Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Fushigi Yuugi: Daydream's Embrace ❯ Episode 12: Happy Birthday ( Chapter 12 )

Episode 12
Happy Birthday
By: Mrs. Tasuki and Nyan Nyan

"Wake up, sleepy-head!" Katherine chimed in Hotohori's ear. The priestess stood beside the emperor's bed, waiting anxiously for him to make some kind of response.

Hotohori rolled on his side with his eyes still closed. "Katherine, what's wrong?" he asked, knowing that it must be something important if she was awake before he was.

"Nothings wrong, you moron," she replied jokingly as she casually rolled her eyes. "It's your birthday!" she continued gleefully.

"What are you talking about?" Hotohori asked groggily, still somewhat asleep. He squinted his eyes, trying focus on Katherine. She was wearing red tank top with a pair of jean capris.

"You know. April second. Your birthday. The day of your birth," Katherine replied quickly. She had the tendency to jam all her words together when she was excited about something. She gave the sleepy emperor a second to let everything sink in. "C'mon! Wake up!" she pleaded once she realized that he was starting to fall back asleep.

Hotohori finally moved his legs to the side of the bed, about to stand up. "No, no, no, no, no," the priestess said rapidly as she waved both of her hands in front of her. "You stay right here. I have a surprise for you," she continued cheerfully. She turned around to the table around her and seemed to fiddle around with something. "I always told myself that once I got a boyfriend I would treat him like a king on his birthday, but you already took care of that part. So instead I made you..." She then paused purposefully for dramatic effect. "Breakfast-in-bed!" she said merrily as she picked up a tray and quickly turned around.

"Breakfast-in-bed?" Hotohori repeated as he looked curiously at the tray, which had a variety of strange food on it.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed as she put the tray on his lap. "I made you some food from my world, scrambled eggs and pancakes! There isn't any maple syrup in this world, and, frankly, I don't know how you guys can live without maple syrup. Anyways, so instead I used peach preservatives," she rambled, which was something else Katherine did when she was excited about something. She then noticed that Hotohori was looking around the tray for something. "What's wrong?" she asked as she sat down next to him on the bed.

Hotohori swiftly looked up, slightly startled that she actually gave him a chance to talk. "I'm sorry, but I just can't seem to find the chopsticks," he replied.

"Oh no! You use a fork," she exclaimed as she picked up the four-pronged object and showed off as if it were some type of magical object. "See? Ain't it pretty?" She then handed him the fork and watched him take a bite of the scrambled eggs. "So what to you think?" she asked eagerly, before he even got a chance to swallow.

"It's quite delicious," he answered. "By the way, how did you know it was my birthday?" he asked curiously. He saw Katherine's face go blank; he waited a moment or two to see if she would answer.

"Ummm... I'm just special like that..." she answered quickly, as if to make up the time lost while she was trying to come up with that defective excuse. Hotohori looked at her eyes skeptically, hoping that she would admit the truth, but she quickly looked away. He continued to eat his breakfast, knowing that if it was something important she would tell him when she thought the time was right.

*

"C'mon, Hotohori! This whole day is dedicated to you!" Katherine shouted as she ran down the palace towards Hotohori, who was now wearing his royal attire.

"Katherine this is really sweet, but I have meetings and conferences to go to," Hotohori replied sadly.

"That is where you are wrong," she said with a large secretive smile. Hotohori just gave her an inquisitive look. "I asked your advisors if they would like a day off, so all of your meetings are canceled!" she said happily. "I hope you don't mind," she finished in a meek voice as she looked at him uneasily, not sure of what his reaction would be.

Hotohori embraced her in his arms. "That is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me," he whispered lovingly in her ear.

"Well you deserve it," she replied softly as she hugged him back. They stayed like that for a moment or two, feeling each other's warmth upon their skin. Once they finally backed away, Katherine began to rock back on forth on her heals. "So, what do you want to do? You only turn nineteen once."

"Do you know what I think I'd enjoy?" he said secretively.

"What?" she asked enthusiastically as her eyes widened.

