"Ch, Ow!" Sakura ripped her hand back from the sizzling pan, glaring at it as she licked at the tiny burn it left. When the smell of burning began to permeate the air she sighed and quickly removed the items that were creating the offending scent and quickly replacing them with uncooked ones.
A little ding went off making the young woman turn her attention to the toaster as well as the two other pans she left on the stove.
Eventually everything she worked at finished and the entire house smelled of breakfast. As she went about making the table, admittedly feeling a little too much like a house wife, her mind replayed the events that had happened a little over an hour ago.
"I don't think it's a demon...so we may have to do a little bit of research...maybe it's a group of meanads...hmm"
Off in the other two smaller rooms, Sakura could hear groaning, interupting her thoughts long enough to smile and call out to the two, "Come and eat up, we have a lot to do today and we can't afford to be held back by your two hungover asses."
The two she spoke to nearly collided as they hobbled out of their parallel rooms to begin their slow shuffle into the kitchen. The taller of the two perked up a little when he recognized the rather large selection of food waiting for him at the table and was about to sit and enjoy himself but he was stopped by a glass shoved into his and the other male's way. "What is this..." The smell alone was enough to make him turn away, nevermind the strange nearly glowing look to it.
"A little hair of the dog, now drink and sober up."
Voices could be heard outside, though they had to get closer to the building before any words could be made out. After Sakura had left to make everyone breakfast, Sora and Kurama had stayed out back to break down the tent. The plan was to go shopping and pick up one of their own, among other last minute supplies. Repacking the tent had taken longer than expected, but it was years since Sora had done such and Kurama never had.
Finally they managed and were headed into the house, snatches of their conversation floating through the opened window as they passed it.
"...dows to the soul, of course I'd look at them." The female paused, listening to a reply too low to hear inside and she answered, interrupted by a car on the street. "No...obably long gone."
The door creaked open then, followed by the gentle bang as it swung shut and moments later the pair were meeting up the rest of the group in the kitchen. Both were dressed in clean, fresh outfits and looked far better after a night outdoors than the males in their claimed bedrooms.
"Morning," Sora commented as she slid into an open seat at the table. "Ugh... What's that stench?"
Yuusuke turned to the brunett with a grimace, "I think it's essence of skunk or something..."
Before he could place the glass down and refuse to drink it, a slender hand grabbed his nose and forced the drink into his mouth causing him to gag and run towards the bathroom.
"Now, now...my cooking isn't as bad as it smells." The young woman winked at the pair and proceeded to place food onto two new plates.
"What would you like to drink...we have fresh milk, fresh orange juice and tap water?"
Her eyes quickly looked to the side to stare at the full glass of the nearly glowing mixture, "Kuwabara...I suggest you drink that, lest you want the same treatment as Yuusuke...maybe even worse...I suggest you finish that beverage...now..."
Without another word Kuwabara grasped his own nose and poured the strange liquid down his throat and proceeded to run off towards the other bathroom followed by a small chuckle from Sakura who turned her attention back to the two without hangovers.
"Please eat you two...I have a feeling we have one hell of a day ahead of us...Ah, I wonder where Hiei ran off to? I gathered some information which has lead me to some theories as well as a plan...but I think it would be better if everyone was around before we discuss plans..." Sakura pursed her lips together in thought before sighing and walking to the stove, turning it off and starting on dishes.
"I swear I've already slipped into the freaking house wife role..."
From both sides of the living room the two deliquents slowly shuffled back into the kitchen, their color and what little sense they had back.
"Well blame Spirit World for that one," Sora replied. "They did pick you to be married." She managed out a laugh that sounded genuine but resolutely avoided eye contact with the green gaze she was sure awaited her.
Instead of commenting, the red head backtracked on Sakura's speech. "We've been discussing theories as well, and so far the only conclusion we've reached is that it can't be werewolves."
"Right," Sora nodded, mouth half full of milk. She'd started to take a drink as Kurama spoke and quickly swallowed before finishing. "The moon's in the wrong part of it's cycle for it to be a wolf right now, though there might have been some activity back two weeks ago."
"Agreed..." Sakura smiled at the thought of the moon, she was already missing the bright full moon.
