Disclaimer: I think I'm gonna stop saying this... On the first chapter should be enough.

Of Gangs and Groceries
Gwydion and T4

Chapter 9

Allen sighed as he walked out of Hitomi's apartment complex. He couldn't understand how she could live like that. And yet every time he offered, she had refused his help, or anyone else's for that matter. Thoughts of his friend's living conditions swarmed his mind as he got into his car and started it. But he was brought out of his reverie when he realized that something was wrong. He quickly got out of his car and checked the tires. He cursed under his breath as he noticed that all of his tires had been slashed. When at last he stood up, he also realized that into the perfect bodywork had been carved a name.

"White Dragon"

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In her room, Hitomi, now freezing, took off her sopping clothes and changed into warm pajamas. She went over to the table where the food Allen had brought was. It was enough for almost three meals. She smiled sadly. He was being so thoughtful, but... but... she just had to do this herself. Something inside her made it a necessity. As she munched on a soft biscuit, she remembered the letter from her brother. In rush, she tore open the envelope and read:

"Sis, I miss you. I wish you would have come with me. Why do you have to stay? I'm so worried about you. Allen and Yukari are worried too, especially Allen. He always asks me about what's been going on these pasts couple months. Don't worry. I didn't tell him everything. But, I'm so scared for you, Sis. I don't know what I'd do without you. Please come here. You'll be safe here. Allen can take care of us. Please? Please? I love you too much for you to get hurt. Please? Love, Momaru"

Hitomi's green eyes filled with crystal clear tears. She knew her brother's worry; she felt the same way about him - that's why she had sent him to be with her friends. But, she just couldn't go. She had to prove to herself that she could handle this. Resolutely, through a tear stained face, she set the letter down, plugged in the cell phone charger, and went to bed.

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Van was in an even worse mood than usual on what was a rather lovely day. The sun was out. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The birds were singing. The squirrels were chirping.

And the smell of meat was in the air.

Indeed, it was the first day of the two day meat sale being held at the grocery store in which the grumpy gang leader worked. Meat sales meant a few things. First of all, they meant that the store would be crowded with people, all of them anxious to get there hands on the highest quality piece of chicken, pork, or beef. Secondly, they meant disgruntled customers who did not get the best meat. Thirdly, and perhaps the worst of all, they meant "themes". "Themes" were terrible things in the eyes of any normal employee. "Themes" meant that not only did you have to put up with meat sale days, but you had to put up with them in costume.

So there stood Van in khaki pants and a bright flowered shirt with a colorful lei around his neck, a scowl upon his face. As he packed the current customer's last bag, he glanced over his shoulder. A manager stood a few feet away, smiling at the passing shoppers, undoubtedly giddy that he could wear his hawaiin shirt to work.

'He can't stand there all day, can he?' Van thought to himself as he shoved the next person's meat into a plastic bag, not even bothering to ask if that was ok. As long as the manager was around, it would be hard for any of the baggers to escape.

Hitomi, for lack of any better costume, came to work in jeans that had been cut off into capris (they had gotten ragged on the bottoms and capris had seemed more festive than raggy jeans) and a red t-shirt. Marlene, as promised, came through with a lei - a green one, actually - and a silly looking straw hat. For sure, Hitomi felt ridiculous, but looking at the decked out gang leader made her smile. In fact, that was the only thing that would probably make her smile today.

Upon entering the store, even before she made it to the time clock, Dryden accosted her again with vague and crude insinuations about the refrigerator. And, oh too soon after that, the glories of meat sale day began.

Despite the fact that it was Thursday afternoon, the place was crowded like they were giving away money. People were either ecstatic about the deals or annoyed that the meat was sold out. The jumbo shrimp went first. Constantly being asked when they'll get more, Hitomi just tried to keep the smile on her face as she professed her ignorance.

The meat was finally getting to her. The customers were buying so much. First of all, the meat bags that people could put the meat in have writing on one side. And, if they weren't smart enough to make sure the scanable barcode wasn't covered with the writing, she'd have to pull it out and put it back in the back. Then, some people tried to stuff three packages of meat into one bag. That's just plain annoying to deal with. But, in reality, the worst was when people didn't bother with the bag and the meat bled all over everything, including Hitomi herself. Thank goodness she wore red and not a light colored shirt.

