Shinobu loved to window shop, to look at the beautiful displays in the
big department store windows along the busiest streets of Tomobiki and dream
of owning the breathtaking dresses she saw there. She never tried on the
clothes; her father made a good living but not that good. She had learned the
trick of standing in just the right position that her reflection on the glass
was directly above the mannequin's perfect features.
She was gazing at a scene in the window of the newest store in town.
Surrounding a large table loaded with the finest of foods and wines, were a
number of mannequins. All female but not all Terran...but a cross section of
many of the races spread across the galaxy. They were lovely considering they
were dressed in the same form-fitting jumpsuit. Shinobu was attracted and
repelled by it at the same time.
As she watched, one of the statues lowered the cup she had been holding
to the table, then picked up a bottle to fill it. Suddenly all of the
mannequins had come to life. They were having a party. One turned to look
out the window at Shinobu, who immediately recognized Sylia. Priss, Nene and
the rest of Pathfinder Troop Six were there. Sylia beckoned, pointed to the
empty chair next to her, the one with Shinobu's name on it. All were calling
out to her to come in, to join the party. To join them.
Shinobu looked up and down the length of the store, but there was no
door to be seen. Just a great sign above the window which read SAGUSSA:
PRECISELY ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND SERVED. She sighed, shrugged her shoulders and
moved on. She really had to get some new clothes. She did not have a thing
to wear. She left the house in such a hurry that she forgotten to get
dressed.
Shinobu hoped she was dreaming. If this turned out to be real, she was
going to die of embarrassment.
* * *
Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year: "Shinobu: Futures Imperfect" Part 7
By Philip Gavigan
PGavigan@aol.com
**** **** ****
Edited by Fred Herriot and E.B. Kushnir
**** **** ****
A side story based on the fan fiction stories in turn based on "Urusei
Yatsura," created by Rumiko Takahashi
**** **** ****
IN THE SIXTH PART OF "SHINOBU: FUTURES IMPERFECT," the people of Nerima have
turned against Shinobu, trying to drive her from the district. A weekend
getaway to the resort city of Oshio turns tragic as an earthquake levels the
town. Shinobu is able to get help for the stricken city, but an unfortunate
lie regarding Lum and Ataru's absence from the relief effort turns the
residents of Tomobiki against the one that they have worshipped for so long...
**** **** ****
And with that...ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!
**** **** ****
She walked along the bustling sidewalk. She knew people were all around
her, but could see them only as flickers out of the corner of her eye. The
skies were darkening, becoming more threatening. The colors of the buildings
were being leached away. Soon the stores were also disappearing, drawn away
from her as were the trees, automobiles and the earth itself. Soon all of
Tomobiki had vanished...except for the road she was on. She began to run, she
could feel that she was being stalked by something behind her, something
threatening, yet familiar. But there was no safety to be found ahead, she
sensed that there was something else waiting for her up there, something
waiting to claim her life for its own.
She stumbled and fell to the ground. Panting for breath she lay there,
then noticed she was at a crossroads, each path leading into great black
voids. She jumped to her feet and chose the right hand-street...then saw
there was something emerging from the darkness in her way. A quick glance
over her shoulders and she saw something standing on each of the roads leading
away from the crossroads.
They all revolted her.
"Our presence here counteracts each other's attempts to graft our mind
onto our younger self," a hollow voice emanating from the futuristic armor
said.
The figure draped in an overcoat carrying a long rifle with her face
covered by her white hair and hat replied. "We'll have to let our minions
make the first move. To do otherwise risks destruction...as I've learned."
"Darlings...I AM destruction." Shinobu tore her gaze from the leather-
clad figure to the statue behind her. It was cast in a golden metal that
seemed to shimmer, almost rippling underneath its surface. An abstract work
of art, it resembled a woman...except it lacked any female characteristics
except a slim waist and other minor proportional details. It was listening to
the conversations surrounding them...but that was impossible.
"Hey!" Shinobu snarled at the three arguing figures. "What's going on
here?! Who are you people?! I've never seen you before in my life."
"Oh, yes, you have...every time you've looked into a mirror," laughed
the slut in the short dress. Shinobu started when she saw the speaker's face,
then she noticed that the samurai had removed her helmet and the gaunt woman
her hat. They were all her, twisted, vicious versions to be sure, but
recognizably, undeniably herself. She wanted to run from this dreadful
revelation, but there was nowhere to go.
"You're no philosopher's stone. Something to measure the purity of the
rest of Creation against. We're what you are capable of being...of doing.
All you need is a little push in the right direction and you'll take care of
the rest," the thin white-haired woman proclaimed, fingering the buttstock of
her strange musket.
"No!" Shinobu protested, her voice rising in horror. "This can't be
right! That can't be true!!"
"It can't be anything else," the trio said as one.
* * *
Shinobu's eyes slowly opened. She rose from the futon in Hitomi's room.
She felt sluggish, but she had only returned from Oshio the day before; she
had no chance to regain her strength from her efforts during the rescue
mission. She had gone straight to bed, partially to get some rest and
partially to avoid the reporters who lurked like wolves at her cousin's door.
She blinked a couple of times, looking at the lit clock on her cousin's
vanity. It was way too early to get up...but she was thirsty. She was about
to go to the bathroom when she noticed a tall glass of water near her pillow.
Hitomi must have put it there for her in case she woke up. The water had a
slight metallic taste but it was cold and soothed her dry throat. She put the
glass down then settled back on the futon and within a few moments was
breathing with a soft, gentle rhythm.
The empty glass shown bright in the thin light streaming in from the
window, then it shivered and began to melt into a gleaming golden puddle. It
slid across the bedroom floor to the window and pushed itself through the
crack between the pane of glass and the sill. It dripped down the side of the
house until it met and merged with the statue-like figure standing in the
small, walled garden.
The machine began to shimmer, strange movement changing and reshaping it
from within. In moments it resembled something from Earth's distant past and
took unaided to the night skies. It had other stops to make if it were to
ensure its ultimate victory. It had already taken the first and most
important step.
* * *
"They proposed the strategy last night, just as you said they would,"
Baron Suzuki lowered his morning cup of tea to the table by where he and his
companion knelt. "Shinobu's..." the Baron felt uncomfortable referring to his
ally's younger self in the third person, but there was no way around it,
"...actions at Oshio struck a cord across Japan. For the first time our
people have seen that one of our own can act as an equal with our guests from
across space, even command their aid. This, coupled with the guilt many of
them felt for believing those lies spread about her have given her a great
importance in our nation. At the moment, she is the symbol of our future."
"And our colleagues among Japan's far sighted traditionalists perceived
she might be the means of securing the mass's support for our cause," the
samurai refilled the Baron's cup, her every movement perfect in the rites of
the tea ceremony they shared. "They proposed seizing my young self and, using
the services of that Chinese crone in Nerima, subtly altering Shinobu's self-
perception, Japan and the future. They're quite right, but must act quickly
to enact their plan."
"Our men move tonight. There's a powerful storm that should be over the
city soon. That will help mask our actions. The team is well trained and
should have no problem...although the man I would have chosen to lead them is
unavailable."
The Baron mentally sighed when he thought of the missing Mr. Lee. His
best operative had been called away on some mysterious emergency the week
before and had been unreachable since. They would simply have to do without
him. The Baron looked at the lovely woman beside him. "Please, tell me the
reason behind your urgency."
Lady Katana glanced over the rim of her cup at her breakfast companion.
He was as perceptive as she remembered. She looked at the hot liquid in the
cup and controlled the urge to frown. Despite all her preparations, the tea
tasted slightly off to her, one of the ingredients must have held impurities.
She was grateful the Baron was too much the gentleman to call attention to the
fact. She put her cup down to answer him. "Actually I have two. We must
take her now, while she is in Nerima and beyond the protection of Tomobiki.
That district protects those it considers its own and any attempt to seize her
within its confines would end in failure."
"You sound as if Tomobiki is alive."
"Not in the way that you mean, but in a very real sense, it does live.
Something happened there a very long time ago that continues to shape its
inhabitants to this very day. When Shinobu moved to its confines, that
essence that is Tomobiki immediately recognized her latent potential and began
to recast her in its image. But when Lum entered the district, the energies
she brought with her also effected the girl. Now Shinobu's actions transforms
the line of destiny and makes me possible."
"What do you mean?" the baron asked, enthralled by the story.
"In no future previously shown before did she ever leave Tomobiki as she
did this summer. Somehow the fires that burn within her made this action
possible and destiny is realigning to accommodate her movements." Katana
paused for a moment to let the full meaning of what she said sink in. "Your
fellows in the militarist bloc would have made the same suggestion to you in
the previous destiny, but the attempt would have ended in a catastrophe that
would have brought ridicule and derision upon you all. But now, NOW we have
the chance to secure Japan's destiny as the leader of this sad world."
The Baron slowly nodded his agreement. Now was the time and they had to
risk everything on a single toss of the dice. "Thank you for your honesty. I
will take every measure to ensure our success this evening. What is the
second reason that you mention?"
The woman looked out of the open window to the morning sun there and
considered her words carefully. "I was not the only possibility with the
ability to transverse the time and dimensional barriers. Three others have
made the journey here. One is violently insane and very dangerous. Another
is an abomination in the eyes of the Gods and man. The third is something
that I have no words to describe. All I know is that it exists...and must not
be allowed to be."
The Baron stood up and offered his arm to the Lady who graciously took
it. "There is much to be done before our plan can be put into action. Will
you accompany me to the barracks to inform our ninjas of their duties?"
As the door closed behind the couple another at the far end of the
morning room opened and a young servant quickly entered and headed for the
table. She removed the breakfast items, but spent a few minutes looking for
Lady Katana's cup before deciding that the woman must have taken it with her.
Neither she nor any of the inhabitants of the large estate noticed the
fantastic figure flying away in the direction of Tokyo...
* * *
Shinobu walked down the sidewalk to the Ono Clinic, her lingering anger
making her steps brisk. She had agreed to answer a few questions that
morning, more to get rid of them than for anything else. It had gone
surprising well at first, the queries asked were politely phrased and not too
intrusive. Then the American with the big nose and mustache had made a
particularly stupid query. Her response brought down the house. She had left
with the man being pummeled by the notebooks of his companions.
She was hoping the day would begin improve soon. She felt nervous, that
there was someplace where she should be if she wanted to be safe. She shook
her head to clear these thoughts and went on her way. She did not notice the
large man walking parallel to her on the other side of the street.
Mr. Taga kept his eyes fixed on the slight figure as she entered the
clinic of that fool doctor. Let him enjoy her corrupt favors one last time;
it would be the last. Taga shifted the heavy briefcase that he carried, the
massive gaijin weapon he obtained from the underworld rattling within. Sooner
or later he would get the chance to use it. Sooner or later, his boy would be
avenged.
* * *
"...I've tried his number again sir, but there's simply no answer."
Mr. Takanaba grunted as he cut the line between him and his secretary,
his most trusted operative's presence on this mission would have been
comforting, but hardly necessary. The men that he had trained were more than
capable. By mid-evening the girl would be in their possession and at the
secret laboratories housed in the Tokyo Financial Center. His scientists had
repeatedly assured him that the operation would take minutes, the nanites
would be introduced to her system orally and would spread out into her blood
stream following the same route as the energy from food.
The investor nervously drummed his fingers on the desk. So much was
riding on this. Soon, the Baron would demand that he turn over the secrets
his men unlocked from the alien devices they had obtained, the secrets that
had lead to the development of the nanites that would save him and his failing
companies. He simply could not keep up with the innovations shown by the
Moroboshis and the Mendous. He needed an edge to take them over. Unknown to
everyone, even herself, Shinobu Miyaki was going to provide that advantage.
* * *
"...so once we get the subject here," the Israeli agent said. "Yuri and
the specialist will implant a mental command in her."
The Russian got to his feet, looking around the room and its present
inhabitants. It was a remarkable collection of men and women whom just five
years ago would have been doing their best to kill each other. But in the
aftermath of the First Tag Race they, the cream of the international
intelligence community had been assigned to Tomobiki to investigate the
abilities and attitudes of the aliens determined to make that unhappy district
their playland. As the collected information was shared, they began working
with each other, keeping up with alien movements across this island nation. By
now, most had become good friends because they shared a common goal. That aim
was to ensure that humanity remained as distant from the entanglements of the
galaxy as possible. They had all been first-hand observers of the antics in
Tomobiki...and were aghast at the possibility that their superiors would even
consider making a treaty with any such potentially dangerous beasts.
They had to create humankind's last line of defense against the
intrusive behavior of the galaxy's other races. But to do that was hard.
