Chapter Forty- Two- Home


~*~

Chichiri slowly opened his eyes, wondering why he wasn't dead.

The Bishonen was certain he should have frozen out in the cold. Even without the pain and the need to return to his trainer, he had still been without enough energy for dealing with the cold, and had collapsed.

Yet... he felt his fingers warming. Never mind that, he could feel his fingers again! That was enough to confirm his suspicion that he was still alive.

Slowly, he sat up and looked around himself.

He was apparently in a tiny shack, a run-down thing too small to be a cottage but too big to be called a lean-to. The wood on the walls was only being held together by the shack's insulation, and the roof creaked warningly under the huge pile of snow on top of it.

For Chichiri knew the storm still surrounded him; it was merely outside now.

The Bishonen noted then that there was a fire going in the center of the... er... building he was in; not a very big one, since the wind kept blowing into the shack to disrupt the crackling of the flames. But it was warm, and it was dancing merrily, welcoming him from his cold slumber.

Chichiri had to smile, relieved, and scooted forward so he could warm himself further.

"Awake? Great!"

The Bishonen started, then turned to see a human girl watch him interestedly. "Ano... da?" he asked, confused. "Where did you pop up?"

"I've been here the whole time," she said. "Don't tell me you didn't notice."

He mentally berated himself for not sensing her as he replied, "No, not really. Who're you? Did you save me, no da?"

She nodded, looking quite proud of herself. "I found you out there when I was looking for clean snow to melt- for water, y'know," she explained. "I saw you and figured that you wouldn't appreciate being turned into a Popsicle, and dragged you in here."

"You're right, I had no desire to freeze into an ice cube." He gave a small bow from where he sat, wincing at the still-numb areas on his body. "Arigatou, no da."

"No problem."

Suddenly, alarm bells rang in his mind. "Wait, you're a trainer. You didn't...?"

"Trainer?" The young woman looked puzzled. "What's that?"

He blinked. "You know, trainer? Bishonen? Bishies?"

She stared blankly at him.

"No da?" he added weakly.

Now she blinked. "I did click on a link on a website," she said thoughtfully. "But I thought this was all some weird dream of mine."

"It's no dream, no da."

"So am I really a trainer?"

Chichiri sighed. Despite his relief at the fact that he was still obviously free from a trainer at the moment, he had to feel exasperated at her cluelessness at the same time. "Oh, boy," he muttered to himself. Louder, he said, "You will be, once you get to a human city. How long have you been out here, no da?"

"I think a few hours. Maybe a day, I'm not sure. But I was on a camping trip, see, and I had my emergency stuff in my lap when I clicked on the link on my laptop. So I knew how to make a fire and stuff. Thankfully I found this place before I turned into a Popsicle, too," she added ruefully. "That would have been unpleasant."

"Undoubtedly, no da."

The two sat for a while, immersed in a silence that was slightly awkward. Chichiri focused his good eye on the fire, reaching out now and then to pick up a nearby stick and poke the fire. The young woman watched Chichiri, apparently trying to figure something out.

Finally, Chichiri said, "So what is your name? I never caught it, no da."

"Oh! Sorry, I'm SakuraKaze."

"Pleased to meet you, no da. Name's Chichiri."

"Hi, Chi-"

The two were interrupted when they both saw the air shimmer in front of them, directly over the fire. After a moment, three figures landed on top of said fire, and the light went out for a second.

Then,

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A violet-skinned, white-haired Bishonen leapt off the fire, shoving his companions off of him as he desperately sought something to ease the burns on his front.

A young girl, the Bishonen's trainer, laughed and pointed outside the shack. "Out there, Shin," she told him.

He didn't have to be told twice; Shin raced out of the shack to dive into a pile of snow.

Chichiri blinked, then turned to see the trainer and the other Bishonen. Then he blinked again. Then once more. "Heero?" he asked incredulously.

Said Heero Bishonen turned to him, and nodded once. "Hn."

"Good thing we found you," Jessica declared.

"What are you doing out here, no da?" Chichiri asked. "And..." He squinted at Jessica. "Don't I know you?"

"I'm a friend of Anya's, we only met once or twice," she replied. "Jessica's the name. Anyway, we thought you'd like to know that Anya's safe now."

