A/N: Thank you all so very much for your reviews and words of encouragement my loyal readers, as as your reward I give you this extra long filler chapter...No! Wait! Don't click the close button, it's good I swear, I've learned to tell if I've written a good chapter by how goofy my smile is when I write the last line, and this one was pretty out there lol
All my babbling aside, enjoy this chapter, and it's back to the story in the next installment. (Incidentally, this will probably be the last Blademasters continum full length fic I do, I have some one shot ideas dealing with things I never write about in themain text, but that all comes later hehehe)
Chapter Eight: What Lurks Beneath
"Hmmmm, what to have, what to have", Kanna mused as she riffled through the collection wrapped leftovers in the Hinata Sou's refrigerator.
The kitchen itself was pitch black, illuminated only by the small bulb fitted snugly within a recess of the icebox's door.
It had been a long day, every teacher seemed to have decided upon this week to hand out assignments, reinforcing Kanna's privately held belief that all teachers are part of some sadistic conspiracy to sap the life of beautiful young highschool girls by stealing their precious free time.
Due this copious amount of homework, she had yet to eat today since lunch, having skipped dinner simply because she had been so engrossed in her work the time had completely passed her by.
She briefly wondered if suggesting to the environmental committee at school, that all these assignments were contributing toward deforestation due the ridiculous amounts of paper involved, would get any of them suspended.
It had been a tiring two weeks thus far.
After bringing Ryu and Ayu back from the cave, a place neither of them would offer a solid explanation for going there in the first place. She had spent the first week taking care of Ryu while he recovered from the injuries Chii-chan's mother's machine had inflicted on him.
True no one had actually asked her to play nurse for the ungrateful jerk, but who else could have handled the responsibility?
Kanna almost dropped the plate she was holding when the idea of herself entertaining Ryu in a rather inappropriate nurses uniform came to mind.
She hit her head softly against the fridge door. Those sorts of thoughts had been cropping up at random intervals for the past two weeks.
Not necessarily the kind of bizarre, ecchi fantasy she had just experienced, but thoughts of her and Ryu in general, and it was beginning to fray her nerves.
She had been glad in a way when Ryu was well enough to return to school, because it meant that she didn't have to worry about one of these thoughts popping up when she was alone with him.
True she hadn't had to take care of him alone, Ayu had offered to help on a few occasions but her pride had always led her to refuse.
Unconsciously, something about the younger girl's expression every time she had said no, tickled the back of her mind, but she brushed it aside as a by-product of tiredness.
Finding something that piqued her interest, Kanna took the plate, closing the door and taking a seat next to the counter and unwrapping her 'bounty'.
Even cold, Ayu's food always tasted great, something she was a little jealous of at times.
Her father was a far hand in the kitchen and her mother wasn't exactly a slouch, though she was far from a culinary genius.
Unfortunately it had taken her mother years of practice to reach the level of mediocre chief, and she had inherited the older woman's baseline cooking skills, rather than some of the talent from her father's side.
As her stomach triggered the pleasure response in her brain, rewarding her for finally getting around to feeding it, Kanna reflected on her most recent, none work related memories of school life.
Things had settled into a sort of groove of habit and repetition.
She, Ryu and Ayu would all go to school together, split up for their various classes, most of which Ryu and Kanna had together.
The older pair would do their usual routine, a strange mix of arguing, helping each other, and the occasional, awkward moment where one or the other would say or do something that was misinterpreted.
Of course this meant that the rumour about them continued, but Kanna was surprised to find it didn't bother her as much as it had when it had started almost a month ago.
Proof you could get used to anything eventually she supposed.
Then they would all meet for lunch, and somehow Ayu would always seem to find Ryu in the milling crowd of students first, and be waiting with him at the usual spot, surveying the running track by the time she got there.
Kanna had more or less given up accusing Ryu of attempting to seduce or attack Ayu, as the younger girl never acted like someone being secretly coerced around him, so that shouldn't bother her…then why did she always make a point of sitting between them when she caught up?
Dismissing it as unimportant, she let her mind drift, instantly finding herself reliving the latest 'misunderstanding' between her and Ryu.
It had been a few days ago, when she had had a tack meet to attend and rather than leave her to walk home alone afterward, Ryu and Ayu had offered to hang around until she was finished…
--- Kanna smiled as she surveyed the field before her, hands on hips in a classic pose, legs splayed, chest puffed out slightly, though she had to be careful doing that. The figure was like her mother's, very curvy and her gym t-shirt was getting a little too small these days.
Around her were a number of similarly dressed girls, all performing their stretches and warm up exercises. Here a sandy blond was running through a number of calf stretches, over there a pale, dark haired girl jogging gently on the spot, while their coach, a middle aged woman with a crew-cut that could out muscle Kanna when she was angry, kept casting suspicious glances over her shoulder at the pair sitting on the bank a little way back from her group.
Kanna followed the older woman's gaze, waving to Ryu and Ayu where they sat, the former sprawled back with his elbows supporting him, giving her a small nod of acknowledgement that had the girls nearest to her smiling and winking, offering various appreciative comments that had her blushing as she tried to deny them, while the latter of the pair hugged her knees to her chest and as covertly as possible, inched a little closer to Ryu.
Lost in the process of getting into her 'game' set of mind, Kanna didn't here the other girls talking amongst themselves until their coach silenced them with a look, wondering why she was letting the younger girl act so possessive of her 'boyfriend', even if they were friends.
Focusing only on the track as she walked to the starting line, she also missed her team-mates musings on whether that secondary rumour about her sharing Ryu with Ayu was true or not, something that was almost as popular in school gossip as her supposed relationship to the spiky haired transfer student.
Taking her mark, Kanna tensed her muscles in anticipation as the coach brought her whistle to her lips, one eye on Kanna, the other on the watch strapped to her wrist.
