A/N: I'm updating early again! I did my fic when I was bored, so…
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, Naruto, Ouran, Prince of Tennis, Shaman King, and Yu-Gi-Oh.
»» THE AMAZING RACE: ANIME EDITION ««
»» CHAPTER 10 ««
That afternoon, the groups scattered to hang out with their friends and they climbed to the plane that will take them to their hotel. Ann decided to hang out with the Seigaku regulars, and – by some strange, or maybe totally unplanned, reason – ended up sitting next to Momo.
"Don't do anything stupid, okay, Momo?" Fuji said, smiling pleasantly before sitting next to Eiji.
"Let's hope that this will be a fun ride, ne, Momoshiro-kun?" Ann said, her smile as amiable as Fuji's.
Momo simply nodded, as his brain had already turned to mush.
At this point, everybody were discussing whether they will go to the flower show or not.
"Renji, let's go to the flower show," Rukia said.
Renji frowned, thinking that the flower show is only something girls can enjoy. "Why?" he said. "It'll probably be boring."
"Because I said so," Rukia said, standing up. "And because telling nii-sama on you if you break your promise to him – remember, he told you not to reject any of my requests?"
Renji gulped. Fearing his taichou's anger, he sighed and surrendered. "Fine. But only if he goes as well." He pointed to Ichigo, who was resting his chin on his hand.
Ichigo glowered at his fellow shinigamis, particularly Renji. "Like I have a choice," he mumbled, knowing that he was only joining the two to keep them out of trouble.
Meanwhile, the ninjas of Konoha were enjoying a particularly quiet time – save for Lee and Naruto playing a round of Tekken in the plane's TV – when Sakura spoke up. "So, is anyone of you going to the flower show?" she asked, looking hopefully at Sasuke.
Neji and Sasuke's uninterested "Nope" chorused with Lee and Naruto's enthusiastic "Yes!"
Sakura sighed. So much for wanting some time-alone with Sasuke.
"How about you, Hikaru?" Kyouya asked, writing in his ledger. The Egyptian challenge somehow stirred him into setting up an Egyptian theme for the Host Club. "Are you going to the flower show?"
Hikaru shook his head. "Nah – it'll probably be boring," he replied.
"I see," Kyouya said cannily, nodding. "How about you, Haruhi?"
Hikaru's ears perked up like a cat's, and he leaned closer in front because Haruhi was sitting in front of him.
"Maybe," Haruhi replied, "but I have no one to go with – "
"I'll go with you!" Hikaru said before he could stop himself, and he looked down, red in the face.
Haruhi turned to face him. "But you said you're not going…"
"Nah, it's okay," Hikaru said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I'll go with you… really…"
"I'll go with you, too!" Tamaki volunteered happily.
WHAM!
"No, you won't," Kyouya said. "You're coming with me to the shopping center, remember?"
"Really?" Tamaki said, blinking. He didn't really remember promising Kyouya that, but since Kyouya has a better memory… "Oh… okay…" he said, face falling, since he really wanted to have some "quality time" with Haruhi.
Anna, meanwhile, made Yoh come with her to the flower show. The others just kept silent for fear of her rage.
In Yugi's gang…
"Hey, guys, maybe we should go visit Marik," Anzu suggested, remembering their Egyptian friend.
"Yeah!" Jou said, grinning. "We promised to go see them whenever we're in Egypt, remember?"
Seto sighed. "I guess it won't hurt to drop in on them," he said.
Mokuba looked at his brother. "That's right, nii-sama," he said, grinning. "You've wanted to see Ishizu-neesan, right?"
Honda blinked, expression excited at this new piece of information. "No way! Really, Mokuba?"
By now, half of the gang was staring at Seto as if a giraffe had just popped out of thin air from behind him.
"I'm sure Seto owes Ishizu something," Yugi said, totally clueless of what Mokuba meant.
Anzu could have sworn that she saw Seto secretly shot Yugi a grateful look. She smirked to herself.
The Seigaku regulars, meanwhile, decided to go exploring instead.
