Naoko led them all out of the room and down the stairs. Everything went
silent and one of the other employees reached for the microphone.
"Bishies and Ladies! I welcome you to the Bishie Preserve party Now, to introduce your wonderful team, here is the old frumpled lady!" one of hte employees said.
The woman that Sakura and Naoko had seen on their first trip to the preserve and hadn't seen since walked to the mike. "Hello," she said dully. "We have Sakura, Naoko, Ca, Portal Girl, Mooie, Natsumi, Rika, and Hikaru. Thank you for the applause," she said to the silent hall and put down the microphone.
"Psh! That was lame," Portal Girl said and pulled a pistol out of the bosom of her dress. All of the girls sweatdropped. "LET THE PARTY BEGIN!" she cried and shot off the pistol. There was a cheer and everyone started talking again.
"Wow!" Vash said to them. "You look stunning!"
Naoko beamed. "Thanks!" she said and wandered off, Sakura following her.
"Dahling, you simply must try the punch," Ca said to Vash and led him off, arm entwined with his.
"Is it spiked?" Vash asked hopefully.
Ca froze, then looked up at him and grinned. "Not yet," she said.
"Oh really?" Vash asked as they walked off.
"So! I heard you say you liked violins!" Mooie said to Knives.
"What?" was his reply.
Portal Girl sighed. "if only Joey was here," she said.
"Don't you worry!" Natsumi said. "He is next on the list for captures!" she held up a list that was over 200 sheets thick.
Portal Girl's eyes bugged out. "Those are all bishies?"
"No," Natsumi said. "They are also ideas on how we can further publicize the preserve."
"Natsu-chan," Hikaru said to the project coordinator. "I really don't think we need any more fangirls..."
"That's what they want you to think," Natsumi returned.
Hikaru gasped. "THEY?!" she cried. "Noooo!" she ran off into the crowd.
Rika, Portal Girl, and Natsumi sweatdropped.
"Well, I'm off," Rika said and the other girls scattered.
"Naoko-chan, where are you going?" Sakura asked.
"Over there to Apricots, Riku, and Link," Naoko responded.
"Oh... well.. I'm going to get some food," Sakura said.
"Don't be gone too long. I'm sure Q-Bert is going to ask you to dance," Naoko said and winked.
For once Sakura was glad that it was dark in the gym. Glad it was dark so no one would see her face turn bright pink with a blush. She slowly wandered over to the food tables and grabbed a few Gold Fish crackers. Her eyes skimmed the crowd and saw was just about to go over the crowd once more when a set of blue eyes and a set of green eyes landed on her. As she looked closer, she noticed that it was Sora and Q-Bert, both of them were staring at her. She quickly turned around to face the food table again and slowly inched her way out of hte line of site of the two bishies.
"Come ON!" Sakura heard Ca's voice. "You know you can!"
"But, Sakura would kill me if she found out!" Vash whimpered.
"Sakura wouldn't hurt a fly," Ca returned.
"That's what you think!" Vash exclaimed. "You didn't see her earlier today!"
"Well, just one bottle then! It won't hurt anyone. Just.... loosen things up!"
"One bottle of what to what?" Sakura asked and walked toward them.
"Eh..." Ca replied.
"I've.... got to.... go......" Vash said and the two disappeared from the general area of the punch bowl.
"I'm surprised he isn't guzzling donuts," Sakura said to herself.
"Hello!" Naoko said and walked up to her friend.
"Why aren't you with Link, Riku, or Apricots?" Sakura asked.
"I'm thirsty," Naoko replied.
"I wouldn't drink the punch if I were you. It might be spiked." Sakura said.
"I wasn't going to have it anyways. I was going to have water. I'm watching my weight," she added, as she grabbed three bowls of ice cream.
"I hope that all isn't for you," Sakura said.
Naoko beamed at her friend and took a bite out of one of the bowls.
Sakura sighed and shook her head and Naoko headed off back towards Apricots, Link, and Riku. Sakura decided to search out Rika and started weaving in and out of the people on the dance floor, trying her best to avoid Sora and Q-Bert.
"Sakura-onee-chan!" a voice called out.
Sakura whipped around to find Cael trailing behind her. Sakura smiled and bent down to his level.
"Sakura-onee-chan, everyone here is a lot bigger than I am," Cael said quietly while staring at his feet.
"Aww. It's ok Cael. Do you want to hang out with me?" Sakura offered.
Cael's face lit up as he looked at her and nodded.
"Ok, I was just going to go find Rika. I heard somewhere that she had a really big surprise for everyone," Sakura said and looked around for the said cook.
Cael slid his hand into Sakura's and the two went off to continue the search for the MIA Rika who had disappeared earlier in the party. As the wandered around the came upon an interesting scene. A bishie was asking another bishie if he should maybe as one of the fan girls to dance. That's when Sakura noticed the room. Separated on either side of the room, almost by an invisible wall, were the fan girls on the left, and the bishies on the right. She sweatdropped and walked over to one of the bishies. She took him by the hand and dragged him over to some random fan girl and put his hand in hers. She whacked them both on the back and pushed them together. Another song started and the two started dancing, that's when all of the other bishies walked over to the fan girls and started dancing with them.
"Man.... You'd think they were in middle school," Sakura said a bit miffed.
"Some of us are in middle school," a random fangirl said as she walked by.
Sakura sweatdropped. "So they are..."
"And, like," Naoko stuffed a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "I was all, 'WERE GONNA CATCH YOU DAMNIT!' to the bishie and he looked at me, a bit scared, and then he started to run...."
"I think she's just plain out of it," Apricots whispered to Q-Bert. The two were listening to Naoko babble about how she and Sakura first met, which turned into the usuall colors of chocobos, and then meandered over to the cellular structure of mushrooms, and then ended up to the story of a random bishie capture, which probably never happened, but, when Naoko rambles, it doesn't matter.
"Erm," Q-Bert said to Naoko. "You probably shouldn't eat too much ice cream. You might overdose..."
Naoko paused in her eating and stared at him. "Overdose....? on ice cream?" She goggled at them. "That's impossible. Speaking of impossible, did you know that chicken legs are eaten in China?"
"We need to take drastic action..." Apricots said. Q-Bert nodded.
"Hey!" Apricots said. "look over there!" he pointed off into a random corner. A horrible cliché, but, of course, Naoko fell for it and looked in the other direction. Q-Bert snatched her ice cream and ran in the opposite direction. As soon as Naoko sensed that her ice cream had disappeared, she started to growl, and to the closest people, almost foamed at the mouth.
"Who DARES to take my ice cream?!" she cried as she started to chase after Q-Bert.
Apricots ran up to her and picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She started to kick and scream and beat at his back wildly as he walked over to Sakura for a calm conversation on the state of the preserve.
Sakura stared in awe at Naoko who was still kicking wildly.
"Uh... Naoko-chan.... are you ok?" Sakura asked slowly.
Naoko turned to look at Sakura, she had a wild look in her eyes.
"I'll be right back," Sakura said and ran off.
Minutes later she came back with a white jacket in her hands.
"Where did you get that?" Apricots asked.
"Oh... my brother gave it to me as a present for Christmas once..." Sakura said and slipped Naoko into it.
She pulled on the straps and zipped it up the back. Naoko only stared at Sakura as she did this.
