~ Chapter 8 ~
Bus Ride:
Our lil slice of insanity and Spanish dudes
At the end of the school day, Sakura, Joanna, Lindsay, Jess, and the two of us all walked across a very lengthy field. It was extremely cold and windy, so Tasuki and I clung together, much like him and Sakura did the previous morning, shivering and whining like little children.
"HEY! Are we almost there??" Tasuki managed to say through chattering teeth.
"Right over there, Tasuki! There's our bus!" Sakura looked through a chain fence.
"Hey, and that girl isn't in our seats!" Sakura and Joanna cheered out of nowhere.
"Oh happy days!"
I didn't quite know how they could maneuver like that in this frigid weather. At the moment, I didn't really care to know – I just needed to get on that bus before I turned to a solid block of ice.
"Everythin' in this world is crazy!" Tasuki stared blankly down at the bus seats, and the bus in general. I had to agree that I've never really seen anything like it.
"Shh!" Sakura hissed. "Don't let the driver hear you! I just told him that you were new transfer students and you needed to come with me!"
"But don't you need a note?" Joanna asked.
"I talked my way outta that …"
"Tasuki – before we start: give me your tessen," Sakura held out her open hand in Tasuki's face. He withdrew from it with a weird look.
"No way!" Tasuki again grabbed it from my kasa and choked me, then held it away from harm's reach. "It's mine, ya hear?" He stuck out his tongue rudely. I sat with Tasuki in the same seat, and sweatdropped at the ensuing battle.
Sakura's eyes flashed the distinct green momentarily as she glared Tasuki down in a staring contest. The green flash sent Tasuki into a mind-boggle.
"Holy crap, no!" He held his tessen in front of his head protectively. "Spare me!"
Joanna, like me, sat back – way back – from possible danger. She got Sakura's attention.
"What's with him? You scaring people again?"
She turned to her and laughed. "Are you kidding? That's my hobby! 24/7, I keep it alive!" She turned her glare back to Tasuki, who had turned SD in his amount of pressure and whimpered. Sakura blinked for a few seconds, and spotted the lone tessen on the seat. She snatched it faster than I could blink my eye, and then stuffed it into her satchel.
I poked Tasuki's back. "Tasuki-san no da … I would watch myself around Sakura-chan no da."
"What? What's she gonna do ta me, huh??" He then got in my face as well. I put on a stupid grin.
"Well – you don't want her revealing her true identity to the entire student body by bursting through this bus roof as she flies you up to oblivion then drops you to the never coming hard pavement below no da?" Tasuki gave me a weird look.
"Put a hefty stain on my new clothes, that would."
Halfway through the bus ride, Joanna, Sakura, and another friend of theirs – obviously named Carlos – spoke about who-knows-what, and he spoke in that weird language that we heard earlier during classes. We didn't pay any attention whatsoever, and turned everything to the passing objects outside the bus.
"Wow, look at this Sakura-chan no da! That person walking almost got hit no da!"
"Damn, didya see how she jumped then rolled away from the back wheel?!" Tasuki and I marveled at how this bus could go by so fast without crashing into things at the same time.
"I think its luck," Sakura added, briefly joining us at the window. Tasuki and I looked at her curiously.
"How did you know … ?"
"I can read peoples' thoughts, but not all the time, only when I focus on that person and concentrate," she preached. "But I can't do it too much, though, it takes up effort and patience, definitely, also it sucks up your energy quick – but it is useful, for one reason or another."
"Even I can't do that no da … you really are the descendant of Suzaku-sama no da," I smiled, and then turned to Tasuki as he spoke.
"Well, sure, Chiri – didn't ya see her wings an' all?" He kept his wide eyes locked on the passing objects in front of him. "Damn lucky, I'd say."
"I wonder if the other Suzaku Seishi know about a relative of Suzaku-sama no da …"
Sakura smiled and waved me off. "Oh, don't think so hard now, Chichiri, just enjoy the ride!"
Behind us, Carlos lay down to sleep or somewhat, and Joanna had a hard time trying to get him to sit up. Sakura had previously tried numerous attempts and even a smack across the head, but failed each time and gave up to talk with us.
"C'mon … get up!!"
Carlos shook his head roughly, then stopped and blinked at the back of Tasuki's head as he gawked/stared out the window.
"Hey, that's me," he said in somewhat understandable English as he pointed at Tasuki.
Joanna looked as all three of us looked out the window: Tasuki with his nose squashed against the glass, Chichiri peering over his shoulder, and Sakura in a different seat, casually watching with no interest.
Joanna saw he was pointing to Tasuki, and she looked back at him.
"I don't think so."
Stubborn as he was, he shot back. "Si."
"No."
"Si."
"No."
"SI!"
"NO!"
And that continued for a while, until the bus slowed down to a couple stops.
"Our stop's next," Sakura got up and gathered all of her stuff.
"Call me?" Joanna asked. Sakura looked at Tasuki, still glued to the window, then at me, who watched anything but out the window, then back to Joanna.
"I'll see what I can do."
As we walked off the bus, Tasuki needed help walking, because when he stepped down the last step, he tripped and fell flat on his face, bringing me with him. When we got all the way off, the bus shut the door, and skidded away. Sakura noted that as strange, because the bus never went that fast away from her stop. Joanna was also waving hysterically at Sakura from the window – and having a particularly hard time getting Carlos to wave.
Sakura showed us inside once again, dropping all of her stuff on the ground in her room in a pile and dropping to the floor heavily. She then fell to her back and stared up at the ceiling. Tasuki and I wondered what was up.
"Ne, Sakura-chan, are you … alright no da?" I leaned over peering at her face.
"I'm good, just cooling off from school … no problem." Tasuki frowned at me as he peered over as well.
"Where's my tessen?"
~~ Half-hour Later, still home alone
Sakura had gotten Tasuki and I something to eat by now, and we all sat assembled in a circle in the living room floor. Tama and Smoke still lounged in Sakura's room - no surprise there.
Sakura sighed. "I know what you guys were talking about before in school," she sipped her water bottle. "There have been strange vibes I've been getting from the library for the past few weeks, but I've never had the chance to check it out. But now it's gotten your attention, I think it's time."
"But when no da?"
Sakura thought for a moment. "How about tonight?"
"How are we gonna get past your parents without gettin' caught?"
Sakura bowed respectively in my direction. "That's where you come in, Chichiri! You get us outta the house with your teleportation spell, and I can test my wings out all the way there!"
"Another adventure!" Tasuki got up and hopped around a bit. "I'm sorry, but I need one! This is getting quite borin'!"
Sakura slammed her fist into her other hand. "It's settled then, tonight at 12 …"
"… the midnight run begins!" Tasuki finished off the sentence ---
"No da!" --- but only I completed it.