Chapter 22: Shisha no Ie
In the middle of some woods covered in snow there is a large tree nearly the size of a house and at the bottom is a small area dug up lined with some kind of concrete. It appeared to be an entrance to some kind of underground facility. Suddenly three figures approach the entrance; it was Kurayami Seiwa, Raito Hōjō, and Mikimoto Itani.
"Not only did we run into Yuki but we also ran into that Taki guy." Kurayami said sounding annoyed as they walked in to the opening.
"At least we got the doctor so no complaining, Lord Seiwa!" Raito stated as they arrived in a dungeon looking place with brick walls and candles lighting up the place.
"But why has Master Toyotomi decided to help me out now after he seemingly gave up on me before?" Mikimoto asked still wearing his full black wardrobe.
"He didn't tell us the details but it would seem he has more plans for you or rather your knowledge." Kurayami said when they turned the corner into what appeared to be some kind of audience chamber.
"Leader, we have brought Doctor Mikimoto Itani as you ordered." Raito said moving aside revealing Mikimoto.
"Good, we have much work to be done and not much time to keep playing around. There is a machine that I need you to make for me that should peek your interest, Doctor." Toyotomi's voice was heard as a silhouette of him was seen in a chair sitting across from the three of them.
"Considering who is asking for this machine – I'm intrigued already. When do we begin?" Mikimoto asked with a large smile on his face under his mask.
"Immediately, the resources for the machine will be handled by Yuri and Chieko. There is no time to spare anymore for any games so we'll have to get this project finished right away!" Toyotomi stated as two figures moved out from the shadows from his sides.
"Who are these two? I don't believe I've seen them before." Mikimoto thought looking at the two figures in Tasogare cloaks with their hoods covering their faces for the most part.
"Really now, why must we associate with this worm again, wasn't there any better scientists you could of used?" Yuri asked shrugging while looking back at Toyotomi.
"Yuri, Leader knows what he is doing and if he asked for this guy then only he can do it. We must honor Leader's reasons and believe in him." Chieko said with his hands behind his back as if he was standing at attention.
"It's just as Chieko says, he is the only one who can do it. You two remember the location I told you about before, correct?" Toyotomi asked looking at Chieko and Yuri.
"Yes, let's get going Chieko before we get dragged down by this 'thing's' presence." Yuri said walking by Mikimoto glancing at him revealing his golden eyes.
"Do you always like looking down on people, Yuri? That is not a very honorable thing to do, people will hate you for that." Chieko said walking behind Yuri.
"Even though I wanted to say something to that guy… I was too terrified to say anything!" Mikimoto thought as sweat ran down his head.
"I could care less if a worm like him hates me, what matters are the ones that rule – like Leader. The worms cower below their might while groveling at their might and those rulers are the only ones I wish to associate with." Yuri said as they neared the exit.
"A rock is just as important as the wall. If it weren't for the bricks working together to hold it together, the wall would crumble along with whatever it's holding up." Chieko said stepping out and into the sun.
"Whatever, they're nothing better than vermin to me. I'll let you deal with the lower class worms then." Yuri said as they walked out on the snow to do their job that was given to them by Toyotomi.
Back at the inn where Yuki's group was, the place was completely quiet except for Jiraiya leaving his room with all his gear on. Yuki was at the end of the hall waiting when he spotted him.
"Leaving already?" Yuki asked looking at Jiraiya.
"Yeah, I have a job to do." Jiraiya replied as he was stretching.
"Watch yourself; the Land of Rain isn't how it used to be anymore. I would suggest going in by the water channels." Yuki said as Jiraiya walked down the stairs to the first floor.
"I'll see you around then. You better be ready to put up the bill for the sake when I return!" Jiraiya stated as he moved out of view.
"Time to wake up the kids I guess." Yuki thought getting off the wall and heading towards Kazuki and Takeo's room. "I should've had Masakatsu do this." He thought knocking on the door. "Time to get up; we have a mission to do today." He said while inside Takeo slightly opened his eyes to see the room still dark.