Chichiri visibly brightened. "Glad to hear. Where is she?"

"She's getting treated at a hospital near where the tournament's being held. Don't worry, she's just a little beat up. Anyway, she sent us to find you." Jessica then frowned. "Hey, don't you Chichiris have masks or something?"

The Bishonen lowered his eyes. He'd forgotten... "Gomen. I lost it in the storm, no da," he said apologetically.

"Oh, don't be sorry! You look really cool without it!" Jessica assured him.

Chichiri smiled. "That's kind of you to say."

"So, uh... who's this person with you?" Jessica turned to SakuraKaze.

"Hi, I'm SakuraKaze, a new person! Chichiri tells me I'm a trainer!" said young woman told Jessica cheerfully.

"Oh, good, so she didn't catch you," Jessica said with obvious relief. "Anya would've been pissed."

"...Ano, who is this Anya person?" SakuraKaze questioned.

"My trainer," Chichiri told her, smiling.

"Hn," Heero said pointedly.

"Oh, right, she's Heero's trainer too. So..." Chichiri squinted slightly at Jessica. "Anya really sent you guys, no da?" Jessica nodded. "She wants me back, no da?"

Another nod. "But she wanted me to say that if you don't want to come back then you don't have to. She'd just miss you-"

Chichiri shook his head. "As though I would actually refuse to come back to her? Please, take me to her no da!"

"I thought you'd see it that way!" Jessica said. She then turned to SakuraKaze. "Ne, why don't you come back with us? You can get to an Orientation building from there. We can get you some money so you'll be off to a good start."

SakuraKaze shrugged. "Sure, why not? It'll beat staying here by myself, that's for sure."

"That's the spirit! Shin? Shin, you recovered yet?" Jessica called into the snow pile.

"Ugh, not real-"

"Great! We gotta go and find Anya's Bishie, Kenshin. Then we gotta pick up Thatz, and get to her."

"But-"

Jessica cheerfully marched out into the freezing weather, dragged Shin in by the leg, and dumped him unceremoniously in front of a sweat-dropping Chichiri. "Okay, let's go now."

Shin sighed, trying not to harm his burned areas while standing. "All right, all right," he surrendered. "Everyone, please take a hold of me."

Jessica smirked. "Why, SHIN!"

He blushed, turning an odd shade of pink. "You can shut up, unless you want to stay here."

"Okay, okay." She latched onto one arm, grabbing Heero by a hand (making said Bishonen look a little bemused). "Come on, SakuraKaze!"

"Sure!" Said newbie caught hold of the other arm.

This led Chichiri with a rather odd and awkward situation. He could hold on to one of the girls, but he wasn't the type of Bishonen to just grab a woman! Nor could he bring himself to grab Shin by the hair or a leg.

Finally, he went to SakuraKaze and politely asked to hold onto her. She agreed, and he lightly touched her shoulder.

With that, they disappeared.

The wind about the shack howled, disappointed in its sudden loss of victims. The shack shuddered, but held strong, waiting for the next arrival to show up.

~*~

"Kara, you got a visitor."

The young woman looked up from where she lay sprawled on the bed, quickly wiping at her face and assuming her best, bored expression as the door to her prison opened.

Well, it wasn't that much like a prison; at least, not like the ones back in the home world. Kara's prison was actually a pleasant hotel room, with television, radio, and nice facilities open for her exclusive use. The only problems were that she wasn't allowed near a computer and couldn't leave the room (she'd been stuck in it for the past three days).

Her expression, however, changed into that of blatant shock before she could stop herself. "Eclipse?" she blurted.

The demon Bishonen gave her a look of cool disdain. "So this is where you have fallen. Soon to be dismissed from this world," he said.

"Eclipse," Kara whispered, and a sense of hope filled her. "Sir, demon, you have powers granted to you that no ordinary human can handle."

"The answer is no, human," he said. "You failed in such a trivial issue..." he spread his hands mockingly. "How can I trust you to complete the mission you promised me, when such a small thing slipped from your hands?"

