Double digits! Whoa, this is getting exciting.

For the record, I wrote whole chapter in one night. It's amazing how little life I have.

Author's notes: So, just here, thinking about how weird the word 'MoOn' looks when typed. It really does look very strange, when you look at it for a while.

Just in case I don't get it done: Chapter 12 may be a little late coming, only because it's a hard chapter to write. You'll understand when you read chapter 11. It's difficult.

I'm just warning you now; this chapter is entirely CCS. That's just the way it turned out. So, for all you SM fans out there, you're gonna have to wait for the next one. I'm very sorry. But you have to read it anyway! This chapter is very important! READ!

Sorry, I get a little creepy when I'm tired. Anyway…read on…

To my reviewers of chapter 9:

KawaiiQuerida-chan – Thanks for reviewing!

Chibi Ame – Whoa, nice, big review! Surprised me there for a second. Thanks so much for reviewing. As I've said before, Aiko's name is sort of a big deal for her. She refused to let Yin and Yang call her that, so it's going to have some sort of part in the story. Whether it will be big or small, has yet to be seen (it's a secret ;)). Haha, and I doubt I live up to all of those words.

shortygirl333 – Thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 10

"Hey Naoko-chan, what're you doing?" Chiharu asked as she found her friend on the computer in the library.

"Just looking something up," Naoko said. She clicked on a link and a picture of an old, brown mansion came up on the screen.

"Oh, creepy," Chiharu said, pulling up a chair and glancing at Takashi, who was glancing at the librarian, who then in turn was watching them both like a hawk. She mumbled something about thanking Takashi-kun and a bad reputation before looking back at the computer.

"It's reported to be haunted," Naoko said, referring to the house.

"Ah, so that's why you're here," Chiharu said.

"I was thinking of maybe going there," Naoko said with a smirk. "But you know, it wouldn't be any fun without friends there."

"It'd be fun, count me and Takashi-kun in," Chiharu said.

Naoko beamed. "Thanks Chiharu-chan!"

There was a thump somewhere else in the library followed by about twenty more thumps. Chiharu got up and looked over at where the librarian was marching up to Takashi, who was surrounded by fallen books.

"It was an accident miss, I swear!" Takashi said. Giving up on trying to clean up the books he ran out of the library.

Chiharu rolled her eyes. "I better get out of here. She always thinks I had something to do with it."

"Bye," Naoko said absent-mindedly.

Chiharu got up and got out of the library as quickly as she could, following Takashi.

She found him in their homeroom with Tomoyo and Sakura, spinning a tale that Sakura seemed to believe.

"That better have been an accident," she warned.

"Nope," Takashi said, turning to her, "but I got what I wanted." He pulled out a book and smiled.

Chiharu rolled her eyes and hit him over the head. "What have I told you about not making her angrier!"

Takashi only shrugged, still smiling. "You know I only do it to get you all flustered. You're so cute when you're angry."

She blushed as Tomoyo giggled. "You two are so kawaii!" Tomoyo squealed. This just made Chiharu's blush worse.

"Don't be glum, chum," Takashi said, tilting her head up to look at him with his finger. "You're even cuter when you're happy."

Chiharu looked like she was about to spontaneously combust, with all of the heat in her face. She thanked her lucky stars when Naoko walked in.

"Hey guys, I was wondering if you wanted to do something this weekend…" Naoko said.

"Aw, you ruined it," Takashi said. "She was just about to jump all over me, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, and beat you senseless!" Chiharu exclaimed, letting her voice go a little louder than she intended.

"Anyway…" Naoko said, ignoring the couple. "I found a haunted house just south of the city that we can go to…if we have a drive."

"A haunted house?" Sakura asked shakily.

"Yeah, a haunted house," Naoko repeated excitedly.

"A haunted house?" a shy voice asked from the door.

Sakura turned to look at Rika, who was coming in with a pile of books. "Rika-chan!" she exclaimed. "Where've you been?"

"I was finishing something for Terada-sensei," she said, smiling. "You were talking about a haunted house, Naoko-chan?"

