Chapter Eight - Raiding The Icebox


HINATA-SOU, LATE DECEMBER 2000

Mutsumi Otohime had been at the Hinata-Sou long before all but two of its current residents, and yet she was also its newest resident. Her part in the fractious love affair between Keitaro Urashima and Naru Narusegawa could not have been more fundamental, and yet since her return, she had also been a tangential figure. This was understandable.

Of all who lived there, her ties to her family were likely the strongest of all, with nary a sign of strain or stress, and she was not only easily able to return home at any time, she was encouraged to do so, yet allowed to go back to the Sou whenever she saw fit. Arguably, there was nothing preventing Keitaro from visiting home, and Naru's strains with her family were never as great as for her to be truly unwelcome. Shinobu's parents were largely reconciled and talk of separation or divorce ended. Kitsune had been sent there as a pre-emption to true banishment, a safety valve meant to stop her leaving on the heels of a confrontation. Motoko's family shrine was open to her at any time. Wherever it was Su came from, she had mentioned missing it and her family, but never had she spoken about being unable to go back.

But Keitaro's parents, while loving their son still felt in a mostly unspoken way that his successful entry into Tokyo University stood somewhat in spite of them. While Naru had reconciled with her mother, stepfather and step-sister Mei, she had functioned so long without them, Keitaro intruding on the onsen (prior to their recent start as a couple) was more comfortable for her than dinner-table chit-chat at what had been home. Shinobu's parents argued to get along, and while for them, it was functional and healthy, to the young girl, it was a painful reminder of a time when her paternal grandmother had filled her head with nightmares of being bounced from relative to relative, divorce being unthinkable to the old woman. Kitsune had developed her freelance writing as a means of not calling back home and dealing with her parents' polite 'not-anxiety-dear' approach. For Motoko's part, she'd had a dream about the chance to go back home and face her sister—instead, she'd opted to carnally service Keitaro's two nameless college chums in the onsen while Kaolla Su churned out endless clones of Sama-Chan—one of whose back they used for their activities. Su in fact had plans to not only go home, but to merge her two homes and families into one, never quite realizing that it had always been the fluidity of their circle and locales that had made them special. Only Mutsumi had no qualifiers on her ability to make the trip between her two homes—which she already saw as one in any event.

Her second home had been the more interesting places to be of late, no questions asked. One storm had just passed, and another was starting to build, though there was not a cloud in the sky. That first storm went by the name of Kanako Urashima, sister of the man who had caused a shift in all their lives, a sudden and savage rival for his hand. But while she saw her adoption by the Urashimas as an out to one of the rules of civilized Human conduct, her brother had taken his early instructions to heart and thought of this girl first and last as his sister. Sadly for her, the love he had given her as such that caused her to fixate on him also made their love and marriage impossible in his eyes. Had he been any less a brother, the little girl, frightened after two successive adoptions, would never have fallen for him, but then he could have seen her outside of their familial relationship. Yet for all its complications, Mutsumi silently mused, the story of their love fit perfectly in with the atmosphere of the Hinata-Sou.

If Keitaro had elected to understand his sister's near-rampage through the lives of his charges at the Sou, most there were simply happy to see her go. Openly hostile to all her perceived rivals, she had played bizarre games with them as well using her eerie ability to mimic almost anyone at anytime with laser perfection. While one game involving speculation about her brother's physiology had been kind of fun (especially for Mutsumi, who normally would never be mistaken for a man), for the most part, it was a wearying exercise in figuring out her true motives and trying to deal with her mercurial behavior. In short, Su did not find her fun, Shinobu saw nothing of Keitaro in her, Kitsune found her agita-inducing, and Haruka was not all that delighted to see her niece. Secret instructions from Grandma not to rein the girl in had Haruka considering the unthinkable and telling the old woman to stuff her fabled tests—if in fact that was what it all had been. Nearing Thirty, Haruka still found that she was no more in the loop than was her cousin and nephew.

Mutsumi and Naru perhaps understood what it was like to be a little girl struck by the kindness of little Keitaro, and so lent her more understanding. Motoko respected an able fellow warrior, and was secretly glad her brother had been taught none of her techniques, almost as glad as she was that neither of their clans shared the superstition about unsheathing a sword without also drawing blood. Yet Motoko tried to be about method as much as power and Kanako's methods did not always sit well. For Naru's part, her lack of confidence when confronted by a rival perhaps made Kanako's activities seem bearable. Mutsumi saw a deep connection between Kanako and one of the residents—but that resident was not Keitaro, and this deeply confused her. Until Kanako moved to leave. The reason why she chose the one to do this in front of was as big a puzzle as her early motives had been.

"Exactly what part of go to hell were you failing to get?"

Kitsune turned away from an Urashima she had no mixed feelings about, only to find her already waiting at that turn. She did not look nor was she impressed.

"My Marine buddy said that, when his father faced the Vietcong, they would pull the same perspective trick you just did to stay out of sight in the jungle. Learned a way to beat it. Wait here, Kanako—I'll fetch a flamethrower."

The dark-aspected girl extended her hand.

"I wish us to be friends, Mitsune. I realize now that my approach left much to be desired."

"Huh. Tell me something I don't know."

"Very well. Your Marine used you as his 'beard' against his service's exclusionary rules, to avert suspicion of his true sexuality. That is why he, unlike other men, never objected to your refusal to…"

Kitsune's fist punched forward, as it had a million times at Keitaro and Haruka, real and imagined respectively. This was the first time in any such case it was a complete miss.

"Get out, Kanako. Your family name may get your step-cestuous stalker ass in that door, but I don't have to and don't want to talk to you."

"We are sisters, Mitsune."

"Why? Just because you lived here—past tense? NO! Those ladies are my sisters. As far as I'm concerned, you are the same as those barrels of gunpowder you tried to take us out with—except they had a longer fuse. Leave us be with the Urashima whose greatest crime is doing what a boy does best. How he's even your adopted brother is beyond me. But as much grief as I've given him, he rose up immeasurably in my eyes when he didn't choose his nutty sis!"

"He did not choose either of us. Mitsune, there is a connection between us you are failing to see. Like you, my parents often saw me as a source of anxiety they were better off placing in Grandma's care."

Kitsune snorted.

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to make my folks the parents of both sides at the wedding. I never put up 'Tiger Beat' posters of my brother."

"No. You did that to mine. Little Sarah's camera caught quite a bit, didn't it? Kei-Kun's choice is no longer at issue, here. I am speaking to you, and I wish to be your friend."

Kitsune gave her the finger.

"Remember me? Tied up and tortured because you thought certain I was the promise girl?"

"There is a reason I felt certain it was you beyond age and timeframe. Besides, you did confess to loving my brother."

"Baka! I'd have confessed to being Jack Bauer to get you to stop. But there is something I do love and adore about Keitaro. The fact that, somehow, despite having a sister like you, he somehow turned out mostly normal. Lady, you are NUTS!!!!"

"I am crazy, as they say, like that proverbial animal. Will you allow me to expound on the connection between us?"

"Hey, sure thing. Just hold your breath till that happens, okay?"

With a genuinely sad look, Kanako folded into the shadows and vanished. Mutsumi turned to Kitsune.

"You know, I haven't been here all that long, either. At least not recently."

Kitsune smiled.

"Yeah, but you're for real, Mutsumi. A girl I regard as a real sister thinks the same of you, and that's good enough for me. The biggest pain you give me is being put in second place rack-wise, and that's just genetics."

