Even though she was very new to Astraea Hill, Hikaru should have started to learn her lesson about venturing out alone on the extravagant campus.  Past experience with this sort of thing had merely gotten her falling into a pond, confused about others' speech and trapped in a costume closet to name a few incidents in her first week or two.  Now she had been asked by a Sister to take something over to the Spica Student Council room on behalf of the Miator Council.  Even though she wasn't a member herself - and didn't think she was worthy of being on it in the future - she did want to make a good impression upon the nuns who ran her school.  And upon the student council of Spica!  Think of how wonderful it would be to have even more oneesamas telling her how helpful she'd been, how nice it was to have a dutiful girl delivering things on time, all that other stuff!

Of course she'd taken the package without thinking to ask someone for directions.  She didn't even have a map with her so she had quickly become lost in the maze of places which dotted Astraea Hill in her attempts to find the Spica buildings.  By the time she realized that the Student Council room wasn't likely to be located in a copse of trees, it was too late.  Hikaru had wandered too far into the woods to know where she was, much less where her destination was.  At least the place she'd gotten lost in was very pleasant!  Birds could be heard chirping, the trees were vibrant in color and a nice breeze made everything wonderfully calming.  Maybe it was okay to get lost every now and then.  Then again she did  have to deliver her package to the Spican girls.  Maybe she could ask Hitomi-oneesama for help!  Hikaru pulled her phone out and began to dial until she noticed that somehow she had no reception in the forest.  Plus a nun would probably snatch her phone since it was unladylike.   Starting to get a little concerned, she turned around to find... a large, blackened tree which seemed to emerge from the bowels of the netherworld itself.  What was this?

"Um... hello?" she called out, knees shaking in fear as she was unsure if that sound she'd just heard was a squirrel or something far worse.  Like an army of nuns with rulers or a ghost.

Haunted woods sounded like just the sort of thing that could really spark up Charlie's stock in Cool Points.  She had heard a couple of girls talking in hushed tones about the events that had occurred somewhere in the distant past.  The terrible storm and the loss of trees.  Even some poor girl who had lost her sight.  And now spirits plagued the area around the blackened and twisted tree.

Ha!  Imagine that.  Ghosts and ghouls and traipsing around Astraea Hill.  Charlie didn't put much stock into the rumors, herself.  But, she gathered that enough girls did to find that wandering around that area alone seemed like such a terrifying notion.  Even the very thought of it was enough to send shivers down a few spines.  So, what would those girls say to someone who was bold enough to make a pilgrimage out, by herself?  And armed with her camera, she would have proof.

"You know," a familiar voice pipped in, "If they are right, you are inviting quite a bit of trouble on yourself."

The little figment was riding on Charlie's shoulder.  She took a demure position and seemed to sipping on a cup of tea.  Charlie rolled her eyes.

"You think I'm gonna buy that YOU are worried about ghosts?" Charlie wiggled her fingers in front of her, "We ain't got a thing to worry about.  Besides, even if there ARE ghosts...what are they gonna do?  Fly through me a few times."

The figment shrugged her shoulders and took a long, protracted sip of her tea.  Charlie's boots crunched along the ground, snapping twigs as she passed through the woods.  This would probably the easiest way to make a name for herself, that didn't involve name dropping any famous relatives.  Why, Charlie could wind up being the talk of one of those Roast Gardens, or whatever they called that cafe in Le Rim.  She could already see herself sitting at a table and weaving a story of high adventure out in the woods.  Then flashing that picture she would get to top it all off.

"You really must raise your standards for approval." the voice chimed in one last time.  Charlie waved the comment off as she saw the big black tree.  It wasn't hard to find, at all.  'Alright, this oughtta be easy.' she thought to herself.  She placed a hand on the trunk of the tree when she heard a voice.  Not the one from inside her head, either.  This was a far more timid sounding tone.  Charlie tilted her head.

"Now what in the..." As she peered around the old dead tree, she spotted a Miator girl, shaking in her shoes.

"Well, howdy there." she said, still speaking English as she stepped out from behind and leaned against the tree.  Charlie folded her arms and grinned and the scared looking girl.  "Doin' a little ghost huntin'?"


