"." - Talking (NO Duh!)
^.^ - Language
(.) - My daft self
- Singing/Battle Chants
CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word
*Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots
show as only one dot on ff.net.
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.
Aoi Youkai
*Chapter 13: Downtown*
~*~ Flashback ~*~
She received a tiara and a HUGE bouquet, which she placed in a vase afterwards.
~*~ End Flashback ~*~
Today was Saturday, and that meant no school. So, Aya sat there under a cherry tree reading more manga. Suddenly, she noticed a shadow cast upon her and looked up. She saw Hideki, but something was different. His eyes had gone blank and whatever evil sparkle that was there wasn't anymore.
Her eyes narrowed, and she scanned the area, getting up from her seat, finally spotting Maaya walking up towards Hideki and placing her arm around him, grinning evilly. "I always DID like those mind-control spells."
"Whadaya want?"
"The Sugimori curses always were the best, don't you think so? Although the chants are a bit lame..."
Aya grunted, raising her arms in front of her defensively, and a ki shield appeared before her. Hideki began chanting monotonously,
Aya shrieked as she dropped into a portal that had opened beneath her, hearing Maaya's cackle, "Of course, the best part is that no shield can deflect iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..." the voice trailed off as Aya dropped into a red abyss.
Maaya was still laughing as Hideki came to his senses. All he could remember was going to Maaya's house to return the jacket she left in his car, that evil glint in her eyes, and while he was recovering from the trance, the word 'curse'. Then he realized what happened as Aya's friends came running over.
He snapped around to the laughing girl demanding, "Who'd I just curse?"
"Aya, of course. You don't remember? Pity. Her scream was music to my ears."
He glared at her, "And I thought I liked you. Now I see what you really are."
Then his arm was twisted behind him & he was slammed into the ground by Tetsuya and Aki asked in a deadly voice, "Where's my sister?"
"I don't know. Lemme go!"
"Not till you tell me where you sent her."
"I really don't know. Trust me. Maaya put a godforsaken mind-control spell on me. S'not my bloody fault."
They looked up and saw Maaya begin to run. Fat chance. Yong Li and Tsuki dashed after her and pouncing, knocked her to the ground, "What did you do?"
"What he said. Let go of me before I sue."
"Oh yeah? I highly doubt it. What did you make him do?"
"Ask him."
They turned to Hideki who was being put into a standing position, and he said, "I must've cursed her."
Their faces turned white and Syaoran punched him across the face, knowing best what the Sugimori curses could do. He was about to punch him again and Touya grabbed his arm, "My turn."
Sakura screamed, "STOP!" and they all turned to face her. Her face was a deathly white as she asked, "Which one?"
"I don't know. I was in a complete trance."
"Will you be able to find out?"
"Yes. The curses are cast in sequence, and once the whole set is completed, it starts over. But I suggest waiting here for a few seconds more. If I'm right and this is the last curse inn the list, she'll just be a minute. Literally."
Over where Aya was, she had just dropped through another portal and landed in the master bedroom of a recognizably Singaporean HDB flat. A girl in a big green Bugs Bunny tee was at a computer, typing, and Superman was blasting out of the speakers. The girl snapped around to face the strange redhead, staring for a while before screaming her lungs out. Her face then blanked and she collapsed. She lay on the floor for a second or two then got up.
Aya looked into her dark brown eyes, which seemed different. Then the girl spoke in a voice that didn't seem her own, "I've been waiting for you, Aya."
"Who are you?"
"I'm the spirit who took shelter in this girl's body. I have no name, although thousands of years ago, the people called me Suzaku."
"The red phoenix?"
"Yes. I ruled over the lands with my brothers Byakko, Genbu and Seiryu. Then Seiryu decided he wanted to rule the whole world instead of having to share and started a war only I survived, and even then only my soul. My body itself was burnt to ashes. Anyway, our job consisted mainly of caring for the people, righting wrongs, the usual, but most importantly, reading people's fates and making sure they fulfil it."