"To go horseback riding with you through the gardens, just you and me."

"Okay... but under one condition," she replied as she held up her index finger. "You can't wear this," she said as she quickly reached up and took off Hotohori's crown and watched his hair gracefully fall down upon his shoulders.

"May I ask why not?" he asked while slightly laughing, something Katherine rarely heard him do.

"Because your hair is so beautiful! Why would you want to stuff it in this Chinese take-out box?" she exclaimed as she looked at the crown awkwardly. Before Hotohori could ask her about her Chinese take-out box comment she broke into song. "I'm too sexy for my hat, too sexy for my hat. What do you think about that?" she sang jokingly as she danced around in a circle while holding the crown on top of her head. Suddenly she became serious. "I'll meet you at the stable in fifteen minutes," she said as she ran down the hallway, still holding the hat.

*

Katherine was placing the saddle on her favorite black horse, Jack. She had named it after the first horse she had ever ridden during horseback riding lessons. It was uncanny how similar the two horses were - both all black, including the mane and tail, except for a white diamond in the middle of the forehead. She suddenly heard footsteps approaching her. She turned around to see who it was, even though she was sure it was Hotohori. Her hazel eyes twinkled happily when she saw him wearing his commoner outfit. She had always loved that outfit more than any other one he wore.

"I thought it would be easier to go horseback riding in this," he explained as looked down at his white sleeve, cuffed with a the large purple bond. Once the priestess and the emperor mounted their horses, they trotted towards the gardens and began enjoying the beautiful spring day.

*

Christina sped around the courtyard, trying to think of something else to do. She could feel one of the wheels on her roller blades coming loose and clacking across the ground. She turned to her right and screeched to a halt, and then bent over and examined the wheel.

"Christina!" Nuriko shouted, causing Christina to turn her head to see who called her.

"Hey Nuriko!" Christina answered.

"So what are you up to?"

"Just blading," Christina answered. She looked at Nuriko and said, "How 'bout I teach you how?"

"Oh! That sounds like fun!" Nuriko said happily.

Christina and Nuriko skipped to Katherine's room. After a few minutes of searching, Christina found Katherine's skates. Katherine's roller blades were older than her own skates, and, luckily, fit a wider array of shoe sizes.

"Put these on," Christina instructed, "I'll be back in a minute." She rolled out the door down to her own room, praying that she had brought a screwdriver so she could tighten her wheel. Successfully fixing her wheel, she glided back into the room to find Nuriko had gotten the skates on, but seemed hesitant to try to stand up.

"Okay, stand up," Christina said while Nuriko slowly picked himself off the ground. He stood, shaking precariously with his arms out in front of him. Christina gently held his hands until he found his balance.

After a few minutes, Christina slowly let go of his hands so he could stand by himself. He leaned forward at first, but soon caught his balance.

"Good," Christina told him, "Now to learn how to move." Nuriko began to get the feeling that it was going to be a lot harder than it looked.

Christina was pulling Nuriko slowly down the hall, trying to get him used to the skates moving. They'd been skating around like this for twenty minutes, so Nuriko was pretty used to it.

"Alright, now you're going to try on your own," Christina announced.

"Yay!" Nuriko said happily.

"Do you remember what I told you? Just kinda do a mix between a walk and a glide."

Nuriko slowly scooted his right foot out. He then rolled his left foot in front of the right. After a minute or so, he had succeeded in skating about ten feet.

"Go Nuriko, it's your birthday, go Nuriko, it's your birthday," Christina congratulated him while pumping her arms into the air. Nuriko was too excited to point out that it wasn't his birthday today, it was Hotohori's.

"Awesome! Now try it a little faster," Christina said. She skated in front of him and turned around so she could see how he was doing. She started to roll backwards as she called, "You're lookin' good!"

*

Hotohori and Katherine trotted their horses back to the stables. They put their horses and the saddles back in their proper place. Katherine suddenly felt someone touch her shoulder, causing her to jump. When she turned around she saw Hotohori looking at her with loving eyes.

