LONG WAY HOME CHAPTER 7- SCHISM
Hello again, wanted to say thanks for the reviews you all took the time to write. It feels bad to say that the fluff that attracted so many will not be as predominant for a while. Hence the name of the chapter.
Fun fact, this chapter and part of the story was heavily inspired by the song Mordecai by Between the Buried and Me along with the two songs following on the album Reaction and (Shevanel Take 2) . It influenced a lot of the events here on out, especially what Azusa does to Yui at the end of this chapter...which may not be quite what you were all expecting, but that makes it fun.
I'm not saying "Go and listen to it right now with lyrics!" but maybe when you're done reading last chapter, it would be neat to do. It would be my music choice for the credits if Fanfiction could have credits. Who says it can't have credits!
Guy Who Did Everything- Tastychainsaws
Well, now that we got that out of the way...
Here's the link to the hoodie that Yui has... DOT com/item/6483/ which I am totally buying soon. I feel it's important to connect with the characters in my stories.
6:58 AM
"Is that one Yui or Azusa?" Ritsu asked, and pointed at an old couple jogging in the early morning.
"For the last time, Ritsu, no." Mio grumbled from the passenger seat, "Let's go back to interrogating convenience store clerks; at least that was interesting. Remember the one who wanted to show us his cockroach farm?"
"I know, I know, but we did that all for hours last night." Ritsu yawned, "My social skills are dead, along with my integrity."
"And my wallet, I don't know why I had to pay for gas." Mio complained.
"Because I'm poor." Ritsu shrugged, "How's Mugi-chan holding up?"
"I don't know." Mio replied, she leaned back to check on the keyboardist, "Still awake Tsumugi?"
"No." Tsumugi replied, her head was leaning on the window, her eyes searching for the two guitarists. They had been driving literally all night, stopping only for a few gas fill ups and coffee. Coffee money had run dry, so all funds were being pooled towards gas.
Tsumugi sighed loudly, "Have you ever just wanted to kill everyone on the planet?"
"No." Mio blinked.
"Oh, me either. I was just wondering what that would be like though." Tsumugi replied, "Can I ask you two a question?"
"Shoot." Ritsu sleepily said from behind the wheel.
"Why would Yui-chan be awake this early for any reason?" Tsumugi asked, "The only time that she's up this early is when she decides to stay up all night. Even Azusa-chan wouldn't be able to get her up at this point."
Ritsu pulled over to the side of the road and smashed her shiny forehead into the steering wheel.
"I think you broke her." Mio said to Tsumugi, "The sad thing is you're right. We never even thought about that, they probably stayed at motel somewhere...but where?"
"Maybe there?" Tsumugi replied and pointed at a get away motel for romantic couples across the street. There was van parked out front to replace the place's broken air conditioning.
"A love hotel? No, that wouldn't make sense." Mio replied with a shake of her head, "There's a convenience store up at the corner that we haven't checked yet...I think. Why are there so many god damned 7-11's in this city! They're every where, it's just so convenient!"
"Chain franchises piss me off." Ritsu grumbled, "Who wants to take this one?"
"I'll do it!" Tsumugi happily volunteered. She stepped out of the car and walked down the sidewalk to the chain store.
"I'm going to go see if that store right there has any heavy picks." Mio said, and went to exit the vehicle.
"What are heavy picks, since when is there different kind of guitar picks?" Ritsu asked as she was stepping out.
"Since forever," Mio replied, "The heavier ones are better for playing bass."
"You don't use picks for bass." Ritsu pointed out.
"You try playing the bass after the guitar solo in Run to the Hills without a pick." Mio said, and slammed the door close.
Meanwhile, Tsumugi realized she wasn't alone in the parking lot for this store. At her feet was a fluffy black and white kitten, whose tail was bigger than it was, "Good morning, Cat-chan." She said to it, realizing that a Yui-ism had rubbed off on her.
"Nya~!" The kitten mewed happily. Tsumugi reached down and stroked the cat behind its ears, it purred and rubbed against her.
"What's your name? I'm Kotobuki Tsumugi, but you can call me Mugi-chan like everyone else. They call me that so much that my real name is invalid." Tsumugi said to it. The cat just purred and rubbed against her legs. It had no collar, and looked to be alone, "I think I'll call you...Pickles the Cat."
"Meww!" The cat happily replied, and rubbed against her more forcefully. Tsumugi lowered her hand and the kitten happily licked at it, then proceeded to harmlessly gnaw on her like Tastychainsaws' cat did to him in the middle of the night, because it doesn't realize that he doesn't want to play with it at 4 AM when he has work in the morning.
