Title: Terror…

A/N: Thanks for all your reviews. Pls forgive me if I make anymore mistakes, and do please review me to tell me what is wrong. Thanks again. Er… I'm not really sure where this fic is leading to, so please forgive me if I'm a little slow in updating it.

Eliar Swiftfire: Er… slasher fic? Does that mean yaoi? Then, NO! I'm not writing a yaoi story. (No offense to the yaoi fans)

sLL: Thanks, but to tell you the truth, I'm not sure where this story is leading to.

Krappkarmin: You like Rukawa, Sendo, Fujima and Jin? Me too. In my first story, beside the main character, Aya, they were the secondary characters. I'm looking forward to your story.

bem: Thanks, but as I said earlier, pls don't get your hopes to high, I'm really not sure where this story is going.

Alexia: Thanks for the comments. Um… about the *pants* and *laughter*, I myself thought it was very weird to keep repeating it, but I couldn't put it in a better way. And about the POV, I'll try to do that, but to tell you the truth, I've never done that before, so please continue reviewing and point out my mistakes. Er, and is it possible to write from someone's point of view without actually writing Sendo's POV on the top, or in other words without actually making a proper difference from the rest of the story? Arigatou.

Ayu: Thanks a lot, your review means a lot to me.  

Chapter 2- The Chase

            Now, all the members of the four basketball club who were joining the Final League were in Shoyo, listening about Mutoh's murder.

            'Impossible!' Uozumi exclaimed.

            'Yeah, how can all the bones be removed? All! Without damaging the organs?' Hasegawa asked disbelievingly.

            'I know, okay! We all know that it is nearly impossible. But that's not what brought us here. I heard some kind of voice in my head,' Jin said, noticing that 3 people started at what he said. Kaede Rukawa, from Shohoku High, Akira Sendo, from Ryonan High, and Kenji Fujima, from Shoyo High. (To those who read my first fic, Friends Lover and Brothers, see the similarity? *grins*)

            'It told me… where to go, and… it scared the hell out of me,' he continued.

            'Where to go?' Ikegami asked.

            'Shoyo High,' Rukawa said. Everybody turned. Akagi realized that this was the first time Rukawa wasn't sleeping in the midst of something.

            'Nani?' Will you explain properly?!' Sakuragi asked, losing his temper. Outside the night had dawn. The only light was the shimmering light from the moon, and the twinkle of the stars.

            'The voice told me to come to Shoyo,' Sendo said.

            'It told me to that Shohoku and Ryonan would come here by themselves,' Fujima said in a voice barely above a whisper. Then there was silence. A silence so deep that it could be felt.

            *Swish*. Everyone turned, but it was just the wind.

            'Why are we so jumpy?' Ryota asked himself.

            'This is ridiculous.'

            'I don't know whether you all feel this, but I feel a kind of, I dunno… evil presence? Its here in Shoyo. It was in my school yesterday, but I ignored it, now Mutoh's…,' Maki said, his voice wavering dangerously, breaking the silence so suddenly that a few people jumped.

            'I felt it… feel it,' Hanagata said softly.

            'Yeah,' Koshino said.

            'Me too.' It was Mitsui, and everybody stared at them, obviously debating whether they were serious, or just trying to make a joke out of this.

            'For goodness sakes! This is so ridiculous. Are you saying that this… murderer has telepathy and an unexplainable sense of presence around him? That's impossible!' Akagi nearly screamed out in frustration.

            'For a human to remove all the bones of another without damaging their organs is also impossible. Do you deny that?' Fujima countered. Nobody could find counter-ideas to prove Fujima wrong. They just stared at each other uneasily, not voicing out their thoughts, but understanding them perfectly. Then, suddenly, something struck Ryota.

            'Hey…, look, all those who hear the so-called 'voice' stand here,' Ryota said pointing to his left,

            'And those who feel the 'presence', there,' he continued, pointing to his right.

            'See, there is a player from each team,' Ryota said softly, wonderingly. Although all this couldn't be right, couldn't be possible, he found himself starting to believe it.

* * * * * * * *

'This is a whole lot of crap,' Ito said. The wind was blowing, loudly. The whole school was blanketed with silence. Besides the gym, the rest of the school was dark, pitch black.

            'I'm going to get a drink,' Ito continued, even though he didn't really need a drink. Heck, he didn't even want a drink, but the silence was unnerving him. He could feel something deep down, and though he didn't know what it was, he didn't like it and he didn't want to know it... The quieter it was, the stronger the feeling got. That was the main reason he broke the silence just now.

            'You're just spooking yourself out,' Ito said, walking towards the door.

            'You're right. I could do with a drink too. I'll follow you,' Kiyota said, following Ito out of the door. He too didn't really need a drink, but he didn't think he could stay in that room anymore. Something was wrong, very wrong in there, and yet, he knew, something was wrong out there too. But still, he just wanted, craved to go out, get out of the room and run for his precious life.

