とある会議の家族

Toaru Kaigi no Kazoku

A Certain Meeting of the Family

November 23rd, 6:15AM

Tokiwadai Exterior Dormitories

Kuroko was currently stuck with quite the conundrum. She had just woken up, or rather been woken up, by her Onee-sama's electricity. She looked over at the clock and it was quite early, too early to wake the electro master up with a kiss. She figured it would be a good use of her time to make them some breakfast though, and that was where the conundrum came in. Kuroko was loathe to move from this grip but at the same time she wanted to do something for her room mate and her love. She hadn't taken care of her Onee-sama for a long time and she really missed doing so... but at the same time she also hadn't just snuggled with her in a while and she missed doing that as well.

The conundrum was solved when she recalled they would be having lunch with Misaka's parents today so a large breakfast was unnecessary, but it did bring up a question of what to do tomorrow and the next day.

Such mindless debate of trivialities was not truly of note but it did annoy Kuroko's mental cohabitant. Ever since Russia when the two souls had gotten closer they had become a little more aware of each other. Whereas before they couldn't hear much of what the other was thinking they could now get general ideas through their mental link, causing Kuro to get a little annoyed at Shiro. "Pereskia this, pereskia that. Don't you have other things to worry about? Like Aleister's warning yesterday."

Shiro summoned the mask to her armor to prevent her talking from waking up her Onee-sama. While they could get general ideas from each other talking was still the most effective method of communication. "You aren't saying that because you're concerned about the warning... you're saying that because you're worried you won't get any more time with Oneeni now that I'm back in control."

"That isn't it at all," Kuro protested.

Shiro rolled her eyes. It was a two way street, this mental link, much as Kuro could tell that her mind was full of her Onee-sama she could tell that Kuro's mind was full of her clone. "It is a bit of a problem... I would introduce them but... Onee-sama said that she'd hate to meet her clone, that she'd be disgusted and want the clone to disappear. I can't introduce them, even if I want to."

"So what do you plan to do?"

"It would be unfair to say you can't see Oneeni anymore. I want you to be happy. But it is a bit of an issue... Plus I did promise to have no more secrets from Onee-sama and I don't want to have to break that promise."

"If she never asks and it never comes up then not telling her wouldn't be the same as keeping a secret. We'll just have to be smart."

"Ok... but for today at least, while I meet Onee-sama's parents, I want complete control."

"I'm hardly that unreasonable Shiro..."

'Parents...' Kuroko thought. There would be a lot of them visiting over the next few days. Almost every parent who could afford it (and cared about their kid) would petition to visit during the Daihesei and Ichinasei festivals. With all that had gone on in Academy City in the past several months even parents who would normally not even petition would do so out of worry for their child.

Despite the number of petitions very few actually got in. She remembered Uiharu mentioned back during the Daihesei how her parents petitioned every year, despite the fact that they couldn't really afford it, and yet had never gotten ok'ed. Saten's had never visited either, despite their multiple attempts.

It would be a nice gift to them if she could move them up the list. She switched channels on her mouthpiece until she got to the one that she had established with Willow. Then she put in her earpiece as she spoke, "Willow, can you do me a favor? Can you hack into the visitor requests and add the families of Uiharu Kazari and Saten Ruiko?"

"Theoretically I could, but it's easier to just use your authorization as a director to do so," was the response, "I guess I'll do that for you... the only problem is that the request list is full. Some people will need to be removed in order to add them."

"If Touma's family is on there you can remove them, then just choose the other person at random."

"Ok, done. Anything else? Perhaps something worth my time?"

"Nope, sorry."

"Typical..." Willow sighed, as much as a computer can sigh, and cut the line of communication.

With that done and her conversation with Kuro effectively finished, Shiro dismissed the mouthpiece of her helmet and snuggled deeper into Misaka's embrace. The electro-master, as if detecting this, hugged the girl in her arms even tighter, an act that would have been quite pleasant if not for the harsh zap that coincided... actually it was still pleasant, zap or not.

Misaka awoke soon after and was greeted by a good morning kiss, prompt as ever, from Kuroko. She returned the kiss as much as her tired body would let her, but ended up breaking it when she had to yawn.

The teleporter, ever unperturbed when it came to displays of affection, simply kissed her collarbone, causing a slight noise of pleasure to slip out along with the yawn, causing the older girl to blush and push Kuroko's head away. She was about to sputter out something when she was interrupted by a cheery "good morning" from her girlfriend. Misaka sighed and returned it, hugging the smaller girl to her once again as she remembered just why and how much she had missed doing this.

"I'm meeting your parents today," Kuroko reminded her, "as your girlfriend."

"You don't have to sound so pleased about it," Misaka reprimanded the teleporter weakly, a little embarrassed at just how happy the younger girl sounded.

"But I am pleased. After all these months I finally get to be introduced as your girlfriend to somebody... why wouldn't I be excited?" Kuroko explained.

It took only a second to see the underlying feelings in that statement and the guilty followed quicker than that. "Sorry I've been acting so ashamed of you before now... I really am sorry." She apologized.

The auburn haired girl waved it off with a smile, like usual. "It's fine. What's past is past, it does no good to linger on it. Let's focus on what's ahead of us ok Onee-sama?"

