A/N: I've taken out the genre "Horror" from the summary. I'm afraid this isn't scaring any hair out of anyone so I'll go stick to the "Supernatural" genre… for a while, I hope. Anybody care to give me an advice on how to make a Horror story?
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is to Takehiko Inoue as Ringu is to Suzuki Koji…
Warning: Foul words…
CHAPTER ONE: VISIONS IN SPRING
The television showed nothing but static. Eerie yet in its dull, commonplace appearance. Innately dizzying were the skittering bits of sand that had suddenly become animate with the desperate want to flee the baneful creature lurking in the arcane surface underneath. They filled every inch of the hyaline screen, incessantly banging on it for their merciful deliverance…
Bzzzt! Bzzzt! were the sound of them scurrying about, each crisp note bouncing off the confines of the spacious yet plain looking room into the stolid ears of the prone brunet on the bed, entangled in a mixed heap of pillows and blanket smudged with a little drool and… wet dreams.
Apparently, this guy had been drinking more than what he's worth. And even in his tipsiness, he had turned the tv on to watch the late night news--as was his habit--only to end up falling asleep within seconds of hitting the pillow. It was out of his character to be drinking in the first place, but what the heck! Even the most decent of men needed to broaden their restricted views once in a while… Especially when he's old enough to handle the consequences.
Or thought so, anyway.
The deep, sleepy moan vibrating from his throat seemed to have alerted some receptive cells and the pale body was consequently turned on its back, a quarter of which swung awkwardly off the edge of the bed. Following this, the faintest of snores began to resonate through the room, humming out the steady, rhythmic tune of nonchalance.
Then it was suddenly consorted by a screeching sound…
It was indiscernible at first. Faint and unhurried yet clear was the message it wished to impart.
That of evil--in the plainest, purest sense.
The unwelcomed guest cautiously pushed the door farther in and was soon striding furtively toward the bed. To her innocent, new victim.
The guy on the bed stirred and, as though subconsciously sensing what was about to happen, a frown slowly crept to his face, marring his incredibly handsome features with the unspoken desperation that was gradually welling up within him.
The bare feet kept their measured, feline advances. Closer… Closer… and closer still did the uninvited incarnate come to the poor, impotent being.
Soon she was standing beside the bed. She raised one leg to it, then the other and cautiously crept to the faintly moaning guy. The tip of her long, dark hair brushed along the slightly muscular arm as she bent closer and thrust her lips to the fair, innocent ear…
A wide, nasty grin stretched her supple lips a second before she let out a shrill, head-bursting scream…
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The tall bespectacled guy standing by the kitchen counter was terribly jolted out of his casual mood by the disturbing squeal suddenly emanating from his best friend's room. His calm completely snapped off when a loud, virile--yet very unmanly cry followed. Then there was the sound of something hard falling on the floor… and a pained yelp.
In his frenzy, he accidentally tipped his coffee cup over and the steaming black liquid immediately formed a winding stream on the white counter as the utterly agitated guy rushed toward the commotion.
"KYOKO!" he cried as he took to the stairs four at a time. "KENJI!" He practically flew down the hallway to that particular room at the farthest left side with the open door and macabre… "WHAT'S HAPP--" He froze in his tracks, right at the doorway, when a fit of jeering laughter suddenly assaulted his ears. And as though that wasn't enough attack on his already dumfounded senses, he realized he had just walked into the outset of a potentially grim, horrid and gruesome bickering between a guy with an awfully injured ego and a girl--
Well, the simple fact that she's the relentlessly irksome little sister of the unfortunate guy was scary enough, wasn't it?
"TEME!!!" was the incisive exclamation that erupted from the fuming brunet sitting on the floor at the opposite side of the bed from his nemesis.
