Beauty in the Breakdown
Chapter 4: Secret Window
By Baine
Email: lady_baine (at) yahoo (dot) com
Finished: August 24, 2007
Posted: August 27, 2007
AN: For those asking, by the end, this will be a Usagi/Mamoru fic. Mamoru won’t be making an appearance into the story for a few chapters yet because there are a couple of other story arcs going on, so bear with me for a while. ^.^
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Beauty in the Breakdown
Chapter Four: Secret Window
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The world was a blur of red, brown, and orange. Usagi pressed her eyes shut, locking out the feel of something pricking at her eyeballs as her lungs gasped for air. Flailing wildly, she hit the ground with a thud, experiencing a crumbling sensation as the leaves cushioning her fall gave way. Inhaling deeply, she coughed as a pungent aroma filled her nostrils. Slowly sitting up, she shook her head, causing decaying leaves to tumble to the earth.
Glowering at her brother as he sat laughing his head off, she slowly rose to her feet. “You’re so dead, Shingo.”
He smirked and stuck his fingers in his ears, flailing them around as he stuck out his tongue and ran across the lawn, sending leaves tumbling in every direction. “Not if you can’t catch me!”
Rolling her eyes at the childish action, Usagi bent and picked up her discarded rake, intent on fixing the mess they had just created.
An hour later, she leaned against her rake with a sigh and pushed her sweat-drenched bangs out of her eyes. Raking was harder than it looked. One of the perks about her house in Tokyo was that there had been people to take care of the lawn for them. At least her mom hadn’t bought a house that had a rice field to watch over. Thank goodness for small favors.
Glancing up at the house, she mused, “Hey, Shingo?”
“Yeah?”
She glanced down at her brother. He was sprawled across the ground with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows. “I was just thinking. There are only four rooms upstairs, right? Yours, mine, Mom’s, and the bathroom.”
“Right...” He shot her a curious glance, interest piqued. It wasn’t often that his sister had abstract thoughts. It was an even rarer occurrence for her to share them with him.
“The attic is a lot smaller than the first two floors, isn’t it?”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
“Think about it. The entrance is at the end of the hallway, but I don’t think that it goes all the way to the other end because Mom didn’t hear me making a lot of noise up there the other night, even though her room is right next to yours. I know you heard me.” She smiled sheepishly.
“Mm, the house just slants and gets smaller the further up you go.”
“Only the ceiling does. In general, houses tend to be pretty linear. Besides, look at the windows. Only one has a set of curtains. I don’t remember seeing any curtains upstairs, do you?”
He tilted his head and analyzed the house. “Well, obviously they’re there.”
“But they weren’t the other night when I cleaned the windows.”
An eager expression slipped across Shingo’s face. “Do you think the ghost put them there? You’re finally starting to believe me, aren’t you?”
Giving him a look, she dryly replied, “Actually, I was thinking that there might be another room up there, but since you just mentioned your ghost friend, it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that this was another of your pranks.”
“He’s real,” Shingo whined. Pouting petulantly, he added, “You just don’t believe me.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” She propped her rake against a nearby tree and brushed the debris from her clothing.
“You’re going up there?” Shingo stood abruptly, causing remnants of leaves to fall from his hair.
Usagi eyed her brother suspiciously. “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?”
“No, I just want to come, too.”
She shot him a withering look. “Why? Did you set another trap for the ghost and you’re afraid I’ll find it and tell Mom?”
“No~o, Usagi-baka. I just don’t want you to have an adventure without me.” He raised his fist into the air. “We’re going ghost-hunting. Yeah!”
Usagi rolled her eyes and restrained the grin that threatened to slip across her face. Her brother was really something else. Giving him a once-over, she briskly stated, “You can’t come with me unless you clean yourself up. I’m not about to get into trouble for not cleaning the floors because you shed leaves all over the place. Once was enough for the day.”
Shingo grumbled, but quickly shook out his clothes and ran his hand through his hair. “Better?”
“Much.”
Quickly heading inside, Usagi peered around the room. Not seeing her mother, she let out a quick breath of relief and hurried upstairs. Pulling at the trapdoor to the attic and lowering the ladder, she carefully climbed up, Shingo right behind her.
She straightened slowly and analyzed the attic. There was a pile of rubbish waiting to be taken out on trash day. The last owner had made a mess up here and Usagi had finally begun to sort through everything because no one else had wanted to do it. She liked coming up here by herself. It was her own private place. Once it was clean and she was no longer inhaling dust, she’d be up here all the time.
She glanced over at the windows and frowned. There weren’t any curtains in sight. She analyzed her brother as he finished climbing the ladder. He had been with her the entire time, so this definitely wasn’t another one of his tricks. She bit her lip and walked over to the window on the opposite end of the attic. Peering outside, she looked for the tree she had rested her rake against. It was a bit to her left, across from where the window with curtains had been.
Ignoring her brother and his squeals about the ghost moving things around, she reached for the rusty window latch and pulled at it until it began to move. Brushing auburn flakes from her hands, she pulled the pane up, causing it to squeak loudly in protest. Lowering her hands onto the chipped windowsill, she stuck her head out the window, leaning until her shoulders prevented her from going any further. She stretched her neck and peered to her left. Bingo. Her lips curled with satisfaction. Feeling Shingo tug at the back of her shirt, she kicked out her foot to prod him away, afraid that he’d cause her to lose her balance.