"Mmm. Thanks. But maybe you could have been nicer to her? She was extending the hand of friendship—specifically to you."

"The only thing I'll ever do for her is thank her for showing me what a dream Keitaro is. I'll take a perv over a maniac any day. The perv wants to play with my boobs—and who can blame him? The maniac wants to play with my head—maybe while it's not even on me anymore."

Shinobu passed by as Kitsune added on a thought.

"I know its him and Naru from now on, but do you suppose a guy like Keitaro and a girl like me could ever----"

"No."

Shinobu barely caught Kitsune's glare as she kept on. Mutsumi noted the bitterness in both their aspects. Waxing hypothetical didn't really seem Kitsune-like, and casually adding on comments like that one didn't seem Shinobu-like.

In the living room/common area, Mutsumi saw Su standing in front of a flat-panel television screen. She caught sight of what looked like the image of a naked Naru pounding with abandon on an equally nude Keitaro. Su giggled at this oddity.

"Boy, you two really went at it."

Onscreen, the nude pair turned their heads at this, and stopped to ask if Su was there. Su visibly gulped, and shut her viewer off entirely. Only the sight of that same pair, clothed but kissing the day away in the open-door onsen entrance stopped Mutsumi from enquiring about the device. Given experience, Mutsumi knew that a Kaolla Su-invention that was shut off was a blessing that should not be questioned.

Mutsumi and Su stared at the new couple with a mix of delight and envy. Then, Mutsumi noticed that not only did Su's face contain a lot more envy than delight, that face had been joined by three others. Living on an island at the mercy of the ocean's moods, Mutsumi knew better than most how to read the vibe of the surrounding area for not just signs, but messages, almost to the point that she could read actual thoughts.

Motoko.

*My will is iron. That fool will occupy no more of my thoughts. But—do I occupy any of his?*

Kitsune.

*Look at him. All calm. She's letting him touch her chest, but the only heavy breathing is hers. Way to diagonally snake the serpent, Naru. Pretty sneaky, Sis.*

Su.

*Well, there you go again. Wonder if I could make her run off, this time? This has gotta end. I'll be 14 before too long, and the time for producing heirs—lots of them over lots of attempts---has to be taken into firm and serious considera---SQUIRREL!!*

Even Haruka.

*Little creeps—awaking something this in your old Auntie. Seta said he'd be in Hokkaido this weekend. Now he'd damn well better be.*

Shinobu.

*Sempais will be hungry soon. I should cook them something. What's that fish that you have to prepare just so, or its poison? No---be happy for them. Their kids will call me Auntie Shin---gee Mom, Auntie is so cute for a Christmas Cake—why didn't she ever get married? Why, dear, because your Mommy exploited a repressed childhood memory to fix the game. Now, be good and push old Auntie Shin around in her walker-chair. IDIOT! You could have a girl who'd kill to be with you, and you pick one who tries to kill you?*

There was a lot to be read in Shinobu's face. Just past the sunlight she was better able to see past than some, Mutsumi saw Kanako standing next to another shadow.

*Another chance will arise, Onii-Chan. You and I are never done.*

The other shadow moved around Kanako, who showed disdain.

"Yet more of your irresponsibility. Small wonder Mitsune disdains me as well."

The red, furry looking object moved away, and Kanako folded into shadows that somehow had her rejoining a Grandma anxious for a report.

Mutsumi saw all this, and realized that a second, more powerful storm would soon rock their world, and she wondered if that storm and its aftermath could possibly be powerful enough to blow away her second family. In eight months time, that storm would at last rise.


HINATA-SOU, AUGUST 17TH 2001

The storm had nearly passed, and though brief in duration, it would never be forgotten by any of them. The one who had done the most to bring this about was also the one who had taken the brunt, fairly or otherwise, of the storm, and she was also the one most ready and eager to move on from it. Mitsune Konno was very ready to write a new chapter in her life, but she had words aimed at her friends' hearts, for good and ill, and she would be heard.

"Care to explain what you just did?"

"That is, before we pass summary judgment?"

Mitsune calmly waved Keitaro off. Naru had her up against the wall, and Motoko had her sword against the prodigal daughter's throat. Despite this, she smiled.

"Wow, it's good to be back. If I have a regret, it's all those years I bet on dice, mahjong and horse races, when I could have bet on you two. I mean, do you even realize this is very nearly your reaction to everything?"

"We were ready to embrace you, and welcome you back, and you cold-cock us?"

"You should explain yourself and apologize immediately, Kitsune!"

"It's Mitsune. As for an apology, you got it, and this one's from the heart."

The angry pair let her free, her smile never leaving her face.

"I apologize---"

She turned away from the angry pair, and looked instead at her new boss.

"---to my brother, Keitaro Urashima. I'm sorry that it took me getting the treatment to show that it's no way to treat another Human being, especially someone you supposedly care about."

Her 'brother' seemed chiefly worried about the wrath of their 'sisters', even if he was not the target of said wrath.

"Ki—Mitsune, you did ambush them when they were glad to see you."

Su nodded, looking confused.

"And you just told me that ambushes are wrong."

Even if she was (temporarily?) dropping her nickname, Mitsune was still playing her own game.

"Keitaro was trying to defend himself, something I wish he'd done a lot earlier on. I think maybe his not doing it fed our worst tendencies, though we're all so full of it, it's really hard to tell if it would have made a difference. I made Shinobu cry, and that gets her a full pass. Su I gave some bad signals to, and it helped amp up what didn't need amping up."

She looked at Motoko.

"Stealing is always low. Would it help any if I said that I needed strong sake to sleep through the happy humpers going at it last night? I knew they'd be at each other, as soon as they got back from Todai Gate, and my social life is enough of a drag without hearing peals, squeals and moans. In short. Aoyoma-San, I am lately made pathetic, and in trying to drown that out, I did something even more pathetic. Would it also help if I said that you're going to see a change in me, and that, for whatever you can name and for a thousand things neither of us can remember, I'm sorry?"

Motoko met her gaze with eyes of steel, and Mitsune never once flinched. The warrior sheathed her sword, and this time successfully embraced her friend.

"I would have bought you a bottle, you know. Maybe shared it as we drowned our common sorrow."

"Nah—I owe plenty enough. But try and save that sword for the real thing, okay? And who's sorrowful? Our brother and sister have found each other. Last I checked, that's cause for a small party—very small in my case."

"A—heeee—m!"

Naru cleared her throat and shrugged.

"I may as well skip to the part where I forgive you."

But Mitsune held up an opened hand and shook her head.

"The hell you will. Hasn't it become obvious that you skipping over my pissing you off is what led you to throw down ultimatums?"

Naru looked confused.

"I always tell you when I'm upset. When have I ever held back on letting anyone know that?"

From her future husband to her oldest friend and on down to Su, absolutely everyone except Naru and Mitsune started looking away and whistling at that point.

"Hey! Well, that does prove my point."

"It proves that you tell them when you're really and truly upset—except for Su, who we all agreed to leave to Motoko."

Mitsune had meant no sarcasm, but her words caught Motoko like an honor dagger in the gut. For the edification and education of Kaolla Su had been left to her, and it was now a task she felt she had famously flubbed. In the excitement of Mitsune's return, she had willingly forgotten the grim task that awaited her.

"Su—my princess, we must talk alone in your room."

