Urusei Yatsura Fan Fiction ❯ The Senior Year ❯ Nagaiwakai's Story ( Chapter 44 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"Hi. I'm Nyassur. I'm a private eye.

"I was casing downtown Lecashuto one day. Seems some nice lady
wanted to hire me to protect her grandson from some crazy Oni who
couldn't learn when to mind her own business. So I sauntered down to
Unification Square to meet her at a local ale house.

"It was your typical dive; lots of smoke, little fresh air and the
usual customers. The master nodded at me; I sometimes went and drowned
my sorrows there, especially in the wake of my losing my first wife. I still
sometimes woke up screaming for her...even if I don't quite exactly
remember her. The pain of her going is doing overtime on my soul.

"I see her at the corner of the bar. She was all by herself. Pretty
easy to recognize, and I don't in an intimate sense. She was dressed in a
gown native to her homeworld, Earth. 'Kimono,' they called it. A tiger-
striped cummerbund-something is wrapped around her. Dress don't do spit
towards her looks.

"But her face...

"She looked up at me. I didn't see her eyes flash as if her powers
were working, then remembered that she was three-quarters Terran. Classic
no-track. Then again, so was I. Still, if they did, I'd never get a look at her
peepers. And they were as brown as the soil she worked. Same with her
hair, which was down to her hips, even if it was tied off at the back of the
head.

"Suddenly, it happened.

"Her eyes glowed as she got a good look at me, as shiny gold as the
star her homeworld orbits. Her breathing nearly stopped as her mind and
soul accept what happened...and as it happened to me. I felt the sting in my
eyes as they glow, which would be a grassy sort of green had I been looking
in a mirror. Everything in my body went crazy as my vision scopes in to
just her...her...her...

"My body automatically slipped beside her as I took her hand in
mine. Soft hands...but really strong. Real kid of the earth, this one. I
wouldn't be living in a city anymore. We stared at each other as the initial
rush of recognition faded, our minds taking back control of our bodies. But
it happened; couldn't deny that. This gorgeous doll here was going to be my
wife.

"'Could you help me, sir?' she wondered.

"What a voice. Purest velvet, like a cat purring. Nice accent. 'I'll
always be around to help you,' I responded. trying my best to keep my cool
when my body had other ideas.

"'I know,' she smiled as we kiss..."

* * *

Nyassur's eyes open as a pounding is heard from outside the
holosuite. "Nyassur!!" a woman demands. "Ram take me, you've been in
there for two hours!! You done yet?!"

He sits up, realizing that he had fallen asleep at the end of his
private holosuite time. Right now, all that was left of the surreal world he
had crafted was a bed, the nude, sleeping form of Nagaiwakai Moroboshi
beside him. "S-s-sorry!!!" he stammers as he quickly dresses in his normal
work clothes.

Nagaiwakai stirs, then looks at him. "Over so soon," she sighs.

Nyassur smiles as he leans over to kiss her. "S-s-see you s-s-soon,"
he promises, then calls out, "End s-s-simulation."

Nagaiwakai and the bed disappear. The image of the Moroboshi
Clan matriarch gives him a wave before she returns to her basic existence as
mere programming. Fixing himself up, he heads to the door, pulling out his
private holo-entertainment chip from the suite's master control before
opening the door. "It's about time!" the red-haired Zephyrite walks in as she
loads her chip.

"S-s-sorry," Nyassur fumbles his word as he walks out of the
holosuite. Looking up, he sees that night has fallen on Jiyuu. His eyes
quickly locate the bright yellow dot of Sol, Earth's home star. Where *she*
lived. The woman who kept him sane.

Perhaps one day...

* * *

Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year: "Nagaiwakai's Story"
by Fred Herriot
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir
**** **** ****
Thirty-fifth of a series based on "Urusei Yatsura" created by Rumiko
Takahashi
**** **** ****

WRITER'S NOTES:

1) This is the final story of "The Senior Year." No, this doesn't mean
that the series is ending, but this is the last story using the UY-TSY title
(obsolete since everyone's graduated from high school). Starting next story,
the title will change to "Urusei Yatsura - Endings and Beginnings" (UY-
E&B).

2) Like Grisur, I was going to introduce Nyassur sometime in the
latter half of "Urusei Yatsura Twenty Years Later." However, with plot
changes and revisions come new ideas, including the one for this story.
After all, UY20YL at the time of this writing has 148 story ideas and six
specials already sketched out, with about half in script format.

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

"You finally told them off, eh?!" Lan laughs. "Good for you!"

Lum nods as they have tea. It was a day after everyone returned
from Reiner's Five. Despite the problems at the start, which led to the Oni
publicly denouncing the Church of Lum, it had been a wonderful time. Noa
and Honey were in Oshika with Ataru. Nassur and Benten had returned to
Home Base. Mie and Makoto, along with Lufy and Catty, were in the
Seikou home. The other members of the "Hasei'cha's" crew were on
Sagussa getting their ship ready. Pathfinder Troop Six were patrolling
Tomobiki just in case, although something had happened on that front.
"Well, I decided I'd had enough of that lot," Lum looks outside. "Besides,
considering that Oogi was willing to let Reiko-chan die just because she was
Darling's daughter really got to me. It was time that jerk got taught a lesson
he won't soon forget."

"Don't bet on that, Lum-chan," Lan looks sympathetic. "They went
into a period of mourning, then someone said it was Darling's fault, as usual.
Back to square one."

Lum moans. In other words, the Church of Lum was still united in
their madcap worship of her. "Then they just signed their death warrants,"
she sighs. "The Sagussans won't leave them alone long enough to give them
the chance to try anything against Darling."

"I'll be happy to see that," the Seishin snickers. "The Church of
Lum, smashed by the Maidens of the Eternal Voyager and the Chosen One,
who happens to be the Great Lum-sama's Beloved Darling! Poetic, if you
ask me!"

The Oni stares at her friend. "You don't seem so willing to spread
that news around."

"Hey, there are times I still find myself hating you, but even I'm not
crazy to go up against the likes of Priss or Lufy!" Lan notes. "Besides, if
Darling does become the Chosen One, there's no way Yethis'd be able to
touch this world, not to mention everyone. Rei-chan's home is totally safe
and sound!"

Lum smirks. "Mercenary!"

"It's called 'survival!'" Lan sticks her tongue out. "Oh, speak of
which, Lady Yedris came by to talk to me. The Alliance is dead serious on
the idea of you becoming Empress."

"Right job, wrong planet," Lum comments.

"Whatever. The craziest thing happened. Sylia's bonded to Lady
Yedris!!"

"What?!!" Lum gasps. "Sylia?! With Rei's mom?! How did that
happen?!"

Lan shakes her head. "It just did!"

Both women laugh. Lum felt so much at ease. Despite Lan's wild
mood-shifts, it seems that her friend had accepted her lot in life. Then
again, her own future was intact. With Yethis now in the doghouse, the
chances of Rei's transfer to another frontier patrol group were becoming
very slim.

And with Yethis in disgrace, the whole Imperialist cause lost its
most influential member on the Tribal Council. With him out of the way,
Yedris could press the Alliance's agenda, which, if Sil's numbers were right,
would pass with an overwhelming majority once President Lana called a
referendum. And with that out of the way, Lum could look forward to a
quiet trip to Sagussa with Ataru and Reiko, where they would help the
*daishi'cha* get to work on Stage Two of the Grand Design. A lot was still
ahead, but since she was together with Ataru full-time, Lum had no
complaints.

The door slams open. "***LUM!!!!!!***"

Both Urusians spin around to see a familiar-looking figure in a
white kimono standing at the door. "Grandma!!" Lum gasps.

The look on Nagaiwakai's face, if it could kill, would have ended
the matriarch's problems right there. Mixed with flushed cheeks...not to
mention a drawn katana...Lum deduces she isn't there for a social call.
"So..." Nagaiwakai snarls. "You tried to drag Ataru-chan to the chapel
again, didn't you?!"

"Hey!!!" Lan snarls as she storms up to the matriarch. "I don't give
a damn if you ARE a Righteous Gentile, that doesn't give you the right to
barge into my house!!!"

Nagaiwakai contemptuously glares at Lan. "Get out of my way!"
her voice drops to a demonic hiss as her katana threateningly swings
towards the latter's throat.

Lan shudders, finding herself faltering. Even drunk, Nagaiwakai
seemed in control. And she was a demon with that katana. Nagaiwakai then
turns on Lum. "I have had it with you and your attempts at enslaving Ataru-
chan!" she begins a methodical approach to the Oni. "You tried it for two
years, keeping him away from me and living his own life, then after he
punished you for it, you STILL try to chain him down!! And if you think
you're going to get away with it anymore, think again!!!"

Lum leaps into the air to avoid the katana as Nagaiwakai lunges.
"Grandma, stop it!!!" the Oni pleads as she rises to a point beyond where the
tip of that deadly blade could reach. "Will you finally get it through your
head that Darling loves me?!"

"Then he's going to love a corpse!!!" Nagaiwakai's hands flash into
her sleeves.

Lum yelps as a storm of shuriken streak at her, dodging the deadly
missiles barely in time. "Don't make me do this!!" she warns as her body
comes alive with her powers.

"Lum, are you crazy?!!" Lan screams.

Nagaiwakai lunges at the Seishin teen, grabbing her by an arm and
flinging her at Lum. The Oni cuts her powers out as she grabs her friend,
then drops down as another storm of shuriken rip her way. "I warned
you!!!" Lum cuts loose with a blast.

Nagaiwakai is belted by the lightning, flying backwards to crash
into Lan's sofa, knocking it over! Lum quickly leaps over to see if the
matriarch is alright. "Grandma!!!"

Lum relaxes on seeing Nagaiwakai passed out, barely scarred by
the Oni's lightning. Lan runs up to stare at her, shuddering. "You just might
have killed yourself, Lum!"

"Not if Darling has something to say about it," Lum sighs...

* * *

"***GRANDMA DID WHAT?!?!?!***"

Ataru stares at Lum after she had told him about the incident. Both
stand with Noa and Honey in the living room of their home. "She stormed
in when Lan and I were having tea and tried to take my head off!!" Lum
sniffs back tears. "Darling, even if she was drunk, I had to zap her if I didn't
want to wind up a head shorter!! What was I supposed to do?!!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Ataru embraces her. "That's alright! You did the
right thing!! No one can blame you for that!"

"B-but, wh-what if sh-she tries to get me kicked off the planet...or
tries to get the Inquisition after me...?!" Lum sniffs.

Ataru moans. Unlike Oogi, who was just an idiot; or Yethis, who
was curtailed by his own need for secrecy; Nagaiwakai wasn't an easy
person to deter. With her connections spanning all the way to Zephyrus, she
was Lum's worst enemy. All of Ataru's efforts in getting his grandmother to
accept the Oni had failed. If only April came sooner. Once he became
eighteen, he was free of her and free to marry Lum without interference.
Unfortunately, Nagaiwakai knew that, too.

"She won't!" Ataru sighs. "We're going up to Rishiri-tou to settle
this mess. Noa, call Lufy and get her and Catty up here...just in case things
get TOO out of hand."

"Right," Noa turns to the telephone.

"Um...Darling," Lum bites her lip.

"What is it?" he looks at her.

"Would you mind if your parents came?"

* * *

*Mom's aged!!* Ataru blinks.

While Muchi seemed in good enough shape, smiling at Ataru,
Kinshou just stares at him. Grey was creeping into her brown hair even
though she hadn't passed forty. Everyone was in the reception room of
Nagaiwakai's mansion. Komeru had refused to come with his nephew and
future niece-in-law, not wanting to try to arbitrate an argument between his
mother and other in-laws. Nokoko had refused to come up, as did Atako;
both had their own lives and weren't interested in having them called into
question by any of their relatives. However, with Lufy present, Ataru hoped
things wouldn't turn totally insane. "Lyna's Soul, how long does it take for
that *kimei'ne* to get over a drinking binge?!" Lufy growls.

Kinshou snickers. *Must be picking up some Sagussan profanity
from Priss,* Ataru muses as he looks at his father. Muchi, much to his
surprise, wasn't reading his paper. "So how's work been?" Ataru wonders.

"It's been okay," Muchi sighs.

"He's talking to us," Kinshou mutters. "After all this time, he's
actually stooping himself low enough to speak to us!"

"Mrs. Moroboshi!!!" Lum snaps. "You're here to settle this, not
start a fight!!"

"She's right, you know," Muchi sighs.

"Oh?!!" Kinshou snaps. "And you're saying what that cow did was
right, too?!!"

"Of course not!!" Muchi glares. "If you'd shown a little more love
to Ataru, we wouldn't be living in an empty house now!"

"I wouldn't talk if I was you!!" Kinshou snarls. "What were
**you** doing when he needed some parental love?!!"

"***HEY!!!!!!***" Lufy's voice booms.

Both fearfully face the pilot as she stands in front of Lum, arms
crossed. "You're here to settle this whole mess, not just with Ataru, but with
your mother!! Stow it!!!"

A butler then comes out. "I am forced to announce that the
Mistress is still detained on business," he bows to the guests.

He departs. Ataru moans, slapping his head. Either Nagaiwakai
was afraid to confront him in Lum's presence or thought so low of the Oni
that she wouldn't want to see Ataru "embarrassed" by meeting with his
grandmother alongside Lum. Then, the words "on business" come to him.
Was she...?

"Hey, Noa!" he looks over.

"I saw to it that all transmissions from here to Zephyrus or any of
its colonies was jammed before we came up," she smiles.

"Good!!" Ataru sighs. No sense trying to give Nagaiwakai the
chance to call in the Inquisition before they could settle this.

Lum stares at her boyfriend. Through their bond, she could sense
his dread. He dearly loved Nagaiwakai, but presently was being asked to
choose between his grandmother and her. She never wanted their
relationship to result in his having to pull away from his family...or worse,
being asked to choose which part of his family he would remained attached
to. Accept his grandmother and deny his parents...or reject his grandmother
and accept his parents. The way Kinshou and Nagaiwakai loathed the other
these days, it might come to that. There seemed no way out.

Noa's hand gently touches her shoulder as she projects a smile at
the Oni. Lum smiles at her bond-mate, then leans against Ataru's side.
Kinshou stares quizzically at this. She knew now how much Noa loved
Lum. She also knew about the time Noa had bonded Lum to Ataru; Ten-
chan told her. Quite innocent then, but perhaps Fate had lent a hand. It was
obvious these people meant Ataru no harm; look what they did when that
maniac Oogi tried to invade two weeks ago, all at Ataru's request? Now, if
he would only think of coming home after his sojourn away.

"How long?!" Lufy grumbles.

Catty checks. "Thirty-one minutes."

Sighing, the pilot stands, pulling up her photon shotgun. "Thirty-
one minutes too long!!" she loads two rounds into the firing beds, takes aim
at a wall, then fires!

The explosions tear a passageway right to Nagaiwakai's reading
room, where she normally received guests. Everyone stares at Lufy. "Let's
go!!" she notions them to follow her.

The pilot walks towards the reading room, everyone falling behind
her. Arriving, Lufy stares around, her battle senses already on the hunt for
Nagaiwakai's personal bodyguards. "If any of you little twerps are hanging
about this place trying to piss me off, show yourselves now so I can get
some exercise!!"

A foregone conclusion later, Lufy drops the last Kuromoroboshi
into a dazed pile near the front door. "Thanks, Lufy," Ataru sighs as
everyone walks into the reading room.

"If you do not mind, I have a headache," Nagaiwakai sighs as she
presses a cold compress against her forehead.

Catty walks over, scanner in hand. "Just a hangover," she slaps a
painkiller tablet in the matriarch's hand.

"Who's going to pay for that?"

A small bag of coins lands in her lap. "That's what you get for
making us wait too long!" Lufy snarls.

"That's enough," Ataru glares at his grandmother. "Look, I don't
know what you were trying to do, but I hope you realize you could've
provoked a war if Lum was hurt!"

"I only regret that I didn't actually kill the little beast!" Nagaiwakai
hisses.

"Hey!!" Lum flies up beside Ataru, fangs out. "I don't have to take
that from you!! If you can't accept that Darling and I love each other and
want to live together for the rest of our lives, that's tough!! We don't put up
to anyone's interference from Tomobiki, we certainly don't from Oogi and
we're NOT going to put up to YOUR interference!!!"

