Discliamer:  I do not own any of the characters from my favorite cartoon.  So
instead of suing me, think of my fics as contributions to Pioneer and AIC:
The geniouses behind this masterpiece.

Dance of the Dead
By: James Padilla

Tenchi stood before the large oak door. His clothes in tatters, his face
painted white. He had come for the party of the dead. A private party,
reserved every year on All Hallows Eve.
His father warned him against going. The party was strictly private. Even
his
father had never met any of the people attending the party. The money for
the
hall always came in an envelope by messenger one month before Halloween,
along with a note. The note said it wanted the hall empty, without the usual
employees or caterers.Tenchi insisted to Nobuyuki that no one would notice,
since it was a costume party. With the apparent theme of death in mind, he
had come as a zombie. One more ghoul in the crowd would make no difference.
He pulled the knocker. The sound echoed beyond the door. He stood waiting,
his hands freezing in the near winter night air. On the other side of the
door a faint clicking could be heard and then it was opened. Inside stood a
man wearing a butler’s suit. His face was white, his eyes dark and sunken.
The butler held out his hand as an indication for Tenchi to enter.
"You’re late." The butler said, his mouth slurring over the words. Tenchi
noticed a few of his teeth were missing.
Even the butler’s in costume Tenchi thought to himself, as he looked him
over. His suit was ripped in many places and his shoes were worn. His face
was haggard and the clothes seemed to hang on his body.
"Sorry." Tenchi handed the man his coat, while trying to slur his words
also.
All in the name of fun.
"No trouble getting out, I hope sir?" The butler asked, hanging his jacket
next to the others. Most were tattered an ripped.
Getting out, Tenchi wondered.
"No, no trouble at all," he said playing along.
"Very good sir. The others are already inside." The butler pointed at the
two
doors down the hallway where Tenchi knew the ballroom was. The doors were
closed, with music lightly beyond.
He walked down the familiar hall, his hands stuffed deeply in his pockets.
He
was suddenly afraid of what lay on the other side of the doors. Nobuyuki
kept
a record of all parties reserved in his hall. Tenchi stole it often, looking
for parties where the people would most likely be strangers.
"Sir?" A voice asked over his shoulder. Tenchi jumped and turned around. The
butler stood behind him.
"Yes?"
"Are you going in?" The butler looked at him suspiciously. The butler’s
sunken eyes looking over his clothes and face.
"Just preparing for the ladies." Tenchi rearranged his clothes, moving the
tatters around.
"Very good sir." The butler turned, after throwing a last glance over his
shoulder.
Tenchi could stall no longer. He had to either enter now, or leave. His
hands
gripped the door handles, his knuckles turning white. He pulled the doors
toward him before he stopped himself. Music poured out from inside. People
were dancing in circles. Other’s were standing near the beverage table
holding glasses and talking. There was laughing and voices that mingled with
the music that indicated a good gathering.
No one noticed as he slipped inside, closing the doors behind him. He moved
sideways across the edge of the room, studying all the people on the dance
floor. All were dressed like him. Clothes tattered, faces pale and white.
Their make-up done causing the illusion of sunken eyes. Some staggered as
they walked, and some were so skinny they could barely stand. He only
noticed
their outfits in passing. His attention was focused on looking for the
women.
He glanced about the hall as he walked through the crowd. There were no
added
decorations. There were the chandeliers that lighting the room. Dark
tapestries covering the walls. A piano in the corner where a zombie was
playing waltzes for the crowd. The rose patterned rug, covering the hard
wood
floors. A room designed to fit any type of need. Somber for meetings,
spacious for dancing.
Tenchi moved closer to the beverage table where a small circle of women were
standing. As he stepped around them, as he admired their outfits. A few had
dresses on that had only a few tears. But the rest of them were filthy. The
dresses were covered in mud and barely hung on their bodies. He tried to
look
past their white make-up, looking for the beauty beneath. Though hard to
find, he could see it. He approached the table, stopping near the women to
listen in on their conversation.
Their voices slurred behind blackened teeth. Parts of their skin were
missing
around their face. He was amazed by how realistic it looked. He was about to
comment on it, when one of the woman pulled him into their conversation.
"Sir, would you care to join us?"
Tenchi smiled slyly to himself.
"I’d love to ladies. What are you talking about?" He stepped into their
circle.
"Why the living, of course." The women giggled.
"And what about the living?" The women giggled again, looking at
