Disclaimer: I only own Sion, Chris, and all other ocs that may appear, nothing else.
English words
Japanese words
'mind speak'
-GH- scene change or time change
~GH~ perspectives
File 1: Evil Spirits All Over!? Part 1
Lights flashed. The male figure flew through the air, landing with a sickening thud on the asphalt. His face was contorted in pain, as his mind seemed to be trying to figure out what had just happened. His body didn't move, as if the pain was too agonizing to give him the capacity to move. The vehicle screeched to a halt, the driver stepping out, though the shadows kept the features hidden from identification, the unseen viewer too frozen to move and get a better view. The driver quickly returned to the vehicle, the back lights turning off, signaling the driver having shifted from Neutral. Red eyes widened as the car started backing up, right over the immobile body. Then everything went black.
-GH-
~1 Year Later~
Silence filled the dark hotel bedroom. The only occupant was dead to the world, lost to the world of sleep. Blinds were closed to keep the afternoon sun from waking the exhausted woman. A Canon EOS 5D Mark III and passport were in plain view on the bedside table, the passport open from being tossed and ignored, revealed the woman to be Sion Hunter, an American citizen.
The photographer shifted when her phone alarm went off for the fifth time, Comatose by Skillet ringing throughout the room. A pale arm reached out from the pile of blankets and pillows and pressed the 'sleep' button, tossing the small black phone away, the device luckily landing on the other bed.
Not even two minutes later, the alarm started again. The blankets shifted, the occupant of the suffocation hazard groaning as she buried herself deeper in a vain attempt of drowning out the noise. She only managed to succeed for a minute before the song just became too much.
Like a zombie rising from the grave, a brunette woman emerged from the blanket pile and blindingly reached out towards the phone. However, in her lethargic state, she didn't recognize the difference in distance from her phone now and before.
Her brow narrowed as she reached further, still determined to keep her eyes closed in an attempt to keep sleep close by so that she may return to its embrace, once that infernal racket was silenced.
However, this action kept her from realizing how far she was leaning off the bed. Her small scream was drowned by her alarm but the resounding thud didn't hurt any less despite hearing it.
"Damn it all."
With a growl, Sion untangled herself from the blankets entwined with her legs, night blue eyes narrowed as if she could burn them off from sight alone. Once her legs were free, the woman stood, and grabbed the offending device.
Once she saw the screen though, curses whispered from her lips. With a roll of her eyes, Sion hit the answer button.
"What do you want, Chris?"
"Now is that anyway to speak to your favorite information source?"
"Chris, you're my only information source, which also makes you my least favorite if we're going by favs. Now what is so important that required you to call me when you know I'm sleeping?"
"Well, you know…about my hobby, right?"
There was a word for Sion's feeling. Paranoia, that no matter what you say, you're a single step away from being conned.
"Yes."
"Well, one of my connections in Tokyo reached out to me regarding a job. The thing is though…..I'm kind of in the middle of my vacation. You know, traveling the US beaches, checking out how the tan lines progress."
Pervert.
"And what does this have to do with your interrupting my sleep? I'm not going to fork over the dough for a last minute flight if that's what you're asking. No information is worth that money."
"What? No, no, no, no, no. Nothing so mundane like that. I like my organs where they are. No, I need you to go to the location for me."
Sion stared blankly a wall.
"I'm sorry, but I think I misheard you."
"Well, if you heard me say I need you to stand in for me, than you heard me just fine."
"No, Chris. I do not do that. I'm a photographer. I don't do-"
"I gave your number to my contact and he'll be giving you the details and address. It should be simple, you just need to look like you know what you're doing…...not that you don't know what you're doing, I mean. Just don't get into trouble cause that will cause me trouble. I owe you for this, Sion."
"No, Chris. Don't you dump this one me. Chris!"
"Thanks, Sion. Have fun. Bye."
"No, Chris, don't you hang up on me!...the damn bastard hung up on me."
