Haunted - Chapter 1
Title: Haunted
Author: phoenix_zeal
Pairing: Akame, HayaRyu
Rating: R
Genre: Angst, Romance, Ghost Story
Disclaimer: I do not make any profit from this.
Beta: Myself
Summary: It had been a couple of years since Jin and Kazuya met. The mansion was no longer haunted and their relationship seemed strong. Then they got an opportunity to live in a Scottish castle for awhile. Everything seemed to be normal at first but then odd things began to happen.
Warnings: Mentions of suicide [Non-descriptive]
Notes: Sequel to Reflections. When Jin and Kazuya are around the British characters they're speaking English unless specified otherwise. They speak Japanese when they're alone.
Prologue
When Jin woke up, Kazuya was sitting up in bed. He looked around with an almost frightened expression on his face.
“Baby, what’s the matter?” Jin asked, his voice hoarse from the irregular sleep.
Tatsuya had once said to them that they seemed like one of those sickeningly sweet couples that would give each other ridiculous nicknames. Since then they always called each other things like ‘baby’ and ‘pumpkin’ when Tatsuya was around. Sometimes it slipped out even when they were alone.
“Didn’t we fall asleep in the other bedroom?” Kazuya asked, bewildered. “I was so sure about it.”
“You did fall asleep there. I fell asleep while making this bed look slept in and Ryu came here to talk to me.”
“What did he want to talk about?”
“Don’t you just automatically know?” Jin wondered.
“Not when he’s in complete control and I’m asleep”, Kazuya said. “Shouldn’t you know?”
“I wasn’t aware that Hayato has ever used my body while I’m asleep.” Jin gave Kazuya a suspicious look.
“It’s only happened a few times”, Kazuya said and lay down, relaxing. “When you were on a diet and he was hungry so he ate during the night.”
“So that’s why I had such a difficult time losing weight. I had to lose the weight for work, you know, so why didn’t you stop him or tell me?”
“I don’t know, I just don’t like when you become too thin.”
Jin groaned and pulled the covers over his head. It really wasn’t easy to have someone else living in his body. Then he realised that Kazuya had been keeping secrets from him. Not only hadn’t Kazuya told him about the fact that Hayato sometimes took over his body while he slept, but the medium also hadn’t told him why the diet wasn’t working. Was Kazuya keeping more secrets from him?
His thoughts were interrupted when Kazuya pulled the covers back down from his head to kiss him. They hadn’t had a chance to be intimate the previous day, not counting when Ryu had snuggled close to Jin during the night. Jin pulled Kazuya closer and rolled on top of him. All thoughts about secrets and the troubling things that Ryu had said to him during the night disappeared from Jin’s mind.
“We should get out of bed”, Kazuya mumbled in between kisses but he didn’t sound very convincing.
“Sure, we should”, Jin agreed but he continued kissing Kazuya and slipped his hands under the other’s t-shirt.
“I’m serious; we haven’t eaten anything since the horrible airplane food. Besides, this trip isn’t supposed to be all about pleasure.”
“Shower before breakfast?”
“You’re hopeless”, Kazuya said but he laughed as he pushed Jin off of him. “Fine, let’s shower.”
“I blame it all on Hayato”, Jin said as he bounced up from the bed. “It’s all he ever thinks about.”
“So you didn’t think about it before Hayato was awoken?” Kazuya raised an eyebrow at Jin.
“As I recall, you were the one getting the sex dreams while I was too scared to even consider having sex with you.”
Jin grinned and Kazuya narrowed his eyes, chasing the singer to the bathroom.
It took about an hour for them to get ready. When they finally stepped out into the corridor it was already past noon. Breakfast was probably already over but they still made their way to the dining hall, hoping that they could at least get lunch.
“Ah, there you boys are”, Harriet said with a cheerful smile as they stepped into the dining hall.
It looked a bit like something out of a movie with richly patterned tapestries on the wall and dark, sturdy furniture. There were just a few other guests there and they seemed to have no interest in Jin which he was thankful for. If it weren’t for Alice, he probably could have been completely undisturbed during their stay at the castle.
“I apologise for sleeping so long”, Kazuya said. “I should not treat this as a vacation.”
