Naruto's eyes stared forward. His tan skin was itchy from the once crimson color that was splattered all over him. His lips were chapped and his hair a mess. The siren that was wailing in the background seemed to just be an ambient noise ringing in his ears. His face was illuminated by the bright and hot embers that flared before him. The blue blanket that had been wrapped around his shoulders was only making him hotter than he already was, but he held no means of removing it. The crackling from the roaring flames seemed to taunt him, the red embers making pictures in his mind of the recent events.
Cops were standing everywhere, firefighters spraying the building, trying to contain the spreading flames. The sides of the burning mansion started to flick off, ready to cave into the flames at any given moment. Two cops were talking amongst themselves, behind Naruto, stress held openly in their voices. "Shit, if it's not one sick bastard, it's another..." One chunkier cop sighed out, scratching the balding area on top of his head. The younger and leaner cop stood beside him, his face tired and worn out.
"I guess this explains what happened to that missing teenage boy..." He shook his head and kicked the dirt. He looked over at Naruto, his tortured appearance almost frightening. "Poor kid...I could only imagine what he went through..."
The larger cop exhaled a deep breath, his eyes landing on the blonde teen sitting on the curb. "Yeah..." He spit at the ground, thumbs laced behind his belt. "I've seen some pretty sick shit, but this one tops it by far..."
Naruto's eyes were blank and lost. His mind was foggy and confused. Every time someone had tried to talk to him, he couldn't understand what it was they were saying. Purple bags hung from under his eyes, his nails were dirty and hands covered in thick and uncomfortable blood. He occasionally felt a burning liquid flow from his eyes, but never paid attention to it, or anything else for that matter. The conversations that were being held around him were nothing but mumbles to him. He wanted to just go home, go and crawl into his bed, let his body rest, let his mind straighten things out and pull him into a black slumber. He didn't want to be awake any longer; he didn't want to have the time to think about everything that had happened to him over the past hours. Naruto blinked, his eyes burning, and stared back into the fire. It was almost as if he could see their faces, screaming at him through the flames. Every one of them yelling for their savior, only to be ignored. Naruto wished he could've gone back in there and rescued them all himself, but he knew better than that, he knew that his efforts would be useless.
Naruto then turned his neck for the first time to see the only other survivor. They sat there in a similar state of emptiness as him. He wanted to get up and walk over to them but his body just wouldn't move, his mind didn't even seem to understand the thought process. The two cops from behind him stepped forward, standing in front of Naruto with pity on their faces. Naruto turned his attention to them, noticing the skinnier of the two held onto a half-burnt video recorder. The older cop cleared his throat and talked softly. "I hate to ask this of you so soon but..." He ran his hand over his scalp and sighed. "We need you to tell us what happened here. The things that weren't on the tape..."
Naruto looked away from them, his eyes landing on the ground. He opened his mouth only slightly and then licked his lips. His blue eyes looked back up at the cops, his throat dry and scratchy. "...It was just for a school project..."
Chapter 1: 5 Out Of 5
Naruto yawned quietly, stretching out his legs in his small desk. His teacher was ranting on about the useless points of the school project that was about to assigned to them. He didn't care about the details of the film project; they had done a lot before in the past, it was the same thing every time, just a new theme. The theme this time would be the one he had been anticipating since he signed up for the class. He had a story already set in his mind; the only thing that could ruin it would be the people that he got partnered up with. There were a few people in the class that would probably call his idea 'dumb' and then try to take over the project with their own lame idea. Naruto hoped that it wouldn't come down to that, he didn't want to have a failing grade because of someone else.
He stared forward at the teacher as she passed out the rubric for the assignment. After she finished walking around the classroom, she'd announce the groups. Naruto wished she would just let everyone pick their own groups, but because it was an acting class, she found it vital to make sure everyone got to feel uncomfortable around an unknown person. Naruto accepted the paper from his teacher and second naturedly wrote his name up at the top. After he set his pencil down, his teacher was making her way to the front of the classroom. Naruto bit his lip in anticipation. She set the extra papers down on her desk and then picked up her clip board with the groups listed on it. "Alright, I tried to make this as even as possible, the majority of you will be placed in groups of six, two groups will have five members. The groups are as follows; Group one will be..." She turned to the chalkboard and began writing the names on the board. Naruto scanned the list, his name not appearing anywhere. She read aloud the next group and then wrote that list on the board afterwards. Again Naruto hadn't been listed off. He looked around the classroom at the kids left and sighed. He knew he wasn't going to like his group. "Group four will be, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto's eyes jolted to the front of the class. His heart just dropped to the bottom of his stomach. No way had he just been paired with him. Not him. Sasuke was nothing but a pig, chasing after girls every second of the day. There was no way Naruto would be able to get the project done with him in the group. "Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and last but not least, Sakura Haruno." Naruto groaned to himself. The best project had just been wasted with this group. Shikamaru was okay, in a weird kind of way. He never seemed to like anyone, and had a creepy kind of aura like he'd murder you when you turned your back. Ino was a little bit too nice to him and Sakura...