"But it was such a small thing, something so small it was too hard to grasp," Kara said desperately. "Get me outta here. My computer-"

"Has been utterly destroyed. As have been all your files. The leaders of this world, LSS-san and Tokio-san, are not as stupid as you would like to think." Eclipse seemed to inspect the room for a moment. "In any case, I merely wished to deliver my message of hope."

"Message of... hope?"

"That you have a good trip back to your world." With that, he turned and left.

"Wait, E-"

Kara let the call die on her lips as the hotel door closed and locked itself again, effectively blocking out any cry she could have made. Once again, the only living thing in the room was herself.

"DAMN it," she swore, and looked around for some way to escape.

The authorities had closed her up in a room without windows, and had made sure that she could not escape through a hole either in the ventilation or the ceiling. All sharp objects were gone from the room. Her only possible weapon would be a plastic knife. She didn't even have a chair to destroy; everything was tied or nailed down to the floor or the ceiling.

Thus, Kara spent a few moments shrieking curses at the door and punching and kicking at anything that got in her way. Then she fell on the bed and started to weep again.

"I was so close..."

~*~

"So it wasn't your trainer, de gozaru yo?" Kenshin questioned.

His son shook his head. "No. Like I said, it was a Hiei Bishonen working for someone who was trying to create more halflings, that it was," he explained.

"Mm." Kenshin nodded, closing his eyes. "Good. I was afraid I had misjudged that young human, de gozaru na."

The two were interrupted by loud shrieking noises coming from within the dojo, as well as equally loud- perhaps louder- sounds of wood smashing against wood; and sometimes flesh. A ringing, "ITAI!" echoed through the house, making both Kenshin Bishonen cringe.

"Mother?" the younger asked.

His father nodded. "Training Yahiko, I believe."

"A poor soul, that he is."

"Indeed."

The two cringed again at more shrieks.

"Ah, well. That's Kaoru for you, de gozaru yo!" Kenshin announced. "She's actually very mild for one of our Kaorus. You should keep an eye out for one like her," he told his son.

Said younger Bishonen shuddered. "I think I'll wait a while longer, that I will," he replied.

Kenshin shrugged, and was about to suggest they have tea while waiting for his wife to finish her lesson with Yahiko before they heard a number of voices coming from down the road a ways. Curious, father and son peered out of their home to see three- no, four- people scrambling off of each other.

The younger Kenshin's eyes widened.

"Heero! Chichiri-san!" he called, and hurried down the road towards them.

Kenshin blinked at his son's sudden cheerfulness, but decided not to comment on it. Instead, he trailed along behind, cringing again at another resounding shriek from within the dojo's halls.

"Kenshin? Is that you, no da?" Chichiri asked, looking up. The Bishonen still didn't have a mask.

"That it is, that it is," Kenshin said, smiling. "It's so good to see you both."

"Indeed," Heero said, nodding.

The only female in the group, who was obviously a trainer, stood to stare at the Heero in apparent shock. "Heero Yuy! Are you admitting to caring about someone?"

"One does get attached to certain Chibis after a time," he said tactfully. "Are we hurrying back to Anya or not? I don't care to repeat the madness anytime soon."

"Nor I, no da," Chichiri agreed with a shudder. "Though I have yet to be re-captured, I don't want that to happen to anyone I know!" He turned to Kenshin. "Look, Kenshin; Anya is safe from the kidnapping woman. You know, the scientist, no da?" Kenshin nodded. "Good. Well, Sano and Heero freed her in time; she'd been trying to let us all go on our own ways so we wouldn't die and all. Anyway, she's in the hospital getting treated right now. She wants us all back so we can continue on traveling together, but it's like a request, not a command, no da. Heero, Sano and I are staying with her. We dunno about Thatz yet. So do you wanna come back with us, no da?"

"Nicely put," Jessica said in admiration.

"Arigatou," Chichiri said modestly.

The other Bishonen with them, a Shin, was too busy healing himself to comment on anything (apparently he'd been burned sometime recently).

The older of the two Kenshin Bishonen frowned slightly as his son turned to him, smiling. "Father, would you mind?"

"I wouldn't mind if you returned to your trainer, de gozaru na. You may want to express your wishes to your mother, though."