"I don't think anyone will mind if I take you with me. I've always wanted a kitten, and I know my parents would love you." Tsumugi said half to herself, half to the kitten. She picked up Pickles the Cat and cradled it into her arms. Pickles happily obliged and made itself comfortable. Forgetting what she originally had come there to do, Tsumugi turned around to walk back; ignoring the convenience store that Yui had visited, who the clerk remembered perfectly.
Meanwhile, Mio was having issues of her own...
"Where did you get that!" Mio shouted at the tired looking clerk at the music store.
"Fuck! Stop yelling, I have a hangover..." The clerk, one Oishi Chenso, growled, "Where did I get what!"
"That purse on the counter, it belongs to my friend who just happens to be missing." Mio clarified.
"Ohhh, you're friends with Yui-chan and the other one that whines a lot and likes shitty music." He replied, "Yeah, I still have all their stuff, could you give it back to them for me? I kinda lost my car yesterday."
"Why do you have all their stuff!" Mio screamed and grabbed the hungover clerk by the collar of his shirt.
"Because I was giving them a ride, for fucks sake let go of me!" Oishi snapped and pushed Mio back, "This is why I don't do nice things, people suck. Touch me again and I'll bash in your tits with a pipe."
"Then where are they!" Mio screamed at him again, ignoring his threats to hit her bosom with a piece of plumbing.
"Oh..." He blushed and scratched the back of his head, "Well, funny story about that..."
"Where are they!"
"Okay, before you start kicking me in the face, you have to understand that what happened to them is not my fault." He told her with a defensive wave of his harm, "I was giving them a ride, then when were at a gas station, these cops showed up. I was driving with a suspended license, and my car is unregistered. They towed me away, and I had to spend the rest of the day at the station; they forced me to leave the girls behind, they didn't believe that someone like me could have picked up two high school girls."
"I wouldn't have either." Mio grimaced.
"Shut the fuck up!" He snapped back, "Look, I was at least given the liberty to have all my stuff out of my car, which includes their stuff. I have it in the back room if you want it. And if you see them, tell them my story."
"Fine, whatever, just give me their stuff." Mio demanded, not wanting to spend another second with this guy.
She returned to the others with an armful of stuff, and stuck it all in the back with Tsumugi and the new cat. Ritsu was sound asleep on top of the wheel. Mio casually reached over and honked the horn. Ritsu jumped up and shouted briefly.
"I didn't do it, it was all Mio!" Ritsu shrieked, but realized where she was at. Mio had Azusa's discarded shirt on her lap, and Tsumugi had a kitten, "Which one of you wants to explain first?"
"I made a friend!" Tsumugi exclaimed and held up the fluffy kitten to Ritsu face. It smiled its cat grin at her.
"Nice to meet you, Cat-san." Ritsu said and shook the cat's paw. "Ow! Retract your claws, retract your claws!"
"I have a lead on our guitarists." Mio frantically said. Tsumugi and Ritsu both leaned in to hear this, after a night of fruitless searching, any news was good news. Ritsu tapped the car's CD player so that The Who's song Pinball Wizard began playing. As the guitar began, so did Mio, "Turns out that Yui and Azusa hitched a ride with some bum, but the police hauled him back here. That means they're wandering up that road we drove here on...in the rain...at night."
Ritsu switched out of neutral and slammed on the gas. Tires screeched as she drove over the edge of the curb, and began driving back out of the city. Pinball Wizard's chorus had just began as she did this.
"I wonder how much money it would take Yui to smash Gitah like Pete Townshend does to his guitars." Ritsu wondered as they were speeding along.
MORE PROBLEMS
The morning light had illuminated several problems for the two missing guitarists...
"I don't remember this being a forest..." Azusa said as the two of them stood there outside their historic shelter. Sure enough, they were surrounded by trees on all sides. In the dark they couldn't have seen their depth. Neither Azusa or Yui had known there would be a forest behind those trees. What was worse, there were actually several dirt paths leading to where they were.
"Well let's get going." Yui said, then began marching towards the woods, "Wait, Azu-nyan?"
"Huh?"
"Which path did we take to get here?" She asked.
Azusa gave her a dumbfounded look, "Oh come on Yui-senpai, we came in there..." She pointed at one path, "No, wait it wasn't that one..." She then pointed at another, "The rain washed away our tracks!"
"I think it was that one." Yui said, and pointed at a crude, overgrown path leading towards the hills in the distance.
"Yui-senpai, we were walking down a flat road." Azusa reminded her, "There were no hills."
"This was is a shortcut!" Yui told her, "Trust me, I know exactly where we're going."
"If you say so..." Azusa muttered, not quite believing her senpai. Why would Yui-senpai lie like that though? She admitted to being wrong all those other times, but she never once said, "I know where we're going." I know she obviously has no idea where she's going, but I guess I'll follow her. If only to figure out what she's trying to do.
