SFFAL Love Hina the Soap Opera

This is the combined transcript of the Love Hina RPG being currently played by the members of the Shinobu Fan-Fiction Authors League. Each week, the players submit their chapter, and these are amalgamated and reconciled by the GM who then adds any extra interaction before posting the completed chapter.

Noone has author powers in this game, it is supposed to be in keeping with the LH theme and most players are playing versions of themselves.

Currently you are welcome to contact Baka-Alaskan if you wish to join the league; however the game is not looking for extra players.

Players: Cody (Baka-Alaskan), Al (Althesushilovingfanficsage), Lance(Nachomanlance), Sam (British Dragon), Kyosuke (Blight), Ryuko, Maho(deucetrick)

GM: Steve (CheshireCat5)
Chapter Ten: A change is as good as a rest? MOONLIGHT

Maho's night

Naru sat up in her futon, softly humming a tune.

The night was growing old, but her light was still on, and she was still wide-awake. Maho sat next to her in the futon, playing with the buttons on her pajamas. They decided to have a sleepover in Naru's room for tonight, but there obviously wasn't much sleeping being done.

Naru smiled. "You're just like a little cat. Neko-chan."

"Nyan," the shorter girl meowed playfully, continuing to fiddle with the buttons. "These things are just so fascinating, I can't help it. You pick out the best clothes, Naru-chan."

"Mm, arigato." She looked at Maho's hair-spiral, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "I always wondered how you got your bangs to do that."

"Do what?" Maho looked up. "Oh." She shrugged. "Haru-nee-chan did it for me a long time ago, and I just picked it up from there." She went back to the buttons. "Himitsu desu (it's a secret)."

"Himitsu." Naru chuckled. "Do you remember all the pinky promises we made?"

"Of course." She continued in a childlike voice, "Yakusoku! We'll be friends forever!" Maho giggled. "What I'd give to go back to those days."

They were silent for a little while.

"Gomen," Naru said suddenly.

"Nani?" Maho looked puzzled. "Doushite (why)?"

"For breaking our promise." Naru looked down at her blanket. "To tell you the truth, I completely forgot about you, after you'd gone." She struggled to find the right words. "It felt so... strange, that afternoon when you confronted me at the hot springs. I realized that if you didn't say anything, I could've gone for the rest of my life, never knowing that I had met you again." Despite herself, Naru felt her eyes starting to water. "We were supposed to be best friends forever, and I didn't even notice you when you came back. Gomen, Maho-chan... Gomen ne."

Maho looked at her friend. "I forgive you." She smiled, rubbing Naru's shoulder supportively. "Daijoubu (it's okay). I wouldn't have remembered either, if it weren't for Kei-kun. But now everything's fine. There's no sense in worrying about the bad things that could have happened."

Naru sighed. "Hai. Sou desu ka."

"Mmhmm." There was another long moment of silence. Then Maho leaned closer, and spoke in a softer voice. "Do you want to know something, Naru-chan?"

"Sure."

"Sometimes, I think that kami-sama likes to be cute with us. But if we really try, no matter how many times we lose each other, we'll always be together again someday." With that, Maho lay her head down on her pillow, and curled up into a ball. "Oyasumi! (good night)"

Naru wiped her eyes and lay down, watching her friend. "Oyasumi," she replied, but stayed awake in thought watching her friend fall asleep.

--------

Al's Snoop

----------

Al sighed and squinted at his watch -- it was 2:00 A.M and he was wide awake.

After pulling himself and Dizzy from what used to be part of the deck, the pair had returned to their room, where Dizzy fell asleep the moment his furry little body had dragged itself into his plastic castle and onto the bed.

Al, however, was unable to sleep -- he wasn't sure why, sometimes it just happened to him like that.

He got up and put his contacts in, "Well no use in laying around might as well make use of this energy."

He pulled on a hoodie and some jeans and left his room, destination unknown.

He wandered the dark spooky halls of Hinata Sou, slightly nervous, being as quiet as his 250-something pound body would allow.

Thoughts made there way into and out of his mind, some sensible, others just odd, music that only he could hear set his heart beating, the sneaking around after dark always made him uneasy, but in a house full of girls who might misinterpret this attempt to clear his mind as a perverted act, he felt he was justified to be scared.

Somehow in his wanderings he found his way into the girls hall, though his sensible mind told him to turn around and leave, his body seemed to not get the message.

The first room he already knew belonged to Kaolla, so he skipped it -- she had dragged him in there during the planning stages of the failed hunt for Lance, and he had almost been eaten alive by a white crocodile. Not one of his best moments, clinging to a tree branch as the beast attempted to chomp on his butt.

He moved to the next room, reading the sign he debated his courage... Motoko would skin him alive if she woke up.

He slid the door open and simply peeked in. It looked like a dojo, and he was not surprised. He poked his head in and looked around, seeing the girl asleep in her futon. She had rolled to the side and her blanket had come off, she was wearing a nightie and shorts.

Various perverted thoughts bubbled in the blond boys head, knowing full well that most of them would get him killed.

Moving on, he peeked in the next door, cracking it only a bit. This room was full of stuffed toys and pink things, and he spotted a lone sleeping figure under the covers of a western-style bed in the corner, a small blue haired head, Shinobu.

"Sweet kid." Al thought as he slid the door shut. She seemed so peaceful, innocent, "it's a wonder she doesn't have her own fan club somewhere." He chuckled to himself, and made his way further down the hall.

The next room on Al's little sneak fest had no person within, but Al knew right away who had decorated it.

Up on the wall were pictures of Lance, hundreds of pictures -- when they had been taken was anybody's guess -- as well as cups with Lance's face on them, dolls, and a full body pillow that had him on it, with lipstick marks on it.

It worried Al... so many candles, shackles on the walls, a cage with Lance's name on it; even pictures of Sarah in a wedding dress and Lance in a tux.

Sitting at the base of this shrine was a large life sized doll made of cloth; it looked like Lance would be if he were a voodoo doll gone wrong.

Al slid the door closed; whatever Sarah dreamed of doing to Lance was far too R-rated for him to ever want to think about.

The next room he discovered was Maho's.

He wandered in quietly, his mind wandering back to her having helped dizzy earlier, she seemed nice, but her room was a maze! He couldn't even see where her futon was located amongst the piles of junk.

There were boxes and wands and all sorts of props for magic shows, rubber saws and cages, chains and straight jackets, and a pair of doves in a cage.

"Wait a minute...doves?" Alex whispered, whereupon the birds saw him and glared -- he had always had trouble with birds, they all seemed to hate him for some reason, and he had never met a single bird that didn't want to hurt him.

The doves began cooing loudly, hoping to wake Maho and get Al in trouble.

Thinking fast al threw a blanket over their cage, hoping it would make them think it was time to sleep.

This proceeded to annoy them further, causing louder cooing, which incidentally isn't that loud.

Al slipped out of the room hoping that the stupid birds would shut up.

The next room belonged to the landlord, but the light was on.

Al peeked in through the partially open door, and he spotted his landlord snoring soundly slumped over a table and some textbooks.

Al flicked off the light, and slipped out of the room, "I could have stolen some money from him, but that would be bad. He should be more careful," he thought as he moved on.

Another door, Kitsune's, he could hear the TV on softly, oddly though, he also heard sobbing.

"Not my problem, no need to stick my nose in." he thought. Fighting the urge to open the door, he lost, and slid the door open a cracka and peered in.

In the light of the T.V he saw Kitsune, half on and half off of the sofa. She was sleeping, the room reeked of booze, but he saw tears on her face. Her expression was a sad one -- he could only wonder what was going on in her mind that caused such an unhappy slumber.

He tiptoed into the room and pulled a blanket over her, turned off the T.V and made his way out, glad he hadn't woken her. Whatever was wrong, he'd find out later, if he could help he would.

He wandered upstairs and came around to the next room, light shined from the crack between the door and the floor, and he heard the scratching of a pen.

"Who the heck would be up at this hour?" He wondered peering up to the sign above the door, Naru.

He didn't know much about this girl; she seemed to be rather fond of the landlord, but also rather strict around the men of the house.

He started to leave but his slipper caught a loose floorboard and he fell flat on his face with a dull but audible "THUD!" The pen stopped, and he heard movement, he froze, hoping she wouldn't come out to investigate the noise.

After a moment the door slid open and she looked down at him, wearing a green bathrobe and big thick glasses she looked surprised, and angry.

"What might I ask are you doing?"

"Err.... sleepwalking."

"Try again!" She growled, cracking her knuckles.

"I couldn't sleep so I was just taking a walk please don't kill me!" Al whimpered as he winced awaiting impact.

Naru looked confused, was this boy cowering at her feet? Was she really that scary?

"You uh...want to come in for some tea?" she asked. "Maho-chan's sleeping here tonight, but I couldn't fall asleep so I decided to keep myself busy."

---

Alex sat across from Naru sipping his tea, trying not to show his dislike for the hot beverage.

"So um...what are you doing up so late?" He asked looking at the stacks of papers and books lying around the table.

