Do Not Disturb
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Clear out your schedule! We're going to have fun on Halloween!
Shoichi groans after looking at his phone. Ever since Byakuran had been cleared by the Vindici to move about freely he had found it necessary to always "spice up" Shoichi's life any which way that he could. From dropping by at three in the morning on a school night just to say "hi", to arranging last minute plans to do go to an amusement park, the albino seemed determined to do anything and everything possible with the red head.
"At least he warned me this time," the teen mumbles to himself as he sets both the phone and his head on the desk before him. Though he appreciated the warning this time, he had a sneaking suspicion that Yuni had something to do with the sudden consideration for Shoichi's schedule. Not that the redhead ever had anything planned per se, a fact that Byakuran knew very well, but he still felt grateful for the gesture.
With a resigned sigh, he reaches up for the calendar that is hung on the wall and finesses it off of the nail that holds it up. Placing it on the desk to the right of his resting head, Shoichi reaches for a purple permanent marker. With a small amount of skill that is born mostly from laziness, he pops the cap off of the marker with one hand and scrawls a "B" in the box reserved for Halloween.
Now all he has to do was wait for the days to crawl by.
"Morning, Sho-chan!"
Shoichi bolts upright his eyes looking wildly around his room for the person who had spoken. A laugh from the doorway leads him to turn and find Byakuran leaning against the jam of his bedroom door wearing his usual punk-type clothes. Light from the hallway spills into his darkened room forming a halo around his blurry friend. A teasing smile spreads across the older teen's face.
"Careful, Sho-chan, if you stop breathing you won't be able to come and have fun with me!" The younger teen lets out the breath that he hadn't realized that he had been holding. As he takes a few calming breaths he reaches for his glasses in order to take a look at the blurry alarm clock on his night stand. Once the world around him comes into focus, he notices that the device reads 5:00PM on its digital display.
"Byakuran," Shoichi says in exasperation, "it's not morning; it's night!"
"I know that. But, 'Evening, Sho-chan' doesn't have the same ring to it!" The white-haired teen pouts. After a moment, his smile begins to edge back onto his face. "We've got an adventure to go on. Put on some clothes that you don't mind getting dirty. I'll be waiting in the living room for you."
"Where-" is all that Shoichi is able to get out before the other boy shuts his bedroom door. He sighs to himself before swinging his legs over the side of his bed. He pads over to his closet to find something that falls under the conditions that Byakuran has set forth. Deciding on a simple t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and an old Blood and Peppers sweatshirt, Shoichi makes quick work at changing before leaving his room. As he approaches the living room two familiar voices reach him. He pauses in the hallway to listen to what they are talking about.
"Thank you for letting me kidnap Sho-chan tonight!" He can hear his mom laugh at Byakuran's joke and his friend joining in.
"No, thank you for getting him out of the house! I swear that he never seems to leave the house unless he's going to school or hanging out with you," his mom says with an odd amount of excitement in her voice.
"So then do I have permission to keep him out all night?" Shoichi knows that the question sounds innocent and would appear as a joke to his mother, but he has a sneaking suspicion that it is instead a very sincere question. Even though there were some things that were exactly the same about Byakuran between the two times that he had known him, one new revelation was that his friend seemed to respect his parent's wishes as if they were the commandments of God himself. For instance, if his mom were to say no to this question, then Byakuran would make sure that Shoichi was back home exactly by curfew. The redhead crosses his fingers and hopes that his mother will give them a curfew so that he doesn't have to be out super late tonight.
"As long as you promise to make him have fun!" Shoichi groans softly and rests his head against the wall. Luck was never on his side when he needed it to be. Sighing in resignation, he walks into the living room to find his mother and Byakuran sitting across from each other. The white-haired teen turns to smile widely in greeting.
"Sho-chan, there you are! Did you hear that your mom said that we can stay out all night as long as you have fun?"
"Well, I won't have any fun after two in the morning so don't try to keep me any later than that." Byakuran rolls his eyes, but doesn't protest.
"I guess we'll be back by two in the morning," he says in a disappointed tone as he stands up to lead Shoichi towards the front door. "We'll see you around then, Mrs. Irie!" His mother laughs good-naturedly as she walks the pair to the door.
