Title: Thrilling Vacation
(Rewritten version)
By: Namikaze Naruto, Tenma no Ouji
Disclaimer; I don't own anything...
Warnings: Shounen ai, language, sadism, pedophilia, mentions of abuse & possible rape and Out of character behavior from several characters.
Pairing: Saa...We shall see as the story progresses. I am not sure if the story will have one yet or not. But for now, it is a friendship fic...
Secret room, found
and
The time loop begins
Ryoma opened his eyes, looking around. "Hey sleepy head, welcome to the world of the living." turning his head to better see the speaker, "Aniki?" the voice didn't sound like him, he frowned, staring at the mirror and would have screamed, if he could. The person, though resembling him wasn't him in the least. The hair color and eye color was off for one and some other major factors was the voice definitely didn't have that feminine accented tone his one held having been raised in America for the past twelve years. "What time is it?"
"Time for you to wake up otouto-chan." Ryuu chuckled as he helped the small boy up. "Father and I are heading out for a bit and don't worry Catherine left a while ago so the only ones here are you and the servants so no problem there. Chef Kyaku has already prepared your breakfast, so get ready and then go eat." Ryoma nodded his head and yawned. "So what are you going to do until father and I return?"
Ryoma shrugged, "Perhaps I'll go to my secret room and paint or something." brown eyes lit up, "That's what I'll do, I'm going to paint a picture of you, father and myself. Do you think father will like it?" Ryuu smiled brightly, ruffling the younger ones hair, while nodding his head.
Several hours later find Ryoma entering his room once more, shutting the door he made sure to lock the door as he did so before heading towards his dresser, placing both hands on the side, he pushed it until it touched the wall. As soon as he stood up, the tennis prince saw a hidden door that blended in and would be hard to miss if you didn't know of it's existence. Ryoma watched himself slid the door open and entered the room, sliding the door close behind him...
"...Ryoma, wake up." a gentle voice prodded him. Golden eyes fluttered open and stared in dark blue ones, "Your awake, thank goodness." Yukimura smiled, relieved that the younger was alright. "You worried us when Tezuka came running here with your unconscious body."
He blinked a few times and slowly stood up, "How long have I been out for?"
Yukimura glanced at the time, "For almost two hours. The rest of the groups split up while I volunteered to stay with you until you awoke." Ryoma nodded his head, "We could look for Fuji and Tezuka, Ryuu is still showing them around, I believe."
Ryoma bit his bottom lip, "I think I know where that secret room is located. I need you to gather everyone and tell Ryuu to take you to pass Ryoma's room, alright. I'll be there waiting for everyone." Yukimura looked surprised by that but nodded and stood up, telling Ryoma that he'd do just that. As soon as he regained his bearings, the golden eyed boy stood up and headed towards the room he lost unconsciousness in.
Entering the room, Ryoma walked towards the dresser and pushed it, just as he seen his past self do a while ago. Stepping back he saw the only difference was the green wall paint and that there was now carpet covering the floors as opposed to before when it was just polished wood. He was just about to touch the wall where he knew the secret door would be but he stopped when he saw the Seigaku team with the Rikkai and Hyotei team enter the room, with them was Ryuu and Kosuke.
"Ryoma, what is it? Yukimura told us you knew where the secret room was."
Nodding his head, Ryoma placed his hand on the door, "The room has been here the entire time; hidden behind his dresser." feeling the slight indent, Ryoma took hold of it and slid the door open. Gasp echoed around the room as they all stared into the darkened room.
"You really found the room?" Ryuu gaped.
Kirihara ran into the room having slipped out a while ago, "I got some lights. Should we go and check the room out?" Several nods meant the question. Tezuka grabbed one of the lights while Sanaga took hold of the other one.
"Sanada and I will lead the way. Ryoma stay close alright, you don't know if anything is in there that might want to hurt you." At Tezuka's words, Fuji and Eiji took hold of the boys hands while Inui, Kaidoh, Momo and Taka surrounded the boys back and Oishi in front of him and behind their captain. The Hyotei and the other members of Rikkaidai brought up the rear alongside Ryuu and Kosuke.
As they entered the room, they saw a spiraling staircase leading downwards. "Watch your step, you don't know how safe these stairs are." Tezuka grasped the railings, feeling the cold steel material he blinked, "It looks like the stairs were from some type of metal." As they descended, the group noticed the further down they went the colder it became, several of the members shivered.
