Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Rumiko Takahashi, not I. Some characters are from my imagination, but not many. Do not use this story without my permission.
This is a post-ending story, taking place after the last manga chapter (or movie #5 for those without book access)
It was a boring day in Tomobiki. The school semester had ended without major disaster, and the events of Ataru and Lum's last little game of tag were still fresh in everyone's minds.
It was an overcast, dreary afternoon at the Moroboshi homestead. Ataru had fallen asleep at his desk while reading a magazine and Lum had covered him up with a blanket. She even felt herself slowly drift off into a dazed sleep from time to time.
I'm bored. If Darling wasn't sleeping I'd ask him to play with me…She looked depressingly at the sky. It had been gray since yesterday morning, and no rain seemed to be coming down.
This won't clear up any time soon. She perked up at the next thought that entered her head. Maybe it means we'll get a typhoon! She hopped up and flew downstairs to check the weather channel.
Ataru was stirred momentarily from his nap at the sound of his door closing abruptly. He ignored it and went back to sleep.
Shuutaro Mendo was in the mansion courtyard, running from his deranged sister's new savagely trained canine unit.
"Argh. Ryoko always gets this way when it's gloomy outside. Why can't she refocus her energies on more sophisticated things, like…" Mendo's prose was cut short by the barks of several airborne dogs lunging at him.
The screams coming from the courtyard were just barely audible to the Kuroko in Ryoko's room, but her elegant violin playing seemed to drown most of it out. The fact that she was wearing earplugs also drowned her brother's screams out even more so.
"Jeez, those jerks. Making me run stupid errands like some damn slave."
Ryuunosuke was reminiscing on how her father was taking advantage of the pestilent Nagisa, forcing them both to compete over who would be making trips to the stores on a weekly basis. To that effect, Ryuunosuke always lost, and she didn't like it.
"I should poison their food at dinner. That'll show 'em."
Ryuunosuke stopped short in her pace, thinking over how she could accomplish such a plan with her provided resources.
I could just steal the poison, or buy expired food for them to eat. That could work.
Ryuunosuke shook off these thoughts. She was far to honorable and manly to try something so underhanded, though she wouldn't admit to the 'manly' part of her own accord.
Shinobu and Inaba were sitting down with Shinobu's family for a nice evening at home. Her parents were rather pleased to hear that she had found 'a young man with a promising future job'. This wasn't what they were expecting.
"So uh, young man, what is your job, exactly?" Shinobu's father said hesitantly.
"Well," the still bunny-suited Inaba started, "I make and maintain doorways to the dream-realm. So in a way, I help make the future brighter for everybody!"
Shinobu's parents just stared at Inaba as they had the whole afternoon: like a madman. Shinobu was silently sipping tea next to Inaba across from her parents.
"Well," Shinobu's mother began prejudicially, "what's with that costume?"
"Oh this? It helps me move between here and subspace, so I can exist on this plane and work in the other."
Shinobu sighed as she noticed her parent's mouths were now gaping wide open.
Ran hummed merrily as she tended to her flowers on the windowsill. Even if they weren't getting the natural sunlight they needed, her solar light bulbs would help them grow along. A timer in the kitchen nook of her UFO/house dinged and she rushed over.
"Yay! It's done!" She squealed as she happily skipped over to the oven and pulled it open. She had been baking a special cake in the shape of a heart all after noon, using quantumly concentrated ingredients to get the absolute most out of every bite.
She daintily pulled the cake out with her oven mitt covered hands and scurried over to a machine on the other side of the kitchen. She opened this machine and slid the cake in gently, then slammed it shut and pulled a lever.
A loud, ominous humming was emanating from the machine, and in a few seconds her whole house began to shake. After a solid minute, the humming and rumbling stopped. The door opened slowly and Ran peeked her head in the machine to see the fruit of labors.
On the top rack was her original cake, then the three racks under it were filled with miniature versions of the cake, each one heart shaped with the word 'Love' on them. She tried to pick one up, only to find it just as heavy as the original, full-sized cake. A wide, fang-filled grin started to spread across her face.
"YEEEEES! MY CAKES ARE FINALLY PERFECTED!" She yelled triumphantly into the ceiling, eyes aflame and fangs gleaming across her yelling mouth. She snaped back, placed the heavy cupcake into a basket and smiled cheerfully as she went to get the rest.
"Now," she said, lifting each cake carefully with both hands into the hover-model 'Easy Lift, Heavy Duty Hand-basket' (as the label read), "Rei will be all mine."
Tobimaro wanted to go back into the mountains to train himself again this year, as he was wont to do, but the pursuit of a certain young-girl had deferred his attempts to escape silently.
"Big Brother, please wait!" Asuka yelled after her swiftly retreating brother. Tobimaro didn't want to complicate his camping and training with any fatal injuries, or worse: catastrophic misunderstandings.