Yuri had grown fond of the young Japanese girl over the past three years and
the thought of turning her into a hardened killer twisted at his conscience.
*What will be...will be.* he thought as he began to speak. "Once we get her
here..." he said in excellent English, that being the preferred language in
the intelligence community, much to the annoyance of the French, "...it won't
take more than an hour to do the initial conditioning. We'll get her back
home. Tomorrow she'll wake up remembering nothing. But when we need to train
her in her duties, all we'll have to do is tell her the command phrase and
she'll find her way to us."
As the group prepared to head for Nerima and their target, Suzanna
Lords, a recent addition to the group from the American embassy, excused
herself and ducked around to the back side of the small garage they had been
using as their meeting place. It had been recommended by her contact, who had
told her it had been briefly used by a group of Urusian agents until their
neutralization by the Sagussans. Lords preferred not to think about that.
Instead, she waited for Scalphunter to appear. She knew she would never
be able to locate the Japanese woman unless she wanted to be found. There was
a rustle of movement behind her and she turned to find the hunter walking to
her, lowering a canteen disgustedly. "Water in Tokyo's even worse then I
remember it being. Tastes like rusty coins," her cold brown eyes looked
directly into Lords' as she said. "I take it everything is go."
"We'll be on our way to Nerima within the hour," the American confirmed.
"Good...but tell everyone to keep their eyes open. There are other
players on the field now." Scalphunter raised a hand to stop the questions
she saw in Suzanne's eyes. "I don't know much about them, but they're well-
trained, motivated and on the prowl. If you don't get to Shinobu first...
you'll have to do everything you can to get her away from them. And remember
...they'll do it to you if you don't do it to them first."
* * *
"What do you mean he asked what sort of '-ese' you are?" Akane asked as
the waiter put their ice creams down. She had been working with Shinobu on
her breathing techniques during today's session, but soon realized she was not
up to training. The youngest Tendou daughter suggested she and her sisters
take Shinobu out to celebrate her safe return from Oshio with a visit to the
local ice cream parlour. Nabiki had quickly agreed and Kasumi promised to
join them after she returned a book to Dr. Tofu. Sensing that something was
bothering her first student, she asked her what was wrong and Shinobu informed
her about the abruptly aborted press conference.
"I asked him what he meant by that and he said he wanted to know if I
was Japanese, Chinese or Vietnamese. I told him that I'm Japanese then asked
him what sort of '-key' he was: monkey, donkey, or Yankee."
Her companions giggled as she looked down at the freshly made
confection. It was good...but she would have preferred a Mount Fuji. She
snuck a glance around the crowded shop. The chatting had quieted down when
she and the Tendous had entered, but there was something different going on
today. Instead of being taken to an out-of-the-way table, usually next to the
washrooms, they were sitting in the window booth. There were also none of the
sneers or under-the-breath comments that she had come to expect from the
residents of Nerima. Their absence made her nervous.
Nabiki saw the puzzled expression in Shinobu's warm eyes and correctly
guessed the source of her confusion. "It's because of what happened in Oshio.
Nobody in this town is dumb enough to want the district to get the reputation
of being the only place in Japan where the 'Angel of Oshio' is unwelcome."
Akane carefully hid her smile as the blush caused by her sister's word
turned their friend's face a bright pink. Shinobu was easier to embarrass
than she. "Besides, it was primarily the Businessmen's Council that was
behind the smear campaign. When a certain someone..." she paused, looking at
her sister, who suddenly was giving her sundae a lot more attention than it
deserved, "...went to them with a list of health, safety and worker rights
code violations, along with stamped envelopes with the corresponding
regulatory agencies addresses on, they had an emergency meeting and elected a
new president on the spot."
Shinobu decided to change the subject. "Well, I'm sorry your fiance and
his father decided to take that training trip right before his mother arrived.
They must have just missed each other." Shinobu paused as the two girls began
to study the ceiling above them and wondered at what she could have said to
cause that. "Mrs. Saotome seems like a really nice person, but very
traditional. What was in that package that she was carrying on her back?"
"That's...the Saotome family's katana," Akane nervously explained. This
was a subject that she really did not want to go into detail with.
Shinobu blinked twice. Tradition was a good thing...but carrying a
sword with you was not all that common in Japan these days. Then an
explanation occurred to her. "Is it for Ranma?" she asked.
"It could be for both Ranma and his father," Nabiki answered before
groaning as her sister's elbow connected with her ribs.
Shinobu was about to ask what was going on when a flash of red on the
other side of the street caught her attention. It was Mrs. Saotome leading
Akane's country cousin by the hand. The older woman was leading the tomboy
into a woman's clothing outlet. The little redhead was vehemently protesting
...but eventually allowed herself to be taken inside. If anybody needed a new
wardrobe it was that girl. Every time Shinobu saw her she seemed to be
wearing masculine clothes. "Akane," she asked, "...did Mrs. Saotome tell you
what she was going to do this afternoon?"
"Yes, she was talking about getting Ran-...ko into something a bit more
feminine," Akane replied, giving her softly snickering sister a burning look.
"Well, she's certainly going to do that. I just saw the two of them
going into Victoria's Secret across the street," Shinobu sat stunned at the
look of amusement that burst across Akane's face.
"Ran-...ko in a lingerie store? This I've got to see!" With that Akane
rubbed her hands in a villainous fashion and rushed out of the parlour.
Shinobu turned to Nabiki, who had her eyes tightly shut and was shaking
her head back and forth. "Nabiki, I really like your sister, but there are
times when I just don't understand her."
The middle Tendou daughter smiled crookedly as she opened her eyes.
"There are times when you should be grateful that you can't. By the way, are
you still on for the movie tonight?"
"I should be feeling better by then, but I'll call and let you know."
The two girls started their sundaes, studiously ignoring the riot
breaking out across the street...
* * *
The girl watched the waves run up and down the lonely private beach.
For her the most difficult part of living on this blue planet had been the
abundance of water, something in very short supply on her own seemingly barren
world. It was there of course, the underground oceans that flowed through the
highly permeable rock, forced to the surface by great geological pressures to
form the vast lakes which supplied the needs of her people. But there was
nothing there to equal this.
Strangely enough, due to her old manner of dress, her friends assumed
she had a natural affinity for the water. In actuality, she was a little
afraid of it. She could handle this phobia well enough when she was in a pool
or other small fresh water body, but facing the vastness of the ocean, she
needed the reassuring presence of her Darling to help her. It had been one of
the myriad reasons she had once feared living in Oshika. But now, with her
expanded sense of the universe, she appreciated the primordal power the ocean
represented. The ability to give, sustain and take life. Sometime she would
have to talk with Nokoko and Mal about the concept of the "Mother Ocean" the
Nendo-kata had at their philosophical base.
At the moment she was content to let the roll of the surf and the salt
tang carried on the afternoon breeze ease her troubled brow. Darling was a
galaxy away on a mission to save the people who had nearly murdered her in
their desperation to live. She was still unable to leave the shelter of
Oshika due to her developing Sagussan abilities. Her friends in Tomobiki...
It was better not to think about that. The few calls she attempted had
not gone well. She was unable to reach the one she most wanted to talk with.
She had been carrying the note from Shinobu in a shirt pocket when the Hustari
extraction team had seized Darling. The rounds that ended her life as an
Urusian had destroyed the message. It would have been nice to have read it.
To learn how Shinobu really felt toward her.
Lum was so lost in her contemplation of the ocean that it was not until
a strong arm slid across her shoulders that she realized Noa had sat down next
to her. She leaned back against her bond-mate, letting her head rest in the
crook of her neck. "What are you thinking about?" Noa whispered.
The Oni-turned-Sagussan sighed. "What Catty told us this afternoon."
Noa grimaced, making a mental note to tell the doctor to work on her
social skills. Catty might be a medical professional but her dictatorial
manner bordered on the abrasive. Her matter-of-fact way of telling Lum that
Shinobu's strength was due to the subconscious fear the girl held of the Oni
had not gone down well. "Now, we don't really know if that's the case or not.
Catty herself admits that she never had the chance to complete her psi-probe
before the conflicting energies blew up in her face."
Lum readjusted her position so she could look directly into her lover's
eyes. "No. I'm afraid it does make sense. When I first arrived, Shinobu was
no stronger that any other girl. During our competition for Darling, whenever
I would do something to frighten her, to drive her away...she would always
respond in kind. I just assumed all Terran females got stronger when they
were battling for mates."
The Oni turned to look back at the water swelling as the tide began to
turn. "Catty's explanation makes perfect sense. Shinobu is incredibly strong
because she, in her perception of herself as 'normal,' can accept her strength
as something all humans can do...with the proper motivation. And I'm afraid
I'm her motivation."
Noa could not argue with that. Everything Catty said was reasonable
considering their limited understanding on how the positive and negative
forces within Shinobu effected the girl's *mei'na.* It even explained why
Shinobu's strength had vanished after Lum had used the wishing well of Yumisei
to turn into Ramuko. With the Oni gone, the threat she represented to Shinobu
also disappeared...and with it her strength. "I wonder..." Noa paused as she
considered something, "...if Shinobu ever changed her self-perception, would
that change the way she's able to access those energies. Make it possible for
her to do other things...possibly travel across the time-space-dimensional
barriers?"
Lum felt growing panic. "You're thinking about those time spikes and
that corpse that you found in Nerima, aren't you?!" Lum did not wait for the
*ashi'cha* to reply. "Shinobu would never do anything like that to anybody!"
"Lum, Shinobu is the only thing all of these events have in common. And
remember, whatever is coming to this present is coming back through time.
People change. When he was a teenager, the Mikado considered entering the
priesthood. Now look at him: a dictator willing to kill millions to preserve
control over a shrinking empire." Noa stroked Lum's face with a gentle
finger, wiping away angry tears. "Lum, the Shinobu we know would never hurt a
fly. Can you honestly say that the Shinobu of the future would be the same?"
Both girls watched the rising tide surge up the beach. But the peace of
the afternoon was gone and they stood up to make their way home...
* * *
Yoko Miyaki stopped buttoning up her light summer jacket as she watched
her niece hang up the phone, rubbing at her forehead. Shinobu had been
restless that afternoon, wanting to get some sleep so that she could go out
with the Tendou girls while her cousins visited their in-laws. She was unable
to get herself settled for a nap. She had complained of a nagging feeling
that she had to go somewhere. There was someplace that she had to get to, but
had been unable to elaborate. Now she had called to tell her friends to go to
the movies without her because she simply did not feel up to it.
"Shinobu-chan, would you like us to stay here tonight? It would only
take a moment to call my parents. I'm sure they would understand," Yoko
offered, her concern for her favorite niece clear in her voice.
Shinobu smiled at her cousins, shaking her head. She knew how much they
had been looking forward to this reunion with the maternal side of their
family. During the 'recent unpleasantness,' they had spent all their time
shielding her from the scorn of their neighbors. The trip to Oshio had done
nothing to help relax them. "No, you go ahead and have a good time tonight,"
she said, making her voice as cheerful as possible, fooling nobody except
herself. "I'm just going to soak in the bath all night and read. That should
help me get some sleep tonight."
* * *
As the telephone connection was broken, the ninja at the listening
equipment put down the headset and turned to the team's leader. "She's not
going out tonight," he reported in an unnecessary whisper. "She's ill and
will be staying home."
"What about her cousins? Will they still be going to that reunion?" the
head of the group wondered. She had spent the afternoon in contemplation of
the mission that loomed before them. They had anticipated snatching the girl
up as she made her way home from her date with her local friends. A quick
trip to a certain local restaurant and a mind altering shampoo and set and the
future of Japan and the world would be assured with no one the wiser.
But this changed the scenario. Now there was the possibility of
witnesses, of innocent casualties. Of official attention. All things that
every ninja preferred to avoid. Despite their deserved reputation as
fighters, the greatest weapons in the ninja's arsenal were stealth, secrecy
and surprise. They chose the time, place and circumstances to ensure the
maximum potential for success. For the target to suddenly change its behavior
was cause for concern.
Before the ninja who had been listening in on the telephone conversation
with Akane Tendou could answer, another one, who had been spying on the Miyaki
house through one of the peep holes cut in the side of the moving van the
ninjas had parked in front on the vacant house on the other side of the
street, called her leader over. She looked through the spy hole and saw three
people get into a small car and drive away. She thought about this latest
development before turning to face her team. "We'll wait 'till later this
evening. With the storm moving in, it should soon be dark enough for us to
act without being noticed."
She resumed her lotus position on the floor of the van and began again
the most difficult part of any mission. The waiting.
