-CHAPTER II: The Devil guardian-
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-Essex, England-
"You know, staring like an idiot in front of falling meteorites won`t make it open." Tenten prompted her unoccupied hand on her hip, rolling her mocha latte eyeballs until they hit the back of her head and shot back sarcastically to Kiba, who started to piss her off really badly and that was never a good sign. "You have to actually press on the knob."
Kiba, who was trying to alleviate the tensed nagging atmosphere between their mismatched group, self-proclaiming himself the unofficial leader, racked his hand through his hair, let out a prolonged sigh just to emphasize that the spunky haughty vet has ruined his moment and snarled. "Jeez, I was just creating atmosphere. You don't have to be such a stuck up bitch all the times." Nonetheless, he wouldn't deny the fact that he found her volcanic personality hot as hell.
Ten Ten didn't pull a muscle when she whipped her head around and addressed to the other spectators, who were having different and contradicting undecipherable expression on their faces. "How much will I be fined if I punch a police officer square in his bloody face?" The funniest part was that everyone knew that she wasn't lying.
Ino flipped her aureate kissed rebel ponytail over her shoulder, strolled past the mocha eyed fierce woman and shoving Kiba out of her way, bumping his shoulder, while the said man praised her with a 'hey' which no one was sure whether was his manifest regarding her disrespect or a not so subtle manner of flirt.
"It depends on how much foundation will he need to look like a…normal being." Not so classy and elegantly, baby blue eyes skimmed the rather tall and lean figure of the police officer, who was looking at the blonde model looking female before him in a way that should be illegal, as she quickly checked him on, so as to confirm that he wasn't worth of her attention, lifting her chin high in the sky like a diva and shook her head.
"Will you just enter sometime this day?" Neji crossed his arms before his chest, while glaring daggers at Naruto who kept on making Hinata blush with stupid comments he thought were funny, cheesy and romantic, along the lines of 'oh, Hinata, look at the red roses, they are so beautiful, it is too bad they grown on the tombs', his tone seething with acrimony. He truly loathed immature people who couldn't hold their dicks down their pants, to the max. They were not there to flirt and such intolerable behavior would make them sway from their purpose.
Tenten on the other hand, was reeling with the suspicion that the very tall, very indomitable unemotional –sexy- margarite eyed Hyuga, was utterly and undeniably gay, so she snorted at his reply and threw him a defiant look. "Careful Ino, you might have competition. Make place for the His Royal Highness." She mimicked a courtly bow, as Neji shot her an angry glare which she returned with one of herself giving him the middle finger and gestured to shove it down his ass.
No one observed Jirayia coming to stand beside Ino who was trying in vain to push the knob and open the door. He tried to jerk it to no avail, shaking it for a few time. It didn't make the click and it seemed like it was broken. "This won't open anytime soon."
That got everyone`s attention. It was Shikamaru who stated what it obvious for an intuitive men like him, while the majority of his colleagues didn't even take notice. "What do you mean it won't open? I thought the one to ask for this…mission was expecting us. His car is on the front alley."
"You mean that relic? Call the London museum and find out if they are missing something." Naruto grinned, whipping his head backwards to gaze at the ridiculous car with the peeling painting, causing a short laughter from the others. "An old senile fellow came once with something similar and asked us to fix the brakes and the engine. He had it since the Second World War. It even had the original painting. The freak has even named it Petula and it died on him on the Highway to Texas."
"This is the saddest most ridiculous story I have ever heard and I work as a vet." Tenten wrapped up, while gazing at Ino and Jirayia who were jerking the knob without success.
Sakura, who was busy fighting off the odd chills running down her spine as a cool eerie wind blow was making the air around vibrate with a heavy unpleasant energy asked incredulously. "And how can that be odd? You are a medic after all."
"You would be surprised to find out what people actually do with their respective pets." She did a brief pause while the information and the secret message sunk down their skulls. All bit back a shudder while coming into terms with her silent implication, with the exception of Sai and Sasuke who had no expression whatsoever dancing on their totally stoic features –they looked kind of bored and out of place- and Neji who was twitching his eyebrows clearly fuming at the woman`s lack of tact, elegance and feminine grace. The chocolate eyed vet truly didn't have any troubles in expressing herself. "And imagine that some of them own tarantula, pythons and gators. There is no limit to human imagination…or masochism."
"This is even scarier than being here and…" Sakura took a peek at Jirayia who was kicking the door with one leg, while he seemed to have injured his foot, because he was jumping while gripping his shoe, mumbling curses. Tsunade was helping Ino in punching the door open. It was a funny scene, she would have giggle if the place wouldn't have given her the creeps. "…this speaks volumes since I cannot even begin to imagine a place creepier than this."
"You should see my ex legal guardian`s room. He sleeps in the sink on Jack Daniels` bottles, is allergic to soap and shaving creams and eats grapes with bread and focaccia." Naruto whispered back to her and Sakura turned a deep shade of sick green. She would have puked on his shoe, if not for the so necessary self-restraint, respect and politeness. She was a medic, so she was used to such outrageous life occurrences, just like Ten Ten.
A low hissed 'what an idiot' came from Sasuke but they couldn't be sure since he wasn't moving any muscle of his impassive handsome face, but chose to stare at the three imbeciles who weren`t trying to get the door open. Yamanaka hasn't realized that the zipper of her top was halfway down and she wore no bra underneath. The Uchiha let a ghost of a smirk grow on his thin lips, while gazing at Kiba who was openly ogling her and was whispering something to Sai, but said man was looking at him like he couldn't get what was there to stare at.
Major cretins. He wouldn't have imagine to find people that were worse than his team mates of reputed architects and that meant being at the peak of imbecility. Meanwhile, there was that unsettling feeing chilling the hair at the back of his nape, conjoined with the very tense atmosphere and the vista of the home was giving him a nasty vibe.
He furrowed his eyebrows, averting his obsidian inquisitive hues to the odd perturbing gothic architecture of the house, even finding the grotesque decorative elements and fretworks be in total discrepancy with the period the house –sinister castle like mansion- was build, the lace like mahogany and oak fretwork motifs and the sinister looking dark marble statues creeping from the uneven higher peek of the roof.
The house itself was a jewelry in terms of architectural value and the way it has been preserved while standing the test of time and weather conditions, but…as an architect, he had a trained eye for each and every single detail that turned a house into a cozy home, and that one surely and certainly lacked the familiar warmth of a home that a family would live pleasantly.
He would never be the one to believe in ridiculous ghost and spirits urban legends, mythology and transcendental unconventional, being a very level leaded straightforward architect, who was having the same way of thinking as his profession required, namely swaying on the limbs of ration and logics, so Sasuke was hardly fazed and impressed by the feelings a building or a construction oozed, but he would be a hypocrite and a delusional man to not admit that the house unfolding before his intense piercing scrutinizing eyes, wasn't surging malevolence through his veins, and he was positive that the others were feeling the same.
And the ones who weren't busy showing off how unflappable and headstrong they were, like the shy lavender eyed girl who was fighting the urge to blush heavily at the Uzumaki thing`s inappropriate advances, the NASA lazy genius or the exotic coral haired woman beside him, with the most vibrant shade of shimmering aquamarine green eyes he has ever seen.
The aforementioned people weren't partaking in the playful sexual bickering of the others, rather than let their gazes stroll over the house and the surroundings, probably formulating, calculating and analyzing the feelings that were coating them, while feeling the aura the house was emitting, in a similar way he did it. Thanks God there were sane people among them, either way it would have been really unpleasant for the Uchiha to withstand moronic presences among the already sinister atmosphere coming from the house that would be his shelter for the upcoming week.
"Why are we still here? Just get that freaking door open already, I am starting to freeze here." Naruto rubbed his forearms and actually it was then when they realized that he was right. There was a sharp wind ruffling the magenta golden leaves hanging infirm on the naked branches , judging by the heavy ashen saturated clouds lingering above their heads, and it looked like it would start to rain anytime soon. "Jeez, it is just me or has the temperature dropped a few degrees?"
