the inside of his white coat. It was a picture of two very visible dark bruises in the shape of hand marks on Kazune's back.
Suzuka looked at it in horror. There was absolutely no way Kazuma could have done this. His hands were much smaller in comparison to the marks on Kazune's body, nor would he have the strength to leave such visible marks in the first place.
"I am obligated to call social services." The doctor told them. "Until we figure this out you are not allowed to see Kazune and until someone from social services arrives a nurse will be monitoring you with your other children. Now if you'll excuse me..." The doctor left to attend to his other patients.
Karin had her mouth covered the whole time. "My God... What happened to you guys after that?" She asked Kazuma.
"Well, my mother finally believed that it wasn't me, but they still didn't have an explanation as to what happened to Kazune. I kept trying to tell them that it was Katharine but all that got me was a trip to the nut house. They thought I was crazy. Micchi, Kazusa had to live with our grandparents for a bit right after and Kazune's health only deteriorated. Not too long after my parents were granted temporary custody of us, though under supervision. The day we went back home was the day mom and dad told us Kazune had passed away..." Kazuma lowered his head.
'That's right... He still doesn't know.' Karin thought.
"Ever since then, although he may not say it, I knew my father always blamed me for what happened to Kazune. He felt that if I was there I should have stopped it."
Karin got up and sat next to Kazuma, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Kazuma, this is in no way your fault. You were only a little boy. Kazune was dealing with something literally out of your realm. There's no way you could have seen that coming." She said trying to take some of the weight off his shoulders.
If Kazune had any doubts about possibly coming back, they were gone now. He wanted to tell his brother in person that he had no fault in what happened to him. It pained him to know his older brother carried that kind of guilt and burden on his shoulders for most of his life.
Later that night, Karin was in her room with Kazune.
"We have to get her to move on somehow if this is gonna work." He said.
"Why are you so sure she's going to try something? We haven't seen or heard from her since that last time." Karin said referring to the time Katharine basically ghostnapped Kazune.
Kazune sighed. "You don't get it. I'm tied to her. She's what keeps me here. She's not going to just let go and let me... come back to life- which I still don't know how you plan on doing."
She still hadn't told him that he wasn't actually dead. She figured it would be best if she showed him.
The next day at school Karin noted that Himeka was unusually quiet and deep in thought for most of the day. A couple of few worded sentences here and there. It wasn't until after school on their way home that Himeka truly spoke. "You know Kazuma pretty well right?"
Karin thought it was a little random. "Um, sort of, I guess." If anything she knew more about his not-so-normal family than she did of Kazuma himself.
"What's his family like?" Himeka asked.
'Where is she going with this?' "Um... I'm not really sure to be honest. They seem quiet guarded. I've only met his dad once. He can be pretty intimidating." Karin answered.
Himeka nodded as if she were contemplation the response.
"What's this about?" Karin asked her. "If you want to know more about his family, why not ask him?"
"I would, but..." Himeka sighed. "We just got our friendship back recently. I don't want to do or say anything to jeopardize that."
Karin slightly tilted her head to the side. "What makes you think that?"
"After Kazuma and I hung out, Q-chan said something about their being bad blood between his family and my father. He said it would be best if I didn't see him anymore. But I don't want to not see him.
When I was with him it was like I got a piece of my childhood back that was missing for so long. I would ask Kazuma, but I don't even know if he knows about the supposed rivalry. If he doesn't and I tell him, he might not want to see me anymore." It felt good for Himeka to get that off her chest.
Karin placed her hand on Himeka's shoulder. "He's not going to stop seeing you just like that. Just be open with him. It seems like you need to talk this out or else the mystery will you drive you crazy." She chuckled. Karin could have told Himeka herself about the rivalry, but she figured it wasn't her place to tell. After all, it was part of Kazuto's dark family secret.
"You really think I should talk to him about it?" Himeka asked.
"It would be good to clear the air."
Himeka slightly smiled. "You're right. I will then, thank you."
