By Yai-tzu Hin
Warning: No part of this story or cast of characters may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author, Yai-tzu Hin. If you do, moths will eat your favorite shirt, mice will take up residence in your kitchen and you can't get rid of them no matter what, all the bulbs in your reading lamps will go out, you'll run out of gas in your car when you're running late, and your computer will develop the annoying habit of deleting the best part of every fic.
Keien was only half-awake. Yatsurugi had roused him and brought him downstairs to the dining room. There he joined Imizu, Kayumi and Meiko. There were two other people there. One was a young man, whom Yatsurugi introduced as Eros. The other was an androgynous character whose name was Psyche. Apparently both he and Kayumi knew them from before. Keien quickly assumed they were angels and that Yatsurugi would explain later.
"So why exactly did you wake me up?" Meiko asked yawning. She leaned against Kayumi and closed her eyes. "I was in the middle of a nice dream with a VERY good looking guy in it."
"Sorry Meiko." Imizu replied. "But it was important." She took a deep breath before continuing. "This hotel is haunted. Both Aisaku-san and I saw it not more than fifteen minutes ago. It was in the attic."
"Sure, a ghost." Keien grumbled not believing them.
"We're serious." Yatsurugi said sternly eyeing Keien. Deciding that not believing his guardian would be a bad thing, Keien relented.
"I'm too tired to argue." Keien muttered and put his head down on the table. Eros snorted.
"Oniichan isn't awake and neither am I." Meiko said softly. "Why don't you go ghost hunting and let us sleep?"
"I don't think we're going to get anywhere with them now. They're out of it." Eros informed everyone. Imizu grumbled something about not wanting to go back to the attic without back up.
"If we go up to the attic, we'll go as a group." Kayumi stated sitting straight up in the chair as not to disturb Meiko too much. "First we need to figure out how long this ghost has been haunting the premises."
"Well," Imizu started as all eyes turned towards her. "When I was little I remember seeing a strange glowing ball float up the staircase to the attic. I was about seven at the time and spending the summer with my aunt and uncle. I liked to sneak out at odd hours of the night and spy on the customers. I also remember my aunt complaining about lights turning on in room 301 when she had just turned them out. Last year a Christmas wreath caught on fire, but we thought it was due to the electric lights woven into it."
"There seems to be a history of haunting. Probably by the same ghost or several entities." Yatsurugi said rubbing his chin in thought. "Let's assume that the ghost, if there is just one, has been here for about twenty years. Say, does your uncle know of any people who died in the house twenty years ago?"
"What if this ghost has been haunting the place for longer?" Psyche asked placing its hand over Eros' under the table. "We might have to look in the archives in town for death notices."
"That's true." Imizu said thoughtfully. "In the mean time, I'll ask my uncle about anything else strange happening about here. Plus I'll find Jin and Kin and ask them."
"They're probably both in the attic." Kayumi said. "Kin snuck up there and I would bet Jin followed. They seem to be very close." Imizu nodded.
"They are."
"Okay. So it's decided. We'll go back up to the attic while Kagamida-san goes and talks to her uncle. But first I think we need to get these two back into bed." Kayumi said poking Meiko. "Oi. Sleepy head, time to wake up and go back upstairs. A lot of help they've been."
"Let them sleep." Yatsurugi replied. Kayumi shot him a dirty look. "But only after they're in bed." He quickly countered shaking Keien's shoulders. "Come on roommate." It took all four angels to get the Nakabori siblings into their respective rooms. Then they proceeded up to the attic to find Reimu.
While the meeting had been taking place, Reimu and Shinji had been searching the attic for the ghost. They hadn't found it. After Imizu, Yatsurugi, and his hasty exit, the ghost had most likely left the area and was haunting some lower part of the hotel Reimu assumed. All he and Shinji could do was try to pick up the trail.
Kin had been there when they had arrived. The two angels had watched her take the book off the table next to the bed and leave. Feeling that it might be in their best interest to follow her, Reimu did and Shinji stayed behind to see if he could find anything else. Kin quickly descended the stairs then headed for her room. The family's living quarters was on the first floor on the far side of the house from the lobby. She quietly paused by Jin's door to wrap on it. Two quick short knocks, a pause then one, another pause, and then three short knocks. Jin opened the door. His sister snuck in quickly.
Shinji was just about to give up his efforts when Eros, Psyche, Kayumi and Yatsurugi entered the attic. He quickly dropped his invisibility and allowed the other angels to see him fully.
"Hello!" he called cheerfully. "Reimu said that he ran into a ghost up here. He and I were checking it out since I have nothing better to do."
