Possessed
xCastielsGirlx
Author's Note: I'm so sorry this is late! Basically, I went to a party, and I got a bit...herpy derpy and my friend said I could stay at theirs, then that changed o I ended up locked outside my house in the garden trying to make a fire in the fire pit buuuut I ended up using candles and blah de blah- basically, I have a headache, and I' cold. But nevertheless, I really hope you guys enjoy this!
Warnings: Supernatural horror, swearing, violence, some themes people may find upsetting, and Naruto may seem a little OOC (as in: he studies! Le gasp!) I'm still undecided on the SasuNaru- but there will be strong hints.
Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns all Naruto characters. I am making no profit from this story.
This story is a work of fiction. Any reference to any people, dead or alive, is purely coincidental, as well as places and events. This is in no way meant to portray the real world and is meant for entertainment purposes only. If you have a problem, please PM me. Other than that, Enjoy!
For Katie and Amy,
My Little Sammy and Adam.
1.
"Hey, Naruto, do you believe in ghosts?" Kiba Inuzuka- a burly brunet with glaring, red tattooed cheeks- leant over the science bench to ask his classmate the question. Cerulean blue eyes locked with chocolate brown and the blond scoffed.
"Who believes in shit like that? Once you die, that's it. There is no Heaven, no Hell, no purgatory and- most of all- no 'ghosts'," the blond replied, insinuating the quotation marks with his fingers. Kiba frowned at his best friend's attitude to the question he had so simply asked and tilted his head.
"But you study Theology, right? And don't you want to go on to be a forensic scientist?" he quizzed, following the blond eighteen year old to the front desk where he collected the matches for his Bunsen burner. Naruto Uzumaki sighed and turned harshly on the spot to face his friend. His face was pulled into a grim expression, tugging at the three scars on each cheek as his face adorned the look.
"Kiba, I'm holding a box of matches here, do you really want me to set you on fire for pressing the issue?" The brunet went to say something, but Naruto cut him off with a small shove to the side.
"I gave you my answer to your question- what more is there to say?" Naruto explained, turning on the gas and lighting the piece of science equipment, before placing a conical flask of hydrochloric acid on a gauze and tripod and setting it above the blue flame. Kiba shrugged and leant against the workbench next to the Bunsen burner.
"I dunno; I just wanna know why you think that way." Kiba shrugged. Naruto eyed Kiba's jacket sleeve.
"You're on fire, Kiba," he commented lightly, taking notes in his workbook. Kiba smirked before flipping his hair out of his face and scratching the stubble on his chin.
"Thanks. But seriously, does this have something to do with when we bought that-"
"Kiba! Your arm is on fire!" Naruto yelled at the brunet, thankful for the distraction. Kiba yelped and patted at his arm.
"Fuck! Why didn't you say?" he panicked, racing to the sink to put the fire out with water. Naruto chuckled and returned to his notes.
"I did, dog-breath," he replied, turning off the gas tap and removing the flask of acid with a pair of tongs. Kiba shed his now ruined jacket and glared at the blond.
"You did that on purpose to distract me!" he hissed, looking to the blond's slightly red fingers, indicating they'd been lightly burned. Naruto shrugged.
"I did say I'd burn you for pressing the issue," he replied nonchalantly. Kiba's jaw dropped.
"Seriously, Naru? Are you still shaken up about it? It was ten years ago!" Kiba protested, grabbing Naruto's shirt as he turned to walk away. The blond stopped in his tracks and glared at his best friend. Kiba glared back.
"You need to get over it!" Kiba snapped, squeezing slightly on the shorter boy's arm. Naruto's eyes narrowed, making the blue appear icy instead of the usual summer's day that they usually were. Summer replaced with winter.
"Kiba, I watched my mother die that night. I watched as she choked on her own blood and I couldn't do a damned thing about it!" he growled lowly.
"I will not 'get over it' as you say. I carry the burden on me for the rest of my life," he snarled. Kiba growled in response.
"And that's why you don't believe in Heaven and Hell-or even Purgatory- you can't wait to be released from that burden," he hissed lowly, earning another heated glare from the blond.
"Fuck you! If I had a choice, I would've put myself forward that evening. So don't preach what you don't know!" he snapped, tearing his arm from the strong grip the brunet had on him.
"We need to get this work done before Asuma-sensei gets back," he muttered, adding a few chemicals to the heated hydrochloric acid. Kiba watched his friend's back and movements, noticing he was slightly hunched over. He walked over to the blond and decided to help him out, adding a few pipettes phenolphthalein to test the pH of the solution.
"Look, I'm sorry. It's just that that was my favourite jacket," Kiba tried to joke. Naruto chuckled slightly and rubbed at his eyes, indicating tiredness. Kiba frowned when his eyes caught bruises on the blond's wrists, and then there were the bags under his eyes, which enticed the brunet into the sea of curiosity even more.
"What happened to your wrists?" he asked casually. Naruto glanced down and rolled up the sleeves of his orange shirt to view the midnight blue bruises around his wrists. He frowned and poked them, wincing when it hurt.
"I don't know. I must've sprained them somehow in my sleep," he muttered, rubbing at his eyes once more. Kiba hummed at the action.
"Did you get much sleep last night? You look exhausted," he asked, concerned for his friend. Naruto looked to the brunet and smiled slightly.
"I tried my best to get to sleep; I kept on having weird nightmares," he replied. He shuddered as a chill ran down his spine- a feeling similar of that of an ice cube being thrown down the back of his shirt. Kiba frowned further and sat on the desk next to his friend but a smirk then took over his features.
"Clowns or midgets?" he joked. Naruto looked up, catching brown with blue and an amused smirk.
"Well, seeing as it was you; both," he commented, earning another snicker.
"Dude, you're like, what? Seven inches shorter than me? What does that make you?" Kiba asked, avoiding the fist that was sent his way with a laugh. Naruto continued to make swipes at the boy, leaning over the table.
"Dammit Kiba, get your ass over here so I can hit you!" he stressed, leaning over the table still, knocking the flask of heated acid onto his workbook. Kiba froze, watching as the solution smudged its way out of the flask, onto the notes and onto his- burnt- jacket. Naruto blinked, the action then being mirrored by his lab partner. It took two seconds for any reaction to take place. Kiba wailed, and Naruto swore, trying to scoop the mixture back into the flask with his notebook that was slowly disintegrating.
"Shit, SHIT!" Naruto yelled, whilst Kiba cried over his jacket, running to- yet again- douse it with tap water.
"What do you have against my jacket, Naru?" he sobbed, whilst the blond tried to save his book and the desk.
"Asuma-sensei's going to kill us!" he moaned, holding up the now contaminated solution.
"US?! It was you!" Kiba screeched, eyeing the table that was slowly growing a hole where the flask had spilt. Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"You were the one sitting on the desk in the first place and crawling over it when I tried to hit you!" Naruto snapped. Kiba snorted.