"Now she won't be able to hit you anymore," Sakura said as a small sweatdrop rolled down the back of her head as Naoko started to chew at the arms.
Apricots looked startled. "eh... do you think we should knock her out?"
"That might work," Q-Bert said, who had walked up.
"ICE CREAM THEIF!" Naoko yelled in between her knawing.
"Sorry Naoko-chan," Sakura said and grabbed a plate from the table. "I hope this doesn't hurt too much..."
Naoko had enough time to look up before Sakura whacked her on the head with a plate. Naoko fell unconscious.
The three stared at her for a bit, then looked up at each other and gave a nervous laugh.
"Maybe we should dump her on Link," Apricots suggested.
"You're so mean," Sakura said. "I'll go get him."
"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!" Link demanded when he joined Apricots and Q-Bert.
"Um... a.... giant.... koala came and hit her really hard!" Q-Bert said quickly.
"A... koala? What's that?" Link asked.
"Its a ... giant.... bear..." Apricots said.
"NO! A giant bear came through here?" Link asked. "Tell me where it is! I need to destroy it!"
"No, you should stay here with Naoko," Sakura said. "To keep her safe."
Link formed an O with his mouth and sat down beside the unconscious captor. "Never fear! You three go and have fun, but keep a lookout!"
Sakura, Q-Bert, and Apricots walked away, trying to contain their laughter.
When they got to the other side of the gym, they couldn't hold their laughter in any longer.
"Did you, did you see the look on her face when she saw the plate coming down?" Sakura asked through gasps.
"Yeah, here eyes got all big and round like this," Apricots replied, making his eyes widen.
The three laughed harder and harder until they had tears falling down their faces. There was a scream from the other side of the gym and the three suddenly stopped laughing and had very serious expressions on their faces.
"Naoko..." the all said simultaneously.
They took off running back towards Naoko only to find that it was a fan girl that had screamed. On of the bishies was starting to act strangely. It looked almost as if he was having spasms but laughing at the same time.
"What's going on here?" Sakura asked as she stood next to the fan girl.
"I'm not sure. He just started acting strangely," the girl replied.
"Did he happen to have any punch?" Sakura asked, suddenly appearing dressed in a cop uniform.
"Why, yes, I do believe he did," the girl replied again.
"Ok. I need all the information that you can tell me," Sakura said and started writing in a little notepad she pulled out of her pocket. "Like, starting with your name."
"My name is Lizzee1," the girl replied.
"Ahh... ok, Lizzee1," Sakura repeated as she scribbled the name down. "Now, when exactly did this bishie start acting like this?"
"Bob says about 2 minutes ago... he also says you knew that already," Lizzee1 replied.
"Bob?" Sakura asked staring at the girl.
"Yes! Bob!" Lizzee1 replied again holding up a very pointy carrot.
"Bob...." Sakura said.
"Yes, Bob!" Lizzee replied indignantly. "Do you dislike carrots?"
"Um...." Sakura said, lost.
"Carrots have orange!" The bishie who had had the punch informed them, and burst out into laugher.
"I think that the punch is spiked," Lizzee1 said.
"May I quote you on that, Lizzee1?" Sakura asked.
"Lizzee1? I am Rachel!" The So-called Lizzee1 said.
"Huh? I'm lost!"
"SHUT UP, RACHEL!" The girl cried and slapped herself. "Sorry," she said to the shocked Sakura. "She sometimes gets out."
"Gets out," Sakura said faintly.
"I think she's had punch, too," Q-Bert said
"I have not!" Lizzee1 said indignantly. "Casey wouldn't allow it!"
"Oh, and is Casey... another friend?" Sakura asked.
"Yep!" Lizzee1 said. "And, she wants a job at the preserve!"
"oh.... well...."
"There is a doctor job open!" Mooie said, popping up behind Sakura.
"Doctor?!" Sakura hissed
"We'll take it!" Lizzee1 said. "Won't we, Bob?"
"Heh..."
"Muffin is a funny word!" Mooie said and started to laugh as she walked away.
Sakura looked around the room and saw many bishies and fangirls either laughing, crying, or just standing, staring at the wall and pointing out a particularly colorful spot.
Suddenly she was back in her emerald dress and walked over to Vash, whom she had just spotted hiding in a corner with Ca-chan.
"You didn't, did you?" Sakura asked.
"Depending on what you're asking us if we did or didn't do something, I wouldn't know if I did of didn't do something given that fact that I don't know what you are talking about," Ca-chan responded.
Sakura cocked an eyebrow at her. She wasn't getting any real, constructive answer from Ca so she turned to Vash who had a sheepish grin on his face.
"Vash.... what did you to do?" Sakura asked warningly.
Ca gave him a 'tell and you die look' that Sakura caught.
"Never mind, I already know," Sakura said and walked away.
She headed up to the microphone and tapped on it.
"Hello bishies and fan girls. I have some, possibly bad news for you..." Sakura said.
All of the people in the gym stopped moving and the music stopped.
"Well... you see, the punch has been spiked," Sakura announced.
The crowd cheered.
"Um... That's a bad thing!" Sakura said. "it means you are all drunk, or tipsy!"
The crowd cheered again.
"Eh.... I guess I'll get down again." Sakura said as the crowd cheered, once again.
Sakura walked up to Vash. "Well, it looks like you made the party a whole lot more fun..." she said.
Vash beamed at her. "Wanna have a drink?" he hiccoughed at her.
Lizzee1 walked up to them. "You shouldn't drink!" she clucked that them. "It is bad!"
"Who made you a doctor?!" Vash demanded.
Sakura whispered in his ear.
"Oh..." Vash said.
Naoko joined them. "WHO WANTS TO SING A SONG?!" she demanded.
"Not you too, Naoko-chan," Sakura said.
"Of course not! I'm watching my figure!"
"How did you get out?" Vash asked her.
"Link set me free after I told him I needed to go to the bathroom," Naoko said.
"So, anyways," Naoko said to Sakura. "I'm on the "ice cream" diet. You only eat ice cream."
"Oh, really?" Sakura said.
"How about we sing 'A Pirate's Life For Me'?" Naoko asked.
"I don't know it," Vash said.
"You will then," Naoko said and started bellowing at the top of her lungs.
Sakura shook her head. "I knew she was on overdose."
She walked to the punch bowl. "Might as well!" she said and grabbed a cup.
One cup later...
"YO HO YO HO A PIRATES LIFE FOR ME!!" Sakura yelled, hanging onto Naoko's shoulder.
Vash giggled. "You can't hold your alcohol, can you?"
"hey!" Sakura slurred. "You can't either you Stupid, fat, ugly, really tall....." Sakura broke off.
Naoko laughed. "Can't even get a sentence straight!" she cried.
"Well, miss-im-on-the-icecream-diet," Sakura said. "Why don't YOU have a drink?"
"It's.... against my religion!" she said.
"Sure!" Sakura said and took another swig.
~Several Hours later~
"Oy..." Naoko said, looking at the party-hall. "Everyone is asleep..." True to her statement, everyone in the room, except a few people who did not drink the punch, was asleep.
"Hi!" Lizzee said to her. "I see you aren't asleep!"
"No, although I'm exhausted..." Naoko replied.
"I'm not.." Lizzee said. "I had to much sugar!"
"I did too, except I'm about to have a crash." Naoko said and yawned.
