Chapter 6: Rotten Day ...

The spirit continued on her way. Hinata's efforts to catch up with her redoubled as the ghost moved fast, almost too fast. The teen finally passed the ghost and stood in her way, only for the ghost to pass through her.

Hinata gasped.

She felt cooled from the inside; she shuddered for a long minute. It felt like death.

Frustration and seven days of nightmares won over the disagreeable sensation.

"let me help you!" Hinata screamed at the top of her lungs "please"

Much to her surprise and relief, it had the desired effect. The ghost whirled around. However, the teen felt like she'd have done without that.

Hinata looked at the ground right before the ghost, not daring to look even at her toes. Time seemed endless as the spirit didn't utter a word. She wasn't of much help but Hinata had her patience as weapon.

"If there's anything, you remember just tell it. Whether it's a name, a n-"

"I don't know ..." She interrupted Hinata in a faint, chilly voice.

"What… don't you know?" Hinata asked her, confused.

Suddenly, the ghost held her head in her hands and whispered faster and faster.

"I don't know; I don't know ..."

Suddenly, she uttered an unbearable howl.

The cry lasted a good minute, then gave way to an abnormal silence. Finally, she disappeared. As Hinata recovered from the experience, Karin joined her.

"Game's over. Our team won. YAY" Karin started with a mocking tone. She abruptly stopped when she got close enough to Hinata "Ok, what the hell happened here? You look fucking pale!"

"I ... not here, I will explain on the way." Hinata had a hard time to articulate.

They walked quietly. When Hinata's skin color got back to normal, she told Karinwhat had happened. She didn't know what to make of it all, so she faced her friend and asked her opinion.

"Either she's got a case of ghost dementia or she's cray cray" Karin shrugged. She seemed lost in reflection "either way, you don't want that around you"

"There's also the fact that I still can't conclude about her connection to Sasuke" Hinata sighed heavily as she rubbed her forehead "I wonder what could cause dementia in a ghost…"

They were silent for a moment each other lost in their thoughts, oblivious to shoots of joy and victory echoing in the background.

Suddenly, Karin freaked out and cut Hinata's path. Having her gaze still glazed over by deep thinking, Hinata looked up at her friend, perplex as to why the sudden shift in attitude.

"Ok, don't freak out Hina" the redhead started slowly, waiting for Hinata to completely focus on her "you said she was disfigured and suffered a memory loss, right?"

"y… yes?"

"Just what if… it was her state before she died?"

"What… what do you mean?"

"She might have been brutally murdered, like stroke pretty bad in the head or something. I had once read about ghosts being affected by the way they died"

"Oh my gosh… oh my…" Hinata stuttered. Her body shook with shivers as visions of her nightmares came back to her.

"There're your nightmares too…" the redhead trailed off.

"No… no… I… It's just due to her appearance"

"Maybe yes, or maybe your dreams are now visions"

"But I've never had visions before" Hinata said, feeling hysteria rising inside "it… it can't be"

"In this case, finding her would be of no use as finding her body" their eyes met, and the redhead added quickly "don't look at me like that! Didn't say you had to… but you might have to"

"Ever since the first ghost… I've never been in contact with anyone connected to one again" Hinata grabbed her own shoulders, squeezing herself into a hug "I'm not planning to get personally involved"

"Ok, let's calm down" Karin rubbed her hands together "first, let's do some research"

Hinata turned to her companion, examined the girl's face.

"Why do you look so excited?"

"You know me gurl" Karin looked back at Hinata, hands in pockets "don't worry about it. You're not alone on this case. Promise"

The prospect of getting killed with a friend had nothing comforting to Hinata. However, she felt somehow less alone. A small smile formed on her lips.

"At least you didn't cheer for the other team"

"Damn! Why didn't you give me the idea earlier?"

"You really live for the drama, eh?"

"Of fucking course"

Karin left Hinata in front of her house and went her way. After ten minutes of intensive research, the dark haired teen spotted the key under a flower pot. She sighed heavily when she was finally able to get to her room.

Never before had the house felt so empty, or so scary.

She took a bath, ate dinner from yesterday, watch a bit of TV, went to read a book… it was useless of course. Her subconscious dredged up exactly what she had been desperately trying to avoid every single time.

From her bed, Hinata stared at her computer weighing her options. She felt ridiculous for the idea that crossed her mind, but she had nothing else.

Hinata walked up and down her little room, eyeing her laptop from time to time until she automatically sat and turned on the device. She tried not to think too hard about it as she opened google and typed three words: ghost memory loss.

