Chapter One:

"Sorrow seeps into your heart through a pinhole

Just like a faucet that leaks

And there is comfort in the sound

But it slowly rises

Your love is gonna drown"

Death Cab for a Cutie – Marching Bands of Manhattan

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Shikamaru shifted on his feet, adjusting the strap of the school bag and just generally wishing he was anywhere but here. In front of him, he watched as his mother continued scolding his father for his 'irresponsible' ways of never setting a good example for their only child. Their only child, Shikamaru, rolled his eyes and huffed as he stood from one foot to the other. Finally, he cried, "Mum, I'm going to be late if you keep on scolding Dad! Come on!"

Their mother scowled and then sighed, unable to keep being angry at her lazy husband and son whom seemed to be destined to be exactly like him. Her husband looked at her, pouting apologetically. Bursting into giggles, she took a soft swipe at him, laughing as he winced and pretended to rub his bruise. She smiled and kissed him softly, unable to believe that she had ever been angry with this man. She had been married to him for almost 15 years and although he had made her hair literally rise with anger, he was also able to make her laugh. All in all, his ability to make her laugh outweighed any deeds he did do, or did not do in his case.

"God, you guys are so gross," she heard their son Shikamaru huff out exasperatingly, disgust evident in his voice at his parents kissing in front of him. She let her husband go and ushered them off out of the door, waving to them as Shikamaru threw himself in the car with her husband waving cheerfully before driving out of the driveway.

Shikamaru let his eyes rove past the scenery as his Dad drove past the houses towards his school. He let himself nearly drift away, enjoying the music when his Dad slammed on the brakes, nearly choking Shikamaru in the process as he was thrown forward and the seat belt cut painfully. The painfully screeching of the tyres made his teeth grit and as he literally got thrown back in the seat, his bag lying on the floor of the seat, he heard his father curse loudly.

"HEY, ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?" his father literally screamed, the window thrown open and making to get himself out of his seatbelt and out onto the road where he could get to the person whom had nearly killed them all.

Shikamaru, after making sure that his head was still attached to his shoulder, looked up curiously to see who had nearly gotten them killed. His eyes took in the boy as he stood there defiantly, looking at them with narrow eyes. His shock of blonde hair fell nearly past his shoulder, his mouth curled in unhappiness (pain?) and what struck Shikamaru the most was the fact that his eyes were so blue, that it nearly rivaled out the sky. He should know. He spent most of his lunch time staring at the said sky during lunch with his best friend, Chouji.

The boy's fists was curled at his sides and although he looked at the car and its occupants (his father still struggling with the seatbelt, shaky fingers unable to get a real grasp at the release), it was soon diverted to the side and catching sight of what he was looking for, he ran off.

Shikamaru gaped as the boy ran off so fast that it seemed like he had nearly disappeared.

"That's it, you're going to get it!" his father roared valiantly, finally getting free of the seatbelt but just gaped stupidly at the empty spot in front of the car. Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair, scowling.

"Where did that punk go?"

……………………….

"Did you know that they're saying that there's a haunted place out in that abandoned estate at the outskirts of the town?"

Shikamaru hummed his answer as he stared at the cloudy sky, Chouji next to him, munching on his chips as he chatted to his mostly silent friend.

"Apparently, Kiba and some of his friends tried to enter the house on a dare and they met this ghost. It was so creepy and stuff. I heard it tried to kill them! I heard the house was owned by an old lady who was into black magic and when she was dying, she cursed the house so that whatever secrets she had would never fall into the wrongs hands. There's apparently a demon guarding the house and its favorite snack is human bones," Chouji said, the horror creeping into his voice, the steady crunch of the chips getting faster.

"You know, the story is probably twisted and I don't think there's even a demon. Probably an old lady whom died, leaving a couple of cats going wild and that's probably the demon," Shikamaru snorted, disdain coloring his voice.

Chouji looked at his clever friend, seeming to think over this logic and nodded slowly.

"Maybe you're right but you won't know till you're there and that's why we're going there after school with Kiba, Shino, Ino and Lee,"

"What? I never agreed to that!" Shikamaru cried out, sitting up immediately, scowling.

