Disclaimer: Do not own Kenshin, but the other characters are MINE!
"Okay kids!
Remember, rake three times, make the volcano, poke a crater, and send
the lava probe down..." Yuumei said and demonstrated. The kids
repeated and duplicated. "Good kids! And remember, anyone who gets
15 volcanoes with probes, gets special sweets!" she said
encouragingly, and went off to the harvest fields to harvest stuff.
She walked by the door to the council house after she dropped off
a pile of stock and spotted Sano's huge sword. "Hmm...this could
be useful for harvesting..." She went over and tried to pick it up,
but was having some...issues. She got it up a few inches, then it
fell. "What are you doing?" Sano's voice asked from behind her.
"Nothing..." Yuumei said, hiding the sword behind her back...
wow, what an idiot. Sano looked at her with a mock-suspicious look,
"Nothing...or something?" Yuumei started shifting her eyes
nervously.
Sayori
sat at her desk in the fancy, glass exterior ceremony building,
which, if it weren't so fancy, it would be called a shed or outdoor
office. She was compiling a list of objects for discussion tonight's
fire circle.
"Ahh...!" yelled Yuumei softly from outside
while she was running by trying to hold up Sano's sword with him
chasing after. Sayori raised her eyebrow and stopped writing but the
sound stopped. She continued to write.
"Ahh...!" she yelled
again as she ran by the widow again. Sayori twitched and turned
around, but no one was there, and continued writing.
"Ahh...!"
Sayori slammed down her pen and turned around again. She watched
longer than before, but nothing happened. She sighed and continued to
write.
A huge crash sounded. Sayori's eyes went wide as she got
up and walked outside to see what happened. Yuumei and Sano were
covered in feathers. The sword fell on the roof of a chicken coop and
chickens started running amok.
Sayori glared at Yuumei. Yuumei
sweat-dropped, "That was completely and totally my bad!"
"We
finished rebuilding the coop and chasing the chickens!" Yuumei
sounded as her and Sano returned to the house.
"Good," Sayori
said, eating a snack of some sort, "So, how did that happen
anyways?"
"Well, I was trying to run away with the sword, but
a gust of wind threw it off balance and you can guess the rest,"
Yuumei said, taking some fruit and biting it. Mackenzie, Uma , and
Kurokami emerged from their rooms, all dressed, teeth brushed, hair
combed, bright eyed and bushy tailed.
"Well, you did fix the
coop, but you two are sentenced to cleaning the council building
while I finish our list of things to discuss at tonight's council,"
Sayori said and walked out with Yuumei and Sano dragging their feet.
Kenshin came along, too.
Mackenzie plopped on a stool and grabbed
a glass of the insert fruit here juice and took a sip. Uma and
Kurokami followed suit. "So, looks like that the chickens got out
again, eh?" Uma asked.
"Yup," Mackenzie said and took a
sip.
Kurokami finished her glass quickly and hopped off the stool
saying, "Well I'm going to make sure the guards are ready for the
meeting tonight."
"I'd better get ready with some torches,"
Uma said, finished her drink and went off to her area to get her team
of torch people ready.
"And I need to ready the fire wood,"
Mackenzie said to herself, and hopped off to her area.
"Are
we ready?" Sayori asked. "Almost!" Uma replied, and placed a
large piece of wood on top of the pit with the help of Kenshin and
Sano. Brenna poured a large bucket of oil over the big piece of wood.
"So, what are they doing now?" Kenshin whispered to Sayori as
they sat down in their seats around the circle. Well, Sayori sat in
her seat, Kenshin sat on a guest seat that had to be added to the
circle.
"Now, whoever's turn it is to light the fire, it's
Yuumei's this time, will light it and start the night. Then we
discuss the subjects of this ceremony, and when we're done, we
basically party the rest of the night," Sayori said, adding a huge
smile with the last bit.