"Hello Shinji." Yatsurugi greeted. "I noticed Suiichiro isn't any better than when I last saw him."
"He's such a pain of a charge. At least you get along with your charge. Sometimes I want to strangle Suiichiro."
"How about sending him and Suzu to Antarctica?"
"That's too nice." Shinji replied with a laugh. "Besides those poor seals would have to deal with them."
"Ah, I see Suiichiro and Suzu have many fans." Kayumi said sarcastically. "I noticed her guardian angel is absent."
"Wouldn't you?" Shinji grumbled.
"Now that the greetings are over with," Eros calmly interrupted. "We need to find a ghost and where is Reimu?"
"He followed the young girl with the auburn hair. She came in grabbed a book and left. He's following her."
"She grabbed a book?" Psyche said slipping its arm through Eros'.
"Kin took the
"What could she be up too?" Kayumi asked twirling a lock of dark purple hair around one forefinger. "What is she protecting?"
"Maybe the ghost is trying to possess someone, her brother perhaps?" Shinji suggested flapping delicate green-blue wings.
"Possibly." Yatsurugi responded. "We'll have to wait until Reimu returns to find out though." He walked back to the rest of the group. "We should go back and tell Imizu about the book. She'll want to know."
"She's taking this well, considering that she confronted the thing." Eros commented while Psyche snuggled closer.
"She's pretty tough." Yatsurugi said. "I mean she's chasing me. Talk about persistence." An ear-piercing scream interrupted the rest of the conversation causing everyone to start then race out of the attic.
***
Keien had been asleep. Well, mostly asleep. He was stuck in that in between time when one isn't awake, but isn't asleep either. Cuddling down under the covers, he hoped to warm himself. The room's temperature had abruptly changed from tolerable to freezing. Silently cursing Yatsurugi for dragging him out of bed to begin with, he shivered and burrowed down deeper. After a moment it dawned on him that he wasn't alone. Slowly opening his eyes, he scanned the room for whoever had entered. Standing by the window as a young man with short brown hair and sad gray eyes. His clothes were a standard high school uniform that dated back to the late sixties. He looked straight at Keien, jerked and vanished quickly. It took a moment for Keien to realize what he'd seen. Once it registered he threw off the covers and dashed out the door to find Yatsurugi. Out in the hall he scanned left then right. Oh, my God! They were right! Keien thought wildly as he searched for any sign of the ghost, but it was no where to be seen. Then he heard Meiko scream. The ghost bolted out the closed door of her room at full speed. It didn't see Keien. Passing through him, it paused long enough for Keien to get a glimpse at its emotions before continuing. Keien's knees gave out and he hit the floor in shock.
Meiko came flying out of her room just as Yatsurugi, Kayumi, Eros, and Psyche appeared from the attic stairwell.
"ONIICHAN!" Meiko wailed hugging her brother. Keien remained on his knees frozen by what he'd felt. "There was a man in my room! I could see through him!"
"Keien! Are you all right?" Yatsurugi cried hurrying over. He could read Keien's mind at all; it was if it was shut down. Touching him on the shoulder, Yatsurugi watched as the color slowly returned to Keien's face.
"G-g-ghost." He whispered. "Bedroom. Came through. Saw emotions." Keien shook his head violently then seemed to regain his ability to speak. "The ghost passed through me. I could sense what it felt. It's scared of something."
"What is all this screaming about?" Suzu demanded coming up the stairs from the second floor. "My fiancé and I were relaxing after our long drive." Thrusting her hands on her hips, she glared at the crowd before her. She recognized Meiko and Keien immediately.
"Hello, Nakabori." She said coolly. "I see you and your brother are here. How interesting." Meiko ground her teeth and looked away, poignantly ignoring the other woman. Suzu smiled thinly. "What could possibly have happened to upset you?"
"We saw a ghost." Keien said flatly narrowing his eyes. Gently pushing Meiko away so that he could stand, Keien watched Suzu laugh.
"A ghost? What do you take me for? There are no such things as ghosts. Only fools believe in them."
"Well, that makes you a minority here." Kayumi stated crossing her arms and standing straight so she towered over Suzu. "You see, we all believe there is one haunting this hotel. That's seven believers to one non-believer." Her voice sounded like icicles forming in the winter. Suzu got the hint.
"That makes seven fools then. I'll leave you to your little séance or whatever you were doing before." With a wave of her hand she returned to the staircase.
"Bitch." Kayumi growled.
"One-san!" Yatsurugi snapped.
