Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Rurouni Kenshin, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.
Gundam Wing and Rurouni Kenshin
The Gundamslayer
Chapter 3: Cities in the Sky
*
In another part of the Lunar Mall, the Preventer officers Duo Maxwell along with his wife Hilde Maxwell, Johan Rodriguez and his wife Haruka were enjoying a small day off from their duties at Preventer. They had to admit to themselves that there was great relief ever since the extra personnel had been added to Preventer that meant a lot of the pressure was off of the Gundam pilots as far as man power.
The four of them were in a store called Victoria Secret; a place that had its frilly pieces of lingerie, the pink surroundings, gold trimmings, and outrageous prices for undergarments. On the other hand, Duo and Johan did get a chance to see their wives try on these pieces, so they really couldn't complain that much.
Duo had already picked a favorite out of the ones that Hilde had selected. It was a black lingerie set that included a corset, bra, panties, stockings, and a pair of fingerless elbow length gloves. Johan had chosen something with a little more simple elegance for his wife. It was a simple set of lacey white bra and panties.
Both Hilde and Haruka came out of the ganging rooms to show off what their husbands had chosen like models on a catwalk. It truly was incredible how the two of them looked so well especially after both having given birth to children.
It was also amazing that both Johan and Duo both loved their wives that much, especially after so much time. Supposedly a marriage fizzles after a certain amount of time. Yet, for them after so much time and having children they were still in love with one another.
Looking at his wife in that get-up, Johan wanted to just take her to the nearest hotel. He didn't care about the shoplifting or anything like that. He wanted his wife more than ever. Perhaps it was just how wonderfully sexy she looked.
The same could be said about Duo, though for him he imagined taking Hilde into one of the dressing rooms for that kind of romance. But all of these mental fantasies were cut short by a disturbance that came from the mall.
"FUTAE NO KIWAMI!"
Duo and Johan stood straight up from their chairs and looked out the doorway of Victoria Secret hearing the following reactions to whatever the phase meant. Next they heard some panicked cries and then they heard an obvious security guard call out, "Lie your weapons down!"
Duo and Johan jumped at the chance while Haruka and Hilde went back inside the changing booths to get their regular clothes back on.
After making a small trip to where the voices were coming from, Johan went for his beam saber while Duo went for the piece that he always carried. One thing that they learned while they were in Preventer was that always be prepared for the unexpected. Whatever situation was going on in the mall was definite evidence of that. The two of them came to the outer edge of a small crowd that had gathered around the small incident that was going on.
"Please, lay down your weapon and put your hands up!"
Johan was the first to make the initiative, "Preventer!" He shouted out as he shoved through the crowd, "I'm an officer of Preventer! Step aside please."
As soon as the crowd ha heard the mention of Preventer the crowd began to part around Johan like the Red Sea did to Moses. Johan walked up and his eyes were greeted with a site that he would have never imagined. He saw a group of four people, all of them dressed in attire that Johan only saw in one place. Just a few feet away there was the mall security officer who was making the demand to them with his gun out.
"What's all this about then?" Johan asked
"Who are you?" The mall security officer asked
"I am Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez of the Office of Preventer."
Among the Kenshin-gumi they looked at Johan as well as his friend that came up behind him. Both of them seemed a little older than Kenshin but they seemed to command a certain type of authority. Almost as if they were police officers themselves.
"Sir," The mall officer said, "These people have been causing a disturbance."
"We didn't mean to, that we didn't." Kenshin said trying to play the peacemaker.
"I'm sure we can settle this right away and no one will have to get hurt." Johan stated as he took a good look at the people in the center of the crowd. He already knew the type of clothes that they were wearing. Yet, the last time that Johan had seen clothes like those was at a Kendo school. The most obvious clue was the bamboo sword that the youngest of the group was carrying. Yet, Johan's eyes were drawn to the man with the red hair and the cross-shaped scar on his cheek. That was when Johan decided to use his authority for this situation.
"Officer" Johan spoke to the security officer, "I'll take them into my custody."
