Iczer-one Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Earth Child ❯ One Tenma Too Many ( Chapter 30 )

The Earthchild

 

(An Iczer/Ranma/Sailor Moon Crossover)

 

Written by

Jim Robert Bader

 

Proofread by

Shiva Barnwell

 

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi,

Naoko Takeuchi, Toshihiro Hirano, & Hitoshi Okuda,

with ideas and suggestions by TH Tiger and Johannes Huber)

 

 

 

 

 

“Here we are, Ten-chan,” Fiber told her young ward, “You are home, exactly as I promised.”

 

“Great!” Tenma beamed happily, seeing the familiar exterior of his family's home, restaurant and dojo, “Mom and Dad are gonna be so surprised when they see the neat stuff I can do! Even Sakura'll flip with envy, and all because of you, Aunt Fiber-san.”

 

“Don't credit me, little one,” Fiber smiled, “You did most of the work yourself. It is your parents who should be proud of having a son as gifted and as talented as you have proven to be.”

 

“Just the same, as long as I've been gone, I just know they'll be glad to see me again,” Tenma remarked, “And I know they'll be pleased to meet you! You think I cook good, you should try the food here. Mom makes the best okonomiyaki on the planet!”

 

“And I would be pleased to sample some of her wares…but at another time,” Fiber said sadly, both vexed and amused at her young ward's enthusiasm.

 

“Huh?” Tenma looked at the Bioroid in surprise, “What do you mean? Are you coming with me?”

 

“Alas,” she said, “I have another piece of urgent business that I must attend to, little one. You will forgive me if I meet with your parents later? This matter is somewhat overdue and must take precedence over less immediate affairs…but I will return to pay my respects to your elders, you may trust my word on this, Ten-chan.”

 

“But…” Tenma hesitated, “I've been away from home for soooo long! What am I gonna tell Mom and Dad when they ask me where I've been? I was hoping maybe you could convince them that I've been training real hard to make them proud of me…”

 

“You may not have been away for as long as you think,” Fiber cautioned, “Time moves differently in subspace than in normal space. For all they know you may have been gone for a matter of hours…or a matter of years, though I've doubtful of the latter case since my own chronometrical readings place this time as a matter of a few days since my sisters and I made our ill-starred attempt upon your family's dojo.”

 

“Oh,” Tenma blinked, “You mean…they might not even know I've been gone, huh? Well, that's cool, means I won't have to explain anything, except maybe to say I got lost in another dimension. Pop will buy that…not so sure about Mom, though…”

 

“Your father is a most unusual man,” Fiber noted with some amusement, “It will be an honor when I do finally get the chance to meet with him in person.”

 

“Sure I can't convince you to come in with me for a few minutes?” Tenma pleaded, “I know they're probably sore at you because of that business of you working for the Bad Guys, but you've changed for the better, and I just know I can convince them of that…”

 

“I fear that words alone will not convince some people that I have amended my ways,” Fiber said a bit sadly, “Deeds speak louder than words, so I will have to prove myself before those whom I have wronged will accept me as a changed woman. But I owe it to you, Ten-chan, to have the chance of making right those errors, and so I will be back to vouch for your integrity. I will tell your elders that you are a very worthy young man who would be a credit to any house, to say nothing of having become a first-rate Apprenticed Noh Puppet Master.”

 

The boy blushed a bit at her praise and said, “I'm gonna keep on working hard at that until I'm good enough for you, Teach. I mean…Sensei…”

 

“Keep in mind that your powers here will be much less great than they are in Subspace,” Fiber cautioned, “You will not find it as easy to conjure up simulacrums and have them dance to your will as you would in an environment where reality is more amenable to your direction…but you should be able to make use of your immediate surroundings to effect a lesser performance. Just remember…the strength of your belief determines the strength of your projections…”

 

“Right, got it,” Tenma agreed, grinning with typical boyish charm, “Nobody'd better mess with me after this. I'll really show `em why it ain't smart to mess with a Saotome.”

 

“You do that,” Fiber said proudly, watching the young boy head off towards his parents' restaurant before sighing. It was amazing how fond she had become of the child in the time that they had been together. It was almost like being back with her long-dead little brother. She wondered if her own father was smiling down from the great beyond and thinking fond thoughts of the woman his daughter had become, then decided that she had yet one more reason to prove herself a changed and much-improved person.

 

“Neos Gold…your day is coming,” Fiber softly averred under her breath, “What you took from me, I shall take back, I swear it…on the lives of those others whom you betrayed, you will learn why it is not smart to mess with a Weaver.”

 

With that resolve solemnly stated, she warped away through subspace in search of her new destination...

 

 

 

 

Fives minutes before this…

 

 

“So long, Mom, I'm off to school!” another Tenma had called out before heading out the door to catch up with his classmates.

 

Ukyo smiled indulgently at her son in passing, then softly mused, “Ran off without his lunch again…some days I think that boy takes a little too much after his father…”

 

Sakura next appeared, descending the stairs one at a time rather than vaulting them, as was her normal practice. She was yawning as she ran her fingers through her half-dried ponytail then listlessly called out, “Hi Mom…is the grill up yet? I could sure use some breakfast…”

 

Ukyo had to blink twice as she regarded her daughter with frank puzzlement in her own expression. Sakura was usually more lively and energetic than this in the mornings, ever ready to do some sparring with her father, but now she looked as though she had not had a full night's rest, and yet…for some odd reason she seemed to be positively glowing with radiant contentment. It was enough to make any mother immediately perk up her ears with suspicion.