"Right..." Misaka agreed hesitantly, "the reservation is for 12 at Posogante, you want to walk or teleport?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to walk on your own. I still have a bit of business to finish up before that. But don't worry, I'll definitely be there on time," Kuroko informed her.

"What business?"

"Just some more stuff with Aleister-sama, it shouldn't take too long. I was thinking of going around 11, when you'd have to leave to get to Posogante on time if you're walking."

Misaka looked at the clock and saw that it was still quite early and they had a few more hours left. Even if she took an hour to get ready (which she never did) they still had a couple of hours to burn before that time. "So what were you planning on doing?"

Suddenly the electro master heard a sensual whisper in her ear as it said, "guess..."

She blushed and zapped Kuroko for the as she stood up, "jeez... is that all you think about? I never should have agreed to do it the first time..."

Kuroko frowned, having hoped that would work and disappointed that it didn't. She noted that the shock was less harsh than it typically would've been for such an action and guessed that that meant her Onee-sama was being more careful, which was a good thing, or wasn't as opposed to the idea as she let on, which was a better thing. The second option was not improbable, but if she pushed for it and was wrong then Misaka would be angry at her, which would be a detriment to the meeting, which needed to go perfectly.

She'd press it another time, but for now she simply stood up on legs that were still shaking slightly from the shock and gave her Onee-sama a hug. "If you don't want to do that then how about we rehearse what we're going to say at lunch?"

"Rehearse? We don't need to rehearse," Misaka protested, "I don't want it to be scripted like that."

"But what if I mess up and say something that makes your parents hate me?" Kuroko asked, clearly worried.

"They won't hate you... just be yourself," Misaka said comfortingly as she turned to stroke Kuroko's hair and return the hug, "they really are nice people and I'm sure they'll love you."

Kuroko looked up at her, "what about you? When the time comes will you be able to say, 'this is Kuroko, my girlfriend' without choking up?"

"O-of course," the older girl stuttered as an even deeper blush overtook her face.

The younger girl looked up at her skeptically in response. "Perhaps we should practice it. Just to make sure. That way I get to hear it a lot as well."

Misaka rolled her eyes, "so that was your angle... Fine, whatever. I'm going to go have a shower first though."

"Yes, that sounds lovely. Let's go," Kuroko smiled as she began to go towards the bathroom when she felt Misaka's hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

"I never said you could join me. Even though last time you said you wouldn't let your hands wander, guess what they did?"

"Onee-sama," the younger girl whined, "it was an accident."

"Accidents don't happen five times a minute Kuroko," Misaka said testily, "I'm going in alone."

The teleporter looked absolutely devastated. "But... Onee-sama... please... I'll do better this time, please," she begged.

For a moment Misaka's resolve wavered then she sighed and came to a decision. She held out her hand, "handcuffs."

Kuroko looked confused for a second and then realized what was going on. The devastated look left her face to be replaced by one of happiness as she handed Misaka the handcuffs and turned around to let the older girl cuff her hands behind her back. It was a fair compromise and a worthwhile sacrifice to make to feel the pure bliss of being so close to Onee-sama while she was having a shower.

Several minutes later Kuroko was rubbing her wrists as Misaka held her on her lap and brushed the smaller girl's hair. 'You and your mixed signals...' the teleporter sighed internally even as she revelled in the closeness. A wide smile broke out across her face as Misaka, while still brushing the younger girl's hair, began attempting to say "This is Kuroko, my girlfriend," without stuttering. Every time she said it, even partially, the grin got wider.

This practice continued as Misaka put Kuroko's hair up in the bows and then they switched so that Kuroko was doing Misaka's hair. Finally, after many failed attempts and a few successful ones it was time for Misaka to go.

Kuroko regretted this necessity but she knew that she still had work to do, and the faster she did it the faster they could be together again. So she got dressed and disappeared as Misaka did the same.

Misaka's blush lasted for about a quarter of an hour or so, more than a mile, before it began to die down. It had been an extremely embarrassing morning... but not an unenjoyable one. A bit of embarrassment was worth it at times, especially when the embarrassing action brought such happiness to another person.

After another half an hour her mind eventually left the events of that morning, killing any lingering hints of the blush, as she began to wonder what was going to happen at the restaurant. Did Okaa-san really want to apologize to her? Should she apologize herself? She had, after all, overreacted to things hadn't she?

She'd apologize if her mother did, she decided as she walked down the street.

Suddenly she saw a couple people who she hadn't expected to see here. She ran up to them. "Papa, Okaa-san? What are you doing here?"

"Ah, Mikoto, we were just heading to the restaurant," her father explained looking at her and then behind her, as if looking if there was someone else, "it's nice to see you again."

"The restaurant is that way," she said and pointed to the direction they had come from.

Misuzu sighed, "I told you we were lost... Why do men always insist on consulting maps instead of just asking someone for directions."

Tabigake frowned and blushed slightly at this particular embarrassment, "right... well then. Lead on." he said to Misaka as he stepped aside.

'Papa... Okaa-san... so those are her parents huh?' thought The Hanged Man as he watch the proceedings from a short ways away, 'it's truly terrible to live with the death of a child... They might not be on the list but perhaps it would be more merciful to kill them as well.' The onlooker pushed a button on the remote in his hand.

