Chapter 1: Kagome, Kagome; Do you know who's behind yo-! !
Crunch, crunch, crunch. The sound of leaves beneath feet was the only noise that filled the air. Tall trees with thick green leaves lined the beaten, brown, and dark path cutting through the forest, letting only small streams of sunlight through the canopy. The forest was beautiful, quiet, and had grass lining the dirt trail. All was peaceful, even with the crunching of leaves beneath feet. So peaceful. So tranquil-
"Ouchie! Shitake!" A tiny girl yelled as she tripped over a root.
"You ok? Seriously, what is that, the…THIRD time you've tripped?"
"Shut the hell up! You're the one who forced me into heels! What the hell was wrong with wearing my tennis shoes out IN A FOREST ANYWAY?"
"They were UNSYMETRICAL! Those boots are symmetrical, they have belts arranged in a triangular pattern on each one and a gold buckle on each side. They're perfect!"
"Perfect my ass."
Two girls, one tiny, one tall, bickered as they walked through the woods, the tiny girl's loud outbursts scaring away any wildlife that might have been near. These two girls are Ariel and Sarah, 13 year old 8th graders in the town of Hoke Mills, New York, about 20 miles away from the Big Apple.
Ariel (The smaller/angrier one) was a very skinny girl (Seriously, her ribs stuck out despite she ate more that Sarah, who is much bigger than her), only 4'6, and flat as a board with long bottom length brown hair kept up in a high ponytail. Her hair was slicked back in the front except for a large ahoge (That big ol' hair in anime that sticks straight up) smack dab on the top of her head and a large curl sticking out of the right side of her hair, and she had piercing, dull, and deceptive gray eyes. Hair clips were holding back the hair on the sides of her head, the left ones being of a white anime bunny with a pink hat and a white anime cat with a black hat, the right held by four instead of two, in the shape of anime cats attacking. A pair of thick, square prescription glasses sat low on her nose, giving full view of her glassy gray eyes. Her eyebrows were round and circular, her eyelashes long and black, and her skin was practically stark white, so she looked sickly. A long, white ribbed turtleneck sweater covered her upper body, the sleeves a bit too long and the neck of it reached her chin, despite it being a rather warm and mild day. She wore a pair of simple black jeans that tucked into black heeled boots with belts and laces. Around her waist was a utility belt, the buckle circular with a yellow "X' decal in the center and a pouch holding a cellphone hooked to it. An exact working replica of Edward Elric's Alchemist pocket watch was also hooked to the belt, the chain looped around and glittered in the light. White lace fingerless gloves adorned her hands, along with a Death The Kid skull ring on her left middle finger and a ring of silver angel wings with a stone of topaz in the middle adorned her right middle finger, also. On her left wrist, a bracelet of brightly colored neon stones, and on her right, a woven leather bracelet with a bead engraved with "Death Note". Around her neck, a black dog collar with a circular silver tag, engraved with "Artie, Greatest Great Dane". She whined to her friend about her predicament, not knowing how to walk in heels.
"You and your frikin' OCD! FUCK THESE THINGS!" She yelled, gesturing to her shoes.
The taller girl simply stared at Ariel while walking, still stubbornly stating that the symmetry was more important.
Sarah was more docile than Ariel. She had shoulder length dark-brown hair with her bangs covering most of her right eye, both being a deep and endless hazel. She was rather tall, and had a decent sized chest, unlike Ariel's flatness. She wore a red zip-up tank top with black straps and a black belt around the stomach, and the collar was black and white striped. She also wore black jeans with rips revealing pink under fabric and two purple belts, one with spiderwebs and one with square spikes. She had black platform shoes with many belts and elbow length black fingerless gloves. Around her wrist was a silver bracelet engraved with guitars, and a panda shaped handbag hung on her shoulder to her waist. A solid gold chain hung around her neck and connected to solid gold charms in the shape of earbuds, and a pair of white headphones sat on her head.
"Ok, stop complaining about the shoes and help me look." Sarah said, staring to get fed up with her friend's childish whining.
"Look for what?" Ariel asked as she suddenly forgot her aching feet, tilting her head at her amigo.
"….You seriously forgot. Or were you just not paying attention?" Sarah asked, her right eye twitching in irritation, the quietness of the forest failing to calm her.
"I wasn't paying attention, you know I have the attention span of a goldfish." Ariel answered happily, putting a finger to her lips as she smiled and tilted her head in the opposite direction. Sarah then faced palmed in exasperation.
"Ok, recap. We're here because we need to find a stinkin' plant called th-th-thim- whatever here in this forest!"
"It's pronounced thyme, Sarah-chan." Ariel shot back. Sarah ignored the smart ass comment and began rummaging through the plants around the trees beside the path. Ariel looked around boredly, not even giving an effort to help. While Sarah worked, Ariel began to wander off. While she walked down the path, she remembered an old warning for people traveling through the forest. "Don't stray from the beaten path, because most never make it out. And if you see tire tracks on a path, turn back. If you decide to follow the path, you will come to an old house. Enter if you want to play….." Ariel couldn't remember the rest of the warning, due to her forgetfulness, and decided to focus on the movement of her feet.