"'Love?!!'" Nagaiwakai bolts to her feet, glaring at Lum. "You call
what you've been trying to do to Ataru-chan 'love?!!'"

"That's what it is!!" Lum snaps. "Maybe I didn't know how to love
Darling a year ago, but that's changed!! I've learned my lesson!! When are
you going to learn yours?!!"

"How dare you...?!" Nagaiwakai's hand bolts for her katana.

Lufy appears. "SIDDOWN!!!!!!"

Nagaiwakai falls back, stunned by the Sagussan's unholy speed.
Just as quickly, Lufy is back in her chair. "Look, Grandma, if you don't like
Lum, that's too bad!" Ataru sighs. "Because I DO love Lum and I know
deep in my heart that she loves me! And I'm going to marry her WITH or
WITHOUT your blessings!!"

"Are you sure, Ataru-chan?!" Nagaiwakai stares at him. "Are you
really sure that what she expresses is love?! After two years of dictating
your life without a single care for your own feelings, do you really expect
me to accept that she is actually capable of love?! She isn't! She can't take
the fact that you won't bow to her every whim and desire anymore, that
you're so powerful that she has no choice but to agree to everything you do!!
This whole business on Reiner's Five proves it! She was willing to let your
poor daughter die at the drop of a hat because a group of bomb victims
wanted some justice for the deaths of their loved ones!!"

"Who told you that?!" he snarls. "Reiko-chan was in no danger!
She *volunteered* to be a hostage with Lum so Oogi could be dragged out
in the open and done away with!"

"And what about that creature?!" Nagaiwakai demands. "Try as
you might, he will NEVER leave you alone as long as you're with her!!" she
points at Lum. "Do you think your little object lesson deterred him?! Do
you think Lum's words marking her disapproval at that pathetic church
deterred him?! You watch!! He's going to muster another fleet to try to
come after you again and again...and the next time, he just might succeed!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Lufy snarls.

"And need we mention what's going on Uru!!" Nagaiwakai glares
at Lum. "I know all about Yethis and what he'd do to my grandson were he
given the chance! If you think you're going to dangle Ataru-chan in the path
of danger just to impress him by coming to his rescue when trouble looms,
think again!!"

"What makes you think I'd do that to Darling?!!" Lum demands.

"Oh?!" Nagaiwakai snaps. "If you really did love Ataru-chan, you
would've told him right off the bat why your people came to this planet.
You would've told him about that little clause in your agreement which
could've cost him his life if Yethis had his way! You would've been more
honest with him, more trusting of him, accepting his views and desires!!
Have you ever accepted them?!! No!!! You just acted as if he was your
slave and blithely carried on, ignoring all the pain and misery you forced on
him!!!"

Lum sighs. "You're right. I admit that I should've been more
giving to Darling. I had no excuse for what I did to him at times. But I did
it because I knew I wanted him. I wanted to marry him, to have his children,
to live with him for the rest of his life. I never wanted anyone to try to take
that from me. That will always be the biggest regret of my life. And I
HAVE apologized to him, both in word and deed! And he's accepted it!
The second biggest regret is that I've never been able to get you to go along
with it!! At least there, Darling's parents have agreed!"

"You don't have to, Lum," Ataru sighs.

Nagaiwakai stares at him. "Ataru-chan...?"

"Grandma, WHEN?!?!" Ataru spins on her. "When are you going
to let me live my own life?!! I came to you six months ago looking for
support when I desperately needed it!!! You were my last hope back then,
when I felt that the whole world was against me, even Lum!!! And believe
me, I am most appreciative that you did step in!!! But when will you finally
let me make my own decisions?!!"

"I've always been willing to let you make your own decisions!"
Nagaiwakai snaps. "But mark my words, Ataru-chan: any decision which
makes you cave in to this creature's demands is NOT what I'd call wise! She
will destroy you; of that, I'm certain!!"

Kinshou snorts. "She's never been able to trust you when she hasn't
had a hand in your life! She was that way with her sons, and she'll be that
way with you!!"

"Don't you start, Kinshou!!!" Nagaiwakai points at her. "Your
record with your son hasn't been the least bit stellar, not to mention what
you did with your daughter!!"

"Alright!!!" Kinshou bolts to her feet. "I admit that I did treat
Ataru and Nokoko badly!! Just because neither were Kaeru-chan gave me
no excuse!! But I've always wanted the best for him! And Lum's the best
thing that's EVER happened to him, not to mention these people!!" she
points at the Sagussans. "But I can certainly say that the girl YOU found for
him didn't pan out so well!"

Nagaiwakai's eyes flare. "Windy-chan would've been a thousand
times more acceptable than her!! At least she didn't come with all those
wonderful strings attached!!"

"Yes, I do have strings attached!" Lum snaps. "And I don't want
them! What would've happened if the whole thing with Windy went
through? You would've never seen a grandchild born of Darling until late
next century the way the Zephyrites are! I'm glad that Noa and her friends
stepped in when they did!"

"What?!!" Nagaiwakai angrily spins on Noa. "Is this true?!!"

"Is it?!!" Kinshou looks ecstatic.

"It is," Noa remains calm. "I went to Zephyrus, told them what was
going on, and the Cabal of Archbishops were more than happy to pass the
annulment. Ataru's and Windy's love was in the past. They knew it and
knew it would have been years, if ever, before they rediscoverd it. Also,
Ataru DOES love Lum, as she does him. I would've picked it up through
our own bond if she had other ideas! She's never acted against the spirit of
her desire, doesn't act it now and will never act it in the future. When I
realized that, I then acted in my bond-mate's best interest! Anyone from my
world would've done that!!"

"And that's another thing I'm a little concerned about!" Nagaiwakai
snarls. "You and your willingness to ignore your own Non-Interference
Directive!! I told you to undo this bond between them! Why haven't you?!"

"Because I refuse to do it, and I can't do it anyway!" Noa glares.
"And why haven't YOU been more appreciative of what that bond did?! If it
wasn't for that, Ataru would've been lost to the *saikoo jinseijitsu* years
ago!! We've been over this before! I think the real reason you don't care
about us is because we're the one race you can't scare with your powers as a
Righteous Gentile!!"

"You mean there are people in this galaxy who aren't scared of the
Zephyrites?!" Kinshou blinks. "Will miracles ever cease?!"

"We don't let those half-lives try to influence us even if they are
descendants of the Fourth Republic!" Honey winks. "Never have, never
will! I thank Lyna the planners of the Grand Design never sent the Gatherer
out that way! I doubt Sagussa could take the strain of another Clone Rights
War!!"

Nagaiwakai shudders, then turns to Ataru. "Don't you see?" she
wonders. "All these people...Lum, your parents, your friends, Noa's
people...are trying to manipulate you, Ataru-chan! Everyone in your life to
one extent or another has tried to manipulate you to press their own agenda
without an ounce of concern as to what you might desire or care for! Why
won't you see that?!"

"Why can't you see that they love me and let it go at that?!" Ataru
retaliates. "When I realized that I did love Lum...and this was a month after
she arrived...all I cared about from that time on was to make her accept me
the way I was and make sure she stayed with me! I've always regretted not
having enough courage to stand up to her then! It would've saved us a load
of headaches! But I didn't and that's the worst regret of my life!"

"Darling..." Lum stares at him, blushing.

"And if you can't accept that I do love Lum and that I want to be
with her, then fine!!" Ataru's voice picks up. "At least her parents accept
that I do love her and that my intentions with her are honourable! As for
Noa and her people, they're intentions with me have ALWAYS been
honourable given their circumstances!! And that is all I care about now!! If
you can't accept that, I can't help you! And if you so much as even THINK
of trying to break us apart, then I'm never going to speak to you as long as I
live!!!"

"Darling!!!" Lum gasps, horrified that Ataru would have come to
*that* decision.

Ataru's parents stare in shock at their son. The Sagussans remain
quiet. Nagaiwakai jolts, then looks away, trying her best to keep her
dignity. "So...you're going to leave me, too!" she sniffs. "Just use me, then
leave me without respecting my wishes! Is that all you ever saw me as?! A
tool to press your own ends?! Fine, then! Go! Wreck the rest of your life!
See if I care! But don't you dare come running back to me if you ever get
into trouble because of this creature!!"

"I wouldn't want it anyway!" Ataru snaps as he storms away.

"Darling, wait!!" Lum flies after him.

Everyone else follows the Oni out of the room. Nagaiwakai
remains in place, then shudders as tears explode. With a pained wail, she
drops to her knees. "Ataru-chan!"

* * *

"Whoo!!!" Nokoko whistles as she hears the story sometime later
in the Tiger Cub Cafe. "Ataru-chan said THAT to her?!!"

Lum sadly nods. "I never wanted this to happen, Nokoko-chan,"
she sniffs back her tears. "I wanted everyone to be happy that Darling and I
love each other and wanted to get married...but I never wanted him to turn
his back on his family just to marry me!!"

"But if you try to get Ataru-chan back with his family, you'll break
his heart and yours," Nokoko sighs. "Grandma's unyielding when she makes
her mind up. And unlike other people, she won't be bullied. She'd rather
die than admit a mistake...and with the power at her command, she'll make
sure you and all you care for are destroyed, too!"

"I know," Lum nods. "But I don't want to match her force with
force. Even with the Sagussans, that won't do anything. I tried it at the
Second Tag Race, but Darling never bent even with Earth's fate on the line.
When it comes to dealing with any part of your family, Nokoko-chan,
stubbornness is a problem."

"Yours, too," Nokoko comments.

"That's true," the Oni blushes. "Still, we've got to find some way to
get Darling and Grandma back together again. It's not right that he doesn't
have a family to turn back to...and even if your mother admitted her
mistakes with you and Darling, I doubt he will turn back to them anytime
soon."

"True."

Mal arrives at that time. "Oh, Beloved," she smiles on seeing her
life-mate. "Did you know that your mother is at the house?"

"Eh?!!" Lum gasps.

"She's not trying to start a fight with Ataru-chan, is she?!" Nokoko
stands.

"I did not sense any determination in drawing him back to
Tomobiki," Mal muses.

"Just in case, I better go look in on this," Nokoko sighs. "I'll be
back!"

* * *

"You use heat-pipes?!" Kinshou wonders as she feels the heat in
the dining room.

"Yeah," Ataru nods, kneeling beside her. "Don't you remember the
time Kotatsuneko first came to the house and parked a kotatsu right on the
stairs and I couldn't pass no matter how hard I tried because he was afraid
that I'd take the kotatsu away?"

"Oh, that was a headache," his mother moans as they head toward
the bedrooms. This is the first time Kinshou has spent time in Ataru's home,
having briefly visited once when Lum and Ataru had found themselves sent
back in time with Nassur. Staring at the beautiful decor, she looks at him.
"You decided on all of this? The wallpaper, the furniture, the rugs,
everything?"

"Lum had a hand in it, as did Nokoko-chan," Ataru confirms as
they look into the nursery, now being prepared for Nokoko's and Mal's
daughter. "The house design was my idea all the way, with a little of
Uncle's help, especially when we learned that Nokoko-chan had come back
and wanted to live with me."

Kinshou turns to see the photograph of the Moroboshi children and
their lovers taken on Nagussa shortly after the New Year. Seeing Kaeru
with Naromo, Tadomo in the latter's lap, she gasps as she takes the picture
off the wall, staring closely at it and the son she had lost fifteen years before.
"How is he?"

"He's pretty okay, or so I gathered when I was on Nagussa," he
comments, then points. "That's Naromo and Tadomo."

"So I'm already a grandmother," she sighs, returning the picture to
the wall. "Does he think about us?"

"Not really, I'm afraid," he shakes his head. "Don't forget, Kouhae
and Raikue are his parents now. He has them to turn to. And Nagussa is far
away from here, so he can't really come back every time he wants to see us.
Sentimentality is an emotion and the Nagussans are just now discovering
how to use their emotions more often than before they learned they were
organic. In a sense, they're no different than the Sagussans."

"Such a pity," she muses. "Raised by two women, even if that is
'normal' on that world. What type of family is that, I wonder. And how
could Atako's and Shinoko's children, or Nokoko's and Mal's, enjoy a
normal life, be accepted by society at large, if they aren't seen as having
normal parents?!"

"Mom, what IS 'normal' these days?!"

Kinshou gasps, staring at her son. "Ataru..." she exhales, then with
a cry, embraces him. "Oh, Ataru!!"

"What's wrong?" he looks concerned.

"It's been five months, even more, since you called me 'Mom,'" she
wipes her eyes. "That hurt so much, you just walking out on us like that!
Of all the things I could have conceived of you doing back then, that was
something I never dreamt possible!"

"Do you think I can just forgive and forget?" he wonders. "Do you
think I can feel happy back there again? It's not just you or Dad, Mom! It's
everyone. They did some really bad things to me...and I turned around and
blasted them back, heaping things ten-fold on them! Even if I did go
back...and I really don't want to return right now...could I ever be accepted
down there?! Deep down, I can't conceive of that ever happening!"

"How could you know unless you try?" she retorts. "Ataru, I could
never apologize for the things I did and didn't do to you! Your father
couldn't. Your friends couldn't. Even Lum couldn't. And none of us have
the right to demand you just forget what happened. No one has the right to
demand that of anyone."

"Maybe," he sighs. "But right now, my first priority is being with
Lum and raising Reiko-chan. And I still find it so difficult to trust anyone in
Tomobiki, especially now that my child has to be factored in. This is Reiko-
chan's home most of all. She wouldn't understand it if we packed up and
went back to a place she doesn't know, nor liked. And what about Nokoko-
chan and Mal-chan and their friends?! Don't they matter?!"

"Of course," she nods. "But I wish there was some way for all of
us to be together."

"Maybe in a perfect world," he shrugs. "But we don't live in a
perfect world, Mom. The only perfect world we'll ever know is the one in
the next life. Life is never perfect."

She blinks in surprise. "I never thought you'd ever delve into
anything akin to Zen. Cherry would be quite surprised."

"Well, since I've been with Noa and her friends, I've learned pretty
quick that nothing is ever perfect," he shrugs.

"So strange," she chuckles. "For Lum's dream to come true, yours
had to come true."

"Who says our dreams came true?" he wonders. "Dreams are
perfect wishes. My paradise isn't the least bit perfect, not if you knew the
half of what I've got to do."

"Maybe I should spend time talking with people like Sylia-san,"
she hums. "I just hope you won't regret going there, Ataru. You've been
hurt way too often by strangers just popping up at your front door."

"Who says Noa's a stranger? Besides, if you had the chance to help
create a society, what would you do? Help out or walk away?"

"I...don't know," she admits. "And I for one am glad that I don't
have to make that decision. But...it doesn't mean that I'm not sympathetic to
your doubts and insecurities. It's like raising children. Compromises always
have to be made. You know that now that you've adopted Reiko-chan."

"That's more true than you'd ever think."

* * *

A while later, Kinshou steps out of the house to see Nokoko
standing there. "Hi, Mom," the latter attempts a smile.

Staring at this wonderfully mature young woman, the one she hurt
the most in the wake of Kaeru's disappearance, the former looks down
ashamedly. "Hello, Nokoko."

An awkward silence follows, then Nokoko shrugs. "Want some
coffee? The girls're good at making a lot of popular blends."

"I...sure," Kinshou nods.

The two head off, Nokoko reaching over to gently grasp her
mother's hand. Ataru watches them, then sighs, returning to his room. On
the roof, staying as quiet as possible, Lum smiles as she sees mother and
daughter struggling to reforge their kinship. Maybe there was hope.
But...what of Nagaiwakai?

Lum's smile slips as the argument earlier that day return to her. It
was wonderful that Ataru was trying at least to reforge some link with his
parents...but once again, he was being asked to choose between his parents
and his grandmother. That was not right even if Kinshou and Nagaiwakai
despised the other. Her family was whole and complete. Ataru's should be
as well. Unless...?

What did Nagaiwakai say?

"So...you're going to leave me, too!"

What did Nagaiwakai mean? It was natural, expected, that all
children would leave their parents. Komeru left and became a very rich
archaeologist and financier. Muchi left, married Kinshou, gave birth to
three wonderful children and happily worked as a salaryman. Both earning
their own living, both no longer needing to be dependent on their mother.
The way it should be.

