Haunted

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Guardian795

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long for the last chapter. I got really bored with this fan fiction, but wanted to desperately write my endings. So, I pushed myself to finish that long, long, loooooong chapter I gave you all. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I am happy to report that I was thinking about finishing this and my Fatal Frame 1 fan fiction, so that by November 20th, I can start a Fatal Frame 3 fan fiction.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Someone we all know and love shall be showing himself in this chapter.

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Chapter 11: Protector

Mio slowly woke up, her head pounding. Her forehead was doused in sweat and her back ached, probably from her fall. She slowly sat up, her eyes finding the camera at her side. "Mayu…why didn't you wake me…" she mumbled sleepily. She looked around the room suddenly, not hearing her sister. Mayu wasn't there. Mio got to her feet, picking the camera up and hurried out of the newly opened room. She ran outside and hurried to the stairs. There, she spotted Mayu downstairs at the door.

"Mayu!" she cried. Her sister turned and looked at her, her eyes glazed over as if in a trance.

"I'm sorry…I have to go…" she muttered before exiting. Mio hurried after her. Once outside, Mio clicked her flashlight on, following her heart and where she believed her sister had gone. She ran down a small path of stones in between two houses until the path separated. She turned the corner and looked beyond the right house. There was Mayu, limping along quicker than she had ever seen her go. Mio hurried after her and around the second corner of the house. She was met with some stairs and she paused, no Mayu in sight. How'd she go down so quickly with her injury? Mio shrugged off the feeling of uneasiness and ran down the stairs. At the bottom was another turn, and she took it, finding Mayu at the other end of the path by a large gate.

"MAYU!" she screamed. Mayu opened up the double doors and walked inside. Mio hurried after her, just reaching the gates before they closed in her face. Mio pulled on the door frantically. It was locked. She looked down and saw that two keys were needed. She sighed once more and turned around.

There she is!

Get her!

Don't let her get away!

Mio came face-to-face with three male ghosts - one with a torch, one with a scythe, and one with a staff. They were coming for her! Mio ran into their midst, weaving quickly to avoid their weapons. She hurried back up the stairs and to where the path separated. She stopped to catch her breath.

"Why…why were they after me…! What did I do?" she asked herself. Suddenly, a crimson butterfly danced into her vision. She stood straighter and looked at it. It danced just out of reach of her arm, and when she tried to catch it, it flew a couple of feet away. "It's trying to get me to follow." She kept walking after the butterfly, and it led her past the Osaka House to an older portion of the village. The house next to the Osaka House was old and broken down, filled with rotting boards and decay. She walked past it and saw a small storage house. The butterfly led her to the door, then disappeared.

Mio looked at the door and found it locked, but a smaller door was to the side of the house that led to the back of it. Mio used the door and went into the backyard. Mio pointed her flashlight out in front of her and looked around. She walked into the backyard and turned the corner of the house. A small window was open in the back of the house. She looked over it and saw iron bars, like a cage…and a boy her age.

Mio gasped and he turned around. His hair was a remarkable silver color, his eyes icy blue. He wore a white/cream kimono, and his face displayed the same awe as hers. "Yae…" he breathed. "What are you still doing here?"

"Who are you?" Mio asked, confused. Her name wasn't Yae.

"The ritual's going to begin soon! If that happens…" the boy started, gloomily, holding the bars in his hands.

"The ritual?" Mio asked. The boy looked at her.

"The Crimson Sacrifice," he said.

"Sacrifice!" she cried. "Who are you!"

"Yae…you don't remember?" he asked. She shook her head. "Itsuki…Itsuki Tachibana."

Mio pointed her light a bit closer. His skin was darker than most, but he was beautiful. His eyes reflected a small amusement at her awe, but also a deep sadness. She wanted to touch him…see if he was real, or just another image.

"What?" he asked. "What are you looking at?"

"You…I guess," she said. "Are you…real?"

Itsuki laughed softly, a melodious laugh that made Mio smile. "Of course I'm real. I'm not a dream…at least, I hope I'm not."

Mio reached up towards him, and he did the same. Their palms met and she could feel his skin against her hand. She could touch him. "You're real!" she cried in surprise and happiness.

Itsuki smiled. "Of course I am. I told you that."

"It's just…everything that I've been through…nothing seems to be real anymore. Mayu went through the gate…"

"The gate? The big brown one?" Itsuki asked. Mio nodded and the silver haired boy went pale. "That's the gate to your house, the Kurosawa House. You'll need the keys." He moved away from the window and reached into his pocket. He handed her a wooden piece. "That's one of them. The other one is by a rock of the Twin Shrine Maidens somewhere in this village." Itsuki pointed to the rock in the yard of what it looked like. Mio nodded.

"I've seen them around here."

Itsuki nodded. "Go, and hurry! Rescue her!" Mio nodded. "If you cannot get out of the village, come find me. I may be able to help you."

Mio looked at him. "What if I need other help?"

"I can help with that too. Now, hurry." Mio nodded and hurried away. Itsuki watched her go, his sadness returning. He did, however, feel happy. "Yae…you've returned," he whispered to himself. "Maybe now…maybe now things will be different..."

