Disclaimer: I do not own any TV shows, books, movies, animes, manga, or videogames that I may reference throughout this fic, or any characters therein. The only things I own are my OC's, the bookstore, and the plot of this fic. Reviews make me happy, and maybe it will encourage me to get off my butt and finish writing this fic before my posts catch up!

Chapter 2: Criminal Minds

"So there's the DVD section, there's a stereo system in here because Risu loves blasting music, you've seen the coffee shop, there's all the study areas, and I already briefed you on the sections in the bookstore, that leaves only one thing left to show you, and that is the break room." Ryouko was climbing the stairs to the third floor as she spoke. "There's also a basement but no one really likes to go down there, not even Risu. I'm pretty sure there are graves down there or something."

Himizu twitched. She was liking this job less and less, but she had to admit that the store was beautiful. Even though it was three stories and very large, the low ceilings, crowded floor space, and antique furniture gave the place the small closed-in feeling of a homey family-owned bookstore. Ryouko pulled out a silver key and unlocked a door marked "Staff only." They stepped in and Himizu's jaw hit the floor.

"This… is the break room?" she gasped. "It's… huge… it's like a whole house…"

"This is the main room where we hang out," Ryouko gestured to the room that looked like it could easily hold thirty people. There was a 120-inch screen TV and a state-of-the-art sound system with a whole wall covered with shelves holding movies and games for an Xbox 360 and a Wii, as well as several suede and leather couches lined with the softest pillows and fluffiest blankets Himizu had ever seen. She could also see a pristine kitchen lined with cabinets that were no doubt stuffed with food.

"That's Risu's room," Ryouko said, pointing to a door to the left of the kitchen. "We're absolutely forbidden from going in there. We've been warned that our fate will be far worse than Wasser's if we do," Ryouko said. Himizu gulped. Ryouko continued the tour. "There are three bathrooms out here and Risu has her own private bathroom," she said. Himizu peeked in and saw luxurious white sinks trimmed with gold, and shelves filled with sweet-smelling shampoos and other products. There was a shower, a toilet, a nice-sized counter area around the sink, and a large tub big enough for ten people. They walked past a laundry area, and came to two doors.

"These are the bedrooms. Right now Pengin and I have our own rooms, but you and I can share, I don't mind. This is our room." Himizu nearly fell over when she saw the giant closet, and at least ten neatly-made beds with elegant blankets draped over them, and the many little amenities like pictures and knickknacks that make a bedroom feel like a home instead of a prison cell. "There are quite a few other small rooms with a couple beds apiece and a bunch more closets but since there are only three of us, I don't think we need to worry about them too much," Ryouko said. Himizu only nodded dumbly.

"This… is fantastic… Why is there so much space though if there are only a few of us?"

'I have no idea, it's always been like this. Risu said something once that made me think the store used to be a lot smaller, but when I tried to ask her about it, she just ran off screaming about green sheep, so I have no idea when or why the renovations were done."

"Odd… Oh well. This is so nice, I'm amazed Risu even pays us."

"Yeah, about that… she lied to you, we're not paid."

"WWWWHHHHAAAATTTTT?!"

"Well think about it… what do we need money for? We can't leave. Besides, Risu makes sure all our needs are met."

"Good point… I guess… goddamnit!" Himizu punched the nearest wall. "Why the hell does she do this? Is this some sick fetish of hers, trapping people in her funhouse?"

"Because she's crazier than a shithouse rat… and she enjoys the suffering of others. This is a game to her."

"I don't believe this… Ryouko, we have to break this curse!"

"Oh, don't start that… After what happened to Wasser…"

"You can't possibly tell me you enjoy it here? Have you forgotten what the normal world is like?"

"Well no, but… really Himizu, you haven't experienced the wonder of a place like this… it's… well, you'll see eventually. Now come on, let's close up shop."

Himizu shrugged and followed Ryouko, who quickly taught her what needed to be done. Pengin turned off the coffee machine and gathered up the leftover pastries and brought them back to the break room where they all snacked while watching TV. Himizu took pity on Ryouko and began describing the episode of The Daily Show they were watching. Finally they went to bed. Ryouko and Himizu chatted a bit more before they fell asleep, though Himizu had several frightening dreams of being chased around the store by bookshelves that wanted to crush her.