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"Learn. About the many universes coexisting side by side, and also help with the fate thing."
"And I'm supposed to do that how?"
"We'll take a trip through Orchard Road and get what we need. Then we'll start. First, we have to take care of something." she stuck her head out the door, "Ma! I'm leaving now!"
"OK!" came the reply.
"My body, well, her name's Kelly, she's going to stay over at her friend's house tonight, which would mean that we've got all night to learn."
"But I can't stay here all night. My friends will be worried."
"Look at your watch. We've been talking a few minutes, but a second barely passed. Your whole trip here will only last a minute in your world. It's part of the curse. Now to sms a friend to tell her I can't make it."
The 'girl' picked up a phone and began typing before leaving the room to get a change of clothes in another bedroom, where a boy and a very fat man were sleeping in the air-con. Emerging with an arm full of clothes, she asked, "You got any cash?"
"Um, yah."
"Sing dollars?"
"Yup."
"Let me see it. Your world is roughly thirteen to fourteen years ahead of this one. I need to see if it's the currency here."
Aya dug around and found eight hundred dollar bills in her pocket, showing it to Suzaku, who said, "Thank god. Good. Now we can leave."
She entered a toilet with a mirrored sliding door and emerged in a blue blouse and a long black skirt, "Now we're good to go. We're going by MRT."
They snuck past Kelly's mother pretty easily and left the block. Taking the train, they were at Singapore's shopping central in a click. Aya was dragged into Ngee Ann city and as they made their way to the third level, she stared around her, "Cool! The place has hardly changed."
"Oh, and another thing, around others, call me Kelly. We may just run into one of her friends."
They entered Kinokuniya, the colossal bookstore, and 'Kelly' began moving around, picking books off shelves a bit too quickly for Aya to catch up. She finally gave up searching for the girl and said, "Look. I'll be in the manga section. Pick all the books you want and meet me there."
"Ok."
Aya made her way to the manga section and searched for stuff. She found and took all the Saiyuki art books she could find, and Wish by Clamp. She looked around for a while and heard a voice call her name. She turned and found 'Kelly' carrying a stack of books, and a muffled voice came from beneath, "Let's go."
At the cashier, the whole lot happened to cost more than four hundred dollars, and the difference of weight was felt.
They made their way to Yoshinoya downstairs for lunch and 'Kelly' proceeded to explain, "There are many universes, and each inhabited universe has the same basic planets and stars and everything else is give or take. These inhabited universes are the Alpha world, where we are right now, the Beta, where you're from and the Omega worlds, right at the bottom. The Alpha world is the one from which everything is controlled by me. The worlds between Beta and the Omega are all just one huge abyss which serves as an interchange between Beta and the Omega, got me so far?"
"Yeah, but what do they have to do with each other."
"Not much, but I'm somehow unable to teach people things in sequence. Moving on, each world has a group, an individual or perhaps an entire family who are somehow important and without them, the particular world will fall apart. Your curse makes you the one to help them. And these people have had their stories written as books in Alpha or Beta. The authors think it's just inspiration, but they're wrong. These are the scribes destined to write the stories of these worlds. That's why we needed these books. I need you to read them and make sure you're familiar with the stories of these people. They'll need your help."
"And when will I have to do all this? What books have you got me, anyway?""
"The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gerald Morris's four Arthurian novels, the Princess diaries series, the Harry Potter series, Juliet Marillier's debut trilogy and I believe you already have the Saiyuki, Vandread and Fushigi Yuugi anime and manga. You'll need to know most of them when you're eighteen. You'll have to rush with the Harry Potter series though. You'll need it when you're in England. And I just though you'd like Juliet Marillier's books."
"Ok?"
"And according to the curse, when you turn eighteen, you and the one closest to you, friend or...AHEM... otherwise will be going through this together. Then, when you turn twenty-one, the war will start. You'll have to go through the Maze, and then fight a war. Don't worry. I'll be back to explain when we get there."
