"I'm home!" Naota shouted as he tossed his bag on the couch and headed for the kitchen. "Dad? Granddad? Kanti? Anybody?" He couldn't understand why no one was answering him, 'cos someone was usually home at this time of day.
He shrugged and started up the stairs to his room when he heard the bassline to George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" on the other side of the door.
'What the Hell?' He opened the door and saw…nothing. Except that Haruko's Rickenbacker 4001 was missing. Which obviously meant that he was dead the moment she came back. If that even happened. Then he noticed that the sound hadn't been coming from inside his room, but rather, from outside his window. He ran over and flung it open, only to find the aforementioned nut (dis)gracing the ledge to the left of his window, eyes shut and no emotion on her features.
"Haruko?"
Her eyes snapped open as she suddenly stopped playing. She turned to look at him. Then she grinned maniacally at him and tackled him through the window. (No mean feat, seeing how the ledge is only 5" wide and she was sitting on it rather than standing.)
"Takkun!"
"Damn it, Haruko, you're still too damn heavy for this shit!"
"Hmph! And I came all this way, too! How, rude!"
"Why are you here, anyway? It's not Atomsk again, is it?"
"Nah, I lost his trail about a year an' a half ago. I got bored an' thought I'd come see how my favourite earthling was gettin' along without me. But, damn, this town is dull. What the Hell do you do all damn day?"
"Usually, nothing. And what do you mean 'a year and a half'? I thought his energy signature left a trail ten miles wide! How the fuck do you lose something like that?"
"Well…I kinda stopped for a quick rest one day, dozed off, an' when I woke up, it had vanished. Like it had never existed. I tried following the direction it had been following ever since the bastard had left earth, but to no avail. I must be off my game or something like that, 'cos this has never happened before. It kinda scares me. I don't know what to do, Naota! I was charged with capturing him and bringing him in, but how am I supposed to do that if I don't know where he went or how to find out?!"
"I have no idea, Haruko, but you're welcome to crash here till you figure it out if you want. Top bunk's still my brother's tho."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. So, where is everybody?"
"Fuck if I know…You gonna pretend to be our maid again while you're here?"
"Actually, I'm not sure I want your idiot hentai father to see me at all."
"Understandable. Well, I'm gonna get to my homework."
"Sure. Oh, hey, Takkun?"
"Yeah?"
"Ya miss me?"
"…Yeah…"
And so…Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's baaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
[Please don't review about that last line or about Haruko's behaviour. The last line is to be funny, and I like Haruko hiw I have her.]