"I don't think this is..or really these are...anything like what we've fought or investigated before." A thought hit her right as she finished the dishes, allowing her to finally sit down and sip at some water, "Sora...didn't you say the person you nearly ran into last night felt...pure? Well, I'd say that this is exactly what I felt when I checked out the farm down the road who have had a few animals go missing...I felt...I'm not entirely sure how to explain it..."
She leaned into her hand with a small sigh, "Call me crazy...but I don't think this is going to end up being anything for us..."
"Okay...you're crazy." Yuusuke mumbled out from his spot between the table and wall before quickly dodging some salt tossed in his direction.
I did," Sora answered but Sakura had already gone on. She listened then in silence.
"So you've already checked out the location?" Kurama asked. He waited only long enough for Sakura to nod before going on. "While not the most intelligent choice, that does check one item off our task list. Now, we just need to check for patterns, to see if something like this hasn't happened before, and, of course, we'll still need to go shopping.
"When we go to town I suggest we split into teams. Either we can divide the supply list and meet up to research, or one team can go shopping while the others visit the library and newspaper archives."
"I call being on the shopping team...There's no way I'm going to spend hours doing research...I'm not in school anymore!" The Ex-Detective protested, thinking he needed to say something as input that wouldn't end up having something thrown at him, even though he knew there was no chance he would be put on the research team.
"So...are we waiting for the shrimp?" Kuwabara waited a few seconds before snorting out the answer to his own question, "You know what...let's ditch him! After all he did ditch us first...he completely forgot we were a team!"
When it was her turn to put in some input, Sakura pushed back from the table, forgoing breakfast, and half-stomped to the bathroom. She waited for the water to start running before she finally allowed herself to relax and get ready for the day.
Roughly an hour later everyone was as ready as they could be and had piled into Sora's car and headed into town. Yuusuke and Kuwabra had been dropped off in front of a large general store. Each boy was supplied with a detailed list of what to buy, courtesy of Kurama. A short time later the blue car had pulled up near the front entrance of the local public library.
The other two had already climbed out and were heading towards the building when Kurama noticed that Sora was still behind the wheel. "Aren't you going to come help us?"
"Not just yet." The answer came with a shake of her head. "I've gotta hit a bank in person to be sure my card will work and make a call to my cell company and check on a couple other things." She shrugged. "You know, the usual when you cross halfway around the world." A laugh. "I haven't driven my car in a while so I don't even know if something might have gone bad, though I do know I'll need gas soon."
Though he seemed hesitant, Kurama let her drive off with just a small goodbye and then went to meet with Sakura again. "There's a camping supply store only a couple blocks over," he began with an unexpected subject, "and if you'd prefer we could go choose a proper tent. I purposely left a couple things off those lists I gave Yuusuke and Kuwabara."
nothing but a nod, the woman began the walk to the little camping supply store, making sure to take note of her surroundings, every now and then allowing a little bit of her energy to flow out in search of anything out of the ordinary.
By the time the two reached the store, Sakura had been strangely dissapointed. It wasn't that she wanted to run into something while it was the just the two of them, she wanted to at least get traces of something...anything really. Instead, she was faced with a big pot of nothing in a town that was supposed to have some terrifying bady wreaking havoc.
Inside the store, things were just as uneventful as they were outside. The two went about their business, purchasing a rather large tent using the money they had won from the pool game as well as some lighters, a fan and some emergency supplies. On their way out, the female stopped and allowed herself to stare: Down the road, apparently in the time it took them to decide on a tent and purchase some things, an event was being held with a few prizes. One of those prizes, which now had her undivided attention, happened to be what she immedeately recognize as a '65 Thunderbird Convertible.
"My oh my! This is just too perfectly convienent!" Without thinking, Sakura grabbed Kurama by his wrist and pulled him along with her, again, into the heart of the celebration only to see that it was a contest.
A man clad in the steryotipical cowboy outfit stood in front of a rather intracate obstacle course that was placed on top of a mixture that looked disturbingly similar to Sakura's hangover fix. The obstacle course looked like a mixture of strength testing and balance testing that could only be won through wit and strategy. Above the man, in front of the course, hung a large sign with "Worcester Warrior" written on it in very large, horribly copied false Japanese print. Finally the man began to speak, {Hello everyone and welcome to the Worcester Warrior and special challenge!}
This title earned him a few laughs from the crowd and he continued, {In a few seconds we will invite some of you up here to try out the course behind me, and for those of you lucky and talented enough to complete it, we will have a surprise challenge for you. First place will win the car!} He waited for the cheers to echo throught the crowd before he called for those who "dared to ty" to come up on stage.
