LP4E

Hey everyone! It's been a long time hasn't? *Checks dusty calendar and sees it's been two years since I last updated*

...Yeah, I have no excuses. I am like, the WORST at keeping a consistent update schedule rIP.

Anyway, I'm back and trying to finish this story this October! Don't have high hopes though, since I'm sure somethings going to happen to keep me from finishing it. Any fellow Californians out there? The fires and smoke have been getting pretty bad and there's been talk of our area having to evacuate. I wish everyone everyone to be safe out there!

In other news, awkward moment time~! A while back, I decided to take the initiative to find out whether or not Japan actually celebrates Halloween and discovered that they do, but they don't go trick or treating which left me with this "oh crap" feeling because that's what this whole freakin story is based off of! So to solve this massive loop hole let's just put this story under the Japanifornia category and say that yes they do Trick or Treat in Japan! Right? Right.

So keeping that in mind, let's get to the story!

Chapter 5: Ominus Forest~

With Kuroko and the GoM~

Kuroko and co. have been walking around the forest for about ten minutes having a very peculiar conversation.

"Ne Aoimine-san." Kuroko asked the taller boy, gaining his attention.

"Hm?" The navy haired young boy grunted, looking down at the shorter boy with lowered eyes. The two were walking in the back of the group tuning out the loud babble coming from Kise and Momoi. Akashi, Midorima, and Murasakibara where behind the two chatter boxes, walking silently and minding their own business in their own unique way (i.e Murasakibara eating a chocolate bar, Akashi twirling a pair scissors, and Midorima petting a plush frog toy that seemed to be croaking.) Kuroko blinked slowly, as if contemplating something, before coming to a conclusion.

"Can I touch your ears?"

Aoimine almost stopped short in surprise at the sudden question.

"Ha?!" He grunted with wide eyes, looking as if he heard the other wrong. "You want to touch me ears? Why?!"

Tetsuya tilted his head at the shocked boy before nodding in affirmation. "Well, I've only seen ears like those on puppies and doggies so I wanted to see if they're real or not..."

Aoimine grimaced before rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know what the heck you're on about, but I'm not letting you touch my ears!"

"Why?" Questioned the light haired boy in a disappointed tone (or at least as disappointed as he could sound).

"Well, first of all I don't like it when people touch my ears. Heck, I don't even like my mom touching them (not that she cares). It just feels weird..."

"..." Kuroko didn't say anything, but just stared blankly at the taller boy, making him flinch.

'What the heck!?' He thought, shivering slightly as a cold wind blew passed him. 'What's with this scary aura...and what a freaky stare! Where did he learn to glare like that?!'

With Mito~

"Achoo!" Mito sneezed softly as she was mixing some batter for a cake.

Takehiko was carving a pumpkin when he heard his wife sneeze. "Ah! Bless you Mito dear! You're not getting sick are you!?" He asked, slightly panicked while jumping up and moving towards his wife.

"No." She replied in her whispery tone of voice, blinking up at her husband who had his hand on her forehead. "Someone must be talking about me...".

Takehiko still looked a bit worried, but nodded approvingly at her normal temperature. "Well okay, but just take it easy for a bit, okay?"

"Alright."

"Anyway, I'm almost done with the pumpkin! I'm carving a puppy into it just for Tetsu! I hope he likes it!" The older man exclaimed excitedly picking up his carving knife. Mito smiled softly at her excited husband and returned to mixing the cake batter.

With the kids~

Aoimine shrugged off the cold feeling as a bright yellow blur sped towards them. "Kurokocchi~!" Shouted Kise as he ran up and hugged Kuroko who shifted in the tight hold, face still impassive. "Ne! Ne! Do you know where we're going!? We've been walking in this forest for ever~!" He chirped putting his chin on Kuroko's head.

Tetsuya silently observed his surroundings and was pleasantly surprised at where he was. He could see the faint glowing of his peganized neighborhood through the sparse trees and could hear children and people laughing in the distance.

"Well since I recognize where we are, I guess I can take you to my house." He explained, shimming out of Kise's hold and taking the initiative to take the lead. Momoi and Kise looked excited at the prospect, but the rest were strangely indifferent for a bunch of young children. A few more minutes of walking had the group finally emerging from the woods and the rainbow haired kids, barring Kuroko and Akashi, stared wide eyed at the sight.

