I noticed no one was reviewing so far. Pretty please? (puppy eyes)

Chapter Three

Storm the Night

So, the storm got worse, and here they were: stuck for the night in this foreign mansion run by a young hermit - save for his old butler and a couple servants - and his wife and kids were far from thrilled at being in a huge place like this. Naruto did realize the mistake he'd made in deciding they all should be here, but it was too late. Gaara would understand, so Naruto planned to call him himself even if the distance might cost some.

Ramsley leading the way made them the "guests" of honor. This wasn't the kind of treatment you got everyday. It seemed like a walk that went on forever, until the group paused outside a door which the butler opened with one hand, holding the candelabra in the other. "The children will be comfortable in this room."

From his place, Naruto was impressed with the luxury and love. Gold and ivory moldings, red-and-gold carpeting, and exquisite mahogany wood. He could imagine the room he and Hinata would share for the night. And here they went again when Boruto sniffed. "Real homey," he said, unimpressed.

"You'll be fine," Hinata assured him and his sister, kissing them both tenderly.

Laughing nervously, Naruto slipped by her to ask the one important question that came with making sure a house was in good condition. "Guys, when you flush the toilet, check and see how quickly it refills."

Boruto rolled his eyes. "Night, Dad." Himawari kissed him on the cheek and scurried past her brother. One night in this place? Yeah, they would be just fine.

Now he and Hinata definitely got lucky. The bed was four-postered, sprawled with gold damask, and the carpets were the same as the kids'. The moldings and wood workings weren't much different, either. It was like being in a five-star hotel. "I hope you and the madame will find this room to your liking," Ramsley told them.

"It's very fine," Naruto answered happily. "Like being in a fine hotel or something."

"Would there be anything else that you require, sir?"

"Perhaps some chocolates?" Naruto asked, thinking of it as a joke, really, but in hotels, there were little sweets on the hotel pillows. But the old butler didn't seem to get the joke and merely left him and his wife alone.

And speaking of Hinata, she looked at him with such cool anger that he couldn't help but feel cold just as more rain poured outside their window. "Hey, what is wrong with you, Hina-koi?" he protested.

"Don't call me that," she snapped, whirling around on him as she was shrugging off her cardigan. "And in answer to your question: in the first place, we weren't even supposed to be here. We were supposed to be in Suna with Gaara."

Oh, right, now back to the issue in which he'd made a promise and broke it. Missed out on a fun family event - but this time, he brought his entire family down with him. "What am I supposed to do? Control the weather now, Hinata?" he asked.

"That's not the point. You couldn't resist. You just HAD to come."

"Well, excuse me, but this is a big opportunity for all of us!" Why were they fighting at this time? She never used to complain this much that he would do something which not only made her family happy, their entire town, or even their kids. He'd put in all those sales and happy customers to make sure his kids had something better than he ever did, and he was more than happy that he was beside his wife.

Hinata threw her sweater onto the bench at the foot of the bed. "Not for us - for you," she spat. "The only thing you seem to care about anymore is work."

His thread snapped. "Oh, but when I am working hard, it doesn't matter as long as I bring you expensive gifts, right?" Damn it, dummy, you shouldn't have said it that way. But the words couldn't be taken back. She scoffed, shook her head and unfastened the watch he'd gotten her for their anniversary and tossed it onto the bed before marching for the side door that led to the bathroom. "Hinata, I didn't mean to say it." But she slammed the door in his face by the time he was close to reaching her. "Honey, open up, please."

It was a waste of time. She was giving him the silent treatment. Best thing to do was let her be. With a sigh, he turned and started when he found Ramsley standing before him, stiff and expressionless. "You scared me," he said, laughing.

"Pardon the intrusion, sir, but Master Oosutsuki was wondering if he could have a word with you in the library."

The master of the house wants to talk business with me alone, does he? "Oh, yes, I'd love to. Lead the way."

Traveling down the warm, well-lit hallways amid lush architecture and then down the left staircase was an adventure in itself. Ramsley was an...interesting fellow, though he was hardly enthused when Naruto suggested he try to get a tan to do something about his ashy look. Just anything to get the old man to smile for once. When they arrived at the library, he was unsurprised to see the many books around, but what caught his attention was the magnificent portrait of a man resembling Toneri framed with pewter over the warmly roaring fireplace. Now that was class! Naruto would love to do that for himself at home over the fireplace. Maybe he could get Sai to paint his picture...

