I'm still wondering why the word processing software that I use says that "blonde" is spelled incorrectly...

Chapter 3: Let's Do the Time Warp!

With nothing to do the next day and no school, Kizuna and Remon laid out two Dance Dance Revolution mats out a few feet away from the T.V. and popped in DDR Max.

Shion and Chikaru sat on the couch, watching the two girls practically destroy the DDR mats, holding each other. Chikaru was falling asleep again, not being much of a morning person, and Shion was gently running her fingers through her hair.

"You guys are always doing things together," Shion said, as Kizuna and Remon lay sprawled on the floor after three rounds of exhausting DDR. "Honestly."

"Well," Kizuna said as they started to go to the kitchen for water, and she punched Remon's arm. "Remon-chan is my most important partner. I'm glad that Chikaru-oneesama introduced us those many years ago. I mean, what would I be without her around?"

"A completely dull person," Remon said, grinning and sipping at her water. Kizuna shook her head and rolled her eyes, sighing.

"There's nothing to do around here," Kizuna suddenly complained, throwing herself on the unoccupied couch in the living room, making room so Remon could plop down next to her. "Your house is so boring, Shion-sama."

"Oh, well excuse me," Shion said, narrowing her eyes. "But it's not my fault. If you want more fun, go do something illegal and get thrown in jail. Have a laugh or two."

Kizuna and Remon looked at each other, and grinned. "That sounds like a laugh, actually. Good idea, Shion-sama," Kizuna said, and stood up.

"Yeah, we'll see you two later. Might want to keep the phone on high volume," Remon said, winking and following Kizuna outside. Shion blinked, looking baffled, and shouted after them as they closed the door.

"Wait, wait! I was only joking! Don't go do anything stupid!" Shion seemed to be in slight hysterics, but what she didn't realize was that Remon and Kizuna were outside the front door, pressing their ears to the door and listening in. Kizuna grinned and took out her cellphone.

"How about we take it further?" she said, pressing the speed dial for Shion and Chikaru's home phone. Remon rolled her eyes.

"Don't they have both of our numbers recorded in their Caller ID?" she asked matter-of-factly, crossing her arms as the phone rang. Kizuna waved her hand, and spoke into the phone with a macho-man security guard accent.

"Excuse me, but we've been calling around the neighborhood to find the parents of Kizuna Hyuuga and Remon Natsume, but we haven't been able to contact the parents. Do you know anything about these two?"

As Shion went into a stammered explanation, Remon rolled her eyes and slapped Kizuna in the arm. Kizuna let out a short squeak into the phone, and Shion suddenly stopped.

"Wait, who is this? Are you sure you're the police?"

Remon and Kizuna looked at each other gravely. "April Fools?" Kizuna said, grinning.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW BADLY I'M GOING TO KILL YOU TWO?!" Shion's voice yelled at them, making Kizuna jump a bit.

"Hey, it's your fault for telling us to do something illegal," Remon said into the phone, pulling it away from Kizuna's ear.

"Yeah, it's all your fault, you know," Kizuna said, and she closed the phone and looked to Remon. "Should we start running?"

Remon nodded, standing up from the ground, Kizuna following her. "I think that would be a good idea. Let's go before the Wicked Witch From the West beats us both into submission with her broomstick."

"We should flatten the tires on that broomstick!" Kizuna exclaimed as the two of them scurried off around the house, trying to avoid Shion at all costs. There was, however, a pipe that they could scale to get to their bedroom window and into the house without detection. The only thing was that it caused a lot of clanking noises, and Remon was deathly afraid of heights. They both ended up sitting in the backyard, hiding behind a large bush, huddled together. There was no sign of Shion coming after them yet, but both girls were too frightened to move anywhere away from the bush, or speak a word. They remained there for a few minutes, until they were sure they could hear no sign of Shion, and then Kizuna stood up, making Remon stay on the ground for protection.

"I don't see Shion-sama anywhere...and I don't hear her at all," Kizuna said, listening closely. The house seemed to be quiet, which was foreboding. She knew Chikaru and Shion were still in there. So why was it so quiet?

Remon looked around the bush, remaining crouched down. "Me either. Think we should chance going through the back door?"

"It's a chance we have to be willing to take," Kizuna said, and Remon stood up next to her. They nodded at each other, then slowly advanced to the sliding glass door that led to the kitchen. Kizuna took out one of her credit cards from her wallet, and slid it in between the door and the wall. The lock clicked open, and they were able to open the door and scurry inside. Chikaru, they automatically saw, was not on the couch anymore.