"Studying, I woke up when I the deck collapsed, but I couldn't get back to sleep so I began studying, I have a test tomorrow anyway.

"Ah, must be a drag studying all the time."

"Not really, it's actually kinda fun when I get to study with Keitaro."

"Really now? Could this be a hint of some deep unspoken feelings for our dear landlord."

"Kami... why does everyone say that? We are not a couple!" She growled though her face betrayed her with a blush.

"Alright, alright, whatever you say, I've just never been much of the bookish type."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me - your school called looking for your guardian, they told me that they were worried because you're failing three classes and won't have enough credits to graduate if you're not careful."

Alex looked annoyed "Nice of them to care."

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I've had troubles with my grades all my life, it's normal."

"Don't you care about your future?"

"Well yeah, who doesn't, but I just have trouble that's all, I can't force myself to like some of these subjects, but without them I can't graduate."

"Well what do you want to do with your life?"

"Do you mean job-wise or like my ultimate goal."

"What is your goal in life?"

Alex paused and looked thoughtful for a moment, "I want to be happy."

Naru smiled lightly, "Well, to be happy you'll need to graduate won't you?"

"Yeah I guess, but what collage is gonna accept a guy with grades like mine?"

"Well..." Naru's eyes shined as she thought how wise she felt saying it, "Tokyo U."

"WHAT?" Al looked at her as if waiting for her to say "Just kidding."

"Yeah, Keitaro and I had horrible grades in high school, but now we're students at the best collage in Japan."

"Wow, that must mean..." Naru nodded "Yes?"

"That it's really easy to get in."

She face faulted. "NO you little creep!"

"Well it sure looks that way." Al grinned; this girl was fun to annoy.

Maho stirred in her sleep, and they both remembered to keep the noise down. Naru calmed herself.

"It means," she replied, "that with hard work you can get the best, and it's not too late to make an attempt."

"I dunno, do you really think I can do it?"

"I'd bet my life on it."

"Well, alright, I'll think about it, I'm gonna let you get back to your studying now."

"Alright, go back to bed."

"Sure." Alex left the room, her words still buzzing around in his head.

------

Ryuko's morning

---------------

Ryuko awoke early as usual, early enough to jog a few miles while the air was still cool.

She was surprised to find someone seated outside on the steps leading up to the front entrance, also dressed appropriately for jogging.

"Good morning, Motoko-san."

Motoko inclined her head towards the voice. "Good morning, Ryuko-san. I was wondering if I might join you ...? The deck's been demolished, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try something different for once."

Ryuko smiled. "Of course. I'd be happy to have you along anytime."

Ryuko demonstrated some warm-up stretches, which Motoko emulated, before the two decided they were ready to get underway.

They followed a path leading all the way around the Hinata property, and then repeated the same course a couple more times.

Ryuko worried she might be difficult to keep up with. "How do you feel?", she called out. Motoko was close behind her.

"Invigorated," Motoko replied. "And fatigued."

"You're doing very well, considering you're not used to jogging. How about if we stop to rest up ahead?"

Motoko agreed, and the two paused at the top of the stonework bridge. They leaned over the edge and watched a lilypad float downstream as they caught their breath.

Several minutes passed before Ryuko broke the silence. "Motoko-san, I was wondering if you'd be willing to teach me some entry-level swordsmanship sometime...if it wouldn't be too much of a bother."

Motoko considered this for a moment. "You realize I am not yet a master myself."

Ryuko nodded. "I understand that. For now, I would be content to have a basic understanding of the art."

"I'm curious why you'd be interested?"

Ryuko looked downstream while pulling leaves off a twing and dropping them into the water below. "It's because of a promise I made to my mother long ago. To embrace my heritage, as she put it, by immersing myself in Japanese culture. Kendo falls under that umbrella, and it would be awfully convenient--and it would mean a lot to me--if I could have you as a teacher."

Motoko smiled. "In that case, I would indeed be willing, since I know you have the discipline to see things through. But it will require a great deal of practice and patience."

Ryuko pulled away from the rail. "Arigato gozaimasu. Patience is one thing I have in abundance. Come on, let's hurry back so we can get a bath before breakfast."

As they finished their jog, Motoko caught a second wind, and had no difficulty keeping up. She looked forward to giving lessons to Ryuko, even if it meant less time for personal practice.

-----

Kyosuke's Morning

However, someone else had risen that morning even earlier than Ryuko and Motoko.

At 4:00 a.m., the city of Hinata was as quiet as it had ever been, not counting the occasional car that speed along the near empty roadways. Every light in the city was out for the sun hadn't shown itself just yet. Yep, all the lights were out, except for one -- a dim light shone out of one of the many windows that littered the legendary Hinata-sou. A silent figure quickly pulled on it's clothes and turned out the lights, slyly moving out of view in case any passerby would notice.

Kyosuke already had his school uniform on, and with quick, quiet feet, he stealthily made his way down the stairs and into room 201, Shinobu's bedroom. Making sure that he kept himself quiet as possible, he silently went for her alarm clock, cunningly setting the timer to 5:30 a.m.

"Good," he thought to himself. "Gives me just enough time to get things ready."

He snickered to himself and slid out the door, creeping down the steps and disappearing into the kitchen for about an hour and a half, quickly returning to his room without alarming anyone -- especially Motoko! He was gathering his things when he looked at the small laptop that was sitting open in the corner of the room. He walked over and noticed that an e-mail had just been received. Kyosuke opened the e-mail and read.

Dear Mr. Sagura,

It has come to our attention that once again, your services are requested. We are aware that you are still on vacation but should you accept this assignment, we have prepared a mission brief and information located on the south side of Hinata in a small warehouse at the wharf inside a suitcase with our logo on it.

We have paid off a worker named Sazuki, Uchiro. Do not hesitate to ask him about the suitcase, we have informed him of the situation and he will be expecting your arrival.

Upon completion of this assignment, we are willing to pay you in full and with a bonus since you are still on vacation. Please consider this as the assignment is very important to the protection of our assets within the city.

Thank you for your time.

Kyosuke deleted the e-mail and shut down the computer. Slowly collecting his homework and supplies, thinking.

He sighed. "I guess…I have no choice but to-"

His contemplation was interrupted when a squeak and a wail came from somewhere on the lower level of the building.

"Ahhhh!!! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!!!! I slept in!!"

"I guess that's my cue..." He said upon realizing that the owner was none other than Shinobu, and promptly jumped out the two-story window and landing softly in the bushes outside the building. Kyosuke got up and brushed himself free of dirt and debris, looking back and making his way to the middle school. Knowing that sooner or later, he'd meet "Hinata-sou's Famous Cook".

Shinobu ran around her room frantically, trying to put on her uniform, collect her school supplies, and think about what she's going to cook for breakfast. After getting ready, she sprinted at a breakneck speed out of her room and into the kitchen, leaving a burning trail of fire on the floor behind her. She bolted for the fridge before noticing a note that was left on the door saying:

Shinobu,

Breakfast and dinner are covered. You're in the safe zone, except for the part about actually putting it on plates. Just go and set up the table already. :P

The blue-haired girl re-read the note before opening the refrigerator and staring at the stacks of containers, obviously harboring already cooked food, and her eyes bulged out in both utter surprise and complete shock.

-----

Lance's Morning

Lance woke up. When doing this, it made him very upset and regarded it as a bad move. For one, his body was sore from head to toe, particularly the head. Birds weren't floating around it. No stars, either. What could it be, perhaps? Nothing too serious, just floating swarms of punching Narus, sword-slicing Motokos, and skimpy-clothing-dancing Sarahs.

Wait a minute. Dancing Sarahs in little to no clothing?

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

That woke him up.

To prevent himself from nearing those thoughts again, he took out one of his books and whacked him in the head with it. Unfortunetly that only added onto the immense pain he already had, so that did no good.

So instead he did his normal morning routine by taking Tylenol and putting his school uniform on. As he slipped his socks on, he noticed the letter still laying untouched on the floor in front of his door. For a moment he thought of tearing it up, fearing that it was some stranger who claimed to be his brother again. He even got as far as reaching the door without looking at it. But with a nagging feeling of curiousity thats bound to kill him one day, he steps back and opens the letter. Looking at it, he noticed that it wasn't from his brother, but from Ryuko.

"What?.." he read aloud the letter.

"Lance,

Keitaro explained that I was given your room, but he and Naru didn't want me to feel uncomfortable about it so he didn't tell me, and he forgot to tell you. When I kicked you, it was purely instinctive. I am truly sorry, and to make it up to you, I'll give you a free back massage.

-Ryuko"

Lance heaved a huge sigh of relief. "I almost forgot all about that. Maybe I have time to tell her it's ok later on today." He rubbed his back, "And I can DEFINETLY use a massage about now!"

He walked downstairs to breakfast and began to eat when a human cannonball named Kaolla Su jumped onto his shoulders. Lance began to wobble in his chair, trying to pry her off of him.

