"What are we going to do this time, Kyo? And where we going," I asked the most obvious question that I just played dumb, and still let him pull me by the hand as we walked down on the stairs that leads to the basement as he carries a lamp on his free hand.
I may sound scared of the dark for asking silly questions just to try to divert his thoughts on other things, but that's not what I really meant.
"It's a surprise, but don't tell mom I had shown it to you."
Like I just said, it's not because I'm scared of the dark.
He's creeping me out.
He is Kyo from the looks of it, but he's in totally different persona.
Where is kind and bubbly Kyo that loves me dearly. (; ω ; )
We stopped as we had reached at the closed door.
Well, you can tell who owns the room just looking at the cats and rabbits stickers on the door. There's no doubt about it. It's Yumi's. (ー ー ")
The stickers may be a bit fancy as a decoration, but she was so creative to use it to shape it into hiragana to give a message.
Get in or back off, I'll kill you either way.
Very creative. Very welcoming. I can feel her soul right into it. This room is hers. (ー ー ")
"If she had decided to also make herself a more private room in here, then probably for her little business thing," I mumbled just to voice out my little tantrum.
I had planned to use it as stocking things that looks unneeded for us and inform it to the landlady who owns this place that we had moved some things on the empty basement to make space for the things will be needed for our mission.
But Yumi had said that she already had plans on what will be the use of the basement during the mission.
Well, I guess, she already built her secret laboratory inside this house. But whatever it is, isn't it a lot of work to move her things again after we're done with the mission?
Kyo didn't said anything and just continued to be quiet like how he started to act since I came back home with a disguise that I used to introduce myself as the dad on the family photo.
He twisted the round doorknob of the door then slide it open that what greeted us was only darkness.
"I think it has a light in here," I said as I tried to find the switch by touching the wall just next to the door.
"Don't say anything, promise me."
"Say what?" I asked soon as I switched the lights on. When I turned my attention back to him, his blank, expressionless face turns into surprised instead.
He let go of my hand and stepped inside and like in a hurry, he looked everywhere to find things around.
Now, I'm confused on what's really going on.
"I swear, it's still all here when I checked this room just an hour ago," he says as he was frantically opening every boxes and digging things inside.
"What are you talking about, Kyo?" I asked, tilting my head on the side. I just feel sorry for him now that I don't know how exactly I could help him. "Are you trying to say that your mom was hiding something from me that I should know?"
What I said made him stop.
Well, since I knew who Yumi is, I do understand that she was very secretive. I'm not surprised that he had found out something about her that she warned him that he shouldn't tell about it from anyone.
The stickers in her door isn't an enough warning for you? (ー ー ")
"It's not just you and me, but to everyone else."
Secrets are meant for just yourself. If you shared it to anyone, there's no guarantee that they won't tell it to the others.
"I don't get you." (ー ー ")
He ran to me and pulled something inside his pocket and showed me that thing that I think it was the "thing" he wanted to tell me.
But my brain still pops out a question mark even with the solid evidence right in front of my eyes.
It's a ceramic craft that looks like a finger, but this one looks like it has a finishing touches into it to look like it was real.
I've seen her create toys out of ceramics before when I came to this home, wondering why I haven't seen her anywhere while her teammates are everywhere.
Turns out that she was crafting toys for the orphanage. She said that they are too many that she can't afford to waste a second or the toys won't reach the deadline.
Besides the ceramics on her table, I've seen the blueprints and the sketches on her table. A doll for girls and action figures for boys.
I've seen the times that she was assembling the body parts together and also the times she had to paint them to give them life.
And I noticed that the dolls are the most time consuming for her, but she said that it was the toys she enjoys to make. She had to put on hairs that she says it was synthetic since she can't afford to buy a human hair from the parlor. And she also sew dresses for the dolls. She was so thoughtful that she made another set for each dolls thinking that the children wanted to play dress up.
I knew all that, but what's the issue? (ー ー ")
"Oh, that? I know that."
"Isn't this a bit suspicious enough?"
What's so suspicious with that finger then? That's made of ceramic material and her artistic skill make it more human like. Even if we had to brig her issue of getting involved with illegal things called the skin charger doctor, it was nothing like a real one when you try to make an autopsy. It was all primers, make up and paints. (ー ー ")
"Her case with the Interrogation corps and also her talents from making puppets that looked more human that she all hide from youー"
I sighs and put my hand on top of his head to give him the assurance that he needs for now. "Don't overthink things this small, but I'm afraid she's the only one who can give you the right answer. If you have questions such as this, you can just ask her yourself."
What I really wanted to ask is why is he acting strange. Is there something that happened when I left?
