TrixyJax: Hey guys…

Mai: Is that all you have to say?

TrixyJax: Umm… sorry?

Yasu: Why was there a question mark?

Mai: I can't believe you made us wait so long!

TrixyJax: I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Summer classes + Driving + laziness = procrastination

Monk: That's your excuse?

TrixyJax: …umm I guess…

Yasu: What's that suppose to mean?

TrixyJax: I haven't gone to sleep all day so I'm a little delusional okay!

Naru: Lack of sleep can also lead to mode swings…

TrixyJax: That would explain why I've felt like crying all day…

Lin: That could also be the result of your period

TrixyJax: I'm not on my period! Why did you even bring that up? Do you realize how awkward that is?

Monk: I thing Lin's a secret pervert

Lin: I most certainly am not! I was nearly stating a medical fact!

Yasu: Then why are you so defensive huh Lin huh?

Naru: *Sigh* Stop with the immaturity guys, it's annoying

John: I-i-it is also h-highly in-napporiate!

Ayako: I think John's embarrassed

Masako: As much as I'd love to pick on John can we please get to the chapter

Ayako: Fine…

Recap:

I just couldn't stop thinking about the spirit that possessed me and the spell it wanted me to read. I also felt something nagging me in the back of the head, what else was I forgetting? With that thought I drifting off to sleep.

End Recap

Ah, Traveling…

"Mai…" a voice rasped.

I lethargically opened my eyes at the sound of my name. I squinted in the darkness to see who had called me, but no one was there. I shoved off the blankets covering me and walked to the bathroom. I flipped on the switch and turned on the sink faucet, and began washing my face, for some reason I felt really clammy. I grabbed a towel and dried my face, when I suddenly felt a rush of cold air blow through my hair. I turned around to see the door to the bathroom had shut without a sound. On instinct I turned back to face the mirror. I froze seeing my reflection, but it wasn't me. It was as if my face was a mask and that the reflection was someone else.

I remained frozen as the reflection began to move of its own accord; its hand reached toward me passing through the mirror and stroking my cheek. I could hear my heartbeat speed up and my breathing slow as I felt the cold feeling brush across my face. I moved my head slowly until locking eyes with myself and notice that the reflection was trying to say something.

"Mai," a whisper called.

"Uh?" was all I was able to call out as the mirror began to blur. It looked as if someone had tossed a pebble into a pond.

"MAI!"

"Ah!" I screamed as I fell off the bed.

"Ouch!" I cried out rubbing my back in agony.

I looked up to see Masako standing over me with her hands on her hips.

"What was that for?" I asked angrily.

"You wouldn't wake up when I called you so I decided to let gravity do it."

"So you just pushed me off the bed?" I grumbled standing up.

"Precisely," she said with a smirk.

I was just about to retaliate when there was a knock on the door.

Masako walked over to the door and opened it,

"Ah Naru come in, I just got Mai up."

"I just came to see how things were going, please tell Mai that we need to leave in thirty minutes so she needs to hurry and prepare for departure so that we're not late arriving at the airport."

I gave a humph as the door closed,

"Naru that jerk, why does he always single me out?"

"Mai," Ayako began wrapping a towel around her head and stepping out of the bathroom, "I suggest you take a quick shower before we get going, because I have no idea when you'll get another opportunity to."

"Okay thanks Ayako, I will," I said as I closed the bathroom door behind me.

I sighed and turned around facing the mirror. I glared at it warily, cautiously walking toward it and place my hand on the cold surface.

"That was just a dream, right?" I asked aloud.

I sighed and disregarded the thought and stepped into the shower letting the warm beads of water wash over me. I grabbed the shampoo bottle and squirted the sweat smelling liquid into my hair, rubbing it into my scalp. I did the same with the conditioner and rinsed thoroughly before stepping out and wrapping a towel around me.

That's when I realized something; I forgot to get my clothes! I took a deep breath, we're all girls right? Nothing to be nervous about. And so I opened the door and walked into the room.

