Chapter 14: The Mystery of the Haunted House

Boo-hoo, it's already the middle of spring break, meaning that it's halfway done. The good news is, though, that I finished chapter 16 and 17 which is still a Kaze no Stigma/Bleach crossover. Chapter 18 will definitely go back to the storyline which I am writing right now.

Thanks to Experienced and CMR Rosa for reviewing the last chapter and those who favorited!

Anyways, enough ranting on my part, enjoy the new chapter!

Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma or Bleach, just her OC's.

Karai's Point of View

Ichiru and I stood in front of the path leading to the house we were assigned to go to.

We just came from the hotel after we ate at a restaurant and dropped our belongings in our room, which had two beds if anybody was wondering.

The Victorian house in front of us was bigger than a normal house and pretty tall, so I guessed that it had three floors. It definitely did look haunted and creepy, especially with the dead grass and trees on the yard. Who knows what the inside of the house looked like… or even the back of it… The thought of that made me cringe a bit. The wooden parts of the house even looked kind of rotten. We'd better be careful with the stairs and floor.

I looked at Ichiru, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go on ahead," I told him, emphasizing my sentence more by holding out my arm and hand, ushering him to go first.

He looked at me with widened eyes, "Are you crazy? Ladies first," he said, giving me a little shove.

"It's your job to protect my life, so go sacrifice yours first," I said.

"What kind of an excuse is that?"

I shrugged like there was nothing wrong with my reason, "A good one."

He shook his head, "How about this? We both go up together?" He tried to negotiate.

I sighed, "Fine. Let's go." We walked through the pathway and carefully went up the porch stairs and floor until we stopped in front of the door.

I sighed once again, being the brave one this time. I knocked the door to check if there was actually anyone living there.

To my and Ichiru's surprise, the door opened and there, standing before us, was a teenaged girl. She kind of looked like Ayano except she had dark blue hair and wore a long-sleeved white blouse, a black skirt and knee-high black boots. Hmm, Ayano would look nice if she wore something besides her uniform for a change.

She greeted us with a smile, "Hello there. Is there something I can help you with?" she asked. Ok, now that was creepy. She even sounds like Ayano! But I think it's just pure coincidence. So I shrugged it off. Although, I've never seen Ayano smile like this girl did though. I wonder if that is the way she smiles if she actually did. No, never mind, it'd be too creepy.

Besides that, I felt something weird coming from the Ayano-look alike and I knew that Ichiru could feel it too as I took a glance at him and he did the same with me.

I looked back at the girl, "Hi. I am Karai Uchiha and this is my cousin, Ichiru Uchiha. We were told that there were weird noises coming from this house and had to investigate it. But… nobody told us that someone was living in this house though."

She kept her smile on, "My name is Sakura. I live here. Nobody knows though and I like to keep it that way so I created all those noises to keep out people who I think are threats. I saw you two heading for the house though and thought you guys were all right which is why I answered the door."

I looked at her weird, but made my face normal again before she looked back at me, "Oh really? I guess there's no problem then, but just to be safe, do you mind if we look around?"

"It's no problem at all. There's nothing for me to hide. Come in; you must be shivering from the cold," she said, opening the door and moving out of the way to let us in.

Once again, Ichiru and I glanced at each other, warning the other to be careful, before we walked into the house and Sakura closed the door behind her.

The inside of the house wasn't really as I imagined a haunted house looked like, but it still looked haunted. There were a few cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling and there was barely visible dust around the tables and shelves. The furniture still looked all right and safe to sit on.

I turned around so that I was facing both Sakura and Ichiru, "All right, I think it's best if Ichiru and I split up so that we get the area covered quickly. So, Sakura, go and accompany Ichiru on the second floor while I take care of the third floor. Once we're done, we'll finish up with the first floor."

Ichiru looked at me like I am crazy, but I made a look that said " just do it." He sighed in defeat and looked at Sakura, "Do you mind, Sakura?"

"No, it's all right. Come on, the stairs are this way," she said before leading us up the carpeted stairs. They waved at me, well, at least Sakura did, before they went to the second floor and I continued up the stairs.

Ichiru's Point of View

I really hate Karai right now. I didn't want to be stuck with this creepy girl who looked strangely like Ayano. I'm going to kill her once we finish with this mission. I don't care if she is the head… Okay maybe I do, but I am still going to kill her!

I sighed as I followed Sakura to the first room to the left of the hallway.

It was a bedroom that simply had a queen-sized bed, a side drawer, desk, closet and shelf filled with books. I looked around as Sakura waited for me by the entrance.