"She must be roaming around the house with Shion-sama," Kizuna whispered.

Remon nodded. "Shion-sama doesn't seem to like us very much today, does she?"

"Apparently not," Kizuna said under her breath, grinning. "Oh well. Suits herself if she wants to keep that stick up her ass. Might be hard for her to sit down, though. At least without making a horrid face. Come on, let's try to get to our room without detection..."

After Remon subsided from her sudden fit of giggles, Kizuna led her off by the arm towards their room, trying not to make so much noise with their shoes.

"I wish you didn't wear those metal-plated tennis shoes, Kizuna-chan," Remon whispered fiercely, as they walked down the hallways. "They're out of style anyway."

"That's only because no one wears them anymore," Kizuna whispered back, and she randomly opened a door and threw Remon into a dark room, closing and locking the door.

"Are we in the bathroom?" Remon asked, trying to make herself room in the small area. Kizuna blinked, holding out her hands until she touched something, and she nodded.

"Seems like it. Nice hiding place, huh?"

"Yeah, two teenage girls locked in a dark bathroom alone..."

"Imagine the possibilities," Kizuna said, smirking. Though Remon couldn't see her smirk through the dark, she could tell by her tone of voice.

"Just keep your hands to yourself, we're supposed to be hiding." Kizuna rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Yes, Mistress Remon. I will not attempt to do anything dirty in here, under the specific circumstances we happen to be in. I believe that sex would be very tense if we were to do it whilst under surveillance."

"It most certainly would," Remon said, agreeing with her. "And anyway, what would Shion say if she saw us doing something like that?"

"'Chikaru, get the video camera!'"

"Very funny," Remon said, narrowing her eyes. "Did you pick up your fiendish ways from Kiyashiki-sensei and Kenjou-sensei?"

"If anyone did, you would, them being your 'sensei' and all that."

"You were the one who had a huge crush on Kiyashiki-sensei."

"Did not!"

"Oh don't lie like that," Remon said, smirking. "I can openly say that I have a crush on Kenjou-sensei." Kizuna snickered and Remon rolled her eyes.

"I used to have a crush on Kiyashiki-san, and Chikaru-oneesama at one point," Kizuna admitted, smiling sheepishly. "But I've got my heart set on another."

Remon didn't ask who, so Kizuna didn't say anything else. After a few long minutes, maybe half an hour of sitting there in silence, Kizuna opened the door and looked around.

"Checkmate," Kizuna said, and apparently that meant the coast was clear, and the two of them walked to their room again, closing and locking the door. They both let out a sigh of relief.

"That was terribly frightening," Remon said, throwing herself on the bed. Kizuna threw herself next to her, nodding and closing her eyes.

"You're telling me. I could barely think straight. My heart felt like it was suffocating itself the whole time. It was like last night times a million."

Remon laughed a bit, and Kizuna beamed at her. "We're going to have to face her sooner or later, you know that right?" Remon stated, matter-of-factly.

Kizuna groaned and hid her face in her pillow. "I know, I know. I just don't want to face Shion when she's so frustrated with us. I swear, she's not even in her cycle right now and she bitches at us like crazy."

"Because we're still teenagers," Remon said, sighing. "Even though we're nineteen. Once we become of age, she might stop bothering us."

"Might."

"She only picks on us and pushes us around because she categorizes us as children," Remon said. "She thinks we need to be put in line, shown how to have responsibilities."

"Well, if one thing's for sure," Kizuna said, "it's the fact that we have no idea how to tackle things responsibly."

"That might be true," Remon said, looking to Kizuna. "But we're old enough to know that we need to start trying to."

"You really are growing up," Kizuna said, in an almost baffled tone, and Remon laughed.

"At least one of us is."

Kizuna pounced on Remon, getting ready to smother her with a pillow, until they heard the door open. They both looked around and saw Shion and Chikaru standing there.

"A-ha! We found--oh, hey! Lock the door when you're about to do that!" Shion said, turning away. Kizuna laughed and Remon blushed.

"We're not doing anything, Shion-sama. Look, we're fully clothed. Show her your hands, Remon," she said, and Remon held up her hands in front of her.

"Well, if you're going to smother each other, go right ahead. I'm making the funeral arrangements," Shion said, grinning evilly at the two.

