Ok, since I've had at least 6 requests cheering me on to continue the story
I shall. I apologize for the delay but school is on my back and I have no
time for anything. But hey, enough whining from me here continues the
story!
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Rei lay on her bed thinking about her current situation. She had embarrassed herself in front of Darien, felt completely shady around him, fooled around with Chad, nearly gotten caught by her Grandpa, hit Grandpa in an attempt to protect Chad, kicked her Grandpa out of his own dojo, messed with Chad some more, gotten caught by Lita, and now found herself trying to process all this information and figure out how everything was going to go tonight.
"Forget it, this is too much, I need some air." With a quick hauling of her body she was upright and leaving her room. She walked down the long corridor, put on her slippers and opened the dojo's door. "I'll be back in a few," she announced. Her voiced seems to echo throughout the dojo and no one answered back. *Where is Chad?* She wondered. She took off her slippers, closed the door, and went into the kitchen. There she found Chad cooking up a storm with his headset on. She smiled softly and leaned against the entrance of the kitchen.
"Oh oh oh!" A voice yelled in childlike excitement. "Out of my way Rei, I smell food!"
"Huh?!" Rei turned around in a mess of confusion. To her surprise she found Grandpa making a dash towards the kitchen. As he ran in, he slipped on his socks and crashed into a wall. That caught Chad's attention, for as soon as Grandpa crashed he took off his headset, tossed it on the table and helped Grandpa off the floor.
"Sensei! I didn't hear you come in! Oh god are you all right?"
"I'll be all right as soon as I take a closer whiff of whatever it is you're cooking over there!"
"Oh, well in that case," said Chad in relief, "sniff away!"
Grandpa began lifting the lid on every pot and taking big whiffs of the boiling contents. "Wow, this is great! I'm going to be full tonight!"
"Sensei," Chad bowed his head, "I thought you had already eaten at Lita's house."
"Oh nonsense, I just tasted a thing or five of what she made." Grandpa put on his slyest smile.
"Grandpa, when did you get back?"
"Oh Rei, I got back about half an hour ago. I just took a bus here because I knew Chad would be cooking and I wanted to get something to eat before Serena got here, you know how she is."
"Yes I do." Rei said with a slight smile. She wanted to ask Grandpa if he was ok, and she wanted to apologize for her previous behavior, but she knew her grandfather well, and his face told her that he understood and that her apology had been accepted. This took a huge load off her back because she had also had been bothered by the thought of how to beg for Grandpa's forgiveness. "Hey Grandpa I'm going to go out for a while ok?"
"Oh, ok Rei, but if I were you I'd take some food with you because you never know if there will be anything waiting for you when you get back."
"In case anything happens I'll save you something ok Rei?" Chad smiled.
"Oh, thanks Chad, that's sweet of you."
"You know it's no problem."
With that, Rei walked over to the sliding door, put on her slippers, and disappeared into the darkness. She walked for a good 15 minutes until she reached a nearby park. She sat down near a tree and began to relax her mind. She hid her head between her knees and tried to rewind time and erase the events of the last few days.
*Sigh* "Why is everything happening so suddenly? Why couldn't all this happen over an elongated period of time? Ah, forget it. I can't just sit here moping around, it's not me."
She raised her head and stared at her surroundings. The fireflies were courting each other and there were so many of them that when a clump of them flashed it seemed as if Rei had her own fire work show happening in front of her.
"Wow, look at them all, I had almost forgotten that this was their mating season."
The fireflies danced in the air and some even landed on Rei's lap or shoulder. A pair of fireflies mesmerized her by courting in front of her eyes while another pair sneaked up on her and began coupling on her leg.
"Hey! What do you think I am, a hotel?!" The fireflies on her leg didn't seem to care that she was complaining.
"Jeez, even the fireflies are having sex. I wonder if Serena is a virgin? I know that Ami and Mina are. They are way too innocent to do anything, but Lita, could she be one?"
The coupling fireflies finished consummating and flew off her leg.
