Your comments - whatever they may be - are, as always, welcome,
appreciated, needed and begged for (thark@mangakai.org). My other fanfics
can be found at "http://i99ronhe.island.liu.se/fanfic/". None of the
characters used below are mine - my humble thanks to their respective
creators. Takahashi Rumiko created Ranma 1/2 and Inu-yasha, Katsura
Masakazu created Denei Shoujo, Takada Yuzo created 3x3 Eyes, Togashi
Yoshihiro created Yuu Yuu Hakusho, and someone whose identity I
unfortunately don't know created Gundam Wing. My apologies for abusing
these creations.

This is a multicrossover. It's not a long, dramatical and adventurous epic
where the entire casts of the series involved are tied together by a
variety of artificially inserted relations - but it does feature
characters assembled from a mishmash of sources, thrust together in an
unfamiliar situation. If this strikes you as a bad thing, you have now
been warned.

                        ...of our dreams
             A fanfic by Ronny Hedin (thark@mangakai.org)

                                  "Nothing I can do that I have not done.
                        No words I can say. No truth left that I can see.
                       So must I let this end, so everything falls apart?
                           Before I live the life, as I have always done."
                                                     VNV Nation - Rubicon

The girl cried out in panic as she bolted upright in bed, clutching the
sheet tight to her chest and emptying her lungs with a scream that could
awaken the dead.

Or she would have, had she been able to. As it was, she coughed, not even
managing to clear her throath, and weakly raised one hand a few inches
towards the roof. Briefly, she struggled to keep her eyes open, blinking a
few times, but finally failed, falling back against the bed with only
faint traces of consciousness left.

"Shhh," she heard a gentle voice, or thought she did. The owner of the
voice brushed a set of long, slender fingers against the girl's warm
forehead, continuing her muted, calming whisper. "Don't worry," she said,
somehow succeeding in instilling a sense of peace. "It's all right now.
You have nothing to fear."

An indefinite amount of time passed, the girl not aware enough of her
surroundings to have any grip at all on how long. The woman kept stroking
her forehead, like a mother would with a bed-ridden child, until finally,
the girl had again been able to build up enough energy to slowly open her
eyes, squinting out as she turned her head to the side to look at the
woman comforting her.

She failed to observe any of her surroundings, the room no more than a big
blur that seemed mostly like some vaguely red haze that twisted and
distorted, yet somehow the woman made a surprisingly clear image, filling
the girl even more with that odd sense of peace as her focus cleared.

The first thing that managed to pass through the girl's weary eyes was the
woman's lips; they formed only a slight smile, yet she could not help but
wonder if she'd ever seen a warmer and friendlier one. Gradually, the rest
of her solidified; lush, thick black hair hung from her head, most of it
collected into a ponytail down her back that a large, blue ribbon
elegantly held into place, and deep, brown eyes looked down at the girl,
the concern that had filled them now mostly changed to relief. It took a
while longer before the girl's vision cleared enough to notice her
clothing, the room around the woman still impossible to make any sense out
of; she wore merely an unadorned white kitchen apron, with a simple blue
shirt of some sort underneath it. She sat on the edge of the bed, hands
folded in her lap, and though her calm, composed demeanor might indicate
otherwise, she could be no older than her mid-twenties, if even that.

Guessing that her charge would now be able to understand without straining
herself, the woman widened her smile somewhat. "I'm glad you're OK," she
said softly, happiness now shining from her eyes. "You had me so worried
at first."

The girl grunted in response, and she slowly rose, looking down at the bed
with her head tilted ever so slightly to the side.

"Just stay here and rest, and all will be fine."

As if she had much choice, with her body still totally empty of energy;
senses gradually returning, the girl began to feel a dull, throbbing sense
of pain all over, vaguely centered in her chest. "Wh- where?" she croaked,
only now noticing a taste of blood in her dry mouth. "Who?"

"Oh my!" The woman brought a hand to cover her mouth, surprised. Worry
resurfaced in her eyes. "It's far too early to worry about that yet."

"But..." Again, the girl had to fully utilize what little reserves of
power she still had to push the word out, and even so, it barely escaped
her pale lips.

The woman interrupted her with a finger to her lips, saving the girl her
voice. "My name is Tendou Kasumi. Please just call me Kasumi." She bowed
formally, with elegant grace. "Pleased to make your acquintance."

Her weariness prevented the girl from responding with equal eloquence, as
she remained umoving in the bed. No response came to her mind at first,
her brain feeling very distant, and she had to strain to reach her memory.
"I'm... Kagome, I think," she answered eventually, still not even sure if
that name was the right one. "But where..."

Again, Kasumi quieted her. "You've come to this... to the mansion; I take
care of it and its guest." For a moment, the young woman seemed
thoughtful, but the look soon disappeared, leaving Kagome to wonder if it
had ever been there. "I found you at the entrance," she continued, seeing
the question in the girl's eyes. "You were in terrible condition. How you
came there, I have no idea; it is a miracle you managed to retain
consciousness, let alone move, with those injuries. I'm glad I was outside
- if I hadn't found you so soon, I might not have been able to save you."
She smiled. "But lets forget about that now; you're alive, and that's all
that matters."

Kasumi turned around slowly, and left the room slowly, gradually fading
into the haze that Kagome still perceived the world as. This time, the
girl had no energy for further questions, and she slumped back, realizing
that the woman was right - she needed rest, and lots of it.

Ever so slowly, she moved her right arm under the bedsheet until the hand
rested over her chest; beneath it, she could feel the somewhat rough
texture of bandages, covered by thick dried blood. Even in her
half-conscious state, she realized the wound it hid had to be absolutely
horrible, and wondered how a poor young girl like her had recieved it.

The last thing she could recall was that it had been her 15th birthday,
gramps giving her a worthless old piece of junk as he always did, and
then... and then... The past seemed distant and hazy, until a vague image
drifted up from somewhere within her deeply buried, inaccessible memories,
and Kagome could not help but stifle a gasp as it struck her with great
force.

* * *

Kagome took a few step forwards, barely managing to keep herself straight.
In the distance, she could vaguely see something, some large shape
distinct from the blurred mass the dark forest around her had become.

Her long, dark hair clung close to her body, soaked in blood, and some of
it stretched into her eyes, making the task of seeing even harder. She
blinked a few times in a vain attempt to clear away the ever-increasing
black spots that seemed to dance on her vision; already, she had lost all
grip of just what had happened to bring her to this state, and she
wondered whether it was real or just some twisted nightmare, twenty times
darker than any she'd previously had in her young, innocent life.

A trail of blood followed behind her, having dripped from the girl's chest
and the three long, deep wounds that stretched across it, still pumping
out the warm, red fluid in unimaginable quantities. Kagome no longer even
felt the pain, and found herself wondering with a sense of detachment if
she would ever manage to get her school-uniform clean again, little more
than shreds remaining of the shirt. Yeah, those claws sure had done a good
job of tearing her apart, those long, thick claws, gleaming as they
reflected the sunlight... The claws stretching out almost like forever,
claws closing in closer and closer and...

She managed to push herself forward a few steps more, and her outstretched
arms finally made contacted with something, each arm clenching around a
thin metallic pole as she fell forward, leaning against the closed gate.
Kagome threw her head to the side, coughing up a thick gout of blood with
a guttural noise, and she thought she heard a faint voice, the entire
world now feeling like it might as well be millions and millions away,
before finally, darkness grew overwhelming, and she collapsed, having
already pushed her body far beyond its limits.

* * *

When Kagome next blinked her eyes open, she felt much better. A dull,
throbbing pain still remained in her chest, and she felt weary, despite
the untold hours she must have spent in bed already, but this time, after
she had gotten used to the sharp light assaulting her eyeballs, the world
remained steady and more or less clear.

In her current position, however, that world consisted of a ceiling, the
red-brownish material of the wooden planks interrupted here and there by
dark knotholes. Curious as to what else might be in her surroundings,
Kagome leaned to the left, propping herself up against the bed with an
arm. The fine silken bedsheet slid slowly down her right side with a soft,
brushing sound as she pushed herself up, eventually bringing her feet out
from under the covers to let them fall onto the cold parquet floor. The
girl pushed some stray hairs out of her face to clear her vision, letting
them rest behind her ears together with the rest of the thick, black mane
that fell a short distance down her back.

The room surprised her. While not of gigantic proportions, it was
surprisingly large, at least for a guestroom; this, in combination with
the western-style bed, made Kagome wonder if she was still in Japan, and
she almost panicked for a moment, afraid that she had somehow left the
country and forgotten how and why, before she calmed down, remembering
that the woman who was with her earlier had spoken Japanese.

Tossing away the blue bedsheet completely, she turned her head from left
to right, scanning across the blue-greenish walls to observe the room's
content. Next to the bed, to its left, was the door; wooden, average-sized
and unadorned, with a finely polished iron handle. Right now, it was fully
closed, and the girl could not hear any sounds coming from without.

On the opposite side of the door stood a desk, made out of some
dark-colored wood. Its surface remained empty, and Kagome guessed that
this also applied to the drawer, contiuing to the right.

A window adorned the third wall, a lonely flower standing in a pot in the
frame, and outside, Kagome could vaguely see some treetops, the fading
light indicating that sunset approached. She contemplated stepping up to
it to look out, before her eyes fell upon the last next of furniture in
the room; a large, rounded mirror hanging on the wall, her disheveled
face staring back at her at the edge of its reflective surface. To the
right of the mirror stood a large, finely ornated wooden cabinet,
presumably for hanging clothes in.

With newfound determination, she rose fully to her feet, a sting of pain
in her head making her regret it for a few moments, and she marched up to
the mirror, eyeing her naked body critically.

At some point during her sleep, it seemed, the bandage had been taken off.
For a second, Kagome smiled as the mirror reminded her that her breasts
were remarkably large for her age, but the joy at this was muted by the
discovery of the three long, deep scars running across her chest,
obviously too severe to ever fade away completely. The girl reached out
with her fingers to trace the edges of the wound, feeling a tingling
sensation as she touched her sensitive pale skin.

Just then, the door to the room slowly opened, and Kagome had to hurriedly
turn around to observe the intruder. The woman she could vaguely remember
having comforted her earlier - provided that hadn't been a dream -
carefully stepped in.

Kasumi wore the same apron as before, and she brought a hand to her lips,
obviously startled by seeing the girl out of bed. "Oh my!" she exclaimed.
"You shouldn't be out of bed yet!"

Kagome scratched the back of her head, and the woman seemed to realize her
embarrassment at being naked, unfolding the cloth she had been carrying
over her arm to show it to the girl, and Kagome had to stifle a gasp as
she realize that it was her old school uniform, or one identical to it;
but though she could vividly remember the garment torn to shreds, drenched
in blood, no traces remained of that now, the well-ironed uniform looking
fully as good as new - nothing less than a miracle could have repaired it
this well.

Smiling gently, Kasumi took a few steps forward to hang the uniform over
the back of the chair placed next to the desk, then retreated again.
"Please," she told the girl as she left the room, her tone deeply
concerned and almost mothering, "do get some more rest. You must still be
in bad shape."

The girl nodded embarrassedly, the situation making her feel a bit
awkward. "Um, yes, I will," she told the woman. "I'll go right back to
bed."

"Thank you." Kagome could almost sense the relieved smile that came to the
woman's lips as she stepped out of the room, sliding the door soundlessly
shut.

