Saria and Nova: (dancing to the music Arabian Nights from Aladdin) WE DID GREAT ON FINALS!! WE'RE AWESOME!!!!!
Zas: (grabs SA's mallet and bashes both on the head)
SA: HEY! That's mine! (grabs mallet from Zas and swings wildly at him)
Tori: Thanks for the three reviews, everyone here appreciates it I'm...WAM!! (is hit by SA who is still swinging the mallet) Boy you hit so hard... (topples over)
SA and Zas: (look around them) WE'RE IN TROUBLE!!
Zas: Maybe Saria won't be so mad if we start the fic?
SA: Unfortunately, she's out cold. Fortunately, I brought my fic extractor machine and an extra helmet, so we can still hook up both her and Nova and get the fic out of them! (jams helmets on both of the unconscious girls) Alright! Everything is set! (flips a switch; nothing happens) I was sure it worked!
Zas: (plugs in the machine) We don't own Yu Yu, Aladdin, or any other commercially manufactured items mentioned in the chapter. (this includes any quotes that might appear) ... Let 'er rip!
"What's so funny?" Toguro gritted from between clenched teeth. This just redoubled on Yusuke's laughter, which now included high pitched giggles.
Feeling as though he wasn't getting through to the laughing girl, Toguro reached down, grabbed a hand full of Yusuke's pink hair, and dragged her out of the water. Yusuke however, didn't stop laughing, in fact, she began to laugh harder. At least until Toguro gave her a very sharp blow across the head. She quieted down pretty fast and stared at him afterwards.
Seeing that Yusuke had finally calmed down enough, Toguro, still keeping a death grip on the girl's hair, began to walk back toward the hotel.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..." Yusuke almost chanted with each tug he made, forcing the girl to keep his much faster pace or else risk going bald, something she definitely didn't want to do.
During this trip, Yusuke stepped into a hole and twisted her ankle. To add injury to injury, the next instant, Toguro gave her hair a none too gentle tug, forcing her to use said foot. "OW!" Yusuke yelped as her full weight went down on her injured appendage. Toguro however, never broke his stride, despite the girl's obvious distress.
At first, she had tried to simply ignore the pain, but that lasted for little more than one step before she gave up on that idea. Trying to keep her weight off of her hurt ankle, Yusuke attempted to hop on the other. This however didn't work as she had hoped. Toguro was just going much too fast. In a last ditch effort to force Toguro to let go...
"SPIRIT GUN!!!" Yusuke shouted as she pointed her finger at Toguro's head only to have Toguro grab her hand with his other hand and twist. In the end, Yusuke, in more pain than before, was now being shoved in front of a now extremely enraged Toguro, her right arm was being twisted so much behind her back, that she could hear her shoulder bone creaking, ready to pop out of its socket if any more pressure were added.
Of course, knowing Yusuke, she wasn't going to take anymore of this crap. So, gritting her teeth, she swung herself around, ignoring the pain as she dislocated her right shoulder and what felt like a gob of hair being ripped out of her head (even though it was probably more like a couple dozen strands). She swung her left fist at Toguro as soon she felt she had a clear shot. Unfortunately, the pain skewed her aim and she missed, but just barely. But even if the punch had hit its target, the intensity would have been greatly diminished.
Toguro, in turn, let go of her arm surprisingly, yet simultaneously tightened his grip on her hair. "So, you want to fight, do you?" he asked, right before his fist plowed into Yusuke's defenseless abdomen, effectively knocking the wind out of her completely.
The rest of the trip back to the hotel went as follows; Yusuke gasped for breath while fighting back nausea, feeling dazed and confused and in tears from the pain. Toguro kept a very firm grip on her hair but left her arm to dangle uselessly. He also made sure that when they got back that they took the service entrance instead of making a scene in the lobby.
Upon reaching the rooms that Yusuke shared with Bui and Karasu, Toguro simply shoved her in and told the two to 'fix her up' and that 'he'd return to retrieve her' then left.
"Now ya gone 'n done it," said the window washer as he passed by their window.