"Would you care for a drink, sir, while you are waiting?" Ramsley asked, offering him a glass of classic whiskey he'd poured. It tasted fine with age: smooth, mellow, and fiery.

"So, what do I need to know in case I do some interviewing?"

"Understanding priorities, attending to every detail...knowing one's place."

It sounded like he was being told that his place wasn't to be better than the master of this house - and something else? Naruto shrugged it off. "What about your boss's interests?" He'd love nothing more than to find out small personal details of Toneri Oosutsuki if he could. A part of the real estate business meant knowing your customer's intricacies to have a better relationship without being TOO personal.

"The master likes a great many things," Ramsley answered, clasping his hands behind his back as he started to walk about. "Art, literature, beauty..."

Now that was something that seemed much better than - "What about ghosts? Did someone put a bad clam in his jambalaya one night?"

For the first time, Ramsley showed the slightest hint of trouble in his expression. "You don't believe in ghosts, sir?"

"Absolutely not," Naruto said after taking another sip. "Let me tell you something, Ramsley: the way I see it, you only go around the track once. So you do it full-out all the way around." He grinned and swallowed more of the mellow alcohol. If he went too much with this, he'd end up being dragged back to an upset wife in the room.

"Mr. Uzumaki," the butler said, tone low now and grave, "may I confide in you?" Naruto nodded, standing up to face him. He didn't expect to hear such somber words. "The master is not well. He must leave this house and move on. It is of the gravest importance...or I fear, the very worst."

Lightning cracked as the finality.

~o~

Boruto Uzumaki was livid. Here he was in a foreign mansion guest room with his younger sister, with no cell reception, and no Uncle Gaara and his desert estate. Some start to a weekend this summer it turned out to be. Twenty minutes tops - yeah, right. The old man always misses out on something that doesn't involve work.

Himawari didn't complain much, but he knew her better than that. She sat now at the window, looking out at the rainstorm as if waiting long enough for it to end. She just thought that the longer she watched, it would magically be over so they could hop onto the next plane back to Japan and into Suna. "Big brother?" she asked finally. "You think it's going to stop raining soon?" He snorted and put down his phone at his side.

"How should I know? I'm not the weather man."

He had paced the room back and forth for a signal when he decided that he would try the bathroom and test every angle. Some minutes passed by when he still had nothing. Damn it, he missed talking to his friends and Sarada, their shared cousin Ren -

"BORUTO!"

Himawari's scream made him dash out of the ivory and gold bathroom - in time to see WHAT made her howl. Their parents were down the hall, and it wasn't hard to figure they wouldn't come to their aid. His cell fell out of his hands and onto the carpeted floor. Thank the gods it wasn't hard wood.

Floating in the air was a glowing ball of blue light. Some smoke wisped about. It was beautiful, empowering, and scary all in one. What the hell was that?!

His baby sister was behind him in no time. "It's a ghost ball!" she whispered in horror. Boruto scoffed and squeezed her hand in his. There was no such thing as ghosts. Little kids believed anything. Their dad was scared of them as a kid himself - but if ghosts didn't exist, how would this be explained? What did this thing want of them?

The floating light began to move in the opposite direction, towards the closed door, where it vanished through the wood. It wants us to follow it. Himawari was scared as she was of spiders, but he wasn't going to miss out on a sense of adventure, and if she didn't like to be alone, she was going to stick by his side.

~o~

Hell of a fine mess he got himself into. He'd sat in the library, still waiting for Oosutsuki-san, enjoyed a drink and the books as well as the classy setups - he could see happy rich folks living here, or this place becoming a grand hotel resort. That might be even bigger.

His clumsiness caused him to knock down his drink from the desk by accident - and when he got it back up, he knocked a statue on the desk over. Correction, he knocked the head forward...and a bookcase ahead opened to show a secret passageway.

Which brought him back to his predicament: Naruto was trapped within the bookcase. He didn't get to see what caused the statue head to go back up and trap him in here, but all he cared about was finding his way out of here to get back to his wife. Hinata must be worried for me now.