“Nonsense”, Harriet said with a dismissive hand gesture. “I’m afraid that the breakfast buffet is already gone, but if you take a look at the menu you might find something you wish to eat. If not you can tell me and I’ll tell the cook to make some breakfast food for you.”
“I’m sure that it’ll be fine, thank you”, Jin said with a grateful smile.
“Well, just sit down wherever you like and call for me once you’ve decided.” Harriet gave them another warm smile before moving off to tidy up - something that seemed unnecessary as the tables looked like they were newly polished.
“Do you think that she’s just doing that to get away from doing real work?” Jin asked, not bothering to lower his voice as he was speaking Japanese again.
“Shut up”, Kazuya said and they sat down at a table by one of the large windows.
In the daylight they could see more of the green hills that surrounded the castle. It was breathtaking and both of them almost forgot about the menus as they looked out through the window. Jin was reminded when his stomach gurgled and because of Hayato’s whining inside of his head. He picked up a menu and began looking through it, Kazuya following his example.
“All of this food is so British”, Jin said with a frown as he saw another lunch option with beans in it.
Kazuya looked at him with an expression that said ‘duh’. “What did you expect? Honey, it might have escaped your notice but we’re in the United Kingdom.”
“I know that, honey, but honestly, couldn’t they have more options for foreigners?”
“Jin, I’ve seen you eat some really weird stuff during our time together so I doubt that beans and sausages will kill you.”
“I suppose you’re right”, Jin said. “Actually, you should probably be the one to complain considering how picky you can be.”
“I’m not picky, tomatoes and raisins are just creepy”, Kazuya said, frowning.
“You communicate with ghosts for a living.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Jin just shook his head and sighed, going back to perusing the menu for something that wouldn’t upset his stomach. He wasn’t going to let his vacation be ruined by eating too much beans. If he was lucky, Kazuya would be done with his job pretty quickly. At least the medium hadn’t mentioned anything about sensing real ghosts around so the trip might turn out to be really peaceful - as peaceful as it could be with Hayato bothering him constantly.
It had taken them quite awhile to decide what to eat but once they’d told Harriet their orders, they got the food pretty quickly. Starving as they were, they ate it without speaking and Jin had to admit that the food was really good.
“I guess that you’ll be inspecting the haunting now”, Jin said when they’d finished eating. “I think that I’ll head back to our room.”
“You’re not coming with me?” Kazuya asked, surprised. “I thought that you wanted to take the tour with me.”
“You know how I feel about ghosts.”
“Well, this time the haunting isn’t real”, Kazuya said. “We’ll probably get to see most of the castle because they should have creepy effects installed in most rooms.”
“I don’t know”, Jin mumbled; he’d probably get scared even if he knew that it wasn’t real and then he’d be embarrassed.
“Please, I promise I won’t make fun of you if you get scared”, Kazuya said and placed a hand over Jin’s where it rested on the table.
“Fine, but if you laugh at me I will punish you.”
Before Kazuya had a chance to reply, Alice came storming into the dining hall and he quickly pulled his hand away from Jin’s.
“I’ve told you not to do that when there are guests here”, Harriet chided Alice while she cleared off a table that a couple of guests had just left. “You’ll give someone a heart attack, walk calmly.”
“I thought that we wanted to scare the guests”, Alice said but she smiled apologetically. “Sorry, mum.”
Harriet muttered something about a ‘wild child’ and ‘completely hopeless’ before she walked to the kitchen. Alice watched her with a grin and then turned to look at Jin and Kazuya, hesitantly approaching them.
“Hello”, she said and seemed shyer than she had been the previous day. “Am I bothering you?”
“Not at all”, Kazuya said with a kind smile while Jin matched it with a more strained one of his own.
It was strange because at the beginning of their relationship Kazuya had been the more reserved one. Of course that was partially because of his powers and the way they affected him. Over the years as he’d learnt to control his powers he’d also become more confident and friendly. Meanwhile, Jin had become a bit more introverted; having to keep his relationship with Kazuya a secret was taking its toll on him. He’d never liked having to act like someone he wasn’t in public and it felt like it was getting worse. Perhaps it was because of Hayato’s influence on him - Hayato wasn’t used to it the same way that Jin was.
