A/N: Heeeey, guys, I'm not dead! So, like all bad fanfic authors on here, I have currently got a bucketload of fics that I haven't updated for a while that I've run out of energy for (I should probably formally announce it sometime... TT^TT). So what do I do instead of updating those? I write a oneshot for an entirely different fandom, yay!

But in regards to my writing for this fandom: I've got two or three series fics that I'm currently planning and, yes, in the process of writing. I've learned from my bad habits, so I'm not going to start posting until they're completely done, and I'll post on a weekly basis then...or something...I'll figure it out along the way...

So, yeah! Just telling you guys that, if you don't mind my writing, you can expect more stuff in a few months. Or years. Or something.

And now, without further ado, let the story begin!

"Hey, Tsubomi. Fancy meeting you here!"

The young, green-haired girl looked up, and her eyes widened as she watched the blond, cat-eyed boy approach. "Sh...Shuuya. What are you doing here?"

"Eh..." He plunked himself down into the swing beside her and swung from side to side. "My mom's in a bit of a temper, and she kicked me out. So I came here." He grinned at Tsubomi in spite of his swollen, bruised eye, fighting back his wince of pain. "I know how you always come over when you're lonely."

Her face remained emotionless, but she mimicked his motions - swinging from side to side, letting their swings collide every once in a while, and he giggled at the slight panic on her face whenever they did.

She scowled at him and let her gaze fall to the ground. She took a deep breath. He waited.

"...Do you want to talk about it?"

He dug his feet into the sand before he collided with her again. She tilted her head to the side and gave him a puzzled look; he tilted his head up and sighed.

"Mm... Maybe... But only if you tell me about your family. What's it like at your home? It must be awesome, living in a mansion - with a maid, and a cook, and all of that!"

She flushed and swung her head back down. For a few seconds she kicked the sand with her shiny black Mary Janes, but when the sand smeared across their mirror-bright surfaces, she flinched and stopped. "No. You first."

"Aw, too bad, then." He laughed and kicked off, swinging for real this time - forward, backward, up and down. "I'm not telling till you do!"

She stuck out her tongue at him and kicked off as well. "Stupid Shuuya. I'm not telling either, then."

She pumped her legs until she rose high, high above him, and suddenly it was a competition to see who could get higher. Tsubomi got so high that the swing chains went slack at the top of her arc, and she squealed in shock and lost half her height. Shuuya laughed at her, until the same happened to him and he came to a scrambling halt in the sand.

"Hmph!" Tsubomi gave one final pump of her legs - up, up, up, till she was just a silhouette against the sun - then she came to a skidding halt in a cloud of dust and stuck her tongue out at him. "Ha! I win."

"This time." Shuuya grinned. She wouldn't get away with this - next time, he would defeat her so miserably she'd have to beg him to stop bragging about it. But for now, well, he didn't want to risk giving his ego another beating, so he stood up and brushed some stray sand off his pants.

"Hey! Do you wanna-"

"Shuuya Kano! Shuuya, where are you?"

The woman's voice pierced his ears with a familiar franticness - he noticed Tsubomi flinch when she heard the voice, but Shuuya didn't react at all. Why should he? It was only his beloved mother. His mother, who loved him so much that she'd come out looking for him despite her horrible mood; his mother, who'd surely apologize to him for hurting him earlier; his mother, who loved him so much that she'd even bought him a cake for his last birthday. And yet Tsubomi flinched at the sound of his mother's voice. Why was that?

"I have to go now." He waved to Tsubomi, and she lifted her hand and fluttered her fingers back. Her face had reverted to its usual expressionlessness: Vacant black eyes in a smooth, calm face. Almost like she was saying goodbye to a stranger. "See you next time, Tsubomi!"

He turned and ran off.

"...Bye, Shuuya."

It was a bare whisper, probably not meant to be loud enough for him to hear, but somehow he still knew she'd said it. He spun around and waved his arm one last time, gave one final grin, at Tsubomi's figure. Already she was blurring into her surroundings, as though she'd never been there in the first place.

xoxoxoxox

Shuuya whistled a merry tune and stuck his hands in his pockets. Now, where was she? He'd seen a flash of green just a few minutes ago, so she had to be here somewhere. He'd recognize the olive colour of her hair practically anywhere.