Misaka's power warned her of the sudden movement with just enough time to tackle her parents out of the way of the 2 cars that had just crashed down on their previous location. She looked back to see two massive blobs made of a material that looked like liquid mirrors given how shiny it was. The reflectiveness of it made it incredibly disorienting to look at. Even if you ignored the blinding light it shone into the eyes of anyone who looked at it, the reflective surface made it next to impossible to judge how far away you were from it. If it were not for Misaka's powers she couldn't have dodged it even if she knew it was coming, like fighting in a house of mirrors when it was the mirrors themselves that wanted to kill you.

The blobs reared up, as if a snake preparing to strike. Misaka grabbed the crumpled cars with magnetism and smashed them into the blobs, causing the tendrils of liquid metal to double back into the main body, but otherwise the attack seemed to do nothing. The blobs continued to lurch towards them slowly but steadily.

"Run," Misaka called out to her parents as she desperately smashed the cars against the blobs, hoping to slow them down, a goal she was only partially successful in. The effort didn't last long before the blobs caught the cars in their liquid metal tendrils and crushed them completely with their immense weight.

Tabigake was torn by what to do. He didn't want to leave his daughter to fight these things... but he was pretty sure they were after him so if he ran then they would chase him and leave Mikoto alone, on the other hand there was a small risk that they were after his little girl instead, and if that was the case then leaving wouldn't serve to lure these things away and he would just be abandoning his daughter when she was in danger, and he could never do that and look her in the eye again, assuming she even managed to make it out alive...

Luckily the decision was made by his wife, who, having no such suspicions that these things were after them (why would they be attacking a housewife and a businessman?), said, "we're not about to leave you to deal with this on your own. Either you run with us or we stay."

Normally a mix of stubbornness and concern would have made Misaka protest this with every fibre of her being, but she had similar thoughts to her father, thinking that they were after her but unwilling to leave her parents alone in case she was wrong, so instead she decided that it was best to stay with them as they suggested. However, her concern for her parents safety did cause her to make a decision she normally would never make willingly.

She tore up every street lamp from the ground and shot it into the ground in criss-crosses between them and the blobs then turned around, "Then I'll run with you," she said as she began to sprint away from the scene.

She didn't get far before her exit path was cut off by another blob, stretched long to block the entire width of the street. She thought about throwing another car at it to make a path but that would put them within reach of the thing and she wasn't willing to risk their lives with nothing but the hope that it would be too slow to crush them.

Unfortunately now they found themselves surrounded. Misaka looked at the buildings around them and was distressed to see that they were brick and mortar without any metal in sight to let her climb. There was no water to form into wings either. In other words they were completely trapped. She needed to fight, and more importantly figure out who was doing this, she needed to figure out who dared to try and hurt her parents. And once she had figured it out she needed to make them pay...

Tabigake watched as his daughter took a deep breath, seemingly overcoming the slight panic that had been gripping her just a second before and turned around, not towards them but towards the two other blobs behind them, who had crushed the street lamp barrier as if it were rice paper. The man felt the phone in his pocket heat up as tendrils of electricity snaked out from his daughter's hair in a far more controlled fashion than they had during yesterdays outburst. He then heard a slight pop from the pocket his cell phone was in as she approached and then went past them. "Stay there, I'll take care of this," she said, in a calm but terrifying tone oddly reminiscent of the one he used yesterday when the topic of boyfriends came up.

A normal person would have shut up right then and there but he had used that voice enough to not be intimidated, and was about to protest when he heard a loud crack from behind him. He turned to see as the single long blob at the end of the street as it was bombarded by lightning from above despite the completely clear sky. The bright flashes and loud accompany booms of thunder made it hard to look at so he turned around again to see as his little girl walked out to about halfway between them and the blobs, fishing around in her pocket for something as lightning snaked out along the street, grabbing at the crushed, discarded cars and street lamps as well as anything metal and everything metal that they could touch.

Tabigake could only stare in wonder as things weighing hundreds of pounds each lifted from the ground as if they were made of helium and shot towards one of the metal blobs with the speed of javelins as they began to pummel the liquid from all sides, not giving it a chance to move or to capture the pieces of metal under it's mass.

The other one she casually raised a fist to. She flipped what appeared to be a coin up into the air. When it came back all he saw was a flash of light and the crack of a minor explosion as the coin shot forward so fast that a trail of plasma was left behind. When it hit the blob the metal exploded back, punching a large hole in its mass.

The hole closed quickly however and the blob continued lurching forward. Misaka frowned and reached back into her pocket, picking out all of the coins and floating them in the air with her magnetism.

She was really drained at the moment with all the power she was using, but she didn't notice or care. Right now she had a single goal in mind, to protect her parents and punish the person that was trying to hurt them. Anything else, like her ever increasing exhaustion or counting the number of goals she had, was irrelevant.

'It was 9 shots a minute last SYSTEM_SCAN,' Misaka thought, 'lets see if we can't speed that up a bit.'

Tabigake knew his daughter was a level five, and he somewhat understood what that meant. He had heard of what her power was and had a rough idea of what she could do with it. He also knew of her nickname, "The Railgun" and knew the function and capability of such devices.

