To Go, Please Chapter 10: Party Crashers Author: Adrial Rating: PG13 To Go, Please
Now, I really want to apologize for not recognizing those of you who've been so great by reviewing and e-mailing me. I kept forgetting b/c I was so anxious to get the chapters out for you guys! I have to keep sitting on my hands to keep them from hitting that little 'upload' button so I don't bombard you all with five chapters a day. I hope it's been worth the whole 24 hour wait! hehe...
THANKS 2:
Aqua Rasphody: Thanks so much for taking the time to read this new version of my story. I really appreciate it; you have NO idea how much. I'm so thrilled that you're enjoying it. And I have NO idea where I came up with that coffee boy message...I wrote it so long ago! I guess I just got inspired or something. ;) Thanks again for your reviews!
Yui4: You are WAY too kind. I've finished the fic already, so don't worry about me leaving it half-way through! I'm so glad you like it. Thanx 4 the review!
Lil' Mercurian Angel: I hope I'm updated soon enough...;) Thanx for the review!
wishingstar: Lol..clearly I should have begun using M.Word a LONG time ago. Word Pad just doesn't have the spell check thing going for it, huh? I am proud to say that I have just finished editing this chapter with M.Word and if there are any errors...well...at least I tried! (
Ellen: haha...I personally cringe whenever I go back and read ch.4 b/c of the truth or dare part. I just think it's so corny, but I'm glad you got some kind of enjoyment out of it! I at least tried to make the dares interesting. I guess I tapped into my cruel side or something. I felt bad for Mamoru though....;-) And I LOVE writing Kyle (Kunz) for some reason. That whole shy/macho thing is so cute!
Kay D. Chan: blush you people are too nice. I'm so happy you've enjoyed this so much! It's so close to me now that I've spent 2 years on it. Hope you enjoy the rest! And there will be MUCH more change as the story progresses. (This chapter is one of the brand new ones hint hint)
A.O.Y.U.: You know, I always hear that there aren't many good Ami-fics; we need more! Ami is such an enjoyable character to write. You can do so much with her character. I'm glad you consider this read-worthy!
Princess of Pirates: It loves you, too! hehehe...
--Adrial Ch. 10--------------------------------------------------
"Stop biting your nails Ami!" Minako scolded, slapping my hand away from my nibbling teeth.
Glaring at the back of her head, I jammed them back into my mouth and continued to chew as if my life depended on it. It was a habit I had only recently started, ever since a certain green-eyed blonde entered my life.
"Sit still, Mina-chan," Rei ordered, pulling Minako's face back towards her. Her other hand busily stirred a tub of steaming orange goop sitting on the table beside her.
Minako rolled her eyes and reached over when Rei wasn't looking to turn up the radio.
"I told you not to move!" Rei snapped, and Minako folded her arms across her chest.
"And what's up your ass today, Hino?"
Usagi decided to add her two-cents worth to the conversation, "She's just pissy because her agent wouldn't make them put up that life-sized cardboard cut-out of her on the red carpet for tonight."
I rolled my eyes, plopping onto Rei's bed with my hand still in my mouth. I didn't know why I was nervous. It was Rei's big night, not mine after all. But, nonetheless, I was on the verge of being a wreck and even my Anatomy textbook couldn't squelch the raging case of apprehension gnawing at my stomach.
"How long are you supposed to leave this stuff on, Rei-chan?" Minako looked warily at her face, gingerly touching the white strips hiding her eyebrows.
Rei shrugged, fuming at Usagi's comment, and patted her brows haphazardly. "I guess they should be cooked by now."
Minako bit her lip, and Rei opted to take off both at once.
"Kill two birds with one stone?"
Minako nodded, wincing.
"Alright, Minako...one...two...THREE!"
"GAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Rei brought her arms down, inspecting the slips of paper with a scrutinizing gaze.
"There are barely any hairs on here!"
Usagi had other worries as she dodged the flailing blonde that threatened to topple over her in her frantic dancing around the bedroom.
"OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!" Minako screeched, fanning her eyebrows rapidly.
Rei dumped the tub of goo into her garbage bin and glared at the bottle that followed, "Shoulda listened to Kayla. Nair is crap."
Minako was nearly hyperventilating, and I grabbed her arms to calm her down.
"Minako, deep breaths, OK?" I said soothingly, "In, out...in, out."
A few tears squeezed themselves out of her eyes, and she sniffled.
"In, out...i-in, o-ou-out," She repeated.