"Sir, they obviously pose a threat. Look." He pointed down to the ground.
Johan looked and saw a streak of concrete that looked as if it was broken by a jack hammer. He tried to think how these people could have done something like this to a concrete floor. Still, it was something about those people that seemed familiar to Johan. As if he had this experience before. Thinking about it as a familiar experience he began to have a hunch…an intuition.
"The tear has opened again." Johan thought to himself
"I'll take that risk." Johan had stated the security officer
The officer holstered his weapon, "Fine officer, but if they cause any other disturbances, then I am required to take them into custody."
"Understood then" Johan said and then looked to the ones in the crowd, "Please, come with me."
Among the Kenshin-gumi, there was a collective thought that this situation had taken a real dramatic turn. On the other hand, it was rather lucky that this man named Johan had shown up when he did. Otherwise they would have wound up in some kind of unknown jail for God knows how long. With the security officer leaving and the crowd breaking up a little bit, Kenshin Himura took the first steps towards Johan and Duo.
"Thank you, very much." He said with his usual happy grin, "We didn't mean to cause any trouble; that we didn't."
Johan made the first obvious question, "You four aren't from around here are you?"
The Kenshin-gumi looked at each other all of them silently contemplating whether to tell the truth or whether to make up some kind of story in order to blend in. Weighing the possibilities seemed to be somewhat of a no-win, since if they told the truth then the officers might just laugh and think that they were crazy. On the other hand if they made up some kind of story then there would be a lot of room for several errors in the details of their façade.
At last, Kenshin was the one to tell the truth, "We aren't." He said, "We don't exactly know where this place is. The last place we were in was Tokyo."
Johan narrowed his eyes, "What year was it?"
All of the Kenshin-gumi looked to each other again and spoke their truth.
"It is the 11th year of the Meiji Era."
"Hmm…" Johan hummed to himself as he rubbed his chin, "I think you four should come with us. There's something we need to discuss, but first…" He was looking at them from head to toe, "I think we need to get you four a new set of clothes."
Sanosuke sneered, "What's wrong with the clothes that we have?"
"No offense." Duo spoke up, "But the four of you really do stick out in a place like this."
"In that case" Kenshin smiled, "Perhaps its best to try to blend in as much as we can."
"Follow us then." Johan seemed a little lost for a moment as if he was trying to grasp a word for something that he couldn't describe without using lesser words. "I'm sorry; I don't know your names."
"My name is Kenshin Himura." The samurai introduced himself, "And this is my wife Kaoru Himura and her student of the Kamiya Kasshin style, Yahiko, and my friend, Sanosuke Sagara."
"Nice to meet you all." Johan said, "I've already introduced myself, but this is my co-worker, Duo Maxwell."
"Hey." Duo smiled
"Um…" Kaoru stepped forward, "Could you tell us what this place is? And what that is hovering in the sky." She pointed upward to the glass ceiling to the planet that hung out in the darkness of space. Both Duo and Johan looked up and immediately answered Kaoru's question.
"That's Earth out there." Johan said, "This place your in is a shopping center on the moon."
"That's impossible." Sano spoke out, "The moon is far too small to stand on."
Duo shook his head with a smile on his face, "Man, these guys really are from the past."
"The past?" Yahiko added, "What do you mean?"
Johan scratched his head, "If I'm thinking right, the Meiji Era was somewhere in the last 19th century. If that's the case, then that would be centuries ago."
"Centuries?" Kenshin asked, "What year is it now?"
"The year is After Colony 215, so much has happened since your time."
"So, you're saying that they traveled through time?" Duo asked Johan
"If I'm thinking right, they didn't travel through time, they traveled through the tear."
Duo snapped his attention to Johan, "It's happened again."
"What's happened again?" Kaoru asked sounding a little desperate
Johan paused for a moment, "Let's take a walk."
