Disclaimer: I think you can guess.
Note: This story takes place about one year after Talpa's defeat. Due to instances of graphic violence, language, and sexual innuendos, I'm rating it PG13, so don't say I didn't warn ya.

Rowen leaned against the cold, solid brick surface of the mall. He was sitting outside on the sidewalk, and as a middle-aged woman passed by toting along her three small children, he watched disinterestedly. After they were gone, he brought the lit cigarette in his hand up to his lips and took a long, slow drag from it. He felt the smoke fill his lungs and surge up to his head slightly, and with a deep sigh he let it out in a whoosh. He really hated smoking, but he'd gotten addicted at too young an age. The fact that this was the first chance he'd had to smoke in two weeks made him almost happy to feel the pollution enter his body, erasing the craving he'd been fighting. Sage and Mia were always telling him it would be the death of him some day, but every time he had tried to quit he found that it wasn't really worth the hassle. And now, by the looks of things, he wasn't going to have to worry about the cigarettes killing him. He had a feeling it was going to be a much worse struggle than that.

With that thought, he took another drag, sinking deeper and deeper into his own thoughts.

He'd managed to sneak away from the others for awhile, but he could still feel their worry and naivete from out here. It hadn't been so bad that morning, but he could just feel their stares when they thought he wasn't looking, the things they were thinking about and the way they thought of him now. Especially Sage and the others, whom he had known for an eternity now, it felt.

And as much as he hated their pity and worry, he hated even more that he couldn't bring himself to tell them why he was being like this. Every time he thought about it, something was there to make him stop himself. There was so much pain and fear and anger inside him that he didn't know what to think or do anymore. Alex had said that the darkness would try to win him over and he was going to have to fight it, but when it came right down to it, Rowen didn't know if he had what it took to fight anything anymore. It felt so pointless, and he knew he would be risking his friends' lives. He wouldn't be able to stand it if he got one of them hurt, or worse...

But what choices did he have? If he fought on his own, it would be suicide and either he would be killed or they would turn him into the thing he hated and feared most: one of them. If he became evil, he knew even his friends' lives would not be spared. But then, if he stayed, he would be putting everyone he cared about in unparalled danger, and they might lose anyway. So what choice did he really have?

Sighing and exhaling anther puff of smoke, he thought, I guess I'll just have to listen to Alex for now. I've gotta train for the next battle, and soon. Maybe I should ask Kayura, like Alex said. I don't know about that Chris kid, though. He just doesn't seem like he'd be able to help me much. I guess we'll see.

"Don't you know that smoking'll kill you?" a familiar, slightly teasing voice asked. Rowen looked up and found that Sage was standing next to him, looking down with a grim half-smile.

"Yeah, I know it," Rowen said half-heartedly. He just hoped Sage wasn't in a lecturing mood today. They were always going back and forth about Rowen's habit, and Sage was livid about getting him to quit. But Rowen lucked out, and Sage just sat on his heels next to his friend, showing no intent to start an argument.

"What're you doing out here? Everyone else is inside," he informed, trying not to sound upset.

Rowen just shrugged. "Had to get some air. You know I hate crowds."

"Yeah, I do," Sage said. "I was getting worried, though. You shouldn't wander off without letting us know, Rowen. How're we supposed to know if you're okay or not?" He caught a warning look from Rowen, and toned down the mother-attitude. Speaking softer, he said, "It's just that with the Dynasty prowling around like they are now, we've got to be careful, y'know?"

"Mm hmm," Rowen said patiently, holding his tongue firmly.

"So..." Sage said uncertainly. "How are you feeling? You're still not totally healed, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm fine. Really. I just feel a little worn out from it all, and I don't think fighting yesterday helped any."

"You should take it easy for a couple days. It's not like the Apocalypse is coming today or anything, so it shouldn't hurt to rest awhile before we start training and getting ready to fight again."

Rowen nodded and put out his cigarette after finishing off the end of it. Sage looked at him, trying to put some things in place in his mind. Standing up, he said, "Well, I'm going back inside. You coming?"

"Yeah," Rowen exhaled. He stood up, glancing down the street for no particular reason before he turned to follow his friend.

