What I Learned At Genkai's Temple

Grocery Shopping...Minus the Shopping

Kohari: I don't believe commentary really necessary for this one. I don't really have anything to say. Do you, Jacqie?

Jacqie: Wow. It's rare that Ko has nothing to say. Better enjoy the moment while it lasts, folks!

Kohari: Hey!

Jacqie: Whoops. There it went. Anyways, in this chapter, we see just how manipulative little Kit can be...Hey! Why isn't the divider working?

Kohari: Dunno. But you're a theatre student. Teach us how to improv.

Jacqie: Don't be a smart-aleck. (You were a theatre student, too, Ko!)

Disclaimer: We obviously don't own YYH, any of its characters (unfortunately...), WalMart, or any other copy-righted thingies in this fic/chapter.

Dedication: We're dedicating this one to Ugly Kitten. She's a great writer, and she's been very helpful to us. Welcome back, girl!

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"What!"

This was the general reaction of the group when Genkai told them that they had practically run out of funds for food and supplies.

"Are you serious, Grandma?" Yusuke shouted.

"Quite serious, Yusuke," his master assured him. "But then, this might not have happened if a certain trio hadn't gotten us banned from WalMart..."

Everyone glared at the three girls mentioned: Kit, Daphne, and Kai.

"What?" they asked innocently in unison, only succeeding in irritating them further.

"Okay, okay," Kit finally broke. "Since this is partially my fault, I'll go get the groceries."

"Didn't you hear what Sensei just said?" Yusuke yelled at her as though she was stupid. "We have almost no money!"

"Who said anything about needing money?" Kit countered. "Check the name and get back to me, Yusuke."

After she left, Yusuke inquired of Kurama as to what she was talking about.

"A kit is a baby fox," Kurama informed him.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Kurama just stared at him.

(Note: Just in case nobody understood that little part right there, remember that Kurama's a fox. Hope that clears things up...)

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A handsome brown-haired boy, new in town, wandered up and down the aisles of the local Food Lion (GGF DOES NOT OWN), occasionally grabbing things off of the shelves and placing them in a cart he was pushing and punching the price into a calculator. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He would glance over his shoulder every few minutes to see if anybody was there. Nobody was. He would then resume shopping, only to suddenly look around again.

Eventually, when he turned around, he caught a glimpse of a blond-haired girl trying to hide behind the shelves after being caught oggling at him.

He tried to ignore her and move on, but the girl was creeping him out. She was still staring at him when he turned into the next aisle.

"Hey!" he finally called to her, scaring her and making her run away. He hadn't meant to frighten her; he just wanted to know what she was staring at him for. Oh, well. He went back to what he was doing.

A few minutes later, she was on the other end of the aisle, looking at him again. That feeling of being watched came upon him again, and, searching around him, he discovered the girl once again.

"What do you keep staring at me for?" he demanded.

Realizing she'd been caught the blonde girl, clutching a basket full of groceries, approached him. "It's just," she began to explain, sounding like she was about to cry, "you look so much like my late older brother...I...we...we used to go shopping together every weekend..." At this point, she burst into tears.

The boy panicked and tried to calm her down. "It's alright...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry..."

She wiped her eyes, only for tears to trickle down her cheeks again. An employee saw this and immediately brought her a tissue from the bathroom, silently wondering if this was her boyfriend and made her cry (which, in turn, made her angry), but returned to work without asking.

The boy walked with this strange girl as he did his own shopping, listening to her stories about her elder brother, who, apparently, had died about two years ago in a car crash, right in the store parking lot.

When he had finished with his groceries, she told him, "We would split up the shopping and get into separate lines. He would go into the express lane, and, depending on the number of groceries, I would get into another line. When he was done, he would go and get the car and pull up to the doors so that we could load everything quicker and easier. And he would call out, 'Bye, sis!' to tease me and make me think he was gonna leave me here."

"Okay." That was all that the boy could think to say. Then, the girl started crying again. Unable to take it, he pleaded with her to stop crying and asked what he could do to cheer her up.

She stopped and sniffed once. "I can drive now," she informed him. Seeing from his expression that he didn't understand, she added, "So he doesn't have to anymore. It's my turn to get the car for the groceries!"

"Okay..."

"So could you call out to me, 'Bye, sis!' as I leave? It would really make my day."

She was too cute to refuse. He unloaded all of his purchases onto the moving belt as hers were being rung up. As she was walking out of the automatic doors, she called out to him, "Bye, Brother!" and waved.

Remembering his promise, the boy waved back and replied, "Bye, Sis!"

When the woman behind the belt totalled up his bill, twice what he had expected, he cried out in anguish, "What?"

She repeated the number.

"But I calculated everything - plus tax!" he complained.

"Did you calculate your sister's?" she asked him.

"Excuse me?"

"Your sister said you'd pay for her groceries, too."

He let out a scream of fury.

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Kit could hear the furious shouts all the way to her car, parked far away from the entrance. She couldn't help but laugh as she got in and zoomed away, back to the temple.

When she got back, she carried the groceries in and laid them on the kitchen table. The gang stared at her in amazement, jaws dropped.

"And I didn't spend a penny," she bragged.

"But how?" Yusuke managed to ask.

"You didn't steal any of it, did you?" Genkai accused her.

"Nope!" Kit smiled. "I met this nice boy in Food Lion. Very nice. I had an emotional breakdown and to cheer me up, he bought my groceries for me. Isn't that sweet?"

"Kit, you are one manipulative little brat," Daphne told her.

"I'm proud o' you," Kai added. The girls group-hugged, and the rest cleared out. Only Yukina took the groceries into the cooking area and began to cook.

"No, Yukina!" Kit tried to stop her, knowing what a disaster her meals could be.

Then the kitchen blew up.

"I'm not fixin' that!" Yusuke hollered.

Kit sighed. This meant a lot more stores...

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