In The Dark
It was still raining hard, when Mugi and Azusa spotted a small house in the distance. In their search for shelter they'd come to the outskirts of a town. The darkness brought upon by the storm limited their vision to the point where they could hardly see five feet ahead of them but through the occasional cracks of lightening they could just about see the house ahead of them. This was the first building they'd seen since coming out of the woods and it came as a great relief to the soggy Mugi and Azusa, In the fifteen minutes they'd spent searching for shelter they'd become completely drenched. Azusa's hair hung limply down, her free pigtail clinging to her face from the damp.
"Shelter, Azusa, we can stay here," Mugi said, trying to make her voice heard above the storm. Azusa nodded and silently followed her. She didn't like the idea of trying to find shelter in a stranger's house but she was far too cold and damp to let that stop her. She just wanted to be somewhere warm and safe. The girls staggered forward against the rain till they approached the door. Mugi tried the handle.
"It's unlocked," she said as the door swung open easily.
"Shouldn't we knock first?"
"They probably wouldn't hear over the rain," Mugi rationalized "Let's go in before we get even wetter."
Mugi stepped into the dark house with Azusa reluctantly following close behind her. The lights were off but from what they could see of the front room it looked like a relativity normal house. The floor was wooden and smooth and they could see a coat rack hanging next to the door.
"Hello?" Mugi called out.
There was no reply.
"Anybody there? We'd like some shelter please."
Azusa gripped Mugi's sleeve "Mugi-Sempai, I'm not sure we should be here, it's trespassing."
"It'll be okay, it's dreadful weather outside so I'm sure they'll understand our situation" Mugi answered. The two innocuous trespassers ventured a few steps further across the floor, dripping all over as they did so. Although Azusa had doubts about their actions, the relief of being out of the rain convinced her to press on. She looked into the blackness of the room, she could see little and she started to wonder what sort of things could be out there in the dark.
"We should try to find the light switch," Azusa said abruptly "It's kind of scary in the dark."
Mugi ran her hand along the wall in search of light. After several moments of fumbling in the dark she struck it. Their eyes were struck by the brightness as the lights flickered on. Now the room was fully illuminated, Azusa timidly scanned the environment, half expecting to find a corpse or two lying around. There was no such thing however, from all they could see it appeared to be just an average family home.
"Hello?"Mugi called out again "We just want shelter."
"I don't think anybody's in," Azusa said, on edge, she hadn't wanted to go in here but it seemed safe enough.
Mugi nodded "We should still check the house; I have a bad experience of going into abandoned places."
"Yeah I have too," Azusa agreed, remembering the barn. The two continued into the house warily looking out for any signs of life.
"How about I check upstairs and you check downstairs?" Mugi suggested "It will be much quicker."
"No!" Azusa protested quickly. Mugi glanced at her for an explanation. "I mean, I'd prefer to stick together if that's okay with you."
"That's okay, we can do it together if you want," Mugi agreed.
The house wasn't especially large so it didn't take them that long to search. It was two storied and sported three bedrooms, a kitchen and a warm looking they'd finished searching they ended up near where they'd started.
"It looks empty," Azusa couldn't help feeling relieved, maybe this would turn out to be the refuge she'd been hoping for.
"Excellent it looks like we can stay here," Mugi said happily "I wonder if they have any food?"
Mugi started to wander to the kitchen in search of something to eat. Azusa would have normally stopped her; however justified she thought staying in someone's house for shelter was, stealing was a completely different matter. Despite this Azusa realized that ever since she'd left the shelter she hadn't had enough food in her stomach and she longed for some hot food to nullify her cold and pain.
"Can you see if there's any hot pot? That would be nice," Azusa called.
Mugi examined the ingredients in front of her, there didn't seem to be much food at all in the house but there was still enough for a decent meal. Plus Mugi had seen something that looked very nice in the fridge.
"I don't think there's a hot pot here but there's ingredients for a curry here, do you want me to make one?."
"Yeah that would be nice,"Azusa agreed, curry was nice. It reminded her of a song they'd wrote, curry nochi rice. It seemed like a lifetime ago they'd been playing songs like that back in the club room, even though in reality it was less than a week. Everything felt so different from the way it was, even Mugi seemed different, more aware and more troubled.
She took a seat on the living room couch, this place didn't seem so bad, it felt warm and safe. The last time she'd felt like this was at the farmers place and that hadn't turned out well. Azusa couldn't relax though, for fear of someone bursting into the house at any moment, maybe with a gun, ready to make them pay for trespassing. Never the less Azusa took solace in this brief moment of respite from the pain.
"Azusa they have cakes here! Do you want a chocolate one or a strawberry one?" Mugi said excitedly coming out of the kitchen, livened by the prospect of cake.