With a cheesy smile and thumbs up from Karin the conversation ended there.
After parting ways at their respective homes, Karin went straight to her room. She made sure her parents nor Kazune were around to hear her. She got her phone out and called the one person she knew would help them with Katharine.
"Hello, this is Prue Halliwell speaking."
"This is Karin, I don't know if you remember-"
Prue cut her off. "Of course I remember you, Karin. Are you calling to let me know when I can see Kazune?"
Karin bit her lower lip slightly. "Not exactly... You wouldn't happen to believe in ghosts, would you?" She asked.
The question brought on some memories for Prue of certain occasions where she and her sisters dealt with them. "I do."
Sighing with relief, Karin went on to what she had called for. "There is a... um... there's something preventing Kazune from going back to his body. Well, someone really. The spirit of a girl. She's the reason why Kazune is... why he's..." She couldn't finish the sentence without clenching her fist.
The more she thought about what had happened to Kazune and the Kujyou's, the more it angered her. It wasn't fair what happened to them all because of a jealous little ghost who couldn't take no for an answer.
"I see." Prue knew what Karin wanted to say. "Well, lucky for you I'm no foreigner when it comes to the supernatural."
"I know this isn't part of your job and I know I'm asking for a lot, so thank you for doing this." There were no amount of words that could describe how grateful Karin felt towards Prue.
It made Prue smile. "Don't thank me just yet. Thank me after we bring your friend back. Perhaps we can meet tomorrow after you get out from school? To discuss a few things."
"Yes, of course. Thank you."
The next day after school, Karin and Micchi met up with Prue at a cafe. It wasn't hard slipping past by the others. Jin had to work, Miyon went with Yuuki to his violin practice, and Himeka, taking Karin's advice went to meet up with Kazuma.
Micchi, Karin and Prue were at the cafe. She had wanted to discuss a few things. Karin assumed it was money related. She just hoped Prue hadn't changed her mind about helping bring back Kazune.
"I know we didn't ask when we first came to you, I apologize for that. How much would it be?" Karin asked.
Prue titled her head. "How much would what be?"
"Your services." Micchi answered. "Whatever it is, I can pay it."
"O-oh." Prue chucked. "I don't charge a thing for my services."
"You don't?" Karin asked. She was truly surprised.
Prue shook her head. "What I do, I don't do it for money. I do it because I believe it is one's duty to help if they can. I happen to be able to help with these certain situations. It's my duty."
Both Karin and Micchi felt it was an honorable response.
"Now, Karin had mentioned that there was a spirit keeping Kazune in his state. I was hoping you guys could tell me more about her."
Karin and Micchi looked at each other. They only really knew the basics about Katharine. Karin shifted in her seat. "Um, well... She used to live in the house Kazune lived in, that I now live in too. She passed away when she was young, so did her mother. She presented herself as an imaginary friend to Kazune when he was little, and her father lives next door."
Prue nodded. "Sometimes spirits, they tend to stick around when they get lost. Either they can't find the light or they're afraid of the other side. Sometimes they have unfinished business, or they want to stick close to a loved one. Perhaps she still hasn't moved on because of her father. Could you tell me more about her relationship with Kazune?"
Micchi nodded. "He was a pretty sick kid growing up. Had to stay indoors most of the time so we had always assumed that he made up Katharine out of boredom. Whenever he would do something mischievous or wrong, he would blame it on Katharine. It started off harmless, but his behavior- or what we thought was his behavior just kept getting worse over time."
"When a spirit latches themselves onto someone, and begin to act out aggressively, it could be because of jealousy. He was alive and had his family, she didn't." Prue explained. "If we're going to get her to move on, we'll need her parents involved. I could contact the mother from the other side, but we'll need to speak to her father."
'Talk to Q-chan?' Karin grimaced at the thought.
How are they supposed to go over and tell Q-chan that his daughter's spirit has been roaming around for years and tormenting others?
End of Chapter. 21