He heard a faint rustling noise and spun around, instantly alert. Ah-ha.

"Fooound yooou~" He beamed and tossed himself into the bush. There was a squeal, and Shuuya found himself being shoved back by a small pair of silk-clad hands.

"Idiot!" Tsubomi cried. She wrestled free of the bush, and both the greenette and blond winced at the sound of fabric tearing. "Stupid Shuuya - I was going to scare you, you know. And then you ruined it."

Shuuya beamed and plucked a leaf out of her hair. She flushed and look away. "Aww, you're so adorable, Tsubomi. I didn't ruin anything - you're so cute that you couldn't scare a baby even if you wanted to!"

"I could so scare a baby," she retorted. Now the red in her cheeks was from annoyance, not embarrassment, and it only made Shuuya smile even harder.

"Okay~~!" He stood up and looked around. There - a woman sat on a bench, gently rocking a stroller back and forth. Shuuya pulled Tsubomi up and pointed. "There! If you can scare the baby, I'll - I'll go home with you and sleep in your room!"

"Whaat?" Tsubomi blushed harder and snatched her hands away from him. "My parents would never allow that!"

He continued, undeterred, still grinning. "And if you can't scare it... You'll... Hmm..."

"How about," she cut in, "if I can't scare it, you'll have a sleepover at my house, and if I can, then I'll have a sleepover at your house?"

He beamed. "Deal."

The two of them headed their way over to the stroller. Shuuya didn't need to worry about his mother noticing him and scolding him for his behaviour; she was at home, cooking lunch, several blocks away. And Tsubomi's parents... He didn't really know what Tsubomi's parents were like, but he was pretty sure that they wouldn't be at such a puny park in the middle of the day, even if it was the weekend.

They were only a scant few meters away from the stroller now. The woman had already spotted them, and she gave them a friendly smile while still rocking the stroller back and forth.

Shuuya strode forward...and paused. Why wasn't Tsubomi coming along? He turned and saw his answer: She'd frozen in her spot, white-faced, trembling with fear.

"I... I can't. If my parents find out..."

"They won't find out," Shuuya chided. Before she could react, he grabbed her hand and tugged her forward, and now they were both standing directly in front of the stroller, Shuuya making sure to stay closer to the mother so that Tsubomi at least wouldn't have to talk.

"Hey!" he said cheerfully, waving and smiling. "Can I see your baby?"

The woman returned his smile. "Go ahead. She's awake right now, but she's only a few months old, so she doesn't do much."

"It's all right!"

Shuuya gave Tsubomi's hand a light pinch and gave her a decisive stare. She stared back and sighed.

"Fine."

She released his hand - but not before returning his pinch with a fierce one of her own - and bent down before the baby.

"Um..." She lifted her hands and pretended to claw at the air while scrunching up her face and grimacing. "BOO!" she shouted, loud enough to make Shuuya flinch a little.

The baby only gurgled and bit into its fluorescent yellow toy.

Tsubomi straightened. Her face had become expressionless again - vacant eyes, smooth face - and she turned and ran off without another word.

"Tsubomi!" Shuuya turned back to the woman, who was now staring at him with bewilderment. "Um - sorry about that, I just - have a good day!"

He turned and ran off without hearing the woman's reply.

"Tsubomi! Hey, Tsubomi!"

She finally stopped and spun around. Shuuya blinked; there were tears, honest-to-goodness tears, in her eyes.

"You don't have to rub it in!" she screamed at him. "I know I'm not scary - it's like no one ever sees me at all sometimes! You don't have to rub it in!"

She broke down into sobs, and Shuuya did the first thing he could think of: He grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

She didn't resist, surprisingly. She clenched her fists in his shirt and sobbed into his chest for a few long minutes. He stood, silently, waiting for her crying to subside. Waiting and waiting for what felt like an eternity.

