Katara and her family walked into the theater on Saturday night, a new movie they'd been waiting to see finally coming out. Together, they walked to the main door, chatting about how the movie would play out, each taking a guess.
"I think he'll save her." Her mother told them, the romantic part of her coming out. Her husband laughed, "no, he'll kill her. A mission like that to save his family, that's his only way."
Katara laughed at both of them, not wanting to get dragged into their little banter. Her father opened the main door and stood back, letting his girls go in first. They walked in, stopping on the side as they waited for the man of the family to step up to them again.
"I want snacks." Katara told them, the family walking up to the line of the concession stands.
"I know what I'm getting, what do you gals want?" Her father muttered, turning to look at them. He had his hand enveloped with her mothers, and secretly, Katara was jealous – she wanted to go to the movies and hold someone's hand.
"Well, we're definitely getting popcorn. I'm thinking either licorice or peanut M&M's." Katara looked at her mom, a weird look on her face.
"Mom, every time you say that you end up eating all of your snacks and ours." Katara's voice was serious, but there was a hint of playfulness to it. Her mother looked back at her, a sheepish look on her face.
"That is true." Her father commented, a small smile on his face.
"Well, I'm not sharing this time. I'll have licorice." Katara told her mom, a small smile on her face.
"Fine, I'll have both I guess." Her mother sighed in defeat.
"I'll let you have my candy anytime you'd like." Her father told his wife, a sly smile on his lips with a glint of seduction in his voice.
"Ew!" Katara shouted, not wanting to know what they were going to talk about.
"Mm, I like that idea." Her mother told him, looking into his eyes. Katara groaned in disgust, looking around to see where she could walk off to in order to hide from this embarrassment.
"I'm going away now; you guys know what I want." She told them, the married couple barely hearing her as they were lost in each other's eyes. Katara found a bench along the wall and sat on it, keeping her eyes away from her parents.
With her legs uncrossed side by side and her elbow on her thigh, she leaned forward to rest her chin in her hand, thoughts luring themselves into her high school mind as she stared at the ugly green carpet.
She wanted something like that, but all the boys in her school always seemed to want something different. Either that, or to just brag about how they went on a date with Katara, the girl known at the school too good to be bothered by anyone unless they were her best friend or a teacher.
Katara didn't have time for boys; even though she low key wanted a relationship. The games were just stupid, and Katara didn't want any of that. Even though she had her eyes on a special guy, she didn't think he wanted the same thing as her.
"Hey, look who it is." A young male voice spoke, forcing Katara to look up. Yusuke was standing there with Keiko.
"Weird, seeing as how Tokyo is so big and yet here we are." Katara told them with a smile, taking her arm off of her leg and scooting over so they could sit.
"Well, Keiko really wanted to see the new movie that came out a few days ago." Yusuke spoke, sitting next to Katara. Keiko sat on Yusuke's other side, both of them facing Katara.
"How have you been?" Keiko asked; meeting eye contact with Katara. The lone female smiled small, pointing her finger back at the concession stands.
"I'm good, just school. My parents are back over there being all lovey-dovey and it grossed me out. So I came over here."
"Yeah, that would weird me out too." Yusuke told her, glancing back at her parents who held popcorn and snacks in their arms. They turned around to look for Katara. Yusuke had to make this fast.
"Listen, I'm actually here to tell you something." He told her, all seriousness in his tone. Katara looked at him questioningly.
"Okay," she ushered him on. Keiko watched Katara, hoping she wouldn't freak out with what her fiancé is about to tell her. This was the only reason why they came to the movies, to talk to Katara.
"I don't wanna freak you out or anything, but I think I know why you've been hurting a lot."
Katara just stared at him. For a moment she couldn't think. What was he talking about? Her mind reeled for answers to her own questions. She then narrowed her eyes at him, not liking where this is going.
"What are you talking about?" She played, tensing her muscles in her body. Katara didn't want anyone to know what's been going on with her. Yusuke sighed, looked at Keiko and then back to Katara.
"I mean, why you're feeling like you're being attacked without anything touching you."
