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13 Attic, Cellar, Hidden Room

@flufftober

It all started with a single small knock on her door, a quiet one, timid even. Shinobu barely noticed it as she had buried herself into some of her most valuable books. It was only when a second knock came from the door that she looked up. She glanced at the still closed door, absentmindedly hoping that she had misheard the sound, that it was only a figment of her imagination. The book she had been trying to read for the past few hours was written in a very peculiar script and it had taken her a lot of time, patience, and a strong looking glass to finally make sense of the elegantly curved letters. She was not keen on having her focus interrupted and she – a third knock snapped her out of her thoughts.

Shinobu sighed. This time, the knock had sounded different, way less gentle and more like a certain someone she knew would open her door any moment now if she did not react to the knock. “I’m coming, Aoi,” she called out, giving the book a defeated look before carefully closing it.

When Shinobu opened the door, it was indeed Aoi who stood before her, raising her hand to knock another time. She froze when Shinobu appeared in front of her, her cheeks blushing. But before Aoi could say anything, she was shoved aside by three small figures pushing past her. All three of them had their hands on their hips when they looked up at Shinobu, determined looks on their small faces.

“It’s not Aoi’s fault,” Sumi said while Kiyo and Naho nodded emphatically. With their white dresses and dark hair, all three girls looked very similar. At times, Shinobu could only tell them apart by their different hairstyles and colored ribbons.

When she turned her focus back to the girls, Sumi’s face had taken on an almost accusing look. “You said you’d play with us, Shinobu-sama. But that’s been like ten hours ago and we don’t want to wait anymore!”

Shinobu quickly thought back. Ten hours was obviously an exaggeration but she did have the faint memory of having promised something like that to Sumi earlier this morning. She glanced at the window and blinked in confusion when she saw that the sun was already hanging low over the horizon. “How long have I been in there reading?” she muttered, more to herself than anything.

“Almost the whole day,” Aoi replied with a soft smile. “I asked the girls to let you read in peace but they just wouldn’t stop pestering me about us all playing together. I’m sorry.”

Shinobu quickly shook her head. “You’re fine, Aoi. I have to apologize; I should not have lost track of time.” She knelt down until she was almost at the same height as the three girls and smiled at them apologetically. “I’m sorry, girls. Of course, I’ll keep my promise.”

Naho’s face lit up and she blurted out, “Good. Can we play hide and seek then?”

Shinobu suppressed a sigh and nodded, forcing a smile to her face. When the girls erupted in cheers, she got up again and exchanged a glance with Aoi whose smile also looked kind of strained. While it had become a habit in the butterfly mansion to regularly take some time to play with the girls, hide and seek had been their favorite for weeks now. And while the mansion was big enough for the game itself to be fun, it had quickly gotten old to Aoi and Shinobu. However, they had silently agreed that it was worth it from time to time as the girls loved it more than anything else.

While Shinobu and Aoi followed the girls down to the entrance hall of the butterfly mansion, Shinobu absentmindedly thought that Kanao was lucky that she was on a mission and therefore excused for tonight. When they reached the hall, the girls were already happily discussing who would be the first seeker. But they all stopped dead in their tracks when suddenly, a soft knocking echoed through the hall. Shinobu and Aoi exchanged another look and they both shrugged. No visitor had announced themselves for today and Shinobu had no idea who would come here this late. Except of course someone who needed medical help – but those people usually did not knock politely but rather stumbled in if they were not carried in by the Kakushi.

But before she had the chance to react, Kiyo had already skipped to the door and opened it enthusiastically, only to squeal in delight when she recognized the figure standing behind it.

“Giyuu-sama,” Kiyo shouted gleefully and threw herself at him, followed closely by Sumi and Naho who also seemed to be over the moon at this unexpected visitor.

Giyuu stumbled backwards at the impact of three little girls all trying to hug him at once and he peered over their heads, shooting Shinobu and Aoi a slightly desperate look. While Shinobu only grinned at him, Aoi took pity on him and called the girls back. “Leave Tomioka-san some space to breathe, girls,” she said with a smile.

And while Sumi, Naho and Kiyo only giggled, they indeed let go of Giyuu and even took a step back so that he could enter the entrance hall. “Giyuu-sama?” Kiyo asked, looking up at him with puppy eyes. “Will you play hide and seek with us?”

“Pretty please?” Naho joined in and quickly pointed at Shinobu. “Aoi and Shinobu-sama are also playing!”

“You are?” Giyuu asked and looked at Shinobu, slightly raising one eyebrow. And when she nodded, he shrugged. “Uh, sure. I can join in I guess.”

The cheers of the girls rang in Shinobu’s ears and she absentmindedly thought to herself that Giyuu joining in at least reduced her chances of having to be the seeker. She followed Aoi when she walked towards the others who now formed a loose circle, the girls sticking their heads together and playing rock, paper, scissors before Kiyo emerged with a big grin on her face.

“Can I be the seeker?” she asked excitedly and without waiting for Aoi and Giyuu to say something, Shinobu nodded which evoked another squeal of glee. Shinobu knew very well that Aoi had the same feelings about being the seeker as she did and in Giyuu’s case, she did not even have to ask to know that he was more the type to slink into the shadows and hide instead of searching for other people.

“Close your eyes and count to one hundred,” Shinobu said and watched as Kiyo nodded empathically and scurried over to the corner of the hall, turning her little face towards the wall before loudly starting to count. Shinobu turned back to the others who looked back at her with varying degrees of excitement. “Okay, find your hiding spots.”

