The Fault in Our Mango

The 'Rescue'

Kimiko's POV

The place was a madhouse. Guards just kept on coming and coming... Jeesh, were they annoying. I fought my way through the building and searched for Catnip and her boyfriend. I found them attacking guards near each other with knives and pistols.

"Guys," I said as I made my way to them. "Let's go. We have to search for the kitchen."

Catnip stabbed somebody then retracted the knife, letting the body fall down. "Well, that's a nice line to say in battle," she commented.

I acknowledged her comment and headed into the depths of the building. I looked back to see if those two were following, then concentrated on where to head. There were guards everywhere we went. Although I didn't want to waste time, we had to take them out. Eventually, the number of people we encountered was less and less, until there was no one out in the halls.

"I thought this was a government base," Catnip said.

"They're probably all locked up in those rooms," I murmured, gesturing to the various doors in the hallway.

We slowed down to a walk, still walking the never ending passages. Then we came to a pair of doors with little windows. With my hopes up, I looked through them and found a bunch of cooking appeal. "Yes!" I shrieked and threw the door open. In a corner, I saw someone with long white hair sitting on a counter. Even though her back was facing us, I knew it was Aika.

"Aikaaa" I squealed,  quickly walking towards her. "Oh God, I knew you'd be safe, I just kne-"

She turned around and was holding a bucket of ice cream. "Kimiko," she mumbled through a mouthful of the stuff, "Hi. Took you a long time." Bewildered, I just stared at her.

"Ooh, ice cream," Catnip said, walking past me. "Where are the spoons?" she asked Aika.

Aika pulled out a drawer and took out a spoon. Catnip took it and started eating ice cream along with Aika. I stared at them, then rolled my eyes, trying to get over them. I walked over to the girls and leaned on the counter. "Very nice, guys, very nice," I said sarcastically.

Aika grinned and continued eating ice cream. Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming from the hallway. Yato and Sanji burst into the kitchen. "Oh, you guys are already here," Yato said.

Sanji stared at Aika and Catnip. "Are you two... eating ice cream?" Aika nodded. "Alright..." he said, "How'd you escape anyways? I thought they had you locked up or something."

"Well, it's an interesting story," Aika said, grinning.

"Oh, boy. I knew you'd done something. Please, enlighten me," I said, hopping she hadn't cause too much trouble.

She kept grinning at me and started telling the story, "Well, everything started when they wouldn't give me food..." I rolled my eyes.

God dammit, Aika.

Aika's POV

"Well, I'll go straight to the point," I breathed.

"Is there ever a point with you, Aika?" Kimiko asked with annoyance hinting at her voice.

"Shut up and let me talk," I responded, smiling. "They took me to a cell. I was hungry-"

Sanji interrupted, throwing his hands up in fake surprise, "Oh, that explains it all!"

I continued, "-they brought food to shut me up. After a while of asking for more, I felt satisfied. I got bored and decided to walk out of the cell."

"Walk out..." Kimiko murmured.

"What? It's true. If they wanna keep me locked up, they should at least keep me in the kitchen," I giggled. "Anyways, I opened the cell's door but I guess I used too much strength because it broke off its hinges. The guards stared at me and I gave them an apologetic smile, setting the door down so that it was leaning against the wall. I walked out, and they got angry so they followed me. They tried to kill me so I stole one of their swords and murdered them. Eventually I made my way here."

"Awesome story," Catnip said, still stuffing herself with ice cream.

"Should we leave now?" Yato asked.

"Yeah, why not?" answered Kimiko sarcastically. "And we'll just leave the sisters here. Sure." she scoffed.

"Oh, it's true. Where are those strange girls?" Catnip asked.

"Gee, thanks. We're right here," a voice said from the doorway.

I turned to look. "Oh, the sisters, there they are," I said, and Nicolette made a face of disdain at me. I grinned back at her.

"Hey, we should leave now, everybody's here," Natasha chimed in.

"Yeah," Kimiko nodded. "Let's go."

We headed towards the kitchen's exit. Suddenly, a shadow appeared at the doorway. A boy stood there. "Well, hello. It's a good day, isn't it? Unfortunately, I can't let you leave," he said. I recognized him immediately, as did Kimiko.

"Oh, hi," I said.

"You..." Kimiko breathed.

"Oh, damn, you're cute," Catnip almost shrieked.

The others looked at the boy in confusion. "Who..." started Nicolette.

"He was the guy who was with me when they brought me here," I explained. "Oh, and he fed me."

"He's the one who kidnapped her and started this whole thing," Kimiko said angrily. "He fed you?" she shrieked, and I grinned.

The shadow man stared at them, then looked at me, repulsed. "I didn't feed you!"

"Yes, you did," I retorted. "You don't have to be so shy about it.

He blushed. "I just wanted you to shut up!' he stated.

I stuck her tongue out at him. The other's watched the confrontation with blank stares. After a brief moment of silence, Nicolette spoke.

"Well, it'd be nice if we could stay and chat, but we must leave now. So it'd be great if you could move..."

"Oh sorry, I can't do that. It'd be horrible for our reputation if she-" the shadow man pointed at me, "-got away. And, besides, 8 test subjects... That's a jackpot!"

"Oh, well, bad luck dude," I patted his shoulder, following the others out of the kitchen.

He stared blankly ahead, while we raced down the hallway. Suddenly, Shadow Boy snapped out of his trance and started chasing us down the passage. We stopped abruptly, struggling to move forward.

"Why can't I move?" Natasha asked through clenched teeth.

Shadow Boy strode up to us, grinning wildly. "I think you have forgotten... I'm a shadow man, remember? I can control anything that has a shadow," he pointed to the ground. "Including you."

Silence hung over us. Then a grin crept up Natasha's face. "Ah... That's how you do it... Perfect. Thanks."

The shadow man looked confused. Then a blank look spread on his gaze. We stumbled forward and were able to move again.

"Ha!" Natasha exclaimed.

Emotion returned to the shadow man's face. It was filled with anger. "You little..."

A shadow crept towards Natasha. "Now!" she yelled quickly, then turned her attention to the shadow man. She concentrated hard, used her powers again, and Shadow Dude's face went blank. The shadow stopped moving, inches away from reaching Natasha. Without hesitation, Nicolette pulled out an arrow and shot it. It lodged itself in the boy's chest. Natasha let his mind go, and pain spread through his face. He fell to the ground, the shadow he was controlling disappearing. We stood in silence, staring down at him.

"Well," Catnip broke the silence. "That's a shame, he was cute."

"Oh please," Kimiko rolled her eyes. "We've gotta keep moving."

The others nodded and we continued running through the hallway, towards the exit.