Light brown eyes stared blankly at the soft off-white pages of the thick book in front of them. A soft sigh escaped silently as the slight ticking of a wall clock sounded out. Looking up from the book, the eyes darted around the room, looking at all the other students in their pink and red uniforms. Brown eyes darted towards the wall clock, seeing the seconds ticking down towards the dismissal bell.
With a bated breath, every tick seemed to slow down the closer it got till finally, "Ring!" The bell sounded and the rest of the students stood up collecting their belongings, getting ready for the walk home with their friends. "Urameshi-chan!" a teenage boy's voice cried out.
A boy ran in with a large grin across his face. His messy chestnut hair framed his face lightly, while his black eyes where shining in excitement. His Meiou High uniform had become unruly and crumpled in different places.
"T-Tsumari-san... What is it?" came the quiet and soft response of the owner of the light brown eyes, a plain looking girl. He smiled down at her, "the photography club is getting new cameras! We'll finally have the latest models since you and Minamino tied in the national tests last quarter!" The girl's brown eyes widened, a small smile taking over her plain face.
Before she could speak, a bright flash rendered her temporarily blind. Blinking to clear the spots from her eyes, she looked up at her friend in confusion. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm taking pictures of everyone who made this possible for the photography club, and since you made that deal with the headmaster..."
Another sheepish smile was sent her way, "To be honest, I didn't think you would actually tie the score with Minamino." A light pink came to dust itself on her cheeks.
"Well, Tsumari-san, when I heard how passionate you were about the photography club and how it needed new equipment. I couldn't help but want to make it possible." Her quiet voice trailed off as she could not look at the older boy any longer without stuttering.
A large smile came over his face before he grabbed her hands and bowed repeatedly to her. The commotion started to earn a lot of stares, though not just from the students, but from her teacher as well. "Tsumari. I understand that you are excited about the new funding for your club. But you must understand that Miss Urameshi has matters she must take care of."
With a startled look, her friend looked at he teacher worriedly, "Y-Yes Ginjirou-sensei! See you later Yuna!" Tsumari yelled out before running out the room, leaving behind a number of murmuring students.
"Tch. What does Tsumari-senpai even see in that girl?" a student whispered though, it was loud enough for her to hear. Another whispered joined in the chorus, "Right? Not only is she plain looking, I heard her brother is a delinquent at some crummy school." Yuna hung her head low, gathering her belongings quietly and heading out the door.
Her walk to the school's entrance was a quiet one, the cruel whispers fading into the background noise surrounding her.
The young girl's mind had been far to focused on getting home that she tripped over her own feet, causing her to topple onto the ground. Her brown eyes darted around, the area around her exceedingly blurry, confirming her revelation that her glasses fell off.
Yuna began to pat the ground around her, squinting her eyes in some hope that would miraculously help her see better. The was no such luck for her until she heard a suave voice say something, "Urameshi-san is it? Are you looking for these?" Someone tapped her shoulder, causing her to turn around and come face to face with red and pink blur.
A warm hand grasped hers, opening her palm and placing something thick and plastic on it. She recognized the item as her glasses, quickly placingg them on and coming face to face with the boy she tied with in academics, Shuichi Minamino.
Straight black hair fell in front of her face as she picked herself up from the ground. Bowing to her classmate she quietly thanked him. "Thank you for picking up my glasses Minamino-san, I am sorry to have bothered you." She ran off quickly as possible before he could speak to her.
Her feet carried her through the streets of the business district. The was a pain in her chest and stomach that teared at her very being. She did not know what it was, only it signaled great danger to her. Her feet slowed down the more crowded the streets became, until she came to a walk.
Slowly, she came to the residential district, walking to a small quaint looking house. It was a western style cottage with a modest patio, with a misshaped stone walkway. Bleeding hearts bloomed in front of climbing jasmine, the latter of which wrapped around the fencing of the home and the rails of the patio. Roses bloomed next to the cottage's mailbox, their colour a soft, pastel yellow.
The comforting scent of flowers washed over the small girl, relaxing the pain that she felt in her being and waving the danger away. Making her way to to door, Yuna turned her gaze to the driveway, where she hoped there would be a light blue car, only to be disappointed. With a heavy sigh Yuna walked to her home and went inside.
More silence greeted her, it had been like this for months, ever since her father said he needed to attend a few business conferences overseas. She had gotten used to the isolation somewhat, though she did grow lonely at times. Locking the door behind her, she walked to the kitchen. Setting down her school bag, she opened the refrigerator looking to see if she had any meals left, only to be proven wrong.
Yuna looked down at the blue and yellow watch on her wrist, seeing how long she had till the convenience store would close for that night, and from the looks of it she had quite a while. Grabbing her wallet she quickly left her home, the only on her mind was the choice of dinner. The streets had fewer people than earlier in the day.
The young girl's feet carried her into the small store, where she quietly picked out enough items to last her another week. Quickly, she paid for the items, bowing to the cashier before walking out and heading back home. The sky had become significantly darker since she had left school earlier that day, a sign that she was out far later then normal. She could not help the odd feeling creeping up the back of her neck as she walked back.
