Disclaimer: All characters not mine. As they say… Love 'em but dun own 'em
I suppose it should bother me…I suppose I should care… I suppose I should be a little depressed… but it's hard being depressed or sad or lonely… it takes work and time and effort and the ability to feel, all of which I don't (or claim not to) have.
I suppose I should care… but I don't
So what? So he's dead, what has that got to do with me?
It's your fault…
No it's not
Yes, it is… it's always your fault… everyone and everything you've ever cared for is dead…all because of you…
If you look at it from a certain point of view I suppose you have a point but…hey, it still doesn't bother me because I lost the ability to feel a long time ago. I never will and I never can care about anything… at least not anymore…
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"It looks like you're milking a cow"
"I am milking a cow"
"You haven't the vaguest idea how strange that sounds coming from a Ghost"
"I suppose I must look peculiar"
"You should see the cow"
If you were to see the man talking right now you would find him face to face with a disgruntled looking cow, in the middle of a run down barn, in a small town called Shohoku in a place called Kanagawa, Japan.
If you were to look closer, with your mind and soul's eye, you would see a man talking to a smiling Ghost milking a disgruntled looking cow, in the middle of a run down barn, in a small town called Shohoku, in a place called Kanagawa, Japan.
The young man, sometimes called Kaede but most of the time called Rukawa, was a strange farmer. Preferring to keep apple orchards and strawberry fields instead of the usual corn and rice fields found in these parts… he was thought of as odd but despite his oddities he was a very popular boy in town, mostly because of his looks… ice blue eyes, coal black hair and skin that never seemed to tan even after hours of hard work under the sun. He was practically worshipped by the women of the town but he never seemed to notice them even when they threw themselves at his feet.
"I think I'm going to sell this cow." Rukawa Kaede told his Ghost, leaning against the rickety brown stall.
"Oh really? Why? It's such a pretty thing"
"I need the barn space for a new horse"
"Why are you getting a new horse? Isn't Ol' Hanamichi good enough for you?"
"That stupid do'aho threw me off again yesterday. I need a horse I can actually ride."
" hehehe … stick to growing apples Kaede, and leave taming horses to the professionals"
"Shut up" Rukawa Kaede threw his Ghost a rare smile.
He watched his Ghost milking the cow and wondered idly if his Ghost used to own a cow back when he was alive. Maybe my Ghost used to be a farmer too… Rukawa Kaede mulled, and started to ask his happily whistling friend if he had ever milked a cow when he was alive. But then he remembered that whenever he started asking his Ghost about his past life the Ghost would just pull his disappearing act and give him some lame excuse.
He's in such a good mood today, Rukawa Kaede thought, I won't ask him any uncomfortable questions… at least not yet.
Suddenly, mid-milking his Ghost suddenly stopped and looked up with a frown of concentration on his translucent, normally carefree face.
"What is it?" Rukawa Kaede asked.
"Whoops, gotta go someone's coming!" his Ghost said and, in a sudden wisp of wind, was gone.
Leaving the cow in a rather compromising position.
Snorting lightly at his Ghost's sudden departure, Rukawa Kaede fixed the estranged animal and tried to make it comfortable then he closed the old stall, walked out of his barn and locked the doors shut behind him. He walked up the rocky path to the back door of his small red and black cottage wondering where his Ghost disappeared to.
I wonder who it is. Rukawa Kaede thought. It isn't time for my apple shipment yet so it can't be Watari… probably just another door-to-door salesman.
His Ghost always seemed to know when visitors arrive, which is a pretty handy talent since it wouldn't be good for business to be seen talking to his Ghost… even though most people nowadays were more tolerant of Ghosts, some still harbored ill feelings towards the 'you-know-whats', as Ghosts are commonly called.
He entered his back door and wove through his tiny kitchen, filled with jars of strawberry preserves, and through his adjoining living room, a bit warm because of the heat of summer but cozy nonetheless. He stood before his front door and tried looking through thru the peephole but saw nothing but black so he unlocked it and opened it.
He swung his front door open to a very familiar, a very unwanted and a very unexpected face... Sendoh Akira. What is HE doing here? Rukawa Kaede thought, instantly irritated.
"Sendoh Akira… well, well, well there's a person we haven't seen in a while" his Ghost's voice drifted down to his mind, tickling his thoughts uncomfortably.
Blue-eyed, black haired and wearing a perpetual smile of carefully feigned good humor… still the same Sendoh Akira Rukawa remembered from high school.
Sendoh Akira was an old school mate of Rukawa Kaede. They used to be in the high school basketball team together and were sometimes called rivals. Rukawa Kaede was always more ambitious and devoted than him but Sendoh had more of a natural gift for the game. And… well… to make a long story short… when Sendoh left their small town on a basketball scholarship (a basketball scholarship that Rukawa Kaede really wanted) they did not part on the best of terms.
And right now, with Sendoh all dressed up in a snazzy suit, a new freaky looking hairstyle and smelling vaguely of rotten rose bushes, and with Rukawa Kaede in well worn jeans and his everyday, checkered, button down workshirt and smelling of unwashed cow… Rukawa Kaede was definitely not in the mood to see the man who had stolen his dream.
Sendoh smiled, no smirked at his former rival's disheveled appearance.
"Hello Kaede. How have you been?"
A/N: I altered it a bit hope you like it!