"I don't care if she heard me or not. Who died and left her God? The last thing I heard the Almighty was alive and installing that new computer system." Meiko glanced oddly at Kayumi, but dismissed the comment quickly.
"I can't believe I was ever friends with her." Meiko said climbing to her feet with Keien's help. "She can be nice, but only when she wants something from you."
"Sounds like it's a good thing you aren't friends with her." Eros commented. Psyche nodded, then brushed a long lock of ebony hair off its shoulder. "Kayumi sure showed her who was boss about here."
"Keien are you all right?" Yatsurugi asked as Eros and Kayumi chatted about alpha females.
"I don't know. I saw the ghost's memories. It was such an intense feeling, I…"
"It's okay. Take some deep breaths, oniichan." Meiko said trying to comfort her brother. "Aisaku-san, the ghost was in my room. It appeared by the window, saw me, I screamed, and it fled. What does it want?" Yatsurugi shook his head.
"I don't know, but I bet I know who does. Kagamida went to ask her uncle if anyone had died on the grounds within the last twenty years."
"When did Suiichiro and Tamaide get here?" Keien asked.
"About half an hour ago. Don't worry about them." Yatsurugi smiled reassuringly at Keien. Keien smiled back. He could get through this, he told himself. He had people who cared for him and if Suiichiro got rough they could always sick Kayumi on him.
***
Kin snuck up to the attic. Jin held the book tightly in his grasp as he climbed the stairs after his sister. It was past one in the morning and all the hotel guests were asleep.
"Do you think he's all right?" asked Kin.
"After Imizu and her friends ran into him, I don't know."
"He could be hurt." Kin said worriedly to her brother. "And if IT returns…"
"Don't say that. We promised him we wouldn't let that spawn of hell touch him." Jin snapped.
***
"Psst! Yatsurugi!"
"God. Reimu, Shinji, it's one fifteen in the morning. I need my sleep!" Yatsurugi growled at the two angels beside his bed.
"The Kagamida twins are up in the attic." Reimu whispered.
"What's going on?" Keien grumbled from his bed.
"Reimu and Shinji have been spying on Jin and Kin for us. They're up in the attic."
"At this hour?"
"Yeah."
"I guess this means we need to get up?"
"Yeah." Yatsurugi replied throwing the covers off. "Reimu go wake up Kayumi. Shinji, go see if you can rouse Imizu." Both angels nodded and vanished.
"Who is Shinji?"
"Suiichiro's guardian angel. He's really nice actually." Keien made some sort of sound that resembled fine, then crawled out of bed.
***
"No, you have to draw it like this." Kin said irritably snatching the pen away from her brother. "If you don't make the symbol correctly he'll be…"
"He'll be what?" demanded Imizu appearing from the stairwell. Both her younger cousins jumped and turned to face her.
"I-Imizu. We didn't think…" Jin stuttered suddenly realizing that not only was his elder cousin there, but so where her friends. The attic was getting very crowded.
"That's right. You didn't think. Now what in the world is going on up here?" Kin cringed and Jin looked about nervously. "Well, I'm waiting."
"They were only trying to protect me." A thin whisper of a voice said. "Please do not scold them."
A figure stepped, or more precisely glided, out from behind some boxes. He was a young man about Jin and Kin's age with short brown hair. He was wearing a dark navy school uniform and they could see right through him. Imizu nearly fainted, but managed to keep her wits about her.
"You're a g-g-g…"
"Ghost." The apparition finished. Imizu nodded numbly. He looked nervously about him and fidgeted with the buttons on his coat. "I'm terribly sorry about what happened before. I'm not used to having so many people able to see me."
"Well, we're definitely an unusual group." Kayumi said kindly. "I am Kayumi."
"Nice to meet you." He bowed respectively.
"Eizou is our friend." Kin blurted out. "He's been living in the hotel for almost thirty years."
"Thirty years?" exclaimed Imizu. "Well, that certainly explains all the strange stuff that has happened over the years."
"I'm terribly sorry about all that. You see I've been ever so lonely. I didn't know how else to get people's attention."
"If you don't mind my asking," Yatsurugi began. "How did you die?" Eizou remained silent for a moment.
"People always said it was suicide. They had found a bottle of pills by my bed and assumed I had overdosed. That is not true. I had always had a weak heart. During the night I felt my chest tighten and I groped for my medication. I managed to get the cap off, but it was too late. I died. Since then I've been here."
"Why don't you move on?" Meiko asked cautiously feeling very sorry for the young man.
"I don't know. I just have never been able too."
