Credit to this chapter goes to SullieMike23, the one who got me outta my rut.

Sailor Moon: FOTM; The Two Worlds

Chapter 2: Haunted House Barrage; a Fleeting Kiss pt.1
Hollow Bastion

The Dark Lord sat on his throne with the six Deadly Generals standing in wait for his response to this horrible news. The Fellowship was reunited at last after countless centuries. Now that they were assembled, things would grow increasingly difficult for them. It was then that he had to make a crucial decision. Envy growled, "This sucks, but it doesn't matter. It's six against six; it's an even fight." Pride interrupted the little punk, stating the obvious, "True, but let's not forget, the Knights are unevenly powerful compared to all six of us." He then turned to the figure wearing the black trench coat with the hood over their head and face.

"And little Sloth here's barely been able to strut out at all.", Lust pointed out. "Strut, strut, strut!", Gluttony barked out. Greed was finally able to speak out his mind to their master and creator, "So, Boss-Man, what's your plan on dealing with this." Ansem then turned and looked at them as his shadowed form was a silhouette to them. He then calmly stated, "I'm afraid we have little choice in all of this. We will have to assemble all of the Seven."

The five gasped while Envy grinned at this, as Lust asked, "So wait a minute. Who's the seventh?" Envy grinned sadistically, "The first of us, created over ten thousand years ago…the most powerful of us all…the only one who can even touch the Phoenix Blade without burning up."

Ansem smiled evilly, "The one called Wrath."

Greed's ears twitched at that name as it sent shivers down his spine. He had only heard the name once before, and the stories that Envy had told him were pretty eerie. Just hearing about him and what he did…made even non-existent blood run cold in him. It was then that he asked, "So where is he?"

Ansem sat on his throne, his shadowy form still hidden, "He's been in exile, honing his powers until he could fully master the power he stole." He then smirked, "But now he must have heard his old friend, Aarogon is awake again." He looked at the shards in front of him, "I'm sure that he's been aching…to see him once again."

Day 6

Arashi Mountain Hotel

Morning

In the Lounge

"A haunted house?" The girls asked as Mina had told them of a rumored haunted house nearby. They had all gotten together after they had woken up; Amara, Michelle, and Trista were missing as usual. Mina was going to try something for Ami today, something to help speed up the spark between her and Aaron. Mina nodded as she smirked mischievously, "Yeah, they say the ghost of a woman lives there. You know the old house on top of the cliff?"

The girls had heard something about it as they nodded, hearing that there was a house near the beach they had just gotten back from. Just then, Aaron, Frey, Jin, and Sarah were walking down, and Sarah jumped up and asked, "What house near the cliff?"

Mina smirked as the bait was taken, "Well, there's this old abandoned house that I was able to get us allow to go into." Aaron stopped as he asked, "Why's that?" She snickered, "Oh, nothing much, just to try out the Test of Fear. The ultimate chance to break couples in."

Rei smiled as she sighed, "Ah, yeah." Serena just sighed, "I wish Darien were here, and then we'd be sneaking in the dark together." Everyone just sighed with exhaustion at this; everyone wishing Serena would get over it.

Ian on the other hand was paling beyond measure. Frey spotted this as he asked, "Hey, big guy…What's wrong?"

Ian sickly turned to his comrade with a pale look in his face, and a deathly grimace, "I just know we're gonna end up dead or face first in a sewer drain…" if there was one thing that he couldn't stand, it was things that had to do with the possibility that there was a darkness with the existence beyond death.

It was then that he felt someone slap his back playfully as he stiffened up, feeling the hand to be feminine. It was Lita who was patting him on the back as she tried to comfort him, "Don't worry so much, Ian. It's not like the Boogeyman's gonna pop up."

"Guys, it's a scientific fact that no existence of an ectoplasm-formed floating aberration has ever been recorded or proven to physically exist in nature." Ami explained but almost everyone, minus Jin and Aaron, all had blank faces wondering what Ami had said.

Aaron sighed and answered for her, "In other words," He took a deep breath before scowling at the others. "There's no such thing as ghosts!"

Ian then pointed out, shaking and sweating, "How do you know that? You can't see a spirit, but you can sense it. It's all around us whether we choose to see it or not."

Then Lita popped up as she said, "Still, that doesn't make it any less fun now does it?" They all looked at each other, even Ami and Aaron who had doubts about the ghost stuff. But it couldn't be helped as everyone cheered on the idea, even when Ian went even paler at this realization, and Ami and Aaron just shook their heads in disbelief to this whole situation.

