Chapter 16
TT: Well spotted to those who noticed that only 15 minutes had pasts – and not 3 hours like Kyo thought. Why? My guess is as good as yours, I just felt compelled to put it in. Still, added to the spook factor, at least.
And you all got it right – those poltergeists were all the previous Cats of the Sohma that had been locked away, the one that had a visible form being Kazuma's grandfather, the previous cat. hands out biscuits
DragonLady - .…Uh, what are rockets? (lol, we probably have them hear and I just don't eat them!)
Dark - munches Yum, ButterFinger! But yeah, that was a subtle thing you picked up on, Kyo's more comfortable with talking to ghosts than living people.
Thanks to everyone who said I succeeded in making the part with the main house spooky – I wasn't sure, and reassurance is good! -;;
Exams start next Wednesday, and go for about a week… Not happy with that. But anyway, sorry for taking so long, I've been studying.
Eris: No you haven't! You've been reading webcomics!
TT: Shush! Ehehe, anyway, review please! Now, enjoy the story!
Kyo woke up the next morning feeling well rested and in a surprisingly good mood. After being out so long, and after what happened at the main house, that in itself was a pleasant surprise.
Eris' head suddenly appeared through the ceiling. About 5 seconds after it had done so, her hair finally acknowledged the concept of 'gravity'. The girl beamed, "Morning Kyo! I was just going to see if I should wake you for school – guess not. Tohru got up a little while ago, I think she's making pancakes!" She licked her lips at the thought.
"…You do know there's not going to be a plate for you, don't you?"
Eris gave him a sulky look, and flipped through the ceiling so that she was upright and in the room. Once again, it took a few moments before her hair fell back down, "Stop spoiling my fun, Kyo."
Ignoring her, Kyo got ready to take a shower. After a moment, Eris huffed and disappeared through the floor.
Humming a little to himself – a habit Eris was beginning to bestow upon him – Kyo walked towards the bathroom. He wondered for a moment, whether he should go to the graveyard, just for a short while, after school – he was sure that there would have been a few ghosts he knew that he hadn't seen last night.
Kyo and Yuki were both eating the breakfast Tohru had prepared with her– it was, indeed, pancakes as Eris had foreseen – when Shigure came in, looking distracted.
"There was some kind of trouble at the main house, just Ayame was telling me about it. Oh, and he's planning to come over for dinner sometime this week."
Tohru looked concerned, while Yuki scowled in the background, "What kind of trouble? Oh, no one is hurt, are they?"
"No, no." Shigure waved off her question, instead helping himself to the pancakes in the center of the table – the ones Eris had been looking longingly at for a few minutes. "Ayame didn't say much, he thought planning this dinner so he could bond with Yuki was much more important. Apparently, there were some strange sounds that woke everyone up about midnight" Kyo paused, looking up at Shigure, forkful of pancake in midair, "Just some strange noises – very nightmarish apparently. But they disappeared very quickly, so everyone thought it was their imagination until they discovered everyone else had heard them too. Ayame said something about ghosts." The dog chuckled, as if the very thought was ridiculous. "Anyhow, Ayame was thinking of coming tonight, but if Yuki's busy tonight, or if Tohru will be working late, he was quite happy to reschedule…"
It was then that Kyo tuned out again, biting down on his fork. Then he paused, and looked confused when he found no food on the object. He checked the fork once, before looking down to see if he'd dropped the piece of pancake. When this proved incorrect, he frowned, and looked over at Eris.
The girl attempted to look innocent, which was difficult when grinning cheekily, a mouthful of food making one cheek bulge slightly. Finally, she gave up altogether, instead swallowing her food before speaking, "What? You weren't eating it!"
Kyo growled, and continued with the rest of his food.
Kyo paused at the entrance of the graveyard, hesitating for the first time since he'd made the decision that morning. Yuki and Tohru were probably home by now, and Kyo wandered if either of them had actually noticed he'd taken a different turn from them yet. Tohru probably had, but as for the rat… Well, if he had, he'd be having a party.
Eris let out an impatient whine, "NeKyooo, are we going in or what?"
"Yeah, alright." Kyo adjusted a strap on his schoolbag, which was digging into his shoulder, and walked into the graveyard.
Instantly the feeling of cold overtook him. It probably wasn't noticeable to most people – it wasn't a physical cold that one got when they walked through a ghost. It was an illusion of cold, created by a large number of ghosts in close vicinity.
For a moment the entire graveyard seemed empty, but then Kyo began to see flickers of movements in the corners of his eyes, and it was as if the entire scene before him snapped into focus. There were ghosts everywhere, not quite as many as last night, but fairly close to it. But they weren't cheerful like last night, it wasn't a festival, and the general mood was somber as always.
Ghosts walked around talking quietly, or sat on their graves. On the other side of the graveyard, he could see an old man trying to place his hand on the shoulder of an old, but still alive, woman who was standing before a grave. The spirits would give him a glance and smile, turning back to what they were doing, but a few motioned him over.
Kyo remembered when he was much younger; he would spend a lot of time here, particularly when he was upset. Ghosts, it had always seemed, were the only ones who didn't judge him, indeed treated him better than his own family.
He also remembered standing before his mother's grave many, many times before, wishing that he could see her again, that she was watching over him… That she hadn't lied when she said she loved him.
Kyo pushed those memories out of his mind, and began to walk around, greeting the specters that were, almost, old friends. Starting with the old man who he'd met at his mother's funeral…
When Kyo got home, it was Hatori, and not Ayame, was sitting at the table with a cup of tea in front of him, along with Shigure who was acting disturbingly somber. They both looked at him, pinning him to the spot with their eyes.
Hatori spoke in the monotone he was well-known for, "Kyo."
The cat didn't know why he felt so nervous, really, but he had to swallow a lump in his throat before he could answer, "Yeah?"
"I'm to take you to the main house…" The dragon paused to take a sip of the cooling tea, as the shock showed on Kyo's face, "Akito wants to talk to you."
All the colour drained from Kyo's face, and it was only his pride that stopped him from turning and running into the forest with the intention of never been found. Eris looked over at Kyo, and tilted her head in confusion to his extreme-seeming reaction.
Kyo gaped at the doctor, "What?" He knew quite well how firm Akito was on the rule of the cat not being allowed at the main house. If Akito actually wanted him to come – well, he didn't want to think about it.
Hatori stood up, startling Kyo from his thoughts, "We should go now." Without another word, the doctor led Kyo to his car, which was parked outside. Kyo thought he spotted Yuki watching from an upstairs window, but before he could be sure, the rat was hone.
Hatori unlocked the doors of the car, and drove off as soon as Kyo had put his seatbelt on. No one, not even Eris, spoke the entire trip. The car was tense, both living humans wondering what Akito wanted with Kyo.
In what seemed to be an instant, Kyo was standing outside the main house, where he had always been forbidden to go under any circumstances. He hesitated, then he felt a chill and a pressure on his hand, and Eris smiled at him, walking through the wall, and then glancing back to see what was taking him. Courage renewed just the slightest, Kyo followed.