"Just how much food do you intend on stealing!?" There was a fine line between taking what you needed to survive and eating other peoples cakes.
"There's plenty here Azusa, we'll simply take what we need" Mugi said with a smile
"Try not to steal too much. Hopefully the rain will stop before they get back and they'll never know we've been here."
Slam!
Just as she said that Azusa heard the sound of the door being opened and footsteps coming in. Azusa's heart sank as she realized that staying here and eating cake may no longer be a possibility.
"Mugi, there's someone coming in!" Azusa panicked.
"Yes I heard," Mugi nodded, completely calm.
"Huh? I forgot to lock the door, I'm so forgetful" They could hear a women's voice entering the door.
Azusa turned to Mugi frantically and squeaked "We need to hide!"
"We could try explaining to them why we're here."
"Are you crazy? We'll be handed to the police!" Azusa grabbed Mugi and tugged her further into the house. They could hear footsteps coming down the corridor as they darted into the kitchen. She frantically looked around for any place to hide.
"We could hide in the cupboards?" Mugi suggested.
"They're too small! Even for me, come on we have to do something!"
"The oven then," Mugi suggested.
"Are you crazy?" Azusa shouted "We'll get baked alive!"
They could hear a child's voice talking in the other room "Mummy why are all the lights on?"
"I don't know dear maybe we must have left them on, or maybe somebody's here."
They could here the two of them moving to the kitchen.
"Ah we have to get out of here!" Azusa said pulling an unfazed Mugi out of the room.
"Oh look there's banana cake here too," she spotted "Looks lovely."
"Now is not the time!" Azusa exclaimed they sped into the lounge.
"I thought I just heard something," The woman said.
"Are there any ghosts in here mum?"
"They're on to us!" Azusa panicked considering her options.
"No I think there's somebody in the house," the mother replied.
"Is it a burglar?"
"I don't know, you stay here I'll have a look." The women plodded into the lounge where Azusa and Mugi were.
"Ah" Azusa shrieked. Quickly she dove under the nearest place she could find, a Kotatsu. Mugi pulled a curtain over herself.
From beneath the heated table Azusa could hear the women walk past.
"Hello is anyone there?"
Azusa's heart raced as she listened for any sound of discovery. There was none, maybe she would never look down here and Azusa would have to stay under the Kotatsu for days, eating dropped foot on the floor and dodging people's legs. Her dreams were broken by a feeling in her nose, she sniffed and tried her best to hold it in but she couldn't.
"Achoo!" she released in a high pitched voice.
"Huh" the women heard the sound.
Oh no I'm done for this is over Azusa thought as she walked closer.
She lifted the blanket.
"I'm so sorry! Please don't hurt me!" she cowered.
"What? Who are you?" The women asked in shock. She was in her thirties, dark-haired and kindly looking.
Mugi released her self from the tangling of the curtains and stepped forward, prompting another look of astonishment as the women realized there were two of them "I'm Tsumugi and this is my friend Azusa, we were in need of shelter from this awful storm so we took refuge in your home, we sincerely apologize."
They both waited for the woman's reaction, we're going to be arrested I knew it Azusa winced, she'd be stupid to follow Mugi in here.
"Oh I suppose that's fine," the women smiled.
"Huh?" Azusa said surprised "You mean you're not going to hurt us?"
"Of course not, it really is dreadful weather," the women smiled "you didn't have to run and hide though I'm friendly."
"Oh right sorry"
A small boy appeared in the room, he was brown-haired and he looked young, around five or six and was pale as well, almost sickly looking."Huh Mum who are these people?"
"They're just visitors."
"Um hi," Azusa said to the little boy awkwardly.
The boy stared at her angrily, he didn't seem to happy that there were strange people in his house even if his mother was being welcoming.
"I don't think he likes me," Azusa whispered to Mugi.
"I don't like her!" The boy pointed at Azusa "she has stupid hair and her friend had weird eyebrows."
"Hey there's no need to insult me!" Azusa cried indignantly.
The boy scowled at them some more.
"My...My... eyebrows?" Mugi looked close to tears.
"Oh don't mind Akio, he's just grumpy because he hasn't had his dinner yet" The woman laughed "Come on I'll make us all something nice."
Mio's face was the first thing Ritsu saw when she woke up. She was right above her staring down with a concerned expression on her face. It took her a few minutes to piece together her last waking memories but she realized what had happened. She'd gone storming off to try and find Mugi but she'd failed and Mio had rescued her. Her relief at being safe and rescued was countered by the fact she was now in Mio's debt and would have to apologize.
She sat up and stretched, choosing to ignore her expected apology, "Wow that was a nice sleep, I feel totally refreshed."