Naruto looked over at the pink haired girl and saw her batting her eyelids at the one and only! Naruto looked over at Sasuke and rolled his eyes at the way he flirted with the girl. The teacher finished off the list and then set her clip board down. "Now seeing as how this will be another film type deal, you've got three weeks to get the video completed. Today you'll be working on your script with your group. I want at least a plot or some characters turned in by the end of the hour. If you've got any kind of questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you have to think about something being in appropriate for the steps I've given you, you probably shouldn't use it." She smiled slightly and then sighed. "Well then, Get to work."
Naruto looked up at the class and saw it come to life with movement. He looked for the members of his group to see where exactly they'd be moving. Sure enough, Sakura had already begun to make her way over to Sasuke's desk. She pulled a desk into his and sat as close as she could to him with the metal in the way. Ino had begun to pick up her things and was walking over towards Naruto, his desk being on the way to Sasuke's. She stopped at his desk and looked down at him smiling. "At least I like someone in the group..." She said, and then turned her attention towards Sakura. Naruto sighed and then picked up his things and walked over to the two with Ino. Sakura didn't even bother to look up when they approached. Sasuke watched as Naruto and Ino pulled the desks together. Shikamaru was the last one to join them, and when he did, Sasuke watched him with a look of border-line disgust on his face. Naruto decided to ignore it, as well as everyone else. He pulled out his rubric and a notebook and layed them on his desk.
"Alright, so what do we want the script to be about?" He asked dully.
Sasuke looked over at him and smiled. "How about we do something about a weird kid shooting up a school?"
Naruto shot him a look knowing he was talking about Shikamaru. Shikamaru didn't seem to catch the insult, too busy staring at the texture of the desk to notice. Ino sighed and tried to throw an opinion of her own out there.
"What if we do a kind of murder-mystery type thing?"
Naruto exhaled a deep breath. "That's so original though..." Ino shrugged.
Sasuke looked over at Sakura and then ran his hand through her hair, twirling a strand around his finger. "Too bad we can't go back to the Romance project." Sakura bit her lip, flustered by the statement.
Naruto looked over at Ino and shook his head. He was going to have to put up with this for three weeks? Shikamaru stared down at the desk, his face appearing zoned out. Sakura looked away from Sasuke for the first time that Naruto could ever recall and gave her own opinion. "What if we do a monster kind of deal? Like a huge dinosaur killing an entire city or something?"
"You mean Godzilla? They already made that sweetie." Ino said in a motherly-mocked tone. "Besides, we don't have that kind of equipment to make something with monsters. Unless you'd like to wear a hot and nasty mascot uniform." Sakura rolled her eyes and then turned her focus back to Sasuke. Ino looked at Naruto. "What about you? You got any ideas?"
Naruto bit his lip. Now that Ino said it, his idea would be kind of hard to pull off with amateur equipment. He decided to throw a different idea out there, figuring his wouldn't have worked out. "Well, I thought we could do something about a haunting or whatever. Like a group of kids decide to investigate an old ghost story, and it turns out to be true or something like that." Ino looked at the rest of the group to see their reactions.
Sakura didn't pay attention or Shikamaru for that matter. Sasuke shrugged his shoulder. "Why not? We could go and investigate that one story about the lady with all of the dolls, only for us all to be murdered because we screamed."
Ino rolled her eyes. "You stole that from a movie." Sasuke smirked.
"Really? Someone already beat us to it? Damn, that was such a good idea too. Ghost stories are always so thrilling!" He said sarcastically. Naruto shook his head. Man, he was an asshole.
"It's better than a shoot up at a school." Naruto mumbled.