Tenchi from their sunken eyes.
"Ah, I see sir. Your skin is still fresh, and your eyes are still clear. How
long has it been?"
How long had what been, he wondered.
"Indeed my dear, I am very fresh." He winked at them. They giggled again,
their painted hands covering their mouths. "Actually it hasn’t been very
long," he said, hoping he was playing the part right.
The crowd around them began to clap politely. The piano player was taking
his
bows.
"He played wonderfully. I hope the music keeps going. I would so like to
danc
e." Tenchi smiled to himself again.
"May I have the next dance when the music starts again." The woman turned
her
head sideways. He could almost see her blush under the heavy white make-up.
"But what about us sir?" The woman standing next to him asked.
"I would be happy to dance with all of you."
Music was filling the room again, rising above the conversation.
"Oh good a new player."
"Then shall we dance." Tenchi held out his hand for the woman.
She set her hand lightly on top. They moved out onto the dance floor. The
circled around the room with the other couples. She felt light in his arms,
he was almost throwing her as they moved.
"You must have broken many hearts with your beauty in life," he said, while
turning across the room, away from the other women.
"I hope not only in life sir." She smiled at him, reveling a mouth only half
full of teeth.
Even close up the illusion is amazing, he thought to himself.
Tenchi danced with many women that night. Spinning them around the room.
They
all wanted to dance with him because he was so much fresher then the rest.
During his short breaks he laughed with the men, telling jokes about the
living.
The night was getting late, and he was beginning to notice a peculiar smell
drifting around the room. It reminded him of the time the cat had died in
the
hall. When he had opened the doors to begin the cleaning the smell poured
out. Coincidentally it was the night after All Hallows Eve. The day after
the
dance of the dead.
None of the others seemed to notice. They continued to dance away,
pretending
as if the smell were not there. Soon the odor became so strong it began to
choke him. The air was too thick to breath in. He was about to excuse
himself
when the woman he was dancing with saved him from doing so.
"I am beginning to feel a bit tired. Not as fresh as I used to be. I wonder
if you wouldn’t mind escorting me home."
"I would love to my dear."
Tenchi said good-bye to the new friends he had made. The woman and he
stepped
out the two doors. The butler was sitting at a chair next to the main door.
"Get a cab for us." Tenchi said to the butler, who didn’t move.
The woman turned to him.
"A cab?" She asked.
"Well yes, I thought I was escorting you home?" Tenchi looked at the butler
for help, who was still sitting in the chair staring at them.
"Your family must be rich, to be able to bury you with enough money for a
cab."
Still acting, he thought to himself.
"Would you like to walk instead?" he asked.
"If you don’t mind. The night is not that cold." Tenchi smiled at her. Her
thin blood had to feel the cold wind, ready to blow them off the streets.
But
if she didn’t mind he would not protest.
The butler stood and handed Tenchi his coat and wrapped the woman’s cloak
around her.
"What a nice coat sir. Still so clean. No tears and not a speck of dirt on
it." She rubbed her bone thin fingers over the cloth. Tenchi just smiled at
her, wondering when the playing would stop.
The butler opened the door for them. They walked out together. The wind
cutting at his face. His hands and ears becoming instantly numb. The woman
did not seem to notice. They walked slowly, staring out at the empty street.
"Quiet night." Tenchi said.
"Dead quiet." The woman said. Tenchi looked at her. She smiled a half
toothless grin at him.
They walked further down the street, their conversation light and
uninteresting. The town’s business’s on the right side of the street,
the
cemetery on their left. The front gate approaching quickly.
The woman turned once they reached the gate. Tenchi followed, not
questioning
the woman’s path. Since he was walking her home, she had to know where the
shortcuts were. And if she had no fear about walking through the cemetery at
night, on All Hallows Eve, neither did he.
She stepped over graves and around family vaults. He followed, his eyes
watching out for anyone else hiding in the cemetery. Halfway through the
woman turned. Walking sideways from the back gate. After a few steps she
began walking down a set of stairs towards some family’s crypt. Tenchi
stopped at the head of the stairs. The woman looked back at him.
"Oh don’t worry sir. It’s my family’s crypt."
Weird, He thought.
He followed her down the stairs, still unsure of what else to do.
The woman walked into the darkness of the crypt, disappearing from his
sight.
She moved her face back into view.
"Are you coming?" She moved back into the darkness. Tenchi followed, hoping
for the best. Back on the street drunk singing could be heard.
