By Kotohonou

CH 1: THE MANSION

"5172, Nightow Avenue. Yup, this is the place!"

Four pairs of eyes scanned up the endless driveway to the four-story mansion adorning the hilltop.

The youngest of the group tugged on the sleeve of her red-coated friend, "Isn’t this wonderful?"

He peered down at her. "Lovely," he sneered.

The girl laughed and elbowed in the ribs, "Oh Kurei, lighten up!"

The edge of Kurei’s mouth curled into a smile, only to instantly reform to his usual uncaring expression.

"God Kurei, is it that hard? Look, even Melissa has trouble making you smile!" Another girl joked. She was about the same height as Melissa (about five and a half feet), but had brownish-blonde hair while Melissa’s hair was much darker. The other girl leaned on the last member of their crew, a tall, longhaired student, a year or so older than the girls. He scowled at her.

"Sometimes, Tokiya, I think you and Kurei have the exact expressions! I’ve never seen you smile at all!"

Tokiya scowled at her too. He looked back at the girl leaning on him, Annaliese. She grinned and pulled a rather large gate key out of her pocket.

"Less chatting! Let’s get unpacked!" She grabbed a box and sprinted up the driveway, "C’mon, let’s go!"

"I got 107!"

"108."

"I counted 107 too!"

"I also got 108."

"Why don’t we compromise?" Annaliese’s smile twisted into an awkward grin, "In this mansion, there are 107 and ½ rooms!"

Tokiya rolled his eyes, "Annaliese, you can’t have a half a room."

"Well what about half bathrooms?" Melissa defended her friend.

Tokiya looked beat.

"Okay, since you say so," Annaliese looked at the swordsman lovingly, "There are 108 rooms."

"Whatever."

Melissa nudged Annaliese, "So, what rooms do we get?"

"I dunno. Finders keepers?"

"Sounds good to me! What about you two?" She turned to the guys, who were (more or less) paying no attention.

"Okay, yeah." Kurei mumbled.

"Yay!" Annaliese ran down a hallway, searching for the perfect room before anyone else got it.

"Yay!" Melissa ran down the opposite hallway.

Tokiya and Kurei looked at each other, and then wandered off, look for rooms of their own.

In a matter of minutes, they had each found a room to their liking.

Melissa’s second-story room was actually a large suite for guests. It had a Jacuzzi, TV room, and bedroom. The bedroom overlooked the front yard, and contained a queen-sized bed. The entire thing was painted bright yellow, so bright it looked as if a sun had exploded in there.

Kurei’s room was close to Melissa’s, but not too close. It was much smaller, containing only a dresser, table, floor lamp, and bed. He said he didn’t need much.

Tokiya picked a first story room with a garden view. It was not as simple as Kurei’s, but not much more complex. It was blue, which he liked. The room was far enough from Annaliese to offer him some peace.

After about a half-hour of searching, Annaliese found her dream room. It was in the first story of the two-story basement. Originally a game room, there was still a pool table and a space for a TV. There was no bed, but that could be fixed. The walls were stone, black and rough, very unique.

Sighing, Annaliese dumped the last of her boxes in her new room. She flopped down on the only real furniture (besides a lamp), a full-length couch. "Ok, I’m going to need to pick up a bunch of stuff." She started counting on her fingertips, "My bed, TV, DVD player, DVDs," She glanced around, "I’d better call Mom, but where’s the phone?"

After several minutes of a frustrating search, she located the only phone in the mansion, on the fourth floor.

"Hey, Mom? This is Annaliese. Uh-huh, I’m fine. Yeah, the view’s nice. Yes, there’s a garden. I dunno. No, I haven’t been outside yet. Yeah, Melissa’s here. Well listen, I need to pick up some of my stuff, is that ok? Great! Thanks! What? No way! I don’t think so! No! Jeez, fine. Give us time to settle in. Three weeks, ok? Ya, love you too." She hung up the phone.

Melissa approached her as she angrily attacked the stairs. Tokiya and Kurei were with her. "What’s up?"

"I called my Mom, to see if I could get some of my stuff. She said yeah. Then she pulls a fast one and say’s now SHE can stay here."

"You’re not talking about who I think you are, are you?" Melissa gasped.

"Yes."

Melissa’s face paled, "No, please…. Noooo…"

"Who’s coming, your mother?" Kurei looked very puzzled.

"No, worse, my sister."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Nooooooo!" Melissa screamed.

Tokiya, calm as ever, ran a hand through his silvery hair, "Personally, I would like to meet you sister. I’d like to see if she is as, er, interesting as you."

Kurei attempted to cheer them up, "She can’t be that bad!"

Melissa and Annaliese shot him dirty looks.

"Okay, then. I could be wrong."

"Could be and are!" Melissa shuddered.

"Well, she’s coming in three weeks. C’mon, I’ve got to go get my stuff. You two can see the terror for yourself. She’ll probably still be mad that I got the mansion."

"Umm, Annaliese? How did you get his place? It’s not like it just dropped out of the sky!" Tokiya laughed.

"My great uncle. He… passed away not to long ago. This place was his. He was the person who got me started in anime. He was a great guy. We got along so well; he left his place to me. And his collection of anime." Annaliese sighed. "Hey, now, we have to get going!"