Sasuke laughed. "Was that supposed to be a comeback?" Sakura was smiling with him. Naruto began to grit his teeth. There was no way that he could survive with this dick head. His better conscious decided to keep away from fighting.
"No, not at all. Just an opinion. We all gave our suggestions, and no one liked any of them, so why don't we actually think of something that's slightly interesting?"
Ino jumped in before Sasuke had time to say what he wanted to say. "Well, not everyone gave their opinion." She said turning to Shikamaru. "You got any ideas?"
Shikamaru looked away from the table and at the group. Sasuke laughed again. "Yeah, why not ask him? He's got to have something scary up in that skull of his." Shikamaru looked over at Sasuke and smirked.
"Nothing that's school appropriate." He said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. He looked over at Naruto and smiled slightly. "What I was thinking, was that we do do some kind of investigation."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Didn't we just go through this?"
Sakura nodded. "Yeah, we just said that we didn't want to do a boring ghost story investigati-"
"No, listen. Instead of writing a script, we should just go and record us 'investigating'. We find us a creepy lookin' house or graveyard; even just some random ghost story would work. Pack some things and stay there for a night and record what happens. That way, whatever we get scared of is actually real, and not some cheesy high-pitched screaming at something pathetic." Shikamaru finished. All eyes were on him. Sasuke was the first to respond.
"What?" He said in a laugh. "You really are fucked up in the head, aren't you?'Let's go and run around filming us paranoid about something that probably isn't even true and turn it in as an assignment!' That's a great idea!" Sasuke mocked.
Naruto bit his lip. "No, wait a minute...That could actually be a good idea..."
"What!?" Sasuke borderline yelled. "Are you serious? How would that work?"
Naruto thought about it a minute. "If we could find a good story that's scary enough, and can easily trick the human eye, all we'd have to do is go to the sight and film what happens to us there. If we're paranoid, then the audience will start to feel that paranoia too, and if we're not faking it, it makes them even more paranoid. They could see something like a moving curtain and easily mistake it for a person's silhouette and be just as scared as us."
Ino nodded. "Yeah, and plus, after we got recorded what we need, we could go and do our own recording to put a plot to it, or even just add music at the right part that'll make people jump."
Sakura stared at Ino. "Well, that sounds fun and all but where exactly would we be filming this?"
The group went quiet. Sasuke looked at the group and then threw his hand against the table. "You guys seriously want to do this?" Ino and Naruto both nodded. Sakura shrugged, trying to show that it didn't interest her. Sasuke sighed.
Shikamaru bit his lip before talking. "I know a place we could go..."
"Fuck no!" Sasuke yelled staring upward at the fern covered, old abandoned mansion. "There is no way in hell I'm going in there!" Naruto shook his head and began walking towards the old black metal gate.
"What? Is Sasuke Uchiha actually afraid to go inside?" Naruto taunted. "The Amazing Uchiha is afraid to enter an old abandoned house. Wouldn't the school love to hear about that?" Naruto gripped onto the bars and began to pull himself up, pressing his feet against the metal to support himself.
Sasuke was easily irritated. "I'm not scared to go inside. This is trespassing you know! How stupid would it be to record us filming in the old mansion that's clearly off-bounds to civilians?"
"You make it sound like they're monsters that live here..." Ino mumbled, infatuated with the Victorian design. She stepped forward, following Naruto to the gates. Shikamaru followed afterwards, already recording on his camera. "Besides, Shikamaru got permission from the city to let us film here."
Sasuke shook his head, following them towards the gates, Sakura tailing behind him.
Naruto landed softly on the other side of the gate and began to undo the chains around the black bars. They were oddly easy to undo and seemed like they had been messed with once before. He opened it and then allowed the group to step in. Sakura followed close to Sasuke, clearly scared to be there. She looked around at all of the over grown bushes and shrubs and felt a chill run up her back. Her eyes skipped over the fountain that was hidden under vines and went straight to a window on the fourth floor of the mansion. The bright green of her iris was immediately met with the eyes of another before she blinked. When her eyes met with the window again, all she found was the curtain moving slightly. She immediately shook it from her mind and stepped closer to Sasuke, grabbing onto his arm.
Sasuke looked down at Sakura and smirked. "Are you already scared?" He asked.
Sakura hesitated before answering. "I... I thought there was someone in the window..." She mumbled.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're letting their stupid stories get to you. This place has been abandon for years, there's no way anyone could be living here. You were probably just imagining it." Sakura looked up at him, ready to argue against him, but decided against it. He was probably right anyways. It's not like anyone would want to live here in the first place.