The next morning the shop looked very much the same. Himizu was surprised to find that she could actually predict when the shelves were going to move and she now had an instinctive knowledge about where Ryouko and Pengin were at all times. Risu still popped up unexpectedly, but Himizu was beginning to suspect that no one understood the crazed woman fully. As she wandered up and down the aisles, she saw a book with a black cover decorated with what looked like bloodstains. Curious, she opened the book. Her blue eyes widened with shock. The letters swam across the page and for all the sense they made to her, they might as well have been Chinese characters. She slammed the book shut and grabbed the next one, but the result was the same for that book, and the next one, and the next, and the next. She heard laughter, turned, and saw a middle-aged woman wandering about in the Science Fiction section. Himizu started to walk towards her, but suddenly realized that the middle-aged woman had the same crazy gleam in her eye that Risu did. Himizu realized that this was Risu, and made tracks for another part of the store, hoping to find Ryouko to tell her about her sudden lack of ability to read books. She was so nervous and preoccupied that she crashed right into a young man with messy longish brown hair who was wearing a nerdy sweater-vest.

"Oh gosh! I'm so so so sorry!" Himizu yelped, quickly grabbing the man's books from the floor and holding them out to him. "I wasn't paying attention, I'm so…. What the hell? Are you…?"

"Oh, uh…. Dr. Spencer Reid," the young man said, smiling nervously as he took his books back from the girl.

"I… I don't understand!" she yelped.

"You must be new here. I've never seen you here before," Reid continued. "I come here every now and then to find studies on serial killers. This store has one of the most extensive collections I've ever seen."

"Uh… yeah, I'm new… but… how often do you come here?"

"Not very often, just whenever I think about it… funny enough, I never seem to think about it unless I'm standing right next to the store…"

"I… …" Himizu was dumbfounded. How could one of the main characters from Criminal Minds be standing in front of her? She grabbed Reid's arm and dragged him after her, ignoring his splutters of protest. She was further stunned to see Rossi nearby flipping through an old looking book with a dull red cover and faint gold printing embossed in it, but she couldn't deal with this now. One Criminal Minds character was plenty. Realizing Ryouko was in the break room upstairs, she scampered up the stairs.

"Would you please explain what you're doing and where you're taking me?" Reid exclaimed.

"Shut up, you're fictional! I shouldn't even be able to see you, let alone hold your arm or talk to you!" Himizu yelled, still sprinting up the stairs. It was all the nerdy profiler could do to keep up with her. Himizu reached the door and threw it open. "RYOUKO!" she screamed.

The girl was standing in the kitchen with a glass of lemonade, which she nearly dropped when the sound of the other girl banging in startled her. She sat the glass down on the table next to her and tried to compose herself. "Himizu, what's wrong? Why are you dragging Dr. Reid around by his shirtsleeve?"

"I… what? You know him?"

"Yeah, he comes in now and then. Hi Reid, sorry about her, she's new and she's a little excitable. Sit down and rest Himizu, breathe in through the nose and out through the teeth." Himizu did so, making soft hissing noises as her breath squeezed through her teeth. Ryouko sat down across from her and Reid stood nearby, his natural curiosity getting the better of him. "Now, what's wrong?"

"Okay, first of all I opened a book and all I saw was gibberish! It was like the letters were in a foreign language!"

"You sure you weren't in the foreign language section?"

"YES!"

"Okay, okay, just making sure… Well, maybe that's your curse… That's what lured you in here in the first place, right? Your love of books?"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah, it's probably your curse. Sorry. But I can read books to you since you're being so nice and describing TV shows to me."

"But... But how am I supposed to work…? Ok, never mind, we'll deal with this later. Now what about him? What's going on here?"

"Well basically the store kind of has this thing where it moves into different worlds from books, movies, and TV shows that we have in stock here in the store. So we can interact with any characters that choose to come in here."

"Really? That's… that's actually really cool… Does this just happen randomly?"

"Of course…" Ryouko sighed. "If it were planned, I would go visit Case Closed or Prince of Tennis…" She sighed in despair. "Oh, and also the interior of the store will change to match the natural area of the world we're visiting, which can be incredibly cool."

