Title: Terror…
A/N: *Grins* I know I took a long time to upload… gomen… BTW, I really want to thank all the reviewers!!!! *Hugs all of you* Thanks! Oh, and Christmas is coming!!! Yay!!! I hope I can upload at least one more before Christmas though… I'm going to be real busy after that…
sLL: Ei??? Wait a minute… I think you're getting it wrong…. The ant is just a mode of transport for the new thing… thanks anyway, and do continue reviewing-ne? Arigatou. Sakura88 is your form-mate?? Did she receive PTS? (well, I assume the 88 stands for 1988, as my e-mail stands for) *sweatdrops*
Kathleen: Uh… sorry for taking so long to up-load it… well, I'm continuing… and really, thanks a lot!!!
Lazuli: *grins* Thanks!!!! But… it wasn't the ant… it was something using the ant.
KaedeRukawa-kill: Uh… sorry to keep you waiting for so long… I'll try to upload at least one more before Christmas, then I'm going for a camp… probably won't upload anymore until the end of the year… Christmas keeps me busy!!! Thanks for reading my fic!!
Krappkarmin: Yuck is right!!! Eww imagine Kiyota and Sakuragi… *shudders* No, no… it wasn't either one, it was the thing inside them…
12aiN: Don't worry, I think I need some rushing!! *grins* I know I'm getting lazy…. Thanks for liking my story!!
Alexia: Ishii? The gray-haired freshman who is wearing specs… I know, my explanation is not that good, I hope you'll continue helping me in improving… if I am improving at all… but do still help me… *sweatdrops* I tried to not focus on the main this time… how's it?
Magenta blues: Fallen? Is it a horror movie?? I wanna see it!!! NO! *wails* Why would you want to stop giving me ideas? Do continue giving me ideas!!!!! I might try it!!!
Eliar Swiftfire: Err.. blood, gore? You'll think I'm weird… but I hate disgusting stuff… but still, I'll try. Uh… do please continue commenting… I really want to do better…. Arigatou!
Crazy4u: Let me introduce myself…. Ahem… I'm a 14-year-old-girl who stays in Seremban and goes to Puteri, which was recently convent, but they changed it… Err… you like spiders?!!!!! Well, actually, I don't exactly hate them… but… Does your school offer Japanese lessons??? Mine doesn't… none of the government schools in Seremban does actually… it's soo cool!!!!! Uh, I hope I do well too!!! BTW, enjoy yourself while you still can…
Hisashi Loves Yelen: Thanks for all the compliments!!! You're too kind… actually, to tell you the truth, I didn't know actually expect any insects in this fic… as for the other evil, I couldn't find a proper ending, so I decided that I would expand the plot while I think of a proper ending… *blushes* but still, please continue reading and reviewing!!!! Thanks!!!
Chapter 11-Hopelessness
Rukawa was examining Ishii's body carefully, trying, yet failing to find something unusual. Like some mark. All around the rookie, the players were starting to get a hold of themselves. The fright and terror weren't exactly gone, but still, they were a little more relaxed. They all knew the same thing, though they didn't know how, didn't know when, but they knew.
It's gone.
* * * * * * * *
I was moving to the gym, ever so slowly. Slow, not only because of my size, not only because of the stupid barrier that they had managed to erect with their determination, but slow, simply because of the fact of that inexplicable, tenacious fear which hung on to me.
It's left the gym.
Far as I was from the gym, I could register that thought.
So, why on Earth do I have the feeling that something terrible is going to happen?
And yet, I knew the answer. I knew the idiotic answer to all my meaningless questions. That was the real reason I was here. That was the real reason I am feeling so damn scared.
I can't trace it anymore.
That was the reason to everything…
* * * * * * * *
'It's gone,' Fujima muttered softly, marveling at the fact that the thing could enter the gym and exit it with such subtleness that they couldn't pinpoint the exact time they felt it leave. It just wasn't there anymore.
'You guys knew it all along, didn't you? You knew, and you deliberately didn't let us in on the juicy information you guys caught,' Hanagata said, softly, and very sinisterly. Fujima looked at him, a little shocked. The seven of the so-called leaders, excluding Rukawa, were now gathered at one corner of the gym.
Hanagata, Mitsui, Koshino and Maki looked at the three of them, waiting for an explanation. Jin stared right back at them, feeling the tension and shock increasing.
They look so… angrily accusing…
'Let me join you guys,' suddenly Sakuragi appeared behind Koshino, scaring all of them, at the same time, relieving a little of the tension they all felt.
'Nani?' Maki asked, a little too fast and a little too harshly. But they, for some reason or another, they were so angry, that they had completely forgotten their role of so-called leading the rest to safety.
