Chapter VI
Silent Hill
The ash fell continuously to the ground, dissipating before it could even reach it. The streets ahead were completely invisible, obscured by the fog. All the group could see was the sign and the street that they were on, which seemed to stretch into oblivion. The town had an ominous feeling; like that they shouldn’t be there. Beads of sweat tingled down their necks, dripping to the ground.
“This is it,” Ichigo announced calmly. “But,” he paused to look at Rukia. “I can’t feel the spiritual pressure of anyone else. None at all.”
Rukia flipped open her phone. “No matter,” she replied. “I’ll send a message to Captain Hitsugaya. He can tell us where he’s located. They should be close enough to receive a message now.” She pressed multiple buttons, put on a frustrated face and tried again. She got the same result. Then her eyes went wide. “It’s dead.”
“Why didn’t you charge it before we left?” Ichigo asked, irritated.
“I did,” Rukia snapped. “I even charged it at the Leaf Village too. It had full power this afternoon.”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Naruto exclaimed. “Let’s just go in.” He began to walk inside.
“Naruto!” Sakura called after him. “You can’t even see! Don’t go charging in!” She grunted, “He hasn’t changed at all.”
“Dammit,” Ichigo said, going after Naruto. “Listen, let’s not be stupid. Let’s move in a group.”
“Fine,” Naruto pouted. “I was just sick of waiting. We’re here, so let’s get to it!”
Ichigo and Naruto waited for a little while until the rest of the group caught up. They were now in the middle of a four way intersection. Deserted buildings surrounded them. They were boarded up, and looked run down. The lights on the traffic light were off.
“What now?” Choji asked.
“I suggest we split up,” Shikamaru said. “Let’s get this investigation underway.”
“Not yet,” Uryû replied. “What if we get lost? We don’t have a means of communication.”
“Yes we do,” Shikamaru answered, reaching into his pouch and pulling out a small ear radio. “We can use these.” He glanced at the radio in shock.
“What’s with the look?” Neji asked.
“It’s,” Shikamaru paused. “Dead.”
“What?” Neji replied, taking out his own radio. Despite who had a radio, they were all dead. “What is this? Why is this happening?”
“Must be the weird spiritual pressure,” Rukia replied. “It must be interfering with your connections, and my phone.”
“Could be,” Shikamaru said, putting away his radio.
“In that case,” Uryû began. “We should find a place to meet up. That way, we can set a certain amount of time to investigate, and then we’ll meet back up at that place.”
“Sounds good,” Kiba replied. He started sniffing the air. “Wait, what’s that stink?”
“I don’t smell anything,” Ichigo replied.
“That’s because you don’t have the smell of a canine,” Shikamaru replied.
Kiba looked concerned. “That’s not good.” He paused. “It smells like blood.”
“Blood?” Renji said. “You can smell that? Where’s it coming from?”
“Over here,” Kiba answered, beginning to walk down the street.
“Hold on,” Neji instructed. “I’ll use my Byakugan to see the exact spot and see if there’s any danger.”
“Byakugan?” Ichigo asked.
“It’s a hereditary trait from the Hyuga clan,” Neji explained. “It lets me see three hundred and sixty degrees around me. I can also see your chakra network and hit the exact spot to stop the flow of chakra, rendering you helpless. They say that the Sharingan descended from the Byakugan.”
“Scary dude,” Ichigo whispered to Chad, who merely nodded.
Neji closed his eyes and made a hand sign. After a short pause, he reopened his eyes. “Byakugan!” Veins surrounded his eyes.
They waited patiently for Neji to give them a report. He looked all the way round, gritting his teeth the whole time. After a full minute, Neji sighed, “I don’t understand.”
“What’s wrong?” Rukia asked.
“My Byakugan isn’t working. I can’t see any different then you can.” Neji glanced over Rock Lee. His eyes grew slightly wider. “Although it seems I can still see your chakra network.”
“What else was there?” Ichigo asked.
“I’d be able to see through the fog,” Neji replied. “But for some reason, I can’t.”
“That’s odd,” Shikamaru said.
