The Curse of the Baron Roderick
by Bottou-chan

Part Three

"Sleep well, Miss Neon," said Caitlyn. Even though the Uruha had known where their rooms were, she had insisted upon personally escorting them.

"Thank you very much," answered Neon politely. "I’ll see everyone tomorrow… get some good rest."

"If you get lonely, Neon, you know where my room is," suggested Joker. "Remember our code… three quick knocks."

Neon made a face and shut the door.

She changed into her pajamas and took her time brushing her teeth. The room had a tiny bathroom appended to it…. It looked like it might have been one of her uncle’s additions when he had renovated the property.

The estate itself was quite lovely. Too bad she didn’t want to keep it… it would have made a nice vacation getaway. With Kurei’s fortune, he could have easily afforded to send her here once or twice a year… but it just wasn’t practical. Perhaps, with the money she earned from selling her uncle’s estate, she could afford to buy up a tiny island in Japan, and put a nice vacation house on it. She and Kurei could use it for a romantic weekend getaway retreat. Kurei could easily afford to buy seven or eight such things without any noticeable dent in his bank account, but she still liked the idea of being able to give him something. She didn’t want to have nothing when she married him. She disliked the idea of being labeled a gold digger. Being known as an heiress in her own right would take care of that.

Neon switched off the lights and hopped into bed. Moonlight filtered through the lace curtains at her window, creating eerie, complex patterns on the cold stone floor. It reminded her of her room back at the Uruha mansion…. Funny how this was the same moon she and Kurei had gazed at together on so many evenings. And yet he was now so many thousands of miles away, on the other side of the globe. When evening came to Japan, perhaps he would catch sight of the moon and think about her. Somehow, she felt very small and insignificant all of a sudden.

She gazed pensively at the window, lost in her thoughts. However, her mind was snapped back into the present when she caught sight of an eerie green glow bobbing outside her window. She slid cautiously out of bed and went over to investigate. However, by the time she had pushed aside the curtains, there was nothing out of the ordinary to be seen.

She frowned and returned to her bed. She kept her eyes fixed upon the window, not quite sure what to think. It certainly wasn’t ghosts. For what seemed to be an eternity, there was nothing. And then—there it was again. That hovering green glow. It dipped and rose gently outside her window, casting spooky lights and shadows through the curtain. Growling under her breath, Neon jumped out of bed and darted to the window again. But the light had extinguished itself by that time—and once more, there was nothing to account for it. She surveyed her view cautiously, but not even the tiniest hint of movement could be seen. Scowling, Neon made her way back to bed. She resumed her staring.

~the next morning~

"Did you sleep well?" inquired Bronwyn at breakfast the next day. Raiha and Joker had nearly finished as Neon entered the dining room.

"Quite well," she replied cheerfully, helping herself to a sausage roll. "Do you have any milk, please?"

Bronwyn smiled and bustled off to retrieve the milk.

Raiha gave her a long look. "You hardly slept at all last night," he murmured softly. "What happened?"

"Is it that obvious?" she answered in a matching tone.

Joker shrugged. "We can tell, because we know what you’re like after an all-night stakeout. You can fool everyone else, of course, but not us." He munched contentedly on his grapefruit.

"Did anything strange happen to you two last night?" Neon asked cautiously. She didn’t want to seem so foolish, babbling about strange green lights that weren’t really there.

Joker put his head to the side and thought. "Yeah, now that you mention it… you never gave me a good-night kiss. Raiha did, of course, but you didn’t."

"Look, Joker, I’m serious," said Neon in a soft, stern voice. "Something weird is happening around here—" She broke off as she saw Bronwyn entering with a silver pitcher with milk in it. In a louder voice, she continued, "And I had this strange dream. We were on a bus ride, except you two let the driver leave without me. And I found this really nice man who was willing to drive me to our next stop on this tour we were going on… he was obsessed with trains, for some reason. Seemed like he wanted to create his own line. And I just had the nicest time, talking with him, and--- oh, thank you, Bronwyn."

