Chapter Eight- The Gym

~*~

Anya peered through the small screen on the Dex at the person on the screen. "Jenna, is that you?" she asked.

"Yeah. Anya, right?"

"Yep. What's up?"

The figure on the screen smiled. "Oh, it's been so great here! I've already caught four Bishonen and a Bishoujo! They took a while to get used to and to get along with, but now we're having a cool time. What's up with you?"

"I've got two Bishonen so far. They're both from Rurouni Kenshin. I got Kenshin and Sano."

"Really? Neat!"

"So have you heard from Jake or Ashley?"

The girl on the screen glanced around uneasily, as though not wanting to be overheard, before leaning into her own Dex. Anya frowned at that, wondering what was wrong. "Well, I was going with Ashley at first, you know, because neither of us really wanted to go on our own and stuff. But... we parted a ways a few days ago, and, well, it's been over two weeks..." she trailed off.

"Oh, that sucks. And she never caught anyone?"

"No, she left them all to me. Said they weren't the ones she wanted."

"Aw, come on! She could have gotten to like them, or even free them once she caught someone she liked," Anya snorted.

"That's what I said."

"What about Jake?"

"Haven't heard from him. Maybe I'll try calling him in a minute."

"Good idea."

"So have you got any idea as to what these gyms are for?"

"Yeah, someone explained it to me the other day. She said they're for building up the Bishonen's strengths, and yours too if you want to work out. There's a work out room and a fighting room, according to her. But she also said you have to get your Bishonen to consent to fight or something like that. I'm heading to the one in this town to check it out today." Anya stretched a little and shifted slightly in her seat, glancing at her two Bishonen. "When my Bishies wake up, of course."

Jenna smiled. "Yeah, really. One of mine refuses to wake up until it's near noon."

"Whoa. Well, I'm getting a little hungry..."

"Yeah, well, thanks for calling. I was getting worried that no one else had, you know, caught a Bishie yet."

"Pretty sad if we all failed in that, eh?"

"Yeah. Bye."

"Bye." Anya glanced down at the commands and said, "End."

The screen faded, and she put the Dex into her pocket. She headed over to the bathroom to make sure she still didn't have bed hair, and came back out as Sano was sleepily rubbing an eye and turning on his side, readying to sleep again.

Anya picked up a nearby pillow and hit him with it.

"Itai! What's yer problem?" he mumbled, snatching the pillow and stuffing it under his head.

"It's time to get up," she said.

"What time is it?"

"Almost ten."

"Only that? Leave me alone..." He closed his eyes.

She threw another pillow at him.

"ITAI!" he yelped, and threw the pillow back at her. "Will you cut that out? What did I do to you?"

"Fine, you don't eat until lunch. Kenshin, time to get up."

The Chibi, who'd woken up at Sano's yell, rubbed an eye, looked around, and jumped off his bed to wander into the bathroom. "What's for breakfast, Annie-dono?" he called.

"I think we'll order pancakes, with bacon and sausage and lots of fruits and juice," Anya said, ticking off every good breakfast thing she could think of. She grinned to herself as she saw Sano start to drool as he pictured the foods. "Sano of course won't be coming with us, so I hope you're extra hungry."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what makes you think that, Missie?" Sano demanded, sitting up. He stretched, yawned, and muttered, "Slave driver." Then he stumbled out of the bed.

"You made me think that. You want to sleep. I'm letting you stay here and sleep. Come on, Kenshin."

The Chibi smiled and followed Anya to the door. Sano began to stumble after them. Anya winked at Kenshin and swiftly closed the door. There was a loud thud.

"ITAI! Dammit, Missie, let me through!"

"You should watch where you're going!" she called teasingly, but opened the door. Then she picked up her Chibi and ran through the door.

~*~

After breakfast, Anya, Sanosuke, and Kenshin were standing in front of a huge three story building that seemed about as large as her old high school. Anya whistled, impressed.

"Wow. This must be some gym, eh?"

"Well it has to be, if it's for fighting AND for working out," Sano said.

"Good point." Anya cocked her head, looking at the door. "Well, let's go in and see if there's something you two can't do to work out, and someone for me to talk to."