"What if I'm the only one? What if Ami has done it but she just keeps quiet about it. She can be very secretive sometimes. And Mina, she's very pretty and I wouldn't doubt that some guy has already been with her. Lita has had a lot of boyfriends and she looks so old even though she's 16, it must be her height. And Serena ... ... ... ... Serena is also 16 but is going out with Darien who is 22. An to be quite honest, what 22 year old guy would stay with a 16 year old if he wasn't getting anything in return?"
A cat passed by her. It jumped in the air frantically trying to catch the fireflies. It succeeded in knocking a few down with its paw. The fireflies fell slowly to the ground, their rears flashing intermittently until they finally ceased to light up. The cat smacked the ground with its paw, slightly afraid of the dying bugs. When it regained confidence it licked the ground and Rei could see one of the tiny bugs on its tongue. The cat looked at Rei, making sure she wasn't coming towards him to steal his food.
"Hmm ... ... ... tough luck little bugs," she said in a slightly indifferent voice. She got up from the grass and patted the back of her skirt, making sure to clear off all the dirt that had accumulated on it. She began to walk towards her dojo again. The cat skedaddled as soon as it saw Rei heading its way. She walked right by him and right by the dead fireflies on the floor. She was deep in thought, wondering about the girls. When she was close to her house she saw Darien's car pull up to her house with Serena in the front, Rini sitting on her lap and Lita, Mina, and Amy in the backseat. The girls got out and raced each other to the dojo, Amy and Lita just walked behind them. Darien started the car and left.
"Here goes nothing." She walked to the dojo, opened the sliding door and stepped in. She placed her slippers next to each other and proceeded to her room where she found the whole gang laying down their sleeping bags.
"Oh hey Rei!" Said a familiar singsong voice.
"Hey Serena!"
"We were wondering were you were," said Mina as she tried to figure out why her sleeping bag wasn't opening.
"Mina, you closed the sleeping bag and jammed the zipper, and tugging it will only break it," said Ami who was trying desperately to cool Mina's frustration.
"Hey Lita," greeted Rei, looking her in the eyes.
"What's up Rei?" She replied in her usual manner and Rei could see nothing different in her eyes.
*Ok, she's fine, that's a burden off my shoulders.* There was a knock on the panel door.
"Ahem, girls, food's ready, last one to the table starves!" Grandpa began running as soon as he had finished his sentence.
"Huh?" Serena's head went up. "Oh no you don't old man! Nothing comes between me and my food! AH!!!" With that Serena raced out after Grandpa leaving every one in the room with a huge sweat drop on their foreheads.
"Wow, she really is a bottomless pit. At my house her and your grandfather were having an eating marathon. I'm surprised either of them can even move!" Lita put her finger on her chin and looked towards the ceiling. "Oh well," she finally said folding her hands behind her neck. "They both made great guinea pigs for my cooking experiments!" The girls laughed.
"Well guys, should we go get something to eat while there is still food?" Rei joked.
"Hey I'm down," Lita answered, "Serena and your grandfather cleaned out my fridge and I'm dying to eat something."
"Ditto," said Ami and Mina. The girls all headed out the door in a single file and conversed among themselves as they headed towards the kitchen. Mina and Ami were in the front while Lita and Rei trailed off behind.
"Are you ok?" Lita asked concerned.
"Yea, I'm all right... ... ... I'm just a little confused about what's been going on lately. And I feel really ashamed with what you saw."
"Hey don't sweat it Rei. I gotta admit, I was really shocked at first but hey, every one's been in some sort of situation like that."
"Really Lita?"
"Yea!" She said as she put her arms behind her neck again and looked up.
"Um, Lita can I ask you something personal?"
"Yea shoot."
"Well there's something on my mind ... ... ..."
"Hey come on guys! Rei! Your grandfather is reaching for my noodles! AHH!!! Let go you dirty old man!" Serena yelled as she began to fight with Grandpa who only laughed at her as he gulped down her noodles.
