Arc One, Chapter 5: Where Lies Emptiness, Lies a Soul
"What's that light over there?" Kaito peered down the streets to see tongues of red and orange flicker in the distance.
"That is the Burning Hearth, the Land of Coal's signature flame. 'The hearth of many flames may differ, but the comfort they bring makes all the same.'" Mamoru told them as they walked to his house. They had put the horse and carriage back at the rental and proceeded to Mamoru's house. Michio ran off with some other kids soon after, and at the moment they were just enjoying the scene on the way to the house. Sora had taken Hayato to the town hospital, and said he would come back for him later.
"That's sweet," Aoi smiled, "The town is very lovely."
Kids of all ages were running around happily, playing games such as tag or hide-and-seek. Adults came from where the fire was located, holding recently lit torches. As Kaito watched, a couple placed their torch on the sconce that hung over their doorway.
"Here's our house. Just put our luggage on the couch." Mamoru opened the door, and the ninja practically ran in, throwing the baggage on the furniture. The house was huge: there were large two bedrooms on the right, a bathroom in-between them, a living room in front, and a small kitchen to the left. There were stairs that led to upstairs on the far left corner, but Kaito didn't want to explore the house just yet. He was slumped against the couch, rubbing the soft, burgundy rug with the back of his hand. "There are three extra rooms upstairs. There's a small fridge and bathroom up there, just so you won't have to travel from here and there for simple trips."
"Too bad our mis-"
"Hey Kaito, can you bring our bags upstairs? Aoi, I'm sure you know the room order." Sora interrupted.
"I can take a good guess." she confirmed.
"Thank you."
Kaito rose an eyebrow, but Sora had already shoved their bags into the genin's hands and directed him to the stairs. With a quick glare, Kaito went up the creaky stairs and onto the second floor. It was warmer up there, and as Rika had told them, there were three separate rooms, each of the same size, on the left. There was another living room area on the right side, and a bathroom farther ahead.
"I think even you know what the rooms are." Aoi smiled.
"'I can take a good guess.'" Kaito mimicked.
"Oh, shush, you."
They put Aoi's things in one room, Sora's in another, and both Hayato and Kaito's things in the last one. When they went back downstairs, Sora and Mamoru were gone and Rika was busy unpacking the family's clothes.
"Where's Sora?"
"He went to go get your little friend. Mamoru went out to fish, and when he comes home, Michio will probably be with him. They usually come home together." Rika smiled.
"Oh, okay. Do you need anything else to be done?"
"No, not really. I do this to keep myself busy until the other women in the village are done with their chores. Then we all meet at one of my neighbor's house. Do you want to come, Aoi? No offense Kaito, but you might get bored."
"None taken!" He grinned widely.
"Um, no thanks. Me and Kaito were thinking of sparring today." Aoi chuckled nervously. "Come on Kaito, let's get to it!"
Kaito opened his mouth to object, but she quickly grabbed him and dragged him out the door. As soon as she closed it Kaito started laughing.
"Is it that bad?"
"You don't even know." She sighed.
"So do you really want to spar?"
"Not really. I just wanted to get out of there. We could go check on Hayato."
"If you want to." Kaito said
"Since you want to, we can go." She started walking.
"Because i want-I don't want to!" he yelled after her.
. . .
After asking at least three people, they finally found their way to the town's hospital—Or at least what they called it anyway. It was more of a shack that had multiple beds with white sheets hung clumsily between them. A woman directed them to their friend, and Sora was nowhere to be found.
"Hey Hayato!" Kaito greeted.
The black-haired genin looked up at them in surprise. He had a cleaner pair of clothes on, but still had bandages all around his body, hiding the cuts and bruises from battle. He sat up and leaned on his pillow, waving at them almost sheepishly.
"How are you doing?" Aoi sat on the edge of his bed; he didn't try to move over, so Aoi stayed, bouncing lightly on it.
He shrugged, almost if to say 'Same as usual'.
In the corner of Aoi's eye, she saw Kaito shove a water bottle into his pocket. She'd get on him later about that.
"Have you seen Sora?" She continued. It was kind of weird talking to him like this. She was used to him not talking, but just looking at him and seeing how big he was—and he was tall. He had quite the few of muscles, and was taller than Aoi by a little over an inch—made her think of how he could be the badass goth sort, who would always do what he wanted regardless of what others wanted of him. He did have the black down, and the spiky hair. All that was left was the rude attitude and piercings.