Inside, Rowen had to steel his nerves against the irritation of being stuck in a crowd of people. It was Monday, so most kids were in school and adults were at work, but the shopping center was still packed with shoppers, many of whom were on lunch break from their jobs. Rowen was more than a little claustrophobic, and crowds had long been one of his pet peeves, being a bit more the solitary type anyway, but today he found that his nerves were especially intolerant of being around a lot of people. He felt like he was allergic to the presence of 'normal' human beings, people with no knowledge of magick and demon lords or their conquests to destroy the world. People who would never begin to understand who he was or what he was going through.

He tried to ignore that, and walked beside Sage with something he hoped passed for passiveness, maybe even nonchalance if he was lucky.

"So where's everyone else?" he asked Sage to get a little conversation going. If nothing else, it would help him keep his mind off of other things.

"I'm not really sure. I left Kento and Cye with Dais, Sekhmet, and Cale in a clothing store not too far away. And last I heard, everyone else was together in Bloomingdale's or somewhere like that. I think Randi and Tai went off on their own, though." Sage couldn't help thinking of the small, golden-skinned girl who shared his armor.

He had noticed something peculiar about the way she looked at him, and it bugged him. It was like she knew him from somewhere, but wasn't sure about it. And for his part, he thought she was incredibly attractive. Very much his type. He knew he had a reputation for being a chick-magnet around school, but it was mostly undeserved. Sure, he flirted occasionally, but he had never even had a serious girlfriend, and rarely found himself thinking about a girl. There was just something about Tai that seemed to have caught his attention.

"Hey, isn't that them over there?" Rowen said, breaking Sage's line of thought. The blond looked where Rowen was looking, and saw that, indeed, Randi and Tai were just walking into a jewelry store a couple dozen yards from them.

"Yeah, it is. Should we go say hi to them?"

Rowen shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

They walked up to the store where Tai and Randi were getting lost in wall-to-wall accessories of all types and sorts. Standing right behind Randi, Rowen said, "Hello."

Randi jumped and whirled around in fright. Seeing it was Rowen and Sage, she sighed in relief and blushed a slight pink. "Oh, hi! What are you doing here?"

"Just stopped by to see how the shopping is going. Looks like you've just about bought out the mall," Rowen said, glancing down at her bags.

Randi smiled genuinely, laughing a little. "Yeah, I'm a hopeless shopaholic. I've tried getting treatment before, but it doesn't seem to have helped, as you can see."

Tai finally noticed Rowen and Sage's presence, and came up to them. "Hey," she greeted curiously, stealing a quick appreciative glance at Sage.

"Hey," Randi greeted back.

"What's up?" Tai asked.

Randi had just opened her mouth to reply, but blood-curdling screams caught everyone's attention just then. Whipping their heads toward the source of the sounds, they all saw two terrified teenage boys running like mad through the mall. It only took Randi a second to realize who they were.

"Chris?! Adro?!"

"What are they doing?" Tai demanded.

The two boys were running in their direction, so Randi called out to them. Chris saw them and quickly switched courses, dragging Adriano with him. As they came up to their comrades, panting and looking like Satan himself was on their heels, Tai and Randi burst out laughing. Their faces were caked with make-up, their eyelids streaked with colors that were almost neon, and their lips were smeared with bright red lipstick. Adriano was wearing a very flattering one-piece dress that was bright violet in color and had been forced on backwards over his normal clothes.

"What happened?!" Randi blurted while she was trying to control her laughter.

Chris gasped while trying to catch his breath and speak rapidly at the same time. He was hunched over and gesturing wildly, none of which made it any easier to understand him. "W-we...they...they...cos..metics department...atacked..help!...coming...after us..."

"Yeah..." Adriano gasped. "Made me...wear...a dress...those...vindictive...evil...evil...evil...women!"

All of this made Randi and Tai laugh even harder, until Randi's legs turned to jelly and she collapsed in a heap on the ground. Tai tripped over her and fell on her rear, but both were laughing too hard to care. Sage and Rowen had watched the whole thing silently, but even they were cracking smiles and finding it hard not to laugh at their predicament.

"Stop that!" Chris demanded indignantly, having caught his breath a little more and not liking that he was being mocked. "Stop laughing! This is serious!"