"You don't say." Neji snarled at him, subtly slapping his had away when he wanted to embrace Hinata and pretend to be chivalrous and careful with the ladies` wellbeing and keep her warm, making Kiba and Ten Ten snicker, totally catching the scene.
"If you are that much of a Superman, then why don't you come and open it for yourse-" Ino was cut short when the doors opened slowly, and they held their breaths until they were fully opened, as their perked up senses and sharpened hearing was perceiving the impending sinister sound of rusted hinges screech. And they were suddenly hit by a blow of sizzling wind coming from the inside of the house, making all cover their eyes with the back of their hands out of pure reflex, as the women present let out a small cry in surprise. And Naruto.
"What the freaking HELL?!"
"Good point Hell, cos by the looks of it that is exactly the place we are going to." Ten Ten was quick to inject to the blonde, while trying to make out whatever the heck was going on inside, as Shikamaru beside her, was running through the most plausible explanations for the odd hot steam which seemed to have scorched their skin, but didn't, meaning it was just physical perception, but noting conceptual, meaning their senses have been tricked by a vivid livid scene unfolding down their minds. Interesting.
"It was nothing but a temperature inversion, since the heating system is probably not operational." He briefly informed the group as a matter of fact, getting dumbfounded expression from the people around who probably didn't understand his explanation, or expected a development of his theory. He merely shrugged once, totally disinterested, slipping a and down his pocket, casually leaning on the fact that he would be able to formulate a theory and a hypothesis by the end of the research and consequently, do the job he was there for and not disappoint his uncle, who was having high expectations from him.
How troublesome.
"I…am so NOT stepping inside." Sakura was ridiculously honest and half of her new companions were nurturing the same ideas of taking a sharp u turn and make a run for it but money was such a heavy irresistible temptation. She needed a high sum of money and fast, if she wanted to keep her slum home, so she quite didn't have so many options. But the cold shivers aligning with the puffs of hair along her forearms were an eerie invitation to taste the horror of dread and haunting on her own tongue.
Ten Ten merely shrugged, hauling up her pretty heavy bag and bag pack, wanting nothing more than to enter to that spooky foster home so that she could escape the troublesome cold wind outside. She hated rain and she couldn't even stand the wet scent of it, since she has been to the tropics. "My idea with camping in the back yard still stands."
"Ah c`mon, everyone knows it is because of the difference in the air pressure. Someone must have left the heat turned on. Stop chicken out on us now and come. That man is probably waiting." Tsunade pumped her well-endowed chest to the front, marching to the door, urging the group to follow her, all losing their shadows inside the house. The moment the last member of the team found himself on the other side of the brick thick walls, the door slammed back with a heavy menacing thud, as it opened up making all flinch.
Hinata was almost tempted to curl behind her totally unflappable stoic cousin and squeeze her lavender eyes shut, visibly shaken and trembling. "I-I am having a very b-bad feeling about this."
"Don't you worry beautiful, I am here to make sure that nothing will happen to you." Naruto, who was in all honestly seduced by that coy allure of the lunar resembling beautiful woman, winded his hand boldly around her waist, and brought her to lean on his side, whispering at her ear hotly. "That if I don't get killed by your freaking overprotective cousin first. He scares me."
"I can do more than scare you Uzumaki, trust me." Neji, who sensed a charge in the chemical atmosphere embed with lust between Uzumaki and his naïve oblivious cousin, shot him a doom glare an Naruto almost froze in spot. Damn that character was thorn from the history book of that damn house, being twice as frightened as the atmosphere around.
"Holly mother freaking shit!" Kiba was the first to voice out what shot through all of their minds, being completely blown away by the spectaculars grandeur of the ornaments, pieces of fine furniture, architecture, arches, tall windows, the huge crystalline chandeliers, making the enormous living room very reminiscent to a page of a grand ball, but the beauty of the place was out shadowed by the when they got inside each looking in every possible direction in the huge living room.
"That`s the smartest thing you could come up with?" Neji spat at the blond who would soon join the realm of dead, by the fury of his own protective hand, if he kept on seducing Hinata, while Kiba threw him an incredulous look.
"This place is so…so…" Ino struggled into finding the right words, since there was just something in the apparent elegance and beauty of the unusual luxury wrapping the place in a mantle of both untouched grace and bizarre touch.
Sakura was the one to adamantly complete her unvoiced words, since she was clearly not enjoying the magnificent display of a sumptuous house with its dusty expensive decorations, all kissed by the lips of passing time, fine spider nets embellishing the corners of the rooms, the candles of the chandeliers and coiled around the railings of the huge stairways, creating a sinuous connection to the upper floor and the living room. "Creepy. Everything here is odd, weird and…out of place. Even the air feels macabre. I don't like it."
Sai on the other hand, was as blank as white painting and there was no muscle pulled on his motionless face. He just stood there, arms crossed staring at some random point on the front decorated walls, as if his olive black orbs were tantalizing the artist within him. "I like the fretwork technique used for the ceiling and the small paintings, details and the complex stained glass windows are original and probably imported from the Orient."
A short silence followed amidst the group amassed at the bottom of the stairs, while all watched Sai in a funny inquisitive, totally overlooking his random observation and that was because no one expected any words to stroll out of his thin lips, anytime soon. And Kiba was not in the bit impressed. If anything, that Sai person amused the heck out of him. "Pf…who the fuck gives a shit about that? Why, are you here as an art critic or a ghost hunter? Damn mime freak."
"That is still better than a cheap perverted macho wannabe." Tenten was fast into fructifying the chance she got to shut Kiba`s mouth and he glared at her in return, but the half wanton lust bathing his dark coffee eyes was making her stomach churn. Then the motherfucker grinned and winked, as her glare turned murderous and promising permanent torture and impalement of certain parts.
"If we are to play who can spot the creepiest thing in here, than I think I will get the first prize." Ino found her voice again and pointed her fancy lucent manicured index finger at the end of the stairs. All the eyes skimmed to the direction she suggested, the same question turning on the bulbs in their minds. "Who is that?"
A huge portrait of a mysterious imposing man, with a bloody menacing stoic dark expression carved on his face, in gleaming oil painting, was scrutinizing them with the impressive size and the dominating regal aura oozing through the canvas and perfectly highlighting the raw striking fierceness and unaltered power that the odd character once possessed.
They stared at the painting as in trance, studying it up to the finest details, especially Sai and Sasuke, who had a trained eye for catching artistic details better than the rest, since they worked in the field. The way the light fell on the darkened spots made him look like he was following everyone from each direction.
"Probably the hugest egomaniac since he was so adamant in hanging a damn painting with his glaring face in the living room, the size of a flag on the Embassy." Tenten shrugged in a feeble attempt to alleviate the sudden discharged of a cold electricity shooting down the roots of their brain and spine, caused by the not so friendly painting embellishing the front wall at the end of the stairs, but she was feeling the eerie atmosphere crawling on her skin.
"I swear that dude is looking at me." Naruto whispered as in a trace, addressing to no one in particular, but they were all sharing his point of view. Indeed, those bottomless charcoal fierce eyes, highlighted by the spiky rebel ebony hair, in the same shade as his eyes, was making the picture look like the character was following them with his eyes, from every angle they would look at him.
Lee on the other hand, was more dramatic and realistic than the blonde, placing the painting smartly in the blending context of the entire mansion. "I feel like everything around here is looking at me."
"Do you think we have become paranoid?" Sakura whispered to the leafy spandex freak, as her green jadeite eyes were carved into the ones of the mysterious man, as she guessed it was probably of the former owner`s, since it was freaking hanging on the living room, so as to let everyone know who`s home they were transgressing. She gulped once to alleviate a constricting knot that was forming there.
