Chapter 2: Meeting in the cemetery

As the last bell ring of the day echoed, Karin pulled Hinata away with her to the exit. When Hinata asked why the rush, the redhead said it was to finally be freed of their completely crazy teachers and classmates. Their best efforts wouldn't get them home any faster though: it was raining, as almost everyday in their little village covered in greenery on nearly every available surface.

Karin was already chatting away, when Hinata received an unexpected visit from her new friend. The fact that she was still inside the school made her choke back on anxiety.

"So, are you going to search for the ring" he questioned

"I -I almost forgot about my errand" Hinata said as she hit her forehead.

"Yeah, that mysterious ring" Karin rolled her eyes, her annoyance clearly visible on her face.

Hinata winced at her tone "Sorry"

"Can't you wait another day? When it's not raining? I might help"

"I'd rather get it done as quickly as possible"

"Yeah" Karin stretched the word with a grimace "guess you won't hold it against me for not coming with you"

"D-don't worry about m -me"

A clear image of her wading in the mud, slipping here and there, ruining her clothes, drew itself in her mind. She almost sighed.

The girls went each other their ways and Hinata sprinted to Kurenai's house. She ran to her room to put on a parka and boots. Her godmother wasn't home -this time she sighed with relief. Hinata rushed out through the store and took the road to the exit of the village.

It was raining enough to get through her parka, into her hair and blur her vision when she got down into the gutter. Because of the bad weather, the water level was higher than usual. She was thoroughly wet.

"It's around" the ghost said.

"Sorry b-but that's not… really helpful" Hinata had to stand up to pull her hair away from her face "don't you have any more clues?"

"It must be a bit higher, nearer the road" he said but didn't seem to be convinced by his own words.

While scanning the ground, she walked towards the shore. It was without counting on her incredible sense of balance that she slipped on a wet stone and found herself head first in the slush. It's while trying to get up that she saw the forsaken band which was stuck between two gravels. She got back on her feet, showing her discovery to her visitor from beyond.

"It's the ring!" he exclaimed with joy.

"Great…" she replied without much enthusiasm.

On the way back, people stared at her. At the back of her mind, she guessed what she must look like, covered from head to foot in mud. Dismissing the thought, she pulled harder on her hood.

Once at the shop, she borrowed the back door and sneaked in without Kurenai seeing her. She shuddered at the thought of having to explain or lie about her appearance. Upstairs, in her bedroom, she put the ring in the drawer of her nightstand and went to take a nice hot shower. When she was done dressing in sweatpants and a t-shirt, she put her muddy clothes to wash, thus erasing any clues that could've have led to her escapade.

Back in her room with pale green walls and hardwood floors, she slumped down on her bed and picked up the ghost's band. With a handkerchief, she began to clean it. When the dirt was removed, it revealed a gold ring with a diamond strewn on it. She couldn't help but admire it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" asked her interlocutor who suddenly appeared.

"Yeah…" Hinata almost subconsciously answered.

"This jewel belonged to my deceased wife" the ghost revealed.

"Ah… that's why you wanted so bad that your daughter finds it" Hinata concluded, nodding ever so lightly.

"Indeed…"

Suddenly Hinata's back snapped straight up. It was one thing to find the thing but it was another to find the legitimate owner and give it back… Explaining to a perfect stranger that one of their deceased close ones were talking to them through an intermediary able to see them had never been her idea of fun. At least, she always found a solution to avoid such direct means.

"Say, do your daughter often visit her mother's tomb?" Hinata asked, praying that the woman hadn't been incinerated.

"On Sundays… why?" he told her, a bit taken aback by the question.

"Well, you'll see for yourself on Sunday…"

The week went by without any disaster and no unexpected visitors, until Friday. She fell upon someone who made her prefer the company of the wraiths. It was during the transition from Math to English class. As usual, she went to put away her books and take those for the next course that she didn't have with Karin. She'd just finished putting the books in her bag when her locker's door was violently closed.

"Well, well who is that? Isn't it 'creepy'!" the remark was quickly followed by a nasal chuckle.

"Kin-kun… what can I do for you?" Hinata muttered, looking anywhere but the vicious dark eyes.

"Nothing! I was just strolling by when my creep radar went awry and there you are." she said, mockery dripping from every word. Hinata didn't dare to look up. She wished so much that Karin was there.

Hinata tried to move on, so did Kin who blocked her way this time.

"We -we -class is s-still going o-on" Hinata timidly murmured

"Duh"

"Is there s-something y-you want-ed to tell m-me?"

Hinata's inoffensive reply didn't cater to Kin's taste judging by the looks the latter gave the former. She quickly took her wrist, and used a menacing tone.

"Since when do you reply when talked to, creep?" she hissed, squeezing Hinata's wrist tighter.

"S-sorry" Hinata sobbed

"That's better" Kin replied before pushing Hinata to the side, making the girl's stuffs fall to the ground.

Hinata scrapped to the ground to retrieve her class material before hurriedly going to her next class. No tears or ill thoughts came to the teen. She breathed evenly until she made sure the event was buried deeply within.

Aside from that incident, nothing out of the ordinaire happened. Sunday came quite fast. That morning, she woke up around 8 a.m., took her breakfast with Kurenai, did her morning routine and put the ring in a white envelope. She met her otherworldly companion as every morning -in front of the herbal store. Together they took the road to the cemetery which she knew by heart then. Once there, the man showed his wife's tomb which was four lines above one with a familiar name.

Hinata hurriedly placed the envelope on the stele before the daughter of the deceased man come. She went to another tomb further down, crouched down and observe the young woman who was obviously in her twenties. When she saw the envelope, she took it and opened it with caution. Hinata saw the young woman's cover her mouth with her hand upon discovering the band inside, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"What is it?" asked the specter as he watched upon the scene

"The ring…" Hinata turned to her left "It's time for you to go to your wife. Nothing is holding you here anymore"

"Wow… it's beautiful!" he whispered with admiration as he moved toward the passage, then he turned toward Hinata "thank you, young girl"

He disappeared into the air.

Hinata stood up as her own thoughts went to her mother.

"It's hard to have this gift, but… giving back hope to these people seems priceless" she sighed "I wonder where you're… if you…"

She couldn't finish her words. She hadn't been fortunate to be old enough to clearly remember her mother in acts and words, but she would always remember her face. The woman she got those dark bluish long hair and pearl eyes from.

Hands in her parka's pocket, she turned on her heel and went the other way. Before making it completely out of the cemetery, she saw two figures a little further away, one of which seemed familiar to her. The taller one wore a black leather jacket and ripped jeans, but it was the haircut that made her realize who it really was.

…