Ghost Writer
Two: The Old Family House
It didn’t take long to actually move in. There were only a few belongings that I had brought with me. The rest I had sent ahead of me, which I trusted the family would put in the house. All I would have to do was a little rearranging to suit my personal tastes, and even that wouldn’t be much. Most of it was books, photo albums, clothing, and tax records. Though the old tax statements had little value here, I didn’t want those records falling into the wrong hands. Thus they came with me to Boston. From an early age, my mother had discovered my gift with numbers, and she taught me book keeping. Soon, bills and yearly taxes were my responsibility. She was so proud of me when the tax returns came. Instead of using it as most others would do, she put it away in a savings account for my college tuition. She always said that I was smart enough to go to an Ivy League college, which would be a lot of money. She even thought about sending me to California if I ever went into a medical field, since she heard that the University of California at Irvine had their own hospital facility. I ended being accepted at Harvard with a double major in Law and Business. Mother was so proud of me. . .
I set down two picture frames on my night stand: one of my mother with me at my year-early high school graduation, and the other of my father and I on a vacation to the sea shore. I had yet to find a picture of all three of us together. . . one I could remember anyway. There was only one I had found. It was professionally taken when I was barely six months old, but even there my father’s face had been washed out a bit. I didn’t need to know what he looked like, though. All I had to do was look at my Uncle Hiashi. My father, Hizashi, and Hiashi were identical twins after all. Even so, I had few memories of my father. He was usually out running errands for the family. I glared at the picture of my father, squeezing it hard enough to crack under the pressure. Why did it bother me so much? Why did the people I hate most have to be the ones that look so much like the person I loved? Was I afraid that I would begin to hate my own father?
Maybe.
I took the picture out and tossed away the broken wood and glass. I shouldn’t be so upset over something like that now. I had other things to worry about. . . like school. I hadn’t quite started yet, but I would next week. Then, all hell would break loose. I sighed as I laid flat on my new bed. I almost wanted to drop my major in Law. I wouldn’t *have* to have a degree in it anyway. The Hyuuga family business had lawyers coming out of their ears. One more wouldn’t make a difference. . . Then again, the clan would whisper rumors about that probably. If I dropped Law, I would be picked on for showing a weakness. I guess I would just have to suffer through another three years of it.
*tick*
I sat up at the noise. Tick? What was ticking? If there had been a clock in the room, I would have heard it before then, wouldn’t I?
*tick tick*
I looked around the room again. There was no clock. . .
*tick tick tick*
“Hello?” I said, keeping the slight fear I felt out of my voice. “Is someone there?”
*tick tick tick tick tick*
“Hello?!” I shouted, getting to my feet. If this was some sort of trick, it was a lame one. I walked down the hallway and to the next few rooms. They were dark and empty. “Who’s there?”
*squeak!*
A rat fell from a hole in the ceiling and scurried away. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh of relief. I was getting worked up over a RAT. I guess I would have to bring in exterminators soon. They family hadn’t done it since I hadn’t requested it. I suppose they weren’t going to do anything extra on my account, now were they?
*tick*
“Again?” I whispered to myself. Whatever. I wasn’t going to go investigate more rats.
The ticking continued for most of the day. Soon, it faded into background noise and I hardly heard it. Only when it stopped did I realize that the ticking had been going on incessantly. I woke up to the sound of it the next morning as well, which annoyed me. Anyone would be annoyed at 3:30 in the morning. I resolved that I would call an exterminator after breakfast, which I was sure to make OUTSIDE of the old Hyuuga compound.
I ended up wandering for about an hour, trying to find some small cafe or donut shop open. At 5:45, I found a Denny’s that looked half decent. I mentally shrugged. They served breakfast 24 hours a day, didn’t they? They weren’t particularly expensive either. . .
What was Hinata doing here?
I saw her step outside of the restaurant and take out a cell phone to make a call. She had a uniform on that clearly had the word “Denny’s” on it, as well as a name tag pinned to the left side of her shirt. I pulled in carefully around the back, trying to keep her from noticing me.
Did the heir actually WORK there?
It didn’t seem possible.
I waited until she went back inside before I approached the front door. Even then, I made sure Hinata was not there when I asked for a table. I was seated at the far corner of the restaurant, by a window, and I made sure that my back was turned to the seating hostesses.
“Niisama??” I heard while taking a sip of coffee. I looked up and found Hinata with a pad of paper out and a pen, ready to take my order. Her blush was so deep it looked as if she had painted it on her face. “Wh-what are you d-doing here?”
“Breakfast.” I said, stating the obvious.
“Well. . .” she said, her blushing getting deeper (if that was even possible). “I mean, why did you choose Denny’s of all places?”
“It was the only thing open.” I said, truthfully. “You work here, I assume.”
