Chapter Five
~Arrivals~
Ashley's pulled her truck in front of Katie's house at only ten after two in the afternoon; miraculously she had finished her chores both accurately and quickly. After making her phone calls to double check the arrangements for those supposed to care for the animals in her absence, Ashley figured she could head out to Bryan. The drive had not been a long one at all- she probably made record time, really. Surprisingly there'd been hardly any traffic, which was likely a lending factor.
Heart thumping with the excitement that just kept building, Ashley opened the driver side door and jumped to the gravel below. A grin had somehow managed to creep onto her lips and now seemed to be permanently stuck there. As she approached the front stoop, the screen door swung wide open and Katie emerged, bag in tow.
Puzzled, Ashley looked at her friend. "How did you know I was here?"
Katie gestured with her free hand towards the large front window. "Dove probably heard you coming a mile away, the way she jumped up by the window."
Sure enough the mini American Eskimo stood on display with a pink tongue hanging out and her fluffy white tail wagging. Ashley laughed shortly as Dove yipped for a hello before vanishing from sight.
"I see…well, are you ready then?" her hand gestured to Katie's bag.
The older of the two nodded vigorously. "You're here really early but I've got everything done. Mum's at work right now, Dad's sleeping, and I left a note on the counter saying I'd left and would call when we got to Mandi's."
Ashley moved to open the hatch of her truck so Katie could toss the bags on in.
"Now, you have everything, right?" The younger of the two inquired before budging from her place.
Katie took a moment to think, mentally listing everything she needed, checking them off on her fingers.
"Do you think Mandi would mind if I brought the animals?"
Laughing, Ashley shut the hatch and went around to the driver's side door. "She might not, but didn't she say her grandmother is allergic? Not to mention all the animals would probably drive us crazy before we even reach the halfway mark."
Paused at the passenger door, Katie took a long look back at the house, wondering if her mom wouldn't forget to take care of the animals while she was gone. "Her grandparents are gone for two weeks…maybe I can just bring Tig?"
"You've really got your heart set on bringing one of them, don't you?" Ashley snorted, sliding behind the wheel. "The animals will be fine, Katie, don't worry about it. If we can convince her, then Mandi will see them when we bring her back with us."
Shrugging, the older girl stepped into the truck, giving a wave to Dove who had returned to the window to see them off.
* * *
Two missed exits, one pit stop, and countless country tunes later, the truck rumbled on down Mandi's street at last. Fortunately, despite all of their slight delays, they had made excellent time. It only took the girls three hours, give or take a few minutes, to arrive; it was four-thirty something when they pulled into the driveway. Katie leaned over the gap between her and Ash and honked the horn loudly.
After a moment, the back door of the house opened and a somewhat worn looking Mandi emerged onto the cement stoop. Right away the weariness melted away as she saw her friends, a grin spreading over the brunette's lips as she ran to greet them.
"Hey! You're pretty early!" she exclaimed as Katie hopped out and immediately leapt onto Mandi.
"Glomp!" Katie proclaimed, giggling as she stepped back. "Ash was speeding to get here, she was that excited."
Ashley arched a brow as she got out of the truck. "I was, huh? It's not like I had a choice- someone kept threatening to lean down and slam their hand on the accelerator if I didn't hurry." She looked pointedly at the oldest of the three.
Katie glanced every which way, her blue eyes wide to infer innocence.
Mandi waved a hand, "Ah whatever- at least you didn't get pulled over on the way here- or lost either." She clapped her hands together, "I've been cleaning all day and getting things ready for you two, and now the house is ready for a week of us together." She grinned widely again, hugging both Ashley and Katie before bounding for the door, bidding them to follow.
The girls hoisted their bags from the back of the truck and filed inside after Mandi, their feet shuffling over the floor mat just inside the door. The young hostess led her friends through the dining room and living room to the stairs that went to her room. On the immediate right at the top there was a small bedroom with a single bed and a roll-out cushion; down the narrow hall on the left of the banister was the bathroom and then Mandi's much larger bedroom.
