CHAPTER TWO: INTRIGUE AND TERROR

"Are you sure she's okay with just skates?" Hanagata inquired a little worriedly, turning in his seat to look at the unduly placid brunet. The guy, in turn, simply kept his gaze on the downtown views passing by the car window on the right side of the backseat as the sleek vehicle sped down the road to Kanagawa University. "Kenji?"

"She's not easy to get rid of, y'know," came the perfunctory, yet sharply sarcastic reply which deftly gained an amused whistle from Mitsui and a sigh of frustration from the utterly annoyed glassman.

Hanagata leaned back in his seat a little huffily as his eyes turned back to the view ahead. He honestly could not tell what was happening to his buddy. Ever since Kyoko came to live with him a couple of weeks ago, he had not been acting like his usual self most of the time. Always wearing that faintly dazed expression on his face, making sailors blush with all the foul words his debased mouth had been spitting out, and saying all the mean, sarcastic things you'd least expect from a fine-mannered guy.

It wasn't much help that they've acquired the company of ex-gangster Hisashi Mitsui, either...

"Dammit!" the raven-haired guy behind the wheels hissed as he was forced to bring the car to stop at a red light.

Hanagata managed a slight smile as he watched a white cab park beside the former MVP's BMW. Now how did they ever end up being with Mitsui anyway? It wasn't like he didn't dig the idea, of course. But, of all people, why him?

The guy in question impatiently tapped his fingers on the steer, awaiting the altering of traffic lights. "I've got a very bad feeling we'd be late for class!" he sputtered, looking utterly irked. Incidentally, all three of them decided to take the same course at the district university, went to take the exam at the same time, and were given the exact same schedule of classes. This being the case, the perceptive Fujima figured it would be best if they hooked up together. Anyway, they've been relishing each other's acquaintances ever since last year's Winter Tournament, during which they were among the very few high school seniors who didn't retire and stayed till the very end to help their respective teams to victory.

"Ten minutes to first period," the matter-of-fact brunet announced calmly from the backseat. "We've got plenty of time."

Hanagata looked up at the rearview mirror, hoping to see a Fujima who was open at last for conversations. He, however, wasn't able to keep himself from sighing once again upon seeing the ever-so-nonchalant Fujima staring out the window like a psychotic freak. The passengers of the adjacent cab regarded him with an irritated frown but he kept on staring right at them, as though he wasn't aware of his own action...

For all he knew, the guy might even be staring right through reality...

"Kenji, you're giving those people the creeps," Hanagata reprimanded half-jokingly as he silently wished the light would turn green soon enough to save them from trouble.

"Huh? What?" Fujima sputtered, as though suddenly waking out of a deep trance. This, nevertheless, got his eyes off the cab's concurrently vexed and timorous passengers.

"Whatever," Hanagata mumbled as Mitsui's roarish laughter instantly filled the vehicle. A faint sigh was all the response that was heard from the backseat as the car jerked forward to resume its drive.

"You look rather off, Kenj," Mitsui remarked whilst attempting to stifle the rest of his chuckles. "Is anything bothering you?"

Hanagata regarded the scar-faced guy with an amused frown, not really expecting their new friend to voice out the question that had been bugging him for days, but which he had not gotten the guts to ever ask. He knew Fujima well. Well enough to understand that at a time like this, it was better to leave the little guy alone. He may be able to tolerate girls wanting to shake his hands or take his picture and autograph like he's some big movie star or something. But when it came to meddling with his personal affairs, Kenji Fujima was rather easy to irritate. Yeah, not even he--Toru Hanagata, the supposed best friend--had ever been able to find the guts to even try.

So it definitely was amusing for Hisashi Mitsui--who had only been with them for a month--to be sticking his cheeky nose into a personal matter. Though the question was delivered rather casually, it was still a meddling one, nevertheless...

