Umehito Nekozawa was looking thoughtfully at the seven gold coins stacked vertically on the polished table in his study. A slight breeze made the curtains flutter. He glanced at the fluttering curtains and sighed as he shifted his pale blue gaze at the gold coins. He took the stack and placed them into a small leather pouch. He went at the center of circular room. He stood beneath the chandelier and knelt. He placed his right hand on the ground in front of him. A glow emitted from him palm which seemed to flow into the faint lines on the floor. The glowing lines formed a pentagram.

There was echoing sound of something opening. The pentagram ground slowly descended like a lift with him still kneeling at the center as it slowly rotated and it stopped at the west wall. He rose and glanced at a small empty slot, number 265. He bit his right thumb and rubbed the blood on the thumb on the stone slab of number 265. The stone slab absorbed the blood and the slab opened. He bit the pad of his right ring finger and with the blood on his thumb, "I bind and cast the Seven Coins of Midas into the limitless abyss forever." He pressed his bloodied thumb and ring finger on the tied leather pouch.

The blood on the pouch turned to glowing red threads and the threads bound the pouch tightly. He placed the pouch into the opened slot and the slab automatically closed the slot. He heard a faint vacuum sound within number 265. He also heard a faint wailing from within number 265. He felt the hairs on the back of his nape stand. He swiped the blood from his thumb and ring finger on the number 265. The blood absorbed into the stone slab and fortified the slot with a light red glow. He stepped back into the center of the pentagram and it ascended upwards to the study.

He stepped out of the pentagram and the glowing lines diminished. He walked to the window, placed his thumb and ring finger into his mouth. The saliva from his tongue cleaned the wounds. Then he watched the darkened seven mountains in the twilight sky. The seven coins were one of seven cursed items that had been stolen from his cousin's mansion in Russia. The Nekozawa clan had been notified of the imminent danger and the importance of retrieving the accursed ancient items. It wasn't how it was stolen but how to retrieve them back.

Four of the seven stolen items have been retrieved successfully by his Russian cousin. The seven coins of Midas would bring out the manifestations of greed to those having hidden that dark sin in their hearts. The end result for all the cursed items were death especially if the items were stolen from the two owners. The robbers were found dead in the most gruesome way that none would assume it was done by humans. Those who bought the items usually through illegible means would find that their lives were like a thin, fine line and fragile enough to be broken.

As the descendant of the Dark Mage, he was one of two owners of the accursed items. If one owner found the item of the co-owner, nothing would happen to them. The remaining three accursed items according to the communiqué were in Japan. With the coins already secured, there were two left and the perfect person in this sort of quest would be the person who'd helped him retrieve the coins. The person on his mind was his curse breaker, Haruhi Fujioka. The next item he needed to secure was the Deadly Vanity Mirror.

He turned to smile in his lazy mysterious way to an invisible audience, "Hello, my delightful wandering and wondering cats. As you have just witnessed, this is what I do when I'm not designing and developing technological weapons for the government. The world as we see and live in isn't the only world in existence. There are others worlds, unknown to us where the items there are terrifying and fatal to us. As you've witnessed, the coins were from one of these dimensions. The people involved in stealing and selling and owning the coins were all dead."

"Their deaths were abnormal, sadistic and beyond the word of pain." Placing an elbow on the window sill, "My advice, if you happened to notice any coin on the ground, or in a fountain or anywhere at all, never ever pick it up. Just leave it. You might never know what you'd bring back with you." He narrowed his eyes, "The story I'm about to tell you isn't about the coins. Well, perhaps I'll tell some other time. But this story is from my personal files about a Yakuza whom I used to know before he became one of the four vice chiefs to the chieftain of the underworld outfit."

"He told me the story of his rival's inopportune. His rival was hired by a mysterious client to retrieve a few items in an ancient and abandoned mansion. However," He shook his head, "the cat burglar that his rival had commissioned had other ideas…"

Midnight, an old mansion on top of a hill in Isshouan…

Akira Kamata, the sleek and notorious dorobo-neko (cat burglar/thief) broke into the old mansion belonging to a deceased rich man in his late nineties to steal certain items in the mansion. Roichi Murakami, his contractor laughed as he'd beaten his rival Ritsu Kasanoda in this once in a lifetime job. Who wouldn't want to 'take' the items in the legendary mansion? It was said the items in this mansion were out of this world, one of their kind and to kill for.

"Akira," Roichi passed him the list, "These items will bring the world on its knees and I want them. You have the first one million," Roichi motioned one of his henchmen with a silver attache case to open it for Akira to see, "And you'll have another million if you pull this off successfully."

He gazed at the yakuza leader with impassive eyes. "I don't want the money. I want something else…"

Roichi raised an eyebrow, "You don't want money?" He chuckled, "This isn't like you." He nodded, "Okay, what?"

Akira pointed at the ancient ring on Roichi's middle finger given to him by the mysterious client. "That would do just fine."