Aya was glaring at her, "What about tonight? We can't go to your place, since you're supposed to be out."
"Orchard hotel. You've still got how much?"
"Almost three hundred."
"Enough for a night (I think). Come on. It's down the road."
They left and lugging the books along with them, they approached the hotel and entered, making straight for the counter, "Hi. We'd like a double room for one night."
The receptionist eyed them suspiciously, "Where are your parents? The registrar has to be at least eighteen."
Aya scowled, digging her hand into her pocket and a red aura flared from inside and she brought her hand out, producing an IC, "I AM eighteen. Just because I'm short doesn't mean you have to go assuming I'm six."
"I beg your pardon ma'am."
They took their keys and went up. In the lift, Aya asked, "What about clothes?"
"You made your own IC, you can make clothes."
"Damn you. It'll disappear soon enough. It's only an illusion. Why am I doing all the work?"
"School fees. Now come on. You need to get reading."
Aya began reading in the shower, and never stopped, not even through dinner. By the time they went to bed, she was done with the first two books and was starting on the third.
The next day came and they checked out. At the void deck of 'Kelly's' block, Suzaku placed her hand on Aya's shoulder, "Good luck. You'll have to go in a few seconds, so bye."
"Bye."
"I'll take care of Kelly's memory. Just wait around where people won't see you disappear, ok?"
"Ok."
'Kelly' walked to the lift lobby and Aya strolled around, finally finding herself across the car park behind a short hill amongst some trees. She looked at her watch and the second count turned from 59 to 00. With her armful of books and only a dollar or two left, she fell through another portal.
The few seconds passed and true enough, Aya dropped out of another portal. Her friends, worried, rushed towards her, "Daijoubu ka?"
"Daijoubu."
"What're all those books?"
"None of your business. What're you guys doing here, anyway?"
"Oh. Touya, Yukito and Nakuru were leaving, so we came to find you to tell you. Then we found out about the curse."
"Oh. Nice long-term curse, isn't it? And a war too."
They turned to Hideki who looked grave, "She's right. The war has finally come. When she turns twenty-one, after a test, the ultimate war between light and dark will finally begin, to be more specific, between the first child of the Sugimoris & his inherited army and whoever else. I always avoided curses because I knew my father cast the second last one in the list."
Aya stood up, "So you never wanted the war to occur in the first place?"
"Yes. My father did, but he died before he could do anything, so now the burdens on me."
She smiled at him, something no one expected her to do, "I think the curse put on your family is beginning to wear thin."
Too bad for Aya, Touya had to return to the mainland that day. Now, she fell prey to the many boys that consisted of 50% of the student population. He had 'adopted' her as an imouto-chan, having lost Sakura to Syaoran long ago, and being the stereotypical over-protective onii-chan, he was what kept them away.
Aya had managed to escape the clutches of the friends and the many boys asking her out by escaping to the mainland, with nought but her wallet, MP3 player and mobile. She loved her phone. It wasn't too tiny like some she knew were, the buttons weren't too stiff, the casing was just the right colour, there wasn't any antenna, it had a picture editor, a ring tone composer and it had 500 max characters for sms.
She strolled into town and took in the sights - tall buildings, large screens advertising various products and the like. She bought herself an ice-cream cone and licked it as she walked down the street, listening to her music.
Then, she bumped into someone and her cone went flying in the air as her head snapped up, "Gomen nasai!"
"It's ok...youkai."
She grinned at the man before her, grinning, "Konnichiwa, Touya onii-chan."
"What're you doing here on the mainland alone, anyway? As far as I know, this is only your first or second time here. If you got lost, you could be in deep shit." "Well, that would be YOUR fault, won't it? You HAD to leave, leaving me alone with that mob of himbos. Now you owe me."
"Ok then. I'll show you around town, how about that? I start work only tomorrow, so I'm free."
