DISCLAIMER: I don't own FLCL or any of the characters from it.

Pa-KING!

He hit it out of the park. It was really no big deal. It didn't mean the game was won. It didn't mean anything would change. It was just another home run for him. I'm sure he knew that, but he was probably proud anyway. It takes a good swing to hit it very far at all, and a better one to hit it over the spectators.

I was sucking the pulpy soda through a straw that I stuck in the can while I watched him dash around the bases, first, second, third, and slide into home. I saw him stand up out of the dirt and raise his fist in his own personal victory. I rolled my eyes. There he was, my brother, the baseball player. He left six years ago, and he hasn't even come to visit us. He was busy being an American superstar, attending big red carpet events, being fooly cooly with different women, smiling at his fans from the cover of some big-shot American magazine. I was busy getting ready for college and trying to forget about my old haunts from grade school (I've never seen anything as ordinary since). And right now I was watching Nandaba Tasuku gloat about a single, commonplace home run in baseball. Oh, brother, how he's changed.

"Nao! Dinner!"

I threw my soda can in the trash and turned off the TV. It was cold that night, and I was almost looking forward to whatever spicy curry dish we were having in hopes that it might occupy my thoughts otherwise.

MANGA VIEW

"WHAT THE HELL?!!!"

"Why are you yelling?" Father. Nandaba Kamon.

"Hurry up and sit down!" Grandpa. Nandaba Shigekuni.

And there was someone who was not supposed to be there.

"Hey there!"

That was Haruko. Haruhara Haruko, or as Amarao would call her, Ruhara. She was the one who tainted my childhood, and she was the one person I wished I wouldn't see ever again. And now, here she was, in my dining room, eating as though she'd been living with us for years. She smiled at me from above her plate of curry, and I noticed her hair was a few inches longer now, though still pink. "You grew up so fast, Tak-kun." She scarfed a mouthful of curry and swallowed hurriedly. "Guess you're ready to go, now, huh?"

END MANGA VIEW

I froze to my spot. I could see my expression of disdain and fury reflected in her eyes, and she took on a puzzled look. I only saw it for a flash before I was out the door and halfway across the bridge. I was one of the fastest in my high school, because I ran so much. I almost ran past the metro station before I saw someone standing in the dim light. I stopped for a second, thinking it was Mamimi. Why did I think that? Because that woman had come back. The one who forced me to grow up. She was taking over my head again. Oh, where were the eyebrows when I needed them?

Well, anyway, it wasn't Mamimi, it was Eri. She was standing in the dusky light, her hair in a long ponytail and legs exposed below her black miniskirt. She was reading something, and she had to wear glasses and use a flashlight. She looked cute in glasses. They made her seem even more sophisticated than she already was. Her eyes wandered up and she waved. "Hey, Naota."

I shoved my cold hands in the pocket of my jacket and made my way down the stairs. "What are you reading?"

"The Aeneid by Virgil. It's a classic; you should check it out if you like advanced material like that."

I smirked. "You think it's hard?"

Eri dog-eared a page and closed the book. "What's wrong?" She put her glasses away in her pocket and shivered.

I shrugged. "Nothing. There's nothing wrong."

"You're a terrible liar, you know?" She stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Come on, what happened?"

I leaned into her shoulder and could smell her perfume. It wasn't too strong, but it smelled like vanilla. "Haruko's back."

I felt her body go tense for a moment before she relaxed and began to run her fingers through my hair. "So what are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm going to pretend she's not there, that's what," I replied.

Eri stood back. "You know she'll try and make you do something weird. She'll probably hit you with that guitar of hers again and make you do weird things. I don't want that to happen again. It was enough when we were kids. It happened to both of us."

My expression hardened. "I won't let it happen again. At least... not here. Not in Mabase. I won't let anyone get hurt."

Eri didn't say anything. She just adjusted her glasses and picked up her Aeneid again. I watched two trains pass by while she read. The sky was cloudy and dusk was fast approaching. I watched the golden clouds float over my head, signifying some kind of temporary peace that might be gone in a few seconds. They were already starting to thin, and I began to suspect something. Eri looked up, too. We heard an engine revving... it sounded like a Vespa...