Following Kasumi's advice, the girl retreated back to the soft, warm bed,
tossing back and forth for several minutes in vain attempts to return to
sleep, but despite the weariness she still felt, she found it hopeless,
and she rose again, restless. _I did tell her I'd try to rest,_ Kagome
though to herself. _But... This is hopeless. I don't think there'll be any
harm if I have a look around the house._

Decision made, she slipped on the uniform, its perfect fit confirming that
it was indeed hers or an identical copy, and with soft steps she ventured
across the room to the door, pushing the handle slowly down to open it.

* * *

As Kagome closed the door again, a soft, clicking noise betraying her when
the handle snapped back into place, she found herself in a short corridor.
She had just left the room at one end of it, the wall to her right ending
in a window; again, she could see hints of bright green vegitation
outside, beyond a steel cage protecting the glass.

Apart from from a painting, a well-made and expensive-looking portrait of
some bearded, white-haired fellow, vaguely European in appearance, the
opposite wall was blank, with no further doors or other clues to just were
she had ended up. On her left side however, the girl could see two more
doors before the corridor took a sharp turn to the right, leaving no hints
to what mysteries awaited beyond the corner. Their identical appearance
and the spacing between them led her to suspect that opening either door
would lead to a room similar to the one she had just exited.

Kagome took a few more steps forward, the wooden floor cold against her
bare feet. Perhaps this time, the window would have caught her attention,
the girl eager to see where in Tokyo this odd place could be situated, but
before she could take a closer look, the door to the neighbouring room
quietly slid open.

Taking considerable care not to make any more noise than necessary as he
closed it again behind himself, a boy stepped out. Though the boy wore
casual clothes - a large, dark-brown sweater that hung loosely around his
arms, and a pair of somewhat worn-looking jeans - Kagome guessed that he
might be around her age; perhaps a year or two older, altough his boyish
face made it hard to really tell.

Rising to his full length - somewhat short, the girl noted; just barely
taller than her - his eyes happened to fall on her, and he placed one hand
behind his head, smiling embarrassadly, as if caught in some forbidden
game.

Happy for some human contact again, and certainly not one to be shy,
Kagome waved cherfully, stepping up to him. Combined with his crew-cut
sides and the unruly mass of hair on top of his head, his immature looks
and his shy, nervous glances as he eyed the girl him made the boy, though
definitely not handsome, at least somehow cute.

She curtsied politely, offering him a bright smile. "I'm Higurashi Kagome.
You?"

"Um, well..." Her approach had apparently unsettled him somewhat, and
again, the boy scratched the back of his head nervously. After a few
seconds, he managed to find his manners again, and gave her a short, shy
bow. "Moteuchi Youta. Me, that is." He seemed to hesitate for a while
longer, then finally smiled slightly and gestured down the corridor. "I
was just about to go get some dinner. Wanna come?"

"Sure!" Kagome replied without hesitation. Now, for the first time, she
noticed the empty feeling in her stomach, realizing that she must not have
eaten for quite a while, and wondered just how long she had been lying in
that bed; considering how horrible her memories of the wounds were, and
the extent to which they had already healed, it had to be days.

Boy and girl both remained standing where they were for several moments,
hesitating, and after a while, Kagome spoke up. "Excuse me, but, could you
lead the way? This is the first time I've left my room, so I don't know
where..."

"Oh, sorry, sorry," Youta hastened to exclaim apolotegically, again
scratching the back of his head embarrassedly, as seemed to be a frequent
habit of his. "Um, this way. It's on the first floor."

Briefly, it struck the girl that the boy, as a guest of this place, might
be able to give her a better answer than her own fuzzy memories of
stumbling up to the gate, or the vague recollection she had of Kasumi
giving her an oddly evasive reply when her mind had still been clouded by
loss of blood. "Say," she asked, just as the two reached the end of the
corridor, walking side-by-side, "what is this place?"

"Here?" Youta shrugged, and didn't seem to be quite sure how to answer.
"Just... the mansion. Maybe the prison, more like."

"Huh?" Confused, Kagome stopped. She would've tried to detain him, to ask
further the meaning of his words, but then her stomach grumbled, and she
hurried after, questions left aside and forgotten for the moment.

* * *

Now that she had repeatedly seen proof of the mansion's impressive size,
it did not really surprise Kagome that they did not enter a small kitchen
with a low, cramped table, but rather a wide, spacious dining hall. An
aged-looking crystal chandelier, ringed with dark purple-colored candles,
hung over an oblong table in some dark wood, enough chairs around it to
seat several families.

Oil paintings lined the cheerfully white walls, the colors slightly
distorted by the light that slipped in through three subtly colored large
windows, but unlike the one in the corridors upstairs, these depicted
various fantastic things; more than one ringled, serpent-like dragon, and
other monsters, many of which Kagome could not even vaguely recognize as
part of any mythology she knew. However, they were not the
brightly-colored, uplifting fantasy paintings one might expect in a place
like this; Kagome could not quite place her finger on the reason why, but
there was something dark, unnatural about them, and more than once she
sharply turned her head with a vague feeling of being threatened, only to
stare into the gaping, twisted maws of some demonic creature, seemingly
intent on devouring her.

The boy, obviously used to all this, took no notice, and progressed
towards an opening on the other side of the room, significantly smaller
than the set of double doors through which they had entered the dining
hall. Just before slipping through, he turned back to face the girl, still
near the entrance observing the creepy surroundings.

"Um, excuse me," he said, his voice barely loud enough for the bewildered
Kagome to register, and she found herself wondering whether he cared at
all if she listened or not. Noting that she looked up, however, Youta
continued. "I'll go fix some food. You can wait here or so, I guess." He
scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I should've thought of the delay
before, but since I'm used to just cooking for myself..."

"Oh, no, that's fine." Kagome smiled, somewhat impressed by the way the
boy didn't seem to think there was anything special or unusual about
preparing a meal (instant ramen was one thing, but the girl doubted she'd
find any of that at a place like this). "You know," she joked, "with the
size of this place, I would've thought they had someone to do the
cooking."

"Er, um." Youta laughed nervously. "Actually, I think miss Kasumi does
that, but I usually eat by myself, since I don't want to trouble her. She
must have enough trouble already, taking care of the entire house all by
herself."

This took the girl by surprise somewhat, but she soon recovered, and
pulled out one of the chairs, sitting down near the head of the table.
"Well," she said, eyeing the boy imploringly - not really thinking of how
this might be considered rude, especially considering the fact that they'd
just met. "You better get started, then."

Nodding, the boy stepped out into the kitchen.

* * *

As she waited patiently for the food to arrive, occasionally hearing muted
scramblings from the kitchen as the boy busied about inside, Kagome found
herself mesmerized by one of the paintings. Hanging on the wall opposite
of her seat, it depicted some high, snow-topped mountain, oddly
red-greenish clouds in the sky above. The scenery was not what caught her
eye about it, though; around the peak lay ringled an archetypical eastern
dragon of enourmous proportions, his blue scales reflecting what sunlight
peeked through; the huge, sharp white claws at the edge of his front-most
pair of legs (or arms?) seemed so real it almost scared the girl, but even
more so, his slitted, cat-like eyes drew her in, captured her in their
disturbingly life-like glance.

She didn't realize how much time had passed until the sound of approaching
footsteps broke her out of her reverie, and Youta gently placed two large
pots on the table in front of her. He hurried off again, and soon returned
with two plates, some vaguely chinese-looking pattern decorating the
porcelain, which he put one at her seat and one on the other side of the
table as he hanted her a finely polished fork and a matching knife.
Sensing the girl's confusion, he smiled apologetically. "Sorry, but the
place has only got this kind."

"This is delicious!" Kagome exclaimed between bites, the food that stuffed
her mouth distorting her speech somewhat, as they began to eat, silently
at first.

Youta scratched the back of his head, a slight blush coming to the boy's
face as he smiled. "Thank you," he said. "It's really not all that good;
miss Kasumi is a much better cook than me."

The girl giggled; at once, the boy seemed to draw back in his seat,
turning his attention back to the plate as if struck by some unseen blow,
and she wondered if she'd done something wrong. Already having decided
that he was quite nice a guy, if somewhat too shy and nervous (to say the
least), she swallowed and briefly put the fork away in an attempt to
strike up some conversation. "So," she ventured, "what about the other
guests? You're the first one I've met, other than our hostess."

"Well, hm." Youta hesitated. "Actually," he said, "I don't really know
them too well; I stay by myself most of the time, so almost never meet the
other guests. Truth to tell, you're the first person I've talked to in
weeks." The boy seemed thoughtful. "I don't really the think it's right to
refer to miss Kasumi as hostess, though," he added, as an afterthought.

"Oh?" Kagome said, a curious eyebrow raised to prompt him to continue.

"She's more like, well, she just takes care of the place and whoever
happens to come here," the boy explained; judging by his facial
expression, this was the first time he had thought of this himself. "Like
a servant or maid or so. There's this man..." Youta trailed off; suddenly,
he seemed even more nervous than before, obviously uncomfortable with the
topic.

"Man?" Kagome asked, anxious to find out more about the mansion and its
current residents.

Rather than answering, however, the boy rose from his seat. "I think I'll
get going now, guess we'll meet again some other time," he said, and with
those words hurriedly collected the various kitchen implements and marched
off, leaving the girl alone to wonder just what that had all been about,
her curiousity more than a little piqued.

* * *

Left alone in the spacious dining hall, Kagome, tired of being shut up in
her room for days on end, had found herself desiring a bit of fresh air,
and thus pushed open one of the double doors to step into the lobby on her
way outside.

For the most part, she could not find much remarkable about this room -
not that it was one typical of what the girl was used to, but rather that
it fit into the rest of the mansion well enough. The walls had the same
bluish hue as those in the corridor above, and the banisters next to the
wide set of stairs leading up, made from the same dark wood as much else
in the house, had been finely ornamented. Paintings on the walls seemed to
be portraits similar in origin to the one in the corridor, as well.

A large, oaken door led out - judging by it's style, Kagome guessed that
rather than an electrical doorbell, an aged brass clap might hang on it's
other side - and next to that stood the only things that did not quite fit
into the image.

Two full sets of armor, somewhat rusted and with holes and buckles
indicating they had once seen use, but still impeccably well-polished,
rested on some kind of racks on either side of the door. Had these been
the plate mails she had seen European medieval knights wear on TV, it
wouldn't have surprised the girl, but they weren't. In fact, she could not
quite identify them - Kagome would have guessed at some positively ancient
chinese variant, but that didn't quite seem to fit, either, and she had no
idea what the dark red metal could be, not recognizing it's hue.

They'd been mounted in vaguely threatening poses, long, curved blades
drawn and crossed just above the door - on the outside, it would have made
them seem like guardians against intruders, but here, Kagome didn't quite
know what to make of it. This, in combination with the small set of horns
on the front of both helmets, the wicked grins on the face masks, numerous
sharply pointed spikes on the shoulder-pads, and a dozen of other subtle
details combined to a rather unsettling feeling, as if the thing might at
any time jump down from the their slightly elevated positions to run
rampage against the mansion's residents.

Kagome was still eyeing the two "knights" with a certain apprehension,
when a muted exclamation of "Oh my!" startled her, and the girl turned
hear head towards one of the corridors leading further into the house.
Kasumi stood there, looking at her guest with a clearly worried
expression.

With a series of hurried footsteps, the woman walked up to her. "Are you
up already?" Kasumi asked her anxiously. "Are you sure you shouldn't still
be in bed?"

"Oh, don't worry," Kagome smiled, attempting to fend off the older girl's
attempt at mothering her. "Really, I'm fine enough - it's a nice room, but
I can't stay in there for the rest of my life."