 

“What's the matter, Sugar?” she asked, “Up late studying for your tests?”

 

“Huh?” Sakura asked, clearly not at her perceptive best this morning, “Oh…study…uh…right. No worries there, tests aren't until next week anyway…piece of okonomiyaki. I'll ace mine, just like always.”

 

It certainly gratified Ukyo to know that her daughter had so much of her father in her when it came to self-confidence, but it was equally gratifying to know that when it came to study habits, Sakura was definitely her daughter. Unlike Ranma, Sakura always took care to keep her point averages high in all of her regular classes, and she looked to be a real chip off the old block when it came to getting her degree in business and economics. Of course, her academic performance was most decidedly NOT the issue that was of greatest concern here as Ukyo watched Sakura sit down at the counter and prop her chin up on the palms of both hands, a gesture that most definitely belonged to Ranma, especially when it came to moping around on some insoluble problem of a personal nature. It was definitely a Saotome trait, and it implied that her daughter's mind's mind was on something other than her schoolwork.

 

Knowing better than to sound too intrusive, Ukyo tried to act casual as she asked, “By the way, Ken was looking for you the other day.”

 

“Ken?” there was a blank look in Sakura's eyes, then a familiar frown that turned into a full blown scowl as she responded, “Saw him yesterday…what about it?”

 

Ukyo was not fooled in the least by her daughter's pretence of indifference, “He seemed to think that you were spending a lot of time on something other than him. You'd think you were seeing another boy behind his back from the way he was acting…”

 

“Another boy?” there was a sudden evasive quality to Sakura's expression, and she was a little too much on her guard as she said, “Oh…it's nothing like that, Mom. At least…there's no boy he needs to worry about…not that I give a fig what Ken thinks about who I'm seeing…or not.”

 

Ukyo arched an eyebrow and asked, “Are you seeing someone else? I've been wondering about the way you've been acting the last few days, Sugar…”

 

“MOM!” Sakura winced.

 

“It is about Muku-chan?” Ukyo asked in a sudden shift of tactics, “I know you two have always been close, in spite of your rivalry, and I know you've had certain…feelings for her, even if I haven't felt like making any comment on it until now.”

 

Sakura paled a bit and looked in surprise at her mother, “You knew…?”

 

“That you like Senzenen Muku Dori?” Ukyo smiled, “I'd have to be blind not to notice how you act around her, or why you and Hibiki Yui always seem to get in fights regarding her. You don't think I wouldn't notice what effect having a crush on your best friend would have on you, Sugar, after what I went through when I was chasing after your father?”

 

“You…never much talk about those times,” Sakura said in an attempt at evasion, “Dad just says you and Muku's mom used to be rivals…”

 

“And now we're good friends, and sometimes more than that,” Ukyo offered her daughter a knowing look of commiseration, “You think I don't know about the effect she used to have on the boys when we were growing up together? Even back then Akane could be a real charmer…a bit violent tempered and not the most understanding person in the world, but she could be sweet when she had a mind to. Not like certain purple haired floozies I could name…and thank the Kami SHE was never any major competition.”

 

“What, you mean Aunt Shampoo?” Sakura blinked, “What has she to do with any of this? I thought she and Uncle Tachi were always an item.”

 

“Ever since he accidentally defeated her you mean,” Ukyo winked in a conspiratorial manner, “But when she first came to Nerima she was chasing after your father…well, kind of a blood-feud thing, one of those Amazon laws of hers. Funny thing was, it was your father's female half that Shampoo was after, and imagine how thrilled she was at finding out that she was the same redheaded Osage no Onna that her intended husband was always going on about. Those were some pretty confusing times, let me tell you…”

 

“No wonder the Kunos are so screwed up,” Sakura murmured, “I wonder why Perm's the only sane one in that mixed up family…?”

 

“Who knows?” Ukyo shrugged, “One of life's great mysteries. I'm just telling you this now so that you understand that relationships often take time to work out, and there's nothing wrong with being attracted to more than one party, even if it's the wrong party that's caught your interest.”

 

“Are you telling me you had to work at it before you got together with Dad?” Sakura marveled.

 

“Sugar, I had to work like hell just to get your Dad to recognize me as a woman,” Ukyo sniffed, “My own fault the way I used to dress and act all the time. Thank the Kami you don't have that particular problem.”

 

Sakura colored a bit as she caught the significant meaning behind her mother's jovial reference. Sakura did like to dress up in pretty things and was basically quite feminine for all that she had tomboyish instincts. Her mother, on the other hand---though unmistakably feminine and quite beautiful for her age---had always appeared (even in Sakura's mind) to be quite mannish in both the style of her dress and her overall behavior, almost like having a second father…AND, given that her real father could often become a second mother with the splash of a little cold water---it was almost like having TWO mothers and TWO fathers rolled up into the same package. Small wonder Sakura was sometimes more than a bit gender-conflicted in her outlook…

 

“TADAIMA!” a boyish voice called out brightly, “Mom, Dad, I'm home!”

 

“Ten-chan?” Ukyo blinked, turning to see her son rushing in through the front door wearing a different outfit from his regular school clothes, “I thought you just left for school?”

 

“School?” Tenma halted in mid-place and stared uncomprehendingly at his mother, “I just got back, Mom! I've been away for so long, but…don't you miss me?”

 

“Yeah, like anybody's gonna miss a little fungus like you,” Sakura quipped with sisterly affection.