Suddenly, Momo heard a "Momoshiro-kun" from Ann. He looked at her, his brain still mush. "H-Hai?" he said pathetically.
"I don't have anyone to go with to the flower show," she said, looking at him with innocent eyes. "Do you want to come with me?"
"Um…" Momo scratched his head. "Okay…"
Ann smiled. "Great! So it's a date, then!"
"Wha - ?!" Momo exclaimed. "N-No… J-Just as friends…"
"Hmph," Kaidoh said. "It's obvious that you want to have a date with her."
"Aww, lookit!" Eiji teased. "Momo-chin's blushing, nya!"
Before Momo could complete his sentence, the pilot spoke up in the P.A. system, informing them that they will be reaching their destination soon.
»» WOOT! ««
6:15 p.m.
"So we'll be receiving our punishment today?" Yoh said, stepping up in the van minutes after they checked into their hotel.
"Uh-huh," Ann said, sitting beside Ryoma. "It's better to be punished now. Kasumi's planning on giving you guys the day-off, too."
"You know, Momo-senpai might get lonely without you in the hotel," Ryoma teased, smirking.
Ann grinned. "Oh, he can suffer my absence," she said airily.
They parked by a lake. It wasn't completely dark, seeing that it is only six in the evening, but the outdoor lights were already on.
"Anyway," Hikaru interrupted, "what exactly is our punishment again? I completely forgot."
Kasumi smiled. "Your punishment for today will be fishing!"
Ryoma, Hikaru, Kawamura – who have been fishing many times in his life, by the way – and Yoh all looked aloof. Seto, however, looked horrified. What a baby.
"Some guy was kind enough to lend you some boats," Kasumi said, pointing to the said boats – three of them, that is. "You're going to be fishing until eight in the evening. It doesn't matter how many you can catch, as long as you've caught something. Any questions?"
"I have one," Seto said. "Are we using a fishing rod?"
"Are you crazy?" Kasumi said. "We're talking about fishing for a living, not fishing as a hobby. And by fishing for a living, we mean using nets."
Seto looked more appalled than the last time.
"So, we divided you by two groups. Ryoma-kun will be with Ichigo and Rukia. Yoh-kun and Taka-san will be with Chad and Kim-chan. And Hikaru-kun and Seto-kun will be with Ann-chan and Ishida."
"What about you?" Kawamura asked.
"Oh, I'll be going back to the hotel," Kasumi said. "I need to do some last-minute preparations for the next country. Have fun!"
»» WOOT! ««
Rukia frowned, crossed her arms, and looked at her two companions – Ichigo and Ryoma – who were staring at the net, letting out irritated but simultaneous sighs. "Seriously – can't you guys show a little more interest in fishing?"
"Yay, I'm fishing," Ichigo and Ryoma said at the same time in bored voices.
Rukia grinned. "That's the spirit!" she said. She then looked around. "Now where did I put that camera…" Finally, she had permission from Kasumi to be camera girl for today, after a few tutorial lessons from Ishida, that is.
She took a step and slipped on a banana peel – that appeared from out of nowhere. She screamed and fell to the water.
"Rukia!" Ichigo was as fast as Speedy Gonzalez when he dived to the water. Seconds later, he surfaced with Rukia and Ryoma helped them up.
After taking a few breaths, Ichigo glowered at Rukia. "What were you THINKING?!"
"Well, I slipped so I had no time to think!" Rukia snapped. "Shouldn't you be at least concerned at my current situation?"
Ryoma went back to staring at the net, trying to drown out the disagreement between the two. He thought of the things he missed – Karupin, tennis, his Grape Ponta, tennis… You get the picture.
"Don't they teach shinigamis how to swim?"
"If you must know, I can swim! I learned how to swim with Renji back in Rukongai! I was about to swim back to the boat until you decided to play hero and save me!"
Ichigo blinked and settled with saying "Oh."
Rukia blinked for a moment, and then smirked. "Still… I didn't know you care so much about me, Ichigo."
