AN: Hey y'all, Cinnabunnbunn here.
So here's a new story. This was something that popped up in my mind for a minute like three days ago, and I was like 'Eh, fuck it, let's roll.' So, here's the result. I know I should probably work my projects that are already past their deadlines, trust me I'm trying too, but I just keep hitting walls regarding one particular scene in the newest chapter. I should probably refrain from starting new works in progress before I'm done with the ones that are already going on, but then we'll be here without new stories before like two more years. Though I am working on new one shots/ two shots ideas. Let's see how that goes.
In the meanwhile, enjoy-
If someone told Sakura that she wouldn't ever have to worry about a house or land for the rest of her life, she would've kissed that person out of sheer joy. So when she was visited by her grandmother's lawyer with her will in his hand, she was surprised, but that surprise turned morbid when she realized what that meant.
The old woman is dead.
And that morbid surprise was turning sour when she realized just how long she has been travelling to get to her estate.
"She couldn't have lived somewhere nearer." Sakura grumbled to herself as her old car drawled on like a snail on pitch on the never ending road. After giving her grandmother a proper burial as her last known relative, Sakura was handed over her testament and the keys to her house. She presumed that she should probably be feeling sadder about her death but she knew that her grandmother had been sick for more than a couple years and she had known her time was near. Neither had been very close but Sakura was grateful regardless to the old woman for keeping her fed and safe when no one else did.
Green eyes narrowed slightly when she saw a small sign in the distance and when nearing it, she saw the worn and dirty wooden board pointed toward a trail that led deeper within the woods. It read "Hellemore."
"Oh God…" Sakura groaned in misery that she looked at the rocky road that was hardly wide enough to fit a car. The day was bright but the surrounding foliage and dense canopies of the surrounding trees made it difficult for much light to pass through, making the road look more ominous than inviting. Regardless, Sakura tentatively pulled her car in the trail and started a slower drive.
The road was definitely too densely packed with greens but the longer she drove, it widened bit by bit until she was in a large clearing and was met face to face with the manor she was to be living in. It was tall and imposing with dark walls covered in ivy and bougainvillea and coney roofs. It looked more like the haunted castles she heard about in fairytales than a house someone resides in.
She pulled the car to park in front of the house and exited it, shutting the door behind her. "Fuck me." Sakura murmured to herself, pulling off her sunglasses from her eyes, stepping up the dusty porch that creaked under her weight. The pots of nettle and foxglove that lined the steps to the porch were now dried and wilted. They might be far too gone to be revived with just water, but a little magic should help.
The door was barely staying on the hinges and the glass design of a lily was almost unrecognizable. Sakura jingled the keys in her hand, the heavy weight of pure copper spoke of responsibilities she would need to take on for her late grandmother. The design of an owl on the biggest key told her that it was the one for the main door.
The door creaked open and the dust inside the room ripped out a cough from Sakura's throat. The last year of her grandmother's life were spent in her room and the adjacent bathroom, so the rest of the house looked like no one has visited it in the last century.
Every surface in the house was covered in a thick layer of undisturbed dust, the particles floated through the air and Sakura had to cover her nose with her sleeve to not burst into a sneezing fit. The living room, the guest area, the kitchen, the lower bedrooms and the lower bathroom all looked worse for wear. Her shoes left footprints in the dust and cobwebs covered every corner and furniture of the room, it might as well be abandoned.
But something did not feel right to her. The house was too cold even in the middle of august, and she had no idea where the brush of cool wind that would sometimes brush against her was coming from. No one other than her grandmother lived there, but she felt presences. The stained glass windows didn't even let in much of the light in even though they technically should.
The floorboards of the stairs creaked under her foot and Sakura refrained from touching the handrail. The large glass window by the landing of the staircase was matted with dust and Sakura glanced once at the colorful waterfall design on the fixed window that took up nearly the whole wall. The stained glass reflected a mosaic of colors on the floor and Sakura turned around to continue her way up. But then she saw something.
