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Homecoming Hill	By : TreeStar Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 2656 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Homecoming Hill

3

New Arrivals

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�Through me the way into the suffering city.

Through me the way to the eternal pain.

Through me the way that runs among the lost.

Justice urged on my high artificer.

My maker was divine authority;

The highest wisdom and the primal love.

Before me nothing but eternal things were made,

And I endure eternally.

Abandon every hope, ye who enter here.�

--Dante�s Inferno

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Present Day

Roronoa Zoro was jolted out of his nap when the car he was riding in hit a bump.

With a bit of a grumble, he turned a sleepy glare on the driver of their little bright blue Volkswagon Beetle. �Sanji, who the hell are you racing? Take it easy.�

Zoro�s blond cousin who didn�t look a bit like him rolled his eyes. �It�s not my fault the road�s rough. We�re out in the middle of the land God forgot��

As Sanji spoke, Zoro twisted in his seat a little to see if they were disturbing his little sister. But Kuina was sleeping soundly.

Sanji glanced at him and then in the rearview mirror. �Relax. She�s out cold. She�s eleven years old, they can sleep through anything. I know: I�ve been waking her up every morning for school for the last year now while you worked at the hotel.�

Zoro grunted and settled back down.

Sanji yawned.

Zoro gave him a glance. �Do you want to trade with me? You�ve been driving for two hours now.�

Sanji smiled in amusement. �Now that we�re almost there? Gee, thanks, coz.� He raised one arm to grab the head of his seat. This position sometimes helped him stay awake during drives. �No. We�ll be getting into town soon and I don�t even want to imagine the nightmare you�d make out of trying to find the right driveway in as old a town as Hill Town�s supposed to be.�

Zoro frowned. �I�d be fine��

�Zoro, you used to get lost in the house you were raised in. How can you even think you�d be able to find your way through a completely strange town?�

�I didn�t get lost in my own house!� It was true that Sanji was exaggerating, but not by much�

�Shh! You�ll wake her up.�

�You�re the one who said she slept like a vampire during the day.�

Sanji shot him a weird look, �I am nowhere NEAR as crass as you are.�

�Hmm.� Zoro noised in a way that would neither admit defeat or start an argument.

It was quiet for a few more minutes.

Then Sanji leaned forward a bit. �Hey, check it out.�

Zoro opened his eyes again and looked out the windshield.

There it was. Hill Town. Their new home.

Because he and Kuina were step-siblings, Zoro was the only son and the heir to a large fortune. His father had developed the Spades and Diamonds resort chain -now one of the most successful there was in business on the east coast- from the ground up. He was a truly amazing and inspirational man.

Until he died in a fire four months ago with Kuina�s mother.

Now Zoro�s Uncle Zeff, Sanji�s father, was running the resorts for Zoro as a sort of CEO until he inherited the business at twenty one -in two years. Having had worked with Zoro�s father for so long, Zeff knew best in this case and Zoro trusted him completely.

Sanji had lived with Zoro and Kuina for two years now while the boys went to college. Zoro had studied history for two years, and Sanji studied languages and foreign cultures (and minored in culinary arts, strangely enough. He loved cooking). Sanji had also studied religions extensively. They�d been on their own in one of the houses owned by Zoro�s father for that whole time, their parent�s living their busy lives elsewhere like so many rich children�s did. After his father and her mother had passed on, it had become increasingly hard to just continue normal life in the same place they always had while waiting for their parents to come home and visit. It had started to feel like they would always be waiting, living a lie. Zoro had had an especially difficult time coping with the loss of his father, visiting the cemetery almost every day to talk to him.

But now Uncle Zeff had entrusted the boys with a great responsibility: to take Kuina and evaluate this piece of property his father had purchased thirteen before he died. Incidentally the last wish he had voiced was to expand the chain across the west coast, and this mansion, Zeff said, might very well be a wonderful start. It�s location was nowhere special, but from his family�s experience in the business, all you had to do to change a place from a boring old town to a thriving tourist-filled money-hole was create something special and advertise it.

Find a place with potential and build a better mouse trap.

If you build it, they will come. Zoro mocked that creepy movie line.

Still, Zoro had a feeling he knew the real reason for this trip. They needed it to get over the death of their parents. This was a new start. A new place to live. If it worked out, they wouldn�t be moving out of it, even if it did become a resort eventually. For the next few months at least, it would just be them. It would be a nice change from the pace of the city, and a fresh routine to get into.