"Waa~! It's so pretty here!" Momoi cooed, looking at all the bright colorful lights that decorated homes with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Wow! Look at all these Demons! I've never seen so many our age before!" Commented Kise in awe as he stared at the costume clad children skipping, running, and walking past him.

Kuroko tilted his head at the words "Demons". Sure, there were a couple of people dressed like monsters, but he never remembered princesses being refereed to demons before...

"Tetsuya, where is this place?" Akashi inquired, starin at the sight before him with a certain twinkle in his eye.

"We're in Japan in Kiseki city. This is my neighborhood." He answered, finding it strange the the boy didn't know. Maybe they were foreigners? That could explain their eccentricities...

"Japan?" Commented Aoimine, putting both hands behind his head staring transfixed at the lights. "Never heard of it."

"I've never seen lights like these before." Midorima muttered staring at a street light in fascination. "Is this some kind of dark magic?"

Kuroko shook his head, looking up in thought. "No, I don't think so. My Dad said it was through electricity or something like that."

"Fascinating! I must learn this "elek-tricitee" spell immediately." The green haired boy exclaimed pulling out a brown leather journal and writing feverishly in it.

"Why is everyone holding bags?" Asked Kise, looking towards a group of girls (or more accurately the bags they were holding) who were staring and giggling at him with blushes on their faces.

"They're for trick or treating," The boy explained, resigning himself to the fact that he was most likely going to be answering a lot of questions. He didn't really mind though, as he found it nice to be talking to kids his age. It was very rare to do so because of his weak presence. "It's for Halloween."

"Halloween?" The colorful group of kids chorused, looking mystified at the word. Kuroko actually raised a brow at this, surprised at the fact that they didn't seem to know what Halloween was. I mean, what child didn't know it?

"Do you guys not know what Halloween is?" He cautioned after a few moments, gaining non-affirmative answers in return.

"Never heard of it." Aoimine admitted, Momoi and Kise nodding in agreement.

"What is this "Hollow-en", Tetsuya?" Akashi Inquired, looking just as interested in the subject as his comrades.

Kuroko deliberated for a few moments, processing the words and trying put together his own response. He never had to explain Halloween to anyone before, he just assumed that everyone knew it or at least the gist of it.

"Well," He began slowly, searching for the appropriate words. "Halloween is basically this really fun day that only happens every October 31st. On this day, everyone decorates their houses, puts on costumes, and goes around to peoples houses to get candy by Trick or Treating."

Murasakibara perked up at the word "candy" and looked wide eyed at the short boy. His friends adopted similar looks, appearing awe struck at the information.

"Are you serious?!" Aomine asked eagerly as Kise began to jump up and down in excitement.

"So like, do you have to pay for the candy or something" Momoi asked and when Kuroko shook his head "No", Murasakibara looked like he had just died and gone to heaven. All he had to do was go to peoples houses and get free candy?! Sounded like a dream come true!

"Fascinating," Midorima muttered, writing down in his journal while the frog in the crook of his elbow croaked some more. "I have never heard of such a celebration before!"

"Indeed" Akashi muttered, thinking deeply to himself. Kuroko may have only known the boy for a short period of time, but he knew that the smile on the boys face meant nothing but trouble. The blue haired boy's instinct were right once more, as Akashi soon snapped his fingers, gaining the groups immediate and undivided attention.

"The "Hollow-en" celebration sounds quite entertaining," He began, tail seeming to wave around a bit in interest at what he heard. "We don't have anything like this back at home, so I'm interested to know more about this celebration...Tetsuya."

Said boy slightly jumped at his name and looked at the read head in curiosity. Akashi's smirk never seemed to leave his as he raised his hand and pointed an imposing finger at him, stance show casing his confidence. "You will show us this "Trick or Treating" ritual that you spoke of earlier."

Well that's a surprise. Many would feel affronted at the sudden demand, but once again, Kuroko found that he didn't mind. He was planing to get some more candy after his original harvest got stolen after all.