A faint, bemused smile graced Toru Hanagata's lips and put a bit of life on his usually grim countenance. It's not everyday you'd hear a gentle, fine-mannered guy swear like that. Then again, he had witnessed this very same guy gulp down six bottles of beer last night as though he had been a habitual drunkard all his life! Hearing him swear the following morning shouldn't really come as a big surprise…
Not to mention that he could, though vaguely, remember this guy virtually swearing his lungs out when--
"You seem to have had fun last night," Kyoko Fujima's voice was calm, yet intriguing as she made the initial attack. "Were there any girls?"
Hanagata nearly lost it as he watched Kenji Fujima's face pale, then subsequently turn bright crimson --all in a matter of a second. It took all of his humane temperance to keep himself from guffawing right then and there.
Fujima snorted harshly and pulled himself up to his wobbly legs. At least, he tried to. But the aftereffects of his escapades the preceding night immediately took a vengeful siege and bore him rather roughly on the bed, barely keeping his butt from falling off the edge. Kyoko was beside him in a flash while Hanagata stayed rooted on the doorway, still rather anxious to barge into… grave sibling matters.
"Geez, Kenj, are you all right?" Kyoko exclaimed with concern, raising a hand up to rub her brother's back.
"Don't… You… Dare!" Fujima snarled threateningly to which the younger brunette's hand abruptly halted a quarter of an inch short of touching him.
One of Hanagata's fine eyebrows arched in startled amusement over the animosity goody-goody Fujima had just shown his sister. The former playing coach of Shoyo never really minded total strangers touching him so why was he acting as though a simple contact with his own kin and blood was enough to rot him to the flesh?
To surprise him more was the fresh set of laughter erupting from Kyoko's throat as though she wasn't aware she had just been offended. Did this kid have a sensible ego at all?
"Hiding something, aren't we?" she teased, crossing her arms over her chest as she regarded the flushing guy with a wry, incredulous smile.
"What do you care anyway?" Fujima snapped, which in turn only served to push Hanagata's brow a couple of inches higher. He never knew his buddy could be this downright moody in the morning. Or was this merely the effect of his hangover, aggravated to an intolerable level by the mere presence of every maturing guy's worst nightmare--an incredibly annoying sibling.
"I'm jealous," came the candid, straight-to-the-point reply. And just imagine where Hanagata's brows could've flown--were they given a chance, of course--as he watched the misleadingly simple, bespectacled face appositely take on a rather dark "look-I'm-so-jealous" frown.
Fujima sighed loudly, EXASPERATEDLY, before attempting yet again to prop himself up on his legs and feet, this time succeeding but barely. He, however, defied his own unsteadiness and dragged himself to the fizzling television, his face still blotched in red. Hanagata could've sniggered at the sight of it had it not for the startled shorter guy's widened eyes suddenly snapping to his direction with both embarrassed realization and undisguised spite. That was only when he felt the wide, un-patented grin which was currently stretched out on his lips. He immediately swiped it off and darted his eyes to various parts of the room to avoid the other guy's piercing glare.
Why won't you just get your ass out of here? he asked himself even as the assault on the poor older Fujima continued.
"Was she good?"
F****NG GOOD! Hanagata was tempted to say in exactly the same manner that the steaming guy had said it last night. But when the said steaming guy cursed crisply for the second time that morning, he thought better of it and just settled with a stifled chuckle.
Fujima turned the tv off and dragged himself next to his closet.
"Mom did tell me to watch over you, y'know," Kyoko said with an air of authority that only caused the already fuming Fujima to fume even more. But like the calm and composed guy he always was, he tried all his best to rein in his temper as he pulled out a neatly folded cotton towel from one of his closet drawers.
"So you really should let me know what you've been doing," Kyoko was by now standing casually beside the bed, regarding her brother with a teasing mien that was annoying enough to make even Santa Claus himself bristle.
And that's just what it did to Fujima. "Yeah, like I'm your KID brother?! Damn…" His voice was hard and sarcastic as he made his way to the bathroom. He was about to step into it and shut himself off his Guardian Devil when the unrelenting imp gave out an attack that went smack dab to the guy's already crumbling ego.