"You can store your stuff away in the front bedroom here," she motioned to the smaller room, "but we can all sleep in my room. There's plenty of space for us, and my DVD player is in there."
Where the DVD player was set up it was sure that the girls would be in that room when the later hours of the night arrived- their anime cravings would be heightened in that time, no doubt about it.
Katie suddenly jerked Ashley's bag from her hand and slid into the front bedroom, plopping their belongings onto the satin bedspread. She returned with a grin and Ashley arched a brow to her.
"Pardon me for not moving fast enough," the youngest mused, hazel eyes twinkling.
Smiling brightly, Katie replied. "I'm sorry; I'm just really excited...and hungry."
Mandi laughed, motioning for them to go on into her room. "We have plenty of food here- my gram went shopping for us before she and my grandpa left for Arizona...I was planning on you both coming a bit later, but if you want I can order from Moon Temple. It's a Chinese place up the street."
"Yes!" Katie cried bouncing on the edge of the king sized bed.
Ashley shrugged, "Whatever you two want to do, I don't really care either way."
Mandi chuckled at the youngest girl's indifference. Even though she hadn't known Ashley for as long as she knew Katie, Mandi still felt as that the pair had really hit it off as friends. For the most part it felt like all three, or four when the fourth was to be found, had been friends for eons. When they weren't able to get together like this…well…the Internet was a beautiful thing.
"Before I order- does anyone have to make phone calls home?" Mandi picked the phone up, holding it out to her friends.
Ashley and Katie took their turns calling home; assuring their mothers that they'd arrived safely and would have a good time and be careful. When they were through, Mandi took the phone, her fingers poised to dial.
"I'm going to order the best stuff on the menu," she prompted, "sweet and sour chicken, pineapple chicken fried rice, Crab Rangoon, pot stickers, and beef chow mien."
"Question," Katie raised a hand, "I thought Erin was supposed to be here."
"That wasn't a question," Ashley pointed out with a smirk on her lips.
Erin was the fourth of their group: a slender girl of short stature with chin length hair of ever changing color and sharp blue eyes. If she'd been able to join the three that week it was not doubted that the sound decibel level would've been upped a few notches. Not that Erin was a loud girl; she just could become very hyper if given the chance…and a lot of sugar.
Mandi shook her head, causing her long ponytail to swing. "Her plans to come up here kind of fell through. It seems that Spring Break at Murray State isn't until next week, and since we'd already made our plans it was a little too late to change them. I feel bad, but she told me not to worry and that we'd all get together soon enough."
The other two nodded, disappointed that their fourth musketeer wouldn't be there, but tried to shake the feeling off in order to have a good time that week. As Mandi proceeded to dial and order, Ashley and Katie began to explore the master bedroom. The North wall held two windows, both covered by a Saiyuki and a Final Fantasy X wall scroll; between the windows and over the bed were two dream catchers and a shrine to The Lord of the Rings' Legolas. The closet was on the East wall, which was covered in Lord of the Ring posters; however, the wall beside it was plastered with posters from various anime shows. The South wall was fairly bland, holding only one poster from Cowboy BeBop above the television while the West wall had pictures from the infamous Disney movie "Pirates of the Caribbean".
The plastic shelf on the right side of the bed caught Katie's eye and she dragged Ashley to it, dropping to her knees. Since the girls had hopped onto the anime bandwagon, joining the nationwide sweep of "Yellow Fever", they'd become fairly good collectors. The library of anime DVDs before them, though, more than just hinted that Mandi was something of an avid gatherer.
"Damn," Katie murmured, running her fingers over the alphabetized plastic DVD covers. (*A/N* Yes- I DO alphabetize my DVDs o.o). Her finger paused on the 'T' titles and she giggled. "Ash- it's Trigun! We so have to watch some of this while we're here!"
Ashley laughed shortly, shaking her head. "Sure, if you say so."