Out of her periphery, she saw something. A figure that wasn't her, tall and shadowy and no real definitive form but a human figure nonetheless. Her heart skipped a beat in shock and she nearly lost her footing on the stair and caught the handrail to steady herself the last moment. "What the fuck." She looked back at the stained glass window and saw nothing but the freckles of colors on the ground.
She took a step a down, one hand over her racing heart and looked toward the pane where she saw the shadow reflected and then almost got another heart attack when a loud sound rang through the house.
Sakura cursed to herself, digging her slightly shaky hands in her pocket and fishing out her cell phone that was singing a loud tone. "Pig." She answered on the phone, using her usual greeting for the blond friend that was calling her. "What's up?"
"Are you there?'
"Uh huh." Sakura answered Ino, momentarily forgetting about the shadow she saw in the window. She pressed the phone between her ear and her shoulder and reached under her denim jacket for the gloves tucked under her belt. "It's a big house, pretty much the same from how I remember it. it's too damn far from the city though."
"I can only imagine." Ino huffed from the other side of the and she heard shuffling from the line, "I got called by the lady from the Harkens manor a few hours ago, she wants the flower décor for her gala again. I'm planning on banning her from further purchases, she still hasn't compensated me for the disaster that was the last party."
Sakura chuckled under her breath at the memory of Lady Harkens' grandson crashing the flower arch and destroying Ino's flower cart. It truly was no less than a disaster and Ino was inconsolable for days after the decors she spent slaving away on for days was destroyed in a blink of an eye. Only Sakura knew the amount of charm spells and sprays it required to look as pretty as it did.
"You know you can't do that. Let's just hope that demon spawn wouldn't do anything this time around." Sakura ran her gloved finger along the edge of a painting hanging in the corridor of the upper floor. The large painting was covered by a grey cloth and Sakura grasped the cloth, wanting to pull the fabric but then thinking better of it. It was probably matted with dust and she doesn't want to get a face full of that.
"Tell me what, how is the house anyway?"
"The house is dusty, I mean really dusty." Sakura murmured on the phone, looking back over her shoulder when she felt another brush of wind but all the windows were closed. "I don't even know where I'm supposed to start cleaning all this. My spells can only do so much and this place is a mess." If she were to use her spells to clean the whole house, she would be severely magic exhausted by the time it is any cleaner.
"Are all the furniture set or are you going to buy any more?"
"No, everything here. Though most of them are pretty old. But they're antique sets, so they should be sturdy enough with a little charm." Sakura replied when she reached the first door in the corridor but when she tried to open it, it didn't budge an inch. "I'll probably need to visit the city once again to get the rest of my stuff from there. I only have my clothes and some other things with me."
"Why didn't you get a mover?" Ino sounded exasperated on the other side and she imagined the blonde rolling her blue eyes at the pinkette. "Do you want me to visit you with your stuff?"
Sakura hummed as she thought over the offer. "You know what, fine. But I'll warn you though, there might be ghosts around here." Sakura reached the last door of the hallway and that door looked much less dusty than the others and much more decorated. This one was her grandmother's room, it was hers even during Sakura's childhood. She twisted the silver doorknob and the door creaked comically. "Oh yeah, this place is definitely haunted." She murmured to herself and her friend.
"I wouldn't be surprised if I were to see flying dinner plates in the middle of the night. Knowing how infamous your grandmother was, I wouldn't put it past her to have some corpses hidden away in the walls."
Sakura felt a shiver run up her spine at Ino's words even though she knew the blonde was only joking. "Pig, can you not? I'm already creeped out enough as I am."
Ino giggled over the line. "Alright alright, I have to prepare for the Harkens' gala so I'll visit you with your stuff in a week or so." Sakura nodded along with her words, preparing to hang up when Ino topped her again. "Oh wait- I have something for you. The Hyuugas left a request for you on the mission board."
Sakura frowned a little at that. "This is supposed to be my vacation, I put in my notice. I won't be available for a week." She precisely put her leave notice on the request desk, they would've, should've, informed the clients of that.
