Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
A new AU! Sorry I'm not updating my other things at the moment but since it was Halloween (at least at the moment) I wanted to write something that I could market off as Halloween-y. Even though it wasn't.
This is an AU based on the monster genre, of like supernatural creatures like Werewolves and Vampires. Note about the setting, I imagine it as not present time but more Victorian and older.
I just wanted to write a fun AU. Uhhh the title has nothing to do with anything I just mashed words together, my apologies. I always do that.
This story will be only ten chapters. So short for me. Which is good.
"The conductor has said there's no problems with our bags. They're all packed." Natsumi sat down next to her brother on the train. Her brother leaned on his arm and sighed, looking out the window.
He surveyed the farming communities that they kept on passing and the clean wilderness, untouched by man.
"Fuyuki?" Natsumi shook his arm. "Having second thoughts?" she asked her brother. "You scared of trains or something?" She gave a nervous laugh. Trains were relatively new, and she had never rode one before. Maybe Fuyuki had. Her little brother traveled a lot more than she did.
"No." Fuyuki shook his head. "I'm - I'm shaking with excitement! Sis, this could be what the occult is looking for! I mean... It's just so mysterious. A town far away from the rest of civilization... countless reports of strange disappearances. Outsiders rarely ever return, sis. Nobody's done any research on this place. Don't you think something supernatural is going on?" His eyes were sparkling.
Natsumi sighed. Her brother was eighteen, a young adult. He should have put these childish notions behind him. But here he was, having finished all his schooling and instead of settling down and getting married he was running off to solve some sort of mysterious murder in a country that was far away from their own.
Where did I go wrong? Natsumi wondered. How had her life lead to this? Following her younger brother into a dangerous town to make sure he didn't end up being murdered by someone like every other traveler who had entered this town had. "Fuyuki, it's been discovered that outsiders don't return because they're killed. People have been disappearing! Why do you think that is?" She held up the newspaper which had addressed the disappearances. "They are killed. There's nothing supernatural about being killed." She crossing her arms and frowned.
"But the authorities haven't even looked into this town. They're too superstitious. The people realize there's something supernatural going on. Why can't you just give me a chance to prove this? I'll get the evidence to prove the supernatural monsters exist," said Fuyuki.
Natsumi leaned back in her chair. "Are you saying a werewolf, or - gasp - a vampire did it? That's just childish, Fuyuki. And even if they did, it's not our job to leave our home and capture them."
"It might not be your job. But it is mine. I studied for years about the supernatural when I went off to school. And I'm ready to prove that I didn't just study a bunch of childish foolishness," he insisted. Natsumi tried not to laugh. "Anyway, my current theory is actually that it was a witch or wizard. But I'll have to see the crime scene to ensure it wasn't a vampire or werewolf."
This time, Natsumi did laugh.
Fuyuki shot a glare at her. "Hey! Might I remind you I have more of a right to talk about this issue than you. I studied it, remember?"
Natsumi frowned. Just because Fuyuki had gone to some sort of fancy boarding school when he was younger and she had stayed at home to take care of their parents didn't mean anything.
Unfortunately, their parents had died. And although they left a small fortune for them to take care of themselves until Fuyuki and Natsumi got families of their own and married, she still missed them. She was sure her mother could have talked some sense into Fuyuki.
"You don't have to come with me, Natsumi, if you really don't like it," Fuyuki told her.
"Of course I do. You're my little brother and you are literally going into a town with a murderer on the lose," she said. "I want to keep you safe."
Fuyuki smiled. His sister might not have agreed with his viewpoints, but he still loved her and they were still close. "Thanks, sis."
Really, Natsumi had other reasons to come besides that. Two main reasons, really. She wanted to convince Fuyuki to give up this foolish dream, to start doing productive things for society instead of chasing ghosts, and she wanted to be away from home. She was tired of the people there badgering her about why she wasn't married yet at the age of twenty. She didn't want to settle down with some guy. She wanted to adventure around, too. But because she had chosen to be the responsible one out of the two of them and take care of her parents, she had missed out on her years of potential adventuring. And now the people of her town were badgering her to settle down and take care of another person. She knew it was frowned upon for women to not be married or engaged by the age of eighteen, and being twenty, she was far above that age, but she didn't care. She didn't want to get married.
Fuyuki, however... He should have been home. "Think about the dangers of going into this town. What will happen if you get killed?"