"Tezuka, Sanada, shine the light around the room, see if you can find anything that would give us light. Maybe their a blocked window, or..." Atobe's speech was cut off when a string was pulled and light flooded the dark room. Looking around, the group of teens were awed by what they saw. Murals of painting decorated the walls.
Sheets of paper decorated the desk, upon each one was a different picture. Most of them were of Ryoko, Ryuu and Kosuke. A few of the pictures depicted a stern looking man and a demure woman. There was a drawing of a fluffy cat, looking as if it was about to pounce on something, around the cat was a garden filled with different flowers, a cherry blossom tree stood near the center and flying around the cat were several butterflies. Each picture was as lovely as the one before it.
"He was quite the artist." commented Yukimura with a smile as he eyed the painting.
Ryuu and Kosuke looked around misty eyed and quivering smiles. This was their Ryoma, the one who loved to draw and paint and was really good at it. "He was, wasn't he?" the older Echizen walked towards the furthest wall and gaped, "Here it is!" he called out, gaining the teens attention.
"What is it?"
Holding it up everyone saw what it was, "A map." this must be what Jigoku was talking about. Ryuu stared at the map contemplating. There were several rooms circled with different colors and he couldn't tell which room is the one they needed to get to. "One of these must be the room. Ryoma was often seen going to this room," he pointed towards the room circled in purple, "but we won't have the time to look at all of these..." eyes wide, Ryuu glanced towards the group, "Do you happen to know the date?"
"It's the 15 of March." Tezuka responded, "Why do you ask?"
Ryuu and Kosuke looked surprised by that before they shared a frantic look, "We really don't have the time to check all of the rooms marked. If I have to wager a guess, we only have time for one, so..." Ryuu pounded his fist on the desk, "Damn it, we were so close." he murmured, glaring at the map.
Kosuke sighed and glanced at the confused group, "Ryoma was born on March 15, 1745; today, which means the time loop we told your friends about will be happening soon. In order to finally be put to rest, we need to get to this room and destroy what ever they are using to keep us bound to this house."
Atobe and Yukimura shared a look before nodding, "Tezuka, we're leaving this with you and your team. Find the room and put a stop to this alright. We are going to be the distraction encase Jigoku or Catherine shows up." The Hyotei and Rikkai regulars nodded their heads in agreement. "Let's go and put these people to rest."
Ryuu stared at the circled rooms, trying to eliminate the less possible ones, but for the life of him he couldn't decide which room was not the one, nearly a half hour later and the only room he was sure wasn't being used was the purple marked one.
Deciding to use a different approach, Ryoma walked over and took the map hoping that whatever happened with that dresser would happen again. And it did, from his past selves eyes he watched as a woman walked down a hallway, a jar of red liquid swished every time she moved. She entered a room at the end of the hall.
Snapping out of whatever trance he had been caught in, Ryoma pointed towards the end of the hallway, the room circled in a green marker. "A woman entered that room. I couldn't see her face or anything about her really, just that it was a female. She was holding something in her hand." Golden eyes blinked, "I think it was blood." he whispered.
Ryuu glanced at the younger Echizen before narrowing his eyes at the room the boy was pointing at, the room down the hall, his eyes widened, "Catherine's room, of course." he hissed as they left the room and headed towards the hallway that would lead them towards the room belonging to Catherine. Oishi placed his hands on the door knob and went to open it when he couldn't. Juggling the door knob didn't seem to work,
"It's locked."
"Damn it." Ryuu scowled. "Just when I thought everything would be alright." every one appeared depressed and turned away from the door when a soft click was heard which caused the group to turn to see what the sound was and blinked when they saw Ryoma getting up from his crouch position in front of the door, "What did you do?"
Ryoma held up a hair clip before sliding it back into place. "Before you ask, I have it holding the bottom part of my hair so it doesn't irritate my neck. Anyways my older brother taught me how to pick lock when I was a kid and before he ran away. Oyaji would always lock us out of the house and the only way we could get back inside was to pick the locks or freeze. We refuse to freeze to death, that would be a lame way to die, wouldn't it?" They sweat dropped at what the boy said. Really, what kind of man would lock his own kids out of their house.
