Title: Terror…

A/N: This is also an 'edited' chapter, as in I replaced it changing a few things according to what the reviewers reviewed (I'm not really sure how to continue so you people are going to have to wait a while I get my ideas straight)

Chapter 1- The voice and Evil Presence

            'Mutoh? Mutoh? Where are you?' Maki the captain of Kainan's basketball team asked.

            'He wasn't seen in school the whole day,' Jin answered Maki, at the same time trying to shoot a three-pointer. It sailed right into the net.

            'Nani? Why's he skipping practices? Tomorrow's the first game. What's on his mind?' Maki asked, fuming, and yet, Jin detected the concern in his voice.

            'Maki-san, he's probably not well, so he's resting at home. Anyway…'

            'AHHHHH!!!' a long chilling scream cut Jin off. All the basketball players looked up startled. Usually, they wouldn't get distracted that easily, but something in that scream… without words, or consent of any kind, they ran towards the scream.

            It was coming from a locker, shrill and inexplicably unbearable. There, a guy was screaming his head off, hands over his ears, eyes shut tight. The reason of his terror became obvious immediately. A corpse, if you could still call it that, lay crumpled on floor, the white floor which was tainted with a lot of blood. When I said the body was crumpled, I meant really crumpled. It was hard to tell that it used to be a human, an alive being.

            'Then again, maybe not,' Jin managed to say, his eyes brimming with tears at the sight of that body. Kiyota gave him a questioning look. He too was on the verge of tears.

            'Maybe he wasn't sick,' Jin whispered, trying and failing to hold back his tears. That mangled body couldn't be… could NOT be…

            'MUTOHHH!!' he screamed, tears now uncontrollable, but he didn't care.

            'MUTOHHH!!' he cried again and again. And suddenly he heard a voice from the back of his head,

            'Chanting his name won't bring him back *laughter*. Why don't you trot over to Shoyo and warn them before I come to get them *laughter*.' That voice was terrible. It had a sense of… evil… that Jin couldn't explain, and that evil cackle… he wondered whether he actually heard it. It was a very terrible sound (I know it's a crappy explanation)

* * * * * * * *

            The basketball players were led away by the police officers after the questioning.

            'How on Earth…? What on Earth could have killed Mutoh and taken all his bones away at the same time? All?' Maki muttered, distractedly running his hands through his hair. He was told that every single bone in Mutoh's body was removed, and yet, the organs were still there, undamaged. Almost unaltered.

            'Shoyo,' Jin said softly.

            'Nani?' Kiyota asked. The rest of the team looked at Jin questioningly.

            'Shoyo will be its next victim. We have to go there to stop it.'

            'It? Why did you say it?' Maki asked, though he sort of understood.

            'Because the THING which killed Mutoh could not be a human. Nor can the voice in my head,' Jin replied.

            'Jin, explain properly.' Maki said coaxingly, yet he did not disbelieve Jin. He himself felt some evil, lurking presence in school, no in Kanagawa… Shoyo.

            'I heard it. It said that chanting Mutoh's name is of no use. We should protect Shoyo which would be its next victim. Then there was this laughter, more like an evil cackle, and it's the worst I've ever heard,' Jin said shuddering. Everybody was quiet, thinking, or so it seemed at least. Maki had the feeling that besides him, no one took the black-haired three-pointer seriously.

            'Okay,' Maki said making his decision. Jin was right. No way a human could kill someone and take out all Mutoh's bones without damaging his organs. Not even in a month, and definitely not in a day.

            'We're going.'

            'Demo…'

            'Maki-san…' The rest of players disagreed. What Jin said was totally… weird, ridiculous. It couldn't be true.

'We're going.' Maki's tone hardened. The rest of the players recoiled, slightly. Then, reluctantly, they nodded.

* * * * * * * *

            Every student in Shoyo turned at the sight of the Kainan basketball players. Murmurs were heard everywhere. (I won't repeat it… you know, the usual stuff.) Some girls even went up to Maki and Jin to talk to them. Unfortunately for them, Maki and Jin wasn't in a talking mood, and so they declined politely.