"Make sure they play 'I've Been Working On the Railroad' on the organ when we're getting buried. And don't cremate us, I don't like the smell of ashes, it's like burnt hair times ten," Kizuna said, grinning numerously, and Remon smirked and nodded in agreement.. Shion rolled her eyes.

"You think everything is a game, don't you?"

"According to the Holy Bible of Kizuna, life is just a game that only the best players can win. The losers are poor and have no friends. That's life, Shion-sama," Kizuna said, shrugging and orienting herself on the bed so that she wasn't crushing Remon anymore, Remon sitting next to her. "You need to lighten up, Shion. A bit of hanging out should do the trick! Come on, Remon, let's invite some people over."

Remon nodded and ran down the stairs with Kizuna, sliding on the railings of the stairs to avoid getting tripped. They were at the phone in about five seconds, with Shion and Chikaru following slowly.

"Hey, hey! I didn't approve of you inviting anyone over! This isn't your house, you know!" Shion called, her face flushed in slight anger. Chikaru placed a calming hand on her shoulder, grinning softly.

"Shion, let them have some fun."

"B-but Chikaru..."

"Shh," Chikaru retorted, placing a finger over her wife's lips. "They're right, you know. You need to loosen up, hun."

Shion crossed her arms and retained her grumpy attitude as she watched Remon and Kizuna quickly attacking the phone book for people's numbers. With the excitement, Shion guessed that they'd forgotten how to use Speed Dial on a cellphone. After hanging up the phone for the last time, Kizuna and Remon promptly left the kitchen, Kizuna randomly breaking into a chorus of "A Pirate's Life For Me." Shion watched them for a moment, then suddenly blinked. "Wait! How many people did you invite over?!"

They didn't even look around, just waved at her. "Just a few people, don't worry about it, Shion-sama!" Remon said. But Shion saw the grin on her face, almost exactly like Kizuna's when she hatched a scheme. Shion looked to Chikaru and sighed.

"I think we should be afraid. Very afraid."

Chikaru giggled. "It is Kizuna and Remon, after all."

--

Everyone started showing up a few hours later. The usual crew, consisting of Kagome, Chiyo, Yaya and Tsubomi, all came together. Surprisingly, Yaya refrained from making a dramatic entrance and proceeded to sprawl herself on the couch, ignoring Tsubomi's scolding about bad manners. Then along came Nagisa and Shizuma, Miyuki and Tamao, and lastly Kaname and Momomi, whom didn't seem to want to be there but came upon request. Shion proceeded to stay as far away from them as humanly possible.

"Why do we have to be here?" Kaname asked, scowling as she watched the former Astrea Hill gang converse and walk through the whole house. Shion scoffed.

"For once, I have to agree with Kaname. Why do they have to be here?"

Kaname glared at her and Shion grinned triumphantly. Kizuna sighed and walked between them.

"Make love, not war. Which I'm sure you both will be doing once this is over, but I won't go into any details, eh?" Kizuna said, grinning and causing both Shion and Kaname to turn slightly red. Momomi seemed to be engulfed in watching whatever was on TV and was not paying the least bit attention to them. Chikaru, who was watching the entire scene from the couch, grinned.

As usual, nothing has changed from our school days. Kaname is bugging Shion, Momomi is completely oblivious, Kizuna and Remon are wreaking havoc, Yaya and Tsubomi are arguing about something stupid, Kagome and Chiyo are minding their own business, Nagisa and Shizuma are openly announcing their love, and Tamao and Miyuki are glaring at them. All is as though no time has passed at all. Nothing has changed. It suddenly makes me wish we were all back at Astrea Hill...

Shion suddenly sat next to her and sank into her arms. "Chikaru, what's up?"

"I was just thinking," Chikaru said, running her hands lightly through Shion's blonde hair.

"About what?"

"Nothing to be concerned about," Chikaru said, that smile still on her face.

"Then you should have no problem telling me," Shion said, looking up at her lover and smirking. "Or are you just dodging the question because you don't want me to know you're thinking seriously for once?"

Chikaru blinked a bit, her face still bright, and she pushed Shion onto the couch and sat on her. "Hey! What was that for?!" she heard Shion say, but Chikaru either didn't hear her or pretended not to. Kagome and Chiyo, whom had witnessed the whole ordeal, looked concerned.

"Chikaru-neesama, won't Shion-oneesama get suffocated by your...um..." Kagome said softly, apparently too embarrassed to complete the sentence. Chikaru gave her an uncharacteristically evil-but-sweet smile.

