Chapter Number 2 Which I Finally Got Around to Writing!
The instructors gave all twelve genin an hour to do whatever they had to do before going into the abandoned building. There wasn't much that they really could do to prepare, except maybe get more food, but that wasn't allowed, so they pretty much gathered in groups to talk.
…And some weren't really talking, but rather, arguing.
Naruto was still yelling about lazy Shikamaru, of course. But he stopped once he heard Tenten's conversation with Hinata, Rock Lee, and Neji (who was off to the side, away from Hinata).
"Do you want to hear about the ghost in there?" she whispered.
Naruto immediately clambered over to the group. "A ghost?!" he shrieked. "There's a ghost in there?"
Just about everyone else could hear him, and so they all flocked to Tenten out of curiosity. Tenten sighed and said, "Okay, I guess I'll tell all of you."
"That building there is a huge old house, you know?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Right," Tenten continued. "There used to be a rich couple that lived there."
"Really?! WOW!" Naruto shouted.
Everyone stared at him. "That…" Tenten started, "…that wasn't the good part."
"Oh, okay," Naruto said.
"Sooo," Tenten continued again, "they lived there happily for about five years. Then, there was a war in the nearby village."
"Really?! WO –"
"NARUTO, SHUT UP!" Sakura said, stepping on his foot. Afterwards, she straightened her face and looked serenely at Tenten. "Please, go on."
"Okayyy…" she began again. "So, they weren't involved in it, until the man's brother was killed. Then he told his wife that he was going to go fight…"
"REALLY?! WO-"
"NA-RU-TOOOOOOOOO!!" Sakura roared. "…DUCT TAPE NO JUTSU!!"
Poof! A roll of duct tape appeared in Sakura's hands. She tackled Naruto and in the blink of an eye, Naruto was silenced by a thick band of gray tape over his mouth, wrapped several times around his head.
Sakura sighed happily and everyone returned to listening attentively to Tenten.
"Okay, then," she said. "So the man went to fight, and it wasn't long until a neighbor came to the house to tell the woman he had been killed."
"It was just a little spat in the village, though, wasn't it?" Ino asked. "I mean, was it really that bad?"
"Well, it must have been," Tenten replied, shrugging. "The woman, having lost her beloved, was sickened with grief. One day her husband's sword he used to fight was delivered to the home as an apology for his death. In her severe anguish, the woman stabbed herself with the sword."
Naruto mumbled something through the duct tape.
"Huh?" Kiba said.
"He's asking if she died," Sakura remarked with a mocking edge to her voice.
Tenten didn't answer. She only sighed and said, "So, anyway, now she haunts the house. People call her 'Lady Heartache'."
"'Lady Heartache?'" Kiba snickered.
"Oh, she's probably filled with sorrow over her love, even to this day!" Ino said passionately. "How tragically romantic!"
"How troublesome," Shikamaru said. "Now we gotta deal with this ghost chick."
"ALRIGHT!" Asuma shouted. "Everybody, get with your partner and wait for us to show you where to enter the building!"
Everyone grumbled and groaned and went to stand reluctantly by their partner. Sakura inched toward Ino and stopped when they were a few feet apart. Kakashi walked over to the pair and herded them over to a large set of double doors at the very front of the house.
"This is where you go in," Kakashi said.
"You're… you're kidding, right, Kakashi sensei?" Sakura mumbled.
"I already told you when we assigned partners. No, this isn't a joke."
She sighed, and turned to glare at Ino, who glared right back at her. Kakashi grabbed the door handle and opened it. Inside, shadows covered the room so that they couldn't see anything at all. It was pitch black. Sakura cautiously put one foot over the threshold, with Ino behind her.
"Um, Kakashi-sensei, this gives me the creeps…"
"Oh well."
With that, he gave them a shove, and Ino and Sakura landed in a pile on the dust coated floor. The door shut loudly after them, and they were enveloped in darkness.
