COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: The characters of Tsubasa Chronicles are part of CLAMP and I acknowledged their right to own them. Other than my own original characters, they are part of CLAMP productions.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, I'm back from my holidays, namely in Taiwan. And yes, I'd like to thank all those readers who had waited patiently for my next chapter. Well, it's here now so enjoy it!

I'm skipping the review-reply section this time since I really don't have much time.

CHRONICLE TWELVE: GRIEVANCES OF A CENTURY (PART I)

"Kuro-pon," Tomoyo started as she paced down the silent dark corridor. "Would you mind traveling down before me?"

"Absolutely not, hime."

"So Kuro-chan is being a little disobedient and naughty here?"

The ninja replied back with silence. He was not going to waste his energy on arguing with a princess who would only talk of corny stuff. The corridor was so dark that only Kurogane's crimson look was one of the shimmering things.

Somehow he wondered how Tomoyo could make her way in the dark. She was right in front and only pitch-black greeted her as she continued down the corridor.

"This is strange," she spoke. "The corridor is silent now."

"That ghost was probably scared away by you."

"Did you say something again, Kuro-chan?" The ninja detected a creepy aura circling around the princess, probably generated by herself. She turned to reveal a complete visage of sinister-looking starry eyes.

"No, I didn't say anything," he turned away from Tomoyo. A sudden howl sounded throughout the corridor again. It was creepy enough for the ninja to be chilled at heart.

"Perhaps we should go back before…" He looked back at the empty spot where the princess had stood earlier. Kurogane had the most shocking expression in the aftermath.

Tomoyo walked through the dark corridor. Even the moonlight could not even penetrate these areas and cobwebs seemed to increase in numbers as she traveled deeper into the building.

"Aren't these areas a little uncared for?" She spoke to herself as she strolled down the dusty floor. Little did the princess know that she was being slowly watched by a dark figure hiding from a wooden beam near the roof.

"This is stupid," the ninja cursed as he looked over the entire area for a girl with royal robes. "I'm gonna kill you the moment I see you, Tomoyo-hime!" His face was just a display of irritancy.

As Kurogane searched the corridor using his senses, there was a slight stir in the stillness of the air. He crept closer to the source of the disturbance, with only pitch-black darkness surrounding. There was only suspense in his heart, similar to the time when Tomoyo had told a bad horror story to her chambermaids.

"Don't give me the creeps," the ninja whispered to himself, quietly reaching the point. His mind was now full of Tomoyo's images of laughing at his internal fear. "A ninja knows no fear!" He ordered himself in his own mind.

The ninja could only just imagine Tomoyo laughing at him again. Kurogane crept closer to the third party in the dark room which he had just entered.

Preparing to face a sinister force, Kurogane drew out his katana from his sheath, together with the metallic sound of it sliding out. He approached the target with suspense, only able to sense it through his hearing.

"Ninja-sama?" He heard a sudden demure voice that sounded familiar to him. "What're you doing in such a place!" Kurogane stopped his katana midway just as he was about to hit the target.

"You're…?" He replaced the katana into the sheath. The ninja only heard a slight giggle from a pair of green eyes looking back at him as soon as the target struck a match to reveal the familiarity.

"That chambermaid?"

"It's Kaori, ninja-sama," she giggled. "It seems you have forgotten my name."

What was left of the ninja was plainly a boy with a blushing face.

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Tomoyo walked through the dusty ground, noticing that the clutter of dust had reached up to her ankles. It was far too peculiar to have this part of the residence to have such an enormous layer of dust.

"This place must have been unkept for a thousand years to reach such a state," she concluded while feeling the dust. Sensing that it was already too dark for the moonlight to reach these quarters, she closed her eyes and began chanting a spell.

Kin…Sui…Do…Hi…Ki!

An instant green flame appeared on her palm, making the surroundings light up with an eerie-looking emerald glow. The on energy was much enough to create an instant dark flame, as the princess had deduced.

