Ditching Shuri Castle

Teenager weren't supposed to enjoy this part of class trips, Yankumi knew that well. All they did was drive around Okinawa looking at all the historical aspects of the island stopping at museums and ancient shrines and such even Yankumi could get bored of that. 3D, however, was having the worst luck when it came to their trip in this stage. It wasn't because the tour was boring or anything, actually the locations they stopped at were quite interesting, it was just that they had stopped at four different places and yet no one had set foot off the bus since they'd first stepped on. The class was growing restless; anyone could see that as their activities in the bus went from quiet, relaxed and uninterested to the activity similar to how they are in class. What could they do? Keeping them in the bus seemed to be the only way to keep the trip peaceful... Yankumi sighed rubbing her temple from where she stood at the door of the bus. She really hoped they could go into this grand castle, Shuri castle it was called, it would be nice experience for the class however as Head teacher Sawatari came running back to the bus looking panicked as he had the last four times she was certain they wouldn't be able to.

"We should keep moving" he panted lowly once he got on the bus "there's another school here...natives...like 3D" who knew Okinawa had punks like Kurogin did, Yankumi could understand why Head teacher didn't want them in there, knowing these kids there would be some kind of confrontation.

"Oi, Yankumi!" one of her students called to her "are we getting off now?"

"A-anno..." Yankumi stammered before smiling weakly "Shuri castle seems to be closed today!"

"Huh?" the bus almost shook with the loud yells of 3D

"Everything is closed!"

"That can't be possible!"

Yankumi hated lying to them but she couldn't risk giving the head teacher a reason to expel anyone so she put on her best smile and sooth her angered students. Of course they wouldn't believe something was closed for a fourth time, these boys couldn't be that foolish.

"Everyone! Everyone!" she yelled over them but they continued to yell their protest to both Yankumi and head teacher Sawatari. "We'll stop by tomorrow how does that sound?"

"No way! We have free tomorrow!"

"listen!" the shrill voice of the head teacher yelled and surprisingly enough silenced the bus "just because you're upset about a few closed places doesn't mean you can act like..." he paused "well yourselves! You may not be in Kurogin but you're still Kurogin students! You represent our school so act like it!" after such a daring speech the bus fell into silence. Yankumi held her breath looking between the head teacher and her students. After what felt like forever of silence there was movement. "What are you doing?" Head teacher Sawatari spoke as Umeki sleepily stood up from her seat and soon made her way down to the front of the bus.

"Shuri castle is closed?" Umeki muttered softly be yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes "what bullshit" she moved to step off the bus but the head teacher got in her way. She stared at him expectantly for a few minutes. "...Move"

"Listen Matsushima this place is closed! There's no point in getting off the bus so sit down!" he tried to be stern but the ever so sleepy looking tern did not flinch.

"...maybe I didn't make myself clear..." Yankumi watched as the head teacher's eyes and mouth grew in size at Umeki as she raised her head fully and was most likely giving him a very fowl look "...Move your ass... Now!" faster than lightning the head teacher jumped out of the way of the girl. She glanced over the rest of 3D "...let's go" and with that she stepped off the bus with her classmate bounding gleefully after her. Head teacher Sawatari scooted over to Yankumi as the class filed out of the bus in an orderly matter…hopefully they would stay as orderly once they were all off the bus.

"Yamaguchi-sensei" he spoke wearily to Yankumi, nothing else neither needed to be said nor was there really any time to say much for loud yells of highly pissed off boys had forced the adults to end their conversation sort and hurry off the bus. To their horror it appeared that 3D was already attracting trouble. The native thugs that the head teacher had spotted earlier were now surrounding the 28 students of 3D and Yabuki had a firm grip on the blazer of one of them while everyone just screamed and shouted around them.

"Everyone!" Yankumi yelled hastily pushing her way through the crowd of teen trying to get to Yabuki. If that hot head threw the first punch they were screwed. "Everyone calm down please' Yankumi tried to sooth the raising anger but it wasn't working.

"What's your problem?" the boy who's blazer Yabuki gripped. The two glared at each other angrily "is this your sister?" his eyes shifted to Umeki who stood just a foot or so behind Yabuki "I was just saying hi"

"Lay off my girl" Yabuki growled dangerously.

"Hayato" Umeki spoke up just as Yankumi finally got to them.

"Yabuki!" she sounded gripping the boy's hands and after a few hard tugs loosened his grip off the other teens blazer "knock it off"

"Is this your student?" the native scuffed at Yankumi fixing his blazer "Sensei you should learn to control you students better" his friend collectively laughed succeeding in pissing off everyone of 3D in one swoop. Ignoring all the yells of anger this guy went on to brush past both Yabuki and Yankumi and step right in front of Umeki. "How would you like it if I showed you around, ne?" this poor, poor man, if only he knew just what he had done.