Yuumei banged a mini gong that happened
to be really loud and threw a torch into the pit. Fire engulfed the
pile in a huge explosion. "AHH!" Yuumei screamed as she was
blown back. Kenshin and Sayori looked from the left, up, and to the
right following Laura's flight. Sano started runing after her
going, " I got it, I got it!" and leaping up and caught her
much like a football. However, he landed on the chicken coop.
"Oh
jeeze," Uma said, smacking her head. "Pathetic..." Mackenzie
said shaking her head. Te coop was smashed again, Yuumei and Sano,
once again, covered with feathers. The chickens started running
around again.
Sayori sweat-dropped and turned to the crowd of
every villager able to come to the ceremony. "Well, uh, right!
Let's get things under way!" she said, trying to draw attention
away from the mess behind her. Out of nowhere, Kurokami ran up with a
sword. "I'll protect you guys!"
Yuumei turned to Sano,
"Thank you for breaking my fall!" she then turned to Kurokami,
glaring at her, saying, "And thanks for not catching me..." she
cracked her knuckles.
Kurokami's eyes went wide saying, "I
sense pain in my near future..." WHAM! Kurokami lay slightly
unconscious on the ground, with Yuumei walking back to the circle,
rubbing her hand.
"Okay, first matter of discussion. I'd like
to propose that there be either less oil used in the lighting of the
fire, or that the lighter stay farther back. I'd also like to move
the chicken coop on the other side of the council plaza that's away
from us. Do 3 out of the other 4 agree?" Sayori said formally; more
formal then Kenshin had thought these were. He smiled o himself.
The
three conscious members all said in unison, "Agreed." Sayori
nodded, "So it shall be from now on." The meeting continued,
discussing important issues.
We'll just venture off a bit and
give you some more background history.
The village is an
otherwise peaceful place except for the girls escapades. All except
for one fact. Over the Westward Sands, there was a rival village.
They attack rarely, but that is only because they spend the time
training and planning strategies for their next attack. They were
bitter. Back in the day, the foreigners that would become the council
stopped at their village first, but the people denied them. For this,
they have never forgiven the village that the girls now reside in.
The last attempt happened three years ago. A leader to be of
their village entered the village as an innocent visitor. The girls,
of course, could not refuse him, because it as against the law of the
land. He worked his way until he had them totally unsuspecting. When
the moment was right, he attacked one of them, Yuumei, giving her the
scar that adorns her shoulder and back (Ha! That's one mystery
solved!). He would have killed her if Sayori hadn't been taking a
frolic through the area. He gave a signal and the army attacked.
However, even though one of the council members were wounded, their
effort was futile. Well, back to our story!
"Okay, so it's
decided. We'll have one pepperoni, one veggie-lovers, one Hawaiian,
and two cheese," Sayori said writing it down on a piece of paper,
but then looked at you, "Ack! You didn't see nothin', ixnay,
ixnay." The last part she whispered to the others, who hid a
telephone and a pizza menu.
Kenshin sweat-dropped, "So, what do
you do now?" Mackenzie shrugged, "I think we went through
everything." Moran sprang up yelling, "Let's get this party
on!"
"WOOOO!" Everyone cheered. A group of villagers
began playing music as the whole village started to dance as though
they had ants in their pants.
Uma and Mackenzie started to tango
wildly. Kurokami was keeping vigilant watch, but she could not stop
her foot from tapping. Yuumei was dancing with one of the chickens.
Sayori got up and held out her hand, "Come Kenshin! We're going
DANCING!" Kenshin mustered out an, "Eh!" as he was whipped
out into the area where people were dancing. Sayori flung him around,
probably whacking him into random people and objects, but she was
having too much fun to care. Eventually, she slowed down and started
dancing normally with Kenshin, and after he recovered, he actually
started bouncing to the beat.
Yuumei continued to dance with the
chicken until Sano popped up. He took hold of the chicken and asked
it politely, "Excuse me, but may I cut in?" The chicken squawked
in response. "Thank you Senor Pollo." Yuumei stared blankly and
drooled for a minute, then laughed a bit and stated tangoing with
Sano.