“I wanted to apologise for my behaviour yesterday”, Alice said, playing with her sleeve. “I probably behaved a bit inappropriate but I’d only prepared to meet one of the people I admire from Japan, and even that was really exciting. It was a bit of a shock to see you as well”, she said to Jin. “I’ve loved your music for years and seeing you was like a dream come true. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay”, Jin said and now his smile wasn’t strained anymore. “I understand. I’d probably make a complete fool out of myself if one of the people I admire suddenly appeared in front of me.”
“Brilliant”, Alice said, beaming. “I mean, I practically couldn’t sleep thinking about how creepy I behaved. But, if possible, could I get autographs and photos of the both of you?”
“Of course, that is fine”, Kazuya said and then turned to Jin. “It is fine, right?”
“Yeah, just no creepy stalker photos while we’re not aware”, Jin said with a teasing smile and suddenly Alice looked a bit like she was going to faint.
“Right. Well, I should probably help mum with things”, she said. “Have you finished eating?”
Jin and Kazuya said that they had and Alice grabbed their plates. It looked a bit like she was going to drop them and Kazuya was ready to help her, but then she managed to get a better grip and went to the kitchen.
“If she caught us kissing she would probably faint for real”, Jin said as he watched her leave.
“Do you think she’s one of those fans?” Kazuya asked. “Maybe she’ll place our forks in her mouth and call it indirect kisses.”
“I hope not.” Jin felt a bit disgusted by that thought. “I guess we should be careful with what we say even in Japanese while she’s close enough to hear, perhaps she understands more than we think.”
“You’re the one talking about the two of us kissing. What if she heard?”
“No one is going to believe her even if she does tell her friends on the internet. They’ll think that she’s making it up to get attention.”
“She’ll certainly get attention if she posts pictures of the two of us”, Kazuya said. “Better not have too much body contact if she wants us to pose together.”
Jin agreed and they fell silent for awhile, looking at the view. After a moment Jin wondered if they were supposed to go somewhere. Then James walked into the dining hall, smiling widely at them.
“I suppose there’s no use in waiting”, he said. “Shall I give you the tour and show you the haunting of the castle?”
“That sounds good”, Kazuya said and got up from his seat. “I hope that I can be of use. I am more used to real ghosts and I don’t have experience in fake ghosts.”
“As long as you have a few suggestions for how to make it more realistic it’ll be fine”, James said and patted Kazuya’s shoulder. “I’m mostly doing this for Alice anyway, she’s been a bit down lately and I thought this would cheer her up. Where is she by the way? I thought that she’d be here, practically all over you.”
“She’s in the kitchen”, Jin said. “I was nice to her and I think it almost made her faint.”
James chuckled and patted Jin’s shoulder as well. “I think we better get her, I don’t want her to miss out on opportunities to spend time with you when that’s mainly why I invited you here. Honestly I’ve been worried about how gloomy she’s been ever since we moved here.”
“Really? She seems very happy to me”, Kazuya said.
“Of course she is with the both of you here. We used to live in a small house when Alice was younger but then I managed to buy this castle for really cheap. A few years ago we finished renovating the castle to make it into a hotel and we decided to move here ourselves. That was when Alice became a lot quieter and less cheerful than usual. I guess she might miss having her friends close and she’s missing out on shopping everyday or whatever young girls do these days.”
James shrugged and the three of them walked to the kitchen together, Jin and Kazuya following a bit behind the Scottish man. Kazuya had a troubled expression on his face.
“Are you worried about something?” Jin asked quietly.
“It’s a bit strange how Alice changed when they moved to the castle”, Kazuya replied.
“Perhaps she’s been possessed by a past life.”
“Jin, I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I”, Jin said. “It could happen, couldn’t it?”
“As far as I know, our situation is pretty unique”, Kazuya said. “People often have dreams about their past lives or memories from them; they don’t have their past lives living inside of them.”
“I guess Hayato and Ryu were just too clueless to understand they’re not supposed to do that. Seriously, though, she’s probably just sad because of the reasons he told us. Moving can be pretty upsetting, especially the first time. You can’t feel anything supernatural going on, can you?”
“No, I can’t sense anything, which is pretty weird in the first place.”
They had to end their conversation as they’d already reached the kitchen awhile ago and Alice had finished washing some dishes. It was probably rude to have conversations in Japanese while being around the McGregors.