"Hello Sarah's boyfriend!" She cried happily, causing Naru and Motoko to send him deadly glares. Lance put on a fake smile and waved them off while he tried to smack Su against the wall.

"For the last time, I am NOT her boyfriend!!" Su laughed and jumped off of him, flipping once over the air and landing behind Lance, pointing at the back of his head.

"Well whoever you are, you have a note tacked to the back of your head!" Lance blinked and reached his hand to his head. Incredibly enough, a small slip of paper was tacked to his head, and the spot where the tack is was now bleeding.

"Thanks... I guess. Can you help me get it out?" Lance asked.

"Sure thing, Mr. Boyfriend!" Su said happily. She pulled out a hammer (where from, is a mystery) and used the end of it to pry the tack out, causing massive screams of pain and mercy. Everyone at the table just shrugged and continued their breakfast.

When the note was finally off, and his head had been bandaged, and Su finally went to glomp Motoko, Lance read the note.

"AVOID THE SPARE ROOM AT ALL COSTS!!!"

"Huh?" Lance gaped at the note he held, confused. Who would go as far as to tack a note on his head just to warn him about an empty room? Clearly someone was crazy around here; that is, crazier than usual. He crumbled up the paper and tossed it into the trash before going back to breakfast.

After breakfast, he met with Shinobu and Su by the front door putting on their shoes. And offered to walk in to school with them. Just after they shut the door closed, Keitaro's body flew in and smacked the door they just left out of. Naru came to him and smacked him again.

"Next time, you're sitting at the opposite end of the table!"

-------

Maho's Morning


"KUSO!" Maho cursed when she looked at the clock. "I'm LATE!"

Naru grumbled, covering her ears and trying in vain to return to the blissful land of sleep. A tiny part of her gloated at being a college student, and no longer having to subscribe to the chaos of the morning rush. Meanwhile, Maho shamelessly threw off her pajamas and ran out of Naru's room.

She immediately ran into Keitaro, who was in mid-yawn. "Ah! Maho-chan..." Keitaro's gaze inevitably wandered. Suddenly, with no warning a dove flew down and viciously began pecking the young Japanese boy's head. "Ow! Itae! Help me!"

Maho smiled appreciatively, greeting the bird with a cheerful bow. "Arigato, Kyoko-chan." She gave Keitaro a sock on the shoulder and continued shamelessly toward her room.

A minute later, she emerged. The schoolgirl outfit was all right, she supposed. At least it still had a decent skirt. But it felt like something was missing... "Ah, right." Maho went back in her room, threw on a long black coat, and came back out. Yes; that was much better.

As if on cue, the two doves flew onto Maho's shoulders as she put on her shoes and went outside. With that, she went off in a mad dash to the general direction of the high school.

-----------

Sam's Morning

Samuel woke up, and stretched.

"Aahhh..." he sighed, "It's a beautiful day -- I feel so refreshed! I think it's the first time I've not been semi-drunk before waking up, so I think that helps... but before I ponder that, time for breakfast."

Sam walked downstairs after getting dressed, and met up with some of the girls having breakfast.

"Morning, ladies!" he said, cheerfully. "It's a beautiful day, the sun's shining, the birds are singing and the air is fresh!"

Kitsune turned to the others. "I told you all -- he's on crack, must be!" she whispered.

"Shut up your face!" retorted Sam, rudely, giving Kitsune a shock.

Mutsumi quickly stepped in to defuse things. "Ara, ara... aren't you supposed to be going school around now, Samuel?" she asked. "I'll see you tomorrow, I'm off to the Watermelon festival today!"

"Why, what time is it?" Sam replied, checking his watch. His eyes widened when he realised how much time he had wasted. "Damn it! And I'm not even in uniform yet..."

He ran in a panic up the stairs, and grabbed the uniform that someone had helpfully left at the end of his futon. Finally managing to work out how to put it on, he ran back downstairs.

"What do you reckon?" he asked the assembled girls, "I look like a male version of the sailor scouts..."

"That is because you are wearing a girl's uniform, baka." stated Naru, rolling her eyes in exasperation, while Kitsune snorted laughter into her cereal. She'd placed that new uniform in his room in the hope that he'd make exactly such an error!

"Ah...." Sam sweatdropped, before racing back upstairs to correct the error.

"Right -- how about now?"

"Perfect... except for the fact your pants are on the wrong way round!" laughed Kitsune.

"Bugger..."

One quick change around later, Samuel finally started the trek to school in an orderly fashion, racing down the steps and through the town to catch up with the others who had already left.

---

"Excuse me!"

Sam ran at top speed down the street, knocking several bystanders out of the way. He careened off of a woman carrying several shopping bags, and crashed into a tall man who was wearing a strange headdress.

The man (now sitting flat on his backside) shook a fist at Sam's retreating form. "Who dares challenge the mighty Lu Bu?" he yelled, only to continue with "er, where did he go?"

Spotting the fleeing form, he recaptured his irate posture. "Aha! Run, coward, from the Mighty Lu Bu!" He may have continued his posturing, but he was distracted by a dropped penny on the road.

Walking over to pick it up, he managed to get hit by a truck.

---

Finally, Sam caught up with the rest of the group, gasping for breath and clutching his side to try and get rid of a stitch from so much running. Kaolla happily greeted him with a kick to the head.

"HIYAS! Want to hear about my new invention?" she laughed.

"Do I have a choice?"

"No!" she giggled. "It's dead good... I call it Mr Moonlight Mk 6!" she shouted, "and it'll get me a smootch from old Keitaro, you betcha!"

"Is the name a hint to what it does?"

"Yup, it can make red moonlight, and blue moonlight -- and it makes toast!"

Samuel suddenly received a brief image of several of Lance being savaged by several chibified versions of some of the Hinata-sou tenants. This didn't look too good...

"Su... " he said, hesitantly, "Do you think it's a good idea to build this machine? Maybe you should destroy it, after all it might go wrong and mess with people's physical form -- and the mental side affects could be immense!"

"Nope!" she laughed, and leapt off, pausing only to kick Sam square in the groin.

"AARRRGGG!" he whimpered, "MEDIC! WEVE GOT A SOLDIER DOWN!"

Later, he wondered why he hadn't seen it coming.

-------------

The small group was now walking down the street, on their way to school. Sam was trailing behind, talking to Su about a new invention she has nearly completed, while Lance and Shinobu took up the front, both feeling a little awkward.

"Uhm,... does she always have something to work on?" Lance finally asked, raising a curious eyebrow at Su's direction.

"I guess so," said Shinobu, smiling, "Even though some of her inventions are... a bit too much."

"You're telling me," Lance said, trying to hold back a burst of pain that somehow chose that moment to rise on his head. "I need some new bandages.."

They walked silently for the next few moments, listening in to Su's lecture of what the right kind of metals should be used for her kind of inventions. After Sam had surprisingly stopped Su from getting splattered with fresh bird droppings, their attention turned to other matters.

"Waymire-san, I'm just curious to know," said Shinobu, "Why did you come to live at that Hinata?"

Lance felt a shot of emotion run through his spine, instantly reaching to the point of an almost depressed sort of state. His expression looked pained, and shocked. Like he was reminded of something that he had longed try to forget. Shinobu saw this and her eyes bulged in surprise.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

"No," he said, suddenly serious and, somehow, cold, "I'm the one who's sorry. As a tenant, I feel you have the right to know. Surprising, as you're the only one who has heard this, and hopefully the only one."

Shinobu looked at him with concern, and felt a small ounce of guilt for ever bringing up the topic. What could he be talking about? Is it really such a painful memory?

"I was born and raised in a city in California, called San Diego," he began, "I was the only child, or so I was told. When I was younger, I had come across an old and dirty family album in the garage. Out of curiousity I looked inside and found a picture of an older boy, maybe 15 or so at the time of the picture. Under that picture was a name, 'Damian'. I was confused... After all this time, I thought I was all my parents had. Could I really have some sort of older brother? I asked my parents this, and they never answered. After that, I couldn't find that album."

They were now at the school. Sam and Su went off to one area, all the while still talking about her invention, while Lance and Shinobu sat on one of the lunch tables where he continued his tale.

"Then, just after my fifteenth birthday, my parents were at work when their factory caught fire... and they died." Shinobu gasped, her breath taken.

"Since I had no family at home, I had to move in with my uncle, who works at the American Embassy here in Japan. But he abused me, teaching me how to speak and read Japanese, cleaning his home, just anything. If I did one thing wrong, whether in my studies or in labor, I'd get beaten. But after awhile, I got real good and Japanese and fixing things. I thought that he wouldn't hurt me anymore. But he kept beating me, everyday..."

Shinobu was now on the verge of tears. "Oh my God.... "

"I finally decided I would run away and start a new life, begin a new stage where I could finally do the things I love to do, like cracking jokes, writing some stories or poems, and be around people who I would learn to love. Like a family."

Lance sighed, and looked up toward the sky, a smile growing on his face that replaced his sad expression. "But a wise and funny man once said, 'The best of humor can come from the worst of memories'."

