Urusei Yatsura Fan Fiction ❯ The Senior Year ❯ The Last Child of the Outland ( Chapter 42 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year: "The Last Child of the Outland"
by Fred Herriot
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With thanks to Sandro Albano for his technical advice
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Edited by E.B. Kushnir
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A side story based on the fan fiction stories in turn based on "Urusei
Yatsura," created by Rumiko Takahashi
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WRITER'S NOTES:

1) This story occurs in the same time-frame as the mainline UY-TSY story "A
Hectic Vacation," which mostly occurs on Reiner's Five. Pamanba first appears
in "Shinobu's Best Friend." The Nendo-kata and Nokoko first appear in
"Together the Outland." Abraham Shapiro first appears in "The Return of
Koosei Ryooki." Sylia and Pathfinder Troop Six appear in "Mie's Story."

2) Loads of Nendo-kata terms:

Unity - The positive energies of Creation.
disUnity - That which wishes to destroy Unity.
Universal School - All sentient beings in the Universe.
Great School - A race, i.e. Terrans, Vosians, etc.
school - A family unit/village.
schoolmates - Other members of a school. "Sister" can also be
used since Nendo-kata are an all-female race.
air-breathers - Literally those who intake oxygen from air.
Cosmic Chain of Life - Creation.
Agent/Purveyor - Those who serve Unity/disUnity.
sub-creature - Something lower than a Purveyor of disUnity,
deserving only death.
Mother Ocean - The Nendo-kata deity. Also used to imply their
homeworld.
Crossing Over - The Nendo-kata ritual transformation.
cast to the depths - Death.
Black Ocean - The afterlife.
Matriarch - A school's leader. Nokoko's position.
Sage - A teacher/priest. Tatsuko's position.
Defender - A protector. Saiten's position.
Messenger - A bard/scout. Clarisse's position.
Gatherer - Others in a Nendo-kata school. Mal, Ookako,
Osooko, Hei, Donna and Nintaiko fit this
position. Asuka and Pamanba would also be seen
as gatherers.

3) For this story, Reinoevan and Asukanoevan (named after Rei Ayanami and
Asuka Langley Sohryu of "Neon Genesis Evangelion") will be referred to simply
as "Rei" and "Asuka." They will not be anywhere close to Asuka Mizunokoji,
although she appears in the latter part of the story.

**** **** ****

The Bard sighs. She made it.

Space explodes as the Outland Nebula, which had ceased to exist when
Nokoko had closed the dimensional gateway in the wake of events in "Together
the Outland," literally appears out of nowhere. From the drifting sea of
gasses and acids, a rock drifts outward, then in the blink of an eye,
disappears into hyperspace. Normal Nendo-kata could not perform stunts like
this, but the Bard was no normal Nendo-kata. Nor were her sisters.

Where were they?!

Five hundred years since they separated, the Bard had bounded from one
end of the Outland to the other, frequently darting back into realspace to try
to locate some habitable world where the school could resettle. That had
proven a waste of time...and with her frequent transits across dimensional
boundaries, the Bard had lost total track of her school. Most disUnifying.
The Bard, the school messenger and scout, traditionally had the task to locate
other schools and initiate contact, relaying information to and from her own
school. She was accustomed to being alone; it was expected. But a quarter of
a Nendo-kata's normal two millennia lifespan was pushing it.

Fortunately, the Unity had been kind to her. When she reached that
particular gateway of the Outland, she sensed the psychic emanations of her
schoolmates. They had remained at that position for some time. Further, she
had sensed the energy emanations of the sentient crystalline starcraft the
school had encountered from time to time since they passed into the Outland
from the Mother Ocean. She also sensed that the Matriarch had sacrificed
herself to save the life of an air-breathing sentient named Nokoko Moroboshi,
who hailed from a Great School calling themselves Terrans, their Mother Ocean
being called Earth. Despite all her searching, the Bard realized that the
school had joined their human matriarch to live on Earth. The Bard privately
wondered if they had Crossed Over yet.

Now if only the Unity would help her rejoin them...

* * *

Pamanba sighs. "Another day done. Time to go home."

The Vosian runs a hand through her brown hair as she walks from
Shapiro's Ice Cream Parlour to her apartment. She was grateful that despite
her actions against Nassur's friends, Koosei Ryooki had arranged to get the
former hunter a place of her own to live. Strange to be living a normal life
after her twenty-four years as a hunter. Then again, she never had a choice
in the matter. Thanks to her exceptional tracking skills, Pamanba had been
kidnapped from her parents days after birth, then put through a training
regimen which would have driven all but the strongest insane. She did not
regret defecting from the Mikado's forces. They were probably just months
away from being overwhelmed by the rebels. Why stick around when she could
get out and start her life anew?

She had no worries. Thanks to Ataru's friends from Sagussa, Colonel
Furusur and the entire officer cadre of the Special Hunter Corps were dead,
executed in response to Lum's suffering at Pamanba's hand (and by extension,
on Furusur's order). Pamanba felt relieved that monsters such as Lufy, Mie's
life-mate Makoto, Priss or Reinoevan were not unleashed on her. She could not
have lasted ten seconds against their kind. Also, both she and her "uncle"
found that they liked the Maidens of the Eternal Voyager (as Vosians called
the Sagussans). Any group willing to destroy the Niphentaxians and their
moronic Church of Lum deserved all the respect they got!

Turning a corner, Pamanba's eyes glow, green turning to luminescent
silver. Sighing, she looks back, disgust in her voice. "What do you want
now?!"

Standing behind her is a handsome young man dressed in the uniform of a
Butsumetsu High School student. Unfortunately, he is not the least bit
pleased. "Who the hell started that rumour about me, Pamanba?" he snaps.

"What rumour?" the Vosian snorts. "I've no idea what you're talking
about!"

"Yes, you do!" the man marches up to her. "Everyone's saying that I
can't make a girl happy because I never made you happy! That's the biggest
load of shit I've ever heard! You were as happy as a clam when we went to the
theater two nights ago!!"

"Well, that's what you get for forcing yourself on me, Ryou Henta!"
Pamanba sneers. "Just because I'm on the lookout for a husband doesn't give
every jerk in this house of trench-waves the right to have sex with me! And
if you want to know, Shinobu, Koosei Ryooki and Uncle Abraham started that!
Besides, it's the truth!! Now, get out of my face!"

Henta watches as the Vosian marches away. "We'll see about that!" he
growls, then storms off.

Pamanba's eyes roll. Since she defected, she had committed herself to
finding a possible husband and starting her own family, much like Thanba,
Mujanba and Muzainba had done. That had attracted the attention of Henta, an
aspiring ladies' man from Butsumetsu whose reputation for being a little too
pushy would have caused a scandal had not Ataru Moroboshi's reputation got
such good press. Now that Ataru and Lum were living together in Oshika, other
would-be perverts were under the spotlight. Shinobu had warned her not to
date Henta. Pamanba regretted not listening to her friend...not because they
had sex, but because he totally failed to arouse her!

It started innocently enough. Pamanba and Henta went to a local movie
theater. While there in the dark, he started. She nearly killed him when he
threatened to tell everyone that they had done it. Finally allowing his way,
Pamanba relaxed. Perhaps Henta was really like Ataru, a nice guy under the
surface. Besides, she was no virgin; rape, both sexual and psychological, had
been one of the things her instructors used as punishment back at the hunters'
school. Oh, Henta was a good physical lover, that was true. But when he was
working away on her, Pamanba's mind wandered.

She wondered about all the women in Japan who were in the same position
as she at that time. All the women of Russia. All the women of North
America. All the women of China. Were they enjoying it or, like she, feeling
as if she was a spectator with the best seat in the house? Then, she began to
wonder about all the races in the local cluster...and then tried to calculate
how many there could be. Mathematics was her best subject in scholastic
training. She got to ten to the twenty-seventh power for the number of women
in all the known worlds when orgasm came...or rather, when Henta reached
orgasm. She, however, did not feel a thing.

The next day, everyone in Tomobiki knew that Ryou Henta had scored with
Pamanba; that was how much he was bragging about it. Incensed, Shinobu
scolded her for not listening to her, which made the Vosian sad. She
confessed what she had felt, which gave Shapiro and Koosei an idea. They
immediately began whispering to anyone who would listen that Henta had not
even interested Pamanba, not once made her happy, much less aroused. He
probably never got it up! After all, Henta was no Ataru Moroboshi. *Ataru,*
at least, would have made any woman he was sexually intimate with enjoy
herself to the fullest. Look at all the living dolls who were after him now!

Talk about divine justice. By that morning, everyone was now whispering
about how Henta really did not score with Pamanba. Speculation was rampant
about Henta's real record. Some said that he had never reached the "C" mark
at all with anyone. Naturally, Pamanba realized that Henta might not have
enjoyed these stories.

No great loss, Pamanba sighs as she looks up...then stops. A shooting
star, really close to Tokyo. Was it Mie and Makoto coming back from their
honeymoon on Reiner's Five? Doubtful...even with a Gladiator capable of Warp
9.95, the trip would have taken a day...and they had gone for two weeks, with
still half of that left to run. "Maybe it is a shooting star," Pamanba notes,
then prays, closing her eyes. "Please, God...all I want is a mate I can
really love and care for..."

* * *

"Shit!" Clarisse Ike spits out.

Stuffing a cigarette into her mouth, the former idol singer moans as she
stands up, stretching herself. A hungry feeling was gnawing at her gut as she
staggers to her desk. The craving was back, worse than ever. Reaching into
her lap desk, she pulls out a small syringe filled with a milky-white
substance. Setting her frequently scarred arm on the table, she injects
herself.

She hated this.

She needed this.

Clarisse moans with a half-sigh, half-grunt as the rush thunders through
her system, dissipating the monstrous hangover she presently had. She had
partied almost all day and evening, celebrating the end of her latest tour.
After two years of being a famous idol singer, Clarisse...born Kaikeko
Ike...had made a career switch, concentrating on hard rock music. It had
actually been exciting at first...before the dark side of the music business
started to swallow her wholesale. The pushy managers. The sleazy agents.
The lousy singing venues. The rough crowds.

To stay in control, she turned to drinking and later drugs. She had
been taken aback by the explosion of her popularity when she dropped the image
of innocent Cute Kaikeko-chan and remade herself into the image of the dark
vixen, something which would have impressed and intimidated Madonna. The fans
had gone crazy over it. Perhaps the age of the idol singer was closing.
Clarisse hoped so. It had been such an empty life.

As if this was better!

With the heroin now in her system, she extracts her needle, then reaches
over for a bottle of Johnny Walker. The turnouts at her concerts were just
insane. The money was raking in, which made her manager happy. Of course,
Clarisse and her band needed a break, but her manager, Kuroi Bengoshi, was
already planning the next tour. Of all the things Clarisse hated, she hated
Bengoshi most of all. He had got her hooked on drugs, then dangled her like a
freshly-caught carp on a line when she tried to exert control of herself. All
she was to him was a money machine that had to keep producing.