"You're awake Ricchan! Great news!" Yui said bouncing towards her.
"Yep I sure am, anyone got any breakfast?"
"Ahem," Mio coughed "Don't you have somebody you should be thanking?"
"No I don't think so, did Yui do something for me?"
"No, you know what I mean." Mio stared at her icily, obviously not having forgiven her for running off and sacrificing they're way home.
"Fine" Ritsu said grudgingly "Thank you for saving me Mio."
Mio smiled at her and she tried to smile back. Ritsu really did appreciate her helping her even if it was hard to admit.
"I helped as well" Yui added.
"Thanks to both of you," Ritsu said "you know now that I think about it running off into a storm without a plan may not have been the smartest idea."
"Really Ritsu? How did you come to that conclusion?"
She ignored Mio's sarcastic jab and carried on "We're still going to get Mugi back though. I'm not compromising on that, we can't leave a member of our group behind, even if we have no idea how to get her back."
"I agree on that," Mio said "We'll still be going home, but this time we're getting Mugi first."
"Right, where's that breakfast?" Ritsu said looking around urgently.
"We haven't had time to make any Ricchan we've been to busy taking care of you," Yui answered "You were all cold and you looking kind of dead."
Ritsu was touched by her friends care of her, "Well thanks, to be honest I'm surprised Mio went out out into the storm what with you being scared because of you know..."
"I told her about that Ritsu," Mio answered sincerely.
"You told her? Why? You'll give her nightmares with that stuff."
"It's alright I can handle it," Yui spoke up "You don't need to patronize me Ricchan."
"Yeah I guess you can," Ritsu admitted "we're all in the same situation now so I guess there's no need to sugarcoat things." Ritsu rummaged through her bag in search of food "There's not very much in here are we running low on food?"
"Yeah, we don't have much left at all just some melon bread," Mio said.
"I think that needs to be one of our objectives, to get some food. I say we find some kind of settlement and town and try and get some food off them. What do you say?"
"Sounds like a good idea," Mio added "Except we don't have any money."
"Oh," Ritsu considered the setback "Maybe we can get it some other way then like stealing or begging. We'll think of something. Anyway going to a town will also help our primary objective, finding Mugi."
"I thought going home was our primary objective?"Mio added.
"Not at the moment, we can't attack the base head on right? That's stupid, so I say we find a branch of the military in the town and try to appeal to them to get her released. I can use my Dad's influence to get her out, it worked before right?"
"But Ritsu they probably aren't going to believe that you're his daughter, you don't have any proof, you might as well say you're the emperors daughter for all the evidence you have," Mio countered.
"Yeah I suppose that's true." Ritsu considered this as she looked for the little food they had "We can still protest though can't we? I mean Mugi's innocent right? I know that commander is an ass but most of the military are good people, they won't let Mugi be imprisoned will they?"
"I don't know," Mio answered "But short of breaking her out ourselves I don't think we have must of a choice."
"Or we could do a save Mugi awareness concert," Yui brainstormed "Oh but we'd need out instruments for that though."
"Maybe if we really have no other ideas Yui," Ritsu said as she finally found a melon bread in the bag "Anyway we've been putting off breakfast for way to long let's eat!"
"This food is delicious," Mugi complimented as she took a large bite from her plate.
"Thank you, it's not easy to get good food at the moment with the rationing," The woman said.
"I'm so sorry we were about to steal from you, but your cakes did look very lovely" Mugi beamed.
"Don't tell her we were about to steal!" Azusa shouted, not wanting to sacrifice their comfortable position.
"It's quite alright, you both do look very hungry, feel free to enjoy the food."
Azusa feasted happily on the beef hot pot, after a few days of living off what she stole from the shelter, it tasted heavenly.
"Excuse me what did you say you're name was?" Mugi asked.
"Oh I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself I'm Otae and this is my son Akio," she smiled.
"Nice to meet you," Mugi said courteously.
"If you don't mind me asking what were you to doing outside in the rain on your own?"
Azusa looked at Mugi, it was a good question "We were trying to find our friends," Azusa started.
"No, We were trying to get home," Mugi corrected "That is where are friends are Azusa."
"I see, well I wish you luck, I wouldn't have normally gone out in the rain but I was at work with my son. Now that my husbands away in the army I have to work full time to get enough money. Especially now Akio is sick I have to work extra hard to support him."
"Huh He's sick?" Azusa looked over at the annoying kid playing with his food.
"He has a rare bone disease," Otae said frankly "It's gradually eating away at his marrow, soon he won't even be able to walk without his bones splitting and fracturing with every step."
"That sounds terrible" Mugi said.
"Yes, when it gets worse like that I won't be able to go to work any more I'll have to look after him full time, without a source of income I don't know what will happen."