“So,” Neji began. “It looks like we’ll have to search this town the old fashioned way; with our eyes.”
“That’s what I planned on,” Ichigo replied.
Kiba growled, “But I can still smell blood.”
“Lead us to it,” Neji instructed.
Kiba did as he was ordered, and led the group down the street, to another intersection. This one looked much the same as the first, still hard to see through the ash and fog.
Kiba walked to the curb, glaring at it. “Here it is,” he said, as Akamaru shivered. He was staring at the curb which had a small pool of blood on it.
Uryû observed it. “It looks like someone was dragged through here.”
“The trail goes down the road,” Rukia replied.
“Do we follow it?” Ichigo asked.
“This may be a good time to split up, like Shikamaru suggested,” Uryû said.
“But we haven’t decided where we’ll meet up,” Naruto said.
“Towns like these always have map booths,” Uryû replied. “Look.” He walked to the edge of the street and found a rectangular box attached to the ground. “Right in here is a map. See? We’re on Nathan Avenue, near the Ridgeview Medical Clinic.”
“Oh, okay,” Naruto agreed. “So then what’s the meeting point?”
“It would make sense,” Rukia began. “To make the meeting point at the medical clinic. That way, when we split up, any group without Sakura or Orihime can use the tools in there to patch themselves up.”
“I guess we should make the groups then,” Shikamaru announced. He thought for a moment, analyzing the group members. “Okay, I think I made a good match up. Normally, we’d work in teams of three, but in this case, we need to cover as much ground as possible. So we’ll be in groups of two. Kiba and Renji will be a group. Then Naruto and Ichigo.”
“That’s a good team,” Sakura began.
“Two hot headed idiots,” Rukia finished. Sakura and Rukia looked at each other, pleasantly surprised that they both think the same thing.
“Get used to each other,” Shikamaru told them. “I put you two in a group.”
Sakura smiled, and Rukia nodded in approval.
“Then Choji and Chad. Then Neji and Uryû. Then Rock Lee and Orihime.”
The group separated into their respective places. “So,” Ichigo said. “We’ll meet up at the medical clinic on Lindsey Street.”
Shikamaru nodded. “But to make sure that we all get back at the same time, we’ll have two hours to explore the town. Then we all gather there to discuss what we learned.”
Everyone agreed, anxious to get started. Shikamaru walked over to the map booth, and motioned for everyone else to come as well. “Orihime and Rock Lee will take Neely Street. Kiba and Renji will look at Sanders Street. Ichigo and Naruto will take Norman Avenue.”
“Heck no!” Naruto complained.
“Why not?” Shikamaru asked.
“Because there’s nothing there!”
“Man, you’re such a pain, Naruto. Even after a year,” Shikamaru sighed. “Then you can have Neely Street, and Rock Lee and Orihime will take Nathan.”
Rock Lee frowned, “That is most disappointing! Does that not upset you, Orihime?”
Orihime blushed and replied, “I’m sure that Shikamaru has a good reason for assigning us to the streets he does, so I don’t mind.”
“Thanks,” Shikamaru smiled at her. Losing his smile, he continued, “Choji and Chad will have Katz Street. Neji and Uryû can take Rosewater Park. Rukia, you and Sakura can examine Martin Street. And finally, I will go with Uryû and Neji, because we have an odd numbered team.”
Everyone in the group remained quiet, waiting for Shikamaru to continue. “Let’s go,” he said, and everyone moved out.
* * *
Ichigo and Naruto started their journey to their own area, Neely Street. They walked along Nathan Avenue, and in only a short distance, the other group members quickly became invisible in the fog. They walked in silence, unsure what to say to each other. They passed a few buildings, such as a deserted fire station, with the windows broken or boarded up. Graffiti was written all over the boards. The fog became eerie, and made them uneasy. The whole time they walked, they saw not a single person.
Naruto finally found something to say, “So what’s it like, being a Soul Reaper?”
Taken aback, Ichigo replied, “It’s fine. I became a Soul Reaper to protect my family.” After a short pause, Ichigo returned the question, “What’s it like growing up as a ninja?”