"I guess you're right," Kasumi admitted, returning the smile with her
usual warmth. "Well, now that you're up, maybe you would like some food?"

The girl held up her right palm, waving the hand, to decline the
invitation. "No, no, there's no need for that, I just ate."

"You did?" The woman seemed surprised at this.

"I ran into Youta as I left my room," Kagome explained, "and he offered to
cook. He said he didn't want to bother you."

A hint of worrying crept into Kasumi's eyes again. "Oh dear, really, it's
no bother at all, I love cooking. Next time you meet mr. Moteuchi, do tell
him he needn't trouble himself so."

Kagome scratched the back of her head, with a mixture of embarrassement
and confusion - the woman seemed almost a bit *too* anxious to fulfill her
role as caretaker; the way every square inch of floor had been polished
until it almost shone and not even the slightest hint of dust could be
seen on any of the furniture further added to this feeling. "Uh, sure, I
guess," she finally responded, with a slight shrug.

"Please. And if you ever need help with anything, just ask and I'll be
glad to do what I can." Smiling politely, Kasumi curtsied slightly, and
hurried off further into the house.

The interruption having broken the tense atmosphere slightly, Kagome
swallowed her nervousity and walked to the door, a drop of sweat still
appearing on her forehead as she stepped beneath the crossed swords. An
omnious creek almost scared the poor girl as she pushed the handle down,
and she took a not-all-that-confident step forward.

* * *

When Kagome ventured outside, dusk had almost finished setting, and only a
thin slice of the sun remained above the distant horizon, the lack of
light coating the word in a fuzzy greyness, reminding the girl yet again
of the threatening mood the wicked-looking armours on the other side of
the door had created.

As could be expected, a large front lawn surrounded the mansion, big trees
planted here and there. In the semi-darkness, the girl couldn't tell what
type they were. A wall surrounded all of it, marking the edge between the
domains of the mansion and the world outside. Impressively tall, it
stretched up almost twice Kagome's height, and she imagined the dark,
irregular stone structure also had to be quite thick. Beyond the set of
steps leading down from the doorway, a path lead further into the darkness
and up to a gate in the distance, the only opening in the wall the girl
could see. Gravel crunched quietly, almost inaudibly, beneath her soft
footsteps as she hesitantly walked forwards.

The girl noticed a vaguely human silhouette standing in front of the gate
in the distance, and as she drew closer, she saw that it was a boy or a
young man. Rich dark-browning hair cascaded from his head in a disorderly
fashion, most of it hanging forward, staying somewhere just above his
head; a light T-shirt of some greenish hue covered his thin frame, a pair
of wide knee-long shorts the only thing protecting his legs from the
gradually increasing evening breeze. His white sneakers stood firmly
planted into the ground, and he had his right hand clenched tight around
one of the black, metallic bars of the gate, the other resting against his
side.

If the boy noticed the curious girl's approach, he did not give any signs
of doing so, standing silently and not even batting an eyelid as she
slowly came closer. Only a few feet behind him, Kagome wondered how best
she might get this mysterious stranger's attention without startling him
too badly, when suddenly, without warning, he spoke.

Though merely a whisper, the boy's voice was deep, and firm with
determination. "How'd you get in?" he asked, causing the surprised girl to
jump slightly and almost fall backwards. Still, despite the strength of
his words, he did not move as much as a single muscle, only occasionally
shaking the right arm as if trying vainly to pull the gate loose or bend
the bar.

"Huh?" Kagome replied eventually, the unexpected question confusing her
utterly.

A few more moments passed, then she saw the muscles on the boy's arm
tighten, like a warrior preparing to strike, and he slowly turned his head
slightly to the left, the outline of his face becoming vaguely visible.
"How'd you get in?" he repeated, his tone not having changed in the least,
as if it was a mere recording.

Then, suddenly, his pupil shifted ever-so-slightly, the girl only barely
noticing it, and his muscles immediately relaxed again. Without another
word, he fully turned around, releasing his grip on the gate, and began
walking back towards the mansion, totally ignoring the bewildered girl he
left to wonder just what the boy had seen that made him change his mind.

"Err, umm, excuse me," Kagome tried to call after him, but it did her no
good; the boy might as well not have heard her words. She turned back
towards the gate; through the spaces between the bars, she could see the
forest she had glanced through the window in her room.

She felt no desire at all to venture out there, the tall, densely packed
trees creating an imprenetable shdow, and memories of how she'd recently
stumbled up to this gate drenched in blood haunted her. Something out
there had to have caused it; she couldn't recall what, but the horrible
scars still on her chest remained as proof that she did not wish to run
into this something again.

Sure, like all girls her age, she had a certain curiousity, but she was
also perfectly happy to reamin the normal, ordinary and above all safe
young schoolgirl she was; this felt more like something out of one of
grandpa's scarier stories.

Still, she looked for a handle, and, not finding one in the darkness,
shook the bars briefly, finding the gate locked. Shaking her shoulders,
she looked at the wall again. This close, she could tell it was fully as
thick as it she had guessed it to be, and she thought that with a wall
this impressive, it had to be built to keep something out.

_Or keep something in,_ Kagome reminded herself, not quite sure why.

Feeling at once very tired, she turned back towards the mansion, truly
seeing it for the first time. Every bit as impressive on the outside as on
the inside, the two-story building had to be the largest of it's type the
girl had ever seen, the dark-colored walls envoloping a multitude of rooms
and corridors. She could see only a single light shine from within, a
vaguely reddish glow coming from the window on the roof positioned
directly above the entrance door; the girl wondered why someone bothered
to lit up what had to be an attic of some sorts.

The utter silence made the building seem somehow oppresive and
threatening, and Kagome shook the gate again, wildly this time, but in
vain; it did not budge in the slightest, and the girl sunk to her knees as
the realization hit her. "Trapped...?"

* * *

Kagome stepped into the unlit hall on insecure feet. Outside, even though
the night was young, it had grown omniously dark with a surprising speed,
no moon or stars illuminating the sky as far as the girl could see, and an
almost utter blackness enveloped her as she closed the door behind her.

Groping blindly at the darkness around her, the girl stepped forward a few
more paces, trying to guess the direction of the stairs to the second
floor as she cursed herself for not realizing that in this old mansion
she'd need a lantern to venture about in the dark.

On her next step, she unexpectantly hit her foot into something on the
floor, slipped and fell backwards, hitting her head on the wall.

Instantenously, bright light flooded the room.

As she winced from the intense pain assaulting her poor skull, Kagome
turned around, and realized to her surprise she had fallen onto a light
switch, and that this had activated the electrical lamps in the ceiling
she hadn't noticed until now.

"Guess it's not quite as old-fashioned as I thought," she murmured to
herself as she turned her head to both sides to make sure nobody had been
around to observe her clumsy antics, an embarrassed smile plastered on her
lips just in case. The girl hoped nobody would come to investigate what
had made the sound - someone had to have heard it; despite the darkness,
it was far too early for all the guests at the mansion to be asleep
already.

With some strain, Kagome pushed herself to her feet, her back producing a
cracking sound as she straightened out, and she reminded herself not to
fall into any more walls, wincing as she rubbed her hurting skull with a
pained expression on her face.

Wearily she trudged towards the stairs, not to bothering to check what it
had been that caused her slip. She cast the two menacing armours a
threatening glance, as if somehow the two guardians had been responsible,
then left for the second floor, reminding herself to check for a light
switch before she tried to navigate the corridor this time.

* * *

When Kagome rounded the bent to the corridor leading up to her assigned
room, she found him waiting patiently, arms folded across his chest.

The same boy who'd been standing outside at the gate; now that she could
see him clearly, it was obvious he could not be more than her age, though
she found that his face had some subtly haggard - haunted - touch - no
actual scars marred it, and though somewhat weatherbitten, it looked no
less smooth than any of the rougher boys her age.

Standing in the middle of the corridor, now bare feet firmly planted at
either side of his body, the boy blocked her path resolutely and
impassively. His sudden, silent apperance in her path had taken the girl
totally by surprise, and for a while, all she could do was to blink her
eyes and wonder just what was the matter.

He kept his eyes on her, no signs on his face betraying his emotions
except for a slight scowling twist to the right side of his mouth. The
girl found his stare unnerving, to say the least, and sweat collected on
the back of her head as she tried to figure out what to make of the
situation.

Kagome took a single step forward, and in that instant, he sprang.

Like a crouched tiger, the boy suddenly went into motion, with speed that
would have been surprising even had it not followed directly from his
earlier unmoving state. He grabbed her left shoulder, dragging it to the
side with more force than one would at first glance have believed his thin
frame to hold, and the girl slammed into the wall with a sharp thud that
made the painting hung a few feet away shake.

He took hold of her other shoulder, as well, pushing her up further
against the wall; Kagome twisted uncomfortably in his grip, but the boy
payed her struggles no heed. "How'd you get in?" he said, repeating the
question with the same forceful but emotion-free voice as before.

Kagome's eyes widened further in fear, but she could not give any answer,
still not understanding what information he sought.

The boy snarled, obviously capable of irritation. "You know what I mean,"
he told her. "You got into this place, and if there's a way in, there's a
way out. Now, tell me."

The girl found herself shivering; if this what his normal actions, who
knew what the boy could do when he actually got mad. Yet, she knew no more
than he did, so what could she do? "Wh-who are you?" she stuttered,
regretting the question immediately after it slipped from her mind into
her mouth.

Before he could answer - if answer he would - they both heard the handles
on one of the doors in the corridor slowly being pushed down, and just as
quickly as he had pushed her against the wall, the boy let her go, walking
away towards the stairs as if nothing had happened.

Again, Kagome sunk onto her knees, eyeing him with trembling eyes. Cold
sweat ran down back.

She wasn't quite sure which would've been more scary, but the memory of
the boy's eyes had been firmly etched into her memory - not burning with
anger or impatience as his actions might suggest, but rather cold,
professional and devoid of feelings; the same iron determination she had
detected about him earlier.

Just as the still nameless boy disappeared around the corner, the door
opened fully, and Youta left his room. As soon has his eyes fell onto
Kagome's kneeling form, concern crept into them, and he hurriedly stepped
up to her.

The girl felt a comforting hand fall onto one of her shoulders, and looked
up at him in surprise, both of them immediately looking a way the moment
their eyes met.

Youta reached out his other hand, offering it to the girl to help her to
her feet, and Kagome grunted as she pushed herself up. "Thanks," she said
with a genuine smile, the unsettling experience forgotten for the moment.

The boy nodded. "You look all on edge, what's happened?" he asked her,
worry evident in his soft tone.

"Oh, it's nothing. That boy..." Kagome trailed off, hesiting. "I don't
know."

"Him?" Youta nodded, scratching the back of his head; he seemed to
understand which boy she meant, even though he'd came out too late to
actually see. "Yes, there's something strange about him, all right." He
grinned, brushing a hand through the unruly mass of black hair that ruled
the top of his head. "Then again, I guess there has to be something
strange about all of us here."

Kagome felt like protesting, not seeing herself as any more or any less
than a perfectly normal schoolgirl who'd just turned fifteen - sure, she
lived in a temple, but she also devoted considerable energy to not letting
that effect her, to the oft-time frustration of her grandfather - but
didn't, still too shaken up by the whole situation to be quite sure of
herself.

Eventually, the boy shrugged. "Well, I'm glad you're OK." He offered her a
brief, insecure smile. "If there's anything you need help with, just ask."

