Sound left from the Mirror is back, everybody!
*crickets*
Okay, then… Never mind. Anyway, I promised an Akatsuki one-shot, didn't I? This is my first attempt at horror and I apologize right now for straying away from the original theme. Oh, and the story's a little confusing so yeah… sorry…
Disclaimer: The Akatsuki and Sasuke Uchiha (albeit unwillingly) are both created by Masashi Kishimoto and therefore owned by him. This story is based off Bad End Night, which was composed by Hitoshizuku-P and Yama∆.
Warning: The usual slight OOCness to fit the story. The ending would be a little confusing, so if you can't tell what happened at any part, it would be better for you to just press the Back button, which happens to be on the upper-left corner of the screen, and find something else to read.
Enjoy reading.
A young man, lost from Konoha village, walked lost in the woods on the outskirts of the village. He had bluish black hair that stuck on the back of his head and eyes as dark as the starless night above him. His face, normally reticent, held a look of fear as he walked aimlessly through the night. Sasuke Uchiha might be a ninja, but his sense of direction had left him long before. He nervously clutched an old scroll in one hand, the other hand grasping his cloak.
He was already far from Konoha, he knew, but he couldn't tell whether he's nearing Ame or Oto. He hoped for the former, though; at least he won't see that pedophile snake.
He is already planning to go to sleep outside when he saw a cave in the corner of his eye. The cave is covered by a large stone.
Well, he thought. Better to try opening this than sleeping out in the open.
He approached the cave and made as if to push the rock off. At his touch, the rock rumbled slightly and rolled out of his way, which took him a little aback. He went inside cautiously, looking around at the pitch black darkness.
"Hello?" he asked at nobody, nothing or nowhere in particular. "Anybody home?"
A light flickered on, as if someone turned on a switch. It came from a fire cheerfully burning the fireplace. Beside the fireplace stood a man wearing a typical butler's suit. The man looked uncannily like him, despite his long grayish black hair tied in a low ponytail and the lines on his face.
"Do you need some help?" the butler asked quietly, with only a faintest hint of worry in his voice. His voice seemed to echo in the room.
"Uh-" the boy started, but a singsong young boy's voice broke him off.
"WEL-coome…" it said. It came from a young teen who, despite his happy voice, looked extremely bored with his messed up, bright red hair and half-lidded auburn eyes. The guest, though, could only stare at the kid's limbs for the kid had the joints of a wooden marionette.
"To our mysterious mansion," another voice drawled. Another boy stepped into the light. He had grayish brown skin and surprising green eyes with red sclera. If Sasuke's eyes could widen more, it would, for the boy's lips and limbs were stitched up. He looked like a living ragdoll.
"Uh, yeah… thanks," Sasuke said. "Could you guys, uh, let me stay for the night? I'm lost, you see…"
"Oh, but fuckin' of course!" another voice said, its source coming into the light. He was dressed in a similar yet less fancy outfit than the butler's. He looked young, despite his slicked back silver hair. "Just let me serve you some tea!" The butler sat Sasuke down the chair while the manservant laid the tray down and served him Earl Grey tea.
"Thanks," Sasuke muttered, eyes flicking from one person to the other. They all do seem nice enough…
Suddenly, all the lights turned on. Sasuke rubbed his eyes.
When his eyes had adjusted, he saw a magnificent room lit by a chandelier, with an aquarium with a shark that looked frighteningly humanoid in it and the largest potted Venus flytrap he had ever seen. (He wished that he had not seen the flytrap, for it looked disturbingly like it was eating something, with the blood running down the edges of its flaps.) On the grand staircase, he saw a heavily pierced, intimidating, orange-haired man, a kind-looking, blue-haired woman at his side, and a young blond girl who was dressed as a boy. They went down the stairs, eyes fixed on the young man sitting at the tea table.
Suddenly, the pierced man smiled. "A meeting such as this," he said. "It must have been fate!"
The blonde snorted, rolling his visible blue right eye. "Gee, Father. You don't say, hmm…"
Sasuke mentally slapped himself. The blonde's a guy. So that's why he's wearing guy's clothes.
The man glowered at his son with his unusual eyes. The dolls snickered humorlessly, earning themselves a glare from the blond.
Then the puppet said, "So we'll party?" He said it enthusiastically, but he still had that impassive façade.
"Party…" the ragdoll echoed, now busily counting the coins in his hands.
"Yes," the woman said. "Of course we shall party."
The ragdoll perked up. "Then, come on, hurry!" He and the puppet ran into another room.
"I'll bring the wine from the cellar," the butler said formally. He went to a door with a staircase going down and descended.
The silver-haired servant was ecstatic as he led everyone into the room where the dolls went, which turned out to be the banquet room. "Oh yeah!" he said, as the butler reappeared carrying two bottles of grappa.