That's when I saw that it wasn't just us girls; nope he just had to choose this time to intrude.

I twitched nervously as Naru stared at me, it was the first time I'd ever seen complete shook cross his face so maybe him seeing me in a bath towel was worth it, however that was not what went through my mind at that particular moment.

"Naru! You jerk! Get the hell out of our room!" I shouted throwing the nearest object of my availability at him.

Apparently it was Masako's make-up bag, because as soon as Naru caught it, white powder filled the entire room.

I began to cough and sneeze, the harsh product filling my lungs and nostrils.

"Masako puts this stuff on her face?" I asked to myself.

I suddenly heard a click and the ceiling fan began to turn, driving the powder toward it and eventually disappearing.

That's when I began to laugh hysterically; everyone was covered in the powder and looked absolutely ridiculous, especially Naru because of his wild hair drenched in white as well as his once black clothing not to mention the crazed look in his eyes, he definitely looked like a drowned cat with that pissed off expression he was wearing!

"You think this is funny Mai?" Masako screamed grabbing at her hair in frustration causing her to cough from the powder that fell, "That was really expensive make-up! Over ¥8867!" (A/N equivalent to $100 U.S.)

"Who pays ¥8867 for powder?" Ayako questioned, "You certainly like expensive things…"

"Shut up!" Masako seethed, "You're all just a bunch of idiots!"

"I highly doubt that," Yasu stated walking into our room.

"What happened here?" Lin asked also entering.

"Nothing much," Naru stated regaining his composure.

That's when I noticed John standing at the door blushing and looking away.

I froze… I'm still in my bath towel!

"Wow!" Yasu whistled, "Nice get-up there Mai."

I blushed from head to toe,

"Shut up Yasu! Just get out all of you!"

When they all left I quickly dressed and plopped down onto my bed, feeling completely humiliated.

"I hate my life," I groaned.

"Oh come on, it could have been worse," Ayako said as she sat down next to me.

"Oh yeah? Like how?" I said grabbing at the blankets in anger.

"You could have been naked," she stated bluntly.

I automatically blushed at the thought, dear God if that were to happen I would just crawl under a rock and die!

"But now my Kimono is ruined as well as my make-up wasted! I just can't keep anything valuable around you Mai," Masako complained.

"Oh quit your yapping, what are you afraid to show us your real face behind all that gunk?" Ayako asked sitting up and then gasping over dramatically, "Don't tell me the princess Masako is actually plain? Or even ugly? Oh! Who would have ever thought?"

Masako just smiled and placed her sleeve over her mouth,

"Wow, you've got a lot of nerve to say that."

Ayako stopped smirking,

"Excuse me?"

Masako gave a wicked grin,

"It's just that from my point of view an old, bitter, and lonely teacher such as yourself has no right to insult me on looks. After all you're not getting any younger Matsuzaki-sensei."

"Why you little brat!" Ayako shouted, "I might just fail you this semester for that wise crack!"

"Hah! Like I care!" Masako retorted.

I sighed; I should probably break them up now,

"Okay guys throwing insults at each other won't solve anything, so let's finish packing and get ready to leave before anything else happens."

They both looked gave a 'humph' and began to pack, refusing to look at each other.

I sweat-dropped at the scene, but shrugged my shoulders and began packing as well.

"Come on Mai!" Naru shouted at me.

"I'm trying!" I shouted back trying to carry some of Naru's equipment, yeah his crap! "But your damn stuff his so freak'in heavy!"

"Why the hell did you even bring it into the hotel?" I asked still struggling with the heavy gear.

He looked back and responded with that parental voice again,

"So that no one would attempt to steal it, common sense Mai."

"And just why am I the one carrying it?"

"It's punishment for the powder incident earlier; I had to pay extra for the damages."

"Cheep ass," I muttered.

Once I finally got to the van I dropped the heavy baggage and took a few deep breathes.

"Wow Mai, you're really out of shape, I told you, you should have taken P.E." Yasu stated from the open window of the van.

