The Hikari Ghost

Chapter 1:

"Please, be kind to him."

What she had meant by that, he didn't understand. He spent the first few days feeling rather happily, picking random books from the shelves to read, sleeping in, in that very comfortable bed in the master chamber, and cooking for himself whenever he pleased. He loved the place, surrounded by art which he admired silently with each step he took, and the mix of old and new atmosphere that filled the house.

It wasn't until a couple days after that he began to realize there was someone else aside from him residing in the house.

At night he awoke to the sound of footsteps heading down the corridor, the random sigh and the ruffling of clothes. Of course he got out of bed to investigate only to have all the activity suddenly stopped. And when that happened, he merely shrugged it off and headed back to bed. Then when the next night came, this time instead of footsteps, he heard the clavichord keys go down, filling the house with a soft melody. This time he ignored it, believing it to be his imagination playing tricks on him and went back asleep without giving it another thought.


When he awoke again, it was already morning. He headed down to find the dust on the instrument undisturbed. Satoshi shook his head with a sigh, "I should get more sleep…"

Over the next few days, the activities began to regulate. Very often, he would catch a figure moving from the corner of his eye and turned around only to find nothing there. Then there were the breezes, soft and gentle, sometimes cold, sometimes warm. They'd blow softly against him and when he checked the window, they'd be closed. He took them to be signs of whatever it was that lived there with him and accepted the disturbances easily. But the thing he couldn't ignore was the soft scent of vanilla that seemed to float in and out every now and then. It was a sweet scent, it felt almost…gentle. He had took a walk through the gardens, not a single flower there that smelt of vanilla.

The being, as Satoshi had dubbed it, became more active during the night time. He'd hear footsteps pacing about, sighs, the occasional cough, and pots clanking in the kitchen. Taps turning on and off wasn't all that unusual either. And as for the occasional clavichord playing, he couldn't honestly say he minded since it was quite a beautiful tune that was played on the ancient instrument. It ended up lulling him to sleep most of the times. Lights flickered on and off everywhere except for where he was sleeping, almost like a sign of courtesy.

Sometimes, in the morning he'd head to the library to find a book lying around, ready for him to read, or equipment moving about, ending up in different spots in the kitchen. Flowers he'd never seen before would be placed in random placed in the house. At first, he figured they were from the garden, but when he ventured outside, he found that none of the plants matched the flowers in the house nor did anything show signs of having been picked. Furniture moved too. The only thing that remained untouched was the art. The 'being' never messed about with the paintings or the sculptures around the place. The fine china dishes had moved once in awhile, but the art remained as they were when he first arrived. It was almost as though it had a sense of appreciation for art. Satoshi had once accidentally bumped into a painting causing it to tilt a bit, the next day he found it straightened again.

He could live with it, it was nothing he couldn't handle. It wasn't until he found a breath mark on a window with a handprint on it that he decided to call up his friends. Somehow, it didn't feel quite the same as the usual being that he felt around the house. It felt...colder.


When Daisuke arrived with Dark, the first thing he asked was, "Do you have someone over?"

Blue eyes blinked at the unexpected question, "No…why?"

He pointed upwards, "There was someone watching us from a window upstairs, he looked quite surprised to see us. It looks like he's gone now…"

Satoshi raised a brow, he felt himself shudder, "What did he look like?"

The redhead gave a frown as he contemplated, "He was pretty tall, he had long gold hair, gold eyes I think and he looked really pale."

"He?"

"Yea, it was a he alright."

So the being was a he…

"That's great and all, but are we going to stand here all day?" The eldest of the three chirped impatiently.

"Oh, right, of course. Come on in."

Dark stepped in without a second thought and gawked at the place, "Whoa, this place is huge!"

"Yea, don't break anything. Or steal anything for that matter."

The violet haired boy looked back with a grin, "Just because you're our friend, I won't steal anything here."

"Good." Daisuke looked around, Satoshi blinked, "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh…no, nothing's wrong."

"Okay…are you guys hungry?"

"You bet! I wanna see if your kitchen is as big as I imagine it to be!"

The two headed off while the redhead continued standing there and watching something, the blue haired boy turned around, "Daisuke, let's go."

He looked over and almost reluctantly headed over, "Alright…"


That night, he had asked them if they had wanted to stay the night, and Dark of course, spoke gleefully for the two of them, "Of course!" The answer really wasn't unexpected, Dark Mousy loved anything fancy and being surrounded by such 'fancy' things was like a dream come true to him. "When I'm a rich and famous thief, I'll make sure I get a house just like this if not better."

"Yea," Satoshi scoffed, "good luck with that, you'll be needing plenty of it."

"Who needs luck when they've got skills?"

"What skills? All you have is dumb luck."