 

“You mean…you didn't even notice I was gone?” Tenma looked stricken, “Not even a little?”

 

“Sugar, you just left here not three minutes ago,” Ukyo looked at her son with some concern, “Don't you remember?”

 

“Remember?” Tenma blinked, “Three minutes ago? But…hey! Why ain't the dojo all demolished? Did Pop fix that already?”

 

“You hit your head breaking boards or something?” Sakura asked, “Nobody's wrecked the dojo recently, unless you count that time in Subspace, and that doesn't really count.”

 

“Subspace?” Tenma all but jumped on the word, “Then you know?”

 

“Know about what?” Ukyo sounded both concerned and mystified as if wondering what her son was going on about, and whether she ought to take him to see Doctor Tofu.

 

“About the war that's being waged between the Iczers,” Tenma looked from his mother to his older sister in growing confusion, “You know…Aunt Two's people?”

 

Sakura stared in alarm at her baby brother and said, “What do you know about that?”

 

“Everything!” Tenma replied, “Aunt Fiber was telling me all about it and…and you don't know what I'm talking about, do you, Mom?”

 

Ukyo shook her head, “Not a clue, Sugar, but then I never did pry too much into what Two and her people were doing on this planet.”

 

“Ah…” Sakura eyed her mother sidelong then turned to regard her little brother, “Tell you what, Squirt…let's you and me have a talk about it sometime, okay?”

 

“Yeah, like I need a lecture from a bean pole like you, Cherry-breath,” Tenma snorted, then all at once he brightened again and said, “Never thought it would feel so good trading insults with you like that again, Sis. But…look…I gotta do something right now, so…if you'll excuse me, I need to go back up to my room to change…”

 

“You mean change for school, don't you?” Ukyo asked archly, “And what happened to your regular school uniform anyway? What's with the retro-tech outfit?”

 

“Oh Mom,” Tenma sniffed, then turned and headed for the stairs.

 

“Oh, and this time don't forget to take your lunch with you,” Ukyo called out as she watched her son head on up towards his room, causing her to sigh with a motherly, “Kids these days…”

 

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Sakura noted.

 

“What was that, Sakura-chan?” her mother blinked.

 

“Ah---nothing!” Sakura winced, effecting an innocence that she was not actually experiencing at the moment.

 

“So, `Fess up, Sakura-chan,” Ukyo winked knowingly, “Just how are you and Ken getting along these days? Don't tell me he's actually starting to feel jealous about you and Muku?”

 

“Um…actually, no,” Sakura squirmed a bit in her chair, “It's not like that at all…but…well…it's kind of complicated…”

 

“Girl, you don't know complicated until you grow up chasing a man like your Dad,” Ukyo chuckled, “Whatever it is I'm sure it ain't much worse than what I lived through.”

 

“I…wouldn't be willing to make a bet on that, Mom,” Sakura said with a somewhat evasive demeanor, “There's a lot of stuff going down, and the picture keeps changing every moment.”

 

“What, you mean Ken really is chasing after someone else?” Ukyo lifted both eyebrows.

 

“Uh…that depends on what you mean by chase,” Sakura admitted, “And believe me, he doesn't know any more about what to make of her than I do…”

 

 

 

 

“So…do you come here often?”

 

Atros stared at the man beside her as they walked together from his home towards school early in the morning, giving him a curiously probing expression before she somberly inquired, “Is that what humans call an opening line? It could stand some improvement.”

 

“Right,” Ken glanced away somewhat awkwardly, “It's a human thing…no reason why you should understand it.”

 

“Because I am only partially human?” Atros replied, then sighed, “Forgive me…I know that this must be as difficult for you as it is for me. I`ve only just been cleared from quarantine, and merely walking the streets of your city is itself still a novelty. I don't know how to make what your people refer to as…small talk. I was created to be a warrior, and I do not know how to socialize, not even with my new…partner.”

 

Ken winced slightly at that, especially in light of the many hours of meticulous care that had been devoted to making an explanation to him over what **exactly** was entailed with becoming the “Partner” to an Iczer. Sister Grey was nothing if not frank in her descriptions of what might be required of him should he and Atros---The Gods Forbid---ever be called into “action” together.

 

“I'm sorry,” he said to the girl whom he had found waiting for him along the way towards his classes, “I'm trying to stay on the same page here. This is all terribly new to me, and getting a crash-course in C'thuwulf politics, not to mention inter-species cross-mating…”

 

“You think it's any easier for me?” Atros asked, “Just finding out I had a human mother is taking some getting used to, to say nothing of the discovery that Iczer Three is my other biological parent and not my clone-twin, as I long thought…”

 

“Y'see? Right there I kind of get lost,” Ken remarked, “I mean…you're not the only person I know who has two biological mothers, but those girls were conceived through the use of magic and more conventional forms of science. The fact that you're an android and yet have human DNA…”

 

“A Bioroid is no different than other forms of Organic, save that we are the products of artificial recombinant DNA technology,” Atros replied, then amended, “Only…my conception was something of a fluke, the by-product of Neos Gold's attempt to wrest the Iczerio energy from Iczer Three, my mother…”

 

“You mean Troi, don't you?” Ken scowled somewhat, “The one who's screwing around with my iinazuke?”

 

Atros gave the man walking beside her a curiously amused look, “You don't like her very much, do you?”

