On my deathbed… maybe!
Rel 2.1
By Pizzigri
Disclaimer: Urusei Yatsura and all characters are copyright Rumiko Takahashi. Only Mayuko and new character Hoshiko are mine!
Notes to Chapter 2.
If something is way too out, point it out to me, I'll try to fix it up. Please review, so I can either stop all together writing, or be compelled to do more! Suggestions are VERY welcome. I may want to update and edit the chapters as I go on. Also notes will be updated. Thank you for your support!
Nightmares!
"Good evening, Moroboshi-san. I took the liberty and time to inform myself of who you are, and I am well aware of the nuisance and threat you pose to the young females of this human settlement. If you recall our last encounter, I told you what would happen if our roads crossed again; at this point, I believe that no one is going to grieve for you."
Ataru is utterly terrified: for the first time he realizes that Lum means business; the energy ball that she carelessly holds in her hand is so blindingly intense he cannot bear to look upon it directly.
Keeping his hands up, he slowly moves sideways, backing away, trying to gain a clear escape route. But there is none.
"So, Moroboshi-san, allow me to put an end to your pitiful and useless life."
With these words, Lum unleashes the bolt of energy in the direction of Ataru; he feels his legs freeze, unable to obey him, his body suddenly paralyzed. Screaming, he struggles to move, as everything slows down; all he can do is watch Lum's incoming attack, helpless, as a sadistic smile twists her face. The bolt strikes him in the chest, and a tremendous, searing pain engulfs every fiber of his body; still screaming, he watches his flesh burn, charring to the bones, and feels his life slipping away, while a smiling Lum is gleefully giggling.
The scream is nerve shattering. Lights turn on in various rooms, and seconds after the scream, a worried nurse enters Ataru's hospital room. Ataru is now wide awake, half standing in his bed, and completely soaked in cold sweat. He checks his hands, expecting scorched flesh and exposed bone. It takes a couple minutes to realize that what seemed so terribly real was in fact another nightmare. The nurse tries to comfort Ataru…
…and suddenly faces a wide grin followed by a totally unexpected bear hug and very thorough quick feel!
"Ohhh! Please, nurse! Heal me, I'm heartsick!"
Another shriek then pierces the night… a female one, followed by the familiar noise of a hard slap in the face.
"Ouuuch…. That hurt!"
As a very upset nurse leaves Ataru's room, a seasoned doctor enters it.
"Moroboshi-san, I apologize for my lack of manners, but I may be forced to inform your next of kin in regards to your conditions. These nightmares are preventing your recovery, and I will not tolerate further sexual harassments to my department's female staff. Please understand, Moroboshi-san.
"Hey, wait a minute, Doc-sama. I told you guys that I DO NOT want you to tell anyone about my nightmares. This is invading my privacy! You surely understand that!"
"Moroboshi-san, I regret that your privacy rights fall before the safety of my staff; besides, my medical oath forces me to overlook such trivial things in the face of a greater good. Ubi maior, Minor cessat."
"But… but, you cannot tell Lum about the nightmares! I mean, that's the whole point!"
"Well, that is upon your better judgment, isn't it, Moroboshi-san. You have been here for almost two weeks, and in spite of your amazing physical recovery (a fractured Fibula takes at least 5-8 weeks to fully heal!), we still have to make any progress on the peculiar Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms you have been experiencing. We told you what to do, it is totally up to you, now."
"Ok. Yes… I mean, I'm not stupid! I'll behave… promise!"
"Well, Moroboshi-san, good night then. Do you need anything before we turn off the lights?"
"Ah, well, I mean, yes… could you please tell me the name and phone number of the nurse that helped me tonight? Er, only-"
"Good night, Moroboshi-san!"
