a/n: Feh, more delays.

"This will be your first time on a bus, won't it, InuYasha?" Souta asked the dog hanyou as the group climbed on board. InuYasha twitched his ears and looked around slowly at the gathered humans.

"Why can't they just walk?" He asked.

"InuYasha don't be silly, " Sango took her seat near a window, "Its a faster form of transportation, obviously. The same reason why I ride Kirara over great distances. You know, I don't know what I'd do without her."

"Why couldn't we ride Kirara then? I like flying." Shippou was the next to take his seat but was delayed when InuYasha smacked him in the head.

"What part of demons are not seen in this world don't you get?" InuYasha was about to smack the kitsune in the head one more time when he himself was smacked in the head.

"What part of stop abusing little kids don't you get?" Marathon shoved her way past him and sat next to Shippou, and they both stuck their tongues out at InuYasha.

Miroku sat down next to Sango and looked out the window. "This is indeed a large village. Its probably very difficult to keep order with so many people going their own ways. From what I can tell this civilization is based on the individual instead of the group, and a lot of individual motives can sometimes create havoc."

"Its okay Miroku, that's what we have the police for." Souta nodded to the monk, and he looked up in thought.

"It's just a shame that my aunt couldn't come with us at the last minute. She gave me this map, but my reading in this language is rusty." Marathon turned the map upside down, then right side up again, "I guess I'll figure it out."

"I don't get it. She just went to the bathroom before we were about to go, what in the hell couldve happened to her in five minutes?" InuYasha crossed his arms annoyed.

"How should I know! She just said she felt sick and couldn't go. What was I supposed to do, make her come out here?"

"In any case it doesn't matter. I've been out here before, I even know the way to Kagome's school." InuYasha took another look around at his surroundings, "This thing is going way too slow, and out of the way of Kagome's school."

"Dork. We are not going to Kagome's school anyway. I'm glad you can find ONE location in this giant city, you should be proud of yourself. Not." Marathon tried once again to study the map, but hided her frustration from InuYasha on her not mastering it.

"Stupid little cat. None of them are any good. Except Buyo. He lets me play with him. " InuYasha sent a sinister smirk Marathon's way.

"If you so much as touch me.."

"Please," Miroku cleared his throat, "We are among other people and should conduct ourselves properly. I would think you would know better, Marathon."

"Of course I do. Im not going to beat him up in broad daylight, most likely in a back alley or something."

"So now you think you can defeat me?" The dog hanyou snarled, " I haven't heard anything more ridiculous in all my life."

The two began to bicker back and forth and Shippou put his head in his hands. "My goodness, you think these two were married or something. They act just like InuYasha and Kagome when they first met."

Hearing that, both the dog and cat were quiet. Their eyes travelled down to Shippou.

Nervous, the kitsune scooted back in his seat, "Now guys...come on...don't look at me like that...please?"

SMACK.

Two large lumps appeared on Shippou's head courtesty of the arguing duo. "Owww!" He looked up at Marathon for sympathy, "Why did you do that?"

Marathon blinked and then patted Shippou's back. "Sorry about that. Guess I wasn't thinking. Last thing I want to do is to be compared to that neanderthal."

InuYasha growled and turned away. Marathon began to dig into her bag.

"What are you looking for?" Shippou peeked inside.

"I think I have a treat for you in here somewhere." She pulled out a pack of gum, "I know its not much but it should be pretty good. Just chew on it for flavor. " She unwrapped a stick and handed it to her small companion.

Shippou stuffed the whole thing in his mouth and began to chew. "Mmm! I've never tasted this flavor before! Can you tell me what it is?"

"I think its some sorta cherry strawberry bubblegum flavor blast combination. You know how they mix it up these days." She paused seeing Shippou's blank expression, "Err..guess you don't. But hey, its good, isnt it?"

She was met with approval and looked out the window once more. "Oh..crap."

Sango blinked and looked in her direction, "What is it?"

"I think we missed our stop. We were supposed to get off at the last one."

"Genius! " InuYasha spun around and stared the cat down, "Well, how do we get off this thing!"

The bus approached its next stop, and Marathon lead the group off of the bus. "Its not that big a deal." Souta told the group assuredly, " I remember riding by here not too long ago. The theater should be in short walking distance. Marathon did well considering the short time she has lived here."

"Thanks Souta," Marathon patted his back and stretched, "Its weird to be out in the city-city, your house is set back a bit. Even though I've lived in New York and Los Angeles for a time, its still a completely different experience."