"Oh! Oh! Really Akashiichi?!" The blond Incubus asked in animated delight, the other kids practically vibrating in excitement at the prospect. It seemed the only thing that was holding Murasakibara back from ransacking every house on the block for sweets was Akashi's signal for approval.

"Why of course. Tetsuya is our gracious host after all, so it would be the polite thing to do." He asserted, seeming to be a bit to happy to say those words. Kuroko pouted at how his own words were being used against him. The boy had half a mind to refuse, just to spite the red-head, but at the hopeful, almost pleading looks from the other kids, he couldn't find it in him to do so.

The blue haired boy gave a eternal sigh and absentmindedly pulled up the sleeves to his ghost costume. His mother always did tell him to have the up most manners after all...

"...Okay, though we have to finish before 10:00 and meet up with my cousin." He eventually answered, which was soon preceded by an uproarious cheer from the group surrounding him. This was going to be a looong night wasn't it?

Somewhere in the forest~

Meanwhile, back in the forest, a certain little furry creature was happily trotting along fallen leaves. The little Alaskan Malamute from earlier seemed to be enjoying his walk, Kuroko's bag of candy still hanging around his neck. The puppy didn't seem to be lost or distressed, just cheerfully ambling along, panting softly. He continued to do this for a few moments before he stopped with a sudden jerk.

The animal looked up into the air and began to sniff, as if he suddenly smelt something of interest. He continued to sniff some more, before giving a quick bark in a random direction and began to run in said direction. He weaved through trees, jumped over fallen trunks, and splashed into murky puddles; clearly determined on getting to some unknown place.

Finally, the puppy slowed to a walk, panting heavily at his previous run. He carefully walked until he was behind a rather large tree. He then curiously peered his vivid blue eyes around the wooden trunk, and looked into a moon lit clearing.

In the middle of the clearing, was a singed pentagram that was burnt into the ground...

The dog tilted his head at the peculiar sight, wrinkling his nose at the scent of soot, vanilla, and something he never smelt before, which had attracted him in the first place. He placed a pensive paw forward, preparing to enter the clearing and investigate the strange smell, but before he could, a flash of light caught his eyes.

The Malamute looked at the pentagram with renewed query, for it was now begining to glow. The light grew brighter and brighter, taking on a blood red color, before a sudden loud "CRACK" shot through the air like a shot-gun blast, making the puppy yelp in fright.

He quickly scurried behind the tree, shaking terribly. He watched in fear and awe as several figures began to rise from the fiery pentagram, all their eyes aglow with crimson. This event went on for a few moments before things started to die down.

Several male figures stood in the now smokey pentagram, all statue still with their arms behind their backs. They appeared to look like humans, but their oddly pale skin, pointed ears, horns, and tails clued them into being something else. They were dressed primly in suits, black sunglasses hiding their previously glowing eyes like an eclipse. All except one looked similar, almost clone like baring hair color. The puppy found his attention on the shortest of the group who appeared to be a young boy no older than six or seven.

He had short black hair with his bangs parted to the left and sharp grey eyes that glowed in the pale moon light. He was dressed just as proper as the older men, but his horns were a bit more curled and his tail was slimmer, both of these features having black and white stripes.

The strange looking boy studied his surroundings with stone, calculating eyes before he promptly turned to address the men behind him.

"The young master and his friends were here," He stated in a low voice. "From what I can tell, they haven't gotten too far. We'll split up and search for them. When you do find them, immediately apprehend them and bring them back here."

"Yes, Nijimura-san" The men intoned at the same time, nodding their heads in agreement. The now named Nijimura nodded as well, and turned to face the front once again.

"We have until 12:00 to retrieve them, so make haste. Try to avoid as many casualties as you can." The Malamute began to silently whimper when he saw the men's eyes glow bright once more, a strange and oppressive aura coming down upon the surroundings.

"Let's go!" Nijimura declared and on command, he and the men took off. To the naked eye, it was like a sudden and strong gust of wind had blown through, practically knocking the puppy away. One second they were there, the next they were gone. The animal looked around in bewilderment, wondering what on earth had just happend. He sniffed around the air, pin-pointing where they had gone. He perked up in realization, those strange men had the same smell from earlier!

Giving a few excited barks at the realization, the Alaskan Malamute began to run towards the source of the scent, leaving behind the ominous scene.

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