But asking him that would sound like an interrogation. And if I dodged it, will it sound like I am hiding something from him?
"Come now, it's a bit dusty here. Let's go back," I said that he willingly followed me by asking him to hold my hand.
I take a last look inside the basement that was only just boxes piled up to each other.
Maybe they used this room when I'm out for the mission?
"But you believe in me." He gave my hand a little squeeze. "Right, dad?"
"Of course, I believe in you....both of you."
The echo of her footsteps, racing in the hallways sounded similar to an incessant raindrops pouring from the roofs and the sound of the concrete doors that she randomly opens cracks like a thunderclap.
"Nothing here," she utters, closing back the door of the empty room and sprinted her way to another door of the room that she will stumbled on. On her way though, in the end of the hallway, it's not just a door who greeted her, but a staircase that leads to the a door, but it was down below.
"Maybe this is it," she says and took a deep sigh to compose herself from panting to catch her breath. Behind that door is the answer she's been looking for.
Doubt and excitement mixed together that it's hard for her to distinguished what she should feel about it.
The door downstairs may be able to serve her the answers she deserves or not. It's a door that will give her the clue or disappointment. There was no turning back. She swallowed hard before deciding to go downstairs.
The door creeks as she pushed it open. It's a bit dark inside, but a blue to purple dim light was lit on to give light in the pitch black room.
But she has been from a lot of room, no lights, not even a bed in sight or a table, it's just empty corners, and this one is different.
The light may not be able to provide a perfect vision, but still, it has light.
Not only the light, but a couple of movable beds that is similar from the hospitals, also like the usual beds the orphanage has to use. The beds are lined up together and as she walked across the room, she felt like walking into the hospital too. That gave her goosebumps. She doesn't feel well all of a sudden. She felt sick in her gut for no reason that she automatically conclude something was disturbing her. Something was wrong, and she knew that it wasn't just in her head nor just a gut feeling.
"Come on, Sakura. You knew that one on the bed was a body bag, you're not seeing things," she embraced herself as she observed the wide room that she guessed it must be the basement of the entire orphanage. "Well, I wish I was just imagining it." Her grip on her arms dug deeper for her hands are shaking uncontrollably.
She's not exactly scared, but she fear what will come after if she knew everything behind the orphanage. It was her first time to go on the mission that her instincts are waving back and forth. She talks to herself to give her the impression she's not alone as she was trying to do her personal investigation on the orphanage.
"I should have forced Hiro and Kyousuke to tag along with me. Besides, we're all going to benefit with it. Or tell Yumi to come with me and I can tag along with her too in her night swimming right after," she stopped walking. "That's a very selfish thought. The three of them looks up to me like their older sister and I'm here with them thinking that I can just boss them around as I see fit. You just came back to a body of a child, an you're beginning to think like one," she sighs. She closed her eyes tightly and gave herself a pat on both of her cheeks. "Wrong! Even if it was just an imagination, it's still wrong! Admit you're chickening out, that's why you wished they were here!" She sighs again that she already thinking she should count how many times she had to sigh until she had finished what she wanted to do.
"Sakura-san."
A voice whispered in her ear that almost got her heart popped out of her chest.
"I completely forgot about the earpiece," she growled to herself in her thought and her inner-Sakura pops up. "You should have used this from the very beginning than talking to yourself like an idiot!"
"What is it, Kyousuke? Is there an emergency?" She asked.
"Nothing. I just thought to ask what's taking you so long. Hiro was already crying his eyes out. He's worried what could have happened to you on the way."
Hiro on the other hand didn't said a thing that still made her laugh. It was a blunt joke, but she still find it funny anyway.
"So anyway, Kyousuke."
"What's up?" He immediately asked on the other side of the earpiece, cutting her off.
"Do you know anything about this place?"
It was a quite a couple of seconds of silence before he decided to response to her, but she made herself busy anyway by trying to check things that is present in the room.
"I heard this was some kind of labyrinth. You know? Everybody's welcome, but you can't leave. Like you, that was what I wanted to know, but coming with you won't let me accomplish a thing."
It was her first time to hear that information if that was a fact. "Don't worry, you're not wrong. I have a different reason," she replied as she pulled out the drawer and squint her eyes in hopes to get a better vision.
"Oh, you mean that? You better check the body bag."
She paused from skimming over the papers from the envelope. Questions like, how did he know about that? Swirling inside her head.
"Since I can't get my sleep yet, I'll try to investigate the place and find what I was looking for. Besides, I can't bother you any longer. So, later!"
The line cut off, and she was still stunned in her place, blankly staring at what she has on her hands.