“It’s awesome,” Naruto replied, enthusiastically. He paused, looking around the town for a brief moment. “What do you think is wrong with this place?”
“How would I know?”
Naruto remained silent.
They finally reached Neely Street, and it looked exactly like all the others; no people, foggy, and run down. They stared down the empty street, barely moving. To their right was a church.
“So,” Ichigo said, taking the first step onto the street. “Let’s start our look.” The two walked up and down the street many times, passing nothing but run down buildings, bars, and restaurants. The investigation seemed to go on forever. Finally, after four times searching the street, Naruto asked, “How long has it been?”
Ichigo stared blankly. “I don’t have a watch, I thought you did.”
Naruto stayed quiet for a brief second. Then he screamed, “So how are we supposed to know when to go back?”
Ichigo yelled back, “I don’t know! Don’t get mad at me, it’s not my fault!”
Naruto began to pace back and forth. “What now?”
Ichigo closed his eyes, thinking. “Crap, it could have been an hour already! What do we do now?” Then he got an idea. Reopening his eyes, he said to Naruto, “Wait, I have an idea!”
Slowing down, Naruto asked, “What is it?”
“Let’s see how long it takes to walk to and from the church. We’ve done that four times already. So another time would make five. If we know how many minutes one trip takes, we can multiply that by five.”
Sighing, Naruto said, “That’s a great idea, let’s do it.”
They completed their task, and walked from the church to the end of the street, then back. Ichigo counted the whole time. Once they got back to the church, they sat down on the marble steps.
“So?” Naruto asked.
“It took us five minutes and twelve seconds. But we don’t have a real stopwatch so we’re going to have to assume that’s right. It’s all we’ve got.”
“So what’s that times five?”
“Can’t you do that?” Ichigo snapped. “I counted, and came up with the idea. Put in something.”
Naruto muttered something inaudible. “What was that?” Ichigo said.
“I said I can’t do math,” Naruto replied.
“What the hell?” Ichigo asked. “Fine, I’ll do it.” He counted on his fingers, got frustrated, and then used the tip of Zangetsu to scratch the equation on the street.
“Won’t that dull your blade?” Naruto asked.
“No,” Ichigo replied. “Hold on, I’m almost done. A few seconds later, a small section of the street was scratched up, but Ichigo had found his answer. “Five laps are twenty six minutes, roughly.”
“Wait,” Naruto said, counting on his fingers. “Couldn’t you have done five times five? You know five laps and five minutes?”
“Shut up!” Ichigo snapped, sheathing Zangetsu. “The decimals always screw me up!”
They sat in silence for a brief second. They stared across the street at an empty parking lot. “So,” Naruto began. “We’ve only been here for a half hour.”
“Yeah.”
“What now?”
Ichigo thought for a moment. “I guess we should try to go in the buildings and search in there.”
“Okay.”
They got up and Ichigo said, “I guess we should try the church first, considering we’re already here.”
Naruto agreed, and they walked up to the large wooden doors. Ichigo grabbed the large metal handle and turned. But the handle was stuck. “That’s annoying.”
“What?” Naruto asked, looking over Ichigo’s shoulder.
“It’s locked.”
Naruto walked up to the handle and tried turning it, having no better results than Ichigo. “Yeah, it’s stuck pretty good.”
“I guess we need a key, or something,” Ichigo said. “I don’t really want to wait that long. No one’s even around, I say we just break it open.”
Naruto smiled, “All right, but I want to do it!”
“Fine,” Ichigo agreed, stepping back for Naruto to break the door down. “It’s big, so don’t hurt yourself.”
“Funny,” Naruto replied, winding up him arm. He lifted his leg as far back as he could. Then, with all his might, he thrust his foot at the door, slamming into it with full force. Naruto stared at the door, which didn’t even budge. Naruto put down his leg, howling in pain and rubbing his foot.
Ichigo laughed and said, “Didn’t I warn you not to hurt yourself?”