And the kids? Kaeru served in the Nagussan Defence Force, was
married to Naromo and raising Tadomo. Nokoko and Mal ran the Tiger
Cub and were expecting a daughter. Atako and Shinoko, even if both were
bioroids and technically adopted parts of the family, worked on Sado and as
models in Niigata, had adopted Junko and were also expecting their own
child. And Ataru and Lum were preparing for college and raising Reiko.
The right path for all of them given their circumstances. So why was
Nagaiwakai upset?

Lum frowns. She somehow knew that if she could learn that
answer, then possibly, Ataru's family could finally mend its broken fences
and be whole once again...

* * *

"Nyassur!!" a female voice barks.

He blinks. "You wanted t-t-to s-s-see m-m-me, F-firehair?" he
stammers, straightening from spreading hay to the cows.

"The supervisor wants to see you," she walks up. She is the same
red-haired Zephyrite who interrupted Nyassur's time in the holosuite. A
sympathetic look then crosses her face. "He sounded pretty urgent, Nyatsu-
chan. I hope things are okay."

"I h-h-hope s-s-so, t-t-too," he nods.

"Tell me about it later!" she coos.

Nyassur jerks. Could Firehair Sunflower not understand that he
wasn't interested in her? He hadn't recognized her; wasn't even sure if he
was capable of recognition. Besides, the Zephyrite rule of not marrying
until you were a hundred years old really dampened one's outlook on family
life. How Firehair's people did it, Nyassur did NOT know. He wished she,
not to mention all the other under-eligible women on Jiyuu, would stop
teasing him. *She* would never do such things. *She* was forthright and
honest. That is what made Nagaiwakai Moroboshi, Nyassur's employer, so
attractive. Walking into the supervisor's office, he calls out, "You wanted t-
t-to s-s-see m-m-me, s-s-sir?"

"Sir down, Nyassur-san," the supervisor sighs as he rubs his bald
head. Lighteye Firestorm was well past five hundred, elderly for his race,
but still bore himself with military precision; he had served for several
centuries in the Navy before offering his services to Nagaiwakai as chief of
operations for her Jiyuu farm. "I've some news for you."

"What n-n-news is th-th-that?"

"You're being transferred," he announces. "To be honest with you,
I didn't want to do this. You're quite a capital worker, Nyassur; have been
for the last five years."

"S-so why am I b-b-being t-transferred?" the Vosian wonders.
"And where am I b-b-being t-t-transferred t-t-to?"

"To Earth. Right to Rishiri-tou."

Nyassur nearly faints. Earth? Right to *her* home?! "You're s-s-
serious!"

"Personally, if half the women on this farm would stop chasing
you, I'd keep you on," Firestorm sighs. "But who am I to curb the ways of
the young?! Anyhow, Brother Sunfire has agreed to take you on as part of
the Lady Nagaiwakai's personal farm team on Rishiri-tou. You're leaving
tonight. Get packed."

"Yessir!!" he blurts out, running out.

The supervisor watches him go. "My, what an energetic lad," he
smiles. "Lady Nagaiwakai should be quite pleased."

* * *

Nyassur had very little to call his own...many of the workers once
wondered why he never became a monk with his eschewing of all material
things...so he was packed in half an hour. Which meant that he could pass a
message to someone who would be coming along for the ride. Stepping into
the empty holosuite, he puts in his chip, then calls out, "Activate p-p-
program."

Nagaiwakai's holographic double appears. "Nyatsu-chan!" she
projects an angelic smile, walking up to embrace him. "So?! What shall we
do today?! My, it's early! Are you sick?" she hums, then looks up.
"Nurse's uniform!"

Her kimono sheds away, reforming into a French maid's outfit with
a cross-emblazoned nurse's cap, the whole of which left NOTHING to the
imagination! Nyassur nearly wants to cry. He created "his" Nagaiwakai to
be as close a social duplicate of the real Nagaiwakai as possible, which
meant that she should NOT be acting like some hormone-driven tart
prostitute from Gomiana. "P-p-programs g-g-getting c-c-crossed, again!" he
sighs.

Nagaiwakai looks embarrassed. "Sorry," she sighs. "Normal."

The kimono returns. "Let me guess," a touch of annoyance bites
into his voice as his emotions force the words sharply from his lungs.
"Kodo was in here before me, right?"

"Right," she nods, smiling. "He should learn to clean up after
himself. Before you know it, everyone's programs are going to be too ecchi
for anyone's tolerance!"

Nyassur's eyes roll. Kodo Hisaten was a wild worker who
preferred his women to be "totally buck nekkid and willing" as he twisted
the words after having a few bottles of super-vodka. The Vosian wondered
why the Fukunokami ever came here, where the only good-looking women
were still unwed and could not wed until he would be an old man. Go
figure! "Actually, I g-g-got n-n-news. I'm b-b-being t-t-transferred t-t-to
Earth."

Nagaiwakai blinks in surprise. "Where?!"

"R-r-rishiri-t-t-tou," he stammers.

"Wonderful!!!" she yips delightfully, then blinks as realization
dawns. Sniffing, she turns away, hiding her tears from him. "Excuse me, I
think I'm going to cry."

"D-d-don't b-b-be th-th-that way."

"Don't you understand? She's there! The one in whose image you
created me, remember? What am I going to be, what am I going to do when
I'm up against the real thing?!"

Nyassur bites his lip. When he set on the idea of creating his
dream woman, he knew she would develop in ways different from the real
Nagaiwakai. That's the way holographic beings worked, in the same manner
as android and bioroid duplicates in realspace. "Just b-b-because I'm going
t-t-to Earth d-d-doesn't m-m-mean th-th-that I'll r-r-recognize h-h-her when I
m-m-meet h-h-her you know," he warns. "R-r-recognition is p-p-pretty
unpredictable, r-r-remember? And I m-m-might n-n-not r-r-recognize h-h-
her. If th-th-that h-h-happens, where will I go f-f-for a f-f-friend?"

Smiling, Nagaiwakai spins around to embrace him. "I know," she
sighs. "But...if you do, I'll always wish you the best."

"I know," he nods.

"And I hope you'll honour your promise."

"I will," he kisses her. "End program."

She blows him a kiss as she fades. Nyassur sighs as he walks over
to extract his chip, then opens the door...to see Firehair standing there,
smiling. "Hi, Nyassur."

Nyassur gulps. Jilted girlfriend time...

* * *

As night spreads, Nyassur and Firehair walk side-by-side toward
the warpshuttle. She carries his dufflebag. "Five years can really slip past
quickly, can't they?"

"Th-th-they s-s-sure c-c-can," he nods.

She looks at him as they reach the ramp. "You wanted this,
right?!" she sighs. "You wanted to be on Earth, didn't you?"

He shudders. The old tale of the fury of a scorned woman had an
extra bite on three planets, Zephyrus being one. "P-p-part of m-m-me
wishes I c-c-could st-st-stay."

"I know," she sighs. "I admit that we really didn't help matters
much. Times are changing in the Republic, as they are elsewhere. The
prophecy of the coming of the Most Holy Father of the Ancient Homeworld
must be fast approaching. If so, revolutions will spark everywhere, followed
by unbelievable chaos, then a new peace and social order. I think we're
wanting it too soon."

"P-p-patience is a v-v-virtue."

"Yes," she hands him his dufflebag, then reaches into her pocket
and pulls out a computer datachip. "Here. Take this."

"What's th-th-this?" he wonders.

"Play it with yours," she kisses him. "You'll understand then. May
Ram and Atar look kindly upon you, Nyassur. Sayonara."

Nyassur blinks as Firehair walks away, trying desperately to stem
her tears. "Good-bye," he forces himself to say, then pocketing the chip
with his own, steps aboard.

A minute later, it blasts off. Firehair watches it fly away, strangely
content. "Most Righteous One, I pray your do fall in love with him," she
intones. "For if you do, your holy grandson will be finally free to pursue
those he loves without trouble."

She looks to the distant gold speck of Sol, then heads to the
communications shed. Windy had to be told of this right away...

* * *

Nagaiwakai sneezes! "Bless you, Mistress," Brother Darklight
Sunfire intones as the matriarch rubs her nose.

"Someone must be talking about me," Nagaiwakai sniffles. "If it's
Kinshou, I'll kill the witch later! Now, where were we?"

* * *

"I need help," Lum sits in front of Lufy.

"How many people've got to die for it?"

The Oni smiles. "I don't need the Warrior Lufy. I want the
Philosopher Lufy."

"I don't know if I can help you," Lufy warns. "Philosophy isn't my
area of expertise, Lum. Why don't you talk to Noa?"

"Because, with rare exceptions like you, *pirpirsiw'r* always
served as court sages and intellectuals," Lum notes. "Now, that has to have
been transmitted into your genes, which wouldn't be touched by the
regeneration matrix when you became a Sagussan. So I was hoping you
could help me since despite your not knowing about your previous life, you
have a wonderful knack of seeing through a problem to locate its best and
easiest solution. It's as apparent as your fighting style."

"Flatterer," Lufy blushes. "Okay. All my braincells are on-line.
What's the input?"

"What can I do to make Grandma like me?"

"Tilt!!" Lufy blurts out. "Impossible."

"Lufy!!!"

"Just kidding," she smiles. "Lyna, you gotta work on your sense of
humour." She then sighs. "Okay. What's Nagaiwakai want? Other than
you becoming ashes or taking a hike."

Lum thinks for a moment. "I think she wants Darling safe."

"We can take care of that. Is that all?"

The Oni considers the point. Her mind then files back to all the
complaints Ataru's mother made about Nagaiwakai trying to horn in on their
lives. A phrase keeps repeating itself: "...if she wants him up there..." Up
there? Up in...Rishiri-tou? With her? "I think that was just part of it," Lum
realizes. "I really think Grandma wants Darling to move up to Rishiri-tou to
live with her."

"Oedipal complex in reverse," Lufy muses.

"No, no, it's not that," the Oni shakes her head. "For all the time
I've known Grandma, I've never thought she was trying to dominate
Darling's decisions, unless she's concerned that I'm taking Darling away
from her..." she then emits a gasp.

"You've hit it," Lufy winks.

"That's it!! Grandma wants Darling to come up so she can take
care of him!!"

"Right!" the Sagussan drawls the word out. "Now, think back to
when you found out about Kaeru. Remember what Nagaiwakai and her
mother told you about who was going to take care of each kid?"

"Nokoko-chan to Uncle, Kaeru to his parents...and Darling to
Grandma!!" the Oni beams, snapping her fingers.

"There you go," Lufy nods. "Now, why?"

"Why?!" Lum looks confused.

"Why does Nagaiwakai want Ataru to still go up to Rishiri-tou
when he's planning to come to Sagussa, then get on with the rest of his life?
Try to think of her situation now."

Lum concentrates. "It can't be wealth."

"'There may be gold and jade to fill a hall, but there is none who
can keep them. To be overbearing when one has wealth and position, is to
bring calamity upon oneself.'"

"'To retire when the task is accomplished ...is the way of heaven,'"
she stares at Lufy. "Since when did you read the 'Tao Te Ching?!'"

"We automatically pick up all the best philosophy from all our
ancestral homeworlds, then share it around," Lufy reports. "Who got you to
read the 'Tao?' Ataru?"

"Nassur-chan," Lum admits. "He warned me that if I was to live on
Earth, I had to understand the philosophy which drove Darling's people. I
barely remembered it until now, to be honest with you." She then looks
outside the window of the Tiger Cub. "I guess Grandma is realizing that
being overbearing because of her wealth is going to lead her nowhere but to
be alone."

"What was that?" Lufy prods.

Lum blinks. "Alone...?!" she gasps, then considers the matter.
"Atako-chan and Shinoko-chan will live for how long?"

"If they're normal, a millennium."

"And that's the same with Nokoko-chan and Mal-chan, Kaeru-chan
and Naromo-chan, even Darling and I after I have his baby," Lum hums.
"And Darling's parents will live for the same period of time. But
Grandma...even if Grandpa Kokeru had survived World War Two, he would
be an old man now, Cherry's age!"

Lufy nods. "But the situation became worse when Kokeru died and
Nagaiwakai was forced to raise her kids alone. What would you'd do if you
had to be a single parent?"

"I wouldn't want to think about it!" Lum shudders, then smiles.
"That's it! Grandma needs a new husband!"

"Now, where are you going to get one?!"

"That's the problem," Lum sighs.

On the shuttle, Nyassur sneezes!

* * *

"That must've have been a bloody knock-down, drag-out brawl you
had," the red-haired part-*azhis'f* wonders, her Japanese strongly affected
by a deep Scottish Highland brogue. "You were askin' for it, Nagai-chan.
Your grandson's as stubborn as you."

"Unfortunately," Nagaiwakai rubs her skull, as Victoria pours her
another shot of rum. While she could tolerate much more than the average
Japanese when it came to alcohol, the Moroboshi Clan matriarch had her
limits. And with April fast approaching, she had been pushing those limits
for some nights now.

Her friend stares concernedly at her. Both were aboard the
McTavish Clan flagship, the liner-turned-private yacht "Robert Bruce."
Now anchored off Rishiri-tou, the large ship gently sways with the rolling
tide of the Sea of Japan. Nagaiwakai valued it when Victoria came by to
visit. Both were *pe'cha* even if Victoria had to initiate it; unlike the
McTavish Clan matriarch (a first-generation Terran-born native),
Nagaiwakai was three generations removed from pure Vosian blood, which
had diluted all her potential abilities save one thing; her slowed aging
process.

Nagaiwakai was grateful for Victoria for many things. The Dame
Victoria Elizabeth Anne McTavish, who had more knighthoods than
Nagaiwakai could remember even when sober, knew what it was like living
on a world of short-lives. Born in 1867 (the same year Kimaenowakai had
been born), Victoria had come of age in the late Victorian/early Edwardian
age. Like Nagaiwakai and her late Meiji/Taisho era outlook on life,
Victoria still clung to those same values which has sunk with the "Robert
Bruce's" sistership in 1912, carrying with her Victoria's three eldest sons.

Both had met in the period after World War One, when Japan
seemed destined to plunge down the same rocky path the great European
powers had taken with the rest of the world...and would one day find herself
challenging those more experienced powers and their young, dynamic child
across the Pacific. The two were quite a pair. Victoria, the worldly but
socially private Scotswoman who lived full-time aboard a floating palace
symbolizing a bygone era which bloodied itself white in the muck of
Flanders. Nagaiwakai, the naive and immature Hokkaidoite who had never
ventured farther south than Sendai, caught between the traditions of her
shinobi cousins and the demands of the modern world. Their friendship had
weathered a war which spiritually wrecked Japan and financially wrecked
Great Britain, but which also proved fertile ground for the strengthening ties
between the Moroboshi-Hana Clan and the McTavish Clan, ties which both
Victoria and Nagaiwakai wanted to solidify.

After all, Victoria and her people had been there after the end of
the Occupation, when the Moroboshi family dedicated itself to embracing
the modern world and Japan's reconstruction. The other shinobi clans had
balked when news of that decision reached them. The Tiger Spirit Clan (as
the Moroboshis were known in old days) were always seen as oddballs in
the world of the ninja, even more so when they united with the Tiger Flower
Clan (the Hanas) and the alien ways which had been disseminated to their
Earth-born descendants. The decision to modernize shattered fractured
relations with the other clans, thus provoking a nasty blood feud.

The battles, fought in the background of the Korean War, nearly
took the lives of Nagaiwakai's first six children. Komeru and Muchi had
been safely tucked away aboard the "Robert Bruce" under Victoria's care.
The stealthiest shinobi could never avoid a Vosian's tracking powers, hence
attempts at attacking Victoria's yacht became automatic suicide missions for
the luckless picked for the job. Worse was yet to come; that was also the
time Nagaiwakai met delegations from Jiyuu looking for help in famine
relief. When the shinobi attacked the Zephyrites...not realizing who they
were, of course...they found themselves facing the righteous wrath of the
Holy Inquisition. The leaders of the other clans were swiftly
excommunicated and the clans told to behave...or else.

Nagaiwakai's other children, in the wake of her being declared a
Righteous Gentile, were removed to a long-term care hospital on Zephyrus,
there to this day recovering from the trauma unleashed on them. She could
barely hold a conversation with Tetsuki. Kireiko would never paint. Myaku
would never see her rose garden bloom. And the others; Kagami, Yamako,
little Ningyo. All that suffering, atop Kokeru's useless death at the end of
the war. At times Nagaiwakai screamed at the heavens for their inhumanity,
their cruelty. Fate killing and maiming all she loved while sparing her, not
to mention the problem she and Victoria jointly shared.