"I'm so sorry it must be hard on you," Mugi said finishing her plate.
"I manage," Otae took a quick look out the window "It looks like it's still raining out there, do you two want to stay here for the night?"
"Are you sure?" Mugi asked "We've troubled you a lot already."
"It's quite alright really."
"We'd love to stay," Azusa said jumping at the chance.
"Excellent, well I'll show you to your room."
They were escorted up to the spare bedroom, it was small compared to their rooms at home, especially Mugi's, but after sleeping on the ground they would have accepted any bed. Since there was only one, Azusa was provided a futon on the floor. She didn't mind Mugi getting the bed, sleeping in a futon was fine for her.
A few hours later the lights blinked out.
"What do you think that was Mugi?"Azusa asked hurriedly as the house faded to blackness.
"It's just a power cut Azusa, nothing to worry about."
This wasn't exactly a new occurrence for them, in the few months before they left for the shelter they had happened with increased regularity, Azusa remembered being told in school that it was something to do with the inability to import coal from China, but she didn't understand the precise details.
It was a warm night compared to previous ones, with the humidity left by the storm making sleeping uncomfortable for both of them. Out of the open window was pitch black, but calm with no wind to bother them.
The only noise was a the faint sound of planes flying in the distance and the quiet explosions when they delivered their payloads.
"Bombs," Azusa said as she looked out.
"Do they bother you?" Mugi asked.
"A bit," Azusa admitted, after hearing them nearly every night for a week she'd gotten used to them, a dizzying reminder of the situation every night before sleep. She was safe though, the lack of light did have the advantage of hiding their location, Yui, Mio and Ritsu didn't have that degree of safety.
"Hey Mugi."
"Yeah."
"What are we going to do now? I mean where do we go from here?"
"I suppose we keep going home and meet up with the others."
"Don't you want to go back to the shelter? It'll be safe there."
"I didn't realize it was possible to go back."
"Yeah, there's a ventilation shaft Mugi-Sempai, that's how I got out, " Azusa told her "it was hard though, I had to squeeze through some parts and I only made it because I'm small, I don't know if you'd fit."
"Are you saying I'm too large to fit through?" After having her eyebrows insulted earlier Mugi was in no mood to be called fat.
"No not at all, but it will be difficult getting back" Azusa realized.
"I think we'd be better off getting home with the others," Mugi considered.
"Maybe, but we're not safe there Mugi, the bombs may hit. We're hardly any safer at home that we are here."
"We'll be with the others though, isn't that better?"
"I guess, I wonder what everyone back at the shelter thinks about this, I've been gone for a long time now. Ui must be getting worried, I wonder if she thinks I'm dead?" Azusa suddenly felt a pang of regret for leaving the shelter and her safety, everything had gone wrong since then. Maybe she was wrong to have left? Her whole reason for leaving was to protect them but if Yui and the others were already safe at home then there was no point.
"Are you alright Azusa?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Azusa considered "Do you ever do make decisions you regret Mugi-Sempai?"
"Yes a lot, I often make decisions I wish I hadn't or do things I wish I hadn't done" Mugi thought back to the tank and the shell "Sometimes people can get hurt by those decisions as well. Every decision has consequences Azusa, even if you don't see them but I don't think you should dwell too hard on you're mistakes, you can't change the past after all. I think the important thing to do is to focus on dealing with those consequences and making better decisions next time."
"I guess," Azusa considered and looked across at Mugi, even though they were together now she still felt lonely. She couldn't even see her through the darkness and even though she was safe she had no doubt that the nightmares that had plagued her dreams every night would return.
"Mugi do you mind if I sleep with you?"
"My this is very sudden," Mugi chuckled.
"No I just mean it's just I've been having nightmares and I would um..."
"You'd feel safer in my bed?"
"Yes please."
Mugi lifted the covers and Azusa snuggled in next to her.
Yui, Ritsu and Mio walked into the center of a small town. Despite it not being large there were plenty of shops lining the streets and only about half were boarded up. It would have been a good place to stock up on supplies and food but unfortunately for them, they had no money.
"So are we going to find Mugi here?" Yui asked.
"No, but we can probably find some way to get to her. There's bound to be an army base in this town we'll use that" Ritsu answered as they pushed past some people. Unlike the previous town they'd visited this one was far from deserted, the streets bustled with people going about there business.
"There sure are a lot of people here," Yui noticed "Maybe they could help us."
"I wouldn't bet on it, they've probably got there owns worry's, they won't help us," Ritsu said cynically.
"Can you see any food Ritsu? We used nearly all of it for breakfast," Mio urged.
"I'm looking, I can't see anything we can use though."
As they walked by looking for any signs of Mugi or the army Yui spotted something.
