I'M SORRY!! I'M REALLY, REALLY, REALLY SORRY!! I never meant to take this long to update. Please don't kill me.
Disclaimer: I own this story, its plot, Yamashiro Kakinouchi, Aka-Nami, the 'movie' "Keeper of Souls", the 'game' "Monster Mansion III", and other stuff in which I shall take claim over as they appear in certain chapters. I do not own Danny Phantom, Crash Nebula, or other stuff that belong to Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon, and their respective owners.
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Aka-Nami
CHAPTER TEN: JUU
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Danny looked away from the clock and focused back on Sam, who sat motionlessly. Images of what happened to her the week before began accumulating in his mind. "I'm not going to leave you."
"It's all right. Sooner or later you'll have to anyway." Her tone was flat, gaze still transfixed on some point beyond the softly ticking clock.
"At least not until you fall asleep." He rubbed her back as she finally blinked and lowered narrowed amethyst eyes to her medical bracelet in annoyance.
"I'm not asking you to stay. Besides, I'm not sure I'll be able to get any rest tonight."
Danny allowed a small smile to spread across his face. "But I want to stay … And if it's going to take as long as you say, I guess I better get comfortable, huh?"
Sam looked up at Danny and returned his smile with one of sheer amusement. "That chair's not gonna be much help."
Nibbling on his bottom lip, Danny thought over the situation before his smile slowly returned, blossoming into a cheesy grin. "You mind scooting over?"
The world spun around Danny when Sam hit him upside the head with a pillow as hard as she could muster at the moment.
Thus it came to be that the halfa was left in his uncomfortably cushioned chair. And as he had promised, he stayed with the young goth until she was fast asleep, which was somewhere around 5 AM.
He had gotten back to the Foley's residence soon afterwards, finding Tucker sleeping like a log in his bed. Danny then changed back into his human form out of fatigue and collapsed onto his sleeping bag.
Now, after three short hours of sleep, he blinked his tired eyes to glare at his meat loving friend. He definitely did not like the news he was hearing upon his awakening. "I swear, Tuck, if this is some twisted joke--"
"No way, man!" Tucker held up his hands in defense. "I'd never kid about something this serious, you know that."
Danny's gaze did not waver. "The last time you said that was when we were both twelve and it was Halloween. Do you honestly think I'd trust you with that line after Sam and Jazz had enough dirt to blackmail me for a year?" His eyes narrowed as he reminisced.
Tucker backed away from his blood-shot-eyed friend. "Sorry! Jeez … Someone's in a bad mood."
"You have to be if you had three hours of sleep, only to wake up to hear that the ghost that almost killed your best friend probably isn't gonna kill her until after she's better, which is exactly what some deranged sadistic sicko would do. And at the same time, still not know if that same ghost is trustworthy." Danny huffed, adrenaline obviously keeping him awake at the moment.
If someone looked, they could see Tucker's Adams apple bob up and down in fear at Danny's outburst. "Okay, okay. Chill. I'm sorry. But seriously, I'm not kidding. Besides, this is just what you need. I mean, staying out for God-knows-how-many hours can't be good for your health."
The blue-eyed teen shifted his weight. "I know ... but I can't just kick back and relax while Sam's still in danger and now that Kakinouchi showed himself to you--"
"He made it pretty clear that he's all for spilling Sam's blood, not mine. I know where you're coming from, Danny." Tucker readjusted his glasses and lowered his head a bit more to hide the coagulating blood on his neck. "Sam's my best friend, too. And as much as I want to protect her and no matter how much I dislike Yamashiro, I trust him."
Danny crossed his arms over his chest. "That makes one of us."
"I know it might sound weird that I'm the one saying to lay off when I was the first one to freak over Yamashiro, but … I don't think he'd lie. Not about this … You'd be agreeing with me if you had seen the look on--"
"I couldn't care less about his look!" He looked down and glared at his up-turned palms, noting how unblemished they were. He briefly wondered if Sam's injuries would scar her fair skin. "I'll protect her. I won't let anyone or anything hurt her again."
Tucker frowned then regarded his friend bemusedly, a small smile gracing his features. "The overprotective type boyfriend, I see."
"I'm not her boyfriend." The response was automatic, as was the blush.
A broad smile appeared on the techno-geek. "Yet."
The blush on Danny's face darkened, but before he could retort, Tucker was talking once more. "So what do you wanna do today?"