Rukia could've sworn that Ichigo blushed, but she blinked again, and his face was of the normal color. "Baka," he said, looking away. "Byakuya and Renji will kill me if something bad happens to you."
Ryoma covered his "Yeah, right" with a cough, but the two ignored it.
Rukia was about to point out that Ichigo could beat her older brother and her childhood friend in a snap, but thought better of it.
So everyone decided to continue their fishing in silence.
»» WOOT! ««
The next day…
"Ready, Momoshiro-kun?"
Momo's jaw dropped open. Ann was wearing a white sleeveless top and a blue floral skirt. She looked really cute, and Momo's brain was turning to mush once again.
Ann's voice snapped out of his thoughts. "Momoshiro-kun, are you okay?"
Momo blinked and blushed. "Ah, hai. Let's go!"
While they were leaving the hotel, however, little did they know that someone – by someone, I mean a group of people – were following them.
It turns out that when the Seigaku regulars meant "exploring", they actually meant "spying."
"Mah, Tezuka and Kaidoh don't know what they're missing," Fuji said, his camera at hand. Tezuka and Kaidoh thought that spying on Momo was pointless and chose to remain in the hotel, where they discovered some tennis courts.
"Mah, Momo's all grown up now," Kawamura said, smiling.
"I have a question, Inui-senpai," Ryoma said. "Why do all of us have to wear sunglasses?"
"So that we can look inconspicuous," Inui replied, signaling the others to follow their target. "We will look inconspicuous," he added when Ryoma gave him a doubtful look. "It is not odd to see a group of tourists wearing sunglasses in Cairo." With that, he slipped square sunglasses over his eyeglasses.
»» WOOT! ««
"Hikaru!"
Hikaru turned around and saw Haruhi walking towards him. She was only wearing a shirt and jeans, and the hair extensions disappeared, but he thought that she looked okay.
"Am I late?" Haruhi asked.
Hikaru shook his head, smiling. "No. I came down here early," he replied. "Let's go. Kasumi said that all those who want to go to the flower show can ride in the minibus."
They boarded the bus to find that only nineteen people were in there. Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends were all present, as well as Yamazaki Kasumi and her friends; a sulky-looking Sakura was sitting between Lee and Naruto; a furiously blushing Momo was sitting beside Ann; and Yoh was being chewed out by Anna on the far side of the bus.
"Hurry up and take your seats," Siopee said. "We'll be leaving any second."
Haruhi went and took a seat by the window. She could've sworn that five people wearing sunglasses were staring at the bus. They looked a lot like Momo's friends, except that the serious guy with eyeglasses and the guy wearing the bandanna weren't there.
"Something wrong, Haruhi?" Hikaru asked.
Haruhi shook her head. "Oh, it's nothing."
»» WOOT! ««
"Hey, guys, I've got some good news." Yugi marched in Seto's hotel room. "I went around asking if someone knows the Ishtars, and a receptionist told me that an Ishizu Ishtar works at the Bureau of Tourism. She gave me an office number."
"Brilliant!" Mokuba said, grinning. "Nii-sama, you go call Ishizu-neesan."
Seto blinked rapidly. "Why me?"
"You wanted to see her, remember?" Mokuba said, looking at his brother with his big and innocent eyes.
Seto wanted to glare at his little brother, but he couldn't, so he settled on sighing in defeat and grabbing the hotel phone. "Give me the number, Yugi."
"Man, if only we could put that phone on loudspeaker," Honda whispered to Jou, making the two of them laugh. Anzu and Yugi stared at them, eyebrows raised.
"Hello, is this the Egyptian Bureau of Tourism?" Seto said, his voice controlled. "May I speak to Ms. Ishizu Ishtar? Please tell him that a Seto Kaiba is calling."
"Hey, look, it's a loudspeaker button!" Mokuba cried excitedly, pushing the loudspeaker button when Seto wasn't looking.
"Seto-kun!" Ishizu's excited voice rang throughout the room. "So glad you came to call!"