In this case, the foundation was already set. From the pictures he had seen, the vineyard his father had purchased had a lot of potential, structure-wise. It looked strong� but the land around it was a wreck. It had looked almost charred black. Mind you it was only a frontal shot, but the back couldn�t be much better.

Nevertheless, Zoro and Sanji were here to inspect the manor and deduce how much effort would have to go into making it the most astounding vineyard on the coast.

Zoro had the feeling right away that he�d have a hard time giving up on this one, though. It was his first big job, to bring something so deserted as �Homecoming Hill� and �Everlasting Manor� -as they had been christened- back to life. They had to make this house a home. Seeing life in dead areas and beauty in ugly things was something Zoro had quite the eye for, truth be told.

�Want to wake her?� Sanji asked, indicating to the back seat with his head.

�Let her sleep. It still looks a little far out there. We�ll take wake her when we�re closer. She�ll need her energy then to help us unpack.�

Sanji frowned. �You know, for someone with a sister complex, you sure do like to act like you don�t spoil her rotten.�

�Shut up.� Zoro returned simply.

This was one of Sanji�s annoying things, insisting that Zoro had a complex about his little sister. Just because he insisted on meeting any new friends she made before she could go over to their houses, and just because he was a little overprotective and ready to beat the crap out of those two other little girls who were making fun of her, and just because he made sure she was in bed on time and bought her treats and clothes whenever they went out.

Please. As if any of that meant he had a sister complex. Sanji had no idea what he was talking about.

They drove past a sign that read �Welcome To Hill Town --Population 1,600� and Sanji slowed his speed some as they almost instantly entered the residential area of town.

Geez, Zoro thought, making a face. The town just sort of went from seeming far off to being right on top of them out of nowhere. And it looked mostly deserted. A few people were walking on the sides of the road, but it was so quiet�

Zoro had to wonder where everyone was at two in the afternoon.

�I guess everyone�s in the fields working, huh?� Sanji asked. This was after all a farming town. The information about the town surrounding Homecoming Hill had said that the people here raised their own stock, grew their own food, bred their own meat. �I mean, I guess that makes sense.�

�Hm,� Zoro shrugged and turned a little to call behind him. �Syd! Hey boy! Wake up! Wake up Kuina!�

Upon hearing his name, the sleepy little purebred Jack Russel Terrier wagged his tail and lifted his head up to look at his owner.

�Wake up Kuina, boy!� The little dog, having no idea what was being said to him, started to get excited. He stood up a little without any real balance in the moving vehicle, and climbed over the small girl in the back seat in an effort to get into the front.

�Ow! Sydian, no.� Kuina was pulled rudely from sleep by the excited little dog as Zoro laughed in the front seat.

�Hey sleepyhead, take a look out the window.�

The brunette sat dazedly to look outside. �Is this Hill Town?�

Sanji drummed on the steering wheel. �Yep.�

�Man, it�s like a picture book��

It was true.

As they drove down the road observing the buildings, they noticed that every house was old. Old in design, but carefully kept restored. Some houses were colonial in design. Others more closely resembled cottages, and a few were simple log cabins.

There were a few telephone lines going down this street (the main street, no doubt as it was the only one that looked like it had been paved five years ago or so). No sidewalks could be seen. No crosswalks or stop signs of any kind were anywhere. Wagon tracks ran out of sight down the roads they passed up, giving the impression that cars were not really a major source of transportation here.

But then why would they be? Everything was so close together.

There was a fabric shop, right next to the only small grocery store in town on Merlot Way. A furniture shop/carpenters with a rocking chair and a dollhouse in the window was a little ways down the next street they passed, Zinfandel Drive, and there was what looked like a Blacksmiths shop next to that, and then a leather store.

Sanji was barely rolling along now. �What do you want to bet these people make their own buck hide and sell it?�

�Hey, there�s a gas station.� Kuina had rolled down her window and was sticking out of it from the shoulders up.

It truly attested to the look of the town when a gas station that was on every corner of the rest of the world stood out to them here.

Zoro looked in the direction she had to be looking in. There was a gas station way down at the end of Brandywine, but� �It looks deserted. Bet it�s the only one in town.�

Sanji was curious as well. �It�s probably all they need. They maybe have a truck come down once a month and refill it?�

People were starting to come out and gather on the street a little now. Some of the clothes looked hand made, but it was obvious that there had to be a clothing store of some type in town someplace. Probably no more than one though, judging from the unvarying styles. Bright colors weren�t very popular here. Most people wore earth tone colors and dressed modestly. Kuina wouldn�t be big on that idea at all. She loved to stand out.