"Don't… talk… to… me…" I said between breathes.

"Hurry up Mai, stop dawdling," Naru said as he packed up his freak'in annoying luggage.

I had the urge to give an obscene gesture but decided against it, who knows what else he might make me carry…

"Hey Mai, if you get uncomfortable in the van I brought a towel for you," he said holding up the white cloth.

Yeah that's kinda when I gave him the finger...

"Mai, stop making unnecessary hand movements and get in the van," Naru order stoically.

I pouted but obeyed and we began our journey to the airport.

It was noiseless for quite a while, like that awkward silence when you're taking a test, that is, until Yasu grabbed a bag of chips obnoxiously.

He too seemed to dislike the quiet and tried to slowly open the plastic bag as not to make much noise, however it backfired dreadfully. It took him a good minute to open the bag at all but the most annoying part was his way of eating the diabetes inducing snack; he would gradually, cautiously take a chip out and inspect it before he bit into it, and then he would chew agonizingly slow. It seemed as if he were deliberately making sure we could hear each crunching of the fried and greased potato to the point that everyone began to feel unbearably uncomfortable.

"Oh my God Yasu!" Ayako finally spoke.

"What?" he asked innocently.

Ha! I thought, as if you don' know!

He began the process up again about take another chip when Ayako snatched them away.

"Give me those!" she shouted, "You're so damned annoying!"

"Hey! I was eating those!" Yasu screamed as he attempted to steal the chips back.

"NO! I never thought anyone could eat chips awkwardly, but I was wrong! Congratulations! You win the eatingly impaired award!" Ayako retorted clutching the back even harder. (A/N and yes I know "eatingly" is not a word!)

"Yeah and you win the worst teacher plaque for having the most failing kids in over thirty years! Good job, nice to know 16% of the population will be educated!" Yasu snapped back.

They began a series of tug o' war, neither side yielding, they both refused to give up and you know what happens when to opposite forces pull right?

Suddenly the bag ripped in two and the chips scattered everywhere.

If you guessed flying chips, congratulations, you were right for once!

The chips rained over everything and everyone. Masako looked down at her Kimono and just shook her head, as if she were broken. Both Ayako and Yasu blinked, looking quite surprised, as if they didn't expect that to happen. And John, well John just sat there not even knowing how to react.

I saw Naru clench his fists and gradually released his suddenly white knuckles.

He turned around with a deadly stare,

"Don't just stand there, clean it up!"

No one dared to oppose him, so we began picking up the salting delectable.

As we were finishing cleaning up, Ayako fell on her butt.

At first we all just stared at her in silence until Yasu began to laugh hysterically and eventually we all joined in (excluding thing 1 and thing 2.) (A/N In case you didn't figure it out, Naru is thing 1 and Lin is thing 2.)

After that things were a lot less awkward and everyone just kind of talked casually for the rest of the trip, while Naru stared at his notepad and Lin the road. (A/N I should hope he was looking at the road!)

When we reached Tokyo Airport Naru handed us 'our' passports and tickets.

I sweat dropped at the fake information with my picture feeling completely horrible, forced to remember we were on the run from the law.

"Umm, where did you get a picture of me from?" Yasu asked frightened.

Naru just gave him a glance and turned to Ayako as she said,

"Not my best picture…"

"That's how you always look Matsuzaki-sensei," Masako snickered.

"Why you," Ayako began.

"Enough!" Naru commanded, "We need to keep a low profile, so Lin and I will load the luggage, while you all go find your seats."

"Alright, alright, no need to get pushy," I said absentmindedly.

I quickly regretted it when he turned and gave me a full blow death stare, completely petrifying me.

"I needn't remind you Mai, that if we make even the slightest mistake, we could all end up in jail or worse," Naru scolded.

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled.

"Now get to your seats," Naru said with a sigh.

We all quickly dispersed, going in our proper directions and finding our seats. Not long after we sat down Lin and Naru took their seats as well, me in between to both of them.

Great, I thought, I'm stuck between two giants… I sighed; this was going to be a long plane trip.

