Title: Terror…
A/N: Yikes!!! Sorry about the Author's Note in the middle in the fic. It was an accident!!! I had absently put it in, forgetting totally about what my reviewer had said. As for the shout which contained no feelings, it totally didn't strike me at that time that pain was a feeling. Something must have been wrong with me (but it's kinda funny now I realized it. How could I forget pain was a feeling?) BTW, would emotions have been better? And as for the grammatical errors, I'm really sorry, but I usually just skim through my fic before posting it up, so I might miss all my grammatical errors. I'm really sorry, and I really thank all of you for your reviews.
Alexia: Ei? Sendoh? I thought it was Sendo! By the way thanks!!
sLL: Improved in a short time? Are you comparing this fic with my last? Well it isn't such a short time, because I actually wrote my first fic about three months before PMR, and at that time, my internet wasn't working at that time. Is four five months a short time in your perspective? Thanks for the compliment anyway. Thanks a lot for the reviews.
Chapter 3- Playing Around
'What happened?'
'What on Earth was that?'
'Where's Ito?' Questions after questions were showered onto Kiyota, who was so… pale.
'Shut up! Can't you see that he's scared? He's not in the right state to answer your questions!' Maki snapped at them. Then, turning to Kiyota, but directing his question to Jin, he asked,
'Can you look into his mind?' Jin frowned a little.
'Well, I could try,' he replied, not really sure of himself. Yet, before he could attempt a try,
'Ito's dead,' Rukawa muttered softly.
'NANI? Oi, Kiyota! How'd he die?' Takano asked him, his voice rising despite his fear. Ito couldn't die! No! He is only sixteen! SIXTEEN!
'How on Earth am I supposed to know?' Kiyota snapped back at him, and Fujima saw that he was only an inch away from insanity. If Hanagata hadn't gone out at that time, and Kiyota saw IT, he would definitely have crossed over, cross the brink separating sanity and insanity.
'What crap? You were there!' Nagano said.
'I was too busy running, trying to save my back to stay around to watch someone being murdered!' Kiyota snapped back.
'If you had helped him, he might not have died!' Hasegawa replied.
'He was as good as dead before I left him,' Kiyota said his tone going much softer, his voice drowned by the sounds of the raindrops.
'How'd you know?' Nagano raised his voice, as if picking a fight, which was the last thing on his mind at that time. He was just scared, his head churning with all kinds of possibilities, each as unlikely as the next. Kiyota looked up, eyes flashing, wrongly interpreting Nagano's tone of voice. But before he could answer,
'Stop it! We can't lose it and fight each other, not now. Don't you see? That is exactly what it wants us to do. We can't lose to it. Kiyota didn't see anything, he just felt it,' Sendo replied, trying to break up the tension.
'How on Earth would you know? And what the hell is IT?' Takano asked, irritated for reasons unknown to even himself.
'I know, because I can hear it. We all could, remember?' Sendo asked in a soft tone, trying to swallow his anger which threatened to spill out, at the same time, pointing at Rukawa, Fujima and Jin.
'IT, is the thing that nearly killed Kiyota,' he continued. The three of them didn't look pleased at Sendo's answer. They were going to counter his point when Maki cut in,
'Look, some of you might not be able to feel what we feel, nor hear what we hear, but then, there might come a time when you can. At that time, you must realize that It is either very near, or is feeling particularly murderous. In other words, it wants to kill someone badly. Do not ignore that feeling! Be on your guard if that eerie feeling rises in you.'
'Ito…' Fujima muttered softly, tears flowing down his face. There was a pause, where only the sounds of raindrops and the occasional cracking of thunder could be heard. Never had rain been so detested by Fujima. He felt that IT was causing the rain, and he hated the rain because of that.
'Darn you!' he screamed in his heart.
'Can someone explain what's going on in here?' Uekusa asked, breaking that silence. Rukawa, who had been absently holding his breath during that short period of silence, let it all out in a go. He too had a bad feeling about the rain.
'Baka! If we actually knew, we wouldn't be trapped in here so confused,' Takasago said.
'I wasn't asking you! I was…' Uekusa's reply was cut off by Hanagata.
'Hey! This is not a time of quarrel! We've to stick together. If even our relationship is broken, that thing will break through us. Don't you people get it?' Hanagata asked them sternly, and yet it was he who wanted to fight. He wanted to shout and break free of all the illogical thought circling his head.
Suddenly, some liquid, red liquid slipped through the hole beneath the door. BLOOD.
Ayako screamed again, shrill and wavering.
'ITOOOO!!!!!' a Shoyo second-year screamed, running for the door.
'NO!' Hanagata and Fujima shouted, while Koshino and Mitsui tried to hold onto him.
'Don't you care? Ito's out there, lying somewhere hurt and suffering! DON'T YOU CARE?' he asked sounding very hysterical. Rukawa, who was looking around, feeling, sensing that the enemy was using Ito's blood as a secondary thing to catch their attention, make them lose concentration, turned, a little startled at the hysterical voice.
'It's fooling around with us,' his voice broke through the hysterical scream, causing silence in the gym.
'Yeah. It's having fun seeing us scared, hysterical…' Jin continued.
'It wants us to. It wants us to run, screaming, out of the gym. Run right into its open hands,' Sendo said, feeling unnerved at the sound of his own voice cutting through the stillness in the gym. He too felt that the enemy was just using Ito's blood to pull their concentration away, so he was on his guard.