The surroundings had lit up to reveal thick looking crimson-coloured pillars with architecture of the same colour. There was no change in Tomoyo's expression with only a look of determination to walk further into the area. In the distance, a ghostly figure floated aimlessly with its blank visage staring at the wandering royal with intrigue.

"What is a person like you doing here?" Kurogane questioned the chambermaid as he noticed Kaori carrying a bowl of purple mesh of unknown material. "Didn't you know this place was rumoured to be haunted?"

"Precisely, ninja-sama," she answered enthusiastically. "This place is haunted, and this is my reason for coming here."

"Reason…?"

"There is a god who resides here in actual fact," Kaori continued fluently. "And I have come to bring his monthly offerings."

"In that case, how did…?"

"Sneaked out?" She giggled again, aware that Kurogane knew only guards were allowed to roam the palace at night for any threat of insurgency. "I can't tell you that."

"Are you in some plot with that pampered wench?" He stared coldly at the chambermaid, intending to intimidate her.

"The pampered wench?" She looked perplexed for a moment before her face turned into an irate expression. "That is rude, ninja-sama. How could you call Hime-sama such a name?"

"She deserves it anyway," Kurogane folded his arms while turning one eye to see Kaori changing the matches. "My life was better without her."

"Tomoyo-himesama isn't always that bad," Kaori struck a second match, re-lighting the corridor again. "She is a very nice princess and treats us chambermaids better than any other princess."

"Tomoko-hime seems like a more reliable person," the ninja retorted. There was sudden queer silence from Kaori.

"Tomoko-hime?" He noticed a sudden outburst from the usually calm chambermaid. "She's one of the most cruel mistress I ever heard of."

"She seems to make full use of her underlings…" His voice trailed off, unable to compare with the larger decibels of Kaori's voice.

"Tomoko-hime is a very cruel princess who ill-treats her own chambermaids!" She halted in her walking, looking at the young ninja.

"Wait," Kurogane responded back quickly. "You don't have to be that agitated!" Kaori stopped for a moment before repeating her giggling again.

"What is your problem?"

"Your face looked rather frightened earlier, ninja-sama," the chambermaid looked back happily at Kurogane. "I didn't expect such a sudden response from a ninja rumoured to be the best in the palace."

Kurogane folded his arms and looked away from Kaori in a sulking mood.

"You're really funny, ninja-sama," she commented. "So why are you in a strange place like here?"

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The princess observed the patterns on one of the red pillars. She could not read the inscriptions engraved on the structure. The words were written in an archaic Chinese writing system that was now even lost in records in Japan. Tomoyo took a step back and thought for a while.

"I have figured everything out," she replied to herself continuing to look at the inscriptions that were illuminated by her magical green flame. A strange presence materialized behind her, giving her chills down her spine.

Tomoyo turned back to only see sheer nothingness. The only thing that had confused her was there was indeed a presence behind her moments ago. She could only turn back now.

"Now, which way was it?" She looked at the dark corridor that was surrounded by endless walls. The only lit area was from the magical flame powered by the on energy, abundant in the room.

"What?" Kaori was startled at Kurogane's answer. "Tomoyo-hime disappeared suddenly when both of you were finding something?"

"I have nothing to be blamed," he grunted and grumbled. "That wench caused herself to be lost."

"Please don't be rude to Tomoyo-hime," Kaori admonished. "Ninja-sama is lucky to have her as a master."

"That is still purely nonsensical," Kurogane interjected at the chambermaid. "In any way, she is just a crazy person who tortures her ninja." Resting the katana on his shoulder, he turned back to Kaori.

"I'm going to search for Tomoyo," the ninja began to fade into the darkness. "You can come along if you wish to."

Hiss…the princessss thatsss arriveddd…

Tomoyo turned around instantly to look at the source of the sound. Only sheer darkness greeted her face. Clearly, she had figured out the entire puzzle of the entire place but her mind could not register a certain mystery lurking in the darkness.

There was something out there in the abandoned building. And it was trying to connect to her mind by psychic means. It was rather obvious to the princess that the presence was certainly not human.

