While InuYasha was lost somewhere around the offensive keychain section in the goth store, Marathon left and went to a food vendor a few feet away. She had already made some small purchases, including gloves, a handbag, a pair of earrings and some sugar-free gum. That is, at least what she thought was sugar free, she couldn't read the language well.
The vendor was selling hot dogs and soft pretzels. Marathon wasn't that hungry, but the smell of freshly made soft pretzels dipped in cheese was absolutely irresistable to her. She ordered two, one normal one to dip in the cheese dip and one with cheese strung through it, and took a seat on the benches.
Its nice to have everyone off of my back for a moment, Marathon smirked as she took a huge bite of the cheesy pretzel. It was about then when she zoned out, thinking about some television show she saw back in the United States, and muddling over whether or not it would've been a smart idea for the coyote to finally stop chasing the road runner across the desert and get a real job.
"Marathon. Marathon." Souta, after managing to get most of his group out of the stores before they wanted to buy everything, waved his hands in front of Marathon's face. "Marathon.."
"Huh?" The catgirl blinked and realized that she was now surrounded by people.
"We are gonna browse some other stores and see what else there is to see. Miroku wanted a little more time in the one store, so we are going to come back for him. You ready to go?"
"Looked to me like she was too busy drooling cheese," InuYasha quipped.
Marathon opened her mouth to retalliate against him, but decided it wasn't worth the effort and stood up. She just started walking, leaving everyone else to follow her, and InuYasha far behind.
The browsing of the stores just blurred in Marathon's mind. She did like to go to the mall, occassionally, but she wouldn't call herself a mall rat and would kill anyone who did. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a young woman, bright blonde hair with sun glasses, who had been near the group for the past 20 minutes. Her head was in a book, and she didn't stop to look at any stores.
Marathon looked to Sango, who was nearest to her, and whispered in her ear. "Maybe I'm just being weird, but is the blonde chick..er, blonde woman, following us?"
Sango took a quick glance behind her and then back at Marathon, "I see her," she whispered back, " but I don't sense anything unusual. It's probably nothing"
The cat hanyou nodded and, at Souta's request, stopped at a toy store along the corner. Everyone knew Souta was pretty mature and responsible for his age, but had a weakness to see what the newest games on the video systems were. He made a beeline to the gaming section, while Sango, Shippou, and InuYasha skimmed the board games and brightly colored gadgets.
InuYasha found himself consumed with a punch out game. Two little fighter figures, on a stand, with a lever for each. He poked it to try to figure out how it worked.
"Just what is this piece of junk?" he mumbled, and in his fiddling hit the lever by accident. The blue man punched the red man in the head and his head fell off. InuYasha just shook his head. "Kids in this era must be braid dead idiots."
Shippou, on the other hand, was in paradise. He picked up dolls, action figures, hula hoops, and marble sets like they were spun out of gold. "Ahh man! I want this, and this, and this thing here..." He snapped up a mini hand-held game. "I remember Kagome bringing me one of these before. I never did have one of my own before."
Souta saw this and walked over to him. "I have one of those at home, but recently my mom got me a new one. You can have mine if you want."
"Thanks Souta!" Shippou beamed and put the hand held away. "What about the rest of this stuff?"
Souta bit his lip nervously, These guys are more expensive than I thought, I hope mom doesn't mind if I spend a little more than she quoted. "Okay but just one toy." I'll just have to buy that new game later. He sighed.
Marathon went to the comics part of the store and looked through the various titles. She wasn't able to concentrate too well, because still within her sight was that same woman she saw earlier. The woman made eye contact and smiled.
"Oh. Hello." Marathon said, trying to shake the suspicion from her voice.
"Hi. I was wondering, do you know where I can find the video games?"
Marathon pointed to the other end of the store. "All the way on the other wall, near the bathrooms."
"Thanks." She bowed politely and walked over there.