Where was the scary albino when you needed him? He did NOT mean that as a racist comment. But seriously, his cell phone flashlight could only do so much. The battery was charged, but it wouldn't last if he wasted time down here...

~o~

Her husband had vanished while she was in the bathroom. She'd been crying her eyes out, and by the time she was done, Naruto was nowhere to be seen. It was getting late, and she didn't want them both to go to bed angry.

Her watch was gone, meaning he'd picked it up and taken it with him. Where could he have gone?

Hinata stepped outside the room in time to see a woman in a maid's dress exiting another bedroom door. "H-hello?" she called softly, getting the woman's attention. "I'm looking for my husband. Can you help me?" But instead of what she needed, the other woman with the cinnamon bun hairstyle behind her head looked like she'd seen a ghost. She turned and started to flee, cradling the stack of towels against herself. Hinata wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but she wasn't going to let her get away.

But when she got to the staircase, the nameless maid had vanished into nowhere. Strange.

Hinata found herself descending the staircase. Naruto might have gone off to explore the mansion by himself, to keep his mind off the argument, right? It wouldn't be the first time he'd wander by himself if not drinking to settle down. He wasn't an alcoholic, but when he was in the mood, he sure passed out after two or three strong ones. If she didn't find him -

"Madam?"

She was startled by Ramsley standing there. "Oh, yes, Ramsley. I was just looking for my husband." He nodded once in understanding.

"Ah, I left him in the library - right through there." He motioned past her to a doorway covered with a precious tapestry, reminding her of a medieval fairytale, and as soon as she pushed it aside, she was greeted with a world of books and Old World elegance. Immediately, she spotted the pale head in the lounge.

"Naruto?" she asked quietly. No response, making her sad. "Honey, it's late. Let's not fight anymore." She smiled sweetly even though he couldn't see her right now. "Come to bed?"

Much to her embarrassment, the man who stood up to see her wasn't Naruto - "Oh, Oosutsuki-san! I'm sorry; I thought you were my husband." Stepping back, she accidentally knocked a couple books from a stack sitting on the floor not that far away from her. Seeing this, Toneri nervously chuckled and helped her put them back into place.

"Ramsley hates it when I leave things lying about," he told her, picking up the stack and putting it on the table next to them.

"He seems a bit...proper," Hinata agreed. The man was perhaps stiffer than her father was, but Hiashi had his moments involving a sense of humor.

Toneri smiled. "He strikes most people that way. But once you get to know him, you find it's not the case. Ramsley is actually...very sweet. He was like a father to me when the one who sired me died when I was still but a young boy."

For him to live much of his life alone like this - has he ever been happy? In love? "Oosutsuki-san," she said gently, "may I ask you a question? This house...it's been in your family for generations. It's your home. Why do you really want to sell it?" Whatever extra details he never shared at the dinner table, it must be more sensitive than she'd thought. And the forlorn expression on his face confirmed it.

"These walls," he said finally, "are filled with so many memories. Some of them painful. I wish for you to understand this." He offered her his arm, which startled her. He was being a gentleman in giving her his arm, like he wanted to lead her away from this position and show her around. "It's all right, Hinata-kun. There is nothing to be afraid of."

Her arm may have moved of its own volition and looped through his. Now he was speaking again.

"It may be faded and worn from its original grandeur, but this house was once filled with so many things, so much life: grand parties, dancing, laughter, and hope above all. It was like a celestial temple but with humanity. Being an Oosutsuki in these lands meant nothing was denied to you. The world was all yours." So, at one time, he had everything, his family had it all...but something terrible had happened to cause it all to collapse.

"What happened?" Hinata asked.

Toneri's smile slowly slipped, but it remained half up. His pale blue eyes shone a little with some life. "There was a woman who once roamed these walls - her name was Harumi. Her story is the one which haunts these walls more than any ghost of the past..."

Duh duh duh, the plot thickens. :D Harumi comes from a character in the anime "The Irresponsible Captain Tylor", which is funnier than shit because the titular character is voiced by none other than Crispin Freeman (a nice change from the dark, brooding manly guys he's voiced, Itachi included).