Danny blinked and raised a bushy eyebrow out of confusion. "What?"
"Sam's doing rehab today. No visitors 'till three. Besides, my mom and dad can't give us rides anymore since mom's car is in the shop."
Danny's brow creased. "How long?"
"At least a week. And don't forget that I start working at Nasty Burger on Monday."
Danny shrugged. He'd just have to patrol the hospital for the majority of the day since Tucker obviously couldn't keep an eye on Sam. "Well, I guess I'll just--"
"NUH-UH!! You're not kickin' any ghost booty today, pal. You sacrifice enough of your time as it is." Tucker grabbed Danny at the shoulders. "Listen to me: You cannot protect Sam 24/7. If you did, you'd permanently be in ghost mode and I don't think Sam would like that."
"But I just can't--"
"Will you give it a rest for one measly minute?! God! That's it! I can't take this anymore! You are coming with me to the arcade today."
Danny opened his mouth, but the glare Tucker was shooting at him said "keep your trap closed or pay the consequences." He knew from experience that when a Foley used that look, you better keep quiet.
"B-but Tucker, Sam needs m--"
"Sam doesn't need you to stalk her; she has bodyguards for that."
"But the ghosts--"
"Let your parents deal with them. Your parents, specifically your mom, are more than capable in handling this kind of stuff." The African-American released Danny from his grip. "Don't worry."
Danny sighed. "I don't know, Tuck. I just don't feel ... right about taking a break from all that."
"That's only because you've gone too long without a real break from the whole Danny Phantom lifestyle."
Tightly shutting his eyes and tilting his head back, the young halfa let out a ragged breath. "I really need a vacation," he cracked one eye open to glance at his companion, "don't I?"
Tucker rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Ya think?"
Danny fell back onto his sleeping bag. "Give me another couple hours of sleep and we'll take the mopeds to the mall."
000
Goosebumps spread over Sam's exposed skin as she exhaled. She was currently sitting on a padded bench in a well sized weight room doing her breathing exercises. By her side was a young female nurse, Amy, instructing her when to breathe in deeply and exhale slowly. Stationed in the room where five guards, one of which was standing not too far from the nurse. The other guards that the Mansons had hired were stationed in the outside corridors and around the hospital itself.
Sam shivered as she exhaled on command again, the room's chill crawling upon her skin and affecting her performance. "Can we turn up the heat just a little?"
Amy seemed unfazed by the cold, but still motioned to a guard that was standing by the thermostat, who seemed quite snug with the room's wintriness. The temperature rose, but there was still an unsettling cold in the room and it wasn't the type she had grown used to during her stay in the hospital. It washed over her whole being and burrowed deep into her bones, sending frightening shivers down her spine. She squirmed on the red vinyl of the bench. This was the same feeling she got when a –
Sam sucked in a sharp, checking if the guards had taken notice of the abnormality of the temperature. By their usual stiff posture, it was obvious they hadn't. Amethyst eyes quickly examined the room, searching for something, anything that could be the cause of the unsettling cold.
"Miss Manson?"
Sam turned her head to the female nurse, a look of worry marring the young brunette's face, much like an expression Sam had often seen on almost everyone within the past week, though much more akin to Danny's. Why was everyone babying her? "Amy, we went over this a week ago. No formalities, please. It's just Sam."
Amy Sprague was a gentle soul that had been tending to Sam in the morning and afternoons for the duration of Sam's stay at the hospital. The young nurse had not only been highly recommended by the hospital staff, but had been a familiar face the Mansons were very willing to trust. For Sam, much to her chagrin, it was just like old times when Amy had babysat her on weekends when the mansion staff had their days off and Grandma Ida Manson was out and about the town.
She definitely did not like being treated like a five-year-old who needed constant supervision.
At least Amy didn't bug her in the evenings, cordially trying to get her to bed before 8 PM.
The older girl nodded, her brow still creased with concern. "Yes, yes. I am dreadfully sorry, Miss-- ano ... I mean Sam." She said Sam's name slowly, letting it roll off her tongue as if testing the feel of its formations upon her lips. "I have noticed that you seem ..." she rubbed the back of her own neck, cinnamon eyes glowing a faint red in the florescent lighting, "distracted."
Sam smiled. At lease someone was noticing. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I kinda zoned out."
Amy shook her head, soft russet wisps falling from their tight French twist with the action. "It is quite alright. I know how tedious and boring these sessions can be, so your behavior is more than understandable. If you would like, we could end today's exercises and let you return to your room."