"I know I know, but you know how the Hyuugas are. They are insistent, and they've always held a favoritism toward you."
"Favoritism toward bothering me I say." Sakura grumbled under her breath. She could feel Ino grinning on the other side of the phone when Sakura continued, "Was it Neji that came by?"
"Ding ding ding. He's their mes boy, it seems. I was there when he came by and I told him you won't be available for a week. He said to contact him whenever you have time."
Sakura wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose. The Hyuugas were always a pain in the ass, especially when it involved a special mission. Just because she was friends with their heirs doesn't mean they get a right to bother her whenever they please. And there are other witches and wizards, why do they always feel the need to trouble her.
"Whatever, I'll get to them when I feel like it." She answered, pushing the door wider to look inside but interrupted to let out a sneeze. They bid their last goodbyes before Sakura hung up and actually took the time to look around, and her eyes widened when she saw the state the room was in.
Most of the room was normal with the large bed made well on one side of the room with cream bedsheets and lavender canopy. The antique dressing table and almirah were also shut well and the mahogany study table was cleared up and bare. The bedside table was also bare with just the lamps on them and the fireplace on the other side of the room that some remnants of burnt woods.
All the windows were kept shut but what made her eyes widen was the door to the balcony, with the glass broken and one panel hanging slightly askew, as if someone forcibly tried to break in. The shards of glass from the glass of the door were scattered on the floor and looked freshly fallen. Thankfully, when Sakura tried to pull the pane, it didn't open. So whoever came by to visit didn't have much luck successfully getting in.
"This is so weird." Sakura whispered to herself, making a mental note to fix the door later. Actually, a lot of things in the house would need fixing. And cleaning.
Sakura ran her hand on the sheets of her grandmother's bed, the feel of satin under her fingertips lit a sense of melancholia in her heart. Her grandmother's room was always kept spotless and Sakura remembered the flying brooms and dusters ritually cleaning every corner of the room, a ladle stirring the pot of soup in the kitchen and her grandmother sitting in the plush sofa in the living while slow music played through the gramophone. Sakura had told her grandma that she could play the songs on her phone or laptop, but the lady stuck to the antiques.
Her bed would always be made perfectly, the tables were always clean, the hearth was glowing half of the year, and the house always smelled like citrus and cinnamon. When Sakura ducked her face near the bedsheets, she could still smell the leftover citrus, and it made distant tears sting behind her nose.
She shook her head, exiting the room and going downstairs to her car to pick up her luggage and haul them back upstairs to her grandmother's room. That was the only room that wasn't fully covered in layers of dust and cobwebs, so they should do well. The adjacent bathroom was clean enough, having only been not used in a week or so, so she would be staying there until the whole house is cleaned.
Then she remembered about something she kept tucked inside her suitcase and opened the bag to fish out a small box that was handed to her by her grandmother's attorney. On top of the papers of the land and house, were a few sets of keys. One was of her cupboard and dressing table, one of her locker, and one was of the garage.
'The garage.' Sakura thought with slight excitement as she trotted downstairs again and opened one of the two doors to the backside of the manor with the key and she was met with the small garage with one car standing in the middle, a 1980 Chevrolet Impala.
"My baby…" She whispered to herself and she leaned against the car but refrained her urge to kiss it. She had always loved the car her grandmother used and even once, in her childhood days, asked her grandmother if she would ever get to drive her car. Sakura perhaps would've liked to get the car under better circumstances. Her old car was nice, but the vintage piece of machinery that was her grandma's car was something that is far better and sturdier than any of the modern pieces.
"I'll get back to you later." She promised the car and started walking back inside the house but then remembered another thing and opened the second door to the back that led to the generous garden.
The once flourishing garden was now wilted and nearly dead and Sakura felt her heart pinch at the sad sight. Her grandmother had spent hours on end slaving away after the plants and trees in the large garden, all the way from the ornamental floras to the fruiting plants. She had been too weak and sick to be tending to her gardens as much, as even though Sakura visited a lot, she never had much of a green thumb so she was little help.