There was no point glaring at her phone. It was a pointless maneuver. Sighing, Sion set down the phone as glanced around the room. It was about time that she put on some clothes as sleeping in her undergarments was all fine and dandy but in no way appropriate for traveling.
"What a pain."
-GH-
Everything looked different behind a lens. To Sion, it was almost like things became clearer. The camera doesn't lie, like the human mind. Humans can delude themselves into thinking that what their seeing isn't actually true and therefore make themselves blind to what is truly before them. A camera doesn't do that. It takes a picture of exactly what it sees. For Sion, her camera and her home were all she needed to truly be happy. Humans only lied to you, whether it was for their protection, to be hurtful, or to protect someone else. It didn't matter the reason. When the truth came out, you would be left to wonder if anything you were told was the truth.
Sion didn't need that kind of distraction.
Still, it didn't matter how many times she looked at the sight before her, be it behind the lens or with her own sight. The ruin like building was still a ruin like building.
Honestly, just what was Chris thinking making her go somewhere like this? He knew that Sion was famous for getting into trouble in buildings that weren't stable (and some that were but she still denied those being her fault). One minute she would be looking through the camera and the next, she has a leg inside the floor or trips and falls through a wall into the adjoining room.
"It's official. That man is trying to kill me."
Assuming that this was a simple job and she survived, that man was going to be paying for five dvd series after this, and they would all be limited or collector's edition if such was available.
"Men, you can't live with them, you can't kill them without fear of jail time. Jail time may start looking good if he keeps doing this to me though."
Taking one last picture of the old school building, Sion allowed the camera strap to do its job and secure her camera around her neck.
Taking a deep breath, she started walking towards the entrance, though once she entered the building, it didn't any get better. Right in front of her, was a large video camera. Thankfully it was focused away from the entrance, though if she wanted to enter the rest of the building, she would have to walk in front of it.
Sion preferred to be behind the camera, not on it. With technology these days, who knows what people could do with that footage.
Still, it was time to tighten her camera strap and step forward.
Walking past the video camera and fallen shoe shelves (ignoring the spots of blood she had noticed on the floor, her sanity depended on it), she entered the main hallway and immediately climbed the stairs to the top floor. If she started from the top and worked her way down, then she could leave that much faster.
Walking down the many hallways, taking pictures of the rooms at random times, Sion noticed how there was even more equipment in various locations. Video cameras, thermal cameras, microphones, and she even thought she'd noticed an infrared camera.
If Sion was a lesser minded person who obtained glittery eyes whenever they noticed one of their idols, then she would likely have had drool fall from her mouth at the sight of the equipment.
She wasn't a lesser minded person though and was therefore capable of keeping her composure. The man who had given her the information regarding this job had said that there was likely to be more people taking part in this gig, so the fact that there was equipment about made some sense.
The paranormal was something that each person approached in their own way, so considering that there could be someone capable of using equipment to hunt and exorcise ghosts wasn't too surprising.
Still, the fact that she would have to deal with strangers was not a pleasant thought. She just wanted to get this job over with quick.
As she started walking down a hallway on the first floor, almost finished with her walk, a scream echoed down the hall. A woman's voice by the sound of it.
"Damn it." Of course something would happen in the final stretch.
Letting a small curse escape her lips, Sion began running down the hallway, her black sneakers creating loud thumps on the floor. The camera bounced off her chest with each step, hard enough that Sion was sure there were going to be bruises later.
Oh the curse of having pale skin, any bruise could look serious. She once got asked if her boyfriend had hit her during a doctor's visit for vaccinations.
Boy had that been humiliating. No matter how much she claimed that she had just ran into a branch in the mountains and didn't even date, they kept insisting she didn't have to cover for her abuser.
Shaking that frustrating memory, Sion arrived at the source of the yelling, just in time to witness a tall man with light brown hair and brown eyes slam his right foot through the door. After knocking the door down, he helped a woman with long wine brown hair and red tint eyes through the broken door. That must have been who screamed.
