Hey everyone! Hopefully I'll be able to update that story soon enough. Sorry for the vague summary, but that's all I could come up with. Now on with the story!
I know I'm supposed to update my other story, but I was actually busy making a YouTube video on Shun and Alice, and it's finally finished! :D
Alice was sitting on a bench in Marucho's back garden, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.
The boys - Dan, Shun and Marucho - had just saved New Vestroia and were safe and sound back on earth.
Everything was perfect.
"Hey Alice," Runo called, "lunch is ready!"
"Okay. I'll be there in a minute." Alice replied.
She got up unwillingly. Nature was just so soothing and captivating, she thought.
It was a feast in there, like all the world's greatest chefs had come together to prepare a meal just for the brawlers.
Marucho sat at the head of the table; Shun and Alice sat opposite each other and so did Dan and Runo.
"Hey Runo, stop hogging all the loin tips," Dan said playfully.
"I didn't touch your stupid loin tips," his girlfriend replied, in an equally playful manner.
Alice smiled at the two while Shun just sighed. It was like old times, they thought.
"Hey guys, stop the bickering, you know there's more from where that came from. And besides, we're all tired after the whole New Vestroia mission," Marucho said.
"You know what would be really nice? Camping outdoors for a few days," Alice suggested with a hint of hope in her voice.
"Oh yeah! That would be awesome!" Dan agreed.
"Yes, a splendid idea indeed! Some time outdoors will definitely be good for us. It's a great way to relieve us from our tiredness." Marucho said.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Runo said excitedly.
"Um, Runo, can we finish our lunch first?" a worried Dan said.
Alice giggled, "She didn't mean right away Dan."
"Oh….good," Dan said, feeling foolish.
"OoOo, I'm gonna love this," a bubbly Julie said. "Shun, you haven't said a word. Don't you wanna come?" She added.
"Yea, sure, I don't have a problem," Shun said coolly.
"I know a great place where we can camp," Marucho said.
"And I'll organize the whole thing. We can leave by tomorrow morning," Alice said happily.
"Oh wait! Hold on!" Dan said and in his haste and excitement, took out his cell phone.
"What are you doing?" Runo demanded.
"Yup that's done." Dan said, satisfied.
"What's done?" Julie asked, concerned.
"I just texted Chan, Billy and Klaus to come for the trip too!" Dan said, with a cheesy grin on his face.
"WHAT?" Everyone else yelled in unison, with Shun's voice the most prominent.
"Whaaaat?" Dan asked, as if he did nothing wrong.
"It's not that we don't like them, it's just that we thought it would only be the 6 of us going for the trip," Runo said a bit disapprovingly.
Shun just angrily muttered something inaudible and ate his food sulkily.
"I thought the more would be the merrier…" Dan said.
"It's alright Dan. We can still have fun," Alice said optimistically, but you could clearly identify the sadness in her voice.
Alice woke up very early that night. She went into the kitchen and started preparing the food and other stuff needed for the outing. They had decided to go camping for about five days and Alice thought it would be best to make most of the food at home.
She was extremely tired and sleepy, but she kept going on.
Alice wasn't exactly Miss Ninja and so a bit of noise was generated from her work, which, not surprisingly, was enough to wake Shun up.
Shun crept out of bed and noiselessly made his way to the kitchen. He smiled. It wasn't unusual for Alice to be so caring and hard-working; but it still amazed him every time she showed signs of it.
He thought of going in and helping her but then decided against. He didn't think she would like the intrusion and so after stealing a quick glance at her, he went back to bed.
Everyone was pumped for the trip, except for Alice, who seemed a little out of it. Shun being the observant one, was the only one who noticed this.
"Man, I am so totally psyched!" Dan said, pumping his fists in the air.
"Yes, I concur Dan. This trip will indeed be refreshing," Marucho said.
"So," Dan began, "Chan, Klaus and Billy should be here any minute now."
The doorbell rang, much to Shun's discontentment.
"Ah, there they are." Dan said.
Billy, Chan and Klaus entered, bags and all.
Klaus went straightaway to Alice, knelt down and kissed her hand.
Shun looked away and wandered somewhere else.
"Ah, Alice. I hope you have been doing well," Klaus inquired in his dramatic voice.
"Oh? Oh yes, yes, I have been doing good, Klaus. Thanks for asking," Alice said, and with that she pulled her hand back and went to join the brawlers.
Klaus was a little taken aback, but chose to ignore the whole thing and also went to join the other brawlers.
They were all just catching up and waiting for Kaito to come pick them up. Marucho had chosen a forest for their camping site, which made the whole trip much more wild and adventurous.
Shun went near Alice and asked her quietly, "Alice, are you feeling okay? You seem a little spaced out."
"Oh it's nothing Shun. Really, I'm fine." she replied with a weak smile.
"I know you stayed up most of the night cooking, and preparing for the trip," Shun said calmly.
"How'd you…?" Alice stopped mid-way, and blushed. She should've known Shun would have woken up from all the noise she created.
She giggled. "You sneaked up on me without me knowing," she said, answering her own question.
Now this earned a slight blush from Shun.
"A little….but seriously Alice. You shouldn't exert yourself so much, especially since we're going on this trip to relax ourselves; it's ironic." he said.
"I know, but I really wanted to make this perfect. And you all have done so much already; sacrificing a little bit of my sleep is the least I could do." she said.
Shun smiled inwardly. She'll never change, he thought.
"C'mon guys. Kaito is here." Marucho said.
The group sat comfortably in Marucho's limousine.
It would take at least an hour to reach the forest.
"Oh man, oh man. I am seriously stoked! Five whole days, can you believe it? FIVE WHOLE days without adult supervision! This is gonna be great!" Dan said.
He was like a super-charged battery that showed no signs of weakening.
The group decided to play 'Message Receive' to pass the time. In it, the players would join hands and send a message along by squeezing the other's hand. The one who would be 'it' would have to stop the message being passed by pointing out the act of 'squeezing'.
Klaus was made 'it' and Dan wanted the message to be passed from Shun to Alice as they were sitting opposite each other and it would be hard to do.
Shun passed the message to his right, that is, he squeezed Marucho's hand. This went unnoticed by Klaus.
Marucho squeezed Chan's hand who in turn pressed Runo's hand. Klaus had a hard time figuring out in which direction the message was being passed and, surprisingly, missed out all the passings.
Runo was sitting next to Alice. All left now was to squeeze Alice's hand, but she wasn't sure if she could do it discreetly. Klaus, who was having a hard time, just randomly pointed out to Dan and Alice's conjoined hands.
Since there was nothing, they both shook their heads.
That was when Runo took her chance and gently pressed Alice's hand.
"Message received!" Alice said cheerily.
Shun smirked, while Klaus just sat there, and according to him, very 'humiliated'.
"Ah, it's alright Klaus, don't take it personally," Dan said.
"Yea, okay," Klaus replied.
They played about two more rounds of this game when Kaito announced that they had reached their destination.
They got out of the limousine.
"We're here," Runo said in disbelief.
"Yup! The next five days are sure gonna be eventful." Dan said.
So that was it!
Please review and thanks for reading! :D
I hope you all liked it :)