Chapter 3: Friends and Tests (sorry. Forgot this last time…)
(Disclaimer: I do not own Independence Day, White Christmas, or the Yu Yu Hakusho theme song. They belong to Martina McBride, Bing Crosby, and whoever wrote the theme song in Japanese.)
The person who appeared was no other then Brin Ishida, Sakura's friend from school.
"Hey! I didn't know you two were going to be here!" Brin exclaimed.
"Well, we didn't know you were going to be here! Why are you here?" Sakura asked.
"Why are you here?" Brin asked.
"I asked you first!"
"So, I'm older. Youngest goes first!"
"You're only older by 2 days! That hardly matters, anyway."
"It doesn't matter, I'm-"
"If you would be QUIET, I would be able to explain it to you," Genkai snapped, tired of the tennis match between the two girls.
The match was quite funny. On the one hand, we've got Brin who was a tall black hair, brilliant blue eyed girl pretending to have a serious fight with Sakura, who was slightly shorter with brown hair and warm brown eyes, not wanting to lose. Competition between friends did not begin and end with Kai, the bright redhead with emerald green eyes who currently had a huge sweatdrop.
"Now, you three are here for a reason. One, Kai, you are beginning to experience your power over plants like your father, am I correct?" Genkai asked.
Kai looked surprised. "How did you…"
Genkai waved her hand like it was nothing. "Your father hinted that you may be experiencing them. He said that the plants were acting weird around you."
"Oh…" Kai trailed off.
"Now, two, Brin is here because as of late, the powers of the Ishida clan have been taking root, am I correct?" Genkai asked the girl.
"Yes. As you well know, my family hasn't been able to use any spiritual powers in the past two hundred years. Therefore, when I started showing signs of powers, my parents suggested you, even though you are…" Brin stopped, not wanting to go on.
"Old. Almost grandma-like. Except without the feeling of one, that warm feeling and smell of freshly-baked cookies," Sakura answered for Brin.
"Thank you, Sakura. I can tell that you will be as fun to teach as your father," Genkai stated. "So, three, Sakura is here because she just realized that she can use the Spirit Gun, am I right?"
"Yup. And Kurama called you and told you, am I right?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, Miss Smart Alick, Kurama did mention something about your Spirit Gun. He also mentioned that the three of you are friends, am I right?" Genkai asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes," all three replied. Well, Sakura had a little more to add. "That was a really stupid question…"
"Sakura, hush," Kai said, the first to know that Sakura was getting on Genkai's nerves, since normally a vein wouldn't be popping in someone's forehead. Sakura went quiet.
"Now, it's too late to start our training. Why don't we go in and play some games…" Genkai said as she was heading to the temple. Brin, Kai, and Sakura all exchanged confused looks before following.
To those of you who have not watched A New Apprentice lately, you may not remember the special games exactly. When they all entered, Genkai's three new students looked very confused as it looked like Genkai wanted them to sing, punch a punch strength game, and play a game of rock, paper, scissors.
"Ummm…what do playing games have anything to do with powers of any kind?" Brin asked.
"We can't complain. At least we're not balancing on spikes yet," Sakura commented, remembering the training stories her father told her. They were the only stories he told her.
"We balance on spikes?" Brin asked, slightly wary of her new training.
"And we, what was it? Sleep with snakes?" Kai added, not noticing the way Brin's face kept on getting a little green.
"That's enough talking about the training you'll be going through-" Genkai started before being interrupted.
"You mean we're really going to sleep with snakes and balance on spikes?" Brin asked in surprise.
"Yes, you will. Anyway, these games are to test your spiritual powers. The karaoke machine tests your spirit powers ability to grow. The rock, paper, scissors game will test your spiritual awareness. The punching game will test your destructive powers now, Genkai explained to them. "Any questions?" They all shook their head. "Well, then, start. You can each get a machine to yourself."
Sakura headed straight for the karaoke machine. She loved singing. She looked down at the pages in front of her and saw that they were blank.
"Ummm…Genkai?" Sakura asked.
"What is it?" Genkai replied, looking up from her game. She was playing a game called Goblin City (hmmmm…wonder where that came from?).
"There's no word on this sheet of paper," Sakura informed her.
"Just sing something. Doesn't matter what words you choose. Just pick something about 2 minutes long," Genkai told the confused girl.
"Alright," Sakura said before taking a deep breath. She started singing Independence Day.
