An overnight stay

Encounter with the Ghost

Three pairs of footsteps can be heard down the hallway as if pursuing somebody. Not just running steps alone, but also, the sound of their feminine, screaming voices.

"SAKURA!!!"

"Sakura!! Stop!!"

They kept on running to an endless darkness, unable to locate where they friend had gone to. Suddenly, one of them stopped. She crouched down the floor while gasping for air. The tall one paused and looked back at her friend.

"Hinata, stand up! We have to find Sakura!"

"Please... let me... take a break..." Hinata pleaded while her head bowed down.

"You go ahead Ino, we'll tell this to the guys." The brunette suggested as she knelt down to assist Hinata.

Ino paused. She will look for her best friend all by herself. In the middle of this shivering darkness. Can she really withstand all of this? She didn't even know where she was going to find her. Where is she going to start?

"No..." Both of them snapped as they heard the trembling voice of Hinata. "We shouldn't be separated. We all find her together. It's not safe to wander around this mansion alone."

'I could feel it... there's something in this place... And it gives me the chill.'

However, Ino protested trying to hide her weakness, "But Sakura has gone all alone by herself! We don't even know what's happening to her! She's like.. she's not herself anymore."

"Do you think we're safe if we go alone? We'll end up losing each other. We have to find her by group. Let's head back and find the boys." Hinata defended while slowly standing up from her position.

"Anyone have their phones?" Tenten asked.

"I do. I'll call Shikamaru."

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Still in state of shock upon reading the journal that he's holding, the vibrating phone in his pockets snapped him back to reality. He quickly put down the journal and took the phone out of his pockets.

He checked the person who's calling him.

Ino.

"What?"

"Where are you guys?! Why did you leave your room?!" An angry voice from the other line echoed in his ears.

"We were observing the mansion and I found something. Why did you call anyway?" He placed the phone between his cheek and his shoulder to have his free hand get the journal.

"Sakura is..." She trailed off.

Upon hearing the name of the comrade, he couldn't help himself to worry, "What's with Sakura?" He hastily asked.

"She...she ran out of our room. She was terrified. Shikamaru, we couldn't find her! We need your help!"

"Ok I got it. We'll meet you back in your room. Hurry up and go back." Shikamaru immediately called Neji.

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His eyes still glued in the huge portrait that he was looking at. He couldn't figure out why and how that 'girl' is in the portrait because she looks very much like of...

RING. RING. RING.

Finally snapping out of his reverie, he immediately took out his phone from his pocket.

"What?"

"Neji, let's head back. Sakura's missing."

Knowing who called, he was at ease. But the last sentence bounced back like an echo in his mind.

Shikamaru added, "We have to find her as soon as possible or else..."

"Or else what?" Neji curiously asked where he was actually feeling fear for their friend.

"She would be in grave danger."

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RING. RING. RING.

Hearing the succession of phone rings, Sasuke withdraw his eyes from the keyhole and looked at Naruto's location. It was Naruto's phone ringing noisily.

"Hello?" Naruto asked.

"This is Shikamaru. We have to head back immediately." Shikamaru said from the other line, which is also heard by Sasuke. Naruto activated the loud speaker.

"Why? What's happening?"

"...where's Sasuke?"

Naruto leveled the phone in Sasuke's mouth.

"Here."

"We have trouble."

Sasuke had a feeling about the trouble Shikamaru is talking about. And when he heard the trouble, he couldn't help himself being shocked and dead-worried at the same time that he almost dropped into his knees.

"Sakura's missing."

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After several minutes of running back to where they had started, they found out that the news was true.

Sakura was really missing.

Angrily, Sasuke advanced forward to talk face to face with Ino, "What happened? Why was she missing?" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her wildly.

In reaction, Ino shot teary eyes to Sasuke. "I don't know. She was just so quiet... then... then... when we noticed that she was terrified of something we didn't even know, we called her. We thought she would reply, but then... all she did was to run away. And now, we couldn't find her."