Katara glared at him, standing up. She was done. The lone human female didn't play games.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She then turned away, eyes looking for her parents. She hoped they didn't see Yusuke or Keiko. Katara spotted them and walked with a quickened pace, hoping Yusuke and Keiko wouldn't follow. She stopped once she met them in the line of the ticket attendant who stood at the booth.
"Hey honey, we got you popcorn and licorice." Her mom told her with a smile, showing her hands full of snacks while her dad held three normal sized bags of popcorn.
"Thanks." Katara told them, forcing a smile. Katara took her popcorn from her father and her licorice from her mother. Her father reached into his back pocket for the tickets, all of them taking a step forward as the line progressed.
The Zayin family chatted casually as they waited in line to get their ticket checked by the attendant. Katara laughed at a joke her mother told her dad, almost forgetting about the encounter with Yusuke and Keiko. Her eyes looked away from her parents, unknowingly searching for the couple.
She didn't see them and turned her attention back to her parents, but her eyes caught them standing in the same line as them. Katara quickly looked away, her smile fading fast. Thoughts ran in her head at a rapid speed. She didn't want to be near them.
She wondered if she could fake being sick so she could go home. Katara shrugged the idea off; she couldn't do that to her parents. They all wanted to see this new movie since it came out. And that's exactly what they were going to do. Katara didn't want to be the reason to end her parents' excitement for this movie.
After getting their tickets checked, the attendant told them which way to go as well as the number of the theater room. They followed his directions and went in that direction.
"Wow, it's busy in here." Her father commented as they walked in seeing the theater almost packed full of people. Katara didn't like it. She never liked a place that had too many people in it. It always put her on edge.
"Look, I found some seats in the middle." Her mother told them as she walked to the row. Many 'thank you, pardon me's' later, they finally sat in the empty seats, staring at the black giant screen.
Katara reached for her licorice and started to open it when a few pieces of popcorn landed in her lap. She stopped, looking up to see her mother laugh as her father casually stared at the black screen munching on his popcorn.
"That's a waste of perfectly good popcorn, dad." Katara told him, taking a few of her own from her bag and throwing it back to him. He feigned shock as he held a hand over his chest.
"Why, Katara, the nerve of you astounds me," he started and then looked at his wife, "honey, I think we raised someone else's daughter."
Her mother busted out laughing, not ever being able to take his jokes seriously. How he could pull them off, she never understood. Katara rolled her eyes, grabbing a licorice from the box and pointing it at her father.
"Good! Maybe you can take me back to my family now. At least they won't treat perfectly good popcorn like it's nothing." Katara told her father. He smiled, nodded his head and went to pat Katara on the shoulder.
"You're right Kat, this family does even worse things."
In one swift movement something tugged out of Katara's hand and she stared in shock at her father who took a bite out of the licorice that had once just been in her hand.
"Thief!" Katara shouted, earning narrowed looks from the people around her. She didn't care; her father just took her first licorice. The sound of her mother laughing so hard caught their attention.
"Stop! Please!" She begged. Katara smiled at her mother, her mind temporary forgetting about the couple from earlier.
"Whatever, I hope it was worth it. You just declared war, dad." Her father laughed, finishing the licorice he stole from his daughter.
"Whatever you say, Kat." He told her with a small smirk, his eyes focusing on the screen just as it turned on. The lights dimmed and they all settled for the movie. During the third trailer for a new movie coming out, Katara felt like she was being watched. She turned her head to look for the source and saw Yusuke kiss Keiko's forehead, sitting just rows above them.
How had they gone by the aisle without her knowing? Then again, she was having a battle with her father about the candy. Katara turned around to watch the previews, trying to ignore the feeling.
She couldn't even enjoy the movie like she wanted to. Her muscles in her body tense as her mind focused on one thing. How had they known? What were they doing here? Why were they talking to her? A single thought caused her heart to skip a beat.
What if they were her kidnappers and wanted her back?
Katara didn't know anything about the time she was gone. It was like her memory was either erased or she'd been unconscious the whole time. Either way, she was scared to find out the reason. She just wanted to put it in the past and move on with her life. But she knew one thing; Katara wasn't going down without a fight.
