Chapter 1:

Specimen 32

Author's notes:

Right... Hope you like this! This whole fic is going to be multi-chaptered and it was all inspired by a dream I had... And it's kind of developed a lot since I first had the idea. I know generally what's going to happen... Actually I think I wrote out a plan for it all and now can't find it anywhere... Clever me... n.n;

On the subject of other fics I am writing: I really haven't given up on any just yet. I'm still writing for some of them, and others I'm still typing. My excuse: school. Upper sixth is a bitch, if you'll forgive my use of language here. I'm applying to university and had to put together a creative writing portfolio, I've got massive amounts of deadlines and I have mock exams in January. But I'm not giving up on ffnet. I love ffnet too much to give up on it. So I will be updating other fics as soon as I get some time. I've had this fic hanging about on my computer for a while and thought I'd better get it up.

Warnings: Violence, gore, weird stuff, character deaths, possible (though not entirely probable) sexual scenes in later chapters, possible swearing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran.

---

"Really it's okay," Emi said, pausing so that her friend stopped too and they stood in the deserted corridor. "I can get a book out of the library on my own, surely! It'll only take five minutes."

Naoko rolled her eyes. "Fine," she eventually sighed. "But if you spend too long in there again..."

"... you'll drag me to volleyball after school instead of going to see the host club, I know." Emi smiled. "I'll meet you at the fountain in ten minutes."

Naoko nodded and wandered off with a swish of yellow skirts and a flick of her jaw-length black hair. Emi turned the other way and walked down the corridor towards the second library.

It was silent as she pushed open the door and walked in, and there was no sign of anyone else around. She reasoned that the librarian must be elsewhere for the time being. Well, she'd just find her book and check it out herself if need be. She drifted through the rows of shelves, running her hands over the spines of the books as she went. Eventually finding the right volume- Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy- she took it off the shelf and stepped out of the row to head towards the library desk...

Only to find that the way was pitch black. She turned her head this way and that- more darkness; all around appeared to have disappeared. It seemed as though someone had turned off the lights and now the darkness was pressing on her eyes. How strange, she thought as she felt her heart hammering in her chest. She did not like the dark. And she needed to find Naoko.

Tentatively, she moved forward, out into the open space, one hand out in front of her for safety. Her eyes were adjusting to the almost complete darkness, gathering what little light there was present and trying to use it to show her the way. She could make out vague shapes and in the darkness they looked frightening and imposing. She could not even recognise the library in them at all.

"Who's there?"

The voice was barely above a whisper, but in the ominous silence it seemed to echo and ring in Emi's ears. It jumped down her back and made her shiver, letting out an involuntary gasp. The book was still clutched in her hands and her knuckles turned white on it as the cold voice sounded again, louder this time.

"Who is there?"

Her breath shook with nerves and she came to a standstill, unanswering and terrified. Another voice, deeper, joined the first.

"Who is it? Show yourself!"

Emi let out more gasps, hyperventilating in panic. She didn't know what to do- where was she? This could not be the second library... Surely...

"Who's there?" The first voice was angry now.

"We will make you show yourself!" The second even more so.

She let out a strangled crying noise and ran in any random direction, anything to get away. She prayed to find the door, to not hit anything, to find the way out of this horrible, horrible nightmare. Her foot caught something and she fell onto her front, sprawled. Cold floor tiles, just like at Ouran only covered in dust, pressed against her as she heard footsteps coming towards her. By now, Emi was sobbing in fear and shaking from her head to her toes.

Rolling onto her back and sitting up, she coughed dust from her lungs and felt her fingers close around the book still in her hands. It was the only thing she knew, the only thing that was real, and she needed to clutch it to her, and pray that she was imagining things or dreaming or anything other than this being real. The footsteps were slowing, right above her by this time, and she heard the first, cold voice say to the other, "Who is this? It's not like the others. So different."

Emi raised her head, trying to see their faces but saw darkness and nothing else. She held down a sob and the other replied, "It does not belong."

She held her breath, wondering what to do. She couldn't get up and run... And where on earth was Naoko? She'd be getting angry... Emi held the Meditations to her chest and the first voice asked, "What should we do with it?"

She felt like ice was running down her back in the utter silence that followed.

Then, suddenly there was a whack to her face with something metallic and she fell back onto the floor on her back. She felt, rather than saw, one of the figures move to stand over her.

"Specimen 32."

There was a moment where Emi lay there in the dark, confused beyond belief.

Then she felt red-hot pain tear through her. A boilingly painful blade had been stabbed through her stomach and she screamed in agony. Not that anyone heard her. She could only writhe and scream as the pain raced through her veins and her life trickled away with every successive stab of the blade.

A crack rent the air and she screamed more, sobbing with the pain of a broken rib.

After what seemed like forever, the stabbing stopped and Emi finally gave in.

---

"Kaoru, I want to go outside!" Hikaru complained, throwing himself onto the sofa beside his twin and looking grouchy. "It's really sunny..."

"In a second, Hikaru," Kaoru replied, turning a page of the newspaper he was reading. "I just want to finish reading this."

Automatically, one arm circled Hikaru's shoulders and he was placated for the remaining few minutes that it took for Kaoru to finish reading. Once Kaoru was done, he allowed himself to be dragged outside, laughing with Hikaru and trying not to feel troubled about what he'd just read.

A maid entered the room, rearranging the flowers in the vases and picking up the paper from where Kaoru had been forced to drop it. She tutted at the title, only half-concerned, and left the paper on the table.

The headline read:

Schoolgirl, 16, missing in suspected kidnapping.