House of Horrors Pt 1

Mission Info:

Tobei was a very old man. He spoke clearly like a younger version of himself, but his skin drooped and sagged off his bones in layers of wrinkles that made it impossible to determine where his face, neck, and torso met. His eyes were grayed out and his white unibrow was as thick as his long white beard, though the beard was much longer. It appeared like he had tried to cut it once or twice because it was strangely shaped, short in some places, extra lengthy in others. Long had he been ignored by the genin on patrol in Nikkousato as a decrepit and senile man on the verge of meeting his maker. Kannagi herself had even paced by him without notice many times. But today was different: a mission had been assigned to settle the kooky man’s concerns once and for all. Given how easy the mission would be, it didn’t seem much trouble to listen to Tobei’s blathering about a haunted and abandoned house.

“It’s a house of horrors,” Tobei insisted, lifting his gnarled hands and waving them in the air. “Mhm,” Kannagi acknowledged. “The furniture moves all around in the daytime! And at night I hear voices!” He continued, returning his hands to his single stubby walking stick. “I see,” Kannagi nodded dismissively. “You don’t believe me either, do you? I tell you… the red lights flicker on at midnight! I swear!” “Ah, red lights, midnight,” Kannagi noted absently, “Tobei sir, have you seen a doctor? If that house was truly haunted then a crime must have been committed there. I believe in spirits, but spirits aren’t evil, certainly not horrors. And spirits rarely communicate out loud.” Tobei huffed and stamped his foot, and Kannagi winced, worried he might break his twiggy leg in the process.

“All right. All right,” Kannagi conceded. “Show me the house and I will learn if there are spirits about. Will that set your mind at ease?” Tobei had agreed and started to lead the way to this abandoned house. She thought she could hear his bones creaking and the kunoichi became genuinely nervous about his well being. The house he stopped in front of was a bit away from all of the other residences. A tall fence surrounded it and stone busts of bald old men decorated the front lawn like a graveyard instead of a memorial. She touched the iron wrought gate and peered through at the building. The structure looked as if it had been burned in a fire, scorch marks and black smudging, but the wood itself seemed to be in fine condition. The windows were all smeared and thick with dust to the point of being unable to see into them.

Kannagi had to fight the rusted gate open and before going to the house she faced Tobei, “You should probably stay here.” Investigating the rumor so far had only brought her to an ugly abandoned building. It didn’t look frightening from the outside, beside the strange scorch marks and statues. Kannagi stepped up to the door, feeling out with her spirituality, a technique that she was used to as an Irezumi who meditated regularly. She felt nothing out of the ordinary, it just genuinely seemed like an old house. She turned back to see Tobei watching her with his cloudy eyes and let out a sigh. She returned to him and said, “Maybe it’ll be more active at night, like you say. I will check it out tonight all right.” Tobei gave a nod, it was more than any shinobi had given him so far.

WC: 600