She made the realization almost immediately and restated her inquire, "Er...ghosts hunting?" a bit truncated, sure...but Charlie thought it conveyed the original intent of her question. If she was going to wow audiences with stories of bravery, she realized that maybe improving her Japanese would go a long way to do that. She also might have wanted to note that her Spica uniform was all white and the blackened tree was going to do a number on it, when she pushed herself off it.

Yumi had been trying.
She had really been trying.
But at the current moment, she was at the end of her rope. It had already been a month since she had practiced kendo, and she was just itching to get into her gear again. The problem was, she had actually made some nice friends at this school already. And if they found out that she actually did kendo, they might think she was totally weird and stop talking to her. There was a certain experience people expected when they saw Yumi, and that was to talk to a nice, sweet, fashionable girl who did girly things and nothing out of the ordinary. No one would want to talk to a weird girl who likes lolita fashion AND kendo. People fit into certain categories, and since the blonde girl was a member of more then one group, she had to pick one and stick to it when she was being social.

At least, that's what was true in Yumi's mind.

She needed a place to practice - an empty place, where no one would see her. Being new to the school, she wasn't very familiar with every building on campus and who occupied them at what times - so she opted for practicing outside. The girl packed up all her gear in a backpack and left her dorm, heading out into the woods near Miator. She would just find a nice, quiet place out here to practice, and would head back before anyone noticed. Trying to conceal her kendo stick wasn't the easiest thing she had ever done, so Yumi had resorted to wrapping it in a sheet and balancing it on her back with the rest of the items. That way even if she looked weird, no one would suspect she was carrying a martial arts weapon.

The woods were fairly well lit, and a breeze blew through the colorful leaves. Before long she noticed something in the distance - something...big, and dark, and looming? The only natural thing was to walk to it and investigate. After all, there were no rules that said a nice lady couldn't be curious.
When she finally reached it, however, she found that it was a big tree. And...there were two girl standing by it.
Yumi was still half way concealed in the woods, and neither girl had noticed her yet. She was standing about ten feet away, and thought she had a good chance of sneaking away before they noticed her. She just had to be careful to be quie-

'snap'

The blonde girl froze, looking down at the broken stick underneath her foot, and then up at the other girls, holding her breathe.

With the presence of a big, blackened tree in the middle of these otherwise tranquilly scenic woods, Hikaru was quickly convinced that this area might be haunted.  After all wouldn't the spiritual energies of those who had not been able to find rest corrupt even a strong and vibrant tree?  The growing din of noise around the tree itself was what had gotten her shaking in fear at the possibility.  Something was moving around back behind it.  Probably not the army of nuns with rulers but quite possibly something much more frightening.  The spirit of some student who long ago had become lost in this area herself perhaps.  And wouldn't she have been willing to make a deal with anyone just to be rescued?  Then she might have made a deal with a demon or other nasty spirit who bound her soul to the tree.  No one would be able to hear her cries for help unless they got too close to the tree and then they'd risk having their own soul ripped out!  Oh dear!

So when she heard a very foreign sounding voice speaking, Hikaru spun around with a look of abject terror on her face.  Was this the ghost?  Looking the tanned older girl over she decided it probably wasn't.  A girl who'd gotten lost in the woods would've been Japanese so the fact that this girl was speaking English at her discounted that.  Whatever on earth the girl was saying was over the terrified Hikaru's head.  She caught a couple of words - 'there' and 'ghost' - but that didn't really explain anything.  Turned out that the girl spoke Japanese as well, which just panicked Hikaru even more.  Ghosts hunting?  That meant that there were  ghosts out here and they were predatory!  The foreign girl seemed to be trying to warn her about this reality.  Eyes widening even more she began to backpedal when she heard something snap behind her.  S-l-o-w-l-y Hikaru turned her head and saw another girl there who was carrying things and was frozen in place while looking at the tree.  Was this a ghost?  That older girl had warned her about ghosts on the prowl.. but this one seemed to be trying to escape.  A friendly ghost?

"Wait!  Please don't go, it's dangerous out there.  There are mean ghosts that will eat you!" she called out pleadingly to the girl.  She started to rush to her in order to save her, but instead Hikaru's foot was caught up on a blackened tree root and the girl pitched forward, "Kyyyaaa!"