With a shrill blow Kanna took off like a bullet from a gun, her slender legs eating ground as they propelled her forward as record setting speed, her arms pumping rhythmically in time with them to aid her forward momentum.
She fancied that the world at the edges of her vision blurred a little as she ran, enjoying the exhilarating thrill of the self generated thrust as the finish line edged nearer and nearer by the second.
Her hair, tied in the same braid she always wore it in at school, trailed behind her like the tail of a comet, and before she knew it the line was under her feet and she was reversing gears back down to a light jog, then a walk, and finally coming to a halt, doubling over for a second as she took a few deep breathes of sweet, cool air to sooth her burning lungs.
She turned back to the bank, quirking a grin and flashing the victory sign with her fingers as Ayu cheered her enthusiastically, just as she always did when she watched her friend run.
Ryu looked briefly between the starting and finish line as if gauging the distance she had run before offering an appreciatively raised eyebrow, the closest to a public display of praise she could really expect from him.
Had she thought about it, she might have noticed the volumes it spoke of that she could actually tell the different degrees of upturned eyebrow from him, and what each entailed, but even failing to notice this didn't stop the light flutter of vindication she felt in her stomach from his acknowledgement.
Still, there were certain forms to maintain, so naturally she returned the gesture with a sardonic bow, pulling down one eyelid and sticking out her tongue for good measure.
Much to her surprise he gave a tiny smile and shook his head.
That had her grinning internally all the way back to the starting block.
She ran a few more times, talking to her coach after each run about ways to improve her time, taking mental notes of the exercises she suggested, and planning way to incorporate them into her usual routine.
When she was finally finished, sweat beading and running down her face, she walked wearily over to where Ayu and Ryu had been sitting, now only seeing Ryu, looking around but unable to find the blue haired girl anywhere in sight.
"Where's Ayu-chan?", she wheezed, wincing at how much like an old woman she sounded.
"She offered to go by some drinks for when you were done", he spoke up from where he lay, "She'll be back in a moment".
"And you let her go alone?", she asked, planting her hands on her hips and staring down at him.
"She can take care of herself…she's stronger than she looks", he added quietly.
Kanna frowned. Just what the hell was that supposed to mean.
"Come on", she said, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him to his feet, "I'll go get changed and we'll find her".
"Kanna", he warned, trying to tug his arm out of her steely grasp, "She'll be right back".
"So? Doesn't mean you have to lay there scaring the birds away. Move it mister", she hoped the verbal prod would help get him going.
"Kanna", he ground out again, becoming irritated.
Trying to free himself from her persistence, he yanked his arm back a little hard than intended, and with a yelp, Kanna found her self tugged off balance and draped over his chest.
Once more Kanna found herself nose to nose with Ryu, neither of them quite able to believe what had happened.
Her mind as drawn back to the incident on the Ferris Wheel. Would he kiss her this time, she wondered as she saw something moving behind his blue eyes.
Kanna was becoming increasingly aware of the poor cover her gym uniform afforded her lower half as she felt the material of Ryu's shirt brush against her bare legs where she had inadvertently straddled his waist.
"Kanna…", she swallowed heavily, her cheeks warming.
"…Yeah…", was all she could manage at the moment by way of response. It was clear he was coming to some sort of decision and she was trembling slightly as she wondered what he would decide to do.
"I…"
"Yes", she responded, chiding herself for speaking so quickly.
"…think we're being watched"
"Wha?", not the most intelligent response, but it fit her confusion nicely. What was the big doofus talking about?
She looked over her shoulder, her face all but glowing when she caught sight of the small group of her fellow team members, clustered around them, whispering to each other excitedly, and worse, Ayu was amongst them, looking at her friend like she'd just killed a puppy in front of her, three sodas held forgotten in her hands.
To embarrassed and overloaded to think of a better way to respond, she all but leapt off him, back-pedalling to put some distance between them as she racked her brains for an explanation.---
No one had believed her in the end, and worse, she had had to sit through a lecture from her coach about learning to control her hormones, which was probably the reason she hit Ryu as hard as she did when she found him and Ayu waiting for her at the gates after she changed.
"Huh?", Kanna looked down, horrified to find the plate she had been snacking from completely bare.
Returning the plate to the sink and tossing the Clingfilm in the trash, she yawned and began to make her way upstairs.
She was bone-weary; things were just too complicated when they concerned Ryu nowadays for her to think about in this state. She'd probably end up thinking about it tomorrow at some point, so she could wait till then.
Thump!Kanna froze, slowly turning about on the spot she looked around the dark and abandoned corridor, finding no one else visible but herself.
"Hello?", nothing but silence answered her.
Kanna swallowed hard. This was just like the horror films she had watched with Mizuki. That thought made her jump a mile when she walked into the couch in the living area by mistake.
Just someone shifting in their bed upstairs, she assured herself, forcing herself to laugh at her own foolishness, Nothing to be afraid-
Thump, BANG!"Eeeeep!", she let out a strangled cry, darting for the stairs and another series of crashes echoed in the dark, seeming to draw closer to her.
As soon as she was gone, the noises seemed to vanish, and a malignant stillness descended upon the house.
Ryu lay awake the following night, having only just finished his most recent attempt to catch up on all the work he had missed from school thus far.
His hands pillowed behind his head, he once more closed his eyes, only to open them seconds later as sleep continued to elude him.
He knew the reason for his restlessness.
Kanna.
The dark haired girl hadn't left him alone since she and the others had rescued him and Ayu from the…cave.
He shivered for a few seconds before bringing himself back under control; resisting the urge to draw the covers he had left down by his waist, thus exposing his bare chest to the cool night air, up to his neck.
Ryu sneered at the darkness of his room as if to prove he was not intimidated by it.
He had only been saved from madness by the acts of the shyest resident in the Hinata Sou when his phobia had gripped him upon realising that he had stranded them both in the dark confines of the cave system with no way out.
