|| 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 12 |
Raiha and Joker had managed to find their way down the stairs safely, considering that it was pretty dark even with a light. They stood on a smooth stone floor, trying to find a way out.
"Raiha-han, are you sure this is the place?" Joker asked warily. "There doesn't seem to be a way out."
Raiha swept the light around. "I think there's an exit somewhere, it just needs to be found."
*Crash!*
The two assassins spun round at the sound.
"What was that?" Raiha exclaimed.
"I think it came from that wall," Joker pointed at the far corner before walking over to it. "Maybe that's the exit."
Raiha joined him and ran one hand over the stone surface, trying to see if there was any indication of a secret latch. To his surprise, the wall was warm, as thought there was a heat source on the other side.
"Joker-han, the wall's warm!"
"Strange, what could be heating it up?" Joker muttered softly.
After pushing all the bricks on the wall for what seemed like an eternity, the two of them were ready to abandon the idea that the wall was an exit.
"Forget it, let's go try the other walls," Joker said exasperatedly. He felt he had enough of walls that seemed to have a life of their own. The two of them turned around and prepared to walk to another wall when they heard a click and a slight grinding noise.
An opening had appeared in the wall. In front of the opening was a fireplace in which a fire blazed merrily. They looked at each other, and walked back to the wall. To their surprise, they found that there was a rather wide space between the wall and the fireplace which led to the room in front of them.
"Hey, isn't that Kurei-sama?" Joker asked, pointing at the back of a figure they could see through the dancing flames.
"Let's go join him," Raiha stepped through the opening, followed by Joker. The figure at the table turned around suddenly as they stepped into the room, which was obviously the study.
"Who's there?" Kurei demanded sharply.
"Kurei-sama, it's us,"Raiha replied smoothly as they appeared in front of the fireplace.
"Whoa, watch where you're going, Raiha-han," Joker cautioned as he pulled Raiha back by his sleeve, just in time before the ninja stepped on a portrait on the floor.
Kurei walked over to them. "How did you manage to get here? And how did you get in?"
Joker answered, "This lady with silver hair told us that you were here, and gave us directions to get here."
"Lady?" Kurei frowned. "The only person I saw who had sliver hair was a little girl who showed me how to get here."
Raiha was puzzled. "Strange, she also knew your name." He looked down at the painting at his feet. "She looks like the one in the painting there." He pointed at it.
Kurei bent down. "This wasn't the painting I saw just now," he muttered to himself. Instead of the lady alone, he saw what looked like a family portrait. A family of four posed against a background of a heavy brocade. A couple sat with a little boy on their knees. Behind them stood a teenage girl with silver hair. She wore a smile on her face as she stared at the viewer with her large violet eyes. All were dressed in strange clothes.
Kurei picked up the portrait with difficulty and turned it over. Faintly visible across the back was the date of the painting, wirtten in a spidery hand.
"17--," Kurei strained to see the numbers, but they were obliterated by the years.
Raiha said in a puzzled tone, "Wait a minute, if she's the one we saw, how come she still looks so... young?"
"Raiha-han, *young* is like the understatement of the year. If this painting is correct, she's..." Joker began.
He never got to complete his sentence as the ceiling suddenly gave way with a loud crack. The two Uruha and their employer were drowned by dust, wooden splinters, and plaster. The next instant, two decidedly heavy objects fell with a dull thud on top of the mound that was assorted rubble, Joker, Raiha and Kurei.
"Ughhh..." Genjurou muttered as he painfully clambered back to his feet, his aching joints and muscles reminding him how ancient he actually was.
"GENJUROU?!?! NOROI?!?!" Joker exclaimed in pure surprise.
"Itai..."
"Hn."
'The more the merrier... humph!'
"......"
"What the hell was that for?!?!" Joker demanded. "Look, my helmet is dented beyond repair! Do you know how much one of these things cost?!"
Meanwhile, somewhere in a locked room...
"Mokuren..."
"Mikoto..."
Mikoto and Mokuren were totally engrossed in doing naughty things to each other, when they heard someone cough politely behind them. Several times, in fact.
*Ahem* *ahem*
Mikoto turned and glared at the source of noise behind her. Her jaw dropped as she saw the door wide open. And was it her imagination, or did she also catch a glimpse of silver hair blown in the wind? Mikoto shook her head, and threw her clothes on before rushing out the door.
"Mikoto..."
Somewhere along a corridor...
Rasen was trying to cope unsuccessfully with his headache. He began to wish that he had a voice, so that he could give the loony idots around him a piece of his mind. Kirin had, thankfully, stopped singing, but Neon and Jisho were arguing with each other, *again*.
