DAY 3- The Confusion
After a rather peaceful night, Yuzumi woke up and decided to hunt down some breakfast. "I think we should go to IHOP. We should go through the drive in and keep the guys in back. It would probably be a bad thing if fan girls recognized them. We could have a mob on our hands if that happened." Yuzumi whispered to herself. She opened the little window thing in the back seat, and saw that the guys were already awake. "Oh. You're awake. I guess all that's left to do is get Sakura up. I should warn you Kenshin-san, Inuyasha, Sakura isn't a morning person. She'll probably be a little… um… shall we say touchy." Kenshin and Inuyasha just looked at each other; they both new what could happen when girls were 'touchy'. Kaoru would often found chores for Kenshin, and Kagome would end up yelling at Inuyasha. Nothing severe mind you, but not all together pleasant either.
Yuzumi closed the window, she didn't want either of the guys to get hurt, and then she took all of the sharp objects from the reach of Sakura. Next, she positioned herself behind the front seat and prepared to use it as a shield. She also made sure that she had a weapon in her hand in case Sakura was keeping a knife hidden under her. She tried several ways of waking Sakura, but none of them worked. "Guess I'll have to use my ace in the hole." With this comment, she used her katana to reach over to the steering wheel and hit the horn, repeatedly.
"What the hell is all the noise?!!! I was sleeping!" Sakura angrily awoke.
At most times Yuzumi wasn't the least bit afraid of Sakura, but in the morning she was terrified of the girl. I swear that girl could make even Nakago cower in fear. Then again he would just send some poor unfortunate servant/slave to wake her up. Yuzumi thought as she hid behind the seat.
Once Sakura had calmed down, and realized that Yuzumi had already removed all throw able objects from her reach, she found that she wanted some food. "How about some breakfast? Though Inuyasha-sama and Kenshin should probably stay in the back." Sakura said to Yuzumi.
"Okay, we should go to IHOP and get pancakes."
"What is with you and pancakes?"
"I like pancakes." Yuzumi said in a perfect imitation of Grr.
Sakura rolled her eyes and opened the little window in the back seat so that she could talk to Inuyasha and Kenshin. When she looked in the back she found that the two of them were already awake, so she told them what they were going to do. "I'm going to drive everyone to IHOP. Inuyasha-sama, Kenshin, Yuzumi and I need you to stay where you are because we don't want fan girls to recognize you and cause problems."
Kenshin and Inuyasha nodded, but they didn't really understand why they should stay in the back. They didn't mind too much since it was roomier if not as comfortable in the back, but one thing confused them. How could a group of girls that they had never seen before know who they are? Then again Sakura and Yuzumi knew them.
"I wonder what IHOP is?" Kenshin thought out loud.
"I don't know, but I hope they have Ramen." Inuyasha shrugged.
Sakura started the tank and drove one block to the nearest IHOP. She went to the drive through and ordered four sets of house pancakes, and four medium orange juices. Yuzumi handed Kenshin and Inuyasha their breakfast as Sakura drove back to the park. They all got out of the tank and sat on the grass to eat.
"What is this? Didn't they have Ramen?" Inuyasha suspiciously asked.
"They're pancakes and no, IHOP doesn't sell Ramen. That's why it's called IHOP." Yuzumi informed Inuyasha.
"What does IHOP mean?" Both Kenshin and Inuyasha asked.
"International House of Pancakes." Yuzumi said as she struggled to open a package of syrup.
"Here let me help, Yuzumi. I'm good at this." Sakura offered taking the packet. She pulled it open a little too hard and squirted the syrup over both her and Yuzumi, but mostly on Yuzumi.
"Oh great, just great. I thought you said you were good at that." Yuzumi said as Inuyasha began to laugh hysterically. Kenshin smiled and tried not to laugh, and Sakura was trying to apologize while trying to contain her laughter at the same time. Yuzumi glared at them all.
"Take it easy, Yuzumi, I've got syrup on me too." Sakura said by way of consultation.
"Yeah, but not as much as I do." Yuzumi said with a smirk. She proceeded to pick up a packet of butter and slowly opened it, and then, she squeezed it all over Sakura. "Ha ha. Now we're even."