Ino decided to strike up a conversation. "Hey, did you guys hear anything on that kid that went missing from our school?"
Sasuke was immediately intrigued. "You mean that Kiba guy? Didn't they say he just disappeared out of nowhere?"
Naruto stopped walking through the large parking area that circled the fountain. He felt his heart drop a little when Sasuke said the name. Sakura perked up. "Yeah, they said he was on his way home from school before he vanished."
"That's so odd..." Ino mumbled, taking in all of the detail from the old building. "They can't find any suspects either can they? His family was out of town when it happened, and there are not that many people that I know that dislike him. I mean, I never knew him personally, but from what I heard, he wasn't mean or anything."
Shikamaru decided to ignore the entire conversation and focused on the creepy detail of the old house. He held the camera steady and slowly scanned it over the large front yard. Even though it was only around 4 o'clock and the sun was bright in the sky, the place held a dark aura to it. All of the overgrown plants had put a permanent shadow over the place, making it feel much later in the day than it really was.
Shikamaru then scanned the camera over the 'cast', passing up the slowly moving Naruto and holding it steady on Ino's back. He stared at her dark blue back pack that carried all of her essential goods for the night that they'd be staying in the mansion. His eyes traveled down her long and smooth looking legs, having the urge to run his hand along them. Shikamaru couldn't help himself when it came to Ino, she was the only girl that was ever nice to him, and even though he knew it was only out of kindness, he couldn't help but have a fetish for her. Shikamaru had always been picked on growing up, mainly because he didn't mind expressing his true self, but Ino seemed to point out how much easier his life could be when he remained 'simple.' Although, he never technically showed his true side to anyone, otherwise he'd find himself in a deeper mess than what he already dealt with.
He tore his eyes away from Ino, feeling that he was being watched by someone. Being in a group with Sasuke, he had to make sure he couldn't leave any openings for him to attack, especially when it came to Ino. How embarrassing would that be? Sasuke pointing out his constant lust for the only girl that would ever show any amount of sympathy towards him. Shikamaru shook his head, focusing on his main objective and holding the camera at the large and brown Victorian doors. The door knobs were a greenish kind of color from years of neglect ion, the large lion shaped door knockers matching in color, and tainted with rust.
Sasuke looked over at Naruto and quickly remembered something. "Hey, waitta minute," He began, staring at the blonde. "Didn't you used to hang out with that guy all the time?"
Naruto stopped in his tracks and swallowed a lump in his throat. He was actually the last person to have talked to Kiba before he went missing. The cops had questioned him for days before they decided that Naruto wasn't the main suspect. He hesitated before answering "Y-yeah..." He mumbled.
Sasuke laughed slightly. "Well, shit, there's your suspect right here! Probably got jealous that Kiba was actually sucking' someone else's dick and killed the guy, huh?" Naruto turned to face Sasuke, anger in his eyes. Sasuke wasn't the least bit intimidated. "Ooh, scary! Hey creeper! You filming this? I'm pretty sure that face would get some people jumping!" Naruto rolled his eyes and began walking towards the front gates again, trying his best to ignore him. Ino shot him a dirty look and then followed Naruto towards the door. Sasuke smirked. "What? You're not even gonna stick up for yourself? Talk about patheitc."
"What's pathetic is the fact that you can stand there and say all of that, knowing full well how you really feel about that subject." Shikamaru said, zooming in on the detail of the mansion. Sasuke looked at him like he had said something foreign. Shikamaru felt his gaze and turned to look at him. "You know what I'm talking about, I've seen the way you look at your 'certain someone'."
Sasuke's face immdiately tightened. Ino scrunched her eyebrows, not quite understanding what Shikamaru was saying. Naruto looked over his shoulder at him and raised an eyebrow. "Are you...calling him out?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Sorry buddy, but as much as you want me, you can only get me in your dreams."
"Too bad I'm not the one you're dreaming about," Shikamaru said, examining the tangled door knobs and vines. "You're forgetting who has clean up duty in the locker room. I heard you."
All eyes then fell on Sasuke. He immdiately felt his reputation threatened, slowly losing his composer. How had he known about that? Sasuke made sure that he had been alone when he was in the locker rooms, he double checked everything before he...