Deciding to think about that later, Tezuka walked forward and pushed the door open, allowing the rest of the group to enter. As soon as everyone was inside, several gasp were heard. Words, symbols and a whole bunch of other gibberish were written on the wall; there wasn't one spot on the wall that hadn't been spared. "What is that?"
"Runes." Ryuu stated, "Runes written in blood." the elder Echizen narrowed his eyes. This just proved what the servants use to say about Catherine. She was a witch, one that dabble with spells which would explain the reason for all the strange happenings when they were alive.
Ryoma scanned the room before spotting something near the wall, with a curious sound, the dark haired boy headed in the direction. Picking the book up, he flipped several pages before, glancing towards the wall then back at the book, "A binding spell." his voice, though soft was heard by the others who gave him confused looks, so he decided to explain, "Those runes, they're a binding spell and since it's written in blood, it makes it like a blood binding. It's one of the strongest types of spells, well, according to this." he held up the book and Inui grabbed it.
Inui scanned it, "That's how they did it." he lowered the book and stared at the walls in disgusted wonder, "Each of the runes were written in blood. The blood of their victim which would explain the reason for them being here. They're bound to the house by blood and can't leave until this room is destroyed."
"Congratulations on figuring that out." A cold voice hissed, "But you'll never end this curse without that brat." he scowled, pointing a finger at Ryoma, "It'll be impossible to do so without him since his blood is the focal point of the curse." Cathrine gritted her teeth, "And without him, the curse will continue as it has always done." Diving forward she grabbed the stunned first year and fazed through the floors amongst the scream of the boys.
Appearing in a dark room, Cathrine tossed Ryoma against the cold wall. "Freakin brat, you think your so clever do you?" the blonde yanked the emerald tinted raven hair, causing a gasp of pain to escape Ryoma's throat. An icy smirk graced her lips, eyes glaring into a pair of golds, "I hate you, you damn brat, from the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were going to be trouble and you were." Releasing the grip she had on the boy, Cathrine watched in glee as the boys head connected with the wall roughly.
"Mada..." Ryoma hissed, gripping his head, he looked up and stared at the ghost in annoyance, "I don't even know you so don't get me confused with my past self and if anyone should be pissed it should be me, your the reason he was killed anyways. You and that psycho bast..." he didn't get to continue before a stinging pain in his face caused his eyes to widen in surprise. "Wha..."
Cathrine glared, "Don't you dare insult him you stupid brat." she snarled, shaking her hand from the impact. "You think you've got it all figured out don't you, well your wrong, even if you were to destroy my room with those blood binding seals, it wouldn't do you any good, really it's not going to be that easy you know." she leaned in, eyes narrowed before leaning back a bit, "It's no wonder he's been as obsessive with you for so long, you are pretty adorable." a wicked smirk graced her lips as she reached over caressing the boys cheeks.
Sneering Ryoma yanked his face away, "Get away from me you crazy bitch!"
The blonde growled, her face twisting into something unpleasant, "Fucking brat!" she grounded out slamming the boy into the wall behind him, "You'll never break this curse." she snarled vanishing from the room.
Ryoma groaned as he got to his feet, "Damn ghost, how the hell can their attacks hurt so much when they don't even have a real body." he whispered, golden eyes scanning the room he was in, shivers raked his frame causing him to frown in discontent, he hated the cold, and this damn room was not only dimly lit so he could barely see his own hand in front of his face but it was also cold, two things that annoyed him. "Is this the basement? That's so cliche." shaking his head, he looked around trying to determine if there was anything useful around.
Taking a step forward, boy wonder navigated his way towards the stairs in what little lighting was available. As he took another step towards where he thought the stairs would be, his feet kicked something hard causing painful jolts to shoot up and down his leg. With a hiss, Ryoma gripped his foot, lowering himself to his knees, he reached out to touch the thing he had just kicked. "What is this?"
"That would be my coffin." a gentle feminine voice whispered, with a startle gasp Ryoma turned around and gaped at the sight in front of him. "Hello Ryoma!"
The sound of pounding against the stairs caused the Hyotei and Rikkai team to turn and stare at the Seigaku team. "What's going on? And where is Ryoma?" Yukimura questioned. "Did something happen?"