Kagome nodded, stifling a yawn with a hint of embarrassement. "Thanks. I
think I'll get to bed now... Seeya tomorrow, I guess."

Youta flashed her a last, friendly smile as he turned towards the stairs.
"Yeah, seeya," he called, walking off.

* * *

A short series of knocks on the door to the room interrupted a pleasant
dream of... of... of something - all details escaping the girl's mind the
instant she blinked her eyes open, leaving behind only a vague sense of
interruption - and Kagome dragged her hands below the silky cover up to
her face, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She yawned, blinking
again, and slowly pushed herself up, noticing that her uniform had
obviously overnight been both washed and ironed, and now once again hung
over the back of the chair, neatly folded.

Briefly, out of habit, she fumbled for the alarm clock as she slid her
legs out of the bed, mumbling something barely comprehensible that might
with some imagination be understood as an apology to her mother for
oversleeping again.

At about the same time the distance her feet had to travel to reach the
floor made her finally realize she wasn't back home on her futon, but
rather in some more elevated resting place, someone knocked on the door
again. "Yeah, yeah," Kagome called out in answer. "I'm awake."

"Oh, did I wake you? I'm so sorry," she heard Kasumi say, the woman's
gentle voice slightly muffled by the still closed door; indeed, she did
sound genuinely upset at the mistake. "I was just wondering if you'd like
to come down for breakfast."

Kagome pondered this for a moment, but soon realized that far too much
morning sun shone in through the window for her to be able to go back to
sleep. "Sure," she replied in the middle of another yawn, the word
somewhat distorted. "Just let me get dressed first."

* * *

It didn't take the girl long to get ready - or what counted for ready
early in the morning, anyway - and soon she'd joined the young woman
outside the door, the two walking off down the corridor together. Kasumi,
as always, had a smile on her face that despite it's muted nature somehow
seemed to shine like the sun, and she quietly hummed the words to some
tune the girl could not quite identify. In her company, Kagome could not
help but have her spirits raised, for the moment forgetting both the
doubts that had entered her mind the previous day and the morning
tiredness that would usually have been with her around this time.

The girl stopped as the pair passed the next door, and Kasumi came to a
halt a few paces ahead as she noticed the other was no longer by her side,
turning around to give Kagome a confused look.

"Aren't you going to ask Youta as well?" the girl questioned her, equally
surprised.

"Oh." Kasumi nodded in understanding. "No, he usually doesn't have
breakfast with us."

Now that she mentioned it, Kagome could remember the boy saying that he
didn't care much for the company of the other guests. Well, she wouldn't
be having none of that, and thus, raised her hand to knock.

"Oh my," the woman exclaimed, concerned, "you really shouldn't. Mr.
Moteuchi has specifially asked me not to wake him..."

Kagome frowned. "Can't have him shut up alone in there all day," she
replied, firmly determined to push some social contact onto the poor,
lonely boy. Besides, she found him a nice guy - and there was the matter
of those questions he'd evaded that still irritated her slightly. She
nodded to herself, desiring the answers even further now.

The girl let her knuckles fall against the door thrice in rapid
succession, using perhaps a bit more force than would have been
determined. No reaction came, and she repeated the action, this time even
more insisitedly.

A few more seconds of impatient waiting made it obvious that there would
be no answer. Not one to be dissuaded so easily, Kagome set her face into
what she imagined might constitute a determined scowl, not quite aware of
how silly it really looked on her, and reached for the handle, pushing the
door fully open in a single, quick swing.

She found the room inside pretty much similar to her own; the window
overlooked the same tree landscape as hers, and an identical mirror hung
next to it. Even the bed-sheets were of the same deep blue color, though
here it looked like the cover had been randomly thrown about across the
bed. However, contrary to her expectations, no disheveled-looking boy lay
sprawled beneath it.

The severe lack of young men in the centre of her vision, focused on the
bed were she'd been sure he'd still be sleeping peacefully and ignoring
her previous attempt to rouse his attention, forced Kagome to turn her
head to the left.

Papers had been strewn chaotically all over the floor; those who'd had the
luck of landing with the right side up were all filled pencil drawings,
depecting various things - Kagome thought she recognized several scenes
from the mansion, while others remained unidentifiable. They had been
drawn by the same hand, presumable that of the room's occupant.

The boy in question sat at the desk, fully clothed, and looked up at her
with utter confusion written over his face. In front of him, he had yet
another large sheet of white paper, Youta's right hand interrupted in
mid-stroke with the pencil it held. As Kagome peered closer, taking a
single step into the room, she saw that the lines already on the paper
formed the beginning of a skillfully drawn portrait, and she blushed as
she realized that even in this early stage, the face could be easily
recognized as her own.

The slight coloring on her cheeks threw the boy out of his daze, and he
looked down at the paper, hurrying to turn it over to the blank side as
soon as his mind made the connection. An equal blush spread over his face,
and his still pencil-holding hand found its way behind his head. "So," he
laughed nervously, "what brings you here so early in the morning?"

Recalling her earlier determination, Kagome hurried to push the
embarrassement aside. "Breakfast is ready," she told him with a smile.
"Why don't you come along? You haven't eaten already, have you?"

"I don't really..." the boy began, but he sooned trailed off, growing
silent for a moment. As he scratched the back of his head, obviously not
quite comfortable with the situation, the sight of that cheerful,
expectant smile eventually won over his shyness, and he gave in. "Ah,
yeah, breakfast would be nice," he answered, throwing the pencil
carelessly aside as he rose from his chair.

As the three left in the direction of the dining hall, Kasumi's smile
seemed if possible even warmer than before.

* * *

As the three entered, Kasumi a few steps ahead politely holding the double
doors open for the two youngsters, the first thing that caught Kagome's
attention was the man sitting at the head of the table.

Frighteningly tall, he rose above even the high back of the master chair,
probably one of the most impressive persons the girl had ever seen. Some
sort of leather vest covered his torso, but his bare arms rested against
the table, bulging with muscles. Not the unnaturally oversized flashy
muscles of a bodybuilder, but rather hard lumps of flesh that clearly
belonged to somebody who knew how to use them and probably wouldn't
hesitate to do so if the need arose.

Perhaps worst of all was his face. Kagome could not quite place the man's
age; his skin was perfectly smooth, almost like that of a baby, with no
wrinkles to be found and not even the slightest signs of having been
affected by weather or age. Yet it's form, with sharply drawn lines,
angular features and bushy eyebrows gave a much older impression, along
with his tall, impressive stature. And the thinly slitted, cat-like
eyes... they... the... eyes...

Kagome blinked, embarrassed that he had caught her stare. In the center of
the man's forehead, just above the line of his eyebrows, he had a tattoo
of a character. It looked just like a kanji, a rather simple one, yet
Kagome could not place it. _I guess it might be Chinese,_ she thought to
herself, not being able to bring up any memories of ever having seen the
character. Had not the man made her feel so intimidated, she would have
asked - and besides, she told herself, he'd probably just spout some
mystical nonsense, the sort she'd had more than enough of from her
grandfather.

His unwrinkled brow rose the short distant up to the sharply pointed
v-shaped line that marked the start of his thick, black hair, semi-slimmed
backwards to disappear behind his head. It framed his face well, his lips
forming an unreadable sneer with white teeth gleaming bright where it
parted slightly.

All in all, for some reason she could not put her finger on, he reminded
her of the dragon in the painting that had ensnared her the other day, and
the girl could not suppress a chill running down her spine.

Forcing herself to blink again and clear her mind, she stepped briskly
forward and sat down at the table, noticing in the corner of her eye Youta
choosing the seat next hers. Incidentally, that made it the one furthest
from the tall man; the boy seemed be putting considerable effort not to
look in the direction of the head of the table while vainly attempting to
hide this with a casual expression, and Kagome saw an amused grin briefly
cross over the man's face as he noticed the effect he was having on the
youngster.

As she looked around the room, Kagome realized that another person also
sat at the still empty table. At the other far end, opposite of Youta's
seat, the inconspicous boy's presence had somehow been blended up by the
overpowering the tall man presented.

The boy did not seem to mind this much; the uneven fringe of his elsewhere
neck-long black hair hung down almost to his nose, obscuring much of his
expression and the large round glasses he wore, and he looked meekly down
into the table with his hands folded in front of him on the table as he
waited, sunk deep into thought. He wore what looked like the uniform from
any of a dozen highschools Kagome knew of, the black jacket's stiff collar
buttoned around his slim neck and the sleeves perhaps somewhat too wide
for his slender arms.

He looked up briefly as the two new arrivals sat down, Kagome not sure
what to read from the shy but large and unmistakably gentle eyes that
peered out somewhere beneath that hair, and smiled shyly, giving Youta an
acknowledging nod that the other barely noticed.

When she looked right at him, Kagome somehow felt... like there was two of
him sitting in that chair? As soon as she looked away slightly, the
impression disappeared, and for a moment she raised a confused eyebrow,
trying to make sense out of it, but soon chose to forget about it,
chalking it up to her imagination, surely working overtime in these odd
situation.

Kagome never noticed Kasumi leaving, and so it took her slightly by
surprise when the woman re-entered the dining hall through the kitchen
door, holding several trays which she quickly but gracefully put on the
table before once again briefly disappearing into the kitchen to fetch
even more.

Soon, an impressive breakfast, with more content than the young girl would
expect from an average dinner, had been arrayed on the table in front of
them, and Kasumi smiled warmly, taking time to look at each of the
respective guests in turn, as she sat down at one of the remaining empty
chairs. "Well then," she said eventually, "shall we begin?"

Gradually, and with varying hastiness, each of the attendees began to
assemble what they desired from the rich choices available; eggs, bread
and much more. Somewhat insecure of her role in all this, the girl
hesitated, waiting for the others to finish taking their food before she
did likewise. She sipped slowly at the cup of hot tea placed in front of
her.

Kagome noticed that while the man at the head table boldly reached out and
took parts of almost everything, without showing any concerns for whether
this might conflict with what anyone else was attempting to grab at the
moment, Youta seemed to restrict himself to those items placed in his
immediate vicinity, a slight, barely noticeable nervous shaking in his
movements - briefly, she saw the boy eye a pitcher of milk somewhat
further away, but the second the large man reached for a piece of bread on
the tray next to it, he looked back down into the table, hesitatingly
filling his glass with juice from a nearby jug instead.

While Youta ate nervously, and the large man almost seemed to make a point
out of further abusing the exaggerated respect he somehow commanded from
the poor boy, a slight, haughty gring making it obvious he found at least
some form of amusement in it, the other young boy picked up an item here
and an item there without making any more noise than when he had just been
sitting - until he reached for something just a little too far away, and
his arm accidentaly pushed against the pitcher of milk, knocking it over.

The glass pitcher smashed against the table, breaking into shards, and he
looked up in surprise as the white fluid soon spread over a large part of
the table, tears gathering in his large, deep eyes. "I'm sorry!" he
exclaimed with a horrified expression, staring in shock at the mess he'd
caused, as he bolted up from his chair. "I'm sorry! I'll clean it up! I'm
sorry! I didn't mean to!" His long hair swayed wildly around his head as
he turned with hasty, jerky movemonts.

The boy hurried towards the kitchen door, but didn't take many steps
before he tripped over what had to be an invisible turtle. Kagome couldn't
help but hear the word "TIIIMBER!" shouted inside her head as he fell
forwards, landing flat on his nose with a thud. His arms, rather than
breaking the fall, flayed wildly at his sides.