And then Sakura remembered how long it will take her to revive that, and the thought made her groan out loud. 'I'll definitely need to call Ino for this.' No way she's doing that on her own.
She shut the door to the gardens and the forest that laid beyond the edge of the clearing and started walking back to her room. She started hatching out a plan for the renovation later, but she needs a shower first.
Sakura dug through her box with the label 'clothes' for something to change into when her eyes fell on the box of keys on her bed again. There were two other keys sets beside the garage one and Sakura reached over to pick one of them. One set had three keys and the rose design on the handle of them told her that it was the set for the dressing table.
She weighed the keys in her hands for a minute before jamming one of them in the top center drawer. She slid the drawer open and found what would've been on the table placed inside. 'Good thought, if someone did break in they wouldn't have found anything.' Most of the other drawers were empty but one of them had a collection of fragrances and perfumes, and the other had a selection of various lipsticks and nail polishes, all in the shades of red.
Sakura looked at the other set on the bed but then shook her head, deciding to look at it later before picking up her sweats and towel and opening the bathroom. The bathroom was slightly dusty, so Sakura opened the bathroom window and cupped her hand on her mouth and breathed in as much of the air as she could, counting the spell in her head before going to the other side of the bathroom and blowing out.
The air that left her lips was a storm that circled the whole bathroom, picking up every speck of dust in itself and flying out of the window, leaving every surface spotless in its wake.
Cool water slid down her form and Sakura aggressively scrubbed her hair to get rid of any dust that might've managed to settle over her. She reached on her bottle of bodywash on the slab beside the shower but her arm paused when she felt something, or someone. Immediately, she looked behind her, looking around the bathroom and even creaking the door open to peek in the bedroom, but all was empty.
This was the second time she had felt the presence, or presences, and once again, she saw nothing. "Am I going crazy…" She said out loud to herself. Now she's talking to herself, real great. She stepped back again under the shower, still throwing cautious glances around when the feeling would not leave her.
She cut her shower short with a hurried wash and patted herself dry, tugging on a large shirt and her cotton shorts. Her wet hair stuck to her shirt but she wasn't bothered by that, it was still warm outside, it'll dry off.
Instead she picked up the other set of keys, walking over to the almirah and twisting the key in its lock. The door opened again and Sakura saw that the space still held her grandmother's clothing. The closet was pretty spacious and all the pretty silk dresses and robes hung on the bar. She held one of the cotton house gowns between her finger and she could just imagine her grandmother lounging in the recliner with a cup of tea and a book with the fireplace warming the house and the slow music filling the silence.
She let go of the cloth when the memories felt more like regrets and instead her eyes fell to the safe inside the closet. The key was in the same set and the door to the safe opened as well. There were a few boxes of what she knew were her grandmother's jewelry. But she felt something else from the closet.
She kneeled in front of the almirah, opening the lower cabinet but found it awfully bare. She knew her grandmother used to keep her shoes there, among other things. Her eyes fell toward the back wall of the closet and she touched her finger to the cold wood, the restless energy thrumming under her fingertips.
She knew there was something brewing under there, but she didn't even see anything.
Sakura shook her head, stepping away from the closet. She had enough problems on her own, and she would not go hunting down more to solve unless she absolutely has to.
She locked the closet shut and dusted down the bedsheets and blanket before laying down. It was hardly near dusk outside but she was already tired. She didn't have much to do just at the moment so her mind was left alone with her thoughts. She never liked to be left alone simmering in her thoughts.
The funeral went… alright. There were very few people present to bid their goodbyes, her grandmother wasn't exactly a public favorite, neither did she ever try to be. She died three days ago and was put six feet under just the day before. Sakura was sad, but she wasn't shocked. She knew the time was near and was prepared to handle the time with care. Noone else was there to do it anyway.
Something about that thought made embers of bitterness lick at her heart. Her grandmother was considered a crazy lady by many in her family. There were the same people that lived in the metropolitan cities that seemed to exist in a different plane of reality. Witchcraft was a thing of fairytale and anyone who believed in such things was better off in a mental asylum.