"I'll be killed for research," he responded.
"Fuyuki... You're supposed to be back home. Don't you think your fiancee misses you?" Natsumi pointed out. Unlike herself, Fuyuki had a fiance. She was a nice girl that Natsumi had barely spoken to that he had met at school. She had heard from Fuyuki that she had actually financed this elaborate trip and expenses. She suspected that was the reason Fuyuki agreed to marry her, so he could have enough money for this research trip. Some sort of sad rich girl who had fallen for her idiot brother.
"She'll be fine. And I promise, this will be the last wild research trip I go on before I'm married," Fuyuki told her. "Heck, if it makes you feel better, if I don't find any evidence of the supernatural, I'll give it up."
Natsumi bit her lip. A raw deal - Fuyuki could fake evidence of the paranormal out of anything. Including missing tofu. Cloudy windows were ghosts to that boy. But she knew at least this deal was something he was intent on carrying out since he was getting married. He'd have to give up his childish dreams and grow to be an adult soon. "You promise?" she asked.
"Promise. This'll be my last wild research trip. And we'll stay safe. Don't worry. I have no intention of dying here," Fuyuki told her. Natsumi smiled.
She just had to make sure Fuyuki didn't find any leads on the supernatural. She was sure there wouldn't really be any leads on any sort of monsters, but Fuyuki might think there would be.
And there was still the fact that the town was dangerous. Sure, she had hired a bodyguard for their mission, but she was still worried.
"You really want to go on this research trip, don't you?" Natsumi asked. Fuyuki had been interested in this town for a while. And he was obviously dedicated enough to agree to marry some girl so he could finance this trip.
"Yep!" He hummed and continued looking out the window, writing down all the things he saw in his journal.
"The train is safe, Natsumi." Their bodyguard, or escort she had hired, dropped from the ceiling. Natsumi giggled. She hadn't really suspected the train wasn't safe, but she certainly felt a lot safer with a trained ninja with them.
Koyuki Azumaya was the third person accompanying them on their trip. And she was quite skilled and talented. Not to mention a personal friend of hers who she trusted with not only her life, but more importantly Fuyuki's. Getting Koyuki to agree to go with them had made Natsumi feel safer about going on this dumb trip.
"Koyuki, sit down with us," Natsumi requested.
"But... are you sure? Shouldn't I be on the job?" Koyuki asked. Ever since Natsumi and Fuyuki had hired her for this job, she'd started treating Natsumi more like an employer. After all, she very desperately wanted to do a good job to earn her pay. She was part of a dying ninja clan, and from what Natsumi had heard from Koyuki, she wasn't exactly sure what to do with her life anymore.
"You're my friend. Not just my bodyguard. You can sit down," Natsumi insisted. Koyuki sat down. "Koyuki, you can try to convince Fuyuki this trip is pointless, right? He thinks we're going to find some sort of supernatural murderer." She laughed at the preposterousness of the situation.
Koyuki rubbed her arm uncomfortably. And it wasn't just because she was on a train and she wasn't used to vehicles besides boats. "Actually, I believe in the supernatural, Natsumi," she said.
"What?" Natsumi dead-panned.
"See?" Fuyuki flapped his arms about. "Not everyone thinks it's foolish!"
"Spirits live throughout the world. But humans today don't worship them. They think that their power has brought the world to how it is today. So they've been forgetting to worship, and the spirits have been dying off. Our eyes aren't trained to see them. They don't show themselves to us," Koyuki explained. "At least, that was the belief in my clan. We tried to respect nature. Not destroy it for these fancy new train things."
Fuyuki frowned. "Actually, the supernatural I want to look into are other things, more like monsters and abnormalities... not really spirits."
Koyuki frowned, "That's what most people say." She squirmed in her seat, looking away from Fuyuki. Their beliefs were similar, but not enough the same, and for that they disagreed more than Natsumi and Fuyuki, whose beliefs were completely different.
Natsumi looked back and forth between the two of them, but decided it wasn't time to put her opinion in the conversation. Maybe it was just time to rest. They'd be at the town soon.
The town of Lunaris only had one train station. And when the train finally stopped, Natsumi saw that there was nobody waiting at the station..
"All departing!" The conductor yelled as only Natsumi, Fuyuki and Koyuki's bags were loaded off. They were the only ones with a ticket for this town.
