Hi, DD here. Hope you will like this chapter. Enjoy…
Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel… damn, must practice on my hypnotic skills… and I need to learn Japanese… Hmm.
Warnings: Like in the chapters before will it be OOC-ness, some curses and language. Hmm, anything else… I don't know, not what I can think about. Italics are still thoughts… Oh, and my craziness starts to reveal itself, just so you know. ;D
The ghost carriage.
Chapter 3
They all sat like statues and tried to listen to the sound. But nothing was to be heard.
"What the hell?" asked Krad. "No, this is nothing to joke about. Stay here, I'll go and see what this is all about". He pushed himself from the chair and went outside the room, closing the door behind him.
They heard him pace down the stair, walk through the hall, open the main door and take a step out on the gravel. He said something, but his voice was too inaudible for them to hear the words. The silence returned. The group of nine people, still in the Lounge, sat on the proverbial needles. With was the lucky one, he had fallen asleep in his bowl of strawberries, completely unaware of the world around him.
Under five minutes was the room ruled by a gravely silence, then, a horse snorted and the carriage started to drive down the road again. They expected Krad to join them again, but several minutes passed away before they realized that that was not the case. During the wait became the twins more and more pale, and hold onto to each other, Emiko had grasped her husbands hand and Daiki had placed himself behind Daisuke's chair, eyes widened.
Dark couldn't stop his thoughts from flying in his head, but the last thing he wanted to think about was the connection between the story Krad had told them and what might had happened outside. 'Oh no, don't go there… think about something else… think about… With! Stupid With, how can that rabbit sleep now? Oh, I wish I could sleep in a bowl of strawberries… wait, eww…' He opened his mouth: "Won't he come back?"
"Maybe one of us should go down and see what's keeping him" suggested Kosuke nervously.
"Yes, you can go" said Saehara. "I'm not leaving this chair, its way to comfortable for having one of you snatching it while I'm looking after Krad, who's probably just standing outside the main door".
Kosuke stood up unwillingly, but Emiko threw herself at his arm and grasped it in a tight hold before he could do anything.
"NO!" she screamed. "I will not loose my husband just so you can sit in a chair that you have to leave when we're going home. Kosuke is staying right here with me." The relief in Kosuke's face when he sat down again couldn't be mistaken on. Saehara saw this and chortle. Dark was amused to, but he had this bizarre picture of him sleeping in a bathtub filled with strawberry jam in his head.
"Well, we all can go, together" Satoshi ended the discussion. He stood up and walked to the doorframe. "Are you coming?"
Daiki joined him with the words: "Why not. Ending my days getting kidnapped by a carriage from who-knows-were sounds… quite different from the usual stories of old age and stuff". His eyes glittered in hidden amusement.
"Come on Dark, Saehara are you not eager to find the logic behind this story?" Satoshi raised an eyebrow and leered at them. The two in question looked at each other and walked grudgingly to the door.
"Yeah… it is better if we stay together, so come on the rest of you…" stated an anxious Emiko.
"Yeah, come here dear. Let's go and find Krad. Don't forget With Dai-chan." Kosuke agreed.
They walked out from the room, Emiko held a tight hold onto Kosuke's hand. Daisuke had With on his head and Riku, who embraced his arm. Risa quickly ran to Dark, glomped him and said with her best puppy eyes:
"Krad's okay, right?"
"Yeah, sure he is". Saehara glowed in pure confidence "He's probably just hiding somewhere to… hrm teach me, and Dark a lesson because we laughed earlier, isn't he?" The last part was directed to the bluenett.
"Hn…" came the reply.
They went down the stair and were about to step outside the door when Satoshi called:
"STOP! Do NOT walk on the gravel. Look for any marks after horse hooves or wheels. They should show up quite clearly today, no one else has used the road since yesterday…"
"Ok" said… someone.
They searched through the road, and when they could not find any marks, started they to scan the garden. The result came up negative, no Krad, nada, zip, zero, NOTHING!