"I think paranoia is a bit underrated when it comes to people like us don't you think?" Ino, who was standing in between Lee and her injected, but she too was fixing the painting with her eyebrows furrowed, like she just couldn't look away. Somehow, there was an odd effect that the stairs and the painting were creating, so as if she let her baby blue eyes focus on the painting for a minute without blinking, then letting her eyes stroll along the sinuous stairs, where a bright red wine carpet was molding upon the outline of every stair, it seemed that it was rippling like waves, coming from that mystery man`s mouth.
She slowly shook her head. She was getting insane or she has seen too many movies with haunted homes if she started to think like that. That place was cramping up her style.
"Hm...it gives me the creeps. Is his aura...it gives this place a freak vibe." Naruto rubbed his chin, eyebrows drawn together, so as he was looking like he was trying to come up with a brilliant conclusion. In all honesty, he was dead scared. He didn't like all the ghosts and haunting crap. He was there because he wanted one bike, damn it.
"Do what I do: relax and think about the money. " Kiba grinned down at him, clearly being superior in handling his emotions better than the majority, since he was a cop and he has seen many violent and bloody horrendous scenes and crimes before. "Besides...look at this characters around..."
He half whispered to the blonde, who in turn, caught the meaning of his mocking words, snickering and nodding at him in agreement, letting his azurite polished orbs flicker on the inhabitants of the room. "...fun is guaranteed." He knew what the dog looking police officer meant by that. The group was meant to be compact, but their personalities were so tremendously different, that any conjoining or blending was as good as a humorless joke.
"This dude is way too creepy and this speaks volumes since we are in this freaking creepy house." Ten Ten surmised, while letting her gaze travel along the living room, pinpointing a huge comfortable looking aquamarine and fuchsia velvet sofa placed in front of a huge fireplace and she already felt her eyelids flutter.
Damn, she was tired as hell and she wanted to hit the pillow and rest. She didn't quite care about where, since she has faced and seen many things in her life, enough to help her become immune to strange occurrences. Yes, the place was making the casket of her chest clasp, but not enough to make her dead scared.
"I don't k-know what gives m-me the most chills." Hinata wouldn't be a hypocrite and pretend she was unfazed. She was hella scared, the place itself was a walking living nightmare, she has seen and studied many supposed haunted mansions and that one was definitely one that had a musical mystical aura about it, which was making her flip the pages regarding the history of the house she had recorded within her mind and she hated every bit of her. From the newspaper digests to the research of reputed ghost hunters, nothing good has been said about that house.
I would start to drop some names." Ten Ten couldn't help herself but taunt the steel looking bored Hyuga Neji, who in turn, resumed in gracing her haughty tone with a smug expression dancing on his face.
He was not impressed by her lame and stale attempt to flirt, by masking her lust with the image of an independent strong woman. She was attractive and unique, he would give her that, but that was all where his fascination would go. "You know it would have been easier to find yourself a man on a chat room. "
He didn't come there to flirt, he was there to research and if the mismatched members of the team won't carve that into their damn perverted skulls, then the all ghost haunting would turn into one big orgy, consisting in a pair of young adults doing each other in all imaginable corners of that house –and he could bet there were countless there, since the mansion was huge.
"True, but you don't get paid for it there, you moron."
Before Neji allowed a not so polite and totally rude and indecent retort to the winking chocolate haired woman, with her spunky defiant buns, a smooth eerie voice hissed from the adjacent hall to the group, making all the heads snap to the said direction, as a very distinctive tall and slim man came to the light. I am glad to see that my old friend has find himself a team of skilled people so fast.
As the strange appearance of the new man that she has never seen in her life before, the wheels in Sakura`s mind were spinning like windmills and she shot him a question before she could stop her blabbering mouth to voice out her concern to the Uzumaki who stood beside her, half whispering and half glaring at Orochimaru. "How does he know we are skilled if this is the fist time we have been introduced?
"I dunno. Maybe he is just trying to be polite. I bet he has some scary ways of torturing our asses down his mind. But i can't say since my attention gets caught by hat over sugared voice. I think i would get diabetics.
"Then let's see if he really had perverted or sadistic fantasies with us the ladies. Ino, who peeked into their conversation, getting cold shivers running down her arms, making the hair behind her ear perk up at the resemblance of a certain equally spooky crappy painting from the end of the stairs, breathed at the two, leaning forward towards Sakura, as her long bangs fell on her temple, concealing her mouth.
Sakura clearly protested, not wanting to go anywhere near the snake pale looking freak. "I won't do that if i were you. He seems crazy as hell. And i am a medic. He had the pathology." Was that lavender eyeliner following the contour of his almond shaped golden glowing eyes? Holly damn.
"Quiet down for a bit will ya? I want to hear how he introduces his ass to us." Kiba silenced the three whispering people, just because the new character promised good entertainment. The members of his team were already too stiff and panic stricken for his liking. Well, beside the men, minus the blabbering blond and Ten Ten.
The mocha haired forward vet turned her head over her shoulder and snarled at him. "I bet you ten bucks that this fag is into men." Boy was she quick in putting certain tags to people and separate them into groups according to her morals and judgment.
And of course, Kiba didn't miss the chance to annoy her further, because, honestly he found her too damn hot to not be stirred like that. If anything, he wouldn't mind to find a good lay to keep himself entertained, while being in such a dusty creepy depressing place, as he waited for the week to end and grab the money. "Should I worry for my poor gorgeous self then? Maybe I should find...shelter somewhere else."
Mocha eyes didn't even flinch when she bit back to him. "Move one more inch and I will slit your throat. " The gleam into her deadly tone assured Kiba that she had it in her to do it, so he grinned down at her and raised his hands up.
"So?" Sakura whispered to a slightly focusing golden haired glamorous diva beside her. "Got anything spicy to share?"
Ino on the other hand, started to feel restless and anxious, shaking her head discreetly and breathed back to her, while Naruto was half listening to them and half studying the snake man. "This is weird. I can't read his mind at all."
Maybe because he doesn't have one to begin with." The Uzumaki concluded, as Ino frowned at him and then shifted her gaze back to Orochimaru, not liking the way he smiled in a sinister way at them and his eyes travelled all along the team before him, like scrutinizing, scanning and analyzing them ,in the same manner they were doing, but he seemed to collect all the data he needed. She got chills by the intensity of that sick stare. "Try reading his butt instead. Some people use it more than the brain.
"This is not fun y. There are certain people whose minds i cannot access and you can count hem on one hand. "They are mostly mediums or extrasensory types, but I doubt that he belongs to the category."
Sakura curled her eyebrows up at the blonde`s confession, she too feeling something odd about that particular character, then her mind drifted to the painting above the wall. She couldn't miss the resemblance of the two, even if it might not be that obvious, but she knew they were related in some way. "Anything about this snake man is shaking me shitless. I hate being in the same room as him. Or home. Or planet for the matter."
Neji on the other hand, grew extremely annoyed by the rambling idiots who kept on rudely interrupting anyone and didn't stop for a bit to listen to whatever that man was having to say so that they could be over with the juvenile unnecessary introductions and get to their damn rooms, so he seethed to the small group, trying his best not to snap at them, because it would be totally impolite. "Would you just shut up and stop the whispers and the cheap gossip? Some of us are trying to pay attention."
Ino, who didn't like to be commanded and so rudely interrupted, injected him with an equally poisonous retort. "And what's stopping you?" Seriously, what the heck was that man`s damn problem? She didn't have any issue with men being silent, tranquil and laid back –like the droolicious Uchiha male or the pallid stylish artist of the group- but she couldn't stand it when they masked arrogance with stoicism, turning into haughty smartasses, who got on her nerves. She beat Ten Ten into throwing a nasty remark at the Hyuga.
"Someone please remove the pole stuck on his damn ass. " Naruto couldn't stop himself from cackling at Neji`s fruitless attempt to appear mature and play the silent leader of the group, inwardly referring to the other equally socially retarded brooding characters among their team, namely, Sasuke and Sai.
"That conceited arrogant prick are always the ones who gets killed or eaten first in horror movies. It depends if the movie has demons or dinosaurs or mutant sharks or giant snakes." He whispered to Ino and both barely stifled their laughter, at the doom glare they got from the Hyuga, because he was trying his hard to be imposing, failing miserably.