Sasuke felt his eyes land on Naruto for a split second. He quickly tore his gaze away when he saw the deep blue eyes staring back at him questionably. Sakura rolled her eyes, shaking Sasuke's arms. "What're you talking about?" She leaned in closer to Sasuke's face and placed her lips on his cheek. "Sasuke's with me, he's not thinking about someone else!"
Ino shook her head, deciding to drop the topic. "Let's just try to get along for a few seconds, okay?" She then turned and walked up towards Naruto and Shikamaru. Sakura seemed back to normal, clutching tightly onto Sasuke's arm. Sasuke stayed quiet, trying to rebuild his confidence. Caving in like that would only make what Shikamaru knew even more noticably true. He looked down at the ground before continuing forward with the group.
Naruto laced his thumbs behind the straps of his back-pack and watched as Shikamaru twisted the door knob, trying to get the door open. "I doubt it's gonna open that easily..." He mummbled.
Shikamaru ignored the comment and pushed on the door. When it didn't seem to move, he put more strength into it, budging the door only slightly. He tried one last time before pulling back. "How're we gonna get in now?"
Naruto bit his lip and looked at the door. "Well, it moved. Maybe if we pushed on it at the same time it might open?"
Shikamaru shrugged. "Eh, wouldn't hurt to try..." Naruto pulled his bag off and set it on the ground, while Shikamaru handed the camera to Ino. Both of them placed their hands against the door and planted their feet to the ground. "Ready?"
Naruto nodded and at the same time they pushed against the door. Getting the door to move a few inches, they thought that they'd be able to get it open until it seemed to slam into something else with a 'thud'. Shikamaru pulled away and peered in through the small crack they managed to create. "There's something in the way..." He mummbled. Ino looked around at the front of the house to see if there was maybe a different way in. Naruto bit his lip.
"Maybe we can get in through the back?" He suggested. Sasuke stared around the corner and saw the dead bushes that tangled the back gates. Shikamaru took his camera back from Ino and sighed, dangling the camera by the bottom of the door, unawaringly. Naruto reached down and picked up his bag and then hung it back onto his shoulders. "There's bound to be a door wall or something of the sort. Maybe even an open window."
Shikamaru shrugged. "Guess so, and if we can't get in, we could always just do our back up script in the front-" Shikamaru was cut off by the loud creaking of the door. Everyone's eyes landed on the once blocked door that was now drifting open on its own. "...yard...?" Shikamaru finished in a mummble.
Sakura clutched tighter onto Sasuke, her pulse rate rising. She was instantly reminded of the eyes she had been met with just a few moments ago. "...S-should we really go in here...?"
Sakura's question was ignored when Shikamaru carefully stepped in. "Maybe it wasn't being blocked..." He took a quick look around, holding the camera close to him while scanning the room with it. He turned his head back to Naruto. "Flashlight." Naruto quickly flung his backpack infront of him and pulled out a black metal flashlight, handing it to Shikamaru and then pulling more out for the group. Shikamaru clicked his on and then looked into the house with it. There was a large double staircase towards the far end of the room that lead to the upper floors. The steps were long, curving upward into the next floor. In between the two staircases were two thick wooden doors that lead deeper into the mansion. The doors held a similar design to the front doors, excluding the marble lions that hung from the mid-center. Against the walls were two seated couches with a matching chair that was seperated by a wooden coffee table. There were white sheets thrown over the furniture, looking as if it hadn't been touched in ages. Shikamaru stepped into the mansion fully, looking at the entire wall itself. Towards the front of the walls were doors that most likely lead to other rooms or a downstairs hallway. There were pictures that hung on the walls of famous art pieces or most likely family members. The floor was checkered and marble, but covered in dust. The room itself was musty and had a stiff odor to it. It was oddly warm but didn't hold much of any light in the room. Shikamaru turned back to the front doors and looked over at what he thought might've been blocking the door, but didn't see anything. The ceiling was high with a large chandler hanging from above the staircase. Not finding anything out of the ordinary, he relaxed, turning back to the group. "Alright, everything seems okay. Let's do this." He stepped in, focusing the camera on the dusty enterance hall. Naruto was the first to step inside, followed by Ino. Sasuke hesitated before stepping forward. Sakura pulled back slightly, having the worst feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"...I don't want to do this..." She mummbled to herself. But despite her words, she stepped inside with Sasuke. Shikamaru stepped behind the two and shut the door, getting a good feel for how dark the rest of the house would be. Sakura looked back at him, wishing that he'd just leave it open. She turned forward and lumped her cheek against Sasuke's shoulder.