"Well, we've walked and searched through the garden now for the last 30 minutes. Krad is obviously not here" Stated Daiki while supporting a pale Satoshi.
"No, that's because he's inside the mansion. We haven't checked there yet." Saehara spoiled the eerie mood Daiki tried to build up.
Once inside the mansion again, they stood in the hall and looked at each other.
"Well, were do we start? From the bottom and up or…?" Riku asked.
"Yeah, that's a good idea girlie." Saehara agreed. "Let's start in the basement."
Satoshi nodded, turned around and opened an almost hidden door.
"Basement." He said while turning on the light. "Watch the stair."
Saehara walked down the steep stair and the rest followed him. Daisuke stopped by his friend:
"Are you feeling okay? You look rather pale…"
Satoshi only nodded in response.
They looked trough the food store and the wood store: No Krad. There was no sign of him in the liquid store either, nor the wine vault, or anywhere else in the basement for that matter…
This forced the group to move up one floor, to the main floor. They looked in the kitchen and surprised the servants and chefs. Krad was not to be found in the living room, the dining room, the wardrobes nor the bath rooms. After their little search through the kitchen had the servants joined in so is was a quite large group that looked for Krad now. But despite the fact of many eyes the result from the main floor came up the same as for the basement: no Krad.
"Where can he bee?" Emiko looked behind the shower curtain just to spot: a clean shower and a hard soap located on a shelf.
"Not here, moving on, he's higher up. Come on." Saehara cheered up the group. Regrettably, this pep talk only worked on: himself and Risa, but the sooner was hugging Dark's waist so her faked cheerfulness could depend on other reasons…
On the second floor were Krad's and Satoshi's bedrooms…
"What? Do you sleep in this?"
"Give that to me!"
"What is this? Handcuffs? My, my, I didn't know you were kinky"
"I'm not, police work, give them to me, and frankly I don't think Krad is in one of my drawers…"
"Ouch, touchy"
Satoshi death glared, but to no use; Saehara and Dark had an early Christmas… and it's also very hard to give a proper death glare with a pink face while holding pyjamas, handcuffs and other things in your arms.
"Check under the bed" instructed Saehara Dark
"No one there, not even dust bunnies…"
"Crap, Oh well, next room, moving on."
"Oh, look. Krad's bed room…"
"Were is his pyjamas?" asked Dark
"…"Satoshi smiled evilly.
"Oh…OOH!" Dark made a very good imitation of a beetroot.
"Oh man, is this his computer?" asked Saehara suddenly.
"Yes, but don't touch it…"
UUUUUOOOOOIIIII… BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEP… UUUUUOOOOOIIIII…
"…It has an alarm. Krad has a very twisted sense of humor" Satoshi pressed a button and the alarm went blurp.
"I see. Dark check under the bed and Riku: the wardrobes"
"Yeah…" Dark bent down, pulled up the neat, white coverlet "AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH"
"WHAT?"
Dark pulled out a Halloween mask from its place under the bed.
"…"
Nothing happened to Riku, more then she saw Krad's clothes, sock's, V-strings and…
"Why does someone have a whip in their wardrobe?" She muttered while closing the door, frowning.
They also looked into the bed rooms for the guests before they were joined up with the group existing of the Niwas and the servants who had looked through the studio and the other rooms on the floor. The result for them was that Krad was still missing.
During this time had Satoshi become deadly white and was swaying, supported by both Daiki and Daisuke. Risa was clinging almost hysterical to her sister and cried in silent sobs while Dark and Saehara checked the last guest room.
"Nah, he's not here either…" Dark pulled back the coverlet and straightened himself.
Saehara lay on the floor checking under the wardrobe before he gave up.
"No, he's not. Do we have any other places to check?"