* * *
Fungi looked at the device in front of him. It had been difficult to
do, but by scavenging the necessary components from their communication set
and back-up computer, he had been able to recreate the device shown in the
blueprints of the Hagane Sect. Once the rest of the Niphentaxian team
returned with the Terran female, it would be relatively easy. Just put her
underneath the helmet and flip the switch and the process of changing the
girl's personality would be irreversible.
Fungi sniffed the air in the restaurant and noticed the musky smell he
hated. He turned and stared at the figure sitting at the counter, that
accursed smile upon her unnaturally smooth face. He was the only member of
the Church of Lum's surveillance team in Nerima that she had not...had...and
he was grateful for that. He thought about the things he had been forced to
watch and shivered as the nausea in his gut grew.
Fungi froze in terror as a slim white hand began to snake across his
crest. Was it his turn now? He did not dare look at the fiend breathing
hotly against his neck, not even when her small tongue worked its way into his
ear...or when her sharp teeth closed down hard upon its lobe. "Will it be
ready on time?" Kali breathed.
She enjoyed Fungi's reaction to her advances and took fiendish pleasure
in torturing him this way. He was considerably more intelligent than the rest
of the Niphentaxians who used this empty restaurant for their observation
post. They had immediately accepted her as their 'goddess,' while he was more
perceptive as to her true nature. "Yes," the tall boy said, fighting
valiantly to prevent from retching at being held by this loathsome thing. "It
will perform precisely as designed. Once the girl gets here, that thing will
insert the mind seed into her subconscious and begin to change her personality
into...into yours." The machine had originally been intended to make the
Great Evil submissive to the Goddess's desires. Now it would be used to
create something that considered the universe her playground.
Kali stopped lapping up the blood dripping from her toy's wounded ear,
took his pointed chin in her hand and made him turn and look directly at her.
"Fungi..." she said in a little girl's voice with a tremulous pout on her
lips, "...I don't think you like me."
"I loathe you!" he hisses. If his time was now, he was going to die as
an intelligent being should, on his feet and defiant. "You are a lie, a
deception. You used those poor fools for your perverted amusements and aims
and promised them paradise in return."
With an insane laugh she released the trembling boy from her steel-like
grip and stepped away from him. She raised her arms above her head and began
to vanish before his amazed gaze. As she disappeared from view he could hear
her clearly say, "But darling...that's the very definition of a goddess."
* * *
Shinobu fell to her knees, clutching her head between her hands. A
driving pain behind her eyes pounded upon her nerves like a drummer. "Make it
stop...make it stop..." she moaned over and over. The bath had done nothing
for her and as she dried herself, she felt worse than before. She was dressed
without consciously deciding to do so. She felt compelled to go somewhere,
but she had no idea where. There was something pulling at her, something that
wanted to protect her...or more accurately, to ensure that she remained as she
was. Something wanted her to go through the years unchanged, forever as she
was and it wanted her now.
She leaned back as the pain reached a new plateau, then subsided
momentarily before it grew to an even greater level. Before it could do so
Shinobu screamed, "ALL RIGHT, I'LL GO BACK!!!!" Immediately the pain began to
die away, not disappearing, but at a more tolerable level. Shinobu put her
shoes on as she checked the railroad timetable that she had kept from her trip
to Nerima. There was a train leaving for her destination in about ninety
minutes. If she hurried she could be at the station before the threatening
storm broke.
The slim girl grabbed an umbrella and her carryall and ran from the
house, the door locking behind her. If everything went well she would be back
in Tomobiki before this evening was over.
Back in Tomobiki...Tomobiki that wanted her there.
* * *
The Israeli studied the house across the street with his night scope.
For a moment he had thought its sole occupant had fallen and hurt herself, but
she was up and moving and seemed to be alright. He lowered his scope and
looked around the quaintly decorated room that he stood in. The elderly
couple who owned this house were in their bedroom sleeping under the gentle
influence of the gas that they had pumped into the building.
The Russian entered the room to take over the watch. He was beginning
to feel much better about this operation. With the girl home alone there
would be fewer complications and the rising storm was keeping the neighbors
indoors. The only traffic on the residential road were a couple of parked
vans and a large moving truck.
A flash of light across the darkening street caught his attention and he
put the night vision scope to his eyes. There he saw their target running
from the house with a bag over her shoulder. "She's moving!" he yelled to the
rest of the team who came in response.
Suzanna Lords turned to the rest of the intelligence agents. "We take
her now! Remember there are others after her too. They can't be allowed to
get her!"
Just then the doors on the vans and the truck began to slide open...
* * *
To be continued...
Shinobu shivered as she stood in the open doorway of her cousin's home
staring out into the darkened street. The day had been the first hot and
humid one of the year. The rapidly approaching thunderstorm was riding a cold
front making the air uncomfortably chilly. She felt a few small droplets of
water strike her face as she lifted her borrowed umbrella over her head and
started down the walkway through the walled enclosure around the house.
She was feeling very anxious...although her mysterious headache vanished
as soon as she decided to return to Tomobiki on the next train. It would be
leaving the Nerima depot in ninety minutes and it was a ten block walk to get
there. If the storm broke before she got there, she would be even more
uncomfortable.
There did not seem to be any people on the streets. In fact, the only
vehicles she saw were a couple of parked passenger vans and a large moving
truck. That was not too surprising; according to Hitomi this part of the
Nerima electrical system was Tokyo's oldest, wired like a string of cheap-
colored lights. The power frequently went out during thunderstorms and most
people preferred to be at home when that happened.
She shivered as she walked towards the intersection. The temperature
was dropping rapidly; the storm almost upon her. She was untroubled. She had
her trusty carryall with her and its stash of 'emergency supplies' which
helped her and her family through the first stage of the Oshio earthquake in
fine shape. If it started to pour rain, she would call a cab and if she could
not get one she would just take shelter in a restaurant or under a store
yawning.
Shinobu spotted ten high school students coming around a corner heading
in her direction. She smiled nostalgically at the sight. In spite of the
events of her senior year at Tomobiki she still longed for the better times
when every day passed like a carnival. Then a disturbing thought struck her
that stopped her in her tracks. *High school students?!* her survival
instincts kicked in. *School has been out for weeks, why would they still be
wearing their uniforms at this late date...and at night too.* She could see
them clearly as they walked under a street lamp, she noticed their features,
the slightly elevated eyebrows and the long, tapering ears.
"Niphentaxians," she groaned horrified. "Niphentaxians in Nerima."
* * *
Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year: "Shinobu: Futures Imperfect" Part 8
By Philip Gavigan
PGavigan@aol.com
**** **** ****
Edited by Fred Herriot and E. B. Kushnir
**** **** ****
A side story based on the fan fiction stories in turn based on "Urusei
Yatsura," created by Rumiko Takahashi.
**** **** ****
IN THE SEVENTH PART OF "SHINOBU: FUTURES IMPERFECT," Shinobu has returned to
Nerima to discover that her actions during the Oshio earthquake have made her
a heroine across Japan, blunting the efforts to drive her from that district.
Her desire for a peaceful life might have a chance. It is literally the calm
before the storm...
**** **** ****
And with that...ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!
**** **** ****
Shinobu turned to flee back the way she had come, but only got a few
feet before she noticed other figures blocking her way. From the moving truck
a number of black silhouettes emerged. Shinobu had seen the Moroboshi Clan's
shadow warriors in action often enough to recognize ninjas. The men from the
vans looked something like Mendou's Special Assault Forces, but moved with an
assurance and precision that her classmate's incompetent minions could never
match. Out of the house that belonged to the elderly couple across the street
from her cousins, a large group of foreigners emerged. Some carried weapons
that reminded the young woman of the automatic pistol the Megane had used on
her on Phentax Twelve. The sight of that dreadful thing momentarily paralyzed
the girl. By the time she came to her senses she was surrounded!
Shinobu threw her umbrella to one side...and was surprised as it knocked
down the Niphentaxian creeping on her from that direction. She frantically
tried to recall the contents of her carryall. There were some tools in there,
but nothing she could use as a weapon without killing someone. In the years
since Lum's arrival on Earth, even the time following Ataru's torture, she had
avoided being directly responsible for the death of anyone. She wanted to
keep it that way. She drew herself into a defensive posture, the only one she
and Akane had worked on and waited for the first move.
She heard a number of whispered interchanges within the four groups
around her. She could not hear what was said clearly, the steadily increasing
rain and the occasional crack of thunder prevented that, but she heard enough
to tell her that all of them wanted her for some mysterious reason...and none
of them wanted to risk hurting her by shooting at the others. Shinobu
realized then that she stood directly in the line of fire of all four opposing
groups and if anyone's nerves broke under the increasing tension of this
precarious situation...she would be the first to suffer.
"How dare they?!" Shinobu snarled, fear breaking away and turning into
anger. Not the hysterical madness that had afflicted her in Tomobiki....but a
cold, deliberate indignation that sharpened her senses, turning her into a
dangerous weapon. These people wanted to use her...for their own benefit.
She had enough of that in Tomobiki. She would not tolerate it here.
Within seconds a plan of action sprang to mind. All she needed was a
momentary diversion and she would disappear down the street before any of them
could react. Through the storm, Shinobu saw the poles of the local utility
company supporting massive transformers. The old, worn out devices were
emitting the occasional spark and flash as they began to fail under nature's
relentless assault. It was just a matter of time before they would collapse
under the strain and plunge the street into darkness. But a movement in the
corner of her eye caught her attention. Shinobu swung around and found that
one of the gaijins, a young, blonde woman, fidgeting nervously with a pistol.
This one was going to lose it and lose it soon. Shinobu knew that she needed
more time...but time was running out fast.
The Japanese girl cast her eyes to the powerful bolts of lightning that
cut across the skies high above her. That was all she needed and it was just
out of reach. Her anger grew stronger, she wanted lightning to strike that
pole and she wanted lightning to strike that pole NOW!!!!
And it happened!
Her rage tapped into the power that generated by the internal struggle
between *mei'de* and *mei'te* absorbed during her life in Tomobiki, the
ultimate forces of creation and entropy that drove and shaped the universe.
It was the source of her incredible physical strength. For the first time she
used it for something else. Her *mei'na* reached out and redirected the
course of the lightning bolt, driving it to strike the power transformers
which exploded in a brilliant flash.
As the neighborhood went dark Shinobu dropped to the pavement and
rolled. With the lights gone, the nervousness between the opposing groups set
off their weapons. She could hear screams and cries of the wounded. There
was no time. They had caused this, not her. She reached the rain-filled
gutter on the side of the street and crawled away from the battle that raged
behind her. The run off flowing directly at her made it difficult to breathe
but she pushed on. Within minutes she reached the intersection and ducked
behind the street lamp that was there. She looked back towards the scene of
the combat and saw only an occasional flash of a pistol.
*Good!! I hope they've all killed each other!* she though with grim
satisfaction...then was immediately appalled for conceiving that callous
sentiment. *Gods, what's happening to me?! What am I becoming?!* That
thought tormented her as she pulled herself up. There was no time to think
about it. She had to get to the railway station, and to Tomobiki where she
would be safe.
In the confusion of her flight Shinobu lost her direction and was
uncertain which way the depot lay. There was a map and a flashlight in her
soaked carryall, but she could not risk using the torch at the moment.
Someone might see her. The best she could do was to pick a street, start
running and hope it was the right one.
She did and it was the right one, unfortunately she headed away from the
station...
* * *
Shaskaar, leader of the Niphentaxian espionage group, former devout
member of the Church of Lum, now the First Prophet of the Goddess Kali,
gritted her teeth as she pressed her fingers into the gaping wound on her side
to staunch the flow of blood from the severed veins. The Earth ninja that had
struck her from behind had delivered what would have been a killing blow to a
primitive from this world, but to her it was merely a painful inconvenience.
It had not even slowed her down as she snapped the shadow warrior's back.
The alien struggled to her feet, looking about, her school uniform
plastered against her statuesque frame. Her eyes, adjusted to the lack of
light, clearly ssw the bodies strewn around her, most of them stilled forever.
All of her team, except for that coward Fungi she had left back at their base,
had been killed. Martyrs for their Goddess of Pain and Pleasure.
Shaskaar started down the street, grimacing slightly at the pain in her
side. She had spotted the Maiden fleeing the scene of the battle. She had to
be recovered and taken to the mind control device that would set her on the
path to her Ascension and Transformation into Kali. Limping after Shinobu,
she rededicated herself to her great task. As the only survivor of this
battle she swore to fulfill her destiny and aid her Goddess in the great task
of creating herself.
It was not until she felt the cold steel of one of the Terran's weapons
pressed to the back of her head that it occurred to her that she might not be
the only survivor...or survive at all.
* * *
Shinobu looked at the soaked map as it dissolved uselessly in her hands.