Taking a deep swallow, Clarisse stands as she heads back to bed...then
winces as a sharp pain lanced through her chest. Crying out, she drops to her
knees, feeling all her senses overload, then fade. Overdose. She had pushed
it too far...and now she was going to pay for it...probably with her life.
"No..." she gasps. "Shit...not now. Please...oh, please...not...now..."

* * *

The Bard's eyes glow burgundy as her rock descends to the chain of large
islands called Japan. She had not detected anyone from her school.
Understandable, given their possible environment. The Nendo-kata had never
sensed such Unity and disUnity in all her thousand years of existence.
Creation and destruction occurred at the same time, nearly in the same place.
Total chaos! What sort of Great School were her schoolmates now living
in...?!

Wait!

Another sentient was about to pass into the Black Ocean.

The Bard pauses as she mind-probes this one. A female, like herself.
Perfect material for the Crossing Over. Ironically, a bard, now feeling
trapped by sub-creatures and Purveyors of disUnity who wanted to mould and
control her talents. Disgust creeps into the Bard's mind. This was disUnity
at its worst! How could they allow bards to succumb themselves to such evil
when their task in life was to relay stories to other schools?! The schools
themselves enjoyed this bard's songs, so why were those with her trying to
destroy her?! The Bard sighs as the rock plunges toward Tomobiki. The
decision is made. She could not be permitted to pass into the depths of the
Mother Ocean. There were too many songs still to be sung.

* * *

Just as Clarisse is about to pass out, an explosion occurs!! In her
dazed, fogged vision, the singer sees a giant rock literally float through a
large hole in the side of her bedroom. Perfect. Drugs, booze, now aliens.
Her mother warned her that Tomobiki was a magnet for weirdness. She should
have listened.

The rock, flat on its bottom, settles on the floor not a metre from her.
Then...was it her imagination, or was a tentacle stretching out from over the
rock's edge?

"This...isn't my day..." she weakly admits as darkness takes her...

* * *

Contact!

The Bard rapidly scans Clarisse's DNA and RNA patterns, commencing the
sacred process all Nendo-kata could exercise once in their lives: the
Crossing Over. The singer's DNA, while that of an air-breathing mammalian
vertebrate calling itself a "human," was generally similar to the Bard's.
Same type of carbon, protein and other molecular strands, just structured
differently. This would be a simple process. Now...

Psi-contact!

Clarisse's spirit vacates her body for the final time as it is entrapped
within a psi-sphere deep in the Bard's mind. To the singer, she has just
fallen asleep, passed out from the overdose. Now trapped in the Nendo-kata's
mind, the Bard begins the process of psi-Unity...when their consciences would
become one...

* * *

"'Morning, Shinobu!" Pamanba calls out as her eyes glow.

"'Morning, Pamanba!" Shinobu cheerily calls out as she walks into
Shapiro's. With graduation just a week past, she is dressed in casual
clothes, a shirt, sweater and skirt. Sitting at the bar, she stretches
herself. "Ahh, freedom at last!"

"Don't you have cram school to worry about?" Shapiro inquires as he
cleans dishes. "I thought you Japanese always loved to study."

"Well, I have to wait because I still have to do the entrance exams for
medical school, and they won't be until autumn," Shinobu sighs as she takes
the offered Mount Fuji from Pamanba. "I can wait a few months. Besides,
after the chaos we've been through, I can use the break."

"That's good," Pamanba sighs. "I wonder if I shouldn't go to school
myself. It sounds like fun."

"Well, with Lum out of Tomobiki, things should get back to dull
normalcy," Shinobu digs in. Personally, she remained divided over what had
happened to them. Ataru and Lum were in Oshika. Mie and Makoto were
handfasted, now at Reiner's Five on their honeymoon with all their friends.
Mendou was still seeing Sil. The guards went nowhere without their
girlfriends. Lan was quiet, hoping that Rei's mother could counter his
uncle's plot to send him to another sector of Urusian space. Nassur was back
on Home Base with the hybrids.

Everyone was...gone.

Still, there was an upside to that. After the destruction of the
Niphentaxian battle force by the Sagussans, nothing strange had happened in
Tomobiki, which was weird in itself. Then again, who could cause them
problems? Oogi was probably wondering what asteroid had just ploughed into
him. Pamanba's superiors had been killed by Noa's friend Lufy. Koosei had
assured her that with the Special Hunter Corps without its leaders, the Mikado
was probably losing hundreds of people to defection. Maybe things were right
for a change.

Besides, Pathfinder Troop Six was still in town, now quartered at the
Toranoseishin Finances tower on Ataru's orders. This was to ensure that any
new spy from Phentax Two could not set up shop to keep the Church of Lum up to
date on Tomobiki's goings on. Also, unknown to Pamanba, they were keeping a
weather eye on Pamanba's "uncle." Noa had destroyed Shapiro's transmitter to
ensure that no Mikado agent could guess the connection between Ataru and
Sagussa. Shinobu had no idea what was going on there, nor did she really want
to know. Besides, Sylia and her troop were nice people, far more mature than
people like Usagi or Aminobishoojo.

And...speak of the devil, the door opens and Linna and Nene walk in.
Dressed in casual civilians in lieu of their combat uniforms, the Sagussans
proceed to a booth right behind Ataru's ex-girlfriend. "Hi, Shinobu!" the
Fukunokami-turned-Sagussan Linna waves.

"Hi, Linna! Hi, Nene!" Shinobu waves back.

Shinobu notices that Pamanba is shivering. Understandable, given the
Sagussans' ability to blank themselves from Vosian tracking powers. It was
fortunate, too. When Reinoevan had stripped her mind clean of barriers in the
act of *mavan'shagh* to seduce Asukanoevan, Pamanba and Shapiro had nearly
been killed by the sheer force of psychic energy the two produced. And that
was just a simple act of seduction! What if Rei or Asuka...Noa, for that
matter...had wanted to kill Pamanba for her wounding of Lum?! Shinobu fights
down a chill herself. The Sagussans were just too powerful for her liking.
What would their potential do to Ataru when he finally went to the strange
world outside the Galactic Barrier?

Her thoughts are interrupted by Nene's warning. "Don't look now,
people, but Priss doesn't seem in a good mood."

Shinobu turns to see Priss stagger into the ice cream shop, followed by
Sylia. Pathfinder Six's commander, fortunately, was in very good spirits.
The pathfinder troop's coxswain, however, looked angry...or hungry...or hung
over. It was hard to tell with Yehisrites or Yehisrite-born Sagussans,
especially if they were once *pirpirsiw'r.* Pamanba looks like she wants to
run and hide. Shinobu felt the same way. Sitting down, Priss grumbles
something which sounds like, "Z djl lr dlrrdd skgy wjtqf...AND WITH MILK!!!!"

"One coffee with milk and sugar, one black with sugar for me," the
raven-haired Seishin-born Sylia calmly translates.

"Um...r-r-right a-a-away," Pamanba stammers, then heads off to the
coffee machine.

Shinobu weakly smiles. "Gee, Priss, you don't sound so good this
morning," she ventures.

Priss freezes her with a dirty stare. "If I wanted your opinion of how
I looked, Miyaki, I'd ask for it!!" she snarls.

Shinobu nearly leaps behind the counter. "Don't mind Priss, Shinobu,"
Sylia rolls her eyes. "She was drinking last night when we sensed some
awesome psychic force make its appearance in Tomobiki."

"Psychic force?!!" Shinobu looks surprised. "What?!"

"I dunno," Priss growls, "...but if I get my hands on the rude *kime'ne*
who gave me this headache, I'll rip his lungs out!"

"I keep telling you to control your drinking, Priss," Sylia sighs.
"You're worse than Benten and the Ikkoku Gang!"

"Which Benten?!" Shinobu inquires. "Ours or yours?"

"Both Bentens," Sylia exhales. "*Together!!*"

Shinobu faints! "What sort of psychic force could have come by now?"
Shapiro muses as he clears the counter in front of the Terran.

"We don't know," Pathfinder Six's commanding officer shakes her head.
"It's unlike anything we've ever encountered. Rei and Asuka are trying to
trace it. All we know is that it came down somewhere within fifty kilometres
of here."

"There goes the peace and quiet," Shinobu sighs...

* * *

Crossing Over.

The hatching pouch on the Bard's side explodes as Clarisse emerges from
her gestation, bursting forth as the Nendo-kata's old body disintegrates after
expending all its energy in replicating the singer's new body. Reaching air,
Clarisse gasps for oxygen as she opens her eyes, wondering what she was doing
and where she was. "What the hell happened to me?!" she demands, then feeling
something at her feet, looks back and down...then screams!

Scrambling out of the rock, she lands on her bed, spinning around to
ensure that whatever it was inside that rock was not coming after her. After
a moment of gathering her wits, she hesitantly moves back toward the rock.
Before she gets there, she notices something on the floor beside the alien
artifact and its departed cargo. Staring at the body, she nearly turns green
on seeing her own face. "Oh, man...!" she gags, then turns away to vomit.

Of course, Clarisse has nothing to throw up, so after another minute of
wondering if she is insane, she looks back. Her old body, having froze in
rigor mortis, released its excess body fluids a few hours before. The stench
gets to Clarisse as she gags, staggering for the window to open in. "Shit,
this is the wackiest trip I've ever been on!" she exclaims as she takes in the
fresh air, venting out the putrid odor.

Taking in a deep breath, she looks back...then at herself. Now nude,
her body gleaming with the gestation fluid in which she had been reborn, there
was not a scratch on her. No needle marks on her arms or knife marks. No
tattoos, either. Her hair, once dyed a shocking platinum, is back to normal
brown. "I am either dead...or this is one hell of a dope dream!" she muses.

A soft female voice responds. <<This is no dream.>>

Clarisse bolts. "Who said that?!"

<<I did.>>

"Who are you?!!"

<<I am the one who restored you.>>

"You call this restoration?!" she demands. "Where are you?!!"

<<I am within you now. Before I came, you were about to pass into the
depths of the Mother Ocean. As a fellow bard, I could not allow that to
happen. I moulded the new body you now inhabit, having transferred both our
essences into it when we underwent the Crossing Over.>>

She blinks. None of that made any sense to her. She then approaches
the rock, staring inside. What is left of the Nendo-kata, just an empty shell
slowly dissolving in the seawater, lays at the bottom of the small pool she
had inhabited for five centuries. "Whoa! Was that...you?" she inquires.

<<It was.>>

"You don't seem bugged about it."

<<Should I be? Are you not pleased that you are now out of the toxified
shell you once inhabited?>>

Staring at her old body, the singer muses. "Well, you've got a point
there. So...what are you, anyway? And...what am I?"

