Chapter One

The Waking

The bright white light shining across their eyes caused the two boys to stir. The one on the left slowly sat up, looked around first at the room until his eyes fell upon his friend on the bed next to him.

"Hey, are you alright?" Espio asked, his eyes wondering around their surroundings.

"Yeah...are you?" Pein questioned as he two sat up and gazed around the room.

"Yeah...where the hell are we?" Espio raised his voice a little, causing his voice to echo around the white empty room. The only other things in the room were the medical devices around them and a tray holding oddly colored items inside with needles at the bottom of them.

"Oh my God, I didn't think I'd be crazy at such a young age!" Pein exclaimed, making Espio chuckle.

"Fuck, what the hell happened to my arm?!" Saying so him and Pein both examined ther right arms. Seeing many needle marks in a circle, some faded, some new.

"Oh well, lets go." Pein grumbled.

"I'm right behind you." Espio said, following Pein out the door.

While leaving the hospital both began to feel dizzy, and when walking down a dark, old neighborhood, Pein then collapsed with Espio landing on top of him on one of the doorsteps of a shabby torn up house.

Maybe fortunately or unfortunately for them, two girls just walked out of the door that they happened to be passed out in front of. One of the girls squealed as she accidentally stepped on Pein's hand.

"What is it?" Sakura asked as she looked down on Pein's knocked out cold body on her door step. The two girls stared at the body with questioning gazes.

"We should probably go get Gaara and Ren to take them inside..." Galaxina whispered, scared to wake up the two boys as if they would attack her. Sakura nodded and they left back inside, explained to the rest what they had found, and Gaara and Ren followed them outside, picked up the bodies, and dropped them on the bed.

"Are they dead..." Galaxina asked, still in a low voice, staring at the bodies.

"Did you check their pulse?" Ren muttered, then taking his index and middle finger to their necks and listened for a minute or two. Then stood back up and told the rest, "Yep, there still alive."

Sakura was bent over the bed, hold her "valueable" stick, poking Espio and Pein in the chest.

"Why do you have a stick?" Galaxina questioned, pointing at her stick.

"I kept it." Sakura answered, her eyes going big. They stopped asking her about her stick because her large, emerald eyes scared them.

She turned back to the two mysterious boys, all of a sudden whacking them with her stick across the chest. The two boys yelled in agony at the fast whipping of her stick.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Espio's voice filling with anger.

"Ow..Who fucking whipped us?!"Pein growled, then sat up,rubbing his chest angrily.

Sakura quickly hid the stick behind her back,mumbling "I don't know, but that's rude, hitting someone with a stick while they sleep."

Pein and Espio both stared at Sakura suspiciously.

Espio shrugged then asked, "So, who are all of you?"

"Your worst nightmare." Sakura growled playfully. Pein laughs while Espio shakes his head, smiling a little.

"Ok then...where are we?" Espio questioned.

"Japan!" they all chorused. Espio and Pein stared at each face in turn.

"WHAT??!!" they both yelled together.

"Why? Where are you both from?" Galaxina questioned lightly, bouncing a little on the spot. Pein and Espio both looked at each other before answering.

"America."

"Wow, how did you get ALL the way over here?" Amy asked them, jumping onto the bed they both sat in. Pein shrugged.

"We don't know, last thing we remember was waking up in a white room." he explained. Sakura looked at them thoughtfully while sitting on the edge of their bed.

"What was in the room?" she asked curiously.

"It was kind of empty, only things in there was the beds we were lying in, some medical devices, and a tray holding some needles with stuff in it." he answered, showing her the marks covering his right arm. She examined them closely when Espio added, "Plus the building we left was like a little brick box..."

"Most houses ARE boxes..." Sakura pointed out, but Espio shook his head.

"Not like this one."

"What's so special about this one?" She asked.

"There's no windows and only one door." Pein explained to everyone.

"Hmmm..." Sakura thought quietly..sorta.

Espio mumbled before running out the room, "I'll be right back..."

"What is he gonna do?" Galaxina wondered.

"He's probably going to throw up." Pein muttered.

"I'll go check on him." Galaxina said, then walking out of the room. When she came back her face was twisted up in disgust. Then said, "We're gonna need a new sink."

"I'm not washing that." Sakura grumbled, knowing exactly what Galaxina meant.

"Make Nilika clean it." Galaxina laughed.

"Alright, hey Nilika! Where did she go?"Sakura said with a smile.

"Stripper joint." Galaxina answered, shaking her head. Espio walked back in, his face no longer pink/purple (as he thinks it is) but was now pale.

"Are you alright, Espio?" Pein asked, looking a bit worried.

"Mhmm." Was Espio's short answer. Then asked Pein, "Are we gonna leave now?"

"I'm not much are the tickets?" He asked, turning back to the others.

"50,000 yen!" Sakura answered cheerfully.

"And how much is that in American money?" Espio asked,looking up.

"$512.30." She said, once again cheerful.

Espio slumped back into the pillows, "Great."

"Looks like we won't be leaving for quite a while...unless you guys have money we could borrow?" Pein asked, grabbing on the last bit of hope but Sakura shook her head, breaking it.

"We're poor." She answered simply. Espio stared at her.

"Then how did you afford the house?" he asked, astounded. Sakura shrugged

"It was an old abandonedhouse and no one wanted it. Doesn't surprise me...next door are rapists and on the other side of us are child molesters." she said simply, as if she was explaining the usual weather. Pein stared, not able to say or do anything else. It was silent for a few minutes until Espio finally fell asleep, his breaths a little ragged.

"Looks like it's time for bed, getting late." Sakura announced, looking at the clock as she said it. It was already one in the morning. So all of them climbed into a very large bed that could fit over twenty five people in it and they all fell asleep one by one, Pein being the last.