"Please Asuka," he yelled behind him, "understand! This is a journey I must go alone!"
Asuka plowed straight through a solid concrete wall with her eyes still fixed concerned on her dear big brother.
"But, what if something tragic happens to you while you're away? I don't want to lose you, Big Brother!" With that, she jumped straight forward in a tackle-hug that missed her brother and was caught by an unfortunate concrete power line pole. Her hug reduced the pole to a crumbling heap of rumble. Tobimaro had started running in the other direction
Any directions is fine as long as I can get away! I'm sorry little sister, but I simply can't risk anything bad happening to either of us.
He picked up speed while Asuka stood motionless, watching her beloved Big Brother speed off into the distance. She felt like weeping, but remembered that she had other Big Brothers to comfort her.
"I must go pay Big Brother Mendo or Fujinami a visit. They can cheer me up." She looked down at her elegant, although dusty, kimono and though to herself.
I should get my armor, so I can safely travel into the world of men.
She hopped back into the main compound, still whispering worries of Tobimaro in the back of her mind.
Cherry was having a quiet sit down with his friend Kotatsu-neko in his lot. They were both looking at the sky, watching the shifting clouds and admiring the ethereal quality of the view. Kotatsu-neko had lit his pipe and was blowing smoke rings into the air, watching the float away with the breeze.
Ten was casually floating along, having been spurned out of the Moroboshi house a while previous due to an incident with the laundry. Mrs. Moroboshi hadn't quite gotten over the mess yet, so he decided to go out and try to find some cute girls while Ataru was detained to his room.
As he floated by, a smoke ring caught him in the face. He brushed it off and saw more floating in his direction. As he flew through them all, deeply impressed with his own abilities, he came to notice the source of the rings and floated down to take a seat with his friend. Kotatsu-neko saw him and they waved to each other as a greeting.
"Watcha' guys doing?" he asked as he starred into the swirling mass of clouds on the horizon.
"We," Cherry began, "are admiring the ever-changing order of the cosmos, as displayed by the prophetically changing clouds. Is it not a marvelous sight?" Cherry turned slightly to acknowledge Ten's affirmative nod.
All three went back to gazing at the sky. Cherry watching vigilantly, Kotatsu-neko gazing while puffing his pipe, and Ten staring into space as he floated in the air.
Ataru was rudely snapped back to reality by an incessant poking on his head. He opened his eyes to inadvertently meet Lum's stare as she hovered over him in an arc. He coiled back into his chair in surprise, then blinked himself back into reality.
"What is it? You interrupted a very important dream of mine." Ataru crossed his arms and glared accusingly at Lum, who was repositioning herself in mid-air with folded legs.
"I got an idea to do something fun!" Lum's face lit up with excitement, and Ataru's look shifted to a more suspicious glare.
"What is this idea of yours?"
"Let's gather everybody up and go on a trip!"
"A trip to where?"
Lum threw her arm upwards and pointed out the window towards the sky.
"We can cruise across the galaxy!"
Ataru looked at her with a stupefied, wide-eyed expression.
"Space?" he questioned. "As in, outer space?"
Lum nodded cheerfully then hopped off the desk and onto the floor. She spun on her heel to face Ataru again.
"Think about it Darling. I know plenty of really pretty planets and fun things we can do! We can prepare some picnics, go stargazing, low-gravity sports…"
Lum continued to drone on as Ataru thought of his own plans. His plans, however, had nothing to do with Lum. His plans included visits to Oyuki and Benten, and fun things he could do with them. He snickered cheerfully at the ideas running through his mind.
Lum was facing him down now, with a gleeful look on her face.
"So, do you want to go?"
Ataru thought about his answer carefully. It shouldn't be to eager, or she'll get suspicious. I have to answer as apathetically as I can. He shrugged his shoulders and gave a very convincingly neutral
"Sure, nothing to do here anyway."
Lum jumped and squealed with joy. She jumped over and gave her Darling a tight, loving hug around his chest.
"I promise, you won't regret this Darling!"
Ataru kept his arms crossed and did his best to ignore the hug. In a moment, Lum was out the window and flying away. She turned back to shout something to Ataru.
"Get all our friends together in the park and I'll pick everyone up in a half-hour! Don't be late." With that she was off and flying. Ataru was smugly waving her off.
Crap. I was so caught up with my own plans I forgot that she want everyone to come with us!
Ataru quickly thought of a remedy for the situation and decided in a matter of seconds what his plan was.
"I'll just 'forget' to tell anyone that I don't want to come with me! Just me, endless space, and a whole harem full of beautiful girls at last!" With a smug and sinister snicker, he slipped out the door and out of the house. He ran full speed down the street, as time was short and he had a list of girls to find.
