|| Flame of Recca: The Spirits Within (The House) ||

| En | Ning |

Disclaimer: Duh the characters don't belong to us, for one thing, I can't draw at all and Ning's look, well, much improvement is needed to reach that kind of standard. Think of all the fun we could have if they belonged to us though... (several anime characters vomit blood, others drop dead in fright, the rest decide to carry out mass suicide.) Anyway, don't sue us cause we're still students. Also, we tend to procrastinate, so you'll be wasting your time trying to get us to pay up. Ü

Last Revised: 03/08/2001

By the way, this is just a rough draft. We haven't had the chance to send it for proofreading yet, so expect some errors.

| Chapter 8 |

"*huff* J-jisho... *huff*" Neon panted as she backed away from the berserked Jisho. He had been attacking her non-stop and she was feeling rather winded. It did not help that his new berserk status made him even faster and stronger than before. Also, he was deadly serious and out to kill her.

Jisho continued advancing toward his fellow Jyuushinshuu member. Unlike Neon, he did not show any signs of exhaustion. It was obvious to Neon that he had been possessed by some evil entity who was out for her blood.

"Uhh... " Neon was running out of options.

All of a sudden, Jisho staggered. He dropped his madougo and promptly collapsed at Neon's feet. She proceeded to give him a sound whack on the head with her Fukyo Waon to ensure that he *was* unconscious. She breathed a sigh of relief when it was confirmed that he was out cold.

A while later...

"What's yuor problem?!?! You nearly killed me an you can't remember a thing?!?!" Neon shouted at the hapless Jisho who was leaning against the wall tiredly.

"What do you mean, nearly killed you?!?! I didn't do a thing!" Jisho retorted heatedly.

"Are you accusing me of lying?!" Neon was nearly purple with rage and lack of oxygen due to prolonged bouts of shouting fits.

"No... I'm just saying that you're hallucinating!" Jisho replied furiously. "I did not try to kill you! In fact, I was sitting here all the while for hours doing nothing, you onna!"

Neon opened her mouth to let forth another scalding comment, but then the meaning of his last sentence set in and she could only open and close her mouth in surprise. "You mean... that you've been sitting here for hours?"

Jisho raised an eyebrow as he eyed his partner warily. "Yeah... didn't I say so earlier?"

Neon blanched. "But I could have sworn that you were trying to kill me just a few minutes ago. And I was *not* hallucinating, you brainless twit!"

Jisho glared at Neon and growled. "Well, you obviously were hallucinating because nothing of that sort happened! And I'm not a brainless twit, busu!"

Neon turned purple with rage. "What did you call me?!?!?!"

The sound of an enraged shout echoed throughout the mansion.

Raiha opened the door cautiously, wondering what was behind it. To his disappointment, and perhaps, relief, it had been boarded up on the other side.

Joker tried to conceal his relief by saying, "Oh well, at least we know there's nothing behind that. Shall we go on?"

Raiha nodded and turned to follow him before he paused . "Just a minute. Why would the door have been boarded up on that side? Shouldn't the boards be on this side of the corridor?"

Joker groaned. "Let me guess, *you* want to tear down the boards and see what's on the other side, right?"

Raiha grinned. "Yup. And, to make things easier for me, *you're* going to tear it down!"

Joker jawdropped as he pointed at himself. "ME?! No way! Give me ten good reasons why!"

Raiha looked at the ceiling and started counting. "1) You haven't done anything since we got here. 2) You've been nothing but a pest so this is your punishment. 3) You madougo is more suitable than mine for the job. 4) If you don't do it, I won't give you anything to eat. 5) If you still won't do it, I'm going to abandon you here; and with your sense of direction, you'll never get out. 6) I know where you keep your album of your childhood photos. 7) I've got the resources and time to publish your diary for the whole Uruha to read. 8) I happen to know some deep dark secrets about your past which I *can* and will tell the rest about, like the time when you..."

"Okay! Okay! I'll do it. Sheesh, you're pretty good at blackmail, Raiha-han," Joker complained as he aimed his Taishaku Kaiten at the door.

Raiha laughed, "With a colleague like you, who wouldn't be? Blackmail seems to be the only way to get you to do something."

"Ha ha, just wait til I get you," Joker grumbled to himself as the door disintegrated into a pile of wooden splinters.

Somewhere at the bottom of the mansion...

Kurei opened his eyes slowly to find himself staring at the ceiling. He recalled seeing a supposedly dead girl with silver hair coming to life before he blacked out for no reason. As he gradually became more aware of his surroundings, he realised that he was lying in some sort of padded box. His eyes widened in horror as he shot upright into a sitting position.

"WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING IN THE FREAKING COFFIN?!?!" He shouted at nobody. Kurenai tactfully remained silent. She had, of course, gone back inside him when he fainted. From the corner of his eye, Kurei thought he saw a flicker of candlelight reflecting of something shiny. He turned his head round to find himself almost face-to-face with the silver-haired girl.