This, at least, gave Kasumi a chance to act; the woman, who had been taken
by surprise before, now hurriedly rose from her seat, helping the poor boy
to his feet. "Oh my," she exclaimed concernedly, rubbing a cloth over his
slightly bleeding nose. "Did you hurt yourself, Mr. Amano? Don't worry,
I'll take care of it."

The boy obviously didn't handle pain very well; if he had been quiet
before, he made up for it now. "It huuuurts," he cried loudly, tears
flooding from his eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm so clumsy, and I spilled and
everything." His voice sounded so desperate that had she not known the
circumstances already, Kagome would've thought he'd just burned down his
home, at the very least.

Recovering slightly, he rose to his feet again, and slowly limped back to
his seat with Kasumi's help, stray tears still running down his cheeks.
The boy sniffed noisily to clear his nose as he sat down, mumbling
apologies.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Kasumi told him again, heading off for the
kitchen. "I'll clean it up."

The woman soon returned with several washcloths, and proceeded to begin
drying up the mess with impressive effectiveness that almost made Kagome
wonder if she'd been born to do household work. If nothing else, the woman
seemed content enough with her lot, taking all this in stride.

As Kasumi finished cleaning off the last traces of milk that had dropped
down onto the wooden floor, the man at the head of the table fixated
Kagome with an intense look. The girl shivered involountarily as his
glance penetrated her, making her feel almost naked, and she turned her
head aside, suddenly eager to look anywhere but at her. This seemed to
amuse the man, and he tapped his fingers against each other in front of
his face, elbows resting on the table. "So," he observed calmly, betraying
no emotions, "you're new here, Kagome?"

The girl gasped, looking back up at him with wide-open eyes. "How'd..."
she began, then immediately changed her mind, the more stubborn part of
her mind determined not to let the man intimidate her. Sweat-drops rapidly
assembled on the back of her head, she plastered a friendly smile - or the
best facsimile thereof she could manage - on her face, sounding somewhat
fake as she laughed nervously. "Why, yes, that's right. And who might you
be?"

"Me?" Briefly, the man twisted the left of his mouth into what might the
beginning of some sort of grin. "You can call me Ben."

As he spoke, it struck the girl that he was the only non-Japanese (or
non-oriental, but so far, all the other's she'd met had japanese-sounding
names) among the guests - but then again, maybe not; she could not quite
place his features, and he didn't exactly strike her as European. Still,
he seemed markedly different from everybody else, and this in combination
with the fact that he sat at the head of the table... "So," the girl
wondered aloud, "are you the owner of this place?"

"Owner?" Ben snorted, and a slight fire seemed to come to his eyes. Kagome
flinched back in her seat as the man rose to his feet, towering far above,
and set his hands firmly against the table, speaking contemptously.
"Little girl, however little I like it, I'm a guest here just like you."
He spat out the word guest with considerable venom, his fearsome,
thundering voice almost making the walls tremble. "You think I don't have
better things to do than playing these games?"

Suddenly feeling very small, the girl waved her hands defensively in front
of her. "No no no, of course not," she said weakly. "I'm sorry."

Ben snorted again, sitting back into his chair; obviously, that line of
conversation was over. For the moment, the girl did not much feel like
risking to anger him again.

A period of uncomfortable silence followed, as everybody ate in silence,
some of those present not daring to speak up and others of them simply
just not having anything to say. An oppressive air had descended over the
table, and though Kagome's tongue kept telling her that the food tasted
delicious, her brain just didn't feel like agreeing, and her aptite had
dimnished considerably.

Eventually, Kasumi spoke up; if she'd been affected by the large man's
earlier outburst in any way, her cheerful voice did not betray it, as she
spoke with a blissfulness that perhaps even hinted at ignorance. "So," she
said, turning her head towards the younger girl with a warm smile that
lightened the heavy atmosphere somewhat, "how do you like it here? Is
there anything I can do for you?"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine, I guess, I just..." She
hesitated, but the woman prompted her to continue with a slight nod, and
curiousity soon took the upper hand. "About the front gate, I was
wondering, how does it open? I couldn't find any handle."

"Oh my," Kasumi exclaimed, shocked, and brought a hand to her cheek. "You
want to leave already? But you just arrived!" she protested fervently,
worry obvious in her eyes.

A drop of sweat formed on the back of Kagome's head. "Err, um," she
stammered, smiling nervously as she waved her hands defensively, "it's not
that, really, I was just wondering."

Ben lowered the piece of bread he held in his right hand to the table,
wiping his mouth slightly with his left arm. He grinned at the girl, once
again making her fear she might have upset him, and blinked slowly,
keeping his eyes closed for several seconds. Just before they opened, he
gave off a brief, single laugh, then spoke. "Simple," he told her, his dry
voice firm and convincing. "It doesn't. Nobody can ever leave this place;
when you've entered, you're here to stay."

Youta cleared his throat, and Kagome had to turn her head towards him,
taken totally for surprised. Eyes narrow, the boy stared right at the
large man, suddenly not showing any of that earlier fear. "That's not
true," he said harshly.

The man twisted his mouth into a slight smile. "No, you're right," he said
amusedly, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back in the large
chair. "I forgot about miss Tendou's predecessor; she's no longer with
us."

"But," Kagome protested,, "even if the gate's stuck, there must be some
other way out. You could just, I don't know, climb the walls or
something?"

The boy shook his head. "No," he said, somewhat dejectedly. "He's right,
there's no way out."

Kagome smiled somewhat doubtfully. "Sure, sure, if you say so." In her
mind, she did not at all agree. No way out? Yeahright. Obviously, they
hadn't been looking carefully enough.

And besides, if nobody got out, how did people get *in*? And how could the
supplies of food be refilled? The whole matter just didn't add up here,
and the girl would have questioned the two males' mental health, had they
not sounded so sincere, saying something so utterly ridiculous like it had
been the most natural thing in the world.

_All right,_ she told herself, _After we've finished eating, I'll start
searching. There's gotta be some other way out of here, and I'll find out
how._ Kagome raised her nose towards the ceiling as she took the last few
bites from her sandwich determinedly, eyes closed.

* * *

_So,_ Kagome thought to herself as she sat at the bottom of the stairs,
brow furrowed in thought, _Where do I begin?_ With the gates closed,
climbing over the walls would be the most obvious route - especially with
the high trees in easy reach on the other side - so somebody would almost
certainly have done so already, and for some reason found that it didn't
work. Besides, she'd have to use some sort of ladder or suchlike to do it,
so she might just as well try something else first.

With the front gate and the walls out, what other options remained? Kagome
thought about it for a while, but soon had to hit her palm into her
forehead as she realized she didn't actually *know* what it looked like
outside, having only seen the immediate front - and that in dark
conditions. Feeling somewhat stupid for not having done so immediately,
she set off to explore the outdoors, rising from her sitting position to
walk up to the front door.

After breakfast, the other guests present had left in varying directions,
leaving her behind alone with no idea where they might have gone off to.
Probably, she'd find one or more of them outside. Did those four
constitute the entire population of the house? Even accounting for the
impressive amount of space left to each person, the mansion seemed a bit
large for that...

No, wait, there was that suspicious boy from last night - and that meant
there might be others who had for some reason chosen not to attend
breakfast.

Wondering what other surprises the mansion and its guest might hold for
her, Kagome pushed the door open without hesitation.

* * *

As soon as she had closed the door behind herself again, the girl had to
stop, standing silent at the top of the concrete steps for several long
seconds as she breathed the fresh air and just allowed the pleasant
sensory overload to pass in through her half-closed eyes. Kagome smiled,
letting the light shine on her gleaming white teeth. After so much time
spent inside, even the current situation couldn't destroy a beautiful day
like this.

With the sun shining bright above, the tree-tops rising on the other side
on the wall looked much less threatening; in fact, they now seemed almost
inviting in their freedom, compared to the virtual prison that the mansion
had somewhat become - a comfortable, vaguely friendly place, yet still a
prison.

She descended to the gravel pathway with light steps, extending her arms
towards the sky briefly to stretch out her body. Now, she could observe
the surroundings of the mansion much clearer than in the dusk the previous
evening. Fully visible, the wall seemed like even more of a definitive
barrier than before, looking like it hade been chopped in one smooth piece
from some dark stone Kagome did not have nearly enough knowledge of
geology to identify.

At it's feet, surrounding the inside base of the wall completely, grew a
low, irregular bush, stretching several feet up at places but mostly
staying much lower. It served to further frame the impressive lawn;
despite the high walls, the place certainly did not give a claustrophobic
feeling, with wide stretches of flourishing green grass surrounding the
house on all sides (or at least the front, and probably the sides as well,
judging by what the girl could see from her position).

Other than those rising on the other side of the wall, trees grew here and
there on the inside as well. Though never rising fully as high as their
wilder cousins, they neverless made impressive figures, with large,
healthy crowns of leaves. Something felt odd at them, though - while the
trees certainly looked normal enough, the combination of the forms of the
leaves, the coloring and a dozen of other minor factors made the girl
certain she had never seen any quite like them before. Still, she could
hardly call herself a specialist, and the fact that they were not of a
type indigenous to Japan didn't really need mean much.

Off the right side of the path, roughly in the middle of the lawn, stood a
statue, made from the same dark stone as the walls. It rose tall, but not
grossly so; about the same height as that Ben guy from before. This man,
however, was not as rough and burly, but instead almost inhumanly slim -
not weak-seeming, just perfectly smooth. Long hair descended down his
shoulders halfway down his naked back, and gave the statue a somewhat
androgynous appearance, in combination with the lack of certain... ahum.
Kagome blushed, briefly thankful that whomever made the statue had chosen
not to include all details. The man - if man it was - had a high forehead,
and in it's middle, just above the level of the thin, almost unnoticeable
eyebrows, was a third eye, fully open, staring into space - unlike the two
closed ones below.

As far as the girl could see from where she stood, the base on which the
statue stood was unadorned, not containing any writing to hint at its
origin, and she shrugged, wondering briefly at what the statue might
depict and who had made it.

Nothing else directly caught her attention, and the girl shrugged. _Guess
I have to start somewhere,_ she told herself, and took a step forward,
feeling the gravel crunch familiarly between her feet.

As soon as she did so, a... chill struck her. She couldn't describe it
better than that; a vague, cold sensation lodged itself into her spine and
stayed there. The girl swiveled her head around uncomfortably; she could
swear someone was watching her, she even thought she'd seen someone in the
corner of her eye.

The front yard, however, remained empty as far as Kagome could see, yet
somehow she could not shake the feeling of being observed. The girl might
not have had much trouble chalking it all up to her imagination, had not
the chill remained so persistant to tell her there *was* someone there.

Doing her best to ignore the feeling and put it aside, she continued
forward to the gate, then remained standing there silently for a while,
gazing out.

While the treetops had been considerably brighter than the day before, the
small road - path - that disappeared into the forest still looked as dark
and foreboding, the shadows cast from the dense woods fully obscuring it
already a few steps in. Again, it made Kagome question, whether she really
*wanted* to pass through there again, with her scars from last time still
barely healed.

She touched the front of her uniform absently, feeling a faint sensation
of pain as her fingers crossed over the wound beneath the cloth. She'd
been in there, somewhere deep in that thick forest, and there'd been a
clearing, and there'd been a... a...

The memory evaded her attempts to grasp at it, choosing for the moment to
stay just below the surface, and all else she could remember was the flash
of white as those long, sharp claws slashed through the air, a stream of
blood cascading out as they tore through her soft flesh and...

Kagome closed her eyes, took a long, deep breath, and opened them, once
again staring into a dark, silent forest path, the steel bars of the gate
shielding her from it.