"Yeah, man!" Adriano exclaimed, still in his dress and looking pretty scared. "They're coming after us! They said they wanna give us makeovers!"

"Too late!" Randi and Tai said together, still having a fit on the ground.

"I think they already did!" Randi exclaimed, casting a meaningful look in Adriano's direction.

The two boys were ready to chew their friends out when several shrieks of "There they are!" caught their attention and, with a yelp, they scrambled away again, pushing their way through the crowd in a panic. A small mob of girls dashed after them, but most stopped when they saw Tai and the others.

Maria and Manda were the two who continued pursuing their victims, screaming, "Come back here and act like a man! Let us do your make-up!!"

The others stopped to catch their breath and ask, "Hey, Randi. What'cha doin'?"

"Watching you scare the living daylights out of those two, for one!" Randi giggled.

Amy and Sam grinned evilly. Rhianne responded dryly, "Well, we've been trying to get them out of the closet for so long, it just seemed like this might help them be more comfortable with the whole thing. Don't you think?"

"Oh, yeah!" Tai grinned.

"They'll be wearing purple dresses with pride in no time," Randi nodded sarcastically.

Ryo, Mia and Kayura came lagging up to them, totally out of breath and looking very exasperated.

"Have fun?" Sage asked with a knowing smile. Ryo just glared at him, sending him mock-hate vibes with his eyes. "You have no idea how hard it is to keep up with these guys! They're worse than Yuli!" he said.

"Speaking of which," Mia said, looking accusingly at Ryo. "Where is Yuli?"

"Uh oh," Ryo said blankly, and dashed off before Mia could really get angry at him.

Rowen sighed and looked off into nothing as the antics continued, wishing he could share their lightness of heart. Forcing himself to hide it, he followed the others as they went to reclaim the rest of their party and finish their shopping.

�

Hours later, the troop trudged into the house again, toting numerous shopping bags wit them. They were exhausted and just about broke, but they were relaxed and content.

Once they had tracked down the rest of their group, cleaned up Adriano and Chris, and finished the rest of their shopping, they all went to this nice family-owned Italian restaurant on the edge of the city to unwind. The dinner was great and mostly uneventful (except for when a few of the girls got a bit excited by their adorable waiter and went into hysterics), and by the time they returned to the Koji Mansion, they were all more than ready to turn in.

A short while later, as everyone was settling in and starting to drift off in their respective part of the house for the night, Manda found herself unable to let sleep overtake her. She lay awake for a long time, listening to Rhianne and Amy slumbering peacefully in the bedroom the three were sharing and feeling grateful that Rhianne had grown out of talking in her sleep like she used to.

As she lay there on her makeshift bed consisting of a heavy mattress, a fluffy feather pillow, and a few thick blankets, she started to ler her mind wander over everything. So much was happening so fast here. She was an avid anime fan, as was Randi and as were a few of their other friends, but to actually be in Japan, living out an adventure that seemed straight out of Fushigi Yuugi or some such, was beyond her. This was all very surreal to her, and she had to wonder just what was going on or what was going to happen. She just hoped it didn't end like Fushigi Yuugi with most of the heroes dying to beat the bad guys...

With that thought in mind, she slipped into an uneasy sleep filled with dreams of all the things that her subconscious imagined could happen to them. Little did she know that she wasn't the only one having those troubles. Half the house had dreams much like hers, although some were much worse than others...

�

PsychoGirl's Incessance

There, another chapter done! You like?

I just have to tell everyone, these few chapters (namely 16-18) felt kinda choppy and rushed to me, even though I took so long to get them done. So sorry if parts came out awkwardly or I ended things curtly. I'm really off my game with my writing right now, but I promised I'd get these finished and out this week, so I can't be the perfectionist I usually am. Oh well, I'll try to make up for it later. Let me know what you thought of these at the usual address, okay?

Not much else to say right now... Bigger and better things are coming up soon, I just used these last couple of chapters to build on the story and get you ready for what's coming. Should be fun, once I finally get there. ^_^

Well, later, peeps! Hope you're all having a kick-ass summer!

Aleksa ~~~<~~@
My opinion on the issue of sexuality in the media: "Sex on T.V. can't hurt...unless you fall off." ^_~