Author's Note:Okay guys, for some reason this got like, rediculously long. It was only ever meant to be about three pieces, but it's somehow turned to five. I've finished Chapter 5, and it'll be up in about an hour. And guess what, everyone? It snowed where I live today. A clear sign that this fic is still relevant (at least, for the next few days).
Also, if you reviewed, I love youuuuu.

Chapter Four

"So, what's your plan?"
Shikamaru had found that he was hearing this phrase rather often. He turned his attention away from the door he was facing, and looked at Ino, who was biting her finger nail, "My plan," he told her, "Is to go in, prove that there is no ghost, and therefore prove that you're wrong. Then, I'm hoping, I'll actually get some sleep."

Ino's hands flew to her hips, "Well sorryfor worrying about out safety," she snapped. After a moment's hesitation, the look on her face faded, and she spoke again, her tone much softer, "Shikamaru, I wanted to tell you something, just in case you get eaten by the ghost."
Shikamaru gave a snort of laughter, wondering how she could say something so stupid and look so serious. Still, she did look rather sincere, so he decided to give her a chance, "Yeah, what is it?"
"Well," Ino said, sounding as if what she was about to say was really difficult, "I just wanted to let you know, I'm really glad you started wearing that black jumper, because that mesh thing you used to wear was really hideous."
For a few seconds, everything was completely silent, "So," Shikamaru began, talking slowly, "Let me get this straight; you think I might die, so your last words to me are insulting my fashion sense?"
Ino looked insulted. "No! That was a compliment! It was really hard for me to say something nice about you," she said, crossing her arms.

Shikamaru shook his head, and turned his attention back to the door. Best to get this over with; after all, even if there was something in the abandoned bedroom, he was pretty sure that he could handle it (after putting up with Ino for however many hours he had, he was pretty sure that he could do anything). He picked up his torch (the only torch now, seeing as Ino's was broken), and placed his other hand on the door knob. Slowly, he turned, and pushed. The door flung open to reveal...well, nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief; he didn't know how he'd ever forget being proven wrong by Ino, "See, I told you there was nothing in there."
"Well, it's obviously going to be hiding," Ino told him, walking up to him and gingerly pushing him into the room, apparently to scared to go near it herself. Shikamaru suddenly got the unnerving feeling that he wasn't going to be allowed to sleep until he'd found and disposed of the ghost, which, seeing as said ghost did not exist, would be pretty difficult. He took a few steps inside the room, before realising that he wasn't being followed, "Aren't you coming?"
Ino took the nail that she had been biting out of her mouth (a clear sign of fear - Ino never bit her nails, in fear of messing up the shape she had perfected with hours of filing), "Are you kidding? Why would I go inside a room with a ghost! That's suicide!"
Shikamaru frowned; someone really needed to give this girl lessons on how to make people feel better. Anyway, if he was going to be forced to search a room for a non-existent paranormal phenomenon, then he was dragging her with him, "Fine," he said finally, shrugging, "but don't blame me if the ghost flies past me and you have no one to protect you." A small squeal later and Ino was standing behind him, peering nervously over his shoulder.
"Okay, so if you were a ghost, where would you hide?"

Shikamaru was aboutto retort that if he was ghost, then he wouldn't hide, so as to make it easier for whoever was looking for him to find him, when the room was filled with a familiar whirring sound. Shikamaru turned around to face Ino to ask her if she could hear it, but she was muttering, "I told you, I told you," repetitively under her breath, so he took that as a yes. Inside Ino's head, the small consolation that she may have proved Shikamaru wrong for once was currently being ignored, as all her mind could currently focus on was the fact that she was going to die. In a bungalow. On Christmas. Surely, this was the worst situation anyone in the universe had ever been in, and she was about to open her mouth to yell at Shikamaru (party for shining the torch in her eyes, and partly because when something is wrong, someone has to take the blame, and it couldn't be herfault that she was in this predicament), when she noticed that he was standing quite still, mouth wide open, and eyes looking directly above her head. Ino felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Despite telling herself that turning around wouldn't help at all, she slowly turned her neck to look behind her.