Rasen and Kirin rounded the corner, followed closely by Neon and Jisho, and got another shock. There was a little girl curled up on a window seat, staring out of a window covered with so much dust and grime it was a wonder if anything could be seen. Her silver hair covered her arms and she seemed oblivious to their presence. Neon and Jisho were too busy arguing to notice that the two people in front of them had stopped walking, so, of course, they walked smack into them.
"Why did you two stop walking in the middle of..." Neon trailed off as she saw the object of their attention.
Kirin walked up to the girl and knelt beside her. "Are you lost?" she asked in concern.
The girl looked up and stared at Kirin with a pair of purple eyes that seemed too big for her face. She replied in a mature voice, "No, but I think you are."
Neon was very curious about how this girl knew about their problem. Plus, how did she get into the house? She joined Kirin and asked gently, "Who are you, and how did you get into this place?"
The girl jumped off the seat lightly and stood in the middle of the hallway. "You don't need to know about that. Your friends are in the library, I'll take you there if you'll follow me." She waited for a response.
Kirin took a good look at the girl. She looked like she had come from another time. Her white dress fell around her ankles and revealed her bare feet. A strange pendent glowed with a blue light from around her neck. Automatically, Kirin tried to read her mind. To her surprise, she could not seem to sense anything. It was as though the girl was blocking off her Shingan.
Jisho decided that since they had an offer of a guide, it was too good to be given up on. He answered on behalf of the group, "Lead the way."
They set off down the corridor, following the strange girl.
"Man... this is the pits!" Joker grumbled as he tried fruitlessly to right his helmet.
The other three ignored him. Genjurou was searching in vain for information on the cloning processes that had been in progress, and Kurei and Raiha were discussing something in low voices.
"ARGHHH!!! Stupid thing!" Joker glared at the offending object and threw it.
It landed with a clang just in front of the doorway, where it was promptly squashed by a stampede of four Uruha assassins. Said Uruha assassins all fell in a graceless heap at the sweatdropping Joker's feet.
"Urghh... Jisho, you ox, get off me!" Neon shrieked, trying to extract herself from the bottom of the heap.
"Kirin, stop kicking me in the face!" Jisho growled at the lucky Kirin who was at the very top of the pile.
"......" was Rasen's contribution, translated as 'Kirin, would you *please* get off me?!'
"ARGHHH!!! My poor darling helmet!!!"
*massive sweatdropping*
Before the mountain that was four Uruha assassins could begin to sort itself out, Mikoto and Mokuren ran into the library. Or rather, Mikoto ran in and Mokuren was chasing her. Once again, they tripped over the poor already extremely dented helmet and landed with a loud thud.
"Oof!" Neon muttered as her burden suddenly increased due to the weight of two more Uruha assassins.
"Will you just get off?!" Jisho finally yelled.
"Itaiii..."
"My helmet! Oh my poor helmet!"
Finally...
Kurei sighed as he inspected the ten Uruha members that stood in a rough semicircle around him. What a mottley crew they were. Full of weird quirks and incompetent too.
Starting from his far left, Noroi, one of the only ones behaving with some semblance to normalcy, was stoning. Genjurou beside him had his face permanently glued to some dusty and moth-eaten old tome that made Kurei want to sneeze. The thought of reading that book was enough to put Kurei to sleep. Beside the loony old man, Mokuren was groping Mikoto, who was examining her nails. Apparently they had been scratched by Joker's helmet, or so she claimed. Beside the busy pair, Joker was blubbering over the damage to his helmet as he hugged it. Next to the rasta-braided punk, Neon and Jisho were arguing. Again. Raiha was trying to play peacekeeper next to them with little success. At the far right, which was also next to Raiha, Kirin was trying to cling onto Rasen.
'What a bunch...' Kurenai said, effectively summoning up Kurei's thoughts.
Kurei sighed.
TBC…
Author's note: This is the beginning of the end! Yay! It was starting to get draggy because we couldn't think up of any more freaky and weird stuff. ^_^ It'll end in the next chapter. Yay! I don't think it really qualifies for epic status. Epics ought to have more chapters. Anyway, I'm glad it's finishing, although I really had fun writing it. I must say, this part is rather crappy, what with Joker and his 'precious' helmet. ^_^
I'm seriously beginning to think that Shakespeare was gay. Ughh… no offence to anyone who likes Shakespeare. Actually, I hate the Bard, but that's beside the point. We're actually doing Julius Caesar for literature and it's so boring! Or it was until we got to the part where Brutus and Cassius quarreled like little kids. That was pretty funny. ^_^ But Cassius and Brutus have a very *interesting* relationship… the stuff that Cassius says is so… ughhh! Cassius, like, craves Brutus' affection or something like that. Robert Wilkes said that, not me. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. ^_^ It sounds very gay. No, actually, most of the play sounds gay. *sweatdrop*
Lastly, arigato Kai for proofreading (our spelling is rather atrocious) and giving suggestions.
Ning.