"Huh, why is there a mission this early in the morning?" Takeo asked in a dazed manner.
"It's actually closer to noon than midnight. There's an overcast today with dark clouds so it appears to be earlier than it actually is." Yuki said explaining it while Kazuki showed no sign of waking up.
"Really?" Takeo asked getting up from his bed and looking out the window to see the dark gray clouds. "I guess you're right." He said opening the door with only a shirt and some boxers on.
"Kazuki's still asleep…?" Yuki asked looking over at Kazuki on his bed.
"Yeah if he's not dead since Ayaka didn't go easy on him last night." Takeo replied obviously out of it still and yawned.
"Make sure he's up soon or we'll leave without him." Yuki said shaking his head as he walked off when Kosuke and Ayaka walked up the stairs at the other end of the hall noticing Takeo and Yuki.
"Is the mission starting soon?" Kosuke asked looking over at Takeo.
"Yeah, Yuki just came by to wake us up but it looks like Kazuki's still pretty messed up from last night." Takeo said looking back in his room.
"He's still not awake? That lazy bum!" Ayaka stated walking past Takeo and into the room.
"Uh… I think you might have actually killed him last night." Takeo said scratching his head looking back at Kosuke as if asking if this was really okay.
"Wake up!! We've got a mission soon!!" Ayaka shouted shaking Kazuki violently.
"I'm glad I didn't get that kind of wake up call." Takeo said watching what was going on as Kosuke walked over to him.
"Takeo, shouldn't you get some clothes on?" Kosuke asked pointing at him.
"What do you… right! I completely spaced out and forgot I hadn't changed yet!" Takeo stated slightly embarrassed.
"What is it?" Kazuki finally uttered in a completely dazed tone.
"Mission, M-I-S-S-I-O-N, MISSION!" Ayaka shouted into Kazuki's ear when his eyes opened wide.
"Got it! Mission, I'm awake!" Kazuki stated when he noticed Ayaka standing next to his bed with her hands on his shoulders shaking him. "What's with the wakeup call?" He asked a little confused.
"No reason – just thought it would be something nice to do every now and then." Ayaka responded coughing lightly as Takeo, now with his pants on, leaning over to Kosuke's ear.
"I bet it was to make sure she didn't kill him last night." Takeo whispered to Kosuke and they started laughing.
"I bet you're right." Kosuke whispered back when Ayaka quickly turned to the two of them.
"What was that?!" Ayaka shouted glaring at the two of them.
"N-nothing, nothing at all." Kosuke and Takeo replied taking a step back.
"If you don't mind, I need to change before getting out of bed…" Kazuki said looking at Ayaka.
"Oh! Right, sorry!" Ayaka stated noticing what he was trying to say and started walking towards the door with her face slightly red.
"Today is really starting to become a weird day. I don't even remember what happened last night after we were being attacked near the entrance… I wonder how I made it to this room." Kazuki thought getting out of the bed as the door closed.
"Ayaka, don't tell me you were thinking of staying in there while he changed!" Kosuke stated teasing Ayaka.
"I was not! You two distracted me so I forgot it was time to leave!" Ayaka stated furious and embarrassed.
"Right on the money, huh? Don't worry, we won't tell!" Takeo stated piling on to Kosuke's comment.
"Grrr, you two really know how to irritate me!" Ayaka stated walking into her room as Takeo and Kosuke stood in the hall laughing.
"What's so funny?" Masakatsu asked stepping out of his room.
"You just missed Ayaka trying to figure out if she killed Kazuki last night and then her getting flustered by a few things we happened to hit on." Takeo said trying to stop laughing.
"Geez and I missed that? Why do I always miss the fun things?" Masakatsu asked when Yuki stepped out of his room.
"You don't always miss the fun things; you did see that thing last night, didn't you?" Yuki asked locking his door behind him.