"Katherine..." he whispered as he slowly ran his fingers through her hair.

"Y-yes?" she answered, becoming flustered.

"Can I please have my crown back?" he asked disinterestedly, holding out his hand.

Katherine stood there for a second, dumbfounded. Once she let everything sink in she realized that he was just playing a joke on her. "That... that was mean!" she exclaimed as she pointed angrily at him, even though she was glad to see that he was finally starting to lighten up. "Anyways, I hid it," she continued with a mischievous smile on her face. "If you want it back you'll have to find it!" she shouted as she ran away towards the palace.

As she was running she turned around to find Hotohori chasing after her. He was slightly laughing as he was running, not believing that for once he was actually worry-free. She heard his footsteps come closer and closer, but she continued to run, even though it was obvious that he was going to catch up with her. She felt him gently grab her arm, causing her to swing around and look at him. They both continued to laugh softly as they gasped for air.

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment or two, as if they were asking for each other's permission for them to take the next step. They closed their eyes as their lips slowly moved closer; slightly hesitating as if they were unsure what they were doing was wrong, but once they connected they knew that it could not be farther from the truth. Neither one of them wanted to pull away, their fantasies were coming true, and it was better than they could have ever anticipated. It was as if they were born for one another; they couldn't live without the other. They were both scared that if they ended this moment of bliss they would have to come face to face with reality and all of this would be gone. Katherine would find herself back in her world loaded with homework, and Hotohori would be sitting on his throne, contemplating over his loneliness. But they knew deep down, though, that they could not stay like this forever, no matter how much they wanted to. They slowly pulled away and opened their eyes, releasing a sigh of relief, glad to see the other one was still standing there.

"C'mon, I'll show you where I hid it," Katherine mumbled, referring to the crown. Hotohori just nodded and they walked back to the palace arm-in-arm.

*

Nuriko and Christina were zooming around the palace. They went everywhere: through the hallways, across the courtyard, anywhere with flat ground. After an hour of fun, Christina looked for something more exciting, and she found it. She looked up in awe at the huge railings that guarded the sides of the stairs leading to the palace.

They slowly ascended the stairs, still in their skates. Nuriko was gripping the railings as though if he let go, he would surely fall to his death. Christina scaled the steps two at a time. Christina and Nuriko stood at the top and looked down to see a million stairs below them. Christina glided over to the railing.

"What are you thinking?" Nuriko asked, seeing the expression on Christina's face.

"Just wondering if this would make a good grind rail," Christina answered. She slowly climbed on top of the bar. "I guess I'll find out," Christina supposed as she started to slide down the rail. Christina felt her skates vibrate as she sped down the banister. She leaned her skates into the rail, trying to slow down. She was going down awfully fast; the scenery sped by in a blur. She looked in front of her and saw that the rail curved up into the air when it ended.

She got ready to be catapulted into the air and squeezed her eyes shut. For about fifteen seconds, she flew into the air. Christina looked down to the see ground quickly approaching. She bent her legs, ready to absorb the shock of landing. As soon as she landed, her legs buckled under the shock and she fell backwards on her butt.

"Are you OK!?" Nuriko shouted as he tried to descend the steps as quickly as he could while holding onto the banister.

"I'm fine! Ow." Christina said as she slowly stood up. Her hands were all scraped up and red. She slowly skated over to Nuriko and showed him her hands. He winced when he saw them.

"That was a real smart thing to do," he told her.

"THAT was a rush," she pointed out.

*

"What can I do to get you to believe me!?" Joan begged.

"IF your telling the truth then where's the connection?" Diana demanded, knowing that if there was a connection then they could talk to Katherine and Christina through it.

"Sor-ry! She didn't give me a blasted ribbon!"

"It doesn't have to be ribbon, you moron! It can be anything! Like...money, for example."

"Why would Katherine bring money to Konan!?"

"Did she take any clothes?" Diana asked.

