OK! Chapter 3! Warning though, there might be some, questionable slang in this story. I use weird slang for my stories sometimes O_O;;

Disclaimer: If I owned the series, then this fic wouldn't be here. Don't sue, I have no money .

Doll in the Dark

Chapter 3

After some sounds of furniture moving from upstairs, Meina came back down. "Ok, maybe there can be some arrangements. As long as you do not mind sharing" Her dress looked a bit dusty now, so possibly it was her who had moved the furniture.

"Exactly who would be sharing with who?" Cain asked. Meina paced the room for a while, thinking about the sleeping arrangements. Sometimes she would stop and open her mouth to say something, but then shake her head.

"Let's see. Well, we have 3 rooms, and 6 people. There can be 2 to a room, or a possible different combination. But I have to admit, since I don't quite trust everyone here, yet, it would be wise to arrange it all by gender more of. If ms. Merryweather wouldn't mind, then I can share with her, possibly Kirashi too. Cain can have his own room, and then Riff and my brother can share"

Before Riff could say something about that arrangement, Meina continued on. "Of course, someone can always sleep on the couch. Or would we perhaps prefer it that Cain and Riff share?" She turned to face Cain and Riff with a bit of a mischievous grin. Crezzy kicked Meina in the leg lightly. "Don't go having your fantasies" Meina rubbed the sore spot on her leg and took the nearest object, which was a fan, and hit her brother over the head with it.

Feeling satisfied with herself, Meina turned and went towards the door. "If you don't mind, I'm just going to go outside for a bit of fresh air." Meina opened the door and closed it behind her. Almost right away though, Crezzy instantly made his way outside too. "I think I will go with her. Um, C.Y.L.*!" he said as he went outside to catch up with his sister.

Kirashi shook her head in disappointment. "When will they ever learn? Excuse me, but I must go and prepare the rooms" she left to go upstairs, leaving behind Cain, Riff, and Merry, felling fairly confused about what Crezzy had just said. Cain stood up and also made his way to go outside. "I think I shall also join them" But before Riff could stop Cain, he was already out the door.

*******

As soon as Cain had stepped out, he could hear some voices coming from the back of the house. He went around, but stopped at the corner, so he wouldn't be seen. It was just Meina and Crezzy, talking about a very strange topic.

"C.Y.L.? You just had to use that didn't ya? Couldn't you have just said goodbye? Or maybe an excuse me?" Meina asked sounding very annoyed. "Hey! It's not just me too, ya know. You were starting to slip too!" Crezzy argued back. Meina could be heard pacing. "It's a lot harder than we thought then I guess. Very hard indeed to try to talk like someone in Victorian times would. I am so not used to it" Crezzy was silent for a bit.

"But I have to admit, those were some real good cover stories. Ha! Even though we didn't really grow up in different places, it sure does seem like it. I mean, you can sometimes tell because of my not very apparent accent" Crezzy said, sounding fairly amused. Meina stopped pacing. "Accent? Really, that's almost too, well, FAKE! I mean, face it. We just don't talk like that. Yes, we do know Japanese, and yes we speak it fluently. We did grow up with it, but with so many years of studying English, our accent is pretty much faded. Oooooh! But still!! You used slang! SLANG!! Didn't father tell us strictly not to use any while we're here?" Meina sounded downright annoyed now.

Crezzy sighed. "You're right. We're using our gang's traditional slang. What better way to S.Y.S* then by using abbreves*? Of course, it sounds a lot better when you D.S.S.*"

********

A/N: I think I'm gonna define some of these terms now. Like I said at the beginning, weird slang.

C.Y.L - catch ya later

S.Y.S - say your stuff

Abbreves - short for abbreviation

D.S.S. - don't sound stupid

That's about all the terms used, but that sometimes changes. And yes, my OC's do like to talk like that ^_^;;

*********

Cain was clearly confused, and only managed to understand about two words from their sentences. Not only did they talk fairly fast, but they also used words that he had never heard of before. The way that those two talked now, sounded a lot different than how they were talking a few minutes before. And most importantly, what gang are they talking about? And everything they said was just a lie?

"Well yeah, but anyways. How's mother been lately? I know that father's fine, I mean, when is he not? Mother's usually ok, so I'll just assume. But most importantly, what about, er, him?" Meina asked nervously. "Him? Cain?" Crezzy asked confused. "No, idiot! I'm talking about, well, you know, Schilan. How's he? Is he getting better?" Meina sounded very worried now.

"Schilan? Well, despite how long you've been gone, he's only gotten better a bit. We're still trying to find a way to speed this up a bit. But hey, you know what Mito said, with what we're doing right now he should be better in no time! But at the rate it's going, he says that's as fast it it'll be. But remember what Schilan said too. He said don't worry, and most importantly, give your fiancée a chance" Crezzy said in hopes of calming his sister down, and giving her a new opinion of Cain.