Her first break finally came around. And, as she walked to the bathroom to wash the blood residue off herself, she was greeted, well, if you can call it that, by none other than Dryden.

"Hey there." He raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"Hi." 'Go away,' she thought as she continued on her way.

He grabbed her by the waist from behind and tried to pull her toward him. She slipped out of his grip. He grinned. The girl was playing hard to get. Oh, that just made him want her more.

She turned and, breathing heavily because all senses were perked and prepared for him, looked him down.

He grinned. "You still owe me a trip to the fridge, ya know?" He ran his tongue over his upper lip.

She'd had enough. "Alright, I don't know what you think happened in the refrigerator, but I am not interested in you at all, okay?" She still held her dirty hands out in front of her as she turned to continue to the bathroom. She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Well then why don't you show me just what did happen?" he suggested, raising an eyebrow. His clutch on her shoulder tightened.

A disgusted look came over her face. Hitomi pushed his arm with force and pulled away. "You - "

"Hey."

Both employees turned to look at the newcomer, Dryden quickly letting go of Hitomi in case it was a manager. The packer sighed in relief when he turned and saw his fellow worker.

"Man, Van!" sighed Dryden as he glanced at the intruder. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

The gang leader just looked at him as he asked "Do you work on Saturday? I need someone to take my hours. The idiot managers scheduled me to work when I already told them I wanted that day off."

"Saturday?" Dryden looked at the cashier. "What are you doing this Saturday, babe? If you're free then we could hang out, just the two of us. Just give me the word and I'll tell this guy to - "

The babbling bagger was cut off as Van glared at him. "Look, I told you, she's not worth it. Don't you get it, or are you really that dense?"

Dryden blinked. "What are you talking about, man? Everyone heard what happened back in the fridge! I just want a piece of the action!"

"You really are sick, you know that?" said Van as he shook his head.

"What?"

"I mean, who would want her when other cashiers, like Millerna for example, practically throw themselves at you and look better too?" he said with a smirk.

Hitomi took this fine opportunity to continue to the bathroom. Had that gang leader come through for her once or was he just avoiding work like usual?

Dryden stood there and thought about what his fellow bagger had said. Indeed, Millerna was prettier, and if what was said to have happened in the refridgerator didn't happen, probably more willing as well. He smiled. "Van, I think I'll go check on something. I'll let you know if I can take your Saturday hours or not after that." With that, the packer took off in the direction of the checkout lanes.

Van rolled his eyes and shook his head. Knowing Millerna, she wasn't working on Saturday ("Work on the weekends??"). "Looks like I'll be keeping my shift," he muttered as he pushed open the door to the men's bathroom and stepped inside, ripping off his lei and throwing it in the trash as the door closed behind him.

In the ladies restroom, Hitomi scrubbed and scrubbed her hands and up to her elbows. She felt dirty, but despite the scrubbing, the feeling of dirtiness stayed. Splashing water on her face, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe, if she had any shred of luck in this world, she'd be left alone. She wiped herself dry with a scratchy paper towel and left the bathroom. After stooping over to the get a drink from the fountain, she quickly straightened herself up and turned smack dab into someone leaving the men's bathroom. Before realizing who it was, she began apologizing profusely, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see - " She cut short, realizing that it was Van. She took a step back.

The bagger raised an eyebrow. "What?"

She sorta shrugged. "I'm sorry. That's all." She didn't make a move to leave.

"Uh, ok..." he said slowly, "You sure? You're kind of in my way, ya know, and I know that is usually the problem, but normally instead of just standing there, you try to get as far away from me as possible."

She shrugged and brushed past him. "Nice shirt." She didn't get very far though as she felt a strong hand grab her arm.

"Now I know you're lying," he said with a smirk, "There is no way you'd give me a compliment, especially on this." He motioned to his bright orange flowered shirt with his free hand.

The expression on her face faded in mock astonishment. "Oh no, you lost your lei. You can borrow mine." She took her free arm and began to grab the lei. She was stopped once again by Van's other hand.