"Well, can anyone play video games around here?" Lizzee asked. "Bob is bored."
"Uh...." Naoko said. "Sure! Just... follow me," she said. She left the room and led the new bishie doctor to her private room. "Pick any game you want, because we have it.
Lizzee squealed. "How about this, Bob?" she picked up a PS2. "What do you say we play Final Fantasy?"
Later, Naoko hoped that she had just been hallucinating with the tiredness, but she could have sworn that she heard the carrot answer.
Lizzee turned on the game platform. "HAHAHAHA!! TIME TO KILL!" she bellowed and started pushing random buttons.
"I guess I'll watch," Naoko said and sat down on the floor next to Lizzee, watching the carrot suspiciously.
~*~ Back in the gym
Sakura sat up rubbing her head. "Oy.... such a bad headache," she moaned.
She looked around, everyone else was still sleeping. She found herself sitting on the cold gym floor and not two feet away lay Q-Bert, Sora, Riku, and Vash. Mooie, who was practically lying on top of Knives rolled over and snorted loudly. Sakura giggled a little. Ca-chan was sprawled out on the floor mumbling about a formula on how to make won tons taste like ice cream. Sakura stood up and wobbled back and forth a little.
"I probably shouldn't wake anyone up..." she said softly.
She left the room and found the vast supply of blankets in the storage room and proceeded to cover everyone up with one. She lingered as she covered Q- Bert and Sora up. "Sleep well tonight, all of you," she said as she exited the room and turned the light out.
As she walked down the hall she noticed a light coming from one of the rooms. She opened the door and found Lizzee1 and Naoko screaming at the characters on the screen.
"Hey, could you keep it down? Everyone's sleeping," Sakura said and closed the door behind her.
"Hey! You're awake!" Naoko cried cheerfully. She was apparently over her sugar crash.
"Oh! So you've recovered?" Sakura asked.
"Recovered from what?" Naoko asked. "Donut?" she offered the pastry to her friend.
Sakura sweatdropped. "No thanks. I feel like dying."
"Ahh.. hangover," Lizzee1 said. "It will help if you drink water."
"Okay," Sakura said. She left the room and came back with a gallon of water. "Here goes!" she said and started to chug.
Naoko sighed as she watched Lizzee try to beat the heartless. "You're not doing to well," she told the doctor.
"Well, it's kinda hard if the main character isn't there!" Lizzee retorted. "I had to let Bob take care of the bosses...."
Sakura choked. "Sora isn't in the game anymore?"
"Nah..." Naoko said. "Just some shadow."
"Um..." Sakura said. "That's not good!"
Sakura and Naoko looked at each other. Naoko's eyes lit up as Sakura's face went pale.
"WE HAVE A NEW JOB!!!" Naoko exclaimed.
"Y-yeah..." Sakura replied. "What have I gotten myself into!?" she thought.
Naoko began to dance around the room happily.
"I thought you weren't feeling well..." Lizzee1 said.
Naoko stopped running for a moment to look at Lizzee1.
"Are you nuts?! I always feel good!" Naoko exclaimed then started to swing Sakura around in circles.
"But, we still don't know what to do!" Sakura said.
Naoko stopped twirling Sakura. "That's right," she said. "We don't."
The two stared at the ground in minor disappointment.
"AHHHHH!!" Lizzee1 screamed.
"What?" Sakura asked as Naoko jumped.
"Nothing," Lizzee1 said.
"She has been screaming randomly all night..." Naoko muttered.
Sakura sweatdropped. "So she is...."
"HEY!" Naoko said brightly. "Ca-chan is a genius! Why don't we ask her to write an equation?"
"But, that's only for food!" Sakura said as Naoko grabbed her hand and whisked her out of the room.
"CA-CHAN!!!" Naoko bellowed through the halls of the preserve.
Ca's head popped out of a door on their immediate right and scared the living daylights out of Sakura, who just happened to be walking on the right side of Naoko.
"Yesh?" Ca asked.
"I have a business proposition for you," Naoko replied.
"Very well then, enter my office," Ca said and opened the door wide enough for the two girls to enter.
It was a very small room and the walls were plastered with images of the decease bishie, Nick Wolfwood. There was also a relatively large pile of coats on the floor in the right corner.
"Ne, Ca-chan, wasn't this a closet?" Sakura asked as she eyed the coats.
"Indeed it was, but is no longer," Ca replied making her way to a small desk in the left corner and organized a pile of papers.
Sakura and Naoko sat down on the ground and waited for Ca to say something.
"Weren't you two here to give me a proposition?" she asked as she grabbed a piece of lined paper and a pencil.
"Oh yeah!" Naoko exclaimed as she remembered her purpose for coming to see Ca. "We would like you to write an equation that will assist us in saving the video games that we have taken bishies from."
Ca-chan turned and stared at her darkly. "My equations are for food, and food only."
Naoko paled at the stare and turned to Sakura. "Why didn't you tell me they were only for food?!?" she asked in a harsh whisper.
"I did!" Sakura protested.
There came a knock on the door behind them and Ca got up to answer it. A pile of pictures came crashing down on Naoko and Sakura's heads.
"What the...?" Sakura mumbled as she picked up one of the images.
It was yet another image of Nick Wolfwood. She sighed.
"Well, you seem to be a bit busy. We will leave you to your work and try to figure this out on our own. Thank you for your time Ca-chan," Sakura said and dragged a protesting Naoko out of the room, for she had found an image with, what she thought, Legato on it. Sakura only thought it was a speck of dust and threw the image back into the pile of other images.
Once Naoko had regained her footing she grabbed Sakura's shoulder and whipped her around so she could see Sakura's face.
"You'll have to pay for that," Naoko said shortly.
"And how am I going to do that?" Sakura asked rolling her eyes slightly.
"You'll have to buy me ice cream," Naoko replied.
Sakura gave Naoko a mock horrified look that sent Naoko on a rage. Sakura high-tailed it down the hallway and back into the gym where the rest of the guests still slept. She hid under one of the tables just as Naoko entered the gym in search of her.
Naoko roared and marched about the room, only to step on a sleeping Knives.
"GAH! sorry!" she said as Knives rolled over and glared daggers at her.
"You should do more than that, spider." Knives growled at her.
"Like.........?"
"Die." Knives sat up and rubbed his head. "Good God... trust humans to make me drunk..."
Naoko tiptoed away from Knives and continued her search for Sakura. "Sakura?" she whispered. "You can come out now! I forgive you!"
Sakura stayed put.
After searching for a few more minutes, Naoko got tired and left the room in search of some coffee. "I need something to wake me up," she said. She walked into the kitchen and rifled thorough all the cupboards, but to no avail. There was not a affianced beverage to be seen. Naoko couldn't even find any chocolate. Cursing her fate, she decided to go to her room and sleep. "Leave it to someone who flies about in a rowboat to be stingy on caffeine..." she said as she opened door and flopped down on the bed.