And with that, Sumi and Naho raced away, giggling while they chased each other up the stairs. Aoi smiled at Giyuu before she also vanished into one of the other rooms. And while he still stood there, looking a bit disoriented, Shinobu walked silently towards the staircase leading down to the cellar. She had the inkling that Aoi would hide in the attic again while Sumi and Naho would probably choose rooms on the first floor. And since she herself had never hidden in the cellar before, she might as well give it a try.

When Shinobu opened the door leading down, she turned the light on and to her dismay, it was more of a lone flicker of light than an actual lamp. It was barely enough to illuminate the stairs so that she would not fall down but the long hallway of the cellar was bathed in deep shadows. Shinobu sighed and regretted that she usually avoided the cellar and always sent Aoi if she needed something from down here. Aoi would probably know the layout but since Shinobu did not, she had to carefully feel her way in the dark whether she liked it or not. For a moment, she contemplated going back upstairs but since Kiyo was probably already at fifty, she would not have enough time to find another hiding place – and she did not have the heart to disappoint Kiyo by just standing there when she got done counting.

Thus, she shrugged and cautiously walked along the hallway, running her hands over the wall, hoping to find a door or some sort of alcove she could hide in. While walking through the dark, she thought to hear a faint rustling somewhere behind her and a shiver ran down her spine when rats appeared before her inner eye. She quickly shook off the thought and tried to ignore the occasional sounds, attributing them to her discomfort being down here in the dark.

Only a few second later, Shinobu found the first door. Full of hope, she tried the door handle but it was locked. With a sigh, she probed no further and instead followed the hallway. The second and third door also did not provide any success and by now, she was so far into the dark that she could not even see her own hands before her eyes anymore. She was about to just stay put, hoping that the darkness down here was enough to conceal her from Kiyo’s eyes when her hand grazed something weird.

Shinobu stopped dead in her tracks and carefully ran her hand over the wall again. The whole way here, she had felt the smooth stones that made up the cellar walls, each of them feeling exactly the same. But the one she touched right now somehow felt different. However, it was not the texture as the stone was of the same smooth material as the others. It took her a while to realize what had caught her attention and when she realized it, she held her breath. This stone was a bit elevated, creating sharp edges that had to be narrow enough not to be visible but were definitely noticeable by touch. Curious, Shinobu squinted and tried to make out the contours of the stone but her gaze was not able to pierce the darkness. With a frustrated sigh, she pressed her palm against the stone – and flinched when the stone slid away. A soft rumble made her jump and she gasped when she felt the vibration of a part of the wall moving aside.

“What on earth …?” she whispered, reaching out and reluctantly running her hands over the edges of the passage that had just opened up. “Is that … a hidden room?”

Her heart racing in her chest, she carefully felt her way into the room, keeping her hand pressed against the left wall so that she would not lose her orientation. She was so focused that she almost jumped out of her skin when she suddenly heard something behind her. She flinched violently and whirled around. And with a soft bump, her fist connected with something right behind her.

“Ouch,” a familiar voice said. “Who’s there?”

Shinobu sighed in relief as she recognized Giyuu’s voice. Just to be sure, she quickly moved her hand through the air where she expected Giyuu’s shoulders to be and when she felt the fabric of a haori under her fingers, she knew for sure it was him.

“It’s me,” she said. “What are you doing down here?”

Giyuu paused for a moment and she could vividly imagine his raised eyebrow at this question. “I’m hiding, of course,” he replied.

Shinobu shook her head and turned away, trying to find the wall again she had let go of when whirling around. “And you had to go exactly where I went?” she asked distractedly.

Only when Giyuu did not reply, she turned her attention back on him. “Uh,” he said after a pause, sounding a bit abashed. “I thought if anyone knew good hiding spots, it would be you.”

Shinobu laughed. “You’re wrong, Aoi is way better at hide and seek then I am. I didn’t even know this room existed.”

She heard Giyuu shuffling around a bit and he sounded equally as curious as she was when he spoke up again. “This is very interesting. I can’t even … oh, what’s that? That almost feels like a stone that’s out of place …”

And before Shinobu could yell out a warning, she heard the familiar click that had opened the door only a minute ago. With a curse, she jumped forward, bumping into Giyuu, but it was too late. With a rumble, the door to the hidden room closed, locking them in.

“Shit,” Giyuu muttered. “Wait, I’ll press the stone again.”

Shinobu held her breath when she heard Giyuu fumbling around. “Hurry,” she said urgently when he took longer than expected.

A small pause followed and when Giyuu spoke again, his voice sounded slightly concerned. “I found the stone but … it won’t move. It doesn’t even stand out anymore.”

“Oh no,” Shinobu whispered when the reality of the situation sank in. “Does that mean that we’re trapped?”

She heard Giyuu running his hands over the wall but after another moment, he sighed and quietly said, “Sure seems like it.”

And suddenly, Shinobu felt hysterical laughter bubbling up in her chest and she pressed a hand on her mouth, trying to drown it out. “Well, I guess I know who will win at hide and seek today,” she gasped, trying to suppress her giggle.

And just when she thought Giyuu would stay quiet, he laughed softly. “Let’s just hope they won’t be too mad at us for having to search the entire mansion.”

Shinobu chuckled to herself and shrugged. While she was not sure whether Kiyo, Sumi and Naho knew much about the cellar, Aoi would certainly search down here when Shinobu and Giyuu did not show up after the game ended. And until then, they did not have much of a choice than to relax and wait for Aoi to save them. With a sigh, Shinobu let herself sink down and leaned against the wall.

“So, how about a game of ‘I spy with my little eye’?” she asked, grinning to herself.

And when she heard Giyuu laugh, she knew that the wait would at least not be all too unpleasant.