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Wishing Stairs

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Warning: This is serious, people. It's a horror story, or a ghost story. Tink abt the movies 'the ring', 'ju-on'… maybe its not as scary as them but it's a ghost story nevertheless. If u tink u're going to get nightmares, DUN read. Anybody who wants me to up the ratings, pls tell me. Oh yar, there're oso weird pairings. So if u lyk the conventional pairings [e.g. tsu/his tat/wat] very very much, its not for u either.

Disclaimer: This fic is based on the movie, The Wishing Stairs. Neither the wishing stairs nor yami belongs to me. Translations for Hisoka's dream is thanks to Theria.net.

A/N: Rainingstars, this fic is dedicated to u, for sponsoring me with you-know-what. I'll tell u when u shld stop reading though.

"What? You mean to tell me you've never heard about it before?" Watari demanded incredulously. Tatsumi looked extremely irked at being asked something he wasn't aware of. It had something to do with a deflated ego. Hisoka, on the other hand, looked disinterested and terribly bored. Muraki listened intently, his silver eyes sparkling with interest.

Tsuzuki, whom the question was mainly addressing, gave a hurt look. Watari shook his head in disbelief.

"What are you? A thousand-year-old idiot who's not even aware of the basic rumor in his school?"

Tsuzuki winced, put on his best kicked-puppy look and turned to Tatsumi for help. Tatsumi put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Now Watari, there's no need to be mean, is there?"

"Tell us what happened. I heard another one died there," Muraki pressed on urgently, his silver strands falling over his eyes again.

At sixteen, he had an uncanny resemblance to the youth beside him. Aside from eye and hair colour, nobody could really tell them apart. Hisoka, his best friend, looked faintly disgusted as he pulled out yet another book from his bag. He liked his best friend very much and all but sometimes, the silver-hair youth seemed to have the weirdest interests.

Watari, the blonde-hair genki boy who was notorious for blowing up the chemistry labs even though he's a physics student, pushed up his glasses and smiled at his audience mysteriously.

"Well, I'm sure you've at least heard something about our school being haunted. No? I'm really disgusted with you people. Don't you interact at all? Never mind. Anyway, you know the flight of stairs at the music block, outside the dance studio, there are twenty-eight steps. Now, there's a rumor that if you wish hard enough while you're walking up the stairs, you'll count past twenty-eight and arrive at the twenty-ninth step. If you're on the twenty-ninth step and make a wish, that wish will come through."

"Really?" Tsuzuki asked in disbelief. Muraki looked a little surprised and even Tatsumi looked faintly apprehensive. Nobody noticed, however, that Hisoka had held his breath and silently put away the book he had taken out to read.

Watari, it appeared, wasn't done with his story-telling yet. "Have you all heard about Mijitsu-san?" Without even bothering to wait for a reply, he continued, "Well, last summer, Mijitsue-san and a group of his friends were camping at school. They dared him to go up that flight of stairs. It was a stupid dare but being the idiot he was, he went up. Nobody knew if he had reached the twenty-ninth step or not but he fell all the way from the top and landed with a broken arm. He refused to discuss it even until today."

Hisoka pushed back his chair suddenly and stood up, his face a little pale. Muraki immediately stood up too and reached out to steady him. The rest looked at him questioningly. "I just remembered, I'm supposed to be doing some homework." With that, he left abruptly. "I'll go and see how he is," Muraki gave the rest a reassuring look before taking off after his best friend.

The rest were silent for a while. "That was a little spooky," Tatsumi suddenly admitted, breaking the silence.

"You don't mean to tell me you're scared, do you?" A slow grin was spreading on Watari's face as he looked at the other boy right in the eye. "Ooo… Tatsumi is scared of the stairs," Tsuzuki joined in the teasing. Tatsumi gave him a deadly glare. "If you don't want me to put 50% compounded interest on your loan, you should keep you mouth shut." Tsuzuki gulped nervously.

"Hm… I wondered what happened to bon. He doesn't look that good after I finished telling you all about the wishing stairs," Watari said thoughtfully. "Do you I should come up with a concoction to give him more colour? He looked so pale."

"Watari, I would advise otherwise if you have the slightest regard for your health," counselled Tatsumi wisely.

"Watari, that story is not by any chance true, is it?" Tsuzuki asked suddenly. Watari flashed him a grin. "Of course not. When have things I said contained any ounce of truth?"