"Hey look guys a picture of Mugi-chan!"
"Huh?" Mio said.
Pinned against a wall was indeed a hand drawn picture of Mugi, some of the features were a bit off but it was defiantly her.
"Give that here!" Ritsu said, grabbing it "this is a wanted poster Yui!"
"What does it say?" Mio asked quickly.
"Hold on I'm reading it." Ritsu quickly scanned the paper.
"The dangerous dissident Tsumugi Kotobuki is loose in the area, if you see this criminal please report your sighting to the police. A reward of 500,000 yen will be given to anybody who apprehends her."
"Whoa that's a lot of money," Yui gasped.
"Is that all it says?" Mio asked swiping it
"Wait there's a little more, Also wanted is a small black-haired schoolgirl possibly driving a tractor, who could that be referring to?"
"Have you been having secret fun with a tractor Mio?" Yui asked happily.
A loud voice distracted them from the poster, it was coming from a behind a crowd of people down the street.
"Rations! Get you're rations here, come on one at a time, get them all."
Yui looked at the ration stall in delight "Ricchan there's food there and they're giving it out for free!"
"Great we're not going to be hungry anymore!" Ritsu exclaimed dashing off to get food "Come on Mio let's go."
When they rushed over to the ration stand they were disappointed to see a huge line awaiting them, they could hardly see over the mass of people.
"Aw we're going to have to wait," Yui complained.
"It will be worth it Yui, maybe they'll even give us extra because we're traveling, or maybe I can use my dad again."
Eventually the crowd dissipated some what and they could see to the front, three workers were handing out rice and other essentials from large brown sacks. The food looked far from luxurious but very editable. They were almost at the front of the queue apart from a dark haired women in her thirties who was trying to get extra food because her son was sick. "One bag for one person" the worker kept saying.
"Come on lady hurry up," Ritsu grumbled quietly. Eventually she gave up and they stepped up to the front.
"Hello give us three sets of rations please," Ritsu said.
"Who are you?" The man at the counter demanded, he was large and bulky but slightly too old for the army.
"I'm Ritsu and this is my friends Yui and Mio, can we have some food please?"
"You haven't been here before have you?" He eyed her suspiciously.
"Uh No we just got into town, can we get some food though?"
"If you're not from around here I'm not serving you," he said stubbornly glaring at them.
"Why the hell not? We're hungry here!" Ritsu slammed her fist on the counter.
"Ritsu lets not attract attention," Mio warned.
"Listen we have enough food here for everyone in this town, not more, we can't afford to start giving it to outsiders" he warned.
"But you have to serve us," Ritsu says "Do you know who my Dad is?"
"I don't care, next"" he called.
"But..."
"Go now or I'll have you removed."
Ritsu was about to argue again but Mio held her back "He's not serving us Ritsu, and I don't think there's anything else we can do."
They trudged away in disheartened spirits "Where are we going to get food now Ricchan?"
"I don't know Yui."
As they walked away they spotted a solider handing out Mugi leaflets, he was talking to the women from earlier.
"That's the guy who put up the Mugi thing," Yui spotted.
"Oh this guy, we can get some answers off him," Ritsu said.
"Ritsu please don't cause any more of a scene," Mio warned.
"Hey what's the deal with all the leaflets?!" Ritsu called at him.
He looked taken aback "Well there's a dangerous criminal in the area and we're looking for her."
"Mugi? I thought you had her?"
"How would you know?" He looked confused.
"Uh I mean she doesn't look much like a criminal, why are you searching for her?" Ritsu pointed at the picture.
"Yeah she doesn't look like she'd hurt anyone" Yui agreed "Not that we'd know because we've never met her ever."
"Look, I don't know what she did but it's bound to be bad if the commander is setting up all this searching for her," he said.
"So you don't know where she is at all?"
"Only that she's in the area."
"Alright, well we'll um keep an eye out for her," Ritsu said "If we see her we'll hand her in."
"Oh do you want a poster?" he asked.
"Yes please," said Yui taking three, she reasoned that the more she took the less anti Mugi posters would be out there and hence Mugi awareness would be decreased. She liked to help in little ways.
Once he was out of sight Ritsu turned to the others "Okay the good news is that Mugi seems to have escaped, the bad news is that she has a full scale search going on for her."
"They said she was still in the area so she can't have gotten far," Mio reasoned.
"Yeah we just have to find her before they do."
Meanwhile Azusa and Mugi were trying desperately to keep a five year old amused.
"Um look at this," Azusa said "When I shake my head my pigtails go spinning everywhere and it looks cool."
"That's stupid," he said jadedly.
"Hey, that's my best trick!" Azusa exclaimed.
"Let me try," Mugi volunteered putting one hand on her head and the other underneath her chin then puffing out her face "Look I'm a sunfish."