"This is the place! Mom gave us the money to start off with a nice movie! Lets go!" Souta ran ahead to the ticket window, the others taking their time to catch up.

Miroku was still tugging at the long jacket that Ms. Higurashi gave him that didn't quite fit right. "I wish they had more clothes for me to change into. back there."

"You are fine Miroku. I am just glad Ms. Higurashi and I are roughly the same size." Sango took a look at her sweater, a mild fuzzy blue with white collars around the wrist and neck. She also sported blue jeans and her own sandals.

"I had some clothes you couldve changed into, Miroku." InuYasha moved up in the line for tickets, "If you hadve taken two seconds to listen to me instead of staring at Marathon's chest."

All of the women glared at the monk.

"I assure you I was doing no such thing," Miroku dusted off his jacket to give his hands something to do.

"Mom also gave us money to go clothes shopping." Souta smiled after having purchased tickets for everyone. "That way whenever any of you want to come visit you can without worry of sticking out." Souta handed the tickets out and walked past the booth into the main lobby, "This way."

There was a huge concession stand, with foods of all kinds. The usual popcorn, peanuts, and candy were there, but they were accompanied by hotdogs, hamburgers, smoothies, and other non-traditional items.

"I always love theaters like this." Marathon rushed up to the counter to take a better look at the selection, "These places are totally elite."

InuYasha tilted his head and sniffed the air. "Something smells good." He followed his nose over to another section of the counter where fresh chips were being seasoned and salted. "Fried potatoes! Alright! Can I have some of those?"

The cashier behind the counter turned and smiled at her customer. "Will there be anything else?"

"Anything else?" InuYasha had to ponder on that as he looked at the rest of the selection. Good smells were coming from most of them, so he kept pointing at stuff and the cashier kept setting it on the table. After a while, he had popcorn, chips, cashews, nachos, two hotdogs and a sausage.

Souta saw this and walked over. "Didn't you just eat InuYasha? I thought you would only get a light snack. Oh well, Miroku, Sango, Shippou, Marathon, pick out what you would like please."

Marathon got one bag of chips with a soda.

"What type of drink is that?" Shippou asked about Marathon's fountain drink.

"Its a soda, like we had at home." She patted him on the head.

Miroku and Sango looked to each other, and then to the cashier, "We would like some soda too please."

"What flavor?" the cashier asked, and Miroku looked at the labels on the soda machine.

Souta scratched his head and walked over to Miroku. "There is cherry, orange, regular coke flavor. At home we had orange."

"Orange will do nicely then, don't you think Sango?"

The youkai exterminator agreed, and Souta again addressed the cashier. "Sorry about that, miss, there is a big group here. How much will everything on the table, plus two orange sodas, two grape ones, one diet and..InuYasha have you picked out a drink?"

"Just give me whatever Miroku has." He responded with chips already stuffed in his mouth.

"Fine. three orange sodas instead of two."

Once the cashier gave him the slightly hefty total, Souta sighed and took out his wallet. Marathon stepped up and began to get hers out too.

"Its okay Marathon, I.."

"You have a lot of purchases ahead of you. I think I can handle this." Marathon paid the balance and the food was distributed to carry to the theater.

Only the small lights around the stairs shined as they manuevered their way to their seats. Souta sat down on the very end, Shippou next to him, then Sango and Miroku and InuYasha.

"You sitting down or what?" InuYasha looked up at the cat hanyou.

Marathon's arms were full. InuYasha had handed most of his theater buffet to her, and now she was trying to figure out a way to sit down without spilling it all. "If I responded to that honestly, I would have to claw your eyes out." Carefully she lowered herself to her seat and dumped everything back onto InuYasha's lap.

"You are going to get fat if you eat all that." She grabbed a handful of his popcorn to eat.

"Shut up you dumb cat. Why are we in here anyway?"

"To watch a movie, dumbass. We sit down, we watch the movie for entertainment, and then we leave. Its just like watching the TV, but bigger."

"Why don't we just watch the TV then?"

"Because it isn't appearing on the TV, but it is appearing here. Sometimes I wonder how you are smart enough to exist in any time."

InuYasha clenched his teeth together, allowing his fangs to show, "I swear if you don't shut up I'm gonna.."

"Shhh..." Souta put his fingers to his lips, "The movie is about to start and we have to be quiet."

"Anything so I don't have to hear the sound of her voice." InuYasha moved the tub of popcorn out of Marathon's reach and turned to the big screen. Marathon ignored this and adjusted her hat to the side so she could see better. She sunk down in her seat, all too ready to embrace the silence from InuYasha.