Changing Sides --- Hwoarang lay on his back on the dusty ground, breathing heavily. He could hear the hoarse breathing of Jin Kazama, barely metres away, just as pain-filled as his own. Lifting his head made nuclear plants explode in his brain, but Hwoarang counted worth it, just to see his rival writhing on the ground, clutching at his stomach. Blood ran down the side of Jin's mouth in a thin, red rivulet. Laying back down, Hwoarang stared at the blue sky. The clock on the main building of Mishima Technical School read 3:25. The clouds were wispy and peaceful. Groaning, he rolled onto his side and stood up. Jin straightened as well, and bravely put his fists up in a ready stance. Hwoarang winced. He didn't even have enough strength to blow the one puff of air that could knock Jin over again. "Hey, come on. We've been at it for five minutes. The match is OVER, Pikachu-hair." He said, in slightly accented English. "I will not admit to being defeated by the likes of-" "Oh, shut up, Thunderboy. I'm going." Hwoarang limped over to his waiting motorbike, straddled it, and collapsed over it when pain tore through his abused legs. Moaning piteously, more over his wounded pride than his legs, it took him three tries to get the bike started. Looking back at Jin, Hwoarang cracked his infamous smirk. "Just HOW old are you, by the way?" "Nineteen. Same as you." Standng, Jin now looked almost recovered, if a little dirty from biting the schoolyard dust. Damn. "Hmph. Your mother still picking out your clothes for you then? No, wait, it's your grandfather now, isn't it? Or maybe," Hwoarang revved the bike, turning it around. Ohhh... the P-A-I-N... "You just haven't managed to graduate yet. Why else would you still be wearing that crappy school uniform*?" Jin sputtered and started to run after the laughing street punk, feeling the taste of dirt and defeat in his mouth as his legs gave out under him... --- Kurama sat in a tree, watching Hiei from above. The smaller demon leaned against the tree trunk, apparently snoozing. Kurama smiled and looked up at the blue sky, judging it to be just a few hours after noon from the sun. The clouds in the sky were wispy and peaceful. Their tree stood on a slight hill in the park, giving Kurama a great view over the park and the city beyond. He closed his green eyes and smiled slowly, easing back against the tree... "OOOIII!! Kurama! Hiei!" Yuusuke's voice echoed around the clearing. Shocked awake, Kurama emitted an undignified yelp and jumped about a foot into the air. Gravity kicked in, and Kurama found himself in Hiei's convenient lap. Hiei, woken by the shout, suddenly found himself with a red haired fox demon wrapping his arms around his neck... It was NOW that Yuusuke, Kuwabara and Botan came charging up the hill. Yuusuke's mouth hung open. Kuwabara averted his eyes quickly. Botan blushed, looked at Yuusuke, then back at Kurama and Hiei, then to Kuwabara. Hiei and Kurama looked at each other, then leapt apart. Leaning against the tree, trying to ignore the fact that his face was burning red, Hiei glared at the three. Kurama knelt on the ground were he landed and tossed his long hair back over his shoulder. "What do YOU want now?" Hiei demanded. "Uh... nothing very much... just that you didn't turn up for lunch and when Kurama didn't come back after he said he'd look for you..." Botan started. Hiei turned his head haughtily, and Kurama smiled. "Thank you for your concern. It's such a nice day out, and Hiei looked so peaceful asleep, I didn't want to disturb him..." "I WAS NOT ASLEEP! I was meditiating." Hiei glared at him. Kurama only smiled back. "Anyway, Koenma-sama wanted all of us on the double. He didn't say why." Botan said, still sneaking glances at the two demons. She pulled her oar out of mallet space, and sat on it, hovering easily. "Let's go." --- "HYA!" Kenshin brought his katana down with a satisfying clang onto Hiko's, and danced away, sweat pouring from him. Warm sunlight streamed down from a blue sky, a few hours after noon. The clouds in the sky were wispy and peaceful. Hiko smiled grimly, and took another swig from the sake jug he carried around in his mantle. "Think you're improving, don't you, my baka deshi?" Hiko said, arrogantly. "Well... parry -this-..." Hiko flickered into the shadows, and somehow Kenshin found himself sitting up in the stream, a silver salmon wriggling in his mouth. Spitting it out onto the bank, Kenshin lay back in the stream, letting his long red hair float around his face. He soon found himself being dragged back onto land BY his hair, and unceremoniously dumped by the ever-burning kiln his master tended. "Itte-eee..." Kenshin wrung his hair out and began to gut the fish. He'd pushed Hiko's patience enough for today, and at least he wouldn't have to HUNT for tonight's dinner after training. Hiko sat down opposite Kenshin, taking another swig of sake. "Despite all your slacking off, my baka deshi, I believe you are getting better... slowly. Then again, I suppose even YOU should be able to pick up something from the overwhelming power of my mere presence..." "Shishou..." Kenshin groaned. "I mastered my first discipline of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu today... do you think I can skip the lecture?" Hiko regarded his student and the fish. "We will feast tonight. Go and find some mushrooms after you've prepared the fish." Leaning back against the log that served as his bench, Hiko laid his swords and sake by his side. "And don't make too much noise. I want to nap." Kenshin looked up once again at the blue sky. Yes, life was good in the mountains near Kyoto. He looked over to where he guessed the city lay, obscured by trees and smoke. SMOKE!? --- The