"For strong bones and healthy teeth," smiled Bronwyn in her most motherly way. "We have to take care of you, now that your dear Uncle Roderick isn’t here."

::My dear Uncle Roderick never took care of me when he was alive,:: thought Neon bitterly. ::If he was such a loving uncle, why didn’t he take me in after my mother’s death? So what if I was so far away… he could have afforded it.:: Aloud, she smiled and said, "We all need to have a purpose in life, h’m?"

Bronwyn scooped up some dirty dishes to bring back into the kitchen. Neon opened her mouth to resume their conversation, but then caught sight of Peter lurking hesitantly in the doorway. Instead, she smiled at him and said, "Hello… Peter, is it? Come in. I wanted to say thank you very much for helping with our luggage yesterday."

"Yes, ma’am," said Peter, still staring in awe at her.

Joker grinned, but refrained from making a teasing comment. There would be time enough for that later.

"You look worried," said Neon kindly. "What’s the matter?"

Peter’s gray eyes widened. "Please, Miss Neon. Bad things will happen if you stay here. You’ve already invoked their wrath."

"Their wrath?" inquired Neon smoothly. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I was out last night, fishing," said Peter. "I was walking back to the house, and I saw this green shape hovering outside your window. It’s a bad omen. Bad things will happen to you… I want you to be safe!" He looked earnestly at her.

"Fishing at night?" asked Raiha, sipping his milk.

"It’s the best time to catch some types of fish," explained Peter, seeming to notice Raiha’s presence for the first time. He shifted his attention back to Neon. "They’re trying to warn you. They won’t give you an all-out attack at once. They’ll bother you a little bit at first. If you don’t appease them, they’ll get meaner and meaner… until there’s nothing you can do to stop them. Your conversation last night must have really made them angry at you."

"Don’t worry," said Neon, touseling his hair affectionately. She was charmed by his concern for her wellbeing. He closed his eyes and enjoyed her touch. The boy’s actions reminded Joker and Raiha of a faithful dog reveling in being scratched behind the ears. "I’ve had much more dangerous people to have worried about… I’m not about to be frightened by the dead." ::If spirits really were out to get me, they’d be the ghosts of my victims, and not of my ancestors,:: she reasoned.

"You think we could get a bunch of wards and put them on the doors and windows?" suggested Joker.

"I don’t know… I don’t think these are Japanese ghosts," said Raiha.

"But ghosts are ghosts… they should operate under the same laws, regardless of nationality or religious background," reasoned Joker.

"But would they be able to read the kanji on the wards?" pressed Raiha, amusement glinting in his eyes, enjoying the banter. Point, counterpoint.

"Ohhhh… you’re doing it again!" Peter looked uncomfortable. "If anything happens, I’ve warned you… but if something bad happens to Miss Neon, I’ll never forgive you two!"

"Nothing will happen to ‘Miss Neon’," said Joker. "You forget, we’re her friends. It’s our job to protect each other. Too bad I left my you-know-what back in Japan."

"Me, too," said Raiha, looking uncomfortable. "I wasn’t going to even try and get my katana past international security… I’ve got my Raijin, though."

"Like you’d use it," sniffed Neon. She missed her Fukyo Waon… it would have been so easy to smuggle past security, had it not been destroyed during the tournament. It would have been so simple to explain… Jisho’s knives, however, were not. So she had left them behind, after a great inner debate. It would have been unthinkable, traveling without a madougu at all, and so she had brought along the midareru, a low-level weapon which could temporarily muddle people’s thoughts . Still, she wasn’t particularly comfortable with it, and its presence was more psychologically reassuring than it was useful.

"Your you-know-what?" Peter was puzzled.

"My ghostbusting equipment," explained Joker with all solemnity.

Peter shook his head sadly. "You’re really not taking this seriously enough. I have to get on with my chores before Bronwyn scolds me for slacking off… but think it over! Goodbye!" With that, he gave a short bow, and left the room.

"Cute kid," remarked Joker. "I think he likes you."

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