And Hanagata's amusement went up yet a notch when the guy concerned simply sighed and turned his gaze back to the passing views. What? No sallying smartass reply superimposing a serious threat that could never be ignored? No raised eyebrows and a contemptuous gaze that could send anybody plummeting straight to the seething fires of hell...? Okay, so maybe Hanagata was exaggerating a little too much, but really. Fujima acting like this--looking like crap, keeping silent like he had just been transported back from prehistoric earth and was doomed to stare into the world with that haunted expression on his fair face was downright... creepy.

"Hello? Earth to Fujima?" Mitsui exclaimed jokingly as he geared the car into the gate of the university. His words, however, only hit vacuous wind as the still unresponsive brunet kept his unwavering attention nailed on... nothingness. An irritated groan grated the raven-haired guy's throat in response. "God, you're creeping me out!"

Hanagata couldn't keep the wry smile from touching his lips. Trust Mitsui to voice out what's exactly on his mind. He was beginning to think they were somehow telepathically connected.

They decided to leave the guy alone for a while as they searched for a perfect spot to park the BMW in. Besides, how could they be sure it was really Fujima sitting at the backseat and not some crafty, pretentious Martian disguised as their friend? Okay, so maybe that was a little off, yet still an exacting explanation, wasn't it? They would've fallen for it if they had been a little bit younger, perhaps... But right now they did have other important things to bother about.

Like how hard it was to find a place for their car as all parking space seemed to have been taken already by the earlier birds...

"I can't start imagining how crowded this place is," Mitsui remarked as they slowly drove pass a line of cheap and classy, sparkling new and tarnishing old cars bordering one side of the driveway. Not to mention the different species, breeds and classes of people scurrying and scampering about the campus grounds in a desperation to reach their respective classes on time.

"I wouldn't even try," Hanagata simply remarked in reply. Well, this is it, he silently told himself as he watched the teeming scene outside. Just the mere thought of being in college had excited him for weeks and now that he was here at last, he couldn't keep the excitement, as well as the agitation from completely overwhelming him. Who knew what and how much could happen in their first day at the university? Who knew what kinds of people they would meet--gain the acquaintance or detestation of?

And who knew how many fine, young ladies--

"She saw something," a quiet voice suddenly cut through Hanagata's chugging train of thoughts. He snapped back to the present just in time to hear the car engine snuff out as a questioning whine resonated from Mitsui's throat. The bespectacled guy only had a second to realize that while he was engaged in his own quiet musings, the car's clever driver had somehow managed to squeeze his sleek BMW into a parking space at the end of the line of vehicles. Only a second, for immediately following it was an unexpected conversation with the queer stranger at the backseat that barely hinted an answer to the mystery surrounding Kenji Fujima, but instead made things a little bit weirder and hazier...

"He talked," Mitsui muttered in mock shock as his eyes widened in an exaggerated look of astonishment, as though he had just heard a baby utter the longest word in the dictionary.

Hanagata looked intently at his friend and noted with concern that the guy had turned a shade paler. "She saw what, Kenji?"

"I don't know," the reply came in a mere whisper as Fujima stared into space, almost literally boring a hole into the adjacent van. "But it scared her."

Mitsui and Hanagata simply looked at each other with matching expressions that seemed to quietly say "Souka..." They both remembered how Fujima's kid sister paled like blanched sheet at the sight of the dead guy on the TV. And how her wan body fainted into the arms of her unduly agitated brother. The matter seemed forgotten when Kyoko regained her consciousness and time didn't let them question the two Fujimas on what had just happened either. The younger one was immediately back to her normal and loud annoying self anyway, so Hanagata and Mitsui decided it was not much of a big deal.

But it seemed to have drained the older Fujima of all the zest and will to stay alive...

"I've been careless," the still very screwed up guy went on. "I shouldn't have let myself get that close to her."

Brows raised as inquiring blue eyes snapped back to the still rather insensate guy.

"She shouldn't have come. Strange things happen whenever she's around..."

Hanagata thought for that short while that his friend finally made sense, somehow. It may not be clear yet how Kyoko was able to do so, but something really, really, downright STRANGE sure was happening to Kenji--and it all began ever since she moved in...