"At least, I don't wet my bed…"
Hanagata's brows shot up once again as he suddenly became aware of a faint, pungent aroma wafting around the room.
"I was drunk, for heaven's sake!" the utterly irked, downright humiliated guy hissed, obviously keeping himself from strangling his own sister.
"And," Kyoko drawled playfully, "I don't take a kiddie bun-bun with me to sleep."
Hanagata's brows almost flew off his face as he incredulously eyed the alleged bun-bun on the bed. It was a two feet long stuffed bunny lying with its face down on the blanket, arms and legs in spread-eagle position. Then, his gaze consequently turned to the snickering younger Fujima. This girl didn't seem aware of his presence at all. Either that or it was really just one of her hobbies to humiliate his unfortunate brother in front of a willing audience. The un-patented grin appeared on his lips once again.
Fujima wheezed and the glare was snapped to his direction once again too. Those flaring, BLAZING blue eyes were silently, yet fiercely telling him to scat off.
He, the willing audience, in turn began to feel a little uneasy, himself. Fujima--the respected basketball star and school genius was getting a little too exposed than necessary. Hell, he was his best friend all right, but Hanagata had to admit the things he had just found out about Fujima were a little too …er… disturbing.
"And it's supposed to be your first day at the university," Kyoko went on sardonically, not making any attempt to suppress her giggles.
Okay, that's it! Hanagata knew he really had to get out of there if he valued his life and his friendship with Fujima. The shorter guy really looked as though he was about to lunge at him and Kyoko and eat them both alive in one gulp. As far as Hanagata could remember, that expression had never graced the other guy's features prior to that day. And he really looked serious and determined about it, too…
Conveniently enough, the doorbell rang.
"Uh…" Hanagata sputtered. "That must be Hisashi. I'll go get it." And the now not-so-willing and more-than-thankful audience beat his hastier than hasty retreat.
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Kyoko watched with heightened pleasure as her brother slowly turned around and shot her a glare that seemed to want to shake her bones from off their sockets. He was utterly provoked, that was clear enough to see. The mere blush on his face gave him away too quickly that even the dumbest of people would've been able to tell what he had done the night before.
He never really changed much during the years they were apart. Well, except that he seemed to be a little too uneasy around her now. And still a little too easy to prove guilty, nevertheless. Despite his enduring greatness and near perfection, there was one thing that Kenji Fujima had never been and was still not capable of doing.
He could never lie to her. Ever. Not that she'd give him a chance to anyway. He may be a genius in a lot of things. But she was simply beyond natural. And if he had been good in concealing his guilt--which was not the case, of course--she would've eventually found it out sooner or later by herself.
All it would take was a single touch…
"Kyoko," Fujima's voice was calm when he spoke. His face had chafed off the angry frown and his eyes were back to their usual pacific flare. The stunned girl's laughter abruptly halted, her gray eyes turning into suspicious slits behind her nearly opaque, horn-rimmed glasses.
What could this guy be up to now? she wondered. Although she would admit she did love playing on her oniisan's temper more than anything, the rare occasions that he would decide to get even were also the rare times Kyoko Fujima felt the acquaintances of fear and uncertainty…
They say that dealing with an angry saint was like meeting a raging wave head on. Not to mention that the said 'saint' had the wile of a fox and the scheming mind of ten Adolf Hitlers.
Kyoko knew it was time to beat it. "Uh…"
Her legs, however instantly turned to lead when she dared once again to meet Fujima's steady gaze. She felt like drowning in the overwhelming emotion she saw in them. The mesmerizing sparkle… The genuine affection… Er, affection? "I… I… I missed you…"
Kyoko's jaw would've dropped all the way down to the core of the earth had she not kept enough of her senses in tact to support the straight expression on her face. God, did she just say Hitlers? Her figure of speech was sure rusting big time…
"Okay, now what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, keeping off the uneasy tremble from his voice.
