Chapter 01: Room 609
The distant click-clack of heels echoed throughout the long and narrow hallway in a precise meter. The walls were white—almost blindingly so. But then, everything was. Even she, with her pale complexion and her fair hair, seemed as if she could meld seamlessly into the walls. She could have been an angel, dressed in robes of shimmering white and gliding against the expanse of nothingness. But the vision was marred by the violent clash indigo beads around her neck, and her piercing onyx eyes hiding behind a mask of glass.
She continued to walk past the endless stretch of numbered doors—606…607…608…609—she paused, white heels coming to a sudden halt. The door was white. She coughed, adjusting her glasses with her free hand as she surveyed the clipboard in her other hand. "Asakura Yoh." She read the print on the pristine sheet of paper slowly, getting a feel for the name. It would be on her lips quite often from this point on. She allowed her eyes to peruse the rest of the profile, skimming briefly over all the general information. Her concentration broke and she blinked, rereading the last line.
"Cause of admittance: Found sleeping in the cemetery; claims to communicate with what he refers to as 'spirits'."
She adjusted her silver framed glasses again and frowned, idly questioning her peculiar career choice. Knowing that such thoughts were useless and that she still had a job to complete, she turned the knob and opened the door with a loud creak. She proceeded through the door and released her feet from their immaculate prisons, placing them off to the side of the small groove next to the doorway. She stepped into the room finally, padding softly on the plush carpeted floor—white of course. She removed her white lab coat—leaving her in a white collared blouse—and placed it on the back of the chair set in the center of the room before sitting down.
So focused on the matter at hand was she that the only other occupant of the room thought it unnecessary to interrupt. He stared curiously at the newcomer from his cross-legged position on the single bed, wondering if this was the person that eccentric doctor had mentioned. He blew dark bangs from his face to clear his vision, resting his cheek in his palm as she continued to ignore his existence.
"Name." Her voice cut through the tiny room like a knife, as she crossed her legs and adjusted the clipboard to a comfortable position on her knee. When she heard no response, her grip on her pen tightened and she grit her teeth in impatience.
"Name." She repeated loudly, finally looking up to face him. He blinked—black eyes that matched her own—before nodded sheepishly.
"Ah... sorry...mine?" She was taught many things as a child, virtue, integrity, courtesy, and of course patience. But even she, with her perfected mask of indifference, could not quell the bubble of annoyance at the sheer stupidity of the person in front of her. She calmed herself with a deep breath and resisted the temptation to roll her eyes, instead responding in a dull monotone, "Yes."
"But don't you already know it?" He asked, indicating the name at the very top of her collection of papers. She tapped it casually with her pen as she readied her response, "We need you to verify your identity because no form of identification was found on your person at the time you were admitted and since you were sleeping. This information was given by people who may know you but we can't be sure of that unless you state your name."
If he was at all fazed by the coldness of her tone he hid it well, "Asakura Yoh."
"Date of birth." She commanded more than questioned. He raked a hand though his chocolate colored hair, frowning thoughtfully, "I thought it was customary to introduce yourself after asking someone for their name?"
This time she did roll her eyes, though she made sure her blond bangs covered the action, "Kyouyama Anna."
"That's a pretty name; nice to meet you Anna." He smiled pleasantly, cheeks dimpling and eyes crinkling at the sides. He was completely ignored.
"Kyouyama san." She corrected immediately, frowning slightly at the use of her first name without even the suffix. Just 'Anna' seemed so... informal. 'Anna' at all seemed much too informal.
"Date of birth."
"May 12th, 1985."
"Age."
"Twenty-four."
"Occ—" She sneezed suddenly, body trembling from head to toe, and dropped her pen in the process.
"Are you okay?" He asked concernedly, leaping off the bed instantly and kneeling down in front of her to pick up the fallen object.
"Fine. It's... just a bit cold in here." She muttered, putting on her jacket once more.