She had embraced him as his mind had become increasingly unbalanced, acting as a lifeboat in a storm, anchoring him to sanity by the slimmest of threads.
He could never express how grateful he was for that, if for no other reason than that such acts did not come naturally to him.
If he let himself drift, he could vaguely remember the soft warmth of her small body pressed against his…
Coughing both louder and more roughly than necessary, Ryu cleared his mind of such inappropriate thoughts, only to have images of Kanna flood his mind the moment he had successfully purged the last of those of Ayu.
It was circular thinking. He could suppress any thoughts about one girl, only to find himself thinking of the other.
True to form, his thoughts returned to Kanna's actions after he had been rescued. She had refused to allow anyone else to so much as touch him as she, much to his chagrin, more or less carried him back to the Hinata Sou, arguing with him all the way even as she tenderly and carefully supported him.
This nurturing side to the persistently violent young woman had taken him by surprise, and he had been treated to the full force of it after she had sequestered he away him his room.
Over the course of the following week, she had more or less forbidden him to leave his bed, turning away anyone who offered to help her in her self appointed task, and fussing over him like they were newlyweds rather than a pair that barely managed a civil conversation most of the time.
If he were honest, a small part of him had enjoyed the attention, but the majority had been thoroughly put out by all her overbearing restrictions.
Whenever he had tried to leave his room, she was always waiting outside, and Ryu had suspected that she had asked Chii to install some sort of monitoring device in his room.
How else could she have always known when he would try and leave?
By the end of the week he had more or less resigned himself to his fate, putting up with her as best he could.
Involuntarily, his mind replayed an incident where she had been messing around with his pillows, accidentally giving him a view straight down her blouse as she had lent over.
He was fairly sure she had spotted him trying not to look, but if she had, then why had she never said anything about it, and why didn't she change into something with a higher neckline next time she saw him?
Ryu shook his head.
That wasn't the only instance of strange behaviour from Kanna lately. When he and Ayu had watched her during her track practice, she had accidentally fallen on top of him when she had tried to drag him to his feet.
After a week or so of being bossed around by her, he had been in an understandably contrary mood and refused to budge, which resulted in her being pitched of balance and…well, the rest was almost to clichéd to recall.
Needless to say he had been surprised when all she did upon realising they were being watched was to blush and leap away from him.
He had been almost relieved when she hit him after getting changed as he and Ayu waited to walk home with her.
But why the delay?, he couldn't help but think.
It wasn't as if he wanted to be hit by that impulsive and aggressive girl, but that changes in her behaviour toward him were making her less predictable than normal.
As he thought more about that day, he realised that Kanna was not the only one who had been acting strangely as of late.
Ayu had also been behaving differently.
When he had come back to school, she had always managed to find him no matter where he was at the start of their lunch break, taking his sleeve as she guided him toward the spot they always ate lunch at, as if he had forgotten, or would wander off if she let go.
This meant that they always spent a few minutes alone eating the bento's Ayu prepared for them together before Kanna showed up and dropped herself unerringly between them.
She had also reacted strangely after the incident at the track, becoming as quiet and unresponsive as she had been during those early days when he had first arrived at the Hinata Sou.
Ryu muttered to himself, rolling onto his side and trying once more to keep his eyes closed for more than a few seconds.
As if all this strangeness wasn't enough, Kanna had also spent lunch that day babbling at him about strange noises in the night, wide eyed as she told him and Ayu she thought the house might be haunted.
That of course had scared Ayu, resulting in her clinging to his arm with her eyes screwed tightly shut while he and Kanna argued over her claim.
Ghosts, he thought with a snort, How absurd.
Ryu was relieved as he finally felt sleep reaching out to embrace him.
Thump!Ryu growled as his sleep was disrupted once more, mentally wishing to strangle a certain scientist by the name of Murphy had that been possible.
Bump…bang!He folded the pillow over his head, hoping it would muffle the noise of whoever was stomping around this late at night.
Why did he have to live with such a rowdy bunch?
Thud!………He cracked one eye open as all the noise seemed to cease in an instant, counting mentally back from thirty, and pleased when no more noises assailed him.
Finally, maybe now he could get some rest.
Knock knock"God damn it!", he cursed out loud, hurling his pillow aside and climbing to his feet.
The soft rapping was repeated as he groped about, finally locating his trousers and pulling them on.
"Who is it?", he called as he approached the door. No one answered.
Naturally, he griped, hauling the door aside, ready to give whichever of the girls was the cause of all this a piece of his mind.
If this is Yui come to pay another 'visit', he promised darkly, to tired to even feel intrigued by the exotic foreign beauty.
It took a few moments to register what he was seeing. A slender figure veiled in a white sheet that seemed to glow in the moonlight streaming in through his window.
"You've got to be joking", he deadpanned, rubbing his temple with the rough ball of one finger while he used his other hand to support himself against the doorframe.
He'd snapped at last, that had to be it, why else did it look like there was a b-movie ghost wannabe standing in front of him this late at night.
The 'ghost', pulled down its hood, revealing the wavy hair framed face of Kanna, her eyes slightly wide and darting.
"Ryu, good your awake", she said, sounding more tense than relieved.
"No thanks to you", he grumbled, "What do you want Kanna, I'm trying to sleep".
He shook off a number of fantasy versions of Kanna's response, all of which involved her dropping the sheet to reveal her attire or lack there of, followed by some sort of corny seduction line.
I'm more tired that I thought.
"You heard the noises just now right?", she asked, her voice wavering slightly.
"If I say no will you go away?", he asked, wincing as her fist lanced out into his gut, but lacking anywhere near the usual strength.
"Ryuuuuu", she whined, an unusual tactic for Kanna.
"Fine, I heard them", he admitted making to close the door, "Glad we had this little chat, lets do it again some time".