"Yeah...so?" Joan asked as she looked at her friend inquisitively, not knowing where her train was heading

"Well, it IS Katherine; she ALWAYS leaves money in her pockets!"

Joan slapped herself on the head, angry with her own stupidity. She jumped up and tore the two cushions that Diana was not seated on off the couch, frantically searching for loose change. She grabbed three pennies, a nickel, and a quarter before she placed the cushions back. Then she ran into the other room and snatched the cushions off of the chairs to find a crumpled dollar bill and two dimes. She ran back to where Diana was sitting and plopped back down on the couch. Then Joan lifted her hand, still full of loose change, to her face and started to yell. "KATHERINE! CAN YOU HEAR ME!?!? CHRISTINA!? ARE YOU GUYS THERE!?!?"

*

Katherine was sitting in her room changing out of her capris, which had happened to get dirt all over them from horseback riding. While she was deciding what she should wear instead she was also contemplating on what to get Hotohori for his birthday. She wished she could get him something nice, but she had just gotten back from Kutou and there hadn't been any time to go shopping. Maybe she could give him something from her world. She had no idea if she had even brought anything from her world that would interest him.

Katherine was picking up a pair of dark brown khakis when she suddenly heard a voice calling her. "Katherine, are you there?" a muffled voice asked.

She looked around her, seeing no one. "Oh great..." she muttered under her breath. "I don't have time to go insane!!!" she complained as she threw the pants on the ground and looked up at the ceiling.

"Can you hear me?" a stifled voice asked once again.

Katherine realized that it was coming from her pants. "No! No! Nonononono! My pants are NOT talking to me..." she mumbled as she took another deep breath. "YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO TALK TO ME... IT'S, LIKE. AGAINST THE LAW OF SANITY OR SOMETHING!" she yelled through her teeth at the brown material as she pointed vigorously at it.

"Katherine! It's me, Joan! Not your blasted pants!" Joan shouted back, hearing Katherine rant transmitted through the dollar bill.

"What the hell?" Katherine grumbled, now utterly confused. She cautiously picked up the pants and looked at them skeptically as if they might suddenly attack her.

"I'M IN THE BLASTED POCKET!" Joan screamed, agitated by her sister's stupidity.

Katherine carefully put her hand in the pocket and brought out a one dollar bill. All at once everything began making sense to the baffled priestess. "OH!!!" she exclaimed, excited that now she finally understood what was going on.

"You're a moron," her sister stated.

"So you found a connection!" she joyfully said with a large smile on her face. "I'm so proud of you..." she continued in a more serious tone, forming fake tears.

"Shut up," was her sister's only reply.

"What the fuck?!?!" Katherine heard Diana's voice yell.

"So you found your Tetsuya... nice choice," Katherine complemented her sister, knowing that Diana would be perfect for the job, once the difficult task of getting her to believe them was complete.

"I want you back in this world now!" Joan scolded, knowing what kind of trouble was heading straight toward her little sister, but Katherine completely ignored her order.

"Hey, do you think you can figure out a way to get objects from our world to be transported to this world?" Katherine curiously asked, still not knowing what to get Hotohori.

"How in the world are we supposed to do that?" Joan asked sarcastically.

"I'm sure we can figure out a way," Katherine assured.

*

Hotohori, Tamahome, Katherine, Nuriko, Chichiri, and Christina were sitting at the dining room table. Katherine looked around to make sure everyone was finished with their supper. "C'mon," she instructed Christina, "Let's go get it." Christina nodded in agreement. They stood up from their seats and started to walk out of the room.

"Go get what?" Nuriko asked.

"You'll see," Christina answered as they disappeared out the doorway. The four remaining exchanged confused looks. A few minutes later the two priestesses returned to the table with a large chocolate birthday cake topped with nineteen candles. The words 'Happy Birthday Hotohori!' were printed on the top of the cake in yellow icing.

"Umm... your cake's... kinda on fire," Tamahome pointed out, not knowing the nicest way to put it.

"It's supposed to be!" Christina told him, rolling her eyes her eyes.