She was standing with her elbows on the edge of the coffin. She rested her chin on her hands and looked at him curiously. 'She can't be more than 12,' Kurei thought to himself. She gripped the medallion around her neck tightly, as though seeking reassurance from it.

She stepped back quickly and stared as Kurei swung himself lightly out of the coffin and dusted himself off. He found her silent gaze rather unnerving. He tried to cover up his slight unease by asking her, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

She stared back at him as though she did not understand the question. Kurei sighed as he thought, 'Great, another whacko.' He waited for a while before asking again, "Well? Can't you talk or something?"

To his surprise, the girl answered in a voice that was mature for her age, "Who are *you* and what are *you* doing here?"

Kurei replied, "I'm Kurei and I'm here with some other people to investigate the place. Now, how did you come to be inside that coffin? And how did I end up in there??

The girl ignored his last two questions. She turned around and walked towards the door, leaving him standing beside the coffin by himself. She paused at the doorway and said a little impatiently, "Well, don't you want to get out of here, Kurei?" She continued out of the door without waiting for his answer. Mystified, Kurei had no choice but to follow her.

Kurei examined the girl carefully. She was still a child really. Her long silver hair appeared to be blown by an invisible wind, and her intense amethyst eyes, framed by thick silver eyelashes, seemed too big for her heart-shaped face. She was short, about as tall as Koganei or maybe even shorter, and seemed almost too thin. Her dress, a simple long white one, looked strangely out of place... as if it belonged to some other forgotten, long ago era. She was barefoot, yet gave the impression of floating effortlessly over the ground. What drew Kurei's attention the most was the mysterious pendent hanging on a thin silver chain around her neck. A unicorn reared in front of a shining spiral sun. Even more fascinating, was the fact that the pendent was glowing with a soft blue light all its own.

'There's something about her not quite right,' Kurenai announced, 'but I can't quite place it.'

Kurei drolly thought that anybody found sleeping in a coffin could not possibly be 'quite right'. He still was not sure who she was or what her motive, but everything about her seemed to radiate innocence and light. Besides, his curiosity was piqued and the only way his questions about her would be answered was if he followed her.

'If I recall correctly, *someone* recently found himself in a coffin,' Kurenai interrupted his thoughts.

"Someone dumped me there!" Kurei snapped.

'Fine...' Kurenai replied soothingly. 'What are you going to do about *her*?'

The silver-haired girl was still walking silently in front of him. She seemed oblivious to anything and everything as she made her way down the passage. It was only then that Kurei, who had been absorbed in his own thoughts, realised that she was leading him the opposite way from the way he had entered. They were walking towards the faint green glow at the end of the passage, his original destination.

"Wait... this is the wrong way!" Kurei protested as he turned to go back.

The girl stopped and simply looked at him with those intense purple eyes of hers. There was something in them that compelled him to follow her, instead of turning back and running out of this dark, damp passageway as his common sense advised.

They approached the heavy wooden door. Green light streamed through the cracks in the wood, casting an eerie glow on their surroundings. The silver-haired girl walked straight up to the door and effortlessly pulled it open. She held the door and gestured for Kurei to enter first.

Kurei was amazed at the room before him, to think that a library had been hidden underground in this mansion! The library, for that was what the room certainly was, was crammed full, rather untidily, with books of all sorts. Green light streamed down through skylights, illuminating the room and its contents. A fire burned in the large fireplace, and candles provided further lighting. Kurei stepped hesitantly across the threshold and into the library.

As Kurei stared at the shelves and shelves of books and the piles and piles of paper strewn all over, he failed to notice the girl quietly close the door as she left.

TBC…

Author's note: Arghhh… it's already August!!! I can't believe time passes so fast. It's so unfair! The prelim exams are about a month away and I've just started studying. I don't know how I'm ever going to finish studying. By the way, my mom kind of banned me from meddling with my websites, so this is kind of illegal. ^_^ I don't really care, actually because most of the time I have absolutely zilch mood to study. And besides, one can't study all the time. ^_^ But I seriously think I spend too little time studying… arghhh!!! I hate school!

I recently started drawing anime style characters. They turned out terrible because I really can't draw. It's basically just to keep me occupied in classes, especially in literature class. I just can't seem to get the hair and eyes right. Wait, that's practically everything. Yeah, I have a lot of problems drawing proper anime style hair, as in the kind that uses buckets of gel. I also keep drawing the eyes too big and the two eyes are never equal. It's so difficult drawing eyes that are identical! As you can tell, I can't draw for nuts. I'm just a very bored person with a lot of free time (yeah right!). ^_^

Lastly, arigato Kai for proofreading (our spelling is rather atrocious) and giving suggestions.

Ning.