"What, so I'm just supposed to let you hit me?" Kiba asked, eyeing his now-ruined-beyond-repair jacket.
"Yes!" Naruto stressed out, sighing when he realised they'd have to start the experiment again. He eyed the clock, noticing it was coming up to three o'clock in the afternoon. They wouldn't have time- class finished in ten minutes. Squinting into his burnt book, Naruto tried to make out what was left of his notes- also scouring his memory- for the information he'd learned. He'd write up his report of what he'd found out up until that moment.
"Dude, we're gunna have to come in tomorrow," Naruto sighed. Kiba repeated the notion and just looked to Naruto.
"I can't believe we have to come in on our day off," he muttered. Naruto shrugged and copied out the notes he needed into his spare pukka pad in his 'A-Level Chemistry' section. Kiba looked over the blond's shoulder as he scrawled down the notes in his almost-girlish handwriting.
"Dude, you have girl handwriting," Kiba noted as he pulled his own notebook towards himself and started to copy his partner's notes. Naruto snorted at the remark and rolled his eyes.
"At least teachers can read my writing, unlike your chicken scratch," he snorted once more when Kiba flushed a light red colour. There came a gentle knock at the science classroom door and both teens looked up.
"Come in," they invited simultaneously. The door opened, revealing a girl their age with pale eyes and dark purple hair cascading down her back. Kiba looked completely smitten with the girl whilst Naruto smirked knowingly.
"Good afternoon, Hinata-chan. What do you need?" Naruto asked politely. He admitted the girl was beautiful, but she wasn't for his taste- no girl was- and so he thought of being generous and helping his love-drunk friend out when Hinata stated her request.
"Kurenai-sensei requires some textbooks and we don't have them. Are they in here?" she asked politely. Naruto nodded and jabbed a thumb to the large pile.
"Kiba, help the girl out would'ya?" Naruto told the brunet, who looked to his friend with adoration swimming in his eyes. As Hinata walked past, Kiba mouthed a small 'Thank you' to his friend, who just shrugged in return before the two exited the classroom, leaving him alone. Naruto sighed at the silence and shuddered when he felt a coldness enshroud him. He looked to the clock and saw that it was five minutes past three. The blond packed up his notes, taking Kiba's book with him, as he knew the brunet would probably not manage to write up his own notes or report that evening. As he slipped all the books into his faded orange side bag, he felt a breeze on his neck and turned slowly, only for there to be nothing there. The blond shivered and resumed packing his things away when the conical flask- which had been innocently sitting on the surrounding workbench next to the Bunsen burner- rolled off the workbench and smashed by the blond's feet. Naruto cursed and stepped away from the glass and destructive mixture, turning on the spot to find something with which he could clean up the mess.
"Fuck," he hissed quietly, dashing around the room, finding a metal dustpan. Shrugging, the blond used that to scoop the mixture up with and dump back in a waste beaker at the front.
"Stupid chemicals- being all toxic," he muttered.
"Looking like that freaky Flubber, but all grey and skanky," Naruto continued to grumble as he snatched up his other used equipment and placed it back in its rightful places. He left a note on his teacher's desk, informing him that he and Kiba would be back the next day to finish off their report and project work. He let out a relieved sigh as he left the school building, the cloud of mist coming from his mouth seeming natural in the cold weather.
The blond made his way down the street, pulling his orange jacket around himself tighter, school bag swinging at his side. A vibrating in his pocket alerted him to the fact he had a text, and he pulled his device out, smirking when it was just a winking face from Kiba. Naruto chuckled and texted back a short 'Good luck,' before putting his phone back into his pocket and continuing down the road. He passed by the cemetery that was in the centre of his village and shuddered at the vibes it was emitting. Glancing into the cemetery, Naruto noticed a tall figure watching him. The blond frowned, bowing his head down low and pulling his hood up as he increased his pace down the road. He didn't know why, but he felt like he was being watched; followed. It made his heart thump in his chest and he had the desiring urge to run away, and just keep on running until the feeling left him. Naruto glanced slightly behind him, seeing just the empty street. But it didn't deter him. He could still feel eyes burning into the back of his skull.
And so he ran.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, bag swinging like an over-worked pendulum as he blurred his way down a few more roads. Everybody he ran past looked the same, the voices all the same too. But there was different voice, and it was whispering his name.
"GO AWAY!" the blond yelled over his shoulder, still sprinting like a mad man back to where he knew his house to be, somewhere safe. However, where he was running so fast, he didn't see the person he was heading straight for. In a tumble of limbs and curses, both people flew to the ground, the blond rolling over, ended up being pinned to the ground by the older male's body. Sapphire looked up into onyx and the former felt himself blush heavily.
"I'm so sorry sir," he breathed, pushing the man off him- but letting his touch linger- and sprinting away, still feeling the presence behind him. The older man stood up, glaring at the retreating boy's back before he felt a shadow flash past his person, giving off a feeling of immense dread and horror. Onyx eyes narrowed in calculation as he eyed the shadow- the shadow that seemed to be chasing the blond. His eye then caught the glaring orange notebook on the floor and he picked it up, noting the name and address before slipping it under his arm.
"What an idiot," the man mumbled, turning and walking in the opposite direction, hands stuffed deep into his jacket pockets, fisting a mobile phone which then vibrated, causing the pale slender fingers around it to twitch. Lightning fast, the man had whipped out his phone, staring at the screen intently. It was his guardian and mentor, Hatake Kakashi. The man smirked slightly as he read over the message. He rolled his eyes and shoved the phone back into his pocket. Thoughts of blonds and shadows were chased from his mind.
He had work to do.
Naruto continued to run down the street, thankful for the fact he used to take track classes in secondary school. His lungs were burning for air, however, as he didn't stop for any breaks. An oxygen debt was building up and he could feel his muscles twitching slightly, wanting to continue with aerobic respiration instead of the much less desired anaerobic respiration. The blond only stopped once he had rammed his keys into his door and pushed his way through the wooden portal to somewhere safe and tranquil- home. The very thought of the place made the blond relax and only then could he feel the results of his one-and-a-half mile sprint. He panted, dragging himself reluctantly into the kitchen for a glass of water, but less panicked than before. Shakily, his hands grabbed for a glass, the tingling sensation in them making it hard for him to have a proper grip. A shuffling of feet behind him made him tense. His breath froze in his throat, making his lungs protest once more from the lack of oxygen they were receiving.
"Naruto? Are you okay?" The blond let out his breath in a shaky sigh before chuckling and pulling the glass down from the cupboard.