Sayori smiled as Kenshin lighted up a bit more and started
dancing more freely. He took hold of one of her hands and spun her.
Then he held her and started formally dancing. Sayori gave a big
smile and said, "Dip me!" with Kenshin obliging. He held her
there a sec.
While she was dipped, Yuumei and Sano tangoed near
to them. Yuumei stopped, sending Sano flying off balance. Yuumei
scoffed, "Sayori! You're dancing with someone else! Well if
you're going to dance with him, then we're through!" she said
over-dramatically.
Sayori followed, "scoff I
thought what we had was special!"
"Well, I guess not!"
"Well, fine! We're though!"
"Fine! You can have the
puppy! I don't want it!"
"It was your puppy to start with!"
"I know it!"
They both started laughing and stopped to
listen to the music. "Okay you blubbering worthless weenies, let's
get dancin'!" Sayori exclaimed as they all started dancing.
"We're never gonna stop dancing!" Uma yelled as she started
to break-dance.
"Snnnnoooorrrreee"
Kenshin,
Sano, Yuumei, Sayori, and Mackenzie lay collapsed in random places of
the parlour. Uma and Kurokami were awake, but in a daze. Kenshin was
the first to awake. He looked around saying, "Looks like the party
got a little out of hand, eh?" Uma nodded, "You went to bed
early, the others have only been asleep for a few hours." Kurokami
shook her head, "I told them, 'Don't stay up to late,' I
said, 'You'll pay for it tomorrow' but they continued to ignore
me."
"I'm not surprised," Uma said under her breath and
received a glare from Kurokami. Mackenzie was next to awake, saying,
"Me neither, you were asleep about five minutes after we got the
party going."
"Shut. Up." Kurokami said, hiding the facts.
Sano woke up next. Kenshin looked at him surprised, "How are you
awake this early when you went to bed so late?" Sano grinned and
said, "'Cause I'm bad! See?" He held up his jacket with a big
smile. Yuumei sat bolt upright. She looked at each person in the room
individually with a scary
I-didn't-get-enough-sleep-yet,-my-back-hurts-from-sleeping-here,-and-you-are-dead-for-waking-me-up
look. She grabbed her pillow and blanket saying grumpily, "I'm
going to bed. Bye." She walked in an exhausted daze to her room and
shut the door.
Everyone sweat-dropped. "She's scary in the
morning," Mackenzie said, with the rest of the group nodding in
agreement. Kenshin smiled and looked to his side with Sayori drooling
in her sleep and her foot twitching. He cocked his head to one side
thoughtfully and picked her up. He carried her into her room and
placed her on the bed. AS he pulled up the covers, her eyes shot
open. She swung a punch, hitting Kenshin in the face, then swung one
the other way, hitting him on the other side saying, "Who dat?"
She looked to her side and saw Kenshin there rubbing his face. "Oh,
woops, sorry."
Kenshin smiled saying, "It's alright, I
can't blame you for your reflexes." Sayori sweat-dropped ten
looked around. "How'd I get to bed? Last thing I remember was
passing out after beating Yuumei in a maple syrup chugging
contest..." she said rubbing her chin. Kenshin smiled again, "I
put you there. After seeing Yuumei's reaction to sleeping on an
uncomfortable surface, and figuring that she's more sweet-tempered
than you and her reaction gave me goose bumps, I didn't care to see
yours."
Sayori snickered at her mental image of Yuumei not
getting enough sleep, saying, "No, I bet you wouldn't," laughed
a bit then smiled thoughtfully and said, "Thanks though. I hate
sleeping on that couch." Kenshin nodded, "Your welcome. I nearly
broke my butt sitting on that thing." She and Kenshin giggled then
looked at each other. Kenshin opened his mouth to speak, but he
couldn't say anything. Sayori passed out and was snoring softly and
drooling again.
Kenshin shook his head, then looked at Sayori. He
brushed her hair out of her face and touched her cheek thoughtfully.