Yet, somewhere beyond, at the other end of that path, was... home. Kagome
almost gasped as she realized that this was the first time for several
days she had thought of it, and instantly, the longing struck here.
Several days... They must be so worried. Grandpa, mother, even her younger
brother Souta, all worrying over where on earth she'd gone - a question
she could not satisfiably answer even herself. It amazed the girl how much
she'd taken them all for granted, yet now that they were no longer around,
she found herself missing them fiercely.

She tilted her head slightly upwards. Though quite a bit taller than
Kagome herself, the gate didn't rise at all as high as the wall around it,
and with the horizontal bars that crossed the vertical ones at regular
intervals, climbing it should be a relatively small feat even for an unfit
girl like her. She wondered how she could possibly *not* have thought of
that earlier; if nobody'd even done that, those inside certainly couldn't
be very interested in escaping. She snorted, remembering how the large
man, Ben, had angrily insisted that no-one could ever leave, and placed
one of her feet on the first horizontal bar, heaving herself up.

A few simple maneuvers not even fit to be called acrobatic later, the girl
found herself a single swing away from freedom , and pushed her chest up
to be in the right position to throw the first leg over the gate.

As soon as she did that, however, she felt a jolt as if electricity
coursed through her body, and shocked - in both senses of the word - she
let go with her hands, falling uncontrollably backwards to land in the
gravel before the gate.

Kagome rubbed her hurting behind as she rose to her feet wearily, sighing.
What had just happened? Some electric shock stopping her from crossing
over the gate... obviously, getting out of there would not be quite as
simple as she had thought - yet with the image of her patiently waiting
family burned firmly into the front of her mind, Kagome refused to be
dissuaded so easily; if the front gate wouldn't do the job, then there had
to be some other way out.

Other than climbing over the wall, though, the mostly relatively bare
front yard didn't really seem to offer any other possibilities - and the
girl figured that if she found a ladder or something to try that, the same
thing would probably just happen again, anyway. Thus, she turned towards
the right corner of the mansion, to see what she might find *behind* the
house, and set off with brisk steps.

Kagome had just passed one of the trees, still in the comfortable shade
its crown of leaves offered, when she thought she could see one of the
limbs sway slightly in the corner of her eye. Something fell through the
air behind her, and landed on the grass with an ever-so-slight thump. Had
the girl had more time to analyze the situation, she might have drawn the
conclusion from the sound that said someone had touched the ground at four
spots, or in other words landed ready to spring forwards.

She didn't, however; taken by surprise, Kagome turned around just to see
the figure leaping towards her, and before she even had time to fully
process the information her eyes sent her, the girl found herself falling
backwards. Thankfully, the soft ground made her fall somewhat lighter than
it could have been, but before Kagome had time to recover, strong hands
pinned her arms to the ground, making it impossible for her to move.

She looked up to stare into the almost scarily cold eyes of the boy she'd
encountered at the gate last night, his mouth twisted into a sneer. His
gaze bored into her, as if he looked past her eyes and right into her
soul. "Now, tell me," he said - ordered - "how'd you get in here?"

Kagome blinked. His question made more sense now that she knew there was
no obvious way out, and she wondered herself just how she *had* entered.
The frightening situation didn't help her already scrambled memory any,
and all she could remember was bleeding profusely as she clung desperately
to the... "Th-through the front gate," she stuttered nervously.

The boy shook her, and all the girl couldn't help but cringe as those
unrelenting eyes bored into her even further. "Don't lie," he said
angrily. "The gate doesn't open, yet somehow you get in here. How?"

But as far as Kagome could remember, she had lost consciousness *before*
she came into the house. Kasumi had mentioned something about it being
lucky she was outside at the time... That should mean that the woman had
somehow been able to open and bring her in - yet the woman hadn't
protested when Ben insisted there was no way to leave the mansion...
Strange.

Obviously not having the patience to wait for her to sort out her mind,
the boy brought let go of one of her arms, raising his hand into the air.
He held the fingers together, and Kagome knew he'd strike down unless she
said something soon, yet she couldn't think of anything to tell him, and
she closed her eyes as she awaited the blow.

It didn't come. Kagome barely had time to register the sound of hurried,
running footsteps before a scream of rage caught both her and the boy
off-guard, and she opened her eyes just in time to see another figure come
flying through the air amrs first, pushing the boy off her as the two
rolled away into the grass.

Hurrying up on her knees, the girl saw that it was Youta who'd arrived,
and the slightly older boy held her assailant down with a look of barely
restrained rage on his face. "What the hell are you doing?" he snarled.
"Don't you dare touch her!"

Youta struck out at the boy trapped beneath him with his fist, and other
managed to twist his head just barely enough to avoid it, the blow landing
in the grass right beside the shorter boy's ear.

With impressive strenght, the boy heaved himself upwards, pushing Youta
off, and they both jumped to their feet, eyeing each other warily with
their fists clenched. The older boy panted, significantly tired already,
but still shook with adrenaline; even to Kagome's untrained eye, it was
obvious from their stances his opponent had more experience fighting,
despite the difference in age between them.

"Don't get in my way," the younger boy warned with a snarl. "I have to get
out of here to finish the mission."

Youta clenched his fists even tighter; Kagome could see the hand shake.
"You idiot," he screamed. "Don't you get it? There *is* no way out of
here, or at least nobody knows! And how do you expect her to know, she was
unconscious when miss Kasumi brought her in, for gods sake!"

The boy snorted, but his stance seemed to relax ever-so-slightly. "Maybe
so," he said cooly, then turned to walk away without another word, leaving
Youta and the girl to look in surprise at his retreating back, neither
quite willing to follow.

Youta walked up to Kagome, offering a hand to help her to her feet. "Are
you all right?" he asked, concern obvious in his voice.

The girl did her best to brush the grass and dirt from her clothes. "Yes,"
she nodded. "Thanks, I..." She blinked, feeling her eyes tremble, and
tears gathered as the full impact of the situation finally struck her.

"I'm glad you appeared when she did," the girl offered when she'd finally
gotten control of her nerves, brushing the tears from her eyes with the
sleeve of her shirt. "I... I think I better go inside and rest a bit."

Youta nodded, glad to see that she hadn't been hurt, and gestured towards
the entrance to the mansion as if to lead the way.

_I guess now I know why I felt like I was being watched,_ Kagome thought
to herself as they left together.

But... no, that wasn't it. She realized that the sensation still remained,
hadn't gone away when the boy assaulted her. Something *else* had caused
it, something that still remained. Again, she turned her head around to
scan her surroundings, but still could not see anything or anyone to hint
at just what had caused the unpleasant sensation.

"Something wrong?" Youta asked, that concerned look coming into his eyes
again.

"Oh, no." Kagome shook her head. "Nothing at all." She shrugged to
herself, trying to blame it on her imagination, yet still could not quite
shake the feeling.

Satisfied, yet for some reason too nervous to remain by her side, Youta
left, following the other boy inside the main building.

With him there, however, inside was the one place Kagome currently did not
feel like going. At first, she just remained sitting on the lawn, hugging
her knees; the sun shone brightly into her eyes as she stared upwards at
the cloudless, blue sky.

A perfect day, indeed, if it hadn't been for the circumstances surrounding
it. Still, at least she wouldn't have to go to school (which also meant
that she'd be severely behind when - if - she ever got back, but she was
in enough distress without worrying about that right now).

Eventually, Kagome - never the patient sort - grew tired of just sitting,
and she rose to her feet with a quick hop, surveying her surroundings once
more. _Well, if I'm gonna find a way out of this place, I'd better get
started,_ she thought.

Thus, perhaps spurred by the need to remain outside yet still actually
*do* something, Kagome set off thoroughly check the surrounding walls,
especially those hidden beneath the bushes.

With determination and resolve unusual for her - a burning fire she
somehow managed to discover inside her mind - she pushed every twig aside,
inspecting every inch of wall length closely to make sure that no stones
remained left unturned.

When Kagome felt as convinced as she could ever be that at least the
stretch of the wall facing the front of the house hid no secrets
discernible to the human eye, the sun was already in the process of
setting. It had been a short day - Kagome had vague memories of it having
been her birthday recently, which should mean the seemingly endless days
of summer - but not unaturally so.

The apprehension towards the inside of the mansion now long since worked
off, Kagome again rose from where she had been crawling on her knees, and
set her steps towards the entrance, noting with a certain distress that
the day's investigations had wreaked considerable havoc upon her poor
school uniform - the only item of clothing she currently had, to the best
of her knowledge.

* * *

Kagome stepped into her room, finding it looking utterly undisturbed; not
as much as a speck of dust in sight, and the sheets lay inhumanly
straight, despite the mess she had made out of them when waking
up. Closing the door behind her, she wondered briefly if a key to the lock
might be available, and whether it would be rude to ask.

Sighing, she slowly removed her clothes, throwing them to hang sloppily
over the back of the chair.

Just as she was about to start with her underwear, Kagome sensed something
just at the very edge of her ... perception. Under other circumstances,
she might have pondered just what sense this was - not really sight or
hearing or smell - but as things were, she reacted as most women dressed
only in their underwear would; by rapidly spinning around, striking out
with her right palm while her left arm made sure her assets were properly
covered.

When the immediate shock settled, she found herself face to face with a
young boy holding his cheek in pain, a bright red palm-imprint clearly
visible upon it. There wasn't much remarkable about him; the boy wore a
typical junior high uniform, the collar left unbuttoned, and had his hair
slimmed tightly backwards. Except... somehow, Kagome couldn't help but
feel he had a certain sense of transparency about him, yet whenever she
tried to focus on it, he looked as solid as anything.

The boy stared at her with an odd mixture of shock and joy in his eyes.
"You... you..." he stuttered.

"Where'd you come from? Pervert!" Kagome growled, hurrying to cover
herself with her bedsheet, just in case.

"But you... you can see me!" Gradually, the shock disappeared from the
boy's face, leaving behind only a blissful smile, briefly interrupted by a
painful grimace when his hand brushed over his left cheek. "Ow! And touch
me, too," he added.

"Err. Yeah. That's right." Kagome eyed him suspiciously.

The boy jumped about like a child who'd just been given a piece of candy.
"But don't you get it?" he said, "this means I..."

Kagome didn't find out what it meant, as the boy chose that moment to jump
right through a wall, disappearing on the other side as if it hadn't even
been there.

A few moments later, he walked back in again, an embarrassed look on his
face as he scratched the back of his head. "I guess not," he observed,
downcast.

"Just who are you anyway," demanded Kagome, who had just been about to
relax and drop the bedsheet, "and what are you doing in my bedroom?"

Immediately, the boy turned defensive, and it took a few moments for him
to formulate an answer. "I'm, umm, a vengeful spirit! Yeah, that's it!
I've been haunting this place for the past three hundred years and I will
keep doing so until you come up with a way to release me from this state."
He smiled at himself, presumably glad to have come up with such a good
answer, then distracted his face into a spooky grimace, holding his arms
out with the hands bent towards the floor. "Uuuuraaaameeeshiiii!"

"Sure you are. They didn't even have uniforms like that three hundred
years ago." Kagome snorted derisively. "Well, I can't very well sleep if
you might come through the walls to peep."

She ignored the boy's hurt look and, on a whim, opened the clothes
cabinet. There, to her surprise, she found not only about a week's supply
of underwear, but also two more school uniforms, each identical to the one
she had just taken off, except for the lack off grass-stains and tears.