Seto realized that someone pushed the loudspeaker button and he glared at everyone, trying to find the suspect just by looking at their faces. It was futile, since all of them put on angelic expressions.
"Seto-kun? Are you still there?"
Seto turned his attention back to the phone. "Ye-yes, of course," he said. "Listen, Ishizu, I – along with Mokuba and Yugi and his friends – happen to be in the Grand Hyatt in Cairo and we were wondering if we can visit."
"Of course!" Ishizu said. "I'm about to finish work, so I'm coming home any minute. Do you want Rishid to pick you up?"
"Please and thank you," Seto said. "Goodbye, then."
Seto hung up and Jou whistled. "Man, was that an awkweird conversation or what?"
Seto settled on glaring at all of them before stomping out of the room.
»» WOOT! ««
The city of Cairo looked ornate as several floats paraded in the street, signaling the start of the Annual Flower Show. The contestants of The Amazing Race watched excitedly as they observed every float that passed by them.
"Wow, that float looks so cool!" Naruto said excitedly, pointing at the float with an arc in the middle, and a girl wearing something elaborate was waving at the audience.
"Look, those are orchids!" Sakura said breathlessly, completely forgetting her companions. "They look so pretty."
"Hey, look – cherry blossoms!" Rukia said, pointing to a float that reminded someone of the Edo era.
"In one way or another, cherry blossoms give me a disturbing feeling," Renji said, shuddering.
Ichigo nodded, shuddering as well. "Me, too."
Meanwhile, the people on dates were really quiet. With Yoh and Anna, the silence was just normal. But for the HikaruHaruhi and MomoAnn pair, the silence was uncomfortable – for the guys, anyway.
The parade was over and they headed to the plaza, where different exhibits were held.
"Did you like the parade, Momoshiro-kun?" Ann asked.
"It's okay," Momo replied. "I kinda like the float where there are a lot of orchids, though."
"You like orchids, Momoshiro-kun?"
"I guess. I like the cat's tail orchid better than the other orchids, though."
"Oh, look, it's an art exhibit…"
Momo was grinning widely – and by widely, I mean the grin was reaching his ears. He was really, REALLY glad that he was having a normal conversation. WITH ANN. ON A DATE! Can you imagine?
»» WOOT! ««
"We're here." Marik Ishtar swung the door of his house open. With that, he, Rishid, and the others entered. The inside of the house looked as simple as its outside, but it doesn't look like your typical Egyptian home. The living room had a couch, a few chairs, a small coffee table, and a small television. The dining room had a round table with really short legs so that those who will be eating will have to sit with their legs crossed.
At that instant, a woman appeared from the kitchen. She was wearing the typical women's clothes in Egypt – without the veil. "Yugi! Seto! It's good to see you again!"
Mokuba and Jou coughed suggestively, and Seto settled on glaring at them. He was pretty good at glaring these past few days.
"I just finished making lunch," Ishizu said. "Have a seat in the dining room. Marik and Rishid will help me serve the food."
Lunch was served and the group spent the rest of the meal eating and catching up on things. Jou started telling about his adventures in the show.
"And then when I looked at the sarcophagus, there was the flag!"
"It's a good thing you didn't open the sarcophagus," Rishid said. "It's an Egyptian landmark and you could get arrested. Last month, some tourists were arrested trying to open a sarcophagus."
"Egypt sure seems a lot severe when it comes to landmarks," Anzu remarked.
"That's because the Great Pyramid, the Great Sphinx, and all the other pyramids have been in this country since the beginning of civilization," Marik said. "It would be rudeness to tarnish the site even if the damage is slight."
"So, what's Marik and Rishid up to now?" Yugi asked.
Marik grinned. "Studying, mostly," he replied.
"As of now, I'm just in charge of keeping the house at bay," Rishid replied. "It's a bit dull, though."
Lunch was over, and then everyone proceeded to the living room.
"So, Yugi," Marik said. "How about a round of Duel Monsters? For old time's sake?"
»» WOOT! ««
"Looks like Momo-senpai's date is going well," Ryoma remarked, putting on his cap, since it's really hot right now. At this time, they were having lunch and they were sitting near the fountain, a good distance from their "targets".