He strained to scrutinize his friend's face closely--wholly expecting to find it marred by intense hatred and animosity. He would've understood if that was the case--what with how that sly kid embarrassed him just a while ago... But Hanagata didn't find even a trace of such emotions dwelling on his friend's countenance. Instead, what he saw was anxiety... and desolation.

"She's not supposed to be here," the statement was a little too inaudible that Hanagata nearly missed it.

What's happening to you, Kenji?

-----------0-----------

Kyoko Fujima skated excitedly pass a line of cherry blossom trees in full bloom, occasionally catching a handful of the glorious pink outpourings and deeply inhaling the lovely scent before throwing the flower petals above her head in childlike delight. It was a wonderful morning, indeed. And she couldn't wait to get to her new school.

The tall white buildings soon came into view. Kyoko came close to the red brick fence and brushed her hand along the cold asphalt as she skated on, humming a soft happy tune she made up herself, until her lithe fingers came into contact with the gold-bordered steel plate bearing the name of the school in Kanji characters. She came into a complete stop in front of it and smiled widely as she read aloud the neat, gold engravings on the contrasting black background, "Shohoku High School." It was a lovely name, as she would say so herself--and second more than willingly if nobody ever wanted to agree.

The cherry blossom petals swirling pass the steel plate added more drama, more romance to that simple, innocent sight and it made Kyoko's poetic and unduly empathic heart flutter. If her skates could only grow wings, she would've flown all the way up into the clouds.

"Shohoku…" she said again, savoring every syllable, every letter of the exquisite name. "Shohoku…" She loved saying it already and felt like she could go on chanting it for the rest of the day. "Shohoku… Shohoku…"

"Why Shohoku?" Her brother's voice suddenly rang in her ears as her memory flashed back to a certain conversation--or, more like, CONFRONTATION that took place about a week ago. "You can easily get into Shoyo--"

"I don't wanna be in Shoyo!" she had replied in a whiny voice. "I don't wanna have to deal with all your stupid fan girls asking stupid questions about you, begging me to deliver stupid gifts to you, and telling me how stupidly in-love they are with you--"

"You find that bothering?" Even though that statement was delivered in a somewhat casual manner and without much emotions, whatsoever, it spurred within Kyoko a disturbing wave of sentiment…

Damn! "Bothering my ass!" she snarled, masking her face with a deep, vicious frown which served to cover up the tremor that the simple question had induced within her.

"Even still, that's the shallowest reason I have ever heard," Fujima went on, nonchalantly stirring the cup of coffee he had been preparing for himself.

"Well, I've been telling you a more sensible reason, but you just wouldn't believe it!" she huffed impatiently.

"Sensible my ass," her oniisan's counter was perfunctory, but its sheer likeness to her reply a while ago was scathing enough to nettle her. However, instead of raking her brain for a smartass reply, she decided to just stalk off, vowing to take revenge the very next chance she got.

And this morning, she had just successfully avenged her disgraced ego…

Kyoko sighed and slowly turned her head to the sides and up to admire the adjoining white buildings that were going to be her cradle of knowledge for the next three years. What was her reason again for choosing this school among many others? She would admit it wasn't really a sensible reason for other people, but it was the biggest deal to her.

Somebody had called her… Summoned her to come here…

She didn't know who it was exactly or what sex "IT" belonged to. All she could be sure of was that it was somebody from here. From this school. For it wasn't only once that this very place had appeared vividly and in perfect detail in her dreams…

She felt it deep in her heart… In her soul… The urgency and desperation was just so hard to ignore that here she was now, giving herself to the full mercy of that somebody--whoever he/she may be.

She had expected her brother to be the first to understand her on this. But Kenji had changed… Or so it seemed to her… He wasn't the same person she had used to--

Kyoko shook her head roughly to disperse that disturbing thought into dust of oblivion. She couldn't let herself fall into the pits of the past now that she had a present to live in--a wonderful and exciting present!

