Part Three: Promward Bound
"I can't do this!" Sekhmet whined.
"Shut up!" Rapier snapped, "I've been listening to you complain since you set eyes on that damn thing!"
"But--"
"NO BUTS!!"
Dais sighed as he slipped his jacket on. "Get Kenji to help you. He's a society boy." He eyed himself in the mirror. Yes, he looked quite... what was the word? Ah yes, buff. He looked quite buff.
The completely tuxed Hashiba Kenji knocked on the door. "Are you guys ready yet?" Without waiting for an answer, he stepped into the room. And whimpered at what he saw.
Anubis was staring at his cummerbund as if it were going to bite him. Sekhmet had somehow gotten his tie stuck in his hair. Cale had had a tragic accident with some gel, it appeared.
Yoshio wasn't even wearing a tuxedo! He was reclining on a chair, wearing a pair of black jeans, a clean white shirt and his leather jacket. Black boots were on his feet. Kenji couldn't tell if he was wearing socks or not.
Only Akira, Dais, and Rapier seemed calm and put together.
"No no no!" Kenji cried, rushing to the center of the room. "You people are getting it all wrong!"
"And this from the man with three dates," Cale muttered, trying to run a comb through the sticky goop that was now his hair.
"You boys just sit down, and let Uncle Kenji take care of everything," Kenji said, slamming the door.
"Uncle..."
"Kenji?"
*****
"I'm not coming out!" Ryoko's muffled voice echoed from behind the bathroom door.
Hiroko sighed. "Why not?"
"You wouldn't understand!"
"Try me... look, I know you weren't exactly happy about this prom thing, but you didn't start acting weird until a few hours ago. You just had this major moodswing!"
"Go without me."
Hiroko's eyes narrowed. "You asked for it," she muttered under her breath." She calmly opened the door and smiled smugly. "When you shut yourself in the bathroom, you really must make sure to lock the... door?"
Her leader was sitting on the tiled floor, head bowed, still in her bathrobe. Silvery tears were coursing down the young Prophet's face.
Hiroko quietly shut the door. For all the therapy her leader had been in, she still had these rare moments. "What's wrong, 'Yoko?"
"I can't go..." she whispered.
Hiroko sat beside her friend and put an arm around her shoulder. For a moment, she thought she was going to pull away, but she didn't.
"I.... one of the dreams I used to have as a kid... was of going to a big dance..." Ryoko sniffled loudly, something that was completely out of character for her. "And my Momma would be there to help me get ready and fix my hair... and Daddy... would tell me how pretty I looked and take pictures of me... but they're not here... and..."
"You're afraid you'll forget that dream if you go," Hiroko finished. She sighed."I'm sorry, Ryoko, I didn't mean to upset you..."
"M'scared... stupid, huh..."
"No," Hiroko said softly, "it's not. This is gonna sound so corny but... you'll never forget them as long as they're in your heart." She hoped her words would make her friend feel better, even a little.
Ryoko surprised her by throwing her arms around her and hugging her. Ryoko had never been a huggy person. "Yeah... it is corny... but thanks for screwing my head back on straight. And thanks for... being my friend..." she laughed shakily, "even when I turn into a big wuss."
Hiroko winked. "No problem, we all have our wussy moments... like that time Sekhmet and Cale saw those stuffed animals in that toy store."
Ryoko laughed, remembering the saccharine look on Cale and Sekhmet's faces as they had cuddled their respective toys, a wolf and a snake, close. They had refused to leave without them... then Junko figured that if Cale and Sekhmet could make a stand, so would she. She had latched onto a large stuffed tiger. She had spent thirty-five dollars on those morons to avoid making a scene. She scowled.
Hiroko patted herself on the back, congratulating herself on putting Ryoko's fears in their place. "So, you gonna put the dress on and come get ready with the rest of us?"
Ryoko bit her lip and nodded. "Gimme a sec."
As Hiroko left the bathroom, she picked up the garment bag and stared at it.
*****
"Screw you," Yoshio said flatly, suddenly showing his bad boy attitude, "I'm not wearing a damned tuxedo."
"Yes. You. Are," Kenji said in a deadly voice, as he shoved Cale's head back under the faucet. Cale made some gurgling noises. After a few minutes, Kenji let him up and he coughed.
He gave Kenji a steely glare as water ran down his bare chest. "You tried to drown me!" he said in disbelief.
"I did not try to drown you," Kenji growled. "Now put your shirt and jacket back on, and don't do anything until I can help you with your hair!"
Cale muttered something about ungrateful whelps and flopped down on the bed beside Sekhmet. Anubis, Dais, and Rapier were trying very hard not to laugh at their friend's predicament.
"Yoshio, did you even rent a tux?" the blue-haired young man asked wearily.
"Nope," Yoshio said, seemingly quite pleased with himself.