~*~*~*~*~

Hisoka hated the echo of footsteps as he walked down the empty corridor. It reminded him too much of the past. A past he would rather forget, even though he could never forget. Every night, it returned to haunt him.

"Hisoka, wait for me." A voice called out to him. He paused, waiting for the other youth to catch up. "Muraki, please leave me alone," said Hisoka the moment he did. He turned to go. Muraki caught his hand.

"No, Hisoka. There's something wrong with you and I want to know what it is." Hisoka twisted his hand out of Muraki's grasp. "There's nothing wrong. I'm just tired." He turned once more to go. This time, Muraki let him, watching silently as the lonely figure of his best friend disappeared into the doors of their dormitory.

~*~*~*~*~

Hisoka hated to sleep. That's because every time he closed his eyes, he would see that dream. It would never leave him. However, Hisoka had held out for too many nights for too long in a row. He would never last tonight. After twisting and turning for a while in his bed, he finally closed his eyes in resignation. The dream started almost immediately.

// "Tou-sama…"

"Tou-sama…"

"Where are we going?"

His father was leading him by the hand down the stone path. It was a little foggy. He could only see the hazy outline of the thing before him.

"Tou-sama…"

As they got nearer the thing, he finally recognized it.

"Whose grave is that?" he asked fearfully, the kinomo offering little warmth to his small, shivering body.

"Tou-sama…"

"…you really wish to know…?"

His father poured water on the gravestone and the cloth covering it fell, revealing the name, 'Kurosaki' engraved on it. He held up a dark chrysanthemum, the flower of the dead.

"This is your… grave."

"Your… grave."

"Hisoka…"

A snake came out of nowhere and coiled itself around him. It bared its fangs. He screamed. //

Hisoka woke up in a pool of sweat, panting profusely. Bits and pieces of the dream rushed back at him, overwhelming him. He couldn't move, blinded by the irrational hatred his parents had towards him. It took a long time for him to calm down. By the time he did, he realized his face was wet with tears. He decided to get up and have a drink of water. It was 2 am.

Hisoka took his jacket as he walked towards the door. There was no way he could get back to bed after this. He tried to be as quiet as he could and opened the door to the cool night breeze. It decided to take a walk. Not everyone was unaware that one occupant had left the room. Muraki had woke up when he heard Hisoka struggling then crying in his bed. He quickly got up after Hisoka and left the room too.

Hisoka couldn't stop shivering. He wandered aimlessly all over the schoolyard, determined to forget the dream. He wanted desperately to forget his past, forget the way his parents had treated him and most importantly, forget the grave his father had shown him so many times. He really wished to forget these memories. He would do anything to forget.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. Wish? He thought suddenly. Maybe there is one way to realize it. Turning back, he quickly made his way to the music block.

Muraki frowned as he recognized the direction Hisoka was going. The music block. What the hell does he want at the music block? Keeping a safe distance, he continued to tail Hisoka.

Hisoka arrived at the music block at a jog. There was nobody else around and the lighting in the music block wasn't very good. A breeze ruffled his hair. He shivered. He had better done this while the memory of the dream was still fresh in his mind, giving him the courage to continue. Taking a deep breath, he headed towards the dance studio on the third floor.

Muraki's eyes widened in shock as he realized what Hisoka was going to do. Even though he did not believe the story much, the whole place radiated evil. He had to get Hisoka out.

~*~*~*~*~

Hisoka stared up at the flight of stairs hesitantly. He felt an impulse to run away immediately. Illuminated only by a single bare light bulb hanging down from the ceiling, the end of the stairs was completely in the dark. Hisoka knew that this was the last floor. As he never took dance, he had no idea where the stairs would lead to.

"Tou-sama…"

His voice in the dream floated back to him once more.

"Tou-sama…"

He steeled himself and started going up the stairs.

One…

"Where are we going?"

Two…

"Tou-sama…"

Three…

"Tou-sama…"

Four…

"Whose grave is that?"

Five…

"Tou-sama…"

Six…

"…you really wish to know…?"

Seven…

"This is your… grave"

Eight…

"Your… grave"

Nine…

"Hisoka…"

Ten…

~*~*~*~*~

Muraki arrived to find Hisoka halfway up the flight of stairs outside the dance. He was half into the shadow. Muraki could only roughly make out his back. He moved mechanically, as if only driven by the fervent purpose of moving up. Muraki rushed up the stairs at him.