But, eventually, she stopped. She straightened, shoved him away, and wiped her tears with her silky white sleeves. "S... Stupid," she sniffed, but all her angry energy had dissipated, like it had flowed out of her along with her tears.

"Eheheh..." Shuuya grinned. "Sorry, Tsubomi. You don't have to do the punishment if you don't want."

Her face instantly lit up, and Shuuya gave himself a mental pat on the back for his excellent decision-making. "Really? Thank you! My parents would've been so upset."

"What're they like, your parents?"

Her face shut down again, and she took an unconscious step backward. "They... They... I have to go."

Now the mental pat on the back changed to a mental slap. "T-Tsubomi!"

She was shaking her head now, slowly. "No. I really do. Bye, Shuuya. I'll see you later."

She waved at him and spun around, dashing off. She didn't even turn around to see his own tentative wave goodbye.

xoxoxoxoxox

"Tsubomi, what is your family like?"

She dug her heels into the sand and halted. They were at the swings again; granted, the two children were larger than they'd been the last time they'd come, but they were still small enough to enjoy the playground.

"...Do I really have to tell you?"

Shuuya leaned forward and held out his hand, offering her his pinky finger. "I promise that I'll tell you about my mom, too. Deal?"

She chewed the inside of her cheek, staring down at his finger, but finally, she gave a tentative nod and stuck out her own pinky. "Deal."

They hooked fingers and shook.

"Okay!" Shuuya smiled. "So, Tsubomi, you go first. What's your family like?"

"My parents..." She sighed and looked down at her toes, encased in their shiny black Mary Janes. "They... They don't like me very much. They like my older sister a lot more. They're always spoiling her, talking about her... It's like nothing I do ever matches up to her." She blinked, and her eyelashes glistened with tears. "Sometimes, I don't even think love me. I can't even remember the last time I saw them face-to-face."

"Oh." Shuuya looked down at his own feet. "Well, your sister isn't that bad, is she?"

"She doesn't like me either. I'm just her stupid younger sister, who can't do a thing." Tsubomi dashed away her tears and turned to Shuuya. "What about you?"

He beamed. Finally, a chance to brag! "My mom's awesome! She really, really loves me - I bet she'd love you too, if she ever met you!" He began swinging back and forth - just a little, never enough for his feet to leave the ground - as he continued, "She's always making me lunch and breakfast and dinner and snacks in between, and she always hugs me a lot and she always tells me how much she loves me." He forced his smile to widen. "Well, she has a big temper, so sometimes she gets mad and hits me a bit - but it's okay, because I know that she actually loves me a lot! And she always apologizes to me right after, so I know she doesn't mean it. She just gets mad easily, that's all."

Tsubomi was watching him with vacant black eyes and a blank expression.

"...I see."

"Huuuh?" He stared at her in bemusement. "What does that mean?"

She stared back at him for a long, long moment. Then, with the same unreadable expression on her face, she commented, "Your mother must love you very much."

Shuuya beamed. "Yes, she does! She does."

xoxoxoxoxox

Shuuya still couldn't believe it. His mother was dead. Dead. He'd just come home one night and found her bloody corpse on the kitchen floor, and all the valuables missing.

...She was dead.

He went to her funeral along with a few strangers he'd never met before. Some were her coworkers, some were her friends, some were her distant relatives - too distant to take him in after the funeral. He sat by her grave, dressed in a long-sleeved suit that covered up all his finger-shaped bruises, as his relatives argued.

"Well, I'm not taking him! I've already got four brats of my own!"

"I'm not, either - I live in a Bachelor's apartment for god's sake, and I barely make enough to live on my own! How will I support him, too?"

"Why don't we just shove him into an orphanage and let the government take care of him, then?"

There was a glint of olive green in the corner of his eye, and he looked up to see Tsubomi standing in front of a gravestone, several rows away from him. She must've felt him staring at her, because no sooner had he noticed her than she looked up and gave him a soft smile, then turned and walked away. Even as she left, he stared after her, and he couldn't help but notice how her black blouse and skirt almost matched his own formal attire.

...Almost.

xoxoxoxox

"Hi, I'm your new big sister, Momo! And this social recluse here is your new big brother, Shintaro!"