"It means what it sounds," Fujima replied quietly. "Or are your brain cells rusting awfully that you couldn't--"
"Geez, Kenj!" she hastily cut him off the outset of a jeering speech. "I get your point. I've been really irksome and I know you're saying that because you want me out! Well, buddy, you did scare me with that all right." She raised her hand in surrender and added, "I'm going out in peace, okay?"
A loud, thankful sigh escaped Fujima's throat. "Good."
"I'm going out," Kyoko repeated with emphasis, her eyes glinting with recurring mischief. "But not without your dearie Bun-Bun." She pulled the stuffed bunny from off the bed and hugged it tightly to her chest. Then she put a hand to her chin in a thoughtful gesture that was meant to taunt her adversary. And just imagine how the older Fujima reacted when she said, "I wonder what Mitsui-kun's gonna say when he sees this!"
"SHIT! NO!" Fujima cried, rage once again taking siege of his feature. Kyoko tried to make a run for the door but she had only taken a couple of steps when the heavy, growling body of her oniisan suddenly lunged for her and bore her to the carpeted floor.
And as soon as she became aware of her oniisan's hands on her shoulders, she saw the most grotesque, most gruesome and most numbing vision that had ever assaulted her highly sentient perception.
Her eyes grew wide with fear as she stared back at her brother--eyes blank, face awfully contorted and mouth wide open in a silent scream of terror…
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Fujima knew right away something was going on in his sister's mind the moment he saw her eyes widen, watched her face pale and felt her body tremble under his own.
He abruptly let go of her shoulders and delivered a rattling slap to her face, leaving a nasty red mark on her cheek and sending her glasses flying off a couple of inches away. It instantly woke her out of whatever it was that had taken over her senses.
"What did you see?' the extremely agitated Fujima demanded.
"N-Nanimo," Kyoko's voice caught in her throat as her body continued to shiver.
"What did you see, dammit!" Fujima's voice was louder, more forceful as he delivered yet another slap across his sister's face.
"NANIMO!!!" Kyoko cried, pushing him off roughly. The awfully shaken girl reached out for her glasses, stood up and would've rushed out of the room immediately had not a very startling thing happened…
The television suddenly turned on by itself.
The loud, agitated voice of the roving reporter from the early morning news instantly filled the room. The two Fujimas were unable to move as they both turned to stare at the screen, their heartbeats going ballistic as they digested the plump lady's words…
"…Another teenager has been found dead in his own home for the same unidentified cause that has been plaguing the district these past few days…"
"Kenji, what's happening?" a perturbed Hanagata reappeared on the doorway along with the newly-arrived raven-haired guy. "We heard shouts."
Hisashi Mitsui, eyes instantly darting to the tv screen, groaned loudly and sputtered, "Not that b*11$#*t again! I can't believe people are actually falling for this crap!"
The two Fujimas, however, were barely listening to them. In fact, they may not even be aware of the two guys' presence. The older brunet stared on as the corpse of the said teenager was carried out of his house in a body bag. The reporter went on bluffing as the scene flashed back to an earlier recording, showing the corpse as it was found lying on the kitchen floor this morning.
Fujima's breath caught in his throat as he gazed at the close-up of the guy's awfully contorted face. His nearly bulging eyes were staring up with the orbs nearly disappearing into the upper lids and his mouth was opened wide in a silent scream…
He suddenly heard Kyoko gasp beside him. Consequently turning his gaze on his younger sister, he was just in time to catch her limp and pale body when syncope overtook her.
"KYOKO!" he cried anxiously. Hanagata immediately ran to the bathroom to get a damp towel while Mitsui stayed rooted on the floor, all the while keeping his unwavering, skeptical gaze on the tv.
"F****ng crap…" he mumbled.
==tbc==
A/N 3: I know there ain't much happening yet, but that will come, surely. If you found anything confusing in this chapter, rest assured that things will be explained as the story progresses, k? ^-^