When the results came up there was a lot to sift through – everything from series, to anime, literature, games, perfumes brand, lingerie, occasional testimony of encounters with ghosts and some articles trying to scientifically prove ghosts' existence. No matter her key words, her research centered around those. What dejected her the most was the more she searched, the further away from the topic she got. The most useful information she got was from a website about tropes, some of which coincided with Karin's theories. For a few minutes she just sat in front of her screen, spending half of that time thinking hard about a way to actually help the specter and the other worrying about the hypothetical repercussions of letting that case take any longer than it already did.

Hinata snapped out of her reveries when Kurenai entered her room. The woman practically glowed. It was clear whom she spent the evening with. They chatted a bit before the woman left her room. The teen realized too late that she'd left her screen turned on. She only hoped that her godmother was too euphoric to see what she'd been up to. At least it wasn't porn.

On Monday morning, Hinata didn't feel like participating in life. The night before she didn't have a nightmare but she didn't sleep enough with all that thinking, and she had math first thing in the morning. She crossed her fingers, hoping that Ibiki-sensei wouldn't give them a pop quiz.

She was already crabby and preparing for a bad day when she lifted her eyes. She almost had a heart attack.

He was typing away on his phone. As if on cue he looked up, watching her come his way. His eyes seemed to entice her forward, and she couldn't help but move on, drawing closer and closer to him.

"Hey"

"H-hey… uh…" she trailed off, at a loss what to say. She hoped he'd say something, anything, but he stared back with a smirk, dared she say, a knowing smirk. She couldn't hold his gaze. Her eyes trailed down his face, lingered a bit on his lips. When heat rose in her cheeks, her eyes trailed along his pale neck. Even then, it felt too intimate for her. She settled for the collard of his school uniform. It was better than having to look him in the eye.

When she realized that he wasn't going to say something and she hoped to erase her ogling from his memory, she broke the silence.

"Do you… uh… need something?"

"No. I was just passing by and I thought why not ..." He trailed off. He was staring directly at her, his eyes searching her face, until it felt upon hers.

There was a pause, a too long pause as he kept looking at her. His eyes seemed too dark.

"Why not …?" she finally asked, pretending to be interested in the street. She decided to walk on. Soon enough he followed suit.

"Am I suspected of murder or what?"

"No, it's just that... I'm not used to it."

After that confession, he didn't say anything. While Hinata was dying inside, they kept walking in silence. He walked with his hands in pockets, looking straight ahead. She observed him from the corner of her eye to guess at least what his expression could give away. Nothing. He was as impassive as he was at school.

This time he was more confusing than before. He came all the way to her home for no reason and admitted just as much. Realizing it once again had her heart on a roller coaster, but the way he was so distant had her calm down a notch.

"Where did you disappear last night, during the match?" He asked her suddenly.

Hinata wouldn't have thought he would remember inviting her, let alone seeing her in the gym. She was short of words and miserable. Of all things, he had chosen to be observant the day she'd been out of sight.

"I disappeared? ... ah! I went out, I had ... uh ... I was not well!" Her voice broke and even she couldn't believe what came out of her mouth.

"Hn." He just answered.

Fortunately for Hinata, they arrived at school. A little more and she might have run away. She greeted him before taking a different path from his, much to her relief.

As she joined Karin her thoughts were racing. She thought about how things had been so weird these past days. She was so lost in her thoughts that she forgot telling her friend about her discovery of the night before. The bell rang and they headed off to class.

No sooner had they taken a seat in drawing class, the teacher informed them that there would a trip to Tsuishi canyon next week. Karin told her that the place was famous for being cursed ...

Ever since the news broke, virtually every student of that class had been excited to go to that famous canyon where so many people had lost their lives. Some even made bets on the chances to find a dead body. Hinata, on the other hand, was less enchanted to go to a place where death was present every step of the way.

She was anxious to see that day come and go as quickly as possible. For once, she hoped luck was on her side. One ghost puzzle at a time was enough for her.

From Monday to Thursday, Hinata had been shocked more than once. She'd heard all the morbid stories that had occurred in that place. Karin even told her that some math geeks were doing statistics on the likelihood of one of their classmates losing their life on Friday. She thought they were crazy.

"Fuckin' crazy nerds" Karin huffed "well, if that happens, I hope for you that Kin isn't the one to actually die"

"Why?"

"She might come back to get your ass"

Hinata shuddered, Karin laughed out loud.

Friday finally arrived.

That morning when Hinata set foot outside she already knew that the day would be bad ... at least it was sunny.

She had put on black linen pants and a loose lavender top.

"I can't fucking believe it! They actually came in high heels. Can this get any fucking more ridiculous?"

"Hope they don't break a nail"

"We're going to hear a lot of bitching today for sure"

They got down to the bottom of the bus, one next to the other. Hinata was hoping that during the trip she could tell her about her Sunday night discovery and thank her for her help. She realized that with the noise their bus made, she could hardly hear the boy in front of her.

