Chapter 4

She sighed and let go of the handle. A mysterious sound overturned the silence in the air. Her breath condensed in front of her. Firmly holding the camera in her hands, she turned around. Snap! She took a picture, causing whatever had been in front of her to disappear. Surveying her finding, she was shocked to see a woman in a white, silk kimono with flowers entwined with her hair.

Rei backed up against the door, where the apparition had been walking; there was now a trail of blood leading to another door. Hesitating, she cautiously made her way down the now deserted hallway and stopped in front of the door. Trembling, she cleared her mind and entered the room. She was stunned at what she saw; little butterflies floated around the room allowing Rei to relax.

A sweet melody drifted throughout the room, which the butterflies swayed to. Rei was dazzled and held out her finger for one to sit on. Fluttering a beautiful butterfly made its way onto her finger, touching ever so lightly, it landed. She pulled it closer to her, and her mouth dropped. "Paper? It's made out of paper?"

She made her way around the room, avoiding the butterflies, so she could figure out where that melodious humming noise was coming from. Immediately the humming stopped and the butterflies fell to the floor. A figure glided out from behind a screen.

Rei screamed, and stepped back from the apparition. Blood trailed behind the figure as it lunged for Rei, knocking her to the floor. Quickly she held up the camera and looked through the viewfinder. She snapped her head away; what she saw through it terrified her. Fighting the urge to run, she quickly took a picture, but the spirit would not leave.

Rei fumbled to her feet and snapped another picture. A horrible sound came from the vanquished entity. Rei stood in terror as the ghost clawed at its face, without a mouth, the ghost sank to the ground and disappeared.

(Another memory)

"Rei-chan!" Her grandfather sternly called her. A small figure with long raven-colored hair peeked out from behind a tree. "Rei-chan, come here!"

The tiny girl trembled and nervously walked towards her grandpa. She stood in front of him, with hands behind her back and eyes gazing downwards. "Rei-chan, I heard you weren't behaving yourself."

He crossed his arms, and frowned at her. She started crying and quickly blurted out, "But oijichan, it's not my fault!"

"Rei-chan if you start lying to me all the time, you'll end up just like Nopperabou. You don't want that to happen now do you?" The little girl shook her head. "Do you even know what a Nopperabou is, young one?"

Rei began to nod, but quickly shook her head. "Well a Nopperabou is someone who has either no face, or an incomplete face."

"Incomplete?" Rei tilted her head to one side, trying to understand what he meant.

"Meaning they may be missing a nose, their eyes, or even their mouth." Rei looked upset and began to cry again.

"I won't ever lie again oijichan! I promise." She ran to him for a hug, which he received warmly.

"Nopperabou…." Rei whispered to herself.

~*~

Rei peeked around the room and went to the spot where the Nopperabou had been sitting. An item lay perched upon a small pillow next to a paper butterfly. She carefully picked it, seeing that it was a key, engraved into it was a butterfly.

She closed the door behind her, hoping never having to face an apparition like that again. Shaking off what she had just seen, she made her way down the blood-trailed hallway and stopped in front of the door she saw Mamoru walk through earlier.

Carefully placing the key into the lock and turning it, she heard a click. The key vanished, surprised at this, she went ahead anyway. The room was incredibly dark and she stumbled just making her way into it. "How the heck did Mamoru find his way around here?"

After saying that a light shown from the middle of the room, she used that as a guide and somehow managed to make her way to the center of the room unscathed. She propped her self up onto the table that was emitting the light. "A riddle?"

She frowned and really wished Ami was here right now, at least she'd be able to solve it. "My life can be measured in hours,

I serve by being devoured.

Thin, I am quick.

Fat, I am slow.

Wind is my foe."

~*~

Hey everybody! Hope your enjoying it so far. Anyway, can anyone answer the riddle?