"Jeez, that meatball head!!"
"Rei," Lita grabbed her by the arm before she entered the kitchen. "You wanted to ask me something."
"Oh, no its nothing, let's talk about it later."
"You sure?"
"Yea, it's nothing important."
They ate in the kitchen, all 8 of them, Serena, Ami, Mina, Lita, Rei, Rini, Chad, and Grandpa. After dinner Grandpa went to meditate, Chad was doing the dishes with Rini and the girls went into Rei's room.
"So what do you guys want to do?" asked Rei.
"Hey I'm in the mood for truth or dare!" Serena yelled out.
"What?" Every one asked in surprise.
"Weren't we going to go over the math homework?" Ami asked
*Huge sweat drop in the room*
"Um, yea Ami, let's do that later." Mina smiled uneasily.
"So we are playing truth or dare?" Ami asked troubled.
"Yup!" Replied Serena speaking for every one as usual.
"Well count me out!" Ami said in a convinced voice.
"Aw come on Ami, don't be like that," Lita said smiling slyly.
"Yea come on! Why are you so boring?" Mina asked.
"Maybe she just has something big to hide and doesn't want us to find out!" Serena pointed out in her ninja costume. She snuck around Rei's room until she popped up behind Ami.
"So Ami, whatcha hiding huh?" Lita asked. "Nothing!" Said Ami blushing.
"I think you're hiding something!" Mina said.
"So, who's playing truth or dare?" Rei asked.
"I'm in," said Lita.
"Me too!" Said Mina.
"Ami?" Asked Rei.
"Yes why not? I can avoid the truths by doing the dares."
"A Ha! You are hiding something and I'm gonna find out what it is! Rei, I'm in!" Said Serena.
"How about you Rei? You in?" Lita asked smirking.
"I don't see why not. If every one's letting their secrets out it's only fair I do so too."
"Oh, another secretive one." Mina smiled.
"I get the feeling this is going to be a good game." Ami said somewhat intrigued.
"Yea, I bet." Lita looked at Rei and smiled.
And so began the game of truth or dare.
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Rei lay on her bed thinking about her current situation. She had embarrassed herself in front of Darien, felt completely shady around him, fooled around with Chad, nearly gotten caught by her Grandpa, hit Grandpa in an attempt to protect Chad, kicked her Grandpa out of his own dojo, messed with Chad some more, gotten caught by Lita, and now found herself trying to process all this information and figure out how everything was going to go tonight.
"Forget it, this is too much, I need some air." With a quick hauling of her body she was upright and leaving her room. She walked down the long corridor, put on her slippers and opened the dojo's door. "I'll be back in a few," she announced. Her voiced seems to echo throughout the dojo and no one answered back. *Where is Chad?* She wondered. She took off her slippers, closed the door, and went into the kitchen. There she found Chad cooking up a storm with his headset on. She smiled softly and leaned against the entrance of the kitchen.
"Oh oh oh!" A voice yelled in childlike excitement. "Out of my way Rei, I smell food!"
"Huh?!" Rei turned around in a mess of confusion. To her surprise she found Grandpa making a dash towards the kitchen. As he ran in, he slipped on his socks and crashed into a wall. That caught Chad's attention, for as soon as Grandpa crashed he took off his headset, tossed it on the table and helped Grandpa off the floor.
"Sensei! I didn't hear you come in! Oh god are you all right?"
"I'll be all right as soon as I take a closer whiff of whatever it is you're cooking over there!"
"Oh, well in that case," said Chad in relief, "sniff away!"
Grandpa began lifting the lid on every pot and taking big whiffs of the boiling contents. "Wow, this is great! I'm going to be full tonight!"
"Sensei," Chad bowed his head, "I thought you had already eaten at Lita's house."
"Oh nonsense, I just tasted a thing or five of what she made." Grandpa put on his slyest smile.
"Grandpa, when did you get back?"