The path Yui chose wasn't tended at all, grass grew up to their knees in certain points. They even saw a pig go running past them at one point. The farmland they had passed was nowhere in sight, no rice paddies, no vegetables.
Azusa couldn't take wandering blindly into the forest much longer, "Yui-senpai, where are you going!"
"It's a short cut home!" Yui told her, to Azusa she sounded like a little kid whining, "Trust me!"
"My trust in you started fading when you got us in the wrong concert." Azusa growled, "I swear, if we die in these woods- your ass is haunted."
"Azu-nyan, language!" Yui scolded, "But I think I know where this is, I think I've been here before."
"You've got to be kidding." Azusa sighed, "You think you've been here before?"
Yui nodded, looking sure of herself.
"You're trying to tell me that you have voluntarily been in this random patch of forest before in your life, and that your remember it well enough to find your way home. Not back to the road, but home?"
Yui nodded again.
Azusa heaved a heavy, deep, angry sigh, "Are you familiar with the term, 'compulsive liar'?"
"Yeah, why?" Yui answered.
Azusa didn't even bother, "Fine, just go get us even more lost. That would make this weekend complete, getting lost in the woods. Maybe we can get attacked by a wild animal too!"
"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?" Yui asked, feeling proud of her observation. Azusa just shook her head, and followed Yui onwards. Why would she say that she knows this place? Just where are you taking me Yui-senpai?
"This is just like a real adventure." Yui dreamily said to the clouds, "Now we're in this forest, which is definitely enchanted, magical...or even haunted."
"I'm glad to see you're taking this seriously." Azusa grumbled.
"I bet we'll find ghouls." Yui went on.
"You're talking to yourself at this point, aren't you?" Azusa asked under her breath. She had woken up that morning completely insufferable. Despite her efforts to keep warm, a cold was already working its magic on her. All of a sudden Yui was the last person she wanted to be around.
"Remember that one song that the band on my shirt played?" Yui asked her, and pointed at the sneering werewolf.
"No."
"The one that was like..." Yui cleared her throat and took in a deep breath.
"For the love of God Yui don't-" Azusa tried to say.
"THESE GHOULS THAT ROAM THAT ROAM THESE DARKENED WOODS ARE THIRSTING FOR YOUR THROAT!" Yui screamed in near perfect English. Birds flew off in all directions.
"Why is that you only know English when it suites you? And how did you even understand the lyrics!" Azusa asked, barely being able to refrain from screaming.
Yui reached into her back pocket and retrieved the album booklet from the album she had bought the day before. It had all the lyrics translated, "See Azu-nyan."
"Just don't scream again..." Azusa said, and rubbed her aching head, "You'll attract ghouls, or something."
"Good thinking." Yui complimented, "Hey Azu-nyan, what's a ghoul anyways?"
"Another word for zombie." Azusa answered.
"Hey look, blackberries!" Yui cried out and pointed at a thorny bush where fat, squishy berries were growing.
"They're out of season, that's weird." Azusa remarked, but wasn't about to just pass up on some juicy berries. Yui rushed past her, and the album booklet fell onto the ground behind her. Azusa reached down and picked it up, "You dropped this!"
"You can hold on to it." Yui told her, and went to eat some tasty berries.
"Sure..." Azusa muttered, she leafed it open and casually read some of the lyrics. Her face distorted into a face of utter disgust, Are lyrics like this even legal! This song "Virally Yours" is about a man who gets sexually aroused by intentionally killing people as a doctor, this is horrible! Just reading about the smell of vomit making this man aroused is...oh god, I'm going to be sick...
Yui turned around to find Azusa clutching her stomach and staggering towards some bushes, "Azu-nyan are you...oh god..." Yui quickly turned away, not even hugs could save the younger guitarist now. After Azusa was done heaving up the contents of her vegetable breakfast, Yui slowly approached her.
"Get that thing away from me!" Azusa screamed, and pointed at the werewolf on Yui's hoodie. It's red eyes stared back at her, its teeth thirsting for her throat, wanting nothing more than to add her blood to the coat of blood that was already staining it.
"But Wolf-chan wouldn't hurt anybody." Yui attempted to convince Azusa.
"He's ripping the head off of some friendly woodland creature, and is standing on gravestones!" Azusa snapped back, her head was burning more than had been just a few minutes ago. What she believe to just be an annoying head cold, was actually a full blown fever.
"You haven't heard his side of the story though." Yui pouted.
HOT ON THE TRAIL
"Ritsu, stop there." Mio requested, and pointed at a gas station, convenience store chain. It was located in the middle of nowhere, and looked like no one had been there the whole day. However, the large number of pumps, and the size of the parking lot hinted that it probably saw better days.
"We're fine on gas, what do you need." Ritsu replied, but ultimately pulled it. In the last 12 hours, her driving skills had gone from terrifying to moderately reassuring.