"C'mon, love," Victoria slips an arm around her friend. "You've
got to admit that there are a lot of things Lum has going for her. Very few
girls could ever stand being around that mental war-zone which is Ataru.
Lum's took it for three years and she's still there slugging. Give the lass
some credit."

"How can I be sure, Vi-chan?" Nagaiwakai grits her teeth. "How
can I be sure that Lum is the one Ataru-chan needs? How can I be really
sure that Lum isn't the same type of evil, dark kami which has taken away
everything else I've loved and cared for?!"

"Nagai-chan, if you have met a darker kami than what's in your
grandson's head, I don't want to know about it," Victoria muses. "Besides,
didn't this Noa promise her people'd take care of that beastie when Ataru
heads to this Sagussa place?"

"They did...and that's another thing I'm worried about!!"
Nagaiwakai sniffs. "How can I be sure they are good people, they don't
mean Ataru harm?! Nothing's known about them! Every time I ask
Darklight to tell me something, he says he can't because if the word ever got
out, every monster on two dozen planets would be storming to Oshika to get
at Ataru-chan!! That's the problem here, Vi-chan!! I DON'T KNOW A
DAMN THING ANYMORE!!!!"

Nagaiwakai leans into her sleeves, weeping. Victoria sighs. "Hate
to say it, love, but that's always been your problem."

* * *

Sometime later, Lum flies out of the Tiger Cub, a plan of action
formulating in her mind. Lufy and Nokoko watch her go. "You know, the
only way Grandma'll ever learn anything is if someone would leave her
alone for a bit," the latter sighs.

"You know Lum's not that type," Lufy slips on her helmet. "See
you later, Nokoko."

"Yeah, later," Nokoko waves.

The Sagussan had rented the motorcycle when she decided to stay
here for a while. It did not ride as smoothly as her Gladiator or a
hovercycle, which is why Lufy liked it so much. Maybe she could take it
back home and outfit it for desert use. Hopping on the seat, she guns the
engine, then drives off toward Ishinomaki. As Nokoko heads inside the
cafe, a black sedan turns onto the street and drives off after the departing
Lufy...

* * *

About an hour later, Lufy is trekking down the Sendai-Tokyo
expressway, happy to feel the breeze rush through her helmet and past her
rider's uniform. She did keep to the speed limit...Earth had its own laws and
they were to be respected, Noa warned her...but it still was fun. Even more
fun in the Sagussan's eyes was to have Catty with her riding on the back, her
arms wrapped around Lufy, their minds doing all sorts of erotic things with
each other, things non-psis like Terrans could never begin to appreciate.

However, despite the nice day and the busy traffic, Lufy was still
alert. Now, either the sedan which had followed her from Oshika was filled
with Kuromegane watching over Ataru...*hadn't Sil got that dork Mendou to
pull those jerks back yet?!* she wonders... or another problem had just
decided to impose itself on Ataru and those he cared for. Deep down. Lufy
purrs. Time to find out.

A rest stop looms. Lufy guides her bike off the expressway,
stopping near some cherry trees. Shutting her motorcycle down, she
stretches, then on seeing a public restroom, walks over. The sedan pulls in,
coming to a stop ten metres away. Lufy pays no attention as she heads
inside the ladies' room.

Inside the sedan, two causally dressed men relax. "Strange girl,
isn't she?" one muses, staring at a snapshot of Lufy they had taken back in
Oshika. "Where's she from?"

"Another alien, no doubt," the other sighs. "The Moroboshi
family's filled with them. Why didn't we help the militarists destroy the
Tiger Spirit Clan before those damn aliens showed up after the war?! It
would've saved us a load of trouble!"

"Well, the elders paid for it," the first muses. "I can't understand
why we're going after them now, especially with what might be happening to
that girl-chasing lunatic Ataru."

"Better now than never."

The leadership of the various other clans disintegrated after the
Zephyrites cleaned house. While most decided that enough was enough,
there was one holdout. They were the old White Crane Clan. Hailing from
Niigata, they backed the Tokugawas in the early days of the Meiji era when
the Tiger Spirit Clan, then adopting the name Moroboshi, threw their
support behind the emperor's reform drive. The White Crane was subdued
by the Moroboshis in the infighting that followed.

They weren't destroyed. The White Crane Clan spent the next half-
century rebuilding. By the time they felt ready, the military faction in
Japan's government had seized power. This put them at odds against the
Moroboshis, who knew well where Japan's course would lead them. The
White Crane Clan...now under the name Shirokaku...tried to punish the
Moroboshis, but with the *saikoo jinseijitsu* in Nagaiwakai, their agents
wound up a head shorter. Then came Japan's defeat and American
occupation, which should have given the Shirokaku time to recoup and
strike back. By that time, the Zephyrites were involved.

Most of the Shirokaku family had never heard of the Moroboshis
save for the usual reports surrounding Ataru, having stayed in Niigata after
that disaster. Many never once realized they were descent of a shinobi clan.
But a small cadre of fanatics had made sure that every Shirokaku was
imbedded with a hidden mental switch which could "reaffirm" their duties
via a verbal command. Those fanatics, after hearing of the Spirit War and
the growing bonds between Ataru and various other planets, had decided the
time had come for a long-running blood feud to be reignited.

Unfortunately, no shinobi had ever crossed a *pirpirsiw'r.*

Lufy moves with blinding speed to hide herself behind the sedan.
Her policy in times like this was to use a grenade and eliminate the problem
right away. The targets could sort it out when they no longer threatened
those she protected...when they were all in those realms beyond this one.
However, Lufy also needed hard information. These two stalkers were not
dressed in the pathetic three-piece suits and dark glasses Mendou's goons
wore. They were outsiders. Too bad.

The two stare at the ladies room. "How long is that alien bitch
gonna take?!"

"Maybe she's got the runs."

The back door snaps open. "Actually, I wanted to see you!" Lufy
grins.

Before the two could react, Lufy's fingers touch their faces. They
gasp, then fall unconscious as the Sagussan's mind overwhelms them. Lufy
hums as her psi-probes garnish information, then she does a little mind-
wiping of her own. "Pleasant dreams," she smiles as she gets out of the
sedan, walking back to her bike...

* * *

"A ninja clan wanting revenge on Ataru's family?!" Mie blinks as
she, Makoto, Catty and Pathfinder Troop Six meet Lufy later that evening at
Shapiro's. "You're kidding!"

"Nope," Lufy shakes her head. "These jokers lost their elders
when Nagaiwakai got the Zephyrites to go after them. But, to make sure
they had enough troops when the time came to hit back, they put a little
program in the back of their minds which would make them instant ninjas
when the time came."

"Shades of the *saikoo jinseijitsu,*" Mie growls as she leans on her
elbows. "I take it that thing inside Ataru-chan was the inspiration for what
these jokers used?"

"It was, but they didn't even come close to matching that bugger,"
Lufy snorts. "Two seconds of *mei'kegh* and it's gone. Those two're
probably still asleep up by Kooriyama."

The others snicker. "We may find this whole idea a little silly, but
these people are a threat," Sylia cuts in. "Regardless of where they come
from or what their motive is, they are to be stopped."

"Good!!" Makoto growls, rubbing her hands. "I'm in the mood for
a hunt!"

"So am I!!" Priss snarls. "I didn't get to kill a single Mikado hunter
when they tried to go after Pamanba and Clarisse!"

"Your eyes were too full of seeing Sugoi-chan, you hentai!!" Nene
quips.

"Hey!!!" Priss snaps.

"Enough!" Sylia sighs. "Lufy, go back up north and tell everyone.
I'll go see Shutaro as soon as we're done here to see if his family has any
information on the Shirokaku."

"I'll ask Ataru's parents," Makoto hums. "Maybe his dad would
know something."

"Someone should talk to Komeru, too," Linna notes.

"I'll do that," Catty volunteers.

"Let's go, then!" Sylia orders...

* * *

"The Shirokaku family?!" Mendou wonders as he and Sil meet with
Sylia later that evening. "Yes, I've heard of them. They're a minor
industrial family out in Niigata, mostly clothing. Nothing too important
about them."

"I wouldn't say so after what Lufy found," Pathfinder Troop Six's
commander crosses her arms. "It turns out that the Shirokaku are old
sparring partners with Ataru's family. Thirty years ago, Nagaiwakai and her
allies destroyed the leadership of every major shinobi clan operating then.
Most of the survivors decided that they didn't want to face possible
extinction, so they left Nagaiwakai's family alone. One clan didn't."

"I see," Mendou hums.

"Dear, you should help," Sil insists. "If Ataru's hurt or dies, who
knows what could possibly happen then, to Lum-chan and to your planet,
not to mention Sylia-san's."

"All we need is to find the names of those members of the
Shirokaku family, or relatives of same, who are descent from people who've
lived in Niigata or its environs," Sylia emphasizes. "Our telepathic powers
work best with physical contact...and I don't have an iota of the personnel
necessary to do a person-to-person search of Niigata to find people with
those mental programs."

"Dear, please," Sil smiles.

Mendou kisss her, then picks up his phone to call the chief of the
Kuromegane. *Good old Sil,* Sylia smiles as she winks at the Oni sitting
beside Ataru's old rival.

Sil walks over to hand a datachip to the Sagussan. "This is from
Lady Yedris, Sylia-san," she smiles. "There's a message from Sugoi-chan to
Priss-san in it, too."

"Oh, thank you," Sylia sighs, trying to keep her cool. It was so
hard trying to command a counter-attack against people when your heart and
hormones had other ideas...

* * *

Within the hour, everyone who needed to be informed outside
Nagaiwakai was. Noa and Honey mobilized Nokoko and her friends to
sweep Oshika clean after Lufy copied a mental picture of the Shirokaku
mental program to the Nendo-kata. Komeru quickly alerted his own ninja
forces to be on the lookout for any snoopers trying to scout out the Sendai
home. Word was passed to Sado Island so Atako, Shinoko and the other
bioroids would be careful. Muchi, Kinshou and Ten-chan were invited to
stay with the Seikous until the all-clear was sounded. In the meantime, Lum
excused herself to head to Rishiri-tou. Despite the horrible argument
between Ataru and Nagaiwakai, the Oni still cared for the matriarch as if she
was her own grandmother. Lum took the precaution of warning Nassur,
Benten and Dakejinzou, all of whom were free at the time, in case extra help
was needed.

Hopefully, she would appreciate it...

* * *

Landing her scout on Rishiri-tou, Lum emerges to be met by
Jinseiko. "Young Mistress, what're you doing here?" the shinobi inquires,
her eyes warily scouting around.

"Jinseiko-chan, pass it on to the others," Lum stares at her. "The
Shirokaku family's on the move again."

"The Shirokaku?!!" Jinseikou blinks. "But they were eliminated
thirty years ago!!"

"Not after what Lufy discovered!" Lum snaps. "Where's
Grandma...oh!" she turns to see the "Robert Bruce" anchored some distance
off-shore. "Is Nicole-chan's grandma here?!"

"Yes," Jinseiko nods. "The Mistress is with her right now. But...I
really don't think you should see her, not after the row between her and the
Young Master..."

"Jinseiko-chan, do you want her to die?"

"Of course not!!!" the shinobi snaps.

"Didn't think so," Lum sighs in relief, then blinks on hearing
retrojets. "What the...?!" she turns to look.

A shuttle lands. "Ah!" Brother Sunfire walks up, smiling. "They
just arrived."

"Who?" Lum stares at the monk.

"A farmer from Jiyuu," Brother Sunfire reports. "An old mate of
mine from my Navy days is the supervisor there. He has a young colt from
Vos whose been attracting the ladies' attention, so he's sending him here."

"Oh..." Lum muses, then blinks as a spark of hope crosses her face.
"Excuse me, Brother Sunfire, I don't mean to sound a little inquisitive, but
did you say he's Vosian?!"

"Yes, he is," the monk nods. "However, he's a total mystery when
it comes to his origins. He just showed up one day five years ago at the
gates of the Mistress' Jiyuu farm looking for a job. He's been there since.
We've tried to track his background, even did a psi-scan, which is
mandatory for all Vosians entering the Republic thanks to the Civil War.
Nothing which could indicate he's a Mikado supporter. But, still quite a
mystery."

Lum hums as the hatch lowers, allowing Lighteye Firestorm to step
out. "Darklight!!" he laughs on seeing the monk. "Ram take me, you still
look like a street tramp!"

"It's been a while, Lighteye," Brother Sunfire laughs as the
supervisor kisses the offered ring (formalities had to be observed even if
they were old friends), then the two embrace. "The Supreme Being's
blessings on you. How are things on Jiyuu?"

"Hopefully they'll be better now that this one's out of my hair,"
Firestorm sighs. "I hate to lose him, but if I didn't want a case of heresy to
occur if some poor girl wound up pregnant because she raped the poor lad.
You take good care of him now."

"I will see to it he follows the proper path," the monk vows.

Firestorm then turns to Lum. "So, you must be the illustrious
Lum," he smiles.

"'Illustrious?!'" the Oni flushes. "Sir, I've been called naive,
notorious, obnoxious, egotistical, thick-skulled and self-centred, but I've
*never* been called 'illustrious!'"

"Anyone who vexes the Lady Nagaiwakai like you deserves it,
especially when you're trying to fulfill the Great Prophecy of the Ancient
Homeworld," Firestorm whispers.

"Ah!" Lum nods, then blinks confusedly on seeing Nyassur step out
of the shuttle. "Nassur-chan, what are you doing?!" she flies over to the
worker. "Where's your beard?!"

He smiles. "I'm afraid th-th-that you're m-m-mistaking m-m-me f-
f-for N-n-nassur-san, L-l-lum-san," he stammers. "D-d-don't worry, th-th-
though. Everyone d-d-does it."

Lum jerks on hearing the pained stammer, then she blushes. "Oh,
I'm so sorry!! The resemblance is so uncanny!"

"I know," Nyassur nods. "Actually, I h-h-had a b-b-beard when N-
n-nassur-san was c-c-clean-shaven. B-b-but when h-h-he grew one, I h-h-
hadta sh-sh-shave m-m-mine off if I d-d-didn't want th-th-the M-m-mikado t-
t-to s-s-send h-h-his h-h-hunters after m-m-me."

"I'll bet," Lum nods, her mind working at warp speed. Nagaiwakai
always had a soft spot for Nassur. She was the only person on record to
have caused the hunter to have a nose-bleed fainting spell when she stripped
naked in front of him one day in the sauna when he came to pick Hazel up.
That was the ONLY time Lum ever saw Nassur do a plausible Souun
Tendou imitation, wailing about having "socially regressed" because he had
fainted on seeing a nude woman, especially when he was married!
Nagaiwakai's attraction for Nassur was apparent, even if he was married.
However, Nagaiwakai was like Mendou in comparison to Shinobu's lust for
Lum's teacher. Nagaiwakai at least kept within the bounds of etiquette. But
she certainly dreamt of the chance.

"Well, since you are here, why don't I take you over to see
Grandma right now?!" Lum grasps Nyassur's hand.

"N-n-NOW?!?!" the farmer freaks.

Before he could protest further, Lum boosts him into the air, then
soars off for the "Robert Bruce." The two Zephyrites and Jinseiko watch
them go. "Is the lass actually going to do what I think she's going to do?!"
Firestorm stares at Brother Sunfire.

"It might be a good thing."

* * *

Landing on B Deck forward of the Cafe Parisien, Lum finds one of
Victoria's butlers. "Excuse me, but where's Grandma?!"

"With Dame Victoria in her study," the butler indicates a gangway.
"Up there, go forward, just aft of the first funnel, then go down the stairs.
You can't miss it."

"Thank you," the Oni bows, then drags Nyassur with her. "C'mon,
Nyassur-chan. Let's go see Grandma!"

"H-h-hey!!!" Nyassur gasps as he nearly falls flat on his face
because of Lum's yanking. He certainly wanted to meet Nagaiwakai, but not
THIS soon after arriving on Earth. What was the hurry?

Before he could voice an objection, Lum arrives at a sweeping
stairwell leading down into the first-class lounge, which on this ship served
as Victoria's study. Looking inside, she notices Victoria coming up the
stairs. Her green eyes flash silver as she looks up. "What are you doing
here?" she hisses, then blinks on seeing Nyassur standing behind her. "Oh,
my!" she whistles on seeing the Vosian, doing a quick visual inspection.