It has been so long since she has even heard a word from her family, they probably don't even care if she's alive. They certainly didn't care about her grandmother.
Sakura didn't feel like thinking anymore. She pulled out her phone and earphone, fixing them in her ears and letting the music app shuffle through her playlist.
She could still feel the unrest from the closet cabinet.
Because Sakura drifted off to her dreamland when the sun was still out, she was woken up in middle of the night by her own body. Her stomach rumbled and complained about her lack of food, very loudly.
She patted her stomach, swinging her leg over the edge of the bed and standing up. She shivered a little when the cold floor touched her feet, the house was awfully cold for it being just august. She looked for the bag she put her snacks and lunchbox in. she could eat the lunch she packed now and then she'll go to the store tomorrow to get some things to fill up her pantry.
The lunch was cold and Sakura grimaced at the thought of having to eat clumpy noodles, but it'll have to do for now. She has some instant ramen and meal kits stashed away inside the quick meal cardboard box, they'll have to manage for the next few days.
Her night went by fast enough and Sakura spent most of her time munching on snacks and watching movies on her laptop. But no matter how much she tried to ignore it, the disturbance from the hidden compartment in the almirah kept tickling the back of her mind. Many times throughout the night, she would walk toward the closet, hold the handle to pull it open, and then shake her head and walk away. She tamped down her curiosity throughout the hours.
She was not about to open a pandora's box until she is absolutely sure that it wouldn't lead to her death.
Sakura was awake when the birds started chirping and the first rays of sunlight streamed in through the windows of the room. They were dusty too, having not been cleaned when her grandma was too weak to get up from the bed, let alone do any chore. She ate her breakfast of leftover cold noodles and tomato and chicken sandwich.
An hour before noon, the doorbell at the main entrance rang, the sound a deep and echoing clang. "Who's it now?" Sakura moved toward the door, before looking down at her tshirt and cotton shorts and open the closet, grabbing the first robe she saw and tying it around her. She brought out her house slippers from inside the cardboard box and fled downstairs when the doorbell rang again impatiently.
"I'm coming I'm coming! Goddamnit!" She cursed under her breath and swung the door open.
The man standing on the porch was tall and dressed in black suit, a briefcase in his hands. Sakura blinked before she remembered who he is. "Mister Kakuzu, good to see you." Kakuzu nodded and stepped inside when Sakura stepped aside to let him in. He looked around the room with a raised eyebrow and Sakura resisted the urge to rub the back of her neck.
"Yeah, it's a little… messy. I'm sorry I can't offer you a seat just now."
"That's okay." Kakuzu replied in his usual gruff voice, opening the briefcase by balancing it on his forearm and pulled out a file. "This file has the registry papers of the house, and some letters your grandmother left for you." He also held out another small box to her, "She also left this for you. I didn't check what was in this, you can see it later."
With their last farewells, Kakuzu left the door. He never says anything more than what is strictly necessary, a strange man he was.
She shut the door with her hip and once again walked up to the room she was staying in and dropped the things on the bed. She knew what the registry papers were, she wasn't too concerned with checking over them. Instead, she turned her attention to the recently delivered box. It was plain brown and small, and Sakura opened it to find… more keys.
"Just how many keys did she even have?" Sakura groaned to herself in incredulity. There were four more keys inside the box but only one was a set, one of them was definitely a car key. But one of them looked different than the others, a dull bronze in color with a small garnet encrusted on the bow.
'This must be the one for the safe…' it was just a hunch, but most of Sakura's hunches ended up being right. Both good and bad. She juggled the key in her hand before looking toward the closet, and then back at her hand before shrugging. She opened the bottom cabinet of the closet again, pressing her finger against the back wall. Yup, the thrum of disturbance was still very much present.
The felt around the wood panels, running her hand along the smooth surface until she felt the line. "There it is…" She reached for the almost unnoticeable crack, digging her fingernail in the crack and trying to pull in open. The panel didn't even budge at first, but then soon enough, she started shifting, and with another pull. The panel fell open to reveal the locker door.