"Oh, no you don't. If you think I'm even touching that thing, you're crazier than I thought." The bagger pushed Hitomi through the door of the empty break room and shut it behind him. "Now spill it. What's with the attitude?"

She sat down on the table. "What attitude?" she asked coldly.

He leaned against the door and crossed his arms. "Like I already said, you usually run off or ignore me or something. You never stick around and just stare at me. That usually means that something happened, and if it has something to do with me, I want to know."

After waiting a moment to think, she spoke. "Ya know... For once, nothing's happened - nothing." She forced a superficial smile that soon faded to an eyebrow furrowed frown. She stood and took a step toward him. "Thanks for distracting Dryden earlier." She reached, put her hand on the knob of the door, and turned.

The gang leader paused before saying anything, not moving from his spot against the door. "What are you talking about?"

She tugged on the unlatched handle, but Van wouldn't move his weight. "Nothing, alright?" Her patience for this encounter was waning. "I oughta get back to work."

"Is that it? Was that all you wanted to say?"

"I'm not the one who brought me in here, remember? I have nothing to say. What do you want me to say? Do you want me to say that I'll be leaving your life forever? Do you want me to say that I've just discovered my undying passion for you and everything you're related with? Do you want me to -"

"Just shut up, will ya!? I don't want anything, ok!? I just wanted to make sure you hadn't sold me out or something!" he yelled.

She was quiet for a second. "So, you did want something." She tried the handle again.

"Wha - well, no! I just - I... Oh, nevermind!" he cried, frustrated. "I can't believe that you're acting strange just because of that."

She backed up, letting go of the handle. "First of all, I'm not acting 'strange' as you so eloquently put it. I'm the one who's acting normal. You're the one being all weird with the pushing me in here and asking questions and blushing and all." After motioning to his face, she continued. "Now maybe you're just being dumb again or maybe you really don't think it's a very big deal, but I did want to thank you for distracting Dryden whether you just happened to do so or whether out of some corner of your heart, some rare goodness gave you the drive to do so. Either way, it's over now, okay?" Her hands were on her hips; she had nothing more to say to him. Why was it that he could be almost decent then he just annoyed her? He needed serious work on his social skills.

Upon hearing the comment about his "blushing and all", Van attempted to regain his composure. He closed his eyes, pushed away from the door, and instead stood against the adjacent wall. "Fine, whatever. If all you wanted was a 'your welcome' then you got it, alright?" He sighed, took his cap off, and ran his hand through his hair. Carefully replacing it, he muttered, "I have to get back to work," a scowl on his face. He reached for the door and opened it to leave.

"Ha. That's a first." She walked through the open door, leaving the bagger standing there.

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For the rest of the day, Van avoided Hitomi's lane. Even if there was no where else to pack, he'd manage to find something else to do, like go to the bathroom, return an item, or help a little old lady find the dried tomatoes, which since their store didn't carry any, happened to take up a rather nice amount of time. The day could not be over soon enough.

Despite the gross texture and smell and feel and bloodiness of the meat, Hitomi was having a day that was finally looking up. Yes, Van had sorta annoyed her for a while, but she thought that she may have finally almost sorta gotten the better of him. Now, she wasn't going to flatter her ego too much or anything, but he had been almost decent. And, dude - he had blushed. Score one for the good guys. Er... "Would you like paper or plastic, ma'am?" There was no response as the older lady continued to methodically place small cans of cat food on the conveyer belt one by one by one by one.

"Ma'am?" Hitomi nearly shouted.

"Eh?" the old lady stopped with a 9 Lives chopped liver and cheese can in her hand.

"If you just tell me how many you have, I can ring up your cat food using just one."

"But they're different flavors," the customer insisted.

"It's okay, ma'am."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it'll be just fine."

"Okay..." The elderly lady sighed as she strategically began to put all the cat food back into her cart.

"You can leave what you've already taken out." Hitomi assured, patience beginning to run thinner and thinner by the moment.

Finally, all of the cat food was rung up and was paid for with the slowest check writing in the world. To make it worse, the lady wrote the check for $60 when the bill came to $59.23. Why did people do that? What is the purpose of writing a check when you aren't going to write it for the correct amount?! It's not like the lady needed 77 cents of change to buy something. She had a whole change purse filled to the brim! For cryin' out loud... people.