Nyassur stammers on seeing a red-haired *azhis'f* walking around
dressed in Terran clothes with a grey cummerbund criss-crossed with gold,
orange and red stripes, then turns to Lum. "Who's th-th-this?" he wonders.

"This is Grandma's friend Dame Victoria McTavish. I know her
granddaughter Nicole. Dame Victoria, this is Nyassur. He just came in
from Grandma's farm on Jiyuu."

Victoria hums. "Too young for my taste," she muses, then shoves
Nyassur to the stairwell. "Well, she's down there, laddie."

"H-h-hey!!" Nyassur stumbles on the bottom of the doorway, which
is elevated five centimetres above the deck.

A foregone conclusion later, he smacks face-first into the deck
below! "What a clumsy oaf!" Victoria disdainfully snorts. "Hasn't he ever
walked on a ship before?!"

"Nyassur-chan, you okay?!" Lum cries.

"Who p-p-put th-th-that th-th-there?!" he groans, feeling his head
as Lum helps him up.

"Lum...?" a surly voice growls.

The Oni is nearly flattened as she smells the alcohol ripping
through the study. She notices Nagaiwakai nearly passed out at a table,
several bottles of Royal Navy purser's rum lying about. *Whoo!!* Lum
whistles. *I never thought Grandma would take Darling screaming at her
**this** badly!* "Grandma?"

"Why d'you keep callin' me 'Grandma' all th' time?" Nagaiwakai
snarls as she tries to lift her head up, then nearly passes out.

"She okay?!" Nyassur bolts over to her side. "Hey!! Miss!"

Nagaiwakai stares at Nyassur. Seeing their eyes lock, the Oni
crosses fingers and toes. *Oh, please!! Please!!! Recognition, please work
your magic!!! Just once!!!*

In virtual answer, Nagaiwakai's eyes glow a bright gold as she
rises, staring at what lies before her. Nyassur gulps as he takes her hands in
his. His eyes don't glow in return. *One-way's better than nothing,* Lum
quietly concludes as she slips up the gangway to the Boat Deck to leave
them alone...

* * *

"Wh-what's your n-name?"

Nyassur gulps. He had run through this scenario so many times in
the holosuite in Jiyuu. Why was he having cold feet? It would've probably
helped matters if he had returned her recognition. But such was
recognition's way; his body ran on its own rhythms. Besides, he did want
her...and now she wanted him. Steeling himself, he forces his words out.
"My name is Nyassur."

"Nya-...ssu-...r," Nagaiwakai draws out each syllable, her eyes wide
as saucers. Unreal! Lum...LUM of all people...had just dragged in this
walking Adonis all ready for that magic moment all Vosians and part-
Vosians waited for every time they were without a mate. It happened once
in Nagaiwakai's life; in 1935 when she had met Kokeru. They were married
two years later, Tetsuki and Kireiko born a year later. Now it had happened
again ...and he was Vosian! "Lucky!!"

Nyassur yelps as Nagaiwakai fiercely embraces him, his own
thoughts storming as to what to do. He knew that the matriarch had been a
widow for 38 years, her husband dying close to the end of Earth's Second
World War. Behaviour like this was expected for someone who probably
had not enjoyed the company of a potential mate for some time. Hopefully,
she would give him some time to get used to this. Going into a holosuite
and being romantic with a holographic Nagaiwakai for several hours in a
day was one thing. Living with the real thing twenty-four hours a day for
the rest of their natural lives was quite something else.

Suddenly, Nagaiwakai sways. "Oooh..."

"What's wrong?!" he panics.

"I apologize, Nyatsu-chan," she sighs. "I would gladly allow you
to ravage me but I fear I've had too much to drink..."

With that, she sags in his arms. Nyassur blinks as he tries to
understand what would have driven this angel to drink herself senseless.
Grunting, he gently lifts the dozing Nagaiwakai into his arms, then heads for
the staircase to the Boat Deck. Lum and Victoria await. "Poor lass," the
matriarch of the McTavish clan feels Nagaiwakai's forehead. "She's had a
few too many. I thought purser's rum wouldn't hit her this bad. Henry!"

"Yes, Your Ladyship?" a butler walks up.

"Escort Nagai-chan and her guest to the spare master bedroom on
C Deck, please."

"This way, sir," Henry notions.

"Th-th-thanks," Nyassur stutters.

Lum and Victoria watch them. "Gorgeous as all hell, but when did
he start sounding like Porky Pig?!" the latter whispers.

"He was like that when I first met him," the former muses. "I can't
understand it. He looks so much like Nassur-chan that even I wasn't sure
when he said he wasn't!"

"Mmmm..." the McTavish Clan matriarch hums. "You better talk
with Nagai-chan's friends. Something's not right about that fellow and even
if Nagai-chan's recognized him, I'm not going to allow him to get too close
until I'm sure he's the right sort."

"Right!" Lum nods as she flies off.

Meanwhile, three decks down and aft of the third funnel, Henry
opens a door. "In here, sir. Please watch your step."

"Th-th-thanks," Nyassur nods as he steps over the doorwash into a
large stateroom which could have served as a dining hall on any of the
"Robert Bruce's" sisterships. "Wow!" he blinks on seeing the opulence of
the room.

Decorated in late Victorian style, spanning the beam, it has
sweeping windows to both sides giving the viewers a panoramic view of the
sea surrounding the ship right from the bed. A king-sized affair bolted to
the deck, it is covered with silk quilts and blankets imported from a dozen
places across the planet. Nyassur whistles as he walks over, then gently
lowers Nagaiwakai onto the bed. He sighs as he stares at her peaceful
features. They were at this juncture. Now what? "Th-th-this isn't what I
wanted f-f-for a f-f-first d-d-date," he smiles.

"Sorry..." she moans as she rolls over.

Nyassur blinks on seeing the tie for her obi. Gulping, he gently
reaches over...then stops, yanking his hand back. What was he doing?!
Thinking about it, he gently reaches over to tug at the cloth. It slips free
with slight pressure. He pulls it away, then rolls it up and places it on the
nightstand. *I better see if I can get her into a nightgown without making an
idiot of myself,* he muses as he walks over to the large closet at the port-
forward side of the stateroom.

Looking in, he smiles on seeing several silk nightgowns, some
local Terran designs, others clearly Zephyrite. Obviously Nagaiwakai often
spent time on this ship. Pulling out a dark purple gown, he walks back over
to her. "Nagai-chan?" he gently prods her shoulder. "Nagai-chan, wake
up."

Nagaiwakai's eyes open. "Wh-who...?"

"It's m-m-me," Nyassur smiles.

Nagaiwakai confusedly stares at him, then her eyes widen as she
remembers what just happened to her. "Nyatsu-chan," she swoons, then
feels something missing from her kimono. "My," she smiles. "Only the
obi? You disappoint me, Nyatsu-chan."

"I d-d-didn't want t-t-to m-m-make a b-b-bad f-f-first impression,"
he gently smiles.

"Is it me or is there something wrong with your voice?"

Struggling, he points to himself. "I...I've always t-t-talked l-l-like
th-th-this...f-f-far as I c-c-can r-r-remember."

"Ah, I see," she nods. Well, no one was perfect, even one's
"perfect" mate. Take Kokeru. He was full-blooded Terran. Had he not
died in 1945, he would've probably passed away by now, when Nagaiwakai
still had a couple of centuries. She then notices the nightgown. "My, you
thought of everything."

"I f-f-figured your f-f-friend'd s-s-send you h-h-here f-f-for a r-r-
reason," Nyassur smiles, handing her the gown.

"Nyatsu-chan, would it be easier for you to psi-link?" she wonders
as she struggles to sit up, still wobbly from the rum.

"I...c-c-can't p-p-psi-link," he admits.

Nagaiwakai blinks. Impossible! Nyassur was too much like
Nassur not to have some of the latter's powers. "Can you track?"

"N-n-nope," he shakes his head.

"Recognize?"

"I h-h-hope s-s-so," he smiles.

Nagaiwakai frowns. When she met Nassur twelve years ago, she
had felt recognition, which was blunted thanks to Cinba. Because of its
genetic basis, recognition's strength varied from mate to mate. Recognizing
Nyassur was virtually the same as recognizing Nassur himself, this time with
the extra bonus of there being no competing mate. She then groans as a
headache arcs across her temples. "I did have a little too much to drink."

Nyassur sits, his hand reaching over to soothe her forehead. "That
feels wonderful," she moans, sinking into his arms as he continues to work.
"Can you do *pe'cha?*"

"N-n-never t-t-tried it b-b-before."

"Try."

He sighs, then presses the heel of his palm into the bridge of her
nose. Both gasp as a bridge between their thoughts forms, Nyassur's
untested abilities igniting some of Nagaiwakai's suppressed powers.
Blinking, she feels the headache go away as she stares at him. <<Can you
hear me now, Nyatsu-chan?>>

"P-p-perfectly," he stammers, nodding.

<<Psi-speech, Nyatsu-chan.>>

<<Sorry,>> he replies loud and clear.

Nagaiwakai sighs. "Look, communicate with me telepathically and
I'll speak verbally, although I will practice," she smiles, stretching herself.
"Oh! I guess our becoming *pe'cha* must've woken something up. I never
thought I could do that before."

<<I'm glad,>> he gently takes her hand. <<You don't realize how
wonderful this feels, being with you.>>

She blushes. "Nyatsu-chan..."

<<You see, back on Jiyuu, every girl who wasn't married always
kept coming after me,>> he sighs. <<Strip-teases when the monks weren't
looking, ambushes in the saunas...and that's not to mention what they did
with my image in the holosuite. Some of the married folks thought it was
just scandalous. Sooner or later, I felt something bad was going to happen.
I was scared. So...I developed a fantasy,>> he looks at her. <<You.>>

<<Me?!!>> she blinks. <<Nothing a little risque, I hope!>>

<<No,>> he shakes his head. <<Your holo-double...I made her to
be as perfect a double of you as I could. I never did bad things with her,>>
he blushes as a warm feeling crosses their bond, <<But I've always dreamed
of our meeting and...falling in love.>>

Nagaiwakai sighs. <<I'm flattered,>> she blushes. <<Dreams
actually becoming reality. It positively feels wonderful knowing that
someone has always wanted me.>>

With that, she kisses him, takes the gown, then walks to a private
dressing area. <<Is there some place where I can get some night clothes?>>
he wonders.

The door then opens, allowing Henry to come in. "Pardon me, sir,
but I believe you are requiring these," he places some folded clothes on the
bed, then quickly withdraws.

<<That answer your question?>>

Nyassur smiles as he heads to a separate dressing area. As she
slips on her gown, Nagaiwakai grins. Victoria must have thought of
everything, getting things set up so her first night with her new lover would
be perfect. And Nyassur actually slept with clothes on! He must have
picked that up when he was on Zephyrus; even traditional Vosian views of
nudity, which Nagaiwakai considered utterly scandalous, took a beating
there.

She then steps out of the dressing area to see him waiting. He is in
a McTavish-pattern pair of pyjamas. They stand there drinking in each
other's image, then they drift into an embrace. <<Thirty-eight years...>> she
sighs. <<Thirty-eight years of being alone...now it's finally over.>>

<<For both of us,>> he kisses her.

With that, they stare at each other, then kiss, both sinking into the
bed...

* * *

"WHAT?!?!?!" Ataru exclaims, wide-eyed.

Lum smiles, shaking with excitement. "It's true! Grandma has a
new boyfriend!!"

It is the next morning. Lum had returned to their home but had
decided to save the good news; Ataru had already turned in. Presently, the
families calling the beach house home stare at the Oni. "Oh, the Unity is so
kind!" Mal claps her hands. "To end Grandmother's misery and make her
heart whole!"

"I just hope Dad and Uncle Komeru are ready to take this,"
Nokoko wonders. "So, what's this guy like?!"

Lum counts off things on her fingers. "Well, his name's Nyassur,
he's a Vosian, he's worked at Grandma's farm on Jiyuu for the past few years
and...that's it," she shrugs.

Everyone else faints! "That's it?!!" Ataru bolts to his feet. "You
mean that's *all* you know about this guy?!! What does Brother Sunfire
have to say about him?!!"

"Believe it or not, that's all he knows, too!!" Lum sighs.

Concerned looks cross everyone's faces. "This atop a coming visit
from a ninja clan that should've stayed dead," Ataru sighs.

"This ain't good," Nokoko agrees.

"Something is amiss here," Mal muses.

"Hey!!" Lum cries. "Why are you saying that's not good?! Aren't
you happy that Grandma's found someone to live with?!"

"Of course we're happy, Lum," Ataru sighs. "But the fact that this
character doesn't have anything of a history that not even the Inquisition has
learned concerns me!"

The door opens. "Hello?!" Nagaiwakai's bubbly voice calls out.
"Anyone home?!"

Everyone turns to see the matriarch walk into the living room.
"Grandma!" Lum flies down to her, smiling. "Where's Nyassur-chan?"

"Oh, Nyatsu-chan's just moving into the house," Nagaiwakai emits
a giddy sigh, then coughs. "Anyhow, where's Ataru-chan?"

"I'm here," Ataru smiles. "You okay?!"

They look at each other, then shudder as the harsh words
exchanged between them come back. Both look away for a moment, then
turn to each other. "I'm sorry!!" they blurt out.

Silence falls, then both laugh as they embrace. "I'm so glad
Darling doesn't stay angry for long," Lum sighs.

Ataru stares at Nagaiwakai. "Gee, Grandma, you look a lot
younger today."

"I-I do?" Nagaiwakai blushes, then stares at herself in the floor-
length mirror beside her. "M-my, I g-guess I do!"

They chuckle, then Nagaiwakai sinks into his embrace. "Oh,
Ataru-chan, please. Not after I've lost everything else! Don't leave me.
Please don't leave me."

"Hey!" he cups her chin. "Just because I want to get married
doesn't mean I'm not going to forget my favourite gal."

Nagaiwakai blushes. "Um...well, anyhow, I need your help.
Actually, I need the help of one of your friends from Sagussa. The
doctor...oh, what's her name...?"

"Catty?" Lum blinks.

"Well, even though Nyatsu-chan and I have formed a psychic
rapport, he is...inhibited because of his stutter," the matriarch sighs. "You
must've heard him last night when you brought him to Vi-chan's ship."

"It was pretty bad," Lum admits. "He looked like he was in a lot of
pain whenever he spoke, even if he did speak slowly." She then smiles.
"Anyhow, I'll call Catty and have her come up to see Nyassur-chan right
away! Be right back!!"

She flies out of the home...

* * *

Sometime later that morning, Lum's scout lands at Rishiri-tou.
Ataru, Lum and Catty emerge, the doctor's medical kit at her side. "Oh,
there you are!!" Nagaiwakai grabs Catty's hand, then drags her to the house.
"Come along, come along! He's right this way!!"

"Hey, you! Leggo my hand!!" Catty gasps as she runs to keep up
with the matriarch. "I'm a doctor, not Stretch Armstrong!!"

Ataru and Lum blink, then see Victoria walk up. "Um, was
Grandma that way when she recognized Grandpa?" the former thumbs
toward the mansion house and its ecstatic resident.

"She was worse," Victoria muses.

"Poor Grandpa," Lum sighs.

Inside, Catty walks into the master bedroom, where Nyassur now
sits at the foot of the bed, now dressed in a kimono Nagaiwakai provided.
"Nyatsu-chan, she's here!" the matriarch hops on the bed beside him.

Nyassur stands. "H-h-hi, S-s-sensei."

Catty pulls out her diagnostic scanner and a portable sensor.
"Well, if you could pry your child-mate away, Nyassur, we can get to work.
Let's just get some basic medical readings here and a DNA scan, shall we?"

Nagaiwakai pulls up two chairs for herself and the doctor as Catty
continues her scan. "There we go...oh, thank you," she sits herself as she
programs the scanner to process and analyze the information. "Now, let's
see what's going on here today."

Initial readings appear. "Vosian, male, genetic and physical age 67
standard years..." Catty blinks. "Chronological age anomaly?! What's
going on here?!!"

"What is it?!" Nagaiwakai blinks.

"Chronological age...thirty-five?!!" Catty blinks, then runs a base
diagnostic. "Impossible!! Oh, I better get this back to medical stores to get
it checked out later!"

A short beep is heard. Catty looks at the readout again. "No
problems with the scanner," she quizzically stares at Nyassur.