<<Permit me to explain...>>

Clarisse is then flooded with mental images. A beautiful ocean world in
a galaxy far away. An all-female race of sentient squid-like beings, the
Nendo-kata, committed warriors to preserve the Unity. The Bard's own school,
which one day found itself in the Outland. The Bard's separation from the
others in the school, searching for five centuries to locate a place where
they could settle. Her coming to Earth and sensing Clarisse's impending
death, which in the Nendo-kata's opinion, went against all the Unity stood
for. Their contact, psi-contact and the Crossing Over, two beings reborn...

...as one.

Unity.

Clarisse gasps as she realizes what just happened to her. That voice
was not some disembodied creature...it was her...no! Them! Two beings
merging into one being. Unity at its simplest, most pure form. That which
was the old Clarisse was dying. Such went against the cause of Unity. The
Bard, as all Nendo-kata would have gladly done, gave her life force...gave
herself...to restore Clarisse, give her a second chance at life. And by doing
so, the Bard had surrendered all sense of self-identity, merging her essence
with the singer's...and created a new Clarisse Ike.

"Well, this does beat all," Clarisse hums as she stares at the garbage
of her previous lives at her feet. Without a second's hesitation, she raises
her hand, her hazel eyes burning a deep burgundy...and in a flash, her
physical past is cast back to the Cosmic Chain of Life.

Lowering her hand, Clarisse's eyes return to normal as she stretches
herself. What do to on the first day of her new life? She then looks down at
herself. "I better shower and get dressed, then get something to eat," she
muses, heading for the bathroom...

* * *

Sometime later, Clarisse walks toward Shapiro's Ice Cream Parlour. She
is dressed in a pair of leather bike pants, a tank-top shirt and a bomber
jacket. She had to take it easy for the first day as she notices night
descending on Tomobiki. Her body needed something simple for its first meal.
A bowl of broth and herbal tea, then some soft ice cream should hit the spot.
Finding a ramen stand, she makes her first order, carefully eats, then
proceeds to the ice cream parlour. She had no idea how long it had been since
she had ice cream. Back when she was an idol singer, no doubt...a lifetime
ago. Opening the door, she calls out, "Anyone home?"

Of course, her psionic senses would have picked up any form of
intelligent sentience. Two people inside, one at the counter, the other in
the basement. This was neat! "Welcome to Shapiro's!" Pamanba calls out,
looking up from cleaning a table.

"Thanks," Clarisse automatically gives the Vosian girl a cursory
inspection. Quite nice for someone only physically sixteen. Thanks to the
Crossing Over, the singer presently could only choose females to mate with.
It was alright now...even if her old self would have once cringed at the
thought of being it with a girl. "Can I have a soft vanilla cone, please?"

"Right away," Pamanba heads to the machine.

Clarisse relaxes. It was so wonderful now that she was no longer
addicted to anything. That had not been replicated when they had Crossed
Over. Was this the same way Nokoko felt when she and the Matriarch merged
into one being? The singer reminded herself to ask Nokoko when they met.

Her thoughts are then interrupted when a cone of soft vanilla ice cream
is placed in front of her. "Here you go," Pamanba smiles.

"Thank you," Clarisse smiles, staring at her as she takes her first
lick. Yummy!

Their eyes lock. Pamanba's green eyes widen in surprise as something
deep inside her clicks into place. They glow for a moment, then return to
normal. A stunned look crosses her face as she seems to drift into a daze.
Clarisse stops, concern crossing her face as she stands up. "Hey, you okay?!"

Pamanba blinks as she returns to her senses. Had it...?

Yes, she had.

Her search was finally over. Talk about good luck and excellent timing!
A blush rising in her cheek, she lovingly gazes at the singer. "I'm fine,"
she shyly sighs.

At first surprised by the complete change of demeanor, Clarisse then
probes the former hunter's mind. Of course! It was her Great School's mating
bond. Recognition, they called it. Pamanba, through her ability, just chose
Clarisse as her perfect mate. Since it was ruled by genetics, which heavily
influenced Pamanba's views on everything around her (as it did for all
sentients regardless of which Great School they hailed)...and since Nendo-kata
could only reproduce with other women, which Clarisse had to do in a half-year
or die...then both their searches had come to a successful conclusion. "You
recognized me," she announces.

"You...know about it?" Pamanba gasps.

"I felt what happened inside you."

That surprises the Vosian even more. "You're a telepath?!"

"Yeah...among other things, too," the Nendo-kata-turned-Terran blushes,
scratching the back of her head. "It's...hard to explain."

"I can't wait to hear it," Pamanba gushes.

Both giggle. "Want to join me?" Clarisse nods to a booth.

Pamanba leaps over the counter to escort her there. "Well, we might as
well get to know each other," the singer hums. "I know your name's Pamanba,
even though many people here call you Pamela because of your old job. I'm
Kaikeko Ike, but my friends call me Clarisse."

"A pleasure," Pamanba smiles, taking her hand. "I guess I don't need to
really introduce myself since you probably learned all you need to know about
me through your powers. I never knew Terrans could do things like that."

"Well...it sorta happened to me last night," Clarisse shakes her head.
"I'm still trying to put it all together inside my mind. When I do figure it
out, you'll be the first to know."

"I can't wait," Pamanba playfully growls.

Clarisse offers her a lick of her cone. Pamanba takes her up on it.
The former then draws the cone back to herself...as the latter leans up to
take another lick. Their tongues touch as they lick the cone at the same
time. Staring at each other, both smile. "Ah, to hell with it," Clarisse
sighs as she places the cone down, then draws Pamanba into her arms.

The two awkwardly kiss, then become more passionate as they warmly
embrace the other. Clarisse's lips trace Pamanba's cheek, then her tongue
starts to flick at her ear. That elicits a delighted sigh from the Vosian.
"There's one thing I can't understand," the latter admits.

"What's that, Pama-chan?" the former gently inquires.

"How is it I recognized a woman," Pamanba muses. "I never thought I was
a lesbian."

"Oh, easily explained," Clarisse kisses the side of her neck, causing
Pamanba to purr with erotic delight. "Recognition occurs when you find your
perfect mate, right?"

"Right."

"Well, since I can only now do it with other women, I guess that means I
qualified," the singer muses, now at the Vosian's nape.

"What?!" Pamanba blinks, staring confusedly at her. "Are you sure
you're not like Nagisa Shinowataru?!"

Clarisse sighs. "I guess I better explain it to you, then," she muses.

She proceeds to recount the previous night's events, then carries on
into an explanation of who and what Nendo-kata are, especially their natural
parthenogenetic abilities and, because there are no males among Nendo-kata,
the fact that people like Clarisse, even after the Crossing Over, can only
reproduce with other females. Pamanba, understandably, is quite overwhelmed.
"You were once...a squid?!" she blinks, then feels her companion's arms. "You
sure don't feel like it." Her eyes then glow. "And your brainwave pattern
matches that of a normal human's...I think."

Clarisse sighs. "Well, there's another way to convince you."

She takes Pamanba's hand and lifts it to her forehead, gently pressing
the palm against the bridge of her nose. *Pe'cha.* Pamanba gasps as the
information literally floods into her own mind. After a minute, both women
stare at each other. While her face echoed stunned disbelief, Pamanba now
believed. "Incredible," she gasps.

"Yeah...and I'm the one it happened to," Clarisse nods.

"Then...what happened to her?"

"The Bard?"

Pamanba nods. "She's...a part of me now," Clarisse points to herself.
"You can only detect one brainwave pattern in me, right?"

"Yes," the Vosian's eyes glow.

"Well, that's because we became one person," the transformed Nendo-kata
sighs. "I've got the memories of both Clarisse Ike and the Bard...and they're
now mixing together. But...it's not hurting me. It's just confusing the hell
out of me."

"I'll bet," Pamanba whistles.

Silence falls over them for a moment as Clarisse picks up the ice cream
cone and licks up what is left. Pamanba sits there, evaluating what just
happened to her. The singer remains quiet, realizing that all the information
her would-be life-mate just received was a lot to take all at once. Still,
Clarisse had nothing to fear. Unity was on their side.

Pamanba sighs. Clarisse had struck on the most basic premise of Vosian
society: recognition did not lie. Whenever the perfect mate came across a
Vosian, recognition. Marriage or handfasting automatically came after that.
Clarisse was the perfect mate and more given her inherent Nendo-kata
abilities. Their children would all be female, but did that really matter?
Did it also matter that she would be seen as a lesbian? No, it did not.
While most of the Special Hunter Corps were homophobic to an extent (and such
did influence Pamanba to an extent until now), even the most passionate bigot
could not refute that same basic Vosian premise.

Recognition did not lie.

Finally, Pamanba stares at Clarisse. "This...is a lot to take in all at
once," she admits. "I'm going to have to think about this...but it doesn't
mean I won't say no."

"I understand," the singer nods.

They drift together, their lips lovingly caress...as their eyes glow.
"Pamanba, are you here?!" Ryou Henta's voice calls out as the door opens.

Disappointment crosses the Vosian's face as she breaks away from the
transformed Nendo-kata. "What do you want?"

Henta's voice catches as he stares at the sight of his latest "conquest"
now in the arms of a very beautiful although older *woman!* "Wh-wh-what's
this...?!" he stammers, pointing at them.

"What does it look like, trench-wave?!" Pamanba snarls. The people in
this place had such lousy timing! "I'm with my girlfriend right now! Scram!"

Henta faints! "'GIRLFRIEND?!?!?!'"

"Yeah, girlfriend!!" Clarisse snarls, her telepathic powers quickly
interpreting what was going through the student's mind. Rising up, she grabs
him by his shirt, her eyes glowing. "Listen up, Purveyor of disUnity!
Pamanba is now my life-mate!! If you so much as TRY to make her life
miserable by spreading the news around or anything else your sewer of a brain
can dream up..."

Her hands form a cup...as Henta gasps, gripping his heart as he drops to
his knees. "I'll crush you like the little worm you are!" Clarisse hisses,
her voice dropping to a haunting moan as she telekinetically begins to apply
pressure on his heart.

"M-my h-heart...!" he gasps.

A second later, Henta is telekinetically tossed out of Shapiro's with
the force of a battering ram!! "UNDERSTAND?!?!?!" Clarisse's incensed scream
booms from inside the shop.

Pamanba is understandably impressed. "Wow!!"

* * *

"You've recognized someone?!" Shapiro blinks, then smiles. "Wonderful!
Congratulations, Pamanba!"

He hands her a small cup of herbal tea. "Thanks," Pamanba nods as she
sips, then relaxes. "But this'll probably be the oddest mating in Vosian
history."

"What makes you say that?" the ice cream vendor/observer muses. "What
type of man is he?"