As the woman caught her breath, Sion got a good look at the other people who had responded to the scream. A school girl with short brown hair and burgundy eyes, a kimono wearing girl with black hair and grey eyes (she looked like one of those Japanese dolls), a Caucasian teenage boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and another teenage boy who had raven colored hair and dark indigo eyes. This kid was wearing lots of dark clothing for this type of weather though. He must either not like to match clothes or gets cold easily, what with black clothing keeping heat in more. Though what really gave Sion reason to pause was how eerily similar this boy looked like Ivar. Apart from this person having some kind of gloom disorder. Ivar was more fun, from the little she knew of the guy.
This group had yet to notice the brunette woman standing a few feet away. Seeing that everything was being handled just fine Sion chose to remain silent, content to just lean against the wall and observe these people.
It was the dark clothed boy that spoke first, above the voices of his concerned companions.
"I believe it would be wise to return to base before Matsuzaki-san relays what occurred just now."
The rest of the group nodded before they all turned and walked away, in the opposite direction Sion had arrived in. The woman noticed the teenage boy glance in her direction before walking away. Sion took that to mean she was to follow.
She would, but not because he gave that impression. Sion just didn't want to have to deal with running into these guys elsewhere and have to talk to each one individually. Better to get the introductions over with at once, like ripping off a band aid.
With a heavy sigh, the photographer followed the group.
-GH-
The older woman (not that Sion was calling her old but the woman was obviously the oldest female here) that must have been Matsuzaki sat down at of the long desks, the group standing around her, listening as the woman described what had caused her to scream.
"I was just looking around the classroom for sign of spirits when the door suddenly slammed shut. I tried opening it but no matter how hard I pulled, it just wouldn't budge."
The hippy man (Sion had no other name for the tall man) gave a cocky grin.
"You sure you didn't close it yourself and forget?"
If looks were lethal, the man would be on fire and buried twelve feet under, based on the look Matsuzaki was giving the grinning man.
"Yes, I am sure. There is definitely a spirit here."
"No. I sense no spirits anywhere on these grounds." The doll girl stated, her face remaining so calm and blank that if she hadn't witness the girl speak, Sion would have thought the girl a life-sized doll. Creepy.
For a moment, Sion thought she saw a fire demon, the older woman looked so mad.
"Are you insulting my abilities!?"
Dolly (her official name now) covered her mouth with the sleeve of her kimono.
"It is simply hard to believe a professional would be so scared of a simple thing such as a door they cannot open."
"I'm a professional! Unlike someone who is only possible because she looks cute in kimonos. Television results are a simple matter to create."
"Thank you for the compliment." Dolly responded, not even looking fazed by what had actually been meant as an insult. Her ability to turn phrases around almost amazed Sion.
"It wasn't a compliment." Matsuzaki growled out before turning away. "Based on my experience just now, it must be a Chirei."
The school girl seemed to connect that statement with something she knew as she leaned forward slightly.
"You mean a Jibakurei?"
The woman shook her head.
"No, I mean a Chirei. Jibakurei are human spirits that are trapped in a location due to an incident that occurred there. Chirei are spirits of the earth. You may better know them as Serei."
Hippy man stepped forward.
"I think it is a Jibakurei. We were told that multiple incidents have occurred at this school in the past. Anyone of the people that died here could be afraid that the only place they know is about to be lost to them and are striving to prevent the demolition."
The dark clothed teenager finally looked up from the nail he was holding in his hand. The piece of metal looked to have some rust so it had to have originated from this building. Why would he be playing with something like that?
"John, what do you think?"
The blond boy answered as Sion filed the name away not that the face had one.
"I don't really know, but isn't usually a spirit or ghost that are the result of haunted building such as this?"
The only boy without a name (Sion would call him Black) spoke to himself though it wasn't hard to hear him.
"A spirit is a serei and a ghost is a yurei."
Black glanced over at School Girl.
"Are you listening, Mai?"