"Excuse me," the elderly lady tried again, interrupting the cashier's frozen smile and running thoughts.

"I'm sorry, yes?" Welcome back to reality, Hitomi.

"I need help out, please. The cat food just really weighs down the bags, and I can't carry them. But Merle really likes 9 Lives best, so I buy a lot when it's on sale. Well, I buy the limit. Once I bought over and had to pay full price. Do you know what this stuff costs? It's expensive."

'Of course I know what this costs,' Hitomi thought bitterly. 'It's not like I don't ring it up all day.' Aloud, she replied, "I'll get someone for you. Just you hold on a second." She looked to the left and right. Dude. All the baggers were hiding somewhere again. Dryden was on carts - thank goodness. Two other baggers were working at lane 3 and lane 5. Finally, she caught Van's eye and nodded to the lady.

Determined to fully regain his "bad guy" status, he attempted to walk away to lane 4 to pack for the man with three items, that is until he caught the eye of a nearby manager that seemed to realize Hitomi's dilemma. Irritated, the bagger sulked over to the old lady, a scowl on his face. He attempted a smile as he reached for her cart, which ended up looking more like he had just gotten a whiff of some rotten meat and began wheeling it towards the doors. "Wait up, sonny!" the lady called in her small voice. When he finally stopped and came back, she continued, "I like to wheel it myself to steady my balance. My legs just aren't what they used to be. But, I do need help lifting the food into my car. I have my grandson to help me when I get home, but he was too busy playing some game on the computer to come with me. Ever since we got that contraption, it's been nothing but trouble. He seems to like..." She babbled on for what seemed like hours to Van as he slowly walked along side of her, nodding intermittently and not paying a bit of attention.

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When Hitomi made her way home that night, she saw a bright red, new Mustang convertible parked in front of her apartment. She found herself thinking, "Does Allen have a Mustang?" She was tired. She didn't really want to talk to him or even think about him. And yet again, she realized that she hadn't called his place all day. Sighing, she began to enter the side door of her dingy apartment when she heard "What the - !" and a very distinct groan. It was Allen. Where was he? She stopped and turned; there was no one in the alley behind her. She glanced over at the adjoining warehouse. She closed her eyes and made a painful sigh. No, not over there. What was he thinking?!

Allen watched the rat scurry away. He sighed and continued his investigation of the large warehouse, making sure not to let anymore rats startle him. He glanced around the dark room, looking for any trace of Dragon and his gang when a shadow suddenly crept up from behind him. Pretending not to have noticed, he placed his hand on top of a nearby crate where an abandoned wrench lay, his heart beating fast. As quickly as he could, Allen grasped the wrench in his hand and whirled around, ready to defend himself.

"Allen!" the shadow whispered harshly.

He lowered his wrench a smidge, realizing who it was. "Hitomi?"

"You have to get out of here!" He didn't move. "Now!" She grabbed the wrist of his hand holding the wrench and pulled him behind her.

"What's your hurry?" came a low voice from further into the warehouse followed by some quiet snickering. Hitomi stopped short and closed her eyes, saying a quick prayer. Pushing Allen behind her against his wishes, she sarcastically replied, "Oh you know, I've got this cake in the oven, and it comes out in like," she glanced at her watch, "oh... two minutes. So, we really gotta go." Just let it be, please!

"Really? Is that so? I thought you just got home." Dragon stepped forward towards the intruders. "Now, I might have just let you go, except you brought this piece of trash along with you this time." He eyed Allen disdainfully. "So I think I'll let my gang have a little fun with you first."

to be continued...

A/N: Did you all catch Merle's cameo? Sadly she didn't really fit in the story anywhere, so I made her some customer's pet. ^_^;; Ah well, I didn't want to leave her out altogether. Anyway, it would seem that Allen has made a bit of a mistake, ne? Guess we'll have to wait a bit to find out what happens though.... SORRY!! I'll try to get my work done, but I have about 3 major papers and 2 huge photography projects to work on, not to mention finals are coming up. Anyway, we hope you enjoyed this chapter!