If there was a window, there must be a room, right? She slowly pulled herself back into the attic and brushed her hands against her jeans.
“Did you see anything?” Shingo asked, eyes alight with excitement.
“Yeah, actually, I did.”
“Seriously?” Shingo scurried over to the window and hung half his body out. Usagi rolled her eyes and placed a hand on his back to ensure he wouldn’t fall out.
“Wow,” he exclaimed, voice muffled. “That’s so cool!”
“Come back inside before you fall and break your neck, Shingo.” Usagi placed her hands against his hips and tugged, stumbling backwards as he leaned his weight against her. “Geez, you’re heavy. What have you been eating, rocks?”
“Only when Mom slips them into my lunch. I prefer snakes and snails and puppy dog tails.”
Usagi smothered a laugh. “Well, I knew that much.”
Shingo grinned and shoved his hands into his pockets. “You were right, Usa.” A pained expression flitted across his face at the foreign words.
“Of course I was right. I’m older, remember?” She lightly ruffled his hair.
He glanced at the wall. “I don’t see a doorway.”
“Maybe it’s a fake wall?” She pursed her lips as she analyzed it. “Why don’t you go get that hammer of yours?”
He gave a gleeful shout. “You’re going to knock it down, aren’t you?”
“Of course not, baka. Mom would kill me.”
“Why do you need my hammer, then?”
“Get it and I’ll show you.” Watching as he scurried away, she tentatively ran her hand against the wall, the texture of the wallpaper smooth against her palm. Turning as she heard her brother clambering back up the ladder, she crossed her fingers for luck. She had great hopes for their impending discovery. Accepting the hammer as Shingo handed it to her, Usagi stared at it, confused. “Shouldn’t it have two heads?”
“What are you talking about, Usa? You asked for a hammer.”
“Yeah, but shouldn’t it have two heads rather than these two prong-thingies?”
“Oh, you mean like a ball-peen hammer?”
“A what? It has a big head like this, but also a little one on the other side.”
“Yeah, I have one of those.”
“Can you get it?”
“What am I, your personal servant?”
“Well, they’re your tools. Besides, you’d flip if I went nosing through your stuff.”
“Okay, okay.” He shot his sister a disgruntled look, but a trace of humor lingered in his eyes as he ran toward the steps once more.
After coming back with the proper tool and passing it off to his sister, Shingo watched her gently take it and begin tapping the smaller end against the wall. “What are you doing?” he asked, intrigued. He had never seen this side of his sister before. It was almost...cool. Not that he’d ever tell her that.
“Shh, you’ll see.” Moving closer to the corner of the attic as she tapped against the wall, she suddenly hit paydirt. “I found it,” she breathed.
“Found what?”
“The entrance, dummy.”
“How do you know?”
“Come here.” Once he was in front of her, she maneuvered his head closer to the wall. “Here, listen.” Softly striking the wall, a hollow sound rang out. “Do you hear that?”
“Yeah.”
She moved the hammer to the right and softly tapped it against the wall again. “Do you hear the difference? This part of the wall is solid. I would say that there’s a plank or something obstructing the doorway here, why is why it sounds different.”
“What do you think is in there? Obviously the people who did this didn’t want anyone to find the room.”
Usagi shrugged. “That’s what we’re about to find out.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t.”
She glanced over at him, surprised. “Why not?”
“Well, what if that’s the ghost’s room?”
Usagi groaned. “Shingo...”
“Seriously, Usa! Maybe the ghost has no place else to go and boarded up this room so that nobody else could use it.”
She pressed her brother’s hammer against her palm, deep in thought. “Do you still have that hammer with the two prong-thingies on one end?”
“It’s called a hammer, Usagi. That’s what hammers are supposed to look like, unlike the one you wanted earlier.”
“Oh, right. Well, is it still up here? Oh, and what about a screwdriver, do you have one of those, too?
“Yeah, but what about—”
“Now, Shingo.”
“Fine, fine. Man, you sure are bossy.” He sighed huffily as he exited the attic once more.
Usagi frowned at the wall and ran her hands over the spot she deemed to be different from the rest. It had a coarser texture to it, unlike the smooth feeling associated with other parts of the wall.
Feeling a burst of warmth as Shingo approached her from behind, she held out a hand expectantly, reveling as a cool, metallic object was placed against her skin. She brought the tool to her face and frowned. It had a long mahogany handle that curved into a flat square of metal, reminding her a bit of a spatula. “Shingo, what’s this? It looks kind of dangerous.”
“It’s a pry bar. You should use this instead of a screwdriver if you’re going to try to get in between the cracks of a doorway.”
She turned it over, watching the metal gleam against the sunlight streaming in through the windows. Her little brother wasn’t as useless as she’d thought. “Thanks, Shingo. This will be good.”
“So, what are you going to do? You’re not just going to bash at the wall, are you? Mom’ll kill you—and me, too, since I gave you the tools.”