"'The thing last night'…?" Kosuke asked a little confused.
"Don't remind me – anyway, we have a mission to get to!" Masakatsu said changing the subject.
"Changing the subject as usual, scaredy-cat? Let's hurry up and get this mission over with – I'm not particularly fond of these types of missions…" Yuki said sounding slightly annoyed.
"'These types of missions'…? What kind of mission is it?" Kazuki asked stepping out of his room ready to go.
"Hey, who are you calling a scaredy-cat!? Who do you think took this mission on in the first place, hm!?" Masakatsu shouted pointing at Yuki.
"What's going on?" Kazuki asked stepping over to Takeo and Kosuke.
"Seems Masakatsu saw something last night relating to our mission today that scared him and Yuki is making fun of him because of it." Takeo responded as the three of them watched.
"Whatever, that was probably because all they told you was that we would be investigating strange occurrences at that mansion, right?" Yuki asked looking at Masakatsu.
"Then we're ready to go?" Kazuki asked when he noticed Ayaka not there. "Where's Ayaka?"
"That is…" Masakatsu said at a loss for words.
"I thought so." Yuki said sighing and shaking his head.
"That's right, she went into our room. I'll get her." Kosuke said walking over to the door and knocked on it when there was suddenly a scream.
"That scream just now…!" Kazuki stated realizing who it came from.
"Ayaka's!" Takeo stated when Kosuke kicked the door open and a dark shadow suddenly vanished from the middle of the room.
"Ayaka!" Kazuki shouted running inside to see her against a wall looking towards the direction the shadow was before. "What happened, are you okay?" He asked rushing over to her.
"Huh? Yeah but that thing was saying not to go to the Shisha no Ie." Ayaka said in a slight state of shock.
"It was that thing again…!" Masakatsu thought moving back a bit towards the wall in the hallway.
"Tch, such a bothersome mission we've taken on… Masakatsu, you're not scared, are you?" Yuki asked glancing back at Masakatsu.
"Was that some kind of clone?" Takeo asked scratching his head looking out the open window closest to where the shadow was.
"What else could it be?" Kosuke asked looking around.
"Of course not, I was just about to leave you scared people behind and start our mission of course!" Masakatsu stated turning away from everyone else.
"I'm getting tired of all this. Let's just get this mission over with already." Yuki said walking down the stairs ahead of everyone.
"Right behind you!" Masakatsu stated following behind Yuki.
"Just what kind of mission did we take anyway…?" Ayaka asked walking towards the door with Kazuki, Kosuke, and Takeo following behind her.
"At least it looks like it'll be interesting!" Kazuki stated sounding a bit excited walking out of the room.
"As much as I don't want to admit it – I agree with Kazuki. This mission really has me interested in it." Takeo said following Yuki with the others as they walked out of the inn.
"I just hope it's nothing too boring." Kosuke thought following behind everyone looking around.
After walking in the village for a few minutes they reached near the end of the southern end. Down the little path leading out of the village was what appeared to be a broken down house that appeared to be uninhabited for at least a decade – it appeared to be a western style mansion with black iron fence around it and large iron gates chained shut. Most of the windows were broken and the paint was peeling – the lawn had the appearance of a jungle and there was no visible path inside the gate.
"Sensei, don't tell me our mission is to repair this place...?" Kazuki asked as they walked up to the large rusted iron gates.
"No. Masakatsu, since this a job that you got, why not fill them in on the mission?" Yuki asked looking at Masakatsu with a mundane look on his face.
"The thing is..." Masakatsu said laughing while rubbing the back of his head when they reached the gate. "It's actually more of an investigation and exorcism kind of thing than a real mission." He said giving out a nervous laugh when everyone except for Yuki started glaring over at him. "What…?" He asked when they turned towards Yuki as well.
"Don't look at me, I figured it might be interesting after seeing that clone the other night and this morning." Yuki said shrugging.