Mandi hung up the phone, rolling her eyes at the girls huddled over the anime library.
"We can do major anime watching soon enough, but our food will be ready in about ten minutes and it takes less time to walk and get it than it does for them to deliver it."
Katie jumped to her feet, smoothing down her black shirt. "That sounds like a plan, then. How far is the restaurant again?"
"About a block and a half- that's up my block, across the street to the next one and on the corner of the other side of the crosswalk on the next block." Mandi replied, slipping on a pair of black wannabe Converse sneakers.
The pair followed her out the bedroom door and down the narrow hall to the stairs. Ashley quirked a brow in thought as they filed down and out into the living room.
"I'm just curious, but what time did the two of you wake up today?"
The pony-tailed girl shrugged. "Pretty early, actually- it was about five after eight. I usually sleep in as long as I can, though, so it's kind of weird."
"You did go to bed early, though," Katie pointed out as the niggling returned to the back of her mind. What on earth was she forgetting to do? Unknown to her, the feeling had simultaneously come over her two friends as well, but none of the three said a word.
"Even so," Mandi stated, opening the back door, "I have a tendency to sleep in. I just figured it was because I was excited you two were coming out here."
Ashley stepped onto the back stoop. "You got up at five after eight? I got up at five after nine. Katie?"
"So did I, actually," Katie eyeballed the two girls. "Now I'm curious…do either of you remember your dreams?"
Mandi remained silent a moment, leading her friends down the driveway and along the sidewalk. She knew Ashley and Katie more than likely had stayed up super late, so for them to have awoken that early was strange. What struck her as more unusual was that the three of them seemed to have gotten up at the same time.
"Hey, earth to Mandi-chan," Katie waved a hand in front of the girl's eyes.
"She's not here at the moment; please leave a message after the tone." Ashley sniggered as they kept walking.
Snapping out of her trance, Mandi laughed. "Sorry, I spaced out. I dreamt, I'm sure of it, but all I can really recall is something about the wind and sky."
Ashley looked between the girls. "I don't really remember much either…water…wind…and flowers."
Crossing the first street, the trio remained quietly in thought until Katie spoke again.
"I remember the wind and flowers too. Do you think…maybe there's a connection?"
"I don't know, but it is odd, isn't it?" Mandi murmured, glancing skyward at the clouds. "I've got a funny feeling in my stomach about it all…like I'm supposed to know what it means, but I can't remember."
"I have a funny feeling about this car that keeps passing us. It's been three times already," Ashley gestured to an older modeled black Jeep that turned down the corner behind them.
The girls paused a moment to watch the Jeep continue on, catching a glimpse of the Ying-Yang spare tire cover on the back. They were a bit wary of the vehicle, but figured it was too light outside and there were too many cars on the road for anyone to try something stupid and hope to succeed at it. They also figured that it was the last they'd see of the Jeep.
However, as they began to cross toward the corner where Moon Temple stood, the same Jeep rushed down the stretch of road before screeching to a halt at the crosswalk. Katie, Mandi, and Ashley stopped there in the middle to stare in disbelief at the unseen driver. Ashley glared, shouting just what she thought about the crazy driving techniques.
"Are you insane?! Where the hell did you learn to drive you freaking moron?!"
The driver's side door suddenly opened as Katie and Mandi ushered the young woman onto the corner by the restaurant.
"I'm so sorry about that- no one is hurt, right?" A male voice questioned with worry in his tone.
None of the girls turned around right away, but Mandi's chin tilted upward with her next heartbeat. "That voice…"
"Are you alright?" the voice repeated.
Finally turning, the girls lay eyes on a sight nothing short of amazing. A tall, slim young man with thick dark hair falling over a green bandana gazed at them with soft green eyes, the right being hidden by a monocle. He wore a traditional green and black Chinese shirt, a white sash over his left shoulder and tied off on his right side, and tan-khaki slacks.
"Oh…my…goddess…" Katie managed to speak, nudging Mandi in the side with her elbow. "Is there an anime convention going on that we don't know about?"
