Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Hell Back on Earth ❯ L33T G4//3R N4R00 ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The sun shone brightly over the city of Tokyo, as Mount Fuji loomed in the distance. An aircraft descended from the sky, passing over the Diet Building, Tokyo Government Office, the Sunshine 60 Building, the Yamaote-line, Shinjuku, the Nakano Sun Plaza, and the infamous Tokyo Tower before heading for the airport. At one of the windows, Karen lay slumped over in her seat with her headphones on, fast asleep, unable to enjoy the splendor of her homeland. Next to her, her adoptive father, Tenma Furukiayu smiled evilly.

Soon, he thought.

Meanwhile, down on the ground, a crowd had gathered in a local arcade. A new stage had been loaded in the Dance Dance Revolution machine and everyone was trying to beat it, most were failing miserably though. One guy was only steps away from winning, only to screw up at the last second.

"Ha ha!" He declared. "I have beaten everyone else!"

Someone else chuckled, at which this champion decided to discover what was up.

"You'll never come close to L33T Gamer Naru." he bragged.

This person, who's hair was so gravity defying that many wondered how it stayed up, had obviously never heard of this person, as he cast a look of dumbfoundedness back at this supporter.
Over in one corner, a group of boys braced for the worst. This would be the time when the rumor mill would open for business. As this gentleman seemed to be completely Nihongo-deprived, a ninja-like gentleman had to translate the description of this master gamer that seemed to spread like wildfire and went in more directions than a tree's branches.

"I've heard she's like six feet tall!" one guy said.
"I heard she used to be a rock singer!" another added.
"I heard she used to live in Kyoto and slay gamers daily!" yet another declared.
"I heard she's only like twelve and a super genius."
"No! She's forty-two and lives on Mount Fuji!"
"I heard she killed her entire family when she was eight!"
"I've heard she almost NEVER looses."
"I heard she found some weird thing in her basement, that's why she never fails to win."
"I heard she has some weird gift that allows her to see the future before it happens."
"I heard she has some weird scar on her face."
"No, she's got some weird mark on her left arm!"
"I heard she was raised by wolves."
"No she wasn't! She was raised by some perverted old man!"
"I heard her twin brother wants to kill her and plays the flute!"
"No, her twin brother killed someone's whole family because she told him to!"
"I heard she's trying to get into Toudai but keeps failing the exam!"

As the weird rumors flew around, a young girl dramatically stepped into the arcade, drawing everyone's attention. She had short brown hair that barely touched her shoulders, and dressed in a tank top that any self respecting guy would notice that she obviously knew nothing about discretion of her female anatomy. She wore khaki baggy pants that flared out near her ankles. Her eyes were concealed behind the small but cute frame of her glasses, and most of her hair was covered by a bucket hat.

"Leet Gamer Naru!" most of the arcade goers called out, and began to mumble incoherently to themselves as she stepped in.

"This guy thinks he can beat you Leet Gamer!" one of the boys explained, making sure not to look her in the face. .
"Come on guys, I wish you'd stop calling me that..." she replied sweetly, blushing a little.

"So! j00 4r3 th3 1 who thinks she can B34T M3!" The gentleman declared in leet.
"So, you are the one who thinks that she can beat me!"

"So you want to play a round?" she asked.
"JUS! I \/\/!11 /\/\4|<3 j00 ph34r my m4d G4m!ng s|<!11z!" he shouted.
"Yes! I will make you fear my mad gaming skills!"

"Okay...if you say so..." Naru said as she walked up to the machine with this strange gaijin. An odd gothic girl handed them some yen and the battle began.

"So, what stage do you want to do?" Naru asked.
"The new stage!" the strange man declared.
"Okay...although I haven't played it yet."
"Awww, you're so sure of yourself, are you? Let the match begin!!"

And so the match began. The strange gaijin was good. He hit step after step in rapid succession, even the freeze notes scattered throughout the song. But Naru was right behind him. Her feet flashed along the pad like an accomplished pro, ready to touch the next press no sooner did the last one go through, nailing combo after combo.
After a matter of minutes, the stage was over. The gaijin had done quite well.

"|-|4! ! \/\/4rnd j00 ! \/\/0u1d \/\/!n!" he declared, quite proud of himself.
"Ha! I warned you I would Win!"

"Um..." Naru said, pointing to the screen.

As all had predicted, she had beat him by ONE step.