In the file on the town that they�d gotten when Zoro�s father had purchased the property, it said that there were two churches in town. One Christian and the other Catholic. Zoro had no doubt in his mind that the people from these churches had many heated religious debates in this town, and it would explain how they all seemed to be competing for modesty.

Other than the few more modern (barely) attributes like the gas station, everything looked so historical.

�This town could be a national landmark. It�s like time forgot about it.�

Sanji shook his head. �Don�t be so dramatic, it�s not that old.�

�This town has been here for more than a century, Sanji.�

�Yeah, but look. They�ve got indoor plumbing. They�re wearing normal clothes. It�s not like they dip their own candles and make their own soap or anything. The wineries actually make this town a lot of money.�

A hay cart was coming down the single lane that Sanji was rolling down, and he had to pull over to let the driver get past them. The man on the cart watched them curiously as he sped his oxen by.

Sydian barked in the back seat. Kuina settled him down. �Syd! Shhh, come here puppy! It�s just a cow. That�s all. Just a cow. You�ve never seen a cow before, have you?�

Sydian was not quite a puppy, but at two years old he was hardly a mature terrier yet. He was very jumpy and wiggly and loved to run everywhere, dig, and roll in the dirt. Hence he was usually kept inside when they were in the city, and the kids hadn�t gone into the country since they�d gotten him.

Zoro scoffed, following the ox-cart man�s departure in the side mirror. �So they�re rich? Not from tourism, that�s for sure.�

�Well, not rich per say, but they�ve got more than enough to get by here and pay the outer world to stay away. It�s a small town. A small town is like living on an island. You�re cut off from the rest of the world. There�s isn�t another town around this one for a forty mile radius, and then the ocean is twenty miles west. So if these people, and us now, want something that isn�t provided in town, we really have to travel out of the way. Not everyone can do that all the time so the town depends on itself to survive. They don�t see outsiders often, I�d bet. These people don�t know what�s going on outside these hills, and I doubt they care to find out.�

There was a stone circle filled with flowers built in center of town. The road they were on, Cabernet, wrapped around it on either side to join on the other side and continue straight. Sanji drove around it and continued straight.

�Crap-geezer was saying something about how every person carries their own weight here. They all do their job, and the money from the winery cycles through the town and they manage just fine. But look at this place. Seriously, the historical look of the town alone could bring more tourists than these sleepy people would know what to do with. Maybe this job won�t be as hard as we thought. I sure hope the Manor we�re going to is in good shape��

Zoro nodded.

Kuina turned to her cousin. �Where are all the wineries?�

Zoro smiled. �Wineries are pretty big, Sprite. They�ve gotta be at the end of some of these roads, back up behind the trees some.�

�Probably,� Sanji agreed.

�Which one�s ours?� Kuina asked again.

Zoro picked up a hand-drawn map. �Well� we�re on Cabernet now. And Cabernet dead ends into a cul-de-sac at the Homecoming Hill driveway. So if we just keep going straight it should lead us right to it. So�� he leaned forward and pointed straight ahead, �It�s gotta be that one.�

Kuina fell back in her seat as Zoro shuffled for the photograph. �Wow. I knew it was big, but��

Sanji took a deep breath as well as the approached the end of the street. �It�s an eye-opener and no mistake. Bet it�s a pain in the ass to keep clean��

Kuina frowned a little, �It needs flowers.�

Sanji laughed. �Easily done. Good thing we have you here. A woman�s eye for design will be so much better than meathead�s here.�

�Meathead� didn�t answer. Looking at the manor now, he was starting develop a strange new feeling about it.

They were at the foot of the drive path. It was made out of red brick, something that Zoro found intriguing. Sanji put on the brake and turned to Zoro. �You got the key?�

�Yeah.� Zoro got out and jogged to the gate over the drive path. A huge black chain with a big lock secured it closed, and as Zoro struggled to get it loose, he had to think it was overkill. He understood the desire to keep looters away, but geez�

The house had supposedly gathered furniture and a few personal belongs over the years from previous owners. This was what they planned to use upon arriving, actually. Though they had their own clothes and personal trinkets and such (Sanji had his own personal kitchen set�), the lawyer they�d spoken to about the property before they�d left had assured them that everything else they�d need would be there already.