She felt thousands of butterflies fluttering their wings in her stomach, but instead it was a pleasant feelings, it was the opposite.
She haven't seen anything yet, but her stomach was already turning that all she can do was to swallow back her saliva that had been siding in her mouth.
She turned to look back in the direction of the body bag she saw lately in one of the beds.
"Be brave," she told herself and went back.
She was now standing beside the top of the body bag. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her stomach was squeezing in her abdomen and the lump in her throat was chocking her.
With a split second, she quickly brought both of her hands on the zipper of the bag. If she didn't do it in a snap, her anxiety will take her over than it is.
She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, thinking it would help her calm down.
She can feel every pulse in her body throbs as she pulled down the zipper on the bag.
Hair.
She already knew that her instincts was mostly accurate, but that's not enough proof to have the right answer for her.
Body bags are designed to carry human bodies and also used for storage of corpses within morgues. So, basically, it was the most commonsense for why is the body bag here for.
She continued to open the bag, but she did it in an abrupt. She unzipped the bag in one fell swoop.
Her eyes blurred by tears. Her head becomes heavy. Her body trembles in every nerves.
She wanted to scream, but nothing was coming out.
She leaned over and tried to let out a cough that had been there the whole time, but not only the cough that happened. Her stomach had hurt so much as she still try to cough everything out.
She walked backwards, away from that bed with all her strength that was left, but her legs had became limp seems all of her energy was drained away from her.
Working at the hospital and was had been an apprentice, it had been the norms for her to see dead people as it was how their world works.
Besides when she was on training under her the hokage, that was the only instance that she have seen a cadaver being dissected from skin, to fibers of muscles and to organs, as part of practicing medicine.
But she haven't seen anyone who are skinned, dead or alive, out of medical practice.
It doesn't looks like it was done for medical practice at all, she's convinced that this is it. This is what she's been looking for.
That hair, she somehow recognized who owns that hair. It's the girl who had reminded her to follow the protocol.
Her eyes began to tear up as she tries to suppress her sobs.
This isn't an orphanage that promises to find you a loving family. This is a farm.
It was a lead to the infamous criminal these days, the skin changer.
She had mixed feelings of it, she can't even recognize if she was crying with grief for the grueling truth of the orphanage planned for the children or too happy to able to get the evidence for this crime. But she had no time to celebrate for that little achievement of her though, as it was just a blink of an eye, the empty beds suddenly had filled with a body bag.
She stood up on her feet and tried to calmly analyze what was going on. Illusion or it was there, but she just don't realize it.
And on the dim light room, her sense of hearing was the most dominant, and picked up a zipping sound.
She tried to track it by sight, finding where was it coming from. She knew that she was the only person in the room.
After the unzipping sound, was a clutter that seems to be a door that was pushed opened came next.
Without thinking, she immediately ran, slipping out from that room in a flash, but what greeted her after reaching upstairs from the basement was the hallways.
It somehow looked distorted. She can't describe it exactly, but it looks like the hallway that she had walked through, but it also looked different.
"It doesn't feels like a genjutsu though," she thought and her mind made her remember what Kyousuke had mentioned about the labyrinth.
She still tried to release it, hoping that it was just a genjutsu, but nothing seemed to happen after doing it.
Everything still looked the same. Everything was still bright and distorted.
Her mind gave her a clue on how to make it easier to figure it out, was it reminded her about her earpiece.
She took a soft tap on her ear to click it on, "Kyousuke? Hiro? Yumi?" She had tried to page each names as it was connected to not just one communication device, but to everyone. But only a ragged signal was the only response.
She tried to press the earpiece a couple of times to try it again, a bit harder too that she's almost desperate. But it's still the same, only the static that she had been hearing from the other line.
"Was the distortion through vision in the area also had something to do with the signals?" She suspected and couldn't ignore the feeling that she's mad about it. It had was almost on the end of her temper, but she had to hold on.
She had the nerve on just break everything to solve it all than trying to figure it out whether she's under the genjutsu or not.
"Footsteps!" She snapped, and looked behind her where it was the sound was coming from.
She haven't closed the door on the basement for she didn't had the thought of doing it when she rushed to ran outside, but she was sure that that is where the tapping of foot was coming from.
"Sakura.."
She hardly swallowed the lump on her through and a bead of sweat fell down on her face as she positioned herself in a fighting stance.
She was so sure that she was alone in that room. And she was positive that every children was sleeping, because they are sedated. And there was no way that Kyousuke or Hiro will play a trick on her.
There was a girl who appeared from the shadows on the doorstep in her once white gown that now was stained in red to brown.