"That crazy bitch took him!" Momo yelled out, "We need to find him!" Yells of shock and surprise were heard, questions and exclamation were voiced before everything was silence by Tezuka, who told them they had to find and rescue Ryoma as quickly as they could. With nods the group was divided and each group separated to search their part of the large house."
"Who are you?" Ryoma whispered, golden eyes staring at the woman before her. She was very pretty with a smile that reminded him of his own mother, "How do you know my name? Did you know my past self as well?"
The woman smiled wider and shook her head, "I only saw your past self briefly before I was killed, he was still a baby then." she whispered, her smile dimming. "I was their first victim you know. Cathrine heard how her fiancee was already married with a child and another on the way. She was the one who killed me knowing full well that as soon as I was out of the picture his parents would force him to marry his former fiancee to merge two companies together. It worked as well."
"Your..."
The woman smiled, "Echizen Tsuki, nee Atobe, the mother of both Ryuunosuke and Ryoma and wife of Echizen Ryoko." she patted the boys greenish black hair, "It's very nice to meet you Ryoma, even though you aren't mine in another life you had been."
Ryoma blinked, "How are you here? You died before that massacre took place."
Tsuki nodded with a smile, "Jigoku took some of my blood and beside that, my body was buried here, when Cathrine found out about that, she had the coffin dug up one day when Ryoko took the boys out. I was placed in here and seals were written on the door and wall with the blood they stole from my dying body. I've been trapped in this room since. I heard everything going on in the house yet could do nothing about it and then that massacre happened. I cried when I heard about the death of both my oldest son and my beloveds, my heart was broken upon hearing that my youngest was kidnapped by the killer while the other pretended to be innocent of her crimes when questioned."
"So you've been here for a long time, so you must have heard things right. Do you know how to break the curse on the house? If that blonde witch spoke the truth and destroying her room really won't break the curse then what will? Do you know? If so, please tell me, it might finally put everyone to rest, and you might finally be reunited with your son and husband once more."
Tsuki smiled and leaned forward whispering something into the boys ears. A gasp escaped Ryoma's mouth but the woman just nodded her head, shooing the boy towards the stairs, "Go on Ryoma, you know what you have to do, please end this curse and free us from our imprisonment." with a grateful smile and a nod of thanks, boy wonder moved towards the stairs but paused briefly, turned and embraced the woman.
"I'm sure if my past self meant you as a mother, he would have loved you." he gently whispered into the woman's ear, causing tears to fill her eyes at the kind words. "And thank you for helping me." with that said, Ryoma ran towards the door.
*With Jackal, Marui, Hiyoshi, Kabaji, Taka and Momo*
After checking all the rooms on the left side of the second floor, they met up with each other and shook their heads in negative, "Damn he wasn't in any of the rooms up here, I hope the others have better luck trying to find him." Momo crossed his arms over his chest.
Snapping his bubblegum, Marui frowned, "After today I'm never going into a house unless I know they aren't haunted, this is the worst vacation ever." the redhead pouted, ignoring the look Jackal was giving him.
With a shake of his head, Rikkai's iron wall of defense told his double partner to calm down. "Besides he has to be here somewhere, the others will find him."
Hiyoshi shook his head, "Not unless it's another secret room we don't know about."
"Usu" Kabaji murmured.
Taka glanced at each person, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Minna, let's go to the living room and wait like we were told to do. Standing around up here isn't going to let us find Ryoma any sooner/" Momo nodded his head as the group ran off.
*With Niou, Yagyuu, Ohtori, Shishido, Kaidoh and Inui*
They found nothing. They checked, double checked, even triple checked all the rooms just to make sure, but there was no Ryoma in any of the rooms. "This sucks, puri!"
Yagyuu nodded his head and stared at the group, "Now what, it's obvious he isn't in any of these rooms. Hopefully the other teams are having better luck in finding the poor boy."
Ohtori nodded his head, "I hope someone finds Echizen-kun quickly. I don't like the thought of the ghost being with him, who knows what she has done to him." Shishido tried to calm his partner down, usually he'd comment about this being 'super lams' but he couldn't bother at a time like this.