Zoro pulled the chain off the iron gate fence. It weighed a ton. Zoro was inclined to leave it open through their stay just so that he wouldn�t have to deal with it again, but he wasn�t sure how the others would fly with that idea�

As he was pushing open the swinging gate so that Sanji could cruise past him, he got a sudden and strong feeling that he was being watched. Not from a distance, mind you, but from really close up.

There was a sound in his ear like loud raspy breathing and he turned quickly toward it.

Of course there was nothing to be seen. �Of course. But the sound was real. And it hadn�t gone away. Hadn�t moved at all. He wasn�t sure what it was, but he swore that something was standing there� face inches away from his own, staring straight back at him. And he couldn�t see it.

BEEP BEEEEP

Sanji�s honking snapped Zoro�s attention away from� whatever the hell it had been focused on, and he turned and got back into the car that was now beside him.

�Hey, ya okay?� Sanji asked, eyebrows crinkled in a smile that let Zoro know that he was trying so hard not to openly laugh at him. �I called out the window three times and you just� stared off at nothing.�

�Fine.� Zoro answered bluntly. �I heard something.�

�Yeah, so did Syd.� Kuina was in the back trying to pull the dog�s head back through the window. He�d started barking like crazy as soon as Zoro had opened the gate.

We�ve been driving too long, Zoro thought. Don�t lose it too early, Zoro.

Still, that had been a weird sound. A creepy feeling, even.

As they went up the drive path they all looked out the window at the land that was their new property. While it wasn�t barren soil by a long shot, it was still very dead-looking. It was covered in weeds and dead bushes of all sorts. The many trees of different sizes were bare and looked especially skeletal. But Zoro could see with his imagination how nice it would look if they planted new grass and trees and had maybe a couple of dogs running around. He could easily see that this place had been amazing in its day.

Kuina�s jaw was on the floor in the backseat. Why had no one in her family come here before now? Where they all completely insane?! She could have a horse now! She�d always wanted a black stallion and now maybe her dream could come true!

They approached the top of the driveway and saw how it curved into a narrow ring in front of the wide cement steps that lead to the front doors.

The bricks in the drive path had been tenderly laid and it was almost eerie that they had not even been disturbed by weather in all this time. The same could be said for the bricks in the house. Still so new looking� as if they�d just been laid.

They could now see that the fountains overgrown with dead vines that dotted their way around the courtyard where the drive path ended were covered in angels and cherubs. The largest one in the middle of the drive was still painted a clean white and showed very little sign of weathering. Trees stretched around the front of the drive path and almost completely blocked out the town below. That would have been their job, had they been in bloom. To seal Homecoming Hill in it�s own world.

It�s in it�s own world without them, Zoro thought.

The courtyard was huge, with walkways leading off from the drive bath in both directions. These walk ways had benches and large stone planters and fountains set in the paths and various antique pottery along the sides. Trees were coming up in between them and the three couldn�t help but revel in how pretty the Hill would look if these trees alone were alive�

Then there was the Manor itself.

It wasn�t huge. Huge didn�t even begin to cover it. Zoro had no idea how many rooms were in the manor, he had a feeling no one did. But he would easily guess around three hundred by glancing at it now. At about four to six stories high in different places, the manor was laid in stone, brick and wood. Chimneys jutted from the roof in many places. The house was shaped much like a sharp horse shoe whose arms seemed to reach back forever. With a back sealing them, the manor would have formed a huge, hollow rectangle. The roofs were sharply angled �V�s that had been flipped upside down. Various statues sat on stone pillars near the roof and along the walls out front.

Shutters were all drawn to hold in the cold darkness and keep out the damaging light and heat.

It had the two wings that reached back, four kitchens, two ballrooms, a library, and God only knew how many leisure rooms and bedchambers. Probably around two hundred and fifty. It encased a total of six million square feet. They�d known all of this in advance, but seeing it� actually seeing it made reality set in better.

�This isn�t a house� this isn�t even a manor. It�s a short castle�� The most amazing thing to Zoro was that there was no sign of decay at all. The land was barren and covered in weeds and bead brush and skeletal trees, yes. But the manor itself was in the most amazing condition he could have imagined.