"Why don't you work out?"

"Because I'm lazy," she responded with a grin. "Now let's go on in."

"I would love to test my sword out, that I would," Kenshin agreed, glancing at his small sword.

Sano and Anya nodded at the same time. Then they looked at each other in surprise. Finally, deciding they'd ignore that that happened, they headed into the gym with Kenshin.

The gym had a neat lobby that seemed to be able to hold about twenty or so people, if it was filled. As it were, there was only one other trainer pacing around with a group of yawning Bishonen and a Bishoujo. Other than that, and a lady behind one of those professional desks, there was no one in sight.

Deciding to ask what they could do here, Anya approached the lady behind the desk and said, "Hi. Um, we're sort of new to gyms..."

The lady flashed a smile. "Welcome to our training gym, then! We do our best to get the right workouts for you and your Bishonen. We're just about to open in a couple moments."

"Could you tell me what we can do here until it opens?" Anya asked, glancing at her two Bishonen; Sano was carrying Kenshin in his arms again. The Chibi was still cradling his wooden sword in open excitement and barely-contained anticipation.

"Of course. There's a free-for-all area that the Bishonen can work out in, either separately or in groups as they and their trainers wish. If you didn't know, you are welcome to join your Bishonen in their training. It brings you all together more and gets you in more shape. There is a slightly separate area for weapons training.

"Then there is the weight room, it's almost as large as the free-for-all, with maybe thirty or forty machines for everyone to use. There, you and your Bishonen can work on strengthening your muscles.

"But that's all only on the training area. The other half of the gym is used for actual battling between trainers. Of course, you and your Bishonen will have to sign consent forms before that is allowed. From time to time, we will have the strongest resident trainer come in and challenge the trainers who are still traveling from town to town. If you win against him, then you can enter the data into your Dex for future usage. Do you understand all of that?"

Anya nodded. "Are there... other spaces for Chibis?" she asked hesitantly, glancing at her Kenshin.

The lady finally seemed to notice the Chibi, and froze, glancing nervously at the other trainer in the room. She too had heard the word 'Chibi' and was peering over at Anya and her group. Her Bishonen were too, but they didn't look curious; they looked deadly.

Sanosuke seemed to realize that his trainer could be in potential danger because she had a Chibi with her. "Ah, a friend gave 'im to her. Said she had too many Bishonen already, they might trample 'im," he said as casually as possible. He went so far as to lean against the desk and wink at the lady behind it. "Parents weren't too happy, but gave 'er permission."

"Born captive, then," one of the other trainer's Bishonen muttered. The others nodded and, satisfied, turned away. The trainer was still looking at Anya and the Chibi, but soon returned to her pacing as well.

The lady relaxed as well. "I'm sorry, we don't have anything especially for Chibis," she said.

"Is there a place I can practice with my sword, that is?" Chibi Kenshin asked curiously. He held up his wooden swords.

If someone had asked Anya later on, she would have sworn that hearts actually popped out and circled the lady's head when she looked at the Chibi. "Of course, we can lower some of the practice bags for you if you like, young man," she said.

A bell rang.

The lady glanced up at the clock. "The gym's officially opened," she said. "You may go on in and do as you please. Just make sure to sign in at the doors to any part of the gym you enter, for regulatory reasons you understand."

"Of course, thank you," Anya said, and headed towards another set of doors that said 'Free-For-All' on it. "How about we check out the weapons area first?" she asked her Bishonen.

Sano shrugged. "If there're punching bags, I don't give," he answered.

"Yes, let's go!" Chibi Kenshin said.

Anya smiled at the Chibi and reached out to ruffle his hair a little. He ^_^ed at her and returned his attention to his wooden sword. /Kawaii,/ she thought.

The free-for-all room was huge, about the size of a football field. Anya stared in amazement as they walked in. Every sound they made echoed in the huge room.

"Wow," she whispered. "How did they make such a huge room?"

"With wood and nails, I'd guess," Sanosuke replied.

She hit him on the shoulder, and he smirked at her. She turned away to look around again. "It's definitely big enough for a lot of people to come in and work out without getting in each other's way." Then she frowned. "And there's the weapon section, way over there." She pointed at the other side of the room.