Kenji let out an inarticulate wail. "You ingrate!"
"Ingrate? Yeesh, it isn't like it's not the first time I've gone to the prom dressed like this," Yoshio said with a negligent shrug.
Kenji's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "You went to the prom in this monstrosity?!"
"Yep."
"Are you serious?!"
"Yep."
"Yoshio..." Kenji said, quite calmly, "if you value Mr. Miko's life...YOU'LL PUT ON SOME NICE CLOTHING!!"
Yoshio blanched at the threat on his old friend's life. He had no doubt Kenji would carry out his wicked scheme against the innocent gator, if he didn't comply with his demands.
"Kenji, leave him alone," Akira ordered, sounding strangely out of character. "He's just fine." The young man glared. "We're going to the damned prom, you don't need to boss us around."
Eyes widened, jaws dropped. They didn't know what was stranger, Akira cursing, or actually telling a freaked-out Kenji to knock it off.
Kenji looked a tad frightened at Akira's strange behavior, then cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah... uh... I'm just gonna go... helpCalewithhishairnow!" The freaked-out Ronin of Life grabbed the unfortunate man by the arm and dragged him out of the room.
The last thing they heard was Cale's yelp of fear, before the door closed.
Akira colored as he felt everyone's eyes on him. "What? Aren't I allowed to swear once in a while?" he mumbled as he straightened his tie.
Yoshio's evil smirk returned as he blew on his nails and rubbed them across his shirt.
*****
"I feel naked," Crysanda muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You look fine," Hiroko assured, "now hold still or I'll poke you in the eye again," she said, lining the woman's almond shadowed eyelids with brown eyeliner. Kayura was busy pulling her silvery hair into a french braid and weaving little gold beads into it.
"Where'd you learn how to do hair like that?" Hiroko asked curiously as she curled a cringing Crysanda's eyelashes with an eyelash curler. "Oh, stop that, Crys! It's not a torture device! It might look like one... but it's not." Finishing up with the curler, she applied brown mascara with the wand.
Kayura shrugged. "I'm nearly five hundred years old... you get bored after a while," she remarked, as if that explained everything.
"Oh... okay then..."
Hiroko finished up Crysanda's makeup by sweeping pink blush across her cheeks and applying shimmery pink lip gloss to her lips. She pulled back and examined her work. "I'm good," she decided.
Crysanda had her eyes shut tightly. "Is it... over?"
Hiroko giggled. "Yeah, Rapier's gonna love ya. You look great."
"We're just friends."
Kayura chuckled and continued weaving her friend's hair. "That's what I once said to Cale about Dais."
As Hiroko turned, she noticed Ryoko was sitting at the vanity table, staring down at all of the assorted makeup, a blank look on her face.
"Something wrong, Ryoko? Why aren't you doing your hair and makeup?"
Ryoko mumbled something inarticulate and fiddled with a makeup brush, not looking at her.
"What?"
"I... don't know how." She bit her lip, embarrassment turning her cheeks pink. "Momma never showed me how... she was gonna, but... I didn't want to bug Sobo with it. I tried to teach myself, but I kept messing up," she finished feebly.
So that was why Ryoko was one of the only girls at school that never wore makeup and fixed her hair... Hiroko had always figured Ryoko thought it was a waste of time. Maybe she didn't know Ryoko as well as she thought she did.
She made her way over to the vanity table and knelt in front of her friend, reaching for a makeup brush and a little container of silver eyeshadow. "Hold still."
"What are you doing?" Ryoko asked, blinking. "You don't have to--" She fell silent as Hiroko applied the shadow to her lids.
Kayura finished up Crysanda's hair and was pinning her own up into a bun, pulling out little tendrils to frame her face and curling them with a curling iron. "You do her makeup and I'll take care of her hair."
Hiroko nodded as she finished applying black mascara and started lining Ryoko's eyes with green liner. She thought for a moment as she stared at Ryoko. "You've got such pale skin, we'd better use a light blush, like Crysanda's." She continued to talk to Ryoko as she worked. "I always wanted skin like yours, mine's kinda tan, like 'Jiji-san's." She selected a rose-colored lipstick and applied it to Ryoko's lips expertly.
Ryoko's brow furrowed. Funny, she had always wanted darker skin.
Hiroko surveyed her work and nodded in satisfaction. "I'm better than good. I kick ass."
"Hiroko!" Kayura laughed as she changed places with the Ronin. She grabbed a brush and began to run it through her pupil's thick curls.
Crysanda watched the expression on Ryoko's face in amusement. She looked like a little girl who was playing Cinderella with her mother. There was a childlike enjoyment and exhilaration on her face that she had never seen in Ryoko before.
"Your hair is your crowning glory, Ryoko," Kayura informed, as she began to pile the fire and ice strands on top of her head, forming a mass of curls. "Most women would kill for the kind of hair you have. The same with Crysanda."