"Who... was that man?" Shinobu asked.

Lance turned and smiled at her. "Me."

The bell rang, and Lance hefted his bookbag up and left for class. Shinobu stood and looked as Lance walked away, thoughts racing through her head.

"Lance-san... "

---------------------

Ryuko's Day

Ryuko signed herself up to wash the dishes after breakfast every day this week, since school hadn't started for her yet, and she would have a lot of free time. She expected this to be be her first quiet day at Hinata, with almost everyone else gone. Her PDA was sitting on the kitchen counter so Ryu-chan could keep her company while she worked.

Ryu-chan spontaneously announced, "the banana price index is up 10 points already this morning."

Ryuko rolled her eyes. She still hadn't purged most of what Kaolla taught her digital assistant. "The banana price index doesn't really concern me, Ryu-chan. Save it for Kaolla-chan."

"ok, ryuko! would you like to play a game?"

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"twenty questions. you try to figure out what i'm thinking of."

"Ok, Ryu-chan. Is it alive?"

"yes."

"Is it intelligent?"

"yes."

"Is it someone I know?"

"yes."

"Is this individual female?"

"no."

"Is he someone famous?"

"no."

"Does he live in Japan?"

"yes."

"Well, that narrows it down a little bit, but not by much. Can you give me a hint?"

"ok, but you'll lose five questions."

"I understand."

"he likes you very much."

Ryuko sweatdropped. "Nani?" She certainly hadn't gotten that impression from anyone she could think of. She set aside the dish she was working on, and leaned over the counter where her PDA was sitting.

"Does he live at Hinata Sou?"

"yes."

She wondered if Kaolla planted this information in Ryu-chan as a prank. "Did Kaolla-chan tell you that he liked me?"

"no."

Well, that ruled that out. "Is he cute?" Ryuko was curious about how Ryu-chan would react to such a subjective question.

"yes."

Interesting, that answer came pretty quickly. Not that it helped much, since her digital assistant might have a different definition of what "cute" was than she did. Maybe Kaolla gave him her impression of all the tenants' appearances, or something. Time for a binary search.

"Is his room on the top floor?"

Before Ryu-chan could answer that, his avatar suddenly froze, then was replaced by an error message: 'OUT OF SYSTEM RESOURCES'.

Ryuko panicked. She knew Ryu-chan's database was growing out of control, but she thought she had some time left before it would become a serious problem. She tried rebooting the PDA, but it halted again with the same error message as Ryu-chan's program was attempting to load. The PDA was already upgraded as high as it could be, so this meant Ryu-chan would have to be moved to another computer. But there was still the possibility that his database was corrupted, which would mean she'd have to erase it and start from scratch. It just wouldn't be the same.

"Oh, Ryu-chan...I'm so sorry." Tears began rolling down her cheeks as she considered that possibility.

Ryuko finished the dishes, then went upstairs to her room, where she waited anxiously for Kaolla to return from school. She would probably agree to temporarily run Ryu-chan on one of her own computers, until a permanent solution was found.

-----------------

Al's Day at school: part one

Al sitting on a bench watching the sky change colors, he had gone for a ride on his vespa and slept soundly on a park bench.

"I must have been a hobo in a past life." he mused as he sipped a soda he had bought from a machine some feet away.

"Tokyo U eh?"

Motoko walked out the door, bag in hand, having not seen Rush at breakfast she was wondering if maybe he was making an effort to avoid her now. She had felt so mad at him for just wandering off after she had spoken to him the night before.

She got to the bottom of the stairs and found Al was just walking out of the parking garage.

"Rush!" She called.

He turned and saw her and slowed his walk so she could catch up.

"Morning Motoko." He smiled cheerfully; he had a large smoothie in his hand and looked as if he was ready to face the world.

"Um... might I ask about last night, I didn't mean to sound so forward it's just..." Al stopped her with a raised hand.

"Chill, water under the bridge, I need to apologize for being so uncouth as to not speak with you for so long. I'm sorry, it's just something I do, I get so caught up in the moment that I forget other things."

"Oh...so you are not angry about me hitting you?"

"Oh no, not at all, I'm sure you had your reasons. I mean, come on -- you're a smart, pretty girl, I'm sure you've had plenty of dates and I just figured I'd done something wrong that I'd have to apologize for later, I just didn't know what it was."

"W..well I'm...I don't know why I did it, I was confused I assumed... with the way you were looking at me...." She trailed off blushing beet red.

"What? what was I looking at you like?"

"N...nothing, never mind."

"No really what?"

"Just drop it!" She yelled, becoming quickly annoyed.

"Ok, ok, chill out, not a problem."

She smirked, "Why do I have a feeling that's how you see most of life, "Not a problem?"

"Yeah, no sweating the small stuff, right?"

"Right."

they walked on in silence for a few minutes.

"Soooo, about that second date..."

"Err...yes?"

"Well I heard that the spring festival is in a couple of days, why not just hang out with me there? We don't even have to call it a date if you don't want."

Motoko looked relieved. She had panicked and worried that he would make a big deal of it, but the festival? That wouldn't be too bad, and it might even be fun.

"Alright, I think I can do that."

The rest of the walk wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as Alex and Motoko began to speak as they had at the sushi bar, as friends.

---

The picture had him riding a wooden horse. He was obviously naked, his hands chained to the walls of some kind of dungeon. A candle was melting on his forehead, and his butt was exposed, scarred and bruised. As the finishing touch, a leather clad man with a large gut held a whip ready to strike at the rider's unmentionables. This had most of the students either laughing, or cringing in disgust.

Al stared in utter disbelief. The picture had HIS face!

"I... Wha... who... I don't remember riding a wooden horse naked!" he stammered, his face growing red.

Al turned. His flush changed to a pale white as he looked to Motoko. What would she do to him? Her hair hid her eyes, but the rage was evident.

"N-now Motoko, I... I'm innocent-" SLAP!

Al stood, frozen. He had expected a punch, maybe some curses, but a slap? It didn't even hurt that much.

"Rush, we shall discuss this later. I think my idea to allow you to stay in the Hinata house was a mistake. I will... need some time." she turned and left down the hall, disappearing into the crowd.

"MOTOKO, WAIT! IT'S NOT ME, I SWEAR!" Alex panicked.

"Hmm." Maho, who had found her way to the front of the student mob, raised an eyebrow. Her two doves fluttered to rest on each shoulder. "First cosplaying for money, now this? You're really strange, Lupin-kun."

"But it isn't me!" he protested.

She smirked, crossing her arms. "I'll bet."

"Look, this guy has scars and bruises on his butt! Mine's fine!" The logical side of Al faltered, as he abruptly dropped his pants in front of everyone to prove his innocence. The female student body screamed and averted their eyes (save for the few who stared in stunned amazement), and the male student body didn't react much differently. But since she was facing him at the time, Maho had no such luxury, and instead gained the unfortunate pleasure of seeing everything in glorious detail.

Her jaw dropped. The birds fluttered away, sensing that things were going to get intense soon. And right they were: Maho's face flushed a deep shade of red, and her hands tightened into fists.

"Anata..." she snarled. Then, deeming Japanese insufficient for her cursing needs, she switched to English. She let loose a stream of profanities that made the English prodigies cringe, but even the less learned winced at the unrelentingly harsh tone of her voice. Al heard, and he understood every venomous syllable. But before he could raise his pants and properly apologize, Maho finally yelled, "You bloody PERVERT!" and delivered a vicious kick to his bottom.

Al went flying into the wall, and everyone cleared a path for the new girl as she stalked away.

----------------------

Motoko and Maho

Motoko stood outside of her classroom glumly.

She had raised her voice while lecturing some fellow students on the rudeness of talking during class, and the teacher had kicked her out. She wasn't allowed back in until she "cooled off a little." That was what she got for trying to be morally upstanding in such a loose and chaotic classroom. She crossed her arms and waited patiently.

In truth, such a trivial thing would normally never faze her. But ever since that morning, with all of the pictures of Al scattered through the school, Motoko had been deeply disturbed.

Why would he do such a thing? Motoko wondered. She had always heard the saying that it was the quiet ones who ended up surprising you, but Al wasn't very quiet. He was a loud, obnoxious, but ultimately harmless and well-meaning gaijin. But now the truth of the situation was clear: Al's outward personality was obviously just a ruse, a tool he used to draw in victims to play his twisted little game. And she had very nearly fallen for the trick.

The very thought made Motoko clench her teeth in rage. How dare he try to sweet-talk her into thinking he was just a likable foreigner? It was despicable, and she would not stand for such trickery.

Motoko's thoughts were interrupted when a big dove landed right on her head and sat there comfortably.

"Nani?" She looked up curiously, her anger temporarily forgotten. "What's this?"

From down the hall, a female voice was calling out, "Shuuji!" A short girl wearing a dark coat strolled into Motoko's vision. "Shuuji! Come back here!" She and Motoko locked eyes. "Hey, there you are."