Kaidoh hissed, he had a feeling that after today his phobia of ghost and anything else dealing with the supernatural will be allot worse then it had been previously, only this time they're is prove of ghost and he hated it, but there was one thing he hated more than ghost and that was when someone messed with anyone he cared about, and Echizen Ryoma was like an annoying kid brother so that blonde witch had made things personal with him and he was sure the rest of the team agreed as well, "That bitch won't get away with this."
Inui grinned from behind his notebook, adjusting his glasses. He had figured the only thing that would cure Kaidoh of his phobia, if only temporary, was if the ghost, or any supernatural beings, made things personal with him, and that ghost made things very personal with the Seigaku team when she took their baby. "Of course she won't Kaidoh, we'll get Ryoma back, break this curse, free the spirits stuck here and defeat Jigoku and Cathrine while we're at it."
Shishidp glanced at the group and shrugged, "Let's go see if anyone else finished their searching." with nods, they made their way to the meeting place.
*With Kirihara, Yanagi, Gakuto, Oshitari, Oishi and Eiji*
Despite looking all over they hadn't found anything. Kirihara kicked the wall, crossed his arms and cursed at not being able to find the younger boy, "I hope the others have better luck then we did." Rikkai's baby stated after calming down.
Eiji wrapped his arms around Oishi, "I just hope ochibi-chan is alright. That witch better not have touched him, nya." the redhead nuzzled his head against his partners shoulder. "Poor ochibi-chan."
Oishi frowned and patted the cat like boys head, "I'm sure he'll be just fine Eiji."
Yanagi nodded his head, "It's a very high possibility that Echizen-kun is alright, out of everyone here, I believe he's the most adaptable person and if there is anyone who could finally break this curse, it's him, we just need to find him before it's too late."
Oshitari nodded his head, "Yanagi's right." the blunet wrapped an arm around his partner, "Let's get back to the meeting room and see if someone found Echizen yet."
"Yes, let's go." Gakuto agreed, "If no one else found him, then we'll need to look for any other secret passages that ghost could have used to hide Echizen in." Everyone nodded and ran towards the living room.
*With Sanada, Yukimura, Jiroh, Atobe, Fuji and Tezuka*
Task with searching the ground floors including kitchen, pantries and the basements about to give up hope they heard thumping noises and turned in the direction it was coming from. Under the staircase, hidden well was a hidden door that none of them had even seen before. About to approach it, they took a step back when the door was flung open and Ryoma appeared. Fuji and Tezuka was the first to react running towards the boy, questions tumbling from their mouths as they looked the boy over.
Atobe had been the first to see the bruise and questioned him on it, which directed the rest of the group towards the red mark. Fuji growled at the sight. "Did that bitch hit you? Of course she did, I'm gonna kill that skank for touching you at all." The menacing aura he displayed scared the others and they felt no sympathy for the woman who stuck the younger boy.
Ryoma shrugged, "It doesn't hurt that much, but I know what has to be done to end this curse. I spoke with someone in the cellar and she told me what I have to do." he replied, waving, "I want everyone to meet at the front doors, we only have one chance at this, so as soon as those doors open, leave." With that said, Ryoma ran down the hall, ignoring the voices calling out to him.
"We should let everyone know." Jiroh stated, "It's the only thing we can do for him now." Glancing at the ginger headed male, the group debated on what they should do and, despite wanting to chase after Ryoma, they knew Jiroh was right, it's what the youngest wanting them to do, so that's what they should do. Tezuka and Fuji stared in the direction Ryoma left in, worried.
"He's going to be fine." Turning, both the captain and tensai of Seigaku stared at the speaker in surprise. Yukimura smiled at them, "Ryoma, he'll be fine as long as we believe in him, ne." Despite being concern himself, Yukimura wanted to calm Tezuka and Fuji, in hopes that he'll be able to elevate his own worries. After a while both nodded and followed the others into the living room, where they were suppose to meet up with or without Ryoma.
Ryoma dashed into Catherin's room, glancing around for anything sharp. Finding a knife, he grabbed it and sliced his palm open, wincing in pain, he soaked his other hand in blood before squeezing his injured hand tightly, putting pressure on the wound, he ran his blood through the seals and watched in awe as they seemingly began to disappear which made him quicken his pace.
A bell ran loudly followed shortly by the flickering of lights. "It's time." he ran towards the last wall and ran his blood through the seals, watching as once again the lines vanished just as the bell stopped and the lights came back on. "That was close." he whispered, stepping away from the wall, he glanced around the room before heading towards the cloth on the ground. Picking it up, he wrapped it around his injured palm, tightly, before clenching his hand.