Shuuya could only stare at them with blank eyes. Maybe this was how Tsubomi felt whenever she stared at him the same way: Emotionless. Empty. Void of all energy.

These two people were going to be his siblings? This bubbly girl, almost his age, and this silent, sallow-eyed boy? Why couldn't Tsubomi's family have taken him in? However horrible her parents were, he wouldn't have minded them - she would've made up for it just with her presence.

He missed Tsubomi already.

"Soooo... What's your name?"

Shuuya blinked. What? "Um... Were you asking me?"

The boy - Shintaro - rolled his eyes and snarkily snapped, "Of course she was talking to you. You think she was asking my name?"

God, Shuuya hated him already. "It's..."

Shuuya. His name was Shuuya - but did he really want to taint it by having these strangers say it day and night? No. He was going to reserve the name Shuuya for those he truly cared for: His deceased mother, and his beloved Tsubomi.

"...Kano."

xoxoxoxox

"Hey, Shuuya."

Shuuya blinked. "Tsubomi! I almost didn't recognize you."

She stood, staring at him, in her new attire: A purple iPod hoodie, with the collar of a high-necked red vest peeping out from underneath; cargo pants that matched her hair, with one leg rolled up to the knee; and grass-green Converse that looked bulkily large on her small frame.

"Same." She nodded at him, and he became acutely aware of his own new outfit.

A tan, long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up - all his bruises had already faded in the time it had taken him to get adopted - paired with jeans and heavy black boots, and topped with a long, black, hooded sweater. With three random polka dots on either side of the hood.

Honestly, he questioned his new sister's fashion sense.

"How have things been going for you?" he inquired, pushing back and forth on the swings. He was certain that he'd almost outgrown the swings by that point but he didn't care - they were familiar to him, and he would never tire of coming here to meet Tsubomi.

"...My sister died."

Shuuya blinked. Oh. Oh. "...Is that why you were at the cemetery?"

She blew a hank of hair out of her eyes. "Sort of."

That was all the explanation that she offered.

xoxoxoxoxox

There was something else about his new family that Shuuya didn't quite like: They didn't hit. They didn't have horrible tempers like his mother had had. Heck, the only one who seemed to have a temper at all was Momo, and it was always directed at her permanently-depressed brother.

It was very peculiar for Shuuya, going for so long without getting hit by someone. So he was all too delighted when Tsubomi began the habit.

"Heeey," he complained, rubbing his shoulder where she'd punched him - he'd never admit it but secretly those blows pleased him; they were proof that she cared for him, even though he sometimes went home bruised black and blue from the signs of her affection. "That huuurt, Tsubomi..."

She winced. "Don't call me that anymore."

"Huh?"

"I-I mean..." She looked away and stammered, "W-We're teens now, so we should quit calling each other by those names. You don't even go by Shuuya anymore; everyone calls you Kano."

He couldn't deny that. Sometimes he felt like Kano had become his name even more than Shuuya ever was. "Hmmm... Okay, then. What should I call you then, Tsubomi?"

She flushed. "I thought we agreed not to call each other by those names."

"But this is the last time I'll ever get to call you Tsubomi, Tsubomi," he teased. "So? What's your new name?"

"Kido."

"Hmmm." He grinned. "Kido and Kano - it sounds so nice together, doesn't it?"

Out flashed her fist, and he howled as she delivered a solid punch to his stomach.

"Idiot."

xoxoxoxoxox

"Hmm?" Momo peeked into the bathroom. "Kano, what're you doing?"

He looked up from his arm. He'd just come back from a fun afternoon with Kido, and naturally she'd given him a bucketload of bruises to care for. To make matters worse, he'd tripped on the way home and ended up with nasty scratches on his hands. He hadn't wanted to be noticed bandaging up his injuries, but...

Kano showed Momo his unbandaged hand and beamed. "Eheheh... I'm just fixing up my arms. I fell and scraped my hands, and I thought maybe I'd try bandaging the bruises, too, to see if that helps..."

Momo's eyebrows came down into a sharp V. "Bruises?"