Sasuke looked around the room. It was even more splendid than the room they were in earlier. It featured a grandfather clock, wrought out of the purest gold, with ten strange Japanese characters carved into it: zero, white, blue, jewel, void, vermillion, three, north, south, boar. It looked sinister beyond belief, for it also had ten eyes carved into it, in the same fashion as that of the mansion's master.
The butler and his assistant sat everyone on their respective chairs, Sasuke getting the seat of the master's right hand. They laid out goblets of pure gold inlaid with the finest silver, and filled each with wine almost to the brim.
The blond boy put up his feet on the table, raised his wine glass, and said, "Cheers, hmm."
Everyone immediately slugged down the wine, and was soon asking for seconds, thirds, until there was a case full of empty bottles. Soon everyone was so drunk that they started singing and dancing and practically unnerving their unfortunate guest. Sasuke, despite being creeped out beyond his wits, was so tired that he fell asleep in the midst of the "party".
Sasuke woke up, finding himself lying on a four-poster bed in a dark bedroom. He blearily rubbed his eyes, feeling his head already clear from the effects of the alcohol from the last evening.
Wait, last evening?
He turned to a window on his right. It was dark, as starless as he remembered it was before he entered the cave. (A/N: Funny how a cave had windows.) A blood red moon shone brightly outside, giving the surroundings an ominous air.
I was stoned last night… And whenever I'm stoned I sleep ten hours afterwards… How come it's still night?
Suddenly the dolls entered, carrying a torch in one hand.
"Hi!" the puppet said brightly, his face as emotionless as ever.
"Had a nice sleep?" the ragdoll asked.
"Yeah," Sasuke said. "Question, though: how come it's still night?" he asked.
"Oh," the puppet said. "So you want us to-" he said, turning to the ragdoll.
"Tell you our secret?" the other finished.
"What? What secret? What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke babbled randomly as the dolls too his hands and led him out of the bedroom.
They finally came into the banquet hall. Then the dolls gleefully said, "Look at the clock!"
The clock's hands hadn't changed its position since he last saw it… He swore it was moving before he fell asleep… The pendulum of the clock hung from one side, as if an invisible hand prevented it from swinging.
Fear and ninja instincts took over Sasuke. He dashed out of the banqueting hall as fast as he could. He ran faster and faster through the hallways, with no particular place to run to. Finally he found a room he hadn't seen before and made a run for it.
And only after he dashed inside and slammed the door behind him did he notice that the room is full of rotten corpses and coffins.
"Kami-sama!" he cried.
The master and the mistress of the house heard his scream.
"Uh-oh…" she said.
"So he saw it…" he contemplated.
By now, Sasuke was running frantically around the mansion, searching for a way out… But he never found it. Every few seconds, he kept hearing voices whispering randomly at him out of thin air…
"Danger! Danger!"
"Don't be afraid… calm down…"
"Where are you going?"
"Where indeed?"
"WAIT!"
"You're the star of this crazy night!"
"Is everything going according to script?"
"I wonder what will happen… because you'll decide the ending…"
"Search for it, search for it… search for the happy ending…"
"But if you mess up, it will be ooo-veeeerrrr…."
"Will it really end with the coffins?"
"Aw, not another badly ended dawn!"
Sasuke screamed in frustration and fear. "What can I do to get out of here?" he asked desparately.
An ominous version of his hosts' voices answered, "When you finish this play, then you may return…"
He turned his head from side to side, ran around the mansion
The key, the key to a happy ending… Where is it?
The Uchiha grinned.
"Foooooooound it…"
Sasuke now stood in the middle of the banquet room, his face and the katana he held both drenched in blood, bodies scattered randomly around the room, the strange clock in pieces on the floor…
He stood there calmly, until he heard faint footsteps. Footsteps of someone approaching. That sound and the sound of applause that came from the unknown person are soft, yet they seemed to echo around the room.
Then he saw him. A man who wore a swirled orange mask with only one hole for his right eye and a cloak of the deepest black.
"A good show you put on tonight, Sasuke…" he told the blood drenched shinobi. Then he waved his hand.
Sasuke felt himself falling into a dark hole. His sight slowly blurred, until he couldn't see anymore.
A young man, lost from Konoha village, walked lost in the woods on the outskirts of the village. He had bluish black hair that stuck on the back of his head and eyes as dark as the starless night above him. His face, normally reticent, held a look of fear as he walked aimlessly through the night. Sasuke Uchiha might be a ninja, but his sense of direction had left him long before. He nervously clutched an old scroll in one hand, the other hand grasping his cloak...
There you go. Now I can finish my stepchart for Servant of Evil!
Review and tell me where I need to improve or I'll torture you with methods so vile you'll think that being with me is infinitely worse than Tsukuyomi.
Kidding… ^^
But yeah, do review… :3