            They continued their way to the basketball court. Jin was getting more uncomfortable with every step he took. He was worried.

            'Ito, you're prone of making fouls. Watch it.' Fujima's voice floated from the basketball court. Maki slid the door open. All the players turned to see who they were.

            'Maki…' Fujima's voice trailed away.

            'Excuse us, but we have something important to tell you guys,' Maki said a little uncomfortably. Right now, he wondered whether they would believe Jin's story, or will they laugh at their faces. What Jin said was quite far-fetched… and almost impossible to believe.

            'Shohoku and Ryonan…'

            'Nani?'

            'We have to get Ryonan and Shohoku here too,' Jin repeated. All the Shoyo players, including Fujima and Hanagata were staring at them, obviously wondering what the hell was wrong with them. Then all of a sudden Fujima said,

            'No, they'll come by themselves. We just have to wait.' He had heard it too. The voice with an evil cackle. And Hanagata stared at him, goose bumps rising, yet trying not to jump to conclusion.

            'Could it be… Does this have anything to do with that feeling… evil feeling…?' he questioned himself.

* * * * * * * *

            Boink. A bump started rising from a red (or orange?) head. Haruko sweat-dropped. The well known Gorilla, captain of Shohoku basketball club has just hit the redhead Sakuragi who called himself tensai for the fifth time today.

            'Do'aho,' a monotonous voice said.

            'Nani?' the redhead beginner asked, ready to throw a punch at the black (messy) haired freshman, Kaede Rukawa. (Rukawa's fans don't kill me, his hair is a little messy).

            'Listen, all of you! Tomorrow's the game between us and Kainan. First game of the Final League. Final League! So all of you keep…' Gori, whose real name was Akagi, was shouting, obviously losing his patience. But he was cut-off by a female voice.

            'Mutoh! Mutoh is DEAD!' Ayako said… no screamed, tears steaming down her face. Her voice was out of control. Haruko quickly went to her, trying to calm her down.

            'Nani?' Kogure asked, clearly shocked. Mitsui started. Ryota, a sophomore was staring at Ayako, a blush rising up his cheeks.

            'Yes, Mutoh was… murdered,' Ayako continued, trying her best to calm down. Murdered… Mitsui couldn't deny it anymore, that feeling… it's been there. There was something evil… something worse than evil in Kanagawa. He could feel it.

            'Why don't you visit them? *laughter*. It might be fun. They're in Shoyo now *laughter*,' Kaede Rukawa jerked his head so hard that all the members turned to stare at him, including Ryota who had been busy staring at Ayako. Mitsui looked at Rukawa with concern, which was a first.

            Rukawa broke into cold sweat, totally oblivious to all the stares he was receiving. What was with that voice? It was full of every bad element one could name. Anger, fear, frustration. Everything, and yet, there was no humanity, no sympathy in that voice. Rukawa, who, though unconsciously, was seldom scared of anything, and had no feelings himself, realized that for the first time in his life, he was afraid.

            'Rukawa, daijoibu ka?' Ayako asked, she was nearly calming down, but the way Rukawa was acting made her nervous all over again.

            'Rukawa, oi, Rukawa!' Ryota called when he realized that Rukawa, deep in thought (or nightmare, judging the head jerk) didn't answer to his precious Ayako's call. Rukawa jerked again, as if coming out of a trance.

            'Nani?'

            'Rukawa, are you all right?' It was Mitsui this time. He was worried about the way Rukawa was acting. It seemed to tally with that presence he'd felt. He felt it in Kainan yesterday, and it was almost impossible to say that Mutoh's murder was a coincidence. Now he felt that presence in…

            'Shoyo.' It was Mitsui's turn to jerk, and he broke out into cold sweat at that monotonous sound of Rukawa's voice. That is exactly where he feels the presence now. Shoyo.

            'What's wrong with you Rukawa, Mitsui?' Yasuda asked.

