"Sariah... you got something good in the mail today!" announced Chiriko
as Sariah came in the front door. He did this to avoid her daily question
of 'Did I get anything good in the mail?'
"Oh oh! What is it?" answered Sariah rushing up to him and looking hopeful.
"It's a package from someone in Illinois..."
"Rence! The tapes! The tapes! Where is it?"
"I left it on your bed."
As Sariah rushed off, Chiriko breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, the
tapes were in. Now maybe she would stop moping around the house singing,
"Someday, my tapes will come..." Sounds of ripping came from her bedroom
and Chiriko idlely wondered if Sariah would damage the tapes before she
got them to the VCR. Sighing he followed the tearing and entered the bedroom.
Once there, she looked at him SD with tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked with some trepidation.
"It's not here!" she wailed still SD.
"What's not here?" Chiriko asked, his unease growing.
"The _fight_! With Kenshin and Shishio! I only got to see the first
episode of it and the rest was supposed to come with these tapes! <sniff
sniff>" Still SD, she was now pouting.
Just as Chiriko was about to open his mouth in reply, Sariah suddenly
un-SDed and said, "Oh well... I'll just E-mail her later and see if there
is anything we can do about it. At least I have more Kenshin to watch!"
Picking himself up off of the floor from the face fault that had just
occurred, Chiriko wondered how she switched moods so fast. She was so mercurial.
Selecting a tape from the box, Sariah asked, "So where is everyone?"
"Well, Kaoru and your sister were taking P-chan for a walk and then
I think they were going grocery shopping. I don't know where Xellos is."
"Then I guess you get to watch with me! Aren't you so excited!"
Chiriko gave her a Look. Sariah blithely ignored it and inserted the
tape in the VCR.
"I'll give you M&M's..." she sing-songed.
He perked up at that.
"The crispy ones?"
"Yep."
"And some peanut ones too?"
"Sure."
"I guess I could watch with you then," he said rubbing his hands in
anticipation.
"Oh, why is Ryouga P-chan? Have you been running tests on him again?"
Looking embarrassed, he mumbled, "Just some temperature trials..." and
then louder, "Becky decided it would be fun to take him to the park as
a pig. Once she picked him up, he stopped protesting."
Picturing her sister hugging the pig and P-chan with a nosebleed, Sariah
muttered, "Poor boy didn't have a chance..."
Pulling some bags out of the refrigerator and tossing to Chiriko, she
snatched up the remote. Pushing play, Sariah sprawled across her bed and
Chiriko sat in the computer chair.
'He's so cute like that,' she thought. 'His feet don't even touch the
ground.'
And so they sat and watched the tape, Chiriko very intent on his M&M's
occasionally glancing at the screen and Sariah rapt in attention to the
screen and occasionally eating a piece of candy. After the last episode
on the tape, she had a thoughtful look on her face.
"Ne, Chiriko, were you watching that last episode?"
"A little bit... why do you ask?"
"Well, other than the fact that it played out like a bad episode of
Sailor Moon, did you notice anything strange?"
"Umm, like what?"
"Well, in that episode, Tae-san seemed pretty sneaky, trying to set
up Kaoru and Kenshin... and, well, she always had her eyes closed... kind
of like... well, Xellos..."
Both sat for a moment an pondered.
However, any ponderings were interrupted by a loud yell of "'Nee-chaaaaaan!
I'm hooooome!"
Sariah jumped up and exclaimed, "I have to save Ryouga!"
Meanwhile, a universe away...
"Hello and welcome to the Akabeko!" greeted Tae as the customer entered.
"Oh now, such a formal greeting for your brother..." responded the man.
"'Nii-chan! I haven't seen you in so long... there's so much to talk
about. Have a seat," said Tae, leading Xellos to a table.
Owari.