The woman lit a candle in the back of the crypt. The space was covered in a
thick dust. Under the dust lay coffins that were pulled out from the wall.
"Why are we here?" he asked, wondering if she were still acting from the
party.
"You were walking me home right?" The woman asked.
"Right." Tenchi said, not understanding her point.
"Well that’s what I did sir."
"I don’t understand."
"This is my home sir." The woman turned around her arms held high. Tenchi
was
about to question her, when they both heard voices near-by.
"Who’s that?" He asked, turning toward the door. The woman listened to the
voices.
"It’s my father. You must hide." He looked around the room.
"Where?" He asked.
"In there. It’s still empty." Tenchi looked at her as if she were joking.
"You must hurry. They’re getting close."
Tenchi moved quickly, trying to forget where he was. He crawled into the
tunnel backwards. Just in case he needed a quick escape he would be ready.
The voices were moving down the stairs. The woman stood near by, staring
upwards toward them.
"Ah father, you’re already home."
"Sweet daughter. I thought you were still dancing."
"No father, I grew tired and came here."
"Then we can close the door. Everyone is home." Four more dressed in
tattered
clothes stepped through the door. They turned and pulled on the large cement
block that was moved to the side. They rolled it easily into place.
"I’m quite tired." The father said, yawning. "I think our night is done."
Tenchi sat watching from his spot in the wall. He was suddenly realizing
what
was happening. It wasn’t just a dance of the dead, but for the dead. It
was
not make-up they wore, but real decay. They weren’t pretending to be dead,
they were dead. On All Hallows Eve, the one night the dead join the living.
Tenchi thought about jumping from his spot, and trying to make a run for it.
But there was no where to run to. The door was closed with no chance of him
moving it. He watched as the corpses crawled into the coffins. The woman
threw a glance at where he was hiding as she closed her coffin. He waited a
moment, seeing if there would be any more movement.
When nothing moved he began to crawl towards the opening. When he reached
the
light, the coffins began to move. Slowly at first. The gravel beneath
scraped
along the wood. Tenchi stopped moving, waiting for the lids to fly open.
Ready for the occupants to fly out at him.
The coffins moved again, slowly, toward their respective holes.
Tenchi watched as they slid into their spots. And then all was quiet.
Nothing
moved. He finished crawling out of the hole, with one eye on the coffins.
He stood against the door, pushing with everything he could. It didn’t
move.
He turned back toward the coffins, looking to see if they had moved. All was
calm. He turned back toward the door and pushed harder then before. Nothing.
He turned again, looking for something to dig with. He found a small amount
of sticks, no larger then his little finger. He dug slowly at the dirt under
the door. Moving only a little of it.
Days passed. The hole grew only slightly. His hands were covered in his
blood. His voice was gone from screaming and no water to quench his sore
throat. His stomach no longer rumbled and began eating away at itself. His
energy dwindled. He was dying, already encased in a tomb, of a family he
didn’t know. As the days grew in number, he began to hear noises. Coffins
scrapping along the ground, bodies shifting inside.
He slept in the coffin hole when he grew tired, which happened in greater
frequency. The candle he used for light was growing smaller. Soon the wax
would be gone and he would be left in the dark permanently with the dead.
Though he might not see the light go out, before his own life was lost.
The candle was burning it’s last time, when he crawled back into the wall.
He
could barely move. His arms were too heavy to lift. He closed his eyes, for
what he hoped would be the last time. There was no escape, and there was no
point to go on with any hope. Tenchi breathed deeply, trying to take one
last
breath before he passed on.
**
The stone was moved away, reveling the family crypt. A small hole was dug
into the floor, surrounded with small broken sticks, covered with blood
lying
next to the hole. The candle was lit, and just beginning to burn out when
the
door was opened. A coffin was dragged in and set in front of the vacant
hole.
When pushed, it did not slide into its new home. Its passage was blocked.
The
two men that had been moving the coffin knelt down to see what was blocking
their way.
They found Tenchi’s body, still warm with the life that had just passed
on.

______________________

Hahahaha!  Tell me what you thought of that one!!!  Hey, I know your feeling
kind of empty and scared and stuff right now, and I have just the
solution...
Read my comedy fic The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave and laugh your ass off
before you go to bed.  I REALLY WANT YOUR FEED BACK!!! You know how to reach
me!  =(^_^)=

James Padilla,

Head of the JPLWA