�Uncle said that no one has been up here for fifteen years, right?�

Sanji, who was staring with an expression of the same awe that Zoro felt, could only nod.

Beside his ear, and entranced Kuina whispered, �I can�t wait to go inside!�

The boys said nothing.

Sanji rolled around the fountain in the middle of the courtyard and shut off the motor.

�Well, it�s� amazing. But--�

Zoro nodded, �But it�s too amazing. There�s gotta be a catch somewhere.�

�Exactly! Maybe it�s in shambles inside or something.�

�Well, the land is all empty and dead.� Kuina reminded dryly before she opened her door and climbed out. �This is the coolest driveway.�

�See that�s my thing!� Sanji said, getting out and pointing to the ground. �It�s like no one has EVER driven up here before. There aren�t even any cracks in the mortar from previous owners. And that fountain looks like it�s just been painted!�

Zoro shrugged. �Well, is there a groundskeeper?�

Sanji just continued to look baffled. ��Dad said no, but�� he seemed to be considering it, and then shook his head. �But like Kuina said, the gardens are gone and the trees are dead. Why would a groundskeeper not keep the grounds? Besides, you have the only key.�

�Then I guess you�re just a freak who thinks too much.� Zoro said by way of explanation, and started to follow his sister around the house where she�d disappeared to. �Kuina, wait for us.� He was around the house before Sanji could retort in his usual manner (with a good kick in the side).

Sanji, sufficiently distracted, ran after them both.

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The empty courtyard stood in silence again.

A breeze blew dry leaves across the drive path and sidewalks around it leading off into the property. After that nothing moved, leaving the courtyard empty to human eyes. Quiet to human ears. It was still.

Even if they had looked up at the window on the third floor, the only one not currently shuttered, the family would not have seen the group of eyes that watched them with keen interest.

Nor would they have ever imagined the whispers taking place about them at that moment.

�What do you think?�

�Aye, the little girl for sure.�

�What of the boys?�

��Too early to say.�

�I hope they come inside soon.�

�I just hope they don�t wake anything out there.�

�Do you- do you think they might be the ones?�

��

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Having no idea what kind of scrutiny they were under, the boys continued chasing their young charge. Syd had taken off the moment the door had been opened and she�d run after him.

�Kuina, stop running! Let us catch up!� Zoro shouted after her.

As he rounded another corner, however, what he saw made him stop in his tracks.

It was completely the opposite from the front yard. The land behind the house was like stepping through a dimensional portal. Everything was alive! Not just alive but overgrown!

Grapevines grew tall and green in rows that stretched for about 50 aces in plain few, and then through the trees Zoro could make out probably another hundred and fifty beyond that. A babbling creek could be heard nearby the house, somewhere off to the left, Zoro thought, and an orchard spilled out of the center garden which had just come into his view.

Sanji suddenly slammed into him from behind, having not been watching where he was going.

�Woah! Sanji watch it!�

�Yeah, whatever,� came the distant answer.

Zoro really couldn�t blame him for being transfixed, though. The garden amazingly colorful. At about one by three acres, it filled the inner ring of the house from wall to wall. Flowers of all different colors and types were in bloom. Ferns flowed over the stone walkways. A beautiful white gazebo was standing near the orchard. Swinging benches hung here and there from the few tall trees actually in the garden, though some had been taken by the vine plants over time. There were two quiet fountains separated by about an acre each. And a statue of a young woman, a teenager maybe, stood right in the center of it all.

How could all of this have survived the ages� when the front property was so barren?

�Are you sure there�s no groundskeeper?� Zoro whispered again.

Sanji didn�t answer.

�Zoro! Sanji! Come here, Syd found something!�

Kuina�s voice pulled the pair back to her, and when she stepped out from behind the fountain to wave to them, they started making their way down the paths to her.

�Whadja find, Sprite?�

�Syd found it,� She repeated, stooping down near the ground as her brother and cousin arrived to hold Sydian away from the thing in the dirt he was barking at.

Sanji got down beside her and lifted away the leaf of a fern� only to drop it again when he was what was under it.

�Step away from it.� He grabbed Syd around the collar and hefted him up into his arms. �It�s just a dead animal. Probably a rodent. Are there any more?�

Kuina shook her head. �But that�s not the only thing. Look what Syd had his mouth when I came up.� She held a dark red string of beads with a crucifix aloft for her cousin to see. Her brother seemed to have found something to distract him, because he was making a beeline for something behind them.