“Are you lads ready to go?” James asked.
“Yes, sorry”, Kazuya said. “Lead the way.”
James and Alice showed them around, the girl talking so fast that they could barely understand her. Several times Kazuya had to ask her to repeat something. She had been the one to decide most things about what the haunting should be like. For the most part it was standard things like creepy noises that would be played in the middle of the night in the hotel rooms. Kazuya had been right about the sounds of a ghost horse and carriage.
Jin wasn’t spooked like he’d feared that he would be. He was warned before the sounds played and he thought that it was tame compared to what he’d experienced in the mansion. Kazuya was the one making the suggestions for how to make it scarier because Jin didn’t want to get involved in that. He couldn’t understand why people would want to get scared when they were on a holiday.
Honestly Jin wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation about the fake ghosts; instead he looked around and admired how beautiful the castle was. That was until they’d almost reached the end of the tour at the top floor. This was where the McGregors personal rooms were located. They were just going to pass through to reach the stairs to the tallest tower; James wanted to show them the view.
In the middle of the corridor stood a little girl, staring at them with dark eyes. She was very pale and blonde and Jin wondered if she was the daughter of a guest. He noticed that she was wearing an old-fashioned nightgown and was holding a teddy bear tightly in her arms. Normally he loved children but this girl gave him the creeps and he couldn’t understand why. Then he noticed that he could actually see through her. He stopped walking and when Kazuya bumped into him the little girl disappeared.
“Wow, how did you do that?” Jin asked and then realised that James and Alice were looking at him strangely.
“Do what?” James asked.
“That little girl in the middle of the corridor”, Jin said, certain that they were just messing with him to make him scared - he wasn’t going to fall for it. “Was she some sort of projection?”
“Jin, I don’t think that was a part of the fake haunting”, Kazuya said carefully.
Jin paled and he felt his knees go weak. “Oh no, not again.”
---
A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I had a fever for about three or four days and then I was busy with other stuff. I wanted to look through this chapter twice before posting it but since I got delayed, I've only looked through it once. I apologise for any remaining mistakes.
I forgot to tell you when posting the prologue, this fic is six chapters long + the prologue and an epilogue.
Author: phoenix_zeal
Pairing: Akame, HayaRyu
Rating: R
Genre: Angst, Romance, Ghost Story
Disclaimer: I do not make any profit from this.
Beta: Myself
Summary: It had been a couple of years since Jin and Kazuya met. The mansion was no longer haunted and their relationship seemed strong. Then they got an opportunity to live in a Scottish castle for awhile. Everything seemed to be normal at first but then odd things began to happen.
Warnings: Mentions of suicide [Non-descriptive]
Notes: Sequel to Reflections. When Jin and Kazuya are around the British characters they're speaking English unless specified otherwise. They speak Japanese when they're alone.
Prologue
When Jin woke up, Kazuya was sitting up in bed. He looked around with an almost frightened expression on his face.
“Baby, what’s the matter?” Jin asked, his voice hoarse from the irregular sleep.
Tatsuya had once said to them that they seemed like one of those sickeningly sweet couples that would give each other ridiculous nicknames. Since then they always called each other things like ‘baby’ and ‘pumpkin’ when Tatsuya was around. Sometimes it slipped out even when they were alone.
“Didn’t we fall asleep in the other bedroom?” Kazuya asked, bewildered. “I was so sure about it.”
“You did fall asleep there. I fell asleep while making this bed look slept in and Ryu came here to talk to me.”
“What did he want to talk about?”
“Don’t you just automatically know?” Jin wondered.
“Not when he’s in complete control and I’m asleep”, Kazuya said. “Shouldn’t you know?”
“I wasn’t aware that Hayato has ever used my body while I’m asleep.” Jin gave Kazuya a suspicious look.
“It’s only happened a few times”, Kazuya said and lay down, relaxing. “When you were on a diet and he was hungry so he ate during the night.”
“So that’s why I had such a difficult time losing weight. I had to lose the weight for work, you know, so why didn’t you stop him or tell me?”
“I don’t know, I just don’t like when you become too thin.”