Akio stared for a minute before laughing "You're funny Mugi-san."
"How come he likes you so much and not me?" Azusa asked, though she had to admit Mugi's gentle nature made her much better with children than she was.
They heard the door slam again as his mother re entered the house, thankfully for Azusa this meant no more looking after Akio.
"I'm back," Otae called as she entered the house "Thank you for looking after him while I went shopping."
"It's fine I quite enjoyed it," Mugi said.
"How can you say that? It was awful Mugi-Sempai."
"Well we should be leaving," Mugi started "Thank you very much for letting us stay here Otae-san."
A brief look of panic swept Otae-san's face "No you should stay, please stay."
"Huh? Why do we need to stay?" Azusa asked.
"Um where was it you said you were going?"
"Kyoto."
"Kyoto yes of course well my friend is from Kyoto and she may be able to get you there."
"Really You'll be able to get us home?"
"Of course, if you wait until tomorrow that is."
Mugi and Azusa looked at each other in delight and jumped up and down.
"It looks like we're going home Azusa."
"Yeah and at home I'll finally get to be reunited with the others again," Azusa said happily.
It was getting dark quickly for Ritsu and her group, they'd spent the best part of the day searching the town and surrounding area for Mugi but to no avail. Worst of all they were still hungry and they hadn't been able to find any food. They were back near the ration stall where they started, Ritsu eyed it keenly.
"They said they only had enough for people of this town but look they've got some left over," Ritsu noticed "I'm sure nobody would mind if we took a little bit."
"Ritsu I really don't think this is a good idea," Mio warned.
"Of course it is, we need food don't we? I don't care is we have to steal it, I'm not going to let us all starve."
The workers there were packing up and preparing to leave, Ritsu hoped there would still be some left over food for them to eat.
"He was really rude earlier so now we can get back at him by stealing his food!" Yui said "this is going to be delicious."
"We're going to have to be stealthy Yui, we can't make any loud noises" Ritsu warned "look there going now's our chance!" The workers left their stations and got into a nearby truck leaving the sacks after them.
"Mio you stay here and look out for anybody, me and Yui will get some and put it into my bag." Ritsu said, she took a quick look around, the street was deserted "Make a hand signal if someone comes."
"Okay got it," Mio agreed.
"Come on Yui lets move out," Mio said.
"Aye Aye" Yui agreed as she crouched and they slowly made there way over to the stall.
Mio looked at them in despair as they sneaked around in the most conspicuous way possible.
When no one was looking Ritsu vaulted the counter clumsily and helped Yui across as she did the same.
"This is so exiting Ricchan it's like we're bank robbers!"
"We're only doing this because we have to Yui, we shouldn't make a habit out of stealing" Ritsu told her as she tugged open a sack. To her delight she found there was still a bit of rice left in it "Look this is plenty, if we take all this we'll have enough for days, maybe until we get home."
"Yeah there doesn't seem to be anyone looking we can take it."
"Okay Yui take out some of this rice and put it in my bag while I hold this sack open."
"What? just put it in the bag without any container? That's doesn't sound very good."
"Just do it quickly!" Ritsu said, Yui started to pick up handfuls of rice from the sack ad started putting it into the bag. Mio watched them, wishing they had a better way of doing this, when she spotted some people coming.
"Ritsu, Yui," She whispered to them "get out of there!"
They weren't listened, they were too busy with their rice.
Mio tried doing a hand signal but they weren't looking.
A squadron of soldiers ran past them down the street.
"Yui get down!" Ritsu and Yui went to the floor as they passed.
There were about half a dozen in total, rushing towards somewhere. They could hear one on the radio "The fugitives been spotted we're moving in to capture her now over." When they'd run passed Mio rushed over to them.
"Hey did you here that?" Mio asked "It sounds like they've found Mugi."
Ritsu grimaced "If we let them get her then we can say goodbye to going home together."
"What are we supposed to do then?"
"Well we have to get her before they do, come on," Ritsu said sprinting in the direction the soldiers were going.
"But the rice..." Yui said behind her.
"That can wait; we've got a fugitive to find."
Azusa sat at the dinner table with Mugi, Otae and Akio. Otae seemed more restless and kept glancing at her cell phone as if she was waiting for a signal. The day had been spent uneventfully watching television and helping round the house. It was almost like being at home.
"How exactly is you're friend going to get us home?" Azusa asked "does she have a car or train tickets?"
"Um I'm not quite sure," she answered "You'll see if you wait a little longer."
Azusa watched Akio spill food down himself while staring angrily at her.
"If you don't mind me asking, why's he not in a shelter?" She asked "You could have probably got in too as his mother."