"Ahhh, well, about that - I'm really clumsy, see, and I fall a lot whenever I walk in the park... Plus I like playing with kids, and they're usually not the most-"

"What bruises?"

He froze midsentence.

What bruises? What bruises? Oh, Kido would feel so insulted. Kano swallowed down the lump in his throat - everything was fine, the bathroom lights were just really dim, so naturally Momo couldn't see any of the bruises along his arms - and chirped, "Why, these bruises, of course! Like this one right here."

He pulled his shirt down over his shoulder and showed Momo the bruise. It was a real beauty. He still remembered how he'd gotten it:

"Heeey, Kido! Aw, you're still wearing the same old hoodie? Why don't you switch up once in a while? Like a frilly dress!"

Bam.

"Owwwww. But you would look so cute-"

Bam.

"Okaaaay. I'll stop talking..."

It was a vivid mass of purple, red and lime yellow, stretching all across his shoulder and halfway down his upper arm. He'd never shown Kido the full extent of the damage, of course; she'd probably apologize profusely and stop her physical abuse, and he simply couldn't let that happen. If she didn't hit him, how would he know if she liked him or not?

Kano expected Momo to recoil at the sight of the bruise, maybe even demand where he'd gotten it. Instead, she frowned and leaned in closer.

"Eh... Momo?"

She looked up at him, and the worry in her eyes froze him with fear.

No... Don't say it... Don't-

"Kano..." Momo hesitated. "There - There isn't any bruise."

His smile froze on his face.

"Yes, there is. It's right here. See?"

He shrugged off his sweater and pulled his shirt over his head, then turned and pointed again. "It's right here! Don't you see it? It's really big, and it's purple, red and yellow... Ah, what about this one?" He leaned over and pulled up his pant leg, exposing an equally nasty bruise on his shin. There was a story behind that one, too, a story that usually made him laugh whenever he thought about it, but he was panicking too much and he couldn't recall anything. "See? This one's at least as old as the one on my shoulder, and-"

"Kano."

He stayed crouched on the ground, still smiling, still staring at his shin. Not looking up. Not even when Momo put a hand on his shoulder.

"...There are no bruises."

He still didn't move.

Eventually, Momo sighed and left. He could dimly hear her talking to Shintaro - goodness knew about what - but he never shifted position.

They're real. They have to be real. I meet up with Kido at least every other day - I have so many bruises I can't even count them all. If I don't have them, then that means Kido doesn't hit nearly as hard as she'd like to - I can't just tell her that, that would be too harsh.

...If I don't have them that means Kido doesn't hit me at all.

...If she doesn't hit me at all...

...No. They're real. They have to be real. I know they're real. The lighting in here is just really bad. That's why Momo can't see them.

He straightened and let his pant leg fall back down, covering the bruise that he knew was on his shin. He pulled on his shirt again, but this time he let the sleeves cover his arms all the way to the wrist - just until the bruises heal, he told himself.

Oddly enough, it was only two days before all the bruises on his forearms healed.

And even odder still, from then on, Kido never hit him on the forearm again.

xoxoxoxox

"Heeeey, Kido!"

Kano waltzed up with a grin on his face. Kido was sitting on a swing, rocking back and forth just as always - but something wasn't quite right. When she looked up at him, it was without expression - she had that blank, vacant look in her eyes from when he was little, from when they were both little, from so long ago that he couldn't even remember when he'd last seen it.

"...Shuuya."

He plonked himself down beside her and laughed, ignoring the lump in his throat. "Hey, hey, hey, I thought we agreed not to call each other by those names anymore? What's going on?"

She was still staring at him with her black, black, black, expressionless eyes, and even he couldn't deny that his smile was beginning to waver.

"Shuuya, don't you think it's time to grow up?"

No. No. No no no no no this could not be happening he would not let this happen why oh why did this have to happen...

"I have no idea what you mean." He chuckled and swung forward, letting the momentum of the swing carry him forward, back, forward, back, forward. "Hey, you want some ice cream? I hear there's a new store open nearby and-"

"Shuuya!"

