Nalu fluff week sept 12 adventure

Obake Files (AU Story)

It was by no means the most idiotic idea her boyfriend has ever had, but it was certainly not one she was looking forward to either. First of all, it was lame, I mean who even does this anymore, high schoolers that were bored, maybe even college frat boys on a dare. Lucy thought they were beyond the foolish whims of adolescence, but this was Natsu she needed to remind herself, mister spontaneous who would jump off the cliff at South Point or still hung upside down on a jungle gym with primary schoolers.

"And where pray-tell did you plan to go ghost hunting?"

"Gray was telling me about the old hospital…"

"You mean 'baby's cries'?"

"Yeah! You heard of it?"

"Who hasn't heard the stories, supposedly you hear the sounds of babies crying or nonsense, lights from nowhere, all the typical mumbo jumbo."

"So, you don't believe any of it?"

"Nope."

"Well then you won't get scared." Grabbing her hands and pouting, "Please Luce?"

Sigh, "Just don't whine to me when you see it's nothing."

The old Hilo Memorial hospital was a relic from the days of 1892 and like many old structures, tales of paranormal events can be common. Local residents have all heard the stories, but the most famous had to be of infants crying. While rumors of a devastating fire still abound, there is no record of one ever taking place on the site, but if you consider the level of medical care one could receive in the early parts of the last century, one could assume that a few babies may not have survived long after birth. In fact, one of Hawaii's customs of celebrating a child's first birthday is rooted in this part of olden day life.

And leave it to an idiot to want to investigate a place like that.

Of course, access to the private property would be considered trespassing since it wasn't a fully abandoned site yet plus the real phenomena tends to happen in the later parts of or the early morning hours, neither of which sounded very thrilling for said fools, poor girlfriend. Luckily for her, the other part of the idiot duo agreed to join them. Frankly, if Lucy could convince Gray into helping her scare her boyfriend out of the place quickly she'd be willing to forgive him for suggesting this in the first place!

"Okay, Juvia is going to drop us off at the hospital and will be back by 1am unless we call her sooner."

"Great 2 hours stuck here," Lucy rolls her eyes, "I'm hoping for the sooner part."

"Aww," Natsu throws his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder, "be positive Luce and have some fun with it."

"You know I told you the story about this place, but I didn't mean for you to want to come here."

"Gray, don't you know me by now? That kind of story just screams for me to check it out!"

He rolls his eyes, "you are such an idiot, but let's get this over with."

With flashlights sweeping the grounds, the trio make their way through the overgrown brush into the derelict buildings. Natsu had done some research and was pretty sure he was leading them towards the famed nursery ward where most of the 'activity' is supposed to take place. It was a moonless night which made traversing the area difficult, lots of rotting equipment left behind, even the Coqui frogs seemed deafening. To top it all off it had rained earlier in the day leaving puddles everywhere and a damp musty smell in the air, but not the wet fabric that sat a little too long, more like an organic, algae rotting along a pond scent.

"I swear to god Natsu if I step in anything nasty and ruin my sneakers you're buying me new ones!"

"You'll be fine Luce…" he stops and holds up an arm motioning for them to do the same, "did you guys here that?"

"Ugh, you mean the frogs, there's a river behind here remember?"

"Not the frogs, you guys didn't hear the scratching sound?"

"It's probably just a branch or something, there is a slight breeze tonight."

"I swear it didn't sound like that, more like something dragging across the ground or…"

"Dude you've been watching too many horror movies," Gray pushes Natsu from behind, "keep going, the faster we move, the faster we get out of here."

"Tch," Natsu crosses his arms, "you guys are no fun."

"We didn't want to be here in the first place!"

"Yeah babe, I'd rather watch a horror movie than try to be In one."

For the first hour nothing but the sounds of nature, crickets, frogs, and a few rats were the only real signs of life in this building. Every so often Natsu would stop to investigate a window or side room, claiming to have heard a voice or more movement type sounds but his friends would just groan and roll their eyes. Gray and Lucy didn't hear or see anything that couldn't be easily discounted as a critter or just his imagination running wild.

By then they had moved on from the nursery and aside for a few possible forsaken sheds, the other buildings were still in use and locked up tight for the evening.

"Let's go Natsu, there's nothing here."

"But Luce," her boyfriend whines, "something could still happen."

"Yeah, me planting my foot on your face," Gray retorts, "I'm friggen bored and I'd rather be hanging out with my girlfriend then be here."

"Please Natsu, we've entertained your little adventure enough, wouldn't you rather go home," the blonde squeezes his arm hinting at other pleasures, "there's better things we could be doing."

"Listen to your girlfriend man and take her home…"

"Ugh, fine okay, call Juvia."

They start walking towards the main parking lot from alongside of the building as Gray calls his girlfriend to pick them up. There was quite a lot of brush that they needed to maneuver around, and Lucy held onto her boyfriend's hand to keep from getting lost. Just as they reach the corner of the structure a loud crunching sound takes them all by surprise, Lucy squeals and grips to Natsu's hand, even Gray and Natsu flinch.

"See I told you some…"

A beam of light flashes onto the trio, "What are you kids doing here?!" A security guard stands with one hand on his radio while the other holds a bright flashlight on them.

"N-nothing officer sir," Natsu steps forward slightly to shield his girl, "we're just waiting for our ride and got curious about this place." And just at that moment a pair of headlights enters the parking lot, "see, there's our ride."

The security guard turns to look at the vehicle pulling up then back to the group, "I don't wanna see you guys traipsing around in the dark later or I'll call the cops, now get!"

"Thank you, sir," Lucy drags Natsu with her, followed by Gray as they sprint for Juvia's car. She lets out a big exhale once the doors close and they were safely strapped in. "That was close, no more ghost hunting okay Natsu?"

"Why," whining and leaning against her shoulder, "there are other places to explore."

"Then you can go by yourself," Gray snarls from the passenger seat.

"Even if there are spirits, Juvia thinks it's better to leave them alone."

"Good point Juvy," Lucy pats her friend's shoulder, "so agreed Natsu? No more ghost hunting because I'm not doing this again."

"I guess so, it's no fun to go by myself," Natsu gives Lucy a quick peck on the lips, then turns and leans forward, "you guys wanna stop at Ken's, I'm hungry and I'll treat."

"Hmph, if the fools willing to pay I'm down," Gray responds, "Juvia are you okay with that?"

"Juvia is a little hungry too."

"Great!" Natsu bounces in his seat, "I'm so gonna get the Sumo!" Lucy pulls her boyfriend back to settle down, leaning against him if at least to hold him still, but he takes the hint and places his arm around her shoulder. "I know I'm a pain sometimes but thanks for humoring me Luce."

"You do make life more interesting," patting his chest and chuckling, "but next time, learn to listen to your girlfriend!"