"First," Katherine explained, "we sing the Happy Birthday Song. Then, Hotohori makes a wish and blows out the candles."

"And, if he blows them all out in one breath, his wish will come true!" Christina finished.

The three seishi watched in disbelief as the two priestesses sang Happy Birthday to their emperor. "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday Hotohori, Happy Birthday to you," they sang in unison. They all watched Hotohori blow out the candle in one breath.

"So what was you wish?" Katherine eagerly asked.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to tell," Hotohori answered doubtfully as Christina cut up the cake.

"How did you know?" Christina asked as she handed the first piece to Hotohori.

"Isn't that how all wished work?" he questioned back right before he took a bit out of the chocolate cake. The other seishi and the priestesses took their slivers of the cake and devoured them, each of them commenting on how good the cake was.

"There is one more surprise for the night," Katherine announced secretively as a sly smile grew on her face. "Hotohori, meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes," she continued as she ran out of the dining room.

*

Ten Minutes Later...

*

Hotohori went to the kitchen and found a piece a paper lying on the countertop. It read: 'Welcome to the start of your very first scavenger hunt! Just follow what the pieces of paper say and at the end you'll find your birthday present! First clue: This is where you spend ninety percent of your time.' Hotohori knew she meant his conference room.

*

"Christina! Get in here quick!" Christina heard Katherine's voice from her room.

"What's goin' down?" she asked as she entered her best friend's room. She spotted a black leather swivel chair in the middle of the room. "Where did that come from?"

"I'll explain it later! I need to get this to Hotohori's office!" Katherine hissed back as she began to roll the chair out the doorway.

*

Chichiri was in deep meditation when his trance was broken by the Priestesses' voices in the hallway.

"You're not helping!" he heard Katherine's voice hissed petulantly.

"Yes I am! I'm directing you!" Christina's voice whispered back. Chichiri poked his head out of his room and saw Christina and Katherine dart by. Christina was sitting in a black chair that Katherine was pushing down the hallway. The confused monk decided not to even ask what they were doing. He walked back into his room and continued meditating.

*

Hotohori reached the door that led to his office and let out an exasperated sigh. He looked at the piece of paper that he had just picked up in Katherine's room. 'Last clue', it began in perfect Chinese handwriting.

"I wonder who she got to write these out," he thought to himself, knowing that Katherine couldn't write in Chinese. He opened the door to his office find everything in order. His desk was about ten feet away from the entrance, with the single, neat pile of scrolls he still had to go through. Then he noticed the black thing behind his desk.

It quickly spun around and revealed Katherine sitting in the chair. Her legs were crossed with her hands neatly folded on them. She looked at him with an extremely professional face for a second or two, but she couldn't hold it. The priestess suddenly started to chuckle as she put on a huge smile and put down her leg. "So what do you think?" she asked as she pushed off of the floor with her foot and spun the chair around in a complete circle. "Your very own swivel chair!" she continued happily as she stopped the chair from spinning.

"Swivel chair?" Hotohori questioned back.

"It's not just a chair... it's a swivel chair!" she exclaimed as she stood up, "Here, sit down." Hotohori looked cautiously at the chair for a moment or two, but then sat down. Katherine slightly rotated the chair from side to side.

"You see! Now you can move without having to get up! 'Cuz it has wheels! And it's made of black leather... VERY professional. Oh! And the seat's padded! Isn't it comfy? I mean, it's not the most romantic present, but-" she rambled on, but was cut short by Hotohori hugging her.

"It's perfect. Thank you..." he softly whispered in her ear.

*

Miaka was lying on her bed daydreaming about Tamahome. He seemed friendly enough. She wished she could see him again, but there was no way Nakago would allow it. Nakago had said that Tamahome was her enemy, yet in the Seiryuu Shrine it seemed like Nakago was more of an enemy than Tamahome. But Nakago saved her in her time of need, so he couldn't be as cruel as he seemed in the shrine. Maybe he had a hidden motivation that she didn't know about yet. Her series of thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Nakago entering her room.