Sakura, who now had both butter and syrup on her, took some packets of stuff and showered Yuzumi with them. Inuyasha and Kenshin sat eating their pancakes with their hands and dodging the flying sticky stuff that occasionally cam their way. On the whole it was a rather amusing fight to watch. The only problem was that when the fight was done both Sakura and Yuzumi needed a shower and a change of clothes.
"Well that was fun, but what are we supposed to do now? We're covered in butter and syrup. How are we going to get to a shower?" Yuzumi complained to Sakura.
"Oh ye of little faith get in the tank and we'll go find a shower."
"Yeah, where?" Yuzumi said with an arched eyebrow. "At a homeless shelter?"
"We could go see if the homeless shelters have showers, but I was thinking of something that requires less driving around. Just get in the tank and you'll see." Sakura said. Everyone got into the tank and Sakura headed off.
About five minutes later, they pulled into someone's drive way and Sakura walked up to the door. Before knocking, she turned to the tank and signaled for the others to come. She knocked on the door and waited, while the others joined her. A few minutes later, the door opened and a medium height Mexican girl answered. She looked at Sakura, then at Yuzumi, Inuyasha, and lastly at Kenshin. She opened the door and ushered them inside, and before closing the door, she checked to see if anyone was watching. She bolted the door and turned to her guests. "Sakura, you and your friend can use my shower in a minute. I want some introductions."
"This is my good friend Yuzumi." Sakura said pointing at Yuzumi, "That's Inuyasha-sama, and that one is Kenshin." She pointed to the girl, "Everyone, this is Rei. She's Subaru no miko[1]." Sakura emphasized, with the hope that Rei would understand how she and Yuzumi had passed themselves off to the guys.
Rei caught the hint and ushered everyone into her living room. "The bathroom's that way." She said pointing down the hall. Yuzumi got up and went into the bathroom and locked the door. "The rest of you can sit in here and watch the glorious show, X."
"Okay, I need to grab some spare clothes out of the tank, and then I need to talk to you." Sakura excused herself while Rei got the first X DVD.
When Sakura retuned into the house, she took a set of clothes and knocked on the bathroom door. "Here's a change of clothes, Yuzumi. I'll just set them outside the door." She said as she set the clothes on the floor. She took the other set and headed into the living room. Rei and the guys were peacefully watching X. "Rei, must you convert everyone to an X fan? Let's go into the kitchen 'cause I need some help." Rei pouted, but followed Sakura into the kitchen. Sakura told Rei about the TV incident and how she and Yuzumi had to keep an eye on Inuyasha and Kenshin for three days. She also told Rei about getting kicked out of her house and about the group of cultish fan girls.
"Just go shopping. That'll make you feel better. Besides it'll give Inuyasha and Kenshin a good taste of what this world is like." Rei suggested. "You can dress them up as girls so that no one will recognize them. I have some old dress-up clothes that we could use. You guys can also stay here for the next few days. My parents are on a second honey moon, so I have the house to myself for the next three weeks."
"Alright. Thanks. Shopping sounds like fun, as long as we can get the guys in a good disguise. You want to come?" Sakura gratefully replied.
"Nah, I'm going to hold an X marathon." Rei turned down the offer as Yuzumi came out of the bathroom and walked into the kitchen.
"Shower's free." Yuzumi announced.
"Okay, have Rei explain the game plan for today." Sakura said as she headed for the shower. "Oh, stay off the internet while Inuyasha-sama and Kenshin are here. Also, no watching their shows. We don't want any complicated questions that could lead to an identity crisis."
"Good idea. We don't want what happened to Tamahome to happen to these two." Yuzumi agreed.
"Too bad Subaru isn't one of the ones that got transported here." Rei commented with a dreamy look in her eyes, as Sakura proceeded to the shower.
A few minutes later Sakura reemerged to see Rei and Yuzumi picking out clothes for Inuyasha and Kenshin. Both of which were protesting loudly.
"Come on Inuyasha-sama. You need some kind of disguise, and dressing as a girl is perfect." Sakura pleaded.
"No." Inuyasha said and began to crack his knuckles menacingly.