"It wasn't a clone! Those were ghosts I tell you!" Masakatsu stated pointing at Yuki.
"Impossible, there's no such thing as ghosts – besides, you're a shinobi, right?" Takeo asked looking at Masakatsu.
"Of course I am but I won't mess with ghosts – that one thing I won't mess with!" Masakatsu shouted when suddenly the chains suddenly came undone and fell to the ground. "W-w-w-w-what kind of explanation could you have for that!?" He shouted looking towards where Takeo was before but he was gone.
"T-the chains were rusty; of course it would fall apart at some point." Takeo responded hiding behind Masakatsu, who was hiding behind Yuki.
"A-are you scared or something, Takeo?" Kazuki asked hiding behind Takeo.
"Of course not!" Takeo shouted while standing up straight.
"Ha, you were scared Kazuki?" Ayaka asked hiding behind Kazuki and slowly standing up.
"Look who's talking…" Kazuki muttered quietly looking back at Ayaka suspiciously.
"W-what?" Ayaka replied to his look.
"Tee-hee… looks like we were all a little scared." Kosuke said laughing as she rose up from behind Ayaka.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Yuki said sighing after noticing everyone had hid behind him. "Are you all really taking this seriously?" He asked shaking his head at them as if losing faith in them.
"Of course we are! I was just a little caught off guard when that chain fell." Kazuki said covering up why he was hiding behind Takeo.
"What a nice excuse." Takeo said starting to laugh.
"How about yourself, Takeo, you were the first one behind Masakatsu." Kazuki said pointing out that fact which left Takeo speechless.
"Be quiet, no one asked you! Let's get this mission over with already!" Takeo shouted walking away slightly embarrassed.
"Masakatsu, you should really play that scared act down for now and show them how a shinobi should act." Yuki whispered to Masakatsu when suddenly the gate to the house opened on its own in front of Takeo.
"I-It opened on its own!!" Takeo thought horrified beyond belief as he stood there with his back against everyone and his face showing just how terrified he was.
"Looks like Takeo got the gate open." Yuki said when Masakatsu pulled out the gate key from his pocket with a horrified look on his face.
"How did he do it if I have the key and I don't see any tools in his hand to unlock the gate with…!" Masakatsu thought slowly trying to get his composure back. "Yuki's right, I have to be an example for them and show them not to be scared." He thought walking over to Takeo. "Good work getting that gate open, you picked the lock, didn't you?" He asked turning to look at Takeo's face and noticed his expression.
"I-it opened on its own…" Takeo muttered frozen when Masakatsu hit him in the back.
"Ha! I knew you were great at picking locks, let's get going or are you just going to stand there like that with everyone going by you?" Masakatsu asked trying to help Takeo out.
"Huh…?" Takeo asked when it hit him and his face quickly went back to normal. "Right, let's get to work then!" He stated walking with Masakatsu towards the front door while the two of them walked very stiff-like.
"What's wrong with them? They seem to be walking strange…" Kazuki whispered to Ayaka.
"I don't know, maybe they stepped on something?" Ayaka whispered back.
"Anyway, let's get going." Yuki said shaking his head again. "At least he's hiding most of his fear." He thought walking over to the front door with everyone.
The six of them stood in front of the door and Masakatsu pulled out another key different from the gate key. He slowly put it in the keyhole of the door and opened the large wooden door. Once the door had opened some dust flew up in the air forcing them to cough. Once it settled down inside the house had a grand entrance way with a staircase on each side of the room leading to the second floor. In the middle of the room was a wooden table with some dead flowers in a vase. The entire place was filled with dust and cobwebs and the windows were so dusty the entire place was completely dark even though some of them had the curtains pulled back.
"Man, this place gives me the creeps." Ayaka said looking around as they stepped into the large room.
"This place looks like a genuine haunted house – it has the dust and spider webs too! Oh and it even has a chandelier!" Kosuke stated cheerfully pointing at a crystal chandelier hanging from the roof of the room.