He shook his head no.
"What could be taking him so long?"
As if on cue, Sora walked to their room.
"Oh," he said, surprised, "What are you two doing here?"
"Checking on Hayato." Aoi said, at precisely the same time Kaito said "Getting her away from Rika." Aoi shot a glare at Kaito while Sora cleared his throat.
"Either way, the nurse says Hayato can leave when he's ready. The injuries weren't bad, but she does suggest some proper rest when you get home. And here," Sora gave him a coin, but instead of the winking face, it had him with a stern, serious look on the coin, "Sorry for letting that happen to you. If you ever get in trouble again, use that Sora-Cent. I'll appear to your aid, regardless of where I am. Just crush it to use it."
Hayato threw his legs over the bed and stuffed the coin in his pocket. He put his sandals on and walked up and out of the room.
"Gee, you're welcome." Sora sweatdropped.
Sora soon took the lead, and they followed him back to their temporary home.
. . .
On the way to the house, Kaito spotted a familiar red-headed boy with the dark brown eyes of his mother.
"There's Michio!" Kaito pointed. The boy had an impish grin as he ran around, slapping every kid he could as they froze in place. Freeze tag, Kaito assumed.
"That little squirt sure can sleep." Sora nodded.
"A gift." Aoi agreed.
One of the kids tripped and fell down. A loud moan came from his direction, and the small child rolled over to reveal that he had scraped his knee. Tears ran down his face in streams as a woman, probably his mother, picked him up and bounced him in her arms.
"This is a nice village." Kaito said. The others nodded their heads in agreement and continued down the path to the house.
. . .
"I'm heading out, then. Have fun!" Rika had said when they had arrived. Kaito had gone upstairs and went straight to sleep. Hayato and Sora were presently in a heated battle of Shogi.
"Sensei," Aoi called Sora, "Why did you stop Kaito earlier? Isn't our mission really done?"
"Well," he moved a piece, "Our job isn't really done."
"Wasn't it to escort them here?"
"That was part of it. The bandits will likely strike again, but I doubt it will be soon. There were so many last time that they'll need some time to recover. That bolt was too perfectly timed to be confused for chance. Some of them, the ones who had gotten away, must have been former Shinobi. We had a couple strokes of luck, too."
Hayato was staring at the board for a long time before he had made a move, Sora making an exasperated face when it was finally his turn. "Finally," he muttered.
"What do you mean, luck?" Aoi stretched out on her stomach, leaning on her elbows to prop herself up. She kicked her feet in the air idly.
"Well, if Kaito hadn't have learned that move, the bandits could've had us overwhelmed. He got rid of quite the lot of them. And you. You also saved our clients from becoming possible hostages. You didn't even want to get in, if I remember correctly."
"W-what? I have no recollection of what you're talking about." She stammered.
"And if Hayato didn't made that makeshift net," Sora cast Aoi a suspicious look, "The bandits would've continued to attack and make their way into the carriage, overwhelming you four who were in it. We would have had to try and save the hostages, and even then there's no telling if they could have gotten away with one of you. So, as I had said, we were lucky. Ah, I won! Excuse me as I go get something to drink."
Hayato stared after Sora with an annoyed expression.
Aoi sighed and rolled over, her back relaxing to the cool touch of the carpet. Hayato had looked at her with a curious look.
Bored, she mouthed. He shook his head minutely before Sora came back in.
"There are some fireworks going off outside, if you want to see them." Sora pointed behind him, towards the window. It looked like he hadn't found anything to drink.
"What about Kaito?" Aoi sat up.
"Already awake." The genin had come in, glaring instantly at the jounin, who smiled innocently as Kaito thrust a finger at him. "He woke me up by splashing water on me!"
"Why, I did no such thing!" Sora faked a look of hurt.
"The stain is right here!" He gestured at a huge wet spot on the front of his shirt, and then to his wet face and hair.
"You probably just slept on the roof." Sora waved it off.
"The—what sense does that—I GIVE UP!" Kaito stomped back into his room.
Aoi giggled to herself quietly.
"You two ready?" Sora smiled.
"Yes sensei!"
. . .
Apparently Kaito had gone back inside of his room to change clothes. He ran down the stairs just as they had opened the door. After Sora locked the door with an extra key, they went to the town's signature bonfire.