Something in the back of her head screamed out that something was not right, that something was very wrong. Yuna's suspicions were confirmed when she saw a man in a loose suit accompanied by a police officer standing infront of her home's walkway. The sight of them caused the hair on the back of her neck to raise and the beating of her heart grew fast and loud in her ears. The two men turned when they heard the sound of soft footstep coming closer.
There was a dread feeling hanging in the around them, a guilty yet mournful gaze as they saw the young girl. The man in the suit cleared his throat, almost as if to clear the air around them. He took in a breath before speaking, "Excuse me Miss.. Are you Urameshi Yuna?" She got the sensation that they two men infront of her hoped she was not, hoping that they did not have to give such dreaded news.
She nodded, more worry weighing itself on her heart. "Yes Sir, I am... Has something happened to my father?" It was the first question on her mind, she hoped they would say no and to her brief relief they did, "No, but I cannot say the same about your brother.." As soon as the words left the man's mouth time stopped around her, her chest tightened and it felt like her heart stopped beating.
"W-What... did you say?" Yuna asked out in a barely audible whisper, she could not believe what the man had told her, she refused to. Her brother was alive she knew it, this was all some joke he was pulling on her, a tasteless one. She was waiting for the punchline where he would jump out behind her and scare her. Brown, doe eyes started to tear over when there was no punchline, no brother jumping out, just nothing.
"N-No.. you're kidding, this is just another one of his jokes, Yusuke can't be gone... you're wrong..." Yuna stuttered out, large tears pouring down her face. She vehemently shook her head in denial, the bag of convenience store items falling from her hand as a mixture of sadness and pain filled her very soul.
The two men looked at the sobbing girl with a mixture of pity and grief, "Your brother was killed in a car accident saving a young boy.. Your mother is organizing his wake." The Suited man placed his hand on the small girl's shoulder when her frail body wracked violently from her sobbing. "If you would like we can take to her right now. It does not do well to leave someone grieving for their loved one by themselves." She could only nod as the two men walked her to the police car.
The drive to her mother's apartment was a quiet one albeit awkward. The two police gave Yuna a sideways glance, worry cast in their eyes. The sadness in her eyes dulled their brown colour, the girl looked dead. She caught a glimpse of her mother standing outside the door of the apartment when they arrived. The officers' noted that both women had the same catatonic look on their face.
Yuna's mother, Atsuko, looked at her with a spark of pained happiness. Yuna had rushed to her mother's side, hugging the woman with all her might. "Please go and rest Mom, I'll take care of everything.." Her mother nodded, her eyes distant as she walked to her room and closed the door. Yuna turned and bowed to the two officers, "Thank you, I'll take care of everything from here." Her voice, though quiet, was devoid of life, caused the two men to flinch.
Swallowing hard the suited man nodded and handed her his card. "If you need anything Miss Yuna, you can reach me at this number. You have my sincerest condolences." The two men bowed to her before driving off.
It took a couple of hours until Yuna got everything set up for her brothers wake. She guided her mother next to the shrine she had set up as some people started to come in. She noticed the strange looks that his classmates gave her, looking down she saw she was still in her pink Meiou uniform. She heard the students murmuring to each other about her.
"Whose that girl?" One asked, another quickily followed it, "I knew there was a rumor of Urameshi having a half-sister, I guess it's true.." A girl whispered, "Isnt that a Meiou High School uniform? What's a student from a prestigious school like that doing here?" More whispers surrounded that outside until she could hear loud yelling, from a familiar voice. "You can't die Urameshi! We never finished our fight!"
A tall, frumpy looking guy ran in, his pale face contrasted greatly with his orange pompadour. The boy was being held back, though not effectively, by three other boys, who were telling him they should get out of there and leave. Another commotion started as she heard a girl crying out. she barely caught a glimpse of the brown haired, brown eyed girl in a blue sailor uniform.
Yuna recognized her as Keiko, an old childhood friend of her brother. It seemed there were a lot of people who missed her brother. Though it was not under the better circumstances, the fact that there were more people who cared about her brother, slightly eased her heart.
Patting her catatonic mother on the shoulder, she quietly excused herself. Yuna walked out of the small apartment, coming face to face with a number of different students from her brother's school. A hush fell upon a majority of the students though there were a certain few along with teachers who were still giggling and snickering about her brother's misfortune.
Gritting her teeth she acted completely out of character, yelling out with tears falling from her eyes with just a flicker of anger. "How dare you! How dare you come here to laugh at the dead and rejoice in their misfortune! Of all the horrible things Yusuke has done, he never laughed at the dead. Never rejoiced in their suffering!" Shaking her head in anger, everyone became silent, some of the people walking out from the apartment to see what was going on.
"You despicable, worthless cowards! You are far worse then my brother could have ever been!" After her outburst, Yuna's body was shaking in anger and in grief, there was nothing but silence around her, everyone had been too shocked to say anything, In a very broken voice, "If you are going to continue to tarnish a dead man at his own wake, leave. I don't want to see your face."
Her head was down as more tear began to drop, wetting the ground as she clutched her hands into fists. There was a shuffle as a few people left, most remained to atleast pay customary respects to their fellow student. Yuna walked back in and sat next to her crying mother.
She felt a lot calmer now, though she could not shake the feeling that someone was next to her patting her back in pride. Looking over her shoulder, she could almost make out a green silhouette.