Walking out of the room, he gasped at the sea of people mingling around. "Okay, let's see, I just have to wait till the right moment to finish the curse once and for all."
-A few minutes prior-
Arriving in the living room, Atobe took charge and told everyone to get at the door. When questioned, the only answer they had been given was, 'It will be the only time we will be able to leave the house' they hadn't bothered to go beyond that.
With that answer, the group headed towards the door. As soon as they reached, a bell rang and the lights began flickering and in that moment the door clicked. Shaky hands, Oishi reached over and twisted the knob and jerked it out causing the door to open, it didn't take much after that as the group left the house, just in time for as the last person left the door slammed shut and clicked.
Fuji released a scream and dashed towards the door and tried to pry it open, when that didn't work, he slammed his fist against the surface. "Ryoma!" he wailed, bringing his fist against the door once more. "No!" he crumbled towards the floor.
Rushing towards their tensai, Seigaku circled around the brunet, occasionally glancing at the door with solemn looks which were mimicked by the Hyotei and Rikkai teams. Each of them didn't know what to do as they stood their staring at the door.
Ryoma glanced around the room, before his attention was caught by the sight of two boys sitting at the tables towards the back. One resembled him except for the hair and eye color but everything else was the same and sitting beside him was Ryuu, who looked particularly happy being in the presence of his younger brother.
Around the room people talked and laughed unaware of what was going to be happening soon. Shaking his head, Ryoma turned and stared at the cause of the problem with a frown. 'Their mother said this time around they won't remember this was a time loop because I erased the binding seals, now I just have to stop him before he can kill Ryuu and everyone else, but how?' Glancing around the room he spotted guards at the entrance and smiled as he made his way towards them just as past him and his brother left the room.
"Excuse me." He called, tapping one of the males on the arm causing him to turn.
Eyes wide, the man bowed, "Echizen-sama, what can I do for you?" he replied with haste. "Is something wrong?" Nodding his head, Ryoma pointed towards Jigoku and Catherin who were standing together by now, glancing in the same direction the Echizen brothers had left in.
"Catherine and that guy she's talking to are both planning something. He has a weapon. I heard her tell him to kill us and everyone else who interferes." Ryoma motioned towards the two of them, feigned fear glittering within his eyes, which he tried to conceal not wanting them to question why they appear more golden then usual. "You have to stop them."
The guards were surprised by that before they broke into action, just as Jigoku moved towards the garden he was apprehended by two guards while two others grabbed Catherine, causing ultimate silence to descend upon the room as everyone turned and stared at the two. Ryoma moved into the shadow, away from sight.
"What's going on here?"
Everyone glanced towards the Echizen head, "Sir, Ryoma told us that they were planning on killing him and his brother and everyone else who interfered." The general walked over, standing in front of Jigoku and felt his body for any weapons, while he yelled at the guard for touching him. Pulling his hand back, a look entered the mans eyes before he reached forward and yanked the jacket back, pulling out a scythe. "Sir, the weapon of choice." he held the blade up and many gasp of fear and shock rang out, as everyone scattered several feet away.
Ryoko clenched his fist, "And her, what role in this does she pay."
The guard glanced at the woman with a sneer, "She's in league with him. According to Ryoma, it was her idea. The poor boy looked close to tears when he came up to us." the man jerked Jigoku's arms, "What do you want us to do with these two, sir?"
Ryoko glared at his 'wife' with a cold smile, "Lock them up, in the lowest part of the dungeons, where not even sunlit reaches, there they will meet there end, where they'll be force to live with knowing that they failed to kill us all and live with the shame of their actions." turning he glanced around the room, "Where are my boys?"
"I saw them heading towards the gardens." someone from the back called out and with a nod of thanks, Ryoko ran from the room and towards the garden, unaware of the shadow following him. Peaking out into the gardens, Ryoma smiled at the sight that greeted him. Ryoko had both of his sons wrapped within his arms, while both boys shared confused looks and a white and brown furred cat tilted it's head in confusion, wondering what was going on.