Jin groaned and pulled the covers over his head. It really wasn’t easy to have someone else living in his body. Then he realised that Kazuya had been keeping secrets from him. Not only hadn’t Kazuya told him about the fact that Hayato sometimes took over his body while he slept, but the medium also hadn’t told him why the diet wasn’t working. Was Kazuya keeping more secrets from him?
His thoughts were interrupted when Kazuya pulled the covers back down from his head to kiss him. They hadn’t had a chance to be intimate the previous day, not counting when Ryu had snuggled close to Jin during the night. Jin pulled Kazuya closer and rolled on top of him. All thoughts about secrets and the troubling things that Ryu had said to him during the night disappeared from Jin’s mind.
“We should get out of bed”, Kazuya mumbled in between kisses but he didn’t sound very convincing.
“Sure, we should”, Jin agreed but he continued kissing Kazuya and slipped his hands under the other’s t-shirt.
“I’m serious; we haven’t eaten anything since the horrible airplane food. Besides, this trip isn’t supposed to be all about pleasure.”
“Shower before breakfast?”
“You’re hopeless”, Kazuya said but he laughed as he pushed Jin off of him. “Fine, let’s shower.”
“I blame it all on Hayato”, Jin said as he bounced up from the bed. “It’s all he ever thinks about.”
“So you didn’t think about it before Hayato was awoken?” Kazuya raised an eyebrow at Jin.
“As I recall, you were the one getting the sex dreams while I was too scared to even consider having sex with you.”
Jin grinned and Kazuya narrowed his eyes, chasing the singer to the bathroom.
It took about an hour for them to get ready. When they finally stepped out into the corridor it was already past noon. Breakfast was probably already over but they still made their way to the dining hall, hoping that they could at least get lunch.
“Ah, there you boys are”, Harriet said with a cheerful smile as they stepped into the dining hall.
It looked a bit like something out of a movie with richly patterned tapestries on the wall and dark, sturdy furniture. There were just a few other guests there and they seemed to have no interest in Jin which he was thankful for. If it weren’t for Alice, he probably could have been completely undisturbed during their stay at the castle.
“I apologise for sleeping so long”, Kazuya said. “I should not treat this as a vacation.”
“Nonsense”, Harriet said with a dismissive hand gesture. “I’m afraid that the breakfast buffet is already gone, but if you take a look at the menu you might find something you wish to eat. If not you can tell me and I’ll tell the cook to make some breakfast food for you.”
“I’m sure that it’ll be fine, thank you”, Jin said with a grateful smile.
“Well, just sit down wherever you like and call for me once you’ve decided.” Harriet gave them another warm smile before moving off to tidy up - something that seemed unnecessary as the tables looked like they were newly polished.
“Do you think that she’s just doing that to get away from doing real work?” Jin asked, not bothering to lower his voice as he was speaking Japanese again.
“Shut up”, Kazuya said and they sat down at a table by one of the large windows.
In the daylight they could see more of the green hills that surrounded the castle. It was breathtaking and both of them almost forgot about the menus as they looked out through the window. Jin was reminded when his stomach gurgled and because of Hayato’s whining inside of his head. He picked up a menu and began looking through it, Kazuya following his example.
“All of this food is so British”, Jin said with a frown as he saw another lunch option with beans in it.
Kazuya looked at him with an expression that said ‘duh’. “What did you expect? Honey, it might have escaped your notice but we’re in the United Kingdom.”
“I know that, honey, but honestly, couldn’t they have more options for foreigners?”
“Jin, I’ve seen you eat some really weird stuff during our time together so I doubt that beans and sausages will kill you.”
“I suppose you’re right”, Jin said. “Actually, you should probably be the one to complain considering how picky you can be.”
“I’m not picky, tomatoes and raisins are just creepy”, Kazuya said, frowning.
“You communicate with ghosts for a living.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Jin just shook his head and sighed, going back to perusing the menu for something that wouldn’t upset his stomach. He wasn’t going to let his vacation be ruined by eating too much beans. If he was lucky, Kazuya would be done with his job pretty quickly. At least the medium hadn’t mentioned anything about sensing real ghosts around so the trip might turn out to be really peaceful - as peaceful as it could be with Hayato bothering him constantly.
It had taken them quite awhile to decide what to eat but once they’d told Harriet their orders, they got the food pretty quickly. Starving as they were, they ate it without speaking and Jin had to admit that the food was really good.