"I always thought my hair was kinda weird," Ryoko said quietly.
"Shows what you know," Kayura said briskly, as she reached for the curling iron and pulled a few strands from the pile. She curled the tendrils in a spiral fashion, that reached to the tops of the young woman's shoulders. She stuck a few crystal-tipped hairpins in here and there, making it appear as though her hair was sparkling.
The door swung open and a gasp met their ears.
"Sobo?" Ryoko asked, turning her head toward her grandmother. "Are you all right?"
Mia smiled gently. "I'm sorry... for a moment... I thought I was looking at your mother."
Ryoko's smile was beautiful. "Really?"
Junko's voice soon chimed in. "You guys look like princesses."
Hiroko giggled from where she was curling her long hair. She ran a brush through it a few times, then pulled it back in a gold headband. "Thanks, Junko-chan."
"The guys are downstairs saying you're taking too long."
"Junko!" Mia shushed.
"We're girls, we're supposed to take a long time," Kayura said, slipping a gold bracelet on her wrist, followed by the ruby studs and ring Hiroko had lent her.
Hiroko smirked as she applied violet shadow to her lids, the last of her makeup. Then she fastened a gold heart locket with an amethyst in the center around her neck, it had been a present from Akira. She placed a pair of amethyst studs in her ears and added a gold and amethyst ring. Kayura was helping Crysanda with her jewelry, a simple topaz ring and tear-shaped topaz earrings.
"Wait here," Mia said, rushing from the room. Ryoko watched in puzzlement as she left.
"Hey, 'Yoko, guess what?"
"Nani, Junko?"
Junko held out her wrist, which had been hidden behind her back, revealing a pink carnation around her wrist. "Cale gave me a corsage!"
All four women held back giggles. Ryoko grinned widely. "He did, did he?"
Junko nodded. "Will ya tell me what it was like when ya get back?"
"You betcha!" Hiroko said, as she slipped on her shoes.
Mia chose that exact time to reenter the room, a dusty black velvet box in her hands. She stopped in front of Ryoko and held the box out. Ryoko hesitated before taking it from her. She flipped open the lid and gasped.
Nestled on a bed of black silk was an oval shaped moonstone pendant with a silver chain, dangling silver earrings with drops of moonstone, and a silver armband, also with chips of moonstone.
"Sobo... these were..."
"Deirdre's," Mia finished. "I want you to have them."
"They're beautiful," Kayura said, reaching out to touch the pendant. "Excellent craftsmanship."
"Daddy... got these for Momma on her birthday... when I was five," Ryoko said softly. "She had this look on her face..." She trailed off, and then glanced up at her grandmother. "Thank you, Sobo."
Mia nodded, her eyes filled with tears, and led Junko out of the room. Junko kept glancing back at them, a wistful look on her face.
Ryoko blinked away a few tears, before fastening the pendant around her neck, placing the earrings in her ears, and slipping the band on her left upper arm. The only ring she was wearing was her engagement ring.
"I'm going to fall in these heels," Crysanda complained.
Hiroko rolled her eyes as she checked the mirror to make sure her pink lipstick was on straight. "You've practiced walking in them for a week. You'll be fine."
"No, I won't."
"Quit arguing," Kayura ordered. "We have a prom to get to."
"Oh, joy."
*****
"Does it have hair?" Sekhmet asked.
Yoshio thought for a moment. "Yes."
"Is it an intelligent creature?"
"It depends on how many cute girls are around."
"This is ridiculous," Rapier muttered. "Who ever heard of women taking so long to get ready?"
Yoshio slapped him on the back. "Welcome to the modern world, my friend."
"In my day, women were quick to obey."
Kenji sighed, "In this day, women rule us men."
Anubis nodded in agreement, remembering a day when he and Ryoko had gotten into an argument, and she had refused to speak to him until he apologized for being 'an arrogant prick'. Ah, but it was worth it to see her smile at him again...
Dais smirked at the dreamy look on his leader's face. "I don't think Anubis minds being ruled."
Yoshio and Sekhmet sniggered, and then went back to their game of Twenty Questions. Anubis glared at Dais.
"Is it... blue?"
"Yep."
"Hmmm.... oooh! I know! It's Kenji!"
The two men broke into laughter, while Kenji gave them a look that could fry rock. "You're funny," he snapped, narrowing his eyes peevishly.
"My hair feels stiff," Cale complained, feeling the top of his head. "What did you use on it, Kenji?"
Kenji took a break from his glarefest to reply, "Gel, mousse, hair spray, the usual."
Cale groaned as he thought about how much gunk he had in his hair. "You're a madman."
"A madman with great hair," Kenji corrected. "And now your hair is-- wow..." He trailed off suddenly, getting to his feet.
The other men glanced in the direction Kenji had looked -- and their tongues promptly rolled out of their mouths.