She walked straight past him into his room before he could, having apparently missed or ignored that last part, looking around his room for a moment.
"Jeez, this place is a mess", she commented and he felt a vein come to the surface on his forehead.
"Forgive me, but I was supposed to be sleeping not entertaining", he bit out sourly.
She nodded absently, pacing nervously about the room without any apparent destination.
Sighing, knowing she wouldn't go away until she had found whatever answer or response she was looking for, he sank back down on to his futon, smirking a little when she hesitated to follow suit when he offered her a seat.
Of course, now she realises she's come to my room in the middle of the night while everyone is asleep…why couldn't that of occurred before she left her room and woke me up?
"So", he prompted after they had spent the obligatory few minutes staring at each other from where they were huddled at opposite ends of the futon.
"You heard those noises, how could anyone sleep when there's god only knows what in the house?", she asked, her eyes darting again.
"It's probably just one of the other girls who couldn't sleep", he said, stifling a yawn.
Kanna shook her head resolutely, "Uh-uh, Yui sleeps like a log, so does Mizuki, Natsuki isn't here tonight and neither is Ema, they're visiting Natsuki's older sister for a few days, and Chii-chan makes as much noise asleep as she does awake".
"What about Ayu?", he asked, realising how stupid that question was as soon as he said, it, Kanna's look confirming it, "Ok, point taken, so if it's not any of them, who is it?"
"Idiot, if I knew that I wouldn't be here now would I?", she hissed and Ryu barely resisted the sudden impulse to strangle her.
"Fine, then why not go bug Yui or one of the others and let me get some sleep?"
"I told you, Yui and Mizuki sleep like the dead, there's no way I could rouse one of them if I tried, and do you think Ayu or Chii would be any help if it's something dangerous?", she asked.
"Nice to know I'm in the top five somewhere", he ground out, the bitterness in his voice taking them both by surprised.
Kanna felt momentarily guilty as it occurred to her she might have stepped on the toes of Ryu's sensitive pride by phrasing things that way. If she was honest, she had wanted to come here first, but the idea was so mortifyingly embarrassing she had decided to try the others first.
Besides, right up until he opened his mouth when she knocked on his door, she had been nervous about how he might react to her turning up this late and was part of the reason she had grabbed this sheet to go over her pyjamas, just in case he got any funny ideas.
Bump!She let out an involuntary shriek, inching closer to Ryu until she stopped herself.
"You see? Who could sleep with that going on all night?", her eyes pleaded with him to show a little compassion for once.
"Some of us would be happy to try", he groused, his shoulders sagging as it became increasing clear Kanna wasn't going to budge until he did something. She was stubbornness incarnate it seemed, no matter the situation.
"Fine", his said through clenched teeth, standing and walking over to the door, "Follow me".
"Where are we going?", she asked, a sinking feeling developing in her stomach as she thought of the most likely answer.
The faintest trace of a smile graced Ryu's lips in the dark as he thought of the perfect way to get back at her for putting him through all of this.
"Ghost Hunting of course".
Ayu rubbed at her eyes sleepily as she tried to focus on what she was writing. The harsh glow of her desk lamp seemed magnified by her fatigue, but she couldn't allow herself to sleep until she was sure she had everything down exactly as she wanted it.
Turning back a few pages to where she had started, Ayu read her latest entry, starting from a date roughly two weeks ago seen as how she'd only recently updated. It wasn't often she found something worth putting down, and after so much had happened she had taken a while to decide what exactly she wanted to transcribe.
Holding her pen loosely between her lips, Ayu began to read:
Dear Diary;
The past few weeks have been some of the most exciting and most frightening I have ever experienced.
Last time I wrote, sempai, Kanna-chan and Mizuki had just come back from their class trip, and I have already told you how very happy I was to see him return…
After sempai got well again with the help of some medicine provided by Chii-chan, he was able to take part in the cherry blossom festival with us. Everyone had fun, and I was particularly excited as Ema-san had told me that tonight was a special night for couples at the Hinata Sou.
I spent a long time practicing how to tell sempai how I felt about him, but he was talking with Kanna-chan most of the night…so I never got a chance…at least, not then anyway.
When Mizuki and Yui showed us pictures of Kanna and sempai on a… date… I wanted to cry. Sometimes I still do, even though they say there is nothing going on between them, I see how they look at each other sometimes, and Kanna-chan is a lot prettier than I am…
Ayu paused here, looking down at her small bust and petite frame sadly, wondering if Ryu would even react is he could see her in her sleeveless night dress right now, the thought bringing a blush to her cheeks that had her ducking her head even though there was no one around to see it.
Pushing such self-pitying thoughts from her head, she continued to read:
And yesterday, when I went to go get us all a drink, I came back to find Kanna-chan and sempai…
Even though she hit him afterward, I don't think she was as angry as she pretended to be.
But I still have some hope. After the festival I followed sempai to an old cave Yui told us about in a story. We searched it together and found what we would later learn was an old research lab built by Chii-chan's mother. One of her experiments was still functioning and it attacked us.
I would have been killed if not for sempai. Even though he was injured, he saved me and took me away from the monster that wanted to hurt us.
Later, when we had escaped, sempai began to have a panic attack. He's claustrophobic and after everything that had happened he couldn't hold back his phobia any longer.
I actually helped sempai…I held him, trying to make him feel safe, even though I'm small and fragile, not strong like Kanna-chan, it worked, and he thanked me in his own way.
Ayu had trailed off here, unable to decide whether to add what she wanted to next, or to leave that memory buried in the secret depths of her heart.
She withdrew the pen from her mouth, and pressed it lightly to the paper:
…I also… I told sempai.
I told sempai…that I love him…
I can't think of the words to describe how that felt…even if he couldn't hear me, I think… I think that he knows what I said on some level. He's been a lot nicer to me than usual, he lets me talk about whatever I want when we're eating alone before Kanna-chan finds us, just smiling that small smile that breaks his stern face, the one so few people have ever got close enough to see.