Naruto dug into his bag and pulled out a ziploc full of spare batteries. "These are for the flashlights. I don't know how long those current ones'll last, so I brought some spares." He passed out the extras for everyone to carry on themselves. "It's just incase we some how get seperated. I know I wouldn't want to walk around this place by myself and have my flashlight die on me."
"Good thinking..." Ino mummbled, putting hers into her bag. Shikamaru pulled the camera towards his face and focused it on Naruto.
"Aaaaaaaannnnddd, here we go!" He said, impersonating a spokesman. "Oversixteen hours in an abandoned mansion. Will everyone be able to survive? Stay tuned and see!" He finished with a grin.
Naruto shook his head. "Don't talk like that, it'll take the scary out of things."
Shikamaru turned the camera over to Sasuke and Sakura, his eyes immdiately catching onto Sakura's frightened appearence. He smirked when their eyes locked and she turned away. "Oh! I've got a game we can play! How about, who ever is the first person to scream, they have to go into a room by themselves for twenty minutes." Sakura clutched tightly onto Sasuke's arm, along with the flashlight. Her knuckles were white and her heart thumping loudly. She always hated anything scary, being easily frightened and just as easliy tricked by her mind, going inside the mansion was exactly what she didn't want to do.
"Glad you feel at home." Sasuke said, turning on his flashlight. He was aware of how scared Sakura already was and instead of feeling the need to protect her, he was getting rather annoyed by it. Sasuke ignored it though, knowing he couldn't be that much of an asshole to leave her feeling unprotected.
Shikamaru seemed oddly offened by the statement. Instead of saying anything back, he turned the camera towards Ino. She was making her way up the grand staircase, taking in every bit of detail about the room. "This place is gorgeous..." She said in a tranced manner. Shikamaru smiled slightly, wanting to agree with her, but kept his mouth shut. "It's hard to believe that anyone would want to leave this place..." She ran her hand along the railing of the stairs, feeling its every detail. "What exactly happened here again?" She asked, her eyes locking with Shikamaru's. Shikamaru looked away from her gaze and pretended as if he had just been following the curves of the railing with the camera.
He pulled the camera away from his face and went into the history of the house. "Well, nothing really happened here. They just say that this place used to be owned by an old widow. I guess her husband had died in his sleep the night they had bought the place. She always said that she wouldn't move out of the mansion because she didn't have the money to move everything out of there and buy a new house, but it was obvious that she stayed because her husband died here. When she passed away, she stated in her will that no one would be allowed to buy the house unless they were any of her three childern."
Naruto quirked his eyebrows. "Three children?" He turned to face Shikamaru. "She only had one kid."
Shikamaru smirked. "Exactly." Ino looked down at him confused.
"So what was she talking about then?" She asked.
Shikamaru looked up at her. "Well, No one was really sure what she meant, but supposedly, there was some kind of family that had lived here secretly when they moved in. The parents were dead when they arrived, but there were apparently three children that were still there. No one ever saw them, or knew if they even existed for that matter, but everyone assumed that that was probably what she was talking about."
"Well, what about her one child?" Ino asked.
Shikamaru shook his head. "... I don't really know...Maybe they died with the mother or something?"
"No, she killed her." Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru all looked at Sasuke. "Her daughter I guess had given birth to a baby before she had married, and didn't tell her mom about it. When her mom found out, she locked her up in the same room as the 'three children' and wouldn't let her out until her daughter told her where the baby was. I guess she never told her and the 'three children' tortoured her to death." Everyone still stared at Sasuke unexpectedly. Sasuke half smiled. "My mom used to tell me the story so I'd listen to her when she told me to do things...back when she was alive...." Sasuke mummbled the last part. Naruto looked down in pity, feeling the slight connection he had with Sasuke, both of their parents having been killed at such a young age. Too young for Naruto to remember, but just young enough for Sasuke to recall every detail. Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but soon realized that he didn't have anything to say.
Sakura gulped. "Y-you mean, this place is haunted...?" She sounded on the verge of panic.
Shikamaru smiled. "Who said anything about it being haunted? A few people died here, no biggie."