"Yeah, I'm fine Iruka," he told his adoptive father with a shaky grin as he brought the glass to the tap and poured the cold water into the glass. He turned the tap off with a squeak and faced his adoptive father with a grin. Umino Iruka had taken Naruto in when he was nine years old. The blond had lost his mother a year before in a tragic accident and his birth father could never be traced. Naruto had wound up in an orphanage, only to be taken in about a year later by Iruka, a kind-eyed brunet with a scar across his nose who worked at the local junior school.
"You ran in so suddenly and you look as though you've run all the way from college," he commented, taking in the boy's ruffled and tired composure. Naruto just grinned his happy-go-lucky grin and Iruka smiled gently in return.
"I'm fine Iruka, honestly," he told his guardian, earning a pat on the shoulder in return.
"I worry about you sometimes, Naruto. Like last night, you must've been having one hell of a nightmare!" Iruka told the boy in wonderment. Naruto frowned.
"I still can't remember it though," he admitted, earning a squeeze on his shoulder.
"That's a good thing, though. You were screaming bloody murder," Iruka told the boy, shuddering slightly as he remembered the night just gone. He'd woken up at about half past three with a strange feeling before the blond had suddenly started screaming. Scared for his adoptive son, the brunet had run into the adjacent room to see him tossing and turning, screaming up a storm. It had taken ten minutes to wake the blond, and when he had, the blond was panicky, almost in tears and breathing heavily. Through the incoherent sobs, he could briefly make out a few broken phrases along the lines of 'so scary' and a phrase that had almost broken his heart: 'it got my mum'. The brunet had stayed up with the blond until the early hours, watching him nurse a hot chocolate as he himself had nursed a cup of black coffee.
"Are you sure you're oaky?" Iruka asked once more, wanting to make sure that everything was fine. Naruto nodded, sipping at his water to cool himself down.
"I'm honestly fine, Iruka. Trust me on this," he smiled, earning a soft smile in return as the brunet started to boil the kettle for his tea.
"I need to do my coursework," he told his adoptive father, who nodded in return as the blond made his way up the stairs.
"I'll call you down for dinner," the brunet told his adoptive son, who nodded and made his way to his bedroom, throwing his bag onto his bed. He opened it up, only to blink when he saw that his notebook was missing. He inwardly cursed. He must've dropped it when he crushed into the raven-haired man whilst running at such a high speed. Luckily, it had his name and address in it- should the man be kind enough to return it.
~Possessed~
I
The raven-haired man entered through a mahogany door to kick his shoes off and collapse on the sofa in the adjacent room. He sighed, frowning when his thoughts rushed to the blond that had crashed into him earlier, and then the shadow that seemed to be chasing after him.
"Something on your mind?" The raven opened a closed eye to see his older brother walking in, nursing a cup of coffee. The elder brother, who had stress lines running from near his eyes and long hair that mirrored the younger's in colour and was pulled into a long, low ponytail, frowned at his younger brother.
"Hey Itachi," the younger greeted. The elder- Itachi- pushed his younger brother's feet off the sofa and sat down in the space they had been recently occupying.
"You didn't answer my question," the older commented, sipping at his hot coffee, grimacing when it burnt his tongue. The younger sighed, rubbing his temples and letting his eyes slip closed exhaustedly.
"I was run into today by a young man- about eighteen or so-" Itachi hummed in contemplation.
"Don't tell me he's 'coming over' tonight, Sasuke. We've talked about this and I thought we agreed no more one night stands!" he groaned. Sasuke- the younger brother- growled and kicked his older brother.
"Moron older brother, I ran into him, but something was chasing him," he told his older brother. Itachi hummed, taking another sip of his coffee, but being more careful not to burn his mouth.
"And when you say something, you mean a dog?" he joked dryly. Sasuke briefly wondered how long it would take to kill his brother and dispose if the body- then again, his brother might come back to haunt him. A pissed off ghost was one thing- but a pissed-off, ghost and immortal Itachi was something Sasuke never wanted to experience in his lifetime, or the next.
"No, I mean it was a shadow that was chasing him. It passed over me and I couldn't help but feel the intense evil," he shuddered, remembering the feeling that passed over him at the same time as the shadow. Itachi hummed in contemplation, only just seeing the notebook that was clutched in his brother's hands.
"What's that, Otouto?" he asked, pointing to the notebook. Sasuke eyed it briefly.
"Ah, this is the moron's notebook. He crashed into me and must've dropped it," he noted. Itachi nodded.
"Does our mysterious person have a name and an address?" he asked, staring at the glaring orange notebook with distaste before earning a nod in reply.
"Uzumaki Naruto, number six, Hokage Avenue. It also has his school address and class in it- it's almost as if he was expecting to lose it," Sasuke commented, reading the address and name from inside the front cover with a small, fond smile, picturing what type of person the blue eyed blond would be, and if he was batting for the same team that Sasuke was. It certainly had seemed so, judging by the way that he had grabbed the raven as they tumbled and the blush that had overtook his cheeks when they locked eyes.
"Uzumaki?" Itachi asked, suddenly rapt with interest and breaking Sasuke out of his musings. He started, before humming, glancing to the name written in an almost girlish way.
"Yup. Uzumaki Naruto," he told his older brother, who hummed and took another sip of his coffee. Sasuke glanced at his brother, noting the posture, which was slightly tense. His raven eyes narrowed, calculating his older brother.
"Do you know him?" he asked, a little sharply. Itachi turned to him slowly, regarding his younger brother's tense form, and the slight possessiveness in his eyes. A gentle smirk appeared on his lips around the rim of the mug. It disappeared, however, when he remembered why the Uzumaki name was so familiar.
"I've heard of him, and his mother. Do you remember?" he asked his little brother, who frowned as if tasting something funny for the first time. It was a contemplative frown, more of a look of confusion than anything else. His eyes widened as his mind brought to the surface a newspaper article that had been stowed away in his mind for ten years. Nobody could really forget it- the day where Uzumaki Kushina was slaughtered by something, leaving her only son to deal with the body and the supposed creature that had mauled the redhead. Sasuke shivered, remembering the front page those few days after the incident had happened. He had only been eleven at the time, after all, and had he not been in the paranormal business back then, it most probably would've scared him stiff to go anywhere near a wood out of fear of being mauled by the same monster that snagged the Uzumaki woman.
"I take it that you do remember," Itachi commented lightly, earning a nod in return. Itachi hummed, finishing his last dregs of coffee, grimacing slightly.
"Kakashi should be here soon with the work," he told Sasuke, who nodded in return once more, not sure on how he should react, knowing that he had crashed into the son of a murdered woman, not to mention called him an idiot- not that the moron knew it, he'd been too busy running away from whatever was pursuing him. Sasuke sighed, lacing his fingers together and leaning against them whilst his elbows were propped up against his thighs.
"Curious," he muttered to himself, thinking things over in his head.
"What's curious, Sasuke?" a bored voice asked, making the raven look up from where he was pondering. Onyx met with a calm grey and he blinked slightly at the sudden appearance of his guardian.