Umeki was half asleep at the moment and though she wasn't fully sure what had started everyone yelling like that she knew two things for sure. The first was that it was still too early for any of these boys to have this much energy to cause such a mess and second well…it would better just act rather than think. Umeki reach up and gripped the boys shirt under his blazer and yanked him so his face was inches away from her own and now that their eye had met the boy could see perfectly how pissed off she was.

"I have a boyfriend" she informed him flatly "and if you are smart you'll respect that before I kick your ass" the boy frowned for a moment and then went on to scowl at Umeki. She could see by the look he gave her that he was just daring her to hold up to her threat. Umeki raised an eyebrow high before curling her hand into a fist preparing to let the jerk have but then something happen. The look the guy was giving Umeki changed strangely, it almost looked like he recognized her. Umeki raised an eyebrow at him as he shook himself free from her grip and stepped a pace or two back giving Umeki more than enough space to walk towards the castle. Not wanting to feed the slowly dying rage and frankly satisfied by this guy's sudden reaction Umeki relaxed. "Let's go" she directed to her classmates glancing around at them before pushing past everyone and heading towards Shuri Castle after a moment's pause the others followed her.

"hey boss" one of the natives spoke in a low voice to his leader "that girl just now didn't she kind of look like...?" he fell silent when his leader nodded.

"I know" he muttered "leave them alone"

For a boring stop Umeki had to admit she was enjoying walking about Shuri castle. It was peaceful and there was an odd air about the place. Like those creepy abandoned place some might have in their home towns, the ones that were often said to be haunted. However this castle didn't hold an eerie air, it was more like a subtle awareness that something else was here and though it meant no harm to Umeki it was apparent that it had been here much longer than all in the area and these tourist, Umeki included, were simply guest.

"Ne, ne Uki-Chan" Umeki shoved her hands into her pockets not once looking away from the garden of white peony flowers she stood before.

"Hyuuga" she spoke

"Mm"

"Didn't I tell you to keep that camera out of my face?" she stated flatly. Beside her Hyuuga stiffened slightly before taking three steps back and lowering his camera just a bit. Behind him Tsuuchi laughed fanning his face cool from the Okinawa heat.

"Come on Uki-Chan loosen up a bit why dont'cha? Weren't you the one who said you wanted to relax on this trip" at his words Umeki glanced at him Take stood with the two of them but Hayato and Ryu were nowhere to be seen, probably somewhere else around the castle. The girl raised an eyebrow slightly but sighed and slowly nodded her head.

"you're right" she said with a small smile "so here's an idea..." her smile quickly morphed into an evil grin that obviously piqued the interest of her friends for they collectively leaned towards her with eager looks on their faces.

"Thank you so much young man"

"No problem" Hayato smiled as the small, frail looking, old woman he had just been speaking to turned and carefully widen the distance between the both of them. He watched her go for a moment before turning his eyes to the item she had given him. It was small enough for him to close his hand into a tight fist around it and the woman's cryptic instruction on what he was to do with it didn't help. She had asked him to drop it somewhere late at night tonight why on earth would he do that and how was that going to help him? She had said it would help them both but again he didn't see how. Either way he had the item now so there was no use in wondering about it now, he had it now and the old woman was long gone at this point.

"Ne, Hayato" the 3D leader nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice behind him and he shoved his hands into his pockets so fast he was sure he almost punched a hole in them. Hayato whipped around and was greeted by Umeki staring at him with head tipped slightly, curious of his reaction to her calling him. She squint her eyes at him "Daijobu?"

"..Uh…M-Mm" he nodded his head rather than reply. That was close, she almost caught him. "..N-Nani? What is it?" Umeki paused in her answer still eyeing Hayato enough to make him shuffle nervously under her sharp stare. She looked him up and down for a minute before a smile graced her face and she reached out to him, oh no! She saw! Hayato stiffened quickly watching with wide eyes as Umeki closed the gap between them and looped her arm through the one Hayato had kept deep in his pocket with his fist tightly clenched around the small item, even though it was smooth he could feel it imprinting it's leaf and flower pattern on the palm of his hand still he held onto it tightly.

"Come on lets go" she chirped to him pulling him in a direction simply smiling in response to his confused expression, go? Where? Were they leaving already? But they had just gotten off the bus! As if reading his internal whining Umeki let off the cutest giggle Hayato had ever heard come from her "We're not going to the bus" she informed him "We're getting outta here"

"….huh?"