"Shion-oneesama will be just fine, Kagome-chan. Go ahead about your business."

Kagome gave Shion another concerned look, then took Chiyo's arm and dragged her off to where Kizuna and Remon were having an enlightened conversation about foam soap. After joining into the conversation for a few minutes, Kizuna climbed onto the coffee table with a square object in her hand.

"Attention, everyone!" she called, and everyone fell silent. "I present to you: Rocky Horror Picture Show!"

There was a chorus of cheers that echoed through the whole house. Apparently hardly anyone in the group could turn down a good run of Rocky Horror. Shion, who had freed herself from Chikaru's hold, didn't seem to care less.

"Get off the coffee table, Kizuna-chan! We paid money for that!"

Kizuna grinned and jumped off of the table, rolling away on the floor and ending up at Remon's feet. Remon rolled her eyes and took the DVD away from her, putting it into the DVD player and sitting on the floor with Kizuna curled up next to her. As the others started to sit on the floor as well, only a few people continued to sit on the couches. Momomi, who was sitting on the floor, pouted as she tried to get Kaname to sit with her.

"Kaname! Come sit on the floor!"

Kaname crossed her arms. "But I don't want to..." She said this in an almost childish manner, at which Momomi grinned and advanced on her, jumping onto the couch. On the floor, Kizuna and Remon watched them.

"Kaname...do it..."

"But why?" Kaname said, again her tone annoyed. Momomi grinned and pounced on her, tickling her sides, making Kaname twitch and squirm away awkardly. "Stop it!"

"Then sit on the floor!"

"Fine, fine! Just let go!"

Momomi grinned and continued to a few moments, just to annoy Kaname and to watch her squirm. Before long, they were both on the floor, Kaname had her arms crossed and Momomi forced one of her arms to latch onto her's. Remon, who was poised with the remote on play, sighed.

"Are you two finished?" she asked. They nodded sheepishly, and Remon started up the movie. There was much laughter and many outbreaks of song, even Kaname seemed to enjoy herself. However, Kizuna stopped at the infamous Time Warp scene to look at her friends, grinning. A few people complained, but Yaya grinned back.

"I know what Kizuna is thinking," she said, looking to the group at large and nodding. "Time Warp line!"

"Alright! Good thinking, Kizuna-chan!" Remon said, being the first one to jump up over to Kizuna. Kizuna grinned at her.

"You're all joining in, I don't care about your reputation, and you shouldn't either. This is about fun! So stop being such a stick in the mud and join us, Shion-sama!"

Shion crossed her arms defiantly. "There's no way I'm participating in a stupid dance." Chikaru, however, took the idea to heart and went to join them, leaving Shion pouting on the couch. "Aw, come on, Chikaru!"

"What? I want to dance! You should join, Shion!" Chikaru said, grinning brightly at her. Shion sighed, apparently she couldn't say no to that face, and went to go stand with her lover. Everyone had decided except for Kaname, who was still sitting on the floor. Momomi put her hands on her hips and glared impatiently at Kaname, who looked up at her, almost innocently.

"Kaname..."

"Momomi, I already watched the movie on the floor with you, and now you're asking me to dance in a big line with a bunch of people, MOST of whom I don't generally like?!" she complained, looking to Shion and grinning. Shion ignored her. "I'm sorry, but this is on the list of the "things in my life that I will never do", right up there with eating anchovies."

"Last time I checked, you still need to update that list," Momomi said, grinning, and Kaname ignored the whispering Remon saying 'She actually has a list?', while Kizuna smirked. "Come on, Kaname! I promise never to ask you to dance in a big line again!"

Kaname crossed her arms, gazing up at her determined lover. Momomi sighed a bit, placing her thumb and index finger to her temples, thinking. Then she snapped her fingers.

"Kaname, you better do it or no sex for the rest of the week."

Kaname's facial expression abruptly fell. The rest of the women in the room sympathized, it was one of the worst punishments Momomi could think of for Kaname. In barely a second, Kaname was standing next to her lover in the Time Warp line, shaking her head. Kizuna looked around, seeing all of her friends in two almost-equal lines, then grinned and un-paused the TV.

"Get ready, everyone!" Kizuna said, and before they knew it, everyone in the room broke into dance, besides Chiyo who decided to video-tape at the last minute. Hikari and Amane were unfortunate to appear in the room in the middle of the dance, looking at each other with a confused expression on either face. After everyone fell to the floor, they continued to watch the movie as though nothing happened, though there was still a sort of giddy-ness in the air. By the end of the movie, it was already getting late.