The brunette shook her head, never once looking away from the young man. His eyes…they were the most incredible shade of green. "That isn't until May, I'm sure of it. This is only April…"
Ashley, though taken aback, was the first to give an actual reply. "We're fine- you shouldn't drive so recklessly."
"I'm so glad you're all okay," the young man smiled his obvious relief. "Really, I'm very sorry…"
It was then that the passenger door opened and black socked, sandal-clad feet hit the blacktop.
"If you're quite through apologizing, Hakkai…" the second person spoke with next to no emotion.
"Ha…Hak…kai? Ch…Cho Hakkai?" Mandi coughed then craned her neck to see the second speaker. A blond man with deep violet eyes shut the passenger door and walked around the front of the Jeep. "Genjyo Sanzo?!" she squeaked.
Ashley snorted, "I doubt it's them, Mandi- they're probably cosplayers."
"She said there aren't any conventions this month, Ash- and even so…they look pretty authentic to me." Katie reminded the tallest of the three girls, her blue eyes never once looking away from the two young men.
The blond man indeed seemed pretty realistic- the chakra on his forehead didn't look like a painted on dot or sticker, and he had every detail down from the robes to the scriptures around his shoulders to the beaded chest plate.
"Yes," he replied shortly to Mandi's stammering. "You are the one from last night, aren't you?"
Katie and Ashley glanced to Mandi who looked completely flabbergasted.
"Didn't I tell you something weird was going on yesterday?" she whispered to them before answering the blond man. "Yeah…"
The one in green kept his smile. "Thank you so much for returning our supplies to us- I was a little worried you weren't going to."
"Um…you're welcome," Mandi replied, still quite baffled.
And then from the backseat two more figures clambered out onto the street. The first who stepped out was a tall young man with shoulder length crimson hair falling over a royal blue bandana; he wore a sleeveless white shirt underneath an open blue vest and topped it off with a pair of tan pants with excess fabric bunched at the knees.
After him climbed out a shorter young man who looked no older than *sixteen or so with short chestnut colored hair, wide amber-gold eyes, wearing quite the bizarre outfit. A red cape trailed only halfway down his back, spiked shoulder guards held it in place and matching red and tan-ish wristbands complimented the shirt he wore of same colors and the white pants to complete it.
"Hey, isn't that the cute girl you wouldn't let me see yesterday, Sanzo?" the red head winked to Mandi with a smirk before looking to Katie and Ashley. "Oh, and she has two cute friends. How's it going, ladies?"
Ashley arched a brow, fighting a blush, while Mandi and Katie's cheeks flared up. "I don't believe this…"
The shorter young man turned his golden eyes toward the girls yet seemed to stare at something past them. His jaw dropped and he all but drooled as he sniffed at the air.
"Something smells really good…like…fried rice!" The boy sniffed again and then looked at the robe-clad man. "Sanzo, please…"
"…No! Stupid chimp," Sanzo growled, smacking the boy with a paper fan. "You're not the only one who is hungry, so shut the hell up before I kill you."
At the mention of food the girls snapped to attention. They'd forgotten about going into Moon Temple, which was right behind them, and picking up their order. Mandi waved her hands at the others.
"Holy shit, I totally forgot! Stay here…d-don't go anywhere, I'll be right back!"
Ashley and Katie watched as their friend made a mad dash through the doors of the Chinese restaurant before looking to the four young men by the Jeep. They wondered how long they could stand there in the middle of the street like that before a police officer came and asked them to move. There was an awkward silence between the remaining six; all looking over one another, wondering just would be the first to speak.
Just as Mandi returned holding an armload of take out bags, the headlights of the Jeep flashed twice and an unusual squawking emitted from under the hood. The girls stared, stunned, and the pony-tailed girl had to struggle to regain the balance of the food she nearly dropped.
"Oh…sorry Hakuryuu," the tall brunette man turned to put a long and slender hand on the hood of the vehicle. "We didn't mean to leave you out."