"Nothing," he muttered, sitting up properly, and leaning into the sofa in return. Hatake Kakashi smiled slightly, but it was covered by his mask. No one, not even his wards, knew why he wore it, or what his face looked like underneath it, and it had been the root of many pranks in the boys' childhood. He also had his left eye covered by a blue patch. The man claimed it had been lost in a fishing accident, and so the boys had left it at that, but had learned not to ask to see it- the last time they had- aged at only four and eight- been grounded for a week with no television, no pudding and a very grumpy guardian. The grey haired man had taken the boys in after their parents' death, and being a friend of the family, he had immediately accepted the offer when they were offered to him, wanting them to know how and why their parents had died. This was why the three were now a group of paranormal investigators- along with some other members-, trying to make the world a better place by banishing the boogeymen, sending away the spirits and destroying the demons.
"You got us a job?" Sasuke asked, prompting the older man to grin, his visible eye curving upwards into an upside-down 'U' shape.
"Would I deprive you of your work?" he asked sweetly, making the elder Uchiha snort as he walked into the lounge. Kakashi turned to Itachi, eye-smile still in place.
"Ah, Itachi! Nice of you to finally join us!" he commented sweetly, making the elder Uchiha grimace.
"Just get on with it Kakashi; I need to inform the others of when to meet up," Itachi sighed, rubbing his temples. Kakashi sighed, before handing the two a portfolio each.
"These are the clients- they're complaining about domestic disturbances, scratching in the walls and cold spots. It could just be a bust, but they seemed pretty convinced that there was something wrong. They also have a daughter who apparently wakes up screaming every night at the exact same time. I'm not sure what's going on- it could be a poltergeist," Kakashi explained, allowing the two Uchihas to thumb through the portfolios they each had, reading over the information given to them. Sasuke frowned as he eyed the black and white photograph of the clients' daughter. Her face was slightly blurred by the camera, and it didn't seem as though her retinas were showing up properly.
"Kakashi, have you considered poltergeist possession or family curses?" Sasuke asked, squinting at the photograph more. Kakashi hummed.
"What makes you ask that?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke frowned.
"The daughter's face is blurred on the photograph, and her retinas aren't showing up properly," Sasuke commented. Itachi frowned, staring at the photograph in his own portfolio.
"Sasuke, this photo was taken over six years ago, I'm sure it's just the camera," he told his brother, who nodded in reply.
"Okay, just making sure," he sighed, before standing up from the sofa and stretching his arms over his head.
"I'm going to call in the rest of the team," he told his guardian, who nodded in reply.
"Get me a coffee whilst you're out there!" Kakashi called after Sasuke as the raven went to use the kitchen phone. His answer was a middle finger in his direction and a muffled 'piss-off!'. Kakashi chuckled and turned to Itachi, who was frowning at his younger brother's form through the wall.
"What's wrong, Itachi?" Kakashi asked, tilting his head to the side slightly. The raven turned to the silver-haired man, still sporting his frown upon his facial features.
"What makes you think there's anything wrong?" Itachi defended, not wanting his guardian clued in on how uncomfortable he was in the current situation- the current situation being 'my brother just ran into a murdered woman's child and I think he may have a crush on him' scenario. Kakashi smiled gently and sat down next to Itachi, patting his knee.
"I know that look Itachi, what's wrong?" Kakashi pressed as he heard Sasuke talking with some other people on the kitchen phone. Itachi rubbed his hands over his face and sighed before explaining the issue to Kakashi. The man just laughed at the end of it and squeezed Itachi's lower thigh, making him spasm slightly at the shocking and ticklish sensation.
"Itachi, he's just being contemplative- I'm sure there's nothing to worry about," he reassured the younger man. Itachi sighed once more and glanced to the kitchen where Sasuke was now making his fourth call- the call to Sabaku Gaara- and telling him that they had a job, and that no, he could not bring Temari, no matter how badly she wanted to see Shikamaru. Itachi smiled slightly.
"You're right. There's no need to be worried," he assured himself as the silver-haired man stood up, going to make himself a cup of coffee.
"Would you like another one?" he asked Itachi. Itachi nodded absent-mindedly, knowing that he'd need the caffeine for the night ahead- especially if he was dealing with a poltergeist. He watched as Sasuke flopped himself down on the sofa and placed his feet on his legs, toes curling up and clicking slightly, before being released beneath the black socks. Itachi frowned at the move, but let his little brother be for the moment.
"How long d'ya think this job is going to go on for?" Sasuke asked, picking at the lint that was hanging off his sock. His older brother's frown deepened at the action, noting the way Sasuke seemed to be carefree at that moment, even dropping his slightly posh accent to his voice. This only really happened- Itachi had come to notice- when he was relaxed or insanely happy. Knowing Sasuke the way he did, Itachi was at a loss of which he preferred. A happy Sasuke was rare, but also dangerous because he had a tendency to snap at everyone who threatened to ruin his mood. A relaxed Sasuke was almost as rare as a happy Sasuke; the dangerous part being that if you disturbed him, you'd be picking yourself up off the floor with two poles instead of legs- he was grumpy when interrupted. Itachi shrugged at the question.
"Possibly all night. Why do you ask?" the elder brother quizzed, strengthening his posh accent to remind his brother of what their Family name meant. Sasuke sighed and looked at his brother with a forlorn expression.
"I needed to return the notebook to its respectful owner," Sasuke told Itachi, thumbing at the orange notebook that was still in his grasp. Elder onyx eyes roamed over the cover.
"Did you put that down at all whilst on the phone?" he asked, raising a perfect eyebrow. Sasuke shrugged.
"What's it to ya?" he asked. Itachi furrowed his eyebrows when the posh accent started to slip from his brother's grasp once more and fall into an undignified heap on the floor.
"Why are you so happy?" he contemplated, looking his brother in the eyes. Sasuke frowned in return, not realising his accent had been slipping and that he'd been acting in a childish manner.
"You know, I actually have no idea," he told his older brother truthfully. For a moment, in joint synchronisation, they hummed in contemplation. A few moments after, the action caught up with their confused minds and they turned to one another.
"You're creepy," Sasuke deducted, placing his hands on his own thighs and pushing himself up from the sofa. Itachi snorted in return.
"And you're gay," he retorted with a light humour dancing in his eyes. Sasuke turned to him sharply.
"Ha, ha. You should get up on stage," Sasuke told him darkly, earning another amused chuckle from the elder brother.
"Itachi, stop teasing Sasuke," Kakashi scolded, precariously carrying two mugs of hot coffee through the living room door. Itachi almost pouted but refrained from doing so as he went to collect his own cup of coffee from his guardian.
"When are the others going to be arriving?" Kakashi asked Sasuke, who was still glaring at his older brother for his comment earlier.