Bui, walking up to her, simply grabbed her right shoulder and jammed it back into its socket. This however, caused Yusuke to yell like there was no tomorrow. Bui, unaffected by the howls of pain, hauled Yusuke over to the couch and began to examine her ankle after removing her wet, dirty shoe.
"What were you trying to prove?" he asked as he grabbed some bandages for her ankle.
Yusuke shot him a dirty look before muttering, "Shut up."
"Let me guess, you tried to escape, were caught, and fought back?" Bui continued, as he wrapped her ankle.
"Is it that obvi..." Yusuke's question was cut off by a hiss of pain as Bui tugged on the bandages.
"Painfully so," Karasu replied nonchalantly, chuckling at his own joke.
Ignoring him, Bui asked, "And, what did you learn from this?"
"Violence is always the answer, except in this case because you'll get your ass kicked." Yusuke answered after a few seconds of thought.
"Isn't that the truth," Karasu stated with a chuckle as Bui also smiled, shook his head, and finished wrapping Yusuke's foot.
"Go get a shower," Bui said as soon as he'd finished. "And don't take too long either."
"But the bandages'll get wet!" Yusuke protested. "Plus I don't have anything else to wear!"
"They'll dry." Bui replied. "As for the clothes, borrow some of Karasu's."
"WHAT???!?!?" Yusuke and Karasu screamed in unison, both with equal looks of horror painted on their faces.
"You heard me now go before Toguro comes back and you're really going to be in for it. Don't think he's going to let you off easy this time. And don't think about sneaking off again," he called as Yusuke stormed into the bathroom, "I'm watching you."
10 minutes later, and a squeaky clean Yusuke
Yusuke was gingerly toweling off using her left arm, since her right one had a dull pain that became sharp when she used it, when she heard rapping on the bathroom door as well as Toguro's voice yelling, "Time's up Yusuke. Get out."
"But I'm naked!" she yelled at the door before realizing she probably shouldn't have said that. She didn't know if the elder Toguro was present or not, but worse, she didn't know if the younger would just smash in the door.
"Don't give me any lip! Now get out here!" was the yelled reply.
Quickly wrapping the towel around herself, Yusuke cautiously opened the door. When the door was opened enough for her to see Toguro, clothes were oddly enough thrown on her. "You have five minutes," Toguro called.
Yusuke grabbed the clothes up eagerly to find to her dismay that they were an exact replica of the ones that now lay in a filthy pile on the floor. She quickly dressed, once again having a bit of trouble with the belt/sash. Still, she managed to dress within three minutes. She didn't leave the bathroom however, until Toguro knocked again to tell her that time was up. In a not-too-happy-camperish voice.
When she emerged from the bathroom, Toguro immediately took hold of her right shoulder and squeezed hard. Yusuke, for her part, tried her best to keep a straight face and not show any signs of pain.
"I haven't thought of a fitting punishment yet, but I assure you it will be a stiff one," Toguro said as he guided her out of the bedroom. "As for the escaping bit, I know of the perfect way to insure that that doesn't happen again." His hand tightened horrendously on Yusuke's still aching shoulder.
"That hurts you know," Yusuke gritted as she fought back the little spots that began to cloud her vision. 'Damn, he's treating me like a child! It almost seems more like he's punishing me for getting dirty than sneaking out or fighting back. He...' She never got the chance to finish that however, as Toguro suddenly ordered Karasu to join them.
Once all three of them were out in the main room again, Toguro reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
"I don't like the direction this is going," Yusuke muttered.
Toguro then proceeded to clip one of the cuffs to Karasu's right wrist and the other to Yusuke's left. Karasu, oddly enough, held his tongue through all of this. Yusuke however, yelled, "I think this is a little inappropriate, and not very practical." Yusuke then gestured at her arm which now couldn't be held at her side due to Karasu's taller stature.
"Shut up," Toguro simply stated after a few more comments on Yusuke's behalf.
"But what if one of us needs to go to the bathroom?" Yusuke yelled as Toguro turned to leave.
"Hold it," was all Toguro said as he walked out the door.
"Very funny." Yusuke called after him.
"Come on." Karasu's irritated voice broke through some of Yusuke's own irritated name calling of Toguro, of course it was in her head. He pulled on the cuffs and managed to drag Yusuke to one of the couches in the room. Across the way, Bui sat reading the smut novel, which Yusuke saw was titled, 'Across the Lay'.