"Oh Rei, I got back about half an hour ago. I just took a bus here because I knew Chad would be cooking and I wanted to get something to eat before Serena got here, you know how she is."
"Yes I do." Rei said with a slight smile. She wanted to ask Grandpa if he was ok, and she wanted to apologize for her previous behavior, but she knew her grandfather well, and his face told her that he understood and that her apology had been accepted. This took a huge load off her back because she had also had been bothered by the thought of how to beg for Grandpa's forgiveness. "Hey Grandpa I'm going to go out for a while ok?"
"Oh, ok Rei, but if I were you I'd take some food with you because you never know if there will be anything waiting for you when you get back."
"In case anything happens I'll save you something ok Rei?" Chad smiled.
"Oh, thanks Chad, that's sweet of you."
"You know it's no problem."
With that, Rei walked over to the sliding door, put on her slippers, and disappeared into the darkness. She walked for a good 15 minutes until she reached a nearby park. She sat down near a tree and began to relax her mind. She hid her head between her knees and tried to rewind time and erase the events of the last few days.
*Sigh* "Why is everything happening so suddenly? Why couldn't all this happen over an elongated period of time? Ah, forget it. I can't just sit here moping around, it's not me."
She raised her head and stared at her surroundings. The fireflies were courting each other and there were so many of them that when a clump of them flashed it seemed as if Rei had her own fire work show happening in front of her.
"Wow, look at them all, I had almost forgotten that this was their mating season."
The fireflies danced in the air and some even landed on Rei's lap or shoulder. A pair of fireflies mesmerized her by courting in front of her eyes while another pair sneaked up on her and began coupling on her leg.
"Hey! What do you think I am, a hotel?!" The fireflies on her leg didn't seem to care that she was complaining.
"Jeez, even the fireflies are having sex. I wonder if Serena is a virgin? I know that Ami and Mina are. They are way too innocent to do anything, but Lita, could she be one?"
The coupling fireflies finished consummating and flew off her leg.
"What if I'm the only one? What if Ami has done it but she just keeps quiet about it. She can be very secretive sometimes. And Mina, she's very pretty and I wouldn't doubt that some guy has already been with her. Lita has had a lot of boyfriends and she looks so old even though she's 16, it must be her height. And Serena ... ... ... ... Serena is also 16 but is going out with Darien who is 22. An to be quite honest, what 22 year old guy would stay with a 16 year old if he wasn't getting anything in return?"
A cat passed by her. It jumped in the air frantically trying to catch the fireflies. It succeeded in knocking a few down with its paw. The fireflies fell slowly to the ground, their rears flashing intermittently until they finally ceased to light up. The cat smacked the ground with its paw, slightly afraid of the dying bugs. When it regained confidence it licked the ground and Rei could see one of the tiny bugs on its tongue. The cat looked at Rei, making sure she wasn't coming towards him to steal his food.
"Hmm ... ... ... tough luck little bugs," she said in a slightly indifferent voice. She got up from the grass and patted the back of her skirt, making sure to clear off all the dirt that had accumulated on it. She began to walk towards her dojo again. The cat skedaddled as soon as it saw Rei heading its way. She walked right by him and right by the dead fireflies on the floor. She was deep in thought, wondering about the girls. When she was close to her house she saw Darien's car pull up to her house with Serena in the front, Rini sitting on her lap and Lita, Mina, and Amy in the backseat. The girls got out and raced each other to the dojo, Amy and Lita just walked behind them. Darien started the car and left.
"Here goes nothing." She walked to the dojo, opened the sliding door and stepped in. She placed her slippers next to each other and proceeded to her room where she found the whole gang laying down their sleeping bags.
"Oh hey Rei!" Said a familiar singsong voice.
"Hey Serena!"
"We were wondering were you were," said Mina as she tried to figure out why her sleeping bag wasn't opening.
"Mina, you closed the sleeping bag and jammed the zipper, and tugging it will only break it," said Ami who was trying desperately to cool Mina's frustration.
"Hey Lita," greeted Rei, looking her in the eyes.