"So what do you and Karai do for a living, Ichiru?" she asked me as I checked out a book on the shelf.

I looked at her, "Oh, we have cases to investigate in different locations and we take care of them. Nothing really," I tell her truthfully, but vaguely, not intending to tell her we deal with "supernatural" cases where we kick the butts of evil spirits with our fire magic.

I really can't tell what is off about her though… I guess it is because I could hardly feel her presence, just like Rukia. Ichigo's, on the other hand, was pretty high though. I sighed again, today is just beyond weird.

"So what do you do all the time? Coop yourself up in this house all day and night?" I asked her, pretending to look interested at the book I am looking at.

"Yeah, I do, actually," she said, giving me that smile again that is too smiley.

I got a little creeped out by the smile, "Oh, really…. What is a girl like you living in a house like this?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, you get used to it, especially the sound of crying every now and then on the third floor," she said, not really answering my question.

I just let it go and asked her a different question, "Crying? So is this place really haunted then?" I asked.

"I guess so," she said before leaving the room and turning back to me, "You ready to look around the other rooms?"

"Yeah, there's nothing really here anyway," I said before leaving the room as well and closing the door behind me. She let me lead this time and I decided to look at the room at the very end of the hallway.

I opened the door slightly to see darkness and tried to feel the wall for a light switch. I was then hit on the head. I fell on the floor and before I could do anything, my hands were tied up with some strong tape, "What the hell?" I yelled, struggling to free myself.

I realized the room that I was checking and am now in is a closet. Great, Ichiru… of all the rooms you checked, it was a closet. Why couldn't it be a regular room! With a window!

I turned my head to see Sakura with an evil smile, holding the outer door knob, "Sorry Ichiru. I'll come back for you later. I have something to take care of now before I find your little friend and kill her first. Bye," she said before closing the door.

"Hey, get back here!" I said in the utter darkness before I heard her footsteps moving and fading away. She was already gone by now. I managed to get myself more comfortable with my back to the wall in a sitting position. I tried to break free once more, but it was no use. And I am supposed to be a strong magic user in the family like Karai…

Karai and I knew something was wrong with that girl. It is a good thing that we decided to check the house, but not so great that I got locked in a closet! Why am I so clumsy today?

I sighed. Karai can get herself out of danger better than I can. She'll be sure to save me before that evil girl gets her. I just hope she finds me before I go crazy in this damn closet… but since I am talking to myself, I think I already am. I hit the back of my head against the wall.

Karai's Point of View

"Achoo!" Damn. Somebody is talking about me again. I bet its Ichiru. He probably hates me right now for leaving the strange girl with him. Well, that's his problem because I'm not going to get stuck with her!

I headed for the last room to the left of the hallway. I opened the door and looked inside.

It had a twin-sized bed, side-table with a lamp, a desk towards the window, a shelf filled with books on a corner of the room and a tall mirror next to it.

Once I went inside of the room, I looked around. I was about to check the shelf filled with books when I heard a thud coming from downstairs. Ichiru probably dropped something since he has been clumsy all day. I just shrugged my shoulders and walked towards the shelf.

I looked through some books to see if there is anything interesting. None of them were. I put the last one I just checked back. My nose started to itch again and I sneezed once more, "Achoo!" I sniffled. Damn Ichiru! Do you hate me that much?

I shook my head as I went back to the other side of the bed to check inside the drawer and found nothing inside. When I closed the door, I heard some crying. I looked around the room, but I didn't see anyone. I heard it getting louder as I went closer to the wall where the shelf was. I walked there to listen through the wall, but the crying stopped before I could.

I frowned. I was too late. I went in front of the wall anyway and put my ear on the wall to listen closely. Nothing. I knocked on it and it sounded hollow, meaning that there was another room behind the wall.

I decided to go out the room and see if that last door at the end of the hallway went as far as the back of the room I was in.

Before I was going to, I felt this weird presence behind me. I turned around slowly and saw this weird-looking creature with a skulled mask across the room.

My eyes widened, 'Holy Shit! What the hell is that?' I thought bewilderedly because of the creature that I have never seen before.

It then made a really loud wailing noise which made me cover my ears until it stopped. I realized that maybe this was the noises that Sakura was talking about.

The question is though… is this creature really working for Sakura or on its own free will? I wasn't able to tell yet.

I held my hand out and materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand and held it firmly in front of me, fire erupting from it.