"Thank you for caring!" School Girl (or Mai) answered. Sion thought she saw a vein pop on her head. There must have been a hidden joke or insult in that single question for Mai to have been so aggravated by Black. Sion also thought she heard Mai mutter something about honorifics and Black having dropped them.
John continued with his response to Black, now that Black seemed done antagonizing Mai.
"If a psychic phenomenon is caused by spirits, it would mean that the chirei have some kind of close connection with this building or the school ground itself, or it could be that the spirits have called for the Devil."
Sion suddenly thought of a man in red tights with a pitchfork. If it had to be the Devil, please let it be the fallen angel Lucifer. At least then she could die to a decent face over some weird tights wearing freak.
"If the phenomenon was caused by a ghost, that would mean it was an act by Jibakurei."
As soon as John was finished, he was assaulted (or rather bombarded) by Hippy and Matsuzaki, both of whom were trying to get the small male to side with their theory.
"So don't you think it was cause by a chirei?"
"You think it's a jibakurei, right!?"
John smiled, looking a little frazzled as he tried to settle the two adults down. "I can't tell for sure."
Sion heard the nervous tone in his voice. Poor kid.
Matsuzaki stepped away from John and straightened her posture.
"Anyway, I just need to exorcise it, right? I'll take care of it tomorrow." She started walking towards the door. "I couldn't stand being involved with a crappy incident like this for much longer."
The woman paused, finally noticing Sion leaning against a wall close to the door.
"Who are you?"
Everyone blinked, only just realizing that there was indeed someone else here. (Apart from Black and Dolly. Those two remained the same, though Dolly did seem slightly puzzled compared to Black who had known she was there.)
Sion just raised an eyebrow.
Black spoke first.
"She had arrived at the scene of Matsuzaki-san's incident. I believe she is another person the principal hired, due to her presence at the school. She came from the direction of stairs that lead to the second floor so she has been here for a while."
This didn't improve Matsuzaki's mood.
"The principal really doesn't have any faith in my abilities. He must truly be desperate to hire so many people."
Sion just shrugged. "Whatever you say, Lady. I'm just here as a favor to the person the principal wanted to hire. Son of a Bitch was too lazy to leave his girl hunting vacation and dropped this job on me. I'd rather not be here, trust me."
"And just who are you? Plus, watch your language. A child shouldn't be saying such words."
Hippy lectured. Sion merely raised an eyebrow.
"I'm Sion Hunter, freelance photographer. I'm twenty-three years old and don't give a damn about my language around anyone fifteen and older."
Mai gave a small bow. "I'm Taniyama Mai, sixteen."
John smiled, though he appeared a little hesitant, most likely due to her language. "My name is John Brown, I'm a priest."
Hippy waved with a simple, "Takigawa Houshou, a monk from Mt. Koya."
When Black and Dolly made no move to respond, Mai made their introductions.
"This is Hara Masako a famous medium and Naru, a ghost hunter."
"Shibuya Kazuya." Black corrected though he didn't look like he cared either way.
"Matsuzaki Ayako, a miko. So just what business does a photographer have here? If you don't have any abilities in dealing with the supernatural, than you shouldn't even be here in the first place, no matter if your boss dumped it on you." Ayako sneered.
Sion smirked. "My profession has nothing to do with this. The Bastard figured this was nothing serious and all that was needed was someone with a rational mind to figure it out. His contact who advertised the job gave him all the information he needed to know that there isn't a damn paranormal thing in this building. Bastard is just wasting my time. Still, he'll owe me big for bugging me."
Only Naru and Masako appeared undisturbed by the evil grin Sion was sporting.
Ayako had had enough it seemed, as she stomped past Sion and left, restating that she would take care of the chirei tomorrow.
Masako gave a small sigh. "What a waste, as I said, there are no spirits here."
Mai turned around to the other girl.
"But there are so many stories about this building. Plus, how do you explain Miko-san getting locked in that classroom earlier?"
"That was merely her overactive imagination."
