A/N: Hi guys, I'm pretty sure i know what you're thinking 'It's June and she still hasn't put up nevermind rules is she going to put it up?' I definitely will be putting Nevermind Rules up, though later than i originally expected, Touch down on Okinawa and More to life are kind of looking like they''ll be wrapped up at the same time and i don't have much to do this week so i will definitely be trying my best to wrap them up this week so i can dive into Nevermind rules the following. Eitehr way both ghost stories in this chapter are not real, just thought i'd point that out but anyone is free to twist them and retell them if you'd like just know...they aren't real stories...
Local ghost stories
"Aaaaah this feels so good" Umeki sighed in contempt stretching her arms above her head and then sank into the warm water of the hot springs she was in. After such a long day of doing so much, no matter how fun it was, she was generally glad to have some time to herself just relaxing like a girl. Besides she needed to relax as much as possible for after this and some food it would be the locals ghost story that Hyuuga had been told. She had to be honest, she wasn't at all looking forward to it but she wasn't a coward... Usually...
"Geez those boys" Umeki grumbled as she let herself sink to her chin in the soothing hot water furrowing her face in frustration. "I try to relax and have a good time with them for once and they go and drag me to a haunted house, count on boys to do something so stupid. I don't want to do this..." Umeki would have ranted on but judging by the sounds of it she was no longer alone, she quieted down as two older women joined her in the bath.
"Aaah this is so nice" one of them sighed much like Umeki had moments ago.
"See didn't I tell you?" her company hummed pleasantly "it's a perfect get away for all of life's troubles"
"Hmmm is this where senpai always disappears to?"
"Mm!"
"I can see why. Did you see all those boys earlier? It must be a class trip or something" the first, and apparently younger, woman sighed dreamily while Umeki rolled her eyes in the steam of the bath "they were so cute definitely not from around here"
"probably from Tokyo or something, the ones I saw kept rambling on about that ghost story, you know the one I'm talking about Mio?" the older hummed out. Mio didn't answer at first probably drawing a blank at first before she nodded her head.
"Yes! The story about the Peony princess of Shuri castle right?" her senpai hummed her confirmation of this question. "I remember that story, everyone talked about it when we were in high school" she giggled nostalgically "I think Sato-kun told it the most. Actually, did you hear he convinced the park nearby to make a haunted house based on it?"
"Really now?"
"Mhm and he's the manager of the ride, he tell everyone the story he told me the other day"
Umeki listened closely to this woman's words. Could she possibly be talking about the same haunted house that she had gone to today? Umeki bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head slightly, she couldn't be.
"He's making the place so scary. I was just talking to him today and he said that the worker playing the Peony princess scared some poor girl so badly she fainted halfway through the ride" Mio went on unaware that the girl she spoke of was literally a few feet from her and currently sinking to her nose in embarrassment.
"That Sato" the older woman chuckled out.
"Anno..." the two giggling woman stopped and looked Umeki's way as the girl glided towards them "I'm sorry for eavesdropping but...could you tell me that ghost story you were just talking about?"
"Are you ready?" the door to their room slid open and Ryu walked in and saw Umeki dressed in her Yukata and fanning her face slightly from where she sat. The hot bath mixed with the steaming food served a short while ago and the Okinawa heat definitely gave her justice to fan herself. The girl looked up and nodded slightly. Ryu crossed his arms and smirked; even in this heat she was pale with fear. "Are you sure you want to go?" the observant boy questioned "we don't have to"
"I'll be fine!" Umeki snapped crossing her arms as she did and standing up. She was so moody so it was perfectly obvious that she wasn't fine but Ryu would say nothing about it or she'd just get angry with him. Shrugging Ryu moved past Umeki and across their room.
"Alright" he commented "go on ahead of me I'll be there in a minute. They're in Hyuuga and Tsuuchi's room" Umeki waved a hand at his words dismissively and walked towards the door he watched her slide the door open and she stared long and hard into the dark hallway before her.
"...anno..." Umeki looked at Ryu from over her shoulder "I think...I think I'll just wait for you..." Ryu couldn't help it; he chuckled, so much for fine.
"Is everyone here now?" Umeki grumbled her response as Hyuuga stepped out of her way and let her shuffle into the room with Ryu right behind her they others were all sitting in a circle looking up at her as she slowly sank to the ground and sat beside Hayato. She wasn't generally as afraid as she was before mainly because the women at the bathhouse had so kindly told the story to her.
The story was about a princess who lived in Shuri castle many years ago, she fell in love with a samurai who served her father and they would meet in the peony garden every evening for a walk around the garden. Life was good until war raised between them and a neighboring village, the samurai was sent away to fight swearing to the princess that he would return and marry her. The princess believed this and as a sign of their promise the princess gave him an incense box claiming it to be her favorite and that he must give it back giving him more motives to return to her.
Every day that her love was gone the princess walked the peony garden at night with lantern in hand hoping to catch a glimpse of her love, but the samurai never returned still she wandered the garden night after night after night. Time past and the princess grew ill with despair but still she walked the garden with her lantern until one night the princess collapsed and died.
It was later discovered that the samurai died in battle and so could not return to his love. According to the story the two lovers now spend eternity trying to be reunited with one another. It's said that the princess, called the Peony Princess for her name had be lost in the pages of history, is reborn again and again returning to Shuri castle at one point of time in her many lives hoping that she will be reunited with her love reborn as well. The samurai, as the story says, when he died vowed to remain attached to the land and search for the princess to return her incense box and stay by her side until she joined him in spirit.