'Ito's dead. Going out there won't help him at all. Don't you get it? It wants us to fight against each other; it wants us to lose our minds. It murdered Ito. Losing our heads and running out there blindly isn't going to help Ito. DO. YOU. GET. IT?' Fujima asked, making his last question sound more like a command.
The second-year closed his eyes and took deep breaths trying to calm himself down. After a while he nodded. Mitsui and Koshino let him go slowly, carefully.
Five minutes passed, and everyone seemed a little calmer. Everyone except Rukawa and Sendo. They were still waiting.
Then Hanagata said,
'We have to fight it no matter what…'
'Fight me? Do you think you can do that?' All of them jerked, surprised, and Rukawa could see the growing panic in everyone's eyes. They couldn't lose control now. Not now!
'Who're you? What do you want?' Rukawa asked, not really wanting to know the answer. Unease slipped cloudily over his face as he tensed himself, waiting for the answer and anything that might happen.
'I don't think you want to know,' it answered. Its answer was followed by a soft malevolent giggle. Its voice was very soft, peaceful almost, but Rukawa felt a fresh chill course through him.
'What if we want to?' Sendo asked.
'What if we already know?' Jin asked.
'What would you do if we know?' Fujima asked, following up the conversation and technique Sendo was using. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a small smile flit across Rukawa's lips.
'What if we're the one who's playing around with you?' Rukawa continued. There was a pause in which the silence so… deep that it could be felt. Rukawa felt goose bumps rising again.
*Sounds of breathing getting faster and louder*
It was so sudden that everyone turned towards… Uekusa. He was sweating, trembling and breathing in hitches. Rukawa realized that he had almost lost the concentration he had just now. The concentration in waiting for something to happen.
'Uekusa, calm down,' Sendo said, cursing himself one second later for saying such a stupid thing. Uekusa's breathing only became more ragged and loud.
'No, Uekusa. N-O!' Jin said, his voice rising.
In the dim glow of the moon, Uekusa's face looked ravaged and hag-like. Fujima realized that they were too late, wild panic was already ripping away Uekusa's self-control.
'It got him,' Jin muttered.
* * * * * * * *
'Come to me. Come to me. COME TO ME!'
Uekusa couldn't help it. He couldn't fight it, not alone. He tried to voice out his helplessness, but couldn't. For the first time, fear, real fear, stole into him. Everything around him was going foggy. He couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything either, except for the malicious "come to me"
Then, he felt a pull, a pull coming from outside the room. Almost unconsciously, he headed towards it.
* * * * * * * *
'No! Close the door. Slam it shut!' Fujima shouted at all of them, while Sendo, Rukawa and Jin tried to talk Uekusa out of his state. They knew almost exactly what was going on in his mind. They also knew that it was almost impossible to talk him out of such a state, but then again, it didn't hurt to try.
'But the thing is in the third-year building. How could it control Uekusa from there?' Hanagata asked aloud.
'Mind power,' Fujima muttered back, running towards Uekusa. Maki, Koshino and Mitsui were busy making sure that all the doors were shut.
* * * * * * * *
After some time, Rukawa gave up trying to talk him out. Instead, he focused his mind and forced his way into Uekusa's mind, trying to break its contact with the THING'S mind, but he hit a dead circuit. The thing was too strong. He strained himself, feeling sweat pour out from his pores, but still, he failed.
'Rukawa…' Sendo stared hard at boy beside him, and realized what he was doing. After a while, Sendo also realized that he was losing.
'Rukawa…'
Then, he felt it. Another power was helping him. Sendo. They blended together in perfect harmony and pushed against the barrier.
It weakened, bent under their pressure. Rukawa felt, sensed shock and surprise. It hadn't expected them to be so strong, so powerful. Just before the barrier broke, it retreated, admitting defeat.
Fujima and Jin watched Rukawa and Sendo breathlessly. They weren't helping Sendo and Rukawa because they were standing by, acting as backup just in case anything might happen to Sendo, Rukawa and Uekusa. If it came to that, at least they might be able to help pull Sendo's and Rukawa's minds back. Rukawa relaxed a little when Sendo helped him. All around them, everyone was waiting, obviously worried and scared to death. The only sounds were of the wind, blowing softly, and of course, the rain.
After minutes which seemed like eternity, Sendo smiled and opened his eyes. Rukawa, who had been unconsciously holding his breath, let it out, eyes still closed. Fujima realized that Uekusa too was now breathing in a normal pace.
* * * * * * * *
'It's gone! It's gone!' Uekusa told himself. His breathing slowed, and he opened his eyes which had been closed, although he could not recall doing so. He felt cold, and very nervous.
* * * * * * * *
Jin looked over to Uekusa, and realized that if Sendo and Rukawa had been even ten seconds late, he'd be long gone, broken and out of his mind. Then, he felt… heard it.
'There's your answer, m'dear,' Jin shivered, and looked over to Rukawa, Sendo and Fujima. They too had heard it.
* * * * * * * *
There was silence in the gym again, but this time, Hanagata sensed no doubt in it.
A/N: I really thank all of you for all your reviews. It means a lot to me. And, please continue reviewing!! (giggles) And do please excuse all my mistakes.