"She," Pamanba amends.

Shapiro blinks, then sighs. "Pamanba, you know you've got to get
yourself away from such thinking, especially now that recognition is in play.
Look how people treated Mujanba."

"I know that," she hesitantly nods. "I accept it...I really do. But
she is quite...unusual...even for a woman."

"Oh?! How so?"

"She...well, she has the ability...to...well..." Pamanba stutters, then
sheepishly shrugs. "It's hard to explain. I'm still having trouble trying to
understand it."

"I see," he muses, realizing her sincerity. "I won't ask any
more...that is until you've got it down pat in your own mind. Nothing wrong
with this type of relationship despite what idiots like Furusur would believe.
Believe me, when I heard that he had been killed, I was quite happy...for you
and a lot of others."

"Thanks," Pamanba finishes the rest of her tea, then stands. "Well, I'm
going home. I'm sure I'm going to be having some really weird dreams tonight.
Good night, Uncle Abraham."

"Good night, Pamanba. Pleasant dreams."

The former departs. Shapiro heads upstairs to close down the shop.
"Well, isn't that nice," he muses, smiling.

Abraham Shapiro had seen a lot in his hundred and seventy years. Many
alien races, humanoid and non-humanoid, all with different types of morals and
standards. He himself recognized and married a Yehisrite, daughter to a major
government official, with whom he had two wonderful daughters, even if one
wound up becoming a privateer and the other a merchant freighter crewman. Yet
all races, even the Sagussans with their profound aversion of permanent
bondings between child-mates and their vile disgust at genetic-influenced
matings, had one thing in common. They all believed in and practiced the most
powerful emotion of all...that which made the world REALLY go around.

Love.

If anyone really looked at Nicole and Mujanba...or Mie and Makoto...or
the curious triangle of Ataru, Lum and Noa (he was amazed that the people of
Tomobiki had not picked THAT up yet)...they would find love. Gender did not
matter. Gender preference did not matter. Race certainly did not matter.
Love mattered. And by the looks of it, despite her confusion about her new
mate, Pamanba had realized that if recognition was to grow into a permanent
relationship, she had to learn how to love her. Shapiro gave her excellent
odds. Pamanba had not known real love her whole life, which made her a lot
like Ayanba Onsen, herself orphaned from a normal life at the time she
recognized and later married Tomobiki High's vice-principal. Like Ayanba,
Pamanba would give the relationship her all. He just hoped that Pamanba's
mate would reciprocate. Shapiro chuckles as he heads inside. He would have
to tell Koosei about it in the morning, so that a Sensualist priestess could
come from Zeiwan to do a handfasting...

Wait!

His eyes flash as he stares down the street. There were two people not
a block away. He did not need glasses or binoculars to detect some ominous
signs...like black hunter uniforms under Terran trenchcoats, kill belts and
tapered ears. Letting out a sigh, he closes his shop, then heads home. They
obviously were not here because of him. Now things were about to get really
interesting. With Sylia's pathfinders undoubtedly on the lookout for Mikado
hunters, a battle was all but inevitable. What was that old saying again?

It never rains but it pours...?

* * *

"Clarisse, honey!" a male voice calls out. "You home?!"

"In here, Shiru-chan!" Clarisse calls out from the bathroom. "I'm
taking a shower! Make yourself at home!"

Two men walk into the living room of Clarisse's home, a beautiful duplex
located close to the border with Tomobiki. Dressed casually, they relax in a
couch, looking around. "Is it my imagination or is this place...cleaner than
usual?" Shiru Sooshoku muses, scratching his temples.

"It is that, isn't it?" his partner hums, standing up and heading to the
bar. Staring at the bare shelves, he blinks. "Shi-chan, look!" he points.
"Where's all the booze?!"

Shiru confirms with his own eyes that there was not a drop of alcohol in
sight, then heads to Clarisse's work desk. Opening it, he looks inside. No
drugs! "And where's all her pills and all that?! There's nothing here!"

"There isn't?!" his partner exclaims, not sure if he heard what Shiru
just said.

"Look for yourself, Nonki-chan!"

Nonki Soodan confirms with his own eyes what Shiru discovered. The two
men then stare at each other. "If she's going cold turkey, we'll have to
support her as best as we can," Nonki warns.

"I agree on that," Shiru nods as they return to the couch.

At that moment, Clarisse walks out, her body covered with a towel as she
dries her hair. "Hi, guys!" she beams on seeing her backup singers. "What
hauls you here today? I thought you were out taking a trip around the country
after the tour!"

Shiru and Nonki lightly flush. Clarisse resists an urge to laugh, her
powers telling her what they had been doing. "Well, we just came back to see
how you were doing," the former admits. "But we did have fun!"

"I'm glad," Clarisse sits in a love chair. She felt intoxicated despite
there being no alcohol in the house; the Unity between Shiru and Nonki, which
she had helped forge a year before when they discovered and admitted their
sexuality, sends a thrilling feeling through her body. "So, what did you do?"

"Well, we just travelled, talked and had sex," Nonki slips an arm around
his boyfriend, allowing Shiru to relax in his embrace. "But, we did find this
wonderful place out by Sendai. Get this: it's a coffee shop totally run by
lesbians."

"And the righteous majority hasn't driven them out?!" Clarisse blinks.
Even if Japan was becoming more socially open thanks to internationalization
and contact with aliens, that seemed too much to expect.

"No, they're too scared to drive those ladies out," Shiru laughs.
"Besides, all the high school kids love them. There are about five or six
aliens living there, too."

"So where is this place?" Clarisse muses, wondering if she should take
Pamanba there for their honeymoon.

"Oshika...it's on the Ojika-hantou," Nonki smiles. "It's called the
Tiger Cub Cafe."

"And get this!" Shiru adds. "It's run by Ataru Moroboshi's big sister
Nokoko. And she's handfasted...that's an alien term for legally married to
one of the same sex...to Lum's sister Mal!"

"No way!!" Clarisse innocently gasps.

"Way!" Nonki sighs. "Oh, they were such a delight! Good cooks, good
conversationalists, so friendly..."

"Maybe we should move up there," Shiru proposes.

"Why not?!" Nonki laughs as they kiss.

Clarisse smiles, empathically drinking in the passions flowing between
her backup singers...then jolts as she realises dawns on her. Ataru's sister
Nokoko Moroboshi? That was the human who had merged with the Matriarch!
Then...Mal and the others...must be her other schoolmates!! Her school was
even closer than Clarisse had guessed. Relaxing, she lets out a light purr.
She would go up to Oshika soon enough to see them. She just hoped they would
not kill her for being apart from the school for so long.

Shiru's concerned voice interrupts her. "Clarisse, you mind if I ask
what happened to your booze and all that?"

The singer considers her answer. Even if they had met her schoolmates,
she doubted if they could fully understand what happened to her. A little fib
should do...she hoped. "Well, I just got tired of people feeding me all that
junk, so I threw it out," she innocently shrugs.

Disbelieving looks stare at her. No suck luck. "Clarisse, we can tell
something's happened," Nonki stares at her. "There's no booze, no speed, no
cigarettes even! No one can clean themselves up THAT fast! Now, unless
you're pulling a bullshit job on Bengoshi, we want to know what's happened to
you!"

"We are your friends, remember," Shiru reminds her.

Clarisse sighs, realizing that Shiru and Nonki would not back off.
"Guys, if I tried to tell you what just happened to me, you wouldn't believe a
word I said."

"We can take it," Nonki braces himself.

The singer takes in a deep breath. "Well...you remember when you went
to Oshika? When you met Nokoko and the others? Did they tell you who they
were? *What* they were?"

Curiosity crosses their faces. "They did say something when we asked
how they got pregnant," Shiru hums. "It was the weirdest story I've ever
heard."

"Yeah, they said they were all alien beings from some place called the
Outland who transformed themselves into human beings so they could live with
Nokoko on Earth," Nonki adds. "And even more, they could only do it with
other girls when they wanted kids."

Clarisse sighs. "That was no joke, guys. It's the truth about all
Nendo-kata."

"Yeah, that's what they called themselves...eh?!" Shiru blinks, staring
at Clarisse. "Wait!! How did you know what they called themselves?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" the singer sighs. "I'm a Nendo-kata now."

Silence. "Clarisse, this isn't some sort of acid trip, is it?" Nonki
hesitantly asks.

"Brother, I wish it was!" Clarisse moans, standing. She then looks at a
picture of her parents on the wall. "Watch!"

Her hand goes out as her eyes glow burgundy. The picture lifts off its
nail, then floats serenely into her hand. Shiru and Nonki gasp as they watch
something they could NEVER expect from their friend. Clarisse's eyes revert
to normal as she looks at them, waving the picture. "Well?"

"Oh, man...!" Nonki shudders. "I never would've believed it if I
hadn't've seen it!"

"Me, neither!!" Shiru adds. "Then...who are you?!"

Clarisse returns to her chair, placing the picture down on the table.
"I'm Clarisse...and someone else...all mixed into one being," she begins her
explanation. She continues with how the Bard got separated from her school,
how she came to Earth just as Clarisse was about to experience her overdose.
Their union and Crossing Over, how two beings became one. And now living in a
new body, Clarisse was no longer plagued by her drug habit, her urge for
cigarettes or alcoholism.

At the end of it, after seeing what she can do, the two men believed.
"It's a miracle," Nonki whistles.

"Yeah, even though it's still a bit confusing to me...and I'm the one it
happened to!" Clarisse sighs.

"So...are you going to go up there?" Shiru hesitantly inquires. "To
Oshika, I mean?"

"I'll have to sooner or later," Clarisse admits. "But it'll be painful.
The Bard was separated from the rest of her school for five centuries. And
besides, I don't know which of the others are two-in-one types like Nokoko and
I or if they're all still their old selves up here," she points to her head.

"Good point," Nonki nods.

The doorbell then rings. "Come in!" Clarisse calls out.

The door opens and a stocky middle-aged man steps into the living room.
Dressed in stylish civilians, his tacky demeanor indicates that he is some
sort of talent agent. "Clarisse, honey!" he preens as he sees the singer and
her friends. "Oh, there you guys are! Well, glad you're all here!"

"What do you want, Bengoshi?" Clarisse moans, her eyes rolling in
disgust. She really had no desire to put up to this sub-creature at this
time...nor for the rest of his existence!

"Just got the final figures for the last tours," Bengoshi crookedly
smiles as he sits across from her. "We raked it in big this time, kids!
We're looking at ten figures net!!"

"That's cool," Clarisse looks disinterested. While she would get at
least half of that, right now she had more important things on her mind.

Bengoshi ignores her mood. "So, we'll have to work quick to tap into
the public while they're still in the mood to listen to your stuff, love!" he
looks greedy. "I'm already talking with the producers. We can be on the road
again in two weeks."

