InuYasha Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Inu-Ra-Ken: Affections Touching Across Sense ❯ It Starts ( Chapter 5 )

The sun pounded down heavily on the campus quad. The atmosphere was heavy and thick with humidity and the air above the scorching hot ground seemed to waver in the heat. In the middle of the grassy square, under the sparse shade of a douglas fir, two girls sat on blankets, fanning themselves with homemade paper fans. Their appearances could not have been much more opposite-one was ash-pale, with green eyes and straight blonde hair down her back, while the other was darker colored with large brown eyes and a mass of short, curly brown hair around her head. Both, however, shared a look of faint misery. Sweat dripped down their faces and soaked their clothes. Despite the heat, both girls wore long pants.

"Oh, God, Natalie, it's so hot," the blonde girl-named Rachel-groaned, tossing an arm over her eyes to block out the intense sunlight.

"Yes," Natalie answered absently, still fanning herself.

"I think I'm going to die."

"Yes."

"Are you sure it's cooler out here than in the dorm?"

"No."

"How can it be this hot the week before Halloween? It's not natural."

"Damn Alabama weather."

"Damn the people who turned the heat on in the dorms already. I mean, it's like 105 degrees in the shade out here and they've got the heaters blasting in every dorm on campus. What's that about?" Rachel demanded, resuming to fan herself with her fan.

"Montevallo is screwed up," Natalie agreed.

"Yeah, really. You have to wear a coat when you go inside during the summer and shorts during the winter."

"It's pretty and all, but really, it's kind of a backwards, middle-of-nowhere place."

"Nothing ever happens here," Rachel stated wearily. She glanced around, taking in the deserted quad, the empty front steps of their dorm, and the half empty parking lot in the distance. "Plus, the entire campus is absolutely disserted every single weekend. This has got to be the least "party-campus" campus this side of the Mississippi. I bet there's not a soul around for miles."

"Nah. The dorms' are littered with people-all unconscious on the floor from heat exhaustion."

"Oh, I see… We could go steal their shoes!"

"Maybe later."

A cloud rolled mercifully over the sun, taking the edge off the heat for a moment. The ground itself seemed to sigh in relief.

The pair lapsed into silence, both lost in their own thoughts-most of which centered around air conditioning.

Above them, the cloud moved on, exposing the sun once again, in all its glory. The sun bore down on the small, insignificant town of Montevallo, Alabama. As the sun hit the pair at full intensity once again, Rachel groaned and tossed her arm over her eyes.

"Oh, God, it's so hot."

Several hours later, the sun was setting and the girls were still sitting beneath the tree. They had helped each other study on and off, but had mainly focused their energies on procrastinating. Natalie, who was an art major, had filled several pages in her sketchbook with quite a few new pictures, ranging from Ed, the evil, omnipotent campus squirrel to Peril, the un-toughest gang member in history. Between working on that and complaining about the heat, not a great deal of studying had been accomplished.

As they talked and laughed, the shadows around them grew longer and the stars began to appear. Fireflies dotted the air over the quad.

"Wow, it's gotten kinda dark out here," Rachel observed, glancing around in surprise. "When did that happen?"

"Same time it happens every day-right after afternoon and directly before night. I believe they call it `dusk'. Ever heard of it?" Natalie asked with a gleam in her eye.

"Ha, ha. Very smooth."

"Smooth like the day?"

"Yes, smooth like the day."

Suddenly, Natalie gave a start, her head snapping around to look to her left. "Uh… did you hear something?"

"No…"

There was a moment of silence, as both girls strained to listen. The only sound was the chirping of crickets and the occasional squirrel rustling through the trees.

"I still don't hear anything… Brrrr! Does it seem cold all of a sudden to you?" Rachel asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Yeah, but not a good cold…"

"No… let's get back inside. I don't like the feel of this place all of a sudden."

"I agree."

The pair quickly began to pack up their things. Before another two seconds had passed an ominous rumble seemed to shake the ground under their feet. Before either girl could react, an explosion of white light hit them, followed by a shockwave that knocked them to the ground. When their eyes recovered from the shock of white light sufficiently enough to see, they found the grass around them glowing bright purple, so bright it lit the air around them.

"What the hell?"

"I think hell is right!"

The purple glow intensified for a second, then faded suddenly away, leaving nine shadowy figures behind.

For a moment, there was absolute silence. The two girls sat on the ground, stunned. The dark figures, most of which were also sitting, seemed frozen with shock as well. As the girls' eyes adjusted to the dark once again after the bright flash, the figures began to take shape.

"Oh, my God."