|| A Bouquet of Red and White Roses || [Yu Yu Hakusho Fan-fic] {Edits}

Ghosts Or Demons ?

"Can.. ghosts even exist in this world ?"

Everyone turned to Botan, who was casually eating some of the food that Ciel had prepared. "Naturally", she replied bluntly, "If they didn't exist, then I wouldn't be here. I'm a spirit guide remember ? Or rather, a grim reaper. I lead the deceased to the Spirit World." I shivered and slightly tightened the grip I had around the glass cup that I was holding. "But why a ghost ?" "Well for one", Azalin mumbled, "Seiji and I caught a few shadows roaming around the school. Mostly around the 3rd floor and Library. When we looked further into it and attempted to catch one, it always disappears in front of us with an eerie smile." "Speaking about Seiji", I said as I glanced around, "Where are the others ?" 

At the moment, the only ones in the house were Azalin, Juuji, Ciel, Sara, Asai, Shuichi, Mizuki, Botan, Sora, and Miwa. The rest, Tsukiya, Seiji, Kaori, and Yuuki, weren't there. 

"They've gone ahead", Asai replied, putting down her glass cup. "They left about 15 minutes before you arrived. Yuuki wanted to check something, so they should already be at the school." "I see", I mumbled. "You didn't see them along the way ?" "Not necessarily", Shuichi replied dully, "We were too caught up on something else." "Oh ?", Juuji replied suspiciously, "..Like what ?" Shuichi glanced at him before looking away. Ciel jokingly punched him in the arm and gave a questionable yet suggestive look to Sara. I stared at Shuichi, who sighed. "Don't get the wrong idea", he replied coldly, "I meant that while we were walking over, we ran into something worth bringing up. It was that thing that you've been catching sight of." "You mean that glint of silver ?", Sara asked. I shivered at the thought of it. "It was smiling too...", I reluctantly added as I looked down at my hands. "Smiling ?" When I glanced up, they were all staring at each other with concerned expressions. "Nee", Botan slowly said. There was a pause. "Shiori, I don't mean to scare you and all but..." "But what...?" She hesitantly looked around the room. They all averted their gaze. "I heard that if it smiles at you, you're going to be the next target."

The room was silent. I slowly looked at Botan with a forced smile. "What ?", I asked again, my voice strained. "What was that ? I think I heard you wrong." Botan looked down at the table and shook her head. "I know that it's hard to believe but it's-"

"BOO !!"

As a reflex, I naturally raised my arm and used my elbow to hit whoever was standing behind me. But whoever it was, caught it. I slowly looked over my shoulder to see Ciel standing there with a grin. "Boo ?", she said again. I stared at her, wide eyed before slowly bringing my arm down. "Ciel", I said softly, "I'm going to strangle you." Asai, who was sitting across from me, broke out into a laugh. Shortly after, she was joined by Juuji, Shuichi, Ciel, and Sara. I sat there with a blank expression, completely unimpressed. "I don't think it's necessary for you to worry about getting caught Hanamura", Azalin muttered, "If you have a tendency to react quickly, then you should be fine. If it tries to catch you, just fight it." From the corner of my eye, I could see Shuichi smirk. Geh, that guy... 

"But is that really true Botan ?", Juuji curiously asked as he titled his head to the side. "That it smiles ?" "I don't know", Botan shrugged, "I was just kidding." "But now that I think about it..", Asai mumbled, "I don't think that we've ever even seen a face..." They all looked up at me. "What ?", I nervously asked. "Why're you guys staring at me like that ?" "Shiori", Ciel said sternly. "What did you see ?" "Hmm... Let's see", I mumbled slowly, "I saw a silver gleam, a eerie smiling face, and a shadowed silhouette." Next they turned to Shuichi. "And this happened when you were making your way over ?", they asked him. He nodded. "It was faint, but we were being followed. I would've investigated but this companion of mine was being too noisy. I couldn't figure out it's exact location." "You got scared ?", Ciel asked bluntly. "Shut up", I hissed, putting my head down on the table. "I just got back from Makai.. let me live." "Ah, but you should be used to these kind of things already", Sara replied. "Besides, you already live around the weird things that happen around this place." "Yeah, but I didn't think I'd have to go looking for someone the moment I got back", I mumbled in dismay. "Don't complain", Shuichi snapped. "Besides, we're going to find Wakahisa. Isn't that enough to motivate you ?"

"Yeah, I guess so.." "Then shut up."

Asai chuckled and Sara shook her head. "You guys have such a weird relationship", they said. "No wonder why it's never boring when you guys are around." I sat up and put a hand on the side of my head. "Anyways..", I mumbled, trying to change the subject, "Since I have that weird feeling that we're going to go meet up with the others after this, why don't you tell me about the disappearances so far ?" "Oh yeah, good point."

"It all began with the disappearance of Ando Rika from Room 2-4. From what we were told, the last time she was seen was around the Gym. Supposedly, she was alone, doing errands. The second disappearance was Kamino Susumu. The last time he was seen was on the 3rd floor of Meiou. He was assigned cleaning duty that week. The third disappearance was Sakai Takumi. Just like Kamino, he was also on cleaning duty on the 3rd floor. And finally, the fourth disappearance was none other than Wakahisa Kimiko. According to Izumi, Wakahisa had stayed behind with her after school to help organize some things in the library for the club. 'I was only gone for about 3 minutes', Izumi had told us when we asked her about it, 'I told her that I was going to go back to the club room and grab something. Naturally, she said 'okay' and I left. By the time I came back, I was expecting her to be waiting for me at the table where we usually organized things but all I found were scattered papers. I found it a little weird, so I quickly looked around the library to see if I could find her. For one, why were the papers on the ground, and for two, why did it look like there were signs of struggle ? There was nothing when I looked around. Nothing at all. Since we were the only people in the library at the time, it made it even stranger.' As you can tell, all these disappearances have been happening after school. Most of them are all 2nd years with the exception of Sakai." 

"Do any of them have any relation with each other ?", I asked. Ciel shook her head. "Not that we're aware of", she mumbled. "So then why would someone take them ?"

"That doesn't make any sense at all."