She studied the area around her again before admitting to herself that she was
completely lost. During her flight she had ducked down an empty alleyway
before stopping to use the contents of her carryall. She had felt too exposed
on the main streets and continued moving until she found shelter under a truck
loading platform. There she discovered that many of her 'emergency supplies'
were ruined. Even the cellular telephone was soaked and when she opened it
the lighted panel flickered repeatedly. It could short out at any moment...
or it may not work at all. At best she might have one chance to get help for
herself.
She though of all of the people she knew. The Tendous here in Nerima,
her friends back in Tomobiki, her sisters in Sado and Oshika and Pathfinder
Troop Six at the Toranoseishin Financial Center. She thought of everyone that
was important to her...and the one in whom she had the greatest faith. The
one person who she knew, even in the darkest moments of their relationship,
would never, ever abandon her; just as she would always come to his aid when
he truly needed her by his side.
With a saddened smile she dialed Ataru Moroboshi's number at Oshika.
Hopefully he would be home.
* * *
"How can anybody get into so much trouble without even trying?!!" Noa
gasped. She had just called the private number she had established years ago
during one of her early visits to this planet. The events of the two weeks...
the attack on Lum and her transformation into a Sagussan, Ataru's kidnapping
and the Oshio earthquake...had kept her too busy to check her answering
machine to see if any messages had been left for her.
Everyone else staying at Ataru's beach front estate was currently
running the "Hasei'cha" through a quick shakedown cruise to the moon and back
getting the bugs out of the navigation system, in preparation for their
upcoming journey into deep space. Catty had finally pronounced Lum fit to
encounter "mature non-Sagussan minds." Since the key word was "mature,"
Tomobiki was out. When everything was ready they were off to see Nassur,
Benten and some other of Lum's space-born friends. Noa considered it a
mini-vacation from all of the troubles she had to deal with. But before they
left, she wanted to check up on some Terran threats to Sagussan interests,
threats she had infiltrated long ago.
Now she had another problem...and its name was Shinobu Miyaki.
Two conspiracies had taken a similar interest in the girl. Shinobu
might not be a direct threat to Ataru or Lum anymore, but the girl was
definitely a trouble magnet. Baron Suzuki and Mr. Takanaba both wanted her
for some nefarious purpose. A sudden thought crossed her mind, chilling her.
Their designs on the girl might have something to do with the four individuals
who had crossed the time-space-dimensional barriers. There was a connection
with Shinobu and the recent events in Nerima. When she had spoken with Chief
Inspector Tori, she was informed that several more bodies had been discovered
in Nerima, all in the same condition as the one found at Furinkan High.
Noa paced about the room, trying to decide how to best handle this
situation. She would go to Nerima, get Shinobu, and take her with them on the
"Hasei'cha" on their journey outside the solar system. If they had to, they
would keep the girl off Earth and out of harm's way until everything had been
resolved. She had the address of Shinobu's Nerima relations; it would not
take long to get there.
The harsh ringing of the telephone snapped her out of her contemplations
and, irritated, she picked up the receiver, snarling a salutation into the
transmitter. All she heard over the line was static and she was about to
break the connection when she perceived a hesitant voice come faintly over the
crackling noise. "Hello. Hello...is anybody there? It's Shinobu."
"Shinobu? It's Noa. Why didn't you say anything when I answered...?"
But as Shinobu talked Noa realized that the Terran girl could not hear
her at the other end. "Ataru, is that you? Please help me. Somebody's after
me. There's been a big fight and a lot of people are dead. They want me for
something Ataru...and I think I know what. If they get me...they'll change
me. They'll do something to me to make me become someone...something else."
Noa's throat tightened. She could feel the terror in Shinobu's voice.
Despite their past antipathies, she felt a growing sympathy for the girl.
Nobody should be made to feel like this. "Ataru, if you can hear me... I ran
away from the fighting and got lost. I'm at some kind of industrial park.
Please...please help me Ataru. Don't let this happen to me."
Noa listened silently as Shinobu's voiced faded, slowly overwhelmed and
buried by the static. The line went dead. Noa slowly replaced the receiver.
It would only take her a few minutes to get to Nerima, but it was still a big
place. She needed help to find Shinobu. Normally she would simply ask the
others. Most liked the Terran girl. A few even thought her a prospective
addition to their society. But with them now on the "Hasei'cha," that option
was simply unavailable.
The perfect solution suddenly occurred to her and she ran out of the
house towards the hovercycle pad. She would use the vehicle's comlink and
call them at their home. Being farmers and expecting a child to join the one
they were currently in the process of adopting, they were certain to be home.
* * *
Holding the dead telephone, Shinobu felt a wave of depression roll over
her soul. She had taken a tremendous chance calling Ataru and she had no idea
if anyone had heard her desperate plea. Her only source of comfort was that
if Ataru had heard her, he would save her.
The water steadily rose in her sanctuary under the loading dock. The
nearby drain was choked with dirt and debris forcing her to leave. She gazed
into the dark. Whatever wanted her was out there waiting for her to emerge.
For some reason that thought no longer frightened her. Perhaps it was because
she was so cold, wet, and miserable, or maybe she was simply too angry to be
scared. Whatever the reason, she was ready to fight. She reached into her
carryall and pulled the large, police style flashlight from it. Fortunately
it was waterproof and still working, but more important it was made from
strong, heavy rubber and could be used as a baton if necessary.
Shinobu knew that it was going to be necessary.
* * *
Suzanna Lords adjusted the night goggles that she wore before stepping
over the corpse of the alien that she had just killed, or in the vernacular of
the intelligence community, "neutralized." For some reason, murder was easier
to deal with when the word used to describe it had a lot of syllables.
The American looked around her trying to decide what to do. The rest of
her ring were dead and she doubted her ability to subdue the target by
herself. She walked to the intersection where she had last seen her. Somehow
she had to find her, somehow she had to get in contact with Scalphunter.
She checked the rounds left in her revolver, snapped it shut, and set
out on her mission...
* * *
Shinoko looked at the small, personal comlink Noa had just handed her.
Even with the speed of the Sagussan's hovercycle it had taken them almost a
half hour to reach Nerima...and they still had no idea where her sister was.
There were three industrial parks in the district. Noa had landed at the one
most centrally located. They would start searching here and go on to the
others if Shinobu was not at this site.
"You two stay together and take the left side of the factory complex.
I'll take the right," Noa said as she checked her comlink. She already had
complete confidence in the deadliness of the pistol riding on her hip. "If
you find her, contact me right away and we'll meet back here. I'll call if I
do. I think I know what's going on...and if I'm right, Shinobu's future, her
very existence is at stake."
Atako nodded her agreement. "Good thing it stopped raining before we
got here. That'll make it easier to find her."
"Remember, if it's easier for us, it's easier for them. The electric
utility must have men trying to get the power back on. It would be best if we
found Shinobu and got her out of here before that happens," Noa warned.
Atako nodded again and took Shinoko towards a series of sheet metal
buildings. Noa watched them leave and thought again about what she was
preparing to do. It might make it harder to find Shinobu herself, but if she
encountered either the Suzuki or Takanaba teams, they would immediately accept
her as their leader and obey her orders. It was a reasonable trade off. Noa
touched the electronic encrusted bracelet on her right wrist. A faint glow
formed around her and began to build. Her features disappeared underneath an
illusion of weight and substance. A phantasm that allowed her to think and
behave like someone else. A trusted servant to both Baron Suzuki and Mr.
Takanaba, a confidant who had played upon their egos to insure that their
dreams of power and wealth would never threaten either Earth or Sagussa.
The faded man who took Noa's place carefully checked his clothing to
ensure nothing was out of place. Although the technologies that created him
generated a field that subconsciously discouraged people from noticing him,
its success depended on the believability of his appearance. With that, Mr.
Lee turned on his flashlight and started his search for Shinobu...
* * *
Lords looked at the overcoated figure that had appeared in front of her
with alarm. Scalphunter had taken the news of the failure of the mission and
the death of the team members with remarkable calm, almost apathy. The gaunt
Japanese woman from the future seemed almost happy, as if in expectation of an
upcoming event.
"Don't worry about it," she told the stammering American who had just
repeated her apologies for her inability to track down her younger self. "Now
that you and the others have made the first move it means that I can get
directly involved with the events of this evening."
"But can't your counterparts do the same?" Suzanna gulped, remembering
what she had been told about Shinobu's other potential future selves.
"Yes it does, but there's something more important that has to be done
first. There's an old...acquaintance of mine in Nerima tonight. Somebody
I've wanted to see again for a very long time," Scalphunter smiled at the
thought, sending a fresh wave of horror running down her companion's spine.
"I almost got her two weeks ago and I'm not about to let this chance go by.
I'll get to Shinobu later. Right now this is more important, more personal."
The young American was uncertain what she was talking about and did not
really care. All Lords was concerned with was accomplishing her mission and
if it meant humoring this killer for the time being she was more than willing
to cooperate. "Alright then," she said in what she thought was a strong,
reassuring voice. "What do we do and how do I help?"
"I was hoping you would say that."
* * *
Shinobu carefully rounded the corner of the warehouse she had been
hiding behind holding her flashlight like a weapon. With the rains stopped,
Nerima low-lives had come out in force. She had been prepositioned, fondled
and groped by a series of hentais who paid for their error. "And I thought
Ataru was bad!" she snarled as she walked along the slowly awakening streets.
It was not that she had forgotten about the people pursuing her. They were a
type of threat she felt justified in running away from. Dealing with a masher
required a hands-on response. After all, she had years of practice handling
that type of assault.
With the rain finally ending, she could make out a few details and
establish where she was. Once she got past that factory complex just ahead
she would be on the street that led to the Tendou dojo. She would head for
there and call a cab. Maybe Akane would have some dry clothes that she could
borrow. She took another embarrassed glance at the light shirt she was
wearing. She never realized how cotton could...cling so when wet. She
decided to unpeel the shirt from her body and had just about succeeded when a
car carrying a load of loud, obnoxious teenagers deliberately drove across the
large puddle that she was standing next to and drenched her. Again.
A car carrying a load of loud, obnoxious, teenage boys. Of course.
Just then the street lights came back on as the power was re-established
through out the district. Shinobu found herself facing a large, plate glass
window which reflected her image with remarkable clarity. For a moment she
watched herself dripping, then a peaceful expression blossomed on her face and
she said in a gentle voice, "The next man who annoys me in any way, shape, or
form tonight...dies."
* * *
Mr. Lee had finished searching his part of the first industrial park and
was headed for the second when the power came back on. He looked at the
flashlight he was carrying and smiled ruefully. If he had been an living
person, he would have simply put it in his coat pocket and gone on with the
search for Shinobu, but as the pockets on his jacket were a holographic
projection he would have to keep holding it.
He was about to head off in the direction of the next search area when
he heard a squishing noise coming at him from down the street, like somebody
walking in soaked shoes. Curious he took a quick look to see what was down
there. At first he took the individual to be one of the local working girls;
this part of Nerima was notorious as an area where they plied their trade.
But this one looked like a drowned rat and the area's "professionals" almost
certainly would have had places to go to remain safe and dry.
Another option occur to him and he decided to investigate it.
* * *
Shinobu watched the man running in her direction and readjusted her grip
on the police flashlight. This one looked like another mid-level management
type looking for a little adventure before heading back to the wife and the
kids. She had changed her mind about killing the next male who tried to hit
on her. Instead, she would give him something to think about for the rest of
his life. "I've been looking for you for hours..." he began as he came up to
her. Shinobu gave him her sweetest, friendliest and most insincere smile
while swinging her flashlight like a Louisville slugger and planted it firmly
across his stomach. She had merely meant to send him sprawling to the street.
She was astonished to see him fly off to hit the shop on the other side.
There was something odd about that and she decided to investigate.
Shinobu carefully edged closer to the moaning figure pulling himself up
from the sidewalk. He looked really angry and anybody who could get
themselves back together as quick as this one could be trouble. He shot an
indignant glare in her direction. "Shinobu, why did you hit me?"
Shinobu immediately swung her flashlight back into an attack position.
"Who are you?!" she demanded. She had never seen this man before in her life
and if he knew her that meant that he must be a member of one of the groups
that tried to kidnap her earlier. "I want to know who you are and what you
want with me!" she snarled into his stunned eyes.
"Who am I...?!" Mr. Lee began when he suddenly realized that Shinobu had
never seen him like this before. "Sorry..." he muttered sheepishly to the
angry girl. "Just give me a second to change." He touched the bracelet on
his wrist and disappeared in a cloud of electronic haze.
"Noa?!!" the Terran girl gasped as she dropped her flashlight and began
to sway back and forth.
