Chapter Two is here. Please give me some good feedback.

Summary – AU: Roronoa Zoro and his cousin Kuina have just moved into a new house, only to discover that it is, in fact, inhabited by a pair of ghosts named the D. brothers, Ace and Luffy.

Notes: No pairings, just some good ol' mystery solving (i.e. why the ghosts are haunting the mansion and can't move on to the afterlife). Also, since Kuina owns Wadou Ichimonji, Zoro's swords will be Sandai Kitetsu, Yubashiri, and Shuusui.

Haunted House

Ch. 2

Brothers of the Hill

Dawn broke out in soft shades of pink, red and purple the next morning. Roronoa Zoro awakened from his sleep when the sun blazed through his window and covered him with its golden light. He groaned at the sudden brightness and rolled over to the darker side, still feeling a little heat hit the back of his neck.

His room door burst open and Kuina came in.

"Oi! Zoro! Get your ass in gear! We're going to spar," she shouted at her cousin, who merely eyed her sleepily with one eye before burying himself under the covers and groaning. He did not want to get up right now.

"Hey! Don't ignore me."

"Sleep," Zoro grunted.

Kuina rolled her eyes. She strode over to his bed and forcefully yanked the covers off. Zoro's eyes shot open wide and he let out an indignant squawk as the chilly morning air hit him full blast. He glared at his cousin.

"Damn it, Kuina," he grumbled, reluctantly rolling off the bed and setting his feet to the floor. "Did you have to do it that way?"

"If I hadn't you would've just gone right back to sleep."

Zoro yawned widely and walked over to his closet, dismissing her with a careless wave of his hand. "I'll meet you in the front," she said, walking out the door and closing it behind her.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he mumbled, shifting through his clothes.

He changed into a plain white shirt and a pair of black pants with pockets. He grabbed his three swords from where they rested against the wall. He took a green haramaki sash that was folded on a shelf and tied it around his waist. He secured his three swords into the hold on his right hip before walking out the door.

Kuina was waiting for him with her sword in her right hand. The blade's white scabbard had been discarded at the base of the giant tree. Zoro unsheathed his swords, putting Sandai Kitetsu into his mouth and Yubashiri and Shuusui in both his hands.

"Just make sure you don't accidentally kill me," Kuina muttered, shifting into position. "You ready?"

"If you are."

From the balcony outside Zoro's room, the D. brothers watched in fascination as the house's two new occupants moved in a deadly dance, their swords clashing, and the steel blades singing as they ricocheted off each other. Zoro's strong physique and quick slashes were parried by Kuina's agile movements and speedy strikes.

"Wow," Luffy breathed, his eyes sparkling. "They're so cool!"

"Aye," Ace agreed. He did have to admit, they were pretty good.

"Can we meet them soon? Please, Ace?" Luffy whined.

Ace sighed. "Fine, fine, we can meet them after breakfast."

Luffy grinned. "Yosh! They are my new friends!" he cheered.

Ace sweatdropped. "Luffy . . . you're supposed to say that after you meet them . . ."

Luffy ignored him.

The wind rustled, bringing a fresh wave of chilling breath with it. The two sparring cousins paid no attention to it, so focused were they on their practice. Zoro paused and crossed his arms, whispering to himself, "Oni . . ."

Kuina immediately knew what was coming, for she gripped Wadou's hilt with both hands and raised the blade perpendicular to her nose.

Zoro flashed forward, his swords moving in a slicing motion, ". . . Giri!"

Kuina dropped on one knee and spun around, her blade arching into a wide slice and slamming into Yubashiri's edge. Zoro was knocked off balance by her move, but he quickly regained his footing. He brought Shuusui around, mimicking a center strike.

Kuina brought Wadou up and blocked it. She twisted her body and performed an upwards kick. Zoro craned his neck back to avoid the blow. He locked Shuusui and Yubashiri around Kuina's throat in an X-shape. Kuina had the tip of her katana a millimeter away from Zoro's jugular vein.

Zoro faintly thought he heard the sound of clapping in the background, but when he turned his attention to the house, there was no one there. Kuina dropped her swords and pushed her cousin's swords away from her tender throat.

"I guess we're still pretty even," she said, walking over to the tree to pick up her scabbard.

"Mm," Zoro grunted. He sheathed his swords and headed back into the house for a nice, warm morning shower. Kuina followed soon after. They were both still acutely unaware of the ghostly presences that silently vanished from the balcony above.

After his shower, Zoro went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. He found Kuina on the phone, speaking softly to the person on the other line.

"– yes, we'll come tomorrow. It's the junior testing and we're supervising, right? No, we don't have school on Monday, we get the week off –"

Zoro seated himself at the table where a rice bowl and a dish of omelets and radish sat, nice and hot, along with a cool glass of water. No doubt freshly cooked by Kuina.