~-~
Sakura crawled out from under the table as soon as Naoko left and observed the unconscious people around her. No one was awake yet, and Sakura was sure that it had to be at least 10:00. "We have bishies to catch!" she said indignantly. she then paled. 'What if some fangirls come in while the bishies are still unconscious?' she grimaced at the thought to bishies waking up to screaming girls climbing all over them, cutting off locks of hair, and removing articles of clothing for souvenirs. 'Then again, that might not be so bad,' she thought and imagined some particularly buff bishies shirtless. She then shook her head. 'Better not let it happen.' She walked around, wondering what she should do to wake them up. 'Naoko would know what to do...' she thought. She then imagined Naoko with water balloons, throwing them at the comatose sleepers and running away, laughing hysterically at their confusion. She shook her head. 'We're starting to think alike!' she thought, then grinned. She headed off to a nearby bathroom that just so happened to be stocked up with extra balloons from the decorations. Apparently they had been forgotten about in the decorations, for the bag hadn't even been opened. Sakura laughed evilly to herself as she ripped the bag open and took out one of the balloons. She began stretching the opening of the bag because once, when she was a little girl of the age 10, her brother was showing her how to fill balloons with water and she made the mistake of not stretching the opening and filling. Needless to say, it exploded in her hands and rather than get her brother soaking wet, she ended up as the one completely wet. After filling one balloon she paused and looked at herself in the mirror, she frowned. What kind of friend would she be if she didn't wake her best friend and have her join in the festivities of scaring bishies, and fangirls, senseless? Sakura set the balloon down in a small padded basket and removed her shoes. She could let no one hear her as she ran out of the bathroom and up to her room, where she suspected Naoko would be after her futile search for coffee, or any caffinated beverage for that matter. Sakura knew that Naoko was trying to get herself addicted to coffee and, as a joke, removed all of the coffee and caffinated soda from the preserve.
Upon entering the room where she and Naoko resided, she found a snoring Naoko half on her bed and half not. Her right arm and leg were hanging off the bed and her head teetered back and forth next to the nightstand that held her lamp and glasses. Sakura chocked back her laughter as Naoko scratched her head and mumbled something along the lines of "Mommy... more ice cream, my tummy says that I need more ice cream..." She walked over to Naoko's bed and stared at her face with her head cocked to the right. A slight smirk spread across her face as she bent down so she was level with Naoko's ear.
"NAOKO!" she screamed.
Naoko awoke with a start and fumbled for her glasses that where on the night stand.
"Wha? Where's the fire?" Naoko sputtered as she put her glasses on.
Sakura could hold it in any longer. She grasped her sides and she slid to the floor laughing hysterically with tears following down her cheeks. Naoko's eye twitched as she looked at Sakura.
"What do you want?" Naoko asked groggily.
"Well," Sakura said between gasps of air. "I was going to wake all the bishies and fangirls up by dropping water balloons on them and I thought maybe you'd like to join me."
Naoko's eyes lit up as she hopped over to Sakura.
"That'd be great!"
"First, we need some ultra-cool ninja gear," Sakura said, leaving her laughing fit behind, and had a gleam of mischief in her eyes.
Naoko ran over to their closet and brought out a pair of black cotton sweatpants and a sweatshirt. On the back, in satin letters, were the initials "B.C." They stood for Bishie Captor of course, but that wasn't the point. Sakura ran to her closet and grabbed the same outfit. Next Sakura pulled out a black beanie and a satin bandana. Naoko winked as she pulled out the same thing.
The two quickly dressed and Sakura helped tie the bandana around Naoko's nose and mouth. In truth, the two looked more like thieves than ninjas, but that didn't matter to them. Their gaze shifted down to their bare feet. They had completely forgotten about shoes. Did they even have shoes that didn't make noise on the ground?
Sakura turned to Naoko and raised her eyebrows in a question. Naoko shrugged. There was a muffled scuffling coming from one of the other closets in the room and Sakura and Naoko stalked over to the door. They opened the door cautiously and two pairs of black moccasins fell out. Naoko and Sakura exchanged frightened looks but took the moccasins nonetheless. They slipped them on and made their way back to the bathroom where Sakura had left the balloons.
About 15 minutes later, the balloons were filled and the girls were ready to wreck havoc. Naoko was dancing around erratically in glee.
"What happened to you being tired?" Sakura whispered.
Naoko paused, then stopped immediately. "I forgot about it..." she said.
Sakura sweatdropped as the two arrived at the door to the gym. "Ready?" she whispered.
As an answer, Naoko grabbed a particularly large balloon and tossed it into the air with a loud whoop and rushed in. Sakura gave a war cry in response and ran in after.
Most bishes and fangirls woke in surprise and wondered what was happening, while others tried to steal water balloons from Sakura or Naoko, but they received a balloon in the face as a response. "WAKIE WAKIE!" Naoko cried while Sakura danced around singing wakeup calls. After the balloon supply was exhausted, Sakura and Naoko abruptly disappeared under the table to fortify themselves against the outraged bishies.
"Do you think we'll be safe under here?" Sakura asked Naoko in a barely audible whisper.
Naoko shrugged. "No on saw us duck under here... did they?"
"I don't know..."
"Where do you think they went?" a voice called out.
Two sets of shoes appeared under the edge of the table cloth, both untied. Sakura pointed them out to Naoko and made a hand signal to her. Naoko nodded enthusiastically.
Sakura tied one pair of shoe laces together as Naoko did the other set.
"Be prepared to run out of here though," Naoko commented. "When they fall they'll be able to see under the table."
Sakura nodded her head briefly as she got prepared to run for the door on the other side of the gym.
"You think we'll make it?" Sakura asked.
"It's worth a try."
The two bishies took one step and fell flat on their faces. They blinked in confusion as they saw Sakura and Naoko's faces under the table.
"RUN!" Naoko shouted.
Sakura and Naoko broke out in a flat sprint for the door but unfortunately were caught by Q-Bert and Apricots 10 feet from the door.
Sakura and Naoko exchanged looks. Both bishies were completely drenched and their hair was hanging down in their eyes, giving them a some-what evil look.
"Well boys, what should we do with them?" Apricots asked.
Snickers were heard from the crowd of soaking wet bishies.
"You wouldn't tie us to a pole in the middle of the room and eat all the ice cream, would you?" Naoko asked.
Sakura kicked Naoko's shin and gave her a glare. Apricots' eyes glistened.
"That brilliant!" One of the other bishies yelled.
Minutes later, both girls were tied to a pole in the middle of the room while the bishies sat around with tubs of ice cream. Sakura rolled her eyes as Naoko sobbed loudly and muttering something about "the injustice."
After the bishies were full and Naoko had muttered all the insults and threats she could think of, Sakura decided it was time to speak. "Um.... Do you think that you can untie us yet?"
"I don't know..." Q-Bert said pensively.
"Yes. We might get paint ball balloons." Vash said. "Then again, if you were wearing white shirts..."
"I would watch your back as soon as I'm let go, Vash," Naoko said airily. "I might just accidentally fall on you with a knife."
Vash smiled toothily and backed away. "Nice bishie captor," he said.
"What about me?" Sakura asked. "I wouldn't do anything!"
"In your knowledge," Naoko muttered.
"Oh, alright," Sora said. "You're right. You aren't evil." He walked up and untied Sakura.
Naoko watched the proceeding with big eyes. "But!"
Sakura grinned. "You see! This is what happens when you try to cook bishies!"
Riku glared at Naoko.
"Heh..." Naoko said and sweatdropped.
"But, since you are my best friend," Sakura said, "I'll let you go."
"YAY!" Naoko cried and tried to jump for joy.
Sakura untied her friend.