The Sagussan grabbed the suddenly pale girl by her left arm to steady
her...and was surprised at her grimace of pain. Noa remembered some of the
stories about how Shinobu got hurt on one of her adventures with Ataru and
Lum. She had dismissed them as self-serving dramatics on the part of someone
who was a "professional victim." It now appeared that there was some
substance to them after all. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to scare you like
that," Noa started as the girl got some color back. "I took your message at
Oshika and came to help."
Giving her head a sharp snap to clear away the last of the cobwebs,
Shinobu stared at the woman in front of her. *Noa came to help me?!* she
thought. *Noa?!!* A feeling of gratitude and guilt built in her. She had
always thought the Sagussan would be happy not just to see again. "Thanks,"
she stammered. "Thanks, Noa." Then she asked, "Noa, why did you look like
that?"
"Do you want the long story or the short story?" Noa replied.
Shinobu looked nervously around her. People were out and moving around
again in the wake of the storm. That meant that the groups who were looking
for her might be active again. Now that there was a chance that she might
actually make it through this evening she did not want to waste it. "Why
don't you tell me when we're out of Nerima," she said.
"Good choice," Noa replied as she took Shinobu's trembling hand in her's
and led her back to the hovercycle.
* * *
Neither Shinobu or Noa noticed the burly figure watching them run off
into the night, but he had seen them from the window of the tavern where he
had spent the evening drinking and mourning the loss of his only son. Masaki
Taga had finally died that day, his body simply stopped working since it no
longer possessed a soul to keep it going. When it was over, Taga retreated to
the bar to drown his sorrow. It had not worked. He kept seeing two faces
before him, the boy who was the joy of his life...and the demon who had
destroyed both of them.
At first he had thought that the girl who walked past the bar was a
product of his grief crazed mind and the sake that he had been steadily
consuming for the past five hours, but when he saw her savagely strike down an
innocent man he knew she was the monster. Dropping some bills on the counter,
he stumbled out the door. While her latest victim was no where to be found
the fiend had been joined by one of her alien friends who had been there to
mock him on the day of his son's attack.
Taga reached into his coat pocket and wrapped his hand around the heavy
American revolver. After his son's death he had decided to use it on himself,
but kind fate had given him another option, another chance. He was not about
to let it slip away.
* * *
Atako wiped the sweat off her brow while she peered into the shadows.
She was very tired. Her pregnancy and the rising humidity was sapping her
strength. Still, they had to find Shinobu and get her out of here before
anything could happen to her. She looked over at her bond-mate and saw that
Shinoko was still fussing with the comlink that Noa had given them earlier.
"Any luck with that yet?" she asked.
The young Avalonian shook her head. "And I don't think the problem is
at this end. This one seems to be working perfectly. Noa's just doesn't seem
to be responding."
"Didn't she check them both out before we separated earlier," Atako
asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, she did. That means that something must have happened," Shinoko
responded with a frightened look that was reflected in her lover's eyes.
The pair continued their search with an even greater sense of urgency.
* * *
Noa was worried about the slim girl running next to her. On the way
back to the hovercycle they talked about the evening's events and they
reached the same conclusion. Somehow, four different future selves of Shinobu
had travelled back through time and were actively working to get the girl to
develop into one of them. Shinobu had handled that revelation very well, much
better than the Sagussan had anticipated. It was what she had asked her
afterwards that had dumfounded Noa. It had been a simple request delivered
with a soul-numbing revolve. Shinobu wanted Noa's promise that if any of the
"others" reached her that evening, the Sagussan would prevent her from
becoming one of those things. She had made it clear that she did not want to
live like that. That it would only be her body that survived while there
would be someone else inhabiting it. She did not want that and she asked Noa
to take the ultimate step to insure that it would never happen.
The pistol Noa carried on her side seemed much heavier than before.
Still, the Sagussan was confident that it would not come to that. The
hovercycle was just around this last corner and the comlink would contact
Atako and Shinoko and arrange to pick them up. She had tried to call them
earlier with her personal communications device, then discovered that her
impromptu flight courtesy of "Air Shinobu" had resulted in her landing on and
smashing it beyond repair.
Shinobu ran on, a strange calm overpowering her. She recognized what
had been going on since she had left Tomobiki. It was the old never-ending
game of control and domination. This was simply a more personalized version,
one that she was determined to resist.
Still, she could feel that something was about to happen. She took a
deep breath and gagged, realizing that she could smell something was wrong.
The rain storm had washed away the many odors of city life and left a clean,
fresh scent in the air. But now she could smell something else, the strong
odor of fuel. She looked at Noa and saw that she could smell it too. The
Sagussan slowly pulled out her weapon and the Terran gripped her improvised
club tighter as they looked around the wall and at the hovercycle that was in
the small parking lot before them.
At first it seemed that there was nothing wrong. Noa took a cautious
step forward. Then she saw it. The fuel tanks had been deliberately ruptured
and their highly flammable contents were spilling across the open lot. There
was something else going on. From beneath the cycle the girls could see a
soft green light gently blinking. It was not until it changed to a continuous
blood red that Noa realized that it was a "smart" bomb, programmed to go off
when someone got within its killing range.
The Sagussan turned, grabbed Shinobu, and leaped for the shelter of a
garbage dumpster. They got behind it just as the bomb exploded. The
concussion wave slammed the box-like structure against them and smashed the
pair into the brick wall. It hurt, but they were alive.
Shinobu braced her hands against the wall and shoved with all of her
strength, sending the dumpster skidding across the pavement to collide with
the burning remnants of Noa's vehicle. They looked at the fire raging before
them. After a moment, Noa sighed, looking at her companion. "You wouldn't
happen to have any money? I think we're going to have to call a cab."
The Terran girl managed a feeble smile as she put her flashlight under
her left arm to search the pockets of her skirt with the other. As she began
to pull a couple of hundred yen coins out a small projectile struck the ground
between them and the resulting explosion blew them to opposite sides of the
alley. Noa got to her feet first, but discovered herself pinned down by
repeated fire aimed at her. She saw Shinobu on the other side, the girl was
about to rush across the danger zone to get to her.
"No!" the Sagussan shouted to be heard above the roar of another
detonation. She pointed to the open street beyond Shinobu. "Take off. Get
out of here." She watched as the slim girl shook her head. She was not going
to leave her companion behind. "I can take care of myself. Get out of here
and find Atako and Shinoko. They'll help you," she hollered, wondering if she
was telling the truth.
Shinobu struggled with those orders, reluctantly agreed and raced down
the alley to the street and disappeared from sight. As she vanished the
continuous rounds of explosions ceased and a sinister hush fell over the field
of battle. Noa had her pistol at the ready. She checked the surrounding area
when she saw a form standing at the absolute edge of the light of the slowly
receding fire.
The creature held a powerful looking rifle loosely in her hands. She
was dressed in a long, opened overcoat that reached her high booted feet. The
clothing underneath was plain and utilitarian, but its severity and leathery
nature gave the gaunt figure an almost mythical appearance. She was wearing a
soft felt hat over her white hair and had a necklace around her neck that
looked like it was made from some sort of bone, but Noa could not tell for
sure in the flickering light. What she could tell for certain, is that it was
Shinobu!
The motionless figure looked at Noa. The hatred in her eyes flew over
the distance that separated them and made the Sagussan's heart beat faster in
alarm. She smiled, but it was not the smile of a human; it was feline in
nature, the smile of the predator coming in contact with the prey.
Scalphunter whispered into the still air around her, knowing and
relishing the fact that it would carry her message to the person who she most
detested. The person who she held responsible for setting the chain of events
in motion that destroyed any chance for happiness in her life. The person who
had left her to live her life with only duties and responsibilities to
fulfill. The person who had led her children on the ideological crusade that
their mother had refused to participate in...and had the gall to weep over
their broken bodies.
Noa gasped at the venom contained in the words that reached her over the
roar of the fire. She had never known that it was possible to be hated to the
degree that this incarnation of Shinobu loathed her. "Have you ever danced
with the Devil under the pale moonlight?" she heard the diabolic apparition
ask, the implication clear. If she had not before, she was about to.
With blinding speed Scalphunter shouldered her weapon and fired a round
at the brick wall above Noa, covering the Sagussan with a shower of broken
stone and mortar. Noa gasped at the stinging, almost contemptuous attack on
her and leveled her weapon in the direction where her adversary stood...only
to discover that she was no longer there. She had vanished into the night
leaving only a taunting laugh...and a challenge behind her.
Noa got to her feet, her features hard and resolute. She knew that this
was a trap, that this person wanted her dead more than anything else in the
universe and was willing to risk her existence to accomplish that goal. She
also knew that her adversary would never stop trying to kill her and would not
hesitate to involve those dear to her in her vendetta. Tonight was the best
chance that Noa would ever have to end it without the risk of involving
someone else.
"Let's dance!" Noa said as she entered the night.
* * *
Shinobu raced out into street, lost her balance and fell into a pool of
rainwater. She struggled to her feet, trying to decide what to do next.
Atako and Shinoko were somewhere in the district...but she might never find
them and Noa needed help. She checked her pockets and found that she had lost
all of her remaining money during the confusion of the explosions. She had to
get into contact with Pathfinder Troop Six and get Sylia and Priss down here
to back up Noa.
She did not want them involved in this, but there was no other option
open to her other than going to the Tendous. She could use their phone and if
she hurried she could be there in less than five minutes. Shinobu rushed down
the avenue, her concern for Noa lending her a speed that she had never known
before. She reached the residential street that led to her friends home and
dojo, she saw something that left her stunned and immobile.
She was a smallish figure, no taller than Shinobu herself. But she
carried herself like royalty. She wore a highly stylized armor that appeared
to be a cross between a samurai's protective gear and something out of an
animated TV show. The intricate armor was made from a highly polished metal
that shone in the soft evening light. The person in the armor was holding her
helmet at her side. Shinobu was appalled, yet not surprised to see another
slightly older version of herself.
The samurai smiled arrogantly as she drew her blade and pointed it at
the young girl whose eyes widened in alarm. "Don't worry," she said
haughtily. "It would defeat my purpose if I were to harm you in any way. I
simply intend to...adjust your perception of the world around you." Lady
Katana closed her eyes in concentration and a bright red aura formed around
her sword. She put her helmet on and walked towards the girl while saying,
"I am the blade and the blade is me. What you see is the essence of my being;
my thoughts, dreams, and aspirations. Once it comes into contact with you,
they shall be yours as well."
* * *
To be concluded...
Taga watched the young woman running towards him and snarled, lips
twisting. She thought she could escape him, escape justice. She was wrong.
He waited for her to emerge from the Ono Clinic. He had been called away from
his lonely vigil by a frantic message stating his son's condition had taken a
turn for the worse. He made it to the hospital in time to hold Masaki's hand
one last time. Whispering, he told him repeatedly how much he loved him...and
how he would take vengeance on the monster who stole his life and soul.
He then had drifted to a bar in the industrial district of Nerima.
There he had spent the rest of the afternoon and evening consuming sake at a
prodigious rate. Even the power failure had no effect on him. By then, his
thoughts had turned from vengeance to self-destruction. He would occasionally
brush his hand against the massive weapon hidden in his coat pocket.
Stumbling from his stool on his way to the rest room he saw the slim
figure of the demon who had destroyed his son pass the tavern's large window.
He tossed money on the bar and rushed to the door. The fox woman, as he had
come to believe of Miyaki, had already found another victim and struck an
innocent man so hard that his crumpled body flew across the street.
Taga drew his revolve, but before he could fire, a wave of nausea forced
him down. By the time it passed, he saw Miyaki and another woman running away
from the scene. He followed, but lost them in the maze of back streets.
He found himself on a residential street leading to the Tendou dojo.
Remembering the beast was training with Akane Tendou, he deduced she might
come there. Hiding next to a lamppost he waited for his target to appear. He
was not disappointed.
* * *
Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year: "Shinobu: Futures Imperfect," Part 9
By Philip Gavigan
PGavigan@aol.com
**** **** ****
Edited by Fred Herriot and E.B. Kushnir
**** **** ****
A side story based on the fan fiction series in turned based on "Urusei
Yatsura," created by Rumiko Takahashi
**** **** ****
IN THE EIGHTH PART OF "SHINOBU: FUTURES IMPERFECT," four separate attempts to
kidnap Shinobu, occurr simultaneously. She escapes while the opposing groups
wipe each other out. A desperate call for help brings Noa racing to Nerima,
but the two are later separated by Scaphunter's attack. Desperate to secure
aid for Noa, Shinobu races to the Tendou dojo...only to find Lady Katana
waiting for her...
**** **** ****
And with that...ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!
