Don't Let the Doorknob Hit You Where the Chandelier Bit You. [Modded Team Mission]

[Kazumi]

If this had been any normal village, one without super-powered shinobi who could bend the fabric of reality on a whim, it would have been trivial to locate a girl who could bring life to inanimate objects. Unfortunately, this was Sunagakure, and accounts of wondrous happenings were far from uncommon. As such, our two shinobi had been lead on no less than three wild goose chases that had ended up with little to show for it, outside of breaking and entering into the apartment of another young female prodigy... and being promptly berated by her mother and literally tossed outside. Suffice to say it had not been a productive day.

Their fourth substantial lead had lead them to the seedy underbelly of Sunagakure, the Grand Palais. With the memories of the prior leads fresh in their mind, it was likely a relief that this leg of their journey had so far been rather uneventful. Rumor had it that there was a haunted abandon apartment building deep in the eastern part of the Grand Palais, nor far from the infamous Red Lights. Arriving at the address, they stood outside a large, decrepit ten story tall building. No one made their way near the building, and even the sidewalk on this side of the street was oddly deserted, with every passerby going to the far side to make their way around.

The information was not from the most reliable of sources, but it had fit the description as well as the others had. Unless the place was actually haunted, this would likely be their best bet for finding the girl. Besides, abandon buildings in the underbelly of the village was a perfectly reasonable place to hideout for a young woman in hiding from the village's shinobi.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Shin had his first mission as a Genin finally and he was being partnered with Mitsunari Akagi. The two of them were always running into each other, almost as if by fate. He was glad to do this mission with his friend as most likely this would result in a physical altercation and Shin knew few his age that he would trust to stand beside in situations like that, Akagi being on the top of that list. Heavily relying on supportive techniques Shin's true strength was allowing his allies tibshin brighter. Through sensory awareness, providing medical support, or buffering the opponent by an onslaught of illusions the young Yamanaka could change the course of a battle within seconds.

Today though was a day that hadn't gone as planned. Finally ending up at an abandoned building Shin would look over to Akagi."Well, are you ready?c He would ask as he took a few steps towards the large abandoned building. He wasn't sure what to expect so he kept his guard up. Unfortunately for him, Shin could feel the spirit thay had been haunting him lurking nearby as well some thing about his adrenaline pumping caused her to become more and more apparent. She even successfully possessed his body at the incident with the daughter of the steward in the underground sea chambers. Nevertheless he needed to prevail here to prove to Byakko Kyuji that he was in fact ready to be a ninja!

 

[Mitsunari Akagi]

Spoiler

Akagi had been apart of a 3-man cell at the beginning of his Academy stint, and had not been put back in contact with the members of the brief cell. Judging by Akagi and Sen's performance when attacking the cat all that time ago, must not have been satisfactory enough continue with the same cell. However, it also could have been the fact that one of the members ran away at the first sign of danger. Nevertheless Akagi had been paired up with his at this point best friend, seeing as Akagi didn't have a lot of friends outside the Academy, he ended up running into Shin more often in the market or at the hospital. Having witnessed Shin fight, Akagi knew that they had a instant connection, Shin had the unique ability to communicate via chakra threads, this ability in Akagi's eyes was priceless, as they could easily string together combos. Akagi was a taijutsuist at his core, although he could dabble in Ninjutsu. Akagi brought to the table unmatched speed, his Seikon blood let him become extremely agile, making him a hard target. Shin's ability to use genjutsu on opponents to debilitate them fascinated Akagi, it not only was effective, but it would allow Akagi to string together combinations an opponent couldn't get away from. This was there team, Akagi and Shin versus the world, nothing could go wrong wright?

