Two years had passed since that last babysitting incident. Rin was now a fastly maturing 12 year old. He had grown significantly and his voice was developing a manly deepness to it. As he grew older, his parents sought to enjoy themselves for nights out more often. Being the responsible parents that they are, Rin knew he was still being watched, even if it wasn't called babysitting anymore. As his parents prepared to depart for a big employee dinner fest for the company his father worked at, he knew Alice had been called upon to 'check on things' throughout the night.
"Now remember to finish your homework Rin dear. Alice will be here shortly to cook you some dinner. Oh and get at least 20 minutes of piano practice in too. You have that concert coming up next month with that solo routine..."
"Sure mom." Rin replied quickly without breaking stride in the video game he was currently playing.
Rin's father stared in amazement at his son's hand-eye coordination and shook his head. Now that he knew who and what his son was, it was nothing short of bewilderment and curiousity. Rin's mother smiled gently and led her husband out the door. "Goodnight Rin. See you in the morning for school. Don't stay up too late." Rin's mother added.
"I know mom." Rin replied back, again without even a glance at them.
Rin's mother just shrugged, gave her husband a look, then closed the door.
Rin listened to their footsteps as they headed down the hallway and entered the elevator. He saved the game he was currently playing and set it aside.
"He can really fly a starship?" Rin's father asked his wife for the umpteenth time.
"Dear, there's so much we don't know about our son. Ironic isn't it?" Mrs. Kobayashi joked.
"Guess telling him about the birds and the bees is mute eh?"
"From what I heard about his past life, he could teach us about the birds and the bees."
"Heh, perhaps I should get pointers from our son then."
Mrs. Kobayashi playfully slugged her hubby on the arm. "Let's not. I honestly don't want to know how much he knows already."
They both laughed, but deep down, both knew that there was little along the lines of parenting that they would have to do in regards to their son. Once he had awakened, he matured quickly, emotionally and physically. Their little boy was gone forever. And now a young man took his place. A young man who was still very much in love and inclined to continue where he left off from his past life. But what harm could come from a mere 12 year old boy...
Back in the Kobayashi apartment...
Rin was busy constructing a new song onto paper as he developed it on the keys when he heard the click of the door. Immediately he stuffed the sheets of music paper into his notebook, covered the piano, and dove for the couch, flinging open his health studies book at the same time.
"Rin? Hello?" Alice said quietly as she stepped inside.
"Hello Alice. Over here."
Alice met Rin's eyes with her own. The older Rin became, the deeper the intensity of his stare. It was becoming more, they both knew it.
"Doing homework eh?" Alice asked as she looked at his open book. Coincidently, he had flung his book open on the reproductive section. Alice blushed.
Rin noticed her blush then followed
her eyes. He blushed too once he realized what page he was on.
"Uh, yeah, heheh, relatively easy stuff." Rin staggered
out as he tried to cover up the uncomfortable feeling of embarrassment.
"Easy?" Alice asked as she teasingly prodded, taking note of the young man's discomfort.
Rin looked at her quizzically, trying to find her meaning. To Alice, the expression was adorably cute.
"C'mon Rin, Shion would get my meaning." She purred slyly.
*Mokuren* Rin thought as he abruptly opted for a change of subject before this conversation got out-of-hand.
"So what's for dinner tonight Alice?"
"What do you want?"
"Hamburgers."
"No."
"You asked what I want."
"No junk food. Does your basketball coach really like you eating all that crap?"
"I'm a growing boy. I burn it off anyway."
"You're growing, but that stuff will sit in your gut until you're old and then it will convert it into a gut."
Rin envisioned himself half bald, fifty something, with a beer gut. "Okay, no hamburgers then. So what do you want to make?" Rin asked as she took a seat on the couch to rest her feet for a moment. Rin took the opportunity to slide closer and rested his head upon her shoulder.
"Rin!"