 

“Who, your mother?” Ken asked with a somewhat guarded expression, “Well…no offense, but she and I didn't exactly get off on the right foot at our first meeting…”

 

“I'm not judging you for this,” Atros replied, turning to look straight ahead, “Because the plain truth is that I…am not entirely comfortable with the association myself. My mother is a very different person from me…a less serious and conscientious sort than what I would feel comfortable with associating if she truly were my sister. The fact that she comprises approximately one half of my genetic composition is a source of some embarrassment for me, I assure you.”

 

“You mean she doesn't exactly impress you as a parent?” Ken sounded amused at this point.

 

“If you mean does it thrill be to know that I am the child of someone who is lazy, irresponsible, self-indulgent, self-absorbed and obsessed with her own creature comforts…her idea of fun, then you're right to suggest that I am not entirely comfortable with the concept.”

 

“Hmm…the way you describe her, she could almost be my mother,” Ken mused a bit wryly.

 

“Your mother?” Atros asked.

 

“Tofu Nabiki,” he replied, “You'd have to meet her to know what I mean…she's a pretty materialistic person, but she's not all that hard to get along with, just as long as you approach her on the level of business. My dad's a more laid-back kind of guy, really heavy into mysticism, and a great chiropractor. I think you'd like him.”

 

“They do sound very interesting,” Atros agreed, “But how do you suppose that they would regard me? After all, does our mere association not compromise the agreement that they worked out between you and the clan of Saotome?”

 

Ken gave the woman beside him a very long and thorough study before replying. Moderately tall, very lithe and slender with overly large eyes highlighting a face that was breathtakingly beautiful, her pointed ears adding to her general alien appearance, though in all other respects she appeared to be quite human. He could definitely see the resemblance between her and both of her parents, a bit of a compromise between the features of Troi and Nagisa Kano, and yet stripped from that high-tech space armor that she had been wearing the previous day, when they had met, and now adorned with a dress that made her seem somehow more human for all her claims of being an artificially created being. The fact that they had only known each other for considerably less than a full day seemed somehow more strange…in a very real sense he felt as though he had been aware of her on some level for many years. It was strange to think of such a person as being only a few days old from her own matter of perspective.

 

“That could be a problem,” he admitted, “But the engagement between Sakura and me has been more of a formality than a real thing in our lives. We were born engaged to one another, but we've never really felt the need to set a date or anything. It's kind of like a tradition…we give it lip service but we only take it serious when one or both of us starts to stray in another direction.”

 

“Is that why your Sakura was looking as though she wanted to stick a sharp object in my back?” Atros asked in some amusement.

 

“Yeah, but she'd be in pretty poor shape to be talking about that,” Ken replied with a somewhat sour expression, “After what she's been doing with your mother…”

 

“Don't remind me,” Atros softly pleaded.

 

“…And then there's her private personal obsession about Muku, which she thinks I don't know anything about,” Ken continued.

 

“Muku…you mean Senzenen Muku?” Atros blinked, “The partner to my half-sister, Rhea?”

 

“Yeah, didn't know about that one, huh?” Ken smiled, “She's been hot for Muku for the past several semesters, almost since becoming sexually aware, though they were close even in childhood.”

 

“You don't sound particularly resentful about this fact,” Atros noted.

 

“I've known both of them all of my life, and yeah, I did feel a little resentment at first,” Ken admitted, “I mean…Sakura's never looked at me the way she looks at Muku when she thinks no one else is looking. I'm her fiancé, but she wants to sleep with another girl? That did give me some problems, until I more-or-less saw that it wasn't going anywhere. Sakura's too mixed up about her feelings, and Muku-chan's been pretty much oblivious to the real reason why Yui and Sakura are always fighting about her, or Gel Kuno, for that matter, though frankly I think Perm had a better chance of bedding her before your sister got in through the front gates and claimed the high ground…”

 

“You're mixing your metaphors again,” Atros pointed out, then she grew more puzzled, “What is it about this Muku that draws the fascination of so many people?”

 

“You got me on that one,” Ken replied, “If I knew what she's got that I don't I could bottle and sell it to make a fortune.”

 

“Then why do you suppose those who know her most closely are the strongest drawn towards her?” Atros wondered, “And why are you not numbered among them?”

 

“Maybe I'm just funny that way,” Ken smiled, “Maybe my tastes don't run in the same direction as Sakura and the others, or maybe I'm just not the right gender since Muku seems to attract more women than men in our merry little group.”

 

“You think it matters which gender finds her the more attractive?” Atros wondered.

 

“Hey, you won't catch me saying anything against girl-girl pairings,” Ken smirked, “Considering who I hang around with, that wouldn't exactly be smart, if not downright suicidal.”

 

“There do seem to be a lot of such pairings in your immediate associations,” Atros mused, “Odd thing is that such relationships are considered the norm among C'thuwulf society…it is relations with the male half of your species that is highly controversial.”

 

“What, you mean your people got a thing against men?” Ken asked.

 

“I find it difficult to think of them as `my' people,” Atros noted, “But yes…some C'thuwulf are…disturbed about relations between women and men. Such things are not considered as `natural' to their way of thinking. I, on the other hand, am somewhat less conventional in my way of thinking. I don't know what `natural' means, and so I am a bit more open to the…possibilities such relations portend.”

 

Ken turned and regarded the girl whom he had found waiting for him close to his home when he had started out this very morning. A few strands of her raven dark hair were brown across her face as he watched her staring straight ahead, and the way in which she reflexively combed her fingers through her long bangs made him think to himself how wonderfully feminine she was, and beautiful in ways that contrasted sharply with Sakura.

 

“Thank you for the compliment,” she turned to regard him, “I should hope that my looks would not displease you.”

