|| Flame of Recca: The Spirits Within (The House) ||
| En | Ning |
Disclaimer: None of the characters used here belong to us (duh!). They were just borrowed without permission for entertainment (and torture) purposes.
Last Revised: 18/07/2001
| Chapter 4 |
The door swung open slowly, creaking and groaning on its rusty hinges. Swirls of dust could be seen rising into the air as the Uruha stepped cautiously into the hall. There were cobwebs hanging from the banisters and ceiling. Kirin shuddered. "Must we really stay in this place? It gives me the creeps!"
Just as Kirin stepped through the door, an exceptionally strong gust of wind swept through the house, slamming the door shut with a crash. For a few moments, there was utter chaos as the Uruha were left in the darkness of a supposedly haunted house.
"AARRGGHHH!!! WE'RE LOCKED OUT!!! I mean, IN!"
"Who just groped me? If that's you Joker, you better start saying your prayers!" *crash!*
"Ouch! Neon-san, what was that for? I didn't do anything!"
"Oops! Gomen, Raiha! If that wasn't you, then who was it?"
Kurei sighed and shook his head. He was starting to doubt the sanity of the Uruha. They were behaving like a bunch of kids who were scared of the dark. He raised his voice to make himself heard above the din.
"Will all of you shut up and LISTEN TO ME!!!" *silence* "Whoever's closest to the door, pull it open. The rest of you, stop acting like a bunch of idiots!"
Jisho tugged at the door in vain. It was stuck tight. "Kurei-sama, I can't get the door open. I think it's stuck."
Kurei rolled his eyes. It seemed as though Jisho was the only one, besides Rasen and Noroi, who was actually calm. "OK, does anyone have a light?" There was a general murmur of "no" coming from various parts of the room. He thought to himself, "Hopefully, I won't burn the place down by doing this. Then again, if it *does* burn down, I won't have to listen to this loony bunch anymore!"
The Uruha heard his bangles clink gently together as he said, "Those around me, stand further away." A purple flame shot upwards out of his hand as Kurenai appeared. The flame illuminated the surroundings clearly and the Uruha got their first good look at the haunted mansion.
What they saw did nothing to allay whatever fears they had. They were gathered in a small hallway that led into many other rooms. The doors, however, were all closed. The decor of the house dated from the Victorian era and everywhere there was a layer of dust few inches thick. No one had been in the house for years. Eerily lifelike portraits of men and women in old-fashioned costumes adorned the paneled walls. One thing was obvious. The house had definitely belonged to someone with expensive taste, considering the rather excessive amount of gilded furniture. A chandelier was swinging from the ceiling.
Jisho tried the door again, then shook his head. "It's no use, Kurei-sama, the door is stuck."
"Damn," Mokuren muttered. "I'm stuck in here with a bunch of loony idiots... eep!"
Mokuren was the focus of everyone's glares. Kurei contemplated burning him but decided it was a waste of energy. Besides, Mokuren's ashes might be poisonous and toxic.
"The... the chandelier... it's MOVING!" Kirin pointed out as she backed away from it, and just *happened* to bump into Rasen. "Ahh... gomen, Rasen."
Genjurou sighed and cursed the ignorance of youth, "It's *just* the *wind*!"
Kirin, and some of the other Uruha, did not look convinced. How could there be wind in an enclosed house?
Genjurou sighed again. This was getting on his nerves. "There's no such thing as ghosts, okay?!"
Whatever else he might have said was drowned out by the chandelier suddenly crashing down onto the floor, causing them to jump back in surprise and shock.
"AAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Kirin jumped into Rasen's arms a la Scooby Doo.
The Uruha thanked their battle-sharpened reflexes that none of them had gotten hurt.
"Err..." Genjurou was at a loss for words, especially after Raiha had examined the remains of the chandelier and proclaimed that it had been cut.
Kurei continued glaring at everyone. "Continue with the mission. Split up into pairs and get moving. Investigate the *whole* mansion."
The Uruha muttered uneasily and instinctively moved closer to each other, driven by some primal instinct that there was safety in numbers. Kurei glared at them again and threatened them with Kurenai. The Uruha immediately decided that they would rather face ghosts and the supernatural over Kurenai, any day. Kurenai was plain freaky. Besides, being fried was *not* a nice sensation.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get moving!" Kurei snapped at them.
"Er, Kurei-sama, our night vision isn't exactly very wonderful..."Joker volunteered in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Kurei and Kurenai turned to face him. He sweatdropped. It was quite obvious Kurei was getting irritated. "What I mean is, we don't have lights so we can't see where we... ack!"
A flood of electric lights suddenly came on, making the hall seem less spooky in the harsh brightness. Joker turned and glared at Kirin, who was standing next to the wall. She grinned at him, saying, "I found the light switch!"
"Does that answer your problem? Now MOVE!" Kurenai disappeared as Kurei turned away. The Uruha grumbled to themselves as they split up into pairs. Mikoto was, as usual, with Mokuren; Genjurou decided to go with Noroi since "it" could not talk, therefore, "it" would not give him any trouble; Rasen was with Kirin since she was the only one who could tell what he was saying; Joker paired himself up with Raiha in hope that the ninja might have some food left over from just now and also because Neon absolutely refused to have anything to do with him; Neon contemplated asking Kurei to go with her and decided against it as he seemed to be in a bad mood, so she had to go with Jisho since he was the only one left.
Pair by pair, the Uruha left the hallway in different directions to check out the mansion, leaving Kurei by himself in the middle of the hall. He heard Kurenai say, "Aren't you afraid to be left alone in a place like this? Also, you didn't have to be so fierce with them."
Kurei growled, "What do you expect? They really *are* a bunch of loony idiots! Of course I don't want to go with any of them, besides, I'm not afraid of ghosts. I don't even think they exist!"
Kurenai laughed. "Suit yourself then." They set off down a passageway.
TBC…
Author's note: I honestly have nothing to say about this part except that the chandelier thing was very cliché. It's still not serious, and I don't think it'll ever become a serious fic, considering the fact that the two authors are major nutcases. By the way, En and I never got round to doing those counseling sessions at the MIE. We were supposed to counsel each other. ^_^ Speaking of the MIE, it's a wonder that the ministry of health doesn't dump En in jail. The 'poor' (not really) inmates of the MIE are just dumped there and left alone. En doesn't even bother to counsel them or anything. All she does is release them when we want to write a fic. ^_^ To quote En, she has too many problems to be attending to the problems of nutcases like the chicken head. They're all probably mental problems… eep! I think she's seriously going to kill me after she's read this. ^_^
The idea of Kurenai talking to Kurei was all En's idea. But it makes stuff much more interesting. I seriously don't think Kurei would talk to himself. ^_^
Lastly, arigato Kai for proofreading (our spelling is rather atrocious) and giving suggestions.
Ning.
