Chapter 2

Miyako's alarm went off, and loud. All three girls jumped out of their sleep in surprise. Hotiku fell on the floor and hit her head against the night table.

"Damnit!" She yelled as she rubbed her head, yet again.

"Kami, what time is it?" Marron asked. Miyako looked at the clock and turned back to Marron.

"5:30, why?" She replyed as if it was normal for her.

"5:30?!?! That's way too early! I'm going back to sleep!" Marron crawled into her bed, but Hotiku and Miyako were making so much noise getting ready that she couldn't sleep.

"Fine! I'll wake up!!" She nearly screamed and got out of bed. After they had gotten dressed they made their way to the kitchen for breakfast. Juuhachi and Krillin came down to the kitchen ready for a fight, thinking someone was trying to robb their house. They jumped from behind a corner and were about to attack.

"Ahh!!" All the girls screamed in fright. The couple screamed at their reaction, making everything even worse.

"What are you three doing up so early?!" Juuhachi questioned.

"Early? What are you talking about?!" Hotiku asked.

"We always get up at this time." Miyako informed them. Juuhachi, Krillin and Marron all facefaulted.

"Ahem...." Marron cleared her throat. "You're not going to get up that early _every_ day, are you?" She asked.

"Why not? What time do you all usually wake up?" Miyako asked.

"Around 8:00 or so."said Krillin.

"8:00?! How do you all get ready in time for school and work?" Hotiku asked.

"School doesn't start until 9:00."said Marron.

"What?!?" Hotiku nearly screamed.

"We don't, er... didn't have school at 9:00, we had it at 7:00"said Miyako.

"7:00?! How can you all wake up that early?!" Krillin asked.

"Stop yelling times of the day!!!" Juuhachi screamed fed up with it all.

"Gomen." Marron and Krillin apologized. Hotiku and Miyako looked at each other and basically read each others minds.

"Gomen." They said at the same time.

'Great now we have to talk in Japanese!' Hotiku thought.

"Hai, that's better." Juuhachi said and turned around to go make breakfast. After they all ate, they went their seperate ways. Marron, Miyako and Hotiku went to the town to kill time until it was time to go to the club. Time seemed to fly as they ran from store to store, Marron buying what she could with the money she had left.

"Ooooo! I want this!! It's so kawaii!!" Miyako cheered. Marron looked into her purse to see how much money she had left.

"How much is it?" Marron asked her.

"Ummm, seventy." Miyako flashed her an innocent smile to convince it. Marron sighed and saw that she had just enough for it, then she would have some money left over for food. They ran up to the cash register to find the french cashier there again.

"You?! What are you going to do this time? Pay with walnuts?" He said.

"Listen, Pepe Le Pew," Hotiku remarked, causing Marron and Miyako to giggle, " in case you hadn't noticed, that was American money! I would think _you_ would know that since your country 'ad an alliance with America!" She said the last part with a french accent. The cashier made a funny 'humph' sound, and took the money from Marron's hand and rung up the dress. The girls had to stifle their laughs until the got out.

"Au revoir, Frenchie!" Hotiku said. They couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. They ran down the street with all their bags. Finally their laughs died down to giggles. They found a snack stand and bought a bit of food for them to eat on the way home. Once they arrived, the girls ran to the room and dumped all their bags on the floor.

"So what time are we going to this club?" Hotiku asked jumping back on the bed and resting her arms behind her head. She turned to look at Marron for an answer. She looked at her watch and nearly fell over.

"Nani?! We have to leave in an hour!" Marron said.

"No problem. We get dressed, fix our hair and leave. Bada bing, bada boom." Hotiku said.

"Yeah right! You know how long it takes me to get ready!" Miyako yelled.

"Hey, you don't have to do a lot! You already got mostly ready before we left!" Hotiku said.

"Yeah, but all that running around got me all sticky and sweaty! I have to take a shower!" Miyako walked towards the bathroom. As soon as she closed the door behind her, Marron turned to face Hotiku.

"All sticky and sweaty?" She asked.

"Extreme femme." She replied simply and got up to get ready.

"Hey, toss me that bag." Hotiku pointed to a shopping bag on the floor. Marron picked it up and threw it at her without thinking. She accidently threw it too hard, due to her superior strength, and she didn't aim either. It went way out to the side, without even thinking, Hotiku stepped over and grabbed the handles of the bag with one hand. Marron turned around and stared at her with awe. Hotiku pulled out the outfit she had bought and held it up.

"What's wrong?" Hotiku noticed Marron was looking at her.

"How did you do that?" She asked.

"Nani? Do what?" Hotiku asked her.

"Uh, never mind." She said and reached for another bag. Hotiku looked at her as if she was crazy before turning back to the outfit that she held in her hand. It was a red t-shirt that had yellow hemming, and read 'Fight' on the front. It also had a pair of black leather pants that had flame decor at the bottom of the pants. After she changed, she put her hat on backwards again. When Hotiku had turned around, Marron read what the hat had on the front.

"It's an attitude thing?" Marron read outloud. Hotiku turned around and looked at her, before smiling.

"Yup, and she's got plenty of it!" They turned to see Miyako leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom door. She had finally gotten out of the shower, and was wearing flared blued jeans and a lavender shirt that read her name on it. Hotiku laughed a bit, and went to the mirror to see if her hair was okay. After she moved bits and pieces of her curls around, she walked back to them. Marron was wearing white leather pants and black tanktop with white hemming that read the word 'Sweet' on it. She looked at her watch and nearly fell, again.