She looked at the lock at the safe door and took a measured breath, pushing the key into the hole and twisting. "Open sesame." The lock clicked in place.
"Finally." Sakura whispered under her breath as she pulled the small door open, peering inside to see what was there. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but all she found inside was a small blackened jewelry box. "Why is there a jewelry box inside this safe?..."
She didn't bother closing the safe door before pulling the jewelry box in her palm, and the restless energy was palpable from the cold surface. 'Is this where its coming from?' It has to be. The box was practically vibrating with disturbed magic inside it. There was so much going on, she was almost afraid of opening it.
But if her grandmother didn't clear this out, it had to be left for her. Right?
She leaned her face away from the box, grabbing the latch between her fingers and taking a deep breath. She closed her eye, bracing herself for what was to come, and flipped the latch only for it to happen… nothing.
'What?' she blinked to herself when nothing happened and looked into the now opened box. It had three things; a pretty obsidian dagger with paper thin edges and bone and leather handle, a gold medallion with a flying crow engraved in the center with a tiny ruby for its eye, and a wooden doll with red hair and a black cloak.
"What are these things?" She asked herself, running a finger on the smooth surface of the medallion.
"This is us."
Sakura couldn't even refuse the embarrassing scream she let out as she staggered back on her butt. "What the fuck?!" She frantically looked around herself to locate where the sound was coming from. She looked back at the artifacts with widened eyes.
"Aww don't be so scared, we won't hurt you." It was a different voice this time. This one sounded much more jovial, but it did nothing to ease Sakura's panic.
"Who the fuck even is-" She tried to stand up and the box slid down from her lap, scattering the artifacts on the floor.
"Oh great, now you dropped us." It was another different voice, and this one just sounded annoyed. Sakura raised her eyebrows, looking down at the objects laying on the ground. "These things, that's you?"
"What else do you think?" it was the third voice.
Sakura bent down again and picked up the medallion, and the first voice spoke into her mind. "That's me." Then the second voice spoke up with a chuckle, "I'm the dagger." That only left the third voice that refused to speak up, and the doll that hasn't introduced itself.
"So…" Sakura sat down again, a bit calmer this time. "Who are you all again? Are you just sentient objects, or is there something more?"
"We are not just objects." It was the first voice, "We were humans, once. We have just been made into these objects."
'Made?' She thought to herself, looking over all the artifacts without touching them. Either they were cursed and turned into inanimate objects by some spiteful sorcerer, or took some poor unfortunate wandering soul to trap in the things. The nature of spell on the things didn't look like a witch's work, so her guess would be either a sorcerer, a wizard, or a witch who does not use the traditional spells. Which really doesn't narrow it down at all.
"So what are you doing here?"
"Your grandmother was responsible for our safekeeping."
"And safekeeping from what exactly?"
"That is something not even we know. Only your grandmother knew about that." The second voice continued the explanation, "Though she did tell us on her deathbed that her granddaughter will be taking her role from now on. I didn't realize she would be this pretty." Sakura recognized the tone of harmless flirtations when she hears it, so she didn't mind it much.
"So y'all have been living with my grandmother… for how many years now?"
"We haven't been keeping count." The first guy intoned. "But it has to be over half a century."
Sakura pursed her lips, folding her arms over her chest. "Alright, I'm still not very inclined to trusting any of you though." She murmured out loud, positive that they heard her. "What are your names anyway?"
"I'm Itachi." It was the first voice, "The names Shisui." The second voice answered as well. And then silence.
"I'm pretty sure there's another one of you." After another moment of silence, a short and curt reply came from the gruff third voice.
"Sasori."
"Alright." Sakura sighed in resignation, before packing the things into the box. The walls of the box reeked with heavy enchantments and charms and she felt like it was to suppress the presences of the artifacts inside. "I still don't know the whole deal with all of you." She said out loud, taking the open box with her to put it on the bed next to everything that had been delivered to her.