"Only the attic" said Satoshi in a very small, pitiful voice. "But I doubt that he'll be there. It has only one entrance and there is no light and… we will need a ladder and a flashlight…"
"Oh" was the replay from someone. The servants gave up the search for the reason that the attic was small enough for the friends to check, besides master gone or no master gone they needed to clean the dishes…
"Kyuu"
The ten friends found a stepladder and one flashlight in a cubbyhole near the 'entrance' to the attic; or more a hole in the roof with a door opening downwards. Dark stepped up on the ladder and pulled down the door, causing a fine grey powder to fill the air and covering the small group.
"… Yeah, we haven't been up there for a long time…" Satoshi explained. "Any footprints?"
"…Nooo" admitted Dark. "Not what I can see…"
"What? Let me" Saehara and Dark change places. "No, he's not here."
"… and he's not in the rest of the mansion nor the garden" reminded Daiki in a calm voice.
"THAT'S IT" screamed Risa. "This is all YOUR FAULT!" She had finally lost it and pointed to Dark and Saehara "If YOU TWO hadn't laughed so… SO SCORNFULLY at the ghosts, then MAYBE they hadn't KIDNAPPED Krad. This is SO YOUR FAULT… sob, sob" She started to cry loudly.
Dark kneeled down and looked dazed: 'My little cutie can't be gone… not like this, no way… He promised me an unforgettable evening… not for I can forget this one, but I want the memorable evening HE had planned!'
Saehara on the other hand choose to take the other extreme: he became hysterical: "I DON'T WANNA STAY IN THIS FING HOUSE ONE MINUTE MORE, DO YA HEAR? I WANT OUT FROM HERE NOW" He stormed down to the main door. "CALL A CAB OR WHATEVER IF YOU'RE NOT GOING HOME NOW MRS. NIWA. I'll WAIT AT THE CARS. My condolences for your brother Satoshi, or AAAAHH, you know…." His voice drifted of as he walked down the small road.
The other passengers in Emiko's car had to make a hastily farewell to their host.
"We're going; I don't like this at all, leaving that poor kid all alone in this condition…" No one really grasped if Emiko was talking about Saehara or Satoshi.
"Are you going to be alright?" Asked Daisuke and looked on Satoshi.
"Yes, Dai-chan… I'm fine" was the answer.
"Sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure… I'm fine."
They all (except Satoshi) departed from the haunted house and walked down to the cars.
"I can't drive Riku, not like this. You have to drive us home" said Risa.
"ME? My whole frame is shaking, and I don't know what to think. Do you really want me to drive you?"
"Oh, I can drive you" offered Daiki. "You don't live too far from our house, I can walk home."
"Great"
"Yup, and it's better for me: ghost usually wants to have youngsters…"
"WHA? AAAAAARRRGGHHHH! WE WANT HOME!"
The two groups jumped into their cars. The still dazed Dark, who had been dragged down to the cars by Kosuke was pushed into the backseat with the other boys. Kosuke drove. There was no happy chitchatting during the way home; everyone tried the best to melt the experience. Dark had zoned out, Daisuke was worried sick about Satoshi and Emiko was still ranting about that poor boy whoever that was. Saehara mumbled incoherently: "He wasn't in the garden so he had to be in the mansion, but we couldn't find him there so he had to be outside… and there were no tracks, so there was no carriage, but we all heard it…" The only one that seemed composed was With, he had nuzzled up in Dark's lap.
Satoshi saw them drive off to the city through a window on the second floor. He had left a note to the cleaning staff about the mess in the attic and the light ball in said room. After the cars was gone, he turned and walked slowly to his bedroom, not noticing the dark shadow that paced soundlessly towards him.
yeah, that was a long chapter... and it's not over yet... I have a very nasty little suprise left for Dark. giggle
And thaks to the reviewers:
Hakudoshi-chan: Yep, it's getting creepy, but don't think this is the end.. MUAHAHAHAHA
Dark Mousy 0: Don't kill me... please. I made this chapter extra long just for you, hope you like it. D
Weirdness Rocks: Yeah, I like cliffers in my own stories. they make sure that the readers will come back. Hope you like this cliffy to. XD
Timetill: HI! I like your stories... yes, I though that Dai-chan and the crew could deal with some ghost, or something like that...