Still holding her breathe, Yumi counted silently in her head, waiting for the moment to pass and for neither of the girls to realize she was there - but that didn't happen.
The girl closer to her with black hair turned around and looked right at her. Oh man, there was no escaping now. She could try jut running away, but that would be rude and then the girls might spread bad rumors about her. She would have to confront them, and then maybe politely dismiss herself to go practice. There was no way two total strangers would expect her to do anything more then introduce herself and move on.

She took a deep breath, and stepped out of the shadows casted by the autumn leaves above her. As soon as she did, however, the girl started running towards her. Wha-what was going on? Was the girl running from something? Was she attacking her? Shaking, her hand moved to her shinai. She had never actually attacked someone out of class before, and this girl didn't look dangerous, but if she had to -

"The mean ghosts will eat you!"

Wait, what? What about ghosts? Before she even had time to process the thought, the flailing girl tripped and fell promptly on her face.
For a minute, Yumi stood there, staring at the girl, not quite knowing what to do. After a moment she regained her composure and moved towards the girl, slowly at first but then picking up the pace to help the raven haired girl.

Finally reaching her, she crouched down and gently put a hand on the girls shoulder. "Hey, are you ok?"

' Three cute little piglets and one big bad wolf '

The crimson haired girl thought to her self ice blue eyes peered down from above staying in the dark she sat high up in one of the trees . Yes this was just a wonderful accident she hadn't planned to do anything today in fact she was going to sit up in a tree and read as she often did. Yet then she spotted well heard a few little noises first from one then from two now three. And from what she could gather in her quite spying was they all believed or seemed to believe in ghosts and even if they didn't they weren't doing a very good job in hiding being on edge . The iced blue eyes watched as one fumbled over on the ground , poor deer.

Haruka will sat for a moment before standing close to the tree's body making sure she was fully in darkness before cupping her hands around her mouth. Taking in a breath her amused smile shifted do to let out a howl a long howl sounding much like a wolf's .

" Ahhhhhrooooooo!!!!!"

Ah yes how naughty with games Haruka can be.



( ooc I hope its okay if I join I hope Haruka personality is okay if not let me know and I'll delete my post. )

What Charlie had been hoping for was a polite little chuckle from the young Miator.  After all, it wasn't a home run of a joke, but it still deserved something, right?  Well, that wasn't the response she had gotten.  Instead, she seemed to be taking her seriously.  Charlie pushed off from the tree and brushed herself off.  Now she needed to try and explain herself a bit more.  As she tried to work out the best way to explain her joke, someone else had arrived on the scene.  A different girl had stepped on a branch and brought the attention to herself.

But, rather than join in on a greeting, the first Miator student charged forward to warn of carnivorous ghosts.

"But, would they still be carnivorous if they are ghosts?  And how would a ghost even eat someone?" the figment pipped in.  Charlie glanced over to the tree, where the tiny figure sat on one of the large, black branches.  The sudden cry snapped Charlie's attention back to the two other girls who were making such a big commotion.  The dark haired one had tripped and taken a tumble.

"Yikes...this just got a lot more complicated." Charlie walked forward and put on a big grin, "Hi!  So...she tripped."

She leaned down and offered a hand to the fallen Miator, "Let's get you up."

As she waited for other girl to take her up on the offer, something else had to go and happen.  The sound of a wolf came from somewhere else in the woods.  Or at least something very similar to it.  Charlie's hand remained outstretched as she tilted her head to take a glance around.  "They got wolves?" she asked.  It seemed rather odd that there would be wolves around here.  Although, it didn't seem out of the realm of possibility.

In the months away from the campus, Zuko had almost forgot how peaceful it was to take a walk through the woods. Actually, she hadn't had a single peaceful moment since she had this surgery. She was greatful, don't get me wrong, but being holed up in a hospital filled with beeping machines and murmuring voices wasn't peaceful. At all. She'd never have the full silence she once held, but she'd never change her mind about having this surgery. Even having the annoyance of the machines was better than the hollow silence.

