Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ World's End ❯ Love Shack ( Chapter 1 )

World's End

Part 1- Love Shack (or Road Trip to the Middle of Nowhere)

By: Oriana X. Myst

Warning!!: There is some implied yaoi, not much and you might not even really notice it… Nothing is blatant (neither yaoi, yuri or het) until chapter 3, so don't worry your pretty little heads about it!

The song is "Love Shack" by the B52's

~If you see a faded sign by the side of the road that says `15 Miles to the Loooove Shack'!~

"Uh, Miki?" Utena asked, eyeing their surroundings warily.

The blue haired boy turned to her and blinked a few times. "Yes, Utena-san?"

Click.

"Is it just me or does this road seem to go on forever?" She turned to look behind them as another light post past them. So far, it was the 200th one (Utena had somehow kept count).

"Oh don't be so impatient," Saionji grumbled from the front seat of Akio's convertible. He looked beside him disdainfully at Wakaba who had managed to slip in between him and Touga and was staring at their surroundings with wide eyes.

~Love Shack yeah!~

"It's probably not much farther, Utena dear," Touga breathed, coyly eyeing Saionji.

Akio, who was behind the wheel, said nothing. He merely smiled.

Click.

~I'm headin' down the Atlanta highway, lookin' for the love getaway.~

"I suppose, Utena-san, that it does seem like a long stretch of road," Miki finally replied. He looked behind them a moment and then back at her and shrugged. "But as Touga-sama said, we'll probably get there soon."

Akio smiled wider and began to chuckle. He reached over and turned the radio up a little more.

~Heading for the love getaway, love getaway.~

Saionji glared his direction a moment before turning the radio down. "I detest that music you pretentious fop! I would turn the damn thing off except it distracts me from the endless scenery and this sitting next to me," he said testily, motioning to Wakaba who didn't seem to be listening to him.

Small "oohs, and aahs" left her lips every once in a while and more dessert passed them by. What she could be marveling about, one could only guess.

Touga "tsked" at Saionji's temper and then gave a tiny start as Chuchu climbed up onto his shoulder to peek over the edge of the car.

"Oh, Chuchu, be careful," Anthy said, reaching over from behind Touga and plucking it from his shoulder. "I am sorry Kiryu-san, Chuchu doesn't travel much."

The redhead shrugged his indifference and then winced so slightly that none but you the reader noticed.

"BIG BROTHER!!" came the whine that was Nanami's voice from behind them all (she was in the trunk seat). "Why did I have to sit so far from you, Big Brother?! And why does that girl get to sit next to you?!"

Touga feigned ignorance and/or deafness because he did not reply and Nanami proceeded to pout loudly (aka, she started bitchin' about it).

Juri sighed and leaned her chin on her propped up hand.

Utena looked over and rolled her eyes at the situation. A mumbled "slut" could be heard from the trunk seat. Utena smiled at the orange haired girl. "How you doing, Juri? You're the only one among us who hasn't said anything yet."

The other girl shrugged and raised an eyebrow as Nanami got out of her seat and tried to crawl over everyone to get to Touga. Just as she was about to place her hand on the front seat for support (she had gotten past Utena and Miki), Akio hit a bump in the road and she went flying up and back into her chair, dazed. Akio hit another bump and her head jerked back and hit the top of the seat causing her to pass out.

Juri sniffed and a tiny smile formed on her lips.

Akio adjusted his rearview mirror to asses the situation and then put his eyes back on the road.

~I got me a car, it's as big as a whale and we're headin' on down to the Love Shack!~

Saionji growled, Wakaba "aahed", Touga moved his hand a little closer to Saionji's shoulder, Juri shifted in her seat, Utena yawned and counted out 2001, Miki clicked and Anthy held Chuchu who was chomping on a cookie.

Akio stretched out his hands and smiled again, letting go of the wheel and doing a flip over it. He landed gracefully on his knees on the hood and opened his shirt to the wind.

~I got me a Chrysler, it seats about 20,

So hurry up and bring your jukebox money!~

A few minutes later, he flipped back into his seat and fixed his hair.

"Yes, yes, very impressive," Saionji grumbled grouchily.

Utena chuckled. "You know Akio, it would be even more "spectacular" if you didn't put the car on cruise control and this wasn't a straight road."