There was nothing scary about this tragic story at all and so Umeki wasn't as terrified as she had originally been. Hyuuga slid the door shut and joined his friends on the floor.
"Are we ready?" he asked looking about at each of his friends.
"We're ready" snapped Umeki "get on with it or I'm going to bed"
"Alright, alright" he said "so long ago there use to be this princess that lived in that castle we went to today and a samurai that was her bodyguard. The princess loved this samurai and he loved her
"But one day the samurai had to go off to war and he swore that he would return to the princess so she waited and she waited and she waited but the samurai did not return. The princess, believing that the samurai had found another and ran away with her, was filled with hate a jealously.
"She went mad with this hatred and sold her soul to a pack of demons. This night the princess snapped fully and with the new power she gained from the demons she sold her soul, she single handedly slaughtered everyone who was unlucky enough to be inside the castle including her parents and a number of villagers nearby.
"The princess engulfed the village in a thick malice and ripped anyone who came close to shreds." Hyuuga paused in his tale and looked Umeki's way "she often targeted young pretty women, she'd accuse them of stealing her love and rip of their faces in an attempt to take their beauty and bring her lover back. Pretty girls like you Uki-Chan..." Umeki scowled at the boy scooting closer to Hayato, who obviously didn't complain about this action, the boy easily wrapped an arm around her. This wasn't funny anymore, where the hell did he learn this story because it was way different from the one Umeki had heard.
"Is that it?" Take spoke in an ever so timid way making his fear apparent. Hyuuga shook his head.
"No not yet. Years after the princess went mad the Samurai and his comrades returned to find their home infested with demons and their princess brimming with insanity and hate, she easily slaughtered the army of warriors before engaging the samurai she loved in battle. The samurai killed the princess and with her last dying breath she vowed "I will return in a new body and have my revenge on Shuri castle!" she yelled "I shall kill all who cross my sight!" and response the samurai said "than I shall find you in all of your lives and kill you again and again" they say that now they both wander Okinawa forever at war with each other.
"The princess, true to her word, prays on innocent people unlucky enough to encounter her, they say the last thing you see is the light of the princess peony pattern lantern that she used long ago to search for the samurai "why are you here?" you can hear her say before she kills you
"The samurai, though it hurts him to do so, also kept to his word. He could find the princess because of her love for the peony flower, in all of her lives she wears something with a peony on it and knowing that he kills her before she can act out her revenge." something with a peony on it? Umeki put a hand to the peony hair clip she wore. That couldn't be.
"I'm going to bed" Umeki hummed nervously getting to her feet and leaving the room as fast as her feet could take her without running. Her obvious fear sparked a terribly cruel idea to come to her classmates, with the exception of Ryu who of course wanted nothing to do with it. Late that night the boys gathered outside of Umeki and Ryu's room. Under Hayato's stubbornness they waited until the boy left the room for the bathroom leaving Umeki by herself. Slowly began scratching at the door moaning as they did.
"Princess..." Hayato groaned out nudging Tsuuchi who stifled back a laugh from beside him "...Princess" he moaned a bit louder than before and then turned to his friends, "don't just sit there, say something" he whispered harshly
"Princess..."
"Why did you do this to use princess..."
"Come to us..."
On and on the boys scratched and moaned at the door sure that within Umeki was terrified beyond her wits. With luck she might even come into Hayato's room out of sheer fear! This would be great! They continued on like this until Take suddenly stopped, no one noticed this immediately though but when Tsuuchi did he gave the boy a light nudge.
"What are you looking at?" he whispered looking down the dark hall like Take did.
"...did you hear that?" Take questioned straining his ears. Tsuuchi squinted in doubt straining his ears as well and then he heard it, a faint whisper of a voice. Someone was speaking from within the darkness of the hall.
"...are...you...re?"
"What is that?" Tsuuchi muttered patting Hyuuga and then Hayato to get their attention.
"wh...y...are you...her...?" the boys stopped their moaning and scratching collectively gazing down the hall. There was a faint glow in the distant, a lantern by the looks of it, and thanks to this glow the boys could see a ghost pale hand carrying the lantern. "W...hy...are you...here?" the voice of a woman hissed dangerously through the hall to them and finally after a moment the lantern raised to the point that they could see the face. Red liquid ran down her face and neck and her pale face fixed the boys with a glare "Why are you here?" she snarled at the boys. Silence followed momentarily before the boys ran down the hall screaming their heads off. The woman was left alone in the hall holding her lantern and staring in the direction the boys had gone. She took in a small breath "have you ever seen them run that fast before?" she glanced over her shoulder at the boy behind her; he snorted before shaking his head walking around her to face her.
"Blood...nice touch" he commented she shrugged.
"Strawberries work wonders if you know what you're doing" she replied and chuckled wiping at her face to get the juice off. She smiled brightly at the boy, which in the light turned out to be Ryu, "what do you think?" she chuckled "did I do well?" Ryu looked over his shoulder in the direction his friends had run and laughed.
"They won't be back anytime soon" he replied and slid the door open casually "should we go to bed now...Peony-Sama"
"Right away" Umeki laughed lowering the lantern in her hand, she'd have to return this thing tomorrow it was really late. Ryu stepped into the room and Umeki moved to followed but pain shot up her leg from the bottom of her barefoot. "Itai!" she hoped back and looked down at the floor. She stepped on something green; she picked it up and looked it over. It was a cute little green glass incense box with flower designs on it. How did it get there? Umeki held it up to the light of the lantern taking in its every detail, for a plain old incense box it was very pretty... looking up and down the hall Umeki shrugged her shoulders and entered her room sliding the door behind her.