For several minutes, silence dominated the room, as no one moved save Bui to turn the pages of his book. 'I'm bored,' thought Yusuke, who was starting to feel very much like her old self. Glancing over at Karasu, she thought of a great way to entertain herself, and a cheeky smile once again spread across her face.
Instantly grabbing her stomach a screwing her eyes up, Yusuke did her best to try to look as sick as possible. Turning to Karasu, she murmured in a low, strained voice, "I think I'm going to throw up..."
Karasu's eyes widened instantly in horror as he stood fast, unknowingly pulling Yusuke into the table. Yusuke in turn, tripped because of the table, and landed on top of it, pulling Karasu down with her. At this moment, Bui looked up to see the table crash under the weight of the handcuffed duo, and if this wasn't bad enough, Karasu was in a very compromising position with Yusuke (wink wink, nudge nudge).
Bui calmly set his book down onto the armrest of the chair while Karasu and Yusuke got to their feet as well (more or less, Karasu stood and then yanked Yusuke to her feet). Both of the handcuffees were obviously about to start arguing again when Bui voluntarily said, "Shut up and lets get rid of this before Toguro reappears." As if on cue, they all heard footsteps coming down the hall. Swiftly, two of them jumped into action, with Yusuke trailing since she had no idea what they were doing. They jammed the top of the table under the cushions of the couch while shoving the legs under the couch then sitting down in a frenzy. Karasu grabbed Yusuke and shoved her down in the middle of the couch while Bui fetched his book and sat on Yusuke's other side (her right side for all you who aren't keeping up with the fic).
Toguro came charging through the door not even 5 seconds later, catching a calm scene with Bui reading, Yusuke trying to read over his shoulder but failing miserably, and Karasu looking out the window from the wrong side of the couch. The only suspicious thing was that out of all the other furniture, they all chose to sit on that one particular couch. But there was something missing from the room.
"Where's the coffee table?" he asked after a second of thought.
"Well, you see there was a..." Yusuke's voice was instantly cut off by Karasu and Bui simultaneously slapping their hands over her mouth.
"Don't lie." Bui said as he stared at her, hoping to God she would get the point. This got Toguro to look at the three with a suspicious interest. Yusuke didn't know why, but at that moment, Toguro almost looked like a father who was suspicious of his children.
"There was a coffee table?" Karasu asked as Bui put down his novel and also gave the room a once over.
"Nope, I don't remember a coffee table either." Bui added before raising his book once again.
Yusuke, who was sitting between the two, couldn't believe what was happening! Karasu and Bui were lying outright to Toguro! But, following suite with the other two, she merely shrugged and pretended that she didn't notice a coffee table had previously been present.
Soon after Toguro left, both of the fighters slapped Yusuke upside the head, Karasu actually yelling, "Are you trying to get us caught?" Yusuke, on the other hand, was now gaping outright at the two, hardly believing what had happened. Bui by then, had pulled out a bottle of super glue and was pulling the decimated table out from under and within the couch.
A few minutes later, after the three had managed to piece the table back together, Yusuke actually let a laugh escape. "Why did you two do that?"
"To keep ourselves from getting in trouble, something you need to learn," Bui answered, putting the super glue away and then once again picking up 'Across the Lay'.
After a few moments of silence, Yusuke piped, "I think we should join forces to rid ourselves of this menace we call Toguro!" She tried to say this as heroically as possible.
"You weren't reading this page, were you?" Bui questioned as he rummaged back five pages and pointing to the section Yusuke had gotten her quote from.
"Toguro needs to forget the handcuffs and invest in a straight jacket. This girl is positively nuts." Karasu muttered. "Come on, let's go to bed before Toguro hears her insane ramblings."
"I agree," Bui said as he marked his place in his book by dog earring the page.
"I'm not sleeping with you!" Yusuke shouted before she was dragged into the bedroom by a Karasu.
"Believe me, you're not my first chose either," he replied as he dragged her over to a bed.
4 hours later...
