Ride on a Shooting Star:
Chapter 3: The Girl, the Guitar, and the Vespa
Thanks for your positive reviews, people. Sorry I took so long with this chapter, I've been having some technical dificulties, and now for your reading pleasure...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There in Naota's doorway stood Haruko. She looked exactly the way she did when she left Mabase one year ago. Her hair, her clothing, even the bracelet on her left wrist was the same. She still had the double neck guitar that Naota made when he had Atomsk's powers, it was strapped to her back.
"Did you miss me Takkun?"
"..." Naota was silent.
"Oooh, awkward moment..." Haruko said, her hands were behind her head now.
"...Why did you come back?" Naota kept his head down, so you couldn't see his eyes.
"I came back to see you, Takkun." she replied
"That's a lie...I know about Atomsk, and I know what he wants."
Haruko let out a sight, "Listen Takkun. I did come back for Atomsk, but the fact that your hear gave me even more reason to come back. If I only wanted Atomsk, I wouldn't be here at your house."
Naota lifted his face back up, and gave Haruko a big hug, "Promise me you'll stay this time..." he said.
"If I can get Atomsk this time, maybe I can."
Just then, Kamon walked by with a basket full of laundry, "Oh look, Haruko-san's back. But wait, Mamimi's staying here too...Naota, you'd better keep yourself in line unless you want another air-soft war." Kamon pulled out his nazi uniform. "No, no, no. I'll be good..." Naota flailed his arms around.
"No Takkun, I like bad-boys." Haruko teased as she pounce on him like she used to always do.
"Hey, knock it off." Naota said as he squirmed around. Mamimi entered the room just then, "Hey, Haru-san's back!"
"Mamimi...help..." Haruko was choking him now. But Mamimi just jumped on Naota too. "Dog-pile!" yelled Haruko.
After everybody settled down, it was time for dinner. Everybody sat down to a nice dinner, in celebration of Haruko's return, Canti and Kamon made a feast. "So, Haruko-san. Are you planning on staying here?" asked Kamon.
"I'll stay with Takkun, here." Haruko replied, that devilish grin across her face.
"But Mamimi is already staying in Takkun's- er...Naota's room." Kamon said, he was starting to get confused about Naota's nick-name.
"It's ok, I can sleep on the floor or something." said Naota.
"Oh, so you want both Mamimi and Haruko in your room with you is that it?" Kamon asked, "Aren't we being a wee bit selfish?"
"Dad, what's wrong with you? Last time she was here, Haruko made a robot copy of you that killed you, and you still like her?" Naota answered.
"Yes, I suppose your right...But you can't blame a guy for trying..." replied Kamon, in a slightly sheepish tone.
"By the way...Sorry about that robot..." Haruko said
After dinner, Naota, Mamimi, and Haruko all went up to Naota's room where they diceded that Mamimi could stay on the top bunk, Haruko got Naota's bed, and Naota would just sleep in a sleeping-bag on the floor. "That's so nice of you to give me your bed, Takkun. But you know, I can always share it." teased Haruko. "Nah, that beds too small for the both of us. Plus, you always kick and roll in your sleep, you would probably knock me off anyways." Naota teased back.
"By the way, I've been wanting to ask you...Your name isn't Haruko Haruhara, is it?" Naota asked.
"I suppose the "Home town fan" clued you in, huh?" Haruko replied with a question of her own.
"Who's the "Home town fan?" Asked Mamimi
"The guy with the big eyebrows that comes into the bakery every few weeks." answered Naota
"Oh, he was here yesterday looking for you." Mamimi stated
"Anyways, the "Home town fan", er, Amarao called you Raharu...That's your real name, isn't it?" said Naota
"That's right, my real name is Raharu Haruha. Haruko is the name I use when I go on undercover missions. But if you want, you can still call me Haruko." she answered
"Missions? Are you some kind of secret agent?" asked Mamimi
"I'm an officer of the Galaxy Space Police, you can kind of think of it as the FBI of the galaxy" explained Haruko
"Kind of hard to imagin you as a police officer." Naota teased.
"Anyways, it's ok for me to tell you this now because my cover had already been blown. But enough of this serious stuff, it's getting boring." Haruko said.
The next morning, Mamimi dicided she would go see her parents, "See you later, Cheif!" she yelled when Canti flew off with Mamimi on his back.
Kamon asked Haruko if she could deliver some of his mini-zines to a shop on the other side of town, "Sure," she replied, "Hey Takkun, you wanna come?"
"Why not, somebody's gotta keep you in line anyways." Naota teased.
"You've really grown up, Takkun." Haruko stated as they went down the rode on her vespa.
"Yeah, I guess...There's something I wanted to asked you, why does Amarao hate you so much?" Naota asked.
"He's jealous." she replied
"Jealous? Of what?"
"He's jealous of you, Takkun."
"Why me?"
"He's jealous of the fact that your N.O. is stronger than his ever was." Haruko answered
"Really?" I bet that's part of the reason, but theres more to it then she's telling me. If it was only that, he wouldn't be mad at her, he would be mad at me...
When the two made it to the shop, Haruko went in to deliver the zines while Naota waited out by the vespa.
"I thought I told you not to be fooled..."