She's probably talking to her dad, he thought absently, taking his pair of chopsticks and dipping into the omelets.

"Very well. See you tomorrow, Otousan."

She hung up and turned to the table. "We're going to the dojo tomorrow, Zoro," she said. "The juniors are testing tomorrow."

"I heard," Zoro said, scooping a load of rice into his mouth.

Kuina sat at the table and began to eat, chewing thoughtfully. "I haven't seen the ghosts that are rumored to haunt this place yet," she said, looking to her cousin. "Do you suppose the guy was lying?"

Zoro snorted. "I'd bet he was lying right through his ratty little teeth, the fucking bastard," he said, downing his glass of water in a gulp.

Kuina scowled at him. "Don't use such a vulgar tone, Zoro," she warned. "I hate it when you swear."

"You swear too," Zoro retorted.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh."

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you do. I've heard you cursing at the broom shed because you kicked it on accident and hurt your foot."

Kuina flushed pink. "You saw that?" she muttered, fiddling with her fingers under the table.

"Yeah."

"Still!" she declared, pointing a finger at Zoro dramatically. "I don't swear on purpose."

"So you admit you swear?" Zoro smirked smugly at her.

"Oh, shut up, you," she said, swatting at him with her chopsticks.

Zoro laughed as he fended her off with his now-empty rice bowl. Then . . .

. . . it happened.

"HI!!!!"

Kuina shrieked loudly as an unfamiliar male voice shouted a greeting next to her. Zoro's head whipped in that direction, his face showing pure incredulousness.

"Oi, Luffy," another voice joined the first. "Don't scare them like that. They could move right back out, y'know?"

"Aww, you're such a spoilsport," the first voice whined.

Kuina shot up and lifted the chair up, wide eyes fixated on the empty space. "Who's there?" she shouted. "Show yourself!"

"It's the ghosts," Zoro muttered, palming his face with his hand. Great. Now he had to believe it.

Two semi-transparent figures appeared next to the table. One was a grinning young boy wearing a straw hat, a red vest, and blue shorts. The other was a smirking young man with an orange cowboy hat, a white dress shirt and black slacks with pockets.

Kuina warily lowered the chair, having been notified about this development beforehand. "So you're the ghosts named Ace and Luffy?" she asked.

"Yeah! I'm Luffy," the straw-hat boy said cheerily.

"And I'm Ace," the older man said lazily. "If you would please do us a favor and not move out of this house, we'd really appreciate it. I got really sick of people seeing us and running away like bloody cowards."

"And it's been a lot of years since we last talked to anybody 'cept each other," Luffy said.

"We already know your story," Zoro said, polishing off the remains of his breakfast. "Some guy named Crocodile kidnapped Ace, and then killed you and Ace performed suicide."

Ace and Luffy shared a look of disbelief.

"Where did you hear that?" Ace asked, his eyebrow twitching.

"It was in the historical information file about this house," Kuina replied. "Isn't it true?"

"Hell no!" Ace and Luffy shouted together.

"That's a complete bullcrap story the mayor sprouted so that our real story didn't scare the batshit out of the townspeople wanting to move in here," Ace said bitterly.

Zoro and Kuina both looked surprised. "Wait, you mean that story was fake?" Kuina exclaimed.

"That beginning part was true. We were attacked by Crocodile," Luffy said. "But Ace wasn't kidnapped. Crocodile was beaten half to death by Shanks before he could do it. I did get stabbed and poisoned, but I lived through it. The people who really killed Ace and I was a secret government organization named the CP9. Ace and I faced off against the leader, a super assassin named Rob Lucci, while Shanks dealt with the others."

"The first time they attacked us, Luffy was kidnapped, not me," Ace said, picking up from where his brother left off. "Dad liked both of us, but no one had any doubts that Luffy was his favorite. The CP9 knew this, that's why they kidnapped him. The government has a grudge against Shanks for a rebellion he started years ago on the Sabaody Archipelago."

Zoro and Kuina both noticed that the brothers' faces had both become grim. Luffy was clenching his fists so hard, if he wasn't a ghost, Zoro was sure that he'd be bleeding right now. Ace's hat didn't shadow his eyes, but when he tilted his head down, it seemed to give it the same effect.

"Luffy . . ." Ace growled, his voice shaking a little, ". . . was tortured."

And that's it for now. The mighty cliffhanger has come into play. I'm (not) sorry. XD

I know that in the manga, all the villains and government officials Luffy faces are all from the same era as Luffy. But in this story, the villains and government officials live in different eras. I've got my notes down in a separate document file. I've planned out this whole story's skeletal frame; I'll probably tweak a few things here and there. Please review, but keep in mind what I say about flames.

Oni Giri - means "Demon Slash"

Otousan - means "father"

MangaFreak15