"THIS MEANS WAR!" Naoko bellowed to the bishies as Sakura led her out of the room.
"Bishies and Ladies! I welcome you to the Bishie Preserve party Now, to introduce your wonderful team, here is the old frumpled lady!" one of hte employees said.
The woman that Sakura and Naoko had seen on their first trip to the preserve and hadn't seen since walked to the mike. "Hello," she said dully. "We have Sakura, Naoko, Ca, Portal Girl, Mooie, Natsumi, Rika, and Hikaru. Thank you for the applause," she said to the silent hall and put down the microphone.
"Psh! That was lame," Portal Girl said and pulled a pistol out of the bosom of her dress. All of the girls sweatdropped. "LET THE PARTY BEGIN!" she cried and shot off the pistol. There was a cheer and everyone started talking again.
"Wow!" Vash said to them. "You look stunning!"
Naoko beamed. "Thanks!" she said and wandered off, Sakura following her.
"Dahling, you simply must try the punch," Ca said to Vash and led him off, arm entwined with his.
"Is it spiked?" Vash asked hopefully.
Ca froze, then looked up at him and grinned. "Not yet," she said.
"Oh really?" Vash asked as they walked off.
"So! I heard you say you liked violins!" Mooie said to Knives.
"What?" was his reply.
Portal Girl sighed. "if only Joey was here," she said.
"Don't you worry!" Natsumi said. "He is next on the list for captures!" she held up a list that was over 200 sheets thick.
Portal Girl's eyes bugged out. "Those are all bishies?"
"No," Natsumi said. "They are also ideas on how we can further publicize the preserve."
"Natsu-chan," Hikaru said to the project coordinator. "I really don't think we need any more fangirls..."
"That's what they want you to think," Natsumi returned.
Hikaru gasped. "THEY?!" she cried. "Noooo!" she ran off into the crowd.
Rika, Portal Girl, and Natsumi sweatdropped.
"Well, I'm off," Rika said and the other girls scattered.
"Naoko-chan, where are you going?" Sakura asked.
"Over there to Apricots, Riku, and Link," Naoko responded.
"Oh... well.. I'm going to get some food," Sakura said.
"Don't be gone too long. I'm sure Q-Bert is going to ask you to dance," Naoko said and winked.
For once Sakura was glad that it was dark in the gym. Glad it was dark so no one would see her face turn bright pink with a blush. She slowly wandered over to the food tables and grabbed a few Gold Fish crackers. Her eyes skimmed the crowd and saw was just about to go over the crowd once more when a set of blue eyes and a set of green eyes landed on her. As she looked closer, she noticed that it was Sora and Q-Bert, both of them were staring at her. She quickly turned around to face the food table again and slowly inched her way out of hte line of site of the two bishies.
"Come ON!" Sakura heard Ca's voice. "You know you can!"
"But, Sakura would kill me if she found out!" Vash whimpered.
"Sakura wouldn't hurt a fly," Ca returned.
"That's what you think!" Vash exclaimed. "You didn't see her earlier today!"
"Well, just one bottle then! It won't hurt anyone. Just.... loosen things up!"
"One bottle of what to what?" Sakura asked and walked toward them.
"Eh..." Ca replied.
"I've.... got to.... go......" Vash said and the two disappeared from the general area of the punch bowl.
"I'm surprised he isn't guzzling donuts," Sakura said to herself.
"Hello!" Naoko said and walked up to her friend.
"Why aren't you with Link, Riku, or Apricots?" Sakura asked.
"I'm thirsty," Naoko replied.
"I wouldn't drink the punch if I were you. It might be spiked." Sakura said.
"I wasn't going to have it anyways. I was going to have water. I'm watching my weight," she added, as she grabbed three bowls of ice cream.
"I hope that all isn't for you," Sakura said.
Naoko beamed at her friend and took a bite out of one of the bowls.
Sakura sighed and shook her head and Naoko headed off back towards Apricots, Link, and Riku. Sakura decided to search out Rika and started weaving in and out of the people on the dance floor, trying her best to avoid Sora and Q-Bert.
"Sakura-onee-chan!" a voice called out.
Sakura whipped around to find Cael trailing behind her. Sakura smiled and bent down to his level.
"Sakura-onee-chan, everyone here is a lot bigger than I am," Cael said quietly while staring at his feet.
"Aww. It's ok Cael. Do you want to hang out with me?" Sakura offered.
Cael's face lit up as he looked at her and nodded.
"Ok, I was just going to go find Rika. I heard somewhere that she had a really big surprise for everyone," Sakura said and looked around for the said cook.
Cael slid his hand into Sakura's and the two went off to continue the search for the MIA Rika who had disappeared earlier in the party. As the wandered around the came upon an interesting scene. A bishie was asking another bishie if he should maybe as one of the fan girls to dance. That's when Sakura noticed the room. Separated on either side of the room, almost by an invisible wall, were the fan girls on the left, and the bishies on the right. She sweatdropped and walked over to one of the bishies. She took him by the hand and dragged him over to some random fan girl and put his hand in hers. She whacked them both on the back and pushed them together. Another song started and the two started dancing, that's when all of the other bishies walked over to the fan girls and started dancing with them.
"Man.... You'd think they were in middle school," Sakura said a bit miffed.
"Some of us are in middle school," a random fangirl said as she walked by.
Sakura sweatdropped. "So they are..."
"And, like," Naoko stuffed a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "I was all, 'WERE GONNA CATCH YOU DAMNIT!' to the bishie and he looked at me, a bit scared, and then he started to run...."
"I think she's just plain out of it," Apricots whispered to Q-Bert. The two were listening to Naoko babble about how she and Sakura first met, which turned into the usuall colors of chocobos, and then meandered over to the cellular structure of mushrooms, and then ended up to the story of a random bishie capture, which probably never happened, but, when Naoko rambles, it doesn't matter.
"Erm," Q-Bert said to Naoko. "You probably shouldn't eat too much ice cream. You might overdose..."
Naoko paused in her eating and stared at him. "Overdose....? on ice cream?" She goggled at them. "That's impossible. Speaking of impossible, did you know that chicken legs are eaten in China?"
"We need to take drastic action..." Apricots said. Q-Bert nodded.
"Hey!" Apricots said. "look over there!" he pointed off into a random corner. A horrible cliché, but, of course, Naoko fell for it and looked in the other direction. Q-Bert snatched her ice cream and ran in the opposite direction. As soon as Naoko sensed that her ice cream had disappeared, she started to growl, and to the closest people, almost foamed at the mouth.
"Who DARES to take my ice cream?!" she cried as she started to chase after Q-Bert.
Apricots ran up to her and picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She started to kick and scream and beat at his back wildly as he walked over to Sakura for a calm conversation on the state of the preserve.
Sakura stared in awe at Naoko who was still kicking wildly.
"Uh... Naoko-chan.... are you ok?" Sakura asked slowly.
Naoko turned to look at Sakura, she had a wild look in her eyes.
"I'll be right back," Sakura said and ran off.
Minutes later she came back with a white jacket in her hands.
"Where did you get that?" Apricots asked.
"Oh... my brother gave it to me as a present for Christmas once..." Sakura said and slipped Naoko into it.
She pulled on the straps and zipped it up the back. Naoko only stared at Sakura as she did this.
"Now she won't be able to hit you anymore," Sakura said as a small sweatdrop rolled down the back of her head as Naoko started to chew at the arms.