And the town was so eery and quiet. Nobody got back on the train. When Natsumi did spot a person wandering about the town out of the corner of her eye, they seemed to scurry away like a rat, frightened of the newcomer, hiding behind a building or something.
"It's so quiet," Koyuki realized. "I sense that people live here, but I feel only fear."
"Don't worry. I got papers from the king who governs this country giving us permission to investigate the murderers, so we have some jurisdiction in this town." Fuyuki tried to comfort Natsumi's queasy stomach.
"Wh-where do we go?" Natsumi asked, trying to grab onto Fuyuki's arm to protect him. Not because she was scared, of course
"There's a countess who governs this town. We'll see her first for lodging, and tell her that we'll be investigating the murders. Don't worry, I have a map." Fuyuki unrolled a map from his bags. "Let's go."
Natsumi nodded and carried her and Fuyuki's bags. They had a long walk ahead of them.
Luckily, the train station was in one of the denser parts of the town. Natsumi saw houses all over the place, but despite that, she didn't see many people. Maybe about fifty, max. Every time they approached a house, the shutters would slam shut, like everybody was terrified.
They do have a murderer on the lose. I guess they would be terrified, Natsumi thought to herself. She could see the countess's castle in the distance, the brick road they walked on leading to it. The streetlights seemingly leading them to the huge castle.
"Do you think she's nice?" Koyuki asked.
"Why don't we ask one of the locals?" Fuyuki suggested, in a good mood at being in the spooky town. It didn't seem to bother him how spooky it felt.
What locals? Natsumi thought to herself. But Fuyuki seemed to spot one walking around in the streets who hadn't run into any sort of store or home at the sight of them. It looked like a young boy, around Fuyuki's age, with long and messy red hair covering his eyes. He had this gloomy atmosphere around him.
"Hi there! Excuse us, I'm a traveler and I was wondering if I could ask you a question?" Fuyuki asked, approaching the boy.
"I'll kill her... That stupid, stupid woman thinking she can steal my man... Heheheh, she should be dead. And then I'll devour her and absorb her power... That's how it works, right?" The red-haired boy didn't even notice Fuyuki. He just walked past him, playing with a straw voodoo doll and stabbing pins in it. His language and words didn't make sense.
Fuyuki frowned at getting ignored.
"Well, these people certainly seem weird..." Natsumi kicked at a rock on the ground.
"Was that the murderer?" Koyuki asked.
"I... I don't know," was all Fuyuki could say.
They finally reached the iron gates of the castle. They could see the garden and landscape, overgrown grass, tangled trees that were barren, and many many bats.
It gave Natsumi the creeps. A shiver went up her spine.
"Still say there's nothing supernatural about this place? It's the classic scenery that some sort of monster would live in!" said Fuyuki.
"How do we get in, though?" Koyuki asked. The gates were not open.
A round, circular thing was next to the gate. It looked like some sort of button. But why would a button be on a wall? Natsumi had never seen that sort of thing. Painted above it were the words "Press Me."
Maybe this place has more technological advancements than home, she thought to herself. The streets hadn't really suggested that sort of thing, but this weird button thing looked like it had a purpose. Natsumi pressed it.
It squirted water at her. A little flag popped out of the wall with the words "Idiot" written on it and an arrow pointing to her. "HEY! That had no purpose at all!" Why the heck would some weird button be so terrible? "AUGH! I hate this place!" Angrily, Natsumi grabbed the gate and started shaking it.
"Sis!" Fuyuki tried to stop her angry outburst. Natsumi had quite the explosive temper.
"I think the real creature you should be researching is your sister..." Koyuki pointed out as the gate snapped open.
"THAT'LL TEACH THIS DUMB GATE TO CALL ME AN IDIOT!" Natsumi yelled. "Oh hey, the gate is open! And bent..."
Fuyuki's eyes were wide. "You might be right," he told Koyuki privately.
They walked down the path and knocked on the large doors.
This is it... We'll figure out who would install such a mean prank... who would be in charge of a town with such a suspicious atmosphere... Natsumi thought to herself. Despite not believing in the supernatural, she did imagine that whoever owned this town looked like some evil old lady, with long fingernails and who ate travelers for dinner.
The door opened.
"Sorry, I'm late! I don't get many visitors!" Instead of an old lady standing in front of them, a sweet-looking girl about her own age in a sleek dark purple dress stood before them. Her skin was pale, her hair was silver, her eyes were golden, and the most friendly smile was on her face.