"Okay" Sakura started as she caught Inuyasha's threat. "Well, I guess we could try dressing you in jeans, and try tying your hair back into a pony tail."
"Ororo… I'd really rather not dress as a girl…" Kenshin was complaining to Yuzumi.
"Kenshin-san, you need a disguise, and in this world just putting a bandage over your cheek isn't going to cut it. You need to look completely different." Yuzumi informed Kenshin with a hint of steel in her voice.
After much arguing, snarling, complaining, and struggling, Yuzumi and Sakura finally got Inuyasha and Kenshin into suitable disguises. Kenshin was sporting a pink dress with carnations on it, his hair tied into a bun, and some Halloween make-up to hide the scar. Inuyasha was dressed in on of Rei's father's suits, an official looking hat, and his hair tied into a pony tail. Satisfied with their work, Sakura and Yuzumi herded the sullen guys into the tank.
Sakura navigated through the traffic and within fifteen minutes pulled into the mall parking lot. "Here we are." Sakura announced with a smile. She unloaded everyone and set the security systems on the tank to stun. "As long as no one recognizes Inuyasha-sama or Kenshin this should be fun."
Yuzumi nodded in agreement and Inuyasha and Kenshin sedately began to trail after the two mikos. They walked into the mall and began window shopping. "It would probably be a good idea to avoid the shops that anime fans frequent. I don't care how good a disguise is, if a true fan were to see them they'd know just by the color of their hair." Yuzumi whispered to Sakura.
"Unfortunately, you're right. Plus they might see their manga or their anime." Sakura agreed. They wandered through various clothing stores and trinket shops for several hours and the guys were obviously bored out of their minds.
"Hey look at that necklace, Sakura. Couldn't you just picture some one from Slayers wearing that?" Yuzumi exclaimed to Sakura as she spied a display in Clare's.
"Yeah, it almost looks like the amulets that they wear." Sakura excitedly replied while Inuyasha's stomach gave an audible noise. "Oh, looks like maybe it's time to find some lunch huh?" Sakura commented. Inuyasha just glared at her. "Okay, I'm sorry we'll go to the food court and see what they have to eat."
"You sure the food court is a good idea?" Yuzumi asked.
"Yeah its way past noon so not many people will be there, and I haven't seen the usual gathering of anime fans today." Sakura assured her. They headed out of Clare's and Kenshin stopped and grabbed for his non existent sakaba[2].
"What's wrong Kenshin-san?" Yuzumi asked with a frown. Inuyasha also froze and made a slight growling noise in his throat.
"Someone's following us." Kenshin and Inuyasha said in unison. Sakura and Yuzumi looked at each other and prayed that it wasn't the cultish fan girls.
"Let's continue on to the food court." Yuzumi suggested. "Maybe they aren't really following us." She added hopefully and led them down the hall to the stairs. Just before they reached the stairs there was a large commotion behind them and some flashes. The gang quickly turned and Yuzumi and Sakura stared in wide mouthed horror at the scene before them. The group of fan girls that had weighed upon their minds since their appearance at the festival had returned. They were still divided in their ranks and the leader still appeared to be the arrogant girl with a sneer.
"We meet again, and we shall meet one more time before all is done. Know that I am the lovely Martina, and I have come to bring Inuyasha and Kenshin to a perfect paradise." The leader said with a flourish and she and the cultish fan group departed.
"Oro…?" Kenshin and Yuzumi said.
"Ano[3]…?" Inuyasha and Sakura said.
"Well at least we know the name she goes by. Martina. Isn't that a French name? She doesn't look French to me." Yuzumi said.
"Martina…Martina…where have I heard that name before?" Sakura thought. "Oh well it'll come to me. So, how about some food?"
"What did that girl mean by 'perfect paradise'?" Inuyasha and Kenshin inquired.
Sakura and Yuzumi shrugged. "I think she's just a nut case." Yuzumi indifferently replied. Though Yuzumi and Sakura were acting casually they were really worried. That encounter had the air of 'just wait and I the psycho fan girl am gonna capture two awesome anime characters'. They decided that the best way to handle the situation was to feed the guys, get the hell out of the mall, and lock themselves in Rei's house until Genus Inc. had figured out how to get the guys home.