"Hm…" Himizu muttered. "I wonder…"

"Wonder what?"

"If we can use these worlds to our advantage and break the curse."

"Oh, not this again!" Ryouko exclaimed. "Can't you accept that you're stuck here and try to enjoy the ride?"

Himizu shook her head stubbornly. "I can't help it, I don't like being forced into this against my will!" A thought struck her. "Wait a minute, why don't the people from these worlds get trapped in here like the rest of us?"

Ryouko shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea… a lot of people have wandered through since I started working here. And the way that employees are hired is weird too. I mean, I didn't even know Risu was planning to hire someone until you showed up, and you just walked in the door and she offered you a job. There's never been a Help Wanted sign… it's like Risu chooses us for some purpose that we don't know about… or the building is the one that chooses…"

Himizu shivered. The thought of the building doing these things terrified her. It made her uncomfortable enough being stuck here against her will at the hands of a crazed squirrel, but the thought that it was the building itself choosing to hold her…

At that moment, five-year-old Risu burst in. "What the fuck?! Goddamnit Ryouko, you know better than this! No one except the employees are allowed in this fucking area! How dare you disobey me?!" The infuriated girl started whaling on Ryouko with a rolled-up newspaper.

"What the hell? Kids shouldn't use that kind of language!" Himizu exclaimed as she and Ryouko both fought to control the enraged child. As she grabbed the girl's tiny arms, Himizu noticed a tattoo on Risu's right wrist. Closest to her hand was a symbol that looked like a sideways A. Below it was a circle with an X through it. Ryouko saw it at the same moment and they exchanged puzzled glances.

"Risu-san?" Himizu said finally. "What are these tattoos of?" The tiny girl looked down at the tattoos, then steam started pouring out of her ears.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE ASK ME ABOUT MY TATTOOS YOU WRETCHED EMPLOYEES! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SIGHT!" the girl screamed, pulling out a shillelagh and hitting them both with it as hard as she could, she turned to run away with her usual maniacal laugh, but then Pengin walked in.

"Hey, there you all are. I wondered why I heard yelling up here… plus no one has come to visit me and I was getting pretty lonely. Hey, does anyone know where the milk is? I need to bake some more donuts. Those FBI profilers sure like their donuts," he said brightly.

"The milk is in the fridge, baka," Ryouko said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah…" the young man said, walking in.

"STOP, DAMNIT! Don't close the fucking door!" Risu screamed, but it was too late, the door had already clicked shut. The tiny child flew into a rage, stamping her feet and screaming with the blind fury of a child throwing a temper tantrum. "Stupid stupid stupid motherfucker! I told you not to close the fucking door, but you just wouldn't listen! Goddamnit, you stupid son of a bitch!" Pengin's eyes widened at the random assault.

"Jeeze, sorry Risu-san, please calm down, this isn't the end of the world."

"Shows how much you know! Goddamnit, now I have to put my plan into action sooner than I intended! Damn you, damn you, damn you to hell!" she screamed, throwing open the door and storming out. Pengin, Ryouko, Himizu, and Reid all poked their heads out the door and saw that they were no longer in a modern-type Washington DC. Instead they were in an old-fashioned wooden building in a rural area that appeared to be from a past era.

"Well… this is interesting…" Reid said finally.

"That's one way to put it…" Himizu said, shaking her head. She turned to Ryouko and Pengin. "Please explain."

"When all employees are in the break room and the door is shut, the store moves on to another world," Pengin said finally.

"And apparently that also applies to anyone else who is in the room when we all are," Ryouko added, glancing at Reid. "I didn't know we could do that, did you Pengin?"

The young man shook his head. "Nope, didn't have a clue. Of course, Risu has always been really strict about not letting us bring characters into our private quarters…" He muttered something angrily under his breath, which the rest of them ignored.

"So you've never had anyone in here when all three of you were here? Ever? Seriously? How uncreative are you people?" Himizu exclaimed.

"Well, Risu gets really pissed off whenever we spend too much time talking to any of the characters instead of working…" Ryouko muttered. "So this is the first time we've had this opportunity. And it's all your fault since you didn't know the rules!"

"I wonder if that's why Risu is so mad?" Himizu mused. "This could also prove useful… now let's go see where we are."