Even though I know he's shown Kanna-chan the same thing, it doesn't make it any less special…
I've decided…Tomorrow I'm finally going to do it, I'm going to ask sempai to take me on a…on a date.
Wish me luck.
Ayu
"I will do it", she promised herself, looking down at what she had just written, "To be happy together with sempai…I'll do my best".
A sharp knock at the door startled her, and she knocked over a pot of pencils and other drawing equipment as she hastily gathered up her diary, trying unsuccessfully a number of times before finally managing to get the desk draw open and deposit the small book back inside, taking care not to slam it in her haste.
Another knock came as she stood shakily, almost causing her to trip over her chair.
"H-hai, I'll be right there", she stuttered, picking her way over to the door and making an effort to still her shaking hands as she slid it aside.
Any efforts she had made were completely undone when she found out who was standing there.
Clad only in a pair of dark trousers, Ayu's eyes were drawn of their own accord to Ryu's bare chest, a flush of embarrassment forcing her to look up at his eyes, which further threatened to break her fragile composure.
"S-sempai?", he voice was barely a squeak as her throat seemed to contract.
W-why is sempai here so late, her mind was racing with possibilities, What could he want…dressed like…like that…
Her gaze was drawn back to his semi-dressed state against her will.
Was Ryu here to make some sort of proposition towards her? That was so... bold!
"See, I told you she was awake", Ryu's comment drew her out of her trance, and she looked around him, wondering who he was talking to, only to find Kanna behind him, arms folded beneath the sheet she had draped around her shoulders and huffing indignantly.
"So you were right about something for once, don't let it go to your head", Kanna fired back.
"Ano…", Ayu interjected before another of their arguments could begin outside her door, "What are you doing here sempai?"
"Not sleeping that's what", he grumbled and Ayu could only wonder why Kanna stuck her tongue out at him and kicked his shin.
"Why are you still up Ayu-chan", Kanna asked, and the blue haired girl panicked for a moment, wondering what she should say, "Did you hear the noises as well?".
"Noises? What-"
Thud!Ayu jumped, her heart picking up a beat or two.
"Those noises", Kanna said, casting a sidelong look at Ryu that he ignored, choosing instead to rest his weight against Ayu's doorframe.
"W-what's making them?", she asked nervously, whatever was the cause, it didn't sound small, and after the cave…
"That's what we're going to find out", Ryu answered, "We saw your light on and wanted to make sure you were shifting your furniture around or something equally strange before slinking around the house all night".
"You mean you're going to go find out what's making those noises sempai?", Ayu asked, feeling both a little safer, but also concerned. Would Ryu be ok walking around in the dark alone after his attack?
"We are going to find out, yes", Kanna spoke up, feeling the inexplicable urge to interrupt the strange look passing between Ryu and her younger friend.
"Feel free to tag along if you wish", Ryu said, ignoring the look Kanna gave him, "Any help would be useful".
"Ryu, you shouldn't ask her to-", Kanna began.
"I'll go", Ayu interrupted before she could finish, leaving her friend speechless for a moment.
"…Ok, but grab a jacket or something first", Kanna advised, taking in Ayu's evening ware and eyeballing Ryu meaningfully.
Ayu coloured deeply when she realised how she was dressed in front of Ryu, the boy in question now feeling distinctly uncomfortable having had her attire pointed out to him.
The door closed, and when it opened again a few minutes later, Ayu had take Kanna's advice literally, throwing on a light summer jacket over her nightdress.
"Lets get this over with", Ryu said, muffling another yawn behind his hand and setting off with the two women in tow.
"Where did you first hear the noises?", Ryu asked over his shoulder as they approached the stairs.
"Downstairs", Kanna replied, eying the darkened stairwell dubiously and gulping along with Ayu when another loud crash resounded as if to confirm her statement.
Moving as a group, they made their way quietly downstairs, pausing in the living area, alert for any signs of intrusion and finding none.
Slowly they crept through the ground floor, pausing to check every room they came across, but finding nothing out of the ordinary.
By the time they reached the kitchen, Kanna was growing impatient, "Where is it? There has to be something here unless…unless it really is a ghost!".
Ayu trembled and Ryu snorted, "Don't be stupid".
"I'm not!", she responded indignantly, "I suppose you have a better answer"
Before Ryu could shout something back at her there was a dull thud and the floorboards seemed to shiver for a moment.
"…It's beneath us", Ryu said, earning a scathing remark about stating the obvious from a very edgy Kanna while Ayu held onto her friend.
Soon they found themselves outside the basement door. All three of them casting glances amongst the others, waiting for one of them to be the first to say or do something.
When no one spoke, Ryu reached out and gripped the handle, only to find Kanna's trembling hand clamped on top of his own.
"I don't think this is such a good idea anymore", she said, her voice sounding a little strained, "Let's just go back to bed".
"I think that's a good idea sempai", Ayu added her support to the new plan, but Ryu just shook his head.
"Sorry but no. If we don't find out what this is, she", he pointed at Kanna, "Will keep waking me up every five minutes because she's too scared to sleep".
"I am not scared!", Kanna hissed, mumbling afterwards, "Well…not really…".
"Then shut up and let me try and open this door", he turned away before Kanna could respond, and Ayu had to stifle a laugh at the colour her friend's face turned before she stuck her tongue out at Ryu's back.
As she sulked, Kanna watched Ryu fiddle with the handle, knowing the big idiot wouldn't be able to open it, it was locked after all.
Ema had always told them the basement was haunted, but that was just a cover for never going down there because she had lost the key…right?
When the floorboards behind her creaked for the first time, Kanna dismissed it as her imagination, even as the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end she denied she had heard anything.