Mulling over the details of the mission as Akagi and Shin approached the complex, Akagi would draw his sword, Suna Tsume, twirling it around. So we gotta stop some crazy lady that brings things to life? I would love to if we could find her. Akagi with his off hand began rubbing the back of his head as they approached, Shin turning his head to Akagi and asking if he was ready. "Ready as I'll ever be, I am just glad we finally got here." Following close to the side of Shin in case Akagi needed to interrupt an attack made on the two. Approaching the entrance Akagi did a quick 360 degree turn just to make sure they weren't being followed, shrugging as he turned back to the door reaching his hand out to enter the building.

(OOC: Lol didnt know the picture was that huge on NC beware opening the spoiler LOL)

 

[Kazumi]

The door creaked and either sand or dust scattered from its rim as the pair opened it and made their way cautiously inside. This building was a remnant of what this area could have been. The spacious interior might have been an upscale apartment building had fate not decreed otherwise. Its interior was dark and ominous, but was not as dark as one would expect for an abandoned building. There were scattered sources of light around the large room, casting eerie shadows that served to chill the air as much as it lit the room. At least twelve candles sat on various surfaces, lit and flickering from the gust of wind that the pair brought with them. The floor underneath them creaked under their steps as they made their way into the rather spacious lobby of the apartment complex, with large thick pillars holding up the ceiling above them which stood at least four times their height. The room was scattered with old decrepit furniture: chairs, bedframes, desks and other odds and ends were layered with dust or wax from the candles that rested upon them.

Then, almost as soon as they cleared the threshold, the door behind them slammed shut, sending a shower of dust from the ceiling above. Once again the flames of the candles flickered and danced from the sudden disturbance. With the door shut, the reverberation of its crash quickly faded into almost complete silence. "Leeeeaaaave..." called a faint whisper that sounded as if it were coming from everywhere inside of the room at once. Ten seconds would pass as the two reacted towards the barely heard command before it came once again, louder but still a whisper. "Leeeeeeeeeave..." This time the previously still wicks of the candle fluttered from an unfelt wind, starting with those nearest the door and then spiraling around the room as if there was some presence encircling them.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Nodding to Akagi, Shin made his way onto the empty lobby of the building. Dust and debris filled the space as it looked abandoned for years, but freshly lit candles hinted otherwise. A grin stretched across his face as soon as he head the soft voice demand that he left. Raising a single hand to form a seal that would cast out a web of mental chakra threads Shin would close his eyes. Completely filling the area with these threads his goal would be to find the source of the voice and if it was their target neutralize her. Opening his eyes the Yamanaka would continue scanning the area to try and find her location. Looking over to Akagi the by would speak softly. "Are you ready?"<i></i> As he spoke Shin would weave a set of seals that seemed to do nothing at all, but after a few seconds pass and Shin continue to scan Akagi would be able to start to sense what Shin did. "Yamanaka Secret Technique: Sensory Link has been established."<i></i> He would rub his thumb across his fingers, which if Akagi had accepted the jutsu's connection would make him aware of what Shin was feeling. "Let's split up.. If one one use finds her the other will know.<i></i>And besides it's not like we can't stay in contact."<i></i> As the thought was transmitted the boy would tap his temple. Once he had established the connection with his friend he would wait for Akagi's next step. Shin was after all the supportive role in all of this.

 

[Mitsunari Akagi]

Entering inside the large and decrepit room, furniture and candles strewn about the entirety of the complex. Twitching as the door shut behind them Akagi turned quickly, seeing nothing but the same doors they had used to enter. Turning back around and placing his hands in his pockets, Akagi would take a gander with his eyes around the room. Noticing nothing of significance to there situation. Quickly nodding to Shin as the voice rang out.

Akagi wasn't really one to deal with anything spiritual, so for the first part of the adventure he would let Shin lead the investigation on whatever paranormal voice was demanding them to leave. After a few quick hand seals Shin would establish his mental link, Akagi naturally accepting. Moving on Shin would proceed to suggest splitting up, which at first sounded like a ambitious move. Eventually ruling out all negative possibilities since the presence of Shin's Yamanaka technique allowed them a form of invaluable communication.