Hiroko, Crysanda and Kayura stood at the foot of the stairs, grinning, seemingly quite pleased with their reactions, though Crysanda had to resist the urge to cover herself.
Anubis shook himself out of his stupor as his eyes trailed up the stairs, expecting to see the love of his life at the top of the staircase. She wasn't there.
Kayura sighed, "Ryoko, get down here."
"I feel stupid..." came Ryoko's voice.
"You look great," Hiroko called, "now get down here before I have Kenji and Yoshio carry you down here!"
"Fine... but they're gonna laugh..."
Ryoko stepped around the corner and made her way to the top of the stairs.
As they had a few minutes ago, the men's jaws dropped.
Ryoko stopped at the foot of the stairs, her cheeks bright red. "If any of you laugh, I'll beat the crap out of you."
"Holy Mother of God..." Yoshio muttered, staring at his best friend as if he had never seen her before. He decided it was a very good idea that he was tagging along. Anubis was going to need some help keeping all those men from Ryoko. "'Yoko... you look..."
Anubis stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, staring deeply into her eyes. "Like a goddess that has fallen from Olympus," he finished, stroking her cheek. She smiled at him... shyly? Ryoko? Shy? He reached out and slipped the tiger lily corsage on her wrist. "A beautiful and wild blossom," he whispered, "just like you, love."
"Oh..." Ryoko said softly, holding her wrist up to the light.
"And I was just gonna say 'hot'," Kenji complained, staring at the low neckline of Ryoko's dress. One death glare from Anubis caused him to pull his gaze upwards. He settled for checking out Crysanda.
Rapier was too busy staring at her to notice. She gazed back at him, and couldn't help noticing how handsome he was. Dais and Kayura were likewise as immersed in each other, and Kayura gasped softly at her deep red rose corsage, standing on her tiptoes to give Dais a kiss. He grinned happily.
"You wore the locket," Akira said softly, his hands shaking as he handed her her corsage, an orchid surrounded by violets.
"Of course, you gave it to me." Hiroko wrapped her arms around his neck, forcing a bright red flush from him. "How did you know I was going to wear purple?"
"I d-didn't, Hi-chan. I just saw this corsage, and thought how pretty it was... like you," he mumbled quietly.
Hiroko's eyes filled with tears at the beautiful words, so filled with love. "You look so handsome, my Warrior of Light." She smiled, "Korin and Seiji are gonna be so jealous."
Kenji and Yoshio made some gagging sounds, which Ryoko abruptly silenced by whapping them upside the head. The two young men scowled, and rubbed their foreheads.
"So... uh..." Rapier stuttered, "s-shall we go?" He offered Crysanda her corsage, a snowy white lily.
"It's beautiful, Rapier..." Crysanda trailed off, not meeting his eyes. "You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble just for a friend..."
"Friend... yeah, right," Kenji snickered. Four women shot him evil looks. "Uh... maybe we'd better get going... I have to pick up Cindi, Bambi, and Candi."
"Not without pictures," Mia announced, coming into the living room with Junko in tow and a camera in her hands.
"Take a picture of me and Cale!" Junko ordered, running into Cale's arms. He scooped her up and swung her around, making her laugh.
"Junko..." Mia scolded.
"She's all right, Sobo," Ryoko said, radiant from Anubis' lovely words. "Just take the picture."
>CLICK-SNAP-FLASH<
"Aww! Take another one! My eyes were shut!"
"Hi-chan... arghh..."
"Please, Sanada-san?"
"All right, Hiroko, be ready this time."
"Anubis, you can't touch me there now!" Ryoko whispered, flushing when her words came out louder than she'd intended.
"Love... that's not me..."
"WHAT?!"
"Heh."
"KENJI!! YOU HENTAI!!"
>CLICK-SNAP-FLASH<
Mia sighed, "Let's try again, shall we? And Kenji, please keep your hands to yourself." She paused. "You might want to let go of his neck, Ryoko, he's turning as blue as his hair."
This sent everyone but Kenji into bouts of laughter. The next picture showed them gasping and wheezing, their faces red. Kenji just growled.
"All right, this is the last picture I'm taking! I mean it now! This is the last picture in the camera!"
Everyone was extremely careful to not ruin this final picture. Although, Kenji found it difficult to keep his hands off of so many hot girls.
>CLICK-SNAP-FLASH<
Anubis smiled pleasantly at Kenji after the last picture had been taken. "You might want to start running. I don't know where you touched Ryoko... but start running."
Kenji swallowed and made a break for the door.
Yes! It's finished! This part, anyway.*does a happy dance*
Well, I hope you enjoyed chapter three. Thank you for all the nice fanmail I've gotten on it, and 'The Color of Desperation'. If you'd like to send your own comments, just mail 'em to sheronin@hotmail.com
Sharra