The FURUBA ROUND ROBIN PROJECT 

Chapter Three: Thundering Silence 

by  Jeva
First Posted Online:  

History:  

Thunder rumbled on as Shigure continued to puzzle his way through a particular scene in his newest novel. Normally, all he needed to do for inspiration was listen for sounds of conversations and-or arguments. Now, however, the house was eerily silent, and the storm did little to help with his nerves as he had wanted to have this manuscript ready before Miitchan came to him. He couldn't break tradition.

Now, Shigure always found himself to be a man of ever-lasting patience and, if the case called for it, indifference. That night, though, gave him an unnerved feeling--a foreboding sense of doom. It was a bit silly to think about or dwell on--Thunder and lightning on a night like this is the classic setting for a horror story, after all--but whatever this unthought thought was, it continued to gnaw at his mind.

Silence. In his house, it was usually a good thing--it meant that no one would destroy it because no one was there. He knew Kyou was there, tired out from the storm, of course. That was what made him look concernedly up at the ceiling to the second floor; for no matter how hard he listened, he couldn't hear any noise at all from the cat's room.

He's probably asleep,he thought before looking back to his unfinished work, so there's nothing to worry about.

An especially loud thunder clap made his hand knock over his writing tools. Swearing to himself, the dog retracted his hand and shook it, frowning at his jumpiness. This isn't a horror novel. There's no reason to be jump--

Another thunder clash stole the electricity.

...okay... candles... lamps... check on Kyou upstairs... black-outs happen.

Slowly, he pushed himself up from his seat and groped around, quickly stumbling in the darkness before a flash of light illuminated his position. He then froze and slowly retreated a step as he had somehow completely over-shot the sitting room and ended up in the kitchen. In fact, he had nearly walked right into a hazardly placed knife sitting on the counter in the doorway. He laughed a little, hesitantly stepping back out of the kitchen after putting the knife in a safer position.

Maybe Kyou left it by accident after Tohru left?

Still chuckling to himself, he turned to the laundry room, where the emergency supplies were kept. He would pause whenever he wasn't sure of his path and wait for another flash of lightning to lead him on. By doing it this way, Shigure managed to avoid tripping over the table, running into a wall, stepping on the laundry basket, and hitting his head on the over-head cabinets. These incidents rattled him slightly, but only until he pulled out a latern and lit it.

With the return of his sight, reasoning and sensibility followed. Now. Walking around like that could have been dangerous if you weren't careful. Now that the obstacle of blindness is out of the way...

He started toward and then up the stairs. To cheer himself up slightly, he hummed a little as he headed toward Kyou's room. The dog paused at the door, about to enter, when he heard a noise.

Listening carefully, he realized it was coming from Tohru's room.

Okay... maybe... Kyou's awake?he thought slowly as he carefully made his way toward the room. It hardly occurred to him right then that he hadn't heard any noise until that moment. So, he continued on.

"Kyou-kun!" he called with his cheerful voice that he knew annoyed the cat so. Still, he wasn't exactly feeling as cheerful as he sounded. In fact, the continuing storm outside was causing his already tested nerves to slowly wear thin again.

Then a sound and muffled swear coming from Tohru's room made Shigure smile and relax. The dog then giddily went over to the door to the room and slid it open to reveal the very exhausted and now-embarrassed cat standing near a shelf.

"Oi, oi!" said Shigure cheerfully. "Why's Kyou-kun in Tohru-chan's room?"

The orange-haired teenager manage a scowl. "Don't... call her... '-chan.'"

The writer smiled innocently. "At least I'm not the one looking around her room!" he stated, allowing himself to have fun with the weakened Kyou. There was now less of a chance that Kyou would actually break his house even though the boy could sometimes find enough strength for it.

"Shut up," muttered the cat distractedly. "I was in the... rat's room too... so don't... think that I was..."

Shigure blinked as the teen leaned tiredly against the wall. "Mou... you should be resting, anyway. Tohru-kun will worry if she hears about this, you know."

Kyou, in a rare moment of non-rebellion, merely replied, "The rain should... stop soon. I... was just looking... for an umbrella--"

Again, the dog blinked. "You could have asked me. I have one, but why are you planning on leaving so soon? While it's still raining, no less."