Nodding to shin and mentally sending his own message, "We should probably just use this form of communicating, in order to not give up our plans. Since whatever it is that spoke to us knew we were here based on us entering." Pulling his hands out of his pockets he would grab his sword with his right hand, drooping his arm to his side swinging his sword back and forth like a pendulum. Akagi might not be a brainac, but he does have his own way of doing things. While at first glance it may appear Akagi's stance was lazy and uninterested as he swung his sword, but he was quite the contrary. This was Akagi's way of eluding himself, as he was on full alert and ready to snap into combat.

Akagi would look for any doors or staircases that would lead him deeper into the building in an attempt to search for the source of the voice.

 

[Kazumi]

The nearly invisible threads scattered around the room, sweeping the area, but no connection was made. Once Shin established the mental link between them, the room grew quiet once more, save for the quiet sound of steps and Akagi's blade swinging lazily through the air. The silence grew tense as Akagi spied a large door to one side that wasn't covered by random furniture and made his way over towards it. As he went to grasp the handle the voice called out once again, but it was not quiet nor a whisper but instead a rumbling and angry yell, "LEEEEEAVE!" Once again dust settled from the ceiling, but more urgently was the sound of wood scraping against wood as a bookcase a dozen feet away from Akagi began to grind against the ground.

The candle atop the bookcase's flaming wick flickered and extinguished itself, and a moment later the case lifted from the ground and hurled itself towards the door and Akagi, as if hurled by an invisible giant. Moments later a chair near the front door began to shake and the candle atop it also winked out before it too hurled itself at the duo, although it sought out the rear guard, rather than the front line. This repeated again as a candle atop a bed frame that was pressed against the far wall shook, it's light turning to a smokey wisp before it slid against the ground and flipped into the air,, aimed towards both of the shinobi at once as it spun in the air like a giant wooden shruiken.!

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

As soon as the two decided to split up and look for clues it seemed that Akagi started a series of chain reactions upon finding a door. The young Yamanaka wasn't too far away when he could hear the voice essentially scream at them to leave this decaying location. Instead of going off on his own direction he decided to scuttle on over to Akagi to see what was happening but as soon as he stepped a foot closer to Akagi the bookcase seemed to launch across the room as if thrown. Shin broke out in a run towards his friend but he was too far away to do anything. Reaching out he would shout! "Look out!"<i></i> But as his words slipped from his mouth a bright light emitted from his hand as a deep red surge of chakra would emerge. The light was bright but as soon as it appeared it once again vanished, but almost as if the light had done this the bookcase was split in half, altering the direction of its path to miss Akagi. For split second Shin had no idea what happened but there she was...

Standing between Akagi and where the bookcase had been launched rested the girl that was haunting the Yamanaka. A red floral tunic and long black boots were accompanied by a long flowing scarf and a large katana that laid back in its sheath. Her crimson eyes looked back to Akagi before attempting to speak. "A... Ka... Gi... Safe..."<i></i> A grunt came from her lips as she was frustrated at her inability to speak well. Taking to her feet her eyes would roam the room when she discovered the candle flame on the bed also flickered out. Shouting out Kohana would let out another scream. "Shin!"<i></i> She looked towards the bed as it began to spin. Knowing exactly what she meant the young Yamanaka would follow her lead and slam his hands onto the ground. "On it!"<i></i> A blue wall of chakra would form around the party as Shin casted a basic physical barrier to prevent the bed from slamming into them. Standing up as the wall would be maintained for as long as the danger was present. Jumping to be near the two others visible in the room Shin and Kohana would keep their backs to Akagi to create a pseudo awareness of the entire room. "I don't like this, can you see her?"<i></i>

 

[Mitsunari Akagi]

Approaching a large ominous door, Akagi was beginning to be slightly creeped out, the place was giving quite the eerie vibe, if not already stated by the spooky voice or flickering lights. While coming closer to the door Akagi felt more and more uneasy slowing his pace down to a halt, reaching for the door handle. With his reach came the voice again, louder and very present. It screamed as if it directly was speaking to Akagi, the building rumbling with the voice's yearn.