            'Ito… be careful,' Hanagata said. The feeling was getting stronger. Outside it started raining.

            After Ito left, everybody felt the tension in the gym increase. The eight who seemed to have special 'insight' fidgeted uncomfortably. Mitsui looked at his watch.

            'Yare, yare. It is only 8:09,' he said softly. Sendo turned to look at Mitsui so suddenly and violently that the other 7 jumped a little.

            'Only 8:10? Then why is the school so deserted? So quiet?' he asked, not directing his question to anyone in particular. The other 7 looked increasingly worried. Silence, like a veil, fell over the whole of Shoyo High School. Even Sakuragi felt tensed. The stars seemed so cold to him, so cruel. Outside, a mouse scampered away from Shoyo, under the merciless rain, as if scared… terrified of the very school.

            About 4 minutes passed in that silence which was only broken by shifting of feet and sounds of all of them breathing. Everyone seemed very edgy, nervous. They all seemed to be waiting for something. Suddenly Rukawa, Sendo, Fujima and Jin stood up.

            'Coming,' Rukawa said softly.

            'What was that? A warning? What was coming?' Kogure asked himself, frustrated and yet, scared like hell. He wanted to ask, but didn't dare break the atmosphere, (um… that's not exactly right) which seemed so vulnerable. However, his questions were answered without him asking. Answered by a scream, a shout and footsteps. Yet there was something wrong, A LOT of things wrong.

The scream… it contained no feelings. It was just a scream of pain, drowned by the howling wind and lasing of rain on the window panes. It was as if the person had lost his mind and control. The shout, on the other hand, held no pain. It was a shout of shock… surprise, and terror, pure fear. The scream and shout gave Kogure goose bumps. He could see others breaking into cold sweat.

And then, there were the footsteps. It was light, fast and scattered, as if the runner was not running in proper rhythm. The runner was chased, Kogure was sure of it. He could see others were sure of it too. The runner was terrified, that was obvious. The only problem was, that sound was only the sound of one person running. If the person was chased, why weren't there any sounds of the chaser?

* * * * * * * *

Hanagata saw that everyone was panicking. He could sense that there was something wrong with the scream, shout and footsteps, but the feeling was covered by a much stronger one. The evil feeling reared itself, trying to make fright take control of his whole body. Beside him, Rukawa, Sendo, Jin and Fujima covered their ears, and he knew that the voices in their head were also getting out of control. He turned to Maki, Mitsui and Koshino and saw clearly that they felt the presence increase tremendously. It was definitely causing them a lot of fright, considering the look of fear their faces held.

'People,' Hanagata said, directing his words to the other 7 people in particular,

'We've got to take control before everyone loses it!' Hanagata shouted to them, as if they were in the market, and were miles away from each other. There was no need to shout, he knew it.  He shouted because that helped decreased the pressure he was feeling.

The others (as in Akagi etc.) looked at him, really nervous now.

Mitsui, Jin and Fujima nodded. Rukawa and Sendo, who seemed to be a little more sensitive towards the telepathic power of the enemy, winced a little.

'Kiyota is coming in. Open up!' Rukawa almost screamed at Sakuragi. Sakuragi, who was already so nervous, jumped about a foot into the air. He didn't even snap back a reply, just ran to the door and opened it. Everybody else could only stared at Rukawa, obviously shocked. It was a miracle that Rukawa would actually, 'nearly' scream. Then Hanagata ran out of the door (I know it's a pretty stupid thing to do!) causing a few guys to gasp. All of them turned their attention from Rukawa to Hanagata,

* * * * * * * *

Hanagata ran out the open door hearing gasp and feeling eyes watching his receding back, but he couldn't be bothered about that. He could feel the presence increasing, what the hell! He could almost see the exact place where it was. Kiyota was faster; thank God for that; than the thing, but not fast enough. He reached Kiyota and pulled him, forcing him to hurry.

In the gym, Koshino shouted to Uozumi and Akagi

'Sempai Uozumi, Akagi, stand guard at the door. When Hanagata comes in, slam it shut.'

Sendo, on the other hand, had his eyes closed and hands over his ears, as if concentrating.

'Now!' he said, a fraction second before Hanagata came running in with Kiyota. The door slammed shut.

*Boom!* The thing chasing them slam itself on the door, hard. Ayako screamed. The rest, including Sakuragi, were visibly afraid. The wind continued howling, and the rain didn't stop.

Mitsui looked at his watch again. 8:16.

Outside the gym, an evil cackle could be heard.       

A/N: As I stated above, I know that I most probably have some mistakes, maybe a lot, but pls bear with me, I'm still an amateur *grins*. I also really appreciate your reiviews, and don't hesitate to REVIEW, thanks.