Eri and I looked across the space at each other simultaneously. "She's here!"

It was barely a moment later...

"HEREICOMEREADYORNOOOOOOT!!!!!!"

Her guitar was a pearly white 1966 Rickenbacker 370/12Byrd, and she was twirling it like it was a propeller! I was surprised she didn't just fly off the top of the stairs. She made a move to hit me, but I was one step ahead of her. I jumped back into the metro tracks and jumped aside just as she swung...

BOOOOOOOOM.....

Haruko had slammed the guitar into the wall! It was perfectly fine, but the concrete had shattered. Her Vespa was overturned on the tracks, and she stood there looking at me with an astounded expression. It only took a few seconds before I heard the clacking of train wheels and saw the headlights reflected off the walls of the tunnel. Eri pulled me off the tracks just as it came around, but Haruko did not move. I saw her take a stance and pull that guitar out...

"Haruko, NO! Don't do that! You'll cause more damage than it's worth!" I screamed at her. She didn't listen. She never listened when I told her to do something. Before we knew it, the train conductor had a huge lump on his head and he was cursing the pink-haired woman, who was starting up her Vespa, for what I do not know. Eri was standing behind me, tugging at my coat sleeve. "Let's get out of here, Naota; I'm afraid she'll do something else."

I didn't say a word. I turned around, grabbed Eri's hand, and we started running. It wasn't long before we heard an engine behind us. We knew we were in for it.

"Well, we tried..."

SLAM!

Yeah, it had to be me again. I went sprawling on the ground. Haruko grabbed me by the head and sat me on the back of her Vespa. What could I do? I saw Eri running up and saying something before my mind went blank again.

"Got the photos you requested, chief. They look okay?"

Enter a room in a high-rise building, where there is a young woman dressed in jeans and a dark blue button-up shirt. She's got her auburn hair in a messy updo held together by a barrette, and the man in front of her is looking at some photos she brought in. He looks up at her and she anticipates both the best and the worst.

"These are great, Samejima. I'll give you $500 for the entire set."

"It's a deal. Thanks, chief; I'll be back in a couple of days." She takes her paycheck from the man and starts out the door. You're looking at Mamimi Samejima, the Japanese photographer/high-school dropout that came to America. I'm doing okay here. Got a nice little apartment in the Bronx all fixed up for myself, and they even let Tak-kun, my cat, stay there with me. I'm making a lot more money as a freelancer than expected. I see my name under a lot of photos in the tabloids. I even saw my name in the Times once, and I was really proud of that. That was when I made a lot of money in one day. It was one of my best photos, and it was when they did a Christmas concert with all the big stars. I was there, and I took a photo of a little girl getting an autograph from Mandy Moore. The alignment and expression was so great, and I was glad I took it before I got pushed out of the way.

So right now I am going up to the roof of the high-rise building, because it is night-time and I like to watch the stars sometimes. This is the best place to see, because New York is so light-polluted. But there's no light on top of that building. And that's why it's best to see from there. I took out a cigarette and lit it. The smoke curled up and blurred the stars, and I felt mad at myself after that. I was alone. I could see Orion, Taurus and the Seven Sisters, all in a row. Orion was chasing Taurus, who was chasing the Seven Sisters, who were fleeing in fear for eternity. I wished someone could come and rearrange the stars, so that Orion would save the Sisters and kill Taurus.

A blazing red star caught my sight. It was bright, and it had come from the west. What kind of star in its right mind would come from the west? I thought. But it kept getting larger and larger, and soon enough I could hear the rumble of its fire. I took my camera out and tried to get a straight shot at this meteor. What a great story that would make! A meteor over New York...

As it streaked past, I was blown over by the heat and force of its passing. Something snapped in me, and I knew I had seen that meteor before. As it curved in an arc and went up towards space, I ran down the stairs and boarded the elevator. I have to get that photo developed now.

I thought... it must have been him.

Tak-kun.

He'd just gotten a big interruption in his life.

Hi! That's the introductory chapter! Stay tuned for the beginning of Naota's Adventures In Space! It's gonna be big!

Kami no Neko =^-.-^=