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Title: A Forgotten Story

Title: A Forgotten Story

Author: Shadow, Phoenix

Chapter: Memories and Mischief at the Museum

Rating: T

Warnings: swearing, violence, dark humour, atheistic tendencies

Disclaimer: “Damn you lawyers! Cleon love child attack force go!”

Notes: italics are thoughts, memories, flashbacks, etc.

--line break--

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all is quite in the Yoshida household. Suddenly a tinny, annoying version of ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ bursts from a deformed, sparking black alarm clock. This is ended quickly by the forces of gravity and a solid glass paper weight the size of a cantaloupe.

“Blah…Kyo, don’t drop things on the alarm clock. That’s the sixth one this month.” A grunt is the only reply from the top bunk. Sai wanders over towards the now permanently busted alarm clock and examines it.

“What is this ‘alarm clock’ that you speak of?” Ryuu sits up, still slightly groggy from sleep.

“Erm…” Kyoko rolls around in the top bunk and a furry snake print pillow falls down.
”It’s an annoying little box that beeps and tells you what time it is…or it did.” There is a thump as Kyoko falls backwards into her comforter and tries to go back to sleep. Sai nods sagely and turns to look at Ryuu oddly.

“Fenikkusu, why is your hair purple?” Ryuu sighs and throws of her blanket, setting her feet on the floor.

“Sai, my name in the past was Fenikkusu, but in these times, my name is Ryu…wait, what did you say?!” Sai backs away from her slightly when she yells this.

“Why is your hair purple?” Ryuu grabs a small hunk of hair and examines her previously chocolate locks. Her eyes widen dramatically before she practically shrieks.

“Gah! I have purple hair!” She runs around the room screaming, causing Sai to hide under the bed with fear and surprise. This is what could possibly a fatal mistake, for under the bed resides Lucifer, Kyoko’s pet black leopard. Sai screams like a three year-old girl and leaps out from under the bed, nearly tipping it over in the process, and causing a still semi-unconscious Kyoko to fall off the top bunk.

“Augh, we’re late!” Ryuu trips over Kyoko in her mad dash to find a clean uniform and brush her hair. Half laying on top of her adopted sister, she turns to look at her. “When did you get down here? And how?” Kyoko elbows Ryuu off of her and rolls over, narrowly missing bonking her head on the paperweight that she had used to destroy the alarm clock. She sticks her arm under the bed and a low, rumbling purr is heard.

“Sai almost tipped over the bed, so I fell. Morning Lulu-bell.” Ryuu gets up and rummages through her drawers in search of a clean shirt. Kyoko kicks her crap aside in search of the skirt that she had worn yesterday and a button-up that isn’t covered in Lucifer’s fur. Ryuu accidentally bumps into Sai as she digs around in a drawer for some clean socks.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to bump into you. Turn around so we can change.” Sai complies, facing into a corner while Ryuu and Kyoko change quickly. Ryuu brushes her hair, braiding it neatly, while Kyoko sprays on her favorite body splash from Bath and Body works to mask the scent of Lucifer. They grab their bags and run downstairs, Sai floating quickly behind them. Ryuu grabs a box of breakfast bars and Kyoko grabs her keys. Ryuu looks at her in horror.

“We already missed the bus to the museum, and it’s too far to run. I promise I won’t kill us,” Kyoko says, waiting until Ryuu is out the door before muttering. “Much.” Ryuu pushes Sai into the back seat of Kyoko’s red convertible and sits in the passenger side herself. Kyoko slips into the driver’s seat and starts the car, buckling up and peeling out of the driveway simultaneously. Ryuu grips the door so tightly that her knuckles turn white in an effort to stay seated in the car.

“Feni-Ryuu, what is this strange contraption?”

“It’s like a horseless carriage,” Ryuu says, eyes shut tightly. She riffles through the box in her hands. “Kyo, there’s only one cereal bar left, do you want to split it?”

“Sure.” Kyoko swerves left around a truck and turns right sharply. Ryuu hands her half of the bar without opening her eyes.