"Is that really okay?"
"Of course. We can always continue where we left off." A smile brightened the nurse's face by a fraction, a shadow of sadness lingering in her eyes. The look was different from Amy's usual passive cheery personality but Sam only dismissed it for the dull afternoon.
Offering Amy a small smile, Sam jumped off the high padded bench but nearly had her neglected legs give out from under the weight of her own body. The bodyguard that had been standing not too far off made a start to catch his employer's daughter, but was beaten to it by a surprisingly fast acting Amy. A sudden rush of coldness surrounded Sam the moment the brunette touched her only to be replaced with a dull warmth.
"Sam, you should not be so hasty to use your legs. They may not be injured, but they have been in much disuse for the past week." Something was off with the way Amy spoke, something Sam hadn't noticed before with her earlier paranoia. Amy's speech was more formal and assertive than from what Sam remembered; warm familiarity in a soft and passive tone was more of the older girl's nature. Amethyst regarded the other female suspiciously, but lowered their guard again as a bodyguard came by with a wheelchair.
"Thanks, Amy. I guess this means that our next session will be longer, huh?" Sam turned to face the female nurse, but was not greeted by Amy's trademark gentle smile or her warm hazel eyes. Instead, the scarlet that had been faintly gleaming around Amy's irises encased them in a deep, sad crimson hue. The heiress could no longer accept the excuse of the tiresome rehab session to overlook the glowing red eyes 'Amy Sprague' sent her way.
The freezing chill that had been bothering Sam all afternoon long came back full force, practically burning where Amy's hand was placed on her shoulder.
"I assure you it will not be too straining," a knowing glint appeared in those now hauntingly familiar eyes, "after all, this is a place of healing." 'Amy' stepped back to give room to the bodyguard steering the wheelchair so he could maneuver the chair out of the room, but the chill still flowed through Sam.
"Though if I were you, I would be more concerned on how I fair outside of this safe haven."
'Amy's' eyes rolled to the back of her head before she convulsed and fell to the floor. However, before anyone could come to the fallen girl's aid, a combination of a fire alarm, a siren, and the cocking of numerous anti-ghost assault riffles sounded.
Hovering above Amy's prone form and staring straight into Sam's wide eyes was Yamashiro Kakinouchi.
000
A loud and long eerie creak sounded as the rotting oak doors opened on their rusty hinges. The large forgotten dinning room was dim and dank, the only light in the room funneling in small shafts between the planks boarding the few large windows. Ragged deep red curtains rustled in the low whistling winds and cast ghastly shadows through the gloominess of the room. Yellow wallpaper, once white, peeled from the molding walls, starting at the leaky ceiling and ending at the creaking red wood floorboards. A gigantic fireplace stood on the far side of the room, its brick foundation crumbling and its chimney caved in. The mantle itself, grand and majestic once upon a time, was in shambles with the fallen chimney pooling out from its gorged out wall.
Dozens of wooden chairs with haggard and misused crushed red velvet cushions were strewn about, most in pieces with feather stuffing and splinters littering the floor. The only thing in the abandoned regal dinning hall left in tack and unscathed seemed to be the long umber dinning table, a thick coat of dust upon its would-be polished marble surface. Two tarnished chandeliers swayed dangerously from the decaying carved ceiling above, the cobwebs seeming to be the only things keeping them from crashing into the dinning table below.
The room seemed to be screaming 'undead' as the wind kicked up and howled through the boarded windows.
Tucker licked his lips and readied his gun, paying careful attention to the shadows of the aged chamber. His eyes stung from looking at this place for too long, but he feared what would happen to him if he were to blink his eyes for even a split-second. A flash of black zoomed across the room and Tucker emptied a full clip of bullets. Dust filled the room in a thick cloud and when it settled, there were bullet holes in the grand marble dinning table and aged floor, nothing else. Not wasting another moment, Tucker reloaded while shifting his gaze from side to side suspiciously.
"Keep your eyes open, Danny, this guy's fast." Tucker reluctantly turned to his side to face his best friend, however, he did not see the dark haired youth being as attentive as he had hoped. If anything, Danny had retreated to the inner workings of his mind.
"DANNY!"
As if regaining the ability to hear, the addressed teen snapped out of his daydreaming and turned to Tucker. "Huh?"