“Maybe you should do it. You’re better with tools than I am.”
“No way! I’m still not sure you aren’t crazy.”
“Yeah, well, I could say the same thing. Really, Shingo, a ghost?”
After a brief squabble, Usagi turned her focus back to the wall looming before her. “So, I guess first, we should figure out exactly where the doorway is.” She felt the wall again with her hands. The part of wall she presumed to be the doorway wasn’t perfectly aligned with the wall portions on either side of it. It had a slight inwards dip, allowing the paper to cave backwards at her push. “So now...should I use your pry bar-thingie?”
“You shouldn’t chip at the wood or whatever if you can’t see it, Usa.”
“That’s why I’m thinking about cutting away the edge of this paper and outlining a door. Should I use it by itself, or bang the hammer against it?”
“You won’t cause so much damage if you just cut away at the paper. If you hammer at it, you’ll cause more damage.”
“Sure you don’t want to do it?”
“Absolutely.”
Grasping the pry bar in her right hand, Usagi slowly stepped forward and placed it against the wall. She ran the edge along the wall until it slipped against a small niche. Taking a deep break, she pushed the tool inward and started pulling it down. As she chipped away at the wallpaper, a thin line began to mar the floral design of the wall. By the time she was done, the line had morphed into a rectangular shape.
“It really was a doorway, wasn’t it?” Shingo’s eyes gleamed as the promise of adventure loomed in the air, casting a rosy glow upon his cheeks.
“Okay, so we have an outline to work with. How do we break it down?”
“Well, be gentle. We don’t know how stable the walls are. Since you’ve carved a line where the doorway is, it should be easy to wedge the pry bar in there—gently, Usa, don’t ram it! Yes, like that. Tap it gently, and see if you can push at the wood. Does it feel like it’s caving inwards or outwards? You might want to pull it out instead.”
“Um—” Usagi fiddled with the tool, her hand against the wall. She pulled the pry bar back and forth. “I think it wants me to pull it this way.”
“Okay, move the stool to the side so that when you pull, you won’t get hit by anything.”
“Do you have another of these? Maybe it would be better if we both do it at the same time.”
“No, but I have a crowbar, which is similar. Let me go grab it.”
Usagi stepped down to the floor and wiped the back of her hand against her sweaty forehead. Who knew that working with tools could be so exhausting? She shot Shingo a grateful smile as he returned to the attic with not only a crowbar and chair, but two bottles of water.
“You read my mind, Shingo, thank you.” She pressed the bottle against her forehead and the back of her neck, allowing it to cool her overheated skin, then rapidly downed half of the contents.
“Let’s do this.” She stood and climbed onto the stool once more. Once Shingo was across from her on his chair, she proclaimed, “Okay, ready, and, sei, nou!” *--1
Together, they began prying at the wood boarding up the door until it slowly began to give, splintering in jagged chunks as it was pulled to the floor. Once the last of the wood had fallen, Usagi stared down at the sea of broken remnants at their feet. “We probably should have grabbed some indoor shoes to wear up here or something. Be careful where you step, okay? There’s a broom in the corner, um—” *--2
“I’ll get it. There’s more wood near you and you’re not outside as much as I am, so your feet aren’t as tough.”
Usagi shot her brother a wavery smile, touched at his concern. “Thanks, Shingo.” She watched as he pushed the worst of the debris toward the middle of the room before turning back to her.
“We can chuck this stuff later. For now, let’s explore!”
“Sounds good to me!” Usagi grinned and hopped off the stool. Feeling her brother grab her hand, she gave him a light squeeze. Dust lingered in the air and the newly-revealed room was pitch-black, hiding its contents from her location in the doorway. Taking a deep breath, she clung a little closer to Shingo and stepped through the doorway, ready to face the unknown...
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Cultural Note #1: “Sei, nou!” (Sounds like ‘Say no!’) is a Japanese phrase that sort of translates into, “Ready, go!” or “Ready, now,” etc. You say it and then everyone says the same thing at the same time or starts counting together. It’s a really useful phrase!
Cultural Note #2: In Japan, shoes aren’t worn in the house unless they’re special indoor shoes. There are special shoes to wear at school, too, and sometimes, when you go into an office or various other buildings, there is a type of rubber slipper that you can wear indoors so that you don’t wear your dirty shoes inside.
AN: The idea to use a pry bar came from a forum poster at www (dot) handymanwire (dot) com, and the specifics of actually USING the tool, came from www (dot) pbs (dot) org (slash) wttw (slash) handymaamtv (slash) toolfacts405 (dot) htm.
A very special thank you not only to my editor Kel, but to her fabulous husband as well. He checked my “tool scene” to see if I did it right. I was surprised to hear I had, even down to the chunks and the wriggling! I looked up how to use a pry bar, but I had to envision and input the details myself, which is really hard since I don’t know the process. (Um, that’s also why there isn’t any more detail than what you see. Sorry!) Also, thank you to my fabulous new beta, HogwartsDuchess. I love you so much and am excited that we’re going to beta one another from now on!
Like it? Hate it? I’m the one to talk to! Hit the little review button or Email lady_baine (at) yahoo (dot) com today!
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