"Coffee, our second wind is fading." Mio told her, "Just look at Tsumugi."
Tsumugi was sitting up, but was completely dead to the world. Pickles the Cat was comfortably sitting on her lap, snoozing as well.
"Tsumugi..." Mio whispered and gave her a light nudge of the shoulder. The keyboardist didn't react in anyway. The cat did though, Pickles looked up and blinked at Mio. "Can you wake Tsumugi?"
The kitten stretched and yawned, then rolled on his back. He looked up at Tsumugi's sleeping face with strange expression. Ritsu noticed it right away, it had the eyes of a hunter.
"Mio-chan, I think something's wrong with Mugi-chan's new pet." Ritsu noted.
Mio just chuckled, "Look how happy it look- Jesus Christ!"
The cat leaped up and sunk its claws into Tsumugi's cheeks and bit down on her left eyebrow. Tsumugi's eyes shot open, and the panic began. "Get it off! Get it off!"
"Mio, do something!" Ritsu cried.
Mio carefully tried to get hold of the cat, she gently grabbed it and tried to pull it off of Tsumugi. The cat didn't let go, it's claws were barely in her skin, but just enough to keep it plastered to its face. It didn't seem she was bleeding though.
"Stop, stop, stop!" Tsumugi shouted, Mio let go of the cat. "Ricchan, can you remove Pickle's claws from my face?"
"Why not me?" Mio pouted.
"Okay, I'll save you Mugi-chan." Ritsu declared, and carefully grabbed the cats paws. With a bit of wiggling, and a bit of Tsumugi wincing, the cat's claws were removed. It was still happily chewing on her eyebrow though.
"What now? Tsumugi asked, her voice was slightly muffled by the cat hanging off her eyebrow by its teeth, "I don't want to sound whiny, but this is kind of excruciatingly painful."
"Hold on..." Ritsu told her, and wiped sweat off her forehead. There was an atmosphere of extreme anticipation as Ritsu hovered over her.
"Are you going to do something!" Mio shouted after a solid minute of waiting.
"Yes." Ritsu replied, then in the most anti-climatic way possible, grabbed the kitten and tried to pull it off. It budged, but it firmly held its jaws closed on Tsumugi's eyebrow. "It's not coming off!"
"Bad kitty!" Mio scolded. As if by magic, the cat released its grip and fell onto Tsumugi's lap. The three of them sat in stunned silence and watched it ball up into a comfortable position.
"Um...yeah...store." Ritsu reminded, trying to forget what had just happened.
"I'm going in for coffee, want anything?" Mio asked the wounded keyboardist. She still had 65hp left, that was enough to withstand even a Horrid Wilting spell. It was times like those that everyone was thankful that Tsumugi rolled a natural 18 for her constitution score. Added with her +2 constitution bonus for "possibly" being Finnish, she got an extra five hit points a level. Now here she was, a level 13 paladin with 156hp max. That paired with her +5 Holy Avenger made her a powerful asset to their group.
"Oh, can I come too?" Tsumugi asked, "I've never been into a roadside stop like this!"
"Where are you from again?" Ritsu asked under her breath.
"Okay, but Pickles stays behind." Mio replied, Tsumugi nodded and followed her in.
They crossed the barren pavement of the parking lot and entered the glass doors. The place looked like bandits had attacked. The power was out, random garbage and clutter was strewn about the floor, the shelves were checkered by blank spots from all the shop lifters. One lonely employee was desperately trying to sweep the place up. He flinched when he saw them.
"Hello, Lowly Clerk." Tsumugi greeted with a wave.
"Take whatever you want, just don't hurt me!" He cried, and waved his arms defensively. Tsumugi noticed that he had a bruise on his forehead, and his uniform was ruffled. As she was dealing with him, Mio went to fill up on extra caffeinated coffee for them.
"Sir, tell me what happened." Tsumugi gently said to him. He looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"They just kept coming, wave after wave of customers. I'm the only one here too! I told them to form an orderly line and I would help each of them, but they didn't listen! Then the shoplifters came.." He cried, a quick inspection of his nametag told Tsumugi that his name was "Negishi".
"Are you hurt, Negishi?" Tsumugi asked him in the gentlest voice she could muster.
"How do you know my name!" He gasped, Mio then appeared with the coffee. "Who is she!"
"I'm Akiyama Mio, pleased to meet you." Mio said with a bow, she placed the cardboard coffee holder onto the counter and went for her wallet.
"And I'm Kotobuki Tsumugi, but you can call me Mugi-chan."
Negishi eyed them suspiciously, "Mio...Mugi...sounds a lot like Mickey and Malory to me! You're here to kill me, just remember that I'm the only clerk left!"
"What?" Mio blinked.