"You're still alive?" It took it her all to say something from her mouth, but she didn't received a response from it and just continued walking.
Stepping back as she thought of a way to figure out what as really going on. Of course, she knew that it wasn't alive, but why it was moving like a human. It also talks like it.
The walking dead girl bended her knees and jumped to accelerate her pace on going to the other end of the stairs faster.
"What are you?" There was no point on asking questions to a dead person, but she did it anyway, to ask it to herself.
And what surprised her most was when the girl lifted her arms and extended it towards her, she did something to attack her. Luckily, she was quick to notice it and dodged it in time by jumping backwards.
She waited for a couple of seconds to calm the situation first before taking her eyes off the girl to look on what was just thrown at her.
"Wait, aren't those senbons?" While she was trying to figure out what was it and how did that happened, she heard a sound.
Rather than the footsteps, doors creaked open one after another that all she could do was to wait what will happen next. And what she should expect went beyond it, as the floor and ceilings as well opened a passage way.
"What are they?!" She thought out loud and just dodge whoever will try to attack her.
She only avoids them and concentrated on finding the possible exit as she already considered it that this maybe what Kyousuke had said that there was a labyrinth.
"It seems that I'm not going any near the exit," she cussed in the air. She wanted to attack the people that was chasing her and tried to attack her in any way they could, throwing and swinging any weapon that they possess. But she wasn't sure if she won't harm them.
If she stayed on the knowledge of what she learned and also on commonsense, the humans are positively dead. But what she wanted to know why are they moving and was able to use weapons.
She already had an idea that it might be the answer, but she still can't be so sure.
She only knew one person of capable on controlling more than one and uses human body as it's main material. But that person was already dead.
She pulled out a kunai from the pouch that was strapped on her leg and coated it with chakra.
She isn't sure if it was possible to cut through chakra strings, but it was still best to try.
She turned and jumped back then just slash it across randomly on the space to the one who was about to attack her from above, encircling the human body itself to avoid on harming it, and hope for the results.
She landed safely on her feet then turned to look back to see what had happened.
It did kind of work for it somehow just fall to the ground that can't save itself without any support from another being, like any other non-living thing supposed to act. But before she could conclude that her suspicion was right. Struggling, the lifeless human body moved to get up on her knees and try to stand back up on its feet.
Her frown got deeper. What is going on is all that her brain wanted to ask her.
She turned towards behind her as she sensed there was an enemy attack that she already prepared herself not to hold anything back anymore. She's a bit excited actually, as she barely applied her brute strength when she was on her early teens. Doing it now in a body that was used to disguise in her twelve year old self, it gave her the feeling that she was rewriting a part of her past self by adding a little spice on it as it was her age where all was tasted bittersweet.
But before she could do anything, they stopped in mid-air.
She blinked her eyes a couple of times, now confused what was going on, but it didn't gave her a chance to figure it out for one by one, smoke popped out and they were gone.
She relaxed her shoulders and stood straight as her eyes stares blankly to the once crowded hallway and now was empty.
"They just vanished," she thought out loud and just sigh.
Well, they haven't done any harm to her, not even a scratch, so she kind of let it go.
She puffed out her exhaled breath on her fist then closed her eyes.
"You, fool! You should grab one of them so you can conduct an autopsy once we finished the mission!"
She was scolding herself and also had the urge of wanting to hit someone to blow up some steam, which is just her in the present. She knocked it on the wall instead, but not in the means on destroying it. "You've missed the chance! You suck at this mission, I swear!" She spit any sorts of words that shouldn't be said in the air as she punched the wall as her punching bag of choice. "How can we get another chance after that?" she mutters defeatedly, pouting in her own tantrum.
"Wait a minute," she snapped then repeated to land another blow of her fist on the wall and it appears to ripple when she did it. She did it again and again to test, but nothing had happened to the wall, she only felt draining her own energy. Maybe the wall was able to repel any destructive power.
"Is this some kind of sealing?" She asked in the air and gasped after grabbing a piece of thought from it. Thought of trying it again to confirm her suspicions, but this time she was cut off when the wall where she had leaned her hand had moved.
She stepped backwards to get better view to observe. The wall that creates all curves in the hallway was pulled down. She was so confused, but all she could do was to stare and watch to what will happen next. As the walls got lowered to the ground with machine like sound, she could see the patterns of the walls like a whole map of jigsaw puzzles that she can only sigh for getting the answer on why there was a weird sharp curves in the hall way. And the once pathway that doesn't seemed to see its exit, had became a white room with four corners.
She again brought her eyes towards where the wall was sucked in by the floor, there was no trace left to see where it gone.