'Is that a no? Why? Why don't you trust the brains of a Tensai? Instead, you take that…' here Sakuragi glared at Rukawa, who was few feet away, bent over Ishii's body, '… that kitsune into your trust!'
Rukawa made no sign that he had heard them, but he did. Although he knew it was impossible, he did. All the way from Hanagata's insane accusation, to Sakuragi's stupid outburst of anger.
He wasn't worried about Sakuragi. That guy was a pain, yeah. He got angry very fast, picked fights, and all those crap, but he was seldom serious. No matter what, Rukawa was sure that Sakuragi would protect all of them in here, as well as their pride as humans, for he was very loyal… and proud too.
No, it wasn't Sakuragi that worried him, it was, miraculously, Hanagata that did. There was something decidedly odd about the way he seemed so… angry at… nothing. It was not just odd… it was frightening.
Why do I feel as if this is just not some random fight? He questioned himself. And he got the answer, not an immediate one, but his instinct did the rest, when his ears picked up a conversation from another corner of the room. It was among the Shohoku substitutes, Kogure excluded.
'It's us again!'
'It's so unfair! Why couldn't they take someone from Ryonan? Nobody there died yet! And… of all persons Ishii… he was so… innocent!'
'Yeah,' Kakuta said, running his hand through his hair, thinking hard.
'There's something very weird about this whole thing… Do you realize that besides Shiozaki and Ishii, there is no concrete evidence that the rest are, you know, um… dead.' Some of the freshman looked at him in a queer uncomprehending way.
'Hey… that's true,' Yasuda said thoughtfully.
'Sempai… nani?' Kuwata asked. Yasuda looked a little surprised at being jerked out of his thoughts all of a sudden.
'Ei? Oh… it's a fact that we have like absolutely no evidence whatsoever that the rest were really attacked. But in Shiozaki's case, his…scream was one hell of an evidence. It was obviously no fake. I know him well enough to testify in the court that he is a terrible actor. And… anyway, it contained too much of fear to not be true. One wouldn't have to know him well to realize that there was no way that could be a fake. Ishii… there's no need to explain that. But look around, Mutoh, Ito even Uekusa could be faking. Mutoh might not be dead. For all we know, he might be at home, laughing his head off at us. All we got was Ayako's word and the rest's story. Ito? Who knows? He might still be alive and well out there. His scream did not seem to contain any fear… heck! It hardly contained anything but pain, in which, most screams do have. A scream that does not contain anything has to contain pain.' Kuwata realized that tears were falling from Yasuda's eyes when he said all those things.
'Yeah, and Uekusa could just be acting and fooling around with us for all we know,' Sasaoka said, understanding descending on him.
'But then, it may be quite illogical. It's gonna take a hell lot of acting to be able to pull the whole thing off,' Kakuta said.
'Weren't you the one who suggested this, sempai?' Kuwata asked.
'Yes, I did, but… it just doesn't seem right.'
'Well, I would say the story they are feeding us sounds even more illogical,' he countered.
'Demo… would Ayako really do this? Sakuragi… and even Akagi? What about Rukawa? I don't think he would be interested in acting. And if he was forced… why is he playing such a big role? He could be sleeping and no one would question why!' Sasaoka answered.
'Makes sense… and there was also the thing about Saori and that… was it a spider?' Yasuda muttered.
'It was a cockroach first,' Sasaoka reminded him.
Rukawa continued checking, no looking at Ishii's body, trying to find for something, in which, right now, was an almost impossible task, considering the fact that he was not even concentrating on what he was seeing. His mind was churning, and he was more than convinced that these weren't just random fights.
Why are they causing problems now?
'Urusei Sakuragi!' Mitsui said, pushing the redhead away.
'Don't disturb us now!'
'Yare, yare. Some people just don't know their place. Look, who's calling himself tensai?' Kiyota came, provoking Sakuragi, a faint smile plastered onto his lips. But, when Rukawa chanced a glance at him, he saw that Kiyota's smile did not have a stitch of humor in it. That guy was worried sick.
'Nani? How dare you say…' and the both of them went off quarrelling about who was better, their worries dissolving.
That's quite good. It doesn't seem to be in here anymore anyway… but you two better be on you guard anyhow. Rukawa thought, not voicing it out loud, turning his focus to the rest once again.
The thing that is worrying me is the fact that I can't trace it anymore… and some people who aren't used to quarrelling are doing so right now!
Rukawa sighed inwardly, hoping against hope there was some logical explanations for this.
'Kenji, why? Why did you guys leave us out?' Hanagata asked again, his voice so soft and yet, so bitter. Fujima looked at him, wondering what the hell was so wrong with leaving them out. It's not like they had signed a contract on promising to tell each other everything they found out right away.