He staggered backwards to the cash register and opened it. Much to the surprise of the two girls, he grabbed a wad of money and shoved it into Mio arms, "Take it, just don't kill me! I have too much to live for! I do voice acting for extras in anime, I'd be missed!"
Mio couldn't think of how to reply. This man had just shoved 25,000 yen into her arms and begged her not to kill him. "I'll use this to pay for the coffee."
"Don't make fun of me!" Negishi screamed, "Just take it all and go. I'm not afraid to fight for my life." With that he took a fighting pose.
"Mio-chan, he's starting to scare me." Tsumugi whispered to the bassist.
"Let's just go." Mio said, and walked out with money and coffee in hand. Never in their life had either of them been that confused. Somehow Mio believed that taking that money had been the right choice in regards to their safety.
Mio slipped into the passenger seat, and then dumped all the money onto Ritsu's lap, "Happy birthday."
"What's all this!" Ritsu gasped, "Holy fuck, did you two rob the place!"
"No!" Mio and Tsumugi cried in unison.
Mio sighed and placed a hand on Ritsu's shoulder, "Ritsu, have you ever seen the movie Natural Born Killers?"
"No." Ritsu told her.
"Then never mind. Let's drive off before someone starts taking potshots at us with an automatic shotgun." Mio grumbled.
"Don't worry Ricchan, we're as confused as you are." Tsumugi assured the drummer. Ritsu shrugged and began her drive onwards.
"Did you ask if he saw Azusa or Yui?" Ritsu asked them as they pulled out.
"I really don't think it would have done any good." Mio admitted, although Negishi had seen Azusa the day before.
THE AZUYUI PROJECT IS STAGGERED
"Y-Yui-senpai." Azusa gasped, and grabbed onto her senpai's shoulder to stop from falling, "I can't walk anymore."
Yui helped Azusa to a shady patch of soft grass under a tree to sit down, "What's wrong Azu-nyan, do your feet hurt?"
Azusa coughed violently into her hand, "No, I think I have a fever."
"I'm sure you're just a little warm from the heat." Yui told her, still trying to be the optimist as always. Although it was chilly enough that they could see their breath. She placed the back of her hand against the back of Azusa's forehead, it was like touching a the hood of a hot car. "You do have a fever, let me go get some water!"
"I don't need water, I just need sleep." Azusa whispered, sounding surprisingly calm, then leaned her head against Yui's shoulder.
"Don't worry Azu-nyan, we're almost out of here, we'll get you home soon." Yui assured her.
Azusa's fevered eyes shot open wide, That lie again? We're lost, we're going to die lost, and this is all your fault. Her inflamed mind was no longer in the mood for reason, or giving people second, or more like 7th chances. However, she was too exhausted to say anything more than, "That's nice."
"Wait here while I go and get some water." Yui ordered, than ran off through some low shrubs. Azusa shot an angry glance at that direction. You don't know where you're going are you? You'll probably gone for hours.
But Yui knew exactly where she was going. A small stream had been following that trail parallel for several miles now. When she got to it, she took off her shirt and hoodie, then soaked her normal shirt in cold water before putting the blood stained werewolf back on her body. Now with something to cool Azusa's forehead, she proudly returned.
Azusa was still feeling horribly bitter about her entire situation, and she blamed her senpai for all of it. I still want to know WHY she's dragging me through these stupid woods. She knows we're lost, and that we've been lost for hours, but why didn't she ever turn back to find her way out? Yui-senpai isn't the type who can't admit at being wrong...then why?
"I'm back Azu-nyan!" Yui cheered than ran over to aid her, Azusa flinched at the sudden noise. Azusa felt instantly relief as Yui tied the cool cloth around her head, but didn't bother wondering where that cloth had come from. Chances are that she wouldn't like the answer. All of sudden she was wishing that she could trade Yui our for Mio or Tsumugi, or both. That thought stuck with her as she drifted off into a shaky sleep.
"Don't worry Azusa, I know exactly where we're going." Mio told her, and lead them around another corner of the trail into a clearing, buildings were in the distance.
"Wow, Mio-senpai, how did you know?" Azusa, still feverish in her dream, asked.
"Because good senpai's know exactly where they're going." Mio proudly declared, "Oh Azusa-san, you're still ill. You can't walk in that condition at all!"
"Oh, I can walk the rest of the way." Azusa blushed.
"Nonsense!" Tsumugi happily shouted out, "We can use my private helicopter to get out of here!"
"You have a private helicopter!" Azusa gasped.
"I do now." Tsumugi smiled. Up in the air, a fully armed Ground Force Self Defense helicopter was hovering down. The driver, one Ritsu-senpai.
Yui, still knowing exactly where they were, hefted Azusa up onto her back. It wasn't too hard to get the sleeping guitarist into a piggy-back position, then began to continue on. Azusa muttered something about helicopters in her sleep.