And what happened to your umbrella?

"Jeez," snapped the cat, irritated, "can't you mind... your own business for once?" He then pushed away from the wall and walked passed the novelist. "Where's the... umbrella?"

"Downstairs, but--"

/Thunk, thunk, thunk!/

"Argh! Damn it!"

Shigure finished as if nothing had happened, "We're in the middle of a black-out and you should be careful with the stairs."

******

Tap tap tappity click tappity tap tap click tappity click tap tap tap tappity click tappity...

This isn't right... it's just something esle... not a ghost or anything...Yuki thought to himself as he stared in the direction of the computer. He could hear the sounds of someone typing, but because of the lights going out, his sight was limited to the barely glowing light coming from the computer screen. But why would someone be there, anyway? He was locked in alone... right?

Tappity click tap tap tappity.

This is stupid,the rat thought, disgusted with himself. Just because I'm locked in a basement that everyone calls 'the dungeon' where someone had died... and its air conditioning unit could freeze a person alive... and the lights went out... none of that means I should start claiming it's a ghost.

...even though... there's no one in here with me...

With a feeling of reined in uncertainty and fear, the teen stood up and cautiously made his way to the bottom of the steps before continuing toward the computer. As he got closer to the machine, the typing seemed to become louder.

TAPPITY TAP TAPPITY TAPPITY CLICK TAP--

The sudden /BEEP/ interrupting the sounds of typing made Yuki jump and shook him from his attempts to keep himself calm. Frozen in his position a few steps away from the computer, the boy then took to the time to reorientate himself as he became unnerved at the sudden silence--

Silence. The typing had stopped.

Okay,Yuki thought shakily to himself as he hesitantly continued toward the computer, Let's just... see what's on the computer...

As he began to near the moniter, however, the ever-growing fear of what was in the silent darkness besides himself that had been causing the previous noise made him pause with every step he took. His hesitancy made it take seemingly hours until he finally reached the desk where the computer's moniter sat. As he slowly rounded the desk to see the computer's screen, the teenager began to doubt if he really wanted to see if the typing had just been his imagination or not.

Then, finally, he was standing before the computer screen, but he could only stare at the message that was done in a fashion where slash lines were positioned to make each letter on the screen.

/YOU SHALL PAY/

For the second time that day, Yuki Souma rushed to the door, stumbling up the stairs before hitting his fist against the door. "Let me out! Let me out! This is insane! Let me OUT!"

******

"You'll be careful, Kyou-kun?"

The teenager grumbled, "Yeah, yeah. Since when did you care? Letting me fall down the stairs..."

The dog made no reply to that, though his smile became just a bit wilted. It had been half an hour since that incident, and Kyou was still sore from the fall--never mind how TIRED he was. Luckily, the storm was almost weathered out, and he was slowly regaining energy. Which was the reason why he was going to Tohru's work to pick her up... and maybe needle the rat some... heh.He needed to get out of there, anyway.

Contrary to most beliefs, Kyou hated sleeping away the day when it rained.

So he headed off, using Shigure's umbrella while his cousin saw him off as if he were worried about the boy's health. Honestly, Kyou wouldn't be surprised if the idiot was just getting ideas for his damned stories. Stupid mutt never learns,he thought darkly to himself as he started through the woods.

Shigure had been puzzled as to why the cat seemed so intent on getting to Tohru so early. Even Kyou couldn't really answer that riddle himself. Despite it still raining and all, he just had felt a need to be there. Maybe it was only because of how Tohru had behaved before she left. He didn't want her worrying over him, so what better way to prove that than proving to her that he was all right and capable of handling himself when he was like this?

...that, or he was making an attempt to do something stupid.

He shook those thoughts out of his mind, not alllowing himself to think thing like that. Just pick up Tohru, get the rat, and leave. That's it. Nothing more than that.

With that in mind, the cat tried not to think of anything. He was too tired to deal with thinking, and it helped speed up his journey as he arrived at Tohru's work place in what seemed to be no time. When he entered the building, he han't counted on seeing Momiji rushing back and forth across the room while elder women smiled at the boy's progress.

Kyou blinked before realizing Tohru wasn't there. "Oi."