"But Motoko, this is getting good!"

"We must talk—about an important aspect of your new lessons."

Reluctantly, the ganguro-seeming royal left to talk with one of those she loved so much, she had finally exceeded the patience of her dearest friends. In mere moments, she would need those friends as never before.

Not taking full note of their friends' departure, Naru and Mitsune continued an important squaring-off.

"What are you getting at?"

"Naru, if all the crap I've been pulling has upset you for so long, why did I only just hear about it this morning?"

"I've told you to stop it in the past—I can't even count how many times."

Mitsune was not having any of it.

"No, chiefly you raised your voice, called my name and rolled your eyes. I never knew I got to you beyond the moment. Maybe I should have, but I can't always know that, Naru. It almost feels like you never bothered with me, because maybe I wasn't worth it."

Naru stormed up and looked her straight in the eye.

"Sometimes, frankly, you weren't. Do you have any idea how many bars I dragged your sorry ass out of? How many all of us have? How many shops, taverns, restaurants stop each and every one of us either demanding payment or warning us against bringing you in there? The kinds of things people casually say about you behind your back? It gets wearying trying to answer or refute it all, particularly when any and all words to the wise bounce more often than your chest."

Mitsune's head had been cleared by the fire she had walked through, and she was not backing down.

"Then say that! If you can't get through to me, then tell me that you can't get through to me. If I'm being impossible and won't listen, tell me how angry that makes you. If---"

Her voice broke for a moment, but picked up again as she looked at Keitaro.

"---if you think that my playing you for the rent makes me a little whore, scream it in my face. I may as well have you do something in my face."

"Don't involve him—"

"Naru, I've got this. Mitsune, I never thought of you that way. You mainly asked for delays, not---err—exchange for services—except for one boob grab. You talk about being disregarded, but I felt like I was the one who wasn't taken seriously."

"Yeah---well—I'm paying for that now, right? Bottom of the list. Your list."

Naru got right back in.

"Well, what are we supposed to do? Are you honestly telling me that a more direct approach on each and every last time you've been a pain in the ass would have made a bit of difference?"

Mitsune folded her arms.

"I don't know the answer to that. Probably not. But maybe I wouldn't have gotten so defensive if we hadn't suddenly shifted from 'Oh That Kitsune' to 'Throw The Bitch Out' in one motion. Narusegawa, why didn't you just tell me that I injured you aboard the airship? Did you think that I was so heartless I wouldn't care that I hurt the best friend I ever had, or probably ever will have? I'm sorry for that, and I'm sorry for playing a stupid game just to lamely try and put myself back in play with Keitaro. I'm sorry for putting myself between you and your damn dream out of greed and petty jealousy. I'm sorry for going out of my way to make myself an embarrassment. But couldn't you have at least tried for me? For your sister? When did I become so far gone that it wasn't worth the effort, except in an all or nothing confrontation that was almost destined to go bad?"

This seemed to hit Naru right between the eyes.

"I—don't like to draw that kind of line, unless I really have to. I did it with Keitaro, and I don't know how many times I came close to letting that end things. I did it back at home, when I felt like my step-family had my Mom's attention over me, and I ended up here. You are a pain in the ass, Mitsune, but I love you, you're precious to me, and when normal talk couldn't get through to you, I worried that tough love would mean losing you forever."

Mitsune shook her head.

"That almost happened anyway, Naru. You always try and retreat from a fight, even when it demands to be fought. I used to wonder why you went so all-out on entering Todai, when you already had the best prelims in all of Japan. I see it now—you were trying your best for the toughest exam anybody knows to not be even the slightest challenge—because you worry that you can't rise to that challenge without breaking something. But it never works, does it? You and Keitaro. Reconciling with Little Mei. Entering Todai. Telling your slacker bitch sister where to stuff her lazy drunken debtor ass. Keitaro's initial image of you may be fists flying. Mine is of that sudden pick-up in pace you do, as you try to out-run life. Our guy here isn't the only one who has to change. Not by a long shot."

Naru felt close to exhaustion, but gave the words needed to end this crisis.

"I'm sorry I didn't at least try to avoid making today all-or-nothing."

"I'm sorry I ever made you believe that all-or-nothing is what it took."

Naru saw the look on Mitsune's face, and shook her head.

"What happened to you while you were away? Did someone hurt you?"

"Ummm—like I said, the way things went today---"

"Mitsune---its more than that. I can always tell. What happened?"

Mitsune Konno was decidedly unsure about speaking on her bizarre encounter with the Kitsune. So she prayed her friends—her family would forgive just one more lie.

"Karma. I ran into that blonde Frenchman Pierre, while he was looking for Haruka. We went to Goro's Tavern, and wouldn't you know, he ducked and stuck me for the bill. Heh. Guess I got Kitsuned. Had to wash a lot of dishes—and I had a lot of time to think. I mean, he really got me good. The justice of it all had me reconsidering a lot of things."

Naru ran over and hugged her.

"I'm sorry that happened. But if it helped you to come back to us like this—I guess we won't hunt that creep down like the dog he is."

Mitsune looked over at Mutsumi, who caught that she wished to talk to her alone.

"Yeah, no point in that. I was banned from Goro's anyway, and he's—he's probably not even in Japan right now."

The embrace was tender and spoke of forgiveness. Shinobu smiled more broadly than anyone, and squeezed the hand of Keitaro, who was sitting down on the couch.

"I guess we finally have peace, eh Sempai?"

"Shinobu-Chan, I openly defy anything to go wrong as of now!"

As the returned Mitsune ducked to the kitchen with Mutsumi for a more truthful talk about Konno's time away, the embodied foolishness of Keitaro's words burst forth from Su's bedroom.

"I HATE YOU, MOTOKO!!!"

The normally unflappable, seemingly never sad nor angry princess of Molmol burst out of her room, the shocking words still hanging in the air, and with more to follow as she looked around at the other residents.

"I HATE YOU ALL! I HATE YOU FOREVER!!!"

A Kaolla Su almost unrecognizable burst out of the lobby doors. Out of Su's room slowly walked a dazed and psychically battered Motoko. She turned to the one she had never been able to push away.

"Urashima—Keitaro---I need your---"

She fainted and fell forward, face-first into his lap—and associated regions. Keitaro first yelped, and then nodded.

"Well—this is--certainly a---change of pace."

When the room fell silent, Shinobu, who was now squeezing his hand ever tighter out of nerves and shock, spoke to him. Her words were poorly chosen, though forgivable.

"Sempai--you want to borrow my skillet? It's no trouble."


"Sarah, get her legs!"

"Dad, she's too strong!"

"Will you two let me go?"

Haruka tried to swat at her husband and step-daughter, till finally they worked her over to the couch, where they literally sat on her.

"What gives you the right to prevent me from checking up on them at the Sou, during their worst crisis ever?"

Father and child responded as one.

"You did."

"Yeah, before you went to the doctor's office earlier."

"And I quote my loving, gentle wife: They have to do this on their own. I stopped wiping Keitaro's decades ago, it's time I stopped wiping for the girls—ladies."

"Mom--you didn't actually wipe for them, did you? I mean, as for Kitsune, who hasn't? But the others…"

Haruka calmed down and then offered prayers that the nephew she had said she had confidence in was up to the job of repairing their family.

"Nori honey—let me up. I'm good."

"Sorry, m'dear. Every archeologist worth his salt knows a trap."