As the lights turn off again, Ataru lies down and stares at the ceiling, while distant streetlights faintly illuminate the room. According to his watch, it's 2 am. Since Lum, on a very lame excuse, suddenly decided to briefly leave for her planet ten days ago, he's been having these nightmares. All very much alike, with some variations, but basically concerning Lum actually succeeding in slaying him, one way or the other, and the impossibility for him to avoid it: either he's paralyzed, or fatally wounded, or struggling inside a pool of glue… the Doctors told him that it is very normal to have nightmares regarding a trauma, and that they are just a primal mechanism that the mind employs to cope with the stress, 'to bear the unbearable'. They told him that he has to try to influence his dreams, try to react, planning ahead what to do when the nightmare presents itself again. They made him write down the dream, try to "daydream" the nightmare and influence it, and so on.
Nonsense! He knows that the nightmares are not related to his 'trauma' – What trauma! I had only brief episodes of normal life in a continuum of traumatic life! – but are simply due to his immense guilt, guilt he feels from being caged in a virtual prison he built since being very little. A cage that he willingly entered to protect himself, his most hidden self, from the total lack of love that his family always expressed, since he was born a boy, and not a girl. Even his name is a pun! A cage in which he now feels trapped, struggling to change his lecherousness and lusting ways to real love. Struggling to consciously focus his emotions to a single woman, the one female he knows really loves him dearly, and which he knows just as well he would die for.
Remorse nips him. I am a pervert. How can I love Lum, and still run after every girl that happens to be nearby? He did, and still does, enjoy courting every girl decent enough; even in the face of Lum. He can't help it; the excitement of the hunt, the pleasure of a 'catch'… and then, just how many girls that indeed surrendered and gave him their name, address and phone number did he actually call back to fix up a date?
His mind drifts from memory to memory, listing all the girls he made a pass at. Momoe, Akiko, all Lum's female friends, Sakura, Ryuunosuke, Hiromi… He still thinks about Mayuko. Poor Mayuko! She had been beaten up good, spending almost ten days in a local clinic. Lum did not use electricity, but a sort of very brutal martial art that nobody even suspected she mastered.
Mayuko's sister, Hiromi, came to visit him once Lum was gone, and was actually pretty upset. She came to tell him what Lum did.
Her family believed that Lum came that morning to exterminate them. She was that frightening. Lum hunted Mayuko across the house, tearing down doors and ripping, shredding furniture to pieces; she finally cornered Mayuko in the bathroom, cowering behind the Ofuro like a frightened child. Lum had no pity and did not stop herself. But, once Mayuko admitted that indeed nothing had happened with Ataru, and confessed she was to be blamed for luring him to the love hotel, then she instantly stopped the aggression. She deeply apologized for the injuries and damages… and took a passed out Mayuko flying to the nearest ER for treatment.
Hiromi started crying on Ataru's bed. She was so angry at him, and at Lum. She formally asked him to move away from Earth, and to go live with Lum somewhere far, far away, possibly on the other side of the Galaxy. He was at a loss for words.
And then, she left, still with tears in her eyes.
Then, he thinks about all the times Lum seemed so… weak. And realizes, she must have been pretending, counting all the times she effortlessly just lifted him, even one-handed (143 pounds!) to fly away, or the blazing, sheer speed she possess… or, just how easily she thrashed him when she had amnesia. Lum is WAY stronger than any average man. Maybe Shinobu is stronger, now that he thinks about it. Shinobu! Gods, what about her! What about all the things they shared, since they both were kids. And how everything changed when an Oni came on Earth to claim him.
Mendo. Poor Shutaro! He had to deal with Lum as well, that morning, and all his army would not have been able to protect him… A giggle escapes him. Ha! Even if Lum had not beaten him up, she was pretty much upset with him since he knew that she had amnesia. And he carefully hid Ataru's relationship or her past on Earth to her. Ahhh, he wants so much to have been there to see it- or at least, have a recording! Maybe Ryoko has it… another giggle. A brief visit from the school Principal and the teachers. They brought him textbooks and lots of homework… Sakura was with them, and promised to come back to investigate his dreams. She never did. Megane, Perm, Chibi and Kakugari also came to visit. Mostly to blame him for Lum's leaving the planet a few days earlier… Megane's rants pestered Ataru for at least a couple hours, luckily he got thrown out when some other patient in the nearby rooms complained! Ataru giggles again, bitterly this time. Shucks, what a life I have.