"I told them to be here within an hour and a half," he told Kakashi, turning to look out of the living room window and onto the street. Kakashi hummed in contemplation at that fact, noticing that Sasuke was still slightly distracted.
"Is there something bothering you, Sasuke?" he asked his ward, careful about how the scenario would end up if he didn't tread cautiously. Sasuke occasionally suffered from mood swings, and when he was in a bad mood, the aura in the room would be so low, even ants would be looking down on it. Sasuke frowned and turned to Kakashi and Itachi.
"Why are you two asking me so many questions? I'm fine!" he snapped at them both. Itachi cleared his throat and stood up, placing his coffee mug on the coffee table.
"We're just concerned about you, Otouto. Ever since you came back today, you've been distracted. Maybe you'd like to stay behind tonight whilst the rest of us go to investigate?" Itachi offered, hoping that Sasuke would take the olive branch, sit, and mull things over. His hopes were dashed with a snort and a folding of arms across a chest.
"No. I'll come to the investigation tonight." He told them sternly, making the older two sigh.
"Now, if you don't mind, I have to return this notebook. No doubt the Dobe has homework to do!" he snapped.
"I'll be back in an hour!" he called, as he slammed the front door shut, missing the forlorn looks both older men were sporting.
~Possessed~
II
A vibration on his pillow made Naruto start, and he glanced to his mobile phone to see that he'd received a text. Curious, he flipped his phone open and frowned deeply at the sender of the text.
Megumi Sai.
Naruto had dated him about two years ago, but had broken things off when they had gone to different colleges. Sai still sent him texts on occasion though, asking for him back. It wasn't as if Naruto hated the other, he just didn't like replying to the suggestive texts. Among the suggestive ones, there were also threats- most of which involved Sai getting his older brother to make sure he never set foot in any sort of business- Shin was very powerful man. Then there were the other threatening messages that Naruto didn't like at all. They were abusive and downright wrong, some were death threats, and others where he was being called foul names. He'd tried blocking Sai's number, but that just served to increase the death threats and foul names. It was almost as if Sai knew that he was blocking his number- or at least trying to. Despite the abusive content it would most probably contain, Naruto opened the message anyway.
Run away, crybaby. Go to your dead mamma.
Naruto swallowed thickly and deleted the text before chucking his mobile onto the bedside table that held an orange lamp with his mother's red scarf draped over the top, offering a soft glow to the room as the blond tried to make sense of the A-Level Chemistry in his textbook. He yawned slightly and checked his bedside alarm clock. It was only eight-seventeen, but he was tired. Deciding he'd studied enough for one evening, he laid his head on his pillow, intending to have a small nap, before Iruka called him down for dinner. Naruto groaned, sitting up and making his way down the stairs. As he made his way through the house, he felt a heavy presence. It wasn't anywhere in particular, it was just…there. It was almost as if the house was groaning under an invisible weight that was then pressing down on its residents. Naruto shrugged and made his way to his dining room table to be greeted with the sight of take-away pizza. A grin stretched the scars on his cheeks and he cackled, making his way onto one of the chairs.
"You're awesome, Iruka!" Naruto told his adoptive father as he grabbed a slice of the meat-feast pizza. Iruka chuckled, grabbing a slice of the vegetarian option.
"Why thank you, I do have my moments," he told Naruto, who just increased his grin. Just as he was about to put the slice of pizza in his mouth, the doorbell rang, making the blond stop and frown.
"I wonder if it's Kiba," he muttered. Iruka looked to him with a confused expression.
"Did you invite him?" Iruka asked. Naruto shook his head, blond tresses swaying.
"He might be here for his notebook- I said I'd write his report for him," Naruto told Iruka, who frowned in return.
"Naruto, the boy's never going to learn if you do it for him!" he scolded, earning a sheepish grin in return.
"But he had a date! I couldn't let a brother suffer!" he implored, earning an exasperated sigh from the adult.
"Go and answer the door then," he told Naruto, who nodded, taking his plate of pizza with him, knowing that Kiba's sharp senses would pick it up anyway and he'd ask for some after he did. He opened his door, about to offer the person some pizza, when he realised that this person, was definitely not Kiba. It was the man he'd run into that afternoon. His eyes widened to epic proportions and he had to fight down the blush that was valiantly trying to overtake his face.
"A-ah, good evening Mr… um," Naruto started, not knowing the man's name. The raven smirked at the flustered blond, eyeing the pizza in one hand and the casual, crumpled clothes that Naruto had intended to nap in.
"Uchiha. Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke told Naruto, who nodded placing the pizza down on the radiator near the front door.
"Good evening Uchiha-san. Is there something you need?" Naruto asked, nervously glancing at the man who stood on his porch, looking extremely handsome. Sasuke hummed, noting the blond's inner-turmoil with a suppressed glee and decided that a little teasing couldn't hurt. He hummed, dragging a hand through his inky black locks, making the blue eyes flicker up.
"Well, when you ran into me earlier today, you dropped this," Sasuke told the mesmerised blond, holding out an orange notebook. Cerulean eyes sparked in recognition at the familiar orange cover, and he seemed to be greatly relieved.
"A-ah! Thank you so much! I'm sorry I ran into you, by the way," Naruto mumbled in apology, rubbing the back of his head. A tan hand reached out to grab the notebook, but as it was passed between them, Sasuke made sure to brush his fingers along the tan ones, noting the way the hands started to shake at the touch. He concealed a smirk as he raised his line of vision from their fingers to the blue irises that seemed a bit panicked. Naruto swallowed at the action.
"T-thanks," Naruto almost squeaked. Sasuke was just about to respond with a bit of teasing when he felt it. The immense heavy aura in the house, and then there was a presence on the stairs. Onyx eyes scanned the area lightly, taking everything in. Naruto caught onto the distraction and frowned.
"Uchiha-san, is everything okay?" he asked Sasuke, who just started and looked back to the blond with a small amount of confusion in his eyes.
"Naruto, how long have you lived here for?" Sasuke asked, shocking the blond with the sudden question. He stuttered a bit before answering.
"U-uh, um, a-about nine years. Why?" he asked, wondering why on earth the raven would ask such a question.
"Has anything…strange… ever happened?" he pressed, still scanning the hall for something invisible. Naruto frowned.
"What do you mean by strange?" he asked cautiously, pulling the notebook from pale, slender fingers and folding his arms across his chest. He was starting to dislike the direction of conversation, and if Sasuke wasn't going to give up, he was going to have to get rid of him. No matter how aesthetically pleasing the raven was, if he was about to suggest something, he'd force him from his doorstep. After all, his pizza was getting cold.
"Cold spots, scratching in the walls. Maybe sometimes things disappearing?" Sasuke asked. Naruto frowned and placed his notebook on the radiator with the pizza.
"I think you should be going now, Uchiha-san," Naruto told him sternly. Onyx eyes widened at the tone the blond was using. It was cold and unforgiving- and when he said it in that voice, something stirred behind him.