Motoko didn't move a muscle as the girl approached. Finally, the bird that was on her head hopped off and landed on the girl's shoulder, complimenting the dove that was on her other shoulder. The girl raised a berating finger.

"Shuuji! Why can't you be more like Kyoko-chan and stay put?" The bird coolly began grooming its wing feathers. The other bird seemed to giggle at the antics. "Hmph! Fine, be that way." The girl took her attention elsewhere. She jumped in surprise, as if she only just noticed that Motoko was standing there. "Arae!" She focused. "Oh. You're one of the girls staying at Mama's house."

Motoko raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I stay at the Hinata house."

She nodded. "That's the one." She bowed politely. "Urashima Maho desu. I'm pretty sure we met before, but I just wanted to make sure. Hajimemashite."

"Aoyama Motoko desu, of the Shimeiryuu School. Douzo yoroshiku." Motoko returned the bow in kind. "I remember your magic trick from last night. It was an impressive illusion."

Maho blushed. "Oh, well. Arigato gozaimasu, Motoko-san."

"Are these the two birds you used?"

"Hai." She gestured at the two birds on her shoulders. "The pretty, feminine one is Kyoko." The dove on her left twittered in delight. "And this big cool guy is Shuuji-san." The dove on her right feigned nonchalance.

"Hajimemashite." Motoko bowed, which made Maho giggle. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just that I've never had anyone actually greet them before."

It was Motoko's turn to blush. "Well... It's only polite."

"Hai, sou ka."

"Anyway, shouldn't you be in class right now, Urashima-san?"

"I should be, yes." Maho scratched her head awkwardly. "But I kind of... don't know where my class is, you see."

Motoko raised an eyebrow. "Would you like me to help you find your class?"

"Oh, no no that's okay!" She raised her hands in protest. "It's more fun this way, really! Besides, it's English, so I'm not missing much."

"What number is your classroom, at least?"

"Well, let's see. According to this paper it should be..." Maho looked up at the number above Motoko's head. "Huh. Actually, it's right here."

"Oh. How fortunate." Motoko gestured to the door. "Please, go ahead inside. I'll follow you."

"Oh. I just remembered I forgot something back in the office! I should go back and get it right now, before I forget." Maho laughed nervously. "You go on ahead; I'll be there soon. It was nice talking to you!" She bowed quickly and ran off, the birds flying in tow.

Motoko stared in the direction that Maho had gone.

What an odd girl. Definitely not who she expected to be Haruka-san's sister. But the first time around, Keitaro didn't really look like he fit the bill for Haruka's nephew, and that eventually changed.

She sighed. Why was nothing ever certain?

As soon as Maho turned the corner, she finally started to breathe.

Kyoko stared at her owner curiously.

"Nani, Kyoko-chan?" Maho smiled dryly. "Am I that transparent?" She sighed, hitting her head lightly on the wall. "Oh dear... I'm in big trouble."

She looked back. Motoko was stepping inside with a deep bow. "Well, here goes everything." Maho slowly trudged back, shooing the birds away to a nearby tree. She took a deep breath, knocked on the door, and gently slid it open. "Sorry I'm late. I'm the new student."

-----

Cody's Day

It was another beautiful Hinata day, but Cody didn't really notice. He was too busy trying to figure out what he was going to say to Minako when he got to work. He was really glad that Keitaro had talked Moe in to letting him go today.

"I just wish he could have figured out a way to keep her at the Hinata Sou." Cody thought to himself as he walked with the young doll holding on to his hand. She looked up at him and smiled as they continued to walk toward Cody's place of employment.

The door chime rang as Cody and Moe walked into MegaPixel.

"Hello? Minako-san?" Cody asked to the quite shelves of the store. Minako's reply from the back of the store.

"Cody-san? Is that you?" Minako said as she poked her head from the back room, "You had me worried you missed so much work."

"I know I'm really sorry. I've had some things come up this weekend." Cody said with a really sheepish smile. Minako just then notice Moe standing behind Cody.

"Oh and who is this?" Minako asked the doll-girl.

"I'm Moe!" Moe said cheerfully, "Who are you?"

"My name is Minako and I work with Cody-san." Minako answered her. Moe's eye got really big and she said,

"You work with Cody-sama?"

Minako gave Cody look as to say 'What the heck?', " How do you know Cody-san, Moe-chan?"

"Cody-sama is my master!" Moe said happily.

Cody got an even weirder look from Minako. "Well… umm… Guess you could say I'm kind of her Guardian." He continued on explaining what had happen over the weekend.

Cody got to work quickly after talking to Minako. He thought back to what he said," Is there anyway I could make it up to you? I know there the Spring Festival coming up, How about I take you?" She stood there thinking about it, after a short while she had said yes.

He couldn't really believe she had said yes. The festival would be a great chance to make it up to her and get to know her better.

The story wasn't very busy at that moment, and one of the displays was empty. Now was the chance for him to refill it. He left the counter and went in the back.

It was a few minutes after Cody left when a customer came into the store. Moe had been watching Cody-sama work the counter for most of that day, so she was pretty sure that she could do it. The customers, the living stereotype of an Otaku, proceed to the counter to make his purchase. "Um… I'd like to buy this magazine." The Otaku said to Moe as he handed her the magazine, "1001 Maids and Dolls". Let's just say it wasn't the best thing to hand to Moe.

"Hentai!!" The young doll screamed at the Otaku. This sent him reeling backward in embarrassed fright knocking over a large Ramma display. Books and plushies scattered everywhere. The Otaku quickly got up and ran out of the store. Cody chose just then to come back from the back. All he saw was the mess and Moe standing there.

"Moe What happened?!" Cody asked Moe. Moe explained in her energetic and rambling manner what had happen.

-----

Sam's first day in school

The remainder of Sam's trip to school went fairly well. He had tried to drop hints about the danger of Kaolla's machine, but the others had clearly been too dense to pick up on them. He couldn't say anything direct -- Mutsumi had warned him endlessly about the dangers of revealing his ability -- and besides, he only had a vague feeling. He didn't have anything concrete he could use as proof, and direct interference had only gotten him into trouble in the past.

Sam's first class that day was scheduled immediately, and true to form he came in, sat proudly at his desk... and promptly fell asleep. He was woken with a start.

"Mr Mcshannock!" shouted the teach, "Would you care to tell me what the answer is?"

Sam woke up in a panic, and desperately tried to think of what the answer might be. Suddenly, a brief vision came to his mind and provided the answer.

He looked around the class, and confidently stated, "The answer is -- Communism!" The class broke out into laughter.

"No..." replied the teacher, "The gradient of the line of best fit is the gradient of the hypotenuse of the derived triangle, and that is 4, not Communism. See me after the class."

"I was close?" volunteered Sam, and the class sweatdropped.

Later that afternoon, Sam was again sleeping, and was woken up.

"Samuel, WAKE UP!" shouted his teacher, "and tell me what is the answer to the question!"

Desperately searching for inspiration, Sam's mind pulled up another helpful vision.

"The answer is four!" he stated.

"Incorrect..." replied the teacher, "It is 'communism'. See me after the class..."

"Sod's law ..." muttered Sam to himself. It was always the same, he could never rely on his precognition when he needed it. Someone up in heaven was playing a subtle joke on him, it must be.

--------

Al's Day: Part two

Al sighed and bent down, his legs unbent, palms resting flat on the ground. His arms were sore from taking down all the pictures; it had cost him his first three classes, leaving him just enough time for gym.

He stood and began walking around the track. He never was much for running. It annoyed the teacher, but whenever the teacher yelled at him Al simply pretended to not understand what he was saying.

As Al strolled peacefully, he spotted Maho and Motoko coming around the track.

"Okay, I have two choices," he muttered, as they got closer to him. "One, apologize, beg for mercy and never ever speak of it again. Two, run faster then them (not possible) and hope they doesn't catch up. Or three, pretend not to see them and not care."

As he tried to figure out how best to say he was sorry, his mind wandered to the subject that he did indeed love how the girls in Japan had those cute little gym outfits, with the bloomers and the tight shirts... "NO, baka!" he bopped himself in the head for letting his mind go off on it's own again.

Before he realized it, the girls had ran past him, as did the rest of the class. The teacher was yelling at him again. Al sighed and began walking slightly faster.

"Dodge ball." was all that the teacher said, as the class lined up on opposite sides of the gym.

Al looked down the line. Maho was standing silently, looking none too pleased at the male standing next to her, whom was attempting (and failing) to flirt with the new girl. Al slid down the line behind his classmates, and slipped in place next to Maho, cutting him off.

"Uh hi, could I talk to you for a sec?" he asked, putting on his best "I'm sorry." face.

She gave him a brief sidelong glance, but didn't answer.

"Well, that doesn't mean no," Alex thought. He continued.

"Listen, about this morning, it goes without saying, but I am so sorry that you saw what you did. I wasn't thinking." He smiled, at an attempt to look casual. "Happens often, believe it or not."

"I think I preferred when the other guy was talking to me." She still didn't look at him.