"Make it two months...four would be better," Clarisse amends.

Shiru and Nonki nod readily. "What?!" Bengoshi looks stunned, his voice
a shocked squeak. "Four months?!! Why?!"

"Because I'm tired," *...and other things,* she mentally adds, "...the
guys are tired, the rest of the band is tired and I want to write new songs
for the next album!" Clarisse snaps.

Further, she wanted to handfast with Pamanba, have a gorgeous honeymoon
wherever it suited them...Niagara Falls seemed good to her right now. Also
reunite with her schoolmates and possibly move to Oshika, not to mention help
Shiru and Nonki with their relationship, perhaps help them adopt a child so
they could start their own family. Of course, all Bengoshi ever thought of
was how to make more money. No use trying to explain the more important
things in life to this clueless sub-creature. "If we wait four months, the
ticket sales would be halved!!" he protests.

"If we waited until we got a new album out, then there'd be no problems
with ticket sales!" Clarisse sighs, standing. "Now, if you don't mind, your
little money-machine's very cranky right now, so why don't you slink back to
your office and stay out of my way for the next while...like a YEAR!!!!"

With that, Bengoshi winds up flat on his face on the roadway, the door
slamming behind him. Inside the living room, Shiru and Nonki sit awed,
realizing that Clarisse's sudden transformation was more thorough than they
first suspected. "Wow!" the former gasps.

"He'll be back," the latter warns.

"If he keeps it up, he'll be in the depths of the Mother Ocean feeding
the sharks!" Clarisse growls as she heads up to dress...

* * *

"Hi, Shinobu!!!" Pamanba cheerily calls out as she walks into the
parlour later that morning.

Shinobu is halfway through her Mount Fuji when she looks back. "Hi,
Pamanba!! Boy, you sound happy today...EH?!?!?!"

Ataru's former girlfriend nearly leaps out of her chair, stunned on
seeing Pamanba...and her hair, now beautifully shorn to a graceful taper, her
ponytail committed to the pile at the barbershop. "What's wrong?" she
inquires.

Shinobu looks nauseated. She got hold of Onsen's personal manual about
Vosians, thus she knew too well what the cut locks could easily mean. "Who
did this to you?!!" she demands, leaning up to Pamanba. "Was it Henta?!! If
it was, he's a dead man!!! Who was it?!!"

"Relax, will you," Pamanba blushes. "I had a barber do it!"

Shinobu stops to let that sinks in. The only way a Vosian woman would
allow her hair to be cut so short was if she...! "What happened to you?!" she
inquires, needing confirmation.

"I recognized someone," the Vosian explains. "Another woman."

"Ah!!" the Terran relaxes. "Whew!! For a moment, I thought someone had
raped you!"

"Don't worry," Pamanba giggles as she walks to the back of the counter.
"After what happened between Henta and me, I won't allow anyone but my lover
to get that close to me!"

"That's a relief," Shinobu sits back at the counter. After being with
Nintaiko and Shinoko...not to mention her encounters with Atako and
Naromo...things like what Pamanba were about to experience no longer fazed
her. "So, what's she like?"

"She's a singer," Pamanba explains...as her eyes glow. "And that's her!
Clarisse!!"

The door opens and Clarisse walks in. "Pama-chan!" she waves, walking
up to kiss her girlfriend.

"Clarisse, hi!!" the Vosian purrs. "I'm glad you're here! This is
Shinobu Miyaki, a friend of mine," she waves to Shinobu. "Shinobu, this is
Clarisse Ike," she completes the introductions.

"Hi, Shinobu," Clarisse smiles.

Shinobu is stunned as the name comes to her. "YOU'RE Clarisse Ike?!!"
she exclaims, bolting up, then bowing respectfully. "I'm honoured to meet
you!! I've got all your albums!"

"Thanks," Clarisse nods as she sits beside the Terran. "So, you usually
hang out here?"

"Well, Pamanba and I are friends," Shinobu admits. "We met shortly
after she came here from Vos. You might say I helped her get out of what she
was going...that is, if you know what she was before she began working here."

"She knows," Pamanba smiles.

"It's no problem," Clarisse admits. "Everyone's got something they
don't want to admit to others in public. Besides, now that I'm here, she
won't have to worry about people like those she served with bugging her
again."

"I hate to put a damper on that, but I'm afraid you're wrong," Shapiro
sighs as he walks up to them.

"What's wrong?" Pamanba shudders.

"Last night after you went home, I saw a group of hunters lurking
about," the vendor reports.

Everyone moans as that sinks in. "Oh, brother!!!" Shinobu shakes her
head. "Doesn't this Mikado know when to give up?!"

"Not in his language, I'm afraid," Shapiro muses.

"Why do you suppose they're here?" Pamanba looks worried.

"Well, they could be wondering what happened to all of us when Noa
destroyed my transmitters," the vendor muses, "...or they could be here
because of you," he glances at Pamanba.

The former hunter shudders. "But I thought that no longer really
mattered when Noa-san's friend killed Furusur."

"True, but mind you, Lufy overdid it by slaughtering the entire officer
cadre of the Hunter Corps," Shapiro counters. "Right now, the Mikado has
nothing with which to control all his psi-hunters. Who knows what's going on
back on Vos. The Mikado's probably feeling threatened. He'll need to make an
example to keep his troops in line. Killing you or Mujanba would be the
perfect example he needs."

"I don't feel so good," Pamanba looks ill.

"Is this creep for real?!" Shinobu blinks in disbelief.

"Afraid so," Shapiro nods.

Clarisse takes all that in, then stares at her life-mate. "Hey, why
doesn't Pamanba stay with me for a while?" she notions. "I don't live in
Tomobiki, so these characters might not think of looking for her in other
places."

"I'm not sure..."

"I'll be alright, Uncle Abraham," Pamanba asserts. "Besides, if I'm
going to be free of all my past ghosts, I can't run from them anymore. Sooner
or later, I'll have to confront them. If I'm on the move, I've got a better
chance at surviving."

"True," Shapiro nods.

"And I better tell Sylia and her friends," Shinobu stands, leaving money
behind for her Mount Fuji. "She'll want to know about it right away. Maybe
beating up on some of Pamanba's ex-friends might calm Priss down a bit."

"Good idea," the vendor sighs.

Within minutes, Shinobu has left for Toranoseishin Finances. Pamanba
and Clarisse head off for the latter's home. Not seen by any of them, a pair
of electronic sensors flash. A second later, a young female hunter walks up,
her eyes aglow. "I've found the traitor," she reports into a wrist-
communicator. "Orders?"

"Track her down, then capture her...alive," a young male voice replies.
"I don't care what condition she's in, but I want her breathing so we can take
her back to face the Mikado."

"Roger," the girl nods, then heads off...

* * *

"Wow!!" Pamanba gasps as she looks around. "Nice house!"

"I thought you'd like it," Clarisse smiles as they step into the living
room. "I got it after I put out my last album. I cleaned it up a bit after
the Crossing Over; it was a disaster zone then."

Pamanba relaxes in the living room as Clarisse walks into the kitchen to
get some spring water. She is immediately attracted to the picture of the
singer's parents. "Are these your parents?!" she loudly inquires.

"Yep," Clarisse nods as she returns, handing a glass to the Vosian, then
toasts her. "To us."

"Love forever," Pamanba returns the toast, then they drink.

Both relax in the large sofa, Pamanba sliding into Clarisse's embrace.
"I never knew my parents," the former admits. "But I always wanted to meet
and get to know them. I never had the chance, and when I tried to take it, I
almost got killed. I don't even know if they're alive or dead to be honest
with you."

"I wish I could help you there," Clarisse muses. "I'd be tempted to
travel to Vos and personally strangle that information out of the sub-creature
you once served, then send him into the Black Ocean. I doubt what your people
use could stop me."

"Are you really that powerful?" Pamanba wonders.

"I'm far more powerful than the normal Nendo-kata," the singer admits.
"Goes with living in the Outland for so long. But then again, when the Great
School fights its enemies, our massed strength seems to be far greater than if
you add each of us individually."

"The strength of Unity."

"You got it," Clarisse smiles, then her eyes glow. "Oh, jeez, what's he
doing here?!" a frown cuts across her face.

"Who?!" Pamanba's eyes glow.

"My manager," Clarisse groans, standing. "And he doesn't feel happy.
Come in!"

The door flings open and an enraged Bengoshi storms into the living
room. "Take your shoes off, jerk!" Clarisse growls.

"Knock it off!!" he snaps, pointing at her. "What the hell's with you,
Clarisse?! Don't you realize how much money we're going to lose if you don't
get your butt back on the road?!!"

"I personally don't care how much money I'm going to lose since you try
to steal every last yen I earn," the singer retorts. "Besides, I think it's
time I got a new manager! Now, get out!!"

Jolted at the sudden dismissal, Bengoshi recovers, a sly smile crossing
his face as he pulls out a bag filled with a white crystalline substance.
"C'mon, honey, don't give me that!" he muses, waving the bag in front of her
eyes. "You know you want to get back on the road again...especially when you
want this."

Clarisse turns around, not the least bit fazed by Bengoshi's attempt at
enticing her back under his control. "Get that out of here, jerk. I've no
need of that anymore."

Bengoshi shudders, then darkens as rage fires up his spine. "Look, you!
You're under contract with me for the next three years!! If you don't start
cooperating, you're going to be out! All the way out!! You got me, you
little slut?!!"

The agent is then smashed in the gut by Pamanba, causing him to double
over. The Vosian yanks his head back as she produces a knife from out of
nowhere to trace around his throat. "Listen, trench-wave! When Clarisse says
no, she means no!! Now get out of this place or you're going to be spending
the next six weeks in intensive care wishing you were dead!!!"

Bengoshi growls as he tries to shove Pamanba away, but the huntress is
too well trained for the soft Terran to counter. In a moment, he is flat on
his face, she kneeling atop him, twisting his arm in a vicious take-down
manoeuvre. "That wasn't the answer I wanted, asshole," Pamanba snarls as she
leans on his shoulder.

"Get off me, you slut, or else I'll sue!!!" Bengoshi gasps.

"Hey, jerk, it's Pama-chan's and my word against yours," Clarisse stares
at him, sipping the spring water. "And besides, with all the heroin, speed
and crack you're carrying right now, you'll be the one facing the courts for
drug-dealing!"

The singer and the huntress then jolt as their powers sense someone else
approach. "There's someone trying to sneak in the back lawn!" Clarisse
announces.

"Oh, no!!" Pamanba gasps. "I recognize her! That's Hinanba!"

"Friend of yours?!"

"We trained together," the huntress looks sad. "She was the one who
squealed to Furusur that I had tried to defect."

"Is that a fact?!" Clarisse puts down her glass. "Well, let's make the
little back-stabber feel right at home."