“What is that odd metal horse?”

“Motorcycle,” Ryuu answers without looking.

“The large yellow boat with wheels?”

“School bus”

“The one belching black smoke?” Ryuu opens her eyes to look where Sai is pointing.

“A truck. Oh my god! Kyo, look out for the car!” Kyoko accelerates into a right turn that brings her into the parking lot. Ryuu gets out of the car on shaky legs and takes a couple deep breaths. Sai floats over to her and expresses his concern for her health while Kyoko takes out a slim gadget and flicks around several pieces, flipping it open. She hits the first speed dial and then the call button. It rings twice before the other person picks it up.

“Hey Vincent, can you tell Leon that Ryuu and I are already at the museum?” A brief reply muffled by the connection is heard. “Thanks, bye.” She flips the phone shut and walks over to her sister, dragging her in to the museum. They head to the café for a decent breakfast. Ryuu goes off to get food while Kyoko and Sai go to find a table. She is promptly met with a deluge of questions from the curious spirit.

“What is that enormous grey thing with the long teeth?”

“An Elephant.”

“Why are all of the animals not moving?”

“They’re dead.”

“Why?”

“Because I felt like it.” Ryuu showed up just as Sai was about to ask another question.

“Is Sai bothering you?” Kyoko glares at Ryuu, who merely responds by depositing a chocolate muffin in front of her grouchy sister. She happily munches on her blueberry muffin. Sai looks around like a wide eyed child at all the wonderful things in the main hall of the museum, though he refrains from asking Kyoko any more questions, having suddenly remember that she is a CROSS guard and can kill him with a foam packing peanut if she is so inclined. Almost before Kyoko and Ryuu finish their muffins, a large group of rowdy teens come up the stairs near the café. They pick up their bags and walk over to the group and to a tall scarred brunet in particular. Ryuu stepped in front of her sister tactfully and greeted the man.

“I’m sorry that we missed the bus, Mr. Leonhart, our alarm clock is a little worse for wear.” The man looks at her apathetically.

“That’s okay; you’re both in Mr. Valentine’s group.” Ryuu nods her thanks as Kyoko drags her towards the creepy red-eyed man who had visited their house the night before.

“Hey Vincent.” Vincent nods as Kyoko and Ryuu walk past him to talk to their friends. Touzoku appears out of nowhere next to Kyoko.

“You’re just a little ray of sunshine to day aren’t you?” Kyoko whips around and punches him in the gut, but not very hard. “Ow, what was that for?” Kyoko glares at him.

“Stop lying about it.”

“Touchy, I was just having a little creative license. Lighten up.”

“You were lying, scum sucker.”

“Well, he does always call you on missions more than everyone else.” Touzoku says, backing away from a grinning Kyoko.

“Come back here and lie to my face.” She says calming, advancing on Touzoku. He breaks out into a full tilt run with Kyoko chasing after him. Ryuu walks over to Hikari and Kaelyn, trying to ignore her odd sister.

“Good morning!” Kaelyn and Hikari say, walking over to meet Ryuu. “Did Sai come with you?” Ryuu nods, looking around for her charge. They all flinch at a loud crash and turn around slowly to see Touzoku, Kyoko, Marikku, and Malik in a huge pile.

“Ow. ********, Touzoku, do you always wear that damn dream catcher?” The taller of the two blondes complains, disentangling himself from the pile up that Kyoko created.

“It’s an heirloom dumbass.” Touzoku stands up, dusting himself off. Kyoko and Malik have a little more difficulty separating themselves.

“Ow. Malik, my hair is stuck on your shirt.” Five minutes of discomfort later finds Marikku with a rather spectacular bruise on his stomach for lovely comments on Kyoko’s hair. Kyoko is clawing in the general direction of Marikku’s face because he insulted her height or lack thereof. Vincent comes up behind Kyoko and grabs the back of her shirt, effectively separating her from her tormentor.

“You know, I could sue you for sexual harassment.” Vincent lets go of Kyoko’s shirt quickly.