"Ah, I see." Sion watched as Mai seemed to be contemplating something. Apparently that explanation didn't fit all the facts, but Sion had arrived at the end of that little fiasco so she couldn't exactly piece together any other possible solution.
Though even if she did have those pieces, she wouldn't bother. She was just here to cover for Chris. His source had said Chris stated that there was nothing paranormal here so there mustn't be. Chris was rarely wrong and he wasn't a liar, apart from when he lied to get out of working. It was hard to imagine how the guy stayed rich when he pawned off his work on others.
The man had to have some sort of side job to live the way that guy does.
Sion was snapped out of her thoughts when Dolly (that was now going to be her official name for Masako.) approached Kazuya.
"I've been meaning to ask you…have we met somewhere before?"
Was Dolly really pulling this type of move in this situation? Was she that hard up for a boyfriend? Not that Sion had much room to talk since she had never dated once in her life, but that was more by choice.
"No, I believe this is the first time." Kazuya said without any pause or change in facial features.
"Is that right?"
Mai glanced out the window to the sight of the setting sun.
"Naru, the sun is about to set."
Kazuya (Sion wouldn't call him anything else, what with his similarity to Ivar. That would just be weird) seemed to realize the time at Mai's statement. It was hard to believe that the day had gone by so quickly.
"Ah…we need to put our equipment in the second floor classroom in the far west corner of the building. Then we should get out of here." Naru moved away from the desk.
Takigawa crossed his hands behind his head, leaning back on the heel of his shoes.
"Oh? Kid, you're not going to stay for the night?"
Kazuya shook his head. "Not tonight." He turned away from the monk towards Mai.
"Mai." He waited till he knew he had the younger girl's attention. "Tomorrow after school, please be prepared to stay."
"Huhhhhh? Tomorrow is Saturday!" The girl shouted, not believing that she was going to have to return.
Sion cringed at the volume of the younger girl's voice. Girl had a really strong set of lungs.
Naru crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow, unperturbed by his temporary assistance's exclamation. "Would you rather pay me back for the camera?"
Sion could practically see Mai's pride crumble in defeat. "I'll be ready." Mai's voice held the tearful sorrows of a defeated soul.
The teenage boy glanced over to Sion.
"Are you planning on returning tomorrow as well?"
Was he asking because of the case or because he was looking for someone to order around? Sion had seen many types of people in her travels and this guy may be young but instinct told her that he was not someone who took orders easily, if at all.
Still, that didn't mean she was going to let him walk all over her if that was the case.
"Yeah. I can't squeeze the Bastard for repayment if I don't stay around till the end of this pointless case. Got a problem with it?"
Naru turned away. "No, as long as you stay out of the way."
Was that supposed to be an insult? Psh, this guy didn't know much, did he?
"Boy, I'll go where I want, when I want when the mood hits me. Even though this haunting is bogus, this is still a place of history and as such, can provide interesting p-"
Sion paused mid comment.
The change in her demeanor was immediately noticed, though before anyone could comment on it, Sion continued.
"-photographs. The atmosphere of the building is interesting, despite its 'normal' status."
She started walking to the exit, waving a hand in farewell.
"Work on your attitude, Boy, and maybe I'll be more polite next time."
She didn't bother turning around to see the result of her words. If she had, then she would have noticed the slight frown on Naru's face at her dismissal, not that anyone who didn't know him would have noticed.
Not that she would have cared. She wasn't here to make friends. The sooner this whole thing was finished, the sooner she could crawl into her bed and sleep for a few days.
TBC…
A.N. I wanted to start writing a Ghost Hunt fanfic because of the writers weezerz2490's Ghost of a Chance and mytruthaboutlife's Haunting Life. Their pieces are amazing and highly recommended. This is chapter was mainly Sion's view. Next chapter will be more team based as this was introducing Sion to the group, not that the introduction was sugar and rainbows. I'll be using the manga for most of the speech scenes and will follow as normal until it branches off. Please let me know if this is worth continuing to post.