Did Kaito say the fire was huge? No, skip that, the fire was humongous, taking up a good third of the center of the town. People were always throwing coal into the fire, laughing happily as it went to the bottom and sizzled away. There were ropes that surrounded the giant flame, two feet in front of it. Even of you were had horrible aim, Kaito thought, you could make the shot. The fire danced in the night, fireworks littered a distance around it. The genin had squeezed their way near the front, leaving their sensei behind.
"Ready!" A man's voice roared over the crowd's murmurs. The crowd screamed with excitement as men began lighting the fireworks. Kaito watched in awe as the first one sailed into the air; it burst, a clear lime green illuminating the dark sky. Then more joined in like a choir, brightening the sky in a flurry of colors. There was only one word that came to mind that could describe its beauty: Alluring.
"Ooh"s and "Ahh"s went around the crowd in waves. Kaito couldn't tear his eyes away from it, nor would he like to. He wished everyday would be like this, but at the same time, was glad it wasn't. There were those special times in life that you cherish forever, and Kaito had to admit that this was one of those times. Not just the view, but his friends with him also made him smile at the fantastic sight.
"EEEEEEEEKKK!" A girlish shriek had went off in the house. Kaito, startled, had rolled out of his bed and crashed onto the floor. Hayato had been much faster, already dashing out the room towards the scream. Kaito ran clumsily behind, kicking off his bed sheets impatiently.
"Ow ow ow ow!" Michio complained. Aoi was pinching his ear very roughly.
"What happened in here?" Sora demanded.
"This little elf decided surprising me while I was asleep would be funny" she glared at him as he grinned wickedly.
"Ow ow ouch!" He yelled as Aoi added more pressure. "Let me go you wicked witch!"
"No thanks, fire-ant." Aoi retorted.
"Is everything okay?" Mamoru was upstairs now, startled and confused. He looked at his son and sighed. "Michio, apologize."
"Sorry." He said quickly, as if he feared him.
Kaito looked from the child to his father.
How could such a nice man be scary?
"Michio," Rika called from behind Mamoru, "Are you giving our guests trouble?"
"No ma'am!" He said, then hastily ran past her, still running going down the stairs. Now it made sense.
"I'm sorry. I'll handle Michio. Breakfest is ready downstairs." As soon as she turned around, the sweetness and kindness of her voice had left when she yelled "Michio!" at the top of her lungs.
. . .
Sora liked being the only one in a blue full-body suit. Not only did he feel comfortable, but he was the only one who looked stylish in it. Aoi had white pajamas with pink flower designs on them, Kaito wore a white t-shirt with what looked like were swimming trunks, and Hayato donned a black shirt with baggy black pants. Rika had made toast, a plate of bacon, eggs, and left out a gallon of orange juice for them. Everything was delicious, but Sora was occupied with wondering what they would do today. Then the door rang.
"I'll get that!" Sora got up and walked to the door. He opened it to see three kids staring up at him.
"Can Michio come out with us?" One of them asked.
"Sorry," Rika said, suddenly next to Sora, "Michio's in trouble for the time being."
"Awww," another pouted, "But we're going to the loop house!"
Rika paused, and after a moment she seemed frozen. "No," she reaffirmed, "He can't go. Maybe another day." Just as she was about to close the door, Kaito sped into the doorway.
"Can I come?" He asked the kids.
"Kaito!"
"What?" He looked at his sensei, "It's not like we're doing anything here."
"Sure! Just follow us!" A kid told him.
"I'll be out in a minute."
. . .
"Here it is!" A kid told them. Aoi and Hayato came along while Sora stayed back. It hadn't taken as long as Kaito had expected to clean himself up and change, so they would have left well around twenty minutes later—Until the other two genin decided they wanted to come.
The building was huge, and looked abandoned. Kaito thought the building was black, once, until the paint either faded or peeled off, turning it into a dull, dirty gray. The windows were dirty in all aspects, and the front door was cracked open, splinters of wood sticking out where the lock would've been. The door knob was still there—was there glue on the side of it?—and the porch looked stable.
"And you kids have done this how many times?" Aoi stared at the building with distaste, clearly against going inside.
"Three. We keep trying to get past the basement."
"Why not just go on the first floor first?" Kaito asked.
"The door is locked. And it's really tight. For some reason, we can't seem to break through. We even tried using a bat!"