At this the gaijin's head sunk and he walked out of the arcade with a sullen look on his face. The group of students who had come here with him had tears in their eyes, crying about how they could not believe how she had beaten Great Teacher Largo.

"Yay! I did it!" Naru exclaimed, high-fiving her friends.
"You were great N-naru!" one of her friends stuttered.
"Thanks Yuuji." She said, coming over and almost hugging him, causing him to blush.
"Whoops, sorry. It's the girl in me." "It's all right. You're bound to slip from time to time." Yuuji replied.
"And what do you mean by that?" Naru asked with a slight look of anger in her face.
"Nothing, nothing at all!" Yuuji replied nervously. "Um, Naru, there's something I need to ask your opinion on..." he said even more nervously.
"Cool! Let's go talk." Naru replied.

Back at Naru's...

A servant opened the front door of the Yashuhara estate as Tenma and Karen walked into the place. It was big, huge even, elegantly decorated. Mr. Yashuhara had to be really rich or inherited it all, Karen thought to herself as a gentleman who looked a bit like Naru walked out to greet them.

"Ah, Furukiayu-san. It is good to see you after all this time." the man said.
"Yes. It is. I trust everything has been going well here?" Tenma asked.
"Yes. Business is booming as usual. I trust you got the message?" he asked.
"Yes. I did. That is why that it is imperative that I take over the company as its successor."
"I take it this is your beautiful daughter?" the man asked.
"Yes. Karen, I would like you to meet Mr. Yashuhara, one of my associates here in Japan."
"<Pleased to meet you>" Karen replied. "<Nice place you've got here.>"
"Thank you. It's a shame Naru's not here. She's out with her friends as usual."

Karen yawned a bit, which could have easily construed as boredom.

"You must be tired after your long flight. Your room is upstairs, down the hall and two doors down to the left." Mr. Yashuhara replied.
"<Thank you...Sorry.>" Karen said, heading upstairs almost out of it, barely realizing that in her exhaustion from jet lag she had gone in the first door on the left instead of the second. She barely looked about her surroundings before collapsing on the bed, falling into a deep sleep.

Elsewhere, Naru and Yuuji were headed down the street. Yuuji walked beside her, while she walked beside him, making sure not to run his feet over or get ahead of him.

"So, what's up?" Naru asked.
"Well...I have this problem."
"Oh...one of those things again." Naru said sarcastically. "What's the problem this time? Don't think I can pass my English test next Tuesday?"
"But Naru, you never pass your English tests." Yuuji reminded her.

The two strolled into a park and sat down under a tree. Naru stretched out and rested her head on Yuuji's arm, causing him to blush a bit.

"Sorry." she said.
"It's okay." Yuuji replied.
"Now about this problem?" Naru asked, giving him her full attention.
"Well, there's this girl..."
"Ooooh! Girl problems! Never thought I'd get this one." Naru said.
"You see, I there's this girl I like."
"Yuuji has a girlfriend." Naru said in a sing-song voice.
"I'm serious Naru." Yuuji said.
"Okay. So there's this girl you like. Is she pretty?"
"Very pretty."
"Is she nice?"
"Very nice. We have lots in common."
"So the problem is..."
"I don't know if she likes me."
"Yuuji, this is an easy one. Ask her."
"I don't know if she'll say yes."

At this moment, Naru yawned a bit.

"I'm all right. Keep going."
"This girl is really special. I really want to go out with her but I don't want to scare her off if I tell her how I feel about her. The truth is...I love her."
"zzzzzzzzzzzzz."

Yuuji looked over to find that Naru had fallen asleep. He was used to this. Naru had been getting very tired lately and only trusted him with this secret.

"The truth is...I love...you." he said, sure that she could not hear him.

Later...

"Dad I'm home!" Naru called as she ran through the front door.
"Did you have a good time with your friends today."
"Yep! I even creamed some weird gaijin!" she exclaimed, quite proud of herself. "I've got lots of homework to do, so I'm going to my room now."
"Okay Naru. I'll bring up some food later." he replied.

Naru headed upstairs, dreading the enormous amount of work she would have to do that night, opened the door to her room, only to find Karen passed out on her bed.

Seconds later, a scream capable of awakening Karen and barely shattering all the glass in the house resounded through it. Mr. Yashuhara came running, as did Tenma himself.

Karen slowly opened her eyes to find some short little Japanese girl screaming at her, moments later she came to the conclusion, as her Japanese kicked in, that Naru was pissed at her and demanded to know what the hell she was doing on her bed. The Yashuhara guy she had met earlier was trying to calm down the very angry girl.

