Chapter Twelve- Joining the Group

~*~

"So lemme get this straight," Sano said. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned down to peer at Chichiri, who had finally gotten off of his new trainer and had scooted over to one side. "You were really at Sama stage since we met you. You can turn into a Chibi at will?"

"No, no da. Like I said, I can turn SD na no da," Chichiri said.

"What's the difference?" Sano muttered, frowning.

"Like this," Anya said, raising a hand. "I finally realized what the difference between an SD and a Chibi Chichiri would be. A Chibi would have both eyes open. An SD looks like he has Chichiri's mask on, or like he has cat's eyes. Am I right?" she asked Chichiri.

He nodded. "And a Chibi can't use any magic, nor does he say 'no da'... no da," he pointed out.

"Oh yeah, that makes sense," Anya said.

"So you basically lied to us," Sanosuke said.

"Gomen, na no da. You have to realize I wasn't exactly meeting everyone under the best conditions no da."

"You could have told us after the battle. You were perfectly capable of leaving on your own," Sano said. He sounded more than slightly angry. "But you played along as a Chibi. This whole trip was pointless."

"Not really," Anya said. She grinned. "I have a new Bishonen now."

"What?! The hell you decided you were gonna catch him?" Sano demanded, turning to look at his trainer.

"The hell's it matter to you, Sano?" she asked, somewhat irritated. "It's my decision anyway. I decided when he turned full-grown and friggin' ASKED to join up."

"Oh, right, it doesn't matter. How could it? I'm only one of your other Bishonen, that's all." Sano shot Anya a glare. "I don't like the idea of having along some smart-ass who thinks he can get away with playing a trick on us and we'll just let him!" The Bishonen turned away.

"What is with you, Sano?" Anya asked. "You heard him. You'd have done the same..." Then she paused. "On second thought, no you wouldn't have. Never mind. But the fact is it was the best way for him to defend himself at the time. At that point, he didn't trust us, and who could blame him?"

"Kenshin no da," came an exasperated voice. "I'm fine na no da. Will you stop that?"

Anya and Sano turned to see that Kenshin was on Chichiri's lap now tracing the scar and poking it. Chichiri was trying to figure out how to make the Chibi stop without shoving him away.

"But how did it happen, that is?" Kenshin demanded. "How did you get hurt so bad?"

"Kenshin," Anya said. She reached over and pulled the Chibi from Chichiri's lap. Chichiri shot her a grateful look. "He'll tell you when he wants to tell you, okay? How about we get dinner started."

"Okay!" Kenshin wandered over to where Sano had dropped his pile of wood. Then he began to carry the pieces of wood towards where his trainer and the other Bishonen were sitting. He proceeded to drop the wood in the middle of the group, and started to prepare to make a fire for the group.

"I don't see why you're making a big deal out of this, Sano," Anya said. "You were fine with him when he was a Chibi."

"Because I didn't know he could change into his full-grown self at will and- well, do whatever!" Sano said. "Damn it, don't you understand? Since he became a free Bishonen, who knows what he could have planned to do to you? Some Bishonen who have bad trainers don't always become all sweet and nice to everyone else! He could have thought that due to HIS bad experience ALL trainers were bad, and THEN where would you be?"

"But he doesn't, and he didn't," she pointed out. "You're worrying about what already happened and what has NOT happened, Sano. Just cool it, okay?"

Sanosuke shot her a glare before slumping to the ground and muttering.

Anya turned to where Heero had been sitting for the past hour or so, quietly observing everyone else. To her surprise, he didn't have his laptop out, which he usually did even when he was in on the group's conversations. However, she decided to ignore that right then. "Well, do you have any opinions on this, Heero?" she asked.

Heero raised an eyebrow at her. "It's the trainer's decision to take on other Bishonen," was all he said.

"Thank you." Anya turned to Chichiri and gave him a small smile. "I think Sano stepped in something nasty out there, that's all," she whispered to him. "You're stuck with me, I'm afraid."