Mina looked at Ami and Aaron with a scheming glint in her eyes, 'A scary house is the perfect way to get those two together.' She innerly chuckled at her successful plan, 'I know that this is gonna work out in the end.'

Later On

The Beach

The gang, along with the boys, including Domon and the fuming Phumika, and the paling Ian, had made their way to get to the beach a while ago, and were making their way to the location of the house. Both Domon and Phumika were surprisingly wearing the same thing as the other; they were both wearing a pair of red pants, black T-shirts, and black and red sneakers, though this time, only Domon was wearing sunglasses. Sarah was smiling as she and Domon walked together, although when Phumika looked at the two, she just looked like a combination of anger and fear at the two.

But she shook off her fear as Phumika was just growling like crazy as she snarled, "I still don't see why we had to come along?"

Domon pleafully smiled at his sister and stated, "It's a friendly outing, Phumika. They invited us to come along, and I didn't want to be rude by objecting it."

Mina, completely not caring about the enraged Phumika, leaned in on her and smiled, "Come on, girlfriend. Even you need to start havin' some girl fun once in a while."

Phumika gave Mina a sour and evil glaring look at her and snarled, "I. DON'T. LIKE. HAVING. GIRLY. FUN!", She snarled into Mina's terrified face, "GOT IT?"

After seeing this frightful dark side, Mina shrinked back, whimpering, "Got it."

Phumika just huffed as she walked on, but Domon stopped and waved apologetically, "Sorry about that; she's not what you'd call 'Feminine material'."

Mina, nervously smiled and said, "Well, I'm sure a day with us might help anyone out."

It was after that, they had reached the house on the sandy hillside; everyone noticed that it was near a lighthouse, and near the shore. The house was approximately three stories high, and was kept in mint condition. However, Ian looked worse for wear, just as Lita noticed, "Ian? Are you alright? You look pretty pale."

Ian grimily smiled nervously as he stated, "Oh, it's nothing. It's just as soon as it's night when we get into that house, I just know one of us will be found dead in a sewer…"

Just then, Rei jumped up at him and smacked him on the head, "Will you knock it off! There are kids here, that are gonna get freaked out by this!"

Rini, however, just shook it off, "It's okay, Rei. We're not that scared."

Ian's eyes nearly bugged out as he then explained, "You should be! I've heard stories about this house! So I'm not going in there!"

It was then that Domon tapped him on the shoulder, and nearly startled Ian, and said, "Ian, I'm sorry to say but after you started talking….", he then pointed inside to show him where they were, "…we're already inside the house."

It was then that Ian's eyes got bigger as he shouted, "GET ME OUTTAH HERE! THE JU-ON COULD BE UPON US!"

Rei about had enough of this as she shouted, "WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF! THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS JU-ON!"

Lita, not wanting this fight to go on, stepped in between the two and stopped it, "Calm down, both of you!" However, Rei could only snicker at what she just saw; Lita turned around to see what it was, and it was Ian, turning blue as she saw that she had her hand on his chest, while trying to push him and Rei apart. She took her hand away and apologized, "I'm sorry, Ian."

Then Sarah, decided to play some fun in this, "Don't worry, Ian…there's no such thing called a Ju-On….", she then had on an evil and wicked smile as she shouted, "…BUT MARY SHAW AND HER HUNDREDS OF EVIL POSSESSED DUMMIES ARE REAL AND WILL COME OUT AND RIP YOUR TONGUE OUT BY THE SEAM!"

It was then that someone appeared behind Ian, Lita, and Rei, making a horrid gurgling sound. The three teens paled as they turned around slowly, only to see Aaron, looking at them with an evil grin, looking like a rotting demonic ventriloquist dummy.

The three teens went bug eyed as Rei finally fainted, but Lita jumped into Ian's frozen arms, and screamed, "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Including Serena and Rini as the two were running around Jin and Frey, and Hotaru jumped into Frey's arms by surprise, as they screamed out, "LOOK OUT! DEMON DUMMY! DEMON DUMMY!"

Everyone just screamed out loud at this and even Ami shrunk back in horror, bringing her hands to her face and screaming as well. It was then until they heard the hysterical laughing coming from Sarah, Phumika, Domon, and even Aaron that everyone stopped and looked at Aaron. He laughed, "Oh man…", he finally breathed out as he rubbed the make up off his face, "…I wonder what would have happened if I used Jason's mask for this?"

It was then that everyone realized that they were just making fun of the whole haunted house situation; Rini and Serena breathed in relief, Frey and Jin just shrugged, not fazed at all by this, but Ami just smiled in relief, but shouted, "Aaron! That wasn't funny!"

Sarah chuckled, "That's your point of view, Sis."