_Whomever is behind this could at least have provided some variation,_
Kagome thought to herself. Having no other choice, however, she retrieved
one of the uniforms, and hurriedly put it on, making sure to hide herself
from the boy as much as she could.

Her previous tiredness now really gone, she stepped out into the corridor
again for a nightly walk.

* * *

With the sun somewhere below the horizon, the absence of other
light-sources than what might filter through the window made the corridor
rather dark. _I'll have to ask Kasumi if she has some candles lying around
or something next time I see her,_ Kagome thought.

She pondered investigating who, if anyone, might live beyond the third
door, but eventually thought against it; unlike Some People - she directed
a sharp stare at the spirit boredly following a few paces behind her,
apparently out of a lack of anything better to do - she didn't want to
intrude on others' privacy. If the room wasn't empty, she'd be sure to
meet its occupant within the close future anyway.

So, Kagome walked on. Just at the corner, she turned back to face the boy,
scowling at him. "Just what *is* your name, anyway?" she asked him. "You
never did tell me."

The boy grunted annoyedly and looked at one of the walls, his hands on his
hips. She had to stare at the boy for a few seconds before he relented.
"OK, I'm Urameshi Yuusuke, nice to meet you and all that crap," he told
her with a grimace. "As your local vengeful spirit, I'd rather you cut the
jokes about the name."

"Jokes?" Kagome raised an eyebrow; then realization dawned. "Oh, you mean
like 'uuuraameee...'"

Then, a second realization struck her, and she let the ghostly impressiont
trail off. "Wait a minute, I recognize that name - you're the guy who
died saving that kid a few years back! I saw it on the news."

Yuusuke folded his arms, grunting again. "Yeah, yeah, that was me. Is
there a problem with that?"

She eyed him skeptically. "Are you sure you're really a 'vengeful
spirit'? I did grow up in a shinto shrine, and that doesn't exactly sound
like..."

"Just shut up," he interrupted her. "It's a long story, and I don't wanna
talk about it. Can't you just take my word for it, you nosy bitch?"

"Hpmh!" With a snort, Kagome walked on, turning back to the corridor.

In her efforts to ignore the boy, however, she held nose up just a bit too
high, and within three steps found herself bumping into something or
someone. Bouncing off, she fell backwards, and landed painfully on her
behind.

A few moments of disorentation followed, as Kagome shook her head, trying
to figure out what had happened. The other party, however, turned out to
be somewhat quicker to regain its wits.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, you blind bitch!" he, whomever he was,
shouted at the top of his voice.

Kagome vaguely recognized the voice; it seemed familiar, yet somehow...
different. She shook her head a few times to clear her mind, and as her
eyes adjusted properly to the darkness in the corridor again, she looked
at the boy sitting on the floor opposite her. "That other boy that was at
breakfast?" she whispered, with a trace of confusion.

And yes, when he she looked closely, it was undeniably the same boy,
except he was so very different; tougher, wilder. The jacket that had been
properly buttoned all the way up at breakfast was now left entirely open,
and the previously neatly combed hair pointed in all directions. While the
basic, underlying qualities of his voice remained the same, he had spoken
in an entirely different tone, with different words; all in all, Kagome
couldn't help but get the impression of two different roles played by the
same actor.

While Kagome was too busy thinking to get up, the boy heaved himself to
his feet, staring angrily down at her. Then, when she looked into those
eyes - precisely the same eyes, except they now seemed all but gentle -
she realized he was also no longer wearing those thick glasses, yet seemed
to have no problems seeing her despite the relative darkness.

"What's your problem, idiot?" he asked with a frown. "Too stupid to think
of anything to say? Now apologize before I get really mad!"

"Hey, what, but!" Kagome protested, her mind having some difficulties to
keep up with current events. "Hey! You're the one that bumped into
me!" she eventually settled on, and then almost instantly regretted it
when he took a step closer to her - still sitting there on her rear end -
and waved his fist in her direction.

"Look, you..." he growled, but apparently couldn't quite decide what
insults to shout, and after a few seconds just shook his head. "It's not
worth my time beating up some stupid little girl like you," the boy said,
walking on.

Soon, he disappeared behind the door to the third room in the corridor,
closing it behind himself with a loud slam, and Kagome shrugged, finally
remembering to rise to her feet again.

Yuusuke had disappeared at some point during the exchange - to where,
Kagome had no idea; at worst, he might just have faded from sight or
something - and she realized she didn't really feel like any further
expeditions into the darkness, heading back for her room and the safe,
comfortable bed therein once more.

* * *

When Kagome woke up the next morning, she felt fresh and revigorated; this
time, as far as she could remember, no vivid dreams-slash-memories had
haunted her, only the warm bliss of simple sleep.

Not normally a morning person, Kagome found the feeling wonderful, and
hurried to jump out of bed as if fearing that all this energy would
otherwise appear. The uniform that she had strewn about the floor before
going to sleep last night now once again hung neatly folded over the back
of the chair, as she had come to expect it to, and she wasted no time in
putting it on, along with a bright smile; cares and worries briefly erased
by the bright sun shining through the window.

She headed out the door, wanting to hurry and make the most of the good
feeling before one of the building's gloomier residents got to her.

* * *

Kagome rounded the corner from "her" corridor, eyeing the stairs. Just in
the corner of her eye, she noticed Yuusuke appearing from out how nowhere
to follew her curiously, but decided to pay him no attention.

Here, the somewhat wider corridor continued across the house, with a few
windows on it's left side overlooking the front lawn; at the other end, it
bent right to what Kagome guessed might be another set of three guest
rooms. Apart from the wide stairs, leading down into the hall and the rest
of the mansion, there was one single set of double doors set at the very
centre of the wall on the right. Symmetrically aligned on both their sides
hung two paintings, similar in style to the one outside her room - and
thus different from the ones in the dining hall.

She hadn't really looked closely at them before, but now, as she
approached, the saw that one of them was a full-body portrait of a slim
but regal-looking young woman dressed in some very extravagant outlandish
clothes and with a crown made out of some darkish material over her head.
Or perhaps it was a man; now that she thought about it, it had to be the
same person as the statue outside, though there was no third eye on the
painting. The one on the other side of the door depicted a simple view of
some mountainous outcropping set against a dark, cloudy sky; a scenery
that could come from any part of the world.

On a whim, she decided to check out the what lay behind the doors rather
than venturing down the stairs; it was still very early morning, and
presumably, breakfast would not be set for a while yet. Besides, the
morning high was still affecting her too much for any real hunger to set
in. No, exploration it was.

With swift, energetic movements, she pushed the handles on one of the
doors down, finding it unlocked.

* * *

Inside, she found a library of no small proportions. While nowhere near as
large as the local one she had occasionally visited back home - usually
doing errands for her grandfather - the spacious single room was filled
with bookshelves, packed to the point where just a little more would have
made it uncomfortable to move between them.

The shelves, in turn, where packed from top to bottom with books; volumes
with all kinds of spines and bindings. Most of them looked relatively old,
with leather covers and titles carefuly inscribed in silvery
letters. Despite the immaculate condition of the rest of the mansion,
Kagome could here at the more unused parts of the room see dust cover the
floor thick enough for footsteps to be discernible, and though not too
stale to be pleasantly breathable, the air was far from fresh, and laced
with a slight, moldy smell.

The only part of the room not covered by the near-maze of bookshelves was
its very center, where some space had been reserved for a large wooden
table, a few chairs arranged around. A metallic chandelier - oddly
well-polished considering the state of the rest of the room - hung above
it, with a ring of candles lit to drive away the surrounding darkness; the
room had no windows to let the sun in.

Below, trying to track something down in a huge tome that lay open on the
table, sat a boy; the same boy that had been quiet and reserved at
breakfast yesterday but almost violent when they bumped together last
evening. This time, he wore his glasses again, and wore his jacket
properly buttoned up, despite the heat it had to cause in this closed
room. Kagome pondered this dual nature, and wondered whether the odd
feeling she had gotten from him at their first meeting had something to do
with it.

Remembering how he had threatened her, she hesitated at first, but
eventually, curiousity won over, and she walked up to the table, leaning
over to glance at the book.

The boy, deeply engrossed into whatever he was studying, didn't notice her
at first, but soon, he glanced up, and scratched the back of his
head. Obviously, he either didn't notice Yuusuke, or didn't even see the
other boy.

"Oh, hello there," he said nervously, a weak smile on his lips. "You're,
umm, miss Kagome, right?"

Kagome backed off a bit. "Err. Yeah. That's right." She eyed him
suspiciously. "How'd you know?"

"Oh, umm. I just happened to overhear it." He nodded to himself, as if to
confirm this. "I'm Amano Souma. And, well... I'm really sorry if that mean
Sword scared you last night."

"Sword? Who's that?" _What a nutcase,_ Kagome thought.

"He's a devil."

"Yeah, Í got that impression too, but..."

"No, really," Souma interrupted her nervously. "He *is* a devil. From
Hell."

Kagome eyed him suspiciously. "A devil, you say? With, like, wings and
horns and stuff?"

The boy scratched his cheek, brow furrowed in thought. "I guess so. I
couldn't really say, since his original body died when he fell to
Earth. Or rose, I guess, since Hell is usually considered to be below
ground, with Heaven above..."

"Right. Whatever." Kagome shook her head in disbelief. "Vengeful spirits,
demonically possessed, what's next? I'm outta here."

In a sudden outbreak of emotion, Souma grabbed her arm, stopping her just
as she was about to turn away and leave. "No, don't you see, you've got to
help me, you're the key! You have to!"

Shaken by the outburst, Kagome pulled herself lose, and hurried out. _I'm
not gonna spend a minute more than necessary in some stinky old hole like
that with just a lot of books,_ she told herself.

* * *

Leaving the library, she noticed that Yuusuke still followed her closely,
and turned to face, still upset over Souma's words.

"Hey," she told him, "what's your problem? Why are you following me around
anyway?"

The boy stared at her for a few moments, shrugging. "Hey, you can see me,
right? Since it seems nobody else her can, I figure you've got some
exceptional spiritual energy or something. Besides, it's better than
sitting around being bored."

She gave him a sharp glare. "I thought you were a vengeful spirit - don't
you have better things to do than bothering me? Like, haunting and stuff?"

"Not rea..." Yuusuke halted himself soon after opening his mouth, and
scratched the back of his head embarrassedly in response to Kagome's
suspicious look. "I mean, you must be able to help me get reincarnated or
something. Maybe you can at least exercise me or something so I can get
out of this dump."

Kagome shook her head. "My gramps is the priest, not me. I don't know
anything about that sort of stuff."

"But..." Yuusuke protested. "But you've gotta be the one! I can feel it!"

Her anger flared up again. "What *is* it with everyone? I may have grown
up in a shrine, but I'm just a perfectly ordinary girl, and there's
nothing in the least inordinary about me, so you just leave me alone and
cut the crap! Hmph!"

She stomped off down the stairs with theatrically exagerrated steps that
could've woken an elephant, not looking back to see how the boy reacted.

* * *

Only Youta was in the dining hall when Kagome arrived, putting two bowls
on the table. Hearing her footsteps, he looked up, and smiled when he saw
that it was here.

"Hey, Kagome. Looks like a somewhat more sparse crowd for breakfast
today. I'll get you a bowl too."

She was just about to ask who more would be attending when Kasumi entered
through the kitchen door, holding a large bowl of porridge. The woman
offered her a warm, motherly smile. "Why, good morning, Kagome. How are
you today?"

