Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Phantom ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Voices. Muted voices drifting through the fog that surrounded him.

"..............he............ok............yeah...."

"..............do you suppose...................fell down...............hit his head....."
the sphere of darkness lifted and he forced his eyes open. Sunlight streamed in his window lighting his bedroom and the hallway through the open door. His father was standing over him looking down at him, his mother beside him holding his hand and patting his face with a damp cloth. For a moment confusion reigned. Why were they here? Did something happen? Then the visions of the night before assaulted him and he closed his eyes with a soft groan.

"Yuki-chan? Yukishiro? Are you alright, son? Tell us what happened..." he mother pleaded in her soft voice. Yukishiro opened his eyes again looking at them slowly.

"what happened?" he asked. Hiroshi's lip twitched and not in amusement.

"That's what we would like to know, son. We found you this morning lying on the porch half in your dojo, unconscious and soaked." He said. Yukishiro looked at the clock with a start. Seven pm! He'd been out the entire day?! He looked back at them confused.

"I don't know what happened...........I heard.............I thought I saw............" he broke off. How could he explain to them what he didn't understand himself. Hiroshi was watching him intently trying to draw the answers from him with his silent gaze.

"I don't know what happened. I heard a noise and went to investigate and I guess I passed out." He said softly looking at neither of them. Yuri lifted her gaze to her husbands concerned for their son. Hiroshi looked back at her for a moment before patting Hiroshi on the shoulder.

"Well whatever happened let's take pains to ensure it doesn't happen again, ok?" Yukishiro nodded silently and sat up feeling stiff all over. Yuri rose reluctantly letting go of his hand and stroked his hair softly.

"I'll go order some dinner." She said stepping out to go retrieve her cell phone and leaving father and son alone. Hiroshi took his mother's place on the bed and looked at him.

"What kind of noise did you hear? Why didn't you wake me?" he asked. Yukishiro was a few minutes answering trying to comprehend the events of last night, now foggy in the brightness of the evening sun.

"I don't know, Dad. I'm sorry." Hiroshi shook his head and patted his shoulder standing.

"You don't need to be sorry, Yuki-chan just next time tell us when you hear something. Don't go look by yourself. I don't ever want to feel the fear I felt seeing you lying there like that ever again. Alright?"

"ok dad..." he said pushing the covers down and turning to sit on the side of his bed. Hiroshi disappeared down the hallway. Yukishiro ran a hand down his face and stood slowly feeling drained. What had happened? The figure before the shrine flashed before his eyes and he was startled momentarily by the vividness of the memory. What he had seen had been no hallucination or nightmare, that man had been flesh and blood real. It was the only moment from the evening before he felt sure of. Stepping into the hallway he could hear his mother in the living room placing an order for food and his father muttering something about egg rolls. Slowly walking down the hallway he moved through the main room and outside aware of the two sets of parental eyes watching him as he closed the shoji behind him.
evening sunlight filtered down through the branches of the old tree and sparkled on the still wet grass. The clear blue sky and crisp wind that rattled the trees branches and rained drops of water seemed a bright contrast to the chaos of the night before. Slowly he walked barefoot along the porch and stooped picking up the flashlight he'd dropped the night before brushing water droplets off it and flicking it on. Dead. With a sigh he set it down by the wall and moved to the shoji's leading into the dojo. It was here that everything seemed to revolve around. The voices, the images, the emotions that had swirled around him since their arrival all seemed to originate from the dojo. Reaching out he shoved the shoji open and stepped inside prepared for whatever waited for him. Calm silence filled the shadowed void that stretched from the doorway to the shrine far down the room. No figures, no voices, nothing but cool calm silence collecting in the evening air. Yukishiro sighed and slowly walked the length of the room looking around feeling like shadow samurai might leap out at him at a moments notice. The fall took him completely by surprise as his foot hit the water and he slipped on the smooth wooden floor landing flat on his back with a jarring force. He lay still for a moment waiting for the air to rush back into his beaten lungs before he sat up on his elbows and stared at the puddle of water in front of the shrine. Right where the man had been the night before. Slowly he climbed to his feet and looked up at the ceiling trying to see a rotten spot where water could have seeped in, but the roof was fine. No water stains or dampness was visible, and the roofer who had worked on the roof several days before had gone over the whole area with a fine toothed comb. He stared at the water blankly for several long moments. "what the hell is going on here?" he asked the empty air.