"Twenty-six…"

He heard the boy counting softly to himself. He grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. His eyes looked glazed, as if he couldn't focus. Muraki was starting to get scared. "Hisoka," he said urgently, shaking him gently. Hisoka did not even hear him as he pushed his hands away and continued his ascent.

"Twenty-seven…"

"Hisoka!" Muraki shouted with more urgency. The other finally began to stir.

"Muraki, why are you here?" Hisoka looked confused to see him. He looked down. There was the final step before him. And there was one more step above that! For the first time, he seemed excited. "Look, Muraki, the twenty-ninth step!" He smiled.

Muraki looked down and instantly regretted it. If Hisoka's counting was right, there were twenty-nine steps instead of twenty-eight. He was starting to get seriously scared. He had to get Hisoka out of here. However, Hisoka wouldn't budge.

"Don't pull me away, Muraki, I had to get on that step. I had to make the wish. Then the dreams would stop," Hisoka pouted, almost childishly as he slapped away Muraki's hands once more. Muraki froze. What wish? Hisoka took this opportunity to ascend the second last step.

"Twenty-eight…"

Muraki grabbed Hisoka's shoulders and turned him around again. "What wish?" he asked gently.

Hisoka looked at him and started giggling. Muraki was chilled to the bones by his giggles. Hisoka sounded as if he was out of his mind. "Hisoka?" he asked hesitantly.

Hisoka finally stopped giggling and looked at him in mock anger. "You don't know? Why, I want to forget, of course."

"Forget?" Muraki could feel his heart stopping. "Forget what?"

"Forget the past. Forget the present. Forget all of it." Hisoka gave another of his insane giggles.

Muraki felt his blood ran cold. Forget? If Hisoka were to forget everything, he would surely be forgotten as well. He couldn't bear it. He had to stop it.

"Hisoka, you can't forget everything!" he began desperately, Hisoka took another look at him and started giggling. "Why not?" Hisoka manage to choke out.

Muraki felt his face going red. He hesitated. Then he blurted out, "Hisoka, I love you." That seemed to get his attention. He stopped struggling.

"Listen, Hisoka, I love you. I love you past friendship. I love you so much I could give my whole life for you. I've loved you ever since I met you and I've never stopped loving you. I made friends with you just to get close to you and after I got to know you better, I love you even more. Hisoka, you can't forget me!"

Hisoka finally seemed to sober up. His eyes cleared a bit. He gasped. "But Muraki," he began, struggling to get out of the other guy's embrace, "we can never be together. We're both males! It's wrong!" Muraki responded by hugging him even more fiercely.

"It does not matter, as long as we love each other," Muraki whispered desperately, "don't go up that step." He bent down to kiss him. Hisoka tried in vain to push their bodies as far apart as possible.

"Don't, Muraki! You can't love me, we'll never be together. Let me go!" he felt insistent lips pressing on his. He panicked. His right foot reached out and found the last step and he stepped on it.

"Twenty-nine…"

At the same time, using all his strength, he gave a tremendous push to Muraki. This time, he managed to push Muraki away from himself.

The problem is, he pushed too hard.

With a loud yell, Muraki fell down the stairs, all twenty-nine of them.

He fell.

He fell.

He landed with a dull thud at the bottom of the stairs. Hisoka, standing at the top of the stairs looking down at him, was petrified. Nothing was there to certify Muraki's descent down the flight of stairs.

Nothing, except the single bare light bulb swinging in the breeze. It was swinging with an eerie regularity.

A small pool of blood was forming under Muraki. His head was twisted in an unnatural angle. His eyes stared vacantly ahead. His chest rose one more time with a laboured breath and stopped. He was still. Hisoka was still. For a moment, it seemed that even the swinging light bulb was still.

Then Hisoka screamed.

He ran down all twenty-nine steps of the stairs, screaming all the way.

He did not notice, that the moment his foot left, the twenty-ninth step vanished.

He did not notice, that Muraki's dull eyes brightened for a single moment, his mouth twisted into a little smile for a fraction of a second before they sank back into oblivion.

Hisoka did not notice. He ran straight on, past Muraki, screaming all the way.

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A/N [2]: so how izzit? Shld I continue? Hm… anyone watched wishing stairs? Or ju-on? Honestly speaking, I dun really lyk ju-on much, though its scary… coz therez hardly a storyline in the stupid ting. It juz keep on and on scaring u. no point. Sorry to any ju-on fans. Pls review n let me noe how u tink abt it. I told a lot of ghost stories before. Hafnt actually written one. though its not very original but still… anw, pls review.