Sakura didn't look any calmer. Sasuke turned to her and lightly lifted her chin up. "Calm down, nothings going to happen to us. This was way back in the 1600's, it's not like there's anyone here to hurt us now." Sakura looked up into his black eyes and felt her heart give a tight squeeze, but not from Sasuke's penitrating gaze, but from the shadow she spotted at the very top of the staircase. One from behind the corner, where no one else was even near. She felt a scream build up in her throat, but something held it down. She stared at the shadow, praying that it was just the silouhette of a piece of furniture. Her stomach dropped when she saw a pale face peek its way around the corner. It's hair spiked and shaggy-like, Sakura could tell that it was a boy. She felt her eyes water up just before the scream that was lodged in her throat jumped passed her lips with such a peircing force. Sasuke pulled away and turned towards the top of the staircase to see what the cause of the scream was. Ino bolted down the stairs and behind Shikamaru, looking up at the top, like everyone else.
Sakura stumbled backwards feeling for the front doors. "T-THERE'S SOMEONE HERE!!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. She franticly ran towards the door and pulled at the knob. Her heart pounded loudly when the knob was locked in place. Sakura yanked at the door knob, shaking the door desperately wanting to escape. "LET ME OUT!!" She cried. Shikamaru stared at the dark shadows that stood silent at the top. He had his camera on and recording every second.
Sasuke grabbed Sakura by the shoulders and yelled to try and get her attention. "Sakura!!! Calm Down!!! SAKURA!!" Sasuke yanked her away from the door and held her firmly in front of him. "Calm down! There's nothing there!"
Sakura shook her head, crying and shaking. "I saw him..He was watching us..." She whined. Sasuke pulled her into a hug and tried to comfort her by running his hand along her back repeatedly. He looked over at everyone and saw that they looked evenly paranoid.
Shikamaru looked over at Naruto and then handed his camera to him. Naruto watched him as he approached Sakura. She looked up at him, terrified. She pulled away from Sasuke and faced Shikamaru. He gently put his hands on her shoulders. "Would you feel better if I went up there?"
Sakura's eyes widened. "No...no, no, no, d-don't t-there's someone there!" Shikamaru sighed.
"There's no one there Sakura." Sakura continued to deny him, shaking her head and mummbling the same things again. Shikamaru let go of her shoulders and then turned towards the stairs. He clicked his flashlight onto a brighter level and slowly made his way up them. All eyes were on him, expecting the worst. He gradually assceneded up the steps, feeling his heart begin to speed up. His appearence looked scared, but calm at the same time. Sakura fell to the ground, clutching her knees to her chest and burying her face, not having it in her to watch. Naruto watched, feeling more nervous than Shikamaru did. He held the camera up to the spot where Sakura had supposedly seen the boy and stared there himself, expecting someone to jump out at them.
Shikamaru drew in a deep breath, now only a few steps away from his destination. He kept telling himself that no one was there, but his mind was yelling otherwise. The creaking of the wooden stairs didn't seem to help his cause at all. He looked back at the group and knew that if he didn't confirm it, then they wouldn't find any kind of relief from their new paranoia. He closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath, forcing his legs to go the few steps onto the top floor. He flashed the light up at the top, hoping that if someone did turn out to be there he could warn them off. He bit his lip and then took the final step upward.
Everyone below stared at him, holding their breaths in fear. Their bodies were tense and everything still. This is what they had been ready to expect. Going into an abandoned mansion with no electrictiy and a bunch of flashlights, of couse they were going to see things that weren't really there....Or what they hoped wasn't really there.
Shikamaru let out a large sigh of relief. Sakura looked up as she heard the sigh and watched as he flashed the light down into the hall. "There's no one up here, Sakura. Just like I said." He laughed out of relief and then grabbed something from the hall. "This is probably what you saw..." He had grabbed a manikin's head and pulled it out for them to see.
The entire group let out a large sigh of relief. Everyone turned their attention to Sakura, who looked just the slightest bit relieved. Naruto held the camera on Shikamaru, but had his head turned towards Sakura. After taking another look around, Shikamaru began to make his way back down the steps. Ino took in another deep breath to calm herself. "Dammit, Sakura! You scared the living shit out of me when you did that!"
Sasuke shook his head, his heart still pounding in his throat. "I'll tell you one thing though, I will never say anything bad about that kid again." Naruto looked at Sasuke and smiled slightly. "He has got himself some balls, going up there like that."
"What was that?" Shikamaru asked, making his way towards the group.