Sleep was now slowly taking over. Slipping into unconsciousness, his last thought was about a cute little girl, in a white dress with a large white hat. She has green hair, blue eyes and tiny fangs, and looks like a miniature Lum. He had dreamed about her before. She's smiling to him… and her name is…
…Hoshiko?...
Beyond nightmares
Once Lum had been sure that her Darling was well being taken care of, she decided to leave Earth to be a bit alone. She kissed Darling and promised him she'll be back soon. Ataru tried to convince her to stay; she could see sincerity in his eyes, but in the end, he let her go, as most probably he had to cope with his own inner troubles as well.
After a day of travel in her spaceship, she reached her home planet, in Uru Star System.
A small wing of four interceptors welcomed her in Oniboshi planetary space and escorted her to low orbit; once landed, she found a pretty worried Mr. Invader waiting for her, as Princess Oyuki relayed Mendo's original radio signal, requesting generic help for Lum's memory loss, to her parents.
But, nothing happened, since she recovered before anyone could actually move. She had called in from her spaceship to reassure them that she recovered and that help was not necessary.
Mr. Invader had her daughter go through an endless series of medical tests, to be sure that what happened did not have long lasting side effects.
While she did describe in detail what happened (the lightning and amnesia), she kept shut with all her friends and family regarding everything else, and requested to be left alone in her apartments within Invader's Palace.
Days have passed, and Lum had all the time and peace to think her whole life over. This morning, she is again lost in her memories.
A deep scar, the memory of her hatred for Darling in those 24 hours. A scar that is maiming her whole being. She secretly wept almost every night, knowing that forgiving herself is no easy task.
None the less, her feelings for Ataru in those 24 hours cannot be dismissed. She did hate Darling. Loathing of a pure, demonic and vicious nature. It felt good hitting and hurting him. And what revolts and scares her more, is that she was not influenced by some drug, or hypnotized, or induced in any way to unnaturally hate him; it was simply that she did not remember Darling at the time.
Lum figures out that if she had the chance to do it all over again, going back in time, there is absolutely no guarantee that she would fall again in love with Ataru. Actually, quite the opposite. She still did not forget the response the Love Computer gave her the first months living on Earth, when Mendo-san was considered a much better match for her than Darling. And her astrological contraption was obviously biased and flawed, and then, still gave a tie response! So, when Shuu chan found her with amnesia, and indeed invited her, and she accepted, she was simply following what the natural course of events should have been.
This thought disturbs her beyond imagination.
Unacceptable! Unforgivable! I LOVE darling! I would DIE for Darling! I want to die for him...
Rage, angst and fear seize her, and screaming she starts thrashing the place. Furniture gets blown to splinters, lightning dancing around her as an uncontrollable fury reaches its climax. A maid runs away, as her parents break inside the room. Mr. Invader seizes his daughter, defying the frightening amount of electricity she's releasing. Once subsided, she breaks down in tears and he literally hands her to her mother, shaking away the brunt of electricity: "Sweetie, you must be real angry at Son in law. Your zaps are almost as strong as your mother's when she's mad at me... or when she's very fond of me!"
"Now please, Dear, that's not something proper to say in front of your daughter. Allow me to talk to her, please, in private".
Mrs. Invader sweetly smiles to her husband, but the stare she gives him is so cold that a thin layer of ice covers every surface within the room. Mr. Invader shivers and without a word stumbles out of the door.
"Lum, baby, what is the matter? What happened? What did that boy do to you".
As she hugs her mother, Lum shakes her head crying. "Mommy... –sniff- I... please, I still have to understand... –sniff-"
A deep, almost inaudible growl escapes her throat.