Usagi stifled a giggle. At that moment Makoto came bounding through the door, out of breath and hair sopping wet.
"Sorry I'm late! I had to-Minako! What happened to your face?"
Minako stared at her for a brief second before lunging herself across the room at Rei.
Rei screamed, flinging herself into safety behind her bathroom door.
"You're crazy, Minako!" She yelled.
"Great! After I murder you I can plead insanity and get off scott free!" Minako banged her fists on the door, cerulean eyes ablaze.
Makoto watched the exchange with confused eyes before shrugging it off and hopping onto Rei's desk chair.
"Need I even ask?" She said while beginning to comb out the damp curls around her face and neck.
Usagi rolled her eyes back to her magna, and I sighed, reaching into my book bag for my notes on philosophers of the 15th century.
Truth be told, Socrates and Aristotle couldn't have even saved me when I found myself hours later smack in the middle of a thousand, sweating bodies all bumping up together like something off the Discovery channel.
Zach, my one chance for survival, had left my side for all of five seconds before the DJ selected him and another unsuspecting guy to participate in a shoot-off. Basketballs, that is. The entire where house was packed with people--young, old, tall, short...married. (AN: Scandalous!)
The multi-colored strobe light lit the room in every color of the rainbow, and the floor vibrated from the bass blowing through the biggest speakers I'd ever had the good and great fortune to see.
If Rei wasn't backstage preparing her vocal chords for her performance, I wouldn't have even been able to tell it was supposed to be a singing competition. A mini arcade was set up in one corner, adjoined with a series of basketball hoops, where my boyfriend was securing his right as Juuban U's starting point guard and two time MVP.
Granted, he'd also secured his right as an of-age male and taken full advantage of the open bar, so a few of his free-throws missed the hoop by light-years, but that was only what I'd heard from a slurring Matt as he nearly toppled me over while dancing circles around Makoto, who giggled manically at his (HORRIBLE) impression of Michael Jackson.
Although I pride myself in not partaking in childish, immature acts, I really wished I'd had a video camera, or a polaroid, or ANYTHING to capture the hilarious scene for future reference (i.e.: blackmail).
I shoved my way through the crowd, double tasking as I searched for two familiar blonde faces and the ladies room at the same time.
I'd lost Usagi and Minako not ten minutes after we'd arrived to a herd of growling men tightly clad in leather pants and muscle T's. Mamoru and Kyle didn't seem to like that all too much. But I digress...
I thought I heard my name being screeched over the powerful bass, but when I turned around in search of the alleged source, I ran head-long into a giant palm tree prop that was strategically planted in front of a peculiarly realistic Hawaiian backdrop. Thankfully, I managed to grab hold of a waitress carrying a tray of margaritas to steady myself, thus knocking her over.
"I'm so sorry, let me help you ..." I scrambled to help the baffled woman up only to receive a glare that could have burned a hole in my forehead and the imprint of her steel tipped cowboy boot on my toes.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow..." I squeaked, shaking out the stabbing pain there and nearly on the verge of tears. This was SO not fun.
"Ami!" A surprised voice shouted very close to my ear, and I turned around to find Zach's grinning face inches from mine. The hair on his forehead was matted and sweaty, and his eyes were glassy from the heat and whatever alcohol he'd consumed already. He gave me a lopsided grin and held out a glass of amber liquid. I wanted to pounce on him and never let go. I actually felt tears of joy spring into my eyes.
"I WON!" He exclaimed, loud enough to register over the roaring voice of Luda-something or other and held up a wad of cash.
A loss for words, I merely laughed. Thankful to squelch the dryness in my throat, I forgot the pounding in my foot and took the proffered glass from his hand, draining it in seconds before spitting out whatever it was that was burning a trail of fire down my throat.
I coughed raggedly, shoving the glass back at him.
"Wha-what WAS that?!" I gasped, trying to ease the burning in my throat.
He looked slightly confused and rubbed my back in circles.
"A shot...you've never had one before?" He furrowed blond brows at my reddened face.
A shot of what? Liquid fire? This night was going down hill and fast, and I had to get my footing before I collapsed along with it.
"No." I simply stated and brushed past him to a cluster of bamboo stools. I sat down heavily, sweating and slightly dizzy from the swirling lights flashing over the room and rubbed the perspiration from my forehead.
Zach approached me with a look of apology clearly written on his face.
"I'm so sorry, Ami. I thought you'd...I mean, I assumed that you drank," He trailed off, trying desperately to make amends.