"Yes, I was hoping we could all go see it tomorrow," Naoko said, getting impatient.

"Well, I know I'll come," Chiharu said, "and Takashi-kun'll come too."

"I'll come," Rika agreed.

Tomoyo looked at Sakura. "Come on Sakura-chan, it'll be fun," she whispered. "It's probably not even haunted."

"I guess I'll come too," Sakura said, sounding defeated.

"Good, me too then," Tomoyo said.

Naoko smiled widely. "I'll call you all tonight to let you know what time we'll go. We just need a drive."

"I'll take care of that," Tomoyo said.

"Yay!" Naoko exclaimed. "I can't wait!"

Sakura sighed heavily. She had a bad feeling about this one.

/MoOn/

/AnD/

/StArS/

Sakura jumped as the phone rang.

"You know kaijuu, I thought your jumpiness would get better as you got older, but obviously I was wrong," Touya said. Sakura glared at him before getting up to answer the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hello Sakura-chan!"

"Oh, hi Naoko-chan," Sakura said, laughing nervously.

"Is Tomoyo-chan at your house by any chance?"

"Yes, she is," Sakura said, glancing at her friend, who was sitting on the couch.

"Good, I thought she might be. Anyway, I've decided that we'll all get picked up around two o'clock tomorrow. It's about a forty-five minute drive so we'll get there at quarter-to-three. I don't know how long we'll be there. Pass this on to Tomoyo-chan, she's taking care of the drive."

"Okay, I will," Sakura said.

"Thank you Sakura-chan!"

"Bye Naoko-chan."

"Bye."

Sakura sighed and hung up. She went back into the living room where Tomoyo and Yukito were laughing at something Touya had said.

"Tomoyo-chan, we're going at two tomorrow," she said.

"Okay, now all we need is a driver…" Tomoyo said thoughtfully.

"Where are you going?" Touya asked.

Tomoyo looked at him. "A haunted house that Naoko-chan wants to go to."

He thought about it for a moment. "I'll drive you."

"That's great! Yukito-san, would you like to come to?" Tomoyo said.

"I can't. I'm going out to lunch with my grandparents," Yukito said, shaking his head.

"Well, I guess that's that," Sakura said, still nervous, "we're going at two, and you have to pick everyone up."

Touya nodded. "Okay," he said. "A haunted house. This could be interesting."

/MoOn/

/AnD/

/StArS/

"We're almost there!" Naoko exclaimed, bouncing in her seat. Her friends smiled at her. Touya turned the van onto a small dirt road and drove slowly into a small, traditional village. All of the houses were very small and shabby, except for one that stood on a terrace all it's own above all the others.

"That's the house," Naoko said, nodding to it. It was huge, one of the biggest house any of them had ever seen.

"Why would anyone build a house like that in a village like this?" Chiharu asked. She looked at all of the houses. Most of them could've only had two or three rooms, the rest only one. The mansion had two stories, but it was almost as wide as the village itself. It wasn't decorated with gold or silver, but at one time it must have gleamed with rich wood and bright paint.

As Touya pulled up in front of the mansion, the group began to get out. Naoko opened the huge double doors and they walked in quietly as if someone might be there to hear them.

Sakura leaned toward her brother from where she still was in the passenger seat. "Is it actually haunted, Onii-san?" she asked.

Without a word, Touya got out of the van and walked into the house. Sakura trailed after him nervously. At her first step into the house, she gasped.

"What is it?" Touya asked quickly.

"There's magic here, or there was magic here… I can't tell," she said.

Touya's brows furrowed and he continued down the main hallway. Sakura continued to say less than a pace behind him.

As they passed a set of stairs, she could have sworn she saw something move. She let out a small 'eep' and jumped up to walk beside her brother.

Suddenly, they heard a scream, and Sakura had to stifle her own.

"Get back to the car!" Touya said.

"But-," Sakura said, her voice shaking violently.

"Go back," Touya repeated, taking off towards the scream. Sakura couldn't help but obey, running out of the house as fast as her legs would carry her.