Tucker rolled his eyes and pointed at the dining room before them. "For crying out loud, man; you're suppose to be paying attention. You can't just zone out whenever you please! If you keep spacing out like that, we're both gonna--"
A loud, wailing shriek was heard, forcing Tucker to look forward once more. Two dripping yellow fangs were all that Tucker saw before the image of the dinning room was covered with copper red blood and everything faded into black.
'GAME OVER' was scrawled in red over the black background of the screen.
Tucker jammed his plastic red gun controller into the metal holster in front of him and glared at the "Monster Mansion III" ((1)) banner of the game he and Danny had just lost to. Readjusting his glasses, Tucker turned his glare on Danny. "DUDE!! We didn't even get to the fifth boss and we died!" He lifted up two open palms with all ten digits extended. "TEN TIMES!! How lame is that?!"
"Hey!" Danny lifted a hand in defense while putting his own plastic blue gun away. "Don't blame me about loosing so early in the game and dying so many times. Besides, I'm not the one announcing to the whole world that we died ten times before getting to the fifth boss in a fifteen-stage game."
Tucker lowered his hands, stuffing them in his pockets and thinking over Danny's words. "That may be true but that doesn't change the fact that you were in Lala Land when I needed you. And don't make me bring up those other seventeen games that we played six times each." ((2))
"Alright already. I plead guilty." Danny sent a sheepish grin at Tucker, lapsing into a light frown. "But this isn't ghost hunting, which I should be doing right now."
Tucker rolled his eyes and searched his pockets for some more quarters. "C'mon, man ... Let's not get into this again." He grabbed Danny and dragged him to the nearest Crash Nebula © game, pushing him into the controls and dropping in a quarter. "This is your downtime. No ghost hunting for the day, remember?"
"I don't know, Tuck." A wisp of blue smoke trailed from Danny's parted lips as the game's intro started up. "This doesn't seem--doesn't feel right. I mean, there's no one else besides my parents tracking down ghosts in this town." ((3))
"I said it before: Your parents can handle it." Tucker's eye twitched when the pixilated Crash Nebula was blown up by a harmless meteor, proving that Danny wasn't paying attention to the game at all. "You have to relax, Danny. You can't let this Yamashiro business get to you."
Danny stared at the controls in his hands, the plastic smooth and warming up under his calloused touch. His mind didn't register the explosions taking place on screen in front of him or 'GAME OVER' flashing in bright yellow and red text.
A shiver ran down Danny's spine when he saw a light blue ribbon rise into the air before him.
"What time is it?"
Tucker sighed and glanced at his wristwatch. "A quarter past three. Wh--" The techie stopped himself and sighed again. "Sam's fine."
"We can make good time if we take the scooters. Sam should be done with her rehab for awhile when we get there." Obviously, the blue-eyed boy wasn't paying attention to Tucker.
"Danny!" Tucker huffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Shut up already! I know you wanna play 'Mr. Hero' really badly, but Sam doesn't need a hero!"
That got Danny's attention.
Seeing that the damage was already done, Tucker continued. "I mean ... at least not right now."
Danny gave Tucker a blank stare. "Tuck, you're not making sense."
Tucker's fingers brushed against his PDA in his right pocket. "With everything we know ..."
Jade-green eyes lowered themselves as dark fingertips traced cool, sleek metal. "With everything we don't know, you can't--we can't really protect her."
A perplexed expression crossed Danny's face. He was the superhero, he had to be able to protect Sam. He was the one with the powers, the enemies, all the reasons and resources.
Yet, he had failed to protect Sam from what had started this whole mess.
The realization was slowly overcoming the young halfa, but he tried desperately to hang onto the threads of denial within his grasp. There had to be some shred of hope that there was something he could do, anything he was capable of to ensure Sam's safety.
Nothing came to mind.
He didn't want to admit it, he'd admit to anything other than that he was helpless to protect his loved ones, Sam most of all.
Danny sighed in defeat. Neither he or Tucker (or anyone for that matter) could protect Sam like they would like to with the limited amount of information they had in opposition to Kakinouchi. And if the samurai stayed true to his word, the only thing that would be haunting Sam for the rest of her hospital stay would be something Danny had to face almost every day of his young life.
Fear.
It was the most intangible of all enemies and that thought sent chills throughout the troubled youth's body.
"Then what should we do?"
Gripping his favorite piece of machinery, Tucker lifted his eyes to meet Danny's. "The only thing anyone can do in a situation like this."