The creature wailed once more and charged for me. I ran towards it and tried to slice it with Kaito Enraiha, but it disappeared and hung on one of the corners of the ceiling, wailing again.

I shot some fire at it, but it was too quick and fast. This thing was being such a pain. It went straight for me, attempting to claw me, but I managed to slice one of its arms off. It went to the corner of the room and held its shoulder with its other hand. It is now pissed off and charged for me again, but suddenly, its chest got sliced, although I couldn't see what did that until a figure appeared. The creature held its chest in pain as it stared at the person blocking me.

Standing before me was Ichigo Kurosaki, in black robes, wielding a huge sword, with his back to me. I was confused because I didn't even see him go in the room at all. He's just flashed right in!

"Here you are! I'm going to kill you for making me go around in a wild goose chase!" he said as he sliced the thing in half quickly before the thing recovered. It then disintegrated.

Ichigo put his sword on its holder in his back, "Man that stupid hollow was a pain. I almost lost him," he said while rubbing the back of his head.

Suddenly, another familiar figure then appeared as well through the window in the same kind of robes and a smaller sword in its sheath around her waist. It was Rukia. Now this was getting weirder by the minute.

"Ichigo, did you get the hollow?" she asked him. I'm starting to think that they didn't realize that I was in the room.

"Yeah, it ended up here. I'm guessing this is the spot that the hollows are attracted to," Ichigo said.

"Then we should check the place out," she said as Ichigo was rubbing the back of his head.

I decided to say something, "Ichigo? Rukia? What are you doing here? And what are you wearing?" I asked them.

They looked at me, surprised, "Karai? You're here? And you can see us?" Rukia said, shocked.

I looked at them weird, "Yes… I can. Why wouldn't I?" I said while de-materializing Kaito Enraiha.

"Um, Rukia, who is this again?" Ichigo asked, not remembering who I was. I face-palmed while Rukia smacked him, "Ow! Rukia! Can you please stop whacking me today!"

"Ichigo, my name is Karai," I said as I sighed from his forgetfulness before getting back to my question, "Okay, what is going on here?"

Rukia faced me after she had smacked Ichigo, "Fine. We'll tell you who we are and what we are doing here, but in exchange, you have to tell us the same."

I shrugged, "That is all right with me, but let's get these explanations going because I have some investigating to do and I'm pretty sure you have some to do as well."

(Author's note: I am making this sometime in Bleach when Rukia has her powers back, so I am only going to explain whatever I think is important to know, but if you are interested in Bleach and don't know what it is, you can just read from wiki OR you can watch it and see how awesome it is! ;] Hopefully I get the main points.)

Rukia nodded and explained that she was a Soul Reaper while Ichigo was a Substitute Soul Reaper because he was still a human who had the ability to see ghosts while she was dead. The clothing that they were wearing was Soul Reaper uniforms. The way Soul Reapers fought were by using their swords called zanpakutos and kido spells. Zanpakutos have their own name and two forms: shikai and bankai. Kido spells have three types: binding (bakudo), destruction (hado) and healing. Rukia said she was good at using them while Ichigo didn't know how to use spells at all.

Rukia is from the Soul Society which consisted of lots of regions including the Seiretei where the 13 Court Guard Squads, basically, the military of the Soul Society, resided. Rukia's mission in the human world is to take down Hollows (demons) that show up in Karakura Town. Ichigo got his powers when he first met Rukia after she was injured and he had to take over her mission because he accidently took most of her powers, but after a series of events, Rukia's powers returned and now they still deal with Hollows, along with all their friends and allies.

I nodded, showing that I was getting what they were saying, before asking something, "So what are hollows exactly? I know they are demons, but the demons, called yomas, that I deal with are much different from the ones you face."

Rukia nodded and got out a sketchpad from her Soul Reaper uniform. Ichigo face-palmed, but didn't say anything since he didn't want Rukia to smack him again. He just groaned. I'm guessing it had to do with the sketchpad.

She opened the pad and held it in front of her. The picture that she was showing was split into two. There was a happy bunny with hearts all over with a white background and the other side had an evil bear with sparks all over in a black background. I guess Ichigo wasn't looking forward to Rukia's lecture for me because of the drawings.

"Ok, there are two types of spirits in this world," she said before pointing to the bunny, "the first kind are the normal and good spirits called wholes," and then pointed to the bear, "while the second kind are evil spirits called hollows. The hollows attack people, living or dead, in order to devour their souls. Any questions before we continue?"