**** **** ****
Lady Katana was confused. She had counted on her sudden appearance in
full armor to intimidate her younger self, convinced the sight of her deadly
sword glowing with her bio-energy would reduce Shinobu to hysterics. Instead,
she adjusted her grip on the heavy flashlight and began to swing her carryall
over her head, obviously intending to use it as a weapon.
Shinobu experienced a cold rush of revulsion. Noa had come to Nerima to
rescue her. She placed her life in jeopardy...and this monstrous version of
herself stood between Shinobu and her securing aid for the Sagussan. She
allowed the samurai to swing the flat of her blade at her, then used the
carryall to slap it to one side as she brought the heavy rubber light down on
her foe's helmet. More surprised than stunned, her opponent jumped away from
her, withdrawing to a safer distance to change strategy. Shinobu pressed,
determined not to give her adversary the chance to regain the initiative.
Swinging the carryall like a bola, Shinobu charged Katana, who retreated. She
had not anticipated this behavior from her younger self and to use her weapon
as a means of defense ran the risk of killing Shinobu...and herself.
As the combatants neared each other, a loud crack charged the night, a
bullet slicing the air just behind Shinobu's head, tearing through the fabric
of the spinning bag. The canvas, weakened by the abuse it received earlier in
the evening, straining under the weight of its load, split open and spewed its
contents across the wet road.
Katana turned to see a large middle age man using a lamp post to steady
himself as he drew his bead upon her younger self. She could not let this
peasant involve himself in the affairs of his betters; if he succeeded in
shooting Shinobu, the consequences for herself and Japan would be horrible!
She leaped between the teenager and the barking pistol, the steel-jacketed
pellet bouncing off her armor. She twisted the hilt of her sword, spinning
the sharp edge of the blade into the attack position and lunged forward.
Katana found herself admiring the resolve of the stranger. Even as her
blade sliced his throat, his eyes never wavered, never blinked as he tried one
last time to fire at Shinobu. She paused to salute the corpse as it slid
against the lamp post to the pavement. He would have made a fine addition to
the Japan of the future. Her future.
Turning to confront Shinobu, the samurai discovered she had vanished, a
sound defensive move considering she had lost a weapon. Lady Katana smiled
grimly as she mentally activated the tracking mode of her electronically
enhanced armor. Using the infrared mode she followed the lingering heat
traces left by the fleeing girl as she fled the street for the enclosed
grounds of a martial arts training dojo. Katana refocused her bio energies
around her sword. All she had to do was to tag her younger self with the flat
of her blade and her id would be copied upon the ethos of her younger self,
starting her on the irreversible metamorphosis into Lady Katana.
Moving like a steel shadow, the samurai crept through the darkened
garden. As the clouds parted she could see in the faint moonlight the outline
of a form hiding behind the trunk of a large tree, waiting. Pretending to be
fooled, Katana slowly walked past her lurking foe, then spun around and
whacked the body with the flat of her blade...which knocked the sparring dummy
to the ground. Stunned, she was unable to react fast enough to block Shinobu
who leaped from the bushes, sending her flying into the koi pond...
* * *
Noa gritted her teeth as she hung onto the lip of the pit. She looked
over her shoulder at the sharpened stakes lining the bottom of the man-trap
prepared for her by the killer who had once been Shinobu. She hauled herself
up, swung out of the hole and regained her feet. Scalphunter had lead her
through a series of pitfalls and snares since she had separated Noa from her
younger self. Strangely, the ambushes seemed more designed to infuriate than
kill. Every time she had stepped in one she had enough time to save herself.
A thin, insane laughter floated through the evening air like a malignant
fog. Scalphunter was ahead, leading her further along in this strange cat-
and-mouse game. Noa knew she would have to get close enough to her foe to use
her powers. As long as Scalphunter remained out of sight she would be out of
the range of Noa's abilities. A point her adversary seemed fully aware of.
There was a flicker of movement at the dimly lit end of the alley, a
shadow crawling along a wall. She was there, waiting for Noa. The Sagussan
looked up to the roof of the building beside her. There was an emergency fire
escape there, the ladder within reach.
Maybe it was time to take the initiative...
* * *
Shinobu blinked furiously to drive the spots from her eyes. The second
Katana's bio charged sword came into contact with the water, the koi pond
exploded in a shower of sparks, temporarily blinding her. Her vision cleared
as her foe staggered from the pond, regenerating the aura around her blade.
Shinobu did not know what to do. She seemed to be stronger, but the armor the
woman wore protected her. Her rubber flashlight provided insulation from the
bio-electricity Katana was using, but with only one weapon at Shinobu's
disposal, it was simply a matter of time before Katana landed a lucky blow.
The young girl backed away from her advancing foe, looking around for
something, anything, that she could utilize to even the odds. But the yard
was immaculate and there was nothing for her to use...
"Shinobu!!! Catch!!!" a familiar voice called from behind.
Shinobu spun about and caught the sheathed katana Akane had thrown her.
The scabbard was made of hardwood and leather, both organic materials, neither
a good conductor of electricity. She whirled back, blocking her adversary's
swinging blade with the sword while smashing at her side with the light.
Akane ran back into the dojo and grabbed one of her boken swords. While
dozing in her room, she heard the gunshot and had proceeded to investigate.
She then saw her new friend engaged in a ferocious struggle with a curiously
armored foe. Desperate for something to help Shinobu fight she stumbled
across the rice paper wrapped sword left by Mrs. Saotome. Akane prepared to
dart into the garden to join the fight when Souun's powerful arms wrapped
around her and pulled her back against him. "No, Akane!" the anxiety in his
voice tempered by his concern for his daughter. "You could get killed."
The girl struggled to break free, twisting violently back and forth.
The dojo master's grip was unbreakable. "Please, Dad!" she shrieked. "I've
got to help Shinobu. She's never used a sword in her life."
"Are you sure about that?"
Akane looked at Nabiki. "She seems to be pretty good with that thing."
Akane watched them feint and dodge, strike and retreat. Every time the
armored figure attacked, Shinobu countered with a manoeuver that prevented the
strike from hitting hoome. She reciprocated with a blow sending her opponent
staggering momentarily away. It was an incredibly brutal altercation, unlike
the carefully choreographed battles in the dojo. It was a battle for survival
between two irreconcilable foes. It was two people hammering away at each
other with deadly instruments and the first to make a mistake died.
* * *
Noa fired a volley of shots into the alley below and watched as her
enemy narrowly sidestepped this latest attack. Taking to the rooftops was a
good idea, avoiding the traps Scalphunter prepared for her. More important,
the tide of the battle had shifted in her favor. This incarnation of Shinobu
was unable to get a clear shot without presenting herself as a target. The
few times that she had attempted to do so had almost proven fatal.
Noa stopped to catch her breath. The battle was by no means won. While
she had extensive study in combat, the Sagussan recognized and appreciated her
adversary's experience. This thought chilled Noa. What could have happened
to turn a perpetually angry but kind and gentle girl into a murderer?
Noa had the feeling that she would not be pleased with the answer...
* * *
Shinobu yelped as she narrowly avoided another flurry of blows Lady
Katana levelled on the flashlight. Every time she was forced to use the light
as a shield, the wound she received on Phentax Twelve throbbed with tear-
wrenching agony. Soon the pain these barrages inflicted upon her would wear
her down and she would drop her guard. Then, she would be helpless.
Shinobu watched as Katana maneuvered into position to launch another
attack on her debilitated arm. *How does she know?* Shinobu thought, dancing
away from a probing thrust. Then it came to her as she noticed how the
samurai carried her weapon. *She knows how badly my arm was hurt...because
her arm is the same!* Katana carried her blade with a modified underhand
posture, one which allowed her right arm to absorb the impacts of combat.
Shinobu dodged a savage blow and countered it by sweeping the samurai
off of her feet with a spinning kick. Katana hit the ground hard but
immediately sprang up, her eyes shinning bright with anger born of frustration
and humiliation. Shinobu decided to focus on that, force Katana into one of
her berserk outbursts. She had to provoke that fury, fan it higher and higher
until her future self made the deadly mistake that would allow Shinobu to
strike without restraint. Shinobu knew just how she would do it. She lashed
out at her opponent's most vulnerable characteristic, her pride.
Katana snarled as she charged her younger self. The anger burning in
her breast drove sanity out as she slipped deeper in to a blood-lust of
dementia. Still, she restrained herself, maintaining a tremulous grasp on her
emotions. All she had to do to win the battle was touch the weakening girl
with the sword. She had to remember that, she had to control her fury.
Suddenly she was brought up short. Shinobu was standing before her, her
head held at an dismissive arch and a sneering expression narrowing her eyes.
Katana gasped as Shinobu spat, delivering the most savage insult possible to
one of Samurai descent. The school girl looked her directly in the eyes...and
hoarsely whispered, "Eta!"
Any vestige of sanity held precariously by Lady Katana was gone as a
hysterical tantrum Shinobu's old classmates would have immediately recognized
burst forth. Unmindful of the consequences, she pulled her sword over her
head to deliver the classic killing blow. At the apex of her swing, intense
pain from her damaged muscles caused her a second's worth of hesitation...
In that deadly moment Shinobu struck. Dropping her flashlight and
grasping her borrowed sword with both hands, she swung the sword like a tennis
player delivering a devastating back hand. The edge caught Katana on her
right side, just underneath her rib cage. It cleaved through steel, flesh,
and bone before emerging on the other side of the collapsing woman!
A strange sense of detachment filled Shinobu as she stood above the
cooling body of this relentless foe, this ruthless adversary, her...self. She
averted her eyes to look at the koi pond. She forced herself not to think
about what she had just done, or she would begin screaming and never stop.
A hesitant hand pressed her a white towel. It was a wide-eyed, shaking
Akane. Puzzled, Shinobu followed her friend's gaze, looked at herself...and
began to tremble uncontrollably. She had been caught by a gush of blood which
covered hands, arms and chest. She dropped the stained sword, took the towel
and rubbed desperately in a futile attempt to remove the ichor from them.
Shinobu pulled herself together, then turned to Akane and Nabiki, the
questions in their eyes and a new, slightly cautious attitude hurting her
profoundly. "I'll tell you everything that's going on...later. A person I
know came to Nerima to save me tonight. Now she's in danger and I've got to
help her. Do either of you have a pen and paper?"
Nabiki handed a small red notebook taken from her cutoff's pocket along
with a mechanical pencil to Shinobu, who scribbled two telephone numbers. The
middle Tendou daughter looked at the numbers and tried not to shudder at the
crimson smudges left by her friend's fingertips. "The first number is Ataru
Moroboshi's Oshika residence; the second is for Pathfinder Troop Six in
Tomobiki. They should be back by now. Call them and tell them that Noa is in
trouble, needs help and that I last saw her at the Fifth Avenue Industrial
Park." The sisters looked at each other before turning back to Shinobu and
nodding. The girl tried to smile at them, failed and turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Akane cried out, her concern for her friend
overwhelming the horror she experienced watching her cut down her adversary.
"To find Noa," the pale teenager replied. "She came her to rescue me."
Nabiki tapped the hilt of the Saotome sword with her foot. "Shouldn't
you take this with you?"
"NO!!!!"
They jumped at the appalled cry. Her control over her emotions slipped,
allowing them a fleeting glance of the frightened child underneath. "I never
want to touch one of those things again as...long as I live."
Shinobu paused at the entrance to the Tendou dojo. Across from her was
the body of the man who tried to kill her, the man who she...who Katana
murdered in retaliation. As she neared the corpse she was stunned to
recognize him. "You were right, weren't you?" Shinobu whispered to the
stiffening remains. "You said that I would bring death and destruction here
...and you were right. If I had stayed in Tomobiki, none of this would have
happened." The teenager sniffed and turned to leave...then returned to Taga's
body and picked up the revolver. "I think I might need this," she murmured as
she felt another part of her soul wither and fall away.
* * *
The sign above the door read the Yakusta Trucking Company. The notice
tacked on the door announced the business was closed until further notice and
that trespassers would be prosecuted. It had not stopped Scalphunter from
dodging into the darkened building as Noa closed the gap. The Sagussan
reached out with her senses to scan the building. Nothing! Somehow, the
Terran could mask herself, rendering herself invisible to her powers. After
confirming the only entrances to the building were on one side of the
structure, Noa took a secure position to wait out her adversary. Scalphunter
did not emerge. After waiting a hour Noa felt anxious. Was there a secret
way out, would that explain the strange absence of her foe's *mei'na?*
Slowly the massive doors of the truck loading platform rolled open
revealing...nothing. Noa carefully stood up and backed away. This was too
deliberate, too obvious an invitation to enter Scalphunter's territory. Over
the course of their battle, Noa had developed a healthy respect for the
killer's abilities. While she was willing to face her one-on-one, she would
much rather do it on a more balanced field of conflict.