It didn't even take half a minute before Sakura was bouncing about on stage with six men, all ranging from bulky to hulky.
One in particular decided to heckle the only female up there with him in a rather heavy Southern accent, {Oho little lady...this is a contest for men...I wouldn't want to see you get hurt or break a little nail. Why don't you watch and cheer me on...and maybe later I'll take you out in my brand new car?}
Sakura caught a pair of green eyes and smirked before giving the male a rather quick response, {Sorry little one...but I'm married.} She managed to bite back her laughter at the man's confusion and anger at her comment and most of all her accent.
Each person had two minutes to complete the course; the better their time, the earlier they would get to go in the secretive, special challenge.
After about seven minutes, Sakura stood as one of the three people not covered in what she prayed was just dyed water. Her eyes scanned about again until she saw the man from before, {Maybe if you play nice I'll let you pump my gas for me.} The man was about to respond but was cut off by the rather obnoxious feed back from the event organizer's mic.
{Well that was quite a show wasn't it!} Another pause for applause and cheering and he continued again, {Now for what you've all been waiting for! Our surprise event: Battle Royal!} As he spoke a once covered circular thing was unveiled to be yet another circle of the disguesting liquid with a thin, padded ledge that stretched across its diameter. {Two people at a time will use these,} He picked up a giant q-tip and shook it about, {As their weapon to try and knock their opponent into the mystery juice belown them. It only counts as a win when the other person is actually IN the water; if you knock the off the ledge but they manage to hang on without touching the water, the match is still on!}
Since she was the one with the slowest time, (well she couldn't completely destroy the male population's idea of a woman) Sakura was to go against the victor of the first battle. As it was, she only had to wait for about five minutes before the muscular man was knocked down by the overly muscular man to the rediculously loud cheers of the crowd.
'Wow...this crowd is out for blood...'
The event coordinated approached Sakura with the helmet, earning him a scoff from the man still balancing on the ledge, {You might as well proclaim me the winner. This pretty little lady might have been lucky by understanding how to get through the obstacle course, but I'd hate to have to hurt her, I've always been told not to pick on the obviously weaker.} Apparently the man thought himself to be hilarious and let loose a long string of obnoxious laughs.
'Oh great...another sexist prick...oh if only he knew...' The female rolled her eyes and pushed the event coordinator's hands, which still held the helmet, away. She took a few steps back, grabbed the giant q-tip and ran, using the q-tip as a pole-volt to launch herself neatly onto the ledge. They waited for the call to start before the man began to jab at Sakura's feet. At one point he had succeded in hitting her feet, causing her to loose balance long enough for him to sweep the q-tip around at her head.
The crowd made a noise, certain that the young women had lost AND gained an injury, but were surprised when they noticed that her leg was up, blocking herself. In an istant she brought her "weapon" to the back of the man's leg, pushing him down, and with one more push, off the ledge.
{YAY!} Was all the young women could muster as she rushed over to impatiently await the keys to her car, complete with a paid registration and a year's insurance.
When all was said and done, she met back up with the red-head with a rather smug smile on her face. "I'm driving." True, she was absolutely thrilled about the car, but that didn't mean she was over being sour.
"I guess we should call Sora, pick up the boys and meet up somewhere...then we can work on research..."
At that same moment a figure came from within the crowd and caught Sakura from behind. The arms around her belonged to the very female she'd just mentioned, who had arrived in time to witness the battle round. Kurama made no move to interfere, merely watching both females.
"Congrats!" the brunette cheered almost directly into Sakura's ear before letting go and moving in front of her. Along with the T-shirt and jeans she'd been wearing before, Sora now also wore a windbreaker bunched on her lower arms so it hung in back. "Nice moves too. I must have showed up just as your match started and you rocked. Though I do have to know... Was that stumble intentional or did he actually get a hit on you?"