A few rows above Katara and her family, Yusuke felt something was wrong. The former spirit detective sensed a spike in spirit energy and his eyes shot to Katara, sitting next to her mother, who's in the middle with her husband on her left. The former spirit detective's eyes narrowed, seeing her spirit energy increase. A sense of determination, fear and anger fell over Yusuke. And he knew those were her emotions.
The half human – half demon didn't mean to freak her out earlier. And now knowing her reaction, he regretted opening his mouth. But how else was he, Kurama and Hiei supposed to help her? Maybe he should try a different approach. He turned to Keiko; a thought in his mind and hoping it would work.
After the movie ended, everyone walked out, talking about how the movie ended. While Katara's parents fought about it, Katara slipped away to the bathroom.
Using the sink after her business, she glanced in the mirror and saw Keiko standing in line waiting for a stall. Katara hoped she didn't see her as she dried her hands against the wall with a paper towel. Katara turned around, keeping her face down as she began to walk out of the female's bathroom.
"Katara,"
Damn, she was so close. Katara turned around, not wanting to be rude or anything. She met eyes with Keiko who stepped out of line. Katara stood where she was and watched Keiko walk up to her.
"Hey, I hope this isn't freaking you out. We just wanted to help you." Keiko told her, a sincere look on her face.
"Well, you did. So if I could just go back to my parents," Katara pointed in there direction.
"I know it's a lot to take in, but we're the good guys. If you don't believe us, go with us to Genkai's next weekend."
"Look," Katara started, standing straight forward as her eyes glared into Keiko's.
"I don't know what you and your fiancé are pulling, but I don't want any part of it. So just leave me alone." Katara then walked out of the bathroom leaving Keiko by herself. Her rage was starting to take over, and she could feel a power lingering underneath her skin. It was another itch she needed to scratch.
Katara spotted her parents by the entrance of the theater, hoping she could make a clean getaway. Yusuke leaned against the wall that displayed the many different movies going to be releasing soon. Katara ignored him as she walked by him, a pissed look on her face.
"What, you don't want to know how you saved those countless females and became a hero to them?"
Katara stopped, her parents looking at her in wander. She turned to look at Yusuke and noticed Keiko walking up to her fiancé.
"What?" Katara was curious. She didn't know anything about what had happened when she was kidnapped.
"What are you talking about?" Katara asked him.
Yusuke glared at her, pushing against the wall to stand straight.
"We're not playing games, Katara. You're a hero and you deserve to know."
"You probably have someone else. I've never fought before let alone save anyone."
Katara felt on edge, her muscles in her body constricting. She didn't know what to believe. She turned back to her parents and noticed them waving at Yusuke and Keiko with a smile on their faces.
"The way I look at it, Katara," Yusuke started, his eyes softening, "you have two choices. One, continue on with your life as if nothing has happened and attempt to forget what's hurting you, or two, you can come with us to Genkai's."
Katara didn't like being cornered into decision making. She glared at Yusuke, her spirit energy starting to unleash. He stepped forward as Keiko stayed put. She was pissed off. Then again, if she didn't go, they would probably never leave her alone. Annoyed, she glared harder.
"Fine, but I choose when." She demanded.
"Fine by me." Yusuke responded, finally getting somewhere with Katara. And with that, Katara turned around to leave the couple in the theater as she walked up to her parents.
"You look mad, what were you guys talking about?" Her father questioned as they walked to the car in the parking lot. The night air was a bit chilly and Katara couldn't wait to get home to let her frustrations out on the equipment in the garage.
"Nothing important." Katara shrugged it off, hoping the topic would be dropped. The entire drive home, Katara was wrapped up in her own world. Questions kept consuming her mind, making it harder to find the answers to.
The most important question; are they someone she could trust?
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Hey everyone! So I got to my mom's to do laundry and I started typing, right? Well after I wrote a quarter of this chappie, my mom comes in and says "we're gonna go see Avengers: Infinity War in a couple hours." So basically I wrote this chappie's scene in a theater. And I went to a theater. It just kind of weirded me out 🤣 but anyways...like, comment, share and Yu Yu Hakusho on!!
With much love,
xMetrik11Thunderx 😘