However, when she heard it the second time, and caught the look of wide eyed fear reflected in Ayu's own, wide eyes, she knew that there was definitely something there, something behind them.
As if her head had been locked in place, she turned her whole body slowly seeing out of the corner of her eye the dark shadow looming toward them.
"Aiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee!", both her and Ayu's simultaneous screams had Ryu jerking around to see what was going on, his brow wrinkling in confusion as he saw what was standing in front of the two hysterical women.
"Chii?", his question calmed his two companions enough that they let go of each other enough to see that it was indeed a sleepy, oversized kitty t-shirt wearing Chii, standing in front of them, not some deranged killer as they has assumed.
"Loud", she complained, looking at Kanna and Ayu in turn, both of the older women rubbing their heads sheepishly.
"Sorry about that Chii-chan", Kanna said, the first of the two to recover from her embarrassment, "Did we wake you?"
The young girl shook her head, her ever present pigtails swaying as she did so, "Noises".
"You heard them as well Chii-chan?", Ayu asked, crouching down slightly to put herself on eye level with the younger girl, and a little surprised to realise she didn't have to bend all that much to do so.
Chii nodded, looking past them at the door where Ryu stood.
Ryu looked at her and then back at the door a few times, an idea forming in his head, "Chii…we think that the noises are coming from downstairs, but the door is locked…can you…", by way of answering she brushed past him, retrieving something from a pocket sewn into the front of her t-shirt and setting to work.
Before any of them could see what she actually did the lock opened with a tiny click and the young Molmolian pushed the door aside, stepping back for a moment so they could peer at the staircase that led into the basement.
"Well…I guess we should go down there then", Ryu said, suddenly finding it hard to draw breath as the darkness yawned out toward him, and icy tendrils of fear pooled in his stomach and clawed at his mind.
"Sempai…", his daze was broken and he found Ayu and Kanna staring up at him, worry on both their faces, though there was also understanding in Ayu's gentle eyes.
"Earth to jerk, you ok?", Kanna's voice was gentle even if her words weren't.
"Fine", he said, folding his arms and donning his usual mask of bored indifference.
"So…who goes first?", Kanna asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye as a hint.
To their everlasting surprise Ryu never got a chance to answer, he caught the object Chii tossed at him, taking a moment to realise it was a compact torch before the small blond snapped on her own light and walked straight past them all and down the stairs.
Another round of startled glances were exchanged and the trio hurried after the younger girl, descending into darkness without a second thought.
They had thankfully found Chii before she wandered too far ahead, Kanna chiding her about running off when there might be something dangerous lurking down here, and only really succeeding in scaring herself more than Chii, though the younger girl did nod as if she agreed with what Kanna was saying.
The basement of the Hinata Sou was old and dusty, covered in cobwebs; it's painted doors peeling and showing signs of neglect.
"It's hard to believe any part of the house is like this", Kanna commented as they passed by a large room filled with boxes of old junk.
Kanna was tempted to do a little snooping, but Ryu had told her they didn't have time, and could come back later if it turned out there was nothing down here.
She had sarcastically thanking him for dining to grant his permission, and had been a little worried when he didn't fire back a barb of his own.
Even stranger was the way Ayu kept hovering as close to him as she could, only backing off to normal walking distance when she noticed Kanna looking at her, and soon resuming her former position.
It probably said something about the groups priorities when the person at their forefront, the only one unaffected by 'adult' concerns, was a small girl.
Chii rarely even looked at the others, marching on silently with a resolute pace, much as Ryu had done in the cave, but something was different. It was almost as if Chii actually knew the exact location of their destination, but how could she? The door had been locked and no one had been down here in years.
Kanna's discomfort was slowly giving way to boredom the further they walked. The creepy factor had long since worn off without any form of reinforcement, so she taken to guessing the number of piles in the rooms they passed.
A game that had the added bonus of annoying the hell out of Ryu it seemed.
In her own way she was trying to help. Ryu's nervousness was so out of character it was contagious, so even if all she could do was get him mad at her it helped.
"Do you think it was just a couple of these old piles falling over?", she asked a one point, noticing how delicately some of the boxes were stacked, "It would explain a lot I guess".
Ryu didn't answer.
Kanna grit her teeth as she noticed his and Ayu's hands brush for a moment, an unnamed feeling welling up inside of her.
"I'm talking to you, you big jerk!", she stomped her foot.
There was an ominous groaning sound behind her and a stack of cardboard boxes came crashing down in great clouds of dust.
Kanna hacked and coughed as the dust cleared, wiping at her watering eyes and trying to make out the torchlight.
Eventually she spotted it and spluttered her way over to Ayu and Ryu, brushing at her hair, "Is everyone ok?"
Ryu seemed to snap, "Can't you just be quiet for once!".
She shrunk back under the unexpected force of his yell, before righteous anger washed away her sudden timidness.
"I wouldn't have to shout if you'd listen for once moron!", she yelled back, glaring up at him defiantly as he tried to stare her down.
"What of there is something down here? Did you think about that? You just told it exactly where we are!", she paled a little as the implications of that hit home.
"Wait, stop it! Chii is gone!", Ayu's frantic cry broke the stalemate between him and Kanna, both of them scanning the immediate area to confirm what she had just said.
"Oh no…Chii-chan", Kanna felt waves of guilt hit her. What if Ryu was right, and whatever was down here had been attracted by all the noise she had been making and snatched poor little Chii while she and Ryu had been arguing?
"There!", Ryu shouted taking off down one passage, as Kanna registered the sound of footfalls coming from that direction.
With her and Ayu in tow, they hurtled after the retreating sound, only pausing long enough to ensure they were still going the right way before pushing on.
Gradually they lost track of the noise, and an uneasy silence descended upon the group as they came to a reluctant halt.
Ryu kept his ears pricked for any sign of Chii or what had taken her, but heard nothing as he paced back and forth angrily.