The younger Kenshin smiled yet again (a surprise to those who knew him, as he hadn't smiled so much since he was a Chibi). "I don't think she'd let me go, that she would not. I think I'll leave a note instead."

"And leave ME to pick up the broken furniture? Thanks a lot, son, de gozaru yo!"

"So are you coming with us?" Chichiri insisted.

The San staged Bishonen turned to his companions, face returning to its normal serious expression. After a moment, he nodded. "Hai, I will come, that I will... de gozaru yo," he corrected.

"Great! Well, nice to see ya, Sama Kenshin," Jessica said, grabbing hold of Shin and Chichiri. The blue haired Bishonen caught hold of the younger Kenshin in turn. "But ah, no offense but I have no desire to have a pissed Kaoru on my hands. You can write a note for your dear wife, right? Bye!"

"Good-bye, father. It was good seeing you and... well, somewhat seeing mother," Kenshin said. "De gozaru yo," he added quickly.

"It was nice to be with you again, de gozaru na- once you regained your ability to speak, that is," his father said. "I hope to see you again, on better terms."

"Hai!"

With that, they disappeared.

The Sama staged Kenshin sighed as he watched his son disappear with the odd group, and returned to where he had been seated. As he did so, he pondered his ability to allow his son to return to a trainer with such ease. After all, what if that... Anya, wasn't it? .... Had somehow gotten that madwoman upset?

He shook his head. What was done was done, after all, and Kenshin seemed to trust her. As did that Chichiri, who, as Kenshin knew, was a monk type Bishonen. Those types may be eccentric, but they rarely- rather, never- lied.

The Kenshin smiled and looked out at the wilderness near their home. Ah, well. It had been good speaking to his son and knowing that he had been doing well, other than the situation with the madwoman. According to that Chichiri, it was over, so...

"I think I'd like some tea, de gozaru yo," he said thoughtfully, standing up.

It was in that situation that Kaoru found her husband only a short while later; sitting in front of the dojo, drinking tea and gazing out at the wilderness. She came out, looking mildly confused.

"Kenshin, where's Ken-chan? Wasn't he still recovering?" she asked.

"Ah. He's gone out for a while," he said delicately.

"What? Without even asking me?" She glared at him. "That boy's already been in so much trouble lately! How could you just let him wander off?"

"Gomen, Kaoru-chan de gozaru yo."

She sniffed. "Well, we'll have words once he's back and Yahiko's gone home," she told him icily.

He winced. "Yes, dear."

She nodded once. Then she looked at the tea. "Ne, that looks nice," she hinted.

He smiled and poured her a cup of tea. She sat down beside him, accepting the cup, and they spent a few minutes just being together.

After a while, Kaoru asked, "So when will he come back?"

Kenshin had been so relaxed that her new question caught him off guard. "A-ano..." he mumbled.

"Well?" she prompted.

"A-ah, that is, Kaoru-chan..."

"What?" she asked, her eyes suddenly going flat.

"He'll be back, whenever he's freed de gozaru yo!" he said quickly.

There was a long silence.

Then,

"YOU.... YOU BAKA!"

SLAP!

"Oro..." Kenshin @_@ed as he fell backwards, tea spilling all over him.

Kaoru followed him, continuing to beat the life out of him with one hand while the other searched for her sword. "You BAKAYAROU! You... you... you... YOU!" she finally said. "He nearly DIED from a trainer!"

"Demo," he protested. "It wasn't the trainer's fault, de-" SLAP! "Oro..."

"LETTING MY BOY GET CAPTURED! AGAIN! ALL RIGHT, MISTER! MAYBE THE LESSON DIDN'T GET THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL LAST TIME!"

Kenshin winced. /Oh, dear.../

~*~

"Former trainer Kara," came a voice from the door. "It's time."

The experimenter looked up from her tear-soaked pillow as the two creators of the Bishonen world, Tokio-sama and LSS-sama, entered the room. Both looked grim, not showing the least bit of pity for the vulnerable girl on the bed.

LSS looked around at the room with an air of disgust, as though she'd rather be somewhere else. Kara cringed slightly when her eyes fell on the experimenter. Then she lifted her chin, as though daring either of the creators to notice her weakness.