Roichi narrowed his eyes, greedy pup, he thought then he gave a slight smile, "As expected of a specialist." He took off the ring and threw it to Akira who caught it with ease.

Akira slipped it on to his forefinger and nodded his gratitude, "Success is guaranteed."

He was here now. He switched on his torchlight to discover the house was thick with dust and cobwebs from top to bottom. As he browsed, his gaze caught sight of the pale glint of tarnished items from each area he'd shone the torchlight at. All were made from pure silver with a few having pure gold lining. He'd insisted that the yakuza boss the intricately designed ancient ring he wore as he skillfully flicked the specific items and inserting them into the specialized sack. He smiled at his fortune as he passed the portrait of a beautiful woman in the master bedroom with long flowing hair billowing in the wind.

Flowing hair? Billowing in the wind? He turned his head to stare at the portrait. The image of the portrait looked far yonder. He shrugged and was convinced there wasn't anything particularly odd about it at all. It was all tricks of the moonlight casting shadows into the broken French windows. He peered closer and booed at the portrait. All of a sudden, his eyes widened in fright, a four inch nail from a forefinger nearly poked his eyes out. He jumped back in fright and fell on his bum on the dusty floorboard. The portrait of the woman had glowing red eyes.

"Leave the items behind if you value your life," She rasped angrily, her beautiful face contorted into something unimaginable, her perfect white teeth changed into razor sharp yellow teeth.

Frightened, he immediately stood up but not wanting to leave the sack. It was mad if he left it behind. The items were worth a fortune. He'd planned to skip off with the loot. He grabbed it on the floor and ran out of the room towards the door. He reached for the knob than suddenly he heard the mansion groaned, creaked and trembled. He yelped in terror as he felt and saw the mansion grew larger, wider and deeper. He was shocked to find the door had zoomed away about fifty paces from him. He stood staring dazedly, uncomprehending the bizarre situation.

Frantic, he ran with the sack on his back towards the door. But it was like running on a reversed side of the escalator. He was perspiring and breathing heavily. He heard the raspy, eerie voice again, "Leave them!" Panic stricken, he searched for an outlet in that 'inner' maze and upon seeing a broken window, he made a desperate move by flinging himself out of it. It changed into a wall. He crashed hard against it and plopped on the floor, splitting his upper lip and spitting blood. His vision doubled, and when it cleared, only the grogginess remained.

A large shadowy mist loomed over him, he glanced up and his eyes widened in horror. A black misty figure with red angry eyes was eye to eye with him. The specter grabbed his forefinger the one wearing the ancient ring and ripped off that finger. Blood spurted. The act was sudden that his brain hadn't time to process the pain. When he saw blood splattered on his face and clothes, he screamed of shock and pain. The specter ate the bloodied finger with the ring and grabbed his injured anatomy and punctured it with its long and black finger nail. Akira screamed again, than he couldn't scream anymore.

There was no voice. He tried to cry out but nothing came out. He found that he was paralysed from the neck down. He could only stare and gape in alarm as the fearsome specter grabbed his ankles in an iron-like grip. Helpless, all he could do was cry in fearful silence and his arms flailing to grab onto something, as it dragged him into the pitch black corridor leading into a darker abyss within the mansion. The contents in the sack were in their original places in the mansion. The sack was nowhere to be found. There weren't any traces of blood or it being broken into. The mansion remained as silent as the grave.

"Akira was greedy and he wanted more. What he didn't know was that the ancient and abandoned mansion and the contents including the ring were cursed by the spirits of the hill. The items couldn't be taken from the mansion without a key. The ring was the key. However the guardian only allowed those with pure of heart to take the items." Umehito was seated in a plush dark maroon leather arm chair.

His fingers were laced together and place below the belt. He frowned slightly, his pale blue eyes glittered eerily, thinking of something aloud, "But who was the mysterious client? The ring was the key. How was it that it was in the client's possession? Unless the client was a descendant of the deceased no one else could possess the ring."

"Also, if the client had the ring shouldn't the client collect the items himself or herself? Why need someone else to retrieve what was his or hers? Unless the client wasn't a descendant of the deceased, or the client hasn't a pure heart," He wrote his opinions in the leather bound journal, "a mansion that expands into a maze from within has many dark secrets to hide. "What secrets does that mansion contain? I'll name it as 'The Case of The Expanding Isshouan Mansion.'" He then closed the journal when his cellphone rang, and he answered it with a lazy smile.

"Haruhi," he spoke gently, "thank you for calling. I know you're busy but I have a lead to our next quest. I need you." He smiled again, "Yes, same time and place. See you then."

THE END

A/N: I hope you liked it. This is a prelude. I may continue this but not so soon, that too will depend on your response to this fic. If not, stories of Neko and Haruhi in a supernatural quest will remain a mystery. First timers I recommend you to read 'CURSE BREAKER' and 'BLACK BLOOD' to get the gist and to know the characters. Thank you for reading and reviewing.