"Here." He smiled, handing her the pen while still kneeling on the ground. She took it from his hand wordlessly, and waited for him to get back to his bed so she could continue with the questioning. He stayed in place, head cocked to the side and looking at her in wonderment.
"What?" She snapped, surprising even herself with the irritation clearly evident in her voice. He blinked and looked up to meet her eyes. Her face might have colored had it not been so incredibly cold in that room. Where his eyes had been she could only imagine and she had to firmly restrain her hand from slapping him for being a pervert.
He grinned cheekily and she wondered how someone could possibly smile that many times in a ten minute interval, before he finally answered, "That's a nice necklace you have there."
She blinked in surprise, he was just so amazingly random that she was finding it quite hard to keep up. "I… guess..."
"So where'd you get it?" He asked, back in a sitting position on his bed.
"I'm not s—" She glared at him for getting her off topic, "...Occupation."
Another irritatingly happy grin, "I'm a shaman."
She blinked, "What...is a shaman?"
His grin seemed to grow even wider, if that was at all possible, "Me."
She swore she was going to develop a permanent eye twitch as she resisted the urge to slap him for the second time that day, that hour in fact. Standing up so forcefully that she almost knocked down the chair in the process, she turned to leave. "That should be enough for today."
"Ahh...Anna?"
"Kyouyama san." She replied firmly.
"Kyouyama san then," he repeated, "Would you mind bringing me some music?" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "They kinda confiscated my CD player while I was asleep."
She slipped on her shoes and opened the door, not once deigning to look back at him, "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks, Anna." The door slammed shut.
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Once outside, she gasped for air and loosened the viselike grip she didn't know she had on her jacket. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she closed her eyes, letting the warmth of the hallway flood into her. Why had it been so cold in there?
She shook her head in confusion and leaned gently against the door to room 609. Asakura Yoh… he seemed quite normal, albeit his all too cheerful face and demeanor in this strange twisted world. But sometimes, even the most normal of people could really be...mentally unstable. Just thinking about him seemed to give her a headache. Shaking her head again and questioning once more her odd profession, the pale blond began to walk in the opposite direction of the white rooms, her clacking heels echoing throughout the hallway again.
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"...So...what do you think of her Amidamaru?" Yoh asked softly, eyes lingering on the white door.
'She has the aura of an itako, I think. I'm sure she felt my presence when I went near her. And those beads look awfully like…' The translucent samurai spirit answered, floating in a cross-legged position much like his friend.
"No...that's not what I meant..."
'Yoh dono?' The spirit asked, curious.
"She was... pretty wasn't she...?"
'Ah?'
"No..." Yoh shook his head slightly, grinning his trademark grin, "...never mind..."
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A/N:
To those who have already read the first version of this fanfic: I am so horribly terribly truly sorry! I know I am the worst updater in the history of fanfics and I apologize so much. The last chapter of the fic had actually been completed a while ago but I was so unhappy with the product and the story in general that I had to revise it. But I'm so much happier with the first chapter now because of the updated writing style and the fact that I have a better grasp on what I want to write. I really do love this idea and want to do it proper justice. Thank you so much if you are still reading and will continue to read as I revise the other chapters and finish this story once and for all.
To those who are new to this fic and are somewhat interested: Welcome! I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and be thankful that you did not read the other one. I'll try my best to revise the rest of the chapters as soon as I can so that you don't have to read the other poorly written chapters after this shiny new one. :laugh: If you do read onwards, please try to ignore the emo!A/Ns at the ends of the other chapters, I'm rather embarrassed about them now…
To everyone: As always, if you liked the fic and/or have any comments/etc. please leave a nice review, preferably more than one word. All reviews are loved, of course, but reviews with actual content are always appreciated much more. Also, I know I'm not very active on anymore, save for updating this multichapter at the moment, but I do drabble quite a bit on my livejournal (linkon my profile) if you'd like to check out more fics from me.
Until next time, then!