However, even with all that knowledge he could not help but be utterly amazed with what he saw next. One after the other coins moved towards her finger and, with a single flick, she sent them speeding along at several times the speed of sound, easily punching holes the size of bicycle tires every couple seconds into a mass of metal so large it could probably overwhelm and crush a tank. He saw another blob being swatted down by sheets and chunks and poles of metal as if it were nothing more than a particularly troublesome fly. The third, he briefly glanced to check, was in an even worse state. The heat from the constant barrage of lightning bolts had caused it to turn molten red. It seemed to swell from the heat and hadn't moved an inch, as if it were incapable of doing so.

Misaka seemed to notice this and began to think about what it could mean. She could vaguely detect a signal from a remote control going to the blobs so she knew that they weren't moving by the power of any ESPer or Magician, meaning it's movements would follow the natural laws of the universe. Metal expanded easily with heat, so if it expanded enough it could jam whatever mechanism allowed it to move, or possibly the heat just fried whatever electrical components received the data.

With that information she stopped her relentless attacks on the other two and waited a little while. Despite all the damage they pulled themselves together. It seemed heat was the only way to disable them. She focused as much power as could to turn them into glowing red heaps as well. While she did this she looked around for bio-electrical signals that might indicate the presence of another person.

As it turns out she didn't need, to. She could see a man walk out of an alley in front of her and point a gun at her. The man was quite tall and had tan skin of middle eastern descent, Turkey to be exact but Misaka did not know or care about this piece of trivia. He wore a long lab coat and goggles. He sighed and spoke in an accented voice, saying, "All this amazing technology I've created and I still need to resort to such primitive methods as firearms... what a waste."

Misaka barely had time to comprehend this before her vision was blocked by the body of her father as he stood in front of her. Her mother wrapped her arms around her protectively, willing and ready to take any bullet that was meant for her daughter herself.

"How dare you point a gun at my daughter," Tabigake roared, pulling out his own gun and pointing it at the man.

The Hanged Man didn't have time or patience to point out that every girl was somebody's daughter and that his was nothing special. He understood why the man was upset and sympathized with him, it was in fact why he was doing this posturing, rather than killing her with the gun from safe behind the corner... well that and the fact that he was useless with a gun. He had trouble hitting the broad side of a barn with it. But the main reason wasn't that, it was the fact that had know her parents would run up and protect her from the gun, even if such an action would cost them their own lives... and indeed it would, but now they could at least hold each other when they died, and neither parent nor child would have to watch the other die, a suffering The Hanged Man couldn't bring himself to inflict when there was another option. They would all die in a moment, it was kindest to let them die together.

Misaka knew her parents loved her more than anything, she knew she shouldn't be surprised at their actions here, but she still found herself a little shocked at how quickly and without hesitation that they had thrown themselves in the bullet's path. The surprise lasted maybe a second, not because it wasn't something she should be surprised about, but rather because something else took up all her attention at that moment. She looked up barely in time to see another metal blob falling from the roof of the building beside them directly onto her and her parents.

She barely had time to register the fact that there was no way to escape being crushed before the massive blob of liquid metal hit the ground with a massive crash of cracking asphalt and the somewhat more softer but far more visceral sound of snapping bones and crushed flesh as she watched the impact send dust and debris into the air and whizzing by Misaka's ear.

It took a second for Misaka to wonder how she could possibly see the thing collide with the ground if she had been under it. It took another second for the dust to settle enough to reveal the silhouette of a familiar shape as it turned around. Another second saw the dust settle enough to reveal the outline and then the form of Kuroko as she took a couple of steps towards The Hanged Man and rammed her head into his stomach, causing him to double over. She then jerked her head upward, catching him under the chin. Then she finished off with a simple yet effective headbutt to the face that caused him to fall unconscious. A second later she disappeared, reappearing instantaneously in front of Misaka and looking at her with a worried face, "Onee-sama are you okay?"

It was only upon being asked this question that Misaka realized just how tired she was. However it didn't last long as her attention was immediately drawn to Kuroko's arms, or rather... the place where her arms should be. Everything above the elbow of one arm was gone while the other had a shattered bone and bits off flesh hanging off of it. She also noticed, as an afterthought, that the bits of light that filled the gaps of the skin when the arms were still intact were exactly where they always were, unperturbed by the fact that the surrounding flesh was no longer there.

"Kuroko, your arms," the electro master gasped squeamishly when she saw this.

"Huh?" the teleporter said as she looked down, "Oh..." the word was said so completely dismissively and free from care, it sounded more like she was being told that she had a hangnail rather than two missing limbs. The most she did was teleport a couple small discs of metal in to stop the bleeding and then her attention was back to her Onee-sama, "I'll be fine in a little while, more importantly what about you?" The concern that the younger girl should have had for herself shone in her eyes as she looked Misaka over, "I'm so sorry for taking so long. If I... If we..."

"Never mind about that we have to get you to a hospital."

"I'll call an ambulance," Misuzu said, just as panicked as her daughter upon seeing this.

"Won't work. Our cell phones were burnt out by the electricity," Tabigake explained, sounding about as worried as Kuroko seemed to be, almost as if he knew that the injury wasn't as major as it looked.

"Mine's functioning," Misaka said, knowing that hers was shielded against electricity and getting it out of her pocket.