"One would be nice right now." Yui admitted. She had one hand on Azusa's wrist to keep her steady, and the other one was being used to read the lyrics to that album Nocturnal. It was then that Yui knew how she was going to apologize to Sawa-chan for no doubt making her life hell from this. Hirasawa Yui would...write and perform a metal song.
Her brain instantly went to work with thinking lyrics, that little booklet would do wonders for inspiration. The question remained though, what to write a song about? She looked down at her hoodie, the blood covered werewolf leered back up at her. Then she knew what to do.
An unspeakable horror, from the blackest woods tainted by Hell's darkened kiss. Yui found that thinking up metal lyrics was easy. Just think of scary things then put them together into a scary sentence. Wrath held back throughout the centuries, it's chains have been broken. It sets upon the denizens of this peaceful place, sets to bathe the world in the blood of virgins and children. The bodies of the weak pave the road to its horrible lair.
"This is easy." Yui smiled to herself, wishing she had something to write these lyrics down with. If something went wrong and she forgot her own lyrics, which was very possible, she could always cover another band; one that Sawako liked. But what bands did Sawako like again? For some reason, the only metal band Yui could think of was Black Sabbath, but she couldn't remember how popular those guys were. She decided that the answer was probably, "not very much". If she couldn't remember where she had heard their name, then Sawako probably didn't know about them; that was Yui's logic.
Speaking of metal, Yui just had to wonder why everything, and everyone she encountered was associated with that music genre in some way. Sawako, the concert, Oishi Chenso, everything so far was metal related. She found that a bit strange considered the genre had such a small modern following compared to other genres like pop, rap, normal rock, and Tastychainsaws' personal favorite- Deep fried southern pirate stoner death rock. The latter didn't quite work because that genre didn't really have much of a following at all.
Her memory was shaky about the surrounding area, but Yui still knew exactly where they were; she hadn't been lying. In junior high they had gone on a camping trip to learn some things about nature that Yui promptly forgot. This just happened to be the trail they had taken. It was a long one, but it would lead them back onto the road by their town.
Azusa woke up a few times from her slumber; asking for water or to do her business behind some bushes while Yui patiently waited; grinding her teeth to block out any noise she may have heard from Azusa. She had chosen a particularly bad time to get a fever, but Yui was doing her best to help her and it was working for the most part.
When Azusa started to get chilly and began shivering, Yui was quick to give her werewolf hoodie to her. A frightening as the graphic was, Yui was starting to get attached to it. It looked so angry, and part of her wanted to give it a hug. That wasn't really an option and she knew it. The monster would no doubt use her intestines as fried noodles if it were real, or eat her head like chestnut, use her heart the same way she would a strawberry, her limbs would be greasy fried chicken... Yui quickly began to think of something else.
THE AZUYUI RESCUE TEAM HAS PROBLEMS OF ITS OWN...
As they drove on, each of them were wondering where Azusa and Yui had gone to sleep. It was possible that they stayed at one of the many outlying farms, or found a covered bus stop or something. Those were various places Ritsu had seen hitchhikers stay the night. Ritsu was pepped up on caffeine again, but Pickles' constant meowing was driving her crazy, "Mugi-chan, would you please silence your cat?"
"I fed him some of my lunch, but he keeps meowing!" Tsumugi hopelessly cried. Pickles the Cat was happily meowing loudly on her lap.
"Don't make me come back there!" Ritsu threatened.
"Pickles, shhh!" Tsumugi shh'd at the cat. It didn't listen.
"If you don't stop meowing, I will turn this car around!" Ritsu shouted at the cat. The cat smiled back at her, but stopped its howling.
"I don't want to sound rude, Tsumugi, but why did we take him with us?" Mio asked.
"Because he didn't have a home!" Tsumugi reminded her, then just under her breath muttered, "At least I think he didn't."
"I would have left that screaming ball of fur where I found him." Ritsu grumbled.
"Don't say things like that, you'll hurt his feelings!" Tsumugi cried.
"Oh what's he going to do?" Ritsu smirked, she didn't even have time to scream when a ball of fur hit her like a brick.
"Ritsu!" Mio cried as the car swerved sharply, its cause was a cat who was now biting onto Ritsu's forehead as it had done with Tsumugi's eyebrows.
"Get it off, get it off!" Ritsu screamed, and struggled to get a hold of her car. She eventually got it to the side of the road, but couldn't get the cat off.
"Mio-chan, save her!" Tsumugi cried from the back seat, unable to act. Mio carefully grabbed hold of the cat and gave it a good tug, it only embedded its claws deeper into Ritsu's face. It had struggled not to harm Tsumugi when it tried to save her from her own eyebrows, but this was not the case with Ritsu. It wanted to hurt her.