"I think it would be obvious by now."
whirled around and nearly fell again, the voice that sounded behind him catching him by surprise. There was no one there. Only the deepening shadows around the door as the sun set. Rubbing his eyes on the backs of his hands he wondered if he might truly be losing his mind. No...what he heard was real. It was a real voice, which echoed just the same way his did when he spoke to his dad in this room. But this voice was nothing like his fathers, it was deeper and more precise and there was a definite edge to it. Yukishiro looked around again and slowly stepped away from the puddle turning his back to the shrine.

"Is anyone there?" he called hesitantly, unsure if he wanted his question answered or not. The moments ticked by as silence resounded from every corner of the dojo. From the spilled light of the evening sun a figure materialized in the doorway, the sunlight allowing only a silhouette to appear. Yukishiro swallowed.

"Wh...what do you want?" he asked.

"I want you to come inside and wash your hands, the Chinese has arrived Yuki-chan." His mother responded. Yukishiro let out the breath he'd been unconsciously holding and dropped his head down feeling incredibly stupid. Yuri tilted her head and slowly stepped over the threshold into the dojo.

"Yuki-chan are you alright? You don't look very well." She said softly looking at her son down the length of the long room. A chill ran down her spine and she crossed her arms under her breasts eager to be out of this room. Yukishiro smiled slowly and walked over to his mother.

"Yeah I'm fine, just making sure my head didn't break the floor last night." He teased. Noticing his mother's pale face he touched her shoulder lightly.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked. Yuri was staring past him and at the corner to the left of the shrine but she blinked as he touched her and looked up at him with a timid smile and nod.

"Of coarse, it's just....this place doesn't sit well with me." She admitted. "Well let's go inside before your father eats his dinner and ours to." She laughed. Yukishiro nodded and headed out onto the porch pausing as Yuri followed behind him. As he went on down the porch Yuri turned back to close the door and froze her hazel eyes widening. A man was standing in front of the shrine at the far end of the dojo, a tall thin man dressed in a uniform she vaguely remembered from someplace. He was looking at her with the most sinister amber eyes Yuri had ever seen, a cigarette between his teeth. Yuri shook her head quickly and looked at Yukishiro.

"Yuki-chan!" she called. Yukishiro turned and looked at her.

"Yeah?" Yuri looked back into the dojo and blinked. The man was gone! She stepped inside quickly and looked all around but he was nowhere in sight. Unable to still the butterflies in her stomach she retreated onto the porch and shut the door firmly. Looking at Yukishiro she smiled and hurried after him.