"Oh," she seemed taken aback by his question "We tried but it was his disease, because of that they wouldn't let us in. There's not enough room for every one you see so they prioritized the healthy children it's okay though he..."
"TSUMUGI KOTOBUKI AND ASSOCIATE WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED COME OUT NOW AND YOU WON'T BE HARMED!"
They could here someone shouting from the door.
"Wait what is this?" Azusa looked around to see Otae not surprised at all.
"I'm sorry girls, you seem like lovely people but I have to do this for Akio."
"You're handing us to the army!?" Azusa said in shock, she hadn't expected this.
"Yes, I saw the poster, you're wanted for crimes against the military, I need the reward money to look after my son."
"So you sold us out!" Azusa looked hurt at the betrayal.
"Please don't make this difficult, just go with them."
"There's no way we can just surrender we need to get back!" Azusa's eyes were crazy as she panicked " Mugi what do we do? What do we do!?
"I'm thinking," Mugi contemplated.
"COME OUT IN THIRTY SECONDS OR WE'LL BREAK THE DOOR DOWN!"
"Please," Otae begged them "Do this the easy way."
"No we can't," Azusa said.
"TWENTY SECONDS"
They looked around desperately for some way out of the situation .
"TEN SECONDS"
"We've got to find some way to do this"
"FIVE SECONDS."
The house snapped to darkness suddenly as the lights flickered out. They could here the sound of the door being broken in.
"A power cut?" Azusa whispered to Mugi
"Don't talk," she whispered back.
They both dropped to the floor. They were in the pitch black darkness and out there was an unknown amount of armed men. All they could hear creaking of floorboards somewhere ahead of them but that was all. They had a chance now, if they could just avoid being spotted and exit the door they might be able to escape.
"Where are they?" They heard a solider say.
Mugi gently reached for Azusa's hand and grabbed it. Crawling, she led Azusa across the floor towards where she thought the exit was.
. They stopped as they heard somebody ascend the stairs "I think they're up here."
They carried on when they had left; Mugi rose slightly to crouching height and slowly made her away through the darkness using her hands to feel the way. Footsteps appeared next to them again and they stopped and went to the floor. Azusa flinched as a foot trod on her.
"Huh what is this?"
Azusa was careful not to let out any noise when he kicked her to see if there was a reaction.
"I guess it's nothing."
That was a close one Azusa thought as Mugi encouraged her on once more. They carried on to what Azusa guessed was the kitchen. If this was right then they were close to the door and freedom.
As quietly as she could Mugi reached into one of the drawers.
"What are you doing?"
After rummaging around she drew out a rolling-pin.
"Protection."
Azusa nodded silently. They padded across the kitchen floor as one of the doors open. One of them was in the room, they couldn't see him but they could hear his footsteps. The too of them held their breath and stayed exactly where they were. Azusa tried her best not to make any noise but she had a funny feeling in her nose. No, no not now she thought. As hard as she tried to resist she couldn't, it was going to overwhelm her.
"Achoo,"
The solider turned to her in an instant "There you are, I've got you now!"
Mugi's reaction was almost instantaneous; she sprung up rolling pin in hand and swung at the solider, sending him flying backwards.
"OOf" he shouted as he was sent to the floor in pain.
"Now they all know where we are!" Azusa screamed.
"Yes we need to get out of here quick," Mugi agreed dashing towards the door. Azusa darted off in the opposite direction, running anyway she could.
"Mugi? Are you there?" Ritsu called into the dark, as soon as the soldiers had breached the door she'd run in after them. Mio and Yui followed closely behind her. Mio was terrified "You know Ritsu I really don't think this was a good idea."
A figure ran past Ritsu "Hey who is that?"
"Come on Azusa let's go!"
"Mugi? Azu-nyan? Are you guys in here!?" Yui said excitedly.
"Yui? What are you doing here?" Mugi gasped "You're supposed to be at home."
Ritsu grabbed Mugi's hand "You didn't think we'd go home without our full line up did you? Let's go!"
A spray of bullets rattled the room.
"They're shooting now!" Mio squeaked "We really have to get out of here."
"Fine we've got Mugi let's go," Ritsu ordered "everyone make you're way out."
"Wait! Azusa is still here somewhere," Mugi said.
"Mugi, Azusa's still at the shelter let's go," Ritsu ordered.
"No she escaped and she's in danger!"
Ritsu stared at where her voice was coming from for a moment, taking in the information "Fine Yui get Mugi and Mio out of here, I'll get Azusa!"
It was so warm under to the Kotatsu, even though the blackout meant it wasn't on. Azusa felt safer it then she had any right too, She just had to make sure she didn't sneeze again.
Somebody lifted the flap.
Azusa almost screamed.