"I'm fine," Kuroko assured her, "please don't worry. Don't let this ruin everything..." she looked up at the two adults, "Onee-sama said you were going to Posogante correct? You just need to turn right at the end of this street and just take the second street to your right, you should see the sign after a little while. We'll join you shortly."

"But..." Misuzu began when her husband placed a hand on her shoulder.

"There's nothing we can do," Tabigake said to his wife then looked at his daughter, "we'll leave this to you. Text us if you can't make it, otherwise we'll see you there."

Mikoto nodded as she turned back to Kuroko. She was pretty sure the teleporter was just putting on a brave face in front of her parents. Maybe once they left she'd accept her help.

The two began walking, Misuzu frequently looking back in worry but allowing her husband to lead her away from the scene.

Tabigake could tell his wife was upset, and he was too. He definitely needed to get to the bottom of this, but that was a matter for another time. Right now he needed to be strong and calm for his wife and daughter.

"Our daughter's really... something isn't she? That power... I knew she was a level five but I never really stopped to think what that mean," Tabigake said as he walked along.

"Oh, yeah you didn't see her demonstration last year at the Ichinasei..." Misuzu replied, slightly distracted still by what had just happened. Her husband's calm, unperturbed demeanour helped relax her as always but she was still in a state of shock.

"Yeah..." the man sighed, "Something came up and I had to miss it... and her power completely ruined the camera so I couldn't even see it second hand."

"The demonstration was nothing like that though... Sure it was quite the spectacle but it was like a spark of static compared to what we just saw," she told him remembering the sheer power that her daughter had just displayed.

"That's what happens when you're trying to protect the people you care about. We get strength enough to move mountains."

"Or to ignore the pain of having one's arms torn clean off," Misuzu added as she remembered the girl who had saved all of their lives, "I think we've discovered who our daughter's girlfriend is..."

"Most probably. She was always talking about her in her phone calls."

"She's her best friend. It makes sense that she'd want to play romance with her. They're even room mates so it's quite convenient," the woman reasoned, still sure that it was nothing more than that. She actually thought it was a good thing, that playing romance at a younger age helped prepare you for real romance in the future. The only thing that she was wary about was that she might form an identity around something that only ended up being a phase, an identity which could cause her quite a bit of agony. She had just wanted to comfort her daughter yesterday, to tell her that just because she liked a girl right now didn't mean that she was a freak, to tell her that it was normal and it didn't mean that she was gay. If she did end up being gay then Misuzu would accept her completely, but she just felt that her daughter was too young to know for sure yet.

"She seems like a good kid," Tabigake remarked offhandedly.

"I didn't really get a chance to talk to her during the Daihesei... Mikoto seemed to deliberately try and get me away from her. Looking back on it she was probably embarrassed. Given how she was so willing to throw herself in harms way to protect us and given how her first priority after doing so was to check on how Mikoto was doing I'd say she's a pretty good girl. She's quite a cute kid as well. Our daughter always loved cute things..." Misuzu continued on as they finally arrived at the restaurant

Once the pair of adults had turned the corner and gone out of sight Misaka began to go back to panicking when she saw something strange. "Kuroko... your blood... why has it turned black?'

"Magic Pereskia," Kuro said, taking a deep breath and concentrating.

Suddenly something clicked, "wait.. all those times you said that something was magic... you actually meant it?"

"Indeed we did. Shiro doesn't like lying so she tried to tell the truth when she could. Luckily the truth is so unbelievable that no one listened anyway." Kuro explained as the black blood began flowing upwards, towards the girl's wounds, gathering around the flesh near the breaking point and also around the still present spots of glowing energy. "This is the second most useful aspect of my magic. Regeneration... or at least something like it."

"But... if you can regenerate then why are you hurt?" Misaka asked, surprised how she took the concept in stride by this point.

"Because it isn't exactly regeneration. As you can see, rather than growing my arms back, it's more like they're repairing themselves... coming back together one drop of blood at a time," Kuro waved her arms, which now looked like a bunch of floating blood vessels, to demonstrate as bits of bone and muscle now began reintegrating themselves, "My body is frozen in one point of time and my magic makes sure it goes back to that point if something like an injury causes it to divert. Unfortunately that Neanderthal, as Shiro calls him, is capable of resetting the magic, making my body reset its default state to whichever one it is now in. In other words if someone punched me in the nose it would go back, if he punched me in the nose it would stay broken and never heal... unless of course Az did something." Kuro visibly shuddered at that name.

"Az?" Misaka asked.

"He goes by Heaven Canceller nowadays. Anyway, he can reverse it, but if he does I need to heal naturally. Which is why I was in a wheelchair for so long during the Daihesei, because he touched me and I couldn't regenerate. Anyway... when Apep, the giant snake thing, came out the flesh that it touched was destroyed completely, so my body had nothing to call back, which is why it can't heal. It's also why my mana is nigh constantly being drained by a considerable amount..."

Misaka shook her head as she looked at Kuroko's now mostly repaired arms, "you've lost me... but I suppose it doesn't really matter. I'm just glad that you're fine."

Kuro nodded as she finished regenerating, looking almost as good as new, though the sleeves of the uniform were still shredded. "Do you need to go home and change?" Misaka asked.