Apparently what Umeki meant was skip out on the trip all together. The rest of their five man gang was quickly gathered up and when Yankumi and the Head teacher weren't looking they hurried around the bus and practically took off running like rockets away from the castle. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that Umeki had come up with such a plan; usually it was them trying to convince her to skip out on things like class. Within minutes of losing sight of the castle where their class was the five sat around eating Yakitori grinning each time Hyuuga held up that camera of his. After Yakitori the group went to an amusement park almost clear on the other side of the island, really it was amazing how fast these teens could travel unsupervised, this stop was the more interesting ones that would later prove to be useful to the boys later.

They went on the pirate ship ride, a couple of roller coasters that weren't that thrilling but fun enough, they teamed up and played bumper cars, though Ryu sat out for this since there were five of them and that would uneven the teams, then they played every man, and girl, for themselves. After getting a brutal lesson on who was master of the bumper cars from Take the group finally clambered their way to the ride they had saved for last: the haunted house.

It was at that point that a so far eager Umeki reverted to her old grumpy attitude opting not to enter the indoor coaster. Though no one at that time knew why they eventually did once they dragged her on with them.

"This was a bad idea" Umeki muttered beside Ryu when darkness surrounded them and the coaster rattled to a start. With Hayato in the seat across from her she settled for shuffling close to Ryu and glaring around the darkness in an ever so tense manner. "I knew I shouldn't have let you guys talk me into this"

"Relax Uki-Chan" Tsuuchi comment drifted through the darkness "it's just a stupid ride, it's not scary at all" but how wrong he proved to be a moment later. When silence finally came to the group again the loud noise of whirling gears reached their ears and the sound of wheels rolling down a nearby track joined it. Suddenly a light flashed on to the left of the cart where Umeki sat and everyone turned their heads to look. Under the new light the 3D girl had become a ghost pale in a matter of seconds, her eyes grew to a size none of the boys thought was possible and her mouth hung open wide. Looming over her by whatever had slid it down to them was the grotesque figure of a samurai... or at least it looked like a samurai based on his red armor and helmet the rest of him was tattered and decayed and his half sunken in eye stared right at poor frozen Umeki.

"Go back!" the skeletal corpse spoke ominously to her "go back before it's too late! The princess she...she'll kill you all!" that was all it took. Umeki inhaled deep and was shrieking seconds later in a high pitch shrill sound that could break any ear drum within ear shot. The coaster slowly wheeled on but Umeki didn't stop screaming for the ride had turned itself so the continued to look at the samurai. He continued his warning until he was yanked back violently into the darkness; his yells joined Umeki's screams in a last warning "Please! Save yourselves! Before it's too late!"

"Stop the ride!" Umeki yelled shaking her head wildly "I want to get off-AAAHH!" she screamed out when the cart gave a slight jerk and suddenly started spinning. While her classmates were busy laughing Umeki turned to Ryu having her arms find their way round his waist and buried her face into his jacket. The cart spun on for another minute or so before slowing to a stop and slowly wheeling on its way.

"Daijobu?" Ryu muttered to Umeki who lifted her head and shook it.

"Iie, Iie... I want to get off now" she whined in a shaky voice. The lights began to dim on at this point allowing the students to take in their surroundings. The surroundings looked almost exactly like Shuri castle but there was a dim purple hue to the area. "I want to get off!"

"oh there's no getting off" this time they all jumped at the sudden response the cart slowed to a stop before another figure but this one, unlike the manmade dummy of a dead samurai, was very much alive and as the lights made a ominous spotlight on her it was easy to tell she was a very beautiful woman. She was dressed in an old, tattered Kimono that despite its decaying look looked as lovely as the woman who wore it, add on the rusted jewelry she wore and it was obvious that she had been royalty a long time ago. An evil glare was on that beautiful face as she slowly approached the cart and surveyed its riders. "What are you doing here?" she snarled "do you want me to kill you too?"

"No no" Umeki pressed her face into Ryu's jacket again shaking her head as she did.

"You girl, look at me...Look at me!" at the screaming of the woman Umeki raised her head almost to the point of tears now. The woman glared hard at Umeki "you..." she started but stopped suddenly and there it was again. In the dim lighting the shaken Umeki saw a look of recognition cross the woman's face much like that of the boy at Shuri castle as she gazed down at Umeki but as quickly as it came it went away and she was back in character "you!" she pointed a finger at Umeki who squeaked in response "he left me for you! I know it! Come to me! Your beauty! I want your beauty! Give it to me! Now!" the woman reached to touch Umeki's face and that made the poor teen go ballistic. She began shrieking again pushing herself against the other side of the cart and away from the woman.

"Iie! IIE! Get away!" Umeki screamed out just as the cart jerked again and whizzed away from the woman who screamed in reaction.