From the darkness came a queer, empty cackle, then a muffled voice.
"Don't go yet. I have a present for you."
A small, hard object flew out, bouncing along the pavement. Noa jumped
back to the shelter of the pallets. Then she realized the object rattling on
the ground was a horn, an Oni horn. Sick with a dreadful sense of foreboding
Noa reached for the dried piece of cartridge. Her *mei'na* stretched out and
absorbed the lingering traces of whom this horn had belonged to.
*It's Lum's!!* a horrified Noa gasped. *Lyna's Soul, IT'S LUM'S!!!!*
Through this remnant of her beloved she could feel the Oni-Sagussan's
last moments, how in a possible future Lum was betrayed and murdered by the
one whom she considered her closest friend. By Shinobu. By Scalphunter.
The world went red before Noa's eyes and she surrendered herself to the
warrior's madness which erupted in her soul. In some distant possibility, her
Lum, her *marei'cha,* would be cruelly slain by the fiend hiding in the
shadows of the warehouse. She must be vindicated.
Her abilities emerging at full force, Noa stormed the building, easily
avoiding the fire greeting her arrival. She was unstoppable, a living nemesis
that pursued Scalphunter relentlessly. The overcoated figure stood its ground
and fought back savagely...but to no avail. Noa struck at the muffled killer
on both physical and mental levels. As Scalphunter reeled under Noa's
assault, the avenger reached into her arsenal and unleashed the most
devastating weapon at her call, the soulsword! She slashed at the physical
form of her opponent and ripped mind and body apart.
Sanity slowly returned to Noa as she approached the quivering figure of
her defeated opponent and ripped the concealing hat and muffler away to reveal
the features...of someone other than Shinobu. She gaped at the young blonde
woman before her. This was impossible, this person had fought with the same
style, techniques and body language as Scalphunter. Nobody could impersonate
someone to the extent that this individual had, it was inconceivable.
A flashing green light on the young woman's belt caught Noa's attention
and she looked down in time to see it turn to a continuous red. Noa spun
about and ran for the exit and nearly reached it before the force of the
detonation behind her tore her from the ground and threw her the length of the
parking lot. She staggered back to her feet as a neural bolt fired from the
shadows struck her again, leaving her temporarily paralyzed.
"You underestimated me, Noa," a smirking Scalphunter approached the
stricken Sagussan, drawing a large knife from her belt. "But then again, you
always did. If I could replicate my *mei'na* to Shinobu, didn't it occur to
you that I could do it to someone else? That was Suzanna Lords, lately
attached to the American Embassy...now not attached to anything." The warped
version of Shinobu smiled at the confusion in her victim's eyes. "Yes, I said
*mei'na!* I know your race's secrets, all of them. Reach out with your
mind's eye one last time...and let it tell you what it learns of me."
Almost unwillingly Noa let her psi-senses probe the gaunt figure
kneeling next to her, and what they told her terrified her. It could not be,
it was impossible, but there was no other answer.
Scalphunter...Shinobu...was a Sagussan.
"It was an interesting relationship you and I shared, a matter of give
and take. I gave and you took!" Scalphunter snarled, tracing Noa's jugular
with the tip of her knife. "You took Ataru from me, took my peace in Tomobiki
away, took my very humanity and turned me into one of you. You took and took
and took until I had nothing left to give because there was no more. Then you
stole the last comfort in my life; my children...my precious, precious twins.
You led them on a stupid crusade and had the temerity to weep over them."
Grabbing Noa by the hair the maniacal killer yanked her upright and
stared straight into her eyes. "I want you to see me do this. I want to see
the look on your face as I slit your throat. And as you fall into the pit of
Hell that you so richly deserve, I want you to remember this. I want you to
remember...THAT YOU CREATED ME!!!!!!"
Her eyes bright with triumph, Scalphunter drew back her knife. Before
it could descend, a shot rang out. The impact of the bullet knocked her away
from Noa, both dropping to the ground. The *ashi'cha* watched the stricken
figure writhe, blood flowing from the wound in her chest. But she did not
scream. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Noa, pulled her pistol from its
holster and dragged it across the asphalt until it was pointed directly
between Noa's eyes. It was the last thing that she did. Scalphunter died
with her eyes glaring into Noa's, filled with a hatred that transcended death.
A gentle hand cautiously turned Noa over to rest on her back. It was
Shinobu. Even in the harsh light of the security lights Noa could see the
young woman unnatural palor. She examined the Sagussan and was satisfied that
she was unharmed. Noa noticed that she avoided looking at the corpse lying
next to them. The Terran was carrying a revolver that looked ridiculously
huge in her small hand and her clothing was discolored with dried blood.
"Bad...night?" the Sagussan forceed past her stiff lips.
"I'd like to say that I've had worse, but that would be a lie."
"How...did you...find us?"
"I didn't find you. Somehow I knew where you were," Shinobu bit her
lip. "I'm sorry. I got here awhile ago. I saw Scalphunter come out a coal
chute. I didn't have a clear shot at her so I decided to wait. I...I used
you as bait to lure her into the open." Shinobu dropped her head in shame.
"Did you hear what she said?" the words came easier to Noa, the neural
bolt wearing off.
"Everything."
"Why did you stop her?"
Shinobu did not answer. There was none. With that, she lifted Noa and
turned to leave the park. The light from the burning warehouse cast strange,
fantastic shadows across the lot. One was Shinobu's and as it fell against a
wall of one of the other buildings, it twisted and reshaped itself.
Neither woman noticed the shades around them. But they hear something
in the thick night air, the sound of someone singing. Noa felt the arms
holding her begin to quiver in fear and looked up to Shinobu's face. Her eyes
were darting from side to side, seeking the source of the voice. Her voice.
Shinobu's shadow stirred, detached itself from the wall and walked
towards the startled pair. It coalesced, grew solid, took on substance and
form. The figure was dressed in black leather that existed only for the
pleasure of being removed, her flesh as white and smooth as a porcelain doll.
Her movements were luxuriant with a dark sensuality, ripe with the allure of
death. She smiled at the astonished girls, a horrible, wanting smile and
began to sing. "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a woman of taste and
means. Been all around this great, wide world, stole many a man's soul..."
* * *
"...and we've called each number, but there's no answer!" Akane looked
at the woman whose face crumpled in despair. She looked so much like her
sister that she mistook her for Shinobu when she answered the frantic knocking
at the door and found an anxious pair standing there. The taller woman had
gone with her father into the garden to examine the gruesome remnants of the
sword fight while Akane informed Shinoko about the night's events.
A waxen Atako entered the living room followed by Souun. This night was
exhausting her with no end in sight. They had only been able to trace Shinobu
here because the intense emotions of her battle with Lady Katana had drawn her
Avalonian sister to the house. Now Shinobu had vanished, but she had told the
Tendous which industrial park where she and Noa would hopefully be found.
The pair thanked the Tendous for their help and begged them to continue
calling. As they left the house, Shinoko blinked furiously, stumbled and
would have fallen if Atako had not caught her. "Is it happening again?"
Ataru's bioroid sister asked her bondmate.
Shinoko nodded before answering. "Yes...and this time, I don't think
Shinobu is going to win."
* * *
Shinobu slammed against the brick wall and fell hard to the pavement.
Groaning, she touched the scoured flesh of her right arm and her hand came
away glistening with blood. This latest battle had gone against her from the
start. She hurled the paralyzed Noa to the roof of one of the warehouses,
leveled her revolver at Kali and emptied it into her. It had not even slowed
her down. When the ghoul got within striking distance, she used the gun like
a club, slamming it against the white face so hard, the handle shattered.
Kali simply licked at the trickle of blood from her mouth and purred, "I like
it rough." Then she backhanded the younger girl, sending her tumbling down
the street. Shinobu recovered quickly and countered with a barrage of newly
learned kicks and punches. Each blow would have killed either Katana or
Scalphunter, but Kali was unfazed. She merely laughed and knocked the girl
away from her with a gesture of her wrist. Finally Shinobu was unable to get
up, even the effort to breath was an exercise in torture.
"Did you hurt yourself?" the husky, sensuous voice of her tormentor
intoned. "Let me kiss it and make it all better." Kali's eyes glowed and
Shinobu shuddered as all control over her body vanished. Without willing it,
she lurched over to the expectant fiend. Shinobu tried to pull away as her
future self caressed her face, her hands lighting burning fires within her.
"You've done such a good job, fighting off those others and keeping yourself
sweet and pure for me!" Kali pouted. "I kept watch. It was most amusing.
Even if they had reached you I would have plucked them from your mind with a
thought. After all, they were only mortal...and I am what I am."
Kali stopped talking as her hands slid up and down Shinobu's unresisting
body, lingering here, pausing there. It was not until she cupped one of her
younger self's petite breasts and pinched its nipple that the puzzled
expression in Shinobu's eyes turned to stunned realization and revulsion at
what Kali meant to do. The demon smiled, revelling in her emotional upheaval.
Her pale finger traced the outline of Shinobu's lips. "Don't worry, soon
you'll learn to love this. Soon you'll love being me." With that she forced
open Shinobu's mouth and thrust her tongue inside.
Shinobu's anger and will merged into a single white hot instrument at
that moment. Without being fully conscious, she reached into the energies she
had absorbed over her lifetime, and pulled them up to shatter the dominance
wielded by Kali. A blow from her right fist to the surprised and unprepared
demi-god's chin sent her staggering. A second against her sternum propelled
her across the street and against a wooden electric pole which snapped under
the force of the impact. The street that they were on ran parallel to one of
the canals that ran through that section of Nerima and the wires from the
shattered pole ran over it. They fell till they hung about ten feet above the
slow moving waters, their deadly cargo of electricity passing unimpeded.
Shinobu took two steps away from the crumpled body of her foe and
planned her strategy, which consisted of the single word "escape." The street
ended in a cul de sac and the reviving Kali was between her and the bridge
that led to the other side. With no other alternative available, Shinobu
ripped out a section of the protective chain link fence and leapt into the
dark water below to make her way to the other side.
* * *
Atako and Shinoko picked their way through the dark alley when a loud
crashing sound ahead of them caught their attention. Shinoko had pulled a
piece of iron piping away from a wall to use as an improvised club. The pair
edged forward to investigate. There, underneath a fire escape ladder they
discovered a still sluggish Noa struggling to her feet.
"What happened to you...and where's Shinobu?" Atako demanded as she
helped her bond-mate steady the Sagussan.
"Down that alley," Noa indicated with a nod. "I saw her fighting on the
street that it leads to."
"Who is she fighting now?" Atako asked as she recalled the three bodies
she and her bondmate had discovered earlier that evening.
Noa's short reply chilled her. "Damnation. Herself."
* * *
As her hands slid down the muck encrusted, concrete side of the canal
Shinobu began to sob uncontrollably. When she waded through the water, she
forgot the locals used canals as a easy means to dispose of large pieces of
junk. She had no idea what she had wedged her right foot in, but did know
that when she had yanked it free, she had twisted her ankle. The pain of her
injury stunned her and she had fallen in a faint. Plunging again into the
waters had revived her, but her strength had vanished and she could find no
way to climb out of the concrete trap that she had willingly entered.
Shinobu started limping down the canal, hoping to discover some means of
getting out, when the air pulsated with a sickening greenish glow. She slowly
turned to look behind her, knowing what she would see. Kali was coming,
floating inches above the water with her biofield coiling around her like a
bucket of venomous snakes. Shinobu was startled for a moment as she recalled
her confrontation with Katana, when her bio-charged blade came into contact
with the koi pond, its waters dispersed the biologically produced electricity
as it would a lightning bolt. Perhaps the same would hold true for Kali.
Shinobu searched the bottom of the canal with her foot, but could find
nothing to throw at the monster to knock her into the water. But as she
looked at the wires dangling above her, a different plan sprang to mind. If
she could reach those lines, the electricity they carried would not only
disrupt Kali's biofield, but might kill her. But there was a problem: all
Shinobu had left to use...was herself. She could destroy Kali, but at the
cost of her life. And Shinobu did not want to die. "Please, please forgive
me," she whispered, hoping her call would be carried somehow to her family and
friends. "Even if it means living on as that thing, I don't want to die!"
"Shinobu!!!"
At that cry both Shinobu and Kali looked at the pedestrian bridge
spanning the canal. Shinoko, Atako and Noa staring horrified at the unfolding
drama below them. The Sagussan pulled out her pistol and fired an ineffective
barrage at the glowing figure flying above the water.
Kali studied the figures above her, smiling. "Sweet sister and dear
friends. Don't go away, we'll be up to play with you in just a moment."