"Ha! Trust him? You want me to trust him? As if! I absolutely refuse to! I'm sorry, but I do not want to trust anyone here. I mean, he practically showed up on my doorstep, and you want me to trust him? No!" sounds of Meina pacing could be heard again. "No, we're still going through with it. I'm not gonna hold back and that's a for sure. Just, just keep the act up. Keep it together, and then… well, we'll go through. I know it! No holding back either!" Meina stopped pacing before continuing. "We should probably go back inside. Everyone's gonna wonder what we're up to, especially Kirashi. Remember, think Victorian English"

Meina and Crezzy could be heard walking back towards the house, luckily for Cain, they went around the other side. He turned the corner and was now at the back of the house, where Meina and Crezzy just were. There a table and a few garden chairs, not much, but there were some flowering bushes. Cain sat down on one of the chairs thinking about the conversation he just heard.

A few questions were running through Cain's mind now, a lot more than when he first heard the conversation. What's slang? Why so many lies? And most importantly, what is it that they are going to go through with? After thinking about this for a few minutes, he stood up and went back inside the house to find no one in the Living Room. Riff came down the steps soon followed by Kirashi. "Master Cain, you're back. The rooms are all prepared now, I was just gong to go and prepare a bit of dinner. We were actually just waiting for you." Kirashi said as she made her way to the kitchen.

Meina, Crezzy and Merry came down the stairs soon after. Meina had apparently changed into something a boy would wear around her age, which were shorts and a button up shirt. "Kirashi! We'll help too!" Meina said as her and her brother followed Kirashi into the kitchen.

*********

Dinner actually wasn't that bad. Most likely by the sounds of one too many things dropping in the kitchen, there was probably a bit of an argument between Meina and Crezzy. Crezzy had a small scratch on his face and Meina also had one on her face too. Kirashi on the other hand looked very annoyed. "Was there an argument in the kitchen?" Cain asked. Meina and Crezzy just nodded. "That would be the result of arguing while holding a knife." Kirashi said shaking her head.

After dinner, the time spent before bedtime was spent mostly touring around the house. Meina showed everyone her prized doll collection. It was a bit creepy at first, but after a while the feeling of having all the dolls staring at you went away. Meina explained where she had gotten the dolls and stated whether or not it was a sort of present or something she had bought. Majority of the dolls were from Kyoto, as Meina had said. Meina had explained a few things about the dolls, like what they were wearing and a few other small details.

Once it was time for everyone to go to sleep, Meina showed Cain where he was going to sleep. The unfortunate side though, as Cain had found out, was that his room was right next to the girls'. For most of the night, Cain could hear giggles and occasionally things dropping. Not to mention the fact that the girls sometimes talked so loud he could hear them very clearly. Cain tried everything he could to try and block out the noise, but he didn't have much at his dispose. The most he could do was put his pillow over his head, but even then he could still hear them. It was once everything quieted down that he was able to drift off to sleep.

But his sleep didn't go the whole night disturbed. He could hear faint laughing. At first was very faint, but it then grew louder. He opened his eyes and reached for a convenient pistol he kept near him. He slowly sat up and looked around the room. The laughing could still be heard, but Cain couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"Scared, Earl?" a voice called from the darkness, where Cain couldn't tell. "Mistress does not like you. She wants you dead. Just like everyone else" the voice said, giggling a bit, well, insanely. "Your mistress wants me dead? Just like everyone else? It seems as though no one wants me alive anymore" Cain replied with a smirk. The voice laughed again and footsteps inside the room could be heard coming closer. When the owner of the voice stepped in the light of the window, Cain could see that it really was a doll. It was the same doll the Crezzy had with him, the doll that Meina treasured.

"Laugh while you can Earl. You never know when you may never wake again." The doll had said. It had a sinister grin on its face. In the distance, a clock tower can be heard ringing its bells signaling that it was midnight now. The doll grinned wider. "Now, you die!" it all happened in one fast motion. Millions of knives that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere suddenly flew towards Cain. But before it he even felt one of them stab him he suddenly jerked awake. He sat bolt upright and glanced at the clock. It was nine in the morning now.

Cain rubbed his eyes a bit and looked out the window. 'Was that just a dream?' he thought. There was a knock at his door. "Are you awake yet, mister Cain?" it was only Meina. Cain sighed. "I am now, thank you very much" he replied sarcastically.

End Chapter 3

Is it just me, or are my chapters starting to get lengthy? I feel unsatisfied with this chapter for some reason, but I don't want to rewrite the whole entire thing all over again. So I guess it's sticking ^_^;; That is definitely one creepy doll. I know for sure I wouldn't want something like that as a present. Also, in case if you were wondering, I have actually seen Kyoto dolls before. I actually wanted one once, but it was practically $100! So yeah . Hope the slang wasn't too confusing. Anyways, expect the next chapter soon! Hopefully. I think I made Cain a little OOC near the end.