When the Jeep squawked again, the three girls exchanged glances. These four guys were not only dead-on images of the Sanzo party known in the Saiyuki anime, but they even had the car. The girls hadn't really given the possibility of this much thought- they were anime characters, right? What were the chances of them being real? What were the chances of them being in the suburbs?
"Mandi…" Katie laughed softly, nudging her friend as the short young man stood before them, his eyes intensely focused on the bags of food.
"Goku!" Sanzo reprimanded sharply, extracting his fan from his robes once again in preparation to swipe it across the boy's head.
"Don't hit him!" Mandi cried her brown eyes wide and gazing at Sanzo. She didn't care about the fact that these four might not be the Saiyuki fellows come to life by some miracle- she just hated seeing Goku get hit all the time. "He's just hungry, and you said yourself that the rest of you are too, right?"
Ashley looked to her friend. "Are you serious? What are you suggesting?"
Katie nudged Mandi again. "Hey…your grandparents aren't home for two weeks, Mandi…" her blue eyes went wide as she gazed at the four guys momentarily. "Do you think…they're the real thing?"
The red head chuckled, "You wanna see just how real, sweetheart?"
"Gojyo, you stupid pervy water sprite, shut the hell up!" Goku shouted, about ready to leap at the young man's throat. Shaking it off, he looked to Sanzo. "Hey…weren't we looking for three girls, Sanzo?"
The monk snorted, "I don't think this is who we're looking for, monkey."
Dejected, Goku gave each girl a once over, his eyes sparkling hopefully. Whether they were the avatars or not, they did have food, and maybe… "Sanzo, maybe they'll share their food with us…I can smell the pot stickers in the bags."
Regardless of Mandi's prior plea, Sanzo struck Goku with the paper fan, sneering.
"That is enough, glutton!"
Hakkai rubbed the back of his neck, smiling as per usual. "Um, Sanzo, with all due respect- but it seems that these girls know who we are. Are you sure they aren't who we're looking for?"
Puzzled, the girls looked at each other, wondering what he meant by that. Gojyo approached them, grinning as he slung an arm each over the shoulders of Ashley and Mandi.
"In any case, they're just what I'm looking for. So what do you say, girls- care to go somewhere comfortable for the night?"
Cheeks flaring red, Mandi quietly slipped away from him, while Ashley promptly shrugged his arm off.
"I don't think so, Red."
Katie glanced to Hakkai and then to Sanzo, biting her bottom lip in thought. Putting aside all illogical reasoning, she considered the situation. Here stood four young men- all of them the right age and height, wearing the right clothes-just about to a perfect T- and they definitely had the right looks…they were just in the wrong setting. Their voices were incredibly similar to those English voice actors the girls had come to know and love, however they weren't exactly like them. In that sense, Katie also mentally noted what was different. For one thing, Goku and Hakkai were missing very important pieces of apparel- namely the headband and ear cuffs that were their power limiters. Without them they still appeared as human as she was. For another thing, their Jeep was the wrong make, model, and color- however, it did squawk. She supposed it could be programmed to do that, but she wouldn't exactly think someone would actually do something like that.
"Katie?" Ashley prodded the oldest girl's shoulder, her hazel eyes dancing away from the four guys. "What's going on that head of yours? You look like you're plotting something."
The shorter young woman snapped from her thoughts and gave Ashley a half grin. There was a twinkle in her blue eyes that could only mean that Ash was correct in her assumptions. Katie leaned in towards Mandi and whispered something in her ear.
A bit apprehensive, the pony-tailed brunette shook her head. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Katie."
Sanzo, getting tired of loitering in the middle of the street, turned his back with a scoff. "We do not have time for this. Hakkai, Gojyo, and Goku - we're leaving."
"Yes sir," Hakkai replied, as obedient as ever. He smiled to the girls contritely. "My apologies to you once more…please do take care."
Gojyo seemed quite upset, stuffing his hands into his pockets with an indignant huff. "We don't even know where we're supposed to be going, man, can't we just take this night off to figure stuff out?"