The coach blew his whistle before Al could respond, and the teams ran out to grab the balls placed in the middle of the court.

Al stood about halfway across his team's side of the court. Each ball that came near him he moved away from, without making much of an effort. Most grew tired of trying to hit the large boy and moved on.

"I guess I should also apologize to Motoko too, even though I didn't do anything." He thought as he took a step to the left. A flying red ball hit the girl that had been behind him.

He looked over at the kendo girl, she was barely moving and yet dodging so smoothly it seemed like the balls moved away from her.

"I wonder if she meant she was going to kick me out of the Hinata house." He spoke to himself and sat down on the floor, two balls sailing over his head.

He looked over at Maho, who seemed to have no trouble hitting the other team when she got her hands on a ball, and moving gracefully out of the way of any flying projectiles. "Must be all the hands eye training she needs for that magic," he thought. Even if she hated him for the moment, Al had to admit that she looked impressive.

He rolled to the right, and five balls pelted where he had been a moment before. "Who keeps doing that?" He looked. A large group of boys were glaring at him and picking up more ammo. Al stood up to retaliate, but then heard someone yell his name. He turned and got pounded mercilessly by the balls.

"Owowowow!" he spotted the person by the door.

"The office wants to see you."

Al sat, leaning his back against the hard stone of the wall.

"Stupid puppet." he muttered as he thought back to how the vice principal had called him out of class just to tell him about his bad grades.

"They can't just give me a break can they? I just moved here, why not give me a little boost?" he growled and dug in his bag for his lunch, a meatball sub.

He bit into it and watched the clouds sail by, he was sitting on the roof, even though students weren't supposed to be up there he could see cigarette burns where the kids had extinguished their deathsticks.

The door opened and Al turned, regretting it almost immediately. Standing there looking like a mini angry mob was the boys from gym class.

"Can I help you?" Alex asked sensing trouble.

"Yeah, you can get your stinking foreign ass out of our school." The leader said. He was a good-looking boy, with some expensive sneakers and a silk uniform.

"Sorry, but I'm not about to make the commute to another high school, I'm far too lazy for that."

The boy grabbed Alex's collar and hauled him to his feet, though if Alex hadn't stood, it wouldn't have worked all that well.

"Listen, you punk, we're not going to stand for some honourless gaijin dragging the good reputation of our school through the dirt. Having a pervert like you here reflects badly on the name of our school!" he yelled in Al's face. "Not only that, but thanks to you, half the girls in the school think that all of us honest guys are perverts -- so we're gonna have to teach you a lesson."

The boys behind him chuckled and began popping knuckles in anticipation of a good fight.

"Come on guys, I've had a rough day." Al pledged as he attempted to move around the boys, but they formed a semi-circle around him, backing him up against the wall.

The leader socked Al in his right cheek; Al winced, but did not fight back.

"What's the matter, baby gonna cry?" the boys began mocking Al as the leader began laying into him with his fists.

"Listen (pow) guys (jab) I'm really a nice (uppercut) guy and I don't like (knee to the goods) fighting." Al squeaked out the last part and felt his legs turn to rubber as the ground swiftly rose up to meet him.

If Al had hoped that this would end the punishment he was wrong, the boys all began kicking him, and then two of the larger ones would lift him up and let the rest of the boys hit him, and all the while the blond boy did not fight back.

---

Motoko sat down to lunch with her little group, she wouldn't really call them her "Friends" they seemed to like her and they were part of the kendo club so it seemed only polite that she let them fallow her around.

"Can you believe that scum Rush? As if it wasn't bad enough that he does such perverted things, but he's gotta show it off here? Where we can all see it?" one of the girls ranted.

"Yeah, I feel bad for you Motoko, you live with that pervert, don't you?"

Motoko was already mad about what had happened this morning, but this wasn't helping, "He may live in the same dorm as I, but I will make short work of him if he even thinks of returning to the dorm after this."

The other girls nodded in approval of this and returned to their meals.

Motoko became worried as Al didn't return to class after lunch, but she forced the feeling away. She had to be angry with him -- those were horrible perverted pictures, she couldn't let a dog who would perform such depraved acts stay at the dorm.

But all through the class, her eyes kept wandering back to the empty seat where he should have been.

----------

Shinobu

Shinobu was sitting in her classroom, daydreaming the endless minutes away.

Math was so terribly boring, and complicated to boot. She wished it wasn't required to graduate, but alas, here she was, and here she would be for a long time.

Suddenly, the door to the classroom burst open, and Keitaro ran inside.

The stuffy old teacher looked down his nose at the boy. "Excuse me, young man, but you are interrupting my class!" He ignored him entirely.

"Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro smiled when he saw her sitting there, looking utterly bewildered. "Oh, Shinobu-chan! Thank god!"

"Sempai!" Shinobu blushed despite herself. "What are you doing here? We're in the middle of math!"

"That doesn't matter now, Shinobu-chan. I couldn't wait any longer to tell you this." Keitaro took a deep breath, and announced, "Shinobu-chan... no, Shinobu! Aishiteru!" The class gasped in unison.

Shinobu felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Sempai... Keitaro... do you really mean it? Do you really love me?"

"I would never lie to you, Shinobu. I love you so much, I almost can't believe it's possible to feel this strongly for someone. But here it is; I can't deny it any longer! My love for you fills me and makes me alive again!"

"Oh, Keitaro!" She embraced him tightly as the class broke into applause. "I'll never let you go!"

"Maehara-kun, I'm glad you're so happy to be learning." The math teacher raised his glasses suspiciously. "Do hyperbolas usually make you smile so much?"

Shinobu blushed and looked down at her blank notepaper. She hadn't been paying attention at all. What the heck was a hyperbola? "Ano..."

"Since you're the only one who seems to be awake, why don't you do the problem on page 205?"

"Auuu." Shinobu slumped into her chair and resigned herself to a sad day.

----------

Maho

Maho entered the Hinata Teahouse. "Tadaima!"

Haruka paused in the middle of serving her one customer. "This isn't the house, Maho-chan. I'm busy."

"I know, but I thought I should say hello to my onee-san first—itaaaae!" She cried out as Haruka pinched her sister's ear. "Haru-nee!"

"I told you, chibi-ko, I'm busy. This kind man has been waiting to get his tea, and now he has to wait longer because I'm busy punishing you." She pinched harder, emitting a low whine from Maho.

"Well, actually..." the man stood up nervously. "I think I'll just get going now..."

"Sit down." Haruka's voice was a blizzard. The customer obediently sat back down and stared at his napkin. Haruka let go of Maho's ear, and set down the tray of hot green tea that she held in her other hand. "Here you go, sir."

"Arigato gozaimasu." The man said, wiping sweat from his brow. "Don't kill me."

"Do itashimashite. (You're welcome)" Haruka bowed. "Just let me know if you need anything else."

----------

Al's Afternoon

Al made use of his fight (or lack there of) and skipped the rest of the day, he had been having a bad day and normally when something bad happened to Al, he either ran, or ignored it, in this case he did both and spent the day at the arcade.

Shiri was just taking his break when he spotted Al coming down the street, cat ears, a long tail, cat paws for boots and arms, and a collar with a bell, the odd thing was his face was all banged up and bandaged.

"Geeze, what happened to you?" Shiri asked the boy who stood between him and Hinata honey heaven.

"I had a disagreement with some boy's fists, what's your excuse?" Alex grumbled as he entered the cafe through the alley.

Shiri followed him, "You fight? Geeze if you look this bad I'd hate to see the other guy, you musta killed him."

Al stuffed his things into his locker and shut it, "Nope."

"No? A big guy like you couldn't beat a few kids?"

Al looked down at Shiri, indeed it seemed odd that Al, six foot two and over 200 pounds, couldn't have beaten the tar out of any other kids his age.

"Call me crazy but I really don't think anyone should fight unless it's in defense."

"Defense? Then why not defend yourself?"

"I can take a few shots, no big deal, I'd prefer to defend those who need it, my own body will heal."

Shiri watched the boy begin working, table-to-table, not caring about the fact that his face was killing him.

"Guess he ain't such a bad guy." Shiri muttered, but Shiri's mind was quickly occupied by a lovely girl sitting at table seven whom Alex was currently taking orders from.

"Who is that ravishing Otaku girl?" Shiri asked.

She was a raven-haired beauty, with a cowboy bebop shirt and a group of followers clinging to her every word, most of which were about anime.

Al walked by and noticed Shiri's dumbstruck looks.

"Um...you like her?"

"Y..yeah." Shiri's nose had disappeared he was blushing so much.

"I can get her to talk to you ya know."

His eye's lit up "R..Really!?! What's the catch?"

"well, you do have those photos of me." Al grinned; maybe this wasn't such a bad day after all.

Al and Shiri approached the table, Shiri dressed as Miroku the monk from Inuyasha.

"Pardon me ladies." Neko Al smiled as he set the drinks down at the table, "But I overheard your fans of Inuyasha and I brought our very own expert on that show to speak with you." Al nudged Shiri.