He looked over his companions.
Ayu seemed close to grief stricken, fear for the youngest member of the Hinata Sou clear in her eyes and in the way she held herself.
Kanna was standing with her back to them, unmoving and still as a statue. He would have ignored her had he not heard that first sniffling hic.
"Kanna?"
"It's sniff, all my hic, fault. Chii-chan is gone and it's all my fault…", he was still angry enough to agree with her, but something held his tongue as her shoulder began to bob and shake in a way that needed no explanation.
"Kanna…", feeling awkward he hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring way. Comforting others was another of those areas of social skills he was poor in.
He stood ramrod straight when she spun, half expecting her to shout at him, or hit him for daring to touch her, anything but what she actually did.
Kanna let loose a tiny wail, burying her face in his chest, her hands held between them as she cried openly.
Ryu was stunned. He had never seen Kanna cry before, had never really seen any girl cry, but even lacking the foreknowledge of what exactly to do, one arm wrapped itself around her instinctively as he tried to figure out just what he was supposed to do next.
He was saved from improvisation when Ayu called out to them.
"I see a light up ahead!", she said, and indeed, with the torch pointing at the ground, Ryu could make out the ambient glow of another light.
"A light?", Kanna asked, sniffing as she swiped at her eyes, a faint trace of hope in her voice.
She pushed away from Ryu, leaving him standing there speechless for a moment until she pivoted, looking at him impatiently.
"What are you waiting for? Move it already", she commanded, both her pose and expression ones that conflicted with her actions only moments earlier.
Still a little confused, he followed.
None of them knew what to say to covey their mixed feelings about what they had found.
Chii was not here, but considering where 'here' was, that could be construed as both a good thing and a bad thing.
The sparsely lit room that Ayu had discovered appeared to be a futuristic version of a medieval torture chamber, or rather, that was the first thing that came to mind upon viewing the room.
However what most held the trio's attention, were the twin cages set to one side of the room. One small, the other large. The larger…and the larger of the two looked like the bars had been rent open from the inside.
"Did anyone else see this movie before?", Kanna asked in a weak attempt at humour that didn't amuse even her.
"Sempai", Ayu huddled closer to Ryu as Kanna unconsciously did the same on his opposite side, "What is this place?".
There was something nagging at the back of his mind that he just couldn't place. Something about this room…
"I have no idea…"
As if some divine being had decided that our little group had not yet sufficiently been pushed far enough, that the moment was lacking some critical component that it had just remembered, the air was pierced by a loud shriek.
Though none of them had ever heard the owner of that voice produce a sound even vaguely like what they had just heard, they all knew who it belonged to.
As he looked down at each of the girls clinging to one of his arms, the light of understanding dawned on bother their faces and all three spoke their thoughts as one.
"Chii!".
They had followed the scream back to its source, and discovered two things. Firstly Chii was still alive and unharmed, but secondly, they were definitely not alone down here.
Standing a little way off from where Chii lay, was what Kanna could only think of as the cyberpet from hell.
Vaguely canine in shape, it was mostly metallic, sharp, angular spikes protruding from its shoulder blades and smaller spikes along its back down to the base of its cable like tail.
Where its eyes should have been there was only a black visor that wrapped perfectly around its steel muzzle and ended beneath ears that clicked and whirred as they rotated in place like pointed radar dishes.
Ryu had snapped the head off an old mop in a way that made Kanna think of the old kung fu films she had watched with her mother when she was a child, but she was more concerned about Chii than how impressively cool Ryu had looked as he did that.
He was brandishing his 'weapon', before him as he stood in front of Chii, holding it across his body so that equal lengths stuck out from either hand.
Again, she couldn't help but notice, the way he held himself, he had either had formal training, or had a lot of self-confidence and watched one too many movies.
She almost expected him to launch into one of those 'Fiend.vs.Justice' speeches from some of the older films she had watched, but that would have been far too surreal for her to handle at the moment.
He and the cybermutt faced each other silently as Chii fumbled for something in her pocket, though what she thought she had that would do any good against that thing Kanna couldn't begin to guess at.
The robo-pooch lunched for Ryu, receiving a swift whap to the head for it's troubles that knocked it into one of the larger storage rooms with a screeching thud.
At least we know what was causing all the noise now, Kanna thought as Ryu moved into the room after the creature rather than closing the door and locking it in.
Looking again at the flimsy wood, Kanna understood why he handed even bothered to try, but still…
She gasped and Ayu screamed as he came sailing out of the room, his feet not touching the floor, and slammed into the opposing wall hard enough to crack the plaster.
She almost grinned as she heard him mutter something about the universe being out to get him personally, and might have laughed if not for both his opponent, and how serious he sounded saying it.
A shadow near Ryu seemed to detach itself from the darkness and come hurtling toward him even as the mecha-dog saundered back out of the storage room after its prey.
"Ryu!", she called out pointing to the new threat.
Ryu spotted the movement and grit his teeth, backing toward Chii while trying to keep an eye of his opponent as well as the newcomer.
He blinked as the shadow dart between his legs, heading straight for Chii, snapping his head around to follow it as it came fully into the light.
He as a little confused when he found himself being growled at by a snowy furred Nakita pup, and even more so when he realised it had taken up a defensive posture in front of Chii.
His thoughts were mirrored on the faces of Kanna and Ayu.
Even the cyber-dog seemed unsure of what to make of this new arrival, but it rapidly overcame its confusion as it began to stalk forward once more. One more target didn't matter to it.
Ryu tensed, the pup yapped at the larger creature, and the mecha-pooch… froze.
"What in the…", Ryu trailed off as the mechanical menace seemed to sag for a moment before canting to one side and collapsing with a resounding crash, like a collection of pots being knocked over.