"Former trainer Kara," Tokio-sama intoned, coming towards the bed. She held a small pack in her hand. "You are charged with immoral and illegal interspecies breeding between Bishies and humans."

LSS-sama stepped up then. "You are charged, furthermore, with forcing these species to mate. You are charged with the murder of both full blood Bishonen by way of madness and of half Bishies by way of experimenting further upon them. You have stolen from and slaughtered many, and your sentence is to return to the home world where thirty years in prison awaits you."

Tokio-sama opened the small pack, and Kara found herself watching the creator's actions with a horrified sort of fascination. She held a needle, and was slowly filling it with a sort of liquid.

Without realizing it, the girl Kara swallowed, then allowed two big tears to stream down her cheeks. "Will it... hurt?" she asked softly.

LSS-sama shrugged. "We don't know. People who have it are generally sent from this world permanently."

The girl shuddered. Then she bowed her head.

"I will come back," she stated as LSS moved to catch hold of one arm. "I saved the link, forwarded it to friends, you know."

"Ah." Tokio-sama gave her a small, somewhat sad smile then. "Actually, you won't come back. The link is automatically deleted from your files once you use it. And very few people you forwarded it to will want to speak to you again, anyhow- you being in jail and all." Her expression grew grave. "Farewell, former trainer Kara."

"Farewell, former trainer Kara," LSS-sama echoed.

Kara gave a small, despairing shriek as she felt the needle plunge into her veins. At the same time, she felt a wrench from within, a signal that Hiei had just been released from her Bish-ball. Her only, and best Bishonen was now severed to her.

She disappeared from the Bishonen world forever, weeping and murmuring for Hiei.

~*~

Logan watched all of this from the doorway, watching discreetly as one of his friends disappeared from the Bishonen world forever.

His charges, once he'd been discovered to be part of the whole fiasco, were much lighter than Kara's. He'd merely lost every Bishoujo except for his Rikku, his first Bishonen. Plus, he was forced to remain in custody for two years and all titles of being an elite trainer stripped from him. His files had been removed from all gyms, lest a gym acknowledge him as he had been before.

As the two creators of the Bishie World gave their farewells to his former friend, Logan sighed and murmured, "Goodbye... Kira. I warned you..."

With that, he was tapped on the shoulder by the policeman accompanying him. With another small sigh, he gave the room one last look before heading down the hallway and out the door to his own punishments.

~*~

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer on the screen said. "We regret to inform you that LSS and Tokio-sama are not here to congratulate the winning trainers on the spot; they are dealing with returning a criminal to the real world. However, I have great news! I'M here!"

Sanosuke snorted softly and shook his head at the TV. "He certainly isn't camera shy."

"Not like someone I know," Anya said, grinning.

"You can shut up and keep healing."

"I can heal and talk just fine."

"Anya-dono no da," Chichiri rebuked.

The trainer pouted, but lay back. She then looked around the room at her Bishies.

She had gotten every single one of them back, thanks to Shin, Jessica and Heero. Well, everybody except for Thatz; when the group had shown up to collect him, the group had realized that another trainer (one no one recognized) had caught him. The trainer had offered to free him, but Thatz seemed quite happy with the girl.

/She had a Tasslehoff Burrfoot, too, as I recall,/ Anya mused. /Funny. Wasn't there a trainer I met before who had a Tas? ... Oh well./

Her attention returned to the television just as two trainers, one male and one female, stepped up onto the stage to receive their just reward; that is, the cheering of the crowd. Anya gasped.

"Hey! That's Steve!" she said, pointing at the screen. "Oh my God! Look! He caught a Megumi!"

Sano blinked, suddenly leaning towards the TV. "Hey, the hell'd he capture HER?" he asked, grinning.

"Oh, stop drooling," came a voice from the doorway. "She treated you guys a bit when you were... ill, remember?"

The group in the hospital room turned towards the door. Anya smiled. "Jacky!"

Said trainer smiled and winked. "Heyla. Thought we'd stop by and check in on you."

"Oh, I'm fine. Besides the fact that I HURT LIKE HELL even though they got all the glass outta me, I'm peachy," Anya replied.

Jacky laughed.