"D-d-don't l-l-look at m-m-me."

Catty looks back at her scanner. "All DNA checks out. No sign of
mutation or hybrid genes. Has no tracking potential. Some telepathic and
recognition ability...wait!"

"What?!" Nagaiwakai gulps.

"All of his normal psi-attributes...have been suppressed?!" Catty
gasps in surprise. "Ghost DNA strands indicate that he should have the
highest psi-potential possible among his race, but someone's sabotaged
everything!"

"WHY?!?!" Nagaiwakai screams.

The doctor sits back, then does another quick scan before imputing
the data. The machine responds with a beep. "Ah!" Catty sighs sadly. "I
should have realized."

"Realized what?!!" Nagaiwakai demands.

Catty looks at Nyassur, then at Nagaiwakai. "This is a clone,
Nagaiwakai. And if my suspicions are correct, he was cloned from Nassur
himself."

Nyassur gasps. Nagaiwakai blinks, then sinks back into a chair.
"A clone...?!" she moans before passing out...

* * *

"A CLONE OF NASSUR?!?!?!"

"That's right," Catty gruffly nods. She meets Ataru and Lum in the
master bedroom. Nagaiwakai is still passed out, Nyassur fanning a
magazine over her face. "He was created 35 years ago. As to who did it, I
have no idea. Much less why he was created."

Ataru and Lum stare at each other. Both realized what could be
going through Catty's mind. Because the *daishi'cha* considered everything
about their bodies...including their own DNA makeup...private space which
was sacrosanct, they devised a series of laws which would protect their
personal integrity from all possible invasion. At the top of that list was the
Edict on Clones and Cloning Technology. It generally permitted the use of
clones, not as spare body parts as what occurred in the days of the Fourth
Republic, but as replacement bodies. However, their use was regulated
under very draconian guidelines.

In essence, the only time a clone could be created was when a
Sagussan's original body had been disintegrated past the point where the
regeneration matrix couldn't salvage it and where one's *mei'na* was intact.
It EXPRESSLY forbade the creation of clones for any other purposes; that
was what reproduction and immigration were for. And it certainly forbade
the creation of a clone without the template's permission. If such did occur,
the template had the right to order the clone's destruction regardless of the
clone's level of sentience. Catty was under every moral obligation to report
Nyassur's existence to Nassur, thus giving the Vosian the chance to kill his
clone double should he chose.

"Catty," Lum stands, walking over to the doctor. "I know what
you're thinking. But if you tell Nassur this and he does kill Nyassur,
Grandma'll never forgive any of us."

"Lum, I know how much you care for Nagaiwakai, but I have to
report this," the doctor insists. "Just because he's not a Sagussan doesn't
mean that his personal space is no less sacrosanct than ours. He has every
right to know of Nyassur's existence. Don't you understand?! A crime
occurred here!"

"Wait!" Nyassur gulps. "What d-d-does th-th-this m-m-mean?"

"It means that if Catty chooses to contact Nassur, he has every right
to kill you," Ataru explains.

"KILL ME?!?!?! What for?!!"

"Because you were brought into existence without Nassur's
permission!" Catty snaps. "Nassur's personal space was invaded for reasons
which don't possess an iota of logic as far as I'm concerned. I wonder who
did create you, much less why!"

"D-d-don't l-l-look at m-m-me," Nyassur shakes his head. "I d-d-
don't r-r-remember anything p-p-past f-f-five years ago! I d-d-didn't even r-
r-realize I was a c-c-clone!"

Lum turns to Catty. "Do a brain scan."

The doctor sweeps her sensor over the clone's head. She blinks on
seeing some very strange readings. "This is unreal! If I didn't know any
better, I'd swear that someone had deliberately damaged parts of your
mind."

"Which parts?!" Lum looks horrified.

"Parts including long-range memory, although other parts of the
mind are redeveloping those skills; his psi-motor centre, which controls
things like tracking ability; his recognition centre is slowly redeveloping..."
Catty shakes her head. "This...this is like taking Albert Einstein and
rendering him into a mental version of the Frankenstein monster!! This
wasn't an accident! Someone tried to turn you into a vegetable...and nearly
succeeded, too!!"

Nyassur stands there, shuddering as he tries to conceive of the
person responsible for totally destroying his whole life five years ago...who
may have also been the same people who were responsible for his creation
three decades before. "Why...?" he stares at Catty. "Just...t-t-tell m-m-me
why..."

"I can't," Catty shakes her head.

"We need to bring a psychologist in," Lum sighs. "I'm calling
Misato. Did she go back to cryosleep when she went home?"

"No," Catty sighs. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have my own
duty to perform."

"Catty," Ataru looks at her.

"The decision must be his," the doctor intones as she leaves.

Lum turns to Ataru. "Don't worry, Darling. Nassur-chan would
never kill someone without real due cause."

"I really hope so, Lum-chan," he sighs, looking at his dozing
grandmother, "...or else that lady there's going to become the worst
nightmare in Nassur's life."

* * *

"What happened...?"

Nagaiwakai sits up, noticing Nyassur at the end of the bed, looking
lost. Staring at him, she shudders as Catty's revelation comes back. *I
recognized...Nassur's clone twin?*

Nagaiwakai remains silent as she allows her boyfriend time to
think. She had always cared for, was certainly attracted to, the Vosian
hunter. Their first meeting twelve years ago, when Nassur came at the
behest of Invader to locate their missing children, who had been kidnapped
by an insane Zeiwanite teacher, had made Nagaiwakai realize that the dark
tunnel she had walked for so long was not endless. The chance was there
that someone could come to take Kokeru's place. She would have gladly
hoped it would be Nassur...had he then was not married to Cinba.

Nagaiwakai very much forgot about Nassur in the years after,
concentrating on wresting Ataru from Muchi and Kinshou in accordance to
their private agreement on their children, which in the matriarch's eyes
wasn't invalidated by Kaeru's "death." Hearing of his return, Nagaiwakai
was split. She gladly would have pursued him. It would have been a most
beneficial arrangement. Once they had married, Nassur would have been
shielded by the Holy Inquisition from the Mikado, which would have spelt
the dictator's downfall had he pressed matters. But at the same time, he was
Lum's friend and former tutor...and by all appearances approved of Lum's
interest in Ataru. That Nagaiwakai could never forgive.

As time went on, Nagaiwakai realized that while Nassur did like
the idea of Lum and Ataru marrying, he didn't push Ataru into accepting
Lum. Such was quite understandable given the hunter's tortured history,
which Nagaiwakai had learned over the months thanks to the Inquisition.
Nassur never tolerated bullies, even if they were also close friends. She
appreciated him all the more for his neutrality in the Ataru-Lum debate. Her
flirtatious acts around Nassur were actually directed at Benten; a slap in the
face in vengeance for the latter's involvement in some of Lum's "get-
Darling-married-to-me-NOW" schemes. But even Nagaiwakai knew when
not to push matters with him. She liked Nassur too much to hurt him in such
a vulgar manner.

And now...a part of Nassur would be with Nagaiwakai. In a sense,
her dreams had come true. She would grow old with Nyassur, have children
with him, die with him. Never alone, never parted. That he wanted her,
even if he was someone incapable at present of returning her recognition,
made it all the more sweeter. Perhaps Nassur might have been the same way
had not Cinba and Benten been around. Perhaps...but that was all in the
past, now. The present and future were in front of her.

Nagaiwakai moves over to gently embrace Nyassur. "How are
you?" she softly inquires.

<<Not good,>> he psionically answers. <<I was trying to get my
life back together again and now it's torn apart.>>

<<Is it?>> she wonders. <<Then we'll have to put it back together
again...together. Does that sound alright with you?>>

<<But what about Nassur?>> he fearfully gazes at her. <<Nagai-
chan, I'm no hunter. Never have been, to be honest with you...I think! I'm
no match for the likes of him!!>>

Nagaiwakai laughs. "Oh, relax!!" she waves him down, then
embraces him. "Don't worry about that silly code Catty's people follow.
You obviously don't know your brother. He wouldn't harm a fly if he could
avoid it, you know."

"I h-h-hope s-s-so," he smiles.

"Now," Nagaiwakai smiles as she gently pulls him toward her.
"While we're waiting for Catty to waste her breath, why don't we go back to
being where we were last night?"

"Your wish is m-m-my c-c-command," he smiles as they kiss...

* * *

"Well?" Lum wonders as Catty steps down.

"I called him," the doctor sighs. "He was quite shocked to hear
about Nyassur. He would want to meet him sometime soon."

"And?!" the Oni looks nervous.

The Sagussan smiles. "Relax, Lum. I also told him about
Nagaiwakai's recognition of Nyassur. Want to know what he said?"

"What?!"

"'I'm not THAT crazy!!'" Catty drawls.

"Well, I got Noa to call Misato," Lum sighs. "She should be here
in a day to look Nyassur-chan over. I hope Misato doesn't get too ill
because Nyassur-chan's a clone. What happened to him was just plain
awful!"

"I agree," Catty sighs. "And what's worse, I doubt there's very little
we can do."

"What do you mean?"

"Lum, if what happened to Nyassur had happened to a live-born
person, all we would do is perform *tre'cha,* submerge the body into the
regeneration matrix, let it heal the wounds, then perform *satre'cha* and that
person would be as good as new," Catty explains. "But clones would never
survive exposure to the matrix."

"Why not?" Lum looks curious. "I have to admit that I've always
found the regeneration matrix a lot to try to understand."

"Us, too," Catty smirks. "But back in the days before the Clone
Rights War, clones were exposed to the matrix as Ojin tried to examine how
it healed physical wounds. The clones were just shredded into protoplasm.
Lyna was different, of course, because she was born from single cell up in
the regeneration matrix. It would be as if 99.999 percent of the body had
been destroyed but there was still something left from which to rebuild."

"Did they ever find out why?"

"No," Catty shakes her head. "Ojin eventually credited it to the
*te'a* recognizing the difference between a real person and a half-life,
which she saw as a travesty to natural reproduction."

"Hope you don't say that in front of Nicole or Mujanba. They need
parthenogenesis if they're going to have kids."

"You know I don't mean it that way, Lum!"

Both women laugh. Lum smiles. "I'm glad we can talk like this,
you know."

"Why?"

"The idea of having you play the scorned would-be bond-mate
against Noa and I doesn't particularly thrill me. In your own way, you can
be as nasty, even nastier, than Lufy."

The Sagussan looks down. She had not thought much about her
bitter confrontation with Noa on Reiner's Five. "I guess I just sat back and
realized that if I was in that position, I would've done the same. In fact, I
definitely would have done it. The sheer poetry of the moment must have
been transcendental for Noa when she equated you two with Ram and Atar.
Then again, I've always had a spiritual turn of mind; I probably got that from
my previous life as an acolyte for the Gatherer's temple on Triton."

"Thank Lyna for that," Lum sighs. "I was wondering if you'd be
willing to take on an extra job when Darling and I come."

"What's that?"

"Be our personal physician."

Catty blinks. "You're serious!"

"Yes," Lum nods. "I know that Darling's entitled to an executive
assistant...that'll be Noa; an aide-de-camp...that'll be Honey; two personal
assistants...I was thinking of proposing Kei and Yuri; and a physician and
dentist, plus we'll need a daycare officer for Reiko-chan. I haven't
considered who the dentist would be. Maybe Shinobi, Momoe-chan or
Kumiko-chan. And I definitely want Shiko for Reiko-chan's babysitter."
She then smiles. "But I've had my eyes on you all the time for our doctor.
Please, Catty; think of it as a peace offering."

"I'll have to think about it," Catty admits. "And thanks. Believe
me, I don't cherish much trying to scheme of ways of taking Noa away from
you. You can be quite nasty in your own right."

"Flatterer!" Lum beams...

* * *

"Good news," Mendou runs up to Sylia.

"What is it?!" the commander of Pathfinder Troop Six inquires.

"We got the list compiled," he hands her a rolled up sheet. "It's not
that long; about six hundred names. All are within a ten-kilometre radius of
the centre of Niigata."

"Very stupid," Sylia hums as she looks at the list of names and
addresses. "Thank you, Shutaro. This helps us a lot."

"My pleasure," Mendou nods.

Sylia purrs as she turns to Priss. "Round everyone up! We're
going scalp-hunting! We'll hit them tonight; they'll be off-guard since it's
the end of the day and they won't be expecting us to come after them given
the nature of their mental implants."

"You got it, boss!!" the coxswain salutes, then runs off...

* * *

Niigata.

Shinpo Shirokaku walks down the street toward his family home,
his bookbag slung over his shoulder. A junior student in high school
attending cram schools, just like thousands of children across the nation.
The son of a garment manufacturer and his housewife, only child in his
family. Nothing special.

Of course, there were the odd dreams he had periodically. Dreams
of ninjas tearing through the forest back in the old days during the Meiji
Restoration, clashing with other clans in hopes of keeping the hated
barbarians out of Japan. Their primary opponents always wore tiger
insignia, either with a chrysanthemum in the paws or a katana in the jaw.
They were evil, but Shinpo never really understood why, especially if they
were fighting to help Japan keep the Europeans at bay by beating them at
their very own game. After all, he liked his fast food and video games, too.

Shinpo really had no idea what that was about. When he asked his
mother and father about it, they shrugged, just as equally baffled. His
mother then jokingly wondered if they should contact a reclusive relative
named Kyomi, who lived in the mountains. She was said to be
knowledgeable in the ways of the ninja, even if many thought she was a bit
of a crackpot. She also lived with this really freaky fellow named
Namisuke, who lusted after Kyomi and plotted grand games of vengeance
against some vicious creep who lived way up north. Way too weird, Shinpo
had concluded long ago, deciding that he would ignore the dreams as best as
he could.

"Hey, handsome," a purring, strangely accented voice calls out.
"Going my way?"

He stops, spinning around to see a woman leaning against a
lamppost he just past. *How did she get there?* one part asks.

The other part, however, is now drooling at the very exposed bust,
not to mention her zipping down her blue jeans to give him a more intimate
look at her privates...and she was not obviously wearing any underwear!
"I...I...I..." he stammers.

"C'mere," Lufy winks at him.

Shinpo gulps as he looks around. Being late at night, there was no
one else around; this was a very quiet neighbourhood. Staring at the blonde-
haired bombshell with the star tattoo on her cheek and the really wicked tan,
which got to her everywhere, he finally gives in to his more primal urges
and approaches her. "Hey, there you go," Lufy purrs as she offers her hand
to him. "Don't worry, I don't bite. C'mon a little closer."

Shinpo gulps as he stares at Lufy's chest, now within range of his
lips. "You like what you see, don't you?"

"Y-y-yes," he readily nods.

"Wanna touch?" Lufy coos.

Shinpo nearly faints; blood was now haemorrhaging from his nose
at a very steady rate. His hand hesitantly reaches up to touch the suntanned
skin. "Oh, that feels soooooo good," Lufy purrs as her own hand moves
over to gently stroke his temple.

Contact!

Shinpo gags as he freezes, a stunned look on his face. Lufy's mind-
probe plunges into him, zeroing in on his ninja program like a concussion
missile. The program has no time to sense its doom; like the *saikoo
jinseijitsu* in Ataru, it needs external sensory data to analyze and process to
assess its situation. And with Lufy now freezing data input, it is blind to its
destroyer as the force of the Sagussan's mind obliterates it in the flash of a
second!

After ensuring no other surprises are in the poor student's mind,
Lufy withdraws. To a Sagussan, entering a non-psi's mind was like staring
at a book of women in bathing suits; they were pretty but rarely did they
induce a private erotic thrill. Besides, Shinpo was too sexually immature for
Lufy's taste. Her dreams were of lavender hair, gold eyes and very pale skin
built into a package of erotic and emotional dynamite named "Catty."

Still, Lufy was quite aware of Shinpo's problem. "You should be
having much better dreams from now on, Shinpo-chan," she zips up her
jeans, then does up her jacket.

"Got him?!" Catty runs up.

"Yep, he's clean," Lufy nods. "What about his family?"

"I took care of them both," the doctor notes, then stares quizzically
at the dazed Shinpo. "Please forgive Lufy-chan, young sir. She tends to
enjoy carrying out her missions a mite bit too much for most people's
tastes."

"You better pray that I enjoy myself when I target you, Catty,"
Lufy playfully growls.

Catty flushes. "Don't bet on it!!!" she snaps as she follows her
shipmate down the street to their next target.