"Shh it's me, Ritsu I'm here to save you."
"Ritsu-Sempai?" Azusa said in shock before being quieted once more.
"Come on I think it's safe" Ritsu said emerging from the Kotatsu.
As she said that someone grabbed her and pushed her against the wall, sending her gun flying.
"I'll teach you for hitting me with a rolling pin" he grunted lifting the butt of his rifle "How do you like this."
"Azusa get my gun!" Ritsu called narrowly dodging the blow.
Azusa crawled forth and felt around on the floor as Ritsu dodged his hits as best she could.
Azusa found it and aimed it at where she thought he was.
"Come on Azusa!" Ritsu roared "Do something."
"I can't see in the dark!" Azusa whimpered.
"Shoot!"
BANG, BANG, BANG, Azusa shot randomly in the dark and with three shots he crumbled to the floor and Ritsu was released.
She heard a scream.
"I killed again," Azusa realized "ha ha I killed again Ritsu did you see that?"
"Now's not the time!" Ritsu said grabbing her "We need to escape."
She started to dash towards the hall but a hail of gunfire mad her change directions "Azusa we can't reach the door!"
"Go Upstairs!"
The two bolted up the stairs followed in pursuits by many footsteps.
"The room on the left!" Azusa cried as they darted into the room they'd slept in, their bed was still wrinkled from where they'd slept.
"Now what? Sleep until they go away?" Ritsu asked frantically.
"No, we jump out the window," Azusa with a mad grin.
"Seriously? Are you crazy Azusa?"
"Yes, I think I am," With that she grabbed Ritsu's hand and jumped out the window.
Azusa closed her eyes as they fell through the air, wondering if she'd survive the fall. She couldn't die now, not when her friends were here.
To her surprise it wasn't hard ground she landed on but something soft.
"I've got you Azu-nyan!"
She opened her eyes to see Yui had caught her mid fall, Mugi and Mio had tried to catch Ritsu but failed leaving her in a bush mostly unharmed.
"Yui-Sempai?" Azusa looked at her in awe.
"Yeah It's me!" Yui patted her on the head "I been ages since I saw you Azu-nyan."
Ritsu got up from the bush and brushed herself off "it's great that we're reunited and all but we should really get somewhere safer before celebrating, there are still a bunch of people trying to get us!"
Yui nodded "Yeah let's get out of here."
A/N: I am really, really sorry I took so long to update, I had a load of work to do for my exams and I did loads of editing on this chapter. Anyway I will not take as long in the future I am sorry. I know it's very annoying to keep waiting for updates. That's how I started writing actually, there was this fic I really liked but it hadn't updated in month, so I decided to write the ending myself. Anyway I'll update more quickly next time, defiantly.
Replies to reviews
I like doing this segment but I'm a bit worried that I might be putting off people from reviewing by answering them like this. I won't answer people if they don't want me to.
Yo: Sorry it was a bit longer than I said. This chapter is really long though which sort of makes up for it? I actually think it is a bit too long but oh well. There will be a proper reunion next time! It was a bit short in this one. Anyway thanks for being a loyal reader and reviewer ^^ Also you're reviews are always fun to read :)
Sam Hayne: You shouldn't be nervous to review other things especially NTY. I mean it's got about eight hundred reviews already no body would notice one more, I doubt AdrenaVeris even reads all the reviews since she has so many. Uh I don't know if that makes you feel better about it or not but I think smaller fics read reviews more. Those big shot fan fiction authors with their hundreds of reviews and favorites lose sight of their readers. I bet they don't have a review reply segment at the end of every chapter! I'm just jealous because they're more popular though, it's impossible to keep in contact with readers when you have so many. Anyway my point is that putting something on the internet like a review or a story or a comment can sometimes be a nervous thing. I mean I still get nervous when I write a story and wait for the reviews to come in but it's really nothing to be worried about. I'm sure you have loads of valid things to say about others fics like you do for this one and I'm sure other fic writers would appreciate your comments as well. Also Baka-Sama, Cosmic-Baka, Cosmic-sama, Baka-sensei, Author-sama and Baka-dono are all acceptable names for me. Unacceptable names include Cosmic-chan, Baka-tan and Cosmic-pyon. That is all.
Guest chapter 7: It's good to know someone can understand what they're saying. Sorry if the translations really bad, I don't actually know it also I remember there was a lot of swearing.
DjGrand: Thank you for Favoriting and following. I wouldn't say this is well written though, I think it is a roller coaster of quality. With some bits being quite good and others being bad. I think chapters six, seven and this one are the worst ones with chapters nine and two being the best. That's just my opinion though.
Next time on Grave of the Turtles (That title will have meaning later on): H.T.T has a happy reunion and absolutely nothing goes wrong.