"Found her."
She turned towards the direction of somehow a human voice. It's weird considering she only had spend few hours from her own expedition to investigate, yet she missed to hear a real human voice.
It was Yumi, still her hair dripping wet, probably she just came out of water from her night swimming. But she isn't in her impersonating attire, she was in a normal day to day outfit.
"Have you heard what I said or not?" she began to speak, and a visible from was knitted on her face. "Follow me or just stay. Your choice."
But seeing her doesn't relieved her entirely. The communication device cut off, the dead people that attacks her, the labyrinth that doesn't let her out suddenly a clear path and then Yumi just appeared in front of her. Everything had confused her as it doesn't connect to each other like a jigsaw puzzle.
A click whispered in her ear, distracting her from Yumi that she unconsciously answered by touching the hole of her ear.
"Finally, we can reach you again!" It's Kyousuke, and with a noisy background music on the other line with just rattles and random rackets that any thing can make.
She haven't answered Kyousuke yet, but followed Yumi who was willing to leave her behind.
She wanted to speak to tell them the whole story, but she dropped it and just turned off her communication device. She could tell them in person anyway.
"You just told us you're going to investigate!" It was now Hiro who spoke to her on the other line.
"But I really did investigate," she answered.
"Then what took you so long! Does it it even crossed your mind like wanting to lay down on a comfy bed and sleep for eight hours straight!"
His statement made her confused to what was the reason Hiro was scolding her like a mother.
"We can't even track you with your communication device! You switched it off in purpose didn't you?!" Now, Kyousuke joined Hiro on scolding her.
"Wait, you can turn it off?" She wanted to ask a lot of questions, but that fact got her interest.
"Well, whatever. I hope you found what you've been looking for, Sakura-san. You should get back here first and sort whatever things out. Your teammates are looking for you."
She guessed that she probably lost track of time, but it didn't mattered to her as looking back, it put a smile on her face. As she can proudly say, "Mission accomplished."
Back to konoha..
"Kyo, dinner's ready!" I called on the way to fetch him on his room where I left him.
I invited Ebisu-sensei, Udon and Moegi, to come over here for dinner, but it seems no one's coming, but that's okay. I can just put everything in the fridge and reheat it tomorrow.
"Kyo?" I called his name again, stepping in to the doorstep.
He has this serious look on the piece of paper in front of him that it slowly turned to panic. His hand that holds a pen became shaky.
Here we go again. What happened when I left him for the passed one and a quarter hour? (" ᓀ _ ᓀ)
"Something wrong?" I asked shortly and went to where he is, ready to assist him whatever it is.
"She's....she's....she's been watching me."
As a reflex from it, I roamed my sights around to look whatever and whoever "watching him" as he claims to be.
"She knew everything," he utters in a shaky voice.
"Who's she?" I asked.
"Her!"
He didn't mentioned a name, but my eyes caught on the paper he's staring at.
Death Notice: Uchiha's style
Huh? (-_-;)・・・
Anyway, his paper didn't gave a clue. I was thinking that it would help, if he let his feelings fill the paper through writing.
"She told me she knew I brought you to the basement. And she wrote this message for me. She's going to kill me!"
"Woaw. Woaaw. Wait, wait." Then I let out a sigh. "No one's going to get killed."
I wanted to say that, "it was just all in his head," but I don't think saying that would help.
But I don't know what to say, he's been acting too serious, too jumpy and too nervous everyday. And all he said was "I think, I've been watched," and it revolves into it then he'll show me evidences that doesn't add up. Is that even normal for a kid?
"Do you really think I would write something like that just to scare myself?" He asked, raising his voice on me that I am not surprised at all and just held my hands up to tell him to calm down. It was a normal reaction of someone who's upset.
"I know you won't," I answered, but he was the one who wrote it, isn't he?
If it wasn't him, the would do it for him?
I won't write that. Why would I drag the name of the noble clan Uchiha in this? I have no reason do it. (￣︿￣)
I'm positive that we're the only people in the entire house. And my teammates isn't mean to traumatize a child for fun. He's obviously not enjoying being the prey for this silly pranks. He's scared and I know he isn't pretending.
But I don't know how would I help him. If Yumi was here, what would she do?
A light bulb lit from my head, to show me the answer I had been looking for that it just hiden in the dark corners.
"Say, Kyo? We'll have our dinner and go to bed early. First thing in the morning, we'll visit the hokage. Game?"
But he didn't responded on the same wavelength of enthusiasm I put into it. He just nodded his head, but his body's trembling.
Maybe Lady Hokage could help.