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Mio walked slowly away from the storehouse, the image of Itsuki lingering in her eyesight. "He seems so familiar…like a long lost friend…"

Or lover…

Mio shook her head and thought. "Where would someone from this village hide a key?" She looked around, then thought about the entrance to the village, the other paths, anywhere. "If I lived here, I'd put it where no one would expect. Someplace where they all would remember, but people would never think of looking."

Her mind traveled back to where Mayu and she looked at the village. Such a haunting sight, she remembered thinking. Then her eyes widened. There was a twin stone there, like the one Itsuki pointed out. She hurried up the path to the entrance to the village. Sure enough, there was a stone there, and she quickly searched it. Suddenly, she felt a presence nearby. She slowly turned her head, looking around, but she saw no one. She picked out her camera and pointed it around, looking for anything. Suddenly, she saw a man's back. He wore normal clothes, a tan color. His hair was short and black, and he was looking at the Shinto gate nearby. She took a picture of him, and when the flash went off and she looked again, he was gone.

She kneeled back down and continued her search of the stone. Suddenly, she came across the wooden key exactly like the one Itsuki gave her. She smiled as she put it in her pocket.

There she is! The twin!

Get her! Get her now!

Mio looked behind her to see the villagers from before, trying to get to her. She cried out in surprise and fear, running into their midst and past them. She nearly got hit by a staff from one, but managed to make it out okay…until she realized that only two were chasing her back there. She turned around and was met by a large scythe in her face. Mio screamed at the top of her lungs, turning another way and ducking away from the ghost before her. It reached for her, its hands going through her hair. Mio hurried back down the path and away from the apparitions who wanted her dead.

She slowed around the Osaka House, her body heaving from the stress and lack of air that was getting to her lungs. She sighed, holding the two keys in her hands. All of this…just for Mayu? Was it…was it really worth both of their lives?

Mio shook her head. Of course it was! She loved Mayu with all of her heart. She would never let her sister be hurt again…not after what happened before…

Mio nearly broke into tears but pulled herself together. I have to find Mayu. I have to! She's my sister, and we will escape this village together…or die together here. I promised her…that we would always be together…

Mio made her way back down to the large double doors that she saw Mayu disappear through. She put the keys into their appropriate slots and opened the doors. On the other side was a beautiful river, sparkling in the darkness, the only light other than her flashlight. A bridge, old, rickety and dangerous, stood before her. Mio began to cross the bridge, keeping one hand on the railing. A large crack came from under her foot and she looked down. Poor Mayu, she thought. She must have been so afraid to cross this bridge.

As Mio passed half of the bridge, she heard a soft coughing sound and wheezing, like someone couldn't breathe. Her head began to hurt and her sixth sense flared. She slowly looked to the left, and there, floating in the water, was the ghostly figure of a woman in a white dress.

Help me…it's…it's so cold…

Mio brought the camera up and took a picture of this woman. If the camera could clear the ghost from the Osaka House, perhaps it could free this ghost as well. Mio withdrew the camera from her view when she was done, and the ghost was gone from the water.

Suddenly, a hand drifted before her eyes and Mio looked up. The ghost hung upside-down before her, stretching out her dead hand to Mio. She jumped back in fright as the ghost looked at her with cold, unfeeling eyes. The ghost suddenly drifted under the bridge and away from the girl, leaving only a cold breeze. Mio shook with fear. "What…what was…that…?" she gasped. She looked around and found no sign of the ghost, only a faint tickling of her sixth sense told her that the ghost was still present in the area.

Mio began to cross the bridge again when a loud roar filled her ears. She looked up and only had enough time to gasp as a wave suddenly splashed into her, sending her sprawling across the bridge to cling on the railing. She gasped in pain and cold as the water soaked her to the bone. A hard pain suddenly hit her from below – the ghost had grabbed her ankle. Mio screamed, trying to shake the woman off of her. Mio fell hard to the wood, and found herself dry. The ghost had only caused her to feel the cold and wet because it was how she had died. She grabbed her camera and stood just as the ghost came back for round two.

The ghost came up before her, reaching towards her once more. Mio quickly hit the button on the camera and the flash went off, blinding the ghost and injuring it. Mio waited until the ghost moved again, then she hit the button once more. She repeated this process until the ghost disappeared.

Mio sighed in relief and looked over across the bridge. A large house, probably the main house of the village, loomed before her in the mists. She continued her walk to the house and entered it through the large doors. As she opened the door, she put her flashlight in first. The beam hit a plant, and then a large gray drape. Past the drape stood a silent figure that Mio immediately recognized. "Mayu?" she called. She stepped into the house. As soon as she did, the door slammed shut behind her and Mio spun around. Seeing the door closed, she turned back to Mayu. Her sister was gone. Mio took another step into the house, and her flashlight began to flicker terribly.

"No…no, don't go out…" she groaned, hitting the flashlight to try and bring life back to it. The light danced around the room, and Mio's eyes barely glimpsed grotesque figures and tormented apparitions. The light died and Mio looked back up slowly in fright. "Something happened in this house…" she whispered. "And I'm about to find out…"