TrixyJax: Hey guys! I'm so sorry not only did you have to wait so long for a chapter, you had to wait for this sucky filler! God I hated writing this chapter! It was so agonizing! So I'm sorry if it was equally painful to read… Also I know I don't deserve it but can I ask you guys for a favor? Could you read the two paragraphs below and tell me what you think? It's not a fanfic but it's a story I just came up with and I want your opinions on it. Tell if you like it better in first or third person.

This idea occurred to me while I was actually conscious and I happened to be thinking of Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and the Chronicles of Narnia when they are on the hill (5th or 6th book.)

Vague summary: It's going to begin with a girl sitting at a grave and then recollecting the events leading up to this scene. It's about a teenager who's had a tragic past and has become bitter. One day she meets a little boy that teaches her the joys of life and innocence.

First Scene I've come up with

First person:

I saw Aiden riding on his bike, grinning as he peddled in circles. I lifted my hand to wave at him when suddenly a man pushed him off of the bike and shoved him into his red pickup. "HEY!" I called out running toward the scene. But before I even got close to the man he dashed to his truck and began to drive away. I froze in shock for a moment before I began running, running as fast as I could toward that truck. It was stupid, I know, but at that moment the only thing that I could think was that he was being taken away from me and that was one thing that I could not bear. As my breathing became heavier the truck began to shrink in correspondence. I felt tears forming in my eyes as I pushed my legs even harder, trying to keep pace. I felt new motivation course through me when the truck stopped at a red light and I let the adrenalin guide my body and mind. I was in touching range of the pickup when its wheels began to screech and the vehicle began moving again, through the red light. I grabbed onto the back of the truck at the last minute and held onto it with all my might. If it had not been for my determination I would have let go immediately for it felt like my arms were being ripped off. But that didn't matter at that point, what was important was saving Aiden, there was no way that I was going to let anything happen to him. The man began swerving left and right trying to throw me off and with every toss and turn I winced, but I refused to let go, not even if I'm torn to pieces. I began to feel the friction coming from my shoes skidding against the concrete, I could literally see them deteriorating before my very eyes. My arms were also becoming weak, I needed to get inside the truck and soon. I used every ounce of strength I had left to lift up my body, even with motion and gravity both pitting against me, I still managed to climb inside. I sat down exhausted and took deep, slow breaths, trying to stop my head from spinning. The man suddenly came to a screeching halt and I slammed into the back of the pickup, for a moment I was stunned before I blacked out.

Third person:

Lauren turned the corner and spotted Aiden riding his bike gleefully, grinning as he drove around in circles. She began to lift her hand to greet him when she looked on horridly as a man pushed him off his bike and shoved him into a red pickup truck. "HEY!" She called out rushing toward the scene. The man stared at her frightened before dashing to his truck and quickly driving off. Lauren froze for a moment out of shock before all reason was drained of her and she began running on pure instinct. As she desperately tried to keep up as her breathing became heavier and the truck began to shrink in correspondence. Tears began to stream out of her eyes as she pushed her legs even harder, trying desperately to keep pace. She felt new motivation course through her as the truck was forced to stop at a red light and allowed the rush of adrenalin to guide her body and mind. As she came to touching the back of the pickup it sped up regardless of the red light. Lauren quickly threw herself toward the vehicle and grabbed on, stubbornly refusing to let go. Her face twisted into distorted features as the pain seemed to rip through her arm sockets. With grim determination she grabbed on tighter, the safety of Aiden fueling her purpose and vigor. She looked down at the feel of the friction from the concrete deteriorating her shoes and began to feel her arms weakening, rapidly losing their grasp. She forced her head back up and began to lift her body, fighting with all her strength against motion and gravity until she finally collapsed inside the truck. She sat up and began to take deep, slow breaths, trying to stop her head from spinning. Suddenly the car came to a screeching halt and Lauren slammed into the back of the pickup. For a moment she sat there stunned, taking in everything that had happened, before blacking out.