On an impulse, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. He pulled
back, surprised at his own action. He thought a moment, then smiled
slightly to himself and walked out. Sayori opened her eyes, and
smiled, cuddling in her covers, content.
Yuumei's sleep
didn't go so hot. She was turning and tossing in her sleep, and
talking incoherently. Sano heard the noise and opened the door,
seeing Yuumei's disturbed sleep. He sat down on the bed next to
her's (they were both bunk beds) and bent down to sit without
hitting his head.
Yuumei was having a nightmare obviously.
Although her words sounded like a drunken monkey's, they sounded
distressed. She turned violently a few times. Yuumei let out a short
yelp and woke up with a start, grabbing her shoulder. Sano jumped up
in surprise, hitting his head on the top bunk, "Oww!" he rubbed
his head, "That's gonna leave an interesting bruise..."
"Sorry
about that, but why are you in here anyways?" Yuumei asked
suspiciously. "Well, you were talking in your sleep loudly enough
that I heard it as I was walking down the hallway. I was just seeing
what all the commotion was about and making sure that you weren't
being mugged or something like that," he said with a huge grin on
his face.
Yuumei looked at him cynically. "Mugged in my own
room?" she asked sarcastically. Sano looked away a bit,
uncharacteristically blushing slightly, "Maybe, I was concerned."
Yuumei raised and eyebrow. "Concerned?" she asked challengingly.
Sano looked at her with a look that said give-me-a-break, "Maybe, I
was concerned a lot." Yuumei pushed with a grin on her face,
"That's it?" Sano looked at her with a mix of a glare and a
grin, "Don't push the maybe, baby."
Yuumei gave a slight
giggle, "Very smooth. Now then, could you please leave so I can get
changed?" Sano pouted comically, "What, you don't want me to
stick around?" Yuumei glared at him, "NOW!" Sano ran out of the
room, dodging a shoe, "I was just kidding-! Ahh!" A boot hit him
square in the side of the head. Yuumei shook her head, shut the door,
and proceeded to get changed. Sano rubbed his head outside of the
door, "Jeez, what did she have in that shoe, a brick?"
Sayori
awoke again and rubbed her eyes. She got dressed and walked out of
her room and into the parlor. Kenshin and Sano were sitting at the
coffee table, drinking tea. Yuumei was putting on a light coat. "Oh,
you're awake, how'd you sleep? I'm about to head out," she
said noticing Sayori. Sayori grabbed her coat, saying, "Oh? Where
to?" Yuumei thought a moment, searching for the right words, "Um,
that place, with the thing, and...and the thing with the thing...you
know that place?" Sayori smirked, "You mean the place?"
Kenshin and Sano turned and got up, intrigued. "What's the
place?" Kenshin asked, Sano nodding in agreement. Sayori and Yuumei
turned their heads so slowly the almost creaked. They glared at the
two sitting at the island. "Let's keep it down Sayori! I think
SOME people are EAVESDROPPING!" Yuumei said really loud. "Well
how RUDE os SOME PEOPLE!" Sayori said, also very loud. Kenshin
and Sano sweat-dropped. "We were just wondering if we could come
along..." Sano said, afraid of the girl's glares. Kenshin nodded.
"Maybe we should let them come..." Sayori said, thinking.
Yuumei rubbed her chin, "I don't know Sayori, they might cramp
our style..." Her and Sayori posed in unison saying, "Style!"
Kenshin and Sano sweat-dropped, but then pouted slightly. Sayori
though a bit, "Tell you what, if you can know the secret comrade
handshake, you can come." Yuumei held out her hand to Kenshin.
Kenshin sweat-dropped nervously. "I'm waiting, old man," Yuumei
said, waiting. "Eh...?" Kenshin said as he held out his hand.
Sano came up behind him, "Be careful Kenshin! Our fun for the
day is on the line!" Kenshin grabbed Yuumei's hand and shook it
nervously "..how-do-you-do?" he said cautiously. "Fine and you?