'We weren't sure about it yet. We didn't know whether what we were feeling was true or not. Hell, we didn't even know what we were feeling,' Sendo answered on behalf of all of them.
'And you just couldn't tell us! You couldn't include people who didn't have the perfect sense of hearing like you do into your discussion,' Koshino attacked suddenly. Sendo turned towards Koshino, totally taken aback at the anger his friend's voice held.
'It was not a discussion, it was a conformation,' Jin muttered softly.
'Conformation of what? At least you could still warn us about the danger we were about to face couldn't you?' Maki asked in a dangerously soft tone.
Rukawa sighed again, inaudibly. Outside, the rain was still beating down with fury, and here he was, trying to look for something when he wasn't looking for it at all.
How can I hear them anyway? They're all practically fifty feet away from me, not to add to the fact that there's thunder and all…
That thought only managed to confuse him more, and confirm the belief that they weren't just fighting or quarrelling. Someone… something was behind all of this.
'Saori? There must be a reasonable explanation for that. Maybe the spider or cockroach or whatever, was mechanical. Maybe they had two mechanical insects. One cockroach, one spider,' Kakuta said, shaking his head.
'Then, what about the time when she changed into a gigantic ant?' Kuwata questioned.
'Umm… well, maybe that was… Ito. You know, Ito was acting as… Saori and he was wearing a costume. He just took out the Saori costume and ta-da he was an ant. Then um… maybe he was wearing another Saori costume underneath er… the ant one, and… so when he took that out, he became a um… Saori again,' Yasuda said, very slowly. Kakuta stared at him.
'That's is a very crappy explanation. Can't you come up with something better?' he asked, smiling a little.
'Gomen… but there must be a reasonable explanation for all these'
'…'
'Then what about the other insect? And what about Ishii?' Sasaoka asked.
'Oh yeah, Ishii…. But wait a minute! The lights went off for a while didn't it? Maybe something happened to him then,' Kuwata answered.
'Then, the other insects during Saori's little visit?' Yasuda asked.
'Whatever it is, there must be a rational explanation for all of this! There must be!' Kakuta answered.
'Yeah, probably they have lots of mechanical insects,' Sasaoka answered.
'There's also the fact that all the others that were attacked were starting members. Ito was a starting member for Shoyo if they were playing against a weak team… if this fact helps at all,' Yasuda muttered.
'But then, couldn't this all be a coincidence? Why on Earth would they want to um… murder us in the first place?' Kuwata asked.
'Yeah… it could be a coincidence,' Kakuta murmured thoughtfully.
At that point, Rukawa glanced at them all, and he was very sure that none of them believed that this was a coincidence at all.
Now what am I supposed to do?
The rain was still pouring down outside. Lightning zigzagged down, and thunder clashed rattled the gym windows.
The determination is breaking!
* * * * * * * *
I reached the field. The gym was now real near, and yet…
Lesser…
I could feel less harm and anger emanating from the gym.
Less determination…
For some reasons or another, instead of leaping with joy, my heart sank, with fear. Fear so great it almost ripped off my self-control.
* * * * * * * *
An ant was out there in the field. No, there were millions of ants out there, but this particular ant that had just exited the gym was different… evil.
It looked at the giant centipede not with fear, but with fury, a weird sense of elation, and a kind of hunger. A hunger, not for food, but for the very feeling of fear emanating from others. It hungered for their cry of help, and thirsted for their cry of defeat.
This ant, was a totally different ant, which could see, hear, and invade.
* * * * * * * *
Something is about to happen!
Rukawa flipped his eyes to the window. At that exact moment, lighting illuminated the field, and… Rukawa nearly fainted.
Out there in the field, was a giant CENTIPEDE!
Rukawa gulped in several breaths, trying to not panic, trying to think straight. When he managed to at least get a steady rhythm in his breathing, he thought it over.
That giant centipede… that means there's two of them. Two of whatever creatures out there, wanting to kill us for… only God knows why!
He looked around, at all of them in the gym. Most of them were just talking, glancing nervously at each other. And yet, the two groups who were in debate and dispute were still doing so. Casting his eyes out, he felt hopeless…
How are we going to get out of here alive?
A/N: I have a feeling that my fic is getting worse than, it used to be... Gomen, gomen… but please continue reading and reviewing. This chapter might have been a little boring, gomen!!! I'm really sorry!! Uh… BTW, I think there are some readers who got confused… the spider and the ant are just modes of transport, just like Ishii was, for the… uh… thing. I really want to thank all of you for bearing this far with me despite all my mistakes, and do please continue commenting on my fic, and point out all the mistakes… I really hope I'm not boring you guys, and if my chapters are really getting worse, pls tell me… I'll try to change it a little (I have no idea how to…) *sweatdrops*