She decided to enter the campus, only to once again stop at the gateway to look at the bustling activities around. Girls and boys, whether in groups or couples were joyously talking to each other about their vacation escapades. Some were standing in the middle of the campus, some were talking under the shades of the tree cluster to her right, while some where chatting as they made their way to the school building. The scene looked nice and inviting. She liked the idea of being here already.

In fact, if it didn't look stupid and not much of an attention-grabber, she would've dropped to her knees right then and there and kissed the sacred ground of her new school. But, of course, for decency's sake, she had to keep herself from doing that, lest be branded a retard for life.

She nodded and smiled in response to a couple of nice girls who passed by her on their way in. Realizing she should also be going too, Kyoko rolled her skates a couple of inches forward… That was just as far as she was able to go before she was suddenly assaulted by a most numbing and unnerving feeling

She felt like the atmosphere had suddenly changed. The air was heavier and thicker and the people around the campus were all but a part of another dimension. The dimension she had just been a part of a while ago… The dimension living beings like her belonged to…

She cautiously scrutinized the whole place with the same kind and level of agitation she had felt for the very first time earlier this morning. She could not remember being this scared prior to this day.

The place looked quite the same as before, except that she knew it wasn't the same Shohoku she had regarded highly a while ago. Not the same school she had vowed to keep her loyalty to for the rest of her high school life.

It looked the same, all right, yet very different. Frighteningly different.

Her eyes traveled slowly along the scene, the happy chit-chats now sounded like mere blurs to her ears… Something that belonged to a distant past and of which she had but a bare memory of.

She was now in a different world… A different--

Her breath suddenly seemed to merge in a terrible embolus that nearly cut her supply of air completely. Her eyes had just rested upon a strange entity standing at the farthest end of the line of trees to her right.

The sight was so out of place… So damn scary. The being was just… standing there. Whether or not "IT" was staring at her, Kyoko couldn't be sure since a curtain of long black hair was covering "ITs" face… But "IT" was facing her.

"IT" was after her…

Kyoko gasped at the sudden onslaught of force… A pernicious, seething force that nearly burst her into shards of bones and flesh. It wasn't just a simple entity, she knew. Not quite the same as the ones she had been used to seeing everyday. This one was strong. This one was powerful… and evil.

"Kite…" Kyoko wasn't sure if she heard that soft, yet demanding voice from outside or inside her head. "Koko de…"

Chill instantly ran down her spines and perked all her goosebumps up when the frail arms cased in long white sleeves stretched out in a beckoning gesture. Her eyes almost bounced out of her face when she saw that not a single one of that entity's ghastly pale fingers had a nail…

"Help me," the statement came as an order, a decree that struck Kyoko with a more weakening pressure… A more gripping urgency to succumb to the call.

She unconsciously rolled her skates toward that entity. Closer… and closer still… Each advance she took making her lose control over herself, her own thoughts and disposition. What are you doing? she asked herself in a panic, unable to gain control of her legs. Don't…

She knew she was slowly losing… Losing in a battle that she had never expected to ever be in. The infernal force was winning her over. The cruel, vengeful feeling--

A strong gush of wind suddenly snapped her right out of her trance. Well, nearly. For her approach didn't halt until the wind assaulted the entity ITself and made the drapery of long hair covering "ITS" face fly off in all directions.

That was when Kyoko saw the face of the one who had summoned her. That was when she completely gained control over herself and let her fearful eyes widen as they registered the most terrifying sight before her…

She took a step back… and another… and another, until something solid made hard contact with her butt and sent her reeling forward in space. The whole paranormal experience was quickly pushed into oblivion as she consequently lost her footing and began toppling toward the cold, rough asphalt, shrieking in all her startled disgrace.

Soon she found herself pinned on the ground by a massive weight that was pressing her face to the dirt-infested surface, satisfying though rather wretchedly one of her deepest, ardent desires of the day…

She--swirly eyed and barely breathing--was finally kissing the sacred ground of her new school.

==tbc==


A/N: This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I got too carried away that it got way, way too long! So I had to cut it into two chapters. I'll try to post the next update as soon as I've fixed it. And, yeah-uh, krappkarmin-chan, Rukawa's indeed up there, look ^_~