"Yeah, Mom. No way we're getting off you."

"One word, guys—Mummification. Starting with cerebral removal through the proboscis."

The pair gave up their sacred mission without another word. Haruka mused before putting it out of her head.

*Ehhh—probably by now, he's fallen face-first into one of their private regions, and that will let everyone know things are back to normal.*


Naru was blocked from reaching Motoko, keeled over face-first in a place Narusegawa had clearly called dibs on.

"Hang on there, girl. One, the samurai is the offending party—wish I'd thought of that tack, been drunk often enough---two—well, one pretty much covers it."

Naru smiled at Mitsune, then looked at her fiancé.

"Keitaro—you and Mitsune take her out to the onsen—do what you have to, but don't leave her alone. Shinobu and I will go after Su."

Mitsune was for the foreseeable future trying not to be the one who stirred the pot. But her 'bass-ackwards' alarm clicked on with a vengeance.

"Umm—you are sending out a boy—your guy—to help me undress a girl who is the most modesty-aware creature on the planet Earth, and again said boy has been both the object of her wrath and the subject of several disturbing pieces of character-insert fiction on her part."

Naru stared at her. Mitsune shrugged.

"Old me, alright? I've evolved. Besides, you know what my point is."

Naru nodded.

"I do—and I've evolved, too. I trust him, you and her. Mitsune—she didn't fall into your crotch, calling your name."

Mitsune was impressed by this, but the day had left her so numb, saying so was beyond her.

"That had been a private fantasy of mine, dammit. Okay, sparring partner—let's strip us a samurai."

Keitaro was already leading the shaken Motoko slowly to the onsen door, and Mitsune found the tender sight forced a smile out of her.

*He doesn't have to go for nailing all of us—he's had us all by the short ones for a while now.*

Mutsumi joined the pair helping Motoko. Shinobu asked Naru a question as they went after Su.

"Sempai—modesty aside, wouldn't Sempai Keitaro be a better choice to go after Su? She loves him as much as Motoko. You were the rival that beat her, and I've been rotten these past few days."

"Point taken, kid. But Shinobu—did you hear her voice? That was pure love twisted into pure hate. I have a feeling I know what Motoko said to her, and Su would like as not prefer us to either of them, right about now."

Shinobu heard these words, and now had a feeling she herself might be the best qualified to help Su. She hoped.

*Oh, Su. At least I was braced for it—a little. There was no way you could have been ready for it.*

To the surprise of both women aiding Keitaro, Motoko waved them off in favor of his help alone. He helped her out of her long robes, and undid her body wrap. No thundering warnings emerged from the born warrior, no ki-based attacks, nor a sudden realization followed by horror. The only noise that came from Motoko as he sat her down was a word that could have easily come from Kaolla Su or Kanako.

"Onii-Chan? Will you bathe with me? I am cold."

"No. But from outside the water, I will hold your hand. I'm here for you, Motoko."

"Onii-Chan—I failed her. I wasn't strong, like you."

There was a towel draped across her shoulders, and his head was turned to deny him a direct view. But he kept to his pledge, holding her hand firmly in his.

"Motoko—what happened?"


Nearer the onsen entrance, Mitsune shrugged.

"So why are we here?"

Mutsumi shushed her down a few octaves.

"For him. Naru trusts him, but without us 'standing watch', he'd be too nervous to help Motoko, and he is the one she needs right now."

"In other words, we're here for character support."

"Remember, you said it—I didn't—Kitsune."

"It's Mitsune, alright?"

"So you said. You also fed us a whopper about where you were. Goro's banned you months ago—I remember because I had to drag you home. As for Pierre, Auntie Haruka said he married a wealthy countess from the Low Countries over a year ago."

Mitsune decided it was time to have the talk Su's tantrum had interrupted.

"First, swear to me that you will not accuse me of making this up. I may be crazy, Mutsumi, but this once, I will swear that I am not lying."

"Okay. I swear. Mitsune, tell me. Because it's obviously killing you inside."

Mitsune Konno then related to her the bizarre episode with the real Kitsune, and all she had said and revealed. Mutsumi did not dismiss the tale of the distraught Mitsune.

"Well, I did see a Kitsune hanging around here a few times. But the only time I ever got a clear view of it was when Kanako left. I can read lips from a fair distance, but all I could make out was Kanako calling it reckless, or something like that."

"Then you believe me?"

Mutsumi put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think you're lying."

"But you do think I'm crazy, right?"

"Not—really. Mitsune, you had just drunk hard sake made from grains that may be unique to the Aoyoma shrine. Sake meant to spur vision quests made by warriors. You were hurt and grieving. I don't think you're either lying or insane."

"You're saying that maybe I was just overwrought?"

Mitsune pulled the folded envelope containing the picture of her parents with the trickster.

"These are your parents with her?"

"Well—one of them. That's the question, isn't it?"

Were Mutsumi the world's most insensitive clod, she could still have easily read Mitsune's pain. She was not this, and so her friend's pain was practically radiating through her.

"So she was real. If you had this, why ask me?"

"Simple. Suppose I pulled it out and the envelope had nothing, or there was no envelope?"

Mutsumi put her hand on Mitsune's shoulder.

"It might prove nothing, or it might prove that a trickster can really play with your head. My family accepts the spirits that surround us, but doing business with them is reserved for something critically important. They're just too mercurial—not to mention often cruel. My grandmother once said that they tend to have a sense of entitlement. They are often our ancestors, or had dealings with them."

Mitsune was glad to hear this, though it told her nothing she hadn't thought of already. Sensing this, Mutsumi asked a touchy question.

"What will you tell the others?"

This one, she knew without having to think.

"Nothing. I told you because you seem like you're in touch with the mystic side of things—and because we frankly haven't known each other long enough for me to have pissed you off the way I did nearly everyone else. Don't take that as you not being a good friend, Mutsumi. Just by hearing me out, I think you kept me from actually going crazy."

"Are you afraid they wouldn't believe you?"

"They might not. This still-foxy but former fox has a credibility gap with her nearest and dearest. Something I plan to change. But I think I could convince them—show them that I'm sincere. That's not what worries me."

She closed her eyes, and the cheery look of one being closed was nowhere in evidence.

"Mutsumi, I live a life without excuses. Maybe I can't live one without apologies anymore. But I don't like excuses. Maybe it's part of why I joined in the anvil chorus on pounding Keitaro early on. I thought he was using his clumsiness as an excuse for copping a feel or seeing some flesh. Or maybe I was just a cruel bitch, and maybe I still am. But if so, that's because of who I am. If Mitsune Konno is an irresponsible leeching lazy trampy pain in the ass, it's because that's who I choose or chose to be. Not because my real Mom is some kind of evil spirit. To quote the sailor, I am what I am. I don't want anyone excusing me."

Mutsumi sighed, looking over to see Motoko and the lovingly cautious Keitaro talking in the distance.

"Mitsune—the woman you described didn't sound evil. She sounded sorry. Also, have you called your—have called the Konnos to try and confirm her story?"

"I got my—I got Mom on cell-phone. I didn't have many minutes left, naturally. Wasted them all hearing her denying even knowing such a person—but in that way she has that makes me think 'unspoken subject'. I didn't even mention the mystic stuff, or my birth—which by the way does kind of coincide with what she claimed. I would have been born awfully close to their wedding date. They were always anxious around me—and I always felt like I'd done something wrong in a just because kind of way."

