Hola, ppl ^^ time for chapter 3! this week, the votes were pretty close, but one person has to die. So here we go!
Chapter 3: Accusations
Kisshu pulled Ichigo away from the boxes. He practically had to drag her up the stairs. She was crying and mumbling.
"He's dead...he's dead..." Ichigo whispered over and over. Kisshu closed the basement door and turned to Ichigo.
"Ichigo, please snap out of it." She stared up at him her, her cheeks tear stained.
"Kisshu...I-"
"Ichigo!" Ryou called. He ran up to Ichigo and Kisshu with Keiichiro on his tail.
"Ryou," Ichigo whispered. Her brain felt scattered. She couldn't believe what she had saw. Masaya was...was dead.
"Ichigo, what happened?" Ryou asked quickly. "We heard you scream." He eyed Kisshu when he mentioned Ichigo screaming. He glared back.
"Ryou!" Ichigo exclaimed taking a step towards him, "Masaya...he's dead!" Ryou stared at Ichigo shocked. He studied her face. She looked pale, scared, and vulnerable. Even when things were rough, Ichigo had always put on a face to give the girls hope. They all drew strength from their leader, but now she seemed broken.
"Dead?" Ryou repeated, as if Ichigo had been mistaken, as if she had used the wrong word.
"Yes," Ichigo confirmed. She bit her lip and looked down. She held in a sob. She couldn't believe it. How could this have happened? She felt dizzy and leaned forward. Ryou quickly stepped up and caught her. She reached up and grabbed Ryou's shirt and started to cry again. Ryou held onto her. He looked up and glared at Kisshu. Keiichiro stepped up.
"Show me," He said to Kisshu. Kisshu nodded and led Keiichiro down into the basement to show him Masaya's body.
"Ichigo!" A voice rang out. Ichigo jumped away from Ryou. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her pendant. "Ichigo?" The voice called again, it was Lettuce's.
"Lettuce!" Ichigo called.
"Oh thank goodness na no da," Pudding sighed over her pendant.
"Are you okay, Ichigo?" Mint asked, "We heard you scream."
"Guys," Ichigo inhaled, "Masaya's dead!" All the girls stood in silence. Lettuce looked back to Pai, who stared at her just as shocked. Taruto's jaw dropped. Zakuro and Mint stared at each other unable to speak.
"...How?" Lettuce choked out. Ichigo was silent.
"I...I don't know," Ichigo finally responded, "It looked like he had been killed...but I don't know who-."
"I'm telling you he was right there!" Kisshu yelled. Ichigo and Ryou turned to see him and Keiichiro come out of the basement. Kisshu looked confused and upset. Keiichiro just held his head down in disbelief. Everyone could here everything through Ichigo's pendant. Ryou raised an eyebrow at Keiichiro.
"What's wrong?" Ryou asked. Keiichiro glanced at Kisshu.
"Masaya wasn't down there," he replied. Ichigo's eyes widened.
"What!" She yelled, "H-he was down there! Under the boxes! Didn't you show him?" She looked to Kisshu.
"I did," Kisshu answered quickly, "But he wasn't there. His blood was gone too...like someone cleaned up the mess."
"This is impossible," Ichigo whispered, "How can this be?"
"Well I know three people," Ryou spat, "who are capable of this." His eyes locked with Kisshu. Everyone was silent.
"Ryou! What are you implying?" Ichigo asked.
"If Masaya was indeed killed, and his body was down there, one of those alien could have teleported down there and moved his body and cleaned up the mess!" Ryou explained, "One of them could have even committed the crime."
"Ryou, that's not fair!" Lettuce called through her pendant.
"Yeah, Ryou, what are you saying?" Ichigo asked, "You think they planned this?"
"They could have," Ryou bluntly stated.
"Taru Taru has been with me the whole time na no da!" Pudding yelled.
"Yeah and Kisshu was with me, when Masaya was killed and we left the basement together!" Ichigo called.
"And...Pai was with me!" Lettuce spoke up.
"Well since we don't know what happened," Keiichiro started, "We should all meet up. Right now, we shouldn't be separated." Ryou nodded, and everyone seemed to agree.
"Everyone meet back up in the foyer," Ryou commanded. Everyone agreed and put away their pendants. "I knew I should have kept an eye on Pai."
"Hey!" Kisshu called, "Pai didn't do this!" Ryou ignored him and walked towards the foyer. Kisshu looked to Keiichiro. "We didn't do this," he whispered sadly. Keiichiro touched his shoulder.
"Kisshu, I know you didn't do this, and the rest of you guys have alibis," Ichigo started, "but Ryou will believe what he wants to believe." Keiichiro nodded.