"Fine by me. I've got to do some shopping for the two trips, anyway."
He led her into the largest building nearest to them and she marvelled at the size of the place, "Cool."
"What d'you need to buy, anyway?"
"I dunno. Lots of stuff, I suppose. I need clothes, that's one thing for sure."
"Then it's Taka where we're headed. It's got everything."
"Takashimaya?"
"Yup. Heard of it?"
"There's a huge one in Ngee Ann City in Singapore. Love the place, especially Kino."
"Kinokuniya?"
"What else?"
They made their way through the crowd and entered a large department store, several times the size of its Singaporean counterpart. Aya squealed in delight and darted straight in, Touya in tow.
Soon, her arms were full of clothes, shoes, electronics, bits and pieces from here and there, some MORE underwear in case she gets too lazy to wash what she had and with Touya dragging along a new suitcase, still blushing from being spotted while being dragged into the lingerie department.
She dumped the lot on one of the counters as the cashier began scanning them in. She drew her wallet from her pocket, "Damn it."
"What's wrong?"
"I took the wrong wallet. My OTHER one's the one with all my cash and cards. Shit."
The cashier threw her a disapproving look that only teachers could perfect and Touya sighed, shaking his head. This one could be even MORE muddle- headed than Sakura ever was. He dug through his untidy pockets and drew out his platinum, passing it to the cashier, who said in a true down-the-nose voice, "Your PIN number, sir."
He keyed it in as Aya stared at him, "You can't do that."
"I just did."
"But..."
"But what?"
She scowled, "I don't like owing people money. I lose my sense of superiority."
"Who said you owe me?"
"WHAT?"
"You don't owe me. Everything today is on me. Now, we call my limo, get the stuff in and we're going for chow."
She threw her arms around him, glomping him hard as she can, "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU~!"
Touya cringed, "God, Aya, I thought I was free when I FINALLY broke Nakuru out of the habit. Let go will you?"
Confusing, isn't it? I know. I'm notorious for knowing things and not being able to explain it properly. R+R!
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.
Aoi Youkai
*Chapter 13: Downtown*
~*~ Flashback ~*~
She received a tiara and a HUGE bouquet, which she placed in a vase afterwards.
~*~ End Flashback ~*~
Today was Saturday, and that meant no school. So, Aya sat there under a cherry tree reading more manga. Suddenly, she noticed a shadow cast upon her and looked up. She saw Hideki, but something was different. His eyes had gone blank and whatever evil sparkle that was there wasn't anymore.
Her eyes narrowed, and she scanned the area, getting up from her seat, finally spotting Maaya walking up towards Hideki and placing her arm around him, grinning evilly. "I always DID like those mind-control spells."
"Whadaya want?"
"The Sugimori curses always were the best, don't you think so? Although the chants are a bit lame..."
Aya grunted, raising her arms in front of her defensively, and a ki shield appeared before her. Hideki began chanting monotonously,
Aya shrieked as she dropped into a portal that had opened beneath her, hearing Maaya's cackle, "Of course, the best part is that no shield can deflect iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..." the voice trailed off as Aya dropped into a red abyss.
Maaya was still laughing as Hideki came to his senses. All he could remember was going to Maaya's house to return the jacket she left in his car, that evil glint in her eyes, and while he was recovering from the trance, the word 'curse'. Then he realized what happened as Aya's friends came running over.
He snapped around to the laughing girl demanding, "Who'd I just curse?"
"Aya, of course. You don't remember? Pity. Her scream was music to my ears."
He glared at her, "And I thought I liked you. Now I see what you really are."
Then his arm was twisted behind him & he was slammed into the ground by Tetsuya and Aki asked in a deadly voice, "Where's my sister?"
"I don't know. Lemme go!"
"Not till you tell me where you sent her."
"I really don't know. Trust me. Maaya put a godforsaken mind-control spell on me. S'not my bloody fault."