"Do I need to say it?"

Mitsune shook her head.

"I know. A good con artist makes you mentally suggest your way into their lie. I don't want this to be real, Mutsumi. But I also can't take not knowing for sure."

"There is one person who would know, and who I believe would tell you the truth about this woman. Grandma."

The idea that anyone could solve this riddle seemed to take Mitsune by surprise.

"Yeah. She supposedly caught and then used her to cast the spell on the Annex. Then I'll call her. Haruka or Keitaro must have a number where she can be reached."

Mutsumi raised a finger.

"Yes—but do you really want to know for certain?"

"Huh? I just said I did."

"Mitsu—if Grandma does know, wouldn't you want to know why she never told you? Also, consider this—Kanako seemed to know of the Kitsune, and her mastery of disguise is nearly supernatural as well. Keitaro told me that the parents whose deaths caused the Urashimas to adopt her were not her birth parents—and that he didn't really know who was. And if the Kitsune produced one child by a foolish act—who's to say that you were the first?"

Mitsune's eyes seemed to glaze over, but she shook it off.

"She uses latex and rubber, and kit-bashes household stuff for all that. Besides, her brother can always see through them, even when she dressed up as Naru. Maybe—maybe fox-lady just showed her some tricks to add on."

Mutsumi knew that Kanako was not Mitsune's favorite person—far from it. Besides the attacks and near-torture, the fact that Kanako's behavior had somehow evaded the scrutiny that had hit so many others in their circle so hard just did not sit well.

"Keitaro can see through her likely because of his nature. At least some of the things she does can't be shrugged off as stage tricks. But all that aside, Mitsune—can you take finding out? That a woman we all revere kept you in the dark, whatever her reasons? That a girl you can't stand might be the only blood relation you have willing to regularly talk with you? Because I have Grandma's number."

Mutsumi handed Mitsune the cell phone. After ten seconds, she received it back.

"Nah. That little psycho is Keitaro's problem, and---"

With uncertainty in her voice, Mitsune looked at Motoko rising from the onsen, Keitaro helping cover her as he must have once done for Kanako.

"—right now he has enough problems right here."

Mitsune did take the shoulder she was offered. While it would be unfair to say that Naru was soon to pull away from them, her new love would mean less time for some of her old friends, and as this inevitably occurred, Naru's oldest friends would form a deep lasting friendship of their own.


"Onii-Chan? Are you there?"

*Call me Urashima, Motoko. Hell, call me pervert, or dead pervert, or Grand Despoiler Of Young Women. But Onii-Chan? That's not you.*

"Onii-Chan is here, Motoko-Chan. As he promised you."

"Why won't you sit here with me?"

*Because at some point, you are going to snap out of this, and when that happens, I want sight of the onsen door, not your—unbelievably hot—body.*

"We are not small children, little sister. Propriety must be maintained."

*Not to mention my manhood. I really doubt Naru's request extends quite that far.*

"Motoko-chan---please tell me what happened, between you and Su."

Her breath was caught in her sob as she spoke.

"Onii-chan held the heart of a dear young girl in his hand, and gently guided her to wisdom."

Shinobu.

"But this vile unworthy failed in the same task."

"I don't understand."

"Just as Onii-Chan finds he cannot hold me now, so Motoko decided that she must follow Onii-Chan's good example with Shinobu-Chan, and explain to our little sister that Motoko cannot be her teacher, so long as our common affection stirs possibilities. Our little heart needs a teacher, that she may remain with us. For the greater love I hold her in, Motoko must sacrifice, possibly forever, the idea that we could be something more."

Keitaro shuddered at what it must have cost her to do that, and the rage that must have overtaken Kaolla Su when she heard this from one she obviously worshipped.

"My little sister is wise and strong. Our little sister needs one who is only a teacher, and a teacher must sometimes scold and say no."

The tears now flowed from her eyes. *Those eyes*, he thought. *I may as well be these girls' gynecologist, for all I've seen, but it's always their eyes.*

"It hurts, Keitaro. I thought somehow she'd understand why I was doing this, why I was drawing this line. I have never seen her truly angry before."

He recalled Haruka's words, that they would be more naked in his eyes than ever before.

"Motoko, we're raised to understand, and to accept. Su has been trying to re-invent the world since before any of us met her. I don't even know how exactly she arrived here."

"I recall when she arrived. I instantly and completely despised her."

Caution aside, that made Keitaro turn his head and look at her directly.

"Come again?"

Her blush was actually a welcome sign that she was coming out of it, so he turned around again as she responded.

"She was chaos embodied. As close to a wild savage as I had ever encountered. She was at the opposite end of everything I despised about my gender. Away from the staid submissive who worshipped the idea of surrendering to male power, she was the uncaring lunatic who would give men what they wanted for kicks and giggles. I never mentioned that, did I? I once had as little use for my fellow woman as I did for any man. I regarded Naru and Mitsune as sisters lost to either a philosophy of playing man's game of power or—well, really almost no philosophy at all. Shinobu was like a beautiful crystal, destined to shatter at the first strong wind. It's so odd. I yelled at her then, quite often. My verbal thrashing of Su equaled any physical beating I have ever given you. But where you were fooled, she never was, and saw my soft core. The day came that Tsuruko paid me the briefest of visits—and she knows as many verbal ki attacks as she does physical ones, and how to deliver them in almost no time at all. To my surprise, that night—I slept like a baby, despite my wounded pride. Do I need to say what I awoke to?"

He smiled, and could almost feel her snuggled against him, waking to find wild hair in his eyes and the face of an angel at rest.

"You noticed that one of your legs felt about seventy-five pounds heavier?"

"Keitaro, you and she are the current extent of my emotional development. I am so stunted in even truly contemplating such matters, I am not even sure if I am also attracted to other women. It wouldn't bother me, but I simply don't know. Until your—generosity—inspired me—I had scrupulously avoided even allowing my hands under the covers as I slept."

*There's no need to be quite that comfortable around me, Motoko.*

"Hey—the one with the blue-haired witch was always one of my favorites."

"I know. You blindly panicked until Naru found it in my portable player. Yet that is how far back I was. But wherever I stand in my journey, and whatever my desires might truly be in the end, I know certain things. Among them is that I love Kaolla Su, and for her I would do absolutely positively anything---anything at all----"

Her voice was broken by another sob, but this time it was a heartier one.

"---except provide her with a sensei so compromised by that love that she fails to truly teach and test her. Perhaps in Molmol, teachers there know some island secret that makes such a thing possible. But this islander does not see it, at least for the present. Yet I did not show the deftness you apparently did with Shinobu…why are you laughing?"

"Ask Shinobu about that. Now, Naru just told me about the pictures Su wanted to send me while I was in America. Aside from wanting to jump the ocean and a continent to hunt and kill me, just how did you shut that down?"

"There was no speaking to her about modesty. She argued that you already knew her body. Apparently, she sheds pajamas in the night no matter who she sleeps with. There was no talking to her about propriety or the law—besides, she was kicking all of us in the head as she missed you ever more. It was only by telling her that you knew of her love well enough that the pictures would be redundant that we finally talked her down—and by this I mean, she was sleeping on the roof, waiting for your return. Even Kanako soon learned not to disguise herself as you, after a time."

He helped her up, and quickly covered what was in the end still distracting him.

"In other words, you found a way. You will find it again, like you always do. You and I together with all our family will take this seemingly hopeless situation and turn it into a fighting chance."