Orochimaru was fighting the headache of the century and no damn aspirin would alleviate the throbbing of his temples and it only got worse upon seeing the buffoons that his imbecile perverted old friend has managed to gather.
What could he have expected from Jiyaria? And the idiot had the audacity to grin down to him and show him a good boy pose giving him a thumb up. Orochimaru would have loved to show him the middle finger in return, but he refrained from excessive gestures, so he faked a cough to drift their attention from gossiping about him, while in his presence –yes, he heard everything they sputtered about him- and started in a velvet calm and apparently gallant polite way.
" My name is Orochimaru and this property who, I can assure you, is worth a sum with more zeros than you have probably ever seen in your lives, has been passed down to me by a deceased relative. As you can see, he had a questionable dark sense of humor. Before it brings me on the verge of bankruptcy, I will attempt to turn it into a famous luxurious hotel."
"So let me get this straight: we spend a week in the Adams` Home Sweet Home, get scared shitless, while you Mr. are going to get your ass rich." Ten Ten didn't like the sound of that in the bit. She was a heavy defender of human rights and correctitude was high on her agenda. So that crappy imitation of a Chinese dragon homo zombie was trying to get advantage of their skills, to fool the people that he was providing comfort, while in reality, he was covering big ass sinister secrets. What a major hypocrite.
"I assume you have been informed about the money part. My former colleague here, is not that ignorant." Orochimaru pointed towards Jirayia, who was rubbing his nape and he inwardly rolled his eyes at the snow haired man. Of course Jirayia wouldn't be able to properly inform his teammates properly about the research. It happened everytime. That was one of the reasons why he lost all his team members and his name became a taboo in his reputed exclusivist circle. Fucking idiot.
"One cannot judge a character based on a two hours prior meeting, so that point is void." Neji linked his arms before his chiseled chest, as everyone deadpanned at him, clearly not expecting such a remark from him of all the people.
"Normally, one wouldn't be able to survive with a pole stuck up his ass for so long, so it only proves that you can never judge a person based on your preconceptions." Ten Ten threw an incredulous look at the unfazed Hyuga, releasing an invisible 'sigh' from her full plump lips. Her clenched hand was itching to pummel his face into oblivion. Even when he tried to be smart, he was ridiculously annoying.
"Back to the main point. I assume you are aware of the details, so I find it unnecessary to waste my time explaining your purpose for being here. I am a pragmatic down to earth man. For me, ghosts, spirits, Nirvana, Hell, goblins and whatever you want to call them, as just as authentic as Santa Claus."
"So you have hired a team of psyches to conduct a paranormal activity about something you don't believe in?" Sasuke smartly inquired, but judging from the detached casualness in his baritone voice, it came as a statement.
Orochimaru`s eyes narrowed his honey tinted orbs to the silent member of the group, not liking the direction his question was heading. "This emo kid here is right." Kiba fired back, stretching his index to the said man, than back to his group, as if he was revolted. "If you don't believe in crappy ghosts, then why did you hire us?" Inwardly, he didn't have the faintest clue of what the heck was he talking about.
"He is so scared that he keeps on deluding himself that they are not real. It is reverse psychology. It usually works for those suffering from panic attacks and mental problems." Sakura uplifted her shoulders, shrugging once, while trying to alleviate the feeling of being shot by lasers at the heated stare that Ino was burning through her skull, using her as a human shield to try and read that Orochimaru`s mind, probably without success, since she was flaring her nostrils, puffing hot air in exasperation, like a dragon.
"I assure you this is not the case, Miss Haruno." All eyes went wide when he spelled her name flawlessly, while logic was fighting their bewilderment, letting them know that the man had intel about them since he was acquainted to Jirayia. Said rose haired woman felt shudders creep along her spine at the way he rolled each syllable and she wanted to slide under the huge dining table she could peep at in the next room, from where Orochimaru popped up, and squirm underneath.
"Anyways, the fact that I do not believe in…certain unconventional things doesn't mean that my problems are not conceptual. I want to get a positive feedback and the authorization from the Police and Local Government, but to do this, I need no obstructions."
"There are freaky clients who would pay thousands to spend a night in a haunted mansion. Why don't you turn it into a thematic hotel instead? Like Loch Ness?" Lee couldn't help but suggest. Seriously, even he had such twisted high friends who wouldn't mind a good source of amusement with an unsullied touch of spookiness, but he somehow understood the white snake looking pale man`s concern. The laws were not quite permissive and he needed to assure the authorities that he had everything under control, hence guarantee for the safety of his future clients.
"I hardly see how this…gigantic thing would fit with any urban legend."
"I say you try Dracula and vampire theme." Ten Ten actually had the guts to smirk at Orochimaru in an unreadable way, finding it really entertaining how the current owner wished to get rid of the unconventional side of the story, yet he was merging flawlessly and naturally into the spooky scenery. "I can totally picture a giant coffin right where we stay and if there is indeed something spooky here, then you will save money for the sound and lights effect."
"I would rather not. If there are any questions, you are welcome to ask now, or forever hold your peace." If Orochimaru attempted to throw a small chaste joke to warm up the arctic coldness lingering among the tensed group, he failed miserably, since the only one snickering were himself and Jirayia, who got a not so subtle elbow on his ribs from his busty honey haired colleague, Tsunade, who was glaring to slits at the dark coffee haired ex college mate of the gutsy Jirayia. Gosh, she loathed the man already and they have just introduced to each other. Due to the medic of their team, he had an odd pathology which didn't sit right with her, making her almost…anxious to be in his presence.
Ino on the other hand, felt like turning on her expensive high heels and bump her head onto the walls. Was that man trying to get under their skin? "Are we getting married and no one has informed me?" The mere word was making her puke a little into her mouth. Not even Frankenstein`s sick mind cold conceive a proper spouse for the snake man.
And why in the world couldn't she penetrate his damn mind and read whatever the hell was crossing through it? Was that man having extrasensory perception and his skills were so refined that he could easily detect the subtle invisible to a normal human`s eye, fluctuations of inner energy, also having a strong defense mechanism to block them? Honestly, the only present people she couldn't read out of their group, were Hinata, the shy lilac pearl eyed Hyuga, Uchiha and the NASA genius freak.
Kiba shot his hand up, beating Naruto into it, hollering to Orochimaru, while the blonde was grinning like an idiot beside him. "I have a question. Who the fuck is that dimwit freak on the painting?" He pointed to the head of the stairs and actually it was the first time when he said something intelligent that brought him agreement from the others. "And why is he glaring at us like that?" Nonetheless, his hopeless bluntness stirred a round of snickers and chuckles from the others.
Sasuke on the other hand, was nourishing the same feelings of nihilism in human`s idiocy and mistrust in his own ability to contain his fury till the end of the week and not kick some asses until they shut the fuck up. "Since when do paintings glare?" Seriously, were those said teammates of his so juvenile or they were simply smoking weird shit weed, which altered their perception. The onyx eyed Uchiha would have loved to ask the half breed of a werewolf seething at him offended Inuzuka if he was on LSD, but engaging him into a longer conversation was too painful.
"I have an artistic sensible side unlike other socially retarded asses". The Inuzuka police officer shot to Sasuke, who remained totally indomitable to the glare that Kiba gave him, to match the painting. But there was a fierce fire scorching underneath the calm façade playing into those obsidian orbs that unsettled Kiba for a moment, taking him out of guard. What the fuck?
"That was rude from you." Obsidian pools shifted to the flicker of emerald resting beside him, not answering to Sakura`s interjection. Was she scolding him? God he couldn't loathe those people more. Looking around, he could see that the Hyuga kid and Shikamaru were probably having similar to his thoughts.
And that Sai person…for two minutes flat, Sasuke kept on staring at the man, finding it almost inspirational how was he able to impersonate a marble statue and look like his mind has gone to Mars, leaving a limp lifeless body behind. He could feel a cold but totally harmful aura of solitude framing his body and somehow he understood that the man was used to solitude, rather than human contact.