"What's up Rei?" She replied in her usual manner and Rei could see nothing different in her eyes.
*Ok, she's fine, that's a burden off my shoulders.* There was a knock on the panel door.
"Ahem, girls, food's ready, last one to the table starves!" Grandpa began running as soon as he had finished his sentence.
"Huh?" Serena's head went up. "Oh no you don't old man! Nothing comes between me and my food! AH!!!" With that Serena raced out after Grandpa leaving every one in the room with a huge sweat drop on their foreheads.
"Wow, she really is a bottomless pit. At my house her and your grandfather were having an eating marathon. I'm surprised either of them can even move!" Lita put her finger on her chin and looked towards the ceiling. "Oh well," she finally said folding her hands behind her neck. "They both made great guinea pigs for my cooking experiments!" The girls laughed.
"Well guys, should we go get something to eat while there is still food?" Rei joked.
"Hey I'm down," Lita answered, "Serena and your grandfather cleaned out my fridge and I'm dying to eat something."
"Ditto," said Ami and Mina. The girls all headed out the door in a single file and conversed among themselves as they headed towards the kitchen. Mina and Ami were in the front while Lita and Rei trailed off behind.
"Are you ok?" Lita asked concerned.
"Yea, I'm all right... ... ... I'm just a little confused about what's been going on lately. And I feel really ashamed with what you saw."
"Hey don't sweat it Rei. I gotta admit, I was really shocked at first but hey, every one's been in some sort of situation like that."
"Really Lita?"
"Yea!" She said as she put her arms behind her neck again and looked up.
"Um, Lita can I ask you something personal?"
"Yea shoot."
"Well there's something on my mind ... ... ..."
"Hey come on guys! Rei! Your grandfather is reaching for my noodles! AHH!!! Let go you dirty old man!" Serena yelled as she began to fight with Grandpa who only laughed at her as he gulped down her noodles.
"Jeez, that meatball head!!"
"Rei," Lita grabbed her by the arm before she entered the kitchen. "You wanted to ask me something."
"Oh, no its nothing, let's talk about it later."
"You sure?"
"Yea, it's nothing important."
They ate in the kitchen, all 8 of them, Serena, Ami, Mina, Lita, Rei, Rini, Chad, and Grandpa. After dinner Grandpa went to meditate, Chad was doing the dishes with Rini and the girls went into Rei's room.
"So what do you guys want to do?" asked Rei.
"Hey I'm in the mood for truth or dare!" Serena yelled out.
"What?" Every one asked in surprise.
"Weren't we going to go over the math homework?" Ami asked
*Huge sweat drop in the room*
"Um, yea Ami, let's do that later." Mina smiled uneasily.
"So we are playing truth or dare?" Ami asked troubled.
"Yup!" Replied Serena speaking for every one as usual.
"Well count me out!" Ami said in a convinced voice.
"Aw come on Ami, don't be like that," Lita said smiling slyly.
"Yea come on! Why are you so boring?" Mina asked.
"Maybe she just has something big to hide and doesn't want us to find out!" Serena pointed out in her ninja costume. She snuck around Rei's room until she popped up behind Ami.
"So Ami, whatcha hiding huh?" Lita asked. "Nothing!" Said Ami blushing.
"I think you're hiding something!" Mina said.
"So, who's playing truth or dare?" Rei asked.
"I'm in," said Lita.
"Me too!" Said Mina.
"Ami?" Asked Rei.
"Yes why not? I can avoid the truths by doing the dares."
"A Ha! You are hiding something and I'm gonna find out what it is! Rei, I'm in!" Said Serena.
"How about you Rei? You in?" Lita asked smirking.
"I don't see why not. If every one's letting their secrets out it's only fair I do so too."
"Oh, another secretive one." Mina smiled.
"I get the feeling this is going to be a good game." Ami said somewhat intrigued.
"Yea, I bet." Lita looked at Rei and smiled.
And so began the game of truth or dare.