"What?" Rin asked softly, his deepening voice slightly gruff. He couldn't resist the urge to touch her more as he traced her side and leg with a finger.
"Stop."
"Stop what?" Rin whispered as his lips sought hers. She stretched her neck as high as it would go, trying to avoid his advance but he was so tall now.
"That. Frisky aren't we?" she said as she placed a finger upon his lips and halted him.
"C'mon Alice, just a kiss?"
"No. I know you too well and you're getting worse with those pubescent hormones." Alice said as she stood in hopes of gaining some distance from her pursuer.
Rin plopped outstretched onto the sofa cushion. "Aww, Alice, you're mean. You started it." he whined softly.
"I was teasing and you've got sex on the brain from all that reading of that health book."
"But I didn't---" he trailed as he realized what she was thinking. *Damn book, why didn't you land on some page about nutrition or anything other than THAT chapter!* Rin cursed inwardly as he closed the book. "Actually, I wasn't on that subject yet. I was finishing this..." Rin said as he produced a paper from his notebook.
"Prehistoric Fern Trees." Alice read from the subject line of Rin's paper.
"It's for biology class."
"Biology class or to impress me?" Alice teased.
"Both. If I learn about plants more, maybe I can better understand your affection for the things."
"You're getting weird Rin." Alice said as she tousleled his hair before grabbing the bags she had brought with her and heading for the kitchen.
Rin sat up and watched her. She was right about the hormones. Her body was simply ravishing to his pubescent mind! He gulped and tried to think of other things.
"Can I help?" he asked cautiously as he stood and entered the kitchen. Alice was busy over the stove when Rin came up from behind her and looked over her shoulder. Although only twelve, he stood nearly an entire head taller than her. Then again, Shion towered over Mokuren...
"Rin?"
"Hmm?"
"That's dangerous. I'm trying to cook."
"So am I." Rin gruffly purred into her ear.
Alice sighed loudly. There was no winning with this boy! Alice grabbed the nearby knife from the counter and bent it backward towards Rin's face. He instinctively backed away from her.
"Eeeesh Alice! You could hurt me with that!"
"Yeah right. You know better. No interrupting a lady when she's trying to cook a meal."
"But I just wanted to help..."
"Then get out of the kitchen. A man's place isn't in here."
"Oh so now you're going to be sexist on me?"
"No, but I'm hungry and you slobbering all over me like a begging dog isn't going to get either of us food anytime soon."
Before Rin could reply, the phone rang. Rin immediately ran for it.
"Kobayashi residence. Oh, hey Sachi! No, heheh, I didn't finish that. Hisoka said what?! He's just pulling your leg. Don't worry about it. Oh sure, sounds good. I'll do the second and third parts, you do the first and fourth? Great. We'll have that report done before next Tuesday for sure. Concert? Yeah, I'm in it. You're what?! Really?! Heheh, guess I'll see you there then. Laters." Rin finished as he hung up the phone.
Alice couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Rin was becoming a very popular kid in school. Many girls in his school were already swooning over him. The interesting question was, how was he reacting to them?
"A girlfriend of yours Rin?" Alice asked jokingly.
"Just a friend. She's my lab partner in biolab. She's also in the band. She plays the trumpet. Her row sits in front of the piano."
"Sure Rin, I understand." Alice taunted with a wink.
"Aw c'mon Alice, there isn't a single female on this planet who compares to your radiance. I'm 100% yours."
"You're not mine yet. You're illegal."
"Figuratively. Geesh Alice, you spoil the mood in everything." Rin commented as he tossed a potato into the air.
"Hand that spud over Rin."
Rin caught the spud and grinned devillishly at her. "What's in it for me?"
"Dinner. Or would you rather go hungry?"
Rin's stomach growled. Game over. "Fine, you win." Rin moaned as he handed the potato to her.
Alice decided to change the subject. "So what are you playing for the concert?"