Orochimaru snickered in a way that came painfully reminiscent to a hissing snake, drawing the attention of the group back to his Cobra looking sharp eyes, fighting the creeps they got from the nasty vibe of the man. "This freak as you so colloquially named him, was Shimura Danzo. First owner of this place and my grand grand grand father."
"He looks like a mafia monster or a drug dealer." Sakura whispered to a grinning Ino.
The blond checked on the man in his young days once more before breathing back to the jadeite eyed woman. "Or the leader of some underground organization."
"I don't know, he is kinda hot." Ten Ten came to stand in between the two women, because she was hoping that putting some distance from the annoying men would prevent a tragedy from occurring.
"So, you are into that kind of stuff, huh?" Kiba winked suggestively at the chestnut eyed woman, licking his lower lip sensually and slowly, while taking in the way her fists clenched around the handle of her bags. He was mentally laughing his ass. She wanted so bad to punch him in the face.
"I am a black belt. And if I punch your face then choke you, we might get to share your part of the money. Sounds convenient, doesn't it?"
"What happened to him? Didn't he notice paranormal occurrences in his own house?" Sakura inquired, not paying attention to the obvious sexual taunting of the vet and the police officer. If anything, they were kind of obvious and childish.
"Why do I get the feeling that you will say something along the lines of he is buried somewhere in this house?" All eyes went on Ino, clearly not expecting someone so glitter and glossy to make such morbid remarks. She mentally smirked at the things crossing their minds. They were underestimating and misjudged her for a slut, because of her appearance. "What? Don't you guys watch Paranormal Activity shows on TV? This is almost always how all the cliché problems arouse."
Orochimaru in turn, simply answered her with a casualness that was only highlighting the eerie dark aura that his person emanated. "I don't know. Some say he never actually left this place."
Weary glances thrown around between the team filled the next two minutes, while all the extrasensory members were trying to digest what he has just told them. Was Orochimaru trying to scare them?
"But then again, it is only speculation and nothing substantial. I guess, it would be your job to prove whether it is de facto or not." No, in fact, he was mocking them, but Shikamaru was too busy being a lazy ass to let them know, so he merely yawned and stretched his limbs above his head, disinterested.
"That is encouraging."
"I bet he is."
While the others were busy turning the whole dumb investigation into a circus, like the foolish clowns they were, Sasuke made his glare comfortable while fixing Orochimaru`s equally unreadable gleaming aureate eyes, and the man felt those hues boring on his, neither shying away of their intense lock, as the Uchiha furrowed his eyebrows ever so subtly and frowned, while the snake man smirk grew knowingly. Sakura was the one to observe that odd silent interaction, as well as Tsunade, but they kept quiet.
"One more thing you should know before making yourselves at...home." Orochimaru informed shortly, finally averting his eyes from Sasuke`s obsidian orbs, totally amused by that raven haired peculiar character, as he kept on staring at him, motionless. " Maids and butlers don't come near this place so i have my right hand man come and bring you food and other supplies. For anything you need just tell him but he will not stay overnight."
Upon hearing the word food, Kiba was quick to protest. "Wait a sec...so you mean you will leave our asses alone in here with no security, maids or butlers?"
"And heating. We have functional fireplaces, so feel free to use them as you deem fit."
"I want a double paying." A bark from Akamaru revealed to the others that the man and his dog had similar thoughts.
" I hope you have warm clothes. If not, I am going to have a maid bring some warm blankets."
"Great. I feel like I have joined the army or the navy. Do I need to wake up at 5 am as well and go squirm in the mud and run laps around the house?"
"Oh c'mon you asshole, stop being such a pansy pussy. Are you a damn man or what?" Ten Tne spun her head over her shoulder to bit back at Kiba, visibly containing her disdain towards the character. "Try surviving three months in Africa with scorpions, spiders and monkeys stealing your food, money and underwear, and wake up by the next morning with a giant tarantula sprawled comfortable on your chest, then come back complaining. Fucking morons." She could see it in Neji`s eyes that he was too finding the poor conditions horrendous, but he was not being vocal.
"Excuse me Jane for being more sensitive to wild local fauna."
"Back off Tarzan, or you will be 5 cm shorter, which will reduce you to zero." Everyone caught the meaning of the mocha haired woman`s words, and smirks and giggles were directed to a frowning Kiba. He was hardly falling into the aforementioned category and he was totally offended. Maybe he should let her have a look at the…thing she was underestimating.
"What are we going to eat then?" Naruto simply asked, after he made the Hyuga beside him blush ten shades of red wine, fructifying the opportunity to flirt with the stunning stellar woman, as subtle as possible, since he could feel her cousin`s protectiveness blowing on his nape and promising pain.
"There is enough food in the kitchen. I suppose you do know how to cook, right?"
"What`s the use since there are women around to do so, while we the men, do our job."
"You mean, being completely hopeless nitwits and major sex deprived baboons, with no backbone and a dick as slow and small as your empty skulls? I do think you are a pro at this."
Kiba couldn't help but wink at the not so subtle remark coming from the model looking Yamanaka Ino, who stole Ten Ten`s words from her lips, before she had the chance to grace Kiba`s ears with another colorful insult. "Boy, I would love to see that pouty dirty mouth of yours at work. If you know what I mean."
But she was rapid in backing up the apparently headstrong, independent and not so slutty shrewd blonde, already liking her character. Ino had spunk and attitude, that was for certain. "I would love to see that stupid lecherous dog mouth of yours embellished with my fist. If you know what I mean."
"How I love them feisty." Oh boy, hormones overdose and Kiba definitely didn't regret dragging his ass all the way there, since he got the chance to spend quality time in the company of such sexy women.
"You are so disgusting." It was shockingly Sasuke the one to beat Neji into praising Kiba`s overflow of lecherous remark, as his voice rung through the vast space, like a low piano tune in a grand ball room.
"Are you gay?" Seriously, Kiba just couldn't comprehend some certain members of his team. Sure, they were introvert and played cool and serious, but for fuck`s sake, they totally restrained behavior just had to betray some deeper issues, since the odds were clearly in their favor. They were simply unruffled by anything, especially hot women in their vicinity.
"Are you done?"
"Are you?" Kiba shot to him winking suggestively and Sasuke threw him a glare of choice, mentally cursing him to hell and back, clearly understanding the innuendo behind the not so subtle meaning.
"If you Ladies and Gentlemen have solved the…issues between you, do you have any more questions before I take my leave?" There was a limit to his patience as well, and Orochimaru simply couldn't wait to get the heck out of there. Those people were annoying, loud, rude and vocal and he loathed all of them with burning passion, the house included. Everything there, was getting on his nerves. And that Uchiha character was…his temples throb.
"You won`t be staying here?" Tsunade spoke to the man for the first time he has made his glorious sinister appearance in to living room.
"Are you scared?" Naruto added, making the others snicker at the way Orochimaru`s thin lips curbed down into a scowl.
"I am a busy man. I don't have time to haunt down ghosts."
"But you sure have the money to…"
"I have nothing else to say beside that I am waiting for good news. Meanwhile, take care of yourselves and try not to get too…paranoid." He spun on his heel the moment he finished making his last statement, chocolate strands of hair whirling around his shoulders, while Jirayia followed him suit, calling his name, as the man was doing his best to ignore him. He has already made his point clear that he would not stay in the house and be a bother to his team. The others only guessed that he was scared shitless, but Tsunade informed them that the guilt of not having the power to save his comrades was consuming him.
The moment the snake looking owner was out of their field of vision, Ino placed a hand upon her heart, drawing unwanted attention to her firm rounded chest, while exhaling deeply. "What the fuck? That man is by far the most scary thing outtta here! Have you seen his eyebrows? Was that eyeliner?"
"Just a freak. I don't care, as long as I am getting my money." Ten Ten couldn't have sounded more materialistic, but she spoke the truth.