"And now there is some demon chasing him!" Jin interjected. "That's why Kin and I have been reading this book and putting up wards. We don't want Eizou's soul to end up being eaten by a demon!"
"Hold on a minute." Eros said coming closer. "Nobody's soul is going to be eaten by a demon. First off, what does this so called demon look like."
"Black."
"Anything else."
"Nope." Eizou replied. "It is this big black thing that floats around. It appeared about two weeks ago."
"Eizou is our friend." Kin said. "We won't let anything happen to him. He's the nicest ghost I've ever met."
"He's the only ghost you've ever met." Jin snapped. Kin stuck out her tongue at him.
Keien rolled his eyes as Psyche made itself comfortable next to him. Something told him this was going to be another long evening.
They stayed up talking to Eizou about his life and the creature that stalked him. Jin and Kin wanted to protect their friend who they had run across in the attic last year while looking for New Year's decorations. Eizou had been thrilled to have someone to talk to at last that he didn't mind the bickering siblings at all. As for the creature that was chasing him about, know one could come up for a reason why it would want him. Yatsurugi had a theory, but he wanted to talk to the other angels to see if they were thinking the same thing.
It was agreed that Eizou should stay in the attic protected by the wards until further notice. With that decided, everyone went back to bed.
***
Yatsurugi drug both himself and Keien down the stairs for breakfast. Eros and Psyche hadn't even bothered to get up, even though it was practically eleven. Meiko, Imizu and Kayumi were already in the dining room. Kayumi was giving Suzu dirty looks as the woman sat reading a brochure for the hot springs. Suiichiro was drinking cola and doing a crossword puzzle. Keien bet he didn't have a quarter of the thing done. He had always been bad at them. Making a point to sit as far from the engaged couple as possible and yet next to Meiko at the same time. Yatsurugi was too tired to care about anything. Reimu and Shinji were hovering above having a lively conversation about something, but Yatsurugi was tuning them out. He did notice that Kayumi twitched a couple times when Shinji mentioned something about his former life. Strange, was all he could manage to think as Imizu's aunt brought in a plate of food.
"So what do you think is REALLY chasing Eizou?" Keien murmured picking up his chopsticks. Yatsurugi shrugged.
"I'm not sure, but it could be an angel of death. Although, it is very late if it is one."
"No kidding, thirty years late. It better have a good excuse." Yatsurugi chuckled.
"We won't know until we confront it. Eizou said it appears sporadically, so we'll have to be on our toes."
"This means we'll have to catch it some how. Right?" Keien asked picking up his glass of juice. He gulped the cold liquid until only half the glass remained. Yatsurugi contemplated how exactly one could go about trapping death while watching Keien. There had to be a way to at least talk to it.
Looking up from his crossword puzzle, Suiichiro noticed Keien and Yatsurugi. With a smirk he nearly got up to harass them, but one angry look from Suzu halted any further plans. Damn, the bitch won't let me have at least a little bit of fun, he thought angrily. Why the hell should I even marry her? Then he remembered the money. Well, maybe Suzu would let him have some fun later. Nothing was more interesting as watching Keien squirm. Suiichiro's mind wandered as he relived some of the more memorable moments of their relationship. He wasn't all that bad a fuck. Somewhere above him Shinji rolled his eyes and mouthed the word pervert.
"Hey, Yatsurugi."
"Yeah," he answered staring at Keien.
"Did you think of a way to capture it?"
"I don't know if it's possible to actually capture an angel of death." He paused to take a sip of orange juice. "But you can certainly talk to them."
"Sounds like a…" The sound of the front desks bell interrupted Keien. Imizu got up and hurried to the lobby to assist the new arrival.
"Hey," Kayumi said scooting her chair over to their table. "Yatsurugi do you think that what is after Eizou could be an angel?"
"An angel of death." Yatsurugi admitted.
"That's what I was thinking."
"No, my parents will not be joining me. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." An irritated voice snapped from the lobby.
"I'm sorry, but I have to ask how you'll be paying for your room." Imizu said calmly.
"With this."
"You have a credit card?"
"Of course! How old do you think I am?" The definite masculine voice was getting more irritated and Keien wondered if Imizu might want some male back up.
"About 16?" They heard him snort.
"Try again. I know I look young, but I assure you I'm not."
Imizu sighed and then gave the young man a key. Flipping a long black braid off his shoulder, the youth stared intently at Imizu. He was relatively short with dark eyes that looked like they were deep red. He picked up his bag, snatched the key out of Imizu's hand and headed for the stairs.
"Odd." Was all she could say as she watched him head for the third floor. "Definitely odd."
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