Growling, Naruto replied, “I’m not done yet!” He stood up and gritted his teeth. “This stupid door is going down!” Naruto made a lower case t with his two index and middle fingers and put them to his chest. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!” he yelled. A puff of smoke appeared behind Naruto. Ichigo stared in wonder. When the smoke dissipated, a second Naruto was behind the first. Naruto put back his hand, and the clone began to use his hands to move the air around Naruto’s. Quickly, a glowing blue sphere formed in Naruto’s hand. The clone disappeared in another puff of smoke, and Naruto thrust his hand with the sphere into the door, yelling, “Rasengan!”
Naruto kept the sphere there for a second, pushing it deeper and deeper into the door. He gritted his teeth with the strain, but kept up the attack. Finally, when he could hold it no longer, he exhaled, letting the attack fade away. He took many deep breaths, sweat dripping from his face.
Ichigo stared in amazement. “What,” he paused. “The hell was that?”
“That,” Naruto began, pausing to take another breath. “Was a Jutsu.” He smiled, with one eye still closed.
“Impressive and everything,” Ichigo said. “But you didn’t even scratch the door.”
Naruto followed Ichigo’s finger, and stared at the door. Sure enough, it remained unscathed. Naruto screamed in anger. “What? That can’t be! That was my Rasengan!”
“Um,” Ichigo began. “What just happened?”
“I used my Shadow Clone Jutsu and Rasengan.”
“That means nothing to me unless you explain it, you idiot,” Ichigo replied sharply.
Ignoring Ichigo, Naruto replied, “A Jutsu is the release of chakra through hand signs. I used a Jutsu to create a clone.” Ichigo nodded. “Then I had that clone create my attack, the Rasengan, in my hand.”
“Why did you need a clone?”
“Because I can’t move the chakra in my hand unless I use two hands, but one hand needs to hold the Rasengan.”
“Got it,” Ichigo answered. “But now I’m going to give this a try.”
“You’re going to use the Rasengan?” Naruto asked, doubtfully.
“No,” Ichigo replied, unsheathing Zangetsu. “I mean I’m going to break this damn door down.” He lifted Zangetsu high, and bringing him down, Ichigo yelled, “Getsuga Tenshô!” Ichigo’s attack hit the door full force, but it too was absorbed, leaving no damage to the door itself.
Both Ichigo and Naruto gaped at the door, with shocked faces. Ichigo gritted his teeth. “Dammit,” he said. “This can’t be right.”
“Told you,” Naruto taunted. Then he smiled. “I’ll bet that this is a Genjutsu.”
“What’s that?”
“An illusion caused by a Jutsu,” Naruto explained. “I’ll bet that Itachi Uchiha is making this illusion.”
“From where?” Ichigo asked.
“If he’s making an illusion, then we won’t see him if he doesn’t want us to,” Naruto replied.
“This isn’t a Genjutsu,” Ichigo said.
“How do you know?”
Ichigo stayed quiet for a second, reflecting on his experience in Itachi’s Sharingan. A cold bead of sweat slid down his cheek. “I know what it feels like, okay? But this town is,” he paused. “Different.”
“How’s that?” Naruto asked.
“This town feels worse than the Sharingan.”
They sat at the steps for a long time, with an uneasy feeling developing around them. Not even wind dared to pass through this town. Finally, Naruto suggested, “Maybe we should try another building. Just in case.”
“Sure,” Ichigo agreed, standing up.
They walked a short distance before they found another building on the other side of the street. This building wasn’t very tall, but it was pretty long.
Naruto read the sign. “It’s some kind of pet shot,” He announced. “I want a puppy.” There was sarcasm in his voice.
Smiling, Ichigo replied, “Let’s just get inside.” He tried to turn the knob, but got the same results as the church doors. “This will work this time though.”
“What will?”
“Breaking in,” Ichigo replied. “There are windows on this door, so we can smash those easily.”
“Got it,” Naruto replied, smirking.
Ichigo took out Zangetsu and used the hilt to lightly hit a window. The glass, however, didn’t even crack. Slightly angered, Ichigo used more force, but to no avail. Eventually, he became so angry that he was using full force, repeatedly hitting the window, occasionally muttering words such as “damn” or “stupid ass window, why won’t you break?” Once he was out of breath, he gave up. “You going to try the Rasengan?”