"Hey, hey! Does anyone want to spend the night?" Kizuna asked. Remon forced Kagome and Chiyo, of course, who were tentatively thinking. Hikari and Amane turned down the offer, saying that they had other business to attend to. Nagisa and Shizuma also left.

"We'll be glad to!" Yaya said, grinning as she planted herself on one of the couches, while Tsubomi sat next to her with a magazine.

"Right! That's four people. Kaname, Momomi?" Chikaru said, looking over to them. Momomi looked as though she were considering, but Kaname shook her head.

"Why not?" Momomi said, and Kaname explained under her breath so the others wouldn't hear. Momomi's face turned exceedingly more red in the space of a few seconds, then nodded. She grinned at the others, who had guessed what they were talking about by now. "Uh...sorry. Kaname and I have a previous engagement."

"Besides," Kaname said, pointing at Shion. "I wouldn't be caught dead in the same house with Shion for a whole night."

Shion crossed her arms. "I can say the same thing about you, Kenjou."

Kizuna grinned and looked to Remon, speaking under her breath. "'Previous engagement' meaning bedtime adventures?"

Remon burst into a fit of giggles and Kaname ignored her. Kizuna grinned a bit. "Come on, Kaname. You guys are always off by yourselves, it's about time you started interacting with the people you know, you're not hated, you know."

Kaname looked as though she were going to tell Kizuna off, to say that she had no right to analyze her and her lover's lives, but Chikaru put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Kaname-san, Kizuna-chan is right. You two need a bit more fun in your lives. How about you spend the night?"

Kaname blinked at them, probably surprised that they were being so nice to her, and walked off to Momomi's side again, where they engaged in a whispered conversation. They both turned around after a few seconds, then they both opened their mouths.

"We'd love to," Momomi said, grinning before Kaname could respond. Kaname looked incredulous.

"I thought you said we agreed not to..." she said, crossing her arms, and Momomi rolled her eyes.

"I changed my mind."

The rest of the friends looked at each other, then shrugged. The rest of the night was spent watching TV, playing video games and reminiscing on old times. When it was time for sleep, the guests slept on the sleeping bags that Chikaru and Shion provided, and Remon and Kizuna went to spend the night in the 'guest' room, which they had mutually adopted as their own. They spent many hours looking up at the ceiling, neither one was brave enough to speak. This always happened, though. A few hours of silence, then Kizuna or Remon would say something, then they would be in conversation through most of the night. The silence seemed a bit longer than usual this time.

Remon looked to Kizuna through the darkness. Though she couldn't see her at all, she could see the outline and feel the presence of her. Of course, she knew she was laying right beside her, because they would start kicking each other or something if they were bored enough. They never really grew out of their childish habits, and it made her think.

"Kizuna-chan?" she asked quietly through the silence. She felt Kizuna squirm next to her, apparently she was moving around so that she could see her as well.

"Yes, Natsume-san?"

"People at my job call me that," Remon said, slightly irritated, and Kizuna giggled heartfully.

"What is it, Remon-chan?"

"Do you think that...well...I dunno...that Shion-sama might be right about us? That we're overly-childish? Maybe it's time that we grow up...I mean we're in college now, I have a job and I'm taking up most of my vacation time to be here."

It made Kizuna feel slightly bad when Remon put it that way. She was blowing off valuable work time to visit them, and it would just be harder on Remon once she returned home to continue working and studying. Kizuna sighed and closed her eyes.

"I really don't know. Shion-sama is Shion-sama, she's always telling us to grow up."

"Now that I really think about it..." said Remon's soft voice, tainted with the urge to sleep. But this was an important conversation, one of the few important conversations they'd ever had. And if Kizuna knew Remon as well as she thought she did, she knew that Remon was thinking the same thing she was, and that they were both eager to continue on with it. "Now that I really think about, it, Kizuna-chan, we really don't act our ages at all."

Kizuna was blank for a moment, her mind struggling to process thoughts while trying to fight the beckoning sleep that was threatening to take her over. She slipped back in reality long enough to come up with a reply, but by the time she started to speak, Remon had already fallen asleep. It gave Kizuna a few minutes to think about what Remon said, the silence surrounding them louder than she'd ever heard it, and she finally fell asleep, wondering what the next day would bring.