Chapter 6(Time for training!)

Kayura woke up the next morning before anyone else and decided to go meditate before the 'herd', as she termed the guys, came down. The decision had been that everyone would get a good night's sleep then discuss this new turn of events the next day. Kayura felt it would be more like a UN hearing. Passing by the kitchen, she noticed the smell of cheese omelets mingling with the sweet aroma of blueberry muffins.

"Well, a little snack wouldn't hurt." She thought to herself. Then she giggled. "I'm beginning to sound like Shu!" Pushing open the door, she was about to say a greeting when she stopped. Standing at the stove was Nasuti, beating a bowl of eggs as if she could kill them by stirring.

"ummm, Nasty?" Kayura whispered. "Would it be ok if I asked for a muffin? I'll be out of your hair afterwards." she trailed off as Nasty grabbed a knife and turned towards her with murder in her eyes. Seeing that it was only Kayura, she lowered her arm.

"Sorry about that, thought you were one of the guys, ready to have our 'talk.'" Nasuti muttered a few other words under her breathe that Kayura couldn't hear, but she thought she caught the phrase. 'Damn their hides' in there somewhere. Kayura could understand how Nasuti felt. After all, unlike anyone else, she had never expected to fight. The others had either held their armors for hundreds of years and were raised in societies that taught fighting from the cradle, or the armor had been held in the family and they knew fighting techniques from before. She herself had been practically raised to fight. But Nasuti, her life had been turned upside down from the moment she first went out to help the Troopers during the first war. Since then, she had lost her grandfather, been scared, watched her friends nearly be killed, and much more than your average girl. And now to have this dropped on her, Kayura was somewhat surprised it had not turned out to be the feather that broke her back.

"Hey," Kayura said softly. "After breakfast, you wanna go shopping?" She laughed as Nasuti's eyes lit up with their usual sparkle. If anything could cheer her up, it was a trip to the mall and Kayura knew just how to make it even sweeter. "It's settled then, I'm going to go meditate before Seiji steals the good spot again." As if summoned by her comment, the two heard a door open and close upstairs, signaling that Seiji was awake. His head popped into the kitchen just in time to see Kayura dart out the back door with a muffin in each hand.

"Oh no you don't!" Seiji cried, before taking off after her. Nasuti laughed and went back to cooking. Ever since that first time Seiji had discovered Kayura in what he called 'his special meditation spot' it had become a race whenever she and the ex-Masho visited. There was even a bet going around as to what the final outcome of it all would be. If anything, Nasuti took it as a hint that things might stay somewhat the same considering this new bomb that had been dropped on them all.

Breakfast was a somewhat quiet affair with Seiji glaring at Kayura only to stop when he saw Ryo sigh and hand over some money to Naaza who laughed and mouthed 'told you' to the now grumpy warrior of Wildfire. Shu was working his way through a third omelet that he had snatched from Ryo after Rajura had taken his, a theft witnessed only by Shin who groaned and shook his head. The others were talking with Shuten, Touma asking what it was like in the Spirit realm while Cale told him probed for more questions regarding his affair from long ago. Nasuti barely said more than 'good morning' to anyone which was never a good thing. In all, they were waiting to see who would be the one to open the can of worms no one was quite sure they wanted to touch. By the time someone finally got the courage to clear his throat, Nasuti had stood up.

Kayura looked at her and said. "I'll be just a second. We taking your car or mine?"

Nasuti shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. But my jeep has more room than your Civic."

Kayura nodded as she shoveled the last bite of omelet in her mouth. "Good point. OK, I'm done, let's go!" The others looked at the two in shock. Taking advantage of it, the two women raced upstairs and grabbed their purses. Kayura took a bit longer than Nasuti and came down to face a confused group of men. "Oh, sorry, I'm taking Nasty on a shopping trip to settle her nerves. She needs it, trust me."

"And how do we know that you are not just using this as an excuse to exercise your own credit card?" Touma asked.

Kayura smiled. She had been waiting for this. Reaching into her bag she pulled something out and exclaimed. "Because we're going to be using you're credit cards! That should be more than enough for both of us!" Nasuti burst into laughter as she realized what had been keeping Kayura so long. In her hands she held eight gold cards each with a limit of at least $500 (about 59,085 yen). Looks of disbelief crossed the faces of all present.

"And just why are you going to spend our money? We worked our asses off for those." Shu said.

"Easy, you guys are the reason she needs this trip, therefore you should help in the getting her back to her cheerful self. You all want Nasuti to cheer up, don't you?" Kayura had them there. 'Hook, line and sinker!' she declared to herself. Linking an arm through Nasuti's she herded the still laughing young lady out the door. The others stood there.

Touma finally broke the silence. "Am I the only one who hates it when Kayura makes sense?" A chorus of 'you're not alone' was the reply.

"The only thing left to do now is sit around and wait for the girls to get back." Shin said. "I'll take the dishes. Someone think of something non strenuous we can do until then."

Shu looked confused for a moment. "Why can't we do something strenuous?"

"Because, oh forgetful one, we're going to be expected to be eagerly waiting when their royal highnesses return with their mountain of shopping bags." Rajura answered.

Shu paled. "Oh God, I had forgotten." He said glaring at Ryo. The last shopping trip had been set off by the hot head's comment that Kayura had only been a threat because they were too gentlemanly to actually hit a girl. The result had been five bags for each male to carry. "I vote Shuten to handle it for all of us. It's his fault anyway." Shuten gulped as all eyes turned towards him with speculative looks.

"He looks well rested enough for it." Seiji supplied. The others nodded.

"And maybe this will teach him to better communication skills." More nods. Shuten was now looking rather green. He backed up only to encounter an unmoving wall. Looking behind him he was met with Ryo's smiling face.

"Don't worry; we'll make sure you're all prepared for the onslaught. Right guys?" A circle of grins was his answer. Shin came out of the kitchen later to discover a sight that could only be called a Kodak moment. Tied to the coat rack next to the door stood a gagged Shuten dressed in a bellhop outfit. A sign had been placed around his neck that read. 'Here for your package carrying pleasure. The more the merrier.' Behind him came the sounds of a video game in full championship mode. Waving to Shuten who had begun making pitiful noises behind the gag, Shin walked down the stairs to the den. Seated in a circle around the TV screen were his comrades cheering on Rajura and Shu as they duked it out.

"Like what you did with Shuten. Who's wining?" Sin said as he sat down next to Anubis.

The blue haired man shrugged. "Shu's idea if you can believe it. I think Rajura's winning."