"Naru, she's our guest. She's going to be staying with us for a little while." he tried to explain.
"Well then why is she staying in MY room?" Naru shouted.
"She probably was so tired she went in the wrong room when she went to lay down this afternoon." he tried to explain.
"<Yeah, I'm sorry.>" Karen replied.
"Fine. Now get out of my room so I can do my homework."

Karen cautiously exited the room and headed downstairs as Naru sat down to work.

Later, as Karen sat watching the insanity of Japanese game shows, her mind was on how she had made Naru angry. Looking over to the corner of the room, she spotted a piano. Her mind fuzzily recalled seeing several gaming systems in her bedroom before she completely crashed. Maybe...

Walking over, she stretched her fingers over the keys and began to play. Soon the sound of Rhydia's theme from Final Fantasy 4 began to echo through the house.

Upstairs Naru heard the music. Where could it be coming from? Still, she had work to do. Evil evil English homework.

Realizing that the game might be a little too long ago for her to remember it well, she began to play "Eyes on Me" from Final Fantasy VIII. Naru clearly heard this, and was tempted to go see what was going on but had too much work to do.

"Screw it." Naru said to herself, getting up from her desk and heading over to figure out what was going on.

As she headed out to the stairs, she glanced over the side to find Karen down below in some sort of Uematsu induced trance, playing along by heart. As the song ended, Karen looked over to find Naru standing there.

"Do you know the Prelude Melody?" Naru asked nicely.

Karen nodded and went into the familiar scale of notes that opens every Final Fantasy game.

"I'm sorry for being so mean to you..." Naru apologized. "I'm not used to having other girls around."
"<You're forgiven. Seems like you know about Final Fantasy.>"
"Who doesn't? My friend Yuuji showed them to me." she replied, blushing a little at his name.
"<Are you sure he's not your boyfriend?>" Karen asked.
"No! No! He's my friend. I'm friends with lots of guys."
"My dad said you're from America..." Naru said.
"<Yep.>" Karen replied.
"Could...could you help me with my English homework? I suck at it." Naru replied.
"<I wasn't expecting to do be working here in Japan, but I guess I could. Lead the way.>"

And so the two headed up to her room.

The next day...

Karen as usual was sound asleep in her bed, exhausted from the late study session with Naru. However she was soon awakened from her slumber by a very excited Naru.

"Karen-sempai! Karen-sempai! Time to get up!" she shouted.
'Huh...wha?" Karen asked.
"Time for breakfast!" Naru shouted, practically pulling the barely awake Karen down the stairs to the breakfast table.

"Ah, good morning Karen." Mr. Yashuhara said.
"<Good Morning>" Karen mumbled.
"Naru, why don't you show Karen around the city? She won't be here long." Her father suggested.
"Okay! Come on Karen-sempai!" Naru called, dragging her newfound companion outside.
"Well, have you agreed?" Tenma asked when the two girls had left the room.
"Very well. Naru can go with you and Karen to Osaka. Although I disagree with you there's no way I can stop you otherwise, just like 17 years ago."
"Have you told her yet?" Tenma asked.
"No. I'll tell her when she and that girl you consider your personal treasure return." Yashuhara replied, showing even more dissatisfaction for Tenma's scheme.
"We can either have that moron Sadojima running the clan after Father passes or me. And to ensure that happens, I need your daughter's aid. That and Nagaihidaka's boy."
"Very well...Furukiayu-sama." Yashuhara answered.

Meanwhile...

"<Whoa...I didn't think Tokyo was such a big place...>" Karen said. "<And I thought Boston was large.>"
"Yeah, it is a big place." Naru replied.
"Naru!" A voice called.
"Yuuji!" Naru called back.
"What are you up to?" Yuuji asked.
"Oh, this is my friend Karen. I'm showing her around the city." Naru replied.
"Oh, well can I go with you two?" Yuuji asked.
"Um, okay." she replied.
"<This is the guy you told me about last night? He's cute...>" Karen whispered to Naru.
"Um, let's go!" Naru stammered.
"Yeah!" Yuuji added. "Come on, Naru."

The two walked off together and motioned for Karen to follow. Something was definitely up with these two, Karen observed.