* * *
Johan, Duo, and the Kenshin-gumi all walked through the mall (for Duo and Johan they were walking back to Victoria Secret, to explain to their wives why they left so suddenly). Along the way, Duo and Johan were explaining what exactly the tears were. How they seem to appear in random places at random times. On the other hand as Johan had put it, there does seem to be some method to the madness of the tears. Almost as if some higher mind/power or whatever was controlling them for some grander purpose. At least that was their side of the story.
Kenshin and his friends told their side of the story about how Kaoru's dojo was being attacked by ninja's. As well as how on the second time that they were doing it they seemed to be vanishing into the wall of the dojo. That was when they discovered something in the wall that could only be described as a hole.
"And that's how we ended up here." Kenshin finished as they came to the entrance of Victoria Secret.
Johan looked and saw only a few feet away from him near the panties table, his wife Haruka and Duo's wife Hilde. Both of them seemed to have a very surly look about them as if both of them had forgotten their anniversary as well as their birthday in the same year.
"Where were you two?" Hilde asked
"It looks like we have some more visitors." Johan explained
Haruka was the quickest to ask, "You mean from another universe."
"Exactly, and here they are." Johan introduced, "We have Kenshin Himura, his wife Kaoru Himura, her student of the Kamiya Kasshin style Yahiko, and Kenshin's friend Sanosuke Sagara." He introduced, "This is my wife, Haruka Tenou Rodriguez and Duo's wife, Hilde Maxwell."
Kenshin came close to Haruka, "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise" Haruka said with a smile knowing the importance of what was going on. She looked at all four of them and was thinking the very same thing that Johan suggested. She leaned over to her husband and whispered, "I think we should get them some new clothes."
"I agree." Johan said, "Where do you suggest?"
"Hmm…" Haruka hummed in thought, "Ah, how about the Gap?"
"Could work" Johan said
The Kenshin Gumi couldn't help but stare at everything all around them in that mall. At the different stores, the many levels that did seem to stretch up and down in for so much length. As well as all the people, men, women, children. All of them seemed really happy there, as if such things as war, death, and suffering had never touched them at all. Even the superstitious Sanosuke couldn't ignore the grandeur of that place. How it all looked so brand new, and he was also fascinated by the lights in that place how bright they were. Yet it was so dark outside through that glass ceiling window. He tried to imagine that they captured some kind of firefly into those lights and managed to make them brighter. Or…it could be specters trapped inside them and that was when he tried to ignore it as much as he could. For Kaoru, she did stop once to look inside one of the shops where they were selling dresses that she only saw once when she made a leisurely trip to Kyoto with the others on a train. All of it looked so beautiful to her, especially the people who were trying them on. In Yahiko's case following their new found friends in this place he found a small store that was selling candy out of barrels. Just loads and loads of it like nothing he had ever seen before. For a moment there he thought that he had found paradise, at least until Kenshin called to him.
"Come along, Yahiko." Kenshin called and Yahiko came running along to catch up with them.
"Here we are." Johan said as he presented the store that he and his wife were talking about. They looked up to the square sign that read, "Gap" and they entered. Upon coming into the store they were met by a young girl who was so perky that she seemed like some kind of hyped up Barbie doll.
"Good day to you." She said, "Can I help you find anything?"
"Yes." Johan came forward, "My friends here need some clothes. Something casual."
The sales girl looked at Kenshin and his friends, "No biggie" she said in that high pitched perky voice. She reached out and pulled Kenshin by the wrist and lead him over to one of the walls that was stacked with jeans.
"Geez," Sano shook his head, "That girl is more forceful than little missy."
"What'd you say!?" Kaoru snapped back
"Um…Johan…" Kenshin called.
Johan looked and saw that the sales girl was piling jeans into Kenshin's arms as if they were logs of wood. So much that the pile was coming up to Kenshin's nose, while he himself had a very, very distressed look on his face, as if he was about to drown in those blue jeans that this girl was pilling onto him.
"Oh, I should have known better." Johan uttered to himself but then turned to his wife, "Haruka, take care of Kaoru's clothes with Hilde, while Duo and I will take care of Kenshin, Sano's and Yahiko's."