great sorceress Lina Inverse yawned hugely, patting her stomach. "WAAAAAA... that was gooood..." The innkeeper, waitresses, chefs and other restaurant patrons stared at the huge piles of empty dishes around her. Idly, Lina picked her teeth with a toothpick and looked over at a dozy Gourry. "Ne, ne, Gourry..." "Hmmm?" "Isn't it about time a bad guy showed up?" "Hmmmmmmmm??" "I mean, usually it's about this time that a bad guy showed up to trash the place, or some weird guy in funny clothes tries to hire us for something, right?... Otherwise, how could you ever pay for all the food you eat?" "Oi... oi, Lina. What do you mean 'for all the food YOU eat'? You eat just as much..." "That's because I'm a sorceress! Casting spells takes a lot of energy, and I need to replace it with food!" "And doesn't excess energy turn to FAT, Lina-san?" A cheerful voice piped up from across the restaurant. "As I recall, you haven't been doing much in the way of spell-casting in a while... And it's beginning to show in your gut." "WAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Lina fell off her chair. "Xe... Xe... XELLOS!!!" The purple haired priest walked towards her, smiling irrepressibly as ever. "You remember me! I'm so glad, Lina-san..." "Geeeh... What do you want..." Lina's face blanched. Gourry waved idly to Xellos, only his hand visible over the stacks of plates on the table. "Yo, Xellos." He yawned. Xellos nodded to him, and turned back to Lina. "I have... something you may be interested in." At Lina's suspicious look, his smile broadened. "You WERE looking for a bad guy, after all." --- Asuka Langley Sohryu skipped along, happily, swinging her bags full of shopping. Trudging along behind her was Ryouji Kaji, triple agent working not only for the Japanese government and SEELE, but also NERV's Gendou Ikari. -And...- he reflected, -market shopping with a teenage girl DEFINITELY gets on my nerves. Misato NEVER bought this many clothes! Then again, when we were together, there wasn't very much need for clothes...- Kaji grinned. "Ohhhh, KAJI! Look! What are all these flappy bits of paper?" Asuka stood at a stall at the foot of a Shinto temple. Sighing, he wiped the dreamy grin off his face and peered at the pieces of paper. The old, wizened woman running the stall smiled and folded her hands in her lap. "They're good luck charms. You can buy one for love, good fortune, money, study... that sort of thing. They're kind of cute, huh?" However, Asuka's selective hearing shut off around the word "love". Eyes growing wider and wider, she grabbed Kaji's arm, going for his wallet. "He- HEY!" He stared helplessly as she took some money out, bought two identical charms, and stuck one in Kaji's wallet. Putting the wallet back in Kaji's pocket, she cuddled the other one before sticking down the front of her yellow dress. The old woman let out a wheezing laugh before bursting into an heavily accented Japanese dialect. Kaji took out his wallet and extracted the charm. "After buying the charm, you have to go to the temple and pray for your wish to come true."** "REEEEALLY!? Well, what are you waiting for??" Asuka latched onto his arm and started towing him away. As he tripped on every single step leading up to the temple, Kaji wondered about the stamina and strength of teenage girls. Perhaps that's why out of the three current Evangelion pilots, only Shinji was a boy... --- Yukino Miyazawa looked out the window at the boys playing soccer in the school courtyard and sighed. Where was Arima? Although the school's Cultural Festival was three months away, committees were already being formed, and, as usual, she and Arima were heads of at least 3 separate groups... EACH. She'd only just received notice of this, and had to tell Arima... -BOOM!- A loud drum sounded behind her, prompting her to nearly fall out of the window. Whirling around, she saw Asaba, blond hair tied up in a white headband, holding a huge Taiko drum. He -giggled-. "ASAPIN! What are you doing?" "Getting ready for the Cultural Festival. The school wants this year's to be totally traditional, so our class is going to be performing with these..." "Wooow... That's so cool! I wonder what our class is going to do..." "And playing them is SUCH strenuous work... I sweated so much that I have to take my shirt off in practise... The girls watching were so impressed, they think they might have THAT as part of our performance..." Asaba went starry-eyed. "Oh, it's a lucky thing that Arima's not in my class, so he can watch our performance... But then, he only gets to see me once... If he was in my class, he'd get to see me every day in practise..." Yukino's mouth dropped. Then, grabbing the mallets Asaba used to beat the drum, she made beats of a different kind echo down the hall... "Hideaki..." A timid voice piped up behind the huge drum. Yukino's and Asaba's heads appeared in their super deformed way. Arima stood in the hallway, dressed in an elaborate silk kimono, embroidered with a fantastic phoenix on the front and sleeves. Looking up, his face was revealed to be painted thickly with makeup... "AAAAAAAAHHH!! Miyazawa!!" He bolted. "A- A- A- Arima!" She googled. Asaba laughed. "Oh, yeah, your class is putting on a kabuki*** play. And since it's traditional, all the roles have to be played by men. Arima's playing a prostitute..." Yukino googled further. ---- * - in the stage where you fight in Mishima Tech School, Jin is usually dressed in the Mishima Tech uniform. It's a dark blue jumper, gold crest and PLAID pants. O_o; ** - I have NO idea whether this is true or not... O_O;;; *** - I'm not sure if it's "kabuki" or "no" theatre that I'm describing here. Or even if I'm describing CHINESE theatre! ^_^;;;