It's been about a week since Crow agreed to join Seto in his journey of trying to find the silver-haired girl. They happily walked around in each other's company and where quite content; they fought of the spirits together and huddled together by the fire at night. They became more understanding of each other and their friendship developed; they could talk almost about anything, their fears, their dreams and their own memories.
It was one night while sitting by the fire just outside the old mall, Seto eating some tinned tuna while staring at the moon that Crow suddenly spoke up.
"Don't humans wash regularly? I recall that they can sometimes wash every day, and you..." Crow points a finger teasingly at Seto, "...haven't had one in days! If I had a nose I'm sure it would have burned off by now, probably even disintegrated."
Seto suddenly found the dirt on the ground in front of him suddenly very fascinating; his cheeks looking rather red and swollen from embarrassment. Picking up a twig he began to draw pictures in the nearby ash. It wasn't till after a few minutes that Seto looked up to reply only to see Crow still giving him a cheeky grin.
"I do have showers and I do wash regularly it's just, well, I can't seem to find a decent place to clean..." He trailed off as Crow raised an eyebrow in question, his emerald eyes sparkling with humour.
"There are plenty of showers in the hotel and I'm sure there are plenty of sinks in the Mall, what's stopping ya?" Crow pressed on as he shuffled over to sit closer to Seto, who promptly shivered as he began to recall a certain memory.
Snapping out of his daze, he sighed and proceeded to tell his story of the times he tried to wash. "The first time was more frightening and bizarre than the times after..."
Seto had just left the room he found PF in. His eyes strained to see where he was going when he suddenly remembered he had a small, yet reliable, torch in his hand. Flicking it on, he took a sudden step back as he finally got a proper looks of the room. He felt like he was in a horror movie; nearly every object looked broken, some worse than others. The room smelled stale from the damp furniture and the rotten wood. He frowned as there didn't seem to be any doors in sight other than the one he came through. He was shivering as a draft from a broken window seeped down underneath his clothes. It wasn't the cold that bothered him, it was the fact that he didn't know what or who was out there; he didn't want to be the last human on earth alive and he certainly didn't want the spirits to keep him company.
Taking a few steps forward to investigate his surroundings further, he turned right and continued into the dark, creepy room; trying his hardest not to let the wood creak beneath his feet. PF was securely tied to his back so when she unexpectedly spoke, he gave a small yelp when he heard 'her' voice right by his ear.
"Please be careful; I sense entities nearby, they seem quite dangerous, keep a look out and remember – there weakness is light."
"Okay." He whispered shakily as he advanced through to the back of the room. Then, out of nowhere, a dozen small, jelly fish looking entities appeared right in front and directly behind him. Clutching his stick tightly in his hand he paced over to the hovering ghosts while trying not to make any sudden movement. That's when he attacked. He swung his weapon across then down onto the spirits; trying to destroy them with all of his might.
When he was finally ridden of the entities he let his stick fall down by his side. He breathed heavily; he hadn't realised that the ghosts can take a lot of energy to get rid of. He clutched his side as he wished for his stitch to go away, another arms moved up to his head and swiped his forehead clean on the fresh beads of sweat. To simply say, he felt positively drained.
"Well done, you did remarkably well defending yourself, I'm sorry I wasn't of much use during the fight."
After regulating his breathing he replied back sincerely, "Nonsense! You warned me of them, which was really all I could have asked of you. Thank you."
"You're w-welcome," PF stuttered bashfully.
Quickly holding his light up he was sure he had seen a public toilet nearby. Maybe he could freshen up a little there. Turning around he spotted the door which held the sign indicating that it was the ladies room. As there was no one but himself, he didn't see any problem in using the vacant room. Walking through the door, he suddenly wished that he hadn't approached the door at all!
The room smelled pungent with rows of unclean toilets and decades old sewage. He gagged and hunched over at the overpowering stench. Finally looking up after what seemed like minutes, he shivered at the atmosphere that the room held. The tiles on the wall were broken and dirty, there were piles of dust along the corners of the room, and broken shards of mirror lay pitiless by the sinks. He crunched the glass beneath his boots as he walked slowly over to the sinks. Hoping that the water would run, as he didn't know if there would be any water supplies nearby, he turned the grime-covered taps and watched as brown sludge poured from the metal ends. Holding his nose and keeping his head at a distance, he waited patiently until the water started to become clear.
Dipping his hands into the cool water, he splashed his face a couple of times before looking up at his reflection.
It wasn't till he finally acknowledged that a pair of dark, misty hands had grabbed his head that he began to scream.
He screamed at the top of his lungs as the ghostly fingers pushed firmly against his eyelids and eyes. His own hands immediately flew up and seized the wrists of the entity, trying to pull them away. The ghostly hands then suddenly let go and started to stroke his face, it was then that Seto stopped screaming.
The hands began to lightly trace the outline of his face; the fingers stroked his nose, his lips, his ears and brushing over his eyebrows. The feeling was foreign to Seto as he waited; terrified that if he tried to move away they would suddenly hurt him again. The fingers then softly ran through his shaggy hair.
"These spirits may seem dangerous at first but they only yearn to have a body of their own, they are curious about you, don't be alarmed, their curiosity will pass within moments."
"How long do you think it will take? Their hands feel weird!" He exclaimed as a finger suddenly dipped through his lips and started to prod his mouth. The taste was nothing like he had ever tasted before; it was like chewing on paper and a clump of dust at the same time, it was horrible. His head jerked down a little as one of the hands pulled at his teeth and then swiftly moved onto his tongue. His hands were still attached to their wrists as he tried to pull away but with no such luck, they wouldn't let go.
They fingers removed themselves from his mouth and began to tug the corner of his mouth. Both hands were now pulling at the corner of his lips, stretching his mouth open as far as they could. Seto winced from the discomfort nearly having the skin ripped. Abruptly, another hand flew from the mirror and began to join the others in its own curiosity. This one though began poking his ears, then poking his flushed cheeks till he finally started to poke his nose. The fingers soon found his nostrils and began pushing up them, making Seto's head tilt back as he was sure that if they pushed any further he would surely get a nosebleed.
It was getting harder for him to breathe as a fourth joined; the fingers were still up his nose and in his mouth while another was now poking in his ear. Seto had quite enough of abuse from the hands. He couldn't stand waiting there anymore for the hands to finish their search. As if the idea suddenly appeared in his head, he took hold of his flashlight and put the settings on to the brightest it could be, before shining it directly at the mirror.
The hands let out an eerie groan while shaking as they retreated back into the mirror. Seto was now panting as he ran from the room, never looking behind him until he reached the observatory.
"Are you...sure that you weren't...talking about another...ghost?" Seto heaved as he sat down on his bed.
"Quite certain, it appears that they have not had human contact in a while..." PF replied almost amusingly.
Crow was clutching his side as he laughed hysterically on the ground. That was probably one of the most entertaining things he has heard since he met Seto.
"I can't believe you got molested by two pairs of hands! Why didn't you just shine the torch at them in the first place? Unless...you secretly liked it!" Crow shouted as he laughed even harder when Seto's face turned a brighter shade of pink.
"I guess it was because that I haven't had contact with any humans in a long while that I didn't move away from them. It felt just like a human's hand, it was almost nice." Seto whispered solemnly.
Crows laughter quietened at this and just looked at him with a small smile. Shuffling closer, he lifted his arm and wrapped it around Seto's shoulder, pulling him closer as they watched the flickering dance of the fire.
"You know, if you ever need your face molested anytime in the future, all you need to do is ask."
A/N: There will be more Bathroom Adventures soon!