"Sure." Haruka said as she and Hilde took Kaoru's hand and lead her to the women's section, while Duo, Johan, Yahiko, and Sanosuke went to help the drowning Kenshin. By the time that they had arrived the jeans had already been piled up to the top of his head and the sales girl was still going on and on.
"How about these," she said, "these are kind of medium blue, these are dark blue, and these are kind of light blue."
"I think we'll manage on our own, miss." Duo said trying not to sound too threatening.
"Kay, if you need anything let me know."
As she left, Yahiko had to ask, "What's her problem?"
"Probably a little too much coffee" Johan explained
"Or not enough brains." Duo added, "Let's get you three suited up."
Needless to say that the first few tryouts weren't exactly that successful; for one, all three of them needed to be told about certain things like undergarments such as underwear and socks. The same could be said in Miss Kaoru's case since all she had for a bra was simply some bandages that were binding her breasts. For Haruka and Hilde it felt a little bit like training a child in such daily and trivial matters. Still finding the right outfits for the Kenshin gumi was a small undertaking in itself. It was something rather new for most of the Kenshin gumi to try on clothes that were brand new.
Finally, the right clothes were found for all the Kenshin-gumi, even Miss Kaoru who was wearing a set of jeans, a shirt, and a jacket over it. Though she did have to give Yahiko and Sanosuke a small whack on the head since the clothes did reveal a little bit of what her figure was like, but she couldn't complain since she felt she could move a lot better in it.
Afterwards, the Kenshin-gumi as well as the Preventers decided to go to lunch. After all, from what they had told, it was the middle of the night when they had left their home of 1878 Japan. They went to a small Japanese restaurant; they felt that it would be the best place for discussion of what has happened to them. The restaurant itself was much like what Kenshin and his friends had back home. Except there were private rooms shut off by sliding doors with paper windows and the Kenshin-gumi were surprised when they saw the appetizers. Tempura vegetables, fish, shrimp, as well as some rolls of sushi, this was food that would have cost so much money back home. On the other hand, Sanosuke wasn't one to turn down a free meal. So he dug right into it. Yet, Kenshin and the others were a little distracted.
"You had mentioned something called a tear." Kenshin asked
Johan was the first to explain, "Yes, it is basically a rip in the very fabric of our realities. Or rather a doorway between your universe and ours."
"But why did it happen?" Kaoru asked
"That's something we're not sure of, but my wife has a theory."
"I think that these tears are opening in different places for a reason, because the one end of this doorway has usually been here while the other end has opened up in several other times and places."
"How many times has this happened to you?" Sano asked shoving another piece of tempura in his mouth
"Six times." Duo answered
"Seven, if we count you." Hilde added
"Seven times…" Kaoru said to herself
Kenshin thought it over and knew that he needed to tell them about why they came, but with all that they've done he knew that they could be trusted. "There was something else that went through that hole before us."
Johan dropped his chopsticks, "What?"
"Before we went through that hole there was a group of ninjas carrying crates through it."
"Do you know what was in those crates?" Haruka asked
"This." Sano said as he pulled out a large slab of gold and set it gently on the table for all to see. "Those ninja's had stolen gold like this from the Meiji government, but there's no telling what they'll do."
"Excuse me for a moment." Johan said as he left the private dinning room
"Where's he going?" Sano asked
"Probably to make a report." Duo shrugged
* * *
Outside, Johan was doing as Duo had explained to the Kenshin-gumi, he made the call to the office of Preventer. Specifically its main office based in the Sank Kingdom's capital, New Port City, as he entered his code through the touch tone numbers he quickly formulated a statement.
"Please make your report now."
"This is Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez. Code name: Preventer Star Dragon. It's happened again, some new visitors have stepped through the tear into our universe. However, this is not the end of it. It has come to our attention that another group came through the tear first. We are not sure where they are or what their intentions are. The facts that have been presented to us are these: They are said to be ninjas and it is said that they had smuggled large quantities of gold into our universe. I advice a Preventer wide alert, be on the lookout for anyone paying for large items in gold. Notify me of this when it's been reported."
To be continued…