Archive of Our Own ^beta

Or so they thought. Unfortunately, their bus thought different. As they were passing through a "shortcut" as their driver said, their engine gave out.

They stopped in front of an old and very big western house.

Sasuke woke up when he felt them stopped.

"What happened?" He asked the driver.

"I'm not sure, young master, but it seems the battery discharged. Don't worry I'll get it fix in no time." He said and he went out the bus.

But 'no time' was a lot of time.

The others started waking up and Sasuke explained to them what happened.

Their driver returned after a very long while.

"Sorry, young master, I can't seem to find the problem. Maybe you should go and stay there first," he pointed at the big house, "to keep yourselves comfortable. This might take a while." He said.

"Maybe this is because of the curse!" Lee suddenly says at the quiet bus, mostly because most are still sleepy.

That seemed to woke them up, though.

"Lee, I told you. I was just joking." Tenten says now.

They had found a weird sort of amulet at the bottom of the beach yesterday, when they had gone snorkeling. Tenten, ever the one who loves to tell about ghost stories and tarot reading, had tried to scare everyone saying it was cursed.

Until now, Lee, has never quite recovered.

"Well, we probably should go. So the driver can focus on fixing the bus." Sasuke tells everyone.

Reluctantly, the friends agreed.

The  twelve of them went out of the bus with their necessities and valuables and moved towards the house.

There were no lights. The house seemed old but it was perfectly maintained.

Kiba knocked on the front door.

No one answered.

He tried again.

Still no answers

But the front door opened.

"Hello?" He called. They heard echoes.

"Okay... can I sleep in the bus?" Naruto asked at large. Few heads nodded in agreement.

"Don't be silly. We'll just be in the way of the driver." Neji said logically and he and Shino stepped inside the house.

"Seems like no one's living here" Kiba said, as he also entered and noticed the white cloths covering the furniture.

"Okay," Sasuke called. "Since there seems to be a lot of rooms, just choose one and we'll settle here for tonight."

"I don't want to sleep alone!" Naruto said.

"Okay," Sasuke said with a sigh. "Just share a room with me and Sakura."

"Then I'll share with Neji and Shino!" Lee piped.

"I'll share with Hinata and Tenten!" Ino said.

Chouji held onto Shikamaru's shoulder and Shikamaru nodded at him.

"Don't be such wimps!" Kiba laughed but the rest was looking at him as if he was being unbelievable.

Kiba shrugged, "More rooms for me to choose from, then."

They separated. Some went to the second floor, and the others proceeded to the third floor.

There were indeed so many rooms. The hallway was full of doors. Some of the rooms were locked so they were forced to stay in rooms far away from each other.

The girls went inside the room farthest from the stairs. It was the last room on the third floor. It was fairly big, with two beds inside. Ino chose the bed farthest from the window.

Chouji and Shikamaru settled in the room beside the staircase. It was the first room on the third floor and it, too, have two beds. But Chouji insisted that they move the bed closer to each other, and so they did.

Lee, Neji and Shino, too, were in the room by the stairs but they were on the second floor. Their room has only one bed, but Lee thought it was safer to be by the stairs, even if they have to sleep on the floor. Their room was nearest the front door.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto chose the room near to the bathroom. It has only two beds, so they moved them side by side so all three of them would fit.

Kiba couldn't find an available room on the second or third floor because most of the rooms were locked and the others was just weird (one stinks, one have no bed, another have no window, etc.) so he settled for a room on the fourth floor.

The house is a bit eerie, but the friends finally tucked in. They were tired. Kiba fell asleep at once.

But not Lee. He felt restless. He was so envious of Shino and Neji who were now fast asleep at his sides.

-

Shikamaru, too, wasn't getting any sleep. But he just passed it up as his adjustment to his surroundings. He was like this even when he's staying at a new hotel. He needs time to get used to his new room.

After a while of musing, Shikamaru finally gave up trying to lull himself and get up intending to get water downstairs.

-

Sakura was annoyed. She had been hearing a bouncing sound since she lay in their bed. She tried to ignore it but it just went louder. Having enough of this, she got up, careful not to wake Sasuke or Naruto, and went to the door.

She opened the door but there were no sound. She closed the door and move towards their bed once again. But when she took her first step, she heard something again. She opened the door once more, and the sound stopped. She really was annoyed now. She stepped out of their room, and the sound continued. She followed the sounds.

-

Lee, too, couldn't sleep so he stood up and opened his bag. He took out his iPod and speaker. The silence was too eerie so he played his favorite music.

He lied down again on the floor, feeling much better.

-

Chouji woke up with a start. He heard something moving. He stood up and glance at Shikamaru's but it was empty.

Chouji panicked, where was Shikamaru?! He tried to think of what the best thing to do. He decided he'll just go to his other friends' room. Maybe Kiba or Ino's group...

He stood up and went out. And then he remembered he didn't know which room they were in.

-

Sasuke woke up, too. But he didn't know why. He noticed that Sakura was gone. He stood up. Where was Sakura? He wasn't panicking, he was just wondering. He went out their room. He didn't feel scared; he was still half-asleep. He then saw Sakura at the end of the hallway. Sakura walked farther away. Sasuke followed.

"Sakura! Where are you going?" He said sleepily.

-

Ino still couldn't fall asleep. She was just freaked out. This house was too much like the houses in horror movies. And what happened to them was just cliché. She was believing Lee's theory a little bit. She's kinda expecting something will happen.