* * *

Outside, hiding in bushes in the back lawn, Hinanba stares at the Ike
home, her eyes glowing as her powers confirm what is lying in wait for her
inside. "Two Terrans and Pamanba," she muses, then lifts her arm. "Huntress
Hinanba to Colonel Bujosur! Come in please!"

"What is it, Hinanba?" a male voice replies.

"I've tracked the traitoress to a home outside of the Tomobiki district
limits. She's with two locals right now. Orders?"

"Wait until reinforcements arrive. We don't want witnesses."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

"She just called for back up," Clarisse muses as she relaxes in the
living room sofa. "Someone by the name of Colonel Bujosur."

"Bujosur?!" Pamanba blinks, still holding Bengoshi in a headlock. "They
promoted him?! The Mikado must be scraping the bottom of the barrel if he
elected Bujosur to lead the hunter corps!"

"A fanatic little jerk, eh?!" Clarisse wonders, her powers sensing her
life-mate's bad memories about Furusur's successor.

"A brown-noser, as your people would call him," the huntress smiles.
"He became known as 'Furusur's Bloody Hand' for keeping the other younger
hunters in line. The only person who ever terrified him was Mujanba, but she
later quit and moved to Earth."

"Mujanba, eh? Do you have any idea where she lives?"

"Oshika. It's up north, where Ataru Moroboshi now lives."

Clarisse blinks. "The rest of my school's there," she stands. "Ataru's
sister Nokoko bonded with my school's matriarch when she Crossed Over. I
think it's time we took a little trip up north to see old friends."

"What about him?!" Pamanba nods to Bengoshi.

"Let the creep go," Clarisse snorts. "He's not worth killing. The
devil-sharks in the Black Ocean'd get indigestion."

Pamanba nods, then pitches the agent out the front door. Bengoshi
screams as he smashes into a telephone pole. The huntress then turns to the
singer. "What now?!"

Clarisse picks her life-mate up, then carries her out the front door.
"You're going to travel Nendo-kata style," she smiles as her telekinetic
powers elevate them into the air. "The only thing we're missing is the rock
full of water."

"We'll get it later!" Pamanba howls with delight as she hangs on for the
ride, then looks down to see Hinanba trying to chase after her. "Hi, Hinanba!
Sorry I can't stay and chat!! Gotta run!"

Laughing, the couple disappears into the mid-afternoon mist. Hinanba
watches them go, disbelief and a touch of fear in her eyes. "Bujosur isn't
going to like this," she moans...

* * *

Osooko blinks. "What is it, love?" Asuka wonders.

The two stand behind the counter of the Tiger Cub, the former's eyes
glowing for a moment. "Forgive me, Asuka-chan...but I thought I just sensed
our missing sister," she shudders, shaking her head in disbelief.

Was it really possible...?

* * *

"I'm very disappointed in you, Hinanba," Bujosur growls.

Hinanba bows. "I'm very sorry, sir. The enemy's reaction was totally
unexpected..."

The commander of the Special Hunter Corps snarls. "Bull!" he bolts to
his feet, threateningly pointing at the young hunter. "I'm wondering if your
friendship with Pamanba is making you think twice about tracking her!"

"My first loyalty is to you and the Mikado, sir...!" she cries.

He sits back. "Prove it."

Hinanba nods as she disrobes, then prostrates herself. Bujosur sighs as
he accepts her ministrations. Things were such a mess. Three hundred hunters
killed in one strike, the whole chain of command shattered...non-existent,
truthfully...and now hunters were openly discussing jumping ship and joining
the rebels. Bastards! They never had it so good. Then again, what did the
Mikado expect after Furusur's tenure as the commanding officer?

Furusur used fear and intimidation to get his way. No hunter dared
break ranks with the Corps for fear of being hunted down and dragged back to
face trial and execution. Bujosur had participated in several of those
missions, earning his nickname. During those missions, he learned something.
Fear was not enough to keep the grunts in line. Something more was needed.

Bujosur turned to very addictive stimulants. Locating young female
hunters who were the perfect guinea pigs for this type of discipline, he
crafted his own special hit squad. They would do anything as long as their
craving for the drugs was satisfied. Naturally, there were the perks, as
demonstrated by Hinanba's actions. But it guaranteed loyalty. Hinanba and
her friends had no choice in the matter. He knew she was telling the truth.
He could forgive that. Problem with people like Furusur was that he could
never accept the truth of the situation even if it hit him right in the face.

Then again, it did.

The door opens and two hunters walk in. "Oh," Ryoonba blinks on seeing
what is happening to her commander. "Forgive me, Colonel. We didn't want to
interrupt."

"What is it?" Bujosur wonders.

"We've located someone that was in the house the traitor visited who was
thrown out before she escaped," Ryoonba reports. "Do you want us to bring him
in for questioning?"

"Right away," he nods.

"Yes, sir," both nod, then depart.

He then draws Hinanba into his arms. "There, you see," he hands her a
small package. "Problems are easily solved. Now, get out there and try to
track Pamanba down."

She sweetly smiles as she takes the package. "I'll find her."

"You better," he growls, yanking on her hair. "If you don't..."

"U-u-understood..." she stammers.

* * *

Entering Clarisse's home sometime later, Hinanba looks around. Very
well to do, this new friend of Pamanba's. And what had happened to Pamanba's
hair? If she had been raped, Hinanba would find the bastard and kill him with
her bare hands. Shaking her head, she allows a pill to melt under her tongue,
then remains still as the rush thunders through her system. She hated this so
much! But what choice had she?

Making her way through the home, she whistles on seeing the awards and
other citations marking Clarisse's career. What type of person was this,
anyway? Proceeding to the bedroom, she locates a record player and some
albums. Drawing out one, labelled in the Terran language called English, she
slips it on the turntable, then activates the machine. Selecting a song, she
relaxes on the bed to listen.

Music was one of Hinanba's interests. It had kept her sustained through
her years at the hunter's school. She had kept a small recorder hidden from
the instructors. It was a drug to her, much like the stimulants she took to
keep her nerves steady. She hated this job. She hated everything about her
life. She wished she had Pamanba's courage and fled. With Furusur and the
other officers dead and Bujosur in command of a rapidly shrinking corps, there
really was no use to go on. Everyone who had a brain knew the Mikado would
not last another year. What was the use staying on a sinking ship?

Speaking of which, the song playing seizes her interest. In the genre
of Terran music called "folk," it spoke of a sea freighter wrecked in a
terrible storm, claiming all its crew. What a sad song, she sighs as she
takes the record off its turntable and returns it to its proper jacket,
restoring everything back to the way she found it. No answers here. She
turns to head out of the bedroom when the telephone rings.

An answering machine clicks in. "Hi, this is Clarisse," the singer's
voice echoes from a speaker. "Leave your name, number and the time you called
after the beep and I'll try to get back to you. Love ya!"

A beep is heard. An older woman's voice then speaks. "Kaikeko-chan,
this is your mother. Why haven't you visited? Your tour's over, isn't it?
Call soon."

Hinanba blinks as the recording stops. Parents! If Clarisse...or
Kaikeko, whatever her name was...had them, she would probably think them a
safe place to transport Pamanba. If they had become friends, of course. Too
many unknowns still in this situation, but it was a start. Bujosur would be
pleased. Time to get to work.

Proceeding to the work desk on the main floor, Hinanba begins to rifle
through Clarisse's papers. Where...where...ah-hah! She smiles on pulling out
a small black book marked ADDRESSES. Opening it, she rifles through the
listings. Not many...until she reaches an entry marked MOM & DAD. Making
note of the address, she returns the book to its drawer, then departs...

...to run right into a fist! "Sorry!!!" Asuka laughs as the Vosian
drops to the ground. "But we can't let you bother the locals now, can't we?!"

Rei snorts as the two drag the unconscious Hinanba away...

* * *

"Wh-where am I...?" Bengoshi moans as his eyes flutter open.

He looks up to see Bujosur and several of his hunters staring at him.
"'Morning," the colonel quips. "Sleep well?"

"Who are you?!" the agent demands.

Bujosur smiles. "Name's Bujosur. I'm a colonel commanding the Special
Hunters Corps of the Confederation of Vos."

"You're aliens?!" Bengoshi blinks.

"Hey, give the man a chichi bear!" Bujosur snorts. "Yeah, we're not
from around here. Anyhow, we need information from you."

Bengoshi notices that he is laid out on a table, straps keeping him in
place. "This is kidnapping, you know!"

"True but necessary!!" the colonel draws out a knife and rams it into
the table right by the agent's throat! "I don't give a hoot about what you
Terrans think! Right now, I have a rogue hunter on the loose who needs to be
tracked down and captured! That's all I care about now!! Now, you were at
the house where she was last seen! We want to know where she could've gone
off to with her friend!"

Bengoshi shudders as he takes note of the Vosians' ears. "She wouldn't
happen to be a brown-haired kid who should be in high school, right?"

"Yes," Bujosur smiles. "Her name's Pamanba."

"Yeah, I remember her," the agent nods. "Little slut nearly tore my arm
off when I was trying to get my lead singer back in line."

"Then you know her accomplice?" Ryoonba inquires.

"If they're in cahoots, I personally wouldn't give a damn," Bengoshi
shudders, feeling his courage return. He had dealt with testosterone-charged
morons like this before. Act as if you were giving in to their demands,
appear sympathetic with their problems, then make off scot-free with the goods
when they were not looking. "But that singer who was with your lost sheep is
worth a few million yen to me. I've got an idea where they could've gone...if
you'll help me bring my singer back."

Bujosur smiles. Typical stalling ploy...yet there was a familiar glint
of calculation in this fellow's eye. Obviously he was concerned about
Pamanba's new friend. Fair enough. Terrans were so market-orientated,
anyway. "Okay, I can help you there," he nods. "Any idea where those two
could've gone?"

"Probably to Clarisse's parents," Bengoshi adjusts himself as best he
can. "But I've no idea where they live. She's never told me."

"Is that a fact?" Bujosur nods. "We've got someone looking in her place
right now. We should have our answers soon."

"Colonel!" a voice calls out as the door opens.

"What is it, Kanba?" Bujosur glares at her.

"Hinanba's missing," Kanba reports. "I tried to trace her to the target
house, but she disappeared just after she left the place."

"What?!!" Bujosur snaps, spinning on her. "Where did she go?!!"

"Don't know," Kanba shakes her head. "But I could tell it wasn't on her
own free will. Someone else is sticking their noses in our business!"

"Is that a fact?" Bujosur snarls. "Find her!!"

"Yes, sir," she nods, then heads off.

Bujosur looks at Bengoshi. "Let him go," he smiles. "We don't need his
help anymore."

"No problem," Ryoonba smiles as she undoes the restraints.

"Thanks," the agent brushes himself off, standing. "I guess you folks
aren't so bad after all."