"Hey, Nakago..." Miaka started as she quickly sat up. "Why is Tamahome our enemy?" she curiously asked as she played with the sheets in her hands. Nakago approached her bed, knelt down, and gently lifted her chin, causing her to look straight into his eyes.

"Lady Miaka, I've already explained to you how Kutou is going to war against Konan," Nakago explained in a calm smooth voice, even though he was becoming weary from the priestess's constant questions. "This Tamahome is one of the Suzaku Seven, a warrior for Konan," he continued, putting obvious hatred in his voice when he spoke the name 'Tamahome'.

"But he just seemed so nice..." Miaka countered as she turned her head away from Nakago and stared intently at the bedspread. She just couldn't see Tamahome being an evil person, no matter how hard she tried.

"Would you like to see him again?" Nakago asked trying to act like he was just curious, but his craftiness was shining through.

"Well...yeah..." Miaka admitting as she slightly blushed.

"Well then we will have to see that your wish is granted," he replied as he stood up with a sly smile growing on his face. Before Miaka could ask what he meant by that, he left the room.

*

Katherine had just put her DVD into Christina's DVD player when her door burst open and Christina ran into the room. "Tell me! Tell me!" Christina yelled anxiously. "Oh, so that's where my DVD player was!" she exclaimed as she pointed the little black rectangle on Katherine's bed.

"Yeah, I found Lilo and Stitch at the bottom of my bag! Do you wanna watch it with me?" Katherine asked excitedly.

"No." Christina replied as she wrinkled up her nose, not knowing why Katherine would want to watch a Disney movie. "But I want you to tell me how you got the swivel chair! You made me wait because Hotohori was coming to find it, and you need to leave the room. But now he found it and we have time, so what the fuck are you waiting for?!" she continued, completely changing the subject.

"Well,it all started once upon a time..." she replied annoyingly, just wanting to see her friend's reaction.

"CUT THE CRAP AND JUST TELL ME!" she hollered back as she clenched her fists.

"Okey dokey then..." Katherine replied, using her trademark phrase.

"Oh, by the by, I want my DVD player back when you're done, 'cuz I wanna have a horror movie marathon. But anywho... back to swivel chair!" Christina said, somewhat losing focus on what she was angry about.

"Okay, I'll give it back, just lemme finish watching the cutest movie EVER!" Katherine exclaimed.

"I already told you that I want it AFTER you're done!"

"Fine! Shut up! Do you wanna hear the story or not?!" she snapped back as she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Story time! Story time!" Christina chanted as she clapped her hands.

"While I was planning on what to get Hotohori, my pants started to talk to me." Christina just looked at her insane friend and raised an eyebrow. "But then I realized that it was my pocket that was talking."

"And however did you obtain these magical talking pants?" Christina asked sarcastically.

"It wasn't the pants it was the dollar bill in my pocket!" she yelled, now becoming annoyed that Christina wouldn't let her talk for more than five seconds.

"You just said that you pocket was talking! Which one is it?!?!" Christina yelled back, hoping her friend would start making sense.

"It was the dollar. I always leave money in my pocket!" Katherine explained, starting to slightly lower her voice.

"So... the dollar was talking? I mean, Sacagawea dollar coins are one thing, but talking money!?" Christina questioned incomplete disbelief.

"MY SISTER WAS USING THE DOLLAR BILL AS A CONNECTION!!!" Katherine yelled, tired of Christina always interrupting her. Christina blinked, comprehension dawning on her.

"Okay, I get the talking part, but how did you get a swivel chair?"

"We had that chair in our basement. It's practically new; we only used it for like a month. But for some reason my parents didn't really like it, so we put it in the basement and bought a new one," Katherine explained, finally calming down.

"I don't care about the history of your swivel chair! Just tell me how it got here!!! Was it air-mailed or what!?!"

"IF YOU WOULD JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN I'D TELL YOU!!!" Katherine shouted back, extremely agitated. "Anyways... Joan and Diana had the best idea! They laid the book open on the floor, put the chair over it, and held the bill over the chair. Then they went WHAMO!" Katherine exclaimed as she quickly clapped her hands once, for dramatic effect.