Pulling his hand away as he turned Akagi toward a loud groaning of wood scraping against wood. Eyeing the incoming bookcase as it approached, briefly stammering in the moment. I'll just-! With his thought a brief flash of red light blinded Akagi, causing him to cover his eyes with his free hand, and snapping his sword into a more combative stance. Was this their target? Akagi watching the flash settle as the bookcase had split in half, sliding along the floor before coming to a halt. Looking into the beings eyes as it spoke.

"Who are you?!" Akagi blurted out as he raised his sword gripping it with two hands. Before the being could answer, more items from the room began to sling toward the group. Shin's quick reactions at the command of the stranger confused Akagi as a barrier descended upon the group catching all of the objects before they reached any of the members.

The two backed up toward Akagi in a very protective manner still confusing him even more. "I am gonna need an explanation after all this..." Akagi's eyes going up and down the newcomer, realizing it was a girl with a sword of more heft than Akagi's, he quickly sending a mental message as Akagi raised his hand pointing at the door, "Yeah I see her, I guess there isn't time for questions so lets just move on." With this Akagi awaited Shin to drop the barrier.

Once the barrier had been released Akagi would break the formation holding his sword once more at his side. Fed up of the creepy parlor tricks that were being thrown at them, Akagi would approach the large door once more, jettisoning his seikon energy from his leg. Slamming it into the door's frame, hoping it would be shattered so they could enter. While slamming his foot into the door he thought, Lets get this party started!

 

[Kazumi]

Thankfully for the now trio, the makeshift projectiles were no matched for honed shinobi weaponry and skills. The bookshelf, chair and bed one by one succumbed, breaking and splintering into wooden shards around the barrier that was projected, though not without a forceful thud that would momentarily strain the barrier nearly to its breaking point. With the assaulting furniture broken and defeated, a moment's respite came over the group, but it too was quickly broken as Akagi's foot cracked into the door and shattered the wooden door from its frame with surprising ease. Inside was what looked to be a dimly lit square staircase leading up the complex, presumably it spanned the entire building, but it was impossible to say without exploration. From the faintly fluttering lights, it seemed there were more candles up the staircase somewhere.

Another final second of respite came and went as the broken door was kicked open. While it wasn't completely off its hinges, it was enough so that each of them could wedge through one at a time between the broken halves of the door. It was then that the quiet was shattered by the angry screaming voice from before, now sounding desperate and angry, "LEEEEEAVE NOOOOW!" It cried, the entire building feeling like it reverberated with its weight. Darkness began to consume the lobby as one by one the candle lights winked out, all nine candles extinguished before any of them could take a full breath. There was some light peaking through the broken door, but it was not enough to see into the room they currently were.

Again the sound of wood grinding began, then rumbling as furniture in the darkness began to violently shake. Then, in the same order that the candles winked out, the objects hurled themselves towards the group with only a second between each one. The barrier would be enough to keep one or two, possibly three of them from smashing into the group, but under the onslaught of wood, metal and dust it could not hold out as it was.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Upon his question the mysterious girl would respond to the best of her ability. "Ko... ha... na..."<i></i> Her mouth moved slowly almost as if trying to mimic the movement of someone else. "I am out! I AM OUT!" Her voice echoed through the mind connection, but if Akagi had become used to this messaging style of Shin's it would seem to have came from the Yamanaka boy and not the girl that looked similar to him. She quickly looked around in astonishment from the barrier jutsu, but Shin seemed to open up a little bit. "Long story short, During my exam I woke up something and she appeared. Normally trying to take me over this is new for me as well.."<i></i> Shin looked over to the girl that looked familiar as she held onto her katana's handle.