Yusuke stared out the bars of the cage that seemed to surround her. The bars were thick and unyielding, and made it so she could just barely move. Surrounding the cage was total darkness, save for one spot almost directly in front of her. There, in the light, was another cage and in that cage was yet another girl, but much younger than Yusuke.
The child lifted her head from where it had rested in her knees, as though she had been crying. With tears streaming down her eyes, she looked at Yusuke. The face of the child almost killed Yusuke from the shock, the child was herself!
"I know you recognize me," the child sniffed, her voice still slightly hoarse from crying. "Don't you see what you have done?"
"What I've done? What have I done?" Yusuke asked.
"The cages that you've trapped us in, again."
"ME?! I'm not the one responsible! It's Toguro, he's the one who enslaved me," Yusuke replied cynically.
"No, you enslaved yourself. Both of us. You enslaved us the day you started wearing that mask. And you further enslaved us when you gave in."
"I haven't given in yet." Yusuke's voice was starting to sound irritated. "If I've given in, that means I'd be killing on command and not regretting it! And I do! I regret!"
"But for a time you gave in. You thought that there was no way you could ever beat Toguro. You thought it before you ran off. You tried to run away from your problems, just like you did before."
"When did I run away from my problems?" Yusuke demanded.
"You wore a mask, a mask to hide your face from the world. You thought that by hiding you could erase all that happened. But you couldn't, could you? And that's why I'm here, stuck in a cage for all eternity, because you lost faith in yourself. All because that one guy defeated you after telling you that you couldn't win because you were a girl. You hid yourself behind a mask, trying to make yourself stronger through a lie! You enslaved yourself to your own lack of confidence! You didn't even know the guys name."
"I was 8! What was I supposed to do? My mask seemed like the best solution, and it worked! I became stronger, in fact I became the strongest in the city!"
"But at what cost? We'll never be free now. You'll never have the courage to do it without your mask, and it's gone now! For the rest of our lives we are going to be trapped in these cages because you didn't think you could manage."
Instantly, Yusuke felt herself begin to darken, as a part of herself appeared she had never felt before. A spark lit within her now, one that Genkai herself hadn't been able to ignite within Yusuke's protected heart. Looking back at the child version of herself, she once again spoke, her voice sharp and clear. "No, I won't let this continue. You can stay if you want, but I'm going to free myself. YOU HEAR ME?!? I'M GOING TO FREE MYSELF!! I'LL KILL TOGURO IF I HAVE TO! I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE!!!" The last part she screamed at the top of her lungs as she brought her leg back and kicked at the bars that imprisoned her with all her might.
Yusuke was swiftly brought back to consciousness by an inhuman yell that sounded a lot like, "You little brat!"
Once she was fully awake, she realized that it was Karasu, but that was all she came to realize before all hell broke loss (in the form of Bui). Bui had launched himself onto who he thought was Yusuke, thinking she was trying to escape, especially when she had suddenly shouted, "I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE!" Karasu had yelled after that.
The sudden addition of weight when Bui jumped on though, cause the bed frame to groan horribly before breaking, causing the bed to fall the one foot to the floor, the occupants screaming all the way down, though for different reasons. Karasu was screaming because someone was throttling him after Yusuke had kicked him, Bui was screaming for Karasu to help him with Yusuke, and Yusuke was screaming in confusion, unsure of what was going on.
The scuffle continued for a few minutes, before the lights in the room came on, and everything just stopped. There in the doorway, stood a very, Very, VERY angry Toguro. Yusuke could almost see the steam rising from his ears. Karasu and Bui, though in compromising positions now, also noticed this, and Bui quickly jumped off Karasu (Karasu being a little out of it after the beating).
"You have 30 seconds to explain this," Toguro gritted as he took in the scene. And what a scene it was! The bed was broken, Bui had been on top of Karasu, and Yusuke had been on the side of the bed trying to escape, the handcuffs preventing such movement.
"Yusuke was trying to escape so I tried to stop her." Bui answered quickly.
"No I wasn't! I was asleep until Karasu woke me up with his screaming and then you jumped onto the bed!" Yusuke shouted as she calmed down from the shock of the recent happenings.