"Shutdown…", he turned back to find Chii pointing a thin, pen like device at the creature, her usually blank face looking a little sad for a moment before the puppy leapt into her lap, barking happily at her.
"…What just happened here?", Kanna asked, edging closer to Chii, her eyes still on the immobile hunk of metal Ryu was prodding with the end of his makeshift staff.
"I'm never going somewhere like this voluntarily again", he muttered between pokes, tossing the pole away and moving to join Kanna and Ayu by Chii.
"I assume you know something about that", he said gesturing over his shoulder as he crouched down to Chii's level. The way she refused to look up at him, instead playing with the bundle of fur in her lap confirmed his assumption.
"Knock it off jerk", Kanna admonished him, "Can't you see she's just as shaken up by all this as we were".
Ryu ignored her, focusing solely on Chii, "Chii, that thing is like the machine that attacked me an Ayu in…in the cave… Yui told us your mother only built things that resembled turtles…so where did it come from?".
"I think we should leave her alone for a while", Ayu said, putting her hands on the young girl's shoulders as she saw her bit her lip.
"Did you build this Chii?", he asked, wincing when Kanna hit him and glazing over Ayu's disapproving look.
Slowly, Chii nodded, still not looking directly at him.
"It's ok Chii-chan, as long as your safe we won't be mad", Kanna soothed her, "Come on, how about we all get out of this dusty old basement hey?".
"Built…", Chii trailed off, taking a deep breath and looking up slightly, "I…wanted to build something to keep everyone…safe".
Everyone was a little shocked at the number of words the youngest resident had just uttered at once, but that didn't distract them from what she had said.
"Safe from what Chii-chan?", Ayu asked gently.
"Just…safe", she returned her attention momentarily to the boisterous puppy frolicking in her lap.
"That didn't seem very safe to me", Ryu commented, drawing an angry stare from Kanna which he answered with a cool look of his own.
Chii nodded, "…Sorry".
"It's ok sweetie, we know you just wanted to help", Kanna said, turning a more threatening look on Ryu, "Right Ryu?"
Ryu snorted.
"Sorry…", Chii whispered, hugging the puppy to her, "…I wanted to do something useful…so that everyone would like me…".
"What are you talking about Chii-chan, everyone likes you", Kanna interrupted.
"No", Chii said, shaking her head, "I don't talk…people find that scary and try to ignore me, make me go away…even…even Yui is scared sometimes…I can tell".
Kanna felt heart broken as she saw tears welling up in the younger girl's eyes.
"That's why I like him", she said looking at the dog in her lap, "Animals don't use words…so he's not scared… but Yui doesn't like animals so I had to hide him from her, and from everyone else……… I thought, that if I could make something like him, something that wasn't scared of me, that wouldn't make Yui afraid…then maybe no one would be scared of me either…".
Kanna's heart was melting and she just wanted to gather the poor girl into a crushing hug at how adorable, if slightly unusual, her story was.
"You wanted to protect your family, without them fearing your desires", Ryu spoke up, his voice strangely thick with an emotion Kanna couldn't place, and something that in another she might have called empathy stirring behind his icy blue eyes.
Chii looked at him, nodding hesitantly.
"That's a good goal to have", he said quietly, looking down at the puppy in Chii's arms, "What is his name?"
Chii hugged the small animal closer for a moment as if fearing Ryu would try to take him away from her, looking more like a young girl than Kanna had ever seen her behave before.
"…Chiho-chan", she answered after a moment, the snow-white puppy yapping as if to confirm what she had said.
Ryu cocked his head as if mulling her choice over for a moment before nodding, reaching out and scratching the dog behind one tiny ear.
"Good choice", he said, shocking them all by offering a thin smile before reaching up and patting Chii gently on the head, "I'm sure you'll take as good a care of him as you do the rest of us Chii-chan".
The dim lighting and Chii's naturally dark complexion were the only things that hid the light blush that came to the young girl's cheeks at that moment.
Her wide emerald eyes blinked as he retracted his hand, standing and stretching as the other girls did likewise, both girls regarding him. Ayu with an open smile and Kanna with a look of astonishment.
"Maybe he's human after all", she heard the dark haired girl mutter to herself as she stood, Chiho still held loosely in her arms as they wound their way back to the stairway.
"By the way, Chii-chan", Kanna asked as they closed the door to the basement behind them, "How did you get in and out of the basement in the first place?"
Balancing Chiho on one arm, the blond girl fished around inside her pocket for a second before removing the small metallic item she had used to gain entry that night, and every night before that.
"Key", she said simply, holding it aloft for all of them to see.
Chii blinked slowly and Chiho yapped inquisitively when the others collectively face faulted.
"Figures", Kanna said around a fit of giggles after the absurdly simple nature of Chii's lock picking skills had fully permeated into her mind, soon joined by Ayu as the same thing occurred to the blue haired girl.
Ryu smirked but held off from laughing.
Laughing…Chii made everyone…happy?As Chiho barked and yapped at all the sudden noises, wriggling in her arms, Chii did something she had only rarely done in her life before this day.
Chii smiled.
---Author's Notes---
Yes it was a sappy, corny ending, but even minor characters need love, and this was essentially filler anyway. So what do we have here then, character development for Chii, the ongoing silent battle between Kanna and Ayu that they still don't really know they're fighting, more hints about Ryu and another glimpse into how he thinks, and the addition of this generation of guests' mascot, Chiho-chan.
Coming next: Chapter 9: Secrets at the Beach; it's time for a vacation, and the newest generation of Hinata Sou residents are taking part in a time honoured tradition, the working holiday! Between work, play and more beach-bunnies than you can shake a stick at, Ryu is going to be hard pressed to continue his search and finish all of his catch up homework in time, but he might just learn something about one of the girls that can point him in the right direction…
Till next time, Betweenheavenandhell (who can't believe his filler chapter took up 18 pages on Word)