And so the grand tour began. Naru and Yuuji led Karen through the streets of Shibuya, over to Shinjuku, even passing by the tall tower crowning Tokyo University, where two lovebirds, one having glasses and the other with strange antannae-like hair were walking hand in hand. Both of Karen's guides looked at the couple strangely, as if secretly longing for it. Their journey took them back to Naru's, where Yuuji had apparently promised to tutor Naru in English in hopes of her passing a test with flying colors. They insisted that they not be disturbed, so Karen sat up in her room listening to her CD collection for a while before heading downstairs to get a snack, only to find that there were none. She did find Yuuji sitting on the couch looking through his English textbook, half looking at Naru, who had apparently dozed off. It reminded her of when she was Naru's age and was always tired. Teresa had not minded; if anything it was an excuse to catch up on her reading.

"<She looks like an angel when she sleeps, doesn't she.>" Karen said, making sure Yuuji could hear her.
"Yeah..." Yuuji answered, not paying attention.
<"Tough test coming up, isn't there.>" Karen replied.
"yeah..." Yuuji answered again.
"You really like her, don't you." Karen asked.
"Ye..." Yuuji said before catching himself. "It's obvious isn't it. She's just so pretty. So pretty that make up would make her less beautiful. She's not like other girls. She likes the same things my friends and I do. She's nice...funny...she always listens to me, something most guys don't do."
"<Pretty much. Does she know?>" Karen asked.
"No...I keep trying to tell her but I can never do it."
"<Why? Scared she won't say yes?>" Karen asked.
"That and I don't want to loose her as a friend."
"<Listen, Naru will always be your best friend no matter what. But if you don't tell her, you'll just end up wondering about what could have been.>"
"Okay..."
"<Any idea why she's so tired?>" Karen asked.
"I'm not sure either. Every once in a while she just dozes off. I try to wake her up but she just falls back to sleep again, so I just wait until she wakes up, mostly because she looks like such an angel."
"<I see. Look, I'm going to go upstairs. I'm going to talk to her when she comes upstairs for bed. But you think about what I said, okay?>" Karen said.
"Okay."
"Good. Now you can go back to your little moment of erotica."

Yuuji blushed a little as Karen headed upstairs.

Sometime later...

Naru came up the stairs to her room, where she found Karen waiting for her. While Naru had a look on of extreme fatigue, Karen had a look on her face of extreme concern. She had to tell her what was going on. What she decided to do about it was up to her.

"<Naru, do you have any idea why you're tired so often?>" Karen asked.
"Um...not really...I went to the doctor and she said it was puberty and growth spurts that were causing it."
"<Somewhat that. But there's something else. I went through the same thing when I was your age.>"

Naru had a look of shock on her face as Karen began to focus a bit.

"<I got tired all the time. My friend Teresa didn't mind me dozing off when we went to the park all the time; when it was over, however, I started noticing some weird stuff. First this..." Karen said, parting her hair to reveal a kanji glowing on her forehead. "<And then there was this.>"

Focusing, Karen made a motion with her hand that suddenly some of the objects to begin turning upside down as the gravity in the room reversed. As quickly as it began, Karen slowly restored the gravity to normal, causing everything to be set down gently, surprising Naru even more than before. Karen continued.

"<When I showed my Dad, he became ecstatic. So happy Kefka or Hojo would be jealous. I don't know what it is about us, but I'm sure my Dad knows something about it, because he's weird like that. Something just tells me we're not here in Japan to sightsee.>"
"Are you sure?" Naru asked. "This sounds like something out of a video game or something."
"<I don't think I can prove it...but something just tells me that there's something up. I overheard my Dad saying something about heading to Osaka tommorow.>" Karen replied.
"Must be to see Nagaihidaka-san..." Naru surmised.
"<Who's that?"> Karen asked.
"One of my dad's friends, he lives there. His son Shou is about your age I guess." Naru said, not looking too happy about this.

Seeing that Naru was not all that pleased about journeying to Osaka to see this Shou person, Karen came to the conclusion that it would not be a good idea to ask her if he was cute in her current mood. So she thought of something that would cheer up Naru.

"<One more thing...what do you think of Yuuji?>" she asked.

Naru blushed a little at the sound of his name. She had done this before.