Apricots looked startled. "eh... do you think we should knock her out?"
"That might work," Q-Bert said, who had walked up.
"ICE CREAM THEIF!" Naoko yelled in between her knawing.
"Sorry Naoko-chan," Sakura said and grabbed a plate from the table. "I hope this doesn't hurt too much..."
Naoko had enough time to look up before Sakura whacked her on the head with a plate. Naoko fell unconscious.
The three stared at her for a bit, then looked up at each other and gave a nervous laugh.
"Maybe we should dump her on Link," Apricots suggested.
"You're so mean," Sakura said. "I'll go get him."
"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!" Link demanded when he joined Apricots and Q-Bert.
"Um... a.... giant.... koala came and hit her really hard!" Q-Bert said quickly.
"A... koala? What's that?" Link asked.
"Its a ... giant.... bear..." Apricots said.
"NO! A giant bear came through here?" Link asked. "Tell me where it is! I need to destroy it!"
"No, you should stay here with Naoko," Sakura said. "To keep her safe."
Link formed an O with his mouth and sat down beside the unconscious captor. "Never fear! You three go and have fun, but keep a lookout!"
Sakura, Q-Bert, and Apricots walked away, trying to contain their laughter.
When they got to the other side of the gym, they couldn't hold their laughter in any longer.
"Did you, did you see the look on her face when she saw the plate coming down?" Sakura asked through gasps.
"Yeah, here eyes got all big and round like this," Apricots replied, making his eyes widen.
The three laughed harder and harder until they had tears falling down their faces. There was a scream from the other side of the gym and the three suddenly stopped laughing and had very serious expressions on their faces.
"Naoko..." the all said simultaneously.
They took off running back towards Naoko only to find that it was a fan girl that had screamed. On of the bishies was starting to act strangely. It looked almost as if he was having spasms but laughing at the same time.
"What's going on here?" Sakura asked as she stood next to the fan girl.
"I'm not sure. He just started acting strangely," the girl replied.
"Did he happen to have any punch?" Sakura asked, suddenly appearing dressed in a cop uniform.
"Why, yes, I do believe he did," the girl replied again.
"Ok. I need all the information that you can tell me," Sakura said and started writing in a little notepad she pulled out of her pocket. "Like, starting with your name."
"My name is Lizzee1," the girl replied.
"Ahh... ok, Lizzee1," Sakura repeated as she scribbled the name down. "Now, when exactly did this bishie start acting like this?"
"Bob says about 2 minutes ago... he also says you knew that already," Lizzee1 replied.
"Bob?" Sakura asked staring at the girl.
"Yes! Bob!" Lizzee1 replied again holding up a very pointy carrot.
"Bob...." Sakura said.
"Yes, Bob!" Lizzee replied indignantly. "Do you dislike carrots?"
"Um...." Sakura said, lost.
"Carrots have orange!" The bishie who had had the punch informed them, and burst out into laugher.
"I think that the punch is spiked," Lizzee1 said.
"May I quote you on that, Lizzee1?" Sakura asked.
"Lizzee1? I am Rachel!" The So-called Lizzee1 said.
"Huh? I'm lost!"
"SHUT UP, RACHEL!" The girl cried and slapped herself. "Sorry," she said to the shocked Sakura. "She sometimes gets out."
"Gets out," Sakura said faintly.
"I think she's had punch, too," Q-Bert said
"I have not!" Lizzee1 said indignantly. "Casey wouldn't allow it!"
"Oh, and is Casey... another friend?" Sakura asked.
"Yep!" Lizzee1 said. "And, she wants a job at the preserve!"
"oh.... well...."
"There is a doctor job open!" Mooie said, popping up behind Sakura.
"Doctor?!" Sakura hissed
"We'll take it!" Lizzee1 said. "Won't we, Bob?"
"Heh..."
"Muffin is a funny word!" Mooie said and started to laugh as she walked away.
Sakura looked around the room and saw many bishies and fangirls either laughing, crying, or just standing, staring at the wall and pointing out a particularly colorful spot.
Suddenly she was back in her emerald dress and walked over to Vash, whom she had just spotted hiding in a corner with Ca-chan.
"You didn't, did you?" Sakura asked.
"Depending on what you're asking us if we did or didn't do something, I wouldn't know if I did of didn't do something given that fact that I don't know what you are talking about," Ca-chan responded.
Sakura cocked an eyebrow at her. She wasn't getting any real, constructive answer from Ca so she turned to Vash who had a sheepish grin on his face.
"Vash.... what did you to do?" Sakura asked warningly.
Ca gave him a 'tell and you die look' that Sakura caught.
"Never mind, I already know," Sakura said and walked away.
She headed up to the microphone and tapped on it.
"Hello bishies and fan girls. I have some, possibly bad news for you..." Sakura said.
All of the people in the gym stopped moving and the music stopped.
"Well... you see, the punch has been spiked," Sakura announced.
The crowd cheered.
"Um... That's a bad thing!" Sakura said. "it means you are all drunk, or tipsy!"
The crowd cheered again.
"Eh.... I guess I'll get down again." Sakura said as the crowd cheered, once again.
Sakura walked up to Vash. "Well, it looks like you made the party a whole lot more fun..." she said.
Vash beamed at her. "Wanna have a drink?" he hiccoughed at her.
Lizzee1 walked up to them. "You shouldn't drink!" she clucked that them. "It is bad!"
"Who made you a doctor?!" Vash demanded.
Sakura whispered in his ear.
"Oh..." Vash said.
Naoko joined them. "WHO WANTS TO SING A SONG?!" she demanded.
"Not you too, Naoko-chan," Sakura said.
"Of course not! I'm watching my figure!"
"How did you get out?" Vash asked her.
"Link set me free after I told him I needed to go to the bathroom," Naoko said.
"So, anyways," Naoko said to Sakura. "I'm on the "ice cream" diet. You only eat ice cream."
"Oh, really?" Sakura said.
"How about we sing 'A Pirate's Life For Me'?" Naoko asked.
"I don't know it," Vash said.
"You will then," Naoko said and started bellowing at the top of her lungs.
Sakura shook her head. "I knew she was on overdose."
She walked to the punch bowl. "Might as well!" she said and grabbed a cup.
One cup later...
"YO HO YO HO A PIRATES LIFE FOR ME!!" Sakura yelled, hanging onto Naoko's shoulder.
Vash giggled. "You can't hold your alcohol, can you?"
"hey!" Sakura slurred. "You can't either you Stupid, fat, ugly, really tall....." Sakura broke off.
Naoko laughed. "Can't even get a sentence straight!" she cried.
"Well, miss-im-on-the-icecream-diet," Sakura said. "Why don't YOU have a drink?"
"It's.... against my religion!" she said.
"Sure!" Sakura said and took another swig.
~Several Hours later~
"Oy..." Naoko said, looking at the party-hall. "Everyone is asleep..." True to her statement, everyone in the room, except a few people who did not drink the punch, was asleep.
"Hi!" Lizzee said to her. "I see you aren't asleep!"
"No, although I'm exhausted..." Naoko replied.
"I'm not.." Lizzee said. "I had to much sugar!"
"I did too, except I'm about to have a crash." Naoko said and yawned.
"Well, can anyone play video games around here?" Lizzee asked. "Bob is bored."