"Anything but that, no da," Chichiri said with a ^_^.

"You're sure you want to be captured again so soon?" Anya asked, giving him a curious look. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean, no da. And yes, I'm certain no da. I'd rather be caught by a trainer I am at least somewhat certain I can trust, as opposed to a complete stranger no da."

"If you're sure..." Anya smiled. "Well, let's get that taken care of, shall we?" Anya pulled out one of her empty Bish-balls. "I'll let you back out as soon as you're captured, promise."

Chichiri gave the Bish-ball an uncertain look, then nodded. "Let's just get that part over with quickly no da. I don't have very many fond memories of Bish-balls right now no da."

Anya nodded back at him and tapped the Bish-ball on his arm. He was immediately sucked into it. The Bish-ball didn't so much as twitch when he disappeared. Anya watched the ball for a moment, then held it out in front of herself. "Come on out, 'Chiri!" she said with a smile.

Chichiri popped back out in SD mode. "DA!" When he heard his new trainer laugh at his appearance, he turned back to normal and gave a little bow. "I guess I am stuck with you now, no da," he said.

"Yep, too late to back out now," Anya joked.

"I got the fire going, Annie-dono!" Kenshin shouted. "That I did, that I did!"

Anya turned to see the Chibi excitedly trying to make the little fire he'd started grow into a full-sized campfire. He began to add leaves and grass to the wood.

The Bishonen trainer sweat-dropped. "Kenshin, I don't think you should try to feed the fire so quickly..."

A moment later, she was proven right. Kenshin sat in front of a pile of wood, leaves and damp grass, as opposed to a fire. The Chibi looked at the formerly- burning wood for a moment before turning to his trainer in confusion.

She, in turn, glanced at Chichiri. "Would you mind?" she asked, gesturing to the pile of wood.

Chichiri nodded once. Then he stood, walked over to where the Chibi was, and knelt before the wood. He chanted something and held a hand over the wood. Only a minute or so later, a fire was crackling merrily.

Kenshin clapped his hands in delight. "That's amazing, that it is!" he exclaimed.

Chichiri reached down to ruffle the Chibi's mane of hair. "I'm glad you think so no da," he said.

Anya glanced around the campground, and spotted the refrigerator capsule that she'd given to Kenshin. Smiling, she got up to walk over and pick it up. Then she opened it. "Hey, Kenshin, did you decide on anything for dinner?"

"Yes!" Kenshin ran over and took the capsule from her, opening it with a loud POOF! He then began to pull out foodstuffs from the shelves.

"Well, if we're going to eat all of that..." Anya scratched the back of her head. "Let's start cooking it up, eh?"

~*~

"Sano? Where you off to?" Anya asked.

Sanosuke froze, but didn't turn around. "What do you care?"

She sat up in her sleeping bag, careful not to wake up Chibi Kenshin. "You're one of my Bishonen. Duh, I care. Where you going?"

"Off."

"I guessed that, you moron. I'm asking where and why."

"Oh, so you'd trust Chichiri at the drop of a hat but you won't let me go off by myself for a moment!" Sano turned around to shoot her a glare. "I understand why you sent Heero after me now."

"Sano, what the hell are you getting so uptight about?" Then Anya considered him for a moment. "Is it about that time when I first caught you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.

"Well... remember back then? You wanted to be let go as soon as I caught another Bishonen that I wanted. I've already gotten two other full-grown Bishonen and Chibi Kenshin now, as you know. Is that what you're upset about? Do you want to be let go now?"

Sanosuke snorted and ran a hand through his hair. "Are you kidding? You free me, and you'll have to free the kid or I'll follow you anyway. No, it ain't about that."

"So you want to stay on with me?" Anya smiled faintly.