Okay you're in!" Yuumei said with a huge smile on her face. "But
you have to keep up with us!" Sayori said with a huge grin as she
and Yuumei grabbed bokkens. Sano and Kenshin looked at each other.
"Grrroooaann..."
"Mooaannn..."
The
group was on one of the dunes that were on the savanna like area
between the village and the Sands. Sayori and Yuumei were about ten
feet from the top, but were collapsed on the ground and struggling to
crawl to the top.
"Come on Sayori, we can make it!" Yuumei
said and tried to pull Sayori further. "Go on without me!" Sayori
said, still trying to lug herself up. "No! We're almost there!"
Yuumei said encouragingly. In a last burst of energy, they charged
weakly up the hill and plopped on the ground panting. Kenshin and
Sano stood at the top already.
"Are you ready for the rest of
the hills?" Kenshin asked. Yuumei looked at him in despair. "You
mean there's more?" she asked weakly. Kenshin nodded and
pointed to the mass of hills that were the prelude to the harsh
wasteland that was the Sands. Sayori and Yuumei groaned and fell back
down.
They got up and started down the hill. Yuumei's foot
snagged on something. "Dramatic trip-fall!" she said as she
tripped, fell, and rolled down the hill and into a spot of bushes.
Sano sweat-dropped, "Shouldn't we help her?" he asked as they
continued walking pass the bush. Yuumei recovered and ran up
"Dramatic reentrance to the group!" she said as she fell with a
graceful barrel-roll and hopped up again next to Sayori at the head
of the group.
"I guess that answers your question," Kenshin
said to Sano as they started up another hill. Sayori were doing
better, but were still getting aggravated. "This pant wasn't pant
as hard pant when we were younger, was it?" Sayori asked as
she got within five feet of the summit. "Beats the hell outta me,"
Yuumei said as the group arrived at the top that had a sign that
read, 'The Old Fort'. Close to it was a large pit in the sand
which was partially held up by two wooden support-walls.
Yuumei
smiled and nudged Sayori, "Remember how long it took to get that
thing to break?" Sayori laughed a bit and nodded, "Yeah, and even
then it didn't fall...stubborn piece of crap..." she said and
kicked one of the sides. They continued down a bit of a slope that
was adorned with seashells, called conveniently, 'Seashell path'.
Sayori and Yuumei stopped at an opening in the woods and turned to go
in.
"Be careful, there's poison ivy at the entrance. Just
follow us, we know where to step," Sayori said as she and Yuumei
walked carefully and cautiously into a clearing. Kenshin and Sano
followed, keeping a wary eye out for the oily plant that can be a
real pain in the neck. They got in the clear and stopped short and
looked at where they stood.
They stood in a clearing, which
was heavily protected by bamboo-like vegetation. The plants also
carpeted the ground. There were also sections of it in the middle and
centers of the clearing, making it look very attractive. Some of the
plants bordering the area reached out into the clearing, especially
the dead ones.
"What...where are we?" Kenshin asked, taken
aback by the scenery. "We found this place five or six years ago.
We are the only ones who know where it is," Sayori said, taking in
the beauty of this place. "Well, Kurokami did come here the first
time, but with her memory I doubt she remembers," Yuumei said as
she grabbed the end of one of the plants, examined it, and let it go.
She looked around and spotted an opening in the barrier. She started
for it and walked through, the rest hot on her heels.
"They're
still here, I thought with the weather and competition from the other
plant life," Yuumei said as she walked into a similar clearing only
there was no barrier except for the woods and the dominant plants
were a tantalizing mass of cattails. Kenshin and Sano were once again
blown out of the water. "How does this stuff exist, so close to the
desert?" Sano asked, poking one of the cattails to make sure he
wasn't imagining them.
Yuumei shrugged, "It baffles even me,
but it's mysteries like these that make Yonder a pretty cool place
to live, don't ya think?" Sayori raised her bokken and swung
saying, "Makes for a pretty cool place to fight, too!" Yuumei
lifted hers in time to block the attack. "Indeed," she said and
pushed off Sayori's bokken and went for a strike. Before you knew
it, the two were fighting fiercely.