The rabbit seemed to freeze at this before he turned to his older cousin, positively beaming. "Ah! Kyou! What are you doing here during the rain?" he asked, seemingly innocent. Kyou knew better.

He frowned slightly, his shoulders tensing as the women watched him and murmured things. He pushed any thought of what they were saying out of his mind and gave Momiji a barely-hidden annoyed look. "What are you doing? Isn't that Tohru's job? Where is Tohru? It's almost time to go home."

The blond's eyes and expression saddened a bit. "Tohru fell earlier and--"

Kyou was immediately giving the boy a hard noogie, feeling more worried than he thought he should about what happened to Tohru. "Don't give me that look when you say things like that! Just say what happened!"

"WAAAAH! Kyou's hurting me!"

"I am not!"

It seemed as if the women were more inclided to believe the smaller boy. It was lucky, then, that someone decided to ask, "K-Kyou-kun? What are you...?"

Both Momiji and Kyou looked over to see Tohru standing outside the small ring of cleaning women. The teenaged girl's face went red when all attention fell onto her. "That is... I mean..." She nervously poked her forefingers together, looking down.

"Ah! To-ru!" Momiji cried, breaking free from his cousin's hold and hurrying up to the girl's side, concerned. "You shouldn't be wandering around! You did hit your head--"

Tohru smiled disarmingly, which was very unfair in Kyou's opinion. She always managed to convince them of SOMETHING when she did that. He was proven right with her saying, "No need to worry, Momiji-kun. My head feels a lot better. Sorry to make you do my work--"

"No trouble!" chirped the rabbit.

Tohru didn't even seem to notice Kyou again until he stood straight and gave her a withering look accompanied with a frown. The girl sweated slightly at the expression, one usually reserved for when Kyou knew she was doing something she said she wouldn't. "Ah... Kyou-kun... why are you here so late?" she asked, nervous as to what she had done to gain that look.

The orange-haired teen shook his head and sighed. "It's almost time to go home," he answered reluctantly, "so I came to walk you home."

Tohru blinked. "Oh... eh... what about Yuki?"

Prefer to leave him,Kyou thought to himself before sighing and answering aloud, "Fine. We'll get the rat, too. Where is he?"

The girl blinked at him again. "Eh... I don't really..."

Great..."You don't KNOW?"

She started at the sudden snap. "Ah! I'm sorry!" she quickly said but stopped when Kyou sighed again.

Momiji then said, irritated with his cousin, "You shouldn't get mad at To-ru! It's not her fault Auntie Saori didn't tell her!"

Kyou rolled his eyes. "Fine. Fine. Whatever. Where's this Auntie person?"

"Is someone looking for me?" a painfully cheerful, syrupy voice said from behind Kyou, who could feel himself actually bristle at the sound. Warely, he turned to see the woman known as Auntie Saori, who smiled warmly at him like he was her favorite nephew even if he had no idea who she was. "Oh! You're looking for that sweet boy who just got hired, am I right? Our new dungeon master?"

The woman laughed at her own joke. What the hell is this woman on?

"Come on, follow me, dears," said the woman. "It's time to unlock the door now, then!"

She started off, leaving the three of them watching her uncertainly. Momiji then said brightly, as if they hadn't just ran into an overly sweet woman who had a weird sense of humor, "You two go on! I'll finish To-ru's work!"

"Ah!" Tohru shouted, alarmed at the act of kindness. "No no no! I can stay here and--eh? Kyou-kun?"

Kyou had taken her by the arm and was now following the annoying Auntie Saori. "Let Momiji do it. You're insulting him by objecting against his offer, so stop and let's go."

Tohru blinked. "Eh? Am I... really?" she asked, a sad tone entering her voice, before Kyou froze.

Great. Foot In Mouth again... always manage to say somthing that hers her,he thought to himself before turning to the girl, who was beginning to look slightly ashamed. "Look... I know you don't think people should have to take care of your responsibilities," he said carefully, noit wanting to eat his other foot, "but when Momiji offers to do it, it's not something you should say anything about. Otherwise, he'll be hurt and think that you don't want him to help or something."

It didn't seem to help any as Tohru just started to look mournful. As if she killed a pet or lost a friend. "...sorry," she said quietly, looking back to Momiji, who was now being cheered on by the women.