"Eh." Sano gave a nonchalant shrug. "More interesting than watching the dojo while Kaoru and Kenshin wander off to do 'chores' and come back hours later not-"

Anya put her hands over her ears. "Okay, that was TOO MUCH information there, Sano."

Sano finally smirked. "What, you above hearing those kinda things?"

"My poor, virgin ears..." she moaned softly.

"You know you could change that- ITAI!" A shoe hit him squarely in the head.

Sano fell over as Anya grabbed her second shoe and stood up, readying to throw it at him.

"Hentai!" she accused.

"Whatever," he muttered.

Kenshin, who was still sound asleep, sighed and snuggled closer to her foot. Both trainer and Bishonen sweat-dropped at this.

Then Anya dropped the shoe and sighed. After a moment of watching her first Bishonen, she gently shook her foot free of the Chibi and walked over. "So what are you so mad about, huh?"

"I just don't like the idea of you having a Bishonen that deceived all of us," Sano said. He shrugged. "Is that so hard to understand? I didn't realize that any Bishonen could do that sort of thing."

"Then I take it you never really ran across a Chichiri before," Anya guessed.

"..."

"Look, Chichiri can't be whatever's been bugging you and making you talk privately to every Bishonen we come across," Anya said. "I mean, LOOK at the guy for crying out loud!" She pointed to where the Bishonen was sleeping. "Do bad guys tend to snore like a cat?"

"..." Sano turned to look at Chichiri, then raised an eyebrow in Anya's direction. "You've got very, very odd ways of telling the differences between good and bad guys," he observed.

"Works for me. You just don't know the guy. Trust me, he-"

"Some of us aren't exactly the way you see us on the show," Sano interrupted. "You're assuming too much."

"I've seen an example of that already," she said dryly. "I have yet to see Heero Yuy OR Duo Maxwell wandering around in a hippie outfit on the silver screen or on the manga."

Sano sweat-dropped and turned to look at her. "Say what?"

Anya waved a hand, grinning. "Never mind. Just give 'im a chance, eh?"

"Hmph." Sano turned away yet again. "I'll think about it. I'll respect the guy but I'm not putting up with any more bullsh-"

"Sano, watch what you say, will you?" she asked. "You might wake up everyone else."

"If we haven't already," Sano muttered. Then he shrugged. "Fine. Your call, Missie. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to take a leak." He wandered off into the woods.

Anya watched him leave the camp area, one eyebrow raised. "Well, that was the weirdest conversation I've ever had with anyone," she said to herself. The teen turned around and headed back to her bedroll, sitting back down. Kenshin latched onto her leg almost immediately. She looked down at him with a small smile on her face, then ran a hand through his thick mane of hair. "You know, you won't be able to sleep with me when you evolve," she murmured to him.

Kenshin gave a little sigh in his sleep.

Her smile broadened at that. Then she glanced around the rest of her travelling group. /My group of Bishonen. Gods, what would my mother say if she saw me now? Or my father, for that matter? If only they knew I was surrounded by kawaii guys constantly.../

Finally, she lay down and looked up at the sky. At least, she tried to; it was a little hard, seeing as they were in the thicker parts of the woods. However, she managed to spot a few stars through the branches above. Anya shifted a little, then closed her eyes.

After a few moments, Sano came back to camp, and turned to where his trainer was lying. An unreadable expression passed over his face. Then he wandered over to his bedroll, which was only a few feet from hers, and lay down as well. He craned his neck to watch her for a while then sighed and shook his head. "The hell'm I doing?" he murmured. "Her friggin call..."

~*~

"DAA!"

Anya jumped, and looked around to see who was making that odd noise. Her eyes fell on Chichiri, who had just jumped off of his bedroll and was proceeding to do some quick stretches. She sweat-dropped. "Morning, 'Chiri," she murmured.

"Morning na no da! What's for breakfast no da?"

The trainer gave him a confused look, then glanced at her watch. "Chichiri, it's eight in the morning. We usually don't get up and eat 'till like nine."