Lita just took a huge sigh of relief from this, but then realized she was in Ian's arms. She turned to face him, "Oh, I'm sorry, Ian. I…", she stopped as she realized he had just froze up again. "Oh, I'm sorry!", she yelped as she jumped out of his arms.

Frey and Hotaru, both realizing that one was holding the other, quickly let go. However, Hotaru felt someone touch her from behind and then she growled. Then everyone winced as they heard a slap sound; Frey just stood there, rubbing his face from a slap mark, "But I didn't even touch you at all. You're the one who jumped at me."

After he had finished complaining about the accidental feel-up, Frey stood up, "Okay everyone, the rules are simple: just find the study before the other teams do. In the study is a letter: if you find the letter, then you win a bonus prize." He then snickered, "Oh, and if you 'die', you lose, so don't try getting lost in here." Everyone either groaned or sighed as Frey began the listing, "Okay, first group 1: Ami and Aaron." The two turned to each other and just smiled; a smile that only friends gave each other. "First group, now the rest…"

"Ian and Lita", Ian looked pretty nervous as he looked back at Lita, who waved at him shyly.

"Jin and Rei.", the two just looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Domon and Sarah.", the two friends just smiled at each other.

"Mina and Phumika.", after that, Mina looked nervous while Phumika looked miffed.

"And finally, me and Serena, Rini, and Hotaru.", everyone looked confused by this, but Rini and Hotaru just sighed and shrugged it off. Serena, however, just grumbled and huffed at this.

Then as the teams of two split up around the house, a creaking sound coming from behind them. For no one noticed, but a figure dressed in a hooded black trench coat in a corner, was watching them very carefully. And when it believed what the figure saw needed confirming, the figure amazingly turned into water, and slipped and swished into the cracks on the floor, going who knows where and for what reason.

Later that Night

Inside the House

Both Ami and Aaron were treading down into the dark hallway as night had finally settled in. The two teens, both confident in their knowledge at the fact that both ghosts and the Superstitious world were both folly, would have a chance to last long in this game of nerves. However, both felt a little at ease with each other in the room, as if they were both happy to be together, even though they figured this was some sort of idea from Mina trying to get them together as a couple. When Ami looked at Aaron, she just couldn't help but blush a little. She turned her face away from him without having him notice, and clenched her fist, 'This is it, Ami. You have to tell him.'

But just before she had the courage mustered up, she heard a strange voice that came out of nowhere.

Just once more, I would like to touch your lips again, but do you not care for me anymore?

Ami turned around, almost hearing that strange eerie voice just then suddenly, almost as if it came up from behind her. Aaron stopped and turned to her, "Is something wrong, Ami?"

Looking at Aaron, she shook her head in a negative, and smiled, figuring it was just her imagination, "No…it's nothing, Aaron. It's just this old house playing games, I guess."

Aaron smirked at that as he stated, "Yeah. Believe it or not, even though I don't believe in ghosts, places like this give me the creeps after dark.", and with that, they continued onwards towards where they believe the study would be.

It was just then that Aaron accidentally tripped over a loose floor board and fell flat on his face on the floor. Ami, being a little concern for him, knelt down and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Aaron, are you okay?"

Aaron groaned as he looked up to Ami with a half-smile, while trying to hide a smidge of pain from the fall, "I'm fine."

It was just then that a small clanging sound was heard as Aaron was getting up. It was the kind of clanging sound that you would hear when you dropped some loose change or a small piece of jewelry on hard ground. It was then that Aaron remembered what that sound was; he felt around his neck for something and realized that something was missing. He got on his knees and hands as he crawled, and looked frantically on the ground for what he had lost. He then sighed as he found what he was looking for: a small gold ring with a ruby rose embedded into it, and linked to a chain that acted as a pendant.

It was then that Ami saw it as Aaron scooped it up, but not before she said, "That's a lovely ring, Aaron." Aaron didn't bother to turn around as he got back up and just looked at the ring in his hand. Ami just stood behind him, wondering why he looked at the ring. She slowly walked around him to face him, "Aaron?"

….and saw that he had a sad expression on his face.

And it wasn't the look you'd see when someone had hurt you're feelings; it was a look that showed when someone important to you was gone. Seeing him look like that caused a sharp pain in her chest. Just seeing him like that was too much to bear; a saddened expression appeared on Ami's face as she looked at him, 'He seems so sad…', she then looked at the ring, and back at him, 'I should at least ask him before we keep going.'

"Aaron?", he finally snapped out of it as he looked at Ami with much surprise as she asked, "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then put on a fake smile, "It's nothing; just some bad memories that's all."