I stared at him blankly before shrugging it off. He really didn't know.
"It's alright, Zach. You didn't know," I raised my voice so he could hear clearly, "I'm not much of a drinker. Actually...I've never even tasted it before." I suddenly felt insecure about my abstinence from alcohol. Why do something that would make me completely unaware of my surroundings, act like an idiot, and wake up to the inside of a toilet bowl the next morning gagging my insides out with no clue of what I'd done that caused the horrendous migraine pounding away at my temples?
Not to mention that my mother would hunt me down and KILL me if she ever found out I was drinking, especially when I was underage.
But he didn't gape at my statement; he only smiled widely and sat down beside me.
"Shoulda guessed though. You're way too grounded to ever lose control like some of these idiots," he gestured to the madly grinning dancers raising sloshing glasses of a similar amber liquid in toasts.
I raised my eyebrows. They seemed to be having a hell of a lot more fun that I was.
But me...grounded? More like too scared stiff to try anything that's outcome I couldn't calculate with numbers and equations.
"But then again. That's what I like about you, Ami," He downed one of the drinks I had previously regurgitated and smiled, "You're so smart and beautiful."
The blush that tinged my cheeks was thankfully hidden in the dim lighting, and I fiddled with my fingers awkwardly.
Before I could respond, he was taking my arms and dragging me into the swirl of grinding people.
"Let me make it up to you," He said into my ear, leaving the scent of mingled sweat and alcohol tickling my nostrils.
I could hardly string together a coherent thought or statement or even decipher what the slurred words leaving his mouth meant as he grabbed me close to his body and brought my arms around his neck.
Oh, God! He wants to DANCE?! Alright...just do what he does. No, wait...how do I make my hips do that thing? Oh, lord...I'm going to kill myself, I know it.
"Just relax!" He yelled over the music. I smiled weakly and tried to do as I was told.
Relax, Ames. Just relax.
Relax I did as he moved slowly against my body, flowing with the beat of the music around us. The bass picked up and soon I was grinding against him as if we were molded together in a puzzle.
Somehow I ended up with my back facing him, and he held my waist tightly. I was doing pretty well actually, considering the fact that I'd never danced with anyone before outside of the ballroom dancing lessons I took for about a week when I was twelve. I let the music control my body, and I had no intention of making it stop.
But inevitably it did, and we were left sweaty and breathing heavily against each other twenty minutes later. The designated VJ for the moment stepped on to the stage, pumping up the crowd with raised arms and loud shouts.
I barely heard a word of the intro for the performers, nor did I pay a bit of attention when the first walked up to perform.
I was a little detained at the moment. Well, that is to say my lips were a little detained at the moment.
"Hey douche bag!"
I winced as Zach's face was smashed against mine from the impact of Jason's fist on his back.
Before Zach could launch his own attack on his interruptive friend, our attention was brought to the spotlighted beauty on stage.
"It's Rei!" I exclaimed, shoving my way towards the front to get a better view before she began.
Jason nodded, following closely behind me just as the first notes of her song filtered through the humid dance floor.
She parted rose colored lips, anxiety and excitement trickling into her smile and releasing themselves in a haunting melody that pricked the fine baby hairs on my neck. The entire air of the room shifted from tense and fast-paced to a lethargic, hypnotic feel.
I could feel the heat of bodies surrounding me, nearly suffocating, yet somehow comforting. Zach's arm laced itself around my waist, and I stared into his eyes with an entranced gaze.
Zach's lips found mine at almost exactly the same moment the music was halted abruptly by a screech that pierced through Rei's alluring voice.
"Look! Look!" Cried all around me. I darted my eyes in all directions, finally seeing the scarlet haze of energy floating towards the stage. Cheers and hoots filled the room in a deafening rumble. People began rattling the stage, jumping in excitement at the incredible spectacle that must have been planned.
But it wasn't. I knew that, and Rei did as well as she leapt from the stage and barged her way through boisterous bodies to reach me.
"Where are the others?" Her no-nonsense tone brought me to her complete attention.
"I'm not sure," I replied. Zach and Jason laughed dumbly at the show being put on around them, and I looked at them wearily.
Rei pursed her lips, "We need a plan."
The dense cloud of scarlet settled onto the stage floor, dissipating slowly and crackling with bolts of electricity. Gusts of winds blew the sweaty hair from my neck and bursts of fire erupted from the mass of energy.
By then a mob of people had started to move toward the stage, toppling over one another with no other instinct than to act as barbaric as humanly possible.