Ritsu screamed and flailed her arms as the cat's claws embedded themselves deeper into her face. She managed to open the car door and fall into the grass outside. The cat fell off her face, and Ritsu used this opportunity to make a run for it.
"Ricchan, stop! You're only enraging him!" Tsumugi cried out as Ritsu ran into a field of corn. Mio and her waited several agonizing minutes for Ritsu to return from the corn.
"Close all the windows!" They heard her cry from the forest of vegetables. They did so without question, but were still a bit confused by it. Soon Ritsu was sprinting back at the car, but now had more than dozen cats following her.
"It had friends!" She screamed and slammed the door behind her. Two orange tabby cats hopped onto the hood of the car and glared hungrily at them from the outside. The sound of meows was deafening.
"I'm scared." Tsumugi whimpered, "Do something Ricchan."
Ritsu started the car, and honked the horn. The felines instantly fled back into their homes. The three of them heaved a sigh of relief as they began driving back.
"Ritsu, what's that on your leg?" Mio asked, there was something black and white, but was obstructed to her.
"Oh, that's just..." Ritsu began saying then looked down. There was Pickles the Cat smiling back up at her.
PARANOID
Azusa eyes flickered open, those bright sunbeams that shone down from above the trees were gone. This was the first time since morning she was fully awake, or at least that was what she thought. She would have been surprised to find that she had been awake for multiple times throughout the day, and even made conversation with Yui about metal lyrics a few times. However, she remembered nothing of that. She remembered arguing with Yui about being lost in the morning, and that was it.
Now it was nighttime, or close. The sky was still blue, but the sun had settled beneath the horizon for the time being. Luckily there weren't any clouds that day.
Her head still ached, in fact it was worse than before. Something was wrapped around her forehead, and it was soaked in a mixture of her sweat and water. She painstakingly raised her arm and wiped sweat off her face. She then realized that various things were not right about her situation.
First off, she was laying down...on Yui's lap. Yui's shirt was gone, all she had was her bra. Did...I miss something?
"Azu-nyan, good morning...or evening!" Yui greeted her with a smile, "Good news, we're almost home. I just had to take a break for awhile, you're heavier than you look."
Azusa did not take that as a compliment, "What?"
"After carrying you all day, I'm tired." Yui told her.
So that's what she means. I was sick and fell asleep, so she carried me. But where are we? Azusa decided to go and ask. Her voice came out shaky, "W-where are we?"
"We're near the meeting place, so it's maybe two hours until we get home." Yui answered. Azusa just blinked, what's that supposed to mean?
Azusa shook her head then went to stand up. She got to her hand and knees, then use the tree Yui was leaning against to support herself up. Much to her embarrassment, her black jeans dropped around her knees. She quickly pulled them back up and buttoned them up, blushing the whole way. Luckily Yui hadn't had noticed this.
But Azusa had to wonder just why her pants had been unbuttoned, "Yui-senpai, w-why were my pants unbuttoned?"
Yui shrugged, "I don't know."
Liar, Azusa's bitter mind spat. A horrible, unjustified, paranoid piece of reasoning floated to the surface of Azusa's mind. Yui-senpai is in love with me, we've already established that. I was asleep all day, that would give her the chance to do whatever she wanted to me...Even apparently dress me, I'm wearing her werewolf. I can't take this anymore, her hands WERE IN MY PANTS! I never expected Yui-senpai to be that kind of pervert, NEVER.
Azusa pulled it off her body shoved into Yui's hands, "Keep that thing away from me!" She nearly snarled, the sheer hostility in her voice made Yui flinch.
"O-okay Azu-nyan." Yui said, a little startled. She pulled it over her head, it felt good to have something covering her body again. She then had a brief flash of memory. About thirty minutes ago, Azusa had awoken from her shaky sleep having to go to the restroom. Chances were that she was too out of it to remember to button her pants back up. "Do you want to get going again? I can carry you some more if you want."
"Keep your hands off of me!" Azusa shouted and took several steps away from Yui, "I know exactly why my pants were undone!"
"Oh, me too!" Yui happily replied, feeling proud that she had figured out what Azusa meant.
"So you know damn well why I don't want you touching me!" Azusa growled at her, her voice was dripping with acid.
Yui equated that hostility with her fever, and didn't realize that Azusa was beyond angry at her. Yui assumed she must have made a mess or something while relieving herself, that made sense if she was sick and not in full control of her motor skills. She was probably embarrassed and didn't want Yui figuring out. Yeah that must be it, Yui decided. With a comforting smile, she spoke up, "Don't worry Azu-nyan, you don't need to be embarrassed. These things happened when you're sick."
Azusa gave her the most horrified look she had ever given anyone. She just admitted to what she did. I have to get out of here. "Yui-senpai, this isn't okay. I never expected this from you!"