"Either way Kiba's going to drag you into that place. You know what he's like. Besides I want to go and see the house and see what it's like," Chouji said so matter of factly that Shikamaru knew he had no choice in the matter.

Scowling, he was about to say something when the bell rang and just like that lunch was over, Chouji beamed as he crushed his empty crisps bag, knowing that he was just saved by the bell.

Lucky him.

………………………..

Shikamaru wondered for the thousandth time what the hell he was doing with his friends, crouched behind a rotten wooden fence. Calling himself stupid, he scowled as he tried to glare a hole in the rotten wood.

"Oi, now!" a loud whisper cut through to his curses and he nearly stumbled as Chouji pushed into him, in a bid to hurry him. Scowling and jabbing behind him into Chouji's soft stomach, he was rewarded by the sound of a painful intake of breath behind him and smirking vindictively, he scurried forward, keeping an eye on the grey jacket in front of him which belonged to his friend Shino.

He didn't know how Shino had been roped into this but knowing that his best friend was Kiba, he could sympathize with Shino. Kiba had enough opinions for two and the annoying persuading power of a hill of red ants. Nearly tripping on a protruding root, he cursed softly and tried to keep an eye out for more roots. Finally reaching their destination which turned out to be a hole in the mostly rotten fence, he waited for his turn impatiently to crawl through the hole in the fence, not minding the fact that he could barely fit in there. He just wanted to get this done and over with.

"How am I going to fit in there?" he heard Chouji whisper frantically behind him.

"I'm sure you will fit in there, do not give up!" he heard Lee whisper almost too loudly before being shushed by everyone in the group. Leaning from foot to foot, he finally had enough of the argument.

"I'll go in first and then when you guys decide to come in, I'll be waiting for you," he snapped, impatience lacing his voice. His mum was so going to kill him for being late. Going down on his knees, he wiggled his way into the hole and nearly sneezing at the leaves which were threatening to shove themselves up his nose and mouth, he tore a way through the plants, panting as his popped out of the bushes. Dragging his limbs out, he stood, dusting his pants and shirt frantically.

"Oi, Shikamaru, you alright?" a faint voice called from behind.

"Yea, yea, hurry up," he snapped back, finally looking up to see what he had gotten himself into.

A chill crawled past his spine as he took in the sight of the house. A traditional Japanese home stood there, sprawling over the land, the paper doors mostly torn and hanging off the slide and Shikamaru shivered. From where he was standing, which was quite far, it felt like those doors looked like the eyes of the house and he did not like the way it felt; like it was staring at him. Trees were lining the way towards the house. Looking around him, he could easily see, despite the overgrown grass and weeds that the space he was standing in could have been a garden or a lawn.

The winds blew past softly and the tree rustled in unison, causing Shikamaru to break out in goose bumps, sounding like a crowd of people whispering in muted sound.

His heart leapt into his throat as he thought he saw someone looking at him through one of the doors, its shadow imprinted faintly on the paper thin torn door. His feet carried him forward while his mind screamed at him to run. The heavy steps of his feet raised dread in his stomach, making him nauseous from fear. It seemed like he was walking forward since forever. Finally reaching the steps of the house which led to the balcony of the house, he tried not to shiver and wonder what was living in the space between the steps and the balcony.

Dreadful thoughts of a dark yawning space reaching out to swallow him plagued him and he would feel the bile rising in his throat as he trembled, unable to climb the steps. He felt faint, swaying gently as the thoughts nearly over powered him. He simply had the nauseating urge to fall onto his knees and simply crawl to the doom that awaited him, to put an end to the fear and misery he was currently being involved in.

"You shouldn't be here, you know," a husky voice called out and Shikamaru was snapped out of his fear trance, whirling around to the source of the voice coming from behind him.

He could only gape as his mind caught up as to who he was looking at. The boy who had nearly gotten his father and him killed! Mouth gaping open, no sound coming forth from his tight throat, he found himself blacking out, the rush of fear, adrenaline and nausea becoming too much his body to handle.

………………………….