The young woman began to laugh as the little scare of being grabbed from behind left her and replaced giddy excitement, "Thank you!" Her smile was brighter than it had been for the majority of the day at her friend's compliment. "Well I was getting tired of him attacking my feet...plus the whole thing was taking too long...so rather than being too "girl power-ish" and completely destroying his sexist ideals, I let him feel the rush of victory and then slapped it from him." Another laugh escaped her, though this one was a bit more malicious...the truth was that she had planned to let him think he was winning long enough to get excited, just to watch him suffer in defeat. It was a bit cruel, but it was one thing that helped her current mood at least.
While the two girls chatted and let themselves feel giddy and excited, the two former deliquents sat outside of the grocery store with more than enough bags than they could comfortably carry. They had been waiting for about half an hour, more than just steamed about the whole experience they had to just undergo. Not only had they had to guess at each isle, making it take longer, but when they were trying to check out, the cashier had obviously scrutanized them for not being able to speak English.
"I swear I'm going to kill them when they finally get here..." Yuusuke grumbled, earning him more looks from people entering the store.
"So...do you think the boys are all done?" Sakura directed her question at the other female. Absent mindedly she spun the keys around her fingers in a soothingly monotonously way.
"If you think we should split up again, I still know my way around here damn well..."
"Awesome," Sora agreed with a laugh.
"Well you could always go check," the brunette offered. "I'm sure you're jsut itching to drive that thing and I'm parked pretty close between here and the library so we could just meet there after you get the boys?"
After Sakura's elated reply, Sora spun on one foot to look to Kurama as the other female was already halfway gone. "That was alright with you, wasn't it?"
"Of course," he answered simply. His expression was neutral but she could see the questions already building in his mind. However, he waited until they passed the crowd and then almost another block before speaking again. "What'd you do this time?"
"It's nothing," Sora replied casually. In her books it was, the pain was already faded to nearly nonexistant and the bandage had stopped the bleeding.
"Don't give me that," he countered, voice low. They still were on a public street. "I can smell the blood. Let me see."
With a sigh she relented. "Inside." They shared a glance and he nodded acceptance.
They were just reached the front steps to the library so the wait was a short one. Sora refused until they had moved to the back of the building and were hidden from the nearest people by several shelves. Finally though, she removed the jacket from her left arm to reveal a medical bandage extending from her wrist halfway up her lower arm. Without waiting for permission that he already had, Kurama careful began unraveling the bandage down to the gauze which extended right to the edges. The wound underneath was only a few inches long but he couldn't be sure how deep and arm wounds are always dangerous.
"This is nothing?" he asked her with the usual expression of disbelief. Holding her arm still in his left hand, his right arm went behind his head, searching.
"It's not as bad as it looks and I got it bound up right away." Her answer was calm, casual almost. Fighting would only put her in a worse position right now, the calm would minimize the blood flow and loss. "It's not as though I left it open and bleeding in the middle of a fight."
"How did you do it?" The question came at the same time as he produced a leaf, seemingly from nowhere, and gently pressed it against the wound. At first it seemed too small but as he began rewinding the bandage around it the leaf covered the entire gash. The gauze lay to the side, bloody and just waiting to be thrown away.
"Would you believe me if I said I forgot about a blade in my car?" she asked innocently.
"Self-inflicted is highly improbable," he retorted. "Even accidentally. I know you."
"Well I don't know what to tell you then." He finished and Sora, out of habit, pulled her arm close to her body and cupped her right hand around the bandage, gently squeezing to be sure things were in the proper place. "Would you rather hear I got in a knife fight with a dragon then? In our life anything is possible afterall."
If Kurama had a clever remark his chance was lost as loud footsteps announced the arrival of the remaining team members. In their last moments alone, Sora slipped her arm back into the jacket sleeve so no one else could see the injury. Some days it was easier to just hide than have to explain what had happened, especially when she'd brought it on herself.
Their library time was cut extremely short after a discussion began of what they already knew. Sakura restated her previous assertion that there was nothing in town, which none of the guys could disagree with, and Sora mentioned the same as well as even asking around as she did her errands. Thus, the team returned to their temporary home, sporting another vehicle which was necessary just to get all the supplies back to the house.
Everyone was carrying at a couple of bags as they entered the house, only to stumble onto the last scene anyone would ever expect. Everywhere the eye could see were chickens, some settling in to rest and others walking about calmly but in the next moment there was a familiar voice and flare of energy that sent the peacful birds back into a frenzy.