"Oh..." Chichiri plopped back down on his bedroll and shrugged. "I can wait, no da. I just thought you'd want to get going na no da. Where are we headed?"

"Back to Eutriv city, the one we found you in," Anya replied. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stretched her arms over her head. "There's a gym there, and supposedly there's a trainer there that should offer a good challenge to anyone who wants to try their luck against them. I want to see if he or she is still there."

"Hmm." Chichiri's face lit up. "I know no da! We can get there in no time na no da!"

"Eh?"

Chichiri held up his hat. "Have you forgotten so soon no da?" he questioned.

"Oh, right." Anya smiled sheepishly. "It's too early to think, Chichiri. I'm going back to sleep now." She lay back down on her mat.

"Uh-uh, no da!" Chichiri poked her with his staff. "You're awake, and you should stay awake na no da."

"Cut that out," she complained, and caught hold of the staff.

Trainer and Bishonen stared at each other for a moment. Then they proceeded to play tug-o-war with the staff.

"Let go... no da," Chichiri said.

"No way..." she replied.

Kenshin then decided to wake up. "What's going on, that is?" he asked sleepily. He rubbed his eyes. Then he gave his trainer a curious look. "What are you doing with Chichiri's staff, that is?" he asked.

Anya turned to give him a small smile. "Morning, Kenshin," she said. "Um, actually I'm making sure Chichiri doesn't poke me with his staff anymore."

"Stay awake, lazy trainer, and I'll leave you alone no da! Give me back my staff no da!" Chichiri said, exasperated.

"Okay!" Anya let go suddenly, resulting in Chichiri nearly hitting himself on the head with his own staff and falling backwards. "Whoa! You all right?" she asked, peering at him.

"I'm alright no da..." Chichiri still sounded a little exasperated at his trainer.

Anya turned at the sound of someone moving and saw that Heero was watching them all. "Morning, Heero," she said.

He nodded at her.

"And that leaves..." She turned to look at Sano, who was still snoring. "Eh..." She sweat-dropped. "He might be a while... is everyone hungry?"

Both Chichiri and Chibi Kenshin punched fists into the air and ^_^ed. "YES!" they both declared. "No da!" Chichiri added as an afterthought.

Anya scratched her head. "Okay... what about you, Heero?"

"Sure." Heero shrugged.

"Alright. I guess we can get breakfast going then... Sano can join us later..." Anya reached for her backpack and pulled out the refrigerator capsule. "Who's up for waffles?"

"What are those, no da?" Chichiri asked. A question mark seemed to appear over his head.

"Breakfast food," Anya replied, and opened the capsule with a POOF! "And let's have some bacon too... Chichiri, can you get a fire going again? Heero, could you cook the stuff please? Kenshin, let's get the bedrolls set up."

"'Kay!"

Soon after this, the scent of steaming bacon filled the air. Anya felt her stomach growling and smiled a little at that. "Guess I'm a little hungry too," she said to herself.

Sanosuke's stomach, however, was quite loud even when he was still asleep. It began to protest about its owner still sleeping right before everyone else started to eat. The Bishonen soon decided to listen to his stomach and woke up. "Eh..." He spotted the others preparing to eat. "Hey! When did... damn. What time is it?"

"It's eight-thirty in the morning," Anya said. "Rise and shine, lazy one."

"Eight-thirty! I thought it was TEN since you're eating! Thanks for not waking me up!" Sano ran a hand through his hair before walking over.

"We thought you'd prefer to sleep for a while, no da," Chichiri said with a ^_^.

"That so..." Sano watched the newest addition to the group for a moment before seating himself beside Anya, who was busy devouring her own breakfast. "Got anything left?"

"A few crumbs, here and there," Anya joked.

Sano grabbed one of her waffles. "Thanks for holding this."

"HEY! That's mine, you thief!" she protested. Anya hit him on the head and reached to take her waffle back.