So the earthling lowlife had his way with my baby while she was totally defenceless.
"Hush, my baby, that's all right. I will have someone sent to Earth to dispose of him, now"
"NO!" Suddenly Lum breaks the embrace, and an expression of horror crosses her face.
"Mom, it's not what you think! It is NOT Darling who did any wrong, its ME!"
A questioning and surprised Mrs. Invader faces her daughter.
"I... don't understand, but I want to help you, my precious! How can I help, if you don't want to talk to me? Please, tell me what happened!"
True concern and care shines in Mrs. Invader's eyes. Lum hasn't seen see such caring light in her mom's eyes for years. She breaks up.
Gathering her strength and sitting beside her mother on the remains of her bed, she starts telling her what happened in those 24 hours. Occasionally crying, she ends her story with Ataru's silent commitment to her, and the absolute awareness of each other's love.
Mrs. Invader is also quietly crying, now. But her tears are of happiness, as what she had hoped for so many years at long last happened; her daughter is now complete, a man will marry her and a new family will form! What a magnificent day.
"Lum, my love. I am speechless, and incredibly happy to learn that Ataru really loves you. Why are you so sad? It is such a beautiful thing..."
"But... I mean, I've hated him! In those 24 hours, I wanted to kill him, I almost did! And, it was not like I did not know what I was doing, I just went on from who I really was couple of years ago, when I used the mating spell all the time..."
She pauses.
"And that's what I still am! I am still Lum the Notorious, the couple buster! WAAAHH!"
"LUM! Get hold of yourself! I will NOT tolerate again something like this from a member of our proud ONI family! I do not care what you did since you were fifteen. That is the past, put it behind you. I did the same, when I was a teenager. The Art is NOT a curse! And, regarding Ataru. It is NOT that you don't love him. You admit it! You care for him, more than anything! And now, you tell me that he DOES care for you? He declared his love for you? And you are SAD? I am not bothered that you thrashed him a bit, emotions are always strong in our race. I want you to be happy; if this means be happy with... 'Darling', so be it. I always liked him, by the way".
"Mom... I am happy. But... I am afraid that something like this may happen again, and that this time, he will not survive. I..."
SLAP!
Lum holds her cheek, ruby red, as a surprised and hurt expression is etched on her face.
"Again, I will not tolerate this nonsense. Please hear yourself; you are basically afraid that you are going to KILL him? A chance that you will selectively lose again your memory because of a traumatic event, according to our family doctor, is virtually non-existent."
Biting her lips, Lum nods.
"You heard him. Either you may be killed because your body cannot cope with that much energy, or much more probably, simply lose consciousness. Lightning induced amnesia in a Raijin Oni has been observed only a handful of times since the shade ages. And, how many times are you going to be struck by lightning? IT - WILL - NOT - HAPPEN - AGAIN. Do you understand?"
Again, Lum weakly nods.
"Good. Now, let's go to the living rooms, and have someone to repair your bedroom. Father is very upset, because I scolded him" She giggled. "Poor Dear. He's such a gold hearted man. He will be very happy to see you now, and I'll have to make do with him tonight to amend..."
Mother and daughter slowly drift away giggling, greatly closer to each other.
That night, a much reassured and happier Lum finally surrenders to sleep.
She dreams of a beautiful garden, with flowers, grass and a small iron table, on which tea is served. A smiling Ran, clothed in a beautiful Baroque style dress, her fangs and pointed ears unmasked, is serving her; Lum, sitting on the iron chair, notes that Ran shines genuine happiness.
Their eyes meet, and Ran tells Lum: "A Star Child. I am wholeheartedly, sincerely happy for you." A single tear crosses Ran's face.
Lum is confused. Then, a charming movement attracts her attention. She turns her head to see a little Oni girl, with a white dress and large hat, innocently and sweetly smiling to her.