"Naruto, I think you need to-" any protest Sasuke was about to make was cut off by a rough shove from Naruto.
"I said get out! Teme!" he yelled, shoving the raven even harder, making him stumble a bit. Footsteps were heard making their way down the hall and no sooner than five seconds later, Iruka was by the front door, restraining an angry Naruto. He glanced up to see a shocked Sasuke.
"I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun!" he apologised, shocking the blond.
"You know this guy?!" Naruto yelled, still in an angry shock. Iruka nodded, and so did Sasuke.
"He's my best friend's adoptive son," Iruka explained, still holding Naruto back, shoving him slightly to the side. Sasuke just widened his eyes as he glanced at Naruto, who was practically fuming.
"I don't care! Get out!" Naruto spat, still struggling against the impossibly strong hold Iruka had on him. Iruka scowled at the blond before turning to Sasuke.
"I really am sorry, Sasuke-kun, but could you please leave for the time being. Naruto hasn't been in the best of spirits as of late," Iruka told the raven, who nodded in shock.
"Of course, Iruka-san. We've recently been assigned a job so I need to be getting back anyway," he replied, making Iruka nod in reply.
"Thanks for dropping the notebook round," Iruka thanked, and Sasuke nodded, turning on his heel as the door closed behind him. He blinked twice, and as he walked down the garden path, he looked up to the bedroom window, which was so obviously the blond's- what with the amount of orange- only to almost go into cardiac arrest at the sight. Grinning down at him was a redhead, his face distorted, before he vanished, leaving Sasuke to wonder if he'd imagined the whole thing. He shuddered, glancing back to the house and deciding that he'd investigate it no matter what.
Something was definitely going on there.
Inside the house, Naruto was fuming and pacing.
"How dare that bastard!" he fumed, earning a shocked look form Iruka.
"Naruto! What exactly did he do to you?" Iruka asked, aghast at the blond's speech and body language. The blond lashed around, about to yell at his adoptive father, when he saw the small fear underlying the usual kind, brown eyes. He sighed and collapsed onto the chair that he had vacated before answering the door. The pizza had long-since been devoured, so there was no chance of it getting cold during the conversation.
"I-I dunno. He didn't do anything... but... I dunno," he sighed, running a hand down his face and facing towards the back garden, watching as the sky became darker with each passing moment through the French doors. A cat jumped up onto the garden fence, and Naruto sighed at this, but jumped when a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Did he upset you?" Iruka asked, sitting opposite the blond, moving the hand from the shoulder to the knee. Naruto moved his line of sight to the brunet in front of him, before looking down to the floor.
"N-no, not really. I just felt so... angry when he started to question me! I don't know why!" he almost snapped, sounding more upset than angry at that current moment. Iruka frowned.
"What did he ask you?" Iruka quizzed, wanting to know what had set the blond off into such a frenzy. Naruto thought about it, and then hesitated before replying.
"W-well, he asked me how long I'd lived here for," Naruto told Iruka, noting the confusion in the other man's eyes.
"That wasn't what got to me- it was what he asked afterwards," Naruto mumbled, once more looking out of the window where dark rivulets of water had started to race their way down the sheet of glass separating them from the elements. From the light of the dining room, he could see everything reflected in the glass, almost as if it were a wall mirror. It was only then that he realised how terrible he looked. There were heavy bags under his eyes; his skin was paler than normal. Then there were the dishevelled clothes and he looked a bit thinner than the last time he'd looked in the mirror. He then glanced over his shoulder and jerked violently when he could've seen another pair of dark eyes. Blinking, he checked the place again, noticing that there was nothing there. A sigh of relief escaped his throat and he glanced back to Iruka, who was looking at him expectantly, worry etched into the brown irises. Naruto swallowed at that- he was causing his father to worry unnecessarily, so he decided to lie and smile; it was what he was best at.
"I'm just really tired recently, and what with my exams this year, I'm a little stressed out. I overreacted; I'm sorry," he apologised, placing a tan hand over the one that was covering his knee. Iruka opened his mouth to say more, but Naruto cut him off.
"I need to continue with my report. Thanks for the pizza, Iruka," Naruto thanked, pushing himself out of his chair and making his way up the stairs.
'I'm just stressed. I didn't see anything- ghosts don't even exist,' he told himself as he ascended the stairs to his room. As he reached it, he shivered at the coldness before switching on his light and moving to close the window. As he reached up, movement caught his eye in the street below. It was a black cat, staring intensely at him before hissing. Naruto frowned.
"Stupid cat," he muttered to himself, slamming the window shut and making his way to his desk to copy out two reports.
Kiba so owed him, he decided, as the rain started to splatter the windows heavier, creating a drum beat on the sheet of glass. As the minutes dripped by, Naruto found himself unable to concentrate so much on what he was doing. He was just so tired, not having had a restful sleep the night before due to the nightmares. He closed his eyes, but snapped them open when he saw the flashes of memory he was trying so hard to forget. Yes, it had been almost ten years since the incident, but it didn't mean he wasn't still scared by it. He'd only been eight at the time, after all. He grimaced, looking back to the words on the page that made no sense. A heavy sigh drew from his lips as he dragged his laptop close to him, intent on researching his curricular material. Rubbing his eyes, he typed in his password, watching with no enthusiasm as the desktop loaded. An image assaulted his eyes, and he swallowed at what it was. Somehow, his desktop background had changed. As the blond- extremely confused- went to change it back to what it was originally (him and Iruka on a holiday in Florida), he noticed something. The picture was of his room. However, what made the blond so worried was that it was a picture of him sleeping. Next to his sleeping figure was a shadow, leaning over him in an almost protective manner. The blond blinked, leaning closer and squinting, just to check that it wasn't an effect of the camera. Then another thought hit him.
Who had taken the picture?
It surely wouldn't be Iruka, as he always had to get up early- why would he stay up late, taking pictures of Naruto, no less? Just as soon as it had appeared, the desktop background vanished, replaced with his original background. The blond blinked once more in surprise and shrugged it off as a computer glitch. Kiba must've taken the photo as a prank the last time he'd stayed over and put it on his computer. He opened up his internet browser before checking his e-mails. There were a few, most of them being from Facebook or the likes. He smirked at a few statuses, commenting on a few and liking a few pictures before logging off and going online to research for his coursework. He was so engrossed in his research that he didn't notice the cupboard door slowly opening behind him. The blond just kept on diligently working, writing both his and Kiba's reports. It was only when his mobile vibrated that he was brought out of his daze. Steeling himself from the jump, he flipped open his mobile to see that the text was from an unknown number. He frowned, opening it up anyway. Quite simply, the text said the following:
You look delicious when you sleep.
