This is an old one shot/drabble which should've been posted here a long time ago. But I think that my muses knew they'd take a break someday and left a small surprise behind just in case I took a writing break from this fandom. Here it is. xD

Ancient

The door creaked unpleasantly as she pushed it open, the sound old and rusty and disturbingly loud in the creepy silence and she almost, almost, turned on her heel and fled back in the moonlit garden.

Which, by the way wasn't much of an improvement but at least she was quite positive that no twisted shadow had loomed over her. Sora spun to the right and clicked the flashlight into existence, caught between swearing that she had seen something glint just there and groaning as bright, neon pink light lit the cobweb filled corners.

Thank you May - the thought was positively cheery and filled with murderous intentions.

Homicide with a hard object that reminded Sora of fuzzy bunnies. She should've known that there was something wrong with this picture ever since she had gotten the furry one of the lot.

The haunted house, the bet, May's jeers and Mia's helpless pleas for forgiveness as she was forced to join in.

Hinges creaked and the wind slammed down the door behind her with a loud bang.

Sora was sure that her heartfelt scream was able to wake up the dead. Well...hopefully not. Better not. Hell no. Because if anything came through the doors or windows in the next few minutes, she was going to make use of the old crow bar she had magically found behind the dusty armchair.

Of course, the good question would be what she was doing behind said chair right? Wrong. It was called survival instincts.

Her small hands tightened around the metal bar...but nothing happened. An owl hooted outside and flapped its wings noisily, the floor creaked and her eyes got used to the almost pitch dark in the house.

Sora swore that she had heard a low chuckle, actually she was sure that she had fairly felt it vibrate through her bones, but as nothing had come screeching at her demanding for her heart or blood - and nothing was crawling at feet level either - she let her overactive imagination shoulder most of the blame and shuffled, red faced and embarrassed by her unnecessary outburst, from behind the furniture.

Yo ho ho for Halloween right?

No...wait. Wasn't that what that Christmas character in red said so often? Without the Halloween part of course.

Visions of a 'Santa Claus' with a knife and bloody clothes flashed behind her half closed eyes before Sora had the time to convince her brain that it was currently scaring her heart into an early failure.

Damn those sick people who had created frightening movies. Didn't they know that someone like May could be born any minute? To think that girl was two years younger than her! Two years dammit and she had always managed to spook her out.

Well, Sora thought advancing bravely into the next room, at least she was wearing a Halloween costume behind the witch cloak she wore for effect. If one could call that indecent, skimpy little piece of scraped material - yes, she was positive that it had served as a towel in its former life - a piece of clothing.

She was halfway across the room, bravely facing the possibility of anything lurking beyond closed doors, when fire roared to life in the hearth...out of nowhere and with no warning whatsoever.

The muscles in her legs trembled and she released a few muffled curses for her too deeply ingrained reflexes, from gymnastics, before crawling out from behind the armchair. Again.

"I appreciate you dusting my floors but it's not really necessary..."

Sora gulped and slowly raised her eyes at the black clad figure standing in the doorway watching her surreptitiously...and told herself that she wasn't gaping. His hair was long, the color of moonbeams, and cascaded down his back and to his tailbone in thick, glossy waves that she would've loved to run her hands through.

He raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed hard, quickly standing up from her embarrassing position and straightening her clothes awkwardly. His eyes were a pretty violet - lighter than lilac and darker than persian indigo.

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding...do you by any chance live here?" She stuttered out shyly, feeling immensely silly with the way he looked at her. Just like that...

"Never mind," she mumbled to herself, unable to keep his eyes for very long, "if you show me the way to the door I'll let myself out and never bother you again."

She had herself a vicious dog called May to catch and strangle.

The stranger smiled down at her, roguish and melting her bones, and made a sweeping motion with his hand towards the burning fire. "No need, you have not bothered me at all. My sister and myself have just moved here and I was looking forward to some company."

His voice was rich and cultured and his eyes were warmly amused. "I was prepared for this tradition of trick or treat," tradition? He sounded so detached and even...stumbled a little over the words? "but I'm afraid I was expecting you to come through the door."

Sora had the distinct feeling that he was laughing at her. If she hadn't broken into his house she might've fumed!

"My name is Leon Oswald..." Leon extended his hand forward in an almost deliberate fashion and something in his eyes sparked hot. Or maybe it was just the fire and she was seeing things.

"Sora Naegino - please to meet you and," she shuffled her feet and winced, "don't let first impressions fool you. I don't usually break into people's houses...at all."

"Then I will presume the same of you," his upper lip curled in what might've been distaste as his eyes roamed the possible-but-not-really-living-room, "Neither Sophie nor myself have had time to clean things up yet. Perhaps, I could convince you to show me Kyoto instead of treating you to tea in this dusty, old mansion."

Her mind went blank.

"You don't plan to harm me or anything do you? I'm well versed in martial arts."

That was such a horrible lie it made her want to grimace. Had she really asked him such an utter stupidity? If this man had wanted to harm her, he could've done so a thousand times.

Whatever thoughts she had managed to gather, scattered to the four winds when Leon chuckled; shoulders shaking from restrained mirth. "Just call it repaying a debt since you seem to feel so contrite about this all."

Either he was clueless, Sora chewed on her lower lip, either that had been a brilliant stroke of genius. And he had a funny way of talking. It sounded so...ancient.

"Fine...you win." She skittered by him and almost had a heart attack when he smoothly turned on his heel and followed. "But if you try anything I will hit you. Hard. No joke."

It was bad enough that she had accepted to give a complete stranger a tour guide.

Leon acknowledged her words, with a bow of his head, and passed a hand through his hair, pulling it back from his face and revealing two elven shaped ears which Sora desperately told herself were fake and only for Halloween purposes.

Yes, yes, yes. Only fake. He was human!

Sora almost gave into her fears and asked him that but for some reason, when moonbeams hit his eyes and both of them stepped into the - surprisingly - flower filled garden, her panic dissipated; leaving in its wake only a content hum that brought a soft smile to her face.

"You know...I'm really surprised that the garden looks so good. I love flowers and these are so beautiful." Sora intoned softly, wondering where her earlier fright had suddenly gone. Why wasn't she panicking?

It almost felt like something she couldn't see was trying to reassure her.

Her companion gave her another of those half smiles and plucked a white orchid from its place before handing it to her. Sora took it with an unsure hand, wondering if she looked as flustered as she felt.

"My family has always been in close contact with nature."

And it positively glowed, Sora thought turning her head to look back at the myriad of pale flowers bathing in the moonbeams. She felt like she was leaving an ethereal area and she was surprised that she hadn't noticed anything on her way here.

She smiled at Leon even as the tall gate, surrounded by vines of red roses curled round and round against iron and marble, opened by its own accord to let them pass.

Why? Sora herself couldn't understand. Something serene and, if she dared think it, wild and free at the same time stopped her from feeling scared of these strange happenings.

The flowers hadn't been there when she had come but they bloomed beautifully under her very own eyes now. Almost like Leon's presence had created a living miracle...

'Pointed ears, love for nature...if I didn't know better I could swear that he was not really human.'

AU again...just how bored was I?

Edit: Sorry about this...accidental deletion I'm afraid. Need to be more careful. ;