Guess I am just being paranoid. Marathon had to laugh at herself for almost getting weirded out over nothing. She plopped down on the beanbag chair a foot away and opened a book, hoping the others would be interested enough in what they were doing so she would get a chance to read through a couple chapters.
But that would not be the case.
"You done?" InuYasha tapped on her foot with his.
Marathon set the comic down annoyed and stared him straight in the eye. "What do you think, genius?"
"This place is stupid. Unless you have something better to offer I think this mall thing is a waste of time."
"Well there are the elevators. Perhaps we could lock you in one until you run out of air."
"Are you sure you are related to Kagome? Because you are even more of a bitch than her."
Marathon clutched the beanbag beneath her tightly and ground her teeth together. I will not scratch his eyes out. I will not scratch his eyes out. I will not scratch his eyes out .I will if he says one more word!
"The others are ready to go, you coming or what?"
Again she got to her feet and left the store. She had to consciously relax her muscles and take deep, cleansing breaths to keep from knocking InuYasha into the next showcase. With a quick check to make sure that one woman was still in the toy store, she finally relaxed.
"What should we do now?" Sango asked.
"We can check back and see if Miroku is ready and-" Shippou stopped and pointed behind her, "There he is, nevermind."
"Miss me? I decided to just come and find you all, glad you didn't stray off far."
"Are you done examining the women's clothing?" Sango flashed Miroku an annoyed look, "Did you find anything your size?"
"Very funny Sango. A young lady needed my help and I was just assisting her."
"With what?"
"She wanted to know where the sportsbras were."
Sango's expression turned from anger to confusion, and Marathon slapped herself in the head. "Pervert."
The annoyed look returned to Sango's face. "I knew it."
"C'mon, like you can expect good behavior from the lecher.." InuYasha sneered at him.
Miroku cleared his throat and proceeded to the head of the group. "I for one haven't finished selecting out an outfit, so I'd like to browse a few more shops. What about you guys?"
"I got all I need." Marathon said.
Shippou took a shirt out of the bag he was holding and held it up. "I just gotta find pants to match."
Sango opened up her small bag. "I found a scarf, and a nice skirt. Also these...earrings..though I am not sure how I am supposed to put them on. My ears have never been pierced."
"There is a shop you can do that at, that I passed by sometime." Marathon scratched her head, thinking. "I know its around here somewhere."
By now, Souta was getting tired of the mall, realizing how different it was when you were babysitting a bunch of people from decades past. "There are a few more places I think you guys will like. You should be able to find whatever else you need there."
Souta may have been ready to move on, but InuYasha was way past ready. He moved ahead of everyone else. "Humans are always so slow! Can't you guys just go, pick something, and be done with it."
"That is what we were about to do." Souta smiled at InuYasha. No matter how nasty the hanyou tried to sound, he would always be his hero. He quickly caught up to InuYasha's fast pace, heading for the south stores.
Marathon was lagging behind, as usual, fiddling with the batteries in her watch. One of them dropped to the ground, and when she leaned down to pick them up, saw the blonde woman reading her book not too far behind.
Now I know she is following us. What in the hell does she want? Stupid pickpocket I bet. I should know, I used to be one of them. She turned her back to the woman and pretended to continue messing with her watch, only to find out that the woman didn't move an inch. Then she came to another realization. "Oh great now the group is too far ahead of me."
The blonde woman shifted in her mini skirt and walked up to her. "Im so glad I found you."
"You were looking for me?" Marathon asked, hoping to get an answer to the whole situation.
"Anyone really. I need someone to help push my car out of the handicapped zone. No one seemed to want to help me, so I just came in hoping no one will notice. However, some police cars have been driving around, and I really can't afford a ticket. Think you can help."
"I guess so. I should probably tell my friends first.." She glanced around for them.
"It'll only take a second. My car is right outside of that entry way. You can catch up to them in no time, please help me out."
"Whatever." Marathon headed towards the exit, the strange woman sticking very close behind her.