Chairs flew into the air, tables collapsed underneath drunken spectators trying to get a better view of the stage. I bit my lip.
"Damn. This is way better than that lame ass Japanese Idol show...Yeah!" Jason exclaimed before Rei grabbed his arm and nodded at me.
"Let's get outta here."
And we would have followed through with this order, except for the mob had grown so thickly congested that we were only pushed closer to the stage. I gasped for air.
Crushing. That was what it felt like. Faces I couldn't see shoved into my own, smashing me into other unidentifiable bodies. Rei's whereabouts were lost to me, and Zach's hand was no longer held tightly in my own.
I was nearly on the verge of panicking. Someone shoved me to the ground, causing only more chaos as bodies tripped over my own and crashed soundlessly into piles of limbs and drunken curses.
"NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE REAL PARTY TO BEGIN!" I barely heard the declaration beneath the pack of people using my head as a support to get up from the ground. And then a dead silence fell over us all as if they'd finally caught on that this was not smoke and mirrors. Another blood curdling screech erupted, shattering the still air and bringing with it a chain of energy that rippled through it, tearing through tables as if they were made of sand and creating a domino affect throughout the mob.
All hell broke loose after that. I was finally able to get my bearings and rose shakily to my feet. With quaking fingers, I smeared a layer of sweat from my forehead. And when it stuck to my fingers like watery glue, I stared quizzically at my darkened palm.
Another splatter of moisture spread across my cheek. My mind raced with urgency, the beat of the continuous music pounding into my eardrums and making it nearly impossible to establish any type of connection with the other senshi.
"TAKE THIS!"
Fortunately for me, I didn't take whatever was aimed directly at my head. Unfortunately for the pack of screaming girls behind me, they did. The ivory of my shirt was stained crimson with their blood.
I hadn't even been able to see the attacker yet. I felt alone in the brutal massacre occurring around my widened eyes.
-Ami! Are you alright?
Startled at Minako's voice, I tried desperately to clear my mind of the devastated howls shaking through the air and respond.
-I'm fine. Where are you guys? I kneaded my forehead.
-Behind the bar. Get here as soon as you can. These people are dropping like flies!
I wasted no time in responding and hurtled myself across the dance floor, leaping across the dead and injured with eyes blinded by the task at hand. The bar loomed in the distance, I could see the top of Mamoru's head peeking out from the side and sped up.
In a split second I was on the ground again, taking the full force of a ball of energy that rippled through my veins in painful stabs. Silently gasping for air that wouldn't come, I reached out for a little assistance from someone who wasn't being engulfed in fire or tangled in webs of scarlet electricity.
"Come on, Ames!" A small, white hand tugged me quickly from the ground, and I followed Minako to safety behind the bar countertop. There, Jason, Matt, Zach, Kyle, the girls and Mamoru were all tightly packed against each other and bubbling with a mixture of fear and anxiety.
"Would someone care to tell me what the fuck is going on here?!" Jason demanded, rising to his full height before being shoved back down by a furious Rei.
"Hey idiot, do you wanna get us all killed?!" She smacked his shoulder harshly and ignored his howl of disapproval.
Matt dumbly shook his head, "I am way too drunk for this."
Usagi kneeled forward to peer over the counter's edge. Her wide blue eyes blinked a few times as she sized up the enemy. I noticed that half of her golden hair was stained red. When she turned back to us, her face was ashen, "It's not exactly a youma we're dealing with here minna."
Minako and Makoto exchanged glances. Before more was said, the counter top hiding our huddle exploded into wooden fragments around us. Instinctively, I shielded Zach and Jason with my body as best I could and gritted my teeth as glasses crashed against my back in razor sharp slices.
When the dust had settled, we all flung ourselves up, bringing the guys as well.
Minako brushed a pile of dust from her clothing, "We've gotta get the guys outta here, minna. We can't risk them getting hurt."
Usagi nodded, "Mamoru, you take these four and then start looking for survivors."
He cast a worried glance into her eyes, and she smiled reassuringly.
"I'll be careful, don't worry," She gave him a winning smile, and ushered him away, four confused men in tow.
I was grateful for their inebriated states for they asked no questions about our welfare and followed on wobbly limbs behind Mamoru. Kyle, however, looked back with disbelieving eyes at the five of us, platinum brows furrowed. Minako bit her lip hard, I watched, and forced a smile for him. I furrowed my brow. I know I'd seen that smile before, more times than I could count, yet I was completely dumbfounded as to where or when.