We will be freed by the princesss…

The voice continued to hiss in her head. Trying to ignore the sounding message, Tomoyo continued using the magical flame of hers to exit the dark area.

Sei'kekkai!

A cyanic spherical barrier enveloped the chambermaid, causing Kurogane to stare with a shocked reaction. She reopened her green eyes to affix onto the ninja's crimson pupils.

"You didn't expect a simple maid to know such magic, ninja-sama?" She giggled a little.

"What's so funny?"

"Kaori-chan finds ninja-sama rather funny," she replied back happily. "I didn't expect such a surprised reaction from you."

"That is not funny," Kurogane responded with a solemn look on his face.

"Your eyes still give you away, ninja-sama," she answered back before skipping off into the darkness.

"Wait there, you wench," an angry ninja raced after a playful chambermaid, who seemed more mysterious than she looked to him.

The time has come…princesss

A calm Tomoyo walked down the dusty corridor. The voices had been sounding continuously with only her ignorance. The dark presence seemed to draw closer and closer as the princess made her way out with her guiding emerald flame.

"I expect no resistance from you, Tomoyo-hime," she heard a clear voice in front of her suddenly. The princess looked up to see a figure standing before her, the face hidden behind a grey hood. It was rather strange for someone to wear such strange grey robes.

We're going to need your help…

The same sound began sounding from behind the dark figure's back. In the darkness, there were several pairs of eyes now staring at Tomoyo. Flashbacks of several strange scenes began to fill the princess' mind.

Tomoyo felt her forehead, reopening her eyes once again to notice the dark figure had reached up-close to her. A noticeable purple gas began emanating from the mysterious figure that turned the princess' pupil into a dilated shape.

A bluish glow shone throughout the area, seeping from Tomoyo's unconscious body.

Kurogane turned to his left abruptly, his expression as if he had sensed something was wrong in the area. The ninja was startled at something, as seen by Kaori.

"Something's wrong, ninja-sama?" A small rat wriggled its way out of the dust, quickly vanishing in sight. The ninja gave another sigh. The princess was nowhere to be seen, even with two pairs of eyes finding the lost royal.

"This place is like an utter maze!" The ninja was frustrated with the labyrinth where corridors intersected at several points. The only significant part of it was its crimson walls that gave a rather eerie aura to it. "How can we find her in this place? Stupid princess!" The ninja found a nearby red pillar, leaning against it.

"Kurogane-san," the chambermaid paced up slowly to the ninja, startling him for calling his own personal name. Clasping both her hands together, she looked up at the rather tall ninja. Her face drew closer to the ninja, tiptoeing towards his head.

"W-what the hell are you doing!" Kurogane's tone was becoming nervous, his cheeks turning red slowly. Kaori closed her eyes, nearing the ninja's face. His eyes remained wide open, preparing to accept her.

The ninja's crimson eyes softened, his eyelids beginning to shut. Stretching out his arms to wrap around Kaori's body, Kurogane prepared to accept the sudden kiss.

"Kuro-chan is always cute when he's all red," he reopened his eyes to see a familiar person pulling his cheeks. Her face was all smiles and laughing at her own ninja's naive ness.

"Tomoyo-hime!"

END OF CHRONICLE TWELVE

NEXT CHRONICLE: GRIEVANCES OF A CENTURY (PART II)

SYPNOSIS: Well, this is a two-parter series so I suppose the next chronicle is easy to guess. I bet most of you readers must be confused about what happens to the other Tomoyo. And yes, the hauntings still go on! It's not like I have diverted the storyline.

GLOSSARY:

I suppose most of the terminology were used before.

Sei'kekkai: Techically means 'clear barrier'

THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT GIVEN! I'M REALLY APPRECIATIVE OF IT! NOT TO WORRY; I'LL BE REPLYING TO REVIEWS IN THE NEXT CHRONICLE SO BE SURE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IT TOO.

Here's a poll for you readers out there:

((reply me in your reviews))

What exactly originated from these strange hauntings?

Plainly ghosts, simple ones

Someone is manipulating the thing, aka a mastermind

Be sure to look forward. Bye for now!