"Nothing, I thought I saw a rat." She said unable to get the image out of her mind. Yukishiro nodded although he didn't believe her and allowed her to precede him inside. Looking back at the dojo he shook his head and stepped inside closing the door behind him determined to put visions and voices aside and enjoy his dinner.steam from the wooden tub rose towards the ceiling beams and hung there drifting idlely along the slope of the ceiling. Yukishiro sighed as he reclined in the ancient wooden tub his head resting on a pillow. After dinner they had played his fathers favorite game, Charades, until nine when his dad had gone to bed since he had to work in the morning. The second week after their arrival had been hectic since Hiroshi had to work all day. Although Yuri and Yukishiro worked during the day to get the house and grounds in order, his father couldn't help until he got home at night. Tomorrow was a Friday and then the weekend would be here and he could help Hiroshi get started on renovating the old out buildings for storage and a workshop. His mother was busy with the designers, plumbers and electricians all day and tomorrow they were supposed to get started on the lights. He would stay out of the way as much as possible, maybe scrub down the white walls that surrounded their little family compound, or even work in the dojo some. Right now he didn't care if they told him he had to take the whole place down and rebuild it by himself; the bath water was too nice to worry. Closing his eyes he breathed deeply feeling the hot water soaking away his worries and fears as well as his aches and pains. He wondered what his parents intended to do with this building. There had been talk of turning it into a gardening shed for Yuri but Yukishiro liked the old bathhouse. Maybe he could convince his dad to leave it alone. His dad liked novelty things and to be able to offer their guests a hot soak in the traditional style might appeal to his history loving mother. Anything was possible. Yukishiro smiled imagining the long winter months ahead and how nice a long hot soak in this bath would feel compared to a modern shower. Hooking his arms on either side of the tub he lounged feeling contented and relaxed for the first time in days. Maybe when he went back inside they could make instant coffee and he and his mom could sit outside and watch the stars like they used to when he was little. The walls of the compound helped shield their home from the glare of street lamps and cars and made the view of the stars amazing. He shifted in the tub and opened his eyes slowly. Sunlight filtered in from the outside and he could hear birds chirping overhead. Blinking he sat up slowly wondering if he'd fallen asleep in the tub when the door to the bathhouse suddenly flew open and a short man with long red hair in a ponytail, dressed in the old fashioned suddenly burst into the bathhouse and skidded to a halt gaping at Yukishiro stupidly.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!" Yukishiro dived out of the tub clawing for the towel he'd hung on a peg and jerking it around himself spinning to face the intruder. An intruder who had vanished, along with the daylight and sounds of birds singing. Darkness was the only thing visible outside the windows as Yukishiro slumped into the corner panting, his face pale. Running a hand down his face he tried to get a hold of himself. Breathing in deeply he didn't move until he felt calm again, at least as calm as he could feel when he was becoming more certain every day that he was a lunatic. Slowly walking around the tub he searched the floor for any sign of the intruder but found none. Looking at the door he saw the lock was still latched just as it had been when he'd come in and locked it behind him. What the hell had he seen then?! Toweling off he yanked on clean boxers and the pajama bottoms and t shirt he'd brought to change into and towel in hand unlocked the door and opened it stepping out barefoot into the grass. The nighttime air chilled him as he looked around slowly, his eyes sweeping every shadow, every corner, and every space where someone could hide in. There was no one else in the yard. The only light came from the kitchen window where his mother was working. The silence was broken only by the sound of a car turning onto the side street down the block. And then he heard it. A soft giggle that seemed to come from far away. He couldn't pinpoint it's location as he turned full circle trying to guess where it had come from. Another giggle. Yukishiro clenched his hand around the towel moving around the yard searching fruitlessly. The soft childish laughter seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.

"I don't know who you are..." he hissed. "Or what you want but you better knock it off cause it's getting real damn old!"

"Yuki-chan?" Yuri was peering through the window at him. "Who are you talking to?" Yukishiro looked over at his mother and ran a hand through his hair.

"Stupid cat keeps coming around here, mom I'm just scaring him away." He said. Yuri nodded and went back to her arranging. Slowly he closed the bathhouse door and extinguished the fire before he went back inside through the kitchen door. Pausing in the doorway he looked over his shoulder at the yard. In the darkness two little shadowy shapes ran back and forth batting around what looked like a ball. For a moment Yukishiro was tempted to go back outside and investigate and then he decided to hell with it. Whoever they were they had ruined his bath and his back felt as tense as ever. They could take care of themselves till morning. Kissing Yuri on the cheek he walked through the main room and the hallway and into his bedroom falling forward onto the mattress and into sleep. Outside the wind danced in the tree branches and soft giggles drifted in the air and moonlight.