A she kept on walking, she barely noticed when she came to a pair of tire tracks in the dirt path. She stared at them for a few moments before turning slightly and cupping her hands around her mouth. She opened her mouth, revealing sharp fangs and braces (Black and White) and yelled, "SARAH! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!"
*Cut to Sarah*
Sarah jerked her head up at the sound of her friend's call, but smacked her head into the branch of a small sapling. "Dammit…." she mumbled and rubbed the sore spot on her head. She grumbled a few choice words before running to the small girl's side.
"What do you want?"
Ariel looked at her blankly then pointed down. Sarah followed her finger and saw the tire tracks, and immediately remembered the old legend and shot Ariel down.
"NO. Hell no. I don't feel like dying today."
Ariel deadpanned and pouted. Sarah tried to be firm, but her friend's silence spoke numbers. She sighed and gave in. "Surely you can't be serious?"
Ariel immediately brightened and said, " Of course I'm serious, and my name's not Shirley!" Ariel then sprinted a few hundred feet before tiring out, while Sarah simply walked, knowing her friend would tire out without any adrenaline to keep her going.
"Why are we doing this?" Sarah asked, looking to her slightly panting friend.
"Because I'm bored! And I want to see if this mansion is real!"
As they walked, they began to notice two things.
1) They were walking uphill
2) It was getting colder.
'But that makes sense, since we're going up, right….?' Sarah thought, starting to get an uneasy feeling. Ariel, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice the temperature change and walked with a large grin on her face.
"Oh yeah, Sarah! I learned a few things in Social Studies! Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself.' And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Sarah. I looked 'em up."
Sarah's expression: O.O "Ok…..Why? Just…Why?"
"We all go a little mad sometimes." Ariel replied, looking at Sarah with a shadow graying out her eyes and using a creepy voice. Sarah bristled and lost her color. "You're psychotic, Ariel."
"Yeah well, there is a thin line between philosophy and psychopathy. I have taken that line and replaced it with a small trout."
Sarah simply stared. She was rather used to her friend's randomness, considering she had Antisocial Personality Disorder and signs of ADHD, but she was seriously pushing it today. Normally, Ariel was directing her aggressiveness toward others, but it seems Sarah was on the end of Ariel's barrel today.
"Hey, I want some pudding. Got any?" Ariel asked, going from creepy to sweet in a matter of seconds.
"No, Ariel. And you know I like Jello! Green Jello!"
Ariel was about to reply, but stopped when she noticed that it had gotten even colder.
"The weatherman said it was going to be nice and warm all day! Bastard." Ariel growled angrily.
As they kept walking, Ariel kept complaining about pudding. Then, they stopped, since a large mansion was blocking their way. It was in a clearing, and the building was made of stone, and looking incredibly old with vines crawling up and down the sides.
"Place looks like a dump. Looks like the damn thing might fall down any minute." Ariel said with disdain.
"It's stone Ariel. It's not gunna fall down. Now that you've seen it, can we go back now?" Sarah shot back, referring to the legend.
"Hell no! The legend said to enter if you want to play, and I WANT TO PLAY!" Ariel yelled and turned chibi to race to the door.
"Ariel! ARIEL! SHIT, ARIEL! DON'T GO IN THERE!" Sarah yelled, running after her crazy friend.
"MOTHERFUCKERS!" Ariel yelled as she kicked the door open.
(Ariel's POV)
As I kicked open the door, I was met with the stench of rotting flesh. I looked towards Sarah only to see her holding her nose. I frankly wasn't bothered since I had killed before. (Just to let you know, take this lightly. Ariel is just crazy.) After Sarah gathered her bearings, she looked up to me and said, "Ariel, let's get outta' here! This place is creepy." I ignored her and began walking in. Sarah sighed in exasperation and walked with me. The hallways were decrepit with wallpaper peeling on the walls and broken furniture laying about. As we walked through the hallways, we talked about random things to lighten the mood.
"So, what you're favorite gesture in Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Sarah asked me as she looked around trying to ignore the filth with her OCD.
"I understand that Scissors can beat Paper, and I get how Rock can beat Scissors, but there's no way Paper can beat Rock. Is Paper supposed to magically wrap around Rock leaving it immobile? If so, why can't paper do this to scissors? Screw scissors, why can't paper do this to people? Why aren't sheets of college ruled notebook paper constantly suffocating students as they attempt to take notes in class? I'll tell you why, because paper can't beat anybody, a rock would tear that crap up in two seconds. When I play rock/ paper/ scissors, I always choose rock. Then when somebody claims to have beaten me with their paper I can punch them in the face with my ready made fist and say, oh, I'm sorry, I thought paper would protect you, asshole!" I replied animatedly before smacking into a door. Sarah laughed as I slid down and glared at the door. I then noticed that unlike all the other doors, which were brown, this one was red and shiny. Sarah had stopped laughing and looked at the door with me.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then the door opened a crack, and both of us flew back with a squeal. As we shakingly approached the door, we came face to face with a girl slightly older than us. She was an exact copy of Hatsune Miku in a kimono.