Naruto sighed, assuming that after ignoring his texts, Sai had decided to get a new number. It wouldn't be beyond him, Naruto noted. Whilst the two had been dating, he would go to any lengths to make sure Naruto would keep in contact with him. At one point, he had refused to let Naruto go to school for a week or see any of his friends. As Naruto was convinced that Sai was the only one for him at the point, he didn't refuse the older boy, thinking that it was for the best. It was only when he'd walked in on the other, with another person, no less, that he'd started to see Sai for who he really was. After a few more arguments and the fact that they were parting for different colleges- or in Naruto's case, Sixth Form- the blond decided to break it off, leaving a furious Sai in his wake. Naruto had no qualms about still being friends, but it was somewhat hard when Sai insisted on sending him suggestive and threatening texts. A few moments after the text had been received, his phone flashed up again, this time playing a tune. Noting it as his ringtone, the blond flipped it open and pressed it to his ear.
"Hello?" he asked, tilting his head so that the phone was wedged tightly between his shoulder and ear and so that he could still type in his findings and search for more reference material. As soon as he had asked the question though, the line went dead. Frowning, Naruto took the phone away from his ear to check the caller ID. It came up as a Withheld Number, which Naruto found quite odd, as he had set his phone to ignore any incoming calls with a withheld caller ID. Shrugging, he turned the device off before facing his laptop and noting down the time. He was more than a little shocked when he saw that it was nearing midnight. Groaning, as he had to be up early the next day, he saved his research onto his memory stick and shut down his computer. Before he climbed into bed, he turned his lamp on, the room being bathed in a crimson glow. After he had turned the light off, he sat at the edge of his bed, eyeing the pills on his bedside table. Usually, he wouldn't take them- but seeing as he wanted to be fully rested for the next day, he reached out to grab them, wincing slightly when his bruised wrists twanged in pain. He grimaced, popping a few pills into his mouth and lying down onto the bed. In his drowsy state, he thought he could hear a woman calling out to him, but he dismissed it as his imagination. After all, the woman who it belonged to had died almost ten years ago.
~Possessed~
III
Sasuke sighed as they pulled up to the quite large house of the family they were investigating. The white van was cramped, what with it carrying seven passengers, as well as all the necessary equipment for that evening. A pinkette was arguing with a blonde, both of them already name-calling and on the verge of breaking out the nails.
"Quit stealing my space you fat pig!" the pinkette yelled, shoving her foot into the side of the blonde. Said blonde just growled in return, shoving her foot into the side of the pinkette.
"Well maybe if your head wasn't so goddamn big, we'd be able to fit!" she snapped, earning a growl from the girl. Crushed up against the window was a large boy with brown hair, trying to eat a bag of barbeque flavoured crisps. It wasn't working too well, what with the girls jostling him, making them more into crumbs than crisps. He narrowed his eyes.
"Will you two ever quit?" he snapped at them, earning an amused chuckle in return. A brunet with his hair pulled into a ponytail was leaning against the sliding door, arms folded across his chest, eyes closed.
"Hn, that's like asking you to stop eating, Chouji. Ino and Sakura will always fight. As long as the sexual tension is there, the fighting will remain," he stated sagely, before his words sunk in to the three others. The large boy blushed at the image, whilst the two girls- Sakura and Ino- screeched in protest, trying with joint effort to strangle the brunet.
"Please try not to maim him; Temari will have your heads if you harm her precious Shika-chan," a redhead with teal eyes drawled as he continued to stare out of the window, unperturbed by the screeching. Both girls turned to him at this comment, a little bit of fear flashing in their eyes. One thing they had learned over the years was that Temari was not to be messed with, what with being Gaara's protective big sister and practically killing anything that tried to harm that precious to her with just a look. They shared identical looks of disappointment at not being able to flay the brunet alive and sighed, deciding to turn their focus onto someone else in the van- Uchiha Sasuke. Said raven was sitting against the back of the driver's seat, eyes closed, and headphones in. Both girls gushed at how handsome and cool the Uchiha looked before they were cut off by a derisive snort.
"You girls need to get your priorities straight," a man with blue hair told them. Both girls looked to him in confusion.
"What do you mean?" they asked simultaneously, then turning to glare at each other for asking the same question in the same tone at the same time. The man grinned, showing rows of slightly sharp teeth.
"You should know by now that baby Uchiha's gay!" he told them, watching in amusement as their faces morphed into a shocked expression.
"No way! That can't be true!" the pinkette squeaked. From the side, Shikamaru chuckled.
"Au contraire, dear Sakura. Did you ever wonder why he's never had a girlfriend?" he asked the pinkette, who spluttered at the response. The blonde- Ino- decided that she didn't want to believe her childhood friend, and leant over to Sasuke to rip his headphones out. A look of pure annoyance was sent her way at the action.
"What did you do that for?" he hissed at her, noting her curious expression and look of determination. A perfectly plucked eyebrow was raised at this expression.
"Did you need something?" he asked her with a drawl. Deciding that it would be best for all of them, Ino dived in with the question.
"Shika says that you're gay. Truth or rumour?" she demanded. From the front seat, Sasuke heard his older brother snort. Sasuke sighed, deciding that at least it would get the two women off his back if he came out publicly.
"Truth," he replied simply, taking his headphones back and placing them in once again, drowning himself in the rhythm of his music. Ino and Sakura's shocked faces were the subject of a joke for the next few moments, before the brakes were sharply applied, making everybody jostle and complain.
"Jeez Kakashi, are you trying to kill us?" Itachi mumbled to the driver, who just eye-grinned. He turned to the elder Uchiha, eye-smile still in place.
"And why would I want to deal with your pissy spirit?" the grey-haired man asked. Itachi just mumbled in reply before turning around in his seat.
"We're here. We'll go to meet the family before we unload the equipment," he stated, earning nods and noises of agreement from the team in the back of the van. The side door was opened by the blue-haired man, making Shikamaru tumble out, splashing curses as well as a puddle he'd landed in.
"Jesus, Kisame. I hate you!" Shikamaru complained, pulling himself out of the puddle with much effort. The man- Kisame- just grinned.
"N'aww, you love me really," he teased, earning a scowl from the brunet. The others climbed out, each stretching after being cramped in the back of the van for quite a while. Kakashi stepped out, frowning at the pouring sky, looking to Itachi as if to clarify that it was, indeed, raining. Itachi just rolled his eyes before slamming the side door shut, making the two girls jump at the unexpected noise.
"Well, let's not loiter in their drive for the rest of the evening," Itachi stated monotonously as he turned towards the front door, soon being followed by everyone else. As soon as they reached the front door, they could feel it; the intense aura of something evil inhabiting the house. Ino and Sakura glanced at one another nervously, only communicating with their eyes at how unsettled they were by the whole thing. Kakashi sighed and knocked on the door, waiting patiently for it to be answered. When it was, it was by a haggard looking brunette woman with tired eyes.