Danny averted his gaze from Tucker, staring back at the Crash Nebula© game he just lost to. "I don't want to pretend it didn't happen."
Tucker sighed and ran a thumb over the buttons of his PDA. "Just because you don't bring it up--"
"I can't." He shook his head, his long bangs falling into his eyes and obscuring his sight. "At least, I don't think I can."
"We can't keep Sam thinking about this forever. It's tough for her as it is." The techie's voice was strained and tired, irritability evident.
Danny turned his back from Tucker, facing towards the arcade's entrance. "I just don't want to see Sam hurt again."
There was a long pause as he let his shoulders drop. "I … I don't know what to do anymore."
000
The mind-numbing ghost alarm was still ringing when an elderly woman in a motorized cart reached Sam's hospital room. Despite the fluorescent lights gleaming off of her wire-rimmed glasses, one could still clearly see the determination and annoyance aimed at the closest black-clad man in front of her.
"Now you listen here," her voice calm with a mother's commanding tone, "That's my granddaughter in that there room and I am going to see her."
The glare on the aged woman's glasses flashed as she directed her compact vehicle forward menacingly. "And I would love to see you try and stop me from doing so."
One of the addressed men took a step closer to the old lady. "Ma'am, I'm sorry but we're only trying to keep her safe from--" The impact the woman's purse made with the guard's head cut his sentence short and had enough power in it to knock him out cold.
Let's just say that anyone who happened by at the moment would raise their brow in suspicion at the group of suited men, all wide-eyed with their jaws resting on the titled floor.
Straightening her glasses, the same purse-wielding grandmother stared down the rest of the men. "I am more than capable in protecting my own granddaughter from ghosts or whatever else you were hired to keep away. So if you like having the ability to walk, you better move those steel buns of yours."
It was as if the Red Sea had parted before Moses by God's decree, but with men in black and a woman known as Ida Manson instead.
A warm current filtered through the old woman's body as she passed through the doorframe, the usual unearthly chill of the hospital gone, leaving only the faint breeze of the air conditioning. It was only when the door closed behind her with a soft 'click' that Ida noticed that the walls, ceiling and floor of the room were encased in an electric green hue.
Upon the entrance of her new companion, Sam settled her front wheels back onto the ground from a wheelie and rolled over to her elder. "Hi, grandma. You didn't beat anyone up to get in here, did you?"
Round wired glasses flashed as Ida waved a hand dismissively. "Let's not bother with such trivial things. I wanted you to know that Amy is still out cold, but there doesn't seem to be any real damage. She should be up and about come this evening; not so sure she'll be up to do any nursing business for a day or so, though."
"So they're gonna send her home when she wakes?"
"Of course, dearie, I doubt Amy would want to stay for the rest of the day after the possession act that Kakinouchi fellow pulled off. Now then," the older woman took another glance at her surroundings, "Let's talk about your green room."
Sam rolled her eyes, but humored the old lady. "The Fentons installed a ghost shield to fit the perimeter of my room, but it works when a ghost on the hit list ((4)) is detected. I don't know all the details, but it has something to do with the fact that I'm in a hospital and there being 'countless of unseen ghosts wandering these halls.'" Sam had lowered her voice an octave, imitating Jack as best as she could.
"Ah … I'm sure it's only for your safety, sweetie." The older woman wagged a finger when she saw the crossed look on her granddaughter's face. "Can't have the shield too big or you run the risk of being trapping a ghost in the shield with you."
"Well …" Sam sighed, folding her arms over her chest, complete with a pout on her naturally pink tinted lips. "I'm just kind of sick and tired of people fussing over me. This is even worse than being sick."
Ida chuckled lightly at the comment. "At least there isn't a medical team barging into your room every ten minutes."
A smile graced Sam's features. "Yeah … I guess." The frown returned. "I still don't like being cooped up in a hospital all day, though."
"No kidding. I'd have killed myself by now, that's for sure." Her aged face scrunched into a grimace. "I just don't know how you do it, hon."
Sam shrugged. "I guess I get by with all the visits I get from the people that matter."
"That reminds me," Ida set her face in a firm disposition, "why hasn't Danny visited you lately? The last time I checked, he last came to see you almost a week ago."
