Can't Be

Rain. Another rainy day. It couldn't be helped, it was that time of the year after all, but Yuiko still hated the reminder it brought her.

Suddenly there was a crashing sound and she heard a group of kids talking near her playground. She frowned, straining her ears to hear the conversation in case it was a fight.

"--it just jumped out of nowhere okay! It's probably dead!"
"But what if it isn't? It's not just some cat-"
"It's not our problem- ah geez, I have to get home-"
"But-"
"It's just a probably dead animal, leave it!"

And the voices trailed away. A shame. It was probably one of the stray cats that visted her playground. Might as well pay her respects (She knew that animals rarely returned as ghosts, unless they were yokai, so she wasn't expecting it to turn into one).

Glancing around to make sure no one would see an invisible, human shaped figure suddenly appear in the rain, she flew over to where she heard the kids converse, foregoing walking as floating was faster, and squinted to figure out which stray was run over.

"....Huh?"

But what met her washed out green eyes was not a cat but... a human. Or well, a [yokai] in the form of one, as his ears and tail were very much visible... but that wasn't what had shocked her.

"Oi... this ain't funny.... you damn tanuki...." She knelt at the brunette's side, trying to nudge his shoulder, forgetting that she was a ghost who couldn't touch things unless she concentrated- but she couldn't focus. Not with the rain. Not with what was in front of her. Not with the memories that kept washing over her.

[ It was an accident. She hadn't seen the stoplight. Even though the car tried to stop, the rain made the road slippery. She was brought to the hospital... too late. She was gone. ]

"Wake up! This ain't a very good joke! Oi!" She kept trying to shake him, only succeeding slightly- her voice shook as she yelled at him "Wake up! Don't leave me alone damn it! Wake up already, Ooji!"

"Hnn...?" Ooji finally stirred, his eyes fluttering open "...why are you yelling...?" His voice held no hint of pain, just the grogginess of sleep. "It was pretty hard to dodge in time.... let me sleep more..."

"....I....diot......" She whispered, taking a handful of his shirt. He immediately sat up, more awake.

"Huh? What? What did I do?" He asked, then blinked when he noticed her shaking "Are you..... crying?"

Instead of replying, she rested her forehead against his shoulder, fist very lightly hitting his chest "...idiot" she whispered, her voice so low that even with his tanuki ears it took him a few moments to understand "You're an idiot tanuki... don't you ever just... sleep on the side walk like that again"

"....????"

Her voice going even softer as she clutched his shirt, she added "Don't just die and leave... please... don't leave me alone..."