 

Ken blinked, “Excuse me?”

 

“Oh?” she sounded surprised herself as she stared up at him, “Didn't you just flatter me and compare me to your girlfriend?”

 

“Uh…I was thinking something along those lines, yes,” Ken replied, “But I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything aloud to that effect.”

 

“Oh?” she said again, then glanced away as if to think the matter over, “I guess…maybe I picked it up through our link. I am told that the process of Synchronization creates a deep spiritual bond in which the thoughts of one sometimes mesh with the thoughts of another…”

 

“You mean like telepathy?” Ken asked a bit nervously.

 

“I mean exactly like telepathy,” Atros replied, “That is a word your people use to describe communication between minds, which is also fairly common between partners in my world.”

 

“Really?” Ken coughed to clear his throat, “I'm amazed that any marriages work if people know exactly what their partners are thinking.”

 

“Why?” Atros wondered, “Does the thought of my reading your thoughts disturb you that much? You should be able to do the same thing with me in return, at least on an empathic level.”

 

“Well…no offense,” Ken replied, “But…I'm not used to people knowing what's in my head…”

 

“Good,” Atros smiled, “It will make an interesting project for me to study what is within you, not that I think it will take that long to wander about the open spaces between your thoughts.”

 

“Hey!” Ken protested.

 

“Oh, I don't mind,” Atros smiled, “If there is so much freespace within your mind, then it will be more space to fill with thoughts of me. By the way, we have arrived at your destination.”

 

“Huh?” Ken blinked, only to see the familiar gates of the Furinkan high school campus loom up before him.

 

“I will leave you now to attend to your studies,” Atros mused, “Though I find it odd that you prefer to obtain knowledge through such a cumbersome and inefficient process. C'thuwulf methods are infinitely simpler, feeding us what we need to know while we are incubated through direct neural transfer…”

 

“Sounds like a pretty sterile way to learn,” Ken remarked, “Don't you miss spending time with your fellow students, learning to talk about girl-stuff with the other female students?”

 

“I would not know about any of that,” Atros sighed, “Perhaps there are advantages to your less efficient methods that are worth further consideration and analysis. I shall contemplate this during my next sleep cycle and reflect on all that you have shared with me…so that I will be better prepared for our next conversation.”

 

Ken saw that the black-haired Iczer was about to turn away from him and thought to ask, “By the way…why did you want to talk with me just now? Not that I mind, but it was a surprise meeting you the way we did.”

 

“My…grandmother suggested this approach as a means of getting to know more about you…my partner,” Atros explained, “She said that earth girls normally walk to school boys with whom they share a common interest. You seemed to vexed about our bonding yesterday that I thought to do something that would assure you that I am not some kind of an alien monster.”

 

“Hey, I'd never accuse you of being that…” Ken protested.

 

“No?” Atros seemed halfway between amused and sad, “Then you do not really know me all that well. Wait until you obtain the full story of what I was like before my mother rescued me from Gold. I was quite the monster until a few days ago, but now…I'm just beginning to learn to be something else, and perhaps you can help me discover what I am now that I am less of a monster.”

 

With that she turned around and began to walk away, only to vanish in a brief halo of light before she had gone three paces, leaving Ken to stare at her vanished silhouette, the image of her burned into his mind as he thought on what a good effect of the light had played upon her just then. His cameraman's soul was intrigued at how she had managed to achieve such an unselfconscious ease of posing to good effect. He could almost imagine her making a good living as a photographer's model.

 

“I got a feeling I'm getting in deeper than I know what to do about,” he murmured to himself with a sigh, “So why aren't I more worried? Mom and Dad are never gonna believe this…”

 

 

 

 

“Sister?” Iczer One asked as she found Iczer Two overlooking a generation pit in which a new Iczer Robo was currently being grown and incubated, “Sister Grey told me that you had commissioned this, but I did not understand why. You are creating a new companion for Atros?”

 

“I have approval from Sir Violet,” Iczer Two replied, “I hope you don't think that I was going over your head, but…I understand that you were involved in some rather delicate negotiations with the humans.”

 

“They are nervous about the recent string of attacks that we have been under,” Iczer One replied, “Nagisa and I had to work to pacify them and assure them that we are taking steps to rectify the problem…”

 

“Are we?” Iczer Two inquired, “After all…so far we have merely been reacting to Big Gold's attacks. We have been playing a defensive game, and so far we have been quite lucky. I decided that a new Iczer Robo might help tilt the odds in our favor, especially with Nova's currently off-line being screened, debugged and reconstituted, freed from all traces of Gold's evil influence.”

 

“I agree with the need to have another weapon in our arsenal,” Iczer One remarked, “But is it fair to draft Atros into such a battle? She's only just synchronized with her new partner…”

 

“Yes…and with a man of all things,” Iczer Two quirked a smile at the concept, “It seems our younger generation of warriors are not quite as set in their ways as we are, which is to be welcome, I think, since it was our stubborn rigidity that caused the fall of our homeworld.”

 

“You may be right about that,” Iczer One admitted, “I was there during the fall, and I was helpless to prevent it. My first partner died because she didn't have the resilience and strength of will to live that Nagisa has in such abundance. I often think that the reason the Goddess made us so dependent on these humans was to have them pass along to us the strength of their survival instincts, to teach us what we had lost during our millennia of peace and prosperity…”

 

“Nothing ruins the soul so much as too much contentment,” Iczer Two agreed, “Often I wonder if I was meant to be as happy as I have been thanks to Sayoko. Having her for a partner has given me a will to live that I could never have imagined…”

 

“Which proves my point,” Iczer One smiled, “We both have been blessed in our partners, and it has made the both of us much stronger for our union.”