“There’s no point,” Naruto replied. “If a full force smash with a metal sword won’t work, then I think that this Genjutsu is stronger than I thought. It has to be Itachi’s Mangekyou Sharingan.”
“The what now?”
“That’s the term used to describe Itachi’s Sharingan when he uses illusions. He has Sharingan, which copies an attack, and Mangekyou Sharingan, when he can create illusions.”
“Why are there so many damn powers?” Ichigo growled angrily.
Ignoring Ichigo’s comments, Naruto replied, “This illusion is pretty strong. It’s been nearly an hour and a half, and Itachi’s still keeping it up.”
“I don’t think this is an illusion,” Ichigo said, but Naruto continued to ignore him. “Hey are you even listening?”
Finally, Naruto replied, “How else would you explain a whole town’s population disappearing and glass that we can’t break?”
“Really freaky crap.”
“Whatever,” Naruto said. “It looks like our time’s almost up. We’re going to have to go back to the medical clinic soon.”
“We barely found anything,” Ichigo mumbled.
Despite Ichigo’s negativity, they both began to walk north, towards the end of Neely Street. The fog did not lighten, and they still saw no one. They quickly reached the top of the street when Naruto suggested, “Hey, that was boring. Do you want to find something better?”
“What are you talking about?” Ichigo asked, walking east towards the medical clinic.
“Let’s go explore on our own,” Naruto suggested.
“Screw that,” Ichigo retorted. “Don’t you get it? We made a schedule. If we don’t stick to that, we may never find the others again.”
Naruto smiled, reaching into his pouch behind his leg. “Yeah, but I have these!” He pulled out some kind of black, small device.
“And what the hell are those?” Ichigo asked.
“They’re little radios,” Naruto answered. “We can use these to communicate with the others. All the other ninja have at least one of these in their pouches. They’ll have them on, so we can talk to them.”
Smirking, Ichigo said, “All right. Maybe we can search somewhere else.” Naruto began to run west, down the misty street, pounding the ground with his feet. “But we should,” Ichigo stopped short, noticing Naruto had already left. “Hey! Get back here!” He chased after Naruto.
They ran for a little while, Ichigo slowly closing the gap between them. “He’s so damn impatient!” He wheezed, out of breath.
Finally, Ichigo noticed that Naruto had stopped up ahead. He was staring at something. Ichigo stopped running, and walked towards him. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just looking at this,” Naruto replied, staring at a rusty stop sign.
Smirking, Ichigo replied, “I don’t think any cars are coming. I think you’re safe to cross the street.”
Confused, Naruto asked, “Car? What’s a car?”
Gaping, Ichigo replied, “What the hell do you mean?”
Suddenly, Ichigo and Naruto got chills down their spines, as a creeping sensation filled the air around them. A dark being was close to them. They heard gurgling sounds from behind them. They turned to see a shadowy figure slip behind a building. It moved awkwardly, like it was going to trip over itself.
“What,” Ichigo paused. “In the hell was that?”
Naruto let out a small yelp. Ichigo turned to him. Naruto was staring at the ground near where the figure had disappeared. Ichigo followed his gaze to find a trail of dark red blood, leading behind the building.
After a pause, Naruto asked, “Do we follow it?”
“I don’t see what else we can do,” Ichigo replied. “What’s wrong? You’re usually so pumped up.”
“Something isn’t right,” Naruto said, shaking slightly.
Ichigo didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. Naruto understood the feeling that he was feeling. They began to walk towards the intersection, following the trail of dark red blood. It was wet, and freshly made. They walked slowly and cautiously. They turned the corner and saw the limping figure disappear into the fog.
“Let’s go get it,” Naruto said, picking up the pace slightly. Ichigo did the same. They tracked the creature quite easily, due to the ever flowing trail of blood leading down the street.
They continued to follow it for a few minutes, occasionally seeing the faint outline of the figure slipping further into the shadows. It finally led them to a tunnel. The other side was sealed off, and the opened side had wooden boards to block it, but was easily maneuvered through. As they drew closer, they noticed a sharp, piercing sound emitting from the side of tunnel.
