|
|
Christine nervously stirred
in her sleep and woke up. She felt someone's
presence watching her sleep, something she could not ignore. She
yawn,
stretched, and glanced at the VCR clock. Only noon! She looked
up at the
intruder and blinked in the sunlight. "Cye?"
"Yeah it's me. Come on, not even Rowen can sleep past noon."
The desire to fall back to sleep left her. "Did Rowen ever
go to bed at dawn?"
"Only if he's hungover, which you are not."
"I may not have been drinking last night but man do I feel
hungover." The
thought dug deeper into her sleepy mind.
" 'Only when he's hungover'?! How old is he?"
"19."
"Oy vay, I'd hate to see him the minute he turns 21."
"Booze-fest."
"Total." She left the comfort of the couch and went
upstairs to change.
Nobody bothered to change into pj's last night. She still wore
the same set
of clothes she wore to the Hard Rock. She changed her clothes
and took a
quick shower before coming down for lunch.
"Hey Rowen, what happened last night? I mean when we got
home around 3 AM the
house was clean and the place was empty." Christine met him
in the kitchen.
"Kento ran in the house after you guys left and told us that
Mia was pissed
off. We all panicked and cleaned the house spic and span. Then
we put up cots
and slept in the boat shed."
"Whatever. Um, about the girl?"
Rowen laughed nervously. "One for each of us."
"Shuttup, I am going to hurl." She grabbed a tuna sandwich
already-made from
the fridge and went to the backyard. She unlocked the cellar door
with the
key Mia gave her and fumbled around the wall looking for the light
switch.
She felt it and flicked it up. In the light she saw the fridge
that contained
that she'd been looking for. She jumped down the few steps leading
to the
floor and pulled the door open. She found the stash of Sprite
Mia said she
kept down here. She was welcome to it as long as she helped pay
the soda
bill. She found a six-pack of 20 oz bottles and took one. She
opened it and
enjoyed her lunch. Mid-bite she heard Ryo in the driveway with
Anubis on his
tail. She swallowed her tuna, grabbed her Sprite, and ran up the
stairs to
watch what was going on.
"Whose idea was it for last night?" Anubis caught Ryo
by surprise. His voice
had a hint of a rage just waiting to be released.
"All of us had our own ideas. It just clicked together."
"You knew Mia was not going to like it! So why did you do
it?"
Ryo's eyes narrowed. He had a feeling Mia was involved in this.
Without waiting for an answer, Anubis jumped him and proceeded
to pound the
life out of him. Ryo fought back but he was no match for an enraged
ex-warlord.
"I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO TREAT A LADY BOY!!"
"LIKE YOU COULD DO BETTER?!"
"Here we go again. Oh White Blaze?"
White Blaze popped his head around the corner.
"Please separate the two knuckleheads and make sure no one
finds out about
this."
He nodded and pounced on the surprised Ryo. Christine dragged
Anubis down to
the basement and proceeded to beat him up. Based on how Ren beat
up Stimpy
from the Nicktoon Ren & Stimpy.
"YOU WARLORD! YOU TULPA! YOU RONIN! YOU GASH! YOU SABERSTRYKE!
YOU RYO! YOU
ROWEN! YOU BADAMON! YOU KAYURA!" Christine had Anubis on
the floor and she
slapped his face repeatedly while insulting him. With a disgusted
sigh she
let him get up.
"Here, have a Sprite." She tossed him a bottle.
"What was that about?"
"Mia's pissed as it is. It's not gonna help if you beat up
Ryo."
"Yeah I know. What happened last night was just wrong. I
know, it just felt
it needed to be done."
"Hey guys? What are you doing down there?" Yuli called
out from the top of
the stairs.
"Hey buddy! Come on down here!"
Yuli ran down the stairs. Anubis tossed him a Sprite. He hesitated
for a
moment, then took a big gulp.
"Hey take it easy." Yuli felt a hand on his shoulder.
It was Mia. Anubis
tossed her her own bottle. "Join the gang."
"What time did you guys get up? You were missing for a few
hours Anubis."
"Huh?" Yuli had no idea what was going on.
"No need to corrupt the kid any more than he is Mia."
Christine laughed as
she covered the boy's ears. Yuli shook her hands off.
"The Ronins were back in the house around nine. I had to
get out before
anybody noticed."
"Anubis!" Yuli scolded.
"Well, can't say we prolonged his years of innocence."
Mia
"Ryo kicked me out of his room around ten."
"Another cruel hearted demon woke me around noon. Cye wouldn't
let me sleep,
even after I told him what time I finally went to bed."
They finally noticed Yuli was staring at his bottle, like he couldn't
believe
he had drunk some of it."
"What's wrong Yule?" Mia asked him.
"Dad always drank Pepsi and its products." Yuli whispered.
Mia and Anubis
frowned. To bring up his parents during the war against Tulpa
brought on
feelings of victory to Yuli and those unfortunate to be around
him and hear
his sad stories. Now that his parents had abandoned him and left
without a
word could hurt him worse than ever.
"He hated Coke and anything from the company."
"Yule, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"It doesn't matter now!" Yuli's voice was filled with
hate towards his
parents. "They're the ones who left me! It's their fault.
You're the only who
cares about me Mia!" Yuli was in tears and threw himself
into Mia's
comforting arms. She hugged the boy close. "You're my mama
now."
"Whoa, where did that one come from?" Christine whispered
to Anubis. He shook
his head. Even Mia seemed a little surprised. She had felt it
in her heart
but never thought she'd hear it from him.
White Blaze was finished with Ryo and he too clambered down the
basement
stairs. His nose quickly attached itself to Mia's Sprite bottle.
He tried to
knock it out of her hand to have a drink.
"Easy boy. Anubis, please get White Blaze his own soda."
"Ryo's not gonna like White Blaze having this stuff."
Anubis pulled one out
of the fridge and opened it. He handed it to Mia. White Blaze
opened his
mouth wide enough to swallow Yuli's head. Mia poured the soda
down his
throat. "Who cares what Ryo thinks is right for White Blaze.
He'll be OK."
White Blaze licked his lips, loving the taste of it all.