By Kotohonou

CH2: A SPIKEY PROBLEM

Kurei hugged the wheel as they sped through the cities nearby. He madly swerved in and out of traffic.

"Yeah! Go Kurei! The need for speed finally hit you, eh?" Annaliese cheered.

"Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to let him drive." Melissa looked a bit nervous.

Soon, they were lost. Melissa coaxed Kurei to stop at a large office building. The girls hopped out and jogged up the steps. They pushed open the large glass doors. In front of them, on a flight of stairs, were three men. Two of them, on the sides, held guns. The one in the middle looked like he had been hit by a train.

"Maybe we should try another office building." Annaliese gulped.

"No, look! That guy-the hurt one.."

"Hey, it’s….."

"Spike!" They chorused.

The two gun-toting men looked at each other, confused.

The girls, now oblivious to any danger, raced up the steps.

"Poor Spike!" Melissa patted his bloody head, "Ewww!"

"You-you bumsters!" Annaliese slapped the other men, "What did you do to Spike?"

The men were dumbfounded.

"Hey, Annaliese," An evil smile crossed Melissa’s face, "We have room in the car, and in the mansion."

"I like your style of thinking!" Annaliese accepted.

"Let’s get him out of here. He needs medical attention." Melissa had hoisted him up on her shoulders. Annaliese helped, and they took him outside. They buckled him in a seat belt and comanded Kurei to drive off.

"Hey, you! Get back here!" The man had finally realized what was happening and shot at the car until it was out of sight. "Dang, Frank, we did it again."

"How many people have gotten away from us?"

"A lot."

"Hmmm… we’re not very good at this, Lin."

"Nope. Hey, want a mocha?"

"I’d love one!"

Spike woke to find himself in a strange room. He tried to get up, but his arms felt useless. He sighed and relaxed again, struggling to forget the emptiness in his stomach.

Melissa peeked into the room. Seeing the bishounen awake, she picked up the nearby picnic basket and waltzed in. Spike looked up.

"Oh, hey there! We found you last night, and you looked hurt, so we decided to try to help and take you home."

"Ok…" Spike mumbled, still confused.

"We would have taken you to a hospital, but Tokiya swore he knew how to take care of injuries like yours."

"Where are my smokes?"

"God, that’s disgusting!" Melissa shuddered and bonked him on the head. "We have made an executive decision that there will be no smoking in this household! Here, have this instead." She tossed him a pack of gum, "Oh, and I nearly forgot, you must be hungry so here are some sandwiches." She placed the basket on his bed, "They’re tofu-sun-dried tomato-black bean sauce sandwiches (they had somehow made their way into Kurei’s van)."

Spike hungrily attacked the basket and tore one out. He munched thoughtfully, "Hmm… tastey!"

"Bleh!" Melissa shuddered, "Well if you need anything, feel free to shout. We’re watching stuff downstairs, so come down if you want."

He grabbed another sandwich.

"So? How is he?" Annaliese her head from the television, where Kurei and Tokiya were playing Super Smash Bros.

"He’s mad we took his stuff away, but otherwise, he’s ok."

A groan and cheer symbolized the end of the game.

"Ha! Fifth time in a row! Go Captain Falcon!" Kurei laughed, which shocked the girls.

Tokiya’s face was one of utter shock, "Link? How could you? Why, why?"

"Wasting your time on silly games?"

Everybody’s head snapped around ("Ow!" Annaliese shouted, her head snapped too fast.) to see the new speaker. Spike was out of bed. He clutched a chair for support.

"Spike! Wanna play?" Annaliese handed him a controller.

He hesitated, then gave it back. "Where am I?"

"A mansion!" Kurei smiled, obviously still extremely happy with his winning streak.

"Really."

Melissa, taken back by Kurei’s strange mood and explained further, "I’m Melissa, that’s Annaliese, Tokiya, and Kurei," She pointed to each in turn, "We moved here not too long ago. It’s Annaliese’s great uncle’s mansion. She inherited it."

"-And you can stay if you want!" Annaliese added.

"Yeah, but I can’t smoke."

"Exactly."

"What about outside?"

"No."

Spike didn’t like this.

Tokiya rolled his eyes, "Listen: just say yes. ‘Jeez, let me think. Live in a huge mansion, or die of about a million things from smoking. Hmmm, I DON’T KNOW!’ Trust me, if you can stand the girls, you’ll be fine."

Spike glanced over to Melissa and Annaliese, who smiled angelically. "Fine. I’ll stay. For now."

"Sweet!" The girls exchanged high-fives.

Kurei leaned over to Tokiya, "Nice job."

"I do what I can."

END: ‘A Spikey Problem’