Covering his ears, Naruto asked, “What is that?”
A dark, human shaped figure stood up inside the dark tunnel, but it was still too dark to see it clearly. It knelt down beside another figure. Crunching and ripping sounds emerged from the inside of the tunnel. They were sickening, and sent disturbing chills down their souls. A trail of blood began to pour from the inside of the tunnel. Ichigo and Naruto stared helplessly inside. Naruto had released his ears to cover his mouth as his stomach turned upside down at the horrible sounds.
Feeling sick, Ichigo said, “I’m going in there.” Naruto stared at Ichigo, in disbelief, but did not stop him. Ichigo drew Zangetsu, and easily stepped over the wooden blockade.
Ichigo was now inside the tunnel. He felt something sticky and warm on his foot. Once he looked down, he noticed blood had crept over his foot, staining his sock a deep red. Ichigo gulped, trying not to gag. The smell was horrific. The dark figure stood up, acknowledging the new intruder. Ichigo could see it better than before, but it was still too dark. It definitely had a human shape. Its legs were bent at the knees, but not forward like a normal human, but to the inside, in a horrible way. It had a dark spot on its chest, which seemed to ooze some kind of thick liquid. It didn’t look like blood, but it was still too dark to tell accurately.
Ichigo lifted Zangetsu in his hands, preparing for a fight. He began to sweat coldly as his blood turned to ice. His whole arm went numb, and he began to gulp a lot. “What are you?” He glanced at the hole in its chest. “Are you a Hollow?”
Suddenly, the figure threw it shoulders back, letting out a stream of black liquid spit from its chest. Ichigo dodged to the side, but hesitated, not expecting a long ranged attack. Ichigo felt a burning sensation. He glanced at his hands, noticing the liquid reached his arm. “Damn!” He dropped Zangetsu, wiping the liquid onto his Shihakushô. “It’s freaking acid!”
Ichigo searched for Zangetsu as the creature drew closer, gargling. “Dammit!” Ichigo groaned as he picked up a wooden plank. “Bite me!” Ichigo yelled as he swung the wooden plank into the creature’s skull. It caved in with a sickening crushing sound. Dark blood splattered the plank. “Looks like your blood isn’t acid.”
The creature didn’t stay down however. It got back up, as Ichigo swung down onto the thing’s back. It collapsed in a heap of beaten flesh. It began to squirm violently, as its own blood sprayed the ground. A large gash ripped at the creature. The wooden plank’s rough edges were stuck into the monster’s shoulder. Ichigo ripped it out with a grunt, as bits of torn flesh and bone came out with it. More blood sprayed the tunnel. The creature stopped moving, and just hissed on the ground, drowning in its own blood.
Naruto stepped inside. He noticed the creature still breathing. He lifted his foot high, and then brought it down with a terrible crunching sound onto the creature’s skull. The thing immediately stopped moving, as it lay there, dead. Naruto took a deep breath. “What the heck is that?”
Gazing at the rotting corpse, Ichigo shook his head. “I have no idea. It can’t be a Hollow. They would disappear after we killed it.”
“Is it dead?”
“I would be able to move for at least two weeks after getting that kind of beating,” Ichigo replied.
After a short moment of silence, Naruto said, “What was it doing in here?”
“That’s right,” Ichigo said, remembering the sickening noises coming from the tunnel just before he entered. “It was eating this, I think.” Ichigo walked over to the other figure. “I can’t tell what it is. Let’s drag these two things out into the light.”
Reluctantly, Naruto and Ichigo grabbed the figures, and dragged them out of the tunnel. They each gasped and dropped the figures, letting them slam into the pavement. The creature had a silky gray skin, with no arms or face. It simply had a human shape and a black hole in its chest. The second figure was too mangled to tell accurately what it was. Blood covered it from head to toe. Bits of torn flesh and bone littered the tunnel.
Ichigo bent down next to the bloodied figure. “Look at this,” he said, reaching into the corpse.
“What the hell are you doing?” Naruto yelled, disgusted.
“There’s something in here. Besides, He’s wearing a jacket, I’m reaching into the pocket, you idiot.”
