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.