They looked up and saw Maaya begin to run. Fat chance. Yong Li and Tsuki dashed after her and pouncing, knocked her to the ground, "What did you do?"
"What he said. Let go of me before I sue."
"Oh yeah? I highly doubt it. What did you make him do?"
"Ask him."
They turned to Hideki who was being put into a standing position, and he said, "I must've cursed her."
Their faces turned white and Syaoran punched him across the face, knowing best what the Sugimori curses could do. He was about to punch him again and Touya grabbed his arm, "My turn."
Sakura screamed, "STOP!" and they all turned to face her. Her face was a deathly white as she asked, "Which one?"
"I don't know. I was in a complete trance."
"Will you be able to find out?"
"Yes. The curses are cast in sequence, and once the whole set is completed, it starts over. But I suggest waiting here for a few seconds more. If I'm right and this is the last curse inn the list, she'll just be a minute. Literally."
Over where Aya was, she had just dropped through another portal and landed in the master bedroom of a recognizably Singaporean HDB flat. A girl in a big green Bugs Bunny tee was at a computer, typing, and Superman was blasting out of the speakers. The girl snapped around to face the strange redhead, staring for a while before screaming her lungs out. Her face then blanked and she collapsed. She lay on the floor for a second or two then got up.
Aya looked into her dark brown eyes, which seemed different. Then the girl spoke in a voice that didn't seem her own, "I've been waiting for you, Aya."
"Who are you?"
"I'm the spirit who took shelter in this girl's body. I have no name, although thousands of years ago, the people called me Suzaku."
"The red phoenix?"
"Yes. I ruled over the lands with my brothers Byakko, Genbu and Seiryu. Then Seiryu decided he wanted to rule the whole world instead of having to share and started a war only I survived, and even then only my soul. My body itself was burnt to ashes. Anyway, our job consisted mainly of caring for the people, righting wrongs, the usual, but most importantly, reading people's fates and making sure they fulfil it."
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"Learn. About the many universes coexisting side by side, and also help with the fate thing."
"And I'm supposed to do that how?"
"We'll take a trip through Orchard Road and get what we need. Then we'll start. First, we have to take care of something." she stuck her head out the door, "Ma! I'm leaving now!"
"OK!" came the reply.
"My body, well, her name's Kelly, she's going to stay over at her friend's house tonight, which would mean that we've got all night to learn."
"But I can't stay here all night. My friends will be worried."
"Look at your watch. We've been talking a few minutes, but a second barely passed. Your whole trip here will only last a minute in your world. It's part of the curse. Now to sms a friend to tell her I can't make it."
The 'girl' picked up a phone and began typing before leaving the room to get a change of clothes in another bedroom, where a boy and a very fat man were sleeping in the air-con. Emerging with an arm full of clothes, she asked, "You got any cash?"
"Um, yah."
"Sing dollars?"
"Yup."
"Let me see it. Your world is roughly thirteen to fourteen years ahead of this one. I need to see if it's the currency here."
Aya dug around and found eight hundred dollar bills in her pocket, showing it to Suzaku, who said, "Thank god. Good. Now we can leave."
She entered a toilet with a mirrored sliding door and emerged in a blue blouse and a long black skirt, "Now we're good to go. We're going by MRT."
They snuck past Kelly's mother pretty easily and left the block. Taking the train, they were at Singapore's shopping central in a click. Aya was dragged into Ngee Ann city and as they made their way to the third level, she stared around her, "Cool! The place has hardly changed."
"Oh, and another thing, around others, call me Kelly. We may just run into one of her friends."
They entered Kinokuniya, the colossal bookstore, and 'Kelly' began moving around, picking books off shelves a bit too quickly for Aya to catch up. She finally gave up searching for the girl and said, "Look. I'll be in the manga section. Pick all the books you want and meet me there."
"Ok."