"I’ll pass!" Kurei was already backing out.

"Uh, Kurei, you’re the only one who can drive." Melissa dragged him to his hideous gold van. Tokiya and Annaliese followed.

"Ok, I swear that sign said ‘Speed Limit 45’. Why are we still going 20?"Annaliese complained.

"No back seat driving!" Kurei shout back to her.

"We are going soooooo slow! C’mon, rev this baby up!"

Melissa leaned over to Annaliese, "If he does, the car will probably fall apart!"

They laughed. Kurei didn’t appreciate this and slowed down even further. By the time they had reached Annaliese’s old home, it was dinnertime.

Tokiya pocketed his Ensui, just in case. "How far away from the mansion is this? We must have driven for five hours!"

"It’s about 100 miles. We could have been here in a little over two hours but nooooooo!" Annaliese shook her head and walked to the front door.

The others followed her, and all were suddenly emerged in thick delicious scents.

"Ooohhh…. I’m so hungry!" Tokiya licked his lips.

"Stomach…. Caving…. In!" Annaliese held her stomach in mock pain.

Melissa knocked on the door.

A young girl, about twelve, answered, "We don’t want any!" She slammed the door.

Tokiya leaned over to ring the doorbell. The girl answered again.

"What do you want?" She glimpsed Melissa, "Oh, Melissa. What’s with your friend here? What’s her problem?"

Tokiya’s face reddened.

"Shove it, short stuff." Annaliese pushed her out of the doorway and beckoned the others inside.

Alexandra returned to her seat at the dinner table as her mother rose, "Annaliese! I’ve missed you so much! Are you okay? You don’t call, you don’t write!" Her eyes traveled to Tokiya and Kurei, "What’s this boys? What are you up to, Annaliese?"

"Uh, hi Mom!" Annaliese half-waved, "We’ve only been gone for a couple days, and we only moved in today. This is Kurei, and this (she leaned loving over to him), is Tokiya. They live in the mansion, too."

"You’re living with boys?! Have you no shame! Goodness!"

Melissa piped up to help her buddy, "We’re living in the same house, not the same rooms."

This fact seemed to calm Annaliese’s mom down a bit, "Would you like some dinner?"

The group drooled, "Yes, please!"

"Tonight, we are having fresh tofu and sun-dried tomato sandwiches with black bean sauce." She held up hers as an example.

"Uhhhhhhhhh…" The crew took a couple steps back.

"Hey now, I just realized we should be going! We don’t want to have a break down in the middle of the night or anything!" Tokiya stated, his face slightly off-color.

"Yeah, and with Kurei’s car, anything’s possible." Annaliese whispered to Melissa.

"We’ll probably make it back by sunrise!" Melissa whispered back.

Annaliese’s dad looked up from his sandwich, "Good point, good point. Annaliese, I’ve already taken apart your bed, and everything should be in boxes. You just have to put it in a car and take it back."

Annaliese smiled, "Thanks, dad!"

"Here, I’ll pack you some sandwiches for the road!" The female parental unit stood up to grab a basket, "I also made some cookies and bread, but those are for your brother in college."

"Okay, I think that’s it." Annaliese produced a list from her pocket and started mentally checking things off.

"Hey, where’s Kurei?" Melissa looked around frantically, "He went out with a load, but-?"

"Gaaahhh! Get her off of me!" Shrieks from the hallway echoed through the room.

Melissa glanced out, "Kurei?"

"Help me!" He called, "She’s a maniac!"

Annaliese chuckled softly, "Toldja."

"Get her off of me, please!" He whined. His leg was the target of an aggressive death grip.

"Alexandra! Get off of him!" Melissa attempted to wrench the demonic child’s hands off of Kurei.

Kurei began to whimper in fear.

Tokiya pulled a dagger-shaped object from his pocket and walked to the bathroom. He emereged, seconds later, with a fully-bladed Ensui. "Alexandra, please remove your hands from him."

"Or-?"

Tokiya raised the Ensui to be parallel with his chin.

"You don’t have the guts, girly-man!"

Kurei was going mad, "I’ll burn her! I’ll burn her! I’ll do it! I’ll do it!" A tiny purple flame appeared in the palm of his hand. He giggled psychotically.

"Ah! We have to get her off now!" Melissa redoubled her attempt to release the grip. Tokiya and Annaliese joined in.

In a few seconds, the problem child was struggling under the weight of Tokiya and Annaliese. Tokiya had his Ensui back in his hand. Melissa was trying to calm Kurei. At that moment, Annaliese’s parents rounded the corner. Everyone froze except for Kurei, who was still shaking.

Annaliese’s mother’s eyes traveled from Melissa and the strange red-coated man with a fist full of purple flames, to Annaliese and the longhaired boy with a clear sword sitting on Alexandra. She uttered a groan and fainted.

Annaliese’s dad looked at them sternly and shouted, "No fighting!"

Tokiya slung Kurei over his shoulder and dashed out the door with the girls, "thank-you! We’ll be leaving now!"

Alexandra struggled to her feet, "I’ll get you, crossdresser!"

END-‘The Mansion’