Her voice came out as a hiss, and Kano stopped dead in his tracks. He kept his smile glued on his face and his gaze glued on his feet. He couldn't see the expression on Kido's face as she let out a sharp exhale of air.

"Shuuya, I mean it. You're fifteen now. You can't keep on living these delusions."

"What delusions? I have no idea-"

"I've been with you for ten years now, but it's really time for you to move on."

There was a creaking noise, and Kido stepped in front of him. He tried to look away but her hands were cupping his face and forcing him to look up, to look into her black, empty eyes.

"You know it's true," she said softly. Kano never let his smile drop. "Shuuya - Kano - ten years. You have to stop."

Somehow he found his voice. "If you mean you want me to stop pursuing you, then Tsubomi dear, I'm afraid you'll have to give up, because I never-"

"Goddammit, Shuuya!" She released him and turned away. "Why do you have to make this so difficult?"

He kept watching her. Waiting for her next move. Too scared to make a move himself, to do something that could either shatter this moment or bring Kido's wrath upon him.

He almost wanted to say something horribly idiotic, just because it would make Kido angry, and if Kido was angry then she'd hit him, and if she hit him that meant she liked him, and if she liked him then things were normal, just the way they should be. But he knew, deep down inside, that no matter how stupid he pretended to be, things would never be normal again.

And God did it scare him to death.

At last Kido spun around to face him again, and were those tears in her eyes? "Kano. Kano, you've been fooling yourself for ten years. You have to stop."

His voice came out dry, humourless, unconsciously. He couldn't control his words. "Tsubomi dear, if you want me to give up on you, you'll have to try a lot harder than that."

Her eyes blazed with a familiar fire - yes, yes, that was the Tsubomi he knew - would things finally go back to normal now?

"Fine." She took a deep breath.

Oh. Oh, no. He released the swing's chains and clapped his hands over his ears - I don't want to listen to this - but it was already too late.

"Shuuya, I'm not real."

A low, guttural groan came out of his mouth. No, no, why did she have to say it? Why? Couldn't she have just kept on pretending, acting like everything was normal? Why did she have to ruin everything?

And yet still she went on, standing silhouetted against the sun, with an unreadable expression as she told him, "I'm made up. You made me up when you were five years old because of your mother-"

"No," he moaned, but she continued relentlessly on.

"-you gave me a family even worse than your own because you wanted to believe that your mother truly loved you and that her actions were justified-"

"No!"

"-you wanted a friend you could have fun with, somebody weaker than you that you could comfort, because you wanted to feel strong; you wanted someone who would keep abusing you even after your mother's death because you didn't want to admit that her actions were not the actions of a loving mother, you needed to convince yourself that the only way to display affection was through violence-"

He shot up and lunged forward, grabbed her collar, yanked her close. She stared down at him with her flat, emotionless eyes as he screamed, tears flooding down his cheeks, "Why are you telling me this?! I don't need you to tell me these things!"

She was silent for a moment, and then he heard her quiet murmuring voice continue:

"You refuse to accept the fact that I don't exist, so you've deluded yourself into thinking I do. Even when we were little, you avoided interaction with strangers because they'd pretend I wasn't there, and you'd have to face the truth of my existence. You even hallucinated and imagined that the bruises you thought I gave you were real." She let out a hollow laugh. "Bad lighting? Really? Did you really think that would be a good enough excuse?"

He gritted his teeth and didn't answer.

It had been bad lighting. It must've been. Because if it hadn't, then she was right - both Kido and Momo were right: The bruises weren't actually there. And if the bruises weren't actually there, then the rest of what Kido was saying was true. Kido was-

"I'm just your imaginary friend," she murmured. "And it's time for you to stop imagining."

He released her and fell back onto the swing, sat hunched over, staring down at the sand below him. He kept staring as Kido sighed, as she leaned forward, as she whispered in his ear:

"It was fun, Kano. Goodbye."

There was a soft crunching noise as she walked away. When Kano finally looked up, after long long minutes of simply sitting and waiting, she was gone.

xoxoxoxox

She existed. She had to exist. The only question was, why had she pulled such a cruel trick on him? And where had she gone?