“Father doesn’t know about it.” she said, timidly. I smirked a little. No wonder she had this early a shift. “He doesn’t want me working yet.”
“You don’t have to.”
“But I feel so useless. . .”
“You’re the heir. You’re not useless until you stop being that.” I said. We both knew that was the truth.
“You won’t -”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.” She smiled weakly.
“Thank you, niisama.”
After she brought out the food, Hinata sat with me for a while. We touched up briefly on various things, avoiding the subject of the clan at all costs. Both of us understood the other’s desire to not speak of those matters.
“How do you like the house?” she asked. That was about as close to the Hyuugas as it got. “I was worried that maybe it wouldn’t be ready in time for your arrival.”
“There are rats all over the place.” I admitted. “I’ve heard nothing but ticking since I moved in.”
“Ticking?’
“I guess it’s like little clawed feet running across the wood.”
“I see.” she said, her browns furrowing slightly. “I guess the exterminator did a lousy job.”
“Exterminator?” I inquired.
“I called in for someone, since I knew it house would be crawling with spiders and mice.” she explained, looking down slightly and becoming very quiet. “You. . . haven’t run into any black widows, have you?”
“Just rats.”
“Strange.” Hinata seemed to be rather disturbed by it, even though she was trying to hide it.
“I’ll call someone in today. It’s no big deal.”
“I’m sorry, niisama. I wanted to save you the trouble.” I shook my head.
“I didn’t expect anyone in the family to even try once.” I said. She smiled a little behind her hand. “Hinata-sama, would you like to come over later today? I could use some help finding my belongings and rearranging them. I haven’t an eye for decoration.” She looked up at me in a bit of a state of shock. I know that was the last thing she was expecting to hear from my mouth, yet somehow she smiled brightly.
“Hai! I’ll go right after my shift!” I blinked a few times. She certainly was eager. . . I finally resolved to give her a smile before finishing my coffee and paying for the meal (leaving Hinata a large tip).
I came home to more ticking and tapping. This time, I distinctly thought I heard thick, hard clicking of a typewriter’s keys being punched in one of the storage rooms. A few hard punches would be heard, then the deafening ticking would begin again. I had called several inspectors and exterminators, but the earliest they could come out would be in two days. It seemed my guests would be staying just a little bit longer. I smirked sadistically. Maybe I could get a couple of cats and just let them run rampant around the compound. I would be rat free in a matter of days. It would be just as fast as any exterminator I could call for.
*clackclackclackclackclackclackclackclackclackclack*
I turned back to the storage room which now had a vicious attack of hard-pressed clacks coming from it. Was something trapped and trying to get out? Perhaps it was one of the poorly set traps the first exterminator had set. I’d be shocked if there actually *was* a rodent desperately trying to escape inside the room. However, when I turned on the light to the room, it was empty. Well, not entirely empty, but there was nothing that looked like it would make the sound that I had heard earlier. All that was there were boxes upon boxes of miscellaneous junk. I walked in, curious of what was held here. I certainly didn’t send this ahead of me, and most everything else was relocated to the new Hyuuga mansion. What did they leave here?
The boxes were unmarked except with a name: Hyuuga Hinako. I never heard of this member of the family, thus I assumed she had long since passed from this world. What else was strange about these boxes was that they were all on the shelves that could not be reached without a step stool. The other shelves were only occupied by the dust that hadn’t been removed in three decades. Why were they up there? If anything, they were just going to be left here, it would have been safer for the boxes to be moved to the floor. If the wood of the shelves gave out (which I didn’t doubt they would eventually), the boxes would fall and make a huge mess: possibly break anything that may be in the boxes.
“Sumimasen!” I heard from the door. Hinata had come. As with many older Japanese homes, there was no door bell, nor knockers, to ask permission to come into the home. Usually, someone just yelled into the house announcing their arrival and politely excusing the intrusion. Though I had locked the gate securely, I wasn’t at all surprised to find Hinata at my door step. She probably had a key to every Hyuuga owned property in the world, and heaven knows how many properties that is. I’m not even sure myself how much land the clan owns in total, nor the other investments they’ve made elsewhere. “Neji-niisama!”
“Be right there.” I said, looking at the boxes a last time. I would see that they were inspected and moved later. Hinata could help me with that, too.
TBC...
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A/N: okay, I finally calmed down after my chapter was erased. . . grrrrrr, I’m still mad about that!! Anyway, please review! There can’t be just one person reading my shit >__< . . .
Review o shite kudasai!! ^__^ . . . well, that's a LITTLE better T__T
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Chapter notes: Yay! I wrote stuff!! ^__^
I'm so not proud of the beginning half of this chapter. . . I was stiil freaking out that the 2nd chapter and half of my first chapter was deleted when I wrote it!! >____