As she heard those words, Shinobu snapped. She knew none of her friends
or family would be safe from the perverted desires of that maniac. All those
she loved would become her prey if she let herself become Kali. And she loved
them more than she loved life, more than she loved herself. "NO!!!!" Shinobu
screamed as she felt the strength return to her limbs, powered by the concern
she held for her dearest ones. "You're not going to touch them. You'll never
touch them. You're coming with me...NOW!!!!"
Shinobu leaped,tearing the live electrical wires free as her trajectory
sent her crashing into the startled demon. The pair fell into the dark
waters, which charged with the conflicting energies, seethed and erupted!!
For the second time that evening, Nerima was plunged into darkness.
* * *
A great shudder went through the dimension of the Bureau of Destiny
Management. Its inhabitants were amazed to see that the chain of destinies,
which had grown to encompass every door, begin to disperse. The rabbit-
costumed beings cheered as if they had accomplished this miracle instead of
their every attempt having failed. Only one of them contemplated the true
significance of this event, and he raised his blond head to stare into the
infinite distances around him and a tear traced its way down his cheek.
"Shinobu..." Inaba whispered. He was uncertain what was going on, but
knew that something had just happened to the young girl who was still so dear
to him. He lowered his head into his paw shaped gloves and sobbed.
* * *
Shinoko fumbled with her purse, searching anxiously for her flashlight.
Like her sister, she knew the value in being prepared. She snapped the light
on and searched the slowly running water below the bridge. For long, long
moments the probing light disclosed nothing except the occasional floating
piece of trash. Then the three gasped as a blackened, unrecognizable corpse
drifted sluggish across the circle of light gleaming on the water's surface.
Shinoko moaned in alarm, sagging against Atako, nearly dropping the
flashlight. Noa took the light from the shaken girl's hand and searched
again. She did not want it to end like this for Shinobu. A splashing noise
reached her ears and she directed the light there. There she saw a slight
figure dressed in torn and ragged clothing rising from the water. "What's
going on here?!! What's happening to me?!!" Shinobu screamed. "I don't know
how to fight with a sword...and tonight I killed a sword master in a duel.
I've never fired a gun in my life...yet I know how to use one. Why didn't the
electricity kill me like it did Kali? What's happening here...?"
Shinobu broke off her cries as she noticed something moving on her hand.
Something was flowing across the skin to form a metallic layer there. Then
she realized, what ever it was...it was coming out of her.
Noa jumped as she saw thin streams of liquid metal flowing across the
water's surface toward the figure of Shinobu. There they met and moved up and
over the unresisting girl's body, molding themselves to her form. Shinobu's
eyes met her own and they locked. "NOA, PLEASE, DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN...!!!!"
she screamed before the metal covered her face and cut off her cries.
Remembering her earlier, reluctant promise, Noa aimed her pistol at the
changing form. But the tears filling her eyes clouded her sight and the first
shot went wide. Before she could fire again, Atako grabbed her arm, knocked
her pistol loose. "WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!?!?!"
"What she asked me to do!!!" Noa answered back.
The argument stopped as they heard Shinoko's shocked moan. A strange,
fantastic form rose from the canal and flew off into the distance until it
disappeared. Noa collapsed against the bridge's railing. She had failed, she
had failed to protect Shinobu, to release her from her awful fate.
A growing noise in the distance cut through Noa's despair as a series of
hovercycles appeared. It was Sylia and Pathfinder Troop Six. Too late.
* * *
Shinobu gasped as she got to her feet and realized where she was. The
metallic figure reshaping itself before her had brought her to Tokyo Tower,
then discharged her from itself. They were at the very top, standing on a
small service platform used to maintain the electronic transmitters. Shinobu
looked around, noting that the path to the staircase was unimpeded, but the
figure before her seemed unthreatening. Perhaps it had succeeded in its
mission and set her along the path of becoming whatever it was.
"Do not be afraid," a gentle voice said to her. "We mean you no harm.
Unlike the others, we have no desire for you to become us."
Once again the voice was hers, but the attitude was totally different.
For all that she was a mechanical being, this future self was elementally
human. "How should I address you?"
"Mecha would be the most appropriate way. We ceased to be Shinobu
Miyaki over a billion years ago...as we measure our time."
"Why are you here?"
"To ensure we never come into existence. In our timeline, Shinobu was
infected with a type of nanite. In the course of time, an accident occurred
and these were fused with her DNA. To prevent this, we stimulated your immune
system to recognize and reject nanites as an intrusion. When we learned of
our counterparts' intentions, we infused two of them with additional nanites.
These transmitted their mechanical skills with sword and gun to you so that
you could employ these devices in your defense. We were unable to do the same
with Kali, but the nanites already present in your system absorbed the
electrical discharge released in your attack upon her and saved your life."
"Why did you want to prevent yourself from being created?" Shinobu
asked, growing confused at the direction this conversation was taking.
"In our timeline, Shinobu withdrew from emotional contact. She had been
hurt repeatedly by her failures to find true love. The only relationship she
allowed herself...was with her beloved adopted daughter." Mecha thought
momentarily about Junba Miyaki. "Her child wanted her more involved with life
and as the first step in her campaign she convinced her to visit the Avalonian
bioroid factory and allow them to repair the damage done on Phentax Twelve."
Shinobu gasped, she had been rubbing her throbbing left arm with her
right hand during Mecha's explanation. She quickly stopped. "When she was
placed in the bio-tube for repair, no one knew about the nanites in her body.
The computer was instructed to restore a single being to perfect health. To
the best of its abilities, it complied. It merged the nanites to her DNA.
Each cell in our body became an independent, thinking machine. We are a
symbiotic that uses the term 'Mecha' to describe us as a unit." Mecha paused
again and Shinobu sensed that the machine being was recalling a particularly
painful memory. "When we emerged from the bio-tube, our form was...unstable.
Our daughter, alarmed by our shrieks during the transformation, had already
entered the room. When she saw what we had become, she fainted. We now know
that it was due to the shock of seeing us transformed, but at the time we
interpreted it as the final rejection of us by a loved one. We fled the
factory, the Earth and the universe itself. For a billion years we have been
running from the sound of that scream...and we are tired."
Shinobu heard a tapping sound from behind her and turned to see a
relieved Noa crouched behind a satellite dish, waving her to one side as she
aimed her pistol at Mecha. Shinobu shook her head and motioned to Noa.
Confused, the Sagussan lowered her weapon. "Why have you lived so long?"
Shinobu turned back to Mecha.
"Because while our body retained the knowledge of self-repair inherent
in biological life forms, it lost the secret of death. Now that has changed.
From your untainted genes, we have reclaimed our lost heritage. As we speak,
each individual that comprises the whole recreates the promise of release
within us. When we return to our time and place we shall liberate ourselves
from the prison of our existence and join those that we loved in that which
awaits us all. But before we depart, we leave you with a warning."
"A warning," Shinobu tensed. "A warning of what?"
"Of the perils destiny still holds. You have defeated Kali, Scalphunter
and Katana, but the potential for them still exists."
"What are you talking about?" her ire rose. "They were aberrations, the
results of others trying to take control of my life for their own purposes."
"No, those individuals only acted upon traits already present in you.
If they were not present, their efforts would have failed." Shinobu backed
away at the dreadful implication of those words. That the evil that she had
beaten that night was not something from out of the night, but born from the
dark places within herself. It could not be true, it must not be true.
"Please, Shinobu, listen to us. While the truth is painful, to deny
that will only bring destruction. Katana was the ultimate expression of your
need to control the world around you. Kali, your desire to be loved...even if
it means forcing others to love you. Scalphunter was your rage personified;
that side of you that wishes to live apart from the pains of life, to be
untouched by the sorrows that fill your days." Mecha reached out to the
weeping girl kneeling in front of her, the light of the coming dawn glowing
bright upon her golden surface. "But there is a way to avoid these fates, to
save yourself and those you love from the destruction that awaits you all."
"How?" Shinobu gazed at her. "What do I have to do?"
"Reconcile yourself with life, with those you love. Great things await
you all. But to do so, you must reunite with the one who is most important to
you. With Ataru."
"Ataru? Impossible! He doesn't want me!" Shinobu whispered, the memory
of each brutal rejection from Ataru tearing at her heart.
"No. In time both of you will come to know your true consequence to
each other. How neither will be able to achieve their true destinies without
each other's help. But if you are to secure your place within his life you
must take the first step. You must return to Tomobiki."
"Tomobiki? But Ataru hates Tomobiki, he'll never go there again."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. The decision must be his, without any outside
influence...or else this vicious cycle will begin anew. Still, ask yourself
this: does it matter where one lives...as long as one can love? Now return
home...and must we." With that, Mecha walked away from the startled girl to
the guard rail. The symbiotic being spread her arms as she faced the rising
sun, embracing the new day. Shinobu started after her, then stopped as she
saw how the light affected the humanoid. Microscopic pieces of Mecha were
carried away on the early morning rays creating a fine golden mist in the air.
As her body faded from existence, Mecha's multiple minds began to merge
into a single unit. Whole again for the first time in over a billion years
she looked unblinking into the sun, and saw beyond it an even greater source
of light, the supreme source of creation, the *te'a.*
"Our beloveds," she cried out as she disappeared from Shinobu's time and
place...and from life itself. "We...I come to you at last."
Shinobu watched as the last faint wisps of what had been Mecha lingered
in the morning air, before being dispersed forever by a gentle breeze. She
hobbled over to the rail where Mecha had vanished, leaned against it and
watched the city below her come to life with the new day...
* * *
"...so when Shinobu told me that she wanted to return to Tomobiki, you
could have knocked me over with a feather," Noa told the two girls standing
with her in the antique clothes store. Akane and Hitomi had accompanied
Shinobu, her sisters and Noa there for an afternoon of shopping. "Then she
explained she wanted to give Dr. Tofu two weeks notice before she returned to
Tomobiki to start cram school."
"And you didn't hear a word that mechanical future self said to her?"
Hitomi asked. She and her parents had returned to their house late that night
to discover their cousin missing. Of the battle that had been waged in front
of the house, not a trace remained. All of the bodies and their equipment had
vanished. Powerful forces were working in Japan that dreadful night. Forces
that wanted to conceal their existence as long as they could.
"No. Nene thinks that Mecha was generating some sort of 'white noise'
that prevented us from hearing their conversation. Whatever was said between
them is going to stay between them forever." Noa looked at the dressing room
where Shinobu and her sisters stood. Shinoko and Nintaiko were buying Shinobu
a new outfit to celebrate her safe return to Tomobiki and had taken them all
to this unique store which specialized in Victorian and Edwardian ladies'
wear. Both girls firmly believed that Shinobu's fragile appearing beauty
would be best accented by more formal styles of dress.
Shinobu and Nintaiko were getting along better. The restraint the
Terran held towards her Nendo-kata twin had eased. Perhaps Shinobu had a
greater appreciation for the passage of time than she had before. She was
definitely calmer, less inclined to go off the handle.
Noa gasped in appreciation as the curtains to the dressing room slid
open and Shinobu walked out followed closely behind by her sisters. She was
wearing a dark, full skirt that reached her ankles with an ivory white top
with a high neck and long flowing sleeves. On somebody like Lum the dress
would have seemed too fussy. On the slimmer Shinobu it was perfect.
Shinobu blushed as the assembled girls complimented her on her new look.
She protested their lavish praise and was told to go to the only three way
mirror in the shop to see for herself. It was a free standing mirror and
obviously an antique itself. Its frame was of hand carved oak and the mirrors
were made with old fashioned rolled glass.
Noa watched the girl walk to the mirror and smiled to herself. Despite
what she had learned from Scalphunter on that nightmare night, she understood
why Sylia and Priss advocated Shinobu's formal invitation to join them on
Sagussa. The girl would definitely be an asset to them and their people.
A moan from Shinobu caught her assembled friends' attention and they
turned to find the suddenly pale girl swaying and looking as if she was about
to collapse in front of the mirror. Noa reached her first and managed to
steady her as Akane rushed to the other side. The Sagussan could not
understand what had affected the girl so. She was incredibly pale, almost
white and she could barely seem to breath. Her wide eyes were locked on the
looking glass and when Noa turned to look at the three way mirror, she
instantly understood what had terrified Shinobu so.
The mirror was very old and time and use had warped its reflective
surfaces. While the initial images where sharp and true, the repeated images
behind them that three way mirrors always create when they reflect off of each
other grew progressively warped as they went along. For someone with the
experience of Shinobu Miyaki it was like looking at a series of potential
destinies stretching before her. Each of them more twisted than the last.
A legion of futures imperfect.
*** The End ***