"Wow, she's right. Though, if you just clean the place up a little it could easily become coz…!" Takeo started to say when the front door suddenly slammed shut.
"The door!" Masakatsu stated rushing over to it and trying to open it from the handle but it was no use – the door was sealed shut. "N-no way! We're stuck!" He thought trying to hide how scared he was still.
"Looks like we've got no choice but to investigate this house now – so to start off, let's split into teams of two." Yuki said looking around to figure out who he should put with whom. "Considering if I put Masakatsu with any of you, it wouldn't be that great of an experience, I'll take him with me leaving the four of you left to decide from. Since I want it to be a kind of new yet good experience, I'll split you four up in a group different from what you're used to – an odd pairing so to say. Ayaka, you'll be with Takeo and Kazuki, you'll be with Kosuke. Let's get searching the mansion!" Yuki stated dragging Masakatsu from the door as tears were running down his face from fright since he was unable to bear it anymore.
"He wasn't kidding when he said odd pairing." Ayaka said looking over at Kazuki and Kosuke.
"You're telling me…" Takeo said looking at the two of them with a mundane look on his face.
"What do you think you're doing giving me that look – do I look like I'm happy to be working with you either!?" Ayaka shouted dragging Takeo off behind the staircase to the right side of the room that led into another room.
"Sorry!" Takeo shouted before there was a loud banging sound as if someone had just got hit hard.
"Ha, serves you right!" Kazuki shouted before turning towards Kosuke. "So, where did you want to…?" He started to ask when he noticed she wasn't there. "Kosuke…?" He asked looking around but there was no sign of her. "I wonder where she could've gone to. She did hear that were on the same team, didn't she?" He asked walking up the stairs to the left.
Once he reached the top he noticed a long hallway on both sides that seemed to expend forever. There were doors on one side and windows on the other while dead plants lined the areas between the doors. If he had seen it when it was cleaner it could've felt like a cozy place but this was not the case – the wallpaper was pealing, there were cobwebs on the walls, some blocking the path down the hallway, and there was dust covering everything.
"If only it didn't have this creepy look to it, this place might've been a nice place." Kazuki said looking at a window a little down the hallway to the left.
"Check out this room!" Kosuke's voice shouted from directly behind Kazuki startling him so bad he slammed his face into the window covering him in dirt.
"Kosuke, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Kazuki stated breathing heavily as he tried to calm down and started dusting himself off.
"Sorry, I was… kyaa!" Kosuke shouted jumping back pointing at his head.
"What?" Kazuki asked confused.
"S-s-s-s-spider! A huge spider!" Kosuke shouted pointing at his head moving back every time he took a step closer to her.
"Come on, it can't be huge – the ones here don't look to be…!" Kazuki started to say when he picked the spider off his head and looked at it on his hand.
Kazuki's face quickly turned to terror as he realized what he had in his hand was no small spider. It was nearly the side of his fist and was glaring back at him. Kazuki quickly tossed it in the air and the two of them rushed into the room Kosuke had just came out of locking the door behind them.
"What the hell kind of spider was that – a tarantula!?" Kazuki shouted a little confused and slightly delirious.
"I don't care as long as it's not in here!" Kosuke shouted breathing hard with genuine fright in her voice as she leaned against the door next to Kazuki.
Kazuki looked around the room they had rushed into – it was a library. The walls were full of bookcases and in the center of the room had been a large hole with railing – it was a two-story library with stairs leading down to the first floor. On the top floor there were a few seats near the corners of the room but on the bottom floor there was a large seating area with foot rests.
"Whoever lived here before must've really been into books." Kazuki said looking around in amazement.
"This wall has a lot of books on shuriken." Kosuke said looking at the wall closest to her.
"There are a lot of books on hand seals over here." Kazuki said looking at the books on the shelves a few feet down from Kosuke.