“Despite the fact that that is one of the least sexually harassing things he’s done, considering the lovely situation with the underground collapse last month.” Touzoku almost squeaks as Kyoko tackles him and holds his arm at an extremely awkward and painful angle.

“********! I was just teasing.” Malik pulls Kyoko off of Touzoku who hides behind Marikku. Ryuu simply sweat drops at the whole ordeal. She turns back to Kaelyn and Hikari.

“Kyoko told me about CROSS and the spirit guardians last night.” Kaelyn heaves a melodramatic sigh.

“Finally! I hated lying to you about what we were doing, but we had direct orders not to tell you anything until Sai appeared.” Ryuu, Hikari, and Kaelyn share a brief embrace. Sai flickers into existence behind Ryuu as their hug separates. Hikari walks up to him and bows slightly, as does Kaelyn. Sai bows in reply. Vincent practically materializes behind them, scaring the trio of girls and the pseudo-visible spirit rather badly.

“Jesus, Vincent! Make some noise when you move!” Kaelyn had jumped when she had blinked and Vincent was standing right behind Hikari. Vincent mock bows sardonically.

“My apologies miss, but our tour of the Japanese exhibit is about to begin,” he says, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. Hikari and Kaelyn roll their eyes at each other before linking arms with Ryuu and following Vincent and the rest of their group. The guard in front of the exhibit takes their tickets and ushers them in.

The first room of the exhibit is a movie, covering the basic information on the Emperors that ruled in the Heian Era, as well as the information on the other influential families during those times. The group watches the video before proceeding to the next room. The second room holds a diorama of the Imperial City and its surrounding lands as well as posters and audio tracks about the norms of the Heian era. The third room is more interesting, with a full-size replica of a typical peasant’s house, with facts under things that you could lift up. The fourth room has two sides, one dedicated to the life of a noble female; the other to noble males. This room holds the group’s attention for the longest.

“Damn, how the hell did they put up with wearing that many clothes?” Touzoku muses out loud. Kyoko snorts at his rhetorical question.

“Just because you feel the need to renounce clothing and run around buck naked, doesn’t mean everyone else does.” Kaelyn giggles a little bit at this comment and Touzoku smirks.

“How do you know that I run around naked?” He is disappointed when, instead of blushing, Kyoko returns his comment with a smirk of her own.

“CROSS monitors the behavior of all of its members for a three month period before initiating them, and I have high level access codes.”

“No you don’t,” says Kaelyn through her giggles. “You were using Vincent’s code.”

“How’d you know whose code it was?”

“Simple, no one else would use ‘Cerberus’ for a password.”

“Speaking of Cerberus, have you ever thought that maybe Vincent is compensating for something?” A shadow falls over the gossiping group. Kyoko, without looking up, greets the person.

“Hello Vincent.” Vincent glares at the group.

“You are supposed to be learning about life in Heian era Japan, not discussing CROSS business and whether or not I am compensating for things, understood?” Vincent menaces. Kyoko mock salutes him.

“Yes sir, owner of overly large guns.” Touzoku snorts and hurries after the rest of the group. They find them selves in a room full of half-life size dioramas depicting palace life. There was one of a typical court scene with the emperor and his advisors and a scene of a tea ceremony with one of the most well known princesses of the era and her female relatives and retainers, as well as diorama of a game of go with the premier Go master of the era. The group of students in the anime club that were commonly dubbed the ‘Sai fan club’ by Ryuu were obsessing over the Go diorama.

“Oh…my…god!” A boy with white hair and a strange tattoo on his eye says, starting to hyperventilate slightly.

“It’s Fujiwara no Sai!” A girl with brown hair exclaims, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

“OMG! Yays!” A rather annoying brunette with thick rimmed glasses half-screams giddily. Her reluctant companions all turn to glare at her.

“Shut up Schiezcka,” they say in unison. The annoying brunette visibly deflates. A girl with long black hair and a rather vacant expression examines the diorama.

“I didn’t think that he was a real person.” A blond girl turns to the vacant looking girl with a look of absolute shock and mild mock betrayal.