With that said, he started to walk away, but not before Ami ran up to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder, "Aaron, please. I asked you and all I want is a truthful answer." Aaron turned around and was about to try and come up with an excuse, but then he caught Ami's face. She had the facial expression mixed with both sadness and worry. It was even in her tone when she spoke up, "Please, I need you to be honest with me."

He sighed, seeing as how he knew that some day, he would have to tell someone else than Frey. He held the ring for Ami to see it, and said, "This ring belongs to my mother."

Ami looked confused as she asked, "Your mother?", it was then that she realized that he never talked about her at all. Not even when they did, he would just ignore the question and move on to something else. Whatever it was about her, it seemed to bug him immensely, almost to the point of ignoring it.

She then took a deep breath, and a lot of courage as she asked, "What happened? You never talk about her much."

Aaron lowered his head to hide his eyes, and took a deep sigh as he said the hardest thing ever, "That's because…she died…a long time ago."

Ami's eyes went with shock, and then went sad as she looked at him in a different light. She had always wondered what it was that plagued him so as she tried, "Aaron…I…"

But before she could do so, Aaron began to walk again as he stated, "Come on, I'm pretty sure that the others are gonna beat us there if we don't hurry."

Ami was a little reluctant about it; in truth, she wanted to know more about it in order to try and help him out a little. Truthfully to her, she felt that she now got to know a little bit more about him. But she also must have figured that, aside from his dad and Sarah, he still felt a little lonely. Her chest ached in wanting to comfort him; she just wanted to go over to him and embrace him, telling him that he was loved by her.

She shook her head, 'I…I can't do it. It wouldn't seem proper, or even appropriate.' But she looked at his retreating form as she caught up to him, 'But still…it's too painful to see him like this.'

Elsewhere

Ian and Lita were wondering around a creaky old place, filled with books and papers. Not to mention a few mounted animal heads, trying to figure out where they were. If there was one thing in common that Lita and Ian knew, it was not being able to know their way around in places like this. It was then that Lita just grabbed her head in frustration and shouted out loud, "ARGH! How could we have gotten lost this fast?"

Ian was looking around the place, forgetting about the ghosts for a while. He looked outside at the setting and pretty much saw that the moonlight touching the water and beach, made the whole place seem like something out of a romance novel. "You know this house has a very sad love story to it. I might be the only one who knows what happened.", Ian said, still sweating up a storm as they were inside the house.

"What's the story about?", asked Lita, stopping her ranting hissyfit long enough to turn to him and hear what he was saying. Ian then began to tell the story as he saw a nearby chair and sat down, along with Lita sitting on the padded footstool next to him and then he began the tale. He told her that in that house lived a beautiful maiden; she had a nice lover, but their parents opposed their marriage. So they dated under a small house near the lighthouse that was not too far away from here.

"That's so romantic…", Lita said as she sighed in a dreamy tone. Ian noticed the look on her face, and then suddenly felt a strange warmth enter his face. He shook it off, trying to get back to the story.

After clearing his head, he then went on, "But soon the maiden was cast into an arranged marriage by her parents. They were troubled once they knew about her relationship with someone else, so her one true love left and wished her happiness. Still, the maiden waited and waited for him in the boat day after day. Yet he still didn't come, which saddened the girl and left her crying. The letter that we're supposedly gonna find in the study was written by the girl before she disappeared."

"Disappeared?", Lita asked him, now getting intrigued by the story.

Ian nodded as he went on, "On a stormy night, much like the one we're in right now, while she was writing her letter, she looked out her window and saw someone out in the shallows. She ran out to the lighthouse's waters where the boat was, and left her letter behind. However, her feet slipped, and she drowned beneath the crushing waves. Soon after, the room where she wrote the letter…was believed to be haunted by the ghost of the maiden. She was sealed in that room.

It was after that; Lita looked around, looking pretty freaked out. Ian just chuckled as he stated, "But I doubt the ghost of the maiden would kill anyone." He then just looked outside as he saw that it started to rain, "But it's kind of sad though…being separated from each other for so long, not being able to be near each other for so long…"

It was then that when he said that, Lita looked at him in wonderment. She slightly let out a little blush as she thought, 'I didn't think he was ever sensitive to stuff like that…', she then let a smile escape her face as she looked at him, 'I guess he's just a big, soft teddy bear…when he's not beating anyone up.'

Just then unknown by the two teenagers, a huge wave of water-like tentacles shot out of the boards, and the two teens looked in horror as everything suddenly went black.

Next Chapter: Haunted House Barrage; a Fleeting Kiss pt.2
Sorry if this chapter seems a bit small; I'm in a bit of a rut now, more than ever with this chapter.