Suddenly, she found herself holding Kenshin as Sano placed him in her arms and ran off, shouting, "Bet I'll beat you!"

"CHEATER!" she hollered, and tore after him, Kenshin in her arms. Kenshin ^_^ed again and clung on for dear life as she pounded across the room.

However, she was not by nature the best of runners, and was soon standing by a triumphant Sano's side, panting and trying not to drop Chibi Kenshin. Kenshin politely slid out of her arms before racing over to the practice bags themselves.

Sano made a victory sign at Anya before wandering over to a few punching bags. "Hey, I like this," he announced to no one in particular. He hit one of the bags. It swung back and forth wildly. "I like this a lot."

"Good for you," Anya mumbled. "You find anything, Kenshin?"

"Yes," came the answer. "But I can't reach the practice bags, that I can not!" His voice sounded exasperated. She wandered through the various weapons practice things and found the Chibi repeatedly trying to jump up and hit one of the bags.

"Well, let me get it for you," she said, smiling. She looked at the machine holding the bag, and after fumbling with it managed to lower it enough for Kenshin to jump up and hit it. "There, give that a shot."

Chibi Kenshin gave one of his little smiles in thanks, and Anya was surprised she was still able to stand. /Sometimes I wonder if being a Kenshin fan is such a good thing,/ she thought as he managed to hit the bag. He let out a happy cry of triumph before fixing his grip on his sword and hitting the bag again.

She glanced over to see that Sano had moved from the punching bags to the kicking ones, and were punching those instead. She wandered over to the punching bags. /Are these really that weak?/ she wondered. She balled up a fist and slammed it into one of them.

At impact, the bag shook around, but not quite as wildly as it had when Sanosuke hit it.

Frowning, she balled up her other fist and swung it. The same thing happened.

She began to hit the darn bag with her fists multiple times, finally stopping and watching in satisfaction when it began to shake as hard as when Sano had swung at it. Nodding once, she turned to Sano, who was staring at her. "What?" she asked.

"You're such an idiot," he said, walking over and grabbing her hands. "You'll hurt your knuckles if you do that without proper training..." He immediately began to inspect both of her hands.

Feeling a little embarrassed, she pulled her hands away. "I'm fine," she retorted.

He shrugged. "Whatever, Missie. You don't want advice, fine. Don't ask for it when you're hurting." He returned to the kicking bag.

"I don't think being called an idiot is really advice," she told him. She turned away and punched the bag a few more times to prove her point that she was fine. /I'll show him,/ she thought in satisfaction. /I know what I'm doing, I've punched a bag once or twice back home.../

She stopped and glanced back towards the door across the room. Anya frowned for a moment. /I could have sworn I heard someone... there they are./

A young woman was making her way into the room with a protesting Hotohori Bishonen on one side and a yawning Duo on the other side.

"You don't understand, Miya-chan," Hotohori was protesting. "If I don't give my hair the proper five hundred strokes at least twice a day, why, you never know what will happen to my beauty!"

/Beauty indeed,/ Anya thought, staring at the Bishonen. /Whoo boy. I don't know if I'll be able to stop from glomping him if HE comes any closer! I LOVE Hotohori!/

The trainer's Duo stretched as he walked. "Ne, the least they could have here is some flight simulators," he grumbled.

The trainer- called Miya-chan- started to yawn too, but firmly suppressed it, to the amusement of her Bishonen. "Come on, guys. The earlier we train, the faster we get stronger, and the more free time we have to fool around... yes, and admire your beauty, Hotohori-sama."

Hotohori looked momentarily pained. "Please refrain from calling me that, Miya-chan. It reminds me too much..." he trailed off.

Anya frowned for a moment, then remembered. /Oh yeah. Nuriko called him that a lot in the show. No wonder he doesn't want his trainer to call him that.../

"Would you prefer Hoto-chan?" Miya-chan teased.

"I am an emperor!" he scoffed. "That is quite an undignified name!"

"It suits you, then," Duo said. "Man- hey, can you believe it? Other people got here earlier than us!" He pointed across the room to Anya.