Well she seemed all right by dawn's early lightThough she looked a little worried and weak.
She tried to pretend he wasn't drinking again
But daddy left his proof on her cheek.
I was only eight years old that summer
And always seemed to be in the way.
So I took myself down to the fair in town
On Independence Day.
Well word gets around in a small, small town
They said he was a dangerous man.
But momma was proud and she stood her ground
She knew she was on the losing end.
Some folks whispered, some folks talked
But everybody looked the other way.
And when time ran out there was no one about
On Independence Day.
Let freedom ring,
Let the white dove sing,
Let the whole world know that today
Is a day of reckoning.
Let the weak be strong
Let the right be wrong
Oh, let's go away
Make the guilty pay
It's Independence Day!
"That's enough, Sakura," Genkai said. "You're first test is done. Congratulations, you passed."
"Woohoo! What's next?" Sakura asked.
"Whichever one you choose. Both are free," Genkai told her.
"Huh?" Sakura looked and saw that both Kai and Brin were looking at her with their mouths open. "What?"
"You were glowing…" Brin said.
"Your score was also 130…that beat the high score on this one…" Kai told her, voice in shock.
"Oh, well, I'm going to do the punching game. What did you guys get?" Sakura asked, curious to know what her friends got.
"I got 100 on the punching game and 15 out of 15 on the rock, paper, scissors," Brin told her before taking her turn on the karaoke. She started singing the Japanese theme song of Yu Yu Hakusho.
"I got 130 on the punching game and got 13 out of 15 on the rock, paper, scissors," Kai told her, shaking off his shock of seeing Sakura glow like that.
"Alright, well, off to the punching game!" Sakura said cheerfully. She ran over there, put on the glove, and punched. She got a slightly lower score then Kai, 115. After that, she went to the rock, paper, scissors game. As hard as she tried, she could only get 4 out of 15.
"Ummm…what does it mean when you get a low score on the rock paper scissors game?" Sakura asked Brin as they waited for Kai to finish singing White Christmas.
"Why did you sing a Christmas song?" Brin asked, curious.
"I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head," Kai said defensively.
"What did you two get on it?" Sakura asked, curious as to how they did since she had such a fun time just singing for that one.
"Brin got a nice score of 95 while Kai…he got a score of 50," Genkai told them.
"Well, at least someone can't laugh at my spirit awareness," Sakura said, a grin on her face.
"Or lack of one," Kai muttered loud enough for Sakura to hear. Sakura's face got really red, showing embarrassment at her low score.
"Alright, would you like to know where you will be sleeping?" Genkai asked. Brin looked at her watch and was surprised to see that it was almost 9. If she were at home, she would have played video games for another hour at least. However, she felt like she didn't have that option.
"Why not?" Kai said, wanting to get situated, then call his dad on the cell phone Kurama had given him.
"Follow me," Genkai said, walking down a hall. There were three doors. "You may choose who sleeps where. Last time I had more then two students, we had to stay in a cavern on a mountain, away from anything around people. They were demons," she said, answering their puzzled looks. "This room is mine," she said, pointing at the one furthest away. "Stay up as late as you like. However, we will be getting up early."
"How early?" Sakura asked.
"Around 6 at the latest," Genkai told her. "Good-night." She walked into her room, smiling at the teens' open jaws.
Kai was the first to recover. "6:00? That's a little early," he commented. Sakura and Brin looked at him like he had horns.
"A little early?" they asked him, surprised at the comment. "I don't think I've gotten up that early in my life!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Well, who's sleeping where?" Brin asked, deciding they should probably get to sleep.
It was decided that Brin, Sakura, and Puu (who had flown away at Sakura's karaoke test) would sleep in the larger room while Kai would sleep in the other room. Little did they know that someone was watching them…
Oooooo! Who's watching them? Is it a demon? A stalker? Shadea jealous that Brin left? I know, but you don't! The answer will be revealed in the next couple chapters. You can tell me who you think it is.
I know I'm being evil. But, I will leave you with a little knowledge of what happens next chapter. Yusuke finds out where Sakura is…
Oh, and thanks to my reviewers! Happy Thanksgiving!
DiMeraslover: Thanks for what you said! I'm glad you liked it!
AlchemistKosame: Yes, I liked that idea myself. And, sorry, but I left you at a little bit of another cliffhanger. And you will not get any info out of me, by the way.