"Ok. Now before I take my leave, there is only one more thing to do and that is show you the rooms. Don't hold me accountable for anything, but I have grouped you at random. If anyone has anything to comment on, feel free to do the necessary adjustments as you deem fit." Tsunade fingered her purse, while the other occupants of the room formed a semi-circle around the blonde, revealing two sets of large silvery rusted heart and four leaf clover shaped keys.
"There are four ladies and seven of us." Kiba smirked at the blonde, turning his head over his shoulder to let his orbs wander through the females of the group, totally liking the odds. Rooms arrangement? That was his favorite part of the research. Ghosts could go fuck themselves.
"This isn't the Playboy Mansion, you know? Get a hold of yourself." He simply loved the flares in the Yamanaka telepath`s baby blue rimmeled eyes. God, she was fucking hot. He was already feeling himself get worked up.
"I would rather get a hold of something you have, gorgeous."
"Go hump a tree you freak." Akamaru barked once at Ten Ten, like he was letting her know that he too was being annoyed by his pervert of a boss. "Sorry boy, you have an idiot of a master."
"Ok." Tsunade coughed once, drawing the attention back on her honey mocha eyes. "Shikamaru," She held the key to the say man who stroll towards her totally bored, hands dipped on his baggy pockets. "You, along with your colleagues, Uzumaki, Inuzuka and Mr. Uchiha here, are going to share the Master`s bedroom on the end of the hall, first floor."
Upon hearing the name of their future chamber, Kiba whistled mockingly, already enjoying the brooding company that he had. Not only he had a very promising luxurious room to possess and trash, but there were stuck up roommates of his who promised good entertainment and a perennial source of tauntings. "Oho, so we are going for the biggest fish, huh? The coolest guys take the coolest room."
"And probably the one with the most intense activity since it is the owner`s." Ten Ten shot back at him, smirking widely at the way color seemed to have left his face for a moment, upon letting the information sink in. Was that man really dumb? If it was the owner`s room, then it was just obvious that Tsunade has put people with the highest chances of detecting the most intense paranormal manifestation, giving their abilities.
Naruto palled like the scared kitten he was, making his future roommates all roll their heads at him, in sync. "Can't we have another one instead? I mean, we should let the women sleep there since it is probably the most comfortable, right?"
"Can you be anymore of a moron?" Sasuke hissed through his clenched teeth, visibly biting back a more colorful retort, but he was trembling to keep his rage at bay.
"How…manly. Ya sure you are a dude?" Ten Ten rose an amused eyebrow at him, as Shikamaru, Kiba and the bloody hot ass Uchiha left him gasping in the living room, with the ladies.
"Of course, duh! Hey, wait for me guys!" The others left without throwing a single stare back.
"What a cretin." Hinata beside Ino blushed like a red tomato, while the blonde Yamanaka patted her back with a little bit too much force. "Don't fall for this type of guys, girl. They will end up stealing your nail polish and eat all the sweets!"
"Shut up, I too would be scared."
"The rest of our men over here, are going to take the room on the second floor. Careful, that wing is the coldest from the house. But the fireplace is functional."
"Oh the joy." Neji shot back sarcastically, being a man who absolutely despised winters and cold in general. HE always had his heater set on maximum. And he failed to take additional warm blankets. He couldn't despise being there more. There went all his mood for research.
"What a youthful challenge of manhood and endurance!" Lee pointed his finer up in the air, trembling with an unshared excitement, which only make the others sweat drop. "Such a fine opportunity to test the living in extreme conditions, while we try to unravel the mysteries of the next world!"
"Are you on drugs?" Neji questioned the green loving spandex wearer, while the man with a haircut like a citizen`s of Ancient Rome only grinned at him more. He was a fighter and lusting for blood, sweat and oozing vigor. If anything, he would make money for his sister and not fall back with the training.
Sai just blanked at him, no expression coming up on his face. That person was going to be his roommate for the upcoming week.
Dear Lord…
"Can I trade rooms?" Neji promptly turned to Tsunade and snarled at the blonde. "I don't mind being alone."
"Unfortunately no, because prior to your coming here, we only had four rooms cleaned and prepare. And I assume you don't want a vacuum to try and dust a room that hasn't seen fresh air or sun rays in 70 years, am I right?" Was that a smirk playing haughty on her rose rouged thin lips?
"Just give us the key already, I am freezing here."
Tsunade followed the retracting silhouettes of the men-crybabies- before she straightened up her pose, pushed her hips forward, hands down on them and smirked at the ladies before her.
"Now the ladies. I am afraid we are having a little problem here. There are two rooms and there are four of you, but one of them has a smaller bed only enough for one person and the other one is a four posted bed. You know ,the type to find in vampire movies and ancient castles, enough to accommodate five people."
"Which means that one of us stays alone." Ino smartly observed, as Sakura and Hinata both got shivers running along their arms at the implication.
"Precisely, yes. I couldn't give it to the guys because it was not enough for them and besides, the two rooms are connected. We don't have a detailed plan or history of the house, not one that I am aware anyways, but I suspect it used to be an adjacent kids room, hence the smaller bed. So in fact, the rooms are connected ad you can leave the door open so that it won't get too…creepy."
"How about we snatch one of the guys from Nara`s team, bring his ass to sleep in the single room, while we girls cuddle in the king sized bed, so that he can keep an eye on us and we don't have to be alone?"
Ino promptly rolled her baby blue orbs at Ten Ten`s statement, but the chocolate eyed woman knew that wicked agreeing look on the blonde`s face. She was truly riled up and enjoying it, the bloody sadistic glossy bitch. "Yeah, while we rape him or what?"
"I could even think of some names for you, if you wanna…." Tsunade snorted alongside Sakura, while Ten Ten winked at the golden haired purple obsessed Yamanaka before her, having a silent eye contact, all their pornographic thoughts drifting to certain ways to fuck the living daylights out of some hotties out there. Heck they were both independent dominating women, who loved to be in control and the list of names they had in mind was simple and suggestive.
Nara. Sai. Hyuga or Uchiha. The order was not important.
"I don't mind to be the one to sleep alone. I was alone in Africa and if I survived amidst the hungry lions, panthers, snakes, spiders and scorpions and cannibals, I think I can manage some crappy spirits." Ten Ten casually yanked the jittering silver keys from Tsunade, not giving a flying fuck whether she was to sleep alone.
She was always falling asleep among death animals in her clinic, so even the pungent rotted cadaveric smell of decaying corpses, dust or chemicals wasn't fazing her in the bit. After she has survived the torture of savage ruthless wild tribes in Africa, she could fucking survive kids ghost stories and a boring depressing house.
"You are my idol, kid." The busty blonde smirked widely, totally liking that woman`s character. She saw a mini version of her younger self amidst the scintillating untamed firestorm churning inside her mocha eyes.
"You flatter me, Tsunade."
Tsunade sidestepped to make place for the mocha eyed woman to slip past her, while approaching Sakura and gave the last key. "You have the honor my dear. First floor, on the west wing."
"The opposite to the others?" The rosette curled an eyebrow up and Tsunade understood that she wasn't that much of a chicken, since she has been living all alone without friends, but she just merely asked out of curiosity, so as seeming to formulate a plan down her mind. That one, Tsunade concluded, was not obviously spunky, but a firecracker to the core. Only, gentler, sweeter and more delicate.
"Wait…you mean…you have put us all in totally opposite parts of the house? Shouldn't it be wiser to stick together or at least be…closer?" Ino on the other hand, didn't like the sound of that separation. Surely, she wasn't that sex craving mentally deranged woman, but god damnit, that place reeked of sinister smell and even the lack of sounds or the wind splashing on the old rusty hinges of the cracked bricks and the windows frames and last thing she needed was for no one to happen to be around while she stepped on a slit stair and fall heck only knew where.
"I figured it would be easier to scout a larger area and investigate. There is no need to have all of you amassed in a single wing of the house."