"Uh...." Naoko said. "Sure! Just... follow me," she said. She left the room and led the new bishie doctor to her private room. "Pick any game you want, because we have it.
Lizzee squealed. "How about this, Bob?" she picked up a PS2. "What do you say we play Final Fantasy?"
Later, Naoko hoped that she had just been hallucinating with the tiredness, but she could have sworn that she heard the carrot answer.
Lizzee turned on the game platform. "HAHAHAHA!! TIME TO KILL!" she bellowed and started pushing random buttons.
"I guess I'll watch," Naoko said and sat down on the floor next to Lizzee, watching the carrot suspiciously.
~*~ Back in the gym
Sakura sat up rubbing her head. "Oy.... such a bad headache," she moaned.
She looked around, everyone else was still sleeping. She found herself sitting on the cold gym floor and not two feet away lay Q-Bert, Sora, Riku, and Vash. Mooie, who was practically lying on top of Knives rolled over and snorted loudly. Sakura giggled a little. Ca-chan was sprawled out on the floor mumbling about a formula on how to make won tons taste like ice cream. Sakura stood up and wobbled back and forth a little.
"I probably shouldn't wake anyone up..." she said softly.
She left the room and found the vast supply of blankets in the storage room and proceeded to cover everyone up with one. She lingered as she covered Q- Bert and Sora up. "Sleep well tonight, all of you," she said as she exited the room and turned the light out.
As she walked down the hall she noticed a light coming from one of the rooms. She opened the door and found Lizzee1 and Naoko screaming at the characters on the screen.
"Hey, could you keep it down? Everyone's sleeping," Sakura said and closed the door behind her.
"Hey! You're awake!" Naoko cried cheerfully. She was apparently over her sugar crash.
"Oh! So you've recovered?" Sakura asked.
"Recovered from what?" Naoko asked. "Donut?" she offered the pastry to her friend.
Sakura sweatdropped. "No thanks. I feel like dying."
"Ahh.. hangover," Lizzee1 said. "It will help if you drink water."
"Okay," Sakura said. She left the room and came back with a gallon of water. "Here goes!" she said and started to chug.
Naoko sighed as she watched Lizzee try to beat the heartless. "You're not doing to well," she told the doctor.
"Well, it's kinda hard if the main character isn't there!" Lizzee retorted. "I had to let Bob take care of the bosses...."
Sakura choked. "Sora isn't in the game anymore?"
"Nah..." Naoko said. "Just some shadow."
"Um..." Sakura said. "That's not good!"
Sakura and Naoko looked at each other. Naoko's eyes lit up as Sakura's face went pale.
"WE HAVE A NEW JOB!!!" Naoko exclaimed.
"Y-yeah..." Sakura replied. "What have I gotten myself into!?" she thought.
Naoko began to dance around the room happily.
"I thought you weren't feeling well..." Lizzee1 said.
Naoko stopped running for a moment to look at Lizzee1.
"Are you nuts?! I always feel good!" Naoko exclaimed then started to swing Sakura around in circles.
"But, we still don't know what to do!" Sakura said.
Naoko stopped twirling Sakura. "That's right," she said. "We don't."
The two stared at the ground in minor disappointment.
"AHHHHH!!" Lizzee1 screamed.
"What?" Sakura asked as Naoko jumped.
"Nothing," Lizzee1 said.
"She has been screaming randomly all night..." Naoko muttered.
Sakura sweatdropped. "So she is...."
"HEY!" Naoko said brightly. "Ca-chan is a genius! Why don't we ask her to write an equation?"
"But, that's only for food!" Sakura said as Naoko grabbed her hand and whisked her out of the room.
"CA-CHAN!!!" Naoko bellowed through the halls of the preserve.
Ca's head popped out of a door on their immediate right and scared the living daylights out of Sakura, who just happened to be walking on the right side of Naoko.
"Yesh?" Ca asked.
"I have a business proposition for you," Naoko replied.
"Very well then, enter my office," Ca said and opened the door wide enough for the two girls to enter.
It was a very small room and the walls were plastered with images of the decease bishie, Nick Wolfwood. There was also a relatively large pile of coats on the floor in the right corner.
"Ne, Ca-chan, wasn't this a closet?" Sakura asked as she eyed the coats.
"Indeed it was, but is no longer," Ca replied making her way to a small desk in the left corner and organized a pile of papers.
Sakura and Naoko sat down on the ground and waited for Ca to say something.
"Weren't you two here to give me a proposition?" she asked as she grabbed a piece of lined paper and a pencil.
"Oh yeah!" Naoko exclaimed as she remembered her purpose for coming to see Ca. "We would like you to write an equation that will assist us in saving the video games that we have taken bishies from."
Ca-chan turned and stared at her darkly. "My equations are for food, and food only."
Naoko paled at the stare and turned to Sakura. "Why didn't you tell me they were only for food?!?" she asked in a harsh whisper.
"I did!" Sakura protested.
There came a knock on the door behind them and Ca got up to answer it. A pile of pictures came crashing down on Naoko and Sakura's heads.
"What the...?" Sakura mumbled as she picked up one of the images.
It was yet another image of Nick Wolfwood. She sighed.
"Well, you seem to be a bit busy. We will leave you to your work and try to figure this out on our own. Thank you for your time Ca-chan," Sakura said and dragged a protesting Naoko out of the room, for she had found an image with, what she thought, Legato on it. Sakura only thought it was a speck of dust and threw the image back into the pile of other images.
Once Naoko had regained her footing she grabbed Sakura's shoulder and whipped her around so she could see Sakura's face.
"You'll have to pay for that," Naoko said shortly.
"And how am I going to do that?" Sakura asked rolling her eyes slightly.
"You'll have to buy me ice cream," Naoko replied.
Sakura gave Naoko a mock horrified look that sent Naoko on a rage. Sakura high-tailed it down the hallway and back into the gym where the rest of the guests still slept. She hid under one of the tables just as Naoko entered the gym in search of her.
Naoko roared and marched about the room, only to step on a sleeping Knives.
"GAH! sorry!" she said as Knives rolled over and glared daggers at her.
"You should do more than that, spider." Knives growled at her.
"Like.........?"
"Die." Knives sat up and rubbed his head. "Good God... trust humans to make me drunk..."
Naoko tiptoed away from Knives and continued her search for Sakura. "Sakura?" she whispered. "You can come out now! I forgive you!"
Sakura stayed put.
After searching for a few more minutes, Naoko got tired and left the room in search of some coffee. "I need something to wake me up," she said. She walked into the kitchen and rifled thorough all the cupboards, but to no avail. There was not a affianced beverage to be seen. Naoko couldn't even find any chocolate. Cursing her fate, she decided to go to her room and sleep. "Leave it to someone who flies about in a rowboat to be stingy on caffeine..." she said as she opened door and flopped down on the bed.