"He's been having trouble sleeping at night, so he makes up for it in the afternoon. I'm not going to bust his chops to comes see me when he's sleep deprived, especially if that's during visiting hours." It wasn't a complete lie, though it wasn't the complete truth either. Danny was always sleep deprived, especially since he was suffering from a severe case of Hero-Complex. The boy seriously needed to lay off the whole 'with great power comes great responsibility' concept.
"He has, has he?" A mischievous grin appeared on the older woman's face. "Could it be that the young man's been sneaking out to see a certain hospitalized goth, hmm?"
"Grandma!" Sam's face turned a bright red.
"Don't deny it. I've heard reports of you 'talking to yourself' late at night. Just 'cause I'm old doesn't mean I can't put two and two together." The smile remained, but the light faded from Ida's eyes. "Though I think it would be smarter, not to mention safer, if he came by during visiting hours instead of the middle of the night, no matter how sweet the sentiment."
Sam sighed. "That's what I keep telling him, but he's got this whole Hero-Complex going on. He thinks that I should be put under lock and key, always under heavy surveillance, if not by him, Tucker or Jazz."
Ida gave out a low whistle. "Quite the overprotective Romeo you got there, Boobalah ((5))."
"Danny's not my Romeo," the raven haired girl blushed, "he's just a very concerned friend."
"With him being the one to find you bleeding to death on a sidewalk, could you blame him?"
"I …" Sam lowered her eyes and fiddled with her medical bracelet. "No. I guess not."
Ida pulled her granddaughter into a loose half-hug. "He's a keeper, that's for sure. Though I gotta wonder what in the world he was doing out so late at night."
"I told you, we were hanging out in the park by the old gazebo, then we split up and I got attacked," Sam spoke with practiced familiarity.
"Then why would you split up in opposite directions when the exit closest to both of your houses was the same way?"
The younger woman led her eyes downcast. "I … I didn't feel like going home and Danny … He left a little earlier to … play hero."
The older Manson pulled away from Sam to hold her at arm's length, a motherly sadness in her expression. "It looks like he has to work on his timing."
Sam removed herself from her grandmother's hold, anger sparking in her gaze. "Leave him alone! Danny can't protect me from everything!
"He might not be able to protect me next time either …" Her voice softened as the words began to take weight.
… if I were you, I would be more concerned on how I fair outside of this safe haven …
Sam's grip tightened on the end of her armrest.
"What's this now?" Ida leaned forwards, eyes trained on her granddaughter. "Where's the usual darkly optimistic granddaughter of mine, hmm?"
Sam looked away with sullen eyes. "She got slashed in the gut and had her left lung punctured."
"Yes, that's true, but that's not where she is." Wrinkles deepened with resolution. "I think she's hiding in this little place I call insecurity."
Amethyst eyes whipped back to face the elder. "She is not insecure!"
An aged eyebrow raised itself over inquisitive blue eyes. "Then why in the world does she doubt her best friend?"
"She does not doubt her best friend!" Smooth, lithe hands whitened their knuckles as they clutched the black plastic armrests of their wheelchair.
"Then why is she being all angsty and saying that he won't be able to save her?"
"She … I …" Thin chapped lips began to move, but the words they were trying to form were lost somewhere along the way from her mind to her mouth.
A wrinkled, weathered and warm hand found its way to Sam's shoulder. "It's alright to be afraid."
She tried to focus on the older woman through her blurred vision. "But I don't want to be."
It wasn't until she felt the tears spilling over her flushed cheeks that she realized she was trembling.
000
"Danny, will you slow down?" Tucker tried to catch up to his speeding friend, but the African-American was only rewarded for his efforts by Danny's increased speed and a sudden chill that had him shivering.
Being around Danny for so long, Tucker had gotten used to the unearthly temperature his friend seemed to generate from time to time, but those cold spells were nothing compared to the frosty summer afternoon he was experiencing. It made the young man all the more concerned about Danny, and he had already been wrought with worry at the arcade to begin with.
Danny stood with shoulders slumped down, a look of defeat shadowing his features. Then all at once, he took a step back while trembling and breathing heavily, his chest heaving with sky blue eyes wide and glassy.((6))
Tucker approached his friend with concern, but stopped when the halfa froze and started to frantically dart his eyes about. Picking up on Danny's behavior, the meat-lover searched the arcade for any signs of a supernatural threat. Seeing none, the techno-geek looked back to his edgy comrade only to stare back at neon green. There was something off about Danny's eyes and Tucker knew it wasn't just their eerie green glow.
Danny wasn't looking at Tucker, in fact, he wasn't seeing at all, but grasping for a feeling with his gaze.