 

“It has also taught us the true meaning of self-sacrifice,” Iczer Two turned to regard her older sister, “Like that painful day we both remember so well…when Nagisa willingly sacrificed her life in order to make you invincible. I watched it happen and could not believe when I saw you kill her and take her soul into yourself…but you became one being, unstoppable…against which all the power that Gold claimed to have became as nothing.”

 

“Yes, it was the most painful thing I have ever had to do,” Iczer One admitted, “I could not have imagined that full Synchronization would be the result of such a terrible deed. Of course the power quickened me but gradually diminished once I expended it to change the nature of the timeline…”

 

“Which is where we find ourselves today,” Iczer Two remarked, “Dealing with the unintended consequences of your actions…but if you had not chosen to act from the heart the way you did, then none of this would even be. You have nothing to regret for your noble actions, and you will never hear me speak one ill word of your decisions.”

 

“It is good to know that I can count on your support, my Sister,” Iczer One said fondly, “And you know that I would have sanctioned the commission of a new Iczer Robo…but the designation…”

 

“Iczer-Sigma?” Iczer Two smiled, “You don't believe in poetic ironies? I thought you'd appreciate turning a weapon of that designation against she who once thought to crush you using me as her catspawn.”

 

“All right, I think I can appreciate the gesture,” Iczer One admitted, “Let us hope, then, that this Iczer Robo-Sigma fares much better than the original…”

 

“With all the improved additional features that I'm having incorporated?” Iczer Two grinned, “I would stake my life on it…in point of fact, I am staking the lives of Troi's daughter and her partner.”

 

“A good point,” Iczer One noted, “And Nova's Iczer?”

 

“Ordinarily I would have anything touched by Gold broken down for scrap,” Iczer Two said without smiling, “But since this is my daughter's Iczer, and as it is a prime piece of technology that had been intended for use against us, I think it will serve us well to turn it against Gold and whatever monstrosities she next chooses to send against us.”

 

“Another fine point,” Iczer One smiled softly, “You make a pretty fair military governor in your own right, Sister. Perhaps you wouldn't mind taking over so that Nagisa and I could enjoy a much-needed vacation?”

 

“There is only one Protector, and it is your burden to bear,” Iczer Two smiled wryly once again, “So don't even think about unloading that responsibility on my shoulders. I'm content enough to be your second, and as Military Leader, I have more than enough authority to use at my discretion.”

 

“And you do that very well, but still…” Iczer One started to say when she heard a voice in her mind and responded immediately, “Yes Nagisa?”

 

“Ah, your better half beckons,” Iczer Two nodded sagely, understanding---as her sister did---how such a call had priority over affairs of state and other lesser forms of business.

 

Iczer One ignored the faintly teasing tone of her fellow warrior and listened in as she heard her partner's mental explanation, then she nodded and said, “Understood, I'll go talk to her at once.”

 

“Problems?” Iczer Two asked curiously.

 

“I think you could define it as such,” Iczer One admitted, “Rhea is having what the humans call an emotional crisis, and Nagisa thinks that I should go talk to her…something about having been where she was before…but I'm not too sure what that means.”

 

“Probably something to do with being a parent,” Iczer Two divined, “Which means I'll probably be learning all about it first hand the more I come to associate with Nova.”

 

“Then I had best be on my way to see what's bothering her,” Iczer One remarked, “We'll talk again about this strange new world of parental concerns that you are starting out upon, Sister, and…perhaps I might even be able to share with you a few helpful pointers.”

 

With that the elder Iczer teleported away from the observation platform, leaving Iczer Two to sigh and say, “Beloved sister, I fear that there are issues to parenting that even first-hand experience cannot impart. A pity such skills were never downloaded into our matrix…but then again, I think we both already know the most important lesson of any parent…that we will sacrifice everything for the sake of our children.”

 

With that she turned her thoughts away, not wishing to dwell upon the logical implications to which such thinking would inevitably would lead...and the price that would be paid before victory could be assured for both the C'thuwulf and the future of their adopted homeworld…

 

 

 

 

“Rhea-chan?” Iczer One asked as she paused outside the chamber that was her daughter's private quarters.

 

There was no immediate reply, but then she heard Rhea mentally acknowledge, **Yes, Mother?**

 

That was invitation enough for Iczer One to phase in through the door and appear inside Rhea's room, and---to her surprise---she found her child sitting on her bed with one leg curled up to her chin, one of her stuffed toys held in both arms as though she had been hugging it to herself, and there was a pensive quality to her eyes that implied that she had been doing some serious thinking.

 

“Rhea-chan?” Iczer One asked gently, “What's wrong? Why have you locked yourself in your room and refused to talk to Nagisa?”

 

“It's nothing personal, Mother,” Rhea said in a somewhat muffled voice, only to lower her knee so that her doll was not **quite** as close up to her mouth as to prevent normal speaking, “It's just…when you and mother got together…did you ever have times when you felt confused and frustrated…as if you were never going to understand humans?”

 

Iczer One rocked back on her heels as she absorbed the implications of this question, many ready responses coming almost instantly to mind, though for the sake of charity she stifled most of them and instead asked a universally evasive question, “What brought this up all of a sudden?”

 

Rhea---dutiful child that she was---knew her parents far too well to be distracted by such a question, “Please answer the question, Mother.”