"Your grandmother didn't tell you anything?"
"I'm just finding out about you all after getting a heart attack because I thought I was going crazy." Sakura rolled her eyes, "She hardly ever talked about anything from her past, let alone about talking voodoo dolls."
"I'm not a voodoo doll."
"Oh, so you talk." Sakura muttered out when the last one finally spoke up. "Anyway, tell me what's the deal with all of you. Since I'm supposed to be babysitting all of you or something."
"We will, but first of all, what year is it?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow at the odd question. "2018. Why?"
"So we've been trapped in these objects for around… three hundred years now."
"Three hundred?!" Sakura choked on her own spit. "How old are you all?" She counted down all the generations before her. They had been with her grandmother for, what she was told, fifty years give or take. So for two hundred and fifty years, they have been passed down from one witch to another.
"We are warriors from the silent wind era."
If Sakura remembers reading her history books correctly, Silent wind era was over four hundred years ago. It was an age when everyday life and magic went hand in hand. Bakers with pixie dust, doctors with magic healing potions, seamstresses with tailor nymphs. The countryfolks had charms and enchantments in every part of their routine, and the military had some of the strongest combat magic specialists.
"Wait, so you were alive four hundred years ago."
"Correct."
"But clearly I'm hearing you right now. So what's happening now."
"We actually don't remember clearly." the voice sounded unsure, almost hesitant. "We were born and died within the silent wind era, and the next time we grew consciousness, we found ourselves trapped. What happened in between, what rose up or went down, we don't know."
Sakura cupped a hand on her mouth, eyebrows scrunched in concentration. "So you don't know why you were put in here." So they were dead, and someone took their souls and sealed them in these artifacts. "And where have you all been for the past two, almost three, centuries?"
"Just going from keepers to keepers." Shisui answered with a nonchalant tone, "The first keeper was some old bloke from beyond the Arch reefs. He was a good guy, unfortunately died in an accident with some potion. Then we were passed onto his nephew, he was alright but didn't want to keep us for too long so he gave us up to a friend of his."
Itachi continued with the other's story. "Then we were with that friend for a while, before we were passed down to his daughter. She gave us to her lover before she died. She died very young, and her lover brought us over to Earlwoods. He was very vengeful of someone and lost the fight to his nemesis who picked us up from there."
"Yes, she heard our story from us and decided to keep us with her. She was really great, she kind of reminded me of my mother. Then she finally passed us down to your grandmother, her apprentice, Chiyo, who brought us with her here, Hidden leaf, and now, we're with you." Shisui finished the story like he was narrating a nutshell of a true crime documentary. "So yes, we're here."
"That's a wild ride you got on your hand." Sakura felt winded just from listening to their story. "And all this time, you've never been out of these seals?"
"No."
"Well that's unfortunate." Sakura muttered under her breath, rubbing a hand on her chin. "Why were you sealed?"
"Don't know."
"Who sealed you?"
"Don't know."
"What am I supposed to do with you?"
"Don't know."
"Do you even who anything?" Sakura asked in exasperation. A laugh rose from the voice that she assumed was Shisui. All she was told was that she got her grandmother's estate and her possessions, there was no talk of talking dolls and daggers and locket, and certainly no talk of her having to take on safekeeping the souls of four hundred years old warriors.
"We do know that someone is after us." It was Itachi, and his voice sounded strangely grave. "Chiyo didn't tell us much, but we would see her fighting someone sometimes. At first, we assumed that it was one of her enemies, but soon we found out that they were after us."
"After you?" Sakura asked, her voice a bit quieter. "Your grandmother really didn't tell you anything?" Sakura shook her head, assuming that they could see her even if she doesn't speak.
"All I know is that I inherited her estate, that's it." She ran her fingers through her hair in agitation, "And now, we don't even have any way of knowing." But then, her eyes fell to the file beside the box. "Except…" It was a stretch to expect something to be in that file when all that was supposedly left there were registry papers, but she still opened the flip folder and flipped through the papers.