Kagome sighed, sinking onto a chair heavily. "Well enough I guess. It's
just... I've enough trouble finding a way out of here without having
people think I've got some sort of miraculous power that's the key to
everything."

Youta eyed her nervously as he sat down, spooning up some breakfast for
himself. He ate quietly for a while before speaking. "Really, Kagome, I
think it would be best if you stopped thinking about getting out of
here. Even if you do manage to find a way, it would be... no, you
mustn't."

Kagome would've been flattered, except judging by his expressions it
really seem much like he primarily wanted her to stay with him - the boy's
left eyebrow twitched nervously; there was something that scared
him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I... Well, it's kinda hard to explain..." Youta shrunk into his seat,
swallowing down a few quick spoonfuls of his food. "But, well, can't you
just trust me on this? Please?"

Seeing his begging expression, Kagome nearly gave in, but the more she
thought about it, she realized she couldn't, and she shook her head
firmly. "No. I've got my friends, and my family - they must be worried
sick. I *have* to find a way back to them."

"Kagome, you..." the boy started, but trailed off, shaking his head. He
lifted his now empty bowl and rose. "You really should give up."

She stared at his retreating back for a moment, wondering what had
prompted his stubborn insistence. Soon, however, her stomach growled,
and she returned her attention to her eating, grabbing a couple of the
simple but still aesthetic sandwiches that - presumably - Kasumi had
prepared.

The two ate undisturbed for a while, Kagome doing most of the eating while
Kasumi just eyed her concernedly, occasionally taking an absent spoon from
her plate.

The woman waited patiently for Kagome to eat her fill and finish her mug
of tea before speaking. "Kagome," she said, "I wonder... about what you
said about your family."

The girl simply nodded. "What about it?"

"Well, you think that they're really worried about you?"

Where'd that come from? "Of course they do. Sure, mom and gramps aren't as
extreme as some parents, but I've been gone for several days now. They
must be wondering what has happened to me." _Not that I'm not wondering
myself,_ she added to herself, silently.

"Well, I guess so," Kasumi nodded. "But if you don't find a way home, do
you really think it'd upset them all that much? Wouldn't they just forget
about you eventually, and carry on with their lives?"

Kagome had to stop and think about it. She pictured them in her mind - her
mother, gramps, and even her little brother - and tried to imagine what
they would think if she never returned, how they would react. No matter
how she thought about it, it would be sad faces.

"No," she responded eventually. Strongly. "I'm sure I don't amount much,
it's not like I'm specifically needed for anything or so, but I just can't
believe that they would ever do that. They wouldn't, and no real family
would."

"Y-You really think so?" Kasumi ventured nervously. Kagome didn't have to
answer; she knew the woman could see the firm conviction in her
face. Briefly, Kasumi stared at her hands, folded at the table, and then
she rose, starting to collect the dishes. "I guess you're right," she
said; weakly, but with a touch of hope in her voice.

* * *

Kagome left the dining hall, shrugging to herself as she thought of
Kasumi's questions. By now, she had mostly learned to ignore Yuusuke's
precense, but a quick glance confirmed that the self-proclaimed vengeful
spirit was indeed watching her from a corner, resting his hands behind his
head.

Well, what now? Kagome had indeed stated that she would find a way out no
matter what, but she hadn't found anything while checking the outside
yesterday, and had no idea whatsoever how you were supposed to leave a
mysterious mansion if the ordinary, mundane methods didn't work.

She brainstormed for a while, but didn't come up with much worthwhile
results. The closest to this situation she could think of were some horror
movies, but those usually ended up with the entire cast dying. Besides,
that would also make Ben the insane lord that slaughtered his guests, and
the large man was scary enough without imagining him doing such deeds,
thank you very much.

A secret passageway hidden in the cellar or something? Yeah, that was it -
all castles had those, to allow the lord and his family to escape in case
the enemy took over or something. Well, except this was more of a mansion
than a castle, but hey, that was the best idea yet, and certainly beat out
waiting for the other guests to be killed one by one.

* * *

A quick check confirmed that there did indeed seem to be a cellar. At the
end of one of the corridors on the ground floor, a set of stone stairs
descended a short distance into the shadows, ending in a heavy-looking and
slightly rusted metal door.

Kagome eyed that door from the top of the stairs. It gave her an
ill-boding feeling, more so than its appearance could account
for. Certainly, it had to be real dark down there, and she hadn't even
remembered to ask Kasumi for a light at breakfast.

Maybe she'd better put it off... No. Now she was acting like a kid, not
the big girl that she was. _It's just a basement,_ she told herself,
taking a few hesitant steps down the cold, stone stairs, then a few more,
until she reached the door.

She pushed the heavy iron handle down and pulled at the door. It didn't
budge. Holding her breath, she pulled harder, then tried with all her
might to push the door inwards; neither produced any result whatsoever,
and she sat down on the stairs, panting as she fumed at the anticlimax.

"Kagome?" she heard Youta call, and looked up to see him eyeing her from
the top of the stairs. The boy shook his head. "You're not going to get
that door open, no matter how hard you try. It's locked somehow."

"Really?" She walked up to him with heavy steps, somewhat annoyed at
having wasted the effort. "Why's that?"

"Well... Miss Kasumi's predecessor, the previous caretaker..." Youta
trailed off, hesitant, then determinedly shook his head. "Umm, no, I
don't know. You probably shouldn't mess around with it."

"You think so?" Kagome shrugged, and looked back at the door. Somehow,
this only seemed to further amplify its percieved importance, but if she
couldn't get it up anyway...

Youta nodded. "Well, I'll see you around I guess. I'll be in my room if
you need my help with anything." He offered her a weak smile, and wandered
off again.

Kagome smiled in return and briefly watched him walk away. When the boy
disappeared beyond the artifical horizonts of sorts produced by the edge
of the stairway, she put her shoulder against the door in an attempt to
apply some more force, but this did not get her any more results than
previous attempts, forcing Kagome to admit defeat.

_I guess he was right,_ she told herself, and shrugged, wiping a few drops
of sweat off her forehead. _Guess I'll have to give up on the secret
passage._

Kagome sighed and climbed up the short stairway, surveying the corridor
proper. No actual windows, but otherwise the furnishing was the same as
in the rest of the mansion, with simple clean walls and the occasional
painting. A large potted plant of some type she could not precisely
identify stood in one corner; she had seen a few like it while walking
through the house, with long, lush green leaves.

_Might as well start somewhere,_ she thought and opened the first door on
her right.

* * *

Inside, she found, of all things, a bathroom. Not something like the small
furo back at home, though; no, this one was surprisingly luxury even
compared with the rest of the mansion.

A large pool with brass edges stretched out to fill almost the entire
large room, and steam filled the air above it, rising from the hot water
below. Kagome could faintly sense the small of cherry blossoms, and didn't
even *want* to think of the costs involved in perfuming this much water
and keeping it heated.

At even intervals around the pool-like tub, small, dog-like demons stood
haunched over the bath, extending their long tusks into the water. In the
almost surreal environments caused by the thick steam they almost scared
Kagome, before she realized they were brass statues.

As a japanese, she couldn't help but find the whole thing too good to
resist, and closed the door softly behind her as she stepped fully inside.

Kagome hurried to take off her clothes, almost forgetting that Yuusuke
might well be watching - hidden from view - as she folded them over a
wooden bench in the corner. Finding nothing like the costumary pail for
washing with cold water, she decided with a twinge of guilt that she could
skip that part and proceed directly to the main event.

A deep, pleased sigh escaped her lips as she sank into the water with
a blissful smile, and she relaxed, letting her head lean back against the
edge of the pool.

* * *

Kagome had no idea how much time had passed when she snapped her eyes open
again, blinking a few times in confusion to clear her vision before she
realized that the steam filling the room was what caused the fogginess of
her surroundings.

Her mind felt heavy and sluggish, and it took a few moments to get herself
sorted out enough to rise somewhat from the warm, comfortable waters. _I
look like a single, huge raisin,_ Kagome thought to herself, suddenly
realizing that she had in fact fallen asleep in the bath.

_What is it with this place?_ she wondered. _Have I acquired some disease,
or is the wound still affecting me more than I realize?_ She felt along
the edges of the three scars; they had dimnished a bit but remained
painfully obvious - perhaps lack of blood might account for falling asleep
again so soon after breakfast.

At least she now felt more than enough well-rested, and she took her time
to put her clothes back on, stretching her arms to clear away the last of
the muddiness from her mind.

* * *

Outside in the corridor again, Kagome shrugged to herself, and stepped up
to the other door. _Might as well continue now that I've started._

Just outside, she paused, hearing some faint sounds from within, and she
paused to press her ear against the door. Swooching sounds, definitely
someone moving about in there, but she couldn't tell anything beyond that
by sound alone, and so she pushed the handle down, opening the door ever
so slightly to peek inside.

Another large, spacious room; this one mostly empty. Its wooden floor had
been well-polished, reflecting the sunlight that peeked in from outside
through a single window, tinged ever so slightly by the broad blue curtain
that covered it completely.

The walls were similarly empty and unfurnished, and Kagome wondered why
somebody would *waste* this much space on just an empty room. She had to
open the door a bit further before she managed to spot the source of the
sounds she had heard.

It was the tall man, Benares, near the centre of the room. He had removed
the vest, and his chest now glistened ever so slightly from sweat, the
firm muscles frightening Kagome even as they impressed her. In each hand,
he held a large, heavy-looking sword, crafted from some dark metal.

The twin blades danced through the air, spinned with agility and swift
turns that seemed to defy the laws of inertia. Along with them, Ben glided
over the floor, but his movements were much more subtle, though Kagome
would hardly call them elegant; simple, minimal and effecient, more
like. Not that she had any *real* insights into swordplay or martial arts,
but still.

His movement took him in a circle, and Kagome hurried to step back,
closing the door. With swords in hand, he scared her more than usual; she
felt like if that killing machine laid eyes on her, her days would be
numbered.

Instead, having now seen all that this wing had to offer, she walked
across the hall to the other hand, passing the two guardian statues by
with a somewhat uneasy feeling.

At the corridor on the other end, again, two doors led (presumably) to two
large rooms, and Kagome stepped up to the closest one. Behind it, she
could faintly her voices, and acting on instincts shared by over-curious
girls worldwide, she stopped and once again pressed her ear against the
door. Soon, she smiled secretly to herself as tbe sound separated into two
clearly distinguishable voices talking inside.

One of the voices belonged to Youta, and he sounded quite desperate about
somethins, almost pleading. "Miss Kasumi! Are you serious?"

"Well..." The woman's voice was hesitating, and she spoke almost in a
whisper, barely loud enough for Kagome to hear. "I just..."

"Miss Kasumi, you know as well as I do what would happen, don't you?"

"I guess I do."

"Then how could you even be thinking of that? I... know it's hard, I
guess, but it just can't be helped."

"I know you're right. But, well..." Kasumi sighed tiredly, the usual
cheerfulness totally gone from her voice. "No, I'll try to forget about
it."

"Good."

The conversation ended there, silence following for quite a while before
Kagome decided she might just as well step inside to find out what that
had been all about.

* * *

Author's notes
--------------
The vague, basic concept for this 'fic was stolen from the game Nocturnal
Illusion. No more than a part of the idea, or rather of the inspiration,
really; even the underlying concept is actually rather far from that of
the game, similar though it might seem at first glance (for one thing,
there's no sex in the fic ^_^). The idea is probably not a unique one,
either, but NI is the source where I most recently encountered it. And
yes, it is a hentai game. Yes, I played it all through. What can I say? I
was bored.