"'Whamo'?" Christina asked sarcastically.

"Yes, whamo!" she exclaimed again as she clapped her hands once more. "You know, they... you know... they..." she continued as she searched her mind for the right word.

"No, I don't know..."

"What's the stupid word!? They...," she shook her hands through the air, hoping that she'd think of the word if she performed the action along with it. "Umm... they... like..."

"Okay, good enough..." Christina said, tired of watching her friend desperately trying to find the right word. "So we can get stuff from our world here?"

"Oh yeah," she replied, with special emphasis, as she nodded.

"Do you know what this means, Katherine? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Christina said.

"I dunno... what are you thinking?" she replied sarcastically.

"PIZZA!" Christina shouted merrily.

"MCDONALDS!"

"BATTERIES!"

"RANDOMNESS!" Katherine replied, inserting her catchword for odd situations in the same sing-song voice.

"Dr. Pepper!" Christina shouted, ignoring Katherine's comment.

"Wow...now I really really want some Dr. Pepper," Katherine said while holding her stomach.

"Well, what's stopping us?" Christina answered as she dangled the dollar bill in front of Katherine's face.

She quickly snatched it from her friend's hand and held it up to the sky. "Joan, sister of mine that I love so much?" Katherine asked innocently into the dollar bill.

"Yes?" her sister answered through her teeth, knowing that she was about to ask for something.

"Could you please send us some Dr. Pepper? Pretty please?" Christina meekly asked.

Joan let out a long sigh; she had always known that they were addicted to that drink, "Sure..."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" they gratefully said in unison.

"How many?"

"AS MANY AS YOU GOT!" Katherine replied excitedly. She then placed the dollar bill on the floor

A moment later the dollar bill expanded, becoming five times the size it once was. It floated up into the air with red sparkles gracefully falling down with a several pop cans. Christina looked up in awe until one almost hit her in the head. "OH MY GOD! I'M GONNA DIE!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran frantically around the room trying to avoid the death bombs of soda.

"You moron! Try to catch them before they explode!!!" Katherine shouted at her friend, who was still trying to evade the cans.

Suddenly, Christina switched into football player mode; she ran around trying desperately to catch them. One was falling diagonally towards the door. She ran as hard as she could, pumping her arms vigorously and dove to catch it, sliding out into the hallway.

"WHOOOO!!!" Katherine shouted cheering on her friend, who was holding the pop can up in the air.

Soon, the white flooring held a dozen Dr. Pepper cans, and Katherine and Christina were both ferociously chugging down a can. Once they finished it they both smashed it against their forehead, still in football player mode. "WAHOO!!!" they both shouted as they looked at their smashed pop cans. Then they broke into randomness and started to shout, "DEFENSE! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!" they chanted at the top of their lungs. The caffeine had, obviously, settled into their systems. They each took another can and gulped it down and continued with their unpredictability. "Dr. Pepper... you make the world taste better," they both sang as they held the cans in their hands. "You make the world taste better... you make the world taste better. Doc-tor... Pep-per," they continued, dancing around the room.

Katherine then noticed a servant standing in the doorway staring at both the priestess incredulously. Katherine suddenly stopped and tried to look as innocent as possible, letting her clueless friend continue singing. The female servant left, hoping that she hadn't just seen the people who were going to save her country acting like insane morons. Katherine fell to the floor from laughter as Christina finally turned to see why her friend had stopped singing.

"There was...a...servant," Katherine choked out to the best of her ability as she continued to laugh, pointing towards the now empty doorway.

Christina's jaw slightly dropped. "You're kidding me... right?" she asked, not believing someone just watched her make an idiot of herself. But Katherine just nodded, still laughing loudly. Christina then started to crack up and fell to the floor next to Katherine.

Tamahome was walking down the hallway when he heard "Can't... breathe..." from Katherine's room. He barged through the door, hoping that he had made it in time. Both Christina and Katherine were on the floor clutching their stomachs in pain.