The girls lead the way down the stairs and to the food court. "Okay guys what do you want to eat?" Sakura asked.
"Ramen." Inuyasha promptly replied.
"Onigiri[4]." Yuzumi said.
"Anything that's not too much trouble is fine." Kenshin humbly requested.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "I should have known. You guys are nothing if not predictable." After some searching and insistent inquiring, everyone found what they wanted at a Panda Express. Sakura pushed the tray of stuff to the register and kindly paid for everyone's meal.
"Thanks for lunch, Sakura." Yuzumi said with a smile. "Did you see that girl who was putting our orders on the plates? I could have sworn she was smirking at us." She added softly to Sakura.
"Your just being paranoid, Yuzumi." Sakura chided as they navigated their way through the jungle of chairs to an out of the way booth.
"Itadakimasu!" They all said in unison and dug into their food.
They all happily ate their meals and when everyone had finished, Yuzumi took their trash and kindly disposed of it. "Are we going to continue shopping, or are we going to go back to Rei's?" Yuzumi inquired of Sakura.
"Let's head to Rei's. The last thing I want is another encounter with Martina." Sakura answered as they got up and pushed in their chairs. Inuyasha and Kenshin were immensely relieved to hear this. They didn't like shopping, and they desperately wanted to get out of their disguises. The four of them headed out of the food court area and began walking past a trinket shop when there was a loud explosion and lots of screaming coming from the opposite end of the mall.
Fearing the worst, the group decided to go investigate, but before they could see what had happened a couple of mall security officers came running toward them and yelling for the place to be evacuated. "Every please vacate the mall this instant. Some one has set off a bomb in Mervyn's. We need everyone to calmly proceed to the nearest exit. There may be more bombs, so we ask everyone to leave immediately and please remain clam." Of course, as soon as one of the officers had finished saying this, the entire crowd in the mall began to scream and panic.
People began pushing into Sakura and co. "Yuzumi, Inuyasha, Kenshin, let's get out of the mall before we get separated. We can't get to the place were the bomb was set off. Not in this mob." Having said this, Sakura edged her way through the crowd toward Inuyasha. Yuzumi was likewise trying to get to Kenshin.
Before the girls could get to the guys, some smoke balls were thrown into the mob. It wasn't long before neither Sakura no Yuzumi could see more than a foot in front of them. Sakura and Yuzumi began to frantically search for the guys, but to know avail. After fruitlessly searching for awhile, Sakura caught a glimpse of Yuzumi. "Yo, Yuzumi. Do you know where Inuyasha-sama and Kenshin are?"
Yuzumi moved toward Sakura's voice until she saw her. "No, and I take it you don't either. Sakura, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Yeah, me too. Let's get to the exit. The guys wouldn't have gone far; at least I don't think they would."
Highly concerned, the girls waded through the throng of people to the exit. Once outside they took several deep breaths and looked around. They watched as people kept pouring out of the building, but there wasn't any sign of either Kenshin or Inuyasha. They waited until the mall was closed and it became apparent that all of the patrons had vacated the premises. "Sakura, where could Kenshin-san and Inuyasha be?" Yuzumi asked with concern. Sakura didn't answer Yuzumi. Instead of paying attention to her friend, she was looking at a scrap of paper. "Sakura…Sakura…Sakura!" Yuzumi shouted to get her attention.
"Huh, what?" Sakura asked looking up from the sheet of paper.
"What? What do you mean 'what'? Kenshin-san and Inuyasha are missing? What are we supposed to do? Where could they be?" Yuzumi frantically asked. Sakura didn't respond. Instead she handed the piece of paper to Yuzumi.
"Someone put this in my hand as I was walking out of the mall. I didn't see who, but it doesn't matter who gave it to me." Sakura said as Yuzumi began to unfold the paper. On the inside of the scrap of paper there was a note written with in a bubbly hand.
Ha ha! What was once yours is now ours. Don't think about finding your precious Inuyasha or your adorable Kenshin. They are mine! But don't worry; we will take good care of them. In fact, we intend to bring them to eternal paradise with us.