"No problem," the colonel smiles, nodding to Ryoonba. "After all, we've
got our own lives to worry about. Take him to the hatchway and send him on
his way."

"Yes, sir," she smiles, then waves Bengoshi to the door. "This way,
please."

"Thanks, doll," Bengoshi follows her out of the interrogation room.
"Say, you ever wanted to get into show business? I could make you a star."

"I've got other things on my mind now," Ryoonba hums as she waves him
into a small cubicle. "This'll transport you back to Earth."

"Thanks," he steps into it.

Ryoonba closes the inner hatchway...then opens the outer hatch, sucking
Bengoshi into the vacuum beyond! Inside the interrogation room, Bujosur
sighs. "Watch that first step, pal," he snorts. "It's a doozy!"

His laughter echoes through the ship...

* * *

"Bengoshi...?" Clarisse gasps, her eyes glowing.

"What's wrong?!" Pamanba blinks concernedly.

The two are now in the hills to the west of Iwaki, halfway between Tokyo
and Sendai. They now approach a small cottage located on a tree-lined lane.
Clarisse stares into the afternoon sky. "I just sensed Bengoshi die," she
intones, shaking her head, the hatred her Terran self held for the agent
conflicting with the revulsion her Nendo-kata self felt towards such an
unwarranted demise. "Bujosur killed him."

"That's the way he is," Pamanba shudders. "Always stabbing everyone in
the back. C'mon...let's go see your parents."

The two turn and proceed to the cottage...

* * *

"Wake up!!" a voice thunders in Hinanba's mind.

The hunter moans as her eyes flutter open. She finds herself strapped
to a chair in some dark space, a light shining right in her eyes. Her powers
quickly come on line, but she senses no one nearby. However, her hair is
grabbed and yanked, knocking her head back so she could see Priss' hardened
features. "Good morning," the Pathfinder icily smiles.

Hinanba feels a chill run down her spine on seeing Priss' tattoo. Sylia
walks into her view. "Well, I hope Asuka's fist wasn't too harsh on your
nose," she smiles. "How do you feel, Hinanba?"

The Vosian finds herself unable to speak. It was natural for her to not
sense Priss' brainwaves. But Sylia's were a blank, too...as were the other
members of Pathfinder Troop Six, now standing behind them...and none of them
had suntanned skin! "Wh-who a-are y-you...?"

"We'll ask the questions," Sylia sternly replies. "You're tresspassing
on the sovereign territory of a world which possesses no diplomatic ties with
the Vosian Confederation. A serious violation of your Prime Directive, I must
say. Now, why don't you tell us what you're doing here?"

"I'm not talking," Hinanba hisses.

The Sagussans laugh. "Well, it's so interesting that I found this,"
Sylia reaches into her blouse to draw a small package filled with white pills.
"Kookyuu powder. Second only to mayaku dust as a popular street drug in the
known cluster. Very popular among elements of the Mikado's army."

Hinanba gasps as she tries to reach for the bag. "I wonder when you had
your last hit, Hinanba," Sylia waves the bag in front of the huntress' face.
"Must've been some time before Asuka rearranged your face. Took one punch to
put you down. I thought Mikado hunters were better than that."

"Please..."

"Oh, you want it, don't you?" Sylia hums. "You know the price."

Hinanba shudders. These women were exploiting the one obvious chink in
her armour; her need for kookyuu. She had needed it since long before her
graduation exercise and her gazetting as a hunter. A sympathetic instructor
introduced her to it. She thought it would be a temporary thing, but Bujosur
had caught onto her need and exploited it. Now this stranger was doing the
same thing. "Find them yourselves," she grits her teeth.

"Stubborn little minx, isn't she?" Priss muses.

"Rei," Sylia steps back.

Rei walks up, a hypodermic in hand. She jabs it into Hinanba's neck,
allowing the intoxicant cleanser to flow through her system. Sylia walks over
to hang the bag on a small string a metre away from the huntress' reach.
"We'll let this stay here. When you're ready to talk, we'll be here."

The six stream out of the room. Hinanba gasps as she tries to shake the
chair out of its bolts. Unknown to her, Sylia and Rei observe from a one-way
window posted on a wall surrounding the interrogation space. "Awful, isn't
it?" the commander sighs. "Even if we could cleanse her physical need for
those drugs, the chances of her eventually recovering from her psychological
addiction are next to nil."

"We have conquered the warp barrier, we can potentially alter timelines,
we even tap into the *te'a* itself," the first officer wryly muses. "But even
we have never been able to conquer and control another's *mei'na.* We're
afraid to do that. If we try to do it even to help someone, another could
learn how to hurt someone else using those same techniques."

"Problem here is that she needs something better than the drugs to crave
for," Sylia muses. "She doesn't realize that stuff in the bag is ogh'rit
candy disguised as kookyuu pills. Even if she does realize it, after we let
her go, she'll just go out and find the real things. That's all she cares for
these days: those pills and the high they give her."

"But what could we use to take her mind off the pills?" Rei wonders.
"Much less all her friends? There's no real need to press an interrogation;
Asuka obtained the information when we caught her."

"Right," Sylia sighs. "And we better find Pamanba and her friend."

"Sylia?" a voice inquires.

Shinobu walks up. "Hi, Shinobu," Sylia smiles. "Just the person we're
looking for."

"You need something?"

"We need to know more about Pamanba's friend," Rei sighs. "We need to
know who she is and where she could've gone with Pamanba. Hinanba watched her
literally elevate into the air and fly off north with Pamanba when they
cleared out of Tokyo."

Shinobu blinks. "Clarisse Ike is a lot of things, but I don't think
she's an alien...or a mutant!"

"Maybe it's time we scoped her house out and learned more," Sylia notes.
"If we run into more of Hinanba's friends, we can start helping them."

"Can't you just clean them up and be done with it?" Shinobu wonders.

"Drug rehab does not work that way," Rei notes, then explains the
problems Hinanba and her friends will encounter if they try to recover.

Hearing that, Shinobu nods. "Look, why don't you girls go on and check
in on Clarisse. I'll stay here. Can I talk to her?"

"Go ahead," Sylia notes. "The interrogation chamber's programmed to
keep her in there. You can come in and out...but be careful, okay?"

"I'll be fine," Shinobu nods.

The Sagussans depart. Shinobu stares into the chamber. By that time,
Hinanba's arms are covered in blood as she tries to physically yank her hands
from their restraints. Shaking her head, Shinobu takes a towel, then walks
into the room. "What are you doing?" she demands.

Hinanba looks up, eyes wide. "Let me out," she shudders.

Shinobu looks to the bag. "It's this you want, isn't it?"

The Vosian nods. "Well, this isn't your speed," Shinobu shrugs. "This
stuff is called ogh'rit. Sagussan fudge. Real good. Want to try it?"

Hinanba convulses as she tries to yank off the restraints. "I want
it!!! Where is it?!! Where is it?!!"

"Disintegrated," Shinobu shrugs. "Sylia doesn't like drugs. I bet all
Sagussans are like that. And right now, she and her friends are going to find
your dealer and disintegrate him." She reaches into the bag and pulls out a
candy. Walking up to Hinanba, Shinobu kneels, placing the candy in range of
the Vosian's mouth. "Try it."

Hinanba stares at the candy, then leans forward to take it into her
mouth. "It's really good stuff," Shinobu smiles. "It's got loads of sugar
but it doesn't have the calories which'll add inches to your waist."

Hinanba chews the candy, then swallows it. "What did they do to me?"

"Rei pumped in a cleanser which'll clean your body of that garbage,"
Shinobu pulls out a rag and starts to gently massage Hinanba's arms. "But
that's only your body. Up here's a different story," she points to the
Vosian's head. "You've got to free yourself from your addiction, Hinanba."

"I can't!"

"Yes, you can, if you try," Shinobu looks at her. "Pamanba once thought
she couldn't free herself, but she did."

Hinanba feels a smile twitch her mouth. "How is she?"

"She's okay," Shinobu gives her another candy. "The woman you saw her
with...Clarisse...she's Pamanba's girlfriend."

"Pamanba recognized her?!" Hinanba blinks.

"Incredible, huh?"

Hinanba smiles. "Well, if she's that type..." she shrugs.

"What about her type?!" Shinobu demands. "You may not know who I am,
but I've got two sisters who're of 'that type'...and both would've ripped your
lungs out and fed you to the sharks if they heard that."

"So?!" Hinanba demands.

"Well, one of my sisters...Nintaiko...her life-mate Donna teamed up with
three others and slaughtered a whole company of your Mikado's stupid marines
on Sakusei Station sometime back," Shinobu crosses her arms. "Didn't break a
sweat doing it either. And if they had their chance, they'd kill the Mikado
in the blink of an eye...and they'd do it, too!"

"I don't care!!!" the Vosian snaps. "Don't you get it?!! I don't care
about the Mikado!!! I don't care about Bujosur!!! I don't even care about
Pamanba!!! If she wants to be a dyke, fine!!! I don't need them!!!"

"But you need the kookyuu, right?!!" the Terran snarls.

"YES!!!!"

Shinobu straightens herself. "Coward!" she snorts.

"You've never lived through what I've had to undergo," Hinanba growls.

"Pamanba did, didn't she?!" Shinobu walks to the door, then reaches
back, yanks the ogh'rit bag off the string, then tosses it at her. "She got
away!! If you can't, that's your problem, not hers!! Cure yourself!!!"

The door slams shut behind her. Hinanba shudders as she stares at the
bag in her lap, sobs shaking her...

* * *

"'Morning," Pamanba smiles.

Clarisse moans as her eyes open, her life-mate's features filling her
vision. "Mmm...nice morning to wake up to," she growls as they kiss.

Both dress. Walking out of Clarisse's bedroom, they proceed to the
living room, where the singer's parents relax. "'Morning, Mom, Dad!" she
kisses them, then sits.

"Good morning, Kaikeko," her mother beams. "Pamanba-san."

They sit as breakfast is served. The four eat in silence. Pamanba and
Clarisse realize the latter's parents are still feeling the shock of what
happened to their daughter. "So, what happens to you?" her father wonders.

"Nothing much," Clarisse shakes her head. "With Bengoshi out of my way,
I can do a career switch, go to a new line of music...perhaps even retire from
singing altogether. But first, we've got to get Pama-chan's old playmates out
of the way. That shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Her parents hum. Clarisse had demonstrated her powers when the subject
of her union with the Bard came up. "Well, let's hope this'll be the last
incident with aliens," her father mutters.

"Dear, will you stop?!" her mother demands. "Can't you see the miracle
that's happened?! Our daughter has been rescued from the abyss others've
forced her into! We should be celebrating, not shower her with suspicion."

"Well..." he hums.

"Even before the Crossing Over, Clarisse always thought of you," Pamanba
cuts in. "Just as much as I've thought of my parents."