Anya blushed deeply at listening in on them. Caught, she waved a hand sheepishly. "Uh, hi," she said.

The trainer jogged over, leaving her Bishonen behind for a moment. "Hi!" she began, and suddenly yawned.

Anya smiled. "Careful, you'll get me doing that," she joked.

"Yeah, it's contagious," the trainer admitted. "So you got here when it opened?"

"Yeah, before it opened actually," Anya said. "I'm Anya. I got here a couple weeks ago."

Miya-chan smiled back. "I'm Miya-chan, as you probably heard. I've been here three months. So how's your luck been so far?"

"Well, I have two Bishonen with me so far. Same for you?"

"Actually, I have a few others. I have Seto Kaiba, for one. He threatened to use his technology against me if I woke him up before eleven, though..." Miya-chan shook her head. "You do NOT want to mess with a pissed, insomniac Seto. It's just scary."

"I'll keep that in mind," Anya promised. "Where have you travelled so far? Not that I would recognize very many names," she admitted.

"Well, I've stayed around here the whole time." Miya-chan shrugged.

"Eh? How come?" Anya asked.

"Oh, come on. With Fushigi Yuugi and Gundam Wing Bishonen abounding around here, who would want to leave?" Miya-chan asked with a grin.

"Who're you talkin to, Missie?" Sano asked, peering over her shoulder. Then he snorted. "Another trainer. Wonderful."

"Be nice," Anya said. "Miya-chan, this is Sanosuke. He's my first Bishonen. I also have Kenshin, but he's practicing with his sword right now."

Miya-chan winced. "Oh, no. I hope you blunted his blade on both sides. Even with blunted sides these bags'll be gone in a short while."

Anya shifted, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Uh, not really, they'll still be here. Kenshin's still... young."

"Young, you say?" Hotohori said sharply. "And what does that mean?"

"He's a Chibi," she answered, glancing away.

"A Chibi! How did you capture him? Aren't his parents after you?" Miya-chan demanded.

"No, his parents gave me consent!" Anya protested.

"And I'm his guardian. He ain't fightin till he's older," Sano spoke up. "And I'm HER guardian too, buddy," he said to Hotohori, who still looked a little wary of Anya.

"Wow. Can... I see him?" Miya-chan asked.

Anya sighed. /Will I have to go through this all the time? I hope Kenshin grows into his next stage soon. Otherwise I'll have to go around with a sign around my neck or something. "Yes, I have a Chibi but his folks gave me consent. Ask and Sano shall harm you."/ She smiled at that thought then. "Of course. Hey, Kenshin," she called.

A moment later, Chibi Kenshin trotted out to meet his trainer. Miya-chan squealed and was about to reach out to glomp him when Hotohori and Duo both casually locked their arms around their trainers', preventing her from doing so. "He's so kawaii!" she said.

"Who's this, that is?" Kenshin asked Anya.

"Another trainer," Anya answered.

Chibi Kenshin looked at Miya-chan for a long moment, then nodded. "She looks like you," he announced in satisfaction.

Miya-chan raised an eyebrow.

"We ran into a half Bishoujo out in the forest who tried to take him," Anya explained.

At this, Hotohori looked like he'd stepped in something unpleasant and Duo looked disgusted. "Figures," Duo mumbled.

Sano, however, was looking at the two Bishonen, ignoring the conversation. "Ne, when were you captured?" he asked them.

Hotohori returned to looking dignified. "I prefer not to call it captured," he replied.

"A month ago," Duo answered with a shrug. "Why?"

"I wanted to ask something of both of you." He glanced at the two trainers, then at the Bishonen meaningfully. "Mind if we step outside a sec?"

Both Bishonen now looked curious and a little nervous. "Of course," Hotohori said. He politely bowed to the trainers before turning and following Sano and Duo out of the room.

"Heeey?" Miya-chan asked. "Where're they going?"

"I don't know," Anya admitted. "Sano acts weird every time we run into other Bishonen. He keeps asking when they were caught."

Miya-chan shook her head. "It's rude or something to do that," she said. "Once, Seto asked another Bishonen that and we nearly had to rush him to a hospital for asking."

"I guess some Bishonen are a little resentful."