"H..hello." his face was the color of a fresh tomato.

"Are you sure? He doesn't seem so smart." The popular girl looked him up and down suspiciously.

"Oh yeah, any anime girl would kill to date this little hunk of otaku." Al gushed as he attempted to sell the speechless nerd.

"w...well I'm one of the biggest female otaku so he can sit with me." The girl pushed her friends aside and Shiri sat down, his mind shutting down.

"So what's your favorite show?" The girl leaned towards him, and Shiri's brain kicked into drive -- Anime, a subject he knew!

Al left the boy to his new fans. These were the kind of girls who loved whatever was popular, and thanks to Al, Shiri and anime were the most popular subjects of the evening. Too bad she'd dump the glasses wearing boy once something else became trendy.

Al got back to work, wishing he had Dizzy to help him keep track of the orders, but Dizzy was busy.

---

Dizzy smiled as he looked at the scrap of paper that he had gotten the night before, "Good things come to those who paint", and how true that statement had become.

He had spent the day on some street corner, painting, and had sold most of his work for hefty sums. For some reason pet art was very "In" currently.

Dizzy was dragging a suitcase full of money home when he saw it -- the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes upon. It was shiny, dark blue, and worth more then the rest of the musical equipment in the store, and Dizzy had just enough to by them.

Moments later a box containing a very expensive drum set appeared to leave the store all on it's own, the creature that carried it hidden by it's size.

Leaning against a wall sipping a soda, a lone figure ticked off another name on his list "Both the creature and his owners came true."

The figure smiled and made his way back to the Hinata house to record his score for Mutsumi when she came home.

-----

Maho and Haruka

"So how was school?"

"It was fine," Maho replied, cracking open her can of cold milk tea and taking a big gulp. "Somebody put naked pictures of Lupin-kun all over the whole school. He's a really kinky guy."

"You don't say." Haruka nodded, taking an extra long drag from her cigarette. "I always thought Al-san didn't seem like the typical American. How did Motoko react?"

"Motoko? Ano... I don't know. I didn't see her there. Why?"

She shrugged. "Him and her... I notice. So did something else happen?"

"Hm? Why do you ask?"

"One thing that hasn't changed about you, Maho-chan: you're still quick to blush." Haruka smirked.

"Hontou?" Maho turned even redder. "Oh, it's just..." She paused for a second. "He, I mean Al-san, exposed himself to me."

The tip of Haruka's cigarette burned a bright, ominous red. "Did he now?"

"He wasn't acting ecchi. He just pulled down his pants to prove that the picture was a fake." She coughed. "Something about scars on his butt."

"Sou ka." She raised an eyebrow. "He IS a strange boy."

Maho nodded, leaning back on her barstool. "I guess I could understand, though. You'll do a lot of weird things when you're desperate."

"I get the feeling he likes Motoko a lot."

"Nani?" Maho sputtered. "W-What makes you say that?"

"Just the way they've been acting around each other. Motoko tries to play the aloof one, but I think she feels the same way."

She sighed. "Do you really think so, Onee-san?"

"Well, there's still hope for you to get him, you know."

"Huh?" Maho turned a bright shade of red again. "No! It's not what you think!"

"Oh, come on." Haruka deadpanned. "People only get that kind of face when they've killed somebody, or when they've fallen for someone and can't admit it."

"That isn't it!" she protested. "I would never like a guy like Al-san!"

"Now you're trying to be cute about it. How long until you start slipping him love letters?"

"'Nee-san!"

Haruka smiled. Maho was so cute when she acted indignant.

She almost made it worth all the trouble that Haruka knew was coming.

------

Ryuko

Ryuko caught Kaolla at the top of the stairs. "Kaolla-chan? I need your help..."

Kaolla set her books down. "What's wrong, Ryuko-chan?"

Ryuko held up her PDA in front of her. "Ryu-chan ran out of resources, now the PDA won't even boot up. I have to temporarily move him to another system with more memory, until I can figure out a more permanent solution."

Kaolla took the PDA and examined it, then smiled, somewhat mischeviously. "I have an idea! Leave him with me for a few hours. I'll transfer him to another portable system."

Ryuko sweatdropped. "I could do some of the work myself...you don't have to do it alone."

Kaolla shook her head. "Trust me, I'll take care of him!" She then collected her books, dissappeared into her room, and shut the door behind her.

Ryuko wasn't entirely thrilled with the prospect of leaving Ryu-chan with Kaolla again, but she didn't have many options at the moment. How bad could it be?

-------

Sam's Evening

Sam was busy at his part-time job, delivering takeout all over Hinata and the neighbouring regions. Somehow, he always seemed to meet up with the weirdest characters.

"Can't I serve some normal people for once?" has asked, looking at his list. "Now... who's this Keichi Morisato, he's next on my list ..."

Over at the Morisato house, Samuel arrived only to witness a platinum blode woman floating mid-air firing lightning bolts at a smaller girl, who was weilding a hammer and throwing back small bombs.

"BACK OFF SKULD THE TV REMOTE'S MINE!" shouted the older.

"I WANT TO WATCH SAILOR MOON, SO NO WAY URD!" retorted the younger one.

Another attractive woman at the door smiled at Sam and said, "I'm afraid I can't let you remember any of this..."

"You know, for a gracious tip iI'll willingly forget?" Sam suggested.

"Sorry, but... just a minute..." The woman peered closely at Sam, "... you can't be... errr.... yes, please accept this!" She passed Sam a surprisingly large tip that caused him to instantly forget everything as he counted it.

Sam left for the next address.

"Hey, I've got dim sum here for a Mr Kuno?"

"Ahhh, thank you, this should help drive me in my fight against Ranma and to claim the heart of my dearest Akane..."

"Ah... OK... just pay me so I can go?"

Kune stood holding a rose, and stared up at the night sky. "Oh my dearest Akane, my love for you is undying I will win you over and defeat that vile Ranma Satome the pinnacle of all evils..."

He saw Sam standing there with a confused expression.

"...oh sorry, here is your money and tip."

Sam took to his heels again. This place was completely too weird...

---

A good mile from Kuno's house, after running at random, Sam found himself conveniently outside the house of his last customer.

"Hey I've got a full combo here for a Mr Bu?"

"Aha, yes, my food but what is this THERE ARE NO PRAWN CRACKERS! WHO DARES STEAL LU BU'S PRAWN CRACKERS?"

Sam squeaked in shock.

"Wait, I know you, you're the one who knocked me over! COME HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" He pulled out a weapon, and started to chase Sam down the road.

---

Pausing only to collect his night's pay at Mr Wang's shop, Sam ran around the town until he escaped his pursuer. Arriving at Hinata-sou, he checked his pocket and counted the large amount of cash he had managed to accumulate.

"I think I've lost him..." he said to himself. "Time for operation 'Take the house out to dinner' so that they aren't affected by whatever tonight's accident is..."

Sam entered, waving his money over his head. "Hey guys, dinners on me, all you can eat!" he shouted.

Keitaro reached out and grabbed the notes from Sam's hand. "Congratulations," he said, drily, "you've payed your rent for the month."

Samuel looked in his pocket, and saw that he had a grand total of 4 yen. He cursed quietly under his breath. Time to try another tack.

"Hey Keitaro, I think Su needs some privacy at her age -- perhaps you should tell all the residents to stay away from her room?"

"Samuel, Su doesn't change, and she doesn't need any more privacy. She will always remain Su."

As if summoned by hearing her name, Kaolla jumped into the room and kicked Samuel in the head.

"See?" murmured Keitaro, secretly rather glad that for once he wasn't the chosen punching bag.

Sam thought to himself. "OK, plan B. I get into a situation where my life is in danger, so everyone else comes rushing to my rescue and away from the machine. I'm in no danger, with my special abilities. But what shall that situation be... IVE GOT IT!"

6 minutes later, Sam was standing on top of Hinata house, shouting at the top of his voice.

"LU BU IS A WEAKLING HE GETS BEATEN UP BY WORMS AND HIS GRANDMA!"

A roar of anger in the distance showed him his plan was working.

"LU BU LIKES WEARING SKIRTS!"

Shortly later, the angry Lu Bu had chased Sam into the Inn.

"There you are! " he shouted, "Prepare to die!"

"Help guys, help me!" shouted Sam, but the other residents merely looked once, shook their heads, and went back to whatever they had previously been doing.

"Serves you right..." said Kitsune, who picked up a box of popcorn and sat down to watch. Sadly for her, however, Sam was immediately knocked out as he was completely distracted.

"I HAVE DEAFEATED MY NEMISISES IN BATTLE I AM VICTORIOUS!" shouted Lu Bu, before Keitaro led him gently outside.

Meanwhile, Sam was out cold, and was carried up to his room to sleep it off.

--------

Dinnertime

Dizzy climbed up onto the dinner table and began helping himself to large portions, and large for dizzy meant HUGE for a normal person.

"Hey dizzy, where's Al. he was supposed to do the dishes tonight." Keitaro looked to the furry creature slightly annoyed, seemed they were missing at least one-person everyday.