"No... Remember how I said that regeneration was the second most useful aspect of my magic. Kiss me and I'll show you the most useful..."

Misaka looked confused for a second then remembered that she needed a kiss to transform and went up to do so, however she suddenly stopped before getting there. "Hold on a second... I thought that ESPers could do magic."

"I'm not an ESPer. Shiro is. I do magic, she does the teleportation. Since the thing I'm going to show you is a mix of the two either of us can utilize it and she has an easier time doing so than I do."

"But if that's true then how did you do both at the Windowless Building?"

"To be honest I don't really know. Things were confusing back then... We could switch rapidly without a kiss which we can no longer do."

It was a bit suspicious but... it wasn't like Misaka didn't want to kiss her, so she stepped up and gave her girlfriend a quick peck (doing more on a random street would be too embarrassing) and then stepped back to watch. She saw Kuroko smile as emotion and light returned to her eye then saw her damaged school uniform disappear to be replaced by a new one. "How did you do that? That's a complete violation of conservation of mass?" she asked astonished.

"Not really... I didn't create it out of thin air... I stored it, and a lot of other things, in these," she explained as she showed her the talisman that created the Horn of Gabriel effect, "and just recalled it again when I needed it. I can explain it in detail another time though, we wouldn't want to keep your parents waiting now would we?"

"Umm... sorry for the delay," Misaka said nervously to her parents as she walked up to the table.

"It's no big deal... is your friend ok?" Misuzu asked, worried about the little girl.

"I'm fine," Kuroko said peeking around Misaka to smile at them, her arm fully intact.

"Before we go any farther... I..." Misaka began before taking a deep breath, "this is Kuroko, my girlfriend."

"Is that so," Misuzu said neutrally as she smiled at Kuroko who herself looked positively ecstatic at hearing this. It was actually kind of cute how happy she looked.

She stepped out from behind Misaka and bowed at the two, "yes, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you and your daughter but please take care of me." she said politely. Kuroko was nervous but the happiness was drowning out that anxiety. She had a formal and very polite tone and seemed to be picking her words carefully.

"We've caused you more trouble today than the other way around," Tabikake said, "so please, don't worry about it."

Mikoto sat down and Kuroko settled next to her. A particularly perceptive person would notice the tension in her shoulders from having to hold herself back from getting closer to her Onee-sama, but she knew she couldn't afford to mess this up.

"So tell us a little bit about yourself Kuroko-chan," Misuzu said somewhat playfully, "we've heard about you from Mikoto but..." she trailed off, unsure how to say the next part without sounding offensive.

"It's mostly bad things?" Kuroko filled in for her, "yeah I know. Most of what people say about me isn't very positive, I'm a hard person to like. But trust me when I say I do it all because I care about your daughter and, to a lesser degree, this city."

"She's told us that before too," Misuzu said with a smile as she looked at her daughter who was blushing and looking at the floor as if trying to stare a hole in it big enough to crawl into, "by the "care for the city" bit are you referring to your job in Judgment?"

"Among other things," Kuroko nodded in agreement.

"Do you enjoy your work for them?"

"Very much so. It's a joy to be able to help people, even with all the paperwork and drudgery in between."

Misuzu giggled, "a lot of jobs are like that... enjoyable bits buried under a mountain of paperwork you need to get through first. So tell us... does our little girl get in much trouble with you guys?"

The electro master's mother could practically see the smile freeze on the younger girl's face as her mind raced at how to answer that question.

"She does not get into much trouble with Judgment recently..." The teleporter answered quickly but after incredible mental gymnastics.

"Implying she does get into trouble with other people," the mother pursued. Her daughter obviously didn't fill them in on every little thing and seemed particularly inclined to avoid talking about any of her wrongdoings. They used to be able to keep track of her based on the bill that was sent to them each month for property damages she accrued, but that had stopped several months ago. She had presumed that meant Mikoto had stopped causing damage but it had seemed a bit sudden.

Again the mental strain was clearly visible in Kuroko's eyes, "she's... worth it?" the teleporter defended weakly. Mikoto glared at the two of them angrily.

Misuzu sighed as she looked at her daughter, "and here I thought you were finally calming down."

"I am," Misaka defended, "name me one crime I've committed in the past month," she demanded of Kuroko.

"High treason comes to mind," the teleporter whispered, out loud she said, "she really is calming down. She sometimes gets caught in unfortunate circumstances where elements out of her control force her to cause people trouble, but she doesn't intentionally seek out conflict or anything. She's more unlucky than anything else."

Misuzu laughed again, "she's lucky to have a friend like you."

"Girlfriend," Kuroko reminded. She had fought hard for that title and she wasn't about to let anyone forget it.

"Sorry, girlfriend," Misuzu corrected, somewhat offhandedly. Not enough for Misaka to detect but Kuroko was a little more sensitive to such things. Misuzu still wasn't completely willing to admit that it was a serious relationship, she doubted she would unless it lasted through their teen years, a very unlikely scenario.

"So you're in the same school as Misaka correct? Tokiwadai," Misuzu asked Kuroko, switching gears.

"Yes, year one."

"Are you excited for this Ichinasei festival? Do you have any family coming to visit?"