"You could say that. What ARE they doing...?"

~*~ With Sano ~*~

Sanosuke closed the door firmly behind him and glanced around. The three Bishonen were standing in a bathroom, and no one else was present. After checking for this, Sano turned to the other two.

Hotohori's eyebrows were raised. "I presume this has something to do with when we were free?" he asked.

"I thought you preferred not to be called captured," Sano said.

The emperor Bishonen stiffened. "Tell us what you wanted to tell us, and let us be on our way," he said.

"Yeah, I so wanna get this over with," Duo said. He leaned against a nearby wall and folded his arms. "So spill it."

"I don't know for sure what's been going on, but there's something real wrong happening. In our territories, there were reports on Bishonen disappearing for weeks, then reappearing beaten almost to death. Some just disappeared without a trace, but in alarming numbers."

"The second part is natural, considering it's time for new trainers to come now," Hotohori said. "However, Bishonen being beaten within an inch of their lives disturbs me."

"We had those kinda reports too, from the scouts," Duo said. "A Heero disappeared once when I was still a Chibi, and returned when I was in San mode. But he went mad and died two days later. We think he was still linked to his trainer."

"He was either an idiot, or there's a trainer out there who has a really sick mind to do that," Hotohori said. "But why ask us? We are obviously no longer free; we cannot help our free kin."

"We can too," Sano answered. "Just spread the word, get more information. You never know."

"Yeah, well, thanks for the tip," Duo said. His face held a sad expression, a look that people rarely saw on his face. He was lost in his memories of when that Heero had returned.

/"Must... return... must... mission..."/ Duo quoted to himself. /He went mad saying those things over and over... Damn. And we couldn't do a thing./

Sano snorted. "Well, I'm going back to my trainer." He opened the door and left.

Duo remained in his memories for a few more minutes, then turned to Hotohori. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I believe that Sanosuke is correct. Something is very wrong, if more than one territory has this problem," Hotohori said quietly.

"That's what I thought you'd say."

~*~ With the trainers ~*~

"Hey, here they come," Miya-chan said brightly.

Anya glanced up to see Sano coming back towards them. A few feet behind him were Duo and Hotohori, who both looked very thoughtful.

"I wonder what they talked about," the other trainer continued.

Anya shrugged. "Beats me."

Chibi Kenshin slid out of Miya-chan's lap and raced towards Sano, who caught him and picked him up. "Hey Uncle San!" he said happily. "I can use my sword good, that I can!"

"Course you can. You're a Kenshin," Sano replied. "Are we done here, Missie?"

"I wanted to check out the fighting room," Anya said.

He shrugged. "Fine, but I don't feel like fighting much right now."

"What, wear yourself out on the bags? You're getting careless, Sano."

"Me? Careless? Never."

"Ha." Anya stood and sighed. "Sanosukes."

Miya-chan smiled. "Yeah. And Duos and Hotohoris."

"What about us?" Duo asked as he approached.

"Nothing!" Miya-chan ^_^ed.

Sano rolled his eyes. "So are we going or what?"

"Yep, yep," Anya agreed. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Miya-chan," she said to the trainer.

"Yeah, it's cool meeting other trainers closer to one's age," Miya-chan said. "Can you believe there are trainers here that are like thirty or forty?"

Anya shrugged. "Hey, I think that's cool. Means adults like this stuff too."

Miya-chan nodded. "Very true. Point taken. Hey, let's swap Dex numbers!"

"Alrighty!"

They did so quickly. Anya managed to put in the number this time without having to fix anything she said to it, a fact she was pretty proud of. After that, the two trainers stood there awkwardly with their Bishonen.

"Well, uh... I live around here, got a house and all. Next time you're in this town, drop by, eh?" Miya-chan said.

"Thanks," Anya said.

Miya-chan waved a little at Chibi Kenshin. "Bye, Kenshin!"

"Goodbye, Miss Miya-chan!" he said, and ^_^ed.

While Miya-chan smiled at this, Sano muttered, "Isn't that bad grammar?" under his breath. Both trainers ignored him.

"Later!" Anya said, and she and her Bishonen left the room to check out the fighting room.