"You want me to go after her, don't you? Urashima—I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can face her anger once again."

He placed his closed fist against the top of her chest, just below the neck.

"You will go after her—or I swear, Aoyoma-San, I will strip you of that towel, throw you over my shoulder while we search, AND call our elder sister and tell her of your failure of nerve in such a vital moment."

She visibly gulped.

"You wouldn't tell Tsuruko, would you?!"

A loss of modesty and dignity simply did not carry the terror it once did for her. Tsuruko's scorn still did, but again, not as much as it once did. There was one thing that struck fear in her soul, and that was failing the one who had smashed through the thick ice surrounding a cold soul and taught her once more what love was, especially in front of the one who had waited patiently for the rest of the thaw.

"Let's go and get our girl back, Urashima."


If finally trusting her man and her friends was a source of calm to Naru, the frantic search for Kaolla Su was not. How many little kids didn't return from things like these? Part of the reason she had always had trouble accepting her true love was a healthy cynicism about the state of the world. In short, not all men were Keitaro Urashima, and some lived solely for the moment that a little treasure like Kaolla Su fell into their hands.

"Is this it, Kami? Is this my hell, for turning to rage for handling my loved ones? Every time it seems peace is at hand this day, we get an explosion on another front. I know a lit a few of those. But let the others go. Let him go. Maybe he'd be better off with Shinobu—someone who worshipped him from the start."

"Hey! I'm right here!"

Naru gulped and looked over at the young friend she'd forgotten about.

"Sorry, kid. Any luck?"

"Sempai—I haven't left your side since we left the Sou grounds."

Naru realized that self-absorption was not something she could afford, especially in a situation like this.

"I might advise splitting up, but we can't discount the possibility of traps."

"You think Su set traps?"

They had barely moved a pace ahead when the explosions started occurring. A booming angry voice came from every direction at once.

"Stay away, the both of you! I don't want to go back to the Sou, so someone else can say horrible things to me!"

Naru was now getting annoyed, her concern for Su aside.

"Su! I'm not immortal---"

"You probably are after last night! You got enough of his DNA in you."

"Uhhhh---yeah. But—I'll bet I'm strong enough to run through those explosions, so shut them down now!"

"Sempai---don't give her time to prepare! Why do all of you dance around her like this?"

"Hush, Shinobu. She doesn't really want to hurt us."

"She didn't really want to make us angry as sin in Molmol. Stop treating her as some fragile priceless vase and show her you mean business."

Naru shook her head and began a speed run towards where both the voice and the loudest hum were coming from.

"I warned you Su! Now Keitaro is going to be very angry with you."

"Is that the same boy you were about to leave to Shinobu? If I wait long enough, Naru, maybe I'll be the one you hand him off to!"

As Su taunted her, Naru was indeed closing in on the master inventor.

"Su, this may surprise you, but I am so awfully tired of talking about our feelings. You got some bad news—all of us have. But we're here to help you, and---I've got you."

Leaping over at Su's position, Naru grabbed her head—only to have that head come off in her hands. It was still speaking, and smiled as it spoke.

"Get ready for a surprise!"

Naru barely threw the head away before a very large explosion sent her flying back towards the Sou. As she went, she thought of her one true love.

*Never mind how does he survive this---how does he keep from throwing up?*

Shinobu twitched as she saw Naru fly off.

"Su—of course you realize, this means war."


Back at the onsen, Motoko had finished redressing. Keitaro thanked Mitsune and Mutsumi.

"I know she needed me. But usually, this is seven kinds of forbidden ground. So you two being here meant a lot in keeping me even."

Mutsumi spoke in terms Mitsune would surely understand.

"Ever since I've known you, Keitaro, you've been there for whoever needed you. I can't see that changing, even under threat of beatdown or embarrassment. I remember when I told you I was afraid of the boogeyman, and you didn't call me a liar or laugh at me."

Mitsune showed she got the message, but inside was still afraid of the others seeing her possible condition of birth as an excuse—or even worse, letting her use it as an excuse.

"Urashima has proven time and again to be a good, reliable, and discreet friend. Wait—was is that in the sky?"

"Let me look—I've gotten good at distance spotting, after all my tumbles. Oh—boy. Motoko—forgive me!"

He reached out and grabbed her chest, even lightly squeezing.

"Urashima?"

He now realized that they had become close at the wrong point to save one they loved. Her confused but calm reaction to his intrusion made him switch to Plan B.

"Knock me into the sky towards that gleam!"

She did so, again quite calmly.

"You could have just asked."

Mitsune shrugged.

"Well, at least you're paid up for the next two months' rent."

Motoko glared.

"Shut up, you. Must you make…"

Crashing into the onsen was a couple on fire. Steam coming off them, Motoko out-bid and out-did Mitsune.

"Oh—so her, you'll sit naked in the onsen with. I see how it is."

Mutsumi grinned.

"Well, she did call dibs."

Mitsune nodded as they went inside to fetch the duo some clothes.

"Which she rubs in our faces at like every opportunity. Now, if he wants to rub something in our faces..."

"We shall consider it for Urashima's thirtieth birthday."

Mutsumi added on.

"We're not going to do that thing with the bikinis under the towels again? Because it's frankly gotten old."

"So we'll ditch the bikinis. By that point, no one in this group will be that firm anymore except Sarah."

"Speak for yourselves."

Keitaro checked on Naru.

"You all right?"

She kissed her rescuer, then smiled slyly.

"How did you manage that little maneuver at that height?"

He grinned wickedly as well.

"Blame Shinobu. She figured out the logistics that time when we got blasted away by Su's machine. She said it all very matter of factly, mind you, and I think it was to keep her mind off of possibly plummeting to our deaths."

"She's a bright kid. Oh, God—Keitaro she's still up there—and Su's gone nuts. Hey—if you have to catch her—don't---ummm---"

"Hey! No way would I do that---it's too soon."

"Like that stopped you even once last night."

Their clothes arrived, and the group went to fetch back their two youngest members.


Shinobu stepped forward, only to see Keitaro.

"It's all right, Shinobu. We're letting her sleep here tonight, till she calms down."

"Okay, Sempai."

Shinobu then decapitated him in one skillet hit, sending the head flying through a nearby tree. The explosion that followed knocked an indignant Su to the ground.

"That was mean! Suppose that had been the real Keitaro?"

"Easy. He would have forgiven me—and his head would have stayed on."

Shinobu tossed her skillet up, catching it by its lip, and knocked remotes out of both of Su's hands with just the handle.

"I'm not going back!"

Devices were produced, and just as quickly knocked from Su's hands.

"You are going back, because we love you, YOU NINNY!!"

Su scrambled for another tree, only for Shinobu to leap over her and smash every last gadget hidden around the area.

"Oh—No. It's not gonna be like that."

"Hey—Shinobu!! Stop!!! My Clothes!!"

Shinobu stripped Su and shook out her clothes, revealing endless devices, weapons, and even rocket-powered roller skates. Only when the clothes were 'emptied' did Shinobu hand them back to a mortified Su.

"My stuff—you did it again."

Shinobu smashed everything in sight, before turning back to a Su shivering from more than just the morning air.

"I'm going to save Motoko some trouble and give you your first lessons right here and right now."

Su's eyes and face turned confused, and frightened.

"Shinobu? Please. I'm all upset now."