"We have five minutes to get to the club!!" She said before grabbing their hands and running out the door, muttering a goodbye to her parents.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Three girls walked into the club, capturing the attention of everyone. They walked to the bar and sat on the stools.

"So, Marron. When's this friend of yours going to show up?" Hotiku asked.

"He should be here any minute." She replied.

"Well, tell us when he gets here, we'll be on the dance floor." Miyako pulled Hotiku out without an answer. Hotiku waved before disappearing in the crowd of people. Marron sat at the bar, keeping an eye out, just in case she hadn't spotted him yet. After a few minutes, her friend hadn't shown up yet, and she noticed that a large crowd had crowded around in a circle. She peeked her head over the crowd to see that Miyako and Hotiku were the people in the middle of the circle dancing. She smiled and went back to waiting.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The girls hadn't noticed that practically everyone had circled them and been cheering for them. A fast, up-beat had been playing when a part played that felt like something was coming. Hotiku turned around, gave Miyako one look and she nodded. Hotiku ran to a wall, kicked up and flipped backwards onto Miyako's back, linking her elbows with her. Hotiku rolled back and flipped Miyako over her, then Miyako did the same. When they were face to face, Miyako turned under Hotiku's arm and they switched places. Suddenly the music changed to a salsa song. Hotiku and Miyako looked at each other excitedly.

"No way!" They said at the same time and started dancing together. It looked as if they had made a routine for this song a while ago and had remembered it. Just as it was about half way, they stopped dancing with each other and danced by themselves. Hotiku decided to take it a step up and pulled a cute guy from the crowd and started dancing with him. Miyako saw her out of the corner of her eye and did the same. Just before the song ended, they pushed the boys back into the crowd and danced by themselves again. Suddenly, Miyako stopped and looked as if she had just seen a ghost. She inhaled sharply and moved her hand to her stomach, like something had moved through her. Hotiku noticed and stopped dancing.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't know, I just had this really, bad feeling something terrible was going to happen." Miyako replied, recovering.

"Nani? What are you ta-" Hotiku couldn't finish as the same wave of anguish swept over her. She pulled in a deep breathe slowly and held her hand on her forehead.

"Nani? Did you feel it?" Miyako asked.

"Hai, come on. We'd better go tell Marron." They ran back to the bar to find Marron still sitting there waiting.

"Marron, did your friend show up?" Miyako asked. Hotiku hit elbowed her softly.

"Priorities girl!" She said in her defense.

"No, he didn't come. He probably got held up. Why?" Marron asked.

"Well, we got this really bad feeling something was going to happen." Miyako said.

"Nani? Let me see." Marron narrowed her eyes as if she was searching for something. The girls had puzzled looks on their faces. Just then Marron sensed a powerful ki signature that was unfamiliar. She got up and had a worried look on her face.

"Let's go." She said, and was followed out of the club by the two girls.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They ran into the woods following the source of power they had detected. They stopped at a fork in the road.

"Which way?" Miyako asked. Marron turned her head in both directions of the roads. She snapped her head to the left.

"That way." She said and ran into the left pathway. They were a few feet into the path when Marron stopped abruptly, causing Miyako and Hotiku to crash into each other. They all fell onto the floor. Miyako getting yet another headache, and Hotiku hitting her head on the ground hard.

"Why'd you do that for?" Hotiku asked, rubbing her head.

"It switched to the other side of the fork. We have to go back and take the other road." Marron said and stood up.

"NANI?!" They both yelled. They groaned as they got back up and followed her. When they got back to the fork in the road, they found that there was a blockade at the entrance of it. There were thorn bushes everywhere.

"Nani? This wasn't here before." Hotiku said and tried to get over the thorns only to cut her leg.

"Kuso! Ow, that hurt!" She dropped down to the floor and applied pressure to keep it from bleeding.

"That was smart." Miyako said.

"Quiet you." She said.

"It's no use anymore. The power level has disappeared. Come on let's go home." Marron turned around to walk away, followed by Miyako. Then they heard someone clear their throat behind them. They turned around and saw Hotiku still on the ground.

"In case you _already_ forgot.... I cut my leg and can't walk!!!!!" She yelled. They sweatdropped and walked over and helped her up. They supported her as she hopped on one foot, all the way home. When they finally got there, they nearly collapsed in the foyer.

"Kaasan! Help!!" Marron yelled and Juuhachi came running from upstairs.

"Kami, what did you all do this time?" She asked as she inspected Hotiku's leg.

"I tried to climb over a thorn bush." Hotiku said. Juuhachi sighed and helped her er... hop to the kitchen. Juuhachi treated her wound and dressed it.

"There, it should be fine in a few days." Juuhachi said.

"I know." Hotiku hopped off the counter.

"Nani? How?" Juuhachi questioned. Just then Miyako and Marron walked in.

"Because she's always getting hurt and cut and stuff. Usually I'm the one who has to treat her wounds and junk." Miyako said.

"Oh." was all that Juuhachi could say before walking out of the room.

"Come on let's go sleep. We'll try to find that power tomorrow." Marron yawned and walked upstairs. Miyako was about to leave when she heard someone clear their throat behind her again.

"Sure, leave the cripple alone." Hotiku threw her hands up. Miyako sighed and helped her up the stairs. They all got ready to go to bed, as soon as their heads hit the pillow they fell fast asleep.