Naruto stared at the mangled body as Ichigo pulled out a wallet. Naruto ran to the side of the tunnel, violently puking.
“Stop!” Ichigo ordered.
“How can I?” Naruto replied as he continued to throw up.
“Because if you keep it up,” Ichigo began, but it was too late. A wave of sickness overtook him as he began to throw up next to the body. “Dammit, now I’m sick.”
Naruto stared into space for a minute. Then he said, “Hey do you hear anything?”
Ichigo, silent, listened into the distance. “No, why?”
“Exactly,” Naruto replied. “Wasn’t there some kind of static before?”
Remembering, Ichigo agreed. “It was coming from around the area where you were standing.”
Naruto looked around for a second. Some red object was on a barrel a few feet ahead of him. He walked over to it and picked it up. Then he walked back to Ichigo. “What is it?”
Ichigo took the object. After a quick examination, he replied, “It’s a pocket radio. But why did it static when that thing was alive?”
“Is it broken?” Naruto asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“But I want to know what the hell that thing is!” Naruto said, pointing to the gray skinned creature.
“I thing the term monster is a bit much,” Ichigo said. “But it definitely isn’t human.”
“What do we do with the radio?” Naruto asked.
“We should take it.”
Why?”
“Because it started to static when that thing was alive. It can warn us when others are coming.”
“Who said there are others?” Naruto replied. “There was probably only one of these things.”
“We don’t know that though. We might as well be cautious.”
Naruto reluctantly agreed. “I’ll carry it though. I have the most pockets.”
Ichigo nodded in agreement. “Remember to keep it on at all times though.” Naruto nodded in return. “We should probably reconnect with the others in the group. Call them with your head radio thing.”
As Naruto plugged his headpiece into his ear, he asked, “Why didn’t this radio static too?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Ichigo replied, waiting for Naruto to turn on the communications line.
Naruto talked into the radio for a second, calling out of Neji. After no answer, he tried Shikamaru. Eventually, he tried every member, but to no avail.
“What’s wrong?” Ichigo asked.
“The line’s dead,” Naruto replied, astonished.
Irritated, Ichigo yelled, “That’s why you shouldn’t have run off like you did, you moron! We should have tested it before!”
Naruto ignored him, as he pocketed his headpiece again.
“Dammit, Naruto,” Ichigo said as he returned into the tunnel.
“What are you doing?” Naruto asked.
“I’m getting Zangetsu.” Ichigo bent down and made his way pat the wooden blockade. He quickly found what he was looking for. Blood was splattered on the blade, as it was resting in a puddle of blood. Ichigo wiped it off onto his Shihakushô and walked out of the tunnel to rejoin Naruto.
Naruto waited for Ichigo. Once he was standing beside Naruto, Naruto asked, “So where do we go now?”
“I think we spent enough time doing nothing. We should go back to the others,” Ichigo answered.
Naruto agreed, and they began to walk back to the medical clinic. The road remained foggy and ominous. As they walked, Naruto said, “Man, this whole town gives me the creeps.” Ichigo nodded. “But why do you think the radio started to static when that thing came by?”
“Probably because of the really weird spiritual pressure that it released. That’s the only thing I can think of.”
“That makes sense,” Naruto agreed. “I wonder what happened here.”
“Beats me,” Ichigo replied.
Naruto shrugged and they pressed on. The road was a long one, and quite uneventful. After a few miles, Naruto asked, “Where are we?”
Ichigo walked over to the sidewalk. “We can use these,” he directed Naruto’s attention to a map booth. “Looks like we’re almost there. Let’s just keep going.”
And that’s what they did. They walked for another mile or two, before the familiar building appeared before them. Although, when they approached it, only a few people were standing outside of it. When Ichigo and Naruto finally drew close enough, they could tell it was Rock Lee, Orihime, Chad, and Choji.
“Here they are!” Orihime exclaimed gleefully.
“Were you waiting for us?” Ichigo asked.
“You were gone for a while,” Rock Lee reported. “We thought you may have gotten lost. Orihime and I would have had to go after you!” His face was mere inches away from Ichigo’s.
