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"Fine, but stop getting mad at me about this, because as you said we had to come here anyhow. If you don't want this to be your fault then stop acting like it's mine. Because IF this was a situation where blame was to lay it'd be more on your feet then mine," Seto snapped.

Seto bit his tongue to refrain from arguing further, there wasn't a point. Jounouchi was just too damn stubborn, and as quick as he was to anger it'd probably fade just as quickly if left alone. At that moment Shizuka stormed out of the bathroom anyhow, demanding, "So why on earth did you just climb into the window unannounced, this had better be one good emergency!" Luckily her fury and eyes were locked with her elder brother's, which spared Seto the embarrassment of having to look her in the eye quite yet.

Shizuka wasn't actually enraged when she came out of the bathroom, she just didn't feel any emotion other than fury would be particularly appropriate given the situation. Not until after she had whatever this emergency was to focus on. However when Jounouchi gave the explanation of 'haunted' she couldn't do much more than stand their incredulously. She might not be a violent or murderous person, but if this turned out to be some sort of prank she'd probably kill them both, or at least shriek until they both went deaf.

Without a word she spun on heel and stormed out of the room, aware that Jounouchi and Kaiba were quick to follow behind her. She walked down the hallway to the room she recalled belonged to the mansion's owner. She opened the door with apparent ease, receiving both a shocked gasp from the pair behind her at the action as well as a brief admonishment from her brother at her attempt to enter the 'haunted' room. She entered the room to find a chaotic mess before her. The bedroom linens askew, books and clothing strewn around the room, torn curtains, etc. However nothing about the sty particularly shouted 'haunting' more than the abode of a complete slob. Which to be fair didn't really seem to be an apt description of Kaiba, although a haunting also didn't sound very plausible.

Turning to the clearly bewildered boys behind her she tried to remain calm as she asked for further details, though still deliberately avoiding Kaiba's gaze. "Umm, what makes you think you are being haunted again? I mean I see a mess, but no evidence of an earthquake. And I definitely would have noticed an earthquake in the shower, I'm pretty sure they don't localize to single bedrooms."

"Weird stuff? You trashed my room and then thought it'd be funny to scare your sister, to be fair you never said she'd be naked though," Seto answered nonchalantly. He immediately blanched, he had absolutely no idea where that spiel came from, he felt as if he'd momentarily lost control of his mind and mouth.

- - -

"WHAT?!?" Shizuka shrieked, "What the hell is going on?" It was uncharacteristic of her to swear but frankly she was that angry, and more importantly a little bit frightened. Something wasn't adding up here, and she had a feeling it wasn't going to be good.

"You can add possession and loss of motor function to the list," Seto chimed unhappily in when he finally regained control of himself, "I don't know what I just said, but it was not me."

- - -

Shizuka bit her lip nervously at Kaiba's confession. She didn't want to believe it, but he really didn't seem the type to make up such a thing. It probably even made more sense than the man spouting off practical jokes.

"Well I don't know what it is, but yea I don't think now is the time for games. Whatever this is though, it clearly does. Jounouchi you and I both have been utterly humiliated and almost killed on multiple occasions over the past couple of days, however not quite killed. I'm not sure if we're working up to that, I'd really like to not find out though."

At that moment Shizuka gave a slight umm and added, "well I don't know if this is really related. But you guys know how I came out here on my own, without a word because my plan was to try and settle some things with my father and brother. Well, that's true, and that's what I rationalized...after I was pulled to come here without a word. I, I don't even think I told mom. I just left, and I'm now realizing she hasn't called and that's kind of worrying and..." the girl trailed off unsure where to go from there.

"Well," Seto commented uneasily, "I'm pretty sure that whatever this thing is it's primarily haunting your family Jounouchi. I've just unfortunately been dragged along for the ride. Why the hell did I ever decide I needed coffee that night?! I should have stayed at work where I belonged."

"Oh really? That's where you think this all started? Well I know that I went to a coffee shop - next to my office - to get coffee to stay awake and do work. I wasn't lured there by a force, it was convenient. Why exactly were you there though? Nowhere near where you live, no reason for you to need coffee in the middle of the night. Why did you get out of bed that night?" Seto demanded. "And maybe I was injured first, but you haven't been completely unscathed. Besides, if it'd been you to collapse in the coffee house I certainly wouldn't have taken you back to my office. Me getting battered more often isn't proving the predilection of some vengeful spirit, not anymore than it could be proving that meticulous planning of something more...intelligent."

- - -

Shizuka stepped out of the room while the boys bickered, she pulled out her cell and rang home, just to check on her mother. She'd been gone long enough now, her mother should have wondered where she was. The anxiety built as the phone continued to ring without answer. After the fifth ring though the phone was finally answered, by her mother, which was initially a relief. Until she heard a familiar tipsy slur to the words. She wasn't sure why her mother had started drinking so much more heavily lately, she used to be so against it, after everything that had happened with her ex-husband.

- - -

The girl is calling home to mommy eh...hmm. In a flash he reappeared in the hallway of Kawai Kaoru. At the top of the stairs paced the tiny, tipsy woman. Rambling on the phone with her young daughter. The pacing was observed for awhile, the empty barely coherent chatter boring. Still on the phone Kawai made her way toward the stairs, carrying a brimming basket of linens. Minimal effort was needed to float an empty wine bottle from a nearby end table onto the stairway, right under the descending left foot of the oblivious victim.