Mieri awoke with a pounding headache. Where am I? Oh...my head really hurts! She sat up slowly and tried to ascertain her surroundings.

"You're finally awake, I see! You've been asleep for a whole day!" a girl's head popped in front of her.

"Ah!" Mieri scrambled back only to fall flat in what felt like hay.

"Chill out," the girl snorted. "It's just me."

Mieri took a closer look at the girl. "Yuko? Is that you?"

"The one and only!" Yuko nodded smiling. Yuko was only a little taller than Mieri herself. She had dirty blonde hair that hung just past her shoulders and beautiful blue eyes. "You've been laying there for the better part of an hour. I was beginning to think you'd never wake up!"

Mieri looked around her, confused. "Where are we?" They appeared to be in some kind of stable. Yuko confirmed that with her next words.

"As near as I can figure, we're in someone's barn out in the country. And before you ask, I don't know how we got here or where Rika and Aya are."

"Oh, yeah!" Mieri searched the interior of the barn with her eyes. "Where are they?"

Yuko scowled at her. "Didn't I just say that I didn't know?! How dense can you be?!"

Mieri stuck out her tongue. "Pretty dense when one minute I'm at Aunt Sanyo's with Aya, and the next minute I'm in a barn somewhere in the country with you!"

"Is there a problem with you being here with me?" Yuko asked playfully.

"Yes, actually. Aya can kick my ass, but she wouldn't. You, however, can kick my ass, and I'm pretty sure you'd have no problem with it."

Yuko raised a brow. "You're pretty observant. Now come on and get up...before I kick your ass."

Mieri laughed and hopped to her feet. "So we don't know where we are; and we don't know where Aya and Rika are, right?"

"Right," Yuko pushed on the huge barn door. "I haven't been outside yet. I wanted to wait until you were awake."

Mieri waltzed up beside her and started pushing as well. "Need some help?" she gasped out.

Yuko, who was also short of breath, gasped as well. "Sure! Whatever I can...get!"

The door was apparently made of pure oak. Neither girl was quite sure who would put a door this heavy on a barn, but they did finally manage to get it open. "Wow!" Mieri groaned. "That really hurt! Remind me to never use a door that big on anything!"

Yuko rubbed her sore arms. "No problem. If I have to move something like that to get in your house...you'll be sleeping at my house when I get back to Tokyo."

"Speaking of which..." Mieri stared around her in confusion. "Do you have the feeling that we're not in Tokyo anymore?"

Instead of the skyscrapers and hordes of people that consisted of Tokyo, the girls stared at pastures and cows. Here and there were some buildings, but most of them had been burned. A closer look at the barn they'd just come out of revealed that about half the roof had been burned off. There were no signs of humans anywhere.

"Okay," Yuko rubbed her hands together. "We must have..."

"Been kidnapped?" Mieri suggested.

Yuko speared her with a glare. "I don't think so. What kind of kidnapper leaves his victims unattended and not tied up?"

"A bad one," Mieri muttered.

"No, that's not it. Maybe..." Yuko gasped. "Do you remember what we did to Rika and Aya a couple of months ago?!"

Mieri thought back. "You mean that prank we pulled on them? Didn't we tell them that we'd both decided we were gay and were going to hook up?"

Yuko snickered. "Yeah, that one. Heh! Those pictures helped, too."

Mieri giggled, "I thought Aya was going to have a mental breakdown! She kept showing me these pictures of these really hot guys and asking me if I thought they were cute, too." Mieri stopped. "No! You don't think those two drugged us or something to pull a prank on us?!"

Yuko nodded. "But that may be a little far fetched. That was months ago."

"Hah!" Mieri snorted. "Aya would wait years to get us back for that. And I can guarantee she would have talked Rika into it."

"But how did those two plan it without us knowing?" Yuko wondered to herself. "They must have been planning this the entire time."

Mieri looked around her. "But what's the prank? And how'd they get us together? Aren't you supposed to be in the States?!"
Yuko paused. "Oh, yeah. Well, let's stop asking ourselves dumb questions and try to find a human being."

Mieri agreed that while the situation was a little more than suspicious, they should try to find someone who could tell them where they were. "Fine with me. Which direction, Oh Brilliant One?"

Yuko assumed an incredibly haughty air. "I'm not sure, Royal Slave. I suppose I shall use my superior intellect to choose...the right." She started towards the road in the direction she had indicated. "Are you coming? I shall need someone to fan me, of course..."

Mieri snorted and ran to catch up. "As if. I'd rather bury my face in one of those cow...presents."

"That can be arranged," Yuko told her mischievously.

"Try it, and you die," Mieri promised.

"You," Yuko sighed dramatically, "are no fun at all."

"What part of that did you assume would be fun?" Mieri asked dryly.

"The part where I gleefully shove your face in a pile of cow sh—"

"—Dung," Mieri interrupted sternly. "Cow dung."

Yuko sighed again. "Very well. Where I shove your face into cow dung. That would be pretty fun. And as you pointed out earlier, I could totally kick your ass."

They both burst into laughter that was more than a little hysterical. But after all, they didn't know where they were or how they'd gotten there. They were entitled to a bit of hysterics. Finally, Mieri wiped her eyes—which were streaming with tears—and straightened. "I suppose we need to stop playing around. We still haven't spotted a single living soul."

Yuko glanced at the never-changing scenery of burned out buildings and abandoned farms. "Yeah. I wonder what happened to this place anyway?"

"What happened was a civil war," a deep voice to their right spoke up suddenly, startling them both.

"Jeez!" Yuko spun around.

Mieri emitted a high-pitched squeal and did the same. "Who are you?!"

The man leaning casually against a tree was—if anything—extremely handsome. He stepped away from the forest he'd come out of. His hair was the purest blonde they'd ever seen on anyone. It fell to just below his shoulders in perfect wavy layers. His eyes were a startling clear blue that could rival anyone's except perhaps Aya's. These were set in a very masculine shaped face with a strong chin and straight nose. And that was just his face! His body would have caused most football players to go green with envy. It was exquisitely crafted with just the right amount of muscle. Mieri knew in an instant that this young man was the embodiment of perfection. And that Aya would never forgive her for not being able to see him. He was everything Aya had ever expressed to dream of. And he's all mine... Mieri inwardly grinned. She was going to tease Aya with this for a long time to come.

"Who am I?" the young man stepped closer to the two girls. Mieri sighed. He didn't walk. He flowed. "I suppose you want my name? It's Nakago. I couldn't help but notice that you two seem to be a little lost?"