The two of them stayed like that for a moment or two, Danny looking beyond his best friend and Tucker frozen in place with distress. That is until Danny blinked, his eyes focusing and burning with an intense emerald green before bolting past the arcade archway and towards the mall's exit. Tucker followed the nearly flying teen out of the mall, into the parking lot, onto their mopeds, and raced towards Amity Park General Hospital.
All the way to the parking lot, Tucker could hear only one word, one name muttered with a mixture of panic, fear, and anger.
Ever since the two teens had exited the mall parking lot, Danny had fallen silent, eyes glowing with an unearthly sheen and a fierce expression marring his features.
Just barely missing a Nissan Ultima when making a sharp right, Tucker called out to Danny. "I'm telling you she's fine!"
A massive green cloud of ghostly creatures rocketed overhead just then, the Fenton RV racing past the two boys while in hot pursuit of the hoards of ghosts. Danny glared over his shoulder at Tucker with cerulean eyes storming darkly. Tucker faltered at his companion's look, losing momentum as Danny returned his attention back to the road and sped off into the distance.
"He gave his word!" The sound of passing cars and blaring horns were his only reply.
Kakinouchi had indeed given his word and Tucker chose not to doubt the sincerity that had been displayed within the crimson eyes of the fallen samurai. Without that shred of hope, Tucker would be lost, as lost and desperate as Danny and Lord knew how much Danny needed any amount of reassurance in their situation. The look of utter defeat on the young Fenton's face in the arcade flashed across Tucker's mind.
He had to believe in Kakinouchi for Danny's sake, for Sam's.
The waiting room for the funeral ((7)) loomed in the distance and Tucker repeated his words to the biting wind.
"He gave his word."
000
The Fenton RV jostled with the speed it needed to keep up with the horde of ghosts in the sky. Along the way, Jack disregarded traffic lights, traffic signs, police cars, street dividers, screaming pedestrians, and virtually every, if not all, other traffic violations of the state of Illinois.
Trying not to be ripped out of her seat by the sporadic driving of her husband, Maddie turned towards the front of the RV from her position over a work table. "Jack, honey, please keep on the right side of the road and don't use the sidewalk any more than you need to. It's dangerous."
"But we'll never catch up to them if we do that, Maddie-baby." Jack said this with his face turned to his wife, not noticing the large truck that swerved out of the speeding RV's way and into a fire hydrant.
"Fine," Maddie turned back to the work table, "just don't run anyone over. And try to keep the jostling to a minimum; it's a bit difficult to work back here."
"Will do." And as the devoted (scattered-brain) husband he was, Jack tried his best to comply with Maddie's request.
With an affectionate smile, the red-headed woman looked over her work station, doing what she could to locate the ghost they had been hired by the Mansons to catch.
The MFGF lay in a mess of wires that were connection to a number of monitors, which displayed camera angles of the ghosts outside, a ghost radar, energy readings (both of the Fenton Assault Vehicle and ghosts), genetic data, schematics, and other data reels.
A large number of the ghosts Jack was currently trying to run down were matches to the ecto-plasma samples extracted from the shard that had once been lodged inside Sam's body. Even though, there was no humanoid match showing on the screen.
Maddie shifted her gaze to the playback she had retrieved from the hospital's security tapes, having demanded them before the large mass of green surrounding the hospital shot off like a bat out of Hell. According to one of guards who had been in the room when Kakinouchi revealed himself, the alarms didn't go off until after the samurai ghost made himself known.
Something was amiss and the female ghost hunter didn't like it.
The alarms she and Jack had installed in the hospital were hooked up to a modified ghost radar keyed on the ecto-plasma signatures found on the shard. If any ecto-plasma readings identical to those on the shard came within 50 yards of hospital grounds, the alarm was to go off. It should have gone off long before Kakinouchi came within a dangerous distance to Sam, but it hadn't at all.
Then another testament by a guard stationed along the hospital's perimeter came to mind. He had said that a massive wave of ghosts had come rushing towards the hospital around the same time it had been reported that Kakinouchi was inside the building. As the ghosts swirled around and through the hospital, the Fenton Duo appeared on the scene and did their best to find the ghost samurai in the midst of the ghosts circling everywhere. And when the ghosts flew from the hospital, Jack and Maddie gathered their acquired information and chased after the fleeing ghosts.
It was a trick.