Sincerely,
Miko Martina
Yuzumi finished reading the letter and looked at Sakura in utter horror. "Martina…? She's the leader of the psycho fan girls right?" Sakura nodded. "So, that means this whole mess with the mall was the work of those girls?" Sakura nodded again. "And now they have Kenshin-san and Inuyasha?" Sakura nodded once again. Yuzumi stopped talking and just looked horrified.
"I don't know what Martina meant by 'miko', but I've got a really bad feeling. She sounds like someone who escaped from a psycho ward; one of the ones with the strait jackets. I also don't like her declaration of brining Inuyasha-sama and Kenshin to paradise of some kind. At least we know where the guys are." Sakura said.
"You know where the fan girls took them?" Yuzumi asked in an awed voice.
"That's not what I meant. We have to find those fans and rescue the guys before they can do anything to them, but at least we know the guys aren't in the mall, or in too much danger." Sakura replied. "Let's go back to Rei's. She might have an idea where to begin looking for the guys. It's been bugging me for a while, but I just know I've heard the name 'Martina' some where before." Sakura said as she led the way to the tank.
They shortly reached Rei's house and entered to find Rei on the couch in front of her TV. She had a bowl of popcorn and an expression that only a true X fan could have. Sakura walked over to her and shock Rei. "Hey Rei we've got a big problem. Inuyasha-sama and Kenshin have been kidnapped."
"That's your problem. I'm watching X." Rei responded with as she continued watching her show.
Sakura, who was frustrated, angry, and in a murderous mood, walked over to the DVD player, stopped and ejected the DVD, grabbed a lighter, lit it, and held it under the DVD. "Help or the DVD goes out in the glory of flames."
"Noooooooooooo! Not my precious X. I'll do anything, just don't hurt the DVD." Rei pleaded with tears in her eyes.
"Good." Sakura said while putting the flame out on the lighter. "We recived this notice from the kidnappers." Sakura handed the slip of paper with the not from Martina on it to Rei.
"Do you have any idea where to start looking, Rei?" Yuzumi said in a mother who's lost her child voice. Rei glanced at the paper, read the note, turned the paper over, glared at the girls, and handed them the slip of paper.
Sakura took the note back and stared at the back side. "Oro?"
"What?" Yuzumi said noting Sakura's slightly ashamed look. She leaned over Sakura's shoulder and saw what had forced an 'oro' out of her. On the back of the note was a beautifully drawn map. The map showed the location of a park, and there was and 'x' on one the lower right hand side of the park. Labeled next to the 'x' was some writing that read:
Meeting in the drainage pipe beyond the swings 10:30
"Eh, he. I guess that means we'll be going now." Yuzumi announced.
"Now that the two of you know where you need to go, could I please have my precious X DVD back now?" Rei said in a transition from annoyance to begging.
"Alright, here." Sakura handed the DVD back and Rei cuddled it like a security blanket. "Thanks Rei. We were too excited to even look on the back. Alright, Yuzumi, let's load up the tank."
"Right, but do you think it's a trap? I mean who would be stupid enough to leave a map to their hid out?" Yuzumi asked.
"It could be a trap, or it could be that Martina is careless, or she's just stupid. We just have to prepare for the worst case scenario." Sakura shrugged.
The two of them ran around Rei's house gathering their equipment while Rei resumed her marathon and muttering something along the lines of, "Don't worry. I won't let them take you away again. Mommy will protect you." They grabbed practical things such as smoke balls, duct tape, bandanas, vinegar, flares, various fire crackers, lighter fluid, rope, and matches. They also gathered some more obscure things such as first aid kits, nail polish remover, Elmer's glue, paper clips, various keys, pencils, paper, empty prescription pill bottles, and two bottles of wine. With their gear gathered, they loaded into the tank and were ready to head off.
[1] Priestess of Subaru; Subaru is a character in X/1999
[2] Kenshin's reverse blade sword
[3] Umm
[4] Rice balls with fish, plums, etc. in the middle
Author's note: Sorry about the long wait. I've been busy lately. I know this chapter left off at kind of a bad point, but I'm working on the next chapter. I also need to thank Random Wu for her help in getting ideas for disguising Inuyasha and Kenshin.