"Is that the real reason?" Sanzo prompted without missing a beat. "Or were you hoping to flounce around with a few floozies?"
The collective jaws of the girl's nearly hit the pavement, and Katie's eyes held such contempt they could have shot daggers.
"Pardon me, but we are not floozies!"
"Damn right you're not," Gojyo agreed, "but you three sure are cute."
Ashley rolled her eyes, "Letch," she muttered under her breath.
Mandi turned her gaze down a few inches to find the golden-eyed boy sniffing at the bags she held filled of carry-out. She smiled and suppressed the urge to ruffle his hair when he met her eyes with his.
"I'm so hungry," he groaned, not obliging to Sanzo's order, and fell to his knees in front of the brunette young woman.
At once the funny feeling of anxiety overwhelmed her. So maybe the odds of something like the Saiyuki cast existing and showing up in Mid-America were fairly slim, but that niggling in the back of her mind told her to simply believe. Her head and heart agreed, insisting that these guys were the Sanzo party, that they were real. Suddenly Mandi let out a giddy laugh, catching Ashley's attention.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Never better," was the reply. Mandi flashed a grin to Ash and then to Katie before calling out to the foursome. "I have a proposition."
Gojyo winked, "I'm not usually one for commitment, but I've been known to make a few exceptions, honey."
Ashley shook her head, resisting bringing her hand across the back of his head. "Talk about having your mind in the gutter…"
Sanzo sighed heavily, "Make it fast- we're in a hurry."
"A hurry to nowhere," Goku pouted, getting to his feet.
Mandi smiled. "Indeed. How about the four of you stay with us for the night? There's plenty of room so you'll all have space to yourself," she looked pointedly to Sanzo, "and we've got plenty to eat, too."
Goku was on his knees again, this time hugging Sanzo's legs. "They have food! Please Sanzo, say yes!"
Sanzo struck with his fan, "Let go of me!" he turned his violet eyes to the girls. "No thank you."
Katie wasn't surprised that he declined the offer-in fact, none of the girls really were. Yes, it had been what she whispered to Mandi just moments earlier. What made her friend have a change of heart, she didn't quite know, but Katie was glad Mandi did.
"So you'd rather sleep uncomfortably in the Jeep and wake up in the morning in considerably worse moods, and then have to drive around in the very place you slept with stiff backs and necks? Sounds pretty rough."
Hakkai chuckled. "She does have a point Sanzo…it's really been a while since we last rested at an inn, or even slept comfortably and had enough to eat. I'm not too sure if we've got enough for the expense of a hotel, either, or if we even have the right currency, my friend. Where else could we go?"
'Good old Hakkai,' Katie thought. He was the one she could depend on to try and persuade Sanzo to change his mind.
Gojyo eyed the girls, still wearing a cocky grin that seemed plastered to his face, which got wider when Sanzo reluctantly agreed with Hakkai.
A whoop of joy escaped Goku as he jumped about a foot into the air. "Awesome! Awesome!"
Mandi, Ashley, and Katie wore amused expressions before beginning to walk across the street, away from Moon Temple.
"It's down this way and around the corner," Mandi called back, "we'll meet you there, outside of the house."
The three girls continued down the stretch of sidewalk, and once they turned the corner took a moment to burst into a fit of giggles.
"I can't believe it, but…they're real! That's them, you guys!" Mandi had to clamp her hand over her mouth to suppress her giggles.
Katie nodded vigorously, "And go figure, they're hotter in person!"
Ashley's laughs calmed down a bit and she sighed. "Here, of all places…I'm sorry to say I'm still skeptical but…they just might be…them."
**Author's Note** Some paragraphs up, whilst describing Son Goku's age, I say that he appears to be 16. I KNOW that he is older than that (the manga says 18, but if you want to go by technical terms of the actual year, then he's about 20 now). It's just that Goku looks so dern young…it's hard to really think of him as an adult.