“I guess that you’ll be inspecting the haunting now”, Jin said when they’d finished eating. “I think that I’ll head back to our room.”
“You’re not coming with me?” Kazuya asked, surprised. “I thought that you wanted to take the tour with me.”
“You know how I feel about ghosts.”
“Well, this time the haunting isn’t real”, Kazuya said. “We’ll probably get to see most of the castle because they should have creepy effects installed in most rooms.”
“I don’t know”, Jin mumbled; he’d probably get scared even if he knew that it wasn’t real and then he’d be embarrassed.
“Please, I promise I won’t make fun of you if you get scared”, Kazuya said and placed a hand over Jin’s where it rested on the table.
“Fine, but if you laugh at me I will punish you.”
Before Kazuya had a chance to reply, Alice came storming into the dining hall and he quickly pulled his hand away from Jin’s.
“I’ve told you not to do that when there are guests here”, Harriet chided Alice while she cleared off a table that a couple of guests had just left. “You’ll give someone a heart attack, walk calmly.”
“I thought that we wanted to scare the guests”, Alice said but she smiled apologetically. “Sorry, mum.”
Harriet muttered something about a ‘wild child’ and ‘completely hopeless’ before she walked to the kitchen. Alice watched her with a grin and then turned to look at Jin and Kazuya, hesitantly approaching them.
“Hello”, she said and seemed shyer than she had been the previous day. “Am I bothering you?”
“Not at all”, Kazuya said with a kind smile while Jin matched it with a more strained one of his own.
It was strange because at the beginning of their relationship Kazuya had been the more reserved one. Of course that was partially because of his powers and the way they affected him. Over the years as he’d learnt to control his powers he’d also become more confident and friendly. Meanwhile, Jin had become a bit more introverted; having to keep his relationship with Kazuya a secret was taking its toll on him. He’d never liked having to act like someone he wasn’t in public and it felt like it was getting worse. Perhaps it was because of Hayato’s influence on him - Hayato wasn’t used to it the same way that Jin was.
“I wanted to apologise for my behaviour yesterday”, Alice said, playing with her sleeve. “I probably behaved a bit inappropriate but I’d only prepared to meet one of the people I admire from Japan, and even that was really exciting. It was a bit of a shock to see you as well”, she said to Jin. “I’ve loved your music for years and seeing you was like a dream come true. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay”, Jin said and now his smile wasn’t strained anymore. “I understand. I’d probably make a complete fool out of myself if one of the people I admire suddenly appeared in front of me.”
“Brilliant”, Alice said, beaming. “I mean, I practically couldn’t sleep thinking about how creepy I behaved. But, if possible, could I get autographs and photos of the both of you?”
“Of course, that is fine”, Kazuya said and then turned to Jin. “It is fine, right?”
“Yeah, just no creepy stalker photos while we’re not aware”, Jin said with a teasing smile and suddenly Alice looked a bit like she was going to faint.
“Right. Well, I should probably help mum with things”, she said. “Have you finished eating?”
Jin and Kazuya said that they had and Alice grabbed their plates. It looked a bit like she was going to drop them and Kazuya was ready to help her, but then she managed to get a better grip and went to the kitchen.
“If she caught us kissing she would probably faint for real”, Jin said as he watched her leave.
“Do you think she’s one of those fans?” Kazuya asked. “Maybe she’ll place our forks in her mouth and call it indirect kisses.”
“I hope not.” Jin felt a bit disgusted by that thought. “I guess we should be careful with what we say even in Japanese while she’s close enough to hear, perhaps she understands more than we think.”
“You’re the one talking about the two of us kissing. What if she heard?”
“No one is going to believe her even if she does tell her friends on the internet. They’ll think that she’s making it up to get attention.”
“She’ll certainly get attention if she posts pictures of the two of us”, Kazuya said. “Better not have too much body contact if she wants us to pose together.”
Jin agreed and they fell silent for awhile, looking at the view. After a moment Jin wondered if they were supposed to go somewhere. Then James walked into the dining hall, smiling widely at them.
“I suppose there’s no use in waiting”, he said. “Shall I give you the tour and show you the haunting of the castle?”
“That sounds good”, Kazuya said and got up from his seat. “I hope that I can be of use. I am more used to real ghosts and I don’t have experience in fake ghosts.”