Upon dropping the barrier the Seikon boy would kick down the door which caused the scream to once again be let loose. The lights seemed to vanish as the room full of furniture seemed to start moving, this time it sounded like a lot more than it was before. "Akagi, take cover!"<i></i> A series of seals would cause the boy to sink into the ground as he casted the Inner Earth Reflection Lure Jutsu, leaving Akagi and Kohana where they were, but just as quickly as she appeared she faded from sight. Through the ground Shin would make his way to the staircase before returning to the surface of the ground. Looking around he could sense that Kohana was near but she was once again out of sight. "I'm by the stairs, and I'm heading up."<i></i> The thought was sent out as he would take his first step on the staircase.

 

[Mitsunari Akagi]

Watching Kohana's lips move as she tried to speak was clearly getting her riled up. Akagi understanding her became more weirded out by Kohana then the omnipresent force attacking them. Through the developed connection, Kohana had begun to move her lips, but Akagi found it strange that the voice was coming from Shin. Intriguing, very intriguing.

With Shin's explanation, Akagi shrugged thinking to himself, Shinobi world and all, what isn't there to expect. Looking back to the door where light was peaking through Akagi had begun to make his way through the spot he had smashed open with his foot. Making it about half way in when another echoing roar shook him to his core. With his hairs sticking up on the back of his neck, Akagi quickly lifted his body through the shoot as the lights began to go out. The building rattling and shaking, as if every piece of furniture in that lobby had been possessed. Not exactly knowing what was happening Akagi heard Shin say something about getting to cover, Akagi hearing the cluttering of items rushing for the door turned and began sprinting up the stairs. Akagi without looking back continued to sprint up the stairs towards the faint light as the clattering smashed against the door below him.

 

[Kazumi]

The first item crashed into the ground where Shin sank into the ground less than a second after his full decent. A series of crashes resounded up the small square staircase as all nine of the furniture items smashed one after the other at where they once stood, creating a thick barrier of wood as the practically fused with the door frame. The sound was almost deafening as Shin reemerged from the ground mere feet away from the sealed entrance and the wooden carnage that filled it, but it faded into faint echos and silence as quickly as it came.

Looking up as they went, they could see the staircase went up at least five stories until it faded into pitched darkness above, it was likely that this lead all the way up to the top floor eight stories above. On the corner of each flight sat a lit thick candle, similar to the ones they had seen in the lobby atop some of the furniture that blocked their exit from below. There was one near each of the first five flights, sitting at the final corner near the door that led into their respective floors.

It was subtle at first, masked by the stomps of their feet as they rushed up the stairs, but by the time they had both made it to the second floor door the disturbance became obvious. The candle on the railing near the, flickered in an silent wind and went out, leaving only the lights from the dour flights above them left. The sounds of creaking wood grew loud and the boards beneath their feet began to shift and twist as if the planks themselves were attempting to rip themselves free. Moments later the creaks gave way to cracks as the wrenching continued, and the base of the stairs at the bottom floor broke loose, looking like the end of a strange wooden snake as it curled and tried to pry itself loose from the walls.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Shin could faintly see Akagi dart up the stairs as he followed close behind. He knew that something was up and that their target was definitely hiding here in the abandoned building. The steps were old and made quite a bit of sound as the two would make their way up them but then it became pretty prevalent that it wasn't just their steps that would cause this sound. Catching his attention the wooden steps below him would begin to break off and began to coil up as their appearance slowly shifted to look like that of a snakes. A surge of pain covered his hand as a deep red chakra would begin to surface on his hand as a seal was made. Looking up Shin would once again see Kohana, but she appeared to be in a spiritual form as she had her hand covering the boy's. "Go..."<i></i> As she spoke Shin knew what she wanted him to do. Raising his hand upwards the visible seal on his him would let out a bright light like before as red surging chakra filled the general area, and just like before the girl appeared.