Dark shrugged it off, "So which room do I get?"

"Whichever one you want."

"Even the-"

"No, not the master chamber."

The boy pouted, "Fine…" He made a dash up the stairs into the second largest room before calling out to the two of them, "Hey, what's in the closet? It's locked."

"I don't know, probably clothes." He muttered as he walked up the stairs and headed into the room with the redhead behind him.

"Oh well…I'll picked the lock, just hand me a paperclip."

"No."

Dark pouted once more, "Why not?"

"I don't want you going through all this stuff, anyways, I haven't seen a single paperclip around the house."

"Oh…that's too bad…I'll have to pick it next time I come."

Satoshi's eyes narrowed, "There won't be a next time."

"You're too cruel…fine, I'll leave the closet alone. Now if you'll be so kind as to leave me to my beauty sleep."

"He needs it badly…" Satoshi muttered as they headed back into the hallway, closing the door behind them. Daisuke picked the room beside the master chamber, the two spoke their goodnights and went to sleep.


Dark ended up staying up for a bit later, out of curiosity, he walked over to the closet and tried to look into the slit. There was something inside and it was glittery, reflecting the dull light that was given off the lamp on his nightstand. Pulling his lips taunt, he promised himself, "…I will bring a lock pick next time…"

Much later that night, the black and white clavichord keys were struck once more into a beautiful tune. Unused to the sound, Dark awoke and headed out of his bedroom, walking down the hallway towards the railings. He looked down into the main hall. "Nnn? Is someone there?" He mumbled sleepily. The pale figure at the instrument immediately stopped. Wide golden eyes looking up in surprise as he disappeared. Dark blinked before looking around, feeling a little more awake now, "…great, I'm sleep walking and hearing things…" Still half asleep, he wasn't fully aware of a presence leading him back to his room.


When morning came, Satoshi was first to wake up, then Daisuke, then Dark, who managed to drag his feet down the stairs without tripping, but not before he took a long look at the clavichord, "…that was a bizarre dream…"

The second he walked into the kitchen Satoshi cut him off before he could utter a word of greeting or anything else for that matter, "Breakfast is in dining room, we're already done, hurry up and eat it before it gets cold."

He grinned, "Thanks, love you too, hon."

The boy then chucked a spoon at the other.

Hitting him right on the head.

Just as he had intended to.

"Ow…" He rubbed his injured head and dragged his feet into the dining room where the other boy was, "Hey Dai-chan…Dai-chan?"

Red eyes blinked and looked up, "Morning Dark."

"You seem to be out of it today…"

"Do I?"

"I wouldn't be saying just for the hell of it, now would I?"

"Well you are Dark…"

"That I am."

Then Satoshi walked in, "You shouldn't be too proud of that. Daisuke, can I talk to you? Privately…"

The thief rolled his eyes and began to eat his breakfast, "Fine…exclude me. Don't go and do anything inappropriate now, you hear me?"


They stepped into the main hall, "Satoshi? What is it?"

"You know, don't you?"

Daisuke stole a glance at the piano-like instrument, "You mean about 'him'? Yea…"

"Figures…Dark's the only one who didn't figure it out yet, not all that surprising actually…"

The redhead laughed, "Is that why you asked me to come here?"

Satoshi gave a small nod, he felt quite stupid for requesting what he was about to but oh well… "One of the reasons. I was wondering if you'd do a reading of the house or something…if you want, I just want to figure out who 'he' is."

Daisuke smiled and nodded, "Of course, this would be good practice. At least mom won't be able to say anything about me slacking off during summer now."

Then Dark burst through the door, "Dai-chan? You're doing a reading? Is this place haunted or something? Cool!"

Blue eyes twitched, "You were eavesdropping?"

"Whatever, eavesdropping, accidentally overhearing, same thing. Does it matter? Daisuke's doing a reading?"

"That's right…"

Violet eyes sparkled with interest, "So there's a ghost in this place?"

Satoshi frowned, "I'm guessing…?"

Dark felt himself shiver slightly with excitement, it had only happened a couple times where the redhead would perform a reading and each time was better than the last. "Dai-chan?"

The redhead nodded, "There's a ghost alright…actually…" he pointed to the railing right of the stairs, "you can't see him but he's standing over there and watching us right now…"


Nya

Shiza! It's snowing! XD XD XD -very happy- Daisuke's gonna do a reading, I'm going for the more or less realistic way of doing readings :P Now we all know who the ghost is! You'll find out more about him next chapter XD As for the Rio and Kei note...hmmm let's just say that they're Satoshi's real parents (Rio is) and let's just say they're alive and well and not corrupted by power or anything okay? Okay :) Shipow! Sorry, just wanted to randomly say that XP