"Registry, registry, estate ownership, car ownership, the land map, more registry..." Sakura flipped, then flipped again, then rechecked a third time. Nothing. "There's nothing."
"Well, its not like the first time we've not found anything. Everyone we've come under, hardly ever knows. We can just stay with you, and hope for the best."
"But I don't even know what I'm supposed to do." Sakura was near panicking flipping through the pages of the files and even the files she brough with her before. "I don't know where I'm supposed to keep you, who's after you, who I'm supposed to keep you safe from. Hell, I don't even what even is going on!" Sakura ended with a frustrated sigh. It has been less than half an hour since she had been introduced to the trio, and she already feels like she's losing her mind.
Sakura has worked in many missions and commissions that involved cursed items, but never has she ever worked with something like this, especially nothing that any connections to her specifically.
Sakura took a few deep breaths before opening the folder again. The same registry, estate ownership, car ownership, land map, everything was just the same and soon she was at the end of the file again. She flipped through it again, going through the same papers, but she couldn't turn the last paper this time.
'What.' She carefully untucked the corners and flipped it, before realization dawned. The corner of the paper caught the back partition of the folder, and the pocket was not flat. "Wait… there's something in this."
She dug in the pocket and felt something like paper under her fingertips. She put her whole palm inside and shook the file, and a dozen of worn-out papers fell out.
There were quite a few of them, all looking a bit raggedy and old and flimsy enough to rip at the slightest movement. She doesn't know how many years it has been since they've been written, but Sakura could very well identify her grandmother's handwriting when she wasn't quite so sick and still had the strength to hold a pen upright.
On the bottom of the small stack, was a single note that looked much more recent, and the handwriting on that note was the worst of the lot. Sakura could decipher that the note was written moments away from her end.
"Did you find something?" Shisui asked, curiosity evident in his voice.
"I did, actually." Sakura picked up the note, narrowing her eyes in concentration and tried to understand what was written on them. "I… I would… is it would or could? Is that a W or double Us?"
After a while of deciphering the almost illegible code, she finally got it. There was no addressal or greetings, but Sakura didn't need any of that.
Sakura, I, your grandmother, have left three of my most precious possessions in your care. An obsidian dagger, a raven medallion, and a wooden red sand doll. But they are not usual artifacts, they are enchanted ancient relics.
From my research over my lifetime, I've found that they are renowned warriors of their time. I've also gathered that an old warlock of the Hay wind era sought out to possess their powers for themselves, but the warriors somehow ended up sealed in the objects. The warlock still seems to be after them to possess their ownership, the danger does not seem to have been subdued.
I have been keeping the danger at bay within my capabilities, but I fear I'm at my life's end and cannot hold but the barriers. I regret to put this burden on you, but I see no other way. If this power falls in the wrong hands, I'm afraid the world will face catastrophe.
I cannot write more here, but find my journal hidden within my study, it may answer some of your questions. And keep them and yourself safe, since I cannot.
And remember, trust no one.
Chiyo
Sakura read the letter, then reread it, before putting it down on her bed. 'This is all too much…' she pinched the bridge of her nose, shutting her eyes and sighing.
"So, you found something?" Shisui asked curiously. "I did, a lot." Sakura replied, giving a sideways glance toward the innocent items in the black box. "There's apparently some evil warlock after all of you for the past three hundred years and your owners who didn't know the full extent of your ordeal probably died because of the warlock killing them. Grandma has been keeping all of you safe for the last fifty years, but since she's gone now, the warlock will be back soon."
"That means…"
She dragged a hand over her face, looking through her fingers at the broken balcony door. Se would not put it past one of the warlock's underlings to try to break into the room to get the box.
"We'll need to be prepared for the worst."
AN: Hooya, one chapter over, God knows how many more to go.
How was this chapter, this is a new premise I'm starting I see. This chapter is just for the introduction of the characters and setting up the base of the story. The actual events will probably start in the next one or two chapters.
Anyway, make sure to leave your review of the chapter and I'll see you the next time.
Bye!