Shinobu nodded, then took a swing at Su with the skillet. She ducked with an audible yelp.

"First lesson: It doesn't work on me. I'm Kawaii too. I'm your friend, Su, but I can guarantee I've never been in love with you. So don't try the sweetly confused thing with me. You are sweet, and I know you're often confused—but I also know that you play it or all it's worth."

Su ran up and got in her friend's face.

"I HATE YOU! You started this whole bad thing going! Why don't you run back to the inn, and wait for Naru to die or something?"

Shinobu stunned her by slapping Su across the face.

"Second Lesson: DON'T BE SUCH A STINKING SPOILED BRAT! If you will recall, Princess, I started acting like a brat after you breezily pulled us all into a place where your word is law. First lesson again, Kaolla Su---it doesn't work on me. I'll hurt your feelings deliberately to get through to you. So behave yourself and give me other options."

"You—hit me. Shinobu, how could you?"

Shinobu pointed at the sky.

"Where is Sempai Naru? WHERE IS SHE, SU?"

"I—I don't know."

"Is she alive?"

"I don't know. Probably—yipes!"

Another skillet swing was barely ducked.

"Shinobu!"

"She's—probably alive. A woman I call Sempai and you've called Onee-Chan, and alongside whom we've whined and grown and fallen in love with the same man is—probably alive."

Shinobu began a series of movements with the skillet that had Su on her toes, till one stopped just short of slamming her full in her terrified face.

"Lesson Three: Your inventions are dangerous. They are wonderful things, Su, but so are Motoko's swords, and so was an antique pistol O-Sempai Seta showed us once. So are my best chopping knives. If not used with forethought----are you listening to me?"

"Y-yes!"

"Good. Any object—even to your amazing intellect—if not used with forethought and patience—can be deadly—and like Kitsu—like Mitsune said—nothing should be done just because you can, or because you're in a bad mood."

"You mean like hitting people with a skillet?"

"That—and setting up booby traps rather than just hiding out till you calm down. Don't you get that challenging Sempai Naru is the surest way to start a fight, rather than being left alone?"

Su was practically in a fetal ball on the ground.

"You don't understand. Motoko told me she doesn't love me anymore. That she never can."

"Is that really what she said?"

"We—eell---she said that she couldn't be my teacher while maybe someday being my bride as well, and that being my teacher was more important than us loving each other for real."

Shinobu shrugged.

"Sounds a lot like she was trying to be the best teacher she can be. Sounds like she worried that being anything more to you would get in the way of what a teacher has to do."

"That's not fair! She said I wasn't being punished anymore, and not ever being mine when I love her is a huge punishment!"

*She's good. But I mustn't break down now. She'd have all of them by now, but I'm not falling for it.*

"Fourth Lesson: You once and for all have to start thinking of others when you do and say things. That you love and care about us is evident in everything you do, Su. How you go about it sometimes makes that hard to see—and I remain convinced that you do know what you're doing somehow. For example—that 'skirt' you had me try on just before Todai---you knew it was like having me walking up to Sempai naked, right?"

"You said you wanted extreme measures."

"We are vague sometimes. And you seize upon that vagueness. Uh-uh. Using that kind of leeway is what mythical tricksters and comedic delinquents do—not friends."

Su still did not look convinced.

"You don't know how much hearing that we were never going to be together hurt."

"The hell I don't! Why in blazes do you think that Sempai took me to dinner tonight?"

"Ummmm—to get those wonderful chili-cheese fries?"

*I knew she'd love them.*

"No. To tell me he and Sempai Naru have become engaged. To thank me for helping them where I have—and to---damn—and to tell me No when I offered to become his mistress. I reacted—minus WMD's---pretty much just the way you did to Motoko."

"Did you hit him with the frying pan?"

"No. No frying pan."

"No tigers, pistols, heavy weights or pointed sticks? No fresh fruit?"

"Su—don't make me go all Naru on you again. Weren't you even listening to me?"

"yeah. You were lecturing me again. I'm wrong, and you're right, okay?!"

Shinobu shook her head, and tossed away the skillet.

"I was afraid it was going to come to this. Su---come at me. We're having a throw down."

Su chuckled.

"Shinobu, don't be ridiculous! I've been trained by Motoko, and by the Molmol Royal Elite, whose fathers turned----"

"Whose fathers turned my countrymen back. I know. You told us—if you even remember that, with your at-will ADD. Well, back then, my country, like many a great country, was full of itself and maybe needed its butt kicked—just the way I'm gonna kick yours—and then you will listen, Princess."

Su smiled, and came flying feet-first at Shinobu's head. Shinobu, for her part, simply sat down as Su went tumbling past her. Getting up, Shinobu gestured for Su to try again, a half-grin on her face.

"I will wipe that right off of you!"

A full-on charge was tried next, and Shinobu was smashed into—until she flipped around, seizing the momentum and again sending Su into a tumble.

"If you like, we can postpone this until we can get Sarah and maybe Mei Narusegawa to help you out."

Su tried a series of punches, all of which were blocked by Shinobu before they even came near her. Two fingers to Su's chest were all she needed to take the Princess down yet again. Su lay stunned.

"How are you doing this? You don't have any training."

"Maybe I'm just naturally better then every last man, woman or child who lives, ever has, or ever will live in the kingdom of Molmol."

Hitting the ground like a springboard, Su almost seemed to bounce right up to Shinobu, finally pushing her down—until Shinobu's feet caught Su gently but firmly in the stomach, sending her sprawling once again. Shinobu then kicked each butt-cheek twice with just enough force as to leave no doubt.

"Here Endeth The Lessons."

"What lesson? I didn't learn anything!"

Shinobu helped her up.

"I know. You never learn anything, because you never listen. You never keep anything in, Su, except for what you yourself come up with. I knew I could beat you, despite your training, because in all the time I've known you—you don't listen to anything past what you wish to hear. You don't see past yourself. If you did, then you would realize that kicking a man in the head is painful for him, even if he is Immortal. If you did, you would never have used a trap on Naru you saw in a movie—and it wasn't even one of his better ones. If you could allow yourself to see even the tiniest bit past you—you would see how painful it must have been for Motoko to draw the line she did—instead of shouting out how you hate her, and all of us."

"It hurt her to do that? But she did it anyway? And—are you saying that Keitaro feels pain when I kick him?"

Whenever dealing with Kaolla Su, Shinobu found it useful to recall the first time Keitaro had shown her the 1971 film version of Willy Wonka. In short, Su—was a dream come true, maybe with a few odd turns for those who didn't obey the rules---and then came the boat ride. Of late, Su had been all 'Wonkatania' boat ride and no Candy Room.

"Yes to all of those. I've been where you were, Su."

"You have? When? Ohhh—earlier tonight, like you said."

*My Word. I've struck oil.*

"Exactly."

"But Shinobu—you still aren't listening. If Motoko's love isn't strong enough to make her unable to put it aside, that means she doesn't really love me at all. If she did, there's no way she'd be able to separate the two."

"Or maybe---it's so strong that in order to honor it, she must put it on indefinite hold."

Su shook her head.

"But Motoko's so wonderful. If she can even put our love on hold for a short time, she must think I'm just an obligation, and that means I maybe never had her love to start with."

Shinobu had to reason through what had been said, even if, as she told Mutsumi, spending time in Su's head was painful.

"Motoko is wonderful, isn't she?"

"She sure is."

"But she isn't perfect."