Toguro looked at Karasu who was just snapping out of his own shock from Bui jumping him. Pointing at Yusuke, he said simply, "She kicked me."
"Did not!" Yusuke shouted.
"I'm not getting in an argument with a child."
"Why? Afraid you'll lose?" Yusuke retorted.
"KNOCK IT OFF!" Toguro roared, effectively ending the fight before it truly started. "I think I've heard enough, Yusuke, Karasu, get over here." The two obediently approached the man who unlocked the handcuffs and grabbed Yusuke by the shoulder. Turning to leave, he paused for just a second to give a warning. "Not another sound. Got it?" Then, he left, once again pushing Yusuke in front of him by her shoulder.
"Have fun you two!" she called back as Toguro tightened his grip and pushed harder.
"That really hurts you know," Yusuke said as she entered the hall. The next thing she knew, they had just bumped into the red headed psycho-freak and four others. Red headed psycho-freak of course recognized Yusuke and started to chat happily while bouncing.
"Hello again! Good to see you got in before the storm got here!" When he saw Yusuke's blank look he instantly said, "Forgotten me already? I'm Jin! And I'm glad you avoided the storm."
"No, I'd say that the storm found me." Yusuke said as she nodded minutely toward Toguro, resulting in a sharp shoulder squeeze.
Completely oblivious to what Yusuke meant, Jin continued. "That's too bad. But I could have sworn that the storm hadn't come yet."
"Now if you'll excuse us, I have a punishment to deal," Toguro cut in, as he made to push Yusuke forward.
Jin gave Yusuke a quizzical look before asking, "For what? Getting wet?" This question pulled a very cheeky grin out of Yusuke which quickly turned into a grit of pain as Toguro squeezed her shoulder harder than ever and shoved her forward, not bothering to answer the question.
A few minutes later, Toguro pushed Yusuke through a new door and into a room she'd never seen before. This one, unlike the room she'd shared with Karasu and Bui, had very nice furniture and decorations. The furniture itself, looked a lot sturdier (the whole team could probably jump on any piece and it would still hold up and still provide a soft landing place). She didn't have much time though to investigate the furniture because Toguro took her straight into another room and shoved her into a closet.
"You'll stay in here until I feel you can come out," Toguro said as he shoved the door closed.
"Wait! What if I need to use the bathroom?" Yusuke called through the door.
"Hold it!" Toguro yelled, irritation instantly evident.
Yusuke quietly moved to the back of the closet and sat, her back leaning into a corner. After a few minutes though, she walked back up to the door and shouted, "I'm cold!" as she kicked and banged on the door.
"Not...another...sound..." Toguro gritted, so close to exploding that Yusuke feared that she could be in more danger than ever. Surprisingly though, he opened the door for a second and threw a blanket in which landed on Yusuke's head.
"Thank you." Yusuke called through the blanket, even as the door slammed shut again. 'Oh well,' she thought as she curled up on the floor, 'might as well get some sleep. At least this time I don't have to share the covers.'
Nova and Saria: (Are sitting next to a pool, dipping their feet in the water, fully clothed)
Saria: This fic has everything!
Nova: Yeah, a random comment, broken furniture, yep. It pretty much has it all! (gets up to leave and splashes Saria in the process)
Saria: (splashes Nova back which starts a water fight, Saria eventually pushing Nova into the shallow end)
Nova: No! Saria, I don't have an extra bra! (tumbles into shallow end but manages to keep her shirt dry) Saria! (climbs out of the pool) I wet my pants... (starts trying to push Saria into the pool)
Saria: You're going to get yourself even wetter.
Nova: I don't care as long as I take you with me!
Saria: Good idea! (grabs Nova and both tumble into the pool)
10 minutes later
Both walk dripping wet into the kitchen.
Tori: What happened to you two? (in the background, SA and Zas are arm wrestling. Zas wins so SA begins to beat on him with the mallet)
Nova: Well, there was this wet t-shirt contest so Saria and I thought we'd try it out. We got ourselves completely drenched!
Saria: BUT...We found out later that it had to be a white t-shirt, so we got disqualified.
SA: That'll teach you! (has finished pounding Zas with the mallet) What happened to you two?