Aya made her way to the manga section and searched for stuff. She found and took all the Saiyuki art books she could find, and Wish by Clamp. She looked around for a while and heard a voice call her name. She turned and found 'Kelly' carrying a stack of books, and a muffled voice came from beneath, "Let's go."
At the cashier, the whole lot happened to cost more than four hundred dollars, and the difference of weight was felt.
They made their way to Yoshinoya downstairs for lunch and 'Kelly' proceeded to explain, "There are many universes, and each inhabited universe has the same basic planets and stars and everything else is give or take. These inhabited universes are the Alpha world, where we are right now, the Beta, where you're from and the Omega worlds, right at the bottom. The Alpha world is the one from which everything is controlled by me. The worlds between Beta and the Omega are all just one huge abyss which serves as an interchange between Beta and the Omega, got me so far?"
"Yeah, but what do they have to do with each other."
"Not much, but I'm somehow unable to teach people things in sequence. Moving on, each world has a group, an individual or perhaps an entire family who are somehow important and without them, the particular world will fall apart. Your curse makes you the one to help them. And these people have had their stories written as books in Alpha or Beta. The authors think it's just inspiration, but they're wrong. These are the scribes destined to write the stories of these worlds. That's why we needed these books. I need you to read them and make sure you're familiar with the stories of these people. They'll need your help."
"And when will I have to do all this? What books have you got me, anyway?""
"The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gerald Morris's four Arthurian novels, the Princess diaries series, the Harry Potter series, Juliet Marillier's debut trilogy and I believe you already have the Saiyuki, Vandread and Fushigi Yuugi anime and manga. You'll need to know most of them when you're eighteen. You'll have to rush with the Harry Potter series though. You'll need it when you're in England. And I just though you'd like Juliet Marillier's books."
"Ok?"
"And according to the curse, when you turn eighteen, you and the one closest to you, friend or...AHEM... otherwise will be going through this together. Then, when you turn twenty-one, the war will start. You'll have to go through the Maze, and then fight a war. Don't worry. I'll be back to explain when we get there."
Aya was glaring at her, "What about tonight? We can't go to your place, since you're supposed to be out."
"Orchard hotel. You've still got how much?"
"Almost three hundred."
"Enough for a night (I think). Come on. It's down the road."
They left and lugging the books along with them, they approached the hotel and entered, making straight for the counter, "Hi. We'd like a double room for one night."
The receptionist eyed them suspiciously, "Where are your parents? The registrar has to be at least eighteen."
Aya scowled, digging her hand into her pocket and a red aura flared from inside and she brought her hand out, producing an IC, "I AM eighteen. Just because I'm short doesn't mean you have to go assuming I'm six."
"I beg your pardon ma'am."
They took their keys and went up. In the lift, Aya asked, "What about clothes?"
"You made your own IC, you can make clothes."
"Damn you. It'll disappear soon enough. It's only an illusion. Why am I doing all the work?"
"School fees. Now come on. You need to get reading."
Aya began reading in the shower, and never stopped, not even through dinner. By the time they went to bed, she was done with the first two books and was starting on the third.
The next day came and they checked out. At the void deck of 'Kelly's' block, Suzaku placed her hand on Aya's shoulder, "Good luck. You'll have to go in a few seconds, so bye."
"Bye."
"I'll take care of Kelly's memory. Just wait around where people won't see you disappear, ok?"
"Ok."
'Kelly' walked to the lift lobby and Aya strolled around, finally finding herself across the car park behind a short hill amongst some trees. She looked at her watch and the second count turned from 59 to 00. With her armful of books and only a dollar or two left, she fell through another portal.
The few seconds passed and true enough, Aya dropped out of another portal. Her friends, worried, rushed towards her, "Daijoubu ka?"
"Daijoubu."
"What're all those books?"
"None of your business. What're you guys doing here, anyway?"
"Oh. Touya, Yukito and Nakuru were leaving, so we came to find you to tell you. Then we found out about the curse."