We gathered together in a circle in the middle of the mass of bodies that were filling the air with smells of new death.
"My God..." Usagi uttered, looking around our feet at the horrific scene. It was a massacre--unlike any youma attack we'd ever been faced with before. Bodies littered the floor like pieces of discarded rubbish, layered atop each other in mini towers. My stomach jerked.
A cackle from behind our heads rose the hairs on our necks.
"I'm afraid no God of yours will be able to save you now, senshi."
The words left sneering lips of scarlet placed on a rigid face of pale skin and accented by glaring, crimson eyes. The woman's mane of inky black cascaded in waves down her back, parting like rivers at her shoulders. The corseted ruby gown she donned wrapped tightly around her torso and ended above knee-high leather boots with a heel that looked like it could have poked a hole through steel.
Makoto ground her knuckles into fists, breathing roughly behind me. I turned eyes to Minako's hands that were currently tinged by a golden glow and Rei's violet eyes burning with the fire she itched to release.
Did she call us...senshi?
Usagi seemed to have stumbled upon that train of thought as well and seemed baffled at the woman hovering above our heads.
A disoriented man, half conscious and muttering incoherently beneath his breath stumbled to the floor in between us and the nameless vixen who smiled (if you could call it that) devilishly. She eyed him with a bored glance and stepped on his neck, cracking the bones like twigs and grounding her heel into it with a smirk.
Usagi croaked in shock and disbelief and stared at the scene with wide eyes. "Just who the hell do you think you are?!" She screeched, her voice emblazoned with a passion only brought forth with the suffering of others.
The grinding motions of her boot stilled, and the lifeless form beneath it shuttered with tremors of a life lost.
"I am your past, present, and future, senshi." She seemed amused at her elusive response.
Rei's patience snapped, "Well I'm your worst fucking nightmare, witch!"
"MARS CRYSTAL POWER!"
"Rei, no!" Minako screamed, but too late to stop the swirl of fire from encasing her best friend and leaving an extremely heated Sailor Mars in her place.
"Mars flame sniper!" Blazing arrows of Mars left her palms and soared towards their target only to dissolve to cinders upon impact of a protective shield.
The unharmed woman chuckled bemusedly at the attack and brushed invisible cinders from her arms and shoulders.
"Pitiful, Mars, really," She sneered.
Makoto growled low and long, "No point in letting Mars have all the fun, right minna?" She gave no chance for response and was engulfed in a blanket of electricity before we knew it.
Minako glared at the two transformed senshi but relented and nodded to Usagi and me. Three flashes of pink, yellow, and blue temporarily filled the room. Once in senshi form, the slices of ice burning and tearing the skin on my back disappeared, and a familiar, powerful energy coursed through my veins.
The five of us faced our newest enemy with eyes layered with steel and ice. She seemed annoyingly unfazed, however, and shifted on her feet with a bored gaze.
"What? No pulling a rabbit out of your hats? Your pathetic little magic tricks are of no affect to me."
Venus held her golden chain tightly in her grasp.
"Tell us who you are," She demanded coolly.
"Well, since you've asked so nicely, I am Myora," She obliged with a devilish sneer. I felt my stomach flip-flop at her name for no apparent reason and shrugged it off as nerves.
Lightening crackled behind me, and Jupiter stomped to the front of our line.
"Now that we've been acquainted, tell us what you want so we can fry your sorry, Medusa-wannabe ass."
At that, Myora narrowed her eyes in a deathly glare towards Jupiter and snarled. She didn't even bother to retort; her hands shot up violently and a massive ball of blood red erupted from her palms. Before I could collect my thoughts or rationalize a plan of action, Jupiter's body slammed across the length of the floor, taking down any surviving tables with the force of the blow and staining the floor with her blood.
"MAKOTO!" Sailor Moon screamed desperately, fleeing to the fallen senshi with tears already forming behind eyes that had darkened to the color of a midnight sky.
Forgetting Myora for a second, we all joined her beside Makoto's still body. I forced the remorse and pain down my throat like acid. My visor flashed over my eyes and began beeping away, calculating her injuries and medical stats. I barely saw them through my tears.
In a passionate rage, Sailor Mars bounded towards Myora.
"You'll pay for that, bitch!" She roared, releasing useless fireballs and scorching mandalas that bounced harmlessly off her shield.
Myora smiled, obviously proud of herself.
"Enough games, senshi! All I came here for," She lifted a long, snarled finger in my direction, "Is her."
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