Sanji took it. �These are rosary beads. They�re used in several different religions in different cultures as a emblem of prayer. Something physical to touch and pray on when you need more than just open air to cling to. They�re also present in some religions for things like marriage or funerals or religious holidays. Stuff like that. This one�s Catholic because of the crucifix.�

He handed it back to Kuina, who was looking at it with interest. She was young and still easily amazed. She loved learning new things, and both of the boys� chosen majors interested her. She felt that the studies of history and foreign culture crossed paths so often they could be one subject combined. They seemed to depend on each other heavily. She enjoyed it when the boys teamed up to teach her things, because she learned more than what was on the surface.

For example: Zoro could explain what happened in Germany in WWII in various areas of the country and how it effected Japan and Russia, and Sanji could then explain what the Nazi�s believed and therefore why they had acted as they did. It was fascinating.

�Sanji.�

Sanji and Kuina both turned to Zoro, who was stooping some distance away looking at something, himself.

�What�s up?� Sanji rose from the ground and climbed over an oddly-shaped rock to his cousin. Then he stopped abruptly at what he saw.

Zoro didn�t look up from where he was holding another fern leaf away from the ground. �I think I found your catch.�

There was a headstone beneath the fern, and more on either side. Suddenly suspicious, Sanji turned to behold that the rock he�d just jumped over was a grave marker as well. He hadn�t been looking for them before, but now that his eyes drifted across the garden with this new knowledge, Sanji saw that there were stones of varying shapes and sizes hidden all around them for acres.

�They�re all over.� Zoro confirmed.

Sanji was quiet for a few more seconds before whispering (because it suddenly didn�t seem appropriate to speak in a normal voice anymore�) �How convenient the lawyer didn�t mention this. How many do you think there are?�

�No idea. Maybe just the ones we can see, but I wouldn�t be surprised to see that they fill the whole garden. Must be a family cemetery. Probably has different plots for different owners. This place is really old, after all.� Zoro spoke logically, but in his skin he had that weird feeling again.

Kuina reached up to pet Syd. �How did they die?�

Zoro shook his head. �I don�t know Sprite. They don�t say.�

Kuina was curious. �It�s kinda neat. Like a mystery.�

Zoro smiled. He agreed with her. History was a mystery. There was just so much that had been lost, and so many that had been forgotten. Trying to find those secrets was what Zoro loved about the subject.

Graveyards were fascinating to Zoro. And perhaps it was because he had spent so much time lately talking to his father in one, but he was much more comfortable here than, say, Sanji was right now and he knew it. As much as Zoro loved to tease his cousin about being a wuss when he really wasn�t, if Sanji honestly freaked out for real before they were even in the house, that wouldn�t be good. Funny for about five minutes, but it would last much longer for Sanji and no one wanted that.

�It might be neat, but not necessarily safe. This whole place is hollow ground.�

Sanji groaned.

Kuina became more curious. �Hollow ground?�

�Yeah. I don�t see any dates, but these headstones around us right now have a very old design to them. If they�re really so old then it meant that the coffins used back then weren�t exactly up to snuff like they are now. The wood�s probably rotted and weak.�

Kuina didn�t get it. �So what does that mean?�

Sanji ran a hand through his long blond hair. �It means that if the coffins are deteriorated than there are a bunch of empty holes in the ground. The ground is hollow. And if the ground is hollow, then it could give and we can sink into it.�

�We could sink into a GRAVE?� Kuina looked horrified.

Zoro stood up. �It�s alright. It won�t happen to us if we just stay near the trees. There�s too much plant life in the soil keeping it firm. It�s more likely the coffins have been pushed up by the roots. And not all of them are that old. Just the ones around us.�

�How can you tell?� Sanji frowned. �You can�t read them from here.�

�I don�t know how I know. I just do. And some look way more modern than others. But I think it�s interesting. A cemetery in the garden of a mansion on a hill that no one has set foot on in over a decade. Poetic, really.�

�Creepy as hell, you mean! Damn, Zoro.� Sanji suddenly wanted a cigarette badly, but with the dog in his arms he couldn�t light one up.

�What? It gives the place some history, and�� He remembered the sound he�d heard and the feeling he�d gotten by the gate twenty minutes ago. �And it kind of explains things.�

�Things? Like why the hell no one has wanted to live here for years?�

�For starters.�

Sanji rolled his eyes. His earlier apprehension was dissipating now that he�d been aware of the situation for more than two minutes. �Well, it explains why the dog�s freaking out so much.� Syd was barking fluently again.

