Chapter 10

"Man its dark." Aoi said. She was walking down a dark hall with one hand on the wall next to her. She couldn't see anything and her light on her watch wasn't strong enough to stay on for more than 5 seconds each time she pressed it to come on. It was now 7:54 and she still hadn't found the kitchen. She had been looking for a couple of hours. Luckily, she found food in one of her pockets, in the skirt, that had some food Usagi had given her. Aoi was hungry and tired of looking for a living being.

"Okay, I know it's all late and everything, but really! Would it hurt for them to get some torches in here so you can at least see where you're going?!"

Aoi felt the wall turn, it was a corner. She stopped and tried her hardest to see anything. She heard something move to her left so she looked that direction.

"Did you get lost?" Tomo asked from the other direction. The lights came on. He was sitting on the table looking straight at her. How he was able to see when it was that dark, she never understood, but she was happy that she had finally found a life form, even if it was Tomo.

"So what's with your place? Its like freakin dark everywhere!" She said trying to change the subject.

"Yes I know. The maids haven't burned the torches yet." He said. He motioned to the other side of the table. "Please sit down and eat, I know you must be hungry."

"............Fine......." Aoi said. Tomo tried to advance towards her but he was quickly shot down. "Don't come near me, I can scoot myself in. You come near me and I will have to kill you." Aoi passed Tomo and once she did, Tomo looked quite scared of her but he couldn't show his fear to her.

Outside the place Aoi was being held, three people landed in a tree with a 'thump'. They quickly positioned themselves so the branch wouldn't fall from all the weight. The first one to speak was Izumi.

"Okay, so that's it over there right?" Izumi asked. Luckily, she had brought her spy stuff with her. It all fit in a little case that she could wrap around her waist. She was now looking through her spyglasses. The only ones that went to save Aoi were Izumi, Tasuki and Chichiri because they stayed in case she came back on her own or the person tried to come back, for whatever reason it might be for. Plus, Chichiri didn't want anyone to go except him, he knew that Izumi would probably be good help but he barely let Tasuki come. Izumi was keeping in touch with Usagi and the others with their ear communicators. They all had one but Izumi usually kept them so they wouldn't get lost or anything.

"I think that's it." Chichiri said. "Tai Yi-Jun told me that it was this place, no da."

"It looks sorta spooky if ya ask me." Tasuki said. They both looked at him. "What?!" Tasuki asked loudly.

"First of all, we didn't ask you. Second of all, your the one who insisted on going!"

"So! Does that mean I can't just make a statement?!" Tasuki yelled at her.

Chichiri and Izumi looked at each other, shook their heads, and then went back to the task at hand.

"I don't see any doors. Let me analyze this place a little better." With that she disappeared. Two minutes later she came back. "I've looked all around the place."

Chichiri was trying to talk over Tasuki in the background who was yelling, 'There is no possible way in Hell that you could make it all the way around this place in two frickin minutes!'

"Is it like the person said in the note? Is it true?"

"Yes, there is no way in that I could see except one, but that door had so many chains and locks on it. I could get us through but it would take some time and the security is pretty good. This place is definitely well guarded."

"I think you're just making this all up so we bust our butts trying to get in there." Tasuki said laying back.

Izumi pushed Tasuki off and he landed flat on his face. Chichiri looked at him then at her.

"Well at least there's a lot less brainless weight on this poor tree branch." Izumi said with puppy eyes. Her puppy eyes could break anyone. As usual, it worked.

"Its okay, I was getting a little annoyed at him too, no da. So which way is the door?"

"It's on the side not facing us. It has exactly 8 locks so it should take me approximately 16 minutes to get that door open. Can you keep them away from me for that long without getting yourself hurt?"

"Yeah, with the help of that brainless lug down there, we can do this, no da."

"Good, because if I even let you get hurt, Jen would surely kill me." She smiled at Chichiri. "You're a lucky man Chichiri." Izumi's mood went serious suddenly. "But if you ever hurt her, I will have to kill you, I'm sorry."

"Kill me? Why be so drastic, no da?"

"I don't know. That's just how life is!" Izumi happily did a double back flip from the tree and landed on her feet. She heard a noise under her. She looked at her feet and found herself standing on Tasuki. "Wow. Do you really have as many brain cells as a door mat?" She asked mockingly.

"Just get off will ya? Ya way a ton!"

"How dare you say that! Just wait till we get back home, I will curse you until you die!" She said stepping off him. Chichiri then jumped down on Tasuki.

"Are you ready to go now, no da?" Chichiri looked around. "Where's that brainless lug when you need him, no da." Tasuki made a noise and Chichiri looked down. He quickly got off. "I know that's going to leave a mark, no da."

"Yeah, no kidding." Tasuki said. Izumi giggled and Chichiri just stared at Tasuki.

TO BE CONTINUED