Naruto smiled, holding the camera at Shikamaru. "Sasuke just said he wanted your balls."
"Hell, after that, I'd take 'em! I was scared outta my mind, thinking someone else was up there." Sasuke said.
"I know you would..." Shikamaru mummbled just loud enough for him to hear. Sasuke looked at him but didn't say anything. Shikamaru smiled and then turned to Sakura. He bent down to her height and waited for her to look up at him. "See? I told you, no one up there. You just saw that doll that was there and mistaked it for a human. You're getting too paranoid, calm down."
Sakura nodded. "...I-I'm...s-sorry...I r-really thought there was someone there..."
Ino began to dig into her bag for one of the sandwhiches they had packed. "Well, at least we know it wasn't...Here," She pulled one out and then handed it to Sakura. "Eat something, it might make you feel a little bit better." Sakura hesitated before taking the sandwhich and unwrapping the plastic wrap. Sasuke watched her take a bite into the food and looked over at Ino. Ino laughed. "You want one too?" He smiled as if to say yes. She pulled out another one and handed it to him. Shikamaru tossed his bag down and layed on it like a pillow. Naruto sat down and then pulled out one of his own sandwhiches and began to eat it. Good thing he made almost two loaves of sandwhiches, if he was getting hungry this early. Ino then made her way over to where Naruto and Shikamaru were and took a seat beside Shikamaru. She looked down at him and cocked her head slightly. "How scary do think that'd be for the video?"
Shikamaru smiled. "If we got it shot right...probably enough to get someone to jump."
Naruto looked down at the camera and then decided to see for himself how it appeared. He went back to when Sasuke had just finished telling the rest of the story about the family and played it. The audio had been turned off on the recorder for some odd reason, so Naruto couldn't hear everything that happened, but only watch it. Naruto's eyes widened a bit when Sakura screamed. He had to admit, it was more realistic than what they could've pulled off by acting. Watching it all over again and thinking of it from the perspective of the teacher, they were destined for an 'A'. He was suddenly excited about what else they might run into over the next few hours. Naruto looked down and watched what he recorded, but hadn't seen himself. Shikamaru was standing at the top of the staircase, wavering his flashlight around as if to look for something he may have missed. Then, Shikamaru turned back towards the hall and said something. Naruto scrunched his eyebrows, not recalling Shikamaru saying anything to them then. He watched as his lips moved again, as if he had been talking to someone. Naruto went back to the recording mode and then handed the camera to Shikamaru. "Hey, The sound'll work when we go to put it on the disk, right?"
Shikamaru took the camera and looked at him. "Yeah, This camera's half-retarded. It records the sound, but it only plays back when you upload it onto the computer. Don't worry, everything'll come up just how it happened."
Naruto nodded. "'Kay, I just thought you had the sound turned off when you were recording or something..."
Shikamaru laughed. "Hah! Give me a break, I'm not that stupid. I'd hate myself if I missed her screaming like that." Ino gave him an odd look. "What? You know when we re-watch that it'll be hilarious." Ino rolled her eyes.
"Cause that's why we're doing this..." She smiled slightly afterwards. "Although, I would like to see her scream like that once this is all over with." Shikamaru smirked, knowing that was how she would respond. Naruto turned his head and looked over at Sasuke to find him lip-locked with Sakura. He watched for a minute, seeing how their lips flickered off of eachothers with such good timing. He then turned away, feeling like he had invaded their privacy by looking. Ino saw Naruto flustered and then looked over at the two to see why. She blinked, and then sighed. "Seriously? You guys can't save that for later? Y'know when I said eat something, I didn't mean his face!" Neither of the two pulled away from eachother, the only response Ino got from them was Sasuke's middle finger. Ino glared at him. "Just when I had the littleist bit of respect going for him too. He's such an asshole..." Naruto didn't say anything, he looked over at Shikamaru to find him recording things again.
"So are we gonna go anywhere? Or are we just going to sit here and watch things that aren't really there?" Naruto asked. Ino looked over at him with an agreeing expression.
"Yeah, I wanna see the rest of the house. This place looks so pretty. I love the victorian style it has." Ino stated.
Shikamaru sat up. "Well, I guess we kind of have to, since the front door locked on us..." He then held the camera on Sasuke and Sakura. "C'mon you two, we're leaving."
Sakura pulled away and looked over at Shikamaru. "You mean we're going home?"
"You would say that..." Shikamaru mummbled.