It took a moment for Yui to figure out what Azusa meant. That was okay though, Azusa was sick and not everything coming out of her mouth made much since; but Yui was patient with her. Yui decided that Azusa was feeling guilty about making her carry her all day. Yui kept that warm comforting smile across her face, "Don't worry Azu-nyan, I'd do it all again if I had to."
Azusa didn't know how to reply to that, it was like Yui-senpai was making fun of her. I...I think I understand it now. She took me out here to do...this. This is like some backwards attempt of hers to seduce me or something. Yui-senpai risked my health to behave like a 14 year old boy that's alone with a girl for the first time. This is the most selfish thing I've ever seen anyone do.
There were many times in Yui's life where she had been confused by something someone had said or done. Mainly because people spoke in dual meanings, or just acted on impulse in ways that Yui would never understand. This was one of those times; because Azusa slapped her across the face with back of her palm. Hard enough to draw blood at the corner of her lip.
All Yui could do is sit against that tree and look up at Azusa with wide eyes; eyes that showed a mixture of surprise, hurt, and overall complete and utter confusion. Yui was completely stupefied. Thick tears appeared around the corners of her eyes as she struggled to speak, "A-Azu-nyan... what was that for?"
"You know that it was for! How could you think I would ever consent to something like this!" Azusa sharply replied.
"What!" Was Yui's reply. She had absolutely no idea what Azu-nyan was talking about. She had spent the entire day trying to nurse her back to health while walking home. Hirasawa Yui wanted to know what she had done wrong, she had done everything she could.
"Every thing you did really confused me, but I understand it all now." Azusa said, then turned to walk off somewhere.
"I did everything for you!" Yui pleaded from behind her, which was true. She had made all their decisions by what she thought was in their best interest, and would get them home faster with the least amount of trouble. Her only true mistake had been getting the bus number wrong. Everything else had just failed by circumstance.
"You did it because you're selfish, Yui-senpai!" Azusa snapped back, "You didn't once really think of me did you! You just went along with your childish fantasies, and look where it got us." Fantasies was referring to what Azusa believed to be Yui's romantic interest in her.
"S-selfish?" Yui said, utterly taken back by that word, "...b-but I know where we are! See where the path splits up, we just head right and it'll take us right near our town!"
"Then I'll go the other way." Azusa adamantly replied, "Don't follow me. I'm sorry Yui-senpai, but this is the end of our friendship. You said you would take care of me, and then you lied because you're selfish. Just tell people we got separated, so they don't condemn you for abandoning me or something."
Yui's tears broke into full fledged sobbing. This was so sudden, and she could have never predicted it. Why was Azu-nyan saying these things to her, it couldn't just be because she was sick. There had to have been some horrible misunderstanding between them that Yui had missed; but she didn't know what that could have been. Azusa quickly disappeared from sight, apparently keeping her word.
Now Yui was alone in the woods, with dark fast approaching. Alone, hurt, confused, scared for Azusa and herself. She couldn't remember anytime in her life that she had been that upset. Azusa had told her not to follow, but Yui was tempted to go to her and do one of two things.
Either warn her how that path led to a series of hiking trails that twisted and turned. She could get lost easily without map. Those trails did lead to a road though, not the right one. Just one that lead to some more farms, even further away. Yui could hope that Azusa got lost enough that she wound up back here, or she would get lost indefinitely. And Yui would be the one to blame.
She also wanted to go and plea for Azusa to forgive whatever crime Yui had committed against her. To find out why Azusa had called her selfish, that was not a word that Yui was commonly called in serious conversation. Ui had occasionally scolded her for taking too much food, but she had never been called selfish in that kind of selfish. The kind of selfish that sabotages friendships and gets neglects people's health. This left Yui wondering just what she had done.
However, she had to figure out which path she was going to take. The path to her own freedom, where she could go and get help for Azusa. Or go after Azusa and beg for forgiveness and save their friendship.
Yui took took a deep breath, wiped away her tears...
AND MADE HER DECISION
For those who may not be familiar, the word "schism" means a division or split. Which aptly sums up this chapter. I have admit that I do feel kind of like an asshat. Someone asks for more fluff in a review, and I give them this. I assure you all that this will have a happy ending. Just bear with these rough patches, it makes the outcome all the sweeter.
Ahem, next time in "Long Way Home"... Ritsu and the rest finally succeed at something, Azusa feels a bit of remorse towards her situation, she also makes some new friends, the Cats of the Corn return for blood, Yui makes her decision, a group of children make fun of a priest's lack of hair, then the guy flips out and God sends down 42 bears from the woods to kill all the residents of the village. Oh wait, that's the Bible, my bad. No seriously, that's a real part of the Bible.