Out-goingness seemed to seep from the girl's pores. Natsumi hadn't expected to see someone like that in this town.
"Um... we're here to see the countess," Natsumi said.
"Oh! That would be me." The girl giggled foolishly. She reached her hand out. "You don't look familiar. You could say, a new face?"
Fuyuki shook it vigorously. "Yeah, we're travelers. We have permission to be here by the king." He rolled out a document. "Sorry about your gate, by the way..." He looked over his shoulder at the broken gate.
The countess's eyes widened. "What happened to it?" she asked.
"My sister." Fuyuki looked at the ground, slightly embarrassed. "Your, uhhh, button kind of insulted her."
"Oh, I'm sorry... One of my servants was going to make it easier for people to open it on their own... I guess he might have installed something unpleasant. I'll talk to him later," she apologized.
Natsumi felt calmer, knowing that the countess hadn't been the one to insult her.
"Please come in! You're the second visitors I've had this month! It's such a nice surprise!" the girl clapped her hands excitedly. "I'll make some tea. You're going to love it here." Forgetting about the court order, she scurried off.
Stepping inside the castle, the atmosphere was nothing like what was outside. Everything was nicely furnished and clean and it actually looked quite bright and pleasant.
"Well, to be honest, I almost believed you for a moment about that sort of supernatural thing," Natsumi laughed. "But my fear at this castle was clearly a misunderstanding." She sat on a sofa with the rest.
The countess returned with tea, sugar, honey and all the sweet things. She set out a plate of pastries, smiling kindly. "Now... about why you're here. Are you looking for work, like the last person?"
"Someone else came here? I thought this place didn't get many outsiders," Fuyuki frowned. Was this mysterious spooky place just rumored to be spooky?
"That's a rumor. All sorts of people enter this town looking for work and such," the girl laughed. "Just last week, I hired a new pageboy, for example."
Fuyuki frowned. In his disappointment Natsumi unrolled his document and showed it to her.
"My name's Natsumi Hinata, this is my brother Fuyuki Hinata. Over there is our bodyguard Koyuki Azumaya. With permission from the king, we've been authorized to investigate this town."
The countess looked at the document. "We have a king in this country?"
She's that airheaded that she didn't know there was a king? How can a countess not know there's a king? Natsumi kind of wanted to giggle. Maybe she was new to the job. Airheadedness wasn't always a bad thing. It just made her appear more friendly.
"My name's Angol Mois," the countess smiled. "I'm happy to have you. But why do you need to investigate this town? And how long will you be staying?" She was confused. "You could say, home sweet home's in tip top shape?"
Fuyuki laughed nervously. "Actually, I don't know if you're aware, but a lot of people have been disappearing in this town. News just got out to the outside world that the population has been declining a lot and that these people just disappear with no trace. They've been officially declared murderers," Fuyuki explained.
"So... are you someone from the army?" Mois asked. "Here to help keep us safe?"
"Actually... I'm a college graduate." Fuyuki didn't feel any less pride in telling her this. "I'm on a research trip searching for the supernatural, and I think maybe the murderers could be linked with something paranormal!" he declared.
"That's a fun little theory," Mois smiled. "I don't know if it has much truth or not, but follow your dreams!" She didn't shoot him down or confirm anything. It was enough to make both Fuyuki and Natsumi like her. "I'll authorize you to live in an empty house for free during your stay, then... I'm sorry about the rest of the townspeople. A lot of the people are more private folks," she said. "But I personally love visitors!" She smiled broadly and waved her hands in the air joyfully.
"I have no idea how such an unfriendly town manages to have such a friendly countess." Natsumi shook her head. "I'm glad someone here likes visitors."
"What's up with your garden, though?" Koyuki asked. "It... It looks so spooky."
Mois frowned. "I'm the countess, not the gardener. My gardener has some stylistic choices and I support people expressing themselves. Whatever makes them happy, right?"
Natsumi frowned. Sometimes a person could be too friendly. And if they were surrounded by people who were not their lifestyle reflected the unfriendliness. Not the friendliness.
"Anyway, do you have a map. I'll point you to your new home." Mois pointed to their new home, and Fuyuki quickly thanked her.
"Visit again soon!" she waved. "I'd love to speak again!"