"Well...he's nice...he taught me everything I know about gaming...He's always acting weird around me though...especially lately...I dunno, does that mean he likes me...as more than just friends?"
"<I didn't even have to tell you...>" Karen replied.
"I play lots of video games and I have friends who watch lots of anime and read lots of manga. I'm wondering...do you know something?" Naru asked.
"<Well...I...well...um...>" Karen said.
"You DO know something! Tell me tell me!" Naru exclaimed, eager to get this secret out of Karen.
"<Maybe you should talk to Yuuji...>" Karen replied.
"I wanna know!" Naru exclaimed.
"<Okay okay. I do. Yuuji...>" Karen started to say, looking over to find that Naru had dozed off. Karen tucked her in before heading back to her own room.

The next morning...

Clouds blocked out the sun at the train station as the group prepared to board a train to Osaka. This had of course forced everyone out of bed early, so Karen and Naru were quite out of it. Naru was conscious enough to hug her father goodbye. Tenma had already boarded the train, being the eager man that he was. Karen and Naru were just about to get on themselves before they heard a voice calling for Naru.

"Naru! Naru!" Yuuji called, running up the platform as fast as he could.
"Yuuji!" Naru exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him.
"Naru...I have something to tell you..."
"You do?" Naru asked.
"Yes...I like you...I really like you, I think...I may even love you..." Yuuji said.

At this, Naru did a double take. She had a feeling that Yuuji liked her, she almost saw it coming a few miles away, but never thought he would actually admit it. That, and she had a pretty good idea who put him up to this. But no time to deal with what already happened, right now she had a lovesick boy on her hands. Okay, she admitted, she did have a teeny crush on him. But Yuuji was head over heels in love with her. Turning him down would not just break his heart, it could damage their friendship too. What was she to do? Being undecided, she thought, was the best way to go.

"Wow...I'm sort of flattered you like me..." Naru began hesitantly, as she took a deep breath and continued more confidently, "but I really don't know. There's our friends, what will they think? What about our parents? We are pretty young you know..."
"But I love you..." Yuuji repeated.
"I know, I know." Naru said, trying to be a delicate as possible to not to rip his heart asunder, "but this is pretty big. I really need some time to think."

A few moments passed.

"Okay? Will you say yes and go out with me?"
"Yuuji, I'm serious." Naru answered. "This is a big decision, you know it too...if you really care about me...you'll understand and let me think this through. I'll give you an answer when I get back, I promise."

Yuuji took a deep breath. The two stood in silence for a few moments.

"All right. I'll wait. Can I at least kiss you goodbye?" Yuuji asked.
"I guess that's okay." Naru said.

Yuuji went to kiss her on the cheek, but she stopped him.

"A real one." Naru said. "Maybe that'll help me decide." she thought to herself.

The two brought their lips together, as a few minor sparks flew through the air. The moment was shattered almost as soon as it started with the sound of the train's horn.

"I have to go..." Naru said.
"Okay...I'll miss you..." Yuuji said.
"I'll miss you too..."
"<Um, come on Naru, we can't leave without you...>" Karen replied.

Naru ran towards the train and got on.

"<Come on, you little firecracker you...>" Karen said, leading Naru to her seat.

The door closed behind them and the train slowly began to pull away from the station. Naru's father waved goodbye to her, as did Yuuji.

"So beautiful..." Karen said to herself. "<Naru! You've gotta see this view! Naru?>"

In a matter of moments, Naru had tucked her glasses into her tank top's collar, placed her earbuds in her ears, fired up her MD player, and pulled her hat over her eyes, and was already fast asleep.

"Yuuji...so beautiful..." she mumbled.

Karen smiled to herself as the train made its way out of Tokyo and on to Osaka.

NEXT EPISODE:

SHOU: Orya!!!! I get ta do da next preview! Dis next ep is all about me!

KAREN: No it's not moron. You just get introduced here.

SHOU: Do ya wanna make sometin of it?

KAREN: You're not tough.

SHOU: Hey! Kansai is a important region for agriculture an' stuff. We're rugged an' everything.

KAREN: Not to mention moronic...

SHOU: Whaddyameanbythat?

KAREN: We're in an anime fanfic. You're just the comic relief.

SHOU: Whaddyatalkin'about? I'm not da comic relief! Dere's lots of anime characters who speak in Osaka-ben that aren't!

KAREN: Really. Name one.

SHOU: Um...er...ugh...

KAREN: Next time on Ronin Warriors: Hell back on Earth; The Runaway Annoying Osakan.

SHOU: Whaddayatryin'tapullhere? The next episode's called Racin' wit Shou!

TENMA: Actually, the next chapter is called, Fast Times in Osaka.

KAREN AND SHOU: ::check script:: He's right...