Ah the bathroom, to some it may be a private sanctuary to which we can relax and let go of our troubles through showers and baths, while to others, it may seem like a room where you just go to clean yourself off when you're dirty and try to ignore the reeking smell of cleaning products.

Our beloved Japan had just entered a world meeting, a bit tired since he had stayed up late last night. He was not getting enough seep lately and stress was plaguing the poor man. Underneath his eyes were dark purple stamps, a sign of his insomnia. The muscles he had were sore but felt tight.

He sat down in his chair, rolling his neck, then tacking his papers in front of him. Rolling his shoulders and laying his back to his chair, he mumbled to himself," Zenryona omo do, tasuketekudasai." (Good lord, please help me). 

When the meeting hit it's break Kiku was tired as a dog, exhausted, sleepy and sore. He took a short nap a couple minutes before the break. He felt a tap on his shoulder which woke him up. It was Ludwig, "Kiku jou knov jou can't sleep through meeting right?" he stated in a stern voice. Kiku sighed, "Forgive me Ludwig-san, I haven't been getting much sreep raterey, so can you cut me some srack?" Ludwig shrugged and pat Kiku hard on the back, making him jump. 

"Lizen," he started,"I'll cut jou zome slack zhis time, we've all been under some stress lately. And listen, vhen jou get home relax or zomezhing. Take a nap or bath or zomezhing." Kiku nodded, and got up out of his chair. Walking to the elevator he pressed the faded button marked 4 and waited for the doors to close. Then an unexpected guest came,

Alfred came barging in, out of breath and jammed his thumb on the button 13. He turned his head to Kiku, "Oh sorry dude. You look like crap." Kiku's shoulder slumped down and his expression flattened, "How nice of you," 

Alfred's eyes widened in embarrassment, "Sorry man, but you been gettin' enough sleep lately?" he asked, Kiku shaked his head and Alfred got a light frown on his face, "Sucks to hear that dude," out of the corner of his eye he saw that the red number 3 had turned to a 4 at the elevator's ding. 

"This is my stop Arfred-san, nice talking to you." he bowed slightly to him. Alfred nodded and waved to him, telling him good night. 

Kiku went inside his hotel room and walked straight to the bathroom. After he was done relieving himself and washing his hands he turned on the bath. Stripping his clothes off and submerging himself in the warm water he remembered a game he played as a child. A simple game about  monster named Daruma-san, a woman who died by falling in the bathtub and gouging her eye out. He remembered how to play, "It wouldn't hurt to try it again." he mumbled to himself. He got out and turned off the lights, and soaked in the warm water for a bit. The dark scared him a little bit even though he was far more than a child now, he took a deep breath and grabbed the shampoo, closing his eyes and began washing his hair, hands shaking. 

While he was washing his hair he recited the words Yao told him to repeat to summon the monster, "D-darumasanga taoreta," he gulped and recited the words again, "D-daurumasanga toareta," He stopped, "Taoreta, I mean." Kiku squeezed his eyes even tighter and, like the rules stated if he did it right he got the image of a slender Japanese woman with long black hair wearing a soaked ivory nightgown standing in the tub with him. a couple moments later she slipped and fell, face first into the bathroom tap, gouging her right eye out. 

The image horrified him as bad as it did when he was a young child and Yao forced him to play it as a cruel joke to scare him. But then he heard the noises, a sound of water swish, swish, it went, swish swish. Then he heard another, this of which made him almost lose control of his bladder for a minute. Gurgle, gurgle, the noise you would hear if someone were to blow bubbles underwater. 

Hearing this out of instinct he asked out very loudly to what seemed to be no-one what Yao told him to repeat if he EVER at ANY moment heard a sound after he stated the first words. 

"N-naze-" he began, "N-naze anata wa basu tabu n-ni ochita nodesu k-ka?"he asked. After a couple moments of letting the question hang in the air he got out of the tub with shaky legs. (Still with closed eyes) He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around him like a young child would their security blanket. Opening the door and closing it slightly (still with tightly shut eyes) he raced to the bed and huddled under the covers and went into the fetal position. 

To say it lightly Kiku was scared shitless. He was scared frozen not wanting to make a single sound in fear that he might gain the monster's attention. He turned over and noticed something, the clock said 12:05, Kiku's eyes widened in fear and he was wishing more than ever that he was a child again. So that he could just run to Yao's room crying, and have his brother tell him that is was all a story, a folk tale made up to scare children, then have him tell him the story of the Princess Kaguya or Chang-e until he went to sleep. But he was not a child, and he did not have Yao to tell him that this wasn't real. This WAS real. Finishing the game after midnight meant that you had failed and she was going to get you, and he remembered that he left the door ajar, so the monster was SURELY going to get him.

He closed his eyes, mumbling to himself that this was a dream, but it wasn't helping. His nose was starting to feel warm and his eyes wet, along with his head hurting. Tears were making rivers down his cheeks, and his throat was constricting him from talking. He then saw something out of the corner of his eye that was scarier than any sound or any event that happened tonight. 

The same silhouette, a tall slender Japanese woman, long scraggly black hair, dripping along with her ivory nightgown. Making a small puddle underneath her. Kiku fell out of his bed and onto the floor weeping at the sight of the woman. Who was inching ever-so closely to him, he crawled away from her as far as he could until he hit the wall. She walked slowly towards him and when she reached him he was more scared than ever. She dragged him up to her level of the wall by his neck, bruising it in the process. He looked at her face covered completely by hair, but he saw a sliver of white in the gaps. He saw the glimpse of her empty eye socket, red and bleeding, a dark void in which you could see into her head. 

After those couple moments he realize that she was dragging him by the neck somewhere, and before he passed out from lack of oxygen he realized.

The bathroom.

Daruma-san dragged Kiku's unconscious body to the bathtub. When she reached her destination she switched her grip from his neck to his scalp. Clumping all of his hair in a palm, she raised his head slightly above the tap and with an angry growl from the depths of her throat she began. 

BANG!

She bashed his head against the tap of the bath, then again 

BAM!

She did it once more, making his face bruise in the process, and having him leak  a little blood as well. She continued, again, again, and again. Until her process was over.

When she was done his face was purple and red, bleeding from his nose eye, and all skin around it. Then she dropped his head making it hit the white rim of the bath, leaving it with a bright red stain. Daruma-san dropped him and disappeared into the night leaving his body on the bathroom floor, face bleeding and purple, along with a bruised neck from her asphyxiation. Waiting to be found.

Now my dear readers, take this as a lesson, if you chose to play this game please, in the name of all that is holy, TAKE EXTREME PRECAUTION! Or else you may become just like our friend here.

~~~~~~~

Hint for tomorrow: I hope all of you love your family, because we're all going to a family reunion, full of chanting, happiness, and we finally get to meet the beautiful house leader, Mother. Oh I can't wait to hear her say to us, "Welcome Home" 

Happy October :)