"I did some research on ghost amnesia"

"Where!?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"First, because you had 'technical' troubles on that area" Karin counted on her fingers "second, the way you say it worries me"

"Uh… I … googled it…"

Karin blinked for two seconds, then chuckled "For real now, where have you sniffed out?"

When the redhead realized the other girl was serious, she laughed hard enough that Hinata had to cover her mouth to elude the sudden attention they'd attracted.

"K-Karin-Chan"

"Are you for real though? Girl, what did you expect? A how to manual on ghosts? Tutorials? Ghost for dummies?"

"I had no choice, okay? I… besides, I found some interesting theories!"

"Yeah?" Karin didn't attempt to curb her skepticism.

"Either she had been wandering for too long, or her death had been… violent"

"Duh! Not like I've already told you that. And, If I was an optimistic gal, I'd say at least you'd found something" Karin said the last part in a fake high pitched voice "but I ain't and you need better sources of inspiration"

"But I've found something"

"the 'possible causes'" Karin made air quotes "but we aren't even sure about that and it doesn't solve much."

Hinata sighed. She knew her friend was right. Dismayed, she told the redhead where she got her intel from. Karin laughed some more.

They were calm for a moment. Hinata had to look over, quite surprised that Karin was that calm and for such a long time. She saw that Karin had been looking at her, seemingly weighing her next words.

Hinata wasn't at ease.

"Ok, listen to me first before reacting. Promise?"

"O -Ok?"

"Maybe, just maybe… you should try to contact your family. Wait, wait, wait! Let me finish. May be there are others like you-"

"No"

"How would you know?"

"Because I wouldn't have ended in therapy for seeing ghosts"

"Yeah but they might have-"

"No Karin-Chan, I just can't, ok? I'd rather be haunted by that ghost for the rest of my life" Hinata gloomy said as she looked off into the distance at the passing mountains "but you gave me an idea"

"Which one?"

"I'll try to contact mediums"

"Should I list all the reasons it's a bad idea?"

"Well, I can try. It's better than nothing"

"They're scam!"

"There ought to be at least one who know their craft or know about someone who does"

"Ok, let me remind you your limits: time and money"

"Do you see any other idea then?"

Karin was calm for a few seconds. She could see how desperate her friend was, but her latest idea wasn't a bright one. It was impractical. She was tempted to tell the dark haired girl to just let go, but seeing her bit her nails had her shut her mouth. Maybe if they kept talking about it some more, something would come out of their brainstorming.

The redhead handed Hinata a sandwich made of tomatoes and cheese. The latter refused, returning quickly to her deep thinking. Karin shrugged and eat a bit before talking again.

"Ok, let's summarize the situation: we've got a ghost with no memory and no identity… maybe you should start with her identity and see where that takes you"

"Yeah… another impasse" Hinata bit her lip.

"Too bad you can't google her, uh?" Karin snickered. Hinata shook her head with a smile.

"I'd if I had a picture of h- Karin-chan, you are a genius."

"Wait! You'll take a picture and google her? Can you even take pictures of ghosts?"

"No, you can't."

"I knew it!"

"I'll describe her to someone who can draw, and then I'll go from there."

"You are the genius now"

"Now, I just need for her to come and find a good approach. She's been quite fickle lately."

"I know! Let's go to the police station".

They spent the rest of the travel scheming on different ways to reach out the ghost's family or friends.

Their trip took about forty minutes. They went down into a small clearing of trees. The teacher gathered them together and described what he expected of them.

"You'll photograph plants as well as trees that will serve you later to create a drawing. So, I'll choose who will go with whom to work with..." He informed them "no, Miss Kin, you'll be no exception."

Karin chuckled.

"There're groups of two that I prepared. You'll receive the same grade within that group ... Karin with Sakura. Naruto with Sai. Tayuya will team up with Jirobo. Sasuke will be with Shikamaru ..."

Hinata saw Karin already hitting off the wrong way with Sakura. Even though she wouldn't admit it out loud she saw that Karin was the first to strike.

"... Hinata with Kin ..."

"Just my luck to team up with creep" Kin whined.

"She's useful unlike you" Karin replied, in a mocking nasal voice that matched that of Kin.

"Did you talk to me freak?"

"Of course you b-"

"If I hear any more fighting, lots of F will be given. Believe me, you don't want to fail this" the teacher said; he looked already tired, and he wasn't known to be the joking type.

Hinata stared at Kin's ten inch heels. Her eyes travelled up her bare legs, up her short skirt, then up her tight-fitting sleeveless turtle neck and her pink tinted glass from where dark eyes sent daggers her way.

"I hope for you I don't get a bad grade"

May be Karin was right about her getting visions. This was a bad day indeed…