Sanosuke smirked and took a big bite out of it. Anya glared at him. "Still want it back?" he asked innocently.

Kenshin, who'd been watching the whole thing, looked down at his own plate. Then he very solemnly held it out to Anya. "You can take my waffle, Annie-dono, that you can," he said.

Anya had to smile at his earnest expression and ruffled his hair. "Nah, keep it. We'll just have to remember that Sano doesn't get any lunch today."

"What?! Now that's not fair!" Sano complained.

"Too bad," Anya said. She returned to eating the last of her food. Grumbling, Sano did the same.

When the group finished breakfast, Anya leaned back, stretching again. "Ah. I love hot food first thing in the morning," she said.

"Hn," was Heero's opinion.

"Well, where're we going now?" Sano asked.

"Back to that city, of course," Anya said. "I haven't had the chance to fight another trainer in a while. I think it would be to everyone's benefit if we went back and checked out the gym."

"So we got another whole day's walk ahead of us," Heero said.

"Not exactly, na no da!" Chichiri said. He ^_^ed sheepishly when the other Bishonen turned to give him quizzical looks. "You see, I figured we could just fly there and be in town in a few minutes instead no da!"

"Fly?" Sano snorted. "And how, exactly, were you planning on having us do that?"

"Like this na no da!" Chichiri put his hat on his head and promptly disappeared into it. The hat hovered in the air for a moment. Then it started to fly swiftly around everyone, though it seemed like it was only being blown around by the breeze.

Sanosuke paled. "You're kidding me!"

Chichiri appeared out of the hat again and held it out for the others to see. "We all just hop inside and I'll get us there no da!"

Heero gave the hat a sceptical look.

"So where exactly will we BE when we're in the hat?" Anya asked curiously.

"Ano..." Chichiri shrugged. "Inside the hat no da?"

Anya fell over.

"But we'll only be in there for a short while, that we will," Kenshin observed. The Chibi wandered over to where Chichiri was and peered up at the hat.

Chichiri held the hat out at the Chibi's level. "Hop right through no da," he said.

Chibi Kenshin looked at the hat for a moment, then nodded and jumped right at the hat.

A moment later, he was gone.

"Kenshin? Kenshin?!" Sano got up and rushed over to where Chichiri stood. "The hell did he go? Where is he?" The Bishonen looked ready to pound Chichiri into the ground.

"Don't worry, he's in the hat no da," Chichiri said hastily. He held the hat out for Sanosuke to see. "You can go in next no da."

"What? I'm not going- GAH!"

Anya grinned as she shoved Sano into the hat headfirst. Then she rubbed her hands together in satisfaction. "There. He'll thank me later, when he's drunk or something."

"Well? Your turn, no da," Chichiri said, holding the hat out to her now.

The trainer took a step forward, then hesitated.

"What is it no da?" Chichiri asked.

"Well... can your hat take humans too?" she asked.

"Ano..." Chichiri made a face, as though he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should. Then his expression cleared. "To be honest, a Miaka is a halfling no da," Chichiri said. "One of her parents has to be a full-blood human, and he or she can use these without any problems no da. So I don't think it'll be a problem for you na no da."

"Whoa, Miaka's are halflings?" Anya considered that. Then she snapped her fingers. "Of course, that would make sense. She can go into both worlds in the anime, so of course she 'belongs' to both humans and Bishonen!"

"Da?" Chichiri scratched his head.

"Never mind. In I go!" Anya dove into the hat.

Chichiri turned to Heero. "Well, you coming or not no da?"

"Aren't you going in?" Heero questioned.

"Of course, but I have to go in last no da. If I went in now you wouldn't be able to na no da."

After a long moment, Heero nodded, and he too went into the hat. Chichiri placed the hat on his head, jumped up into it, and disappeared along with the rest of the group. The hat seemed to hover in the air for a moment. Then it began to float away, towards the city...