"Where's everyone else? I haven't seen a glimpse of anyone since I got into the hospital."

"Well, Kimiko is with MorTae. The two are planning to stop by later." Jacky smiled faintly. "Kimiko wants to split off from us for a while and hang out with her old fried. It's been a bit, ya know?"

"As long as she comes by beforehand," Anya said, smiling back.

"Um... Abby hasn't been seen since you two wandered off that one time. I have heard a number of Bishonen complaining to their trainers recently, however."

"Oh?"

"They're going on about how they NEVER want to be out in a public street again, especially if any humans with odd colored hair are out."

Anya blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah." Jacky shook her head. "But that's Abby for you."

"Uh-huh."

"Paul... well, he's busy trying to get his Excel off of the television. He tried a few crowbars, but it didn't work. He even tried an Iilpallazo plushie, but THAT doesn't work since she was seeing the real thing on TV for some reason. Now he's off in search of a REAL Iilpallazo."

"Good luck for HIM."

"He's looking in the sewers right now. I know because he smells." Jacky waved a hand, making a face. "Yuck. He says hi, by the way."

"Okay." Anya watched her friend for a long while. "What about Inuyasha and company?"

"Trying to help Paul. Inuyasha's trying to get Excel off the TV while the others are helping Paul look in the sewers."

"Spiffy."

"I see everyone here has recovered." Jacky nodded to the Bishonen assembled. Chichiri smiled, Sano gave a thumbs up, and Heero and Kenshin nodded.

"Uh-huh."

Jacky came into the room and sat in one of the hard chairs people in the hospital seemed to prefer. She looked around the room absently, suddenly going very quiet.

"Jacky?"

She looked up. "Eh?"

"Do you want to split off, too?"

Jacky blinked.

Anya blushed slightly. "You see, I'm gonna be stuck here for a few more days, both to my doctor's insistence and my Bishie's worries." She shot said Bishies a mock-glare. Sano smirked back at her. "So... I wanted to know. We've been here for over a week, and well... I don't know. People who live here seem to like to move, unless they have a job or something."

"Oh. Okay." Jacky thought for a moment. "Well, I can't go anywhere until Paul brings back my Bishies from the sewers. AND I'm not moving an inch down the road until every single one of them has bathed. Repeatedly."

Anya nodded.

"It'll probably take a few days. So... if you'll have me with you guys, I'd like to keep travelling with you."

Anya glanced at her Bishies. "Whaddaya think?"

"Hn," Heero said.

"Sure, no da!"

"As you wish, Anya-dono... de gozaru yo."

Anya turned her eyes expectantly to Sano, who was standing thoughtfully at the foot of her bed. "Well?"

Finally, the Bishonen shrugged. "Sure. Long as what we talked about is still in effect."

"Eh?" Anya blinked, then realized what he was talking about. "Oh. Oh. That."

"Yes, THAT." It was Sano's turn to give her a mock-glare.

"Ano..." Jacky blinked. "'That' what?"

Anya ignored her. "Yeah, don't worry, Sano. It'll go as planned."

"What'll go as planned?" Jacky insisted.

"Well, good to hear- I mean, whatever," he said.

"Damn it all, Sano."

"Damn it all, Anya."

The two blinked at each other, then burst out laughing.

"Eh... something tells me I'm missing something," Jacky said, scratching her head.

"I'm not, no da." Chichiri grinned wickedly and poked Sano's back with his jingling staff. "Sano, you dog you no da!"

"Hey, hey! Watch where ya poke that thing!" Sano said, smacking the offending walking stick.

Heero rolled his eyes and returned to playing solitaire on his laptop, while Kenshin watched him interestedly.

Anya leaned back in her bed, watching as the group continued to fool around. For a moment, she felt a warmth rise up within as she hadn't really had time to sense before.

/It feels... so right here. I'm so glad Sano didn't let me leave this place, / she mused, looking up at the ceiling.

/It feels... good./

/It feels like home. /

~*~

Stay tuned for this author's ramblings next time! (Waves) And perhaps a few sneak peeks into a new project? Or maybe a few explanations? And thanks? (Puts one finger slyly on her nose) You'll have to wait an' see!

Until next time!