Fuji was taking pictures of the two subtly. It was part of their "Operation: Spy on Momo for Future Reference and Blackmail." "Nothing interesting is coming up…"
"Maybe we should leave…" Ryoma suggested.
"No way, Ochibi!" Eiji said, grinning at the couple. "The fun part's coming up, any time now!"
"Hmm… it's possible that we're not the only ones spying on the two," Inui said, looking at the bush beside him. "Isn't that right, Shiomi-san and Takayama-san?"
At that instant, Saemi and Kim popped out of the bush, a video camera on Kim's hand, and a digital camera on Saemi's hand. "Hey, guys," Saemi greeted, unabashed by the fact that someone blew their cover. "Spying as well?"
"Yeah, but we have reasons," Kawamura replied. "What's your excuse?"
"Kim-chan volunteered the both of us to do a behind-the-scenes footage," Saemi explained. "So, here we are."
"Echizen? Senpai-tachi? Saemi-chan? Kim-chan?"
The said people turned and… Uh-oh.
Momo was standing in front of them, looking really baffled. "What are you doing here? And why are you all wearing sunglasses?"
"Um… we decided to have lunch here, Momo," Fuji replied, with everybody nodding at Momo.
"And, we're wearing sunglasses because it's hot," Inui replied. Once again, everybody nodded.
Momo looked at the people in front of him. "Ah, I get what you guys are doing," he said, nodding in understanding.
Kawamura gulped. "You do?" he said agitatedly.
"Sure!" Momo said. "Echizen and the senpai-tachi went exploring and Saemi-chan and Kim-chan wanted to film them. Correct?"
Eiji grinned. "Correct, nya!" he said, mentally sighing in relief that Momo was a bit clueless.
»» WOOT! ««
The sun was almost setting, so it was time for Yugi and his friends to go back to their hotel. Yugi won the duel – as usual – and was swapping cards with Marik before they left.
Seto took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Ishizu, may I have a word with you for a moment?" he asked.
Ishizu looked confused, but nodded. They both disappeared in Ishizu's office.
All the noise stopped and Jou and Honda peered at the office curiously. "What do you think?" Jou asked.
Minutes later, Seto and Ishizu came out. "So I'll talk to you when I'm done with this silly show," he said.
Ishizu smiled and nodded. "Take care, Seto-kun."
"What was that all about, Kaiba?" Jou asked curiously.
"Did you admit your feelings to Ishizu?" Honda asked, smirking.
If Seto's glare could really kill, Jou and Honda would be looking like zombies from House of the Dead right about now. Unfortunately for the young CEO, glares really couldn't kill.
"If you must know," he said. "I have offered Ishizu to be the manager of the Egyptian branch of the Kaiba Corp."
"Really? That's great!" Anzu said enthusiastically.
Mokuba smirked. "Nii-sama, looks like you'll be seeing more of Ishizu-neesan now…"
Seto turned a bit red. "Yeah, I guess…"
»» WOOT! ««
THE AMAZING RACE: RANDOMNESS
(Hikaru and Haruhi are walking in hotel.)
Hikaru: Did you enjoy yourself, Haruhi?
Haruhi (nods): The show was really great. But you didn't have to pay for the souvenirs that I bought.
Hikaru: Hey, it's no big deal.
(Silence.)
Hikaru's mind: Say it! NOW!
Hikaru: Haruhi, I –
Anzu (enters hotel): Haruhi, there you are!
Haruhi: Oh, hi, Anzu.
Anzu: Are you heading to our room now?
Haruhi: Uh-huh.
Anzu: Let's go together.
Haruhi: Sure. (to Hikaru) See you later. (Haruhi and Anzu leave.)
Hikaru (goes to nearby wall and bangs his head there): Darn it… darn it… darn it…
Spanish Tourist (stares at Hikaru): This is a very strange country…
Oohh, sorry. Can't resist suggesting pairings here. It just popped in my head.