Slowly pulling her sword from its sheath the girl would allow a torrent of wind to surround it as the air created an extra layer of sharpness. Shin made eye contact with her and nodded before turning around and following Akagi up the stairs in an attempt to find the mastermind behind all of this. Meanwhile, Kohana would shift her position to fight. Thrusting her long katana forwards many more points would seem to appear for a split second causing sharp winds to be shot downwards upon the wooden abomination. A quick shift of her ankle and she too would launch from the walls and out towards the newly living staircase in an attempt to fight it head on.

 

[Mitsunari Akagi]

As Akagi sprinted up the staircase to the second level he noticed a detail of their adventure so far. Shin had used alot of defensive techniques and supporting jutsus. With this realization Akagi decided that he should reserve all his strength for the final fight with the intended target.

Soon realizing that the entire staircase was becoming a living death trap Akagi would leap from the stairs he was running on, to the wall adjacent to the stair well's railing. Focusing chakra into the soles of his sandals Akagi would shout down the well to Shin in case he had come out of the ground. "I am heading to the top floor! Meet me there!"With this Akagi would continue up the next three floors before leaping from the wall and drop kicking the door with all his might in case the culprit of the haunted house would be disrupted.

(OOC: Bad short post but once we get fighting it will be better.)

 

[Kazumi]

Constructs were the greatest of minions, they had no free will, no weak points and did not feel pain. Thankfully for the pair, while the staircase was fit all of those criteria, it was nothing more than an object following an external will, one that deemed to to crash itself against the intruders. The blades of wind cut easily enough through the old wood, but with each plank or beam cut, more of the stairs seemed to come to life, as the stairs cascaded from the bottom floor all the way up to the top. As the ripple of faux-life spiraled up the stairs, each candle too went out in turn, with a small puff that was followed by violent shaking as more wood and metal ripped itself free.

The tall shaft was practically collapsing as the steps broke free, smashed around the confines of the stairwell and began to subsequently fall to pieces. It was not graceful or coordinated, but being in a narrow room with such a mass of sharp and heavy objects did not require fluidity to be effective. Ripped free nails flew through the air, shards of wood and metal seemed to fling themselves towards Shin as his twin struggled to keep anything large from hurling itself up the shaft. With Akagi focusing on the ascent, he managed to kick the door and escape before serious harm befell him, but Shin would not be as lucky. He only had one and a half flights left to the top, but those had transformed into a chaotic whirl of death as the wooden serpent thrashed and writhed around as if in agony all around him.

The door was finally in sight as Shin hastily made his way up, being force to leap from momentarily stable section to section. A mere half dozen feet away, Shin would need to leap across the length of the hallway to try and make it into the open passage that Akagi had provided for him. As he would, the railing from behind him would swing hard, looking to smash into his back and fling him into the top floor with considerable force.

Once they were both inside, one way or another, the rumbling would continue for a few more seconds before it fully gave way to the sound of the entity breaking apart, the stairs losing their will as it all crumbled and shook the building with an avalanche of debris. With the immediate danger passed, they found themselves in a long hallway, it was nearly pitch black, aside from a small bit of light that crept out from the six doors that lined the old dilapidated hallway. As the debris settled behind them, and the building finally stopped its quaking, an eerie silence filled the hall. Some of the light from the doors were brighter and more energetic than others, while the light shining from under others was almost too dim to see. With a moment to rest, heal and plan, the would-be-heroes had to form a game plan of how they would proceed.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Watching carefully Shin would be able to see that his friend was finally able to make it up the staircase and into the next room. A sigh of relief would slip from his lips as he instantly felt a deep sensation of unease was over him. The girl who was summoned before would seem to have fell to the whirl snake like wood that was below them. Her physical form would once again fade and as it did Shin could feel a heavy weight of exhaustion and lethargy wash over his entirety. Turn to once again face up the steps the young Mednin would do his best to push himself up and out of the way of this foe, but as he would approach the door a sharp splintering pain would strike his back, which in turn, catapulted him into the room in which he was headed. A few skips across the ground, Shin's curled up body would crash into the opposing wall, causing a loud sound to say the least and some splintering in the wooden structure.