Akio smirked at her through the mirror and motioned to the wheel and then around them. "I'm sorry to inform you Utena, but my car has no cruise control and this is not a straight road."

The car suddenly pulled around a curve and when Utena looked behind them, the entire road looked winding; not an inch of it straight.

Her eyes widened and she looked at the back of Akio's head as if he had grown wings and a tail. She then sat back in her seat, narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms and grumbled, "2002."

Click.

Wakaba tapped Touga lightly on the shoulder and when he turned asked, "Excuse me, Kiryu-sama, but can I switch seats with you? I want to see the mountains better."

Touga nodded and Wakaba crawled over him and took his seat. Utena made a face and wondered, Mountains? Where the hell is she seeing mountains?

"So Akio, where are we going anyway?" Juri asked finally, curiosity getting the better of her.

"You'll see."

~The Love Shack is a little old place where we can get together!

Love Shack, baby, Love Shack bay-bee.

Love baby, that's where it's at,

Ooo love baby, that's where it's at.~

"Aargh! Will this song never end?!"

Click.

Touga smiled lightly and ran his fingers through the tips of Saionji's hair while simultaneously rubbing Wakaba's knee. She didn't notice this either, or seem to care, but sighed in contentment.

A large sign whipped by them suddenly, catching Utena's attention. She turned in her seat but only saw the back of it. She tapped Miki's arm.

"Hmm?"

"What did that sign say?"

~Sign says, woo! Stay away fools, `cause love rules at the Love Shack!~

"I'm not sure, Utena-san," He looked at Anthy and blushed slightly before clearing his throat. "Um, Anthy-san."

The purple haired girl turned and gave her usual blank smile. Chuchu stuck its head in her pocked and came up with another cookie. "Yes, Miki-san?"

"Er… did you see what the sign said?"

She blinked and nodded. "Yes, I did. It said '15 miles to any human life.'"

Utena lifted an eyebrow. "You're joking, right?"

"She can't joke, don't you know that you stupid girl," Saionji said.

Utena ignored him and motioned for Anthy to answer her.

Anthy shook her head. "No, Utena-sama, I wasn't joking."

"See? What did I tell you?"

The pink haired girl looked incredulously around and saw only more road and open dessert. A few cacti dotted the landscape and some bleached bones flitted by every once in a while but other than that, there was nothing. She wondered if she should have agreed to come on the "Road trip to nowhere" as Akio had put it… and put it correctly.

"Owww, my head," Nanami mumbled as she finally regained consciousness. "Are we there yet?"

"Where is "there"?" Saionji asked her without looking back. "Did you even know where we were going before you decided to impose yourself?"

Click.

The blonde thought about it for all of two seconds and shook her head. Since no one was looking at her, she decided to be dramatic and get someone's attention by standing up and pretending to fall off the car. This didn't seem to work so she stood up and began to flap her arms like a crazy blonde bird. Since she was wearing a shirt with large sleeves (think the kind worn by women in the Renaissance), the wind caught in the material, causing a strong updraft to lift her over the seat and into the air, screeching, "Big Brooootthhhherrrrrr…" She finally landed with a SPLAT on the pavement, her head cracking open and the air (that we all knew was in there) leaving in a great WHOOSH!

Touga looked around and asked to no one in particular, "Did you hear something?"

Akio shrugged and pressed a button, which closed the trunk seat.

"Akio-sama," Miki began, a small wrinkle of worry on his innocent face. "Where exactly is this mysterious place? I mean, in relation to where we are now?"

~Well it's set way back in the middle of a field,

Just a funky old shack and I gotta get back.~

"Actually, I've only been there once so I really don't remember where it is exactly."

"WHA-?!" came the collective cry from Utena, Miki, and amazingly enough (she had finally been able to turn her head from the dessert) Wakaba. Juri's eyes widened slightly and Saionji jumped in his seat. He then turned and glared at Touga who was staring straight ahead of them at a beige cow lying dead on the road. Anthy mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a prayer to a cow named Nanami and Chuchu's snot bubble popped as it shifted in its sleep on her lap.

"But, Akio-san, what made you bring us all this way to show us something that doesn't even seem to be interesting enough to remember where it is?" Wakaba asked.