He searched valiantly for a girl by the name of "Tsubomi Kido". After all, what could "Kido" be, if not her last name? His full name was Shuuya Kano, so logically, hers must be "Tsubomi Kido". But no matter where he searched - online, phone books, newspaper articles - he found no records of a "Tsubomi Kido" with black eyes and green hair.

He searched for wealthy families with the surname Kido, with daughters named Tsubomi. Nothing.

He went to the cemetery and searched among the graves where he'd seen her standing that one, lonely afternoon. All the graves in the section where she'd been standing were of unfamiliar names, with modest headstones and bizarre inscriptions, and even death dates that were several decades old.

Okay. His memory was faulty, then. He searched in a different section of the graveyard, then in another one, until he'd searched the entire graveyard. Still nothing.

Momo noticed his odd behaviour, of course. She was his adoptive sister, after all; but she wisely chose not to interfere, so he chose not to tell her about it. Any of it.

He was sitting at the cemetery one night, almost void of all hope, when it hit him.

Yes. Of course.

He could make it so that Tsubomi Kido had existed.

It was so, so easy. How had he not thought of it before? This way, no one would be able to doubt her existence. She existed, all right; it was just that she was dead, that was why he hadn't seen her in so long.

Yes, he would mourn her passing, but at least he would have assurances that she had been alive.

So he set out with his plan.

He bought sandpaper and chisels from a store near his house. He spent hours every day sanding down his mother's headstone - she was dead, she didn't need it, and besides, he was the only one who actually visited her grave. And, furthermore, he had proof she'd been real: He had photos, letters, handwritten notes, everything. The only thing he would have that belonged to Kido would be this gravestone.

When the stone was polished smooth, he engraved the following into it:

Tsubomi Kido.

20xx-20xx.

Loved daughter, sister, friend.

Beloved best friend.

Remains on this earth, even after death.

There. Now no one could deny that she'd ever existed.

The day that he finished the tombstone, he sat down and laughed. And laughed, and laughed, and laughed, even through the tears coursing down his cheeks.

She was real. She was real. She'd denied it herself, but there - this was proof that she was real.

He'd never let go of her. Never.

No goodbye in the world would ever change that.

A/N: Aaaand there you have it, folks. Who guessed? I'd originally named this ficlet "Ghost", and then my editor said "the title makes it seem like Kido's a ghost", which she is not, so I had to change it. Just a little tidbit for all of you.

Now, remember, constructive criticism, critique, etc. are always welcome and very much appreciated, even if in the form of flames (not that I'm encouraging you, but if there's constructive stuff in them, I doubt that I'd mind). But before we go...

Okay. This is what happened.

I enlisted my friend to help me edit this because it needed editing and stuff. And my original final sentence was going to be something about death doing them part, which sounded awful to me, so I asked for advice. Her answer was something along the lines of: "Lol bro like got no idea whatever it's all good to me XD" (Thank you, friend. How very helpful, friend.) And then as I was tearing my hair out over her answer, she commented, "just be like 'then he was hit by a lightning bolt'".

So, with the amazing, extremely helpful aid of my friend, I changed the conclusion to what it is currently.

And then she added another sentence.

And then I let my imagination run free.

So, here you have it, guys. A bit of craziness that I, for no reason whatsoever, decided to actually upload onto here. Despite my doubts. My many, many doubts. Maybe it'll make you feel better if I succeeded in making you feel sorry for Kano - you know, alleviating the pain with bad humor!

Enjoy the alternate ending.

She was real. She was real. She'd denied it herself, but there - this was proof that she was real.

He'd never let go of her. Never.

No goodbye in the world would ever change that.

But then he was struck by a lightning bolt.

"HAHAHA!" The last thing he saw was Kido's grinning form - and was that a toga she was wearing? "I fooled you, foolish human! For, truly, I am Hera, the goddess of marriage and Zeus's wife and you utterly failed the test that you were set! HUMANITY IS NOW DOOMED! Mwahahahah!"

His last thought before death was:

What the fuck?