Su grabbed at her, this time successfully.

"You take that back!"

"I won't. And you know why?"

"Ummm—No."

Shinobu took Su's hand.

"Because if she were, Su, she would have recognized that maybe a day like today—or a week like we've been having—wasn't the best time to tell you news that was bound to upset you."

"But how would she know this would upset me?"

"It's part of thinking about others, Su. In fact, maybe Motoko thought of herself first when she decided to tell you about this tonight. Just like I thought of myself first when I lashed out at everybody. We're allowed to do it, and sometimes we even have to. But even if we love and care for others, we have to try and walk past our own nose. I really think you do get it, and that you have for quite some time. It just maybe wasn't comfortable for you, to dwell on a subject that you weren't a genius in. Well, none of us are, especially in this household. Su—understanding this in a major way will be a greater challenge for you than any hundred videogames—are you up to it?"

"Greater than all the Final Fantasy games combined—even since the Famicom?"

"Well, I wouldn't go that far—but it could come close."

Su sprang up, looking almost happy.

"I guess—when I didn't think about how hard it might have been for Motoko to say that—I might have hurt her more."

Shinobu knew that Su would be an ongoing struggle, and that no one breakthrough or series of them would change that in and of itself. But having finally said some things outright and clearly, she felt a corner had been turned.

"We're young, Su—we make mistakes like that."

"Did she have a shoulder to cry on?"

"She fell right into Sempai Keitaro's----yeah, his shoulder. Right on his shoulder."

They began at last to walk back.

"Shinobu—what made you so sure that I sort-of got that I wasn't really hearing people?"

Shinobu chose to reveal a secret.

"Sempai and I are very close. He sometimes treats me as though I were a younger brother, which is to say, he and I will tell each other things that we normally could not, allowing for propriety and gender. Nothing that would upset Sempai Naru—I think. But it is a part of our friendship that makes not having him as more almost completely bearable, even now, when the wounds are freshest. For example, he told me how one day while his leg was broken, he simply watched Auntie work, and recalled how beautiful he always thought she was. I told him of how, when he met my father that Christmas, it felt like an alignment in my soul. He didn't work that job long, but it meant that the two men I love best of all had talked and laughed together over hot cocoa I had brewed---"

Su saw Shinobu wipe tears away, but then continue.

"---well, that's the sort of things we share. It could be serious, it could be silly. But it's all allowed. So one day, after an onsen beatdown—you and Sarah really outdid yourselves—he tells me that he can no longer be sure that his intrusions on our person and modesty—"

"I never cared about that! I like when he sees me and touches me. I wish he did it more often. My blood Onii-chan always paid more attention to Amalla."

"---don't interrupt. Thanks! He says that he can't be sure he doesn't plan it all, maybe in his subconscious. He took one of Sempai Naru's computer model charts, and plotted out what the odds were that all those times were just coincidences. He saw that it was highly improbable that these things just happened. He even said that, being the pervert he was always accused of being, he would have to leave us. Thinking fast, I turned the model on its head and plotted out the odds of all of us being so unwilling and unwitting victims of his supposedly perverted behavior---"

"You did hit him with the pan after we got back from Molmol and he fell into your boobs---"

"---that all of us being mere 'victims' would be just as improbable. Meaning that, at some point, his desire to see and touch us met up with our desire to be seen and touched by someone we could trust. The reactions—the over-reactions—were mainly cultural. Otherwise, how do you explain Motoko and Naru not finally killing him, his status aside? In your case, I saw how gingerly everyone walked around you, and decided that you must use that eggshell-walking to your advantage, even if innocently."

Su actually seemed to be taking it all in.

"Wow—that's a lot. You're really smart."

"I have to be, Princess—after all, I still have to join my Sempai at Todai. Plus, Sempai Naru was sickly as a little girl—she could have a relapse."

"That's---heh—not funny—heh---ehhh—do you really think she might?"

"No. There's a better chance of you taking the Sou to Molmol."

"Why is that so wrong? All I wanted to do was keep my best friends around me and around each other forever."

Shinobu took her dear friend's hand, then released it and caressed the face she had slapped.

"But Su—that would keep that circle static and unchanging. If our circle never changed, if we never ran into old friends and met new ones, would we have met? Would Sarah be with us, or even Sempai Keitaro? Would I have met Arlo tonight?"

"I never saw it that way before. Who's Arlo?"

"He's a boy coming over to see me in two weeks—and you know the rule---"

"I know! No giant glass pinballs. Sheesh! I even hear that from Motoko!"

The two parties met up as the Sou came in sight, and Motoko and Su raced into each other's arms.

"If you doubt my wisdom in handling this matter, do not ever doubt my love."

"I won't. Cause you love me so much, you had to hurt you and me to help me stay."

Motoko shot a look at Shinobu, who nodded, taking credit for this. Motoko smiled at her in deepest gratitude. Shinobu noted that both her sempais were wearing different clothes.

*Even in the air—like rabbits.*

"Umm—Shinobu?"

"Mitsune?"

"Not to be too selfish, but I haven't eaten all day. You got anything?"

"I do. Come on and help me, because we're all getting some."

"I was hoping for Keitaro to say that, but okay."

Su ducked for her room, proclaiming the need to show them something. She emerged to the living room with a box covered by a blanket. Shinobu and Mitsune emerged from the kitchen with serving trays and steaming bowls.

"Hey, folks—I give you—Shinobu's Beef Barley Soup!"

"It may not be traditional, but this seems to be a day for new things. Eat up, everyone."

Keitaro was the first to comment.

"Shinobu—this is even better than the restaurant I got you the recipe from!"

Naru was not shy about it.

"It really is extraordinary, kiddo. You've outdone yourself."

Su was eating it up at a fast pace.

"This is worth getting hit, stripped, taunted, lectured and my butt kicked."

The stares at Shinobu didn't last. The soup was that good. Motoko nodded.

"Very nearly a---I will say it—transcendent soup, Shinobu."

Mitsune was on her second bowl.

"I'd chew shoe leather right now—but this stuff ain't shoe leather. Congrats to our resident chef."

Shinobu revealed her secret.

"I was so tired and overwrought this morning that, when preparing the initial stock, I absolutely pulverized the ingredients. Rather than waste the powder that resulted, I added it back in, and I really like the extra strength it gives the flavor."

Mitsune wiped her mouth and burped unapologetically

"In other words, you took a mistake, threw it in anyway, and made a good thing even better. Sounds like our guy here."

Naru laughed.

"Sounds like all of us."

Motoko went one step further, mixing languages just a bit.

"One could even call such a process the recipe for—Hinata Soup."

Shinobu nearly fainted.

"I love that! A soup in honor of this place—not to mention Grandma."

Su raised her hand, stunning almost all present.

"Can I go now? Did I ask permission right?"

Motoko's sudden hug told her yes.

"Wow, thanks. Okay—well I kind of did like Shinobu. I took all my wrecked stuff in my room, merged the surviving chips and components, and made---"

All braced themselves for absolutely anything, knowing also that this was pointless as Su pulled back the blanket.

"---this Karaoke machine!"

All stared at the ornate, lit-up device, which, knowing Su, had undreamed-of abilities. Their faces lit up after one of the hardest days ever. Su looked concerned.

"But only if you want to use it. I don't want to force anybody."

Half of them hugged her, and the other half fought for the mike. The long day had at last gotten better, but nor was it all done just yet.