"I knew you all would… enjoy yourselves. Besides, there's…"

~Glitter on the mattress, glitter on the highway,

glitter on the front porch, glitter on the hallway.~

"Huh? What did you say, Akio? Dam wind won't let us hear!" Utena said loudly, holding onto her sun hat so that it wouldn't blow away. When the hell did I put this on? she wondered then promptly forgot about it and let the hat fly away in the wind.

"I said…"

~The Love Shack is a little old place where we can get together.~

"What?!"

"He SAID…!" Saionji screamed, highly annoyed at everyone.

~Love Shack baby!~

Utena turned to Juri, the only sensible one among them (at least in Utena's point of view). "Did you hear him?"

The other girl nodded. "Yes, he said that we're going to a hot spring and that is what's appealing about the place."

~Love Shack, that's where it's at!~

"A hot spring?" Utena repeated, slightly not believing what she had heard… finally. She turned to Saionji and flicked his ear.

He growled and turned. "WHAT?!"

"Jeez, what crawled up your shorts and died? I just wanted to ask you a question."

His teeth clenched and a vein pulsed on the back of his head. "What. Is. It?" he bit out.

"Did you say we were going to a hot spring?" Her hand was still near his ear so she gave a small flick, not really noticing what she was doing.

He winced and nodded then swatted her hand away. "Yes! And if you flick me again I'm going to have to hurt you!"

Touga mumbled something under his breath and Saionji turned and narrowed his eyes at him a moment before catching the silky sideways glance the redhead threw him and crossing his arms over his chest with a "hmph."

"What are we going to do there Akio-sama?" Anthy asked him suddenly.

There was silence broken only by Chuchu's snort as he woke up.

Click.

~Huggin' and a kissn', dancin' and a lovin', wearin' next to nothing cause it's as hot as an oven.~

"You're serious, Anthy?" Utena asked after a few moments.

The purple haired girl nodded.

Utena lifted both eyebrows in shock and put a hand to her head. "Oh boy. Don't worry about it, Anthy. You'll see when we get there."

The other girl nodded and placed Chuchu on her shoulder.

"Is there a part there or some special event?" Juri asked, her curiosity piqued at what she was hearing. A hot spring was not a common outing at the Ohtori Academy. In fact, the last time she had been to one, she had been with… Her face suddenly flushed pink and she lowered her head so that her curls covered her face.

Akio nodded, though Juri wasn't looking. "Yes, they're actually having a celebration."

~The whole shack shimmies! The whole shack shimmies,

when everybody's movin' around and around and around and around!

Everybody's movin', everybody's groovin' baby!~

"Oh, what are they celebrating?" Wakaba asked, her attention on her companions for the moment instead of the scenery.

"The founding of their town. It's been 100 years since they first arrived in that desolate little place and made it into a money making experience."

~Folks lining up outside just to get down.

Everybody's movin', everybody's groovin' baby!

Funky little shack! Funky little shack!~

Utena pondered that for a moment and looked around again. Mumbling a, "2004" to herself, she gazed at the open expanse of dry nothingness that was, as far as she could see, everywhere. "Out here in the middle of nowhere?" She asked, after a moment of quiet reflection.

Akio nodded. "People come from all over to bathe in these springs. They are quite amazing."

"Middle of nowhere hot springs, huh?"

The car suddenly slowed and everyone turned to see why Akio was stopping. There, sitting on the side of the road, was a girl. She had short pale, pale blue hair that stuck out in spikes around her head, a nose ring with a chain attaching it to her ear, an eyebrow ring with a tiny blue bead and tattoos could be seen peeking out from underneath the sides of her sleeveless orange tank top and from the bottoms of her dark blue shorts. She had one tattoo that could be seen completely, it covered her right calf from front to back, which was a blue dragon in flight. She also had a red backpack and a cardboard sign with magic marker writing that read "I don't care where I go, I just want to go with you."

Click.

They pulled up along side her and Akio flipped the trunk seat switch.

~Hop in my Chrysler, it's as big as a whale, and it's about to set sail!

I got me a car, it seats about 20, so hurry up and bring your jukebox money.~

She smiled, he smiled, and she jumped in the trunk seat while everyone, except Anthy and Touga, looking on in puzzlement.

They started up again and after an hour more of driving, finally got to where they were going. The place literally looked like a broken little shack. It couldn't have been more than 10' x 10', had peeling green paint, a tilting window and a rotting, boarded up sign on the half-not-there roof. One of the walls looked to be sinking into the ground and the front porch was so unstable Utena imagined that if she even breathed next to it it would crumble.