~-~
Sakura crawled out from under the table as soon as Naoko left and observed the unconscious people around her. No one was awake yet, and Sakura was sure that it had to be at least 10:00. "We have bishies to catch!" she said indignantly. she then paled. 'What if some fangirls come in while the bishies are still unconscious?' she grimaced at the thought to bishies waking up to screaming girls climbing all over them, cutting off locks of hair, and removing articles of clothing for souvenirs. 'Then again, that might not be so bad,' she thought and imagined some particularly buff bishies shirtless. She then shook her head. 'Better not let it happen.' She walked around, wondering what she should do to wake them up. 'Naoko would know what to do...' she thought. She then imagined Naoko with water balloons, throwing them at the comatose sleepers and running away, laughing hysterically at their confusion. She shook her head. 'We're starting to think alike!' she thought, then grinned. She headed off to a nearby bathroom that just so happened to be stocked up with extra balloons from the decorations. Apparently they had been forgotten about in the decorations, for the bag hadn't even been opened. Sakura laughed evilly to herself as she ripped the bag open and took out one of the balloons. She began stretching the opening of the bag because once, when she was a little girl of the age 10, her brother was showing her how to fill balloons with water and she made the mistake of not stretching the opening and filling. Needless to say, it exploded in her hands and rather than get her brother soaking wet, she ended up as the one completely wet. After filling one balloon she paused and looked at herself in the mirror, she frowned. What kind of friend would she be if she didn't wake her best friend and have her join in the festivities of scaring bishies, and fangirls, senseless? Sakura set the balloon down in a small padded basket and removed her shoes. She could let no one hear her as she ran out of the bathroom and up to her room, where she suspected Naoko would be after her futile search for coffee, or any caffinated beverage for that matter. Sakura knew that Naoko was trying to get herself addicted to coffee and, as a joke, removed all of the coffee and caffinated soda from the preserve.
Upon entering the room where she and Naoko resided, she found a snoring Naoko half on her bed and half not. Her right arm and leg were hanging off the bed and her head teetered back and forth next to the nightstand that held her lamp and glasses. Sakura chocked back her laughter as Naoko scratched her head and mumbled something along the lines of "Mommy... more ice cream, my tummy says that I need more ice cream..." She walked over to Naoko's bed and stared at her face with her head cocked to the right. A slight smirk spread across her face as she bent down so she was level with Naoko's ear.
"NAOKO!" she screamed.
Naoko awoke with a start and fumbled for her glasses that where on the night stand.
"Wha? Where's the fire?" Naoko sputtered as she put her glasses on.
Sakura could hold it in any longer. She grasped her sides and she slid to the floor laughing hysterically with tears following down her cheeks. Naoko's eye twitched as she looked at Sakura.
"What do you want?" Naoko asked groggily.
"Well," Sakura said between gasps of air. "I was going to wake all the bishies and fangirls up by dropping water balloons on them and I thought maybe you'd like to join me."
Naoko's eyes lit up as she hopped over to Sakura.
"That'd be great!"
"First, we need some ultra-cool ninja gear," Sakura said, leaving her laughing fit behind, and had a gleam of mischief in her eyes.
Naoko ran over to their closet and brought out a pair of black cotton sweatpants and a sweatshirt. On the back, in satin letters, were the initials "B.C." They stood for Bishie Captor of course, but that wasn't the point. Sakura ran to her closet and grabbed the same outfit. Next Sakura pulled out a black beanie and a satin bandana. Naoko winked as she pulled out the same thing.
The two quickly dressed and Sakura helped tie the bandana around Naoko's nose and mouth. In truth, the two looked more like thieves than ninjas, but that didn't matter to them. Their gaze shifted down to their bare feet. They had completely forgotten about shoes. Did they even have shoes that didn't make noise on the ground?
Sakura turned to Naoko and raised her eyebrows in a question. Naoko shrugged. There was a muffled scuffling coming from one of the other closets in the room and Sakura and Naoko stalked over to the door. They opened the door cautiously and two pairs of black moccasins fell out. Naoko and Sakura exchanged frightened looks but took the moccasins nonetheless. They slipped them on and made their way back to the bathroom where Sakura had left the balloons.
About 15 minutes later, the balloons were filled and the girls were ready to wreck havoc. Naoko was dancing around erratically in glee.
"What happened to you being tired?" Sakura whispered.
Naoko paused, then stopped immediately. "I forgot about it..." she said.
Sakura sweatdropped as the two arrived at the door to the gym. "Ready?" she whispered.
As an answer, Naoko grabbed a particularly large balloon and tossed it into the air with a loud whoop and rushed in. Sakura gave a war cry in response and ran in after.
Most bishes and fangirls woke in surprise and wondered what was happening, while others tried to steal water balloons from Sakura or Naoko, but they received a balloon in the face as a response. "WAKIE WAKIE!" Naoko cried while Sakura danced around singing wakeup calls. After the balloon supply was exhausted, Sakura and Naoko abruptly disappeared under the table to fortify themselves against the outraged bishies.
"Do you think we'll be safe under here?" Sakura asked Naoko in a barely audible whisper.
Naoko shrugged. "No on saw us duck under here... did they?"
"I don't know..."
"Where do you think they went?" a voice called out.
Two sets of shoes appeared under the edge of the table cloth, both untied. Sakura pointed them out to Naoko and made a hand signal to her. Naoko nodded enthusiastically.
Sakura tied one pair of shoe laces together as Naoko did the other set.
"Be prepared to run out of here though," Naoko commented. "When they fall they'll be able to see under the table."
Sakura nodded her head briefly as she got prepared to run for the door on the other side of the gym.
"You think we'll make it?" Sakura asked.
"It's worth a try."
The two bishies took one step and fell flat on their faces. They blinked in confusion as they saw Sakura and Naoko's faces under the table.
"RUN!" Naoko shouted.
Sakura and Naoko broke out in a flat sprint for the door but unfortunately were caught by Q-Bert and Apricots 10 feet from the door.
Sakura and Naoko exchanged looks. Both bishies were completely drenched and their hair was hanging down in their eyes, giving them a some-what evil look.
"Well boys, what should we do with them?" Apricots asked.
Snickers were heard from the crowd of soaking wet bishies.
"You wouldn't tie us to a pole in the middle of the room and eat all the ice cream, would you?" Naoko asked.
Sakura kicked Naoko's shin and gave her a glare. Apricots' eyes glistened.
"That brilliant!" One of the other bishies yelled.
Minutes later, both girls were tied to a pole in the middle of the room while the bishies sat around with tubs of ice cream. Sakura rolled her eyes as Naoko sobbed loudly and muttering something about "the injustice."
After the bishies were full and Naoko had muttered all the insults and threats she could think of, Sakura decided it was time to speak. "Um.... Do you think that you can untie us yet?"
"I don't know..." Q-Bert said pensively.
"Yes. We might get paint ball balloons." Vash said. "Then again, if you were wearing white shirts..."
"I would watch your back as soon as I'm let go, Vash," Naoko said airily. "I might just accidentally fall on you with a knife."
Vash smiled toothily and backed away. "Nice bishie captor," he said.
"What about me?" Sakura asked. "I wouldn't do anything!"
"In your knowledge," Naoko muttered.
"Oh, alright," Sora said. "You're right. You aren't evil." He walked up and untied Sakura.
Naoko watched the proceeding with big eyes. "But!"
Sakura grinned. "You see! This is what happens when you try to cook bishies!"
Riku glared at Naoko.
"Heh..." Naoko said and sweatdropped.
"But, since you are my best friend," Sakura said, "I'll let you go."
"YAY!" Naoko cried and tried to jump for joy.
Sakura untied her friend.
"THIS MEANS WAR!" Naoko bellowed to the bishies as Sakura led her out of the room.