Touya ran up a flight of stairs and into a bedroom, where he found nothing. Another scream told him to open the closet, where he found Rika trying desperately to get out.

"Sasaki-san, are you okay?" he asked. Her eyes were full of panic and he quickly decided that it was a stupid question.

"You have to get back to the car," he said. The light above them started to flicker and he heard a door slam. "Run! Go!"

Rika ran out of the room and Touya followed, his heart beating twice as fast with each step. They ran down the stairs and Touya made sure that Rika was running safely down the hall before running in the opposite direction. Naoko ran by him and he glanced at her before continuing.

"Get me out! Please get me out!"

In a big room with a huge fireplace, he found Takashi trying to move two armchairs, which were backing Chiharu into the fireplace, which had suddenly been lit. The armchairs scraped across the hardwood floor loudly as Touya went to help. The chairs only moved toward the fireplace as Chiharu screamed, getting forced closer to the roaring fire.

"Oh please, get me out," she pleaded.

Takashi finally jumped on a chair and stuck his arm out for Chiharu to take as the scraping grew louder and the flames shot higher. She grabbed it and closed her eyes as she tried to help him by scrambling over the back of the chair. They both toppled off with aloud thump and a scream from Chiharu, who began to cry. Touya helped them both up and pushed them toward the door gently.

"Go back to the van. Quickly! Before anything else can happen!" he said. The two set off running and Touya followed them out. He opened the door so that Takashi could help Chiharu in.

"Onii-san…" Sakura whimpered from the front seat. Touya then realized something.

Tomoyo wasn't there.

He ran back into the house immediately. He had expected her to be there. She was a smart girl, he thought she would've made it out. He searched trying not to see the spirits. Normally they wouldn't be able to do things like this, but these spirits all had powers that they had managed to take with them from their physical lives.

Finally he found a room where the lights weren't flickering and the doors weren't slamming. The door was only slightly open, and he could just see the edge of Tomoyo's skirt lying gently on the floor as he ran up the hall.

He opened it quietly, as he felt he should. Tomoyo was crouching on the floor, staring at the opposite wall.

She was staring at a huge black void. It seemed to be alive as the edges licked at the walls surrounding it like flames, and it seemed as if one could walk in and walk forever, it's depth was dizzying. He had to stare at it.

And as he stared, Tomoyo threw a chip of wood into it, and it disappeared. The moment it did, all of the life in her eyes faded away, and she stood up and began to walk towards the void.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Touya exclaimed, snapping out of his trance. She only continued to walk.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the void. She fell into him like a rag doll and then made another move toward the void. Touya picker her up to stop her and then left the room, running as fast as he could. The spirits chased him, he could see them out of the corners of his eyes. He ran faster until he could see the door. He managed to speed up more as they came out of the rooms around him and he jumped through the huge double doors just as they were about to slam closed. He skidded across the dirt on his shoulder and then check to see if Tomoyo was okay. She blinked a couple times as the spark of life returned to her eyes.

"Touya-san?" she said, her voice faint.

"Oh thank God you're okay," he said, letting out a huge sigh of relief. He got up and then turned to help her up as Sakura got out of the van and rushed to them.

"Tomoyo-chan! Come, get in the van! We have to get out of here!" she said.

Tomoyo still looked disoriented as she nodded. "Thank you Touya-san," she said before rushing into the van with Sakura. Touya got in quickly and started the van with haste and they drove away at what seemed to be the speed of sound.

/MoOn/

/AnD/

/StArS/

And the plot thickens…

So…confusing or what?

Anyone want to guess what this whole expedition to the haunted house was about? It's actually quite interesting…in my point of view. Of course my point of view is quite different from reality, unfortunately. But hey, we're all like that sometimes. This chapter was shorter than all of the other ones (like…200 words), but I think it makes up for it in quality…or it could just be my laziness. Either way, it's all good.

Personally, my favourite part of this chapter was Takashi saying 'Don't be glum, chum'.

Word Count: 2,031