Suddenly blackness crept upon him and he found himself falling, a voice, feminine, thanking him for his help in saving her boys, and before he knew it, he bolting upwards coughing and sputtering as he inhaled a lungful of smoke, the fire around him threaten to consume him. And he wondered what happened.
Fuji gaped as he pounded on the door, "Ryoma!" he screamed, blue eyes wide with fear, "Please!" he whimpered, gripping the knob. The smoke flowing from the window and the fire that soon burst into existence, caused numerous hearts to freeze. "No!" he cried out as he was jerked from the door, his protest was echoed by the rest of the Seigaku teams as they to were pulled from the door and away from the house, just in time to hide from the explosion that rocked the very foundation. Sobs and screams echoed in everyone's ears but there was nothing that could be done.
Ryoma was gone.
A golden glow caused all eyes to turn and gape at the sight before them. A man, they recognized as Ryoko, stood with his arms wrapped around a woman while two boys, Ryuu and one who they knew had to be Ryoma, stood beside what use to be their house. "Your Ryoma did something not even I, predicted when I gave him the answer to finally free everyone from their prison."
"What do you mean by that?" Kirihara questioned, eyes red and it had nothing to do with his devil mode.
The woman, introduced as Echizen Tsuki, nee Atobe, took a step forward, "When he was taken to the cellar, the room under the stairs, he found me. You see Catherine had my coffin dug up and placed within the cellar, trapping my body and spirit within the house as well, but unlike everyone else, I could not leave the cellar, but I could hear everything. When your Ryoma meant me, I told him the secret. All he had to do was destroy the seals with his blood and set the room a blaze, before meeting up with you in the short amount of time needed before leaving the house to be destroyed, but he chose to destroy the part of the seal, the part that allowed everyone to know what was going to happen but be helpless to stop it from doing so. Then he interfered with how things had happened, instead of Jigoku going on and killing my son, Ryoma had alerted the guards who caught Jigoku and Catherine before anything could happen."
The teens stared, confused. "What do you mean?"
"What she's trying to say," Ryuu smiled, wrapping an arm around his brothers shoulder, "Because your Ryoma interfered, everyone got to live out their lives the way they would have, had the massacre not occurred. And because he helped us, we in turn will grant him another chance, it's the lease we could do for him." after those words the group found themselves following towards the ground.
Shaking her head, Ryuuzaki crossed her arms, "Jeez, these boys, they must have been more tired then I thought." she glanced towards her team and couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips. "Oh well, it can't be helped."
Sakaki stared at his team with a raised brow, "I guess so." before directing his glance towards Rikkai, to see them out like a light as well, "Teenagers are so weird, it wasn't even twenty minutes ago that they had been wild and making so much noise, I'm surprised that dead hadn't risen."
The first to move was Tezuka who blinked open his eyes and took in the sight around him with furrowed brows. "What's going on?" he whispered. Ryuuzuki stared at her teams captain, in amusement.
"Tezuka, don't you remember, we're waiting here to find out what Ryoma..." the rest of her statement was cut off as the rest of the teens choice that moment to wake up, all eyes glanced around the room, all eyes resting upon Ryoma who had his eyes trained upon his body, rubbing his arms and legs in shock. 'And because he helped us, we in turn will grant him another chance, it's the lease we could do for him.' As those words circled their brains, most of the group tackled Ryoma, some actually shedding tears as they embraced the smaller preteen.
Sakakju frowned, wondering what the heck was going on.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting." all eyes turned towards the man, "Thank you for coming on such short notice." As soon as he spoke, the group knew what would come next, "My name is Minamoto Kouichi and I represent Koboyashi Law firm." he held out an vanilla colored folder, "This arrived to our boss a few days ago..." he didn't continue, as Ryoma approached the man, taking the envelope from him and running off, the rest of the group behind him.
Ryoma smirked, "So?" he stated, "Should we go, and this time we won't be hunted by any ghost." several people sighed in exasperation while the other half chuckled and shrugged. Aside from Jigoku and Catherine, the Echizen house had been quite lovely. "This time, lets make it a real vacation."
Owari
(The End)
I know I said two chapters, but I decided to put the two chapters together to make it one long chapter instead. I want to thank those who stayed with me and reviewed throughout the story. It meant allot to me, and kept me writing, so my many thanks.
I'm off to some of my other stories now.
Tenma