"I would never have guessed
that they were good friends..." Kenshin said, taking a step back to
avoid a swing. The two made their way back through the woods into the
'bamboo' clearing. Sayori went for a swing, and Yuumei
deflected...barely. She clutched her hand, wincing slightly. Sayori
swung again; they had a policy never to stop even if they get hurt
because that would make them weaker.
Yuumei jumped up and caught
the tree branch of an oak tree. She pulled herself up and checked her
hand. She flinched scarcely as she squeezed her hand, feeling for any
broken bones. She sighed relief; it probably just bruised the bone.
bokkens are dangerous for nothing but a sword shaped stick. "You
wanna quit?" Sayori asked from below.
Yuumei jumped down,
kicking away Sayori's bokken in the process, and holding her own
bokken up to Sayori's neck, "Do you?" Sayori back flipped and
regained her bokken. "No, I was just saying because now you have to
fight left-handed," She said and ran at Yuumei to strike. Yuumei
guarded, using her left hand as the leading appendage. "That's
what I love about using staffs as opposed to swords and bokkens,"
she said, pushing away Sayori's bokken and hitting her gently, so
as not to cause her too much pain, on the upper arm, "they make you
quite ambidextrous."
Sayori grinned and went to attack but was
stopped by Kenshin. "Shh..." he said as he listened. Sayori heard
it now to as she took her mind off of the fight. She took her bokken
out of an offensive pose and turned to head in the direction of the
entrance to the main path, "We should go..." Yuumei nodded and
headed to the path, Sano following.
Sayori started after, but
stopped and looked behind her. Kenshin stood, listening and watching,
with his hand on the handle of his sword. "Come on Kenshin, we
should go back," she said turning around towards him. "Go on
ahead, I'll catch up, I just wanna be sure..." he said still
looking around. Sayori walked up to him and held his hand tightly.
Kenshin looked at her in slight surprise.
"Come on, do you
really want me to go alone?" Sayori said, looking into his eyes,
trying to get her point across. Kenshin blushed slightly, then smiled
nervously, "No, I suppose not..." Sayori smiled, "That's
better," she said and wove her arm around his. Kenshin blushed a
bit deeper, then looked at Sayori, who looked back into his eyes
again. They leaned towards each other and kissed. Both broke away
fast, a little embarrassed.
"Ahem, uh, shall we go?" Sayori
said walked ahead a bit, letting go of Kenshin's arm. Kenshin
grabbed her hand again, which cause her to stop. He took a step so he
was next to her and wove his arm around hers as she had done moments
before. Kenshin smiled at her. She smiled back and nodded and they
were about to walk but...
WHAM! Both fell comically unconscious
on the ground; Kenshin with his mouth agape with a weak "Eh?" and
Sayori drooling and mumbling as though she were asleep. The dark
figure who was responsible smirked and signaled to two men who picked
them up, dragging them away.
Meanwhile,
Yuumei and Sano were,
"Hmm, shouldn't they have caught up by
now?" Yuumei asked, walking backwards and keeping an eye out. Sano
shrugged, "Who knows..." Yuumei stopped then jumped into a bush,
dragging Sano down wit her. "Hey! What was that for-?" Sano
started to say but she covered his mouth and pointed. Several men
were walking past the entrance to the bamboo clearing.
Yuumei
turned and beckoned Sano to follow as they started running up the
dune cautiously, then charging down the hill and to the village. "Who
were they!" Sano asked as they were running at top-speed. "Scouts!
They look around the village and it's surroundings for weak spots!"
Yuumei replied, jumping over a rock and continuing. "What does that
mean!" Sano asked, still confused. "It means their forces are
rising! The rivaling village is going to attack!" Yuumei answered
and ran into the city gates and towards the council house.
Sorry about the delay in updating for the probably negative everyone who actually read this. I've been really busy with other than internet stuff, but hopefully now that I'm back in the groove I can actually find time for my lovely computer.