"I don't have a family... never have really. The only time I know of when I've been in close proximity to my parents is at my birth, and I'm sure they would have done that by remote control if they could," Kuroko shrugged, trying to keep her voice upbeat and nonchalant despite the bitterness she felt.

"I-I'm sorry to hear that," Misuzu apologized hastily.

"Don't be. It's not like it would matter here anyway. In Academy City your classmates, colleagues, and friends become your family, so in that sense I have a great family most of whom probably will come to visit, given that our school is having the festival on the 25th while the others are having them a bit later..."

"Hmmm? Is that why you call Mikoto Onee-sama?" Misuzu mused

Kuroko and Misaka both blushed, albeit for different reasons. "No...not quite..." the teleporter began, "it's kind of a tradition at our school to call senpai who you have particular respect or admiration for Onee-sama."

'I always hated that tradition,' Misaka thought. Given that she as a level five, the Ace of Tokiwadai, she had had so many people calling her that, and she hated it so much each time, not that anyone knew that besides Kuroko, who had just used that information to annoy her.

"Mikoto always wanted to have a younger brother or sister," the older woman noted with an almost imperceptible tinge of sadness. While Kuroko knew that the whole "Onee-sama" thing had original upset Misaka she had never really known the meaning behind it. In truth the electro master had almost been a big sister.

It had been several years ago when Misaka was only four years old. After the bundle of joy that was their first child, Misuzu was quick to decide to make another one and after a couple years of trying she had finally gotten pregnant again. She had been very happy and told the young Misaka that she would soon be an older sister.

The toddler had been thrilled when she heard about this. "When's my baby sister going to come?" She had demanded to know as she shimmied up her mother's leg to crawl onto her lap.

"Not for quite a few months dear. And it might be a baby brother," Her mother chuckled as she helped the young girl onto her lap.

"What's my baby sister's name?" She asked, adamant that it would be a little girl rather than a stinky, cooty-ridden boy.

"If it's a girl I think I'll call her... Tsuki. If it's a boy... Rin," she decided. Tabigake had picked out Mikoto for their first child, so it was only fair that she got to decide what their second would be called.

During the following month Mikoto did little else but talk about her future little sister. She talked about how she would teach her how to swing on the swings and tie her shoes and play all the little games that Misaka played with the other children, she talked about how she would protect her little sister from bugs and dogs and mean kids. She constantly boasted about how she would be the best big sister ever.

So when, at the end of the month, Misuzu had miscarried, Mikoto had been utterly devastated by the news. She had cried the whole day. As if that wasn't enough Misuzu had been told that she was infertile and that the chance of her ever having a child was astronomically high. Just having Mikoto had been a miracle, asking for another one was just asking for disappointment. Eventually Misuzu had moved on, but Mikoto had never completely moved past the loss of the sibling that could have been. Whenever she was called Onee-sama at school it just reminded her of her want for a younger sister and the fact that she didn't have one. These girls who called her Onee-sama weren't her younger sisters, they were her kouhai and nothing would ever change that.

Eventually, with the introduction of Kuroko into the equation, the word had become enshrouded in more good memories than bad and when "real" younger sisters in the form of the clones came around she had finally been satisfied.

Back in the present Misuzu was moving on to her next question as the drinks arrived.

"Do you know what you want to do when you grow up?"

"Well I figure I keep on working until I'm 18 then I can retire and focus on starting a family."

"A housewife eh? That's what Mikoto put down for her future aspirations when she was 8 years old," Misuzu said fondly and the girl in question blushed deeper still.

"I think that was 6 years old actually... 8 was bride wasn't it? Right after the princess thing when she was 7," Tabikake corrected, revelling in his own fond memories.

Kuroko meanwhile was smiling so damn widely with that stupid far off look in her eye. Misaka touched her thigh and electrocuted her, venting her embarrassment in the usual manner, albeit far more discreetly than it usually was. Her parents were too busy reminiscing to notice the twitches of pain from their guest and by the time Misaka had brought them back to earth by clearing her throat, the electro master had removed her hand from the teleporter's lap and Kuroko had recovered from the pain.

Misuzu continued to smile but she had realized the implication of the younger girl's words. The girl wanted to be a wife, meaning she knew she was just playing romance with Misaka and would someday move on and marry someone else. The auburn haired girl knew this relationship wouldn't last. She obviously wasn't just leading the girl on or anything like that, she did seem to genuinely care about Misaka to a great degree, but perhaps it was the teleporter's maturity that let her realize just how unlikely this was to ever work out in the long term whereas their daughter seemed to think that it would.

Still... Misuzu could tell that the younger girl cared enough so as to never hurt her little girl, and she supposed that was all that mattered with puppy love like this.

She continued to ask questions and get to know her daughter's girlfriend, teasing Mikoto every now and then as usual, partly to make it less awkward, a necessary task considering her husbands sombre, contemplative silence throughout most of the conversation.

She really should tell him off for that later. At least she was making an effort to show that she was open and accepting of her daughter and trying to at least act like she didn't think that this was all just a temporary thing. Granted it was her who had brought it up and made Mikoto angry in the first place so it was mostly her that needed to do this in order to apologize... but still, a little support would be fine, he should have at least acted as intimidating as he would have if this was a boyfriend to show that they were taking things seriously...