I was about to tell her that I didn't when Ichigo interrupted me before I could, "Yeah, I have a question. Why do you still have those terrible drawings?" Before Rukia could smack him, I beat her to it. He yelped in pain, "Ow! Karai! Not you too!"

I rolled my eyes, "At least you remembered my name…" He glared at me as Rukia coughed to get his attention back, "Thank you, Karai. Ichigo is lucky that I didn't draw a mustache on his face this time," she said as I snickered and he continued glaring at me, "Now let us continue with our lesson."

She turned the page. The sketch now showed a happy bunny in the right with an arrow in the middle that said Konso pointing towards the left where there were flowers. Soul Society was written under the flowers, probably to mean that it was a good place.

Rukia held up two fingers, "There are two main jobs for Soul Reapers. First, to lead wholes to the Soul Society through Konso." She flipped the page which now had the evil bear again with zigzag patterns surrounding it consisting of the colors black, yellow and white, "Second is to exercise the hollows wherever we find them." She drew an X on the evil bear before closing the pad and putting it back in her uniform, "Do you understand now?"

Once again, I nodded my head, "Yeah, I get it. So that hollow wanted to eat my soul?"

Rukia's face looked annoyed, not because of what I said, but for another reason, "I don't think so before. Maybe once it got here, it did."

I became confused, "What do you mean?"

"My soul reaper phone located several hollows coming to this spot a lot for quite some time, but I didn't realize it until this morning," Rukia said.

"So what's wrong with that?" I asked her.

Ichigo answered this time, "Hollows don't usually appear in the same location, it's usually random. We became suspicious so once we found the hollow around here, we followed it and the hollow led us to this house. Coincidently, we found you as well."

"Yes and I'm thinking that there is some soul here that is really attracting the hollows to this house. The thing is… I can't sense any spiritual pressure here," Rukia pondered.

"Hmm, that is weird," I said in agreement.

She nodded before she spoke to me, "Tell us your side now. We already told you ours."

I told them who and what I was as well, what I was doing here, what yomas were as well as why Ichiru and I were at Karakura Town.

Rukia nodded in acknowledgement. I didn't know what Ichigo's reaction was yet, but I found out what it was just now, "That is all believable to me… ALONG WITH FLYING PIGS AND THE TOOTH FAIRY!" he yelled.

Rukia smacked her forehead while I glared at him.

"That is the same thing he said when I told him that I was a Soul Reaper… and to think that he would learn by now that life is more complicated than what he thinks," Rukia said to me before she spoke to Ichigo, "You really don't believe her?"

"Well, I've never heard of these so-called magic users before," Ichigo said.

"Well, they are practically everywhere around the world and they are public too. You were probably just isolated in your town your whole life. Because I do know that there are no magic users here so maybe that's why," I said, trying so hard not to strangle him to death.

Before Ichigo could retaliate, Rukia kicked him to the ground so that he would shut up, "We have important things to discuss right now Ichigo. If you don't believe her as she believed us, then that's your loss." Rukia then turned to face me, "Karai. I think your mission and our suspicions are connected so it's best if we became allies."

I smirked as I held out my hand, "No need to ask. That is exactly what I had in mind."

She smirked back at me, grabbed my hand, and we shook them before letting go.

Ichigo got up and sighed in defeat, "Okay, I believe you. Sorry for over-exaggerating like that."

I smiled at him, "It's all right. Although you could probably do something about that temper of yours before you turn into a flying pig," I said as I continued smiling (evilly).

His eye twitched a bit, trying to keep calm, "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."

I chuckled a bit before turning serious again, "I haven't actually seen a yoma around here like the details said. I'm thinking that that girl who lives here has something to do with everything that is going on. She could even be the yoma herself… Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave Ichiru with her."

Rukia replied, "Maybe so. Where are they anyway?"

"They are on the second level which is below us," I said before we heard a loud banging coming from said floor we were talking about. I began to get worried, "I think we should go check that out. That might be Ichiru."

"Wonder what he got himself into. Maybe he got locked in a closet," Ichigo chuckled, "Well, we better go help him."

Rukia ignored him and looked at me, "Of course, let's go."

We then left the room to go check out what was going on in the second floor.

Hmm, I wonder who this Sakura person is? Well, just to tell you, she is not anyway related to Ayano or the Kannagi family in case you're thinking that. xP Like Karai said, it's just pure coincidence.

Hope you like the crossover chapters so far! I had a fun time (and struggle) writing them!

Please Review! Good reviews make me all happy and motivated to complete this story and it is about halfway there! :]

Expect chapter 15 sometime in the next two weeks!