Long awaited and here for your reading pleasures…

Chapter 4

The only class that MJ and AJ had together was Spanish. Which was lucky, because they could actually communicate without bandits listening in.

Gits.

AJ sighed. She was slung over one bandits shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She sort of felt like Feona from Shriek. In fact, the fella carrying her probably was just as handsome as Shriek.

Only, with less manners.

"He just pinched me again." AJ sighed in spanish to MJ. MJ had lucked out and gotten the bandit leader, Kenji, who had too much self control to pinch any girl's behind.

Now that his eyes didn't roam every now and then.

MJ had her elbow propped against his back, her chin in palm, looking about as bored as a captive can look. The first week it'd been terrifying. The second week, slightly scary, but okay… the third was dull.

At first the bandit had been snide, taking advantage of their states of minds, and had made some horrible advances. Kenji had practically had to beat them down and scream himself hoarse or his bandit would have lost themselves to perverted-ness. Somehow however, maybe it was MJ kicking one dude where it hurts, maybe it was AJ putting a rock in one guys sandwich, maybe it was both girls screaming and injuring at least thirty of the men… they'd gained a small almost non-existent shred of respect. It wasn't enough to stop the remarks or advances, but it sure slowed them down.

"Tengo hambre." MJ sighed back to her. AJ made a face.

"You're always hungry." She said in english.

"Shut up!" Shriek jossled her.

Resisting the urge to grab his ear and twist it or dig her growing fingernails into it, AJ merely raised a finger at the back of his head. MJ giggled softly at her.

"No one knows what that means here." She said quieter.

Before AJ could reply the thug threw her from his shoulder to the ground. MJ too was thrown and they landed with an unanimous 'oof!' on the ground.

"Looks like you'll have to climb from now on girlies." Kenji leered at them, he pointed to the base of the mountain they were at.

Both girls looked behind them with surprise. (well how were they supposed to see that? They were thrown over a shoulder in the opposite direction)

Suddenly AJ gasped.

"Is this Mt. Kaou?!"

An actual smile surpassed the bandit leader's face. "You've heard of it have you?"

"Well no actually." MJ murmured, casting a 'catch me up' look to her friend. But Kenji, being the bandit he was, couldn't resist a bragging session.

"I am the leader of the greatest known mountain around, Mt. Kaou. And you are both entering into a territory where you will be watched every minute of every day. Now, when we get there you can either write some long sappy letters to your folks, demanding ransom-"

"We don't have any folks here." AJ said before she could stop herself.

He shrugged. "All the better, you've seen our good and know where we've raided. It really wouldn't be wise to let you go anyhow." Another shrug followed and a sinister look. "I suppose you could always… perform for the men-"

"IN YOU'RE DREAMS." Both girls said simultaneously.

And with happy feelings all around, the mountain climb began. And the only real events that happened were…

Kenji yelling at AJ for throwing a rock at Shriek's head….

MJ getting an asthma attack.

AJ and MJ singing 100 bottles of beer on the wall all the way to 1… (and instead of it annoying the bandits, as hoped, they actually sang along and wanted to go into negative numbers)

Somehow during the intensive climb AJ, being the weakling, fell behind. Kenji looked over his shoulder, annoyed at her. He stopped and waited. When she finally caught up, they walked in silence. His pace was slightly quick but still slower then normal.

"So…" AJ spoke. "What… happened to Rei Rei and Keiron?"

Kenji actually stopped in his steps. He stared at her.

AJ, not realizing the custom of normal nice Japanese girls from the time period who were supposed to be timid and quiet looked him in the eye. "What? Weren't they the former leaders of the mountain? Are you still in war with Mt. Leikaku?"

Kenji shook his head and began to walk. AJ stared at his shrinking form.

"HEEEEEY! IT WAS A QUESTION! You're supposed to ANSWER it!"

He paused and turned. "You'll find out soon enough anyway, even without me saying anything." Then he continued.

"YOU'RE THE WORST KIDNAPPER I'VE EVER MET! I COULD RUN RIGHT NOW! YOU DIDN"T EVEN TIE ME UP!"

He stopped again, and although his features were distorted from distance, his voice carried a significant amount of annoyance as he stated, "You won't leave without you're friend."

AJ fumed. Then stepping quickly she caught up again. Together they reached the group and this time no one fell behind.

"So let me get this straight." MJ said.

They'd climbed all day without stopped. The girls had since been thrown into a room of their own, where they could finally talk privately. Actually the mountain wasn't completely testosterone filled… it actually had some maids and things floating around who seemed helpful enough. And even more surprising the bandits had given back some of their stuff. Most of the foods were missing, except for cans which they seemed unable to figure out how to open, and the candy which they probably didn't identify as food.

And of course, the mysterious glowing flashlight of AJ was gone.

How tragic.

Now, both in pjs, door locked, candles lit and nursing their blisters, AJ was able to explain where they were.

"It's the novels of the warriors. There's one of practically everyone… and I think the most popular was Tasuki's. In any case, his mountain's rival, Mt. Kaou, was mentioned a lot. And the mountain leader, who I think died or something, was named Kieron. His little sister was named Rei rei and she also died."

"So this Kenji dude is the new leader." MJ concluded.

"We can assume." AJ sighed and hugged her knees.

"Great. At least if it was Kieron we'd have known what he was like, how much we could let our guard down. This guy wasn't even part of our research." MJ flopped backwards. "Perfect."

"He was about as gay as they come." AJ recalled.

MJ lifted her head. "Who?"

"Kieron."

She blinked. "Ew. I mean… time period and living with a bunch of men on a mountain considered…"

"Well at least we would have known we were safe with him."

"Safe. Yeah… ha ha."

Both were quiet.

"So how are we supposed to escape from here exactly?"

"…"

AJ brightened.

"Uh… there's a secret passage in the jail that leads down the mountain! If we can just get to it somehow…"

"I think if they meant to throw us in the jail we'd be there."

"Right,"

They stared at one another.

MJ rolled over. "Well I'm too tired to think of anything right now anyway. Tomorrow we'll look around and see if we can find where this 'jail' is." She raised an eyebrow at AJ. "You sleep'n on the floor?"

AJ sweatdropped. "It's a big bed MJ"

"So?"

"…"

A few moment later, when the maid had brought in another bed, the two finally got to sleep. The latch on the door making them feel secure, and giving them their first real rest since their capture.