Kakinouchi's ecto-plasma wasn't on the shard and he somehow knew that they (Jack & Maddie) would use it to try to track him. He had used his minions as a means of distraction, giving himself enough time to escape or even--
Maddie whipped around in her seat to face the front with such force that she swore she felt whiplash.
"JACK, GET TO THE HOSPITAL!! NOW!!"
It was a shame that they would never reach their destination conscious.
000
He didn't remember what he did with his moped when he reached the hospital, only that he went intangible the moment he got there. Through walls and people he went, the weight in his chest spreading a dark chill through the building. Nothing in his wake stopped him except for the very palpable force that halted his entry into Samantha Manson's hospital room. There was no second attempt or time to figure out what had stopped him before something grabbed his intangible form and pushed him to an empty hospital room.
By the time he realized he was staring into hallow crimson eyes, Danny felt a sharp pain shoot across his torso. It started from his aching left shoulder and echoed with a pulse to his right side. The hand he instinctively placed to the lower end of the wound came in contact with exposed flesh and a sticky warm liquid.
"If you had the audacity to come here," a voice said, "you should have at least made an effort to come prepared."
Danny didn't need to hear the sneer in that voice to realize his mistake nor take a second later to try and remedy his predicament.
A dull ache instead of the expected chill of transforming flooded the halfa's being and as he tensed his muscles, he could feel the unrelenting wall behind him and the blade digging into his flesh.
He couldn't change into Danny Phantom.
Panic began to set into his system until Danny looked at his attacker and his blood ran cold.
Yamashiro Kakinouchi had him pinned against a wall with a sword cutting diagonally across his chest and the halfa could feel the weight of the blade compressing his lungs.
Danny curled the hand that had been checking his bleeding side and made a solid impact on the ghost in front of him, smearing red upon the green-colored cheek. This, however, did nothing to improve his situation as the blade at his chest dug deeper.
Kakinouchi cracked his neck and fixed his crimson eyes upon Danny's. "You act before thinking," red eyes flickered with a reminiscent light, "instinct can only get you so far without practiced knowledge."
((1)) This game is a spoof of "House of the Dead" 'cause I really wanted to do a dinning room battle scene, but I can't remember whether or not "House of the Dead" has one.
((2)) Trust me. It can happen. It costs quite a bit of money, too. 102+ plays. That's like 25.50+ worth. O.o Is that how much we blew off at the arcade that one day at the Boardwalk?
((3)) Just a friendly reminder that this fic deviates from the storyline after "My Brother's Keeper" and that there is no "Valerie the Ghost Slayer"! Sorry folks, but that's the way things are.
((4)) Sam's way of saying "all the ghosts that have their ectoplasmic signatures on that shard that was stuck in my body."
((5)) I have no idea if this how really spell it. Someone please tell how to spell it correctly.
((6)) Danny's little 'episode' occurred not when Sam was talking to her grandma, but when Kakinouchi-san made his surprise appearance in the weight training room. Sorry if there was any confusion on that part.
((7)) This is a reference to J.M. Coetzee's novel Age of Iron, found on page 77.
00000
The cliffhanger was unavoidable. I didn't want to stop there, but I couldn't think of how I could end the chapter without it. Sorry.
I am also not happy with this chapter. I don't like how it came out; well … at least some scenes. I'll have to revisit this chapter and do some more editing.
Okay. It's official. I'm sick and tired of writing weepy, defenseless Sam. Anyone else want tough, sarcastic Sam back? a chorus of people scream "Hell yeah!" Great. Hopefully she'll be coming back next chapter, though a transition from weepy!Sam to tough!Sam will have to be approached.
This chapter was super hard to squeeze out, mainly because of writer's block, college (quarter systems really bite), cotillion planning, original story projects, collaborative original story/manga projects, and serious procrastination on all parts. I'm really sorry. gets on knees Please forgive me, I didn't mean to go on hiatus for so long. I promise you that it will not take me another … 2 years for an update.
I'm working on chapter 11 as we speak, which will be set about a week from when the happening of this chapter occur.
REVIEW!! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!! DON'T DENY IT!! PLEAS LEAVE SOME CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, AND/OR CONCERNS!! THANK YOU!!
Sakura Scout
PS: CALLNG ALL ABLE PERSONS!! I NEED A NEW BETA-READER FOR THIS FIC!! PLEASE SEND ME A PM IF YOU ARE INTERESTED!! Thank you.