Haunted High Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry for the late update, for most of us. Here's chapter 9, finally. I was in and out of the hospital all week so I had barely any time to edit this chapter, but it should still be good. Read and review, and thanks to everyone who's just started following the story and people who have been here since the beginning. You all rock and stuff.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters or themes mentioned in this story.

….

Sasuke pushed open the door to his house and held it open until Hinata walked inside behind him. He shut the door behind them and signaled for her to sit on the couch in his living room. She did as he instructed and took a seat on his sofa.

"Want anything to drink?" Sasuke asked as he walked out of the room.

Hinata shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

"You sure?" Sasuke said, "I've got soda and tea."

Hinata placed her hand on her chin thoughtfully and then said. "Tea would be fine then."

Sasuke came back around the corner with a can of soda in one hand and a glass of tea in the other. He smiled as he placed both drinks on the coffee and table and grabbed his backpack that sat on a small table next to the couch.

Hinata grabbed her tea and took a drink. Her eyes wondered about the room, examining everything. He had a TV against the wall, a plasma screen. A game console was plugged in but didn't look like it got much use. The living room wasn't filled with family photos or anything like that.

"Do you live alone?" Hinata asked and surprised Sasuke, though he hid it well.

"Yeah, I do. My parents died and well this house belongs to the family so it became mine."

"Don't you need a legal guardian since you're not eighteen?"

"I do. But he's not here every day. He just comes to check on me every once in a while." Sasuke said and rifled through his backpack.

"I don't think I could live like this. I'd get too lonely." Hinata said and took another drink of her tea.

"You get used to it. Nothing really exciting happens but I like it that way. My life is too exciting sometimes as it is."

Sasuke pulled out one of his many notebooks and placed it on the table. Hinata pulled out her notebook as well and a pen.

"So, what are we supposed to be doing?" Sasuke asked.

"A report."

"A report on what?"

"The book we were assigned."

Sasuke scratched the back of his head and then pulled out all of the books that were in his back pack. Three books lay before him but none of them were school related, they were all books he was reading in his free time.

Hinata looked at the books and smiled as she picked one up. "I think I've read this one." She turned over the book and read the back cover.

"Are any of these the book we need?" Sasuke asked, and looked over his small collection.

Hinata shook her head and grabbed another book. "Nope, but this one looks interesting, I wanted to read it."

Sasuke looked at the book she held. "It's okay, a little slow to start though, but once you get about fifty pages in it picks up."

Opening her backpack, Hinata pulled out an older looking book, most likely a classic. The fabric of the front and the bind were in shambles. It looked like a book you'd find at one of the creepy shops that roll into town around Halloween, the ones that disappeared the next day and no one ever saw the store but you. That's what the book reminded him of.

"This is what we have to read, but the title is kind of worn on the cover." Hinata said.

"It looks like the whole book is worn, and old. Is that thing safe to read?"

"What do you mean?"

Sasuke laughed and waved it off. "Never mind let's just read it."

Sasuke grabbed the book and opened the flap. Dust flew out in a big huff and caused him to cough, and wave the dust away. Man, where did she get this book, definitely a creepy shop in downtown Konoha.

He flipped to the first page and surprised by the lack of a title. He continued until he got to the first set of words, which weren't even in English. The language looked to be maybe Latin or some other old language.

Sasuke, with a puzzled look on his face, skipped through the pages until he got to a page that had only two words written on the middle of the page.

"It comes".

The words were written in bold print and were clearly hand written, maybe as a joke to whoever found this copy. Though with Sasuke's track record it could be haunted or possessed, that was definitely an option.

Hinata, noticing Sasuke's puzzled look, reached for the book. "What's wrong?"

Sasuke showed her the page that was in English and then back tracked to the other pages in another language. "I don't know where you got this book but I'd take it back and get a refund."

Hinata titled her head. "I didn't buy this book."

"Then where'd you get it?"

"Anko gave it to me when she was passing out books for assignments." Hinata said, "You were gone, at the hospital with Naruto I think."

"Anko," Sasuke flipped through the book again. "I saw her at Kakashi's earlier. Maybe she gave us this book by accident."

Hinata fumbled with her fingers as Sasuke read through the book. She glanced up and saw a sword hanging on the wall. It was a pretty sword. "Why do you have a sword?"

Sasuke glanced up then went back to the book. "It's a family heirloom that I got from my father."

Sasuke handed the book to Hinata and walked over to his sword. Hinata flipped through the pages to see for herself. Sasuke pulled the sword down and drew it from its sheath and laid it on the table.

….

Shikamaru kicked open the front door of the rotting old house. He switched on his flashlight as he was followed by Naruto and Sakura. They moved quickly like a cheetah jumping through trees to catch its prey.

That was a perfect analogy, Shikamaru thought, as he walked up the creaky old stairs to a small loft looking area. There were a few more rooms off to the side and down a long dark looking hallway. He wasn't too keen on travelling down the creepy corridor but he needed to do this.

Naruto stood beside him with a big scroll hanging low on his back. He shone the flashlight down the hall and looked to Shikamaru. "Do you want to go, or should I?"

"Don't you have any manners, Naruto? It's always idiots first for these kinds of things." Shikamaru said.

"I'm going to remember that."

Sakura gave them a quick shove and they all stepped through the hallway together. The paint was chipped almost rhythmically and had odd patterns leading from one door to the next. Long marks that had been ground into the walls it looked like, also covered the old white paint or wallpaper. It was hard to tell what it was before.