"Ah, you must be the experts!" she stated, hope filling her eyes. Kakashi eye-smiled once more and extended his hand.
"Hatake Kakashi-we spoke on the phone?" he told the woman, who nodded eagerly.
"Yes, yes! I'm Kieta Haruhi," she told the man with enthusiasm, before stepping back, waving her arm in front of her.
"Please, please; come in!" she told them, her enthusiasm not dropping one bit. Briefly, Kakashi had to wonder how bad the problem must've been for the woman to be so accepting so quickly. She hadn't asked for any ID, she was just insanely relieved. He had little time to dwell on that thought, however, as he was quickly being pulled into the living room and offered a cup of tea- as well as the rest of the crew- by the woman's teenage daughter. Kakashi accepted the offer gratefully before turning to the woman who had invited them over. He smiled at her and leant forward whilst the others looked around at their surroundings, taking in the detail.
"So, Kieta-san, can you tell us what's been happening?" he asked, getting straight to the point. Itachi carefully nudged him- a small reminder that sometimes he could be too blunt. A small nod acknowledged the nudge, but the woman continued with telling him her problems anyway.
Sasuke was distracted, however. All he could think of was the house where the blond was residing- it hadn't seemed pleasant at all. Not as in, the sense that it was an unhealthy home; but the aura around the blond and house itself was crushing, almost as if it wanted to suck the happiness out of everything that lived there.
"What do you think about this, Sasuke?" Itachi asked, snapping the raven out of his musings, making his eyes widen as he realised he had no idea what the woman was saying. Haruhi was staring at him expectantly, a small smile on her face. Panicking, and mentally sorting through what he had already read on the portfolio, he went for the most logical explanation.
"It sounds like a poltergeist," he blagged, earning a relieved sag from the grey-haired man that had thought that they would certainly be doomed if the woman realised Sasuke hadn't been listening. The woman's eyes widened at the revelation.
"A- a poltergeist? What's that?" she asked, dumbfounded. Sasuke blanched. This woman had contacted a paranormal investigation team, and she didn't know what a poltergeist was? The raven resisted the urge to smash his face into the wall and just sat quietly on the sofa, letting someone else explain what a 'poltergeist' was. Sakura was the one who turned up with an explanation.
"Poltergeist literally translates from German, meaning 'noisy ghost'. There are many beliefs for their origins. Most people believe that they used to be violent, evil people in life, then after death turned into other spirits. Other people have the theory that a poltergeist is born from bad spiritual energy." Sakura stated to the woman, who nodded, eyes still wide.
"Seeing that this is a new housing estate, it has quite a low chance of being a malevolent spirit. So, in the case of it being bad spiritual energy, there is usually a host for it and this person-"
"Wait- so someone is knowingly putting this thing in here?" Haruhi squeaked, eyeing around herself, looking stripped of all privacy. Kakashi placed a hand on the woman's knee to calm her down.
"No," he stated, about to go into an explanation before he was interrupted by Gaara.
"The host emits this 'bad energy' unknowingly," the redhead muttered, uncrossing his arms from where they were folded across his chest. The woman tilted her head in a confused manner, not too sure on how to take this news.
"The 'bad energy' -so to say- is usually linked to some sort of childhood trauma being expressed in the teenage years. If you believe in the 'host' theory, poltergeists usually appear around teenage girls in the early stages of puberty," he told her evenly. This made the woman stop.
"You mean my daughter might-" she cut off, looking to the people around her with desperation, hoping for them to deny it. As nobody did, she decided to try and defend her daughter for herself.
"No, no, you've got it all wrong! Kara couldn't do such a thing! She's only fourteen!" Haruhi stressed. Itachi sighed.
"The host doesn't do it by choice, Keita-san, it's more of the fact she's had a trauma in her childhood with no way to vent. Do you know of any events that may have upset her during that stage of her life?" the older raven asked with a compassionate voice. Haruhi swallowed and looked from side to side, eyeing the rest of the members, and Itachi caught on. He cleared his throat, addressing the crew.
"Sakura, Ino: I want you two to keep Kara company for the evening," he told them, making them nod in understanding as they stood up to grab their things from the van.
"Chouji, Shikamaru: I want you to set up the cameras in the rooms- we need to catch evidence on camera of what's going on," Kakashi ordered, catching onto the drift also.
"Sasuke and Gaara, you can set up the audio equipment," Kisame told the other two, who nodded silently at the elders. Once it was only the elders who were remaining, Haruhi sat forward, hands clasped on her skirt-clad lap.
"Th-there was an issue when she was younger- it involved her father," she started shakily, earning the curiosity of all three men around her.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked gently, offering the woman some of his tea as comfort. She took the mug and sipped it gratefully.
"H-her father was quite a famous man, and more than often was surrounded by the paparazzi. One night, when I was at work, he took Kara out with him on a small drive- the news crews followed as they had never seen Kara or I before- my husband preferred to keep his personal life quiet," she added with a small smile. Kakashi nodded solemnly and could quite easily see where the story was going.
"The photographers were taking pictures of them whilst in the car, the flashes showing up in the rear-view mirror distracting him as they made their way down the country road," at that point Haruhi broke off, a small sob emitting from her, and Kisame passed the woman his personalised shark-hankie.
"The flashes were too much, and he swerved on some black ice, causing him to spin out of control and fall off the road. The car spun around, the windscreen smashing, the sides crushed in, airbags deployed. It was a miracle that Kara even survived," she sobbed, taking a deep breath.
"What did the news crews do?" Itachi asked, feeling dread settle in his stomach. A dark look overtook the eyes of Haruhi as she remembered what they had done.
"They did nothing," she spat, venom dripping in her voice. Kisame flinched at the tone but listened as the woman continued.
"Kara was stuck in a burning car with her dead father whilst they did nothing but take photographs. It took her ten minutes to crawl out of there, and only then did somebody call the emergency services. Ever since then, she's never set foot near a camera. That's why the photograph I gave you was so old," she hissed, obviously still upset about the incident but saddened at the fact that she couldn't take photographs of her daughter growing up without said daughter having a nervous breakdown. Haruhi's eyes widened when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked to the side to see Kakashi with a small, gentle smile on his face, visible eye filled with warmth.
"Don't worry, Keita-san, we'll do anything we can to help," he reassured, earning a shaky smile from the woman before him, before she launched forward, bringing the man into a hug.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squeaked tearfully, earning an awkward pat on the back from the grey-haired man. Kisame grinned at Kakashi, whilst Itachi internally sighed.
It was going to be a long night…
Possessed
Chapter One: End
AWWWWW YEEEEEE~AAAAAH! Who else is excited?!
Or is it just me :/
Who cares? I'm PUMPED! The next chapter should be out next Friday~ Oooh Friday updates! X3
Once again, I really am sorry that it was late TT^TT
~Until next time!