"Oh. Nice long-term curse, isn't it? And a war too."
They turned to Hideki who looked grave, "She's right. The war has finally come. When she turns twenty-one, after a test, the ultimate war between light and dark will finally begin, to be more specific, between the first child of the Sugimoris & his inherited army and whoever else. I always avoided curses because I knew my father cast the second last one in the list."
Aya stood up, "So you never wanted the war to occur in the first place?"
"Yes. My father did, but he died before he could do anything, so now the burdens on me."
She smiled at him, something no one expected her to do, "I think the curse put on your family is beginning to wear thin."
Too bad for Aya, Touya had to return to the mainland that day. Now, she fell prey to the many boys that consisted of 50% of the student population. He had 'adopted' her as an imouto-chan, having lost Sakura to Syaoran long ago, and being the stereotypical over-protective onii-chan, he was what kept them away.
Aya had managed to escape the clutches of the friends and the many boys asking her out by escaping to the mainland, with nought but her wallet, MP3 player and mobile. She loved her phone. It wasn't too tiny like some she knew were, the buttons weren't too stiff, the casing was just the right colour, there wasn't any antenna, it had a picture editor, a ring tone composer and it had 500 max characters for sms.
She strolled into town and took in the sights - tall buildings, large screens advertising various products and the like. She bought herself an ice-cream cone and licked it as she walked down the street, listening to her music.
Then, she bumped into someone and her cone went flying in the air as her head snapped up, "Gomen nasai!"
"It's ok...youkai."
She grinned at the man before her, grinning, "Konnichiwa, Touya onii-chan."
"What're you doing here on the mainland alone, anyway? As far as I know, this is only your first or second time here. If you got lost, you could be in deep shit." "Well, that would be YOUR fault, won't it? You HAD to leave, leaving me alone with that mob of himbos. Now you owe me."
"Ok then. I'll show you around town, how about that? I start work only tomorrow, so I'm free."
"Fine by me. I've got to do some shopping for the two trips, anyway."
He led her into the largest building nearest to them and she marvelled at the size of the place, "Cool."
"What d'you need to buy, anyway?"
"I dunno. Lots of stuff, I suppose. I need clothes, that's one thing for sure."
"Then it's Taka where we're headed. It's got everything."
"Takashimaya?"
"Yup. Heard of it?"
"There's a huge one in Ngee Ann City in Singapore. Love the place, especially Kino."
"Kinokuniya?"
"What else?"
They made their way through the crowd and entered a large department store, several times the size of its Singaporean counterpart. Aya squealed in delight and darted straight in, Touya in tow.
Soon, her arms were full of clothes, shoes, electronics, bits and pieces from here and there, some MORE underwear in case she gets too lazy to wash what she had and with Touya dragging along a new suitcase, still blushing from being spotted while being dragged into the lingerie department.
She dumped the lot on one of the counters as the cashier began scanning them in. She drew her wallet from her pocket, "Damn it."
"What's wrong?"
"I took the wrong wallet. My OTHER one's the one with all my cash and cards. Shit."
The cashier threw her a disapproving look that only teachers could perfect and Touya sighed, shaking his head. This one could be even MORE muddle- headed than Sakura ever was. He dug through his untidy pockets and drew out his platinum, passing it to the cashier, who said in a true down-the-nose voice, "Your PIN number, sir."
He keyed it in as Aya stared at him, "You can't do that."
"I just did."
"But..."
"But what?"
She scowled, "I don't like owing people money. I lose my sense of superiority."
"Who said you owe me?"
"WHAT?"
"You don't owe me. Everything today is on me. Now, we call my limo, get the stuff in and we're going for chow."
She threw her arms around him, glomping him hard as she can, "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU~!"
Touya cringed, "God, Aya, I thought I was free when I FINALLY broke Nakuru out of the habit. Let go will you?"
Confusing, isn't it? I know. I'm notorious for knowing things and not being able to explain it properly. R+R!