Finally, they got to a room at the end of the hall. The door was locked but rusted so they could easily kick it open or break the lock.

Shikamaru grabbed the lock and jabbed his knife into the little key hole. He jiggled it around and heard a clicking sound, but kept going until the lock fell off the door. He stepped back to stand next to the others.

A long sigh escaped Naruto's mouth. He wouldn't let the others know but ghosts freaked him out. Sasuke knew it, but Shikamaru was never told, and just getting out of the hospital this wasn't looking good for his health.

Shikamaru stepped forward and stood by the door. Naruto and Sakura nodded their heads in unison and he pushed the door open. It was an empty room, empty except for the terrible odor and floated around the air and caused Naruto to almost lose his dinner.

"What is that putrid smell?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know but it smells slightly familiar."

Naruto walked over to the closet and opened the door, and was happy when nothing jumped out at him. Shikamaru opened a door that led to a small bathroom, which was most likely where the smell came from. He walked over to the shower curtain and moved them back.

"Uh, guys, I think you need to come and look at this." Shikamaru covered his nose with his shirt.

The other two walked in and immediately walked out. In the bathtub was a rotting skeleton with very little grey skin on random places of the corpse. Matted hair was on its hair and some skin was there too. The nails of the corpse were extremely long and sharp, and they had no idea why they would be like that.

Sakura walked out of the room holding her stomach and stopped in the doorway to the hallway.

Something dangled in the air a few feet ahead of her. She looked up and was eye to eye with the corpse in the bathtub. It let out a blood curdling scream and grabbed Sakura's shoulders. She fell back and the claws of the corpse, which was now obviously a girl, dug into her shoulders.

Naruto was first on the scene with his knife stabbing right into the skull of the corpse girl. The corpse got up and stumbled backwards. She removed the knife, and threw it to the ground, letting out another scream that could damage some ones ear drum.

Shikamaru jumped at the girl and tackled her to the ground. She grabbed both of his arms and threw him across the room just as Sakura threw her knife at the girl. The handle smacked her in the face and she flew towards Sakura.

It was too late, Naruto had the scroll on the ground and was already completing the sealing. The corpse girl flew through the air and landed dead center on the scroll. A light appeared around her and absorbed her into the scroll.

They all lay on the dirt covered floor, sweating, and breathing heavily.

"That's number twelve," Naruto announced and closed the scroll.

"One left and then we need a new sealing scroll." Shikamaru said then turned to Sakura. "And what kind of throw was that? You hit her with the handle."

Sakura blushed. "I panicked, okay? It happens, a lot, to me."

"Let's go find Sasuke and show him our handy work." Naruto said and walked towards the door with the other two behind him.

….

"It comes, huh?" Hinata read the words aloud and continued flipping until she saw the sword. She smiled and touched the handle and looked up to Sasuke for approval. He nodded his head and she continued her inspection.

The sword seemed to meld with her hand as she moved it around slowly in the air. It was a beautiful sword made out of a material she didn't recognize. It was harder than steel but didn't cut when she touched the edge of the blade.

"What's it made out of?" Hinata asked.

"Not sure, my father left it for me. I haven't had it appraised or anything so I don't know." Sasuke said and turned at the sound of something moving on the other side of his wall.

Hinata put the sword down and got very silent.

Sasuke moved to stand above Hinata in a protective stance. He gripped the handle of his sword and listened intently. A low rumbling could be heard from behind the wall where his kitchen was. A small screech followed the grumbling and after that a dragging sound.

Anything could be behind that door, Sasuke knew. He suspected whatever it was, was after him. He had to get Hinata to safety that was his first goal, and after that he could take care of whatever was in here with him.

It stalked from his kitchen to his dining room. He moved to crouch by Hinata. "I need you to run and find Naruto and Shikamaru. Once you find them, tell them to run to my house. This is very important and I need you to not make a sound as you pass the kitchen door, okay?"

Hinata almost had tears in her eyes but she nodded and he helped her to her feet. He stood between her and kitchen as she started walking towards the front door.

The scratching sound ceased and Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks. Hinata's feet shuffled and a creak came from the floor board she stepped on.

The kitchen door flew open but nothing came out. Sasuke turned at the sound of his table breaking. He saw a massive tail disappear into another room, large and scaled. This wasn't like anything he'd ever seen.

Sasuke pushed Hinata towards the door but it was too late. The giant creature stood on its hind legs. A massive lizard looking creature with long sharp claws and similar teeth stood at a little over seven feet tall. Its tail swayed behind it, knocking things over as it did.

They both stood in awe of the massive monster. Its slightly elongated mouth opened to reveal long sharp looking tongue. The lizard eyes stared at them and they were frozen under that piercing gaze.

The most frightening thing about the creature was its speed. It moved from room to room in the time it took for Sasuke to blink. A knock on the door caused the creature to turn and run, knocking Sasuke and Hinata on to the couch with its massive tail.

Sasuke landed first on the couch with Hinata landing on top of him. He checked her face for any injuries, pushing her hair behind her ears. She smiled and blushed at his touch, but Sasuke didn't notice as he searched her face and then her eyes.

Naruto with Shikamaru next to him pushed the door open and froze. The broken table, love seat, and entertainment center all lay in pieces on Sasuke's floor. Hinata lay on top of Sasuke and looked as shocked as Sasuke felt.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to intrude." Naruto said, "But damn Sasuke you do like it rough."

…...