She shoved the idea away. She was being silly. She watched too many horror movies. But then she heard someone knocking.

She shook his head. She's only imagining things.

"Ino!" She heard. The voice was somewhat familiar.

She shook his head again.

She could still hear knocks,

"Ino!" The voice called again.

Ino jumped and tried to wake the other girls. But when they started stirring, the knocking stopped, and Ino could hear footsteps fading.

-

Shikamaru returned to their room after drinking a glass of water. He felt like he could sleep now.

He entered their room and saw that Chouji was in his bed, under the covers.

"Dude, what are you doing in my bed?" He asked. But he was ignored.

"Chouji? Are you already asleep?" still no answers.

"Chouji??" he shook him. He stirred. He faced Shikamaru but what Shikamaru saw was a head, without a face.

-

Chouji was lost. He tried knocking on every door calling Ino's or his other friend's names but he couldn't find them. Where were they? Where was he?

He tried another door.

He knocked.

No answers.

He called Ino's name.

Still no answers.

He tried again.

Nothing.

So he peaked into the keyhole and saw red.

It was just red.

He backed away. Thinking.

He tried peaking again.

And now the red moved.

He realized it was not just something red; it was a red, bloody eye looking straight back at him.

And then all went black.

-

Lee was listening to his favorite song, but then something went wrong. The song changed and he could hear Michael Jackson,

"You are not alone...

I am here with you..."

He stood up, a little freaked out and changed the song.

He heard Eye of the Tiger and he was relieved. But then, the song changed again.

"There is someone...

Walking behind you."

That does it. Lee ran out, screaming.

-

Naruto woke up. He needed to go to the toilet. He barely noticed that Sasuke and Sakura were both gone. Hee went out the room and proceeded to the toilet.

But Sakura was standing by its door.

"Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?" he asked sleepily.

Sakura faced him. She was smiling sweetly.

"Niichan?" she singsonged.

"Sa-sakura-chan?"

Sakura's expression changed and she screamed "Naruto!!!!"

Naruto was now fully awake.

"S-Sakura? Are you okay?" he asked.

Sakura once again, smiled sweetly.

"Niichan, don't kill me again, kay?" she singsong in an eerily girly voice and then her face changed and turned into a little girl's.

-

Neji and Shino woke up when they heard Lee's scream.

They were both startled. What happened?They then realized that Lee was gone.

Neji stood up. He tried to open the light, but it was not working. Shino went and took his phone out but it, too, wasn't working. His battery is dead?? He remembered it was full before he slept.

Having no other choice, they took one of the candles in the shelf and lights it.

They went out of their room and called for Lee.

They tried to go down the stairs. They didn't really want to move deeper the house.

They took a step down. But then they  heard something thump.

They took another, thump. It sounds like some sort of a metal, and with each thump, they could also hear chains.

They looked at each other, both looking nervous now.

They took two steps at the same time, thump thump.

They stopped. They looked back. There was nothing.

They took another step, thump.

They were now totally freaked out.

Neji stopped. Look at his back again but then a gush of wind came and their light went out.

They screamed and they ran down.

thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump

-

Sasuke followed Sakura to the third floor. But when he was by the hallway, Sakura was gone. But he noticed something on the ground.

"Chouji?" he called. He rushed to him.

He was out cold.

He tap his face softly, "Chouji??" he said trying to wake him.

He moved his face closer to him; he noticed he was very pale.

"Is he okay?" he heard.

He was about to answer but then he saw that whoever asked him, was a lady with long black hair and red, bloody eyes.

-

Lee found the girl's room. He didn't waste time knocking. He just barged in the room.

Ino screamed at the sight of Lee. Lee, too, screamed. That woke Hinata and Tenten up.

"What happened?!" Tenten sked.

Lee tried to explain, but all they heard were stutters.

This didn't really reassured Ino. In fact. She was now, freaking out, too.

"G-ghost! S-s-s-song! U-u-sed s-songs! S-said I-I-I-I'm not a-a-a-alone!!!!" he managed.

Hinata's phone rang.

"Okay, guys don't panic." Tenten said and she took the phone because Hinata was looking freaked out. She didn't realize ahe pressed the loud speaker.

So all of them heard,

"We've only just begun..."

All four screamed and scrambled out the room to the first floor.

-

Kiba woke up with a start. He had slept well. He had a very strange dream about his friends being haunted or something. He laughed. That was very silly imagination.

It was morning now so he went to the bathroom to refresh himself.

After changing, he took his time to sort his things and then he went downstairs, now really ready for their coming home.

When he reached the living room, he was very startled at what he saw.

Naruto and Sakura were crying, Sasuke seems to be trying to calm them but he, too, was looking pale.

Lee was sitting hugging himself and seems like he reacted to everything he hears.

Tenten was looking at everyone's phone, seeming scared, Hinata and Ino beside her, both seeming to be crying.

Chouji was out cold.

Neji, Shino and Shikamaru were wide eyed, and looking at him.

Shino stood up and rushed to him, "You're finally here!!!!! Let's get out of here!!" he said wide eyed and with a manic tone.

He tried to ask what happened but all of them minus Shikamaru and Neji, who were carrying out-cold-Chouji, were dragging him outside the house.

They went to their bus and saw that their driver was there. They rushed to him, speaking all at once and trying to tell him to get them out of there but then their driver smiled at them eerily.

"Little sister, you brought your friends!"

END