X: Behind the Scenes
By Lady Rose and Lady Miaka
Disclaimer: me no own, you no sue. The people who made X own it and Yu Watase owns Chichiri (and Miaka), no matter how much we want him.
Note: All characters are referred to by their first names except for Saiki. If you don't know who's who, then watch the series!
"All right people! That's a rap!" The director walked off the set of X, trying to find the person to clean up all the fake blood.
Although the camera was no longer supposed to be rolling, a sudden blur of movement caught the cameraman's eye. He turned to capture it, at the same time aiming the camera in that general direction, only to see a wiener dog racing through the set, a chibi Kanoe riding on its back.
"Wheee!!" Kanoe's yell echoed through the soundstage. She was riding at full speed through the set, until she spotted the camera upon her. Within a second, she stopped, composed herself, and looked at the cameraman. "You didn't see that."
"I've gotta give this tape to the director!!!" The cameraman laughingly yelled, at the same time setting down his camera and taking out the tape.
"Gimmee that tape!" Kanoe yelled as she chased the chibi cameraman around the set. She was having trouble catching him so she yelled, "Satsuki! Trip him up with some wires or something!"
About twenty feet away, Hinoto bowed her head, a sweat drop on her brow.
Unknown to Kanoe, Satsuki was no longer connected to the Beast, but was setting up a small race track on the Togakushi Shrine set. As the cameraman and Kanoe passed it, they both stopped mid-step to look at her creation. Then, without warning, Kanoe hopped back on her wiener dog, turned chibi, and took off, all the while swinging her cowboy hat in the air.
As she rode, a form came up beside her.
"Race ya!" chibi Yuzuriha said as she took off atop Inuki.
"And they're off!" Kamui yelled from the announcer's booth.
"Do I have anyone betting 50 yen on Kanoe? 100 on Yuzuriha?" Kusanagi chanted to his fellow Dragons.
Arashi wasn't listening to him, she was yelling her encouragement to Yuzuriha.
"Go Yuzuriha! Beat that Dragon of Earth *beep*!"
"Arashi!" Sorata gasped in surprise as he came into the stands with the largest vat of popcorn that he could find.
"NANIO?!" she screeched with a look that could kill.
"Uh….nothing." Sorata casually popped some popcorn into his mouth as he tried not to look at her.
"It's Yuzuriha in the lead! No, wait, it's Kanoe! No, Yuzuriha! No, Kanoe! Argh!!!" Kamui yelled in frustration as he tried to keep up with the race.
"No, you idiot! It's Yuzuriha!" Subaru yelled into a second microphone from the announcer's booth. "What the…" he said in confusion as he saw both Yuzuriha and Kanoe fall off their dogs.
"Heh heh heh," Fuma chuckled as he wheeled in his trip wire.
"Oh well," Subaru said. "And they're off again!"
"Why did Fuma do that?" Kamui muttered, puzzled.
"He's trying to stop the race you idiot!" Arashi yelled from the stands.
"Oh…"
Suddenly a plume of dust began racing towards Yuzuriha and Kanoe.
"What the hell is that?!" Kamui yelled as he spotted it.
"Huh?" Subaru said as he looked. "That's…that's…NATAKU!!!"
"Riding another dog?"
"No! Running!"
"Oh…"
As Nataku came between Kanoe and Yuzuriha, the director walked onto the middle of the track.
"Okay everyone! Back to-" He didn't get to finish his sentence because Nataku ran him over, leaving him unconscious in the middle of the track.
"Oooo…That HAD to hurt!" Subaru grimaced.
"Uh oh…" Kamui muttered.
"What?"
"Look."
Sure enough, there was Fuma, setting a booby trap in the center of the track.
"Oh…" It was Subaru's turn to be put down.
"This is gonna be good," Yuto said as he stole a handful of popcorn from Sorata's vat.
"Hey! Get your good for nothing hands outta my popcorn!"
"You've got enough to feed an army! So don't quibble about one handful!"
"I was gonna eat that though…"
"Oh urusai you two!" Seiichiro said as he puffed away on a cigarette.
"Stop smoking that!" Sheishiro said as he snatched the cigarette out of Seiichiro's mouth and slapped a Nicorette patch on his forehead.
"Hey…aren't you the one who always smokes in the show?" Satsuki asked from behind him.
"Those aren't real! Those are candy with a bit of red dry ice on the end to make it seem like it smokes!" He turned to her with his laptop in hand, still raving about how the cigarettes were candy. She cringed in fear from the computer, shrinking away along the bench in an attempt to escape.
"Do I hear anyone betting 500 yen on Nataku?!" Kusanagi yelled.
Unknown to Kusanagi, Saiki was slinking away from him, with every yen that was once in Kusanagi's pocket.
"They're nearing the finish line now! Nataku barely in the lead!" Kamui yelled into the microphone.
"But, wait! What's that?" Subaru yelled.
A cloud of dust was racing toward the three racers at unbelievable speed.
"Is it a dog?"
"Is it a runner?"
All of a sudden, the blur of dust and color crossed the finish line, well ahead of Kanoe, Nataku, and Yuzuriha, who were now covered in the remnants of Fuma's booby traps.
"What the hell was that?!" everyone in the stands screeched as the dust began to settle.
Just past the finish line was Kotori, riding a crouched Kakyo, who was panting like a dog.
"No! It's Kotori!" Kamui yelled.
Jaws dropped and sweat drops abounded as the others realized who it was. Then, in an instant, everyone ran towards her, all yelling something about how she caused them all to lose their bets.
"Ano…what's going on?" Kamui interjected quietly from the announcer's booth.
They all looked at him like they were about to kill him. He shrank lower as he pulled out a Chinese bamboo hat. He pulled it on to his head as if he were trying to disappear into it. He kept pulling it onto his head, until finally his head went through the hat.
"How does Chichiri do this?!" he wailed.
Then, on the large TV screen along the track, Karen appeared, with Chichiri in the background.
"Disappearing into a hat is dangerous and should only be done by professionals," Karen said.
"Yeah! And I'm the only professional around, you know!" Chichiri said as he disappeared into his hat.
Kamui's response as he tried to wiggle himself out of the broken hat: "Oh…"
Meanwhile, on the track…
"What are you guys talking about losing your bets? I won mine!" Kotori said as she held up a HUGE wad of yen. Hinoto was seen to smirk with a sly smile.
Their jaws dropped again when they realized that Hinoto had been taking bets on the side. But soon enough, their jaws were shut and they were looking at Kotori with menacing glares.
"Uh…JA NE!" Kotori yelled as she took off on Kakyo, the others chasing after her, Kamui and Subaru carrying a stretcher holding the director and Kusanagi yelling that Kotori had stolen that money from him. Fuma, not caring about any of it, went over to Hinoto. What he saw made him pause just outside the area where she was sitting. Saiki was standing before her, holding a wad of yen.
"Lookie Hinoto! Look at all the money I stole from Kusanagi!" he said as he let out a hysterical, high-pitched laugh.
"Uh…ano…"Hokuto said as she tapped him on the shoulder.
Saiki's head slowly turned to look at the semi-transparent ghost of Subaru's sister before promptly flinging his arms in the air, the money with it, and running through the back wall, the outline of his body marking where he passed through it.
"Heh heh heh," Hokuto chuckled as she picked up the money and left.
Hinoto just sat there with a confused look on her face and a sweat drop on her brow, saying, "Ooookie…I didn't see THAT coming!"
Fuma just fell backward and laughed.
As the trail of people following Kotori and Kakyo faded into the set's sunset, Chichiri appeared and said, "That's all, you know!"