 

Iczer One sighed, knowing that avoidance was a poor substitute for the honest such a question all but mandated, “In truth…many times I thought that I would never understand human thinking. Perhaps it comes from a different perspective, being born an adult with knowledge fed into me directly. Your mother and I decided to take a different approach with you, to give you only the basic operating knowledge that you would need to get by, then letting you learn the rest for yourself, one day at a time, one experience after the other, exactly as is the way with humans…humans not born C'thuwulf, that is. And yes…when I was first getting to know Nagisa…there were times when I thought I would never understand her.”

 

“But you understand her now, correct?” Rhea asked.

 

“Ah…well…” Iczer One hesitated then answered truthfully, “Mostly…”

 

Rhea looked up in surprise at her Bioroid parent, “You mean…even after all these years?”

 

“Rhea-chan,” Iczer One replied, “I've known Nagisa for almost twenty years now…half of those spent in a mutually satisfying partnership called marriage. I never tire of being around her, and I have never stopped learning new things about her, which is part of the overall fascination that she has brought into my life. There are always new experiences that we can share that will teach us both about each other, and I find such an arrangement more than enjoyable as it keeps an element of mystery and discovery in our world. I suppose that without this mystery we would grow to find a certain sameness to our days that would be far less interesting and might lead to a lessening of our mutual enjoyment.”

 

“Then…how did you manage to finally get together?” Rhea wondered, “Was it only Synchronization that made you first take notice?”

 

“All that did was to make me aware that Nagisa existed,” Iczer One revealed, “It took longer than the instant when I knew that she was my partner for me to grow to know and love what I discovered about Nagisa. She filled an emptiness in my life like the pieces of a puzzle coming together, and the more I knew her was the more I loved her until there was no sacrifice too great for me to overcome in order to be with her. Even death ultimately did not keep us apart, and even the separation of years and parsecs of distance could not prevent our eventually reuniting when the fates brought us both together. It was, however, easier for me to love her than for her to learn to care for me the same way, and even then Nagisa did not fully comprehend what it was that I wanted from being around her. It took many wrong turns and missteps before we crossed that barrier and found ourselves meeting half way at the middle between our mutual wants, desires and expectations…”

 

“So…in other words you courted her…and she eventually loved you back?” Rhea clarified, “But how did you do that, Mother? How did you get her to love you?”

 

“I didn't compel her to love me, Rhea-chan,” Iczer One explained, “I had to let Nagisa decide for herself that she wanted to be a part of my world, even as she was at the center of my thoughts and wishes. I loved her with all my being, and I knew that she cared for me back as a friend, but it was when she knew that she loved me back that I truly became her partner. It was the happiest day for me when she accepted my love without reservation, and we pledged ourselves together in the bonds of marriage that we share unto the present. You have to allow love to happen if it is to occur at all…but there is quite a lot of work involved in keeping a relationship going. Above all else you have to be patient…”

 

“Patient,” Rhea threw her doll down against her bed in her frustration, “I am being patient, Mother, but…but when am I going to earn Muku's love without reservation? I thought that we had moved closer together after our last brush against Nova, but right at the moment when I thought that I was going to claim her as my own, we got interrupted, and then…we lost the mood…and I could sense Muku-chan moving away from me again. And now it feels as if the progress we have made has all been for nothing…”

 

“For nothing?” Iczer One blinked, “Why would you think that?”

 

“She doesn't understand, Mother!” Rhea complained, “I can feel it in her thoughts how she wants to let go and express herself to me on a sexual level...but...it's like she doesn't fundamentally understand what the next phase should be! She's never really been in love before, she hasn't had other partnerings with friends who could teach her the basics of sharing intimacies, and I think she's a little bit frightened of letting go of her defenses. Can you imagine? She has friends who want to share intimacies with her, and yet she's even more of a virgin than I am!”

 

Iczer One blinked twice as she tried to absorb the significance of what her daughter was saying, “You mean…her parents have neglected to teach her about sex?”

 

“Evidently,” Rhea spoke the word with a certain arched tone that was quite unlike her normally reserved sense of even temper, “How could somebody get to be her age and have all these people who want to bed with her, and yet she remains so…so…so CLUELESS about what they want to do with her? I can sense their thoughts and I know that many are resentful of me because I am so much closer to Muku than they are, and yet they know her better than I and they're afraid to state their preferences!”

 

“Ah…” Iczer One suddenly had a flash of what the humans of Earth called “déjà vu,” a phenomenon that made her feel as though history were moving in a cycle, that the reflections of her daughter were hauntingly familiar with similar complaints that she had thought (yet never openly expressed) towards Nagisa.

 

Rhea stared morosely off into a corner of her room that had nothing especially eye-catching and sighed, “I love her, Mother…I love her so much! And yet it feels sometimes as if she wants to push me away, as if she's embarrassed to return my affections. I don't want to frighten her, and I certainly don't want to force her into anything, but…what else can I do? If an attack should occur, then I need to bond with her inside our Iczer-Robo. Leaving her alone is no good…the sooner I take my mind off of her, the sooner our enemies move to attack her…”

 

“Rhea-chan,” Iczer one spoke soothingly, “I know it must seem difficult, even confusing, the kinds of conflicted signals your partner must be sending, but…things are not always as bad as your fears might let you believe. You can't unbond from a partner, and you would never have synchronized if she was not compatible with you, so…if you give her time, then she will realize on her own that you were meant to be together…”

 

“I wish that I could be as confident of this,” Rhea sighed, stretching her legs out as she thought about her Muku, “The longer it takes for her to call to me and allow me to be one with her, the more painful is the reality of our separation…”

 

“I know that feeling well,” Iczer One assured her daughter, “You can survive a bit longer. It took me years to finally earn Nagisa's love, you've only known Senzenen Muku for a little more than a week and a half…”

 

“I suppose I could wait a bit longer,” Muku said, “But…why does she avoid facing her emotions when I can sense her longing to be with me? Why does she say both `yes' and `no' either alternately or at the same time? Is she afraid to love me? Or is it a cultural thing…is she afraid to love me because I am a woman?”