"I've known him since he was a boy. He hasn't had any good experience with aliens," Keiichiro told them, "To him there is no good in you."
!&&!
Ryou reached the foyer first. He waited for the others but heard no one coming. He looked back but no one was there, not even Keiichiro. He sighed. He truly wished that the aliens were behind Masaya's death, as wrong as that was. He wished it was that easy. If the aliens weren't behind this then something worse was. Ryou was so caught up in his thoughts he almost missed it. He saw a shadow in the corner of the room. He turned to see it run down a hall. He looked back before taking off after the shadow.
!&&!
Mint followed Zakuro through the long hallway.
"Zakuro, do you think that the aliens could be behind this?" Mint asked her. Zakuro looked back to her. "I-I mean it wouldn't be the first time they tried to trick us but..."
"Why would they kill Masaya?" Zakuro asked her. Mint looked up at her. "If they went through all this trouble to get us up here, wouldn't they try to kill one of us? The Mews? Killing Masaya doesn't make sense. I don't think they're behind this."
"But then...who killed Masaya?" Mint asked quietly.
"I don't know," Zakuro whispered, "But right now we need to get to the others." Zakuro said. Mint nodded. Zakuro turned around ready to go down the stairs but the sight in front of her caught even her off guard.
"Zakuro..." Mint whispered staring at the sight.
!&&!
Pai and Lettuce walked down the hall in silence. Lettuce walked behind Pai her head down. She knew what he was thinking. Suddenly Pai stopped. Lettuce looked up as he turned around to look at her.
"Why?" Pai asked her, confused, "Why did you lie for me?"
"Pai...I" Lettuce started.
"I wasn't with you the whole time," Pai went on. Lettuce looked away. It was true, he wasn't with her the entire time. He had suggested they split up. For about 10 minutes, they were apart. "Why did you say I was with you?"
"Because, if I hadn't then Ryou would have tried to pin Masaya's death on you," Lettuce told him. Pai stared at her.
"So," he said, "What if it was me, you don't know." His voice sounded rough.
"Pai, stop," Lettuce whispered.
"You don't know, Lettuce!" Pai called, "It could have been me!"
"It wasn't you!" Lettuce yelled. Pai stared at her.
"How do you know?" Pai asked her. His voice was soft.
"I just do," Lettuce whispered. Pai's eyes softened. They were silent for awhile, until Pai spoke up.
"Thank you, Lettuce," he whispered. Lettuce almost didn't hear it.
"It wasn't you, was it?" Lettuce asked. Pai shook his head.
"No it wasn't," he agreed, "but, I'm sure Ryou is convinced it was." Lettuce nodded.
"I'll tell him it wasn't," Lettuce started. Pai looked at her, as if there was something he wanted to say, but was too ashamed. "Pai?"
"It couldn't have been me," Pai finally admitted, "Because I can't teleport." Pai looked down.
"You, can't?" Lettuce asked, confused, "How would you know, you haven't tried-" Lettuce stopped. She realized now what he was saying. He had tried to teleport. That was why he suggested to split up, so that he could leave her there, and he only returned because of his failed attempts. "I see," Lettuce whispered, understanding everything.
"I'm sorry," Pai said looking away from her. The sight of her like this made him uneasy.
"It's fine," Lettuce lied, trying to brush it off, "At least we know you didn't do it, right?" She lifted her head and gave a small fine. Pai was taken back. All he could do was nod. "So you can't teleport at all?"
"I can," he explained by teleporting a few feet away from her, "But I cannot teleport if I can't see the place I'm going, for some reason. Like I couldn't teleport us downstairs, right now. It's like something is interfering with my powers." Lettuce nodded.
"Can, you teleport us to the end of the hall?" Lettuce asked. Pai nodded.
"I think I can do that," he responded. He walked towards her. He felt a little nervous. He didn't know what part of her to touch. Should he take her hand, or just hold onto her shoulder? He agreed with himself to go for the shoulder. He lightly rested his hand on her shoulder and looked at the end of the hall and teleported them away.
When they reached their destination, Lettuce fell into Pai. Her head was spinning. She closed her eyes and leaned into his chest.
"Lettuce?" Pai asked.
"Sorry," Lettuce breathed, she opened her eyes. "I just got a little dizzy."
"Oh yeah, the first teleport can do that," Pai explained. Lettuce's face grew hot. She quickly backed away from Pai when she realized what she was doing.
"Uh...I'm Sorry," Lettuce said, bowing her head. When she looked back up, her face turned from embarrassed to shocked. "Pai," Lettuce whispered, pointing behind him. Pai turned around and saw what Lettuce was motioning to.
"The stairs.."
