A/n: Yeah, again we go. :sigh: I just love Oriya to death. There are so little fan fics with him as one of the main main characters. It's depressing. Ah well, onward!

-Dark-

Ghost

Chapter Two

I found myself in a classroom. A part of me knew I was supposed to be there, another thought I was supposed to be...somewhere else. Huh...I wonder where.

"Kazutaka-Kun! Be my partner!" One girl clung from his arm as he walked into the room for History.

Girls always liked him.

I barely talked to him. I didn't know him.

"Hey, Oriya! You wanna partner up for this thing?" Tasku, asked me as he plopped down in the set in front of me, legs on either side of his chair. I was lounging on two legs in my seat, my legs up on the desk to keep me steady. We had been told early on in the week that were getting another assignment because to many of us bombed the one we had the previous week.

Tasku was something like a best friend though he had never seen the inside of my house. I had never invited him over. Ever. I was content with just coming over to his. Relationships are give and take and it seemed like I just took...

It occurred to me that I barely ever spoke about myself so I knew a bit too much about Tasku. Like he had lost his virginity a year before to a girl three years older than him, mind you a girl he didn't even know. Yeah, he would have to be known as my best friend since I didn't have too many other people who wanted to hang out with me since I must've been generally an unpleasant person, I guess...

He smirked over at me, drumming his fingers of my shoe. He always had an energy that made me like him for some reason and kept me from staying mad at him.

"Yeah, sure..." I said, looking off out of the window. What did I care? I was going to be my family's brothel owner when dad dies off so... What did I care about school? I was in a foul mood because of daddy dearest. He pissed me off the previous night and that cloud followed me to school hours later.

"Alright class. Today we had out your assignments: Researching battles from the Civil War." Sensei Shugi spoke, standing before us, her hands on her hips. Oh boy we were in trouble. "Now, as you may or may not remember, the only group that actually passed with flying colors was Muraki-San and Kimiko-San. With that being said, I do not trust you lot to pick your partners so I will be pairing you up!" Sensei spoke, our teacher, her usual mouse-y tone was stern and loud as she addressed us. The short and wiry old woman rarely ever got angry with her students so we really must've done it for her!

Sensei began to pair off students, Tasku got paired off with one of his ex girlfriends, who scoffed and pouted in her seat, wanting to be Muraki's partner, no doubt. I was mildly listening, keeping an ear open for my name. I found myself staring about the room, many watching the old woman with interested eyes. Finally, after several names later, her long bony finger stopped again and she called out into the mildly quiet classroom.

"Mibu Oriya and Muraki Kazutaka " She said, looking at me then him. We both looked over at one another and offered a nod to each other, silently confirming one another as partners then our attention was back at the front of the room.

Muraki was a good student, nearly top of our class. He was well liked and had a charisma to him that made so many adore him. He was always proper, shirt tucked in, jacket always buttoned and his shoes always polished.

Me? Well I was a wreck in comparison. I never buttoned my jacket, my shirt was always un-tucked and I didn't even both polishing my standard issue shoes. I always got grieve for my long hair that I barely ever pulled back. I would skip classes, sleep on the roof and I was flunking my English('as if I was going to ever need to speak that damned language!' I remember I had said once. What a fool I was!), science and history classes!

When we where paired, many people, mostly girls, groaned. They wanted Muraki all to themselves. I was willing to trade for Tasku but…that wasn't possible.

Yeah, it annoyed me to be paired with the pretty, popular guy. Mentally, I made a bet with myself, thinking we would probably will get the work done but it will be awkward and he'd probably talk all the time with his friends.

"Okay! Spilt up and begin working please." Sensei's voice rang out and we all moved in our chairs, some moved desk or others moved to other areas of the room. I was just getting out of my chair when Muraki stepped up next to me.

"Here's okay." He said to me, offering a smile, a generic smile he gave a lot of people. I scoffed.

"Okay then, Muraki." I just offered and he sat in the now empty seat beside mine and moved his chair close.

"Alright what bat-" A high pitched voice cut me off and left me slightly deaf in one ear.

"Oh, Kazutaka-Kun! What're you doing?" One of his many fan girls asked him and he gave that same smile to her.

"We're not sure yet, are we, Mibu-Kun?"

"Oriya." I corrected.

This made him blink in confusion. The girl was also silent, a look on her face told me silently she was offended that I even dared to speak and that I had corrected the great Muraki Kazutaka.

"I prefer Oriya." I said, making it more obvious. I felt slightly embarrassed as more than the girl and Muraki were now staring at me. After all it wasn't common to call a total stranger simply his name and not his surname or adding 'kun' or 'chan' after it. Hell' it wasn't even common for me to speak more than a few words to anyone other than Tasku.

But still…Mibu-Kun or Mibu-San was my father.

I'm not my father.

"Oriya." He said, as if trying it out and he nodded with a bigger grin, happy and genuine. He...liked that I allowed him to call me by my name.

"...What?" I blinked as he stared at me with that look of pure enjoyment. Something about his grin warmed me and I had to resist smiling and looked down at my desk.

"Kazutaka-Kun, you can call me anything you want!" Many girls chimed him, wanting to see that smile again. I had to admit...I liked that smile too and that made me like him then. I was like those girls, I wanted to make him truly smile.

I sat back in my chair and waited, listening to the voices around me. Muraki was polite and even joked with the girls, laughing. Feeling left out, I moved my chair a bit away so I wasn't in the circle of people that would totally ignore me and started to fold lined paper. An odd skill I picked up from one of the girls was origami. I mean, its an odd skill for a guy to have, even odder to be seen making paper flowers.

A part of me wanted to talk with Muraki more but… I was to unsure of it all. Muraki was a popular guy. Being his friend was not meant to be an easy task. So, I sat and made paper lilies and made their leaves blue and streaky with my pen.

The bell soon rang and everyone moved, pushing desks and chairs back in their proper places, a hum of in between class clatter all around.

I got up and moved to leave and a hand caught my wrist. I looked to find that hand belonged to Muraki.

"I'm sorry. We got nothing today but maybe later on today. Are you free after school?"

"…I'll get back to you, Muraki." I said to him and he smiled again at me, that smile I liked. I moved and as I left the class, I dropped the paper lily in the trash.

It has been a while since I heard him laugh at anything other than some sinister plot and, of course, me. Maybe… now that Saki was gone… he may very well smile like that young boy had so very long ago.

Hah! Who am I kidding? I will never hear that laughter, at least not openly, not from the madman the boy has become now.

It's when I'm alone with him the he quiet of the night. It's when neither of us are speaking and we're only enjoying the others company, that I find that laugh echoing. That perfect student will sit next to the jaded son of a pimp in that quiet, laughing about old time.

Maybe he feels it too sometimes. Maybe I'm not the only one…Or maybe I'm just a foolish, delusional man…