And soon enough Natsumi, Koyuki, and Fuyuki were off to their temporary home.
"She was nice." Natsumi entered their new house. It looked a little dusty, but it was large. Two stories and plenty of bedrooms.
"Yeah... I was kind of hoping she'd be spooky..." Fuyuki frowned. "But it's good to have an ally when searching for the supernatural. And this house is nice, too."
Natsumi and Fuyuki had instantly trusted Mois when they had seen her warm smile. I hope we get to see her more. It's nice to see such a bubbly countess, Natsumi thought to herself, cleaning what would be her bed.
"Guys..." Koyuki walked up to them, holding a journal. "I... I think I know why this house is so empty."
"Why?" Fuyuki asked. Koyuki showed them the name on a diary she held up.
"Isn't this the name of someone who disappeared? Wasn't this the home of one of the people declared murdered?"
Natsumi got off her bed immediately. "Well... this makes the house more creepy..."
"This is great!" Fuyuki smiled, not seeing the seriousness of this situation. "That means the murderer might strike twice! We might be able to catch the creature! And then I can take it home for research."
Natsumi shook Fuyuki. "Luring a murderer to us isn't exciting, Fuyuki!" she yelled. "Get a grip, this is dangerous! The person in charge of this town might be nice, and the only good thing we've encountered, but the rest of this town is messed up! We are living in the house of a murder victim!" She was shaking as she shook him. "Please... just act responsibly about this."
Koyuki put her hand on Natsumi's shoulder to stop her outburst. "Natsumi... It's all right, I promise to protect you. That's why I'm here. Against a murderer, a trained ninja should be able to beat them."
Natsumi felt calmer and she let Fuyuki go. But she still felt mad at her brother for being foolish and idealistic about this whole thing.
"I'm going shopping for some groceries. I'll check out the town while you two clean and try not to get murdered," she sighed in annoyance.
Fuyuki nodded and Natsumi slammed the door behind her.
Shopping was pretty easy. After they had seen the countess, the people had started walking on the streets again. Despite the townspeople's unfriendliness, they seemed quite happy to take her money.
They were like every other group of people. Typical.
And just as usual, people had tried to make conversation with her by asking her where her husband was. These were probably the most typical group of people she had met. Nothing mysterious about them.
It annoyed Natsumi.
Holding a bag of groceries, Natsumi headed home, passing a street corner and unlit alleyway. Next to her, a tan-skinned man dressed in red leaned against a wall. She tried to ignore him. He was just another part of the scenery. But unlike people she usually passed on the street, he spoke to her.
"Hey." He addressed her in a gruff voice.
Natsumi held onto her bag tighter. Despite looking mostly normal, the blond-haired man had one unusual feature - a large scar across his left eye.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" the man yelled. Natsumi tried walking faster. "You're a traveler, right? An outsider?"
She stopped for a second. How did he know? Did the people of this town have that much of a tight-nit community?
"What?" she asked, annoyed. The man was closer to her - his face was right in front of her. And he was glaring.
"You shouldn't have come to this town. You've made the stupidest decision of your life," he hissed.
Natsumi's blood ran cold. Nobody had spoken to her about the disappearances or the murderers if they were native to the town. Not even the countess had seemed that aware of them. But this man seemed to acknowledge the danger.
"I'm aware. But don't worry. I'm tough. I'll be fine," she gruffly told him back.
"Doesn't matter how tough you think you are. You'll be dead soon, like all the rest of the travelers. I'm warning you... If you value your life, leave. And take your two friends with you. You don't want to be here," he told her.
Natsumi felt fear bubble in her stomach. She wanted to ask more, but before she could speak to him, he quickly turned away and darted down the alleyway, into the darkness away from her.
Was he warning me, or was that a threat? she wondered. His words sounded like a warning, but the way he spoke sounded like a threat.
She knew this town was dangerous, but this was the first time that someone that wasn't herself had said so.
And having someone else say it made it all the more scary.
I hope you liked the first chapter.
So just a recap, because I know it can be hard to keep track of characters in an AU, the characters that appeared this chapter were Natsumi, Fuyuki, Koyuki, Angol Mois. Technically Aki and Haru were mentioned but they are deceased so they won't show up again.
Tamama and Giroro appeared also appeared.
Sorry I wrote this to pretend I was being festive when I really wasn't.
Please review!