"They're gone," Lettuce finished for him. They both stared at where the hall should have ended, and where the stairs should've began. Instead of the staircase, there was a black wall, but it wasn't solid. Ripples could be seen going across the black gate, that blocked their only exit.
Lettuce stepped closer, only to be stopped by Pai grabbing her wrist.
"Don't," he warned, "It could be dangerous." Lettuce looked back at him.
"How are we gonna get out of here?" Lettuce asked him, "We're trapped on this floor."
!&&!
"Taru Taru, what do we do now, na no da?" Pudding asked him. He had pounded on that black wall for a while with no success. They were able to leave the attic, but only to meet up with Mint and Zakuro, who were standing in front of some black force-field.
Taruto was breathing heavily, "I don't know." He answered looking back to Pudding.
!&&!
Ryou walked out of one of the rooms. He knew he had seen a shadow, but he couldn't find anything back there. He was about to head back into the foyer when he heard a tap behind him. He turned and saw that there was another door at the end of the hall. He walked towards it. He reached out to turn the knob, when Masha flew out of his pocket.
"Retreat! Retreat!" The little fluff squeaked.
"Masha?" Ryou whispered, he had almost forgotten that Masha was in his pocket.
"Retreat!" Ryou shushed him,
"You can go back but I have to check this out." Ryou opened the door, and looked inside. It was a small bedroom. He eased his way in. Masha stayed in the doorway. The room was pretty plain. It had a bed, a dresser, and a small closet. The only light was from the hallway, and even that light was dim. Ryou froze as he heard the tapping sound again. It was louder than before. It was coming from somewhere in the room. Ryou eyed the closet, and slowly walked towards it. He carefully pressed his ear against the closet door. He heard the tap on the other side. He inhaled. He couldn't be scared. He quickly opened the door and peered into the dark empty closet. He was confused. He knew he had heard the noise coming from inside the closet. He turned around and looked at Masha.
"Retreat!" Masha squeaked.
"Okay, Masha, I'm-" Ryou was caught off by an arm coming from the closet, and an hand clamping down on his mouth. Ryou struggled with his attacker. He looked up to see a shiny blade. His eyes widened as the figure sliced Ryou's neck, and let go. Ryou fell on the bed holding his neck. He started gagging as blood poured onto the bed.
"Still alive?" A raspy voice asked. The figure grabbed Ryou by the back of his shirt. He pulled out a longer blade and shoved it into Ryou's back. Ryou stopped struggling and his body dropped onto the bed. Masha watched in horror. The figure turned and peered at the small robot. Masha squeaked, and flew down the hall in search of Ichigo.
!&&!
"WHERE IS RYOU?" Ichigo called, "He tells everyone to come here, and then he just wanders off?"
"Ichigo, calm down," Kisshu sighed. Though he was a little irritated also. Not only had he just disappeared, but he blamed Masaya's death on his team member. That got him thinking. "Hey, have you noticed that the others haven't gotten here either."
"I have," Keiichiro agreed, "They should've been here by now." Ichigo took out her pendant.
"I should call them," She started, her voice worried.
"Ichigo! Ichigo!" Ichigo looked up to see Masha fly into her chest.
"Masha?" Ichigo held onto him, "Where's Ryou?"
"Gone! Gone!" All three of them stared at Masha.
"What do you mean he's gone?" Keiichiro choked out. Masha backed away and his eyes began to glow. He projected an image on a nearby wall. Ichigo, Kisshu, and Keiichiro watched as Ryou entered a dark room.
"What was he thinking?" Ichigo whispered shaking her head. Why would Ryou, go off like that, especially after what happened with Masaya. She looked back up to see a dark figure move from out of the closet and slit Ryou's throat. Ichigo gasped and backed away from the screen. Keiichiro watched in horror as, Ryou was stabbed in the back. He watched his body fall onto the bed. He laid there motionless.
Masha shut off the projector. Keiichiro quickly walked past them.
"Keiichiro?" Ichigo called. But he ignored her and walked quickly down the hall. Ichigo looked at Kisshu and both of them followed him. "Keiichiro, wait up!" Ichigo called, "You shouldn't go off by yourself!" When Ichigo and Kisshu turned into the hall, they saw Keiichiro open the last door in the hall.
Keiichiro stared into the dark empty room. He peered at the clean bed sheets. Ryou was nowhere in sight.
Hmmm Poor Ryou T,T. And sorry it took awhile to get this up, writers block again. I tried to show everyone's situation so when you vote you sorta have an idea what they have to deal with. Well Review and vote!
Who's Alive: Ichigo, Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, Zakuro, Keiichiro, Pai, Kisshu, and Taruto
Who's Dead: Masaya, Ryou