 

Iczer One decided that Rhea's bed was big enough for two and sat down heavily beside her daughter, “Do you know how many times I asked that very question? Did you know how much Nagisa resented me at the beginning, before she understood what my mission was or why I needed her cooperation? We were together just two brief days that first time, over twenty years in the past, and yet in that time we seemed to live a lifetime. I can't advise you any better than to say…I've been where you are and…I somehow survived it. You will survive it too…you're our daughter, the product of the success of our love. You're living proof that persistence does pay, just so long as you give Muku a chance, and maybe let her see the real you completely.”

 

“Do you really think that might work, Mother?” Rhea asked.

 

Iczer One stretched out an arm and affectionately hugged her daughter, “How could she fail to love someone like you, Rhea-chan? You're as caring and as kind-hearted as Nagisa herself, and if Senzenen Muku is unaware of how much love you have to share, I know you will make her aware of everything about you that is there to be loved. I know you feel frustrated and lonely right now, but have hope and good cheer, the day is at hand when you will have everything you desire and thensome.”

 

“I hope that this will be true, Mother,” Rhea smiled as she leaned her head against the older Bioroid's shoulder, “And I will try to be patient.”

 

“That's all that I can ask…other than that you be prepared to weather the storms that will come with the good parts,” Iczer One cautioned, “And be prepared for emotional flare-ups, sudden mood-shifts and other unexpected twists and turns that humans are capable of manifesting on the turn of a yen piece. To be patient is very hard, especially in the face of great emotional turmoil. You can't expect consistency from a human mind…it's one of their more vexing qualities, to be subject to the battering of hormonal shifts and quixotic mood-swings.”

 

Rhea was very round-eyed as she turned and looked at her mother, “Can it really get as bad as this?”

 

“Oh yes,” Iczer One rolled her eyes towards the ceiling, “All that and more…but if you can ride out the bad times, the good times will be even sweeter when they happen.”

 

“Oh,” Rhea said as she thought it over, “Well…I certainly hope Muku doesn't turn out to be like that, though…I will remember your words, Mother, and try to accommodate her.”

 

“Good,” Iczer One gave into impulse and affectionately ruffled her daughter's hair, much the same way as she had seen Troi do on many an occasion to her occasional dates, “Now get yourself dressed…your mother and I have a surprise for you. We've made some arrangements, pulled a few strings, and took advantage of some political pull we have, and I think you'll like the little proposition that we would like to offer you so that you and Muku will be even closer together.”

 

“Oh?” Rhea blinked, then as she stared into the eyes of her Bioroid parent she formed a glimmering of her proposal and asked, “You mean…truly?”

 

“We've already bought the uniform,” Iczer One smiled, “It's in your size, so feel free to try it on, then you can inspect your school supplies and see if everything is to your satisfaction.”

 

“Oh, Mother!” Rhea impulsively hugged her elder, “Thank you! You've made me so happy!”

 

“I take it, then, that our surprise is to your satisfaction?” Iczer One hugged her daughter back, then let her go and said, “I will go and inform your mother of your decision.”

 

With that she teleported from the room, only to stumble as she found Nagisa waiting for her just beyond the room, a knowing expression telling her that her wife was fully aware of the pertinent details of her conversation with Rhea.

 

“Mood-swings and flare-ups?” Nagisa asked archly, “On behalf of human women everywhere, I feel mildly insulted.”

 

“Oh…uhm…you heard that, eh?” Iczer One said nervously, “Well…I was trying to help…”

 

“And you did,” Nagisa replied, “At the expense of making me sound like an emotional basket case that you have to walk around as if you're on eggshells.”

 

“That wasn't my intention, Nagisa,” Iczer One pleaded, “You believe me…don't you?”

 

“How would I know?” Nagisa replied, “I'm only human…you can't expect emotional consistency out of me, remember?”

 

“Ah…well…I may have overstated that point a bit…” Iczer One stammered to reply, only to be taken by surprise as Nagisa drew her into her arms and planted a kiss upon her lips that brought an abrupt halt to her hasty attempt at an apology.

 

Much to her further surprise she heard Nagisa murmur into her ear, “And that's for all that I put you through when we were just starting out, when I didn't even know my own mind, let alone how sweet life with you would be…and you were right, the reward was worth the waiting, hai?”

 

Iczer One could only stare at her wife in wonder, marveling at what a constant mystery she truly was, and how life with Nagisa was never truly boring.

 

Unseen behind them, Rhea poked her head out of her room, drawn by the curious emotional waves emanating from her parents. She smiled when she saw the two of them embracing in a highly familiar way then withdrew back into her room and murmured, “Maybe there is hope for Muku and me after all…OH, if only that could be us embracing…”

 

She decided it was worth getting up and leaving the house after all, especially since it was a school day, and the last thing she wanted was to be late for her first classes…

 

 

 

Continued

 

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