“As long as you have a few suggestions for how to make it more realistic it’ll be fine”, James said and patted Kazuya’s shoulder. “I’m mostly doing this for Alice anyway, she’s been a bit down lately and I thought this would cheer her up. Where is she by the way? I thought that she’d be here, practically all over you.”
“She’s in the kitchen”, Jin said. “I was nice to her and I think it almost made her faint.”
James chuckled and patted Jin’s shoulder as well. “I think we better get her, I don’t want her to miss out on opportunities to spend time with you when that’s mainly why I invited you here. Honestly I’ve been worried about how gloomy she’s been ever since we moved here.”
“Really? She seems very happy to me”, Kazuya said.
“Of course she is with the both of you here. We used to live in a small house when Alice was younger but then I managed to buy this castle for really cheap. A few years ago we finished renovating the castle to make it into a hotel and we decided to move here ourselves. That was when Alice became a lot quieter and less cheerful than usual. I guess she might miss having her friends close and she’s missing out on shopping everyday or whatever young girls do these days.”
James shrugged and the three of them walked to the kitchen together, Jin and Kazuya following a bit behind the Scottish man. Kazuya had a troubled expression on his face.
“Are you worried about something?” Jin asked quietly.
“It’s a bit strange how Alice changed when they moved to the castle”, Kazuya replied.
“Perhaps she’s been possessed by a past life.”
“Jin, I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I”, Jin said. “It could happen, couldn’t it?”
“As far as I know, our situation is pretty unique”, Kazuya said. “People often have dreams about their past lives or memories from them; they don’t have their past lives living inside of them.”
“I guess Hayato and Ryu were just too clueless to understand they’re not supposed to do that. Seriously, though, she’s probably just sad because of the reasons he told us. Moving can be pretty upsetting, especially the first time. You can’t feel anything supernatural going on, can you?”
“No, I can’t sense anything, which is pretty weird in the first place.”
They had to end their conversation as they’d already reached the kitchen awhile ago and Alice had finished washing some dishes. It was probably rude to have conversations in Japanese while being around the McGregors.
“Are you lads ready to go?” James asked.
“Yes, sorry”, Kazuya said. “Lead the way.”
James and Alice showed them around, the girl talking so fast that they could barely understand her. Several times Kazuya had to ask her to repeat something. She had been the one to decide most things about what the haunting should be like. For the most part it was standard things like creepy noises that would be played in the middle of the night in the hotel rooms. Kazuya had been right about the sounds of a ghost horse and carriage.
Jin wasn’t spooked like he’d feared that he would be. He was warned before the sounds played and he thought that it was tame compared to what he’d experienced in the mansion. Kazuya was the one making the suggestions for how to make it scarier because Jin didn’t want to get involved in that. He couldn’t understand why people would want to get scared when they were on a holiday.
Honestly Jin wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation about the fake ghosts; instead he looked around and admired how beautiful the castle was. That was until they’d almost reached the end of the tour at the top floor. This was where the McGregors personal rooms were located. They were just going to pass through to reach the stairs to the tallest tower; James wanted to show them the view.
In the middle of the corridor stood a little girl, staring at them with dark eyes. She was very pale and blonde and Jin wondered if she was the daughter of a guest. He noticed that she was wearing an old-fashioned nightgown and was holding a teddy bear tightly in her arms. Normally he loved children but this girl gave him the creeps and he couldn’t understand why. Then he noticed that he could actually see through her. He stopped walking and when Kazuya bumped into him the little girl disappeared.
“Wow, how did you do that?” Jin asked and then realised that James and Alice were looking at him strangely.
“Do what?” James asked.
“That little girl in the middle of the corridor”, Jin said, certain that they were just messing with him to make him scared - he wasn’t going to fall for it. “Was she some sort of projection?”
“Jin, I don’t think that was a part of the fake haunting”, Kazuya said carefully.
Jin paled and he felt his knees go weak. “Oh no, not again.”
---
A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I had a fever for about three or four days and then I was busy with other stuff. I wanted to look through this chapter twice before posting it but since I got delayed, I've only looked through it once. I apologise for any remaining mistakes.
I forgot to tell you when posting the prologue, this fic is six chapters long + the prologue and an epilogue.