"Tohru," Kyou said, now hesitant about how he should mend the situation. "I--"

"Dearies! You're falling behind!" the voice of Auntie Saori called, making the orange-haired teenager wince and look over to the smiling woman.

He then looked back to Tohru, who had a small smile on her face. "Thank you... for being honest and telling me that. I guess... all people need help, right?"

Kyou didn't reply and just watched her as she then looked to Auntie Saori. "Sorry! We're coming!" she called before leading the way, pulling the cat along as he had forgotten to release her arm.

******

...well, he was feeling a lot better compared to earlier.

Yuki stared at the door, as if hoping it would open. Occassionally, however, his gaze would turn toward the computer and then around the room. It was still very dark, but it made him feel better that he was always on the look-out.

It was freezing, and he had his knees drawn up to his chest in a pitiful attempt to keep warm. Everything was numb--he couldn't even feel his fingers and had to keep flexing them to keep them from stiffening. He wamted to keep his hands usuable. He was going to murder the woman who had locked him in there. Then, the dungeon would be known for TWO murdered employees--

Get a grip, Souma. It's the cold, darkness, and that message getting to you. Maybe it's all a rpank? That security guard just turned up the air conditioner and he probably turned out the lights--

He couldn't reason out who had typed the message, though. He had been ALONE, damn it!

So he sat there, shivering and listening for any other noise not created from himself. During that silence was when he heard it. Footsteps... across the room? And--

He started. Whoever typed the message is trying to get out!

Panic about a person being in there with him rose until he carefully stood and went to the door, where it sounded like the person was trying to get out. He's probably the person who murdered Hiroga-san... I CAN'T LET HIM GET OUT!

He rushed up the stairs just in time to hear the door opening.

"Final--"

WHACK! He hit the person across the jaw.

"Aagh!" cried the person's voice. "What the hell was THAT for!"

Wait... Kyou?the reasonable side of Yuki's mind questioned while the other side cheered, I hit him! I got the murderer!

"Why you--!" growled what sounded like Kyou's voice just as Yuki dodged a punch to the head. As he twisted away from the fist, the rat then kicked out and hit the person in the gut. The person recovered but not enough as he tried to get closer to Yuki. The nearly-frozen boy side-stepped, barely managing with the small space, and elbowed the person in their back at the same time his foot caught the other's.

THUNK, THUNK, THUNKTHUNK. THUNK--THUD!

"Ah! Kyou-kun! Are you all right?"

That's Honda-san...Yuki's mind caught up with his actions. And that WAS--

A faint sound came from the bottom of the stairs. It sounded suspiciously like "damn rat."

"H-Honda-san?" the highly unsettled student council president stammered hopefully.

"Yuki-kun?" the girl's voice responded from the doorway, which was now lighted by a flashlight. "Are you all right?"

"B-better n-now, th-thanks." His teeth were chattering so bad that every word came out stuttered and shaking.

"Oi! Why the hell did you do that?" demanded Kyou from the bottom of the stairs. "I could have broken my neck!"

Sorry it didn't,groused Yuki mentally.

"Ah! I'm sorry that I didn't know the lights were out." That voice... he was going to KILL Auntie Saori. "You're all right, though--you're freezing to death! How about we--"

"Hey, Yuki." The sudden addressing from down the stairs just as Tohru was going to join in on the worrying, made the three of them turn to look down. The light fell onto Kyou, and with a scream of shock, the flashlight fell from Auntie Saori's hand. Yuki slowly reached out for Tohru and felt that she was stiff with fright. Kyou dumbly stated, "I'm guessing this wasn't here before then..."

End of Chapter 3
Return to Chapter 2  
Continued on Chapter 4 

I did both challenges, though the tender moment was less tender thanI would have liked and the fighting scene was short lived (poor Kyou."). Oh, and an explanation for Yuki's actions: dark, cold, and very scaed makes people think weird things. He thought that someone was in the room trying to get out when it was someone OUTside of the room trying to get IN (again, poor Kyou ."). Anyway...

WHEE! spins in chair Oh, ADRIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! YOUR TURN! MWAHAHAHA!

I want the genre to be Melo-dramatic (lots of over-dramatic sequences!) and I want a person from a different anime to appear in two different sceens. ." Have fun! .!

Jeva