"Oh I don't imagine that I'll be up that late. Shoichi do you have your key?" He pats his pocket to make sure that he has the mentioned item before nodding in confirmation. Both of the teens bend to put on their shoes before Byakuran moves to open the door. "Now, Shoichi, make sure that you have fun and stay safe tonight alright?"
"Y-Yes mom." Shoichi can't help the flush of red on his face stemming from his mother's over-concern.
"Don't worry! He might get a little scared tonight, but nothing worse than that!" The redhead in question freezes and is about to object when his friend pulls him forcibly out the door, effectively preventing him from trying to stay at home tonight.
"Byakuran, I really don't think that we should be here." Shoichi says in a low and urgent voice as he looks around wildly for any sign of human activity. Byakuran turns around from the lock that he is attempting to pick to laugh at his friend's nervousness. Ever since the pair had left the redhead's house, he had been asking questions about where they would be going and what they would be doing only to be met with vague answers and questions that were meant to redirect the conversation to anything but what the white-haired teen had planned. "You do realize that there is a haunted house in town, right?"
"But, that one costs money, and is a total scam!" His whining tone makes Shoichi rub the bridge of his nose underneath his glasses. "Besides, wouldn't you rather explore a real haunted house? I hear that this one has had so much activity that it forced the previous home owners to move all of the way to England in an attempt to get away from the ghosts that inhabit it! Ever since then they say that no one has been willing to buy the house for fear of the spirits that haunt it." His easy smile churns his friend's already upset stomach.
"All the more reason for us to not be here! They'll never be able to sell the place if we add to those rumors by breaking in." The teen groans as he rests his head against the siding of the house. "How did you even find a place like this?"
"When I found out that Halloween was on a weekend night I decided to do some research into fun activities for Sho-chan to enjoy! So, when I realized that all of the regular attractions were really boring I decided to call in a few favors for the information."
"Do I even want to know who those connections were?" He groans into the peeling paint, refusing to turn around. Byakuran hums in consideration.
"Probably not." The lock clicks and the door swings in easily. He leans away from the wall to see that the open doorway reveals a fully furnished foyer devoid of any light beside the street light behind them. The smile that breaks across the albino's face compounds the nervousness that is building inside the pit of the redhead's stomach. "C'mon, Sho-chan! It's time to have some fun!"
When Shoichi doesn't immediately move to enter the house, he finds himself yanked away from the wall and into the darkness that becomes absolute as Byakuran shuts the door behind them. As he fumbles around with unadjusted eyes, he is surprised to find a small object pressed into the palm of his hand. Curious, he examines the object to find it to be a flashlight. He immediately turns it on and finds himself blinded by the bright light shining directly into his eyes. In his shock, the light falls to the ground and spins. Laughter immediately bursts from his friend.
"Silly, Sho-chan! You're supposed to point the flashlight away from your face when you turn it on." The flustered teen sends a scathing glare at his friend as he bends down to pick up the offending object and points it directly into the other teen's eyes causing him to pout. "That's not very nice. Now we're both vulnerable to ghosts!"
"And you weren't before?"
"Of course I am! But, my eyes are better than yours so I can see them easier. Now, we'll have to wait a minute or two before we can explore." Shoichi huffs in annoyance.
"I would prefer us to not explore at all. You know that if we get caught that we could get into some serious trouble?"
"Oh, really?" Byakuran cocks an eyebrow. "And who is going to arrest my friend for having some fun tonight? I certainly doubt anyone in Namimori. Especially when they find out how upset that would make me." He smiles a bright smile that makes his friend feel more uncomfortable that comforted. Shoichi sputters as he starts to process the information.
"Byakuran! You've been around the area for less than six months how on Earth have you been-" A loud crash from the second floor cuts him off. Fear streaks through him as he almost drops the flashlight, again. Byakuran brings a hand to his chin as he looks up to consider the noise.
"It's a little early for there to be activity..." He muses to himself as he takes the startled boy's elbow as he walks towards the stairs that are located just beyond the foyer. Before he can get more than two feet forward, though, he feels resistance. When he looks back he finds his friend digging his feet into the carpet in an attempt to prevent their forward movement.
"Oh, no. We are not going to investigate that. It'd be just my luck that we would be attacked by some rabies ridden animal that ends up landing one of us in the hospital. "
"But it wasn't an animal Sho-chan."
"And just how do you know that?"