"Tsk." He balled his fist as if the anger covered all of his muscles.

"Calm down everybody." Tenten interrupted, feeling the heated Sasuke over the sorrowful Ino. "We are here to find her, not to quarrel over her disappearance." Then she stared at the boys. "Why did you all leave anyway?"

"We're gonna tell you everything after we get ourselves in your room." Shikamaru said and looked to his male comrades, "we're gonna transfer to their rooms. I'll explain what I have."

After depositing their things inside the girls' room, Sasuke demanded to find Sakura as soon as possible, which was in turn, contracdicted by Ino, who wanted to find out why they left and what they found. Shikamaru halted them both and told them that he will tell them everything.

After a full-five seconds of silence, he breathe in and took out the notebook from his pocket.

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'Why did I have to run... why did I run... I couldn't even control my body... why was it running away from my friends...'

Run.

'Who said that?'

Get away from this place.

'Where are you?'

Just go.

'Wait!!'

Sakura found herself in the middle of a room in which all of the furnitures were covered with white fabric. Just where is this place. Where did her own feet lead her?

She wheeled her head from left to right just to figure out where she is.

'Where is this place... Where am I?'

She started walking towards the window sill to have a better look at the other side.

And when she did, she couldn't help herself but to grab her sides to prevent from shaking.

From the other side of the window, she could clearly see three crosses that had stuck on the ground. So this room is on the ground floor... facing the cemetery of the mansion. She gulped all her worries and returned her attention inside the room. It was still raining and it's very cold.

It was very unfortunate for her situation because she didn't even have flashlight nor brought her own cellphone. She only carried herself.

She sat under the window sill and gathered her knees to her chest. She was shivering. Not just from the coldness, but also from the terrifying feeling that she couldn't even describe.

'I'm all alone in this deserted mansion. I couldn't even call everybody to help me. There's something in this place that wants me... but who? What is it? I... I can't stay in this place any longer... I feel like... I'm going to be crazy.'

She brought her head into her knees and started weeping. How helpless.

Hey...

She stopped sobbing when she heard someone spoke.

Stop crying.

She hoped it was Sasuke encouraging her, but the voice was small and feminine.

Talk to me, please.

Slowly, Sakura lifted her head to see who was the person talking to her. At first, she thought it was her eyes fooling her. Well, partly because she had cried and her tears were already dried in her cheeks, yet there are some left in her sockets. But something at the back of her head saying that there's no problem in her eyesight. The image of a young girl, standing right in front of her, was blurred and likely to be transparent.

She's like a ghost.

Instead of being frightened, Sakura was just there, staring back at the kid. Why didn't she run? It's because she could feel that the kid won't harm her, especially when the kid smiled at her. Is someone playing pranks on her?

'What do you want?' Sakura asked in her head, though referring to the kid in front of her.

I want to help you.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in curiosity. This kid wanted to help her?

"Why?" She finally speak out.

You'll be in danger if you stay... There was anxiety in the kid's emerald orbs, just like hers.

Sakura's face softened a little, but the next words the kid had told her gave another shock.

...just like what happened to me.

To be continued
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SDA
A/N: Ok I'm giving you guys another chapter and it took me only ONE DAY to finish this chapter. Well it's because, like I said before, I have lots and lots of things to do. I hope you like the CLIFFIES, yes, every horror/mystery/suspense fics should have cliffies like this. (evil grins) Well, I'm so happy, really happy, that you guys like this fic. Actually, I thought nobody would like it. Special mention to Izumi, you're my frequent reviewer! Thank u so much! And knowing that you're a Filipino makes me so happy, too!

Ugh to those readers who knows what will happen next, please don't reveal it yet. Let the others feel the suspense . Spoilers ain't doing good you know. Another thing, the request for 'kilig moments' or 'romantic scenes' will be granted FOR the next chapters. I hope you guys continue to R&R my fics.