Hinata was already in full panic mode, understanding that she had to explore an alien bad famed territory without having Neji`s support. "I-I don't f-find it t-to be a wise idea…" It was there, gnawing and lurking from the sepultures of her mind, the feeling of something very bad unraveling from the shadows of those rooms and corridors, which she couldn't brush off no matter how much she tried.
"I totally agree! Heck, I want to be as far from that Inuzuka as possible. I mean, nothing is more dangerous in here than those hands and that perverted wink. I would rather sleep beside that damn picture." Ten Ten on the other hand, couldn't give a flying fuck and honestly, as sweet as the Hyuga was, her spooked stance only made her want to pummel the girl until she grew a damn backbone. For the love of god, they weren't small kids crying for their mommas, if someone accidentally turned the lights off.
"Let's go. I am freaking freezing and my ends will split. Why is it so damn…humid in here? I feel like in the Tropical forest!" Ino flipped her ponytail all trailing their bags on the stairs, following Ten Ten, with Sakura and Hinata tailing them, while the sound of their soprano voices rung through the vast poorly illuminated eerie still unfriendly halls, bouncing back to their eardrums, ricocheting from the indomitable decorated walls. "Shouldn't we have asked the men to carry our luggage?"
"Stop being such a diva and suck it up, women should be independent. Who needs those gorillas anyways?"
"I know I wouldn't mind to have some and I sure as hell know that there is some sexual chemistry between Inuzuka and you, Ten Ten." She turned to Sakura and Hinata, taunting them, fully aware of the hunks they were lusting after. "Imagine this, ladies. A vet and a police officer, getting horny and crazy in a possibly haunted home…isn't this hella hot?"
"You are totally crazy." Sakura snorted at the blonde, both giggled as Ten Ten wind splashed her head backwards, glaring at them to slits. In fact, the emerald eyed woman was hardly as innocent as she seemed. She has had some totally lame boyfriends, but they were nothing but quickies, while there has been nothing romantically involvement from any party.
"Honey, loosen up girl. God only knows you need it. When was the last time you had any?"
"What is the matter with you and sex? Don't tell me you are nymphomaniac."
"With such a bunch of hot men living under the same rooftop, who wouldn't be?" As Ino and Ten Ten continued to taunt each other about their spicy sex lives, walked through the infinite corridors, Sakura and Hinata were half listening to them and half paying attention to every single detail that their eyes could wrap, throwing glances everything gothic sinister and unwelcome. Everything was grotesque opulent and nothing beautiful by retro touch. It felt heavy stiffen unwelcome as it was a jail and a tomb.
"Huh," Ten Ten snorted as she felt a heaviness press down her shoulders. She was not fazed easily but the atmosphere was tense and ominous and macabre. "Can't argue on that one. The majority are major cretins, but damn, I would totally jump Uchiha`s ass and our Hinata`s stuck up cousin is quite fine. That if he doesn't open up his mouth….to speak." They laughed at the implication of her words, while the high-spirited plucky vet didn't hide her lust for Neji. Sure he was a complete ass, but she didn't mind having him.
"I like this lazy genius aura of Shikamaru. You know what they say, men like him are not so calm and apathetic in the bedroom right? And what about that Sai dude? He looks kinda stylish too."
That took all the three ladies by surprise, while their inquisitive orbs shifted from the weird ass macabre paintings of sinister nature, winter landscapes, decapitated animals, wild beasts from mythology and Chinese porcelain vases, spread along the flickering dusty warm light bulbs on the walls. "The NASA freak? I know I wouldn't touch his…rocket. He ain`t my type. I need a hunch and an animal in my bed, either ways I would feel like the men in the relationship. Sai? Get serious I would rather do this statue instead…"
There was a half demon statue at the end of the hall before they arrived to the front of the door that stood between the hall and their room. "What the fuck is this shit?" The disgusted look on Ten Ten`s face was enough to draw everyone's attention, stopping before a rather tall bronze statue of what looked like a representation of a menacing gruesome lethal demon.
"It looks like the Devil to me." Sakura said getting closer to touch what looked like one of the limbs, but she couldn't be sure because the golden-silvery painting was peeling from it, which only emphasized the vileness emanating from it. If anything, it was more spooky than the panting of the former owner. The sharp curled horns protruding from the crown of its head, the fierce long thick fangs, the red rubies encrusted in the two holes of the creature`s head and the beastly claws was enough to make any nightmare come to fruition.
"Baal." Hinata stated on her high pitched soprano voice, and all the eyes flew on her. She went on, explaining. "A Christian demon. I-It is considered t-to be a r-ruler of the E-East of hell. A-An absolute k-king."
"Marvelous character to put at the end of a freaking long narrow gothic hall." Sarcasm was dripping from Ino`s crunched glossy lips, while she checked the statue from head to toe, feeling that unexplainable urge to either set it on fire, or get the heck away from it. "Was the owner sick in his goddamn head?"
Meanwhile, Sakura was running her hands up and down the swells of its chest, the abdomen and the limbs, making Ten Ten raised both her eyebrows up, a grin on her face. "Are you trying to give it a hand job? He doesn't look like he is pleased or come anytime soon, honey. You need more practice."
"You are incredible." Sakura shook her head slowly at the chestnut eyed woman. Leave her to make such wild affirmations, while her eyes squeezed shut as a flicker of a fragment from someone else`s memory hit the back of her mind, like an arctic storm, washing over her face, as she has been thrown into the past, in the reminiscences of a mysterious strawberry blonde young woman `s panic stricken body, running with her feet bare for her life, terror surging down her sweating body, clad in only a long night dress.
Then she met darkness, like the woman has fainted, but then another figment of the statue embraced the woman in white and pulled her through the wall made Sakura flinch like it burned her fingers and took two steps back colliding with Hinata`s taken by surprise chest. "Oh!"
"H-Hey!" Hinata propelled her shoulders with her hands, totally realizing what Sakura was trying to do. The rose haired woman didn't need to be guided as a child in the amusement park. She knew her purpose for being there and hasn't wavered from her path. She was making good use of her unparalleled ability to gather information by touching objects and she clearly found out something very disturbing, judging from her reaction. "W-What h-happened?"
"Are you ok?"
"Y-Yeah." She mumbled a sorry to Hinata and without providing any sort of explanations, she run her fingers through her coral locks, as she plunged the key into the knob and twisted it twice, unlocked the door, while throwing glances at the statue. It was like the fucking lifeless object has just smiled to her knowing that it made her shudder. "This whole house scares me."
"I agree."
"Wait, hold on girls." Ino, who was the last to enter the room, briefed for a second so as to make sure that she wasn't imagining things, throwing glances on each sides of the hall. "See this?" Ten Ten, Hinata and Sakura came in the doorway to peek at whatever the blonde was pointing at.
A huge crystal mirror, embellished with pastel colored floral motifs, all made of fine glass, was proudly hanging on the other side of the statue. "I can't fucking believe it. If you look at it like this, it seems like there are actually two things like this, on either side of the hall."
"It looks like two demons on either side of the hall. Like they are…guarding this place." Ino concluded, as she realized that not only one end of the hall seemed like a perfect replica of the other, but it looked infinite. Like they were looking at an infinite corridor, since one of the ends was reflecting into the mirror.
"O-Or offers y-you no escape."
All the girls sweat dropped at Hinata`s implication, not because she was trying to be paranoid, but because she had expertize and there was so much logic and truth in her words. "Are you always this optimistic?"
Not wanting to spend any more time in the merciless sinister silence of those halls, all the women stepped inside, as Ino shut the door, with a little bit too much force, locking the door, so as to make sure that no one was to enter the privacy of their chamber. And she didn't mean the men.
"Whoa, forget the living room, this is a fucking refrigerator!" Ten Ten screeched and groaned and rubbed hands and forearms, like all the other roommates, while she stared at her puffs of icy breaths. "Tsunade said we can use the fireplace, right? Are there any logs inside?"