"Experience." He says simply as he takes in his friend's expression. After a moment, realization dawns on his face. "You've never had a supernatural experience before have you?"
"Beyond traveling through time and experiencing flames, no. And, to be completely honest, I am just fine leaving it that way."
"Well, I'm not. There are some really interesting creatures in this world, and your world would be so boring without ever meeting at least three of them. Also, considering the possibility that someone you know could turn into a ghost in the future, it really would be better for you to understand how they work now rather than later."
"And I'm going to understand ghosts by antagonizing them?"
"Well, no. That's not why we're here. Now come on! Let's go find out what that was before it gets away!" Before Shoichi has a chance to plant his feet he finds himself back in motion and being led up the stairs to investigate.
"There's nothing here," Shoichi deadpans as he watches Byakuran closely examining a corner of the room before waving his hand in the air in front of him.
"Not, now. There was something though. It's quite a bit colder in this corner than anywhere else that we have been so far."
"Is that supposed to mean something?"
"Of course it means something," his friend says exasperatedly. "The air becomes a lot colder whenever there is a ghost or spirit present. And, the fact that it's in a concentrated area means that the ghost was physically manifested."
"And just when did you become a ghost hunting expert?"
"Oh, I'm not. Though, if you ever need some help with a haunted house I know of a group in Tokyo. They're a really interesting group that travels around taking on interesting cases. Even if your case wasn't very interesting I'm sure that I could pull a few strings!"
"Thanks, but I really doubt that I'll ever need that kind of help."
Shoichi huffs as he turns away to move his flash light around the room haphazardly. He walks a few paces away from Byakuran in order to examine the books on the shelf. After the initial creepiness that he had experienced when entering the house, the redhead had found that the house itself was not that scary. Yes the darkness lent itself to making his stomach twist and turn, but that didn't mean that it was any scarier than a graveyard. Which he knew was not a place to be scared of because nothing happened there. The light revealed a large collection of sort of scholarly journals. He tried to decipher the English title, but he gave up after a moment because he didn't see any reason to care. He is about to turn around to encourage his friend to leave when one unmarked leather-bound book caught his eye.
Having left some of his morals at the door, Shoichi didn't seem to have any qualms investigating the book. Upon closer inspection, he found that the book seemed to be a rather ornate personal journal. He is about to open it when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He pauses for a moment, but when Byakuran doesn't say anything he just shrugs it off. He cracks open the book to discover an inscription written in English on the inside front cover. Frowning he concentrates on the foreign symbols in an attempt to gather their meaning. After a short while, he is able to read the script which says:
For Shelly. May your thoughts find clarity here. -Love Jared.
"Sho-chan," Byakuran says in a carefully calm tone that Shoichi believes that he has never heard before in his life. "I think you should put that journal back where you found it and calmly start walking towards the door." A chill creeps down Shoichi's spine as he becomes aware of just how cold the room has become. He wants to mock the almost-order, but something compels him to follow his friend's suggestion. Placing the journal back on the shelf, he is about to walk towards the door when he feels another tap on his shoulder.
Shoichi freezes in his tracks as he turns around hoping to find Byakuran standing there. Instead he comes face to face with an ethereal woman who is looking at him angrily. He feels a scream building in his throat, but it gets caught in his throat. His knees start to shake as he takes a step back. The woman moves with him.
"You really shouldn't read a girl's diary." The woman says in a clear voice that seems to echo within the room.
"I-I'm sorry I-I-I didn't know." The woman seems to consider his apology, but then her eyes narrow and she advances on him. In a flash of motion, his arm is yanked backwards and he finds himself being drug towards the stairs by Byakuran.
"This is our cue to exit! Sorry to bother miss ghost! He'll never do it again, I swear!" Without sparing a glance backwards except to make sure that his friend isn't at a risk of injury, he quickly leads his younger friend out the front door. There's a part of Shoichi that is expecting the ghost to scream at them, or to lock the front door before they can make it to safety. Instead, she only follows them to the door before she disappears into thin air without a sound.
Shoichi hopes that he never sees a ghost ever again.
A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this one! I'm considering continuing this in the future, it would be a cross over with Ghost Hunt but with a focus on KHR, if that's something that sounds interesting to you, please let me know!
Thank you so much or reading, and, as always, R&R!