"Are you guys okay?" Tamahome worriedly questioned as he knelt by Katherine's side.

"I...can't...breathe..." Katherine, who was desperately gasping for air, replied.

"Who did this to you two?!" Tamahome anxiously asked, looking around for a concealed assassin.

Before either of the priestesses could answer, Hotohori appeared in the door way. He saw Tamahome kneeling over Katherine as she was gasping for air. He then looked over to see Christina clutching her side and crying out in pain. Tamahome quickly turned around to find Hotohori glaring at him and scrambled to his feet. Hotohori responded by swiftly withdrawing his sword and pointing held the tip just inches away from Tamahome's neck.

"What did you do?!" Hotohori angrily accused as he moved the sword closer to Tamahome's neck.

"I swear I didn't do anything!" Tamahome claimed, holding up his hands as if to show that he was innocent.

"Oh...my side..." Christina muttered as she clutched her ribcage.

"No...you don't...understand..." Katherine tried to explain as she struggled for breath.

"We're... we're laughing!" Christina gasped as she burst into peals of hilarity again.

Hotohori looked over at Katherine to see if she would affirm Christina's explanation. Katherine just nodded vigorously, before she broke out in more laughter, not believing that even in this altered storyline Hotohori still ended up threatening Tamahome with a sword. Hotohori then lowered his sword and put it back into the sheath.

"Please accept my sincerest apologies," Hotohori said, ashamed of coming to such an irrational conclusion. He then turned around and started to walk out the doorway.

"Hey! Wait up!" Katherine shouted, now done with her laugh-fest, as she stood and caught up with him.

Tamahome angrily turned to Christina, who was finally starting to calm down. "You idiot! Because of you I was almost decapitated!!!" he furiously shouted at the priestess.

"HEY!" Christina shouted back, scrambling to her feet. "First of all, I saved your ass! And second of all, I thought we told you not to call us that!!!" she continued yelling, referring to 'idiot', once again.

"WHY IS IT SO FORBIDDEN TO CALL YOU AN IDIOT?!?!"

"IT JUST IS!!!" Christina shouted at the top of her lungs, fed up with Tamahome. "Why didn't Hotohori just stab him when he had the chance?" she wondered. She then stomped out of Katherine's room and slammed the door shut. She stormed down the hallway, not even noticing Hotohori and Katherine kissing under the starry night.

To Be Continued...

AN3: So... what do you think? Please review... pretty please? If we write a poem will you review? Deal? Okay, it's a deal! This poem is by the one... the only... MRS. TASUKI!

We want to know,

Just how you feel

About our tale,

Tell us for real.

If you have ideas, questions, or comments,

We'll gladly reply

Leave a review,

And we'll really try.

In closing,

Go and review!

I mean who else are we writing this story for?

OURSELVES AND YOU!

~Mrs. Tasuki and Nyan Nyan ~

~*~

Fushigi Akugi

(Another Fushigi Akugi that shows our dislike... scratch that... hatred for Tamahome. Wahoo!!! SPOILER: episode 22! Tamahome fans: You Have Been Warned. *DUN DUN DUN*)

"What did you do?!" Hotohori angrily accused as he moved the sword closer to Tamahome's neck.

"I swear I didn't do anything!" Tamahome claimed, holding up his hands as if to show that he was innocent.

"Oh... my side..." Christina muttered as she clutched her ribcage.

"He... he did it!" Katherine jokingly yelled while pointing to Tamahome.

"Yeah! It's... it's his fault!" Christina accused.

Hotohori lowered his sword but moved his hands so then he had a better grip on it, and then stabbed the blue-haired sei right through the stomach.

"WAHOO!!!" Christina and Katherine screamed at the top of their lungs.

"Damn! If only we had a freakin' remote!" Christina yelled, wanting to watch the 'scene' over and over again.

"STAB HIM AGAIN! STAB HIM AGAIN!" Katherine, whose favorite episode was twenty-two, chanted endlessly.