"Just a couple of songs my instructor picked out. One's a Mozart piece." Rin said. *Though I'm creating my own songs, I don't want you to know about that skill of mine just yet.* Rin thought as he fiddled with some of the mail on the counter. A postcard fell out from the pile and landed on the floor. As Rin picked it up, he suddenly grew pale. Alice noticed.
"Rin, what's wrong?"
Rin was staring at the picture on the front of the postcard. Suddenly Alice realized why he was stunned. It was an image of Tokyo Tower.
"I still want to destroy it you know." Rin muttered softly.
"The moonbase?"
Rin nodded.
"But how? Without a self-destruction device..."
Rin's gazed locked upon a model on a wall shelf. It was a miniture of NASA's space shuttle.
"That."
Alice followed his gaze to the little vehicle. "Rin, how do you expect to use a space shuttle? The odds of even getting a job for one of those is astronomical, especially if you're not an American."
"Okay so not that. What about that shuttle that's still on the moonbase. Our shuttlecraft."
"How?"
"If I can find a way to operate it remotely...bring it down here to Earth, then rerig it, I could fly it back and..." Rin trailed.
"And what? Shoot at the base?"
"Impossible. The shuttle isn't designed to launch weapons. I'd have to land on the moon and destroy the base from within."
"But that would mean---"
"Going back and seeing our bodies once again too." Rin finished as a chill ran down his spine. "It can't wait much longer. The Terrans are talking about explorative trips to Mars. Their first stop will naturally be the moon as a refueling stop. They have to perfect their trips to the moon before they can even consider trips to Mars. The moonbase isn't going to be secure much longer. If Terrans get a hold of our technology..."
Alice thought about it. "If Terrans get our technology, they will end up using it in much the same way our people did. The Earth would be gone."
"Exactly."
"Perhaps we should discuss this with the others? It's only proper."
"It will take much time though. Always talk, no action."
"But we still have time on our side. The Terrans are preoccupied with building an orbiting space station right now and its sapping their financial resources terribly. It will be a while before they take the next step."
"Promise me Rin, that we'll all do this as a group, please?"
"Partial group. The actual plan will be for me to go up there ALONE."
"WHY?!"
"Because that's how it was when I left it. Why cause others the trauma of seeing all that again? Only I can handle that. I've been through it before."
"Let's discuss this another time. It's making me uncomfortable."
"Sorry Alice, I didn't mean to..."
"I know. Let's just forget it for now, okay?" Alice said as she gently pulled the postcard from his grasp.
Rin's stare bore into hers once again. He stepped forward for a hug. "Alice..."
Alice allowed him this much. Reassurance from troubling thoughts was always a need for this boy.
But then the next moment, Alice slapped him gently in the face, causing him to pull away.
"Rin, knock it off!"
"What?!"
"I felt your hands on my butt."
"So?"
"So, I know how you work. You pervert!"
"I'm NOT a pervert! It just so happens I felt your hands on my butt too!"
Alice blushed. Some things her body did without her brain's permission. "I wasn't grabbing your butt, I was pulling this out of your pocket." Alice defended as she showed him what she had grabbed.
"Oh, this is de ja vu." Rin mumbled as he looked at the object in her hands. He remembered the babysitting incident back when he was 10 years old.
"Do we really need to have this discussion again?"
"It really is a water balloon Alice." Rin tried to say seriously, but was falling into laughter.
"I don't believe you."
"You never did. Hey, I'm getting old enough to have one of those with me now. All the boys in my class carry one. I don't want to be left out. YOU keep telling me to fit in and try to be a normal kid my age."
"If all the boys jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?"
"Of course. But, why would they? I'm the only one who can fly with my powers."
Alice growled. "Rin, you're impossible!"
"And you love me for it."
"And I often ask Sarjalim why the heck that is so."
Rin couldn't think of a comeback. Instead, he made his way back to the sofa and continued his video game.
Neither spoke again until the dinner was ready to be served.
to be continued...