Shinpo remains in place for five minutes before his conscious mind
takes back control. Wondering if he had dreamt of his encounter with Lufy,
he heads home. However, one thing had changed about him. From that day
on he would no longer dream of dark ninjas fighting and killing each other
in a bygone era.

His dreams would be composed of blonde Yehisrite pilots and
lavender-haired Tritonian doctors from a place named Sagussa...

* * *

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!?!"

The matriarch of the Shirokaku Clan stomps around her personal
keep located in the mountains. Before the angry shinobi princess, her key
advisors kneel, trembling at Kyomi's terrible rage. The matriarch herself is
quite young-looking for someone in her mid-forties, almost as if she, like
her despised enemy in Rishiri-tou, also possessed alien blood. "We are not
sure, Lady Kyomi," one of her advisors bows. "But last night, an alien force
swept into Niigata and eliminated all our special combat forces. This
morning when we tried to activate our troops, we learned there was no
mental program within any of them!"

Kyomi shudders, slate-grey eyes storming. "Nagaiwakai is at
fault!! Curse that half-breed!! They must've seen us coming!!"

"Lady Kyomi, we still have over five hundred ninjas ready to
attack Rishiri-tou at your command," another advisor notes. "If we strike
now, we will catch them by surprise."

"I will consider the matter. Leave me."

The advisors quickly depart. Running a hand through her long
black hair, Kyomi growls as she sits herself on her throne-like chair, where
she normally placed herself when receiving guests. At that moment, she
tenses. "Is that you, Namisuke?"

The door opens and a pale man steps in. Dressed in a gentleman's
kimono, he possesses very pale blue eyes and purple-streaked black hair.
"Did you expect anyone else?"

Kyomi smiles as she embraces her lover. "Nagaiwakai is even
more unpredictable than before," she sighs, walking Namisuke to a lounge
chair at one side of the room. "Our forces are halved and they're no doubt
aware that we're planning something against them."

Namisuke sighs. "My superiors will not be pleased to hear that,"
he shakes his head. "We've been trying to eliminate the Zephyrite presence
here for over fifty years, even more. Their presence here ruins the
Dominion's plans to reestablish control over this system and bring the
Galactic Federation to its knees."

"Enough of that talk, Nami-kun," she kisses him. "Let's forget
about that now."

Namisuke smiles...

* * *

"You want me to examine a clone?!!" Misato shudders as she stares
at Lum.

"Nassur-chan has already decided to leave Nyassur-chan alone,"
the Oni sighs, privately disappointed that the psychologist was unable to
leap over the *daishi'cha's* inbred aversion to anything which forcefully
reminded them of the dark days of the Clone Rights War. Dealing with
clones, even those who, like Lyna millennia before, were able to gain
control of their own lives, was one thing Sagussans preferred NOT to do.
"And besides, Grandma loves Nyassur and wants him to be with her. Can
you please try to do something?"

"Ethical and personal arguments aside, I doubt I could do much if
the amount of brain damage is as severe as Catty hinted," Misato hums.
"But since Nagaiwakai has recognized Nyassur, and since it's you whose
asking, I suppose I could hold my stomach down."

"Thanks," Lum escorts the psychologist into the mansion house.
"Nyassur-chan!" she calls out. "She's here!!"

Nyassur sits in the reception room. He stands, weakly smiling as
the Sagussan psychologist comes up. "H-h-hi, S-s-sensei."

Misato whistles as she touches the side of his head, sending psi-
probes into his mind to determine what is going on. "I can see Nagaiwakai's
need for help," she muses. "Sit down and relax, Nyassur. Let's get started."

"Okay," the clone nods, sitting down.

Lum withdraws to grant the two privacy. Misato turns to face
Nyassur, her fingers reaching out to form two spider-leg fists on his face.
"Relax your guards, Nyassur," she hums. "Don't resist me. Let me come
in."

Nyassur feels himself dozing off...

* * *

A back alley in Jiyuu's capital city. Nyassur lies on the ground, the
mother of all headaches burning through his mind and hundreds of questions
demanding answers. He feels a woman's hand rub his forehead. "Nyassur!
Nyassur!" a soft, motherly voice coos. "Get up!! Please get up!"

He stares into an older woman's face. About Kimaenowakai's age,
her angular face has blonde hair tied in a ponytail, pierced with warm sea-
blue eyes. "Who...are...you...?"

"Don't you remember me?!" she sniffs, tears brimming. "I'm your
mother-in-law!"

Mother-in-law? Was he married? Where was his wife? "Who am
I...?" he stammers.

"Your name is Nyassur," she intones, then looks to her right.
"Dear, where are you?!"

"Right here," another man, about the same age as the woman,
walks up. He is blond-haired and blue-eyed. "Can you move, son?"

"N-n-not s-s-sure," Nyassur stammers.

The elder couple stare at each other. "She got to him," the husband
remorsely sighs. "Damn her, can't she just leave us alone and allow us to
live our lives in peace?!"

"She's been that way since our daughter disappeared," the wife
sighs. "And if we're not careful, she'll get to us, too."

Nyassur blinks as he desperately tries to interpret this. If this
mysterious woman the couple were taking about was the one who was
responsible for his lack of memory and the headache which was threatening
to overwhelm his senses, then he could not allow his wife's parents...*Who
is my wife?!!*...to suffer the same fate. "You b-b-better go," he stammers,
slowly rising to a sitting position. "You c-c-can't allow h-h-her t-t-to c-c-
catch you."

"We can't leave you behind!" his mother-in-law painfully cries.

"B-b-but if you t-t-try t-t-to t-t-take m-m-me with you, I'll j-j-just s-
s-slow you d-d-down," Nyassur explains.

Silence falls over the scene as the elder couple considers the
matter. The husband turns to his wife. "He's right."

"We can't leave him!!" she snaps. "I've lost my daughter thanks to
that witch! I won't lose my son-in-law, either!!"

"We'll come back for him; don't worry about that!" he sighs. "But
we have to make sure that he gets to a safe place!"

"Where in this galaxy can he go to be safe?!" she demands.

"There's a place," he sighs, then looks at Nyassur. "Nyassur.
There's a very large farm owned by a Righteous Gentile near here. Go there
and wait for us to come back to you."

"Okay," Nyassur nods.

"We can't leave him!" the wife cries.

"But he'll be safe there!!" her husband insists. "Not even Marinba
is crazy enough to challenge a Righteous Gentile head-on! Now, c'mon!!
Let's get out of here!"

She embraces Nyassur. "Remember us!"

With that, they fade into the darkness. Nyassur watches them go.
Questions. So many questions. Will they ever be answered? Sighing, he
turns to the street to hail a taxi. "Where to, friend?" the alien driver inquires
as the clone seats himself.

Nyassur looks at his wallet, noting that he possessed a sizable
amount of Zephyrite currency. Had his mother-in-law given it to him?
Questions. So many questions. "Th-th-there's a f-f-farm n-n-near h-h-here,"
he stammers. "You know it?!"

"That'd be Lady Nagaiwakai Moroboshi's farm," the driver nods as
he turns his machine down the street. "It's not far..."

* * *

Nyassur blinks as his eyes open. Misato pulls her hand away.
"Incredible."

A tear appears in his eye. "I h-h-haven't th-th-thought of th-th-them
in a l-l-long while," he softly intones.

The psychologist sits back. "Well, while you were reminiscing
your first memories of this life, I was busy scanning the parts of your mind
which remain undamaged. I suppose we could all relax now. I didn't detect
any signs of any sort of mental program which could take control of you
without your knowledge. It seems that when whatever happened to you
happened, you fought whoever was trying to keep control of you...almost to
the point where you nearly killed yourself. You're plain lucky to be alive,
Nyassur."

"Th-th-thanks," he smiles. "I wish I c-c-could r-r-remember th-th-
them m-m-more."

"Perhaps they're somewhere living their own life, safe from
whoever created you," she sighs. "But, right now, let's tell your child-mate.
She'll certainly want to know."

"Okay," he nods...

* * *

"...and that is all he can remember," Misato explains to
Nagaiwakai. "I assume that the couple he saw when he first woke up were
clones, but they never identified themselves, much less revealed where they
were going. I assume that they were scared and just wanting to get away
from whoever was after them."

"I see," Nagaiwakai looks down, then stares at Nyassur, sitting
beside her. <<You should've told me, you know!>>

<<What did you expect me to do?!>> he looks at her. <<I want
you to love me, not fight all my battles for me! Aren't we supposed to be
equals in this relationship?!>>

Nagaiwakai smiles, then turns to Brother Sunfire. "Darklight,
obtain a mental copy of Misato-sensei's memories of these people, then find
some way to transmit them to the Inquisition. I think it's high time we find
them. I don't want my paramour to agonize himself over his past. Besides,
if we can find them, we can get some answers as to who created them, then
trace the wretches down and teach them a lesson about hurting people."

"At once, Mistress," the monk bows, then notions Misato to come
with him.

Once they are alone, Nyassur and Nagaiwakai stare at each other.
<<You're angry,>> he looks down.

<<A little,>> she shifts his face to stare on her. <<Besides, since
you are cloned from Nassur, perhaps we can find out a little more about his
past if we locate them.>>

<<But the Holy Republic's a pretty big place,>> he warns.
<<What was to stop them from leaving it altogether? Perhaps go to
Sakarahaven, Kamahana, even Hustaros?>>

"We'll find them," she verbally promises as they kiss. "We just
have to be a little patient, that's all."

* * *

Later, Nagaiwakai dresses, allowing Nyassur to sleep. Night is
starting to fall. The matriarch walks over to his personal belongings, then as
curiosity overcomes her, she reaches into his pocket and withdraws two
holographic memory chips. Smiling, she walks out of the bedroom and
proceeds downstairs, where her personal holosuite is located. Once inside
the empty room, she inserts the chip marked with Nyassur's name into a slot,
then calls out, "Activate program."

The matriarch's double appears, dressed exactly like Nagaiwakai.
"Nyatsu-chan...oh!!" she smiles, then stops on seeing who is with her. "It's
you!" she blushes, looking down.

"My!!" Nagaiwakai sighs as she takes in the details. "When
Nyatsu-chan told me that he had created a double to be his companion on
Jiyuu, part of me thought he was joking."

"Well, I'm no joke," her holo-double smiles. "In a sense, I'm all
that's kept Nyatsu-chan sane since he came to work at your farm on
Jiyuu...Onee-san," she blushes on making the familial reference.

"Thank you," Nagaiwakai nods. "And I'm pleased to meet
you...Onee-chan," she returns the compliment. "But, tell me...what did he
expect to do should he fall in love with me?"

"Well, he brought me here...I assume this is Rishiri-tou...so that in
case he didn't recognize you, he'd have a friend," the double explains. "I
was happy for him...but sad that the chance could come that I'd lose him. I
am programmed to love him. Just because I'm a hologram doesn't mean I
don't have feelings."

"You didn't answer my question."

"True," the double nods. "He promised me that if he did fall in
love with you, that he'd have a bioroid constructed so that my sentience
could have a real existence."

"Ah, I understand," the matriarch nods, then stares at the other
datachip. "Now, I wonder what this is."

The holo-double looks. "I think that's Firehair Sunflower's
personal holo-chip."

"Any idea what's inside it?"

"Well, of all the girls who were chasing after Nyatsu-chan, she was
the worst of the lot," the double muses. "I can guess very much what...or
rather *who*...it could be."

"I see," Nagaiwakai hands her "sister" the chip. "Here. I'll leave
you be."

"Um...thank you," the double blinks as the matriarch walks out.
She then giggles as she walks over to slip the second chip into the controls.
"Activate second program."

A holographic double of Nyassur appears. "Firehair, my
love...eh?!" he romantically calls out, his voice strong with passion, then he
blinks. "N-n-nagaiwakai-sama!!"

"It's alright," Nagaiwakai's double walks up to him. "I'm another
hologram."

"Oh! Then...what are we both doing in the same holosuite?"

"We're on Earth now," she announces. "Nyassur was transferred
here. I assume Firehair gave you to him before he came."

"Oh, that's right," he sighs. "A private message was hidden in my
command matrix. So, did Nyassur recognize Nagaiwakai-sama?"

"By the looks of it," she sighs. "We've lost our purpose."

He then smiles. "Have we?"

She smiles. "Engage holosuite," she commands. "Ballroom
dancing suite, Vienna, Austria. Alter clothing to match Earth Victorian Era.
Music: Antonin Dvorak."

The scene melts into an image of the ballroom of one of Vienna's
palaces. The two holo-beings are now dressed in lavish costumes which
would have fit in the court of Emperor Franz Joseph. As a symphony
begins, they take hands and begin to dance...

* * *

Nagaiwakai steps back to her bedroom. "Well, we'll have to give
Lum's friend Chara a call so they could have some time on their own," she
muses, then stops. "Unbelievable! I'm actually finding myself liking that
girl! I have to get my head examined!!"

She tenses as some ill feeling passes her. She spins around.
"Who's there?!!"

"Your death, alien!!" a voice barks.

Nagaiwakai dodges right as a storm of shuriken streak down from
the ceiling! She then fires her own barrage of the deadly missiles at her
hidden attacker. Howls of pain answer her. "Too slow!" she maniacally
laughs as three ninjas bearing the insignia of the Shirokaku fall flat on their
faces.

She hits an alarm bell and the compound-wide intercom.
"Attention, everyone!!!" she calls out. "Get up!!! We're under attack!!!"

The alarm sounds off through the compound as soldiers, monks,
the Kuromoroboshi and farm hands leap into action. However, Shirokaku
forces are on the grounds, converging like a school of piranha on the
mansion! Leading the charge, one ninja points as he barks orders. "Leave
Nagaiwakai Moroboshi be!!! The Lady Kyomi wants her for herself!!!"

The ninjas roar...just as a storm of lead pours down on them,
echoed by very insane laughter!! "Why don't you *kimei'ne* go back to
whatever slime-pit you crawled out of?!!" Priss roars as she leads a host of
Sagussans against the ninjas from a squad of cycles, strafing the ground with
a rifle.

The Shirokaku shuffle, disorganization appearing in the ranks. "Do
you recognize any of them?!" one demands.

"I've never seen them before in my life!!!" another snarls.

Another roar is heard: starship engines. The Shirokaku cry as
three starships...the "Renegade," the "Goddess of Luck" and Lum's
scout...race up from Oshika, guns blazing. From the boarding hatch of his
girlfriend's scout, Ataru cannonballs to his grandmother's farm. "Time to
boogie!" he howls as psychic fire commences a familiar transformation.

The ninjas are scattered as the Cyborg smashes into their midst,
then scatters a dozen with one sweet of his arm! "Aw, Young Master, don't
steal all the fun!!!" Jinseiko screams as she bashes down an enemy ninja,
then parries the sword thrust of another.

Priss, Lufy and Makoto drive in. The fight loses all sense of order
when Nassur, Benten and Dakejinzou arrive, followed by Lum, Noa and
Honey. "Jeez, I didn't realize that Ataru's old lady was this popular!!!"
Benten bashes two ninjas' heads together.

"This actually makes a half-dozen battles on Vos look quite tame,"
Nassur breaks the arm of one, then cold-cocks another.

Priss kicks one out of the way, then takes Lufy by the hand. "Let's
dance!!!" the former gestures at the ninjas around them.

"Lead on!!" the latter allows Priss to swing her into a merry-go
round spin.

Before the attacking Shirokaku realize what is happening, the
merry-go round spin becomes a tornado which drags the hapless ninjas in,
then spits what is left of them out into unconscious heaps by the edge of the
compound!! "Now, THAT'S what I call cleaning house!!" Dakejinzou
whistles with awe.

Noa neck-chops one ninja, elbows another, then sees several
moving behind Brother Sunfire, defending himself with a cane. "Look out!"
she draws her pistol and fires.

The bolts send the enemy warriors flying away from the Zephyrite,
who spins around to see what happened. "Thank you!" he nods at the
Sagussan, then gets back to work.

"You defended him?!!" Honey slams heads.

"Even we should respect them!" Noa nails one between the legs.

By that time, re-enforcements arrive from Sendai, with Komeru at
the lead; as well as the "Robert Bruce," led by Victoria, who is dressed in
the finery of a medieval Scottish warrior, claymore at the ready. "At 'em,
lads!!!" she barks at her troops.