"Don't let them get away!" she screamed and that was when all hell broke loose. The cart began spinning again and figures of demon spun past all around the students, lights flashed and demonic laughter danced with Umeki's screams as they went spinning deeper into the horror ride. By the time the ride was over and the 3D students were off Umeki found herself sprawled on a bench nearby with a wet cloth over her eyes and Tsuuchi, whose lap she had her head rested on, fanning her. Ryu and Hayato busied themselves by assuring the manager of the haunted house that Umeki was okay while Take and Hyuuga were off looking for food and water for by the time they had gotten to the end of the ride poor Umeki had fainted and only now began regaining consciousness.

"I...hate...all of you" Umeki muttered weakly to Tsuuchi who chuckled in response.

It was generally agreed that the group had had enough of the amusement park so the hopped on the nearest train and took a short ride it took to get to the nearest beach. The sky was painted a beautiful mixture of pinks and purples and orange and the ocean sparkled reflecting light off its surface. This by far was Umeki's favorite stop of the many they had done that day and after kicking off their shoes and stripping off their socks and jackets the teens began scurrying off to the shore of the beach cheering loudly as they chased the retreating waves only to collectively scream and scamper back up the way they came when the same waves came crashing back up to land nipping coolly at their feet. A water fight followed this activity and after Hyuuga asked a couple passing by to take a picture of the five teens together waving their shoes in the air and cheering the five broke off to pursue whatever they wanted to do next.

"this sure beats being stuffed in a bus all day" Hayato sighed stretching his arms up and over his head as he walked along side Umeki along the shore of the beach, the sky was starting to darken as the sun retreated behind the horizon, they'd have to head to the osen soon and hope Yankumi didn't notice them missing. Umeki hummed her response nodding her head as she did.

"I had fun" she replied smiling up at Hayato who smiled back at her.

"Really?" she nodded "even after the haunted house" Umeki scowled and shoved her laughing boyfriend in to shoulder.

"Shut up" she grumbled "it's not funny"

"Yes it is" Hayato replied still laughing "well you know...beside you fainting... That wasn't funny" he draped an arm over Umeki's shoulder as if to assure the girl she was safe and she smile gratefully at him. After a little walking they doubled back and walked about the shops near the beach hoping to find their friends among the crowds of people. There was something repeating itself in almost every shop that the couple past and Umeki quickly took notice of it.

"People sure do like Peonies around here" she muttered and Hayato nodded as they walked. Every store and stand so far didn't fail to have something that had to do with Peonies in them weather it was the name Peony or the very flower itself. The pair slowed to a stop at one of the stands and Umeki leaned forward to look at the young man's merchandise. "they're all so pretty" she hummed gazing at the hair clips with their lovely flower designs one in particular caught her attention, it was a silver clip with a sparkling white Peony attached to it, it glittered with little white gems along the outline of it and in the petals but it looked expansive. Umeki sighed leaning back and nodding to Hayato to tell him she was ready to keep walking but Hayato too appear fascinated with the peony clip.

"Sir" Hayato spoke up digging into his pockets or his wallet "how much for that one?"

"Hayato no" Umeki gripped his wrist and shook her head "it's too expensive, I don't need it" she didn't want to be one of those girlfriends that made their boyfriends get these ridiculous gifts for them besides Hayato probably didn't really want to waste his money on a stupid clip but Hayato shook his head and focused on the shop keeper. The handsome young man looked between the two of them and smiled.

"Normally ones like this are very expensive" he confirmed Umeki's word with a nod. His eyes locked on Umeki's and he smiled secretively "but for such a lovely lady I'll give this to you for a very cheap price young man..."

"Arigatou gozaimasu" Hayato paid the man and gently picked up the clip and clipped it into Umeki's hair "there we go" he said grinning at the scarlet hue to the girls face "perfect"

"...you didn't have to..." she muttered bashfully nodding to the shopkeeper as they walked on but Hayato shook his head.

"Anything for my adorable girlfriend" he replied and chuckled at the face she made. She let go of his hand and bashfully walked ahead of him. Hayato laughed more and quickly jogged after her not wanting to lose her in the crowd. The pair met up with their other friends and quickly made their way to the osen that they would be saying at. To their luck their class just happen to be climbing off the bus right then. They snuck their way into the group and made their way into the inn with cunning smiles on their faces.

"Guys" Hyuuga spoke up when the group now stood with their bags in the lobby of the osen waiting to go to their assigned rooms. "Let's meet up later tonight and tell ghost stories" to this Umeki almost immediately went pale.

"No way!" she growled at him.

"Awe but Uki-Chan!" Hyuuga whined as Umeki shook her head. The boy poured "but a worker at that haunted house told me a really go local ghost story too..."

"Well I'm not going to listen to it" Umeki grumbled

"Well...if you're too scared to..." Tsuuchi muttered loud enough to earn a snarl from Umeki "don't worry about it Uki-Chan, that lady ghost kept saying she was going to rip your face off, I would have fainted too if I were you. You're not a coward"

...coward?

"I'm in" Umeki growled