There was no one and nothing outside, or around (for about 10 miles), save a lone cat.

They climbed out and took their things out of the lower part of the trunk and walked up to the shack.

"Akio, are you sure this is the place?" Utena asked, looking around, wondering if they should all really be standing so close to something that could topple over and crush them.

"I agree with Utena-san, Akio-sama," Miki said, glancing at the cat who was black, had large yellow eyes and stared at him a moment before meowing loudly and walking off. "Perhaps you were mistaken? I mean, you said that you didn't remember exactly where it was…"

Akio smiled, one side of his mouth curling higher than the other. He made a motion at the shack as if to say, "Watch this," and stepped up to the door and knocked once.

~Bang, bang, bang on the door, baby!

Knock a little louder, baby!~

He knocked again, waited and knocked once more.

~Bang, bang, bang on the door, baby!

I can't hear you!~

The door didn't open and Utena lifted her eyebrow. "You're sure, Akio, right?"

Akio nodded again and knocked three times this time.

~Bang, bang… on the door, baby!

Bang, bang… on the door!

Bang, bang… on the door baby

Bang, bang…

You're what?!…… Tin roof, rusted!~

The door opened silently, amazingly enough, and a small old woman smiled at them from the doorway. She had a sunflower print muumuu and brown sandals. Her hair was a light blonde, almost white because of her age, and was pulled back into a high ponytail, giving her a little girl look. "Ah, good, good. We've been expecting you, Akio-sama. You and your friends." She turned and asked them to follow.

Click.

A boy appeared from nowhere and took Akio's car keys to park his car, though where, one can only guess.

Akio and the blue haired girl went in, followed by a slightly hesitant Wakaba and a silent Anthy and Chuchu. Juri looked at the shack once more and then at Utena before shrugging and entering as well. Saionji glanced at Touga, found the redhead watching him and stomped into the shack. Touga smoothly made his way over to Utena and passed his hand lightly over her face, gave her a small smile and turned to follow the green haired junior.

Utena turned pink and coughed. Miki began to walk over to the shack, too, but stopped at the doorway to look back at her. "Are you coming , Utena-san?"

She let her eyes roam about the area a moment before shaking off the bad feeling that was creeping up her spine and following Miki inside.

The door closed behind them and two female looking shadows appeared on the closed window (the tilting one).

One had curly hair in pigtails and the other had her hair short and spiky.

"Did you hear, did you hear?" The curly haired one asked, placing her shadow hand near her shadow face as if whispering to the other shadow girl.

"Oh, what is it now?" The spiky haired one huffed, placing both shadow hands on her shadow hips.

"They went in, they went in." (You all know who this one is…) She pointed one shadow finger at the door.

"Yes I see, but did you see the cow?" (I created a pattern so you could all tell easily…) A pair of shadow horns appeared on her shadow head and she pretended to "paw" at the shadow ground.

"Brown cow? Lying dead on the road?" She pulled out a shadow gun and "blasted" the "cow," which in turn lay "dead" on the shadow floor.

"How now brown cow?" She stood up and took off the horns, a shadow backpack appearing on her shadow back.

"They went in, tee hee." Her shadow hand went up coyly to her (alright you get the point) face and she stood like a giggling school girl "watching" the other girl walk away and then turn and throw up her hands in surprise.

"Now we have fun, now it begins!"

"But where did they go?" She put her hand up to her head in thought and looked around.

"Yes, where did they go?" She did the same as the other girl.

~Love Shack, baby. Love Shack!

Love baby, that's where it's at!~

"And what will they do?" The curly haired one shrugged, both palms facing up to the sky.

"We'll see, we'll know." The spiky haired on nodded again and again.

~Kissin' and a huggin', dancin' and a lovin' at the Love Shack!~

"You two!" Hissed a female voice from inside the shack. "Shut it, we're about to begin, let's go!"

"Oh! Let's go, let's go!"

"Yes, let's."

The shadows disappeared as quickly as they reappeared.

The wind blew a bit harder and suddenly a piece of the rotting wood covering the sign fell off and fell to the ground, exposing the faded words beneath: `M_it_shi Ho_ S__ings - Cl_sed Indefinit_ly' .

~TBC in Part 2 - Hotel California (or, Hot Springs from Hell)~