“Of course he’s real, River!” Kyoko lazily appears seemingly from nowhere amongst the group of fan girls (and boy).

“Was,” she states simply, examining the positions on the go board. The blond girl turns to her with a look of slight confusion.

“Huh?” She enquires eloquently.

“Was, Winry, my dear, stupid airhead. He’s dead! Dried up and crispy! Deceased! Gone to the Go salon in the sky! Brain ******** by maggots! Six feet under! In the great beyond! In short he is an ex-idol to you and your sorry little cult of stalkers.” Kyoko is grinning at the infuriated group of fan girls (and boy). The first brunette glares at Kyoko.

“You…you…you blasphemer!” Serenity shrieks at Kyoko’s retreating back. Kyoko glances over her shoulder and grins in a way that is more fitting to psychological thriller than an ‘innocent’ school outing. Atemu and Touzoku are arguing vehemently as Kyoko follows them into the final part of the exhibit before the gift shop. This part is an interactive dress up part where you can get your picture taken in semi-traditional looking robes.

“I’ll bet you anything that the game was a real game!” Touzoku declares brazenly. Atemu smirks maliciously.

“Loser has to wear a girl’s kimono in the picture.” Touzoku smirks.

“Prepare to embrace your true gender, loser.” Touzoku says slyly, before calling over his shoulder, “Ryuu, I have a question about one of the dioramas.” Ryuu smiles happily before walking over to Touzoku and Atemu.

“What’s your question?” Touzoku smirks at Atemu before answering Ryuu.

“In the diorama of the Go game, was it a teaching game or a real game?” Ryuu delicately arches an eyebrow at the two boys.

“It was a teaching game, why do you ask?” Atemu cackles rather maniacally whilst Touzoku tries valiantly to make a thief-like escape.

“Touzoku and I had a bet, and the loser has to wear a girl’s kimono in the picture. Get back here, Touzoku.” Ryuu snickers a bit and walks back to where she left Sai, Kaelyn, and Hikari. Atemu manages to get Touzoku in a headlock before calling Kyoko over.

“Oy, Kyoko, mind getting this sore loser into a girl’s kimono?” Kyoko shrugs, tying a silver obi around her indigo and silver kimono. She wanders off and grabs a pink and gold kimono and a delicate white obi. Atemu leaves Touzoku in her tender loving care and goes to find something to wear in the picture.

“Quit squirming, you’re just making the kimono more twisted and prolonging your misery. Put your arm through here.” Touzoku complies grumpily and lets Kyoko dress him. She then drags Touzoku over to the group where they are taking pictures. Ryuu, Atemu, Kaelyn, Hikari, Malik, and Marikku are already seated on the benches. Ryuu makes Kyoko sit next to her, and Kyoko pushes Touzoku over towards Marikku and the only seat left. Once they had their picture taken, the group divests themselves of their Japanese garb and heads for the gift shop.

Ryuu, Kaelyn, and Hikari, along with the rest of the girls head for the kimonos immediately. Kyoko and the boys head for the swords. Fifteen minutes later finds Kyoko looking over the racks of kimonos.

“Crap, crap, double crap, crap, halfway decent, crap, crap, crap,” she mutters under her breath. Ryuu comes up behind her sister, quirking an eyebrow quizzically.

“What are you doing, Kyo?” Kyoko turns around and raises an eyebrow at Ryuu.

“Observing the utter crappiness of these mass-produced kimonos. If you really wanted one, the one with the dragons on it would be okay if you re-sewed the seams.” She says off-handedly as she wanders toward the swords again. Ryuu purchases the kimono as well as a lovely dragon and phoenix pendant. Kyoko purchases a stunning specimen of the traditional katana. Touzoku runs in fear of his life. The rest of the group wanders off to look at the rest of the museum. Ryuu sits down on a bench yawning. Sai sits next to her.

“What are you doing Fe-Ryuu?” Ryuu yawns again and leans against the wall.

“I’m just going to close my eyes for a bit. I’m fairly tired.” Sai warily accepts her answer as she drifts off to sleep.