She smiled at us both, and said "Will you come play with us?"
Sarah shook her head violently and began, "Um, no thank yo-"
"HELL YEAH!"
Sarah whipped her head to look at me, but I had already made up my mind and was wearing the "Awsome Face" out of anticipation. The Miku copy smiled at us and opened the door fully.
Inside, the room was like one of those daycare places. Bright yellow walls, toys strewn about, but it was still rather clean. What caught our attention was the children and adults inside. They were EXACT copies of Vocaloids in kimonoes. Meiko, Kaito, Rin and Len, Gumi, Teto, Neru, Kiku, Miki, Gackupo, and many others, all playing happily. Only Len's forehead, Rin's arm, and a few others were bandaged. Sarah was shaking slightly, but I still had on the Awsome Face. They all turned their complete attention to us, even those who looked busy playing or distracted. They were all suddenly ecstatic. "Play with us, Play with us!"
Sarah whipped her head back and forth, looking from me to them, probably noticing their Vocaloid appearance. "Uh..um…Maybe."
Uh Oh.
'BAD MOVE, Sarah! Don't you remember the Circle You, Circle You song?'
Their faces suddenly turned demonic, and they began chanting in an inhuman voice.
"DECIDE, DECIDE!"
"Sure!" I said, knowing that I could save us some time by just agreeing. Sarah looked ready to faint when they placed us back to back in the middle of the floor. I put on the "Awsome Face" one more time.
"Whatever you do, dooooonnn'ttt flinch!"
The children joined hands in a circle around us. 'Circle You, Circle You' began to play.
They began to circle around us, and the room lost all light, but we could still see the children perfectly, their faces now vicious.
Sarah was frozen, trying her best not to flinch. I just sat there. And they began to chant.
"Kagome,Kagome…."
They sang the entire song before finally stopping.
_Sarah's POV_
'Holy Shit, I don't wanna die' I thought. I knew what was gunna happen, and I was way too scared to keep track of who was circling me. Hell, I could barely keep from flinching.
I turned to Ariel, who was now facing me, her face blank with a smile like nothing had ever happened.
"Kagome, Kagome, who is behind you?"
Ariel said nothing. I then made the mistake of looking up. There was the Miku copy…..
Holding a hatchet above Ariel's head.
Ariel simply smiled unknowingly.
I stared in horror as Miku brought the hatched down.
"Miku-chan"
The hatchet stopped a mere millimeter above Ariel's ahoge, as she smirked in triumph.
'Oh, THANK GOD FOR ARIEL!' I silently prayed as she turned to look at Miku, who's eyes had widened in shock. She looked at the hatchet momentarily and said,
"What we have here…Is a failure to communicate."
Miku suddenly reeled back along with all the other children.
Ariel stood up and I followed.
"We won! Nanananana~!" Ariel cheered, sticking her tongue out with a smile.
They simply stared, they parted a path towards the door.
I raced to the door and threw it open and ran out into the hallway, while Ariel skipped out to me. The door then slowly closed behind us. We then had a moment of silence, until I shattered it.
"Ariel, WE ARE GETTING THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" I yelled, grabbing her wrist and beginning to drag her down the hallway.
"Awwww, why?" She whined. I stared at her in disbelief.
"Ariel, you were almost killed. KILLED! WITH A FUCKING HATCHET!" I screamed at her. 'For God sakes, does she have any concern for her well-being? I know she's narcissistic but WTF?'
"Oh Sarah, you should know, I AM AN IMMORTAL BEING! I AM THE CLOSEST THING TO GOD ON EARTH! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
She laughed heartily, honestly believing she was telling the truth.
'And… I think I believe her. Isn't much of a stretch for Ariel.'
Ariel detached her wrist from my hand and began walking aimlessly, leaving me dumbstruck before rushing to catch up with her. 'For a small fry, she's fast as hell..'
As we kept walking, I began to notice that we were walking for much longer than before.
As we walked, I pointed out a few things. "Um, Ariel?"
"Huh?"
"We're not going anywhere, all the rooms look like the rooms in orphanages and operating rooms, and I think we're being followed."
Ariel then turned around and took in our surrounding fully. 'She was probably daydreaming again….'
Her piercing gaze fell onto the corned of the hallway. She started walking towards it.
_Ariel's POV_
I had noticed a flash of red around the corner. As I approached, it moved slightly. I squealed and froze, when a pair of red eyes stared up at me.
…..It was a little red headed girl.
I regained my color, then scrutinized her under my gray gaze. She was smaller than me, understandably, being a child, and her red hair was shaggy and unkept. She wore a kimono top and pants, and her feet were bare. She simply stared at me with an empty gaze.
"Hey…kid. You alright?" I asked awkwardly. 'Man, I hate kids. And where the hell is the pudding in this place!'
She simply stared. Sarah walked behind me and worriedly questioned the girl if she was alright while I drowned her out. I walked away, unfazed by the kid, and began on my quest for pudding.
'I WILL find some.' I thought before throwing open the door at the end of the hall and searched for the kitchen.