She was met with magnolia.

Wait, magnolia? Wasn't that the colour of the walls? She heard throaty chuckling coming from the only other person in the room, and whipped round to face him, eyes ablaze, "What are you doing?" She screeched, ineffectually slapping him on the shoulder several times. He continued laughing, stopping only to muster, "I'm sorry Ino, but I couldn't help it. Your face was priceless."
Before Ino could inform Shikamaru that after she was done with him, his face would be worthless, something banged very loudly on the window. Both of the bungalow's inhabitants panicked, and tried to run out of the room - in different directions. This little endeavour was unsurprisingly unsuccessful, and resulted in Ino tripping, and flying towards the wall on the other side of the room. Shikamaru hastily picked up the torch he had dropped on the floor, and shined it in her direction, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Said Ino, although her face was twisted in pain. She pulled herself off the wall, muttering, "What the hell was- hey!"
"What is it?" asked Shikamaru, walking towards her. She was staring at the wall she'd just hit with a look of utter confusion. Shikamaru shone his torch in the direction of where she was staring, and found himself gaping like a fish out of water.

"A door knob? How did we miss that?" he asked incredulously.
"I know, right?" Ino was tracing the outline of the door frame with her hands, "It looks like the door's behind this bookshelf. Help me move it."

After moving the bookshelf a sufficient amount (although, Ino had to admit, it was mainly Shikamaru's work - she'd just been touching the shelf and breathing deeply), the pair stood back and looked at the door, wondering what was inside. Blankets, possibly, food, hopefully. Shikamaru gave Ino the pleasure of opening the door, which she did, in one swift motion. There was a piece of string hanging from the ceiling, which Ino pulled instinctively, thinking it would turn the light to the small room on, which it did. However, the content of the room was neither food nor blanket. The light revealed one thing, and one thing only; a large, dusty boiler, making a loud whirring noise.
"Well," Said Shikamaru, trying and failing to hide the smugness from his voice, "I think we found your ghost."

Ino, however, didn't seem particularly disheartened; in fact, she was grinning, "If there's a boiler, then that means there's hot water, and if there's hot water..." Ino had ventured inside the room, leaving Shikamaru only her voice to listen to. That, and a few seconds later, a squeal of glee. Shikamaru decided to follow her steps into the room to see what has spurred this little outburst. Inside the room, Shikamaru saw that there was another door, which had been opened, and beyond that...
"A shower," breathed Ino, eyes almost sparkling in awe, "Finally, something good happens! Now I can have a nice, warm, sh-"
"Whoa, hold on a second," Shikamaru interrupted her, and raised an eyebrow, "Who said you're going first?"
"Wha-" Ino seemed genuinely confused, as if she hadn't thought of this eventuality.
"I was the one made to sleep on the floor, not that I got much sleep," Shikamaru continued, in a bored drawl, "I was the one who had to check the bedroom for a ghost, that didn't exist. Don't you think I've earned first-one-in-the-shower privileges?"

Ino, didn't think so, apparently, but all she could muster was small half murmurs of "B-but I-"
"Tell you what. If you can admit that I was right, and that ghosts don't exist, then you can go in the shower first."
This seemed to snap Ino back into action. She did not like to be proved wrong, "We haven't explained the banging on the window yet!" She challenged, "There could still be a ghost!"
Shikamaru led her to the small, frozen window in question, and shone his torch on it. Outside, the outline of a leafless tree was revealed, whose branches were promptly swept by the wind, and banged on the window. Ino jumped a little, "Oh."
After a very long pause, she gave a sigh of defeat, "Fine, you were right, I was wrong." Shikamaru just smirked in reply.

I have a thing for anti-climaxes.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...a review. Follow in their footsteps? :)