"But you've never known your parents, child," Clarisse's mother notes.

"Yes, that's true," Pamanba nods. "And perhaps I'll never know them.
But that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate it when others try to maintain
their links with their kin. Please don't look at me as someone who's getting
in the way of your relationship with your child. I never want to do that."

"There, there, dear," Clarisse's mother pats the Vosian's hand. "It's
just so strange that our daughter now finds herself...forced to seek another
woman as her mate. That's not to mention that our future grandchildren will
all be granddaughters. That's...not accepted well here."

"It usually isn't that way on Vos, either," Clarisse chuckles.

The others laugh. Once breakfast is done, Clarisse and Pamanba clean
up, then head to the front lawn. "We can't move on," the latter notes.

"Bujosur would kill my parents just for existing," the former grimly
sighs. "The fight's going to be here, then."

"Yeah."

"Did you ever think about what your life'd be if you got away from the
Mikado?" Clarisse wonders.

"I...not really," Pamanba shakes her head. "I never had the chance, to
be honest. All I wanted was my parents. Who were they? Were they still
alive? Whose side were they on? That's the real tragedy here. None of us,
from Nassur on, know a thing about our past."

"Well, if the Unity is kind, you'll learn," Clarisse embraces her life-
mate. "Patience is a virtue. The Unity takes time to do things."

"Yeah, but my patience is coming to an end...not to mention others,"
Pamanba warns. "We're tired of being used, sent on missions with no chance of
returning. Thanba and Mujanba are lucky; they got control of their lives and
have nothing to worry about. I want the same thing."

"And you'll get it," Clarisse fixes her with a gaze. "I promise."

Both tense as their powers detect someone approach. "Who's that?"
Pamanba wonders. "I don't recognize that person..."

"I do," Clarisse smiles.

Mal appears, floating upside down between them. "Honestly, sister!!"
the Nendo-kata-turned-Oni sighs, a smile tugging her lips. "Five hundred
years is a long time to wait for you to return!"

Clarisse laughs as they embrace...

* * *

In a short while, the Ike home hosts Nokoko's school, everyone relaxing
in the living room as a small picnic lunch is produced. "Sylia checked out
your home and detected the trace psionic signature our race produces," Nokoko
explains. "They also found your address book. By the looks of it, someone
else has been around, sometime after Hinanba's visit. Chances are good this
Bujosur character is on his way up to make a grab for Pamanba."

"Hmm," Mal glares at the Vosian. "From Purveyor of disUnity to being a
member of our school. You've come far, little one."

"Th-thanks," Pamanba smiles, remembering what Nokoko and Mal almost did
to Shapiro in the wake of her assassination attempt.

"Now, don't be rude, sister," Osooko admonishes. "Pamanba-chan is part
of the school. Let her feel at home. What's past is past."

"But we've still got some parts of her past to deal with," Saiten notes.

Pamanba looks down, the sting of tears in her eyes. This was way more
than she expected when she first came to this world. Good, true friends like
Shinobu. A kind "uncle" in Abraham Shapiro. Now a family she could call her
own. It was too much. "Excuse me, please," she rises, walking out the door.

"Pamanba-chan..." Ookako wonders.

"Let her go," Clarisse sighs. "She needs time to adjust."

Outside, Pamanba leans against the fence, tears flowing. For so long,
everything was against her. Now everything was going for her. She should
never have wished for something this good on Vos. What had she done to
deserve this? Was it all pity...or something else? She understood so little,
even now. Bujosur and his ilk understood far less. And because of that,
millions had suffered.

"I've heard the Terran expression 'tears of joy,' but I never expected
to see it," a voice muses.

Pamanba turns to see Osooko walk up. "Who are you?"

"I...am the one whose place you are taking," the Nendo-kata-turned-
Tritonian smiles.

"You used to be the Bard's girlfriend," Pamanba notes. "Looks like you
and she had the same idea, looking outside the school for your mates."

"We had no choice in the matter," Osooko admits. "But I am pleased she
found someone who is truly in tune with Unity. She deserves no less after all
the trouble she's gone through on our behalf."

"I'm sure she's glad about you, too," Pamanba smiles. "Let's just hope
Bujosur doesn't come along to wreck it."

She then jolts as her powers detect something. "I think he's come,"
Osooko hisses, her own powers activating.

Both run into the house...

* * *

"You sure this is the place?!" Bujosur growls.

He and his hunters are now hiding in shadow a block away from the Ike
residence. "This is the place, alright," Ryoonba's eyes glow. "I can sense
her inside. But she's not alone. It's quite a crowd in there."

"Don't matter," Bujosur charges his pistol. "That witch knows something
about what happened to Colonel Furusur. I want her alive. Kill the others."

The hunters nod. "A pity you won't be able to obtain that knowledge,
sub-creature!" a voice growls.

The Vosians spin around just as their weapons are yanked out of their
hands! Saiten stands several metres away, her eyes glowing. "Pamanba is now
part of our school!" the Nendo-kata-turned-Fukunokami sneers. "Hurt her and
you answer to us!!"

Hissing, Kanba lunges as Saiten, drawing a combat knife from her belt.
The Nendo-kata maintains her place as the Vosian lunges. A second later,
Saiten ducks, a telekinetic shield deflecting the knife away as the huntress
is picked up and pitched into a telephone pole!

"Kill the bitch!!!" Bujosur barks.

Before the others can react, Saiten's schoolmates appear out of nowhere,
telekinetically seizing them and pitching them away from the colonel. "So,
this is the dork who's taken Furusur's place, eh?" another voice wonders.

Bujosur spins left to see Mujanba standing there, dressed in slacks and
T-shirt, arms crossed. "M-m-mujanba?!!" he gags.

"Nokoko-chan, you want to suppress these idiots?" the former hunter
turns to Ataru's sister.

"It would make matters easier," Nokoko muses.

"They're all drug addicts," Mujanba notes. "Make their addictions come
on full force and let them do the rest."

Nokoko grimly nods. A second later, a hunger appears in the eyes of the
hunters now suspended in the air. "C-colonel..." Ryoonba gasps as she begins
to shake.

"Help us...!" Kanba groans. "We need a fix..."

Bujosur shudders as the Nendo-kata lower the hunters to the ground, all
now surrounding the petrified colonel. They stare at him, their addiction
causing them to shake uncontrollably. "Colonel...we need that fix!" Kanba
growls as she grabs Bujosur by the collar of his jumpsuit. "Where's the
stuff?!"

"Where?!" Ryoonba snarls as she begins to rip through his clothes.

"Hey...hey!!" Bujosur gasps as he tries to kick the women crazed with
withdrawal agony away. "Leave me alone!!! Cut it out!!"

"Where?!!" Ryoonba screams.

"Where?!!" Kanba demands.

"Where...where...WHERE?!?!" the others chant.

Bujosur kicks Ryoonba into Kanba, then tears off down the street. The
hunters howl as they give pursuit. Turning a corner, Bujosur stops as he sees
a woman standing in front of him. "Looking for me, Bujosur?" Pamanba wonders.

Panicking, the colonel leaps up to her, grasping her hand. "Please,
Pamanba! You've got to help me!! I'll square it with the Mikado, I swear!
Protect me from them!!"

The hunters slowly approach Bujosur. "Where's the stuff, Colonel?"
Kanba pulls a knife from under her top. "You trying to double-cross us?!"

"They're YOUR problem," Pamanba smiles. "YOU handle it!" She shoves
him into the crowd of Vosian women. With a mind-numbed howl, they lash out at
him, knives ripping into him mercilessly...

* * *

"There," Jason injects the cleanser into Ryoonba's neck. "Last one."

"Poor lassies," Nicole shakes her head. With Hinanba brought up from
Tomobiki, the hunters lie unconscious in a healing chamber aboard the crystal
palace. "What an awful thing to happen."

"Crazy as this may be, they're some of the best hunters the Corps ever
had," Pamanba sighs. "I've always wondered why...until now."

"So what do we do with them?" Mal wonders. "We can't send them back to
that Pit of disUnity they rose from."

"We take care of them," Clarisse sighs. "It's the only right thing to
do, especially since we used them to kill Bujosur."

By that time, Mujanba and Muzainba have returned. "Well, that problem's
solved," the older Vosian smiles.

"Where've you two been?" Nicole wonders.

"Aboard Bujosur's ship," Mujanba wraps an arm around her life-mate. "I
strapped him into the helm, then sent it on automatic back to Vos. Further,
I've programmed all the weapons to fire on the Mikado's headquarters when it
gets into orbit over the homeworld."

"Using him to eliminate the Mikado," Nokoko hums. "Clever."

"Well, I doubt it'll actually get there," Mujanba warns. "If they don't
signal Lecashuto on approach, they're automatically fired on. Bujosur's
'chances' are next to nil."

"So why do this?" Pamanba muses.

"I think it's time the Hunter Corps be discredited in the eyes of its
creator," Mujanba ruefully smiles. "The Mikado created that corps from
scratch. They're *his* children, as Pamanba will remember from her basic
indoctrination training. Now, his children will be seen to be rebelling from
their 'kind, benevolent' father. He'll probably have many of them eliminated
as a result. Once the Corps is gone, all he'll have left are the Marines."

"And they aren't worth the dynamite to blow them up with," Nicole
concludes, kissing her life-mate's cheek. "Very clever."

A moan emits from Hinanba's lips. Pamanba moves to her side.
"Hinanba?" she gently prods.

Hinanba's eyes flutter open. She sees Pamanba staring concernedly at
her. "Pamanba..." she moans. "What...happened?"

"Bujosur's gone," Pamanba grasps her hand. "You're free."

Hinanba shakes her head. "I'll never be free."

"Give yourself a chance," Pamanba smiles.

Hinanba smiles as her eyes close. "Looks like we've got a lot of work
ahead of us," Nokoko sighs...

* * *

Sometime later, hand-in-hand, Clarisse and Pamanba walks off Nicole's
palace. "Well, let's get back to Tomobiki," the former smiles. "I have some
good news for Shiru-chan and Nonki-chan."

"What'll you do now that Bengoshi's dead?" the latter wonders.

"We'll have to talk about that when we get there," Clarisse shrugs. "I
want to try my hand at folk music. Maybe it's time the rebel rocker I've been
playing for the last few years returns to the Cosmic Chain of Life."

"Would you mind another back-up singer?"

Clarisse blinks. "Depends how good you sing."

"Well, according to Hinanba, I've got quite a nice voice."

"We'll just have to try it out, then," Clarisse kisses her. "Not to
mention other things."

"You'll have to wait until I'm mature enough to worry about that!"
Pamanba warns.

They look at each other. "You're mature enough for me, love," Clarisse
sighs.

"I hope so," she purrs.

They kiss, then head off...

*** The End ***