"Normal speech"
""Sai's thoughts to Hikaru""
//Hikaru's thoughts to Sai//
"Are you sure he's alright, doctor?"
"Hmm well, we can't find anything wrong with him. He was probably just tired."
The voices gradually brought the boy's mind out of the darkness. As he slowly came to, my consciousness strengthened and I began to make out the scene in front of me. Two figures were peering over the boy named Hikaru, talking in hushed whispers. One, a woman, was holding Hikaru's hand while the other in a white coat had his arms folded, staring at the still form on the bed.
"When's he going to wake up?"
"Oh, he's coming to now."
I walked around the woman to see the boy open his eyes and blink at the ceiling.
"Kaa-san? ...Where am I?"
"It's ok, you're in the hospital. The doctor says you were just tired."
Hikaru's eyes shifted from his mother to me and frowned.
"Who are you?"
Hikaru's mother, who had been gently stroking her son's hand, froze at the question. "... Hikaru? What-"
White-coat attempted a laugh.
"Oh, I'm the doctor."
"No, not you..."
His eyes kept staring at me, as if...
"Ah... Shindo-san, we should probably leave your son to rest for a bit. Come along."
Hikaru's mother passed through my body as she was ushered out the door by White-coat. Unfazed, I didn't move from my position next to the bed. However, Hikaru's face paled and he started to visibly shake.
""Hello. I'm-""
"She just went straight through you! You... You're..."
""Please calm down and let me expl-""
He promptly turned over and pulled the blankets over his head. "Ghosts aren't real. Ghosts aren't real..."
""But I-""
"GO AWAY!! YOU DON'T EXIST!!"
I fell silent and stared at the lump on the bed. To say I was shocked was an understatement. This wasn't like Torajiro at all, although he had gone through a period of denial. How was I supposed to play Go with a boy who wouldn't even accept me? Caught up in my own thoughts, I brooded over the situation.
White-coat and Hikaru's mother came back into the room a while later and White-coat proceeded to ask Hikaru a few questions. After peering into his eyes and tapping his knees a few times, Hikaru was allowed to go home. He refused to look in my direction throughout the whole thing and averted his gaze as he and his mother walked out of the room. Disheartened, I followed them.
It was dark outside and I didn't pay attention to the surroundings as I fretted over my situation. I had so wanted to come back to the world of the living, had waited for so long. During that time, it had never occurred to me that I could be attached to a child such as this. If he wouldn't accept me, then all I could do was follow him around for the rest of his life. The prospect of such a thing made me shudder. I couldn't let that happen, there was something I had waited too long to do...
"Ok Hikaru, straight to bed."
"Yes, Kaa-san..."
Hikaru trudged up the stairs and I followed at a distance.
Throughout the journey from the hospital to the house, he had not taken a single glance at me. I didn't dare speak to him, fearing that it would drive him further away.
I sighed as I sat outside the door to his room. When I thought about this from his point of view, I could see that it would be traumatic to see a ghost, faint and end up in the hospital in one day. Perhaps tomorrow would be a better time to try and talk. Yes...
Notes and message:
I actually wrote this a while ago, I just never bothered to put it up. And in that time span, I've kinda forgotten why I started to write this so I'm gonna stop writing it. I'd rather work on some other fic and forget about this dead, stagnant one (I remember the idea for this seemed so good though T_T I can't believe I forgot what the point of this fic is...).
** Thanks to toriyamaworld.com for the scanlation of the manga *bows*
** Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter. *bows again*
** Again, if there are any mistakes, please point them out. Spelling, grammar, whatever.
** If you have any comments or questions, please post them. I don't mind, tell me I'm a crappy writer, I don't care. I need a little prodding.