            'They're in Shoyo. The Kainans,' Rukawa said, trying to make eye contact with Mitsui for reasons he himself didn't know. All he knew was that he was scared, heck, he was terrified, and the only other person who felt that way was Mitsui. Yet what would he get from the eye contact with Mitsui? He himself didn't know.

            'Let's go to Shoyo,' Ayako said hurriedly, her eyes still red.

            'Wait a minute, Kitsune… how do you know they're in Shoyo?' Sakuragi asked.

            'Funny that you should use your brains at a time like this. It's funny to even know that you have a brain… They just are okay?' Mitsui said, caustically. Hanamichi was about to reply when Akagi hit him on the head again and said,

            'Let's go.' Reluctantly Sakuragi followed.

            'Sempai…' Rukawa said softly. Mitsui just nodded. The fear on their faces were so plain that Ryota wondered what was wrong with them. Besides Sakuragi and his gang, Mitsui and Rukawa were the only few people who weren't easily scared. What was on their mind?

* * * * * * * *

            Sendo started. He suddenly stopped running for a while.

            'Mutoh's dead *laughter*. They're waiting at Shoyo. Waiting for *laughter* Ryonan and Shohoku.' The voice was so… evil. It rang in his ears... no his head. That evil cackle rang in his head. Sendo trembled slightly.

            'Sendo! What are you doing? Get that ball!' Uozumi shouted. But his voice seemed to come from miles away, where everything was foggy.

            'Who's they? Why are they waiting?' he asked, whispering his question out loud.

            'Kainans are in Shoyo. Both Kainan and Shoyo are…

            'Sendo daijoubu ka?'

'Koshino's voice,' Sendo told himself mentally, not really paying attention to it.

            '…waiting because Jin asked them to. If you want to know the real reason, why don't you all go there yourselves? *laughter*,' Sendo was starting to really worry now. Usually he was cool and the 'everything will be alright' type. He would be the one coaxing the worried people. But now, he wondered.

            'Earth to Sendo! Wake up!' Koshino's voice cut through the misty fog in his brains, and suddenly, a sense of evil shot up his nerves when Koshino's hand made contact with his.    A sense of something terrible, evil.

            Koshino looked at Sendo worriedly, shaking him like crazy. He could feel something, a presence, an evil presence in Shoyo and was wondering whether it got to Sendo. When Sendo jerked himself out of his daze, he saw something different in Sendo's eyes. Something he'd never seen before in the past 16 years that Sendo had been his best friend, Fear, and worry.

            'Boys, listen, this is terrible news. Mutoh… he's dead. He was murdered yesterday night,' Taoka sensei who'd just arrived said softly. Sendo and Koshino were so shocked that they let out a gasp and said,

            'Shoyo,' at the same time. They exchanged looks of pure fright, but then Sendo realized that when Koshino let him go, the sense of evil was gone, but the voice in his head was still lingering, nearly driving him crazy.

            'Sendo-san, Koshino-san, what's wrong with you?' Hikoichi Aida, a freshman asked.

            'Kainans. They're in Shoyo, and they're waiting for us,' Sendo explained. Everybody stared at him, and for once doubted him. Sendo always had that air around him which seems to lure trust, but now they doubted him. Doubted his sanity.

            Everybody except 2 of them. Koshino and Taoka sensei, who looked at him, clearly surprised.

            'How'd you know?' he asked in a tone of surprise but not disbelieve.

            'Nani?' Uekusa asked.

            'Sendo's right. They are in Shoyo,' the sensei replied.

            'Let's visit them,' Koshino said softly, but his reluctance was very obvious. Sendo looked reluctant too.

            'All of you, please go and send my condolence. I can't make it, I'm already late,' Taoka sensei told them, leaving the gym.

A/N: If is still have some mistakes, I'm sorry, pls bear with me. I'm still an amateur writer. Thanks! And as usual, pls review. I welcome any kinds of review, so pls don't fell guilty to review. But most probably I won't redo these two chaps again.