Zuko pushed back her slightly longer locks, unkept from her stay. Then her serene features were mared by a slight furrow of her eyebrows. A classmate had once told her these woods were haunted, so no one should be out here. Unless they put as much faith in rumors as she did. Then the girl grit her teeth and twinged as she pressed a hand over her right ear. The sudden uproar of a howl had sent the device attached to the inner workings of her ear into a tizzy. A quick shake of her head and the ringing subsided. Her ire wasn't as quick to die down though. Her head turned to the right, where the voices of the girls and the howl were coming from.

Her quick movements carried her through the woods, toward the dead tree, but kept her approach rather quiet. By time she moved into the small clearing around the giant she had barely rustled the undergrowth. Maybe a small break of a twig here and there.

She glanced between the three girls, not saying a word. Zuko never spoke much and it was hard to break that habit unless she really had something of importance to say. Her white, pant suit uniform was littered with bits of twigs and leaves from her hasty walk through the underbrush. Her cheek even had a slight laceration that had already sealed itself closed. She must have looked the picture as her electric blue gaze swung from them toward the trees opposite them. Zuko huffed softly under her breath and started across the clearing, heading for that person.. or whatever it was. Likely a person, who made that noise. She had a piece of her mind to give to this.. thing.

Many things had confused, confounded and even scared HIkaru during this initial time at Miator Girls' Academy.  She hadn't really met any girls who attended the other schools for the most part and now suddenly they seemed to be coming out of the woodwork.  Had she taken a moment to step back mentally and consider the situation she would've realized that ghosts probably didn't wear modern school uniforms of any of the academies.  However she had been spooked by the appearance of the tree and the weird foreign girl's statement about ghosts hunting, so her poor imagination had been provoked in all the wrong ways.  After falling flat on her face she trembled in cold terror as she waited for the end to come in the form of evil spirits that ate both the living and friendly spirits alike.  Probably to consume their energy and continue on scaring and consuming people or something.  Hikaru kept her head down so that she at least wouldn't have to look her doom in the eyes.  When she felt a hand on her shoulder Hikaru tensed up and knew it might all be over.  Then a voice asked if she was okay, followed by the foreign girl speaking to her in clear Japanese.

Hikaru dared to look up, eyes watery from tears that had begun to well up in them, "Huh?  You're.. helping me?"

She looked over to Yumi and gulped before telling her, "I think I smacked my knee on something.. maybe my face too.. but there are evil spirits here that will eat you!  Wait... you're.. real.  Not a ghost.."

Slowly she reached up and took Charlie's hand - just as a howl sounded from nearby.  Her mind already frazzled by the thought of ghosts in the woods, she had a pretty good idea what the source of it had been.  There weren't supposed to be any wolves in these woods as far as she knew, and wolves were pretty rare in Japan from what she learned in class.  Therefore this had to be some kind of wolf that would be attracted by an evil tree and evil spirits.  Something practically supernatural - which could be only one thing.  Hikaru's tears started rolling down her cheeks as she quickly hid behind the foreign girl and motioned in terror for Yumi to join her in hiding.  Such a nice person shouldn't get herself eaten by any kind of supernatural beast!

"It's a werewolf!" she shouted in fear, then heard more noise nearby.  Someone else was with them.. or something?  Turning to see a tall figure with blazing blue eyes, she let out a little scream before pointing at the newest arrival, "G-g-g-g-g-gghooooooooooost!"

At first she was rather upset at those blue eyes showing up she sadly knew them to well but soon her biting of her lip out of anger was turned into a smirk. As a girl screamed not only about a werewolf but a ghost as well.' Ironic how you scare them more them me Zuko.' time to turn the tables of good and evil, even if it didn't work she'd make it fun. Jumping from the tree in front of hikaru she swung her arm out protectively " GET BAKE EVIL SPIRITS! "

icy eyes looked right at blazing blue ones as her head tilted back for her smirk to turn to a worried look " I heard a howl and came over i hid only to figure out what was going on, are you alright?"

whether she was believed or not she liked the idea of making herself known to Zuko , probably pissing the other off, that or the other could care less this hole thing could go so many ways. Yet the more ways it could go the more entertaining it was for Haruka. Looking back at the blue gaze she spoke up " Why not show your self your scaring these poor innocent girls! "

How funny Haruka didn't care what happened she enjoyed the acting practice.