Ichigo stared at Rock Lee’s overly large eyebrows. “Yeah, well,” he paused, then yelled, “Get the hell out of my face!”
Rock Lee immediately withdrew. The others watched this spectacle in wonder. “You are certainly not very friendly.”
“I don’t give a damn!”
“We shouldn’t fight,” Chad announced. “First of all, Choji, why don’t you use that radio to tell the others that Ichigo and Naruto have come back?”
“Right!” Choji replied, reaching into his pouch.
“Oh, damn,” Ichigo said.
“What’s wrong?” Rock Lee asked.
“Those radios don’t work,” Naruto replied. “We tried them earlier.”
After staring blankly, Rock Lee said, “That could be a problem. But we cannot give up! We must use the burning flame of youth and dig deep into our powers to find our friends!” He leaned over to Ichigo.
“Why do you always bother me?” Ichigo asked.
“Come on, Ichigo,” Rock Lee said, encouragingly. “Yell guts with me!”
“I’ve seen enough of those lately,” Ichigo replied.
“Guts!” Rock Lee exclaimed loudly. Ichigo put his head down. “Come on, Ichigo! Guts!”
Ichigo picked up his head again, yelling, “Bite me!”
Taken aback, Rock Lee stood down. “I guess he has his own type of flame.”
“Enough of this,” Naruto yelled. “Come on, guys, we need to find the others!”
The rest of the group agreed, waiting for Naruto to continue his speech. “I think we should split up, and meet back here in another two hours,” Naruto explained. “Do we remember where each group went?”
“I remember Kiba and Renji went to the park,” Choji said.
“No,” Orihime corrected. “That was Shikamaru and Neji.”
“Didn’t Uryû go with them?” Ichigo asked.
Growling, Naruto yelled, “This is useless! We can’t remember! We’ll just search everywhere, and meet back here in tow hours!”
“Fine with me,” Ichigo agreed.
“That doesn’t seem very smart,” Rock Lee complained.
Nevertheless, Rock Lee and the others began to search. They split back into their original groups, Ichigo with Naruto, Rock Lee with Orihime, and Chad with Choji.
Ichigo and Naruto traveled down south. They went onto a few different streets. They all looked the same, run down and shady. But there was no one to be found.
“What do you think they were doing there?” Naruto asked.
“They were probably told to wait for us, and then communicate with the rest of the group when we came back. But with the lines dead, they couldn’t,” Ichigo replied.
“Stupid headpiece,” Naruto said angrily.
Just then, a sharp static erupted in Naruto’s pouch. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s the pocket radio, you idiot!” Ichigo yelled. “Something’s nearby!” He put his hand on Zangetsu's hilt.
“Wait,” Naruto said, pulling the radio out from his pocket. “There’s a voice!”
Sure enough, a faint voice came from the radio. “Help-----e…”
Naruto’s eyes went wide. “That’s,” he paused, shocked. “That sounds like Sasuke!”
“Na—to….I’m at—he-----cool….aiting------or you…”
The line became deadly silent. Naruto clenched the radio tightly. “It really is him. Sasuke’s here.”
“What do you want to do?” Ichigo asked.
“He said he’s at the school,” Naruto replied.
“Are you sure? It sounded like static to me.”
“That’s where I’m going,” Naruto announced. Sasuke is at the school, and I’m going to find him. If there’s a chance that Orochimaru is really behind this, then I need to find Sasuke as soon as possible.”
“Sounds like your mind is made up,” Ichigo said. He could see the pure determination in Naruto’s eyes as he began to walk forward. “Then let’s go to the school.” After a pause, Ichigo asked, “But where is the school?”
Naruto walked to a map booth. “Look,” he said. “We’re in the Lakeview side of Silent Hill. There’s a school in Old Silent Hill district. It’s called Midwich Elementary School.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go,” Ichigo agreed. “So we need to go west for quite a while before we can get to Old Silent Hill.”
“Looks like,” Naruto agreed. “But should we tell the others?”
“How?”
“Good point,” Naruto agreed.
They began to walk west, onto another fog filled street. They traveled for quite some time, slowly making their way to Old Silent Hill.