Kuina looked at her brother, �Can we go back to the car? I don�t want to see a coffin.�

�In a minute.� Zoro was entranced.

Sanji frowned disbelievingly. �Are you sure they�re really headstones and not just decoration? I don�t see anything written on them, they�re all blank.� It occurred to Sanji that this was strange, and he looked around again to be sure before blurting out, �They�re ALL blank! How are they all blank?� He started to pet Sydian, who was growling at nothing again. Probably a new smell.

Zoro�s eyebrows knitted in confusion. All of them? He�d thought it was just the ones he was next to, But damned if Sanji wasn�t right. There wasn�t a word on a single stone in this garden. But they WERE headstones. Of that, Zoro was certain.

�Yeah, they�re gravestones, alright,� Zoro nodded, moving to brush leaves off another one. �I�m sure of it. Though, I don�t know why they�re blank. That doesn�t make sense, they don�t look weathered� Still,� he traced his fingers over another smooth surface, �this is like a dream. It�s so� not what I expected to find here.� Then he turned back to his sister. �But then I expect we�ll be finding that a lot today, huh?�

Kuina was starting to look more creeped out than curious. �You mean we should �expect the unexpected�?�

Sanji turned on him. �A dream? This is the creepiest fucking garden I�ve ever been in in my life.� he said, making sure the word �garden� was sarcastically emphasized. �We�ve got the dog, so we are going to go back around front now so that we can actually go inside the house. C�mon Kuina. Zoro, move it.�

Zoro drew back a little inside at Sanji�s lack of respect. �You know, you really shouldn�t say things like that here.�

You might hurt someone�s feelings. �You might make something mad.

He couldn�t speak these thoughts out loud. Sanji wasn�t a superstitious person like Zoro was, and he didn�t need to give his cousin something to gloat about.

But the feeling he regarded the dead with was not an uncommon one. It was a feeling that most people got upon entering an old graveyard full of strangers. They didn�t know anything about these people�s pasts or what they�re deaths might have been like. That�s why kids made dares for their friends to spend the nights in them, and mentioning of taking a shortcut through them on the way home was spoken of in a more hushed voice than a loud shout across the basketball courts. It never really felt like an especially good idea to any normal person to walk into a graveyard and start insulting it or those buried under the very soil that supported their weight.

Unfazed, Sanji didn�t even slow down. �Are you coming or what?�

Zoro pushed himself up. Despite his curiosity, he didn�t really want to be left back here alone. As he started to follow them out, he couldn�t help but think about how out of place this area was on the Hill. That a graveyard would be so close to the house was odd. Also, Zoro was sure that it hadn�t always been buried beneath the flora, but for there to be such an explosion of life back here when nothing grew out front was really convenient. Zoro wondered what had caused it.

A bunch of death all hidden beneath a pretty garden of life.

But there was something wrong with this one. Graveyards were usually colorful, cheerful places. They were meant to be calming for mourners. A pretty place to lay out your deceased family. Zoro had gathered this over the many times he�d visited one to talk to his father. This was colorful, sure, but it didn�t have that peaceful, calm, restful feel that the others had. This one felt� awake.

There was no explanation for what had happened to these people, for what had happened in this Manor. It was wrong. Incomplete. Just like history always was. And Zoro suddenly knew that there was more to this garden -to this Hill- than anyone really knew. In dealing with history of any kind, there was always more to the story, and the story was different depending on who you spoke to about it.

He got the strangest feeling just being on this Hill. Why were there so many headstones?

Something had happened here. A long time ago. Something bad.

He wondered what there would be to find in the manor itself. He wasn�t sure if he should be excited or afraid to find out.

Still, not everything about the garden was creepy. A few of the stones had given him a kind of warm feeling. Perhaps it was because he was so sure that his father could hear him that he now felt like having conversations with dead people was not so ridiculous as others believed, but that was when he decided that he would come back here later. If they would all be staying on the Hill together, then it would be polite to introduce himself.

Just before he reached the end of the garden, he turned sharply.

He held still like that for almost a full minute, but nothing happened. Now he was starting to feel stupid.

For an instant, though, he could have SWORN he�d heard a voice whispering back where he had been stooping two minutes ago.

But it was just the wind.
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Homecoming Hill