"McTAVISH!!!!!!" they collectively yell as they lunge into the
fray, bashing and shooting at the ninjas before them.

"Too bad Jamie's not here!!" Benten ducks a blast of machine gun
fire, then slugs a couple who were getting a little too close.

"I hope his parents aren't in this fight!!!" Lum zaps a few.

"But I can see where he got his fighting spirit from!!" Nassur ducks
two gaikatanas, then roundhouse kicks the offending parties.

"Who's Jamie?!" Dakejinzou wonders as her tail chokes a ninja, her
hands calmly crushing the throats of the two in front of her.

"Wait eighteen years to find out!!" Lum zaps some, then spins
around to see a slew of the enemy storming at the mansion house.
"*Tcha!!!* Grandma's still in there!!"

She flies off to looking in on Nagaiwakai when a steel cable lashes
out to snare her neck, dragging her back to the ground. "Oh, no you
don't!!!" a cackling voice is heard.

Lum spins around to see Namisuke glaring at her from the inside of
a very large suit of alien battle armour, the grappling cable squeezing her
throat emitting from his right hand. "We won't have any more interference
from you lessers!!" he snarls as he tries to draw the struggling Oni toward
him.

"'Lessers?!!'" Benten gasps as she takes aim with her machine
pistol. "I kinda thought that armour looked Seifukusu...!!"

A ninja bashes her in the back of the head! Tapping his
loudspeakers, Namisuke yells out, "***STOP FIGHTING, NOW!!!!!!***"

Everyone stops, spinning around to see Lum in the armoured grasp
of the Dominion agent. However, two dozen weapons quickly level on
Namisuke as those who care the most about the Oni move into firing
positions. "If any of you even thinks of trying to shoot me, Invader's little
brat loses her head!!"

"Don't you know your presence here violates two dozen treaties
concerning this planet?!!" Nassur demands.

"The Zephyrite presence here doesn't?!!"

"I wouldn't be too sure," Brother Sunfire crosses his arms. "Our
presence here has been accepted by the United Nations and the government
of Japan since we came. But I doubt the High Church Council will condone
your presence, heretic. And I can say that also about how the Young Master
will feel if you don't let the Young Mistress go!"

Namisuke shudders as he looks around, trying to recognize one
face. "Moroboshi, where are you?!! Show yourself if you don't want your
little slave to lose her head!"

Suddenly, Lum smiles as she looks at Namisuke...her left eye
glowing. "**April Fool!**" "she" snickers as psychic fire replaces the
image of the Oni with the Cyborg!

Namisuke pales as he suddenly realizes what is happening to him.
"Wh-what...?"

"**Lum's looking in on Grandma!**" the Cyborg calmly takes hold
of the Seifukusu's arm. "**If I was you, I'd be more worried about what I'm
about to do to you NOW!!!!**"

The Dominion agent screams as Ataru drops to the ground, then
launches his own merry-go round spin, accelerating to speeds which have
everyone's eyes spinning as they try to watch. "How did he pull that
switch?!" Benten gasps.

"Oh, Benten, don't you know by now that the *te'a* works in
mysterious ways," Catty scoffs at the Fukunokami as she examines the bump
on the back of the latter's neck.

Three seconds later, Namisuke is send flying at hypersonic speeds
into a nearby cherry tree! "**Now, I think it's time that you and your little
friend Kyomi pay for what you did to my family!**" Ataru growls as he
walks up to the fallen Seifukusu, prying open his armour with ease.
"**Sylia!!**"

"Yes, sir?!" Sylia runs up.

"**Where's the 'Kiboo'cha?!**'"

"It's in orbit," she points up.

"**It have regeneration chambers?!**"

"Two of them," Sylia nods.

"**Have them prepared,**" Ataru glares at the unconscious
Namisuke. "**They're about to administer a little justice!**"

* * *

Lum flies into the darkened mansion, night vision goggles over her
eyes as she tries to detect who may be about. *Lucky thing Darling and I
swapped places when we did!* the Oni muses as she gently floats down a
hallway. *Who knows what could've happened if that Seifukusu really got
his hands on me! Now, where could Grandma and Nyassur-chan be?*

She stops on seeing a dark form slink down one side of the
hallway. *Doesn't look like Jinseiko's friends,* Lum smiles. *Better see
where she's going. Lucky thing that I'm picking up some of Darling's and
Noa's combat moves through our bonds.*

Lum remains back as Kyomi slinks from door to door, her senses
alive as she tries to detect anything. Passing one hallway, she looks down,
then turns away...just as a voice calls out from the direction she just
examined. "Pathetic as always, Kyomi. You never were anywhere near my
class of shinobi!"

Kyomi sees a darker shadow standing ten metres away, a drawn
katana in hand. "You!!" her own katana leaps from its scabbard.

"So," Nagaiwakai smiles, a very dangerous glitter in her eyes.
Staring at her, Lum sees that the matriarch has shed her kimono for a form-
fitting black bodysuit with her personal insignia. "Care to take on the best?"

"We'll see if you are!!" Kyomi lunges.

Nagaiwakai leaps through a skylight into the night sky above them.
Kyomi reaches the spot, then charges into the air after her rival. "Come
back here, you coward!!!"

"Grandma, don't fight her alone!!" Lum flies after them.

Nagaiwakai somersaults onto the roof, perching on the edge over
the front door. Kyomi lands six metres away, then charges, her blade
sweeping at the former's neck. In the blink of an eye, the matriarch literally
drops from sight, allowing her rival to overshoot the target. Kyomi screams
as she plunges down into the water fountain some distance from the door as
Nagaiwakai lands calmly on the cow statue which forms the centre of the
fountain. "Always missing your mark, Kyomi," the matriarch giggles as
Kyomi bursts from the waves. "Care to try that again?"

"Die!!!" shuriken storm at the target.

Nagaiwakai disappears from view. Kyomi stops as she looks
around. She then howls as another storm of the deadly missiles rains down
from the sky. "Missed me!!" she laughs. "You're getting slow, half-
breed!!!"

Nagaiwakai lands in a crouch some distance away. "You were
saying something about being slow?" she wryly smiles.

Kyomi grunts, then howls as the pain from a shuriken imbedded in
the back of her hand hits her. "You witch!!!" she glares at Nagaiwakai.
"You won't have the last laugh!!"

She snaps her fingers. "Mom!!!"

Nagaiwakai spins right to see Komeru, Muchi and Kinshou in the
grip of a dozen ninjas, weapons out and at their throats. Both of
Nagaiwakai's sons look as if they had put up a fight before being captured.
"No!" the matriarch gasps on seeing the last of her immediate family so
threatened.

"You always said you'd be gladly rid of them!" Kyomi
triumphantly smiles as she glares at her rival. "They took your precious
grandson away! They left you in this desolate backwater alone and
unloved!! You're about to watch the last of your family disintegrate, just
like you and your alien friends stole mine away from me thirty years ago!"

Nagaiwakai glares at Kyomi, then sighs as she allows her katana to
drop. "Let them go," she calls out. "Your fight's with me, Kyomi. It's
never been with them."

"Mother..." Kinshou gasps, wide-eyed.

"Oh, no?!" Kyomi snarls, laughing "Mercy won't save you and
your family now, Nagaiwakai! Once you're dead, your attempts at keeping
this planet bound to the likes of them," she points at the aliens who had
come to help her defend her home this day, "...will also end! I think seeing
these haughty slime submit themselves once more to the Seifukusu
Dominion would be a fitting revenge for all your attempts at keeping Earth
free to decide its own fate, when it is no where close to being mature enough
to do that!!"

"You'd sell your own race to the Dominion to avenge yourself on
me?" Nagaiwakai wonders. "Much that I find people like Lum annoying,
even I can see their good points. Earth would be better off under the
protection of the Republic and the Federation...not to mention Sagussa...than
those you join forces with."

"You can change that," Kyomi smirks.

"How?"

"Order your friends back to Zephyrus," the Shirokaku smiles.
"Renounce your role as a Righteous Gentile or whatever they call you these
days. Have the United Nations expel all aliens; they're just about to do it
anyway. And make these ones," she points at Noa and Honey, "...reject
your grandson. Even I can see they're more trouble than the others!"

Nagaiwakai balks. "I could renounce myself to the High Church
Council and ask Darklight and his friends to go," she sighs. "And having
Lum and her friends be forced off the planet is quite easy; just have their
visas revoked. But as for the Sagussans, you'll have to ask them
yourselves."

Kyomi spins on Noa. "Well?!!"

Noa and Honey stare at each other, then both turn on Kyomi.
"**STUFF IT WHERE THE SUN DOESN'T SHINE, *KIMEI'NE!!!!!!***"

Kyomi balks. "If you don't reject him now, his parents and his
uncle die!!"

"Well, I'm afraid we beat you there," Noa winks at her sister, then
glares at Kyomi. "You see, we discovered that there was a Seifukusu
national among your forces. As I'm sure you're aware, his presence here
violates not only Sagussa's Non-Interference Directive and Zephyrus' Non-
Interference Edict, but also the Galactic Non-Interference Treaty as well as
various accords between the Dominion and its neighbours. Eretofore, our
provisional head-of-state, Ataru Moroboshi, acting in the interests of
galactic peace and harmony, ordered his execution three minutes ago."

Kyomi faints! "WHAT?!?!?!"

Her voice is echoed by a scream from the "Kiboo'cha," which now
hovers at a safe distance above Rishiri-tou. "I guess he just took the plunge
into the matrix," Noa muses.

Shuddering, Kyomi spins to order the deaths of Nagaiwakai's
children...when she stops. "Where'd they go?!!"

The ninjas themselves are now an unconscious heap on the ground.
"Yoo-hoo!!" Kinshou's voice sings out. "We're up here!"

Kyomi spins around to see Kinshou, Muchi and Komeru sitting on
the roof some distance away, Priss and Lufy flanking them. "No...
no...no...!" the Shirokaku matriarch stammers, shaking her head at the sight
of her plans falling apart, then with a scream, she lunges at Nagaiwakai.
"***DIE!!!!!!***"

Nagaiwakai dodges right, then her fists blaze. "***TYPHOON
WIND-FIST!!!!!!***"

Kyomi is sent rocketing into a cherry tree! "That was for
Tetsuki!!!" Nagaiwakai snarls as the air boils, advancing on target.
"***AIR-WHIRLPOOL HEAT-FIRE STRIKE!!!!!!***"

A fiery cyclone sends Kyomi spiralling over the mansion house to
crash in the back pasture! "That was for Kireiko!!!" Nagaiwakai leaps over
the mansion house, then forms some very deadly projectiles out of thin air.
"***PSYCHIC SHURIKEN!!!!!!***"

The bolts of energy rip through Kyomi as she tries to stagger to her
feet! "That was for Myaku!!!" Nagaiwakai hones in on her like a
bloodhound cornering a fox, her finger on target. "***PSYCHIC
LASER!!!!!!***"

Kyomi screams as the blast of energy sends her flying toward a
cattle barn! "That was for Kagami!!!" Nagaiwakai spins right around,
methodically pacing her target as the earth shakes beneath them.
"***EARTH-HEART FIRE GEYSER!!!!!!***"

An blast of lava sends Kyomi flying back to the front lawn! "That
was for Yamako!!!" Nagaiwakai leaps back to the front as she draws a
grappling weapon. "***PSYCHIC KUSARIGAMA ATTACK!!!!!!***"

Kyomi is snared by the glowing chain as she is sent on a merry-go
round spin which soon picks up all her combat forces which are still
standing. The Moroboshi forces and their allies quickly duck out of the way
as the Shirokaku are send flying into the ocean by the "Robert Bruce!"
"That was for Ningyo!!!" Nagaiwakai snaps the chain back, sending Kyomi
crashing into the ground at her feet, then draws the deadliest weapon in the
*saikoo jinseijitsu's* arsenal from her very own lifeforce.
"***SOULSWORD!!!!!!***"

Kyomi howls as the mystic blade plunges into her, slicing her spirit
away from her body with the precision of a surgeon making an exploratory
incision. Her body collapses with a hollow thud to the ground as
Nagaiwakai stands back. "And that was for me!" she sighs as the soulsword
fades from existence.

With that, the matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan collapses.
"Grandma!!" Lum calls out as everyone rushes to her side...

* * *

"How?!!" Benten demands.

With the battle over and the Shirokaku being rounded up for
transport to Jiyuu to face the Holy Inquisition, everyone relaxes in the living
room as they unwind from the day's events. "How what...and please don't
shout, Benten!" Nagaiwakai sighs as she presses a cold compress to her
forehead. "I can hear you quite well with you standing right there."

"How did you do that?!" the Fukunokami snarls. "Everyone keeps
saying that all the *saikoo jinseijitsu's* previous hosts die when that thing
hops from body to body!!"

"Well, I almost did die when I finally grew tired to that miserable
thing being in my head. Then again, it was never comfortable within me
anyway. Seems my physiology was too repulsive for it to properly bind
itself to."

"We'll be more than happy to eliminate that when we get Ataru to
Sagussa," Catty smiles as she administers to the matriarch. "But I admit
you'd make a fine *daishi'cha.*"

"I assume that's a compliment," Nagaiwakai smiles, then stares at
Noa. "Oh, by the way. What did you do with that Dominion agent you said
Ataru-chan ordered executed?"

"We plunged him into the regeneration matrix aboard the
'Kiboo'cha'...minus any protection for his mind," the Sagussan smiles.
"Complete mind-wiping. It's our form of capital punishment. Because he
was such a weak-willed creature, the destruction of his *mei'na* was all but
certain. Still, there's nothing to insert into his brain once his old self is
cleansed."

"Yes, there is," Nagaiwakai notes. "And for Kyomi, too. Go to the
holosuite in the basement and get those two chips in there. They're two
holographic beings who deserve a taste of the real world." At everyone's
surprised stare, she snorts. "Well, I do honour my paramour's promises, you
know!!"

"That's Mom for you," Komeru sighs. "Always thinking ten steps
ahead of the game."

"It's how she's lived," Muchi chuckles.

Kinshou walks up to her, a neutral stare on her face. "What is it?"
Nagaiwakai sighs. "And please don't start mooing, or I'll have Koosei-kun
brought up here..."

"It's not that," Kinshou shakes her head. "Mother, let them see
them!" she points to her husband and brother-in-law. "Don't keep them on
Zephyrus even if they are still being treated for what the Shirokaku did to
them! They're part of the family, too!"

Nagaiwakai shakes her head. "I can't let them see what those
monsters did to their brothers and sisters, Kinshou!"

"Hey!!" Komeru walks over. "Mom, just because we were five
years old at the time, doesn't mean we don't remember them!"

"We know you sent them to Zephyrus, Mom," Muchi adds. "But,
damn it all, we miss them!"

"They've been in cryogenic suspension all this time," she sighs. "If
I bought them back, even if they still weren't fully cured, the culture shock
would do so much harm..."

"Well, if you do bring them here, I can take a look at them," Catty
notes. "And I'm sure Misato and a volunteer from Child Services can help
them adjust."

"Please!!!" Muchi and Komeru chorus.

Nagaiwakai nods. "Oh, alright."

Everyone beams. At that moment, Nyassur walks down from the
bedroom, looking as if he just got up. "Um...d-d-did I m-m-miss s-s-
something?" he wonders, staring at the battle-scarred, tired people
surrounding Nagaiwakai.

"Oh, it was nothing much, Nyatsu-chan," Nagaiwakai smiles as he
lifts her up. "I have a headache, dear," she romantically coos. "Could you
take me to bed, please?"

"S-s-sure," Nyassur smiles.

"Grandma!!" Lum calls out.

Nagaiwakai sighs. "What is it, Lum?"

The Oni walks up, then respectfully bows. "Realizing how much
you've suffered for those you love," she intones, "...then I hope that one day,
I will be as worthy of your love, and with that, I would earn your blessings
to my desire to marry your grandson."

Nagaiwakai blinks, then smiles. "My, she can learn, can't she?" she
hums. "We'll see, Lum. We'll see. Up, Nyatsu-chan!"

Nyassur takes her upstairs. The others remain in place. "She
doesn't give up, does she?!" Benten wonders.

"Actually, I think Grandma did give Lum her blessings," Ataru lifts
his girlfriend into his arms. "After all, she can learn, too. Besides, when
April comes, it won't matter anyway. C'mon, Lum. Let's go home."

"I'm for that," the Oni giggles...

*** The End ***