A hearty cough would slip from his lips a mere moment later as the Yamanaka would push himself up and out of the debris. Resting on his hands and knees he could feel the slight sensation of a metallic taste fill his mouth, iron to be exact. Wiping his mouth and looking at his hand he realized that his lip was bust, but as he attempted to to move he could feel the dep throb of a broken scapula. HIs left arm was now basically out of commision, but he knew that he needed to continue on this mission with Akagi. "Ow."<i></i> A soft wince of pain slipped from his lips as he shifted his body to stand by his legs' strength along. A chuckle came from the boy as his left elbow was anchored along his side and his left hand rested upon his shoulder. "I think it got me."<i></i> He would laugh as he wiped the little bit of blood that seeped from the tear in the corner of his lower lip. Looking Akagi up and down a slightly concerned voice came from the Medic-in-Training. "You okay?"<i></i>

[MFT:367]

 

[Mitsunari Akagi]

Busting the door open, Akagi would fall onto his side and slide a ways before coming to a hault from his kick. Placing his hand against the ground and rocketing to an upright stance, leaving his right knee planted against the floor, he heard the thrashing and crashing of the wooden steps spiraling together in a collage of pure destruction. Whoever, or whatever we are dealing with, is pretty damn powerful if it can do this...

With his thought Akagi heard a large thwack of a sound as he watched Shin hurtle into the hallway and skidding past Akagi. Quickly he would rush to the boys aid, reaching his arm out, quickly retracting it before coming into contact with the Yamanka. Akagi had no idea, involving anything with medical work or how to correct an injury, so he decided he best leave it to a medical ninja to solve the issue. Akagi would smile as his friend was clearly in pain, in an attempt to distract him from the pain. Reassuring his friend with a nod that he was indeed okay, Akagi would look down the hallway, feeling an eerie silence begin to lurk in the air since the crashing and twisting staircase had come to a hault.

Looking into Shin's eyes Akagi would send him a mental thought through their connection, We need to keep moving, I will check the first three doors for the target, if I run into it I will notify you."

With the message relayed, Akagi would approach the first door, stringing together a few handseals as two clones would Poof! into existence. The two copies would move to their respective doors in sequential order following the first door Akagi had approached. In synchronization they would all try the door handles according to where they were standing in hopes of finding the looming threat that caused the whole complex into a house of horror.

 

[Kazumi]

With the wooden beast no more, the eerie quiet settled in and soon the only sounds that could be heard were their own hearts and breaths accompanied by the creak of dilapidated wood beneath their feet. In unison the three Akagis would each try their doors, and all would find that they opened easily enough, a high pitched creak whining from the ill-maintained hinges. Inside each of the rooms were similar looking living rooms, each with slightly different furniture that, each in as poor of condition as the last. The trio couldn't see past the main room of each of the apartments, with only a single candle in each giving the area only the faintest of illumination.

Words, faint and wispy like the light flow of air that proceeded opening the rooms drifted across them. "Go away..." they said, faint enough to make it hard to tell if they were real or were somehow just inside their head, as they seemed to come from no place in particular. "They will hurt you." The faint whisper continued, "leave me..." The voice trailed off into silence once more as a breeze appeared to pick up in the rooms that the three were looking into, causing the three visible candles's flames to dance and flicker as they attempted to go out.

 

[Chikamatsu Shin]

Shin would grab his friend's hand before returning to his feet. By the time he got to his feet he heard Akagi's voice chime through his head and he knew what to do next. Stepping over to the hallway Shin would straighten up his back and looked at the three doors still shut. Akagi was able to knock down the three doors by himself, and Shin would have to do the same. Inhaling deeply and pressing his hands together the boy infused chakra into his lungs before exhaling quickly. The large gust of wind was sharp and would target the old wooden doors in an attempt to cut through them and blast them down. With a sigh afterwards to try and re-establish the normal pressure in his lungs Shin would open his eyes before looking into the rooms to find the way to head.