"The person that used to leave here must've been studying the ways of the shinobi." Kosuke said opening up one of the books as dust rolled off it. "101 Ways to Improve the Use of Shuriken, looks like a book I could get into." She thought quickly stuffing the book into her bag she was carrying on her back.
"Finding Your Other Chakra, I know someone who would benefit from this." Kazuki thought chuckling as he slipped the book into his bag.
"Find anything interesting?" Kosuke asked while still looking through the books on the shelves.
"There were a few good ones, how about you?" Kazuki asked glancing over at Kosuke when he noticed her holding a stack in her hands.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I found a few that I liked." Kosuke responded giggling lightly when she noticed him catching her with the books. "Most of these books are worthless – there must be gem here somewhere…" She thought looking around. "I'm going to look around downstairs." She said heading towards the stairs.
"Got it, I'll be up here a little longer." Kazuki said putting his right hand up acknowledging he heard her before moving on to the next wall.
In the opposite side of the building, Ayaka and Takeo stumbled on the kitchen. The place was also covered in dust like the rest of the house. The two of them looked around examining the room thoroughly. Suddenly Takeo stopped near the sink.
"What exactly are we supposed to be doing? Yuki never specifically told us what to do but to break into teams and investigate the place." Takeo said a little annoyed trying to turn on the water but nothing was coming out.
"I think Yuki-Sensei wanted us to find a way out of this place or to solve the mission." Ayaka said thinking about what they needed to do.
"If that's true then why don't we just break one of these windows or just bust through the wall?" Takeo asked when suddenly the water started coming out but it was brown.
"We can't damage the house, they'll take it out of our pay and it would give us a bad reputation!" Ayaka stated sounding a little annoyed too because she actually was thinking of doing that before.
"How boring, we didn't even try opening one of the windows in the first place." Takeo said reaching over the sink to the window above it when the water turned red.
"Takeo, are you bleeding?" Ayaka asked noticing the red water coming out of the faucet but from her angle it looked like it was coming out of his chest.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Takeo asked confused stopping before he reached the window.
"If you're not bleeding, then where is that blood coming from?" Ayaka asked pointing at the faucet.
"Blood…?" Takeo asked confused when he looked where she was pointing and quickly jumped back. "That water was brown before!" He shouted startled while still staring at the blood running out of the faucet.
"Would you turn it off already? It's too creepy as it is but you don't have to keep it on and stare at it!" Ayaka stated pointing at the faucet but Takeo didn't respond. "Takeo, are you even listening to me!?" She shouted getting even angrier.
"M-mysterious blood flowing out of the faucet, isn't that some kind of horror story thing?" Takeo asked slightly shaking from fright but was trying to hide it since he was frozen solid.
"You're just as hopeless as Kazuki! I'll turn it off myself then!" Ayaka shouted walking past Takeo and turned off the water and it slowly stopped pouring out of the faucet. "There, was that so hard?" She asked turning around to face Takeo.
"Wait, you said I was even more hopeless than that idiot!? I don't think…!" Takeo started to shout when the sink started making some strange noises.
Suddenly the faucet shot off and lodged itself in the ceiling. Out of the now broken sink spewed a fountain of blood. Takeo and Ayaka were both covered in it in a matter of seconds. The two of them stood there in shock for a few seconds before it completely registered in their head what just happened.
"There's no way I'm staying in this place any longer!" Ayaka shouted rushing towards the door with Takeo running by her.
"Not before me!" Takeo shouted terrified when suddenly his right foot fell through the floor. "No! I have to get out of here!" He shouted frantically trying to pull his right foot out of the ground when Ayaka stepped by him.
"Quit playing around and get your foot out of there!" Ayaka shouted when the floor gave away and the two of them fell into a dark pit.
Author's Notes:
Okay, I needed a little break for research and I had to come up with the plot of this arc. For the most part I have it planned out and will start working on the next chapter but I'm not sure when I'll have the time to get around to it - possibly by next Friday.
-Steve Masters