"Not even a dent." Another kid agreed.
"We'll fix that!" Kaito grinned, scratching his nose with his thumb. He walked up to the door and opened it; almost instantly the smell from it roundhouse kicked him.
"Oh, goodness." Aoi pinched her nose. Hayato pulled his shirt over his nose, and Kaito threw his arm around his.
"Oh yeah! The back of the door stinks. Forgot to tell you that."
"Nice." Kaito muttered, and walked into the house.
. . .
There were seven steps leading up to a spotless door with spiderwebs along the top of it. As more sunlight came in, the door was revealed to be the same scarlet color as blood.
Hayato walked up to the door and lightly touched it with the tips of his fingers. He them turned around and shook his head no.
"Are you kidding me?" Kaito snapped, "You didn't even try to open that!"
Hayato only shook his head again, and began walking down the stairs to another flight of stairs going down.
"Come on," Aoi said, lightly pushing him to follow. The kids giggled with excitement as they raced down the stairs. Kaito sighed and reluctantly followed. The light from the doorway seemed farther and farther away as they descended into the dark, seemingly barren room. It was chilly, and very little light seeped through the tiny slits they called windows.
"What's this?" Aoi said somewhere in the dark.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. It's too dark in here."
"Oh, well—WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH YOUR HEARING?"
A few snickers went around the group as Aoi sighed and regained her composure.
"There's some picture here." She paused for a moment, and then yelled, "Got it!"
A clap went off in the dark, and suddenly the room was illuminated by small, newly lit torches scattered on the walls. Now that Kaito could see the room, he saw that chairs had been thrown all around the room. A table was split in two, and shattered pieces pottery were littered across the ground.
"What happened here? And what did you do?" A kid asked.
"Well, there's this," she pointed at a framed picture, "And I saw it was sticking out a little. I moved it, and found a switch. When I flipped it, this happened. Nothing I can't solve." She flipped her hair around her shoulder in a sassy manner.
"As for this scene," she continued, "I can't really say."
They went across the room that led to an open door. As the others went through it, Aoi stopped.
"Guys, I just remembered—"
"Don't chicken out." Kaito shook his head.
"It has to do with training."
"Sorry kids, our adventure has been cut short." Kaito shrugged.
"Awww. Tomorrow?" They pleaded.
"Sure."
"Yay!" They ran up the stairs happily.
. . .
"Why couldn't they come along" Kaito whispered. It was dark at night and they had snuck back inside the house, telling Sora and their clients they left something.
"I told you ten times already!"
"Well enlighten me again, then."
She sighed. "There was a genjutsu placed on that doorway. That's why it is called the loop house; the technique causes you to arrive in the same location," After closing the door and making sure it was firmly shut, they continued down the stairs, raising their voices as they reached the basement, "So if we get rid of that genjutsu..."
She walked up to the doorway and clapped her hands together. "Release!" She yelled. The door shimmered, and suddenly it turned into another stairway, going upstairs instead of down.
"Nice job, detective Aoi."
"Thanks." Before she took a step, Hayato stopped her, walking in front of her.
"Hmph!" She pouted.
"Guess I'm taking the rear..." Kaito mumbled as they made their way up the stairs.
A voice pierced the still air. Though it was faint, it was loud enough to hear. Hayato looked back and rose a finger to his lips, and then continued to creep up the stairs. When they reached the first floor, the voice was loud enough to be confirmed it was above them. Aoi didn't try to look for any switches, and Kaito didn't blame her; this was beginning to turn into more of a haunted tale than a fun trip. The melodic tune of voice changed in Kaito's ears, and he realized that it was singing.
Going up another flight of stairs, they finally reached the floor the person was on. After narrowing down which one the singing was coming from, Hayato approached the door cautiously. Kaito had gotten on his right, Aoi on his left, as he prepared to open the door. As quietly as he could, he turned the knob and pushed the door lightly.
A girl sat on a chair near the window, the moonlight spilling over her blonde hair and white gown. She almost looked like a ghost that was doomed to haunt this place, forever. Her face was turned, so they waited for what seemed like an eternity for her to notice them. She continued singing for a bit until she finally realized the door was open, and turned; fresh tears were running down her cheeks as she ended her song.
I had LOTS of fun making this chapter. Feel free to guess who the girl is in the reviews. Until next time!