The meal passed without incident. Once it was over and the bill was paid they began to leave. The plan had been, if things had gone well, to invite her to do more things, but their daughter looked both mentally and physically exhausted and, though the electro master made an offer to continue the outing out of courtesy, and perhaps a bit of disregard for her health, but Misuzu and Tabigake declined. "You look like you could use some rest dear," she said, "to be honest we could as well isn't that right honey?" she looked over at Tabigake who immediately nodded, "We'll be there at your festival and we can continue to hang out after that. OK?"

"That sounds good Okaa-san, thank you." she smiled.

Kuroko bowed, "Thank you for meeting me, I had a nice time." she said politely.

"It was nice meeting you as well," Misuzu replied equally politely, bowing as well.

"Take care of our daughter for us," Tabigake told Kuroko in a polite tone of voice that hid the steel of the words that suggested that it was more of an order than a request and trouble would follow if it were not done.

"I will," Kuroko assured him, her own tone a repeat of what it had been last night when she had told the man that she would give her life to protect the electro master if necessary.

With that the pair left and Misaka and Kuroko looked at each other. "That wasn't so bad... I told you they'd love you."

Kuroko nodded and suddenly said, "I'm going to pass out in a second. I think I over exhausted myself. Do you mind carrying me home?"

"Do you need to go to a hospital," Misaka asked, concerned.

"No, I just need some rest. You're tired yourself so I can see if I can make it back but I don't think I can and I'm just warning you so you don't worry whe-" Kuroko collapsed mid-sentence, leaving Misaka barely enough time to catch her. The sudden weight, tiny though it may be, caused the older girl's legs to give out. She realized she was about to pass out as well as stars entered her vision. She had been ignoring her fatigue for far too long but now that all of her business was over and she was safe she finally gave in to her body's scream for respite.

Between the Lines: 1

A few seconds after the pair collapsed Tabigake, who had come back to the street to make a telephone call after telling his wife to go back without him, rushed over. "dammit... I knew she overexerted herself back there," he said as he ran over to check they were ok, "This is probably all his fault. That damn Aleister, probably trying to get rid of me rather than let me retire... just like the Yakuza."

"You overestimate your importance and underestimate my efficiency," came a voice behind him, Tabigake grabbed his gun, turned, and fired at the white haired man standing behind him. However the gun seemed to jam and the bullet didn't fire. The man shook his head, "even if you were important enough to necessitate killing you, if I wanted you dead I could do it any time without such theatrics. As much as you might want a scapegoat for your resentment I am not to blame."

"Aleister... what the hell are you doing here, away from that gilded tower of yours..."

"This is the first time since the incident since she has been hurt. I want to ensure that she is still safe and I am the only person I can trust to do so," He responded truthfully. If something went wrong only a few people had enough power to deal with it, Aiwass was off playing with Accelerator and his own little girl and Aleister didn't really trust him anyway. Heaven Canceler was busy with surgery at the moment. Lammington and Vyers had left for a little while, and the only other person was currently busy as well, leaving just himself. Since it was within the city he wasn't risking anything by sending this form down to ensure the child was all right.

"Bullshit," Tabigake accused, "since when did you care about anybody at all. And I know this happened because of you, even if you didn't do it yourself. Didn't I tell you not to get my family involved dammit?"

"I believe your words were... do you know what it means to make an enemy of a mere father? I would suggest you heed your own advice... you are not the only one with a child at stake here... you are, however, the only one of us who isn't doing anything about it."

Tabigake looked at Aleister quizzically, his utter surprise overwriting the anger at the accusation the other man had levelled at him, "you have a kid?"

"Several, much as I have people who I do care about, one of whom you are standing in the way of me reaching, a position which I suggest you leave immediately."

"Not until I get some answers..."

Suddenly Aleister disappeared and his voice began speaking from behind Tabigake. "you will have your answers soon, but I dislike having to repeat myself and she needed to leave to protect your daughter before I could explain it to her."

Tabigake spun around to see as the man picked up Mikoto and the auburn haired girl who she still clutched in her arms. He was about to rage at him when he continued, "I shall return this pair to their rooms and when she is rested I will tell you both the situation."

Tabigake growled as the man disappeared. Then he sighed, "Just when I think I'm out they pull me back in..."

Author's Note: In this chapter Kuroko does something which she'll do many more times throughout this story... abuse her power and position in order to get what she wants. She does this because she's not a perfectly virtuous person... because perfectly virtuous people don't exist. Before she didn't because she separated the black knight from herself in her mind and therefore didn't utilize any of the powers she had because she didn't think that they existed. Now she's perfectly willing to use it to her advantage. She shouldn't, but she does, because you would... power corrupts. It's good that she's as simple-minded and unambitious as she is, she doesn't really abuse it to any significant degree.

She's still the good guy because she does way more good than bad but the fact is that she does do some bad and I acknowledge that, she does abuse her power, and she does go a bit yandere at times (in the future... look forward to it), and she does hurt people... but she saves so many more people than she hurts and never hurts people for no reason that it's forgiveable when she does a bit of bad.

Anyway, here's the continuation to the meeting I set up in chapter two. There will be more of these parents and also the introduction of the families of Saten and Uiharu coming up in a few chapters, as well as the reintroduction of one of my favorite characters, so look forward to it.