Just as Ino and Sakura went to the huge fireplace, staring at the pile of ashes and dust covering it, a vicious curse made them and Hinata run to the adjacent room to see the reason why she was damning all to Hell and forth. "Oh my fucking Hell…guys, you should see this."
They all went into Ten Ten`s supposed to be room, literarily frozen on the spot, eyes budging out of their sockets and jaws cracked opened, dropped to the floor. It was entirely painted black! The walls, the furniture, the carpet and even the freaking chandeliers were painted in the color of darkness. Pitch cruel black which swallowed the light and reflected nothing. A good place to commit suicide or lose your damn mind.
"Wow…not exactly my idea of a kids` room…but damn…"
"Why would anyone paint a room entirely in black? No light would enter here. Wait…doesn't it have any windows? This is weird as heck. Hinata what do you think? I seem to have a vast acknowledge in this field." Sakura turned to look at Hinata, who was shooting her lilac orbs in each possible direction.
"I-I don't know the e-exact reason. Some would u-use black paint to c-cease away light and u-use it for satanic r-rituals, while s-some would use it f-for exorcism since i-it swallows r-reflections, hence not p-permit the demon to escape t-through the windows."
"To me, it looks more of a room in a mental asylum, where only mentally deranged would be held, so that they won't lose their damn minds completely by the color white. That or they were blind."
Ten Ten couldn't brush away the feeling that there was more to the coffin looking room and she dropped on her knees without warning and, gripping one of the corners of the carpet, fighting off the dust penetrating her nostrils and eyes, she yanked it out and dragged it from the floor, as all the females gasped.
"Fucking fascinating." She couldn't peel her latte mocha darkened orbs from the laminated floor. "Should I dig in for crucifixes? Do you guys wanna check the wardrobes for me?" She grinned at the girls. Color has literarily drained from their porcelain pale faces as they were looking down the pentagram huge sprawled in the middle of the room.
"…oh my God! " Sakura did the sign of cross out of pure reflex, and not because she was an avid religious person, but she did believe in God and that house had her spell his holly name more than she did in her entire life. "I would advise you to not sleep in here. This is enough to get anyone paranoid and sick. There is enough space on the four posed bed to accommodate all of us. Right girls?"
"Yeah, totally."Ino said without faltering. She wouldn't be a bitch and a total hypocrite, lying that she wasn't scared, because fucking Hell, she was scared shitless. She almost wished for the men`s chambers to be closer and that was the first time while nothing sexually came down her mind. "There is no problem. We won't let you sleep in here by any means, it is way too creepy."
"T-The shape of the p-pentagram…" Hinata started, all listening to the suave tone of her lunar calm voice. "…look at t-the one a-aligned upwards…" She pointed her finger on the outline of the pentagram and they followed her lead as in a trace. It was a bit more reassuring to have someone amidst them who understood the ominous language that the house was speaking.
"What's with that?"
"W-Wicca. It is a w-wicca pentagram."
"That sounds like something I ate in the airport." Ten Ten deadpanned at her, being more worried by the putrid reek that lingered around them, not liking the idea of finding herself spending time in such an unhygienic place, because Heavens only knew what kind of diseases were sprawled there, waiting for a good chance to enter her system. She couldn't give a single fuck about witches or spirits. They could all go and masturbate some other place and leave her the heck alone.
Sakura just happened to have a colleague nurse who was into that kind of bat shit things and she had an idea of what that involved, but she never spent her free time into listening to such nonsenses that the woman was blabbering. Too bad, because they might have come in handy. "Wicca as in…witchcraft?"
"T-The star is supposed t-to have o-originated f-from a Goddess, Kore." Hinata went on, while she followed her roommates on the main room, dragging their bags to the rim of the huge bed to unpack their stuff, slamming the door from the satanic looking ritual room shut. "I-If you cut a-an apple in half, a-along its equator, y-you get a perfect s-shape of pentagram in the c-core. The apple was Kore`s s-scared fruit."
"Honestly, I don't know whether I should be fucking dead scared or consider it interesting, romantic and uplifting."
"W-Wicca is more c-complex movement t-than witchcraft. It i-is a new P-Pagan religion, which w-worships elements of n-nature. T-Theoretically, i-it is not h-harmful and it is meant to b-bring peace, harmony and prosperity. However…"
"However what?"
"I-It is n-not usually t-that simple. Magic, in t-the hands of the u-inexperienced…c-can become a d-dangerous uncontrollable w-weapon."
"Now you managed to scare me shitless and that, honey, takes talent. So someone was doing this Wicca stuff in the room I am supposed to sleep into?" Ten Ten inquired, while dragging a slim tank top down her body and changed her shoes into a pair of comfy snickers.
"P-Probably, yes."
"I don't think is for decoration, girl." Ino was sure as hell that she wouldn't be able to sleep properly with that thing in the other room, scaring the living daylights out of her. Her mom was fan of tarot cards and fortune telling and she and her equally demented lunatic eccentric friends had those kind of gatherings where they met and got bat shit nuts together, so the pain they inflicted into her didn't tame down with time. It only got worse. She untied her ponytail and tied her blonde hair in a messy up do.
"This house gives me the creeps."
"Agree."
"C`mon, let's get comfy and go downstairs. I want to see the kitchen. My stomach will sue me." Ten Ten suggested and the other women nodded at her, agreeing. Seeing something as familiar as food was somehow relieving, since nothing was normal or cozy in that unwelcoming environment. And there was always the possibility of the men outsmarting them and raid the kitchen before they had the chance to comb their hair, since they probably didn't give a shit about appearances.
"Agree. Then we cans start exploring." Sakura suggested and even though the others didn't like the idea in the bit –the loathed it and burned it down their mind and laughed at the flickering flames like mad women- they couldn't argue back. She was right, they weren't paid to just sit on their pretty ass and pray for surviving another day in the realm of the Devil. "So basically this electricity comes from the electrical generator which is in the basement right? I wonder who is gonna get downstairs to check on it if it breaks. Imagine the fun of being thrown in a blackout here."
"Stop saying such things, this is not funny. Do you want to hear me scream?" Ino snickered along with the rosette, as she dragged a fluffy thick warm long sleeved blouse over her model slim figure.
"I think there are some dudes who would mind to making you scream." Tem mocked her, liking the fact that the blonde was having similar thoughts. At least, she could have fun with those people, either ways it would be pretty boring.
"I am having you have a sweet good night, sleeping with a freaking huge ass pentagram under the bed."
"L-Lets pray i-it doesn't happen."
"Nice rack." Ten Ten fired back to a tomato beat red Hinata, who was trying to cover her modesty, while she stumbled on the pants she was dragging along her slim thighs, falling on the bed, with her lilac long straight hair sprawling all over the sheets, as they all laugh at her.
Out of nowhere, a violent wind blow hit the large windows of their bedroom, making the frames, hinges and the glass to tremble, while the window cracked open, hitting the walls beside, and the most sinister sound of shattered glass reverberated through the room. The round full blazing bloody moon pierced the sudden darkness that swallowed the room without further notice, throwing the mansion into a blackout.
And the only thing that went to all the four women out of reflex, was to jump like the floor has been set on fire, and shout and scream at the top of their lungs, until the sounds embed into the walls, which were melting into the limbs of darkness. "AAAAHHHHH!"
Their journey to Hell has just begun.
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A/N: I can`t believe it that it took me one year to update this story? I swear I was under the impression that I have posted it only a few months ago. Time surely flies, but yes, I am going to definitely continue this story.
And I am positive that it might resemble some horror movies with hunted homes, but I didn't base this story on anything on particular, so if there are certain influences and similarity, then they come from my vivid sick imagination, fueled by the tons of documentaries and movies with hunted homes I have seen, such as 'Red Rose', which is Stephen King`s miniseries` movie adaptation.
Anyways, I am glad to see feedback and interest in this story, thanks a bunch for being willing to give it a shot and…I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry if it was boring, but I need to introduce the characters and the place, before going straight into the…action.