"Huh?" replied Naota. He looked around him, and saw a man leaning against the building wall while reading a newspaper that covered his face. The only part of his face Naota could see were the tops of two big, rectangular eyebrows, "What do you want.?" Naota was on to him. "I want you to stay away from her," Amarao turned the page of his newspaper, "She's using you, you know. She wants one thing, and it's not you." Amarao finished.
"Your wrong, she told me the truth. She told me about who she really was, and she hasn't even mentioned the horn on my head." Naota protested.
"It's an act, don't you understand?" Amarao turned another page, "Or are you still the same stubborn kid you wer-" Naota cut him off, "Why do you hate her so much?" Naota asked. Amarao moved the newspaper down just enough so you could see the orange lenses of his sunglasses, "That," he raised an eyebrow, "is none of your business."
Suddenly Haruko appeared out of the store, "Sorry that took so long, Takkun. The guy in there's a real moran." Haruko stopped where she was when she heared a clicking sound, "Huh?"
Out from behind the newspaper, Amaroa pulled out a hand gun, and positioned it next to Haruko's head. "I've finally got you Raharu."
Unphased, a cocky grin made it's way across Haruko's lips, "A gun? Couldn't you be more creative? Why don't you pull a guitar out of your head? Oh that's right...You never could." she said slyly.
"You can save the sarcastic comments Raharu, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to use them later. I'm taking you away from this boy, you've done enough damage to him already." Amarao replied.
"Leave her alone..." Natoa said quietly. "No, Naota. It's time you learned who she really is." Amarao replied.
"I already know who she is!" Naota yelled.
"She's only using you! Why can't you understand!" Amarao yelled back
"She is not! Now let her go!" Naota yelled at the top of his lungs. As soon as he finished yelling, Naota felt a pulsating feeling from his head, "Huh?" He felt another pulse, and then his eyes became dark and glazed. The next pulse created a flash of red light, and dicintigrated the beanie on his head. Naota's horn began to grow longer, and instinctivly, Naota grabed it. As he pulled, his body started to glow a bright red color, and his hair started floating as if he were in water. He continued to pull on his horn until it became a ray of red light when it came out, wich formed into a dark red long-neck 6-string guitar with an X-like body.
Naota raised the guitar over his head, wich began emiting red lightning from it's body. The lightning struck in every-wich way, tearing up the ground, leaving gashes into nearby buildings, breaking windows, and leveling cars. One streak of the lightning tore at the sidewalk at Amarao's feet, making him fall over.
Upon seeing this act of hostility, Amarao quickly put his gun down and pulled out a small walkie-talkie from his coat pocket, "Kitsurubami, Kitsurubami! Get to my location imediatly! We have a serious situation over here!"
"What? Captain Amarao, what's going on?" Kitsurubami replied over the walkie-talkie
Back at the Nandaba residence:
Canti, who was working in the bakery at the time, turned his head to look out the window. His screen could see a flare of red light over the tops of some buildings. He imediatly left the building and flew off to investigate.
Back infront of the store:
The ground continued to rip apart from the red lightning. Naota tried to let go of the guitar, but his hands were stuck, he couldn't put it down.
What's going on! Why can't I stop it!
The whole time, Haruko watched in awe. Many times the red lightning had struck in her direction, but everytime it came near it veered off to the side, destroying a car, or a window.
Amarao also watched in awe of Naota's powers. He was so concentrated on Naota, he didn't even notice when his eyebrows fell off, "That...That power...It's Atomsk's...But how? Atomsk is still in space!" Amarao kept contemplating this untill a light blue volkswagon stopped infront of him. The driver was Kitsurubami, who then grabbed Amarao by the arm and yanked him inside. "Captain, are you alright!" she yelled.
"Look!" was all Amarao had to say as he pointed at Naota.
The lighting stopped comming out of the guitar, and it seemed the worst was over. Naota, still glowing red, buckled down on his knees, yet he was still holding up the guitar. "Takkun!" Haruko yelled as she moved towards Naota, "No! Stay back!" was his reply. And he was right to say so. Less than a second after he warned Haruko, a bright beam of red light shot out of the guitar. It flew up into the sky, and soon dissapeared as it left the atmosphere.
Finally, it was over. Naota stopped glowing, as did the guitar. Canti, seeing the beam of light, was able to pinpoint where it came from, and started to land behind Naota. Kitsurubami saw this as a good time to escape, so she floored it. Unfortunatly for her and Amarao, Canti had laded infront of the car. Canti held his right arm out, stopping the vehicle in it's tracks, and held out the other to catch Naota as he fell back from exhaustion.
Everything was silent...For a few seconds.
Streakes of light danced around the sky like an aroura. That soon dissapeared, as a red shockwave swept across the sky, clearing it of the light and nearby clouds. Immedialy after the shockwave came, a giant explosion covered the sky. It looked as if the sky itself were on fire as orange and red flames covered the area over the city. Another red shockwave blew the fire away, and seemed to signal the beginning of a meteor shower that rained down near the city.
Amarao knew what had happened, "Kitsurubami, we need to get back to H.Q. now!" and with that, the volkswagon backed up, drove around Canti, and sped off over the horizon.
"Canti, take Takkun home. I'm going to go investigate." Haruko instructed as she mounted her vespa and drove off. Canti did what he was told, and flew a passed out Naota and his new guitar home.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...There's like...what? three of you who are reading faithfully...Well, anyways, I hope you and everyone else liked this chapter. I thought it was cool. I'll start working on the fourth when I get some more reviews, so please review!