Dizzy shrugged and took his plate off the table and left.

Outside in the foyer dizzy slid the plate under the sofa and crawled after it.

"Thanks bud." Al whispered as he took half of the food and began feasting.

Upon coming home Al had spotted Motoko coming and rather then take his lumps and hope she wouldn't kick him out, he had dove under the sofa, which was not made for anyone bigger then dizzy to hide under so it was rather tight.

To make matters worse Motoko had told the rest of the house so now Al was sure he would die if anyone spotted him.

Dizzy took the plates back and assisted Motoko with washing the dished.

"What's the matter with that baka owner of yours?" She asked as she rinsed a plate and handed it to dizzy who was drying.

First he tells me he's sorry about not talking to me and that it wasn't my fault, and then he turns out to be a total hentai!" She growled and scrubbed a pot so hard it put a hole in it.

"Grr." Dizzy responded as he dried the now useless pot.

"Don't give me that nonsense, I know what I saw and what I saw was his naked butt on a wooden horse."

"Are you sure it wasn't a composite?" Su asked as entered the kitchen and made a B-line for the fridge.

"A what?" Motoko asked scrubbing away.

"A composite, where someone takes two pictures and puts them together using a computer, it's real easy."

"So...it might be fake?"

"Sure."

"I don't know, I heard some other students say he took off his pants in front of everyone when I left."

"Well maybe he really is a pervert." Su giggled and left with her soda in hand.

"But who would do such a thing?" Motoko wondered.

---

Currently at the other side of the city, three girls sat in a bedroom, giggling evilly and painting each other's toenails.

"And as if we didn't do enough damage, that monkey went and pulled down his pants in front of everyone!" the girls laughed so hard they were crying.

"Well I just think it's a good thing we're doing here, having perverted males to deal with at home was bad enough for Motoko, he skills were already slipping, and then she gets a boy who lives with her and shares her classes? We'd soon lose our best swordswomen if we don't stop these perverted males from moving in."

"well if he doesn't die tonight we'll just have to move on to plan B, and that'll get him good." the leader smirked and blew on her freshly painted toenails.

---

Back at the Hinata house Alex was in pain.

Naru had flopped onto the sofa with a book and didn't seem to plan on leaving anytime soon, and Alex's body was sending him messages that if he didn't leave soon, his bladder would explode.

He poked his head out from under the sofa and looked around. No-one in sight, time to run.

He pulled himself out from under the sofa, and before a startled Naru could make a remark he bolted up the stairs.

Alex left the bathroom feeling much better then before, and all in all he thought the day hadn't gone so badly... but then he saw her, standing at the end of the hallway: Motoko.

Al stood next to Motoko on the half of the deck still left. Alex still hadn't told anyone who had done it, with any luck no one would ask.

He had just finished explaining to Motoko that it wasn't him, and she seemed to believe him.

"Rush I... I acted in haste, I'm sorry."

"No worries, I wasn't quite myself for a moment, it was pretty realistic."

"No Rush, there's no excuse for what I did, I should know better then to strike without getting the whole story."

"Relax, that slap wasn't a big deal, now the only person who needs to be apologized to is Maho."

"What? why? what did you do?"

"Err...uh...nothing..."

"Rush!!!"

--------

Tea-House

Maho sat with her feet up on a table, as Kentaro wiped the bar in his peculiar, ever-miserable way. Haruka didn't trust him alone with the teashop, so she told Maho to stand guard while she went up to the house to get some essentials. Looking at the way Kentaro toiled, she thought it was a little sad that Onee-san wouldn't trust him. But she had to have her reasons, she supposed.

"How long have you known Onee-san?" Maho asked.

Kentaro sighed, not faltering once in his work. "Might as well have been a million years. I'm virtually a slave to that woman."

She frowned. "That's not very nice."

"Yeah, well it's also not very nice to put your feet up on the table after I just wiped it." His glare was subtle, but apparent.

"Oh." She put her feet down. "Sumimasen."

"Don't worry about it. She'll probably make me wipe them all again, anyway."

Maho raised an eyebrow. This was sounding familiar. "You didn't do anything to piss her off, did you?"

He paused for a second. Then he continued working. "I... lost a lot of money. For myself and this place." Kentaro chuckled. "Sword and Flower. What was I thinking?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just remembering the past." He stretched, throwing the wet rag he was holding into a bucket. It sloshed triumphantly in the soapy water. "I've been at this all night. I need a break." Maho pulled out a long blue cloth from her coat sleeve and began to wipe the table she sat on. "Hey, you don't have to do that!" Kentaro protested. "Daijoubu. I was just kidding."

"I'd prefer to do it, though. Makes your life a little easier, doesn't it?" Maho smiled. "But now I have to go check on my sister. She's been gone a little too long; I hope she didn't forget." She bowed, heading for the exit. "Take your break Ken-kun, but do me a favor and watch the place until we come back, okay?"

"Youkai (Roger)." Kentaro gave an informal salute, and lit himself a cigarette.

-------

Kitsune

Kitsune raised her head from her pillow, and promptly wished she hadn't. It felt like a hundred elephants were stamping their way through her skull, and the world looked far too wobbly.

She stood, and just managed to make it over to her wash stand before she threw up, messily.

"Kami..." she moaned to herself. She couldn't rememebr ever having had such a bad hangover as this!

Looking around, she took in the litter of empty bottles. Having been given the huge amount of alcohol from Sam, she had been unable to resist going on the binge to end all binges. Vaguely she remembered drinking herself into oblivion after re-reading some old letters from ex-boyfriends last night... but then, nothing.

She sighed. Better get up for breakfast, she supposed.

Then she looked at the clock.

"Seven o'clock IN THE EVENING?" she screeched, before suddenly grabbing her aching head and crawling back to bed.

"I wish this day never happened..." she moaned to herself. "Although, I slept through it, so it's like it never happened anyway...."

-------

Lance

After quite an interesting school day with Sam causing unwanted chaos during gym and his first official day at work with Yamasugawa-sensei and his assistants, Lance clambered his way back home, his thoughts recalling back to his morning with Shinobu. His eyes filled with worry.

I didn't feel I had to tell her that... he thought. And she looked so worried about me. Maybe I should apologize to her... I never meant to spill my guts like that.

He was walking up the steps to Hinata Sou, and with one look up he saw the sun just starting to set, making the elegant building ten times as beautiful.

I just hope she hasn't told anyone else yet...

After dinner Lance went to his room, after passing a Keitaro-shaped hole in the wall in the hallway.

Lance blinked at the hole. "Damn, can she ever quit?"

Just then, he remembered the shattered deck from the other night. Thoughts ran through his head like an uber-Naru punch. He was in for it now. Even though it wasn't his fault it got destroyed, he'd most likely take the blame. But, most of the general ideas in his head came up as two words.

"AW, CRAP!"

Deciding to avoid his fate of getting the beating of his life, Lance ran into his room and locked himself in for the rest of the night.

------

Cody

Cody finished his day at work without any more incidents. Moe had been good the rest of the day, and Cody was glad. He was looking forward to having dinner tonight for two reasons, one he had missed them the last few days and two Shinobu was cooking and from the meals he had had, they were really good.

Moe and Cody sat down to the smells of the meal filling the dinning room. Almost everyone was there; expect the cosplaying youth Al. Dizzy his ferret was there, loading his plate full of food.

"Boy he can really pack it in," Cody thought to himself," Wait… He's a ferret. Ah what I'm I saying I've seen weirder things in the last week."

Dinner was as great as he remembered it and he was stuffed. He excused himself from the table, with Moe quickly following. He headed to his room, with Moe right behind him.

"Moe, would you like to go on a walk with me?" He asked her, while picking up his camera bag, which he had rarely used in his stay at the Hinata Sou.

"I would Love to Cody-sama!!" Moe said giddily. The two headed outside. Cody looked at his watch, 8:45 p.m., "Can't be gone to long, but this walk well he me work off the food."

The two walked around the streets around the Hinata Sou, with Moe pointing out interesting things and Cody taking pictures. Suddenly, red and blue light filled the windows in the south-east corner of Hinata Sou.

"Whoa!, come on Moe lets go see what happened." They quickly ran back to the inn.

-------

"Haru-nee?" Haruka was standing in the entrance courtyard, puffing away. Maho tapped her sister on the shoulder. "Onee-san, what're you doing?"

She simply gestured in the direction of Su's room. There were many lights and swirls of mist coming from that area, as if there were some kind of light show going on inside. When Haruka finally spoke, it was with a very weary voice.

"When you've been here as long as I have, Maho-chan, you develop a sense for impending disaster." The light grew brighter. "And it looks like it's coming."

Suddenly, red and blue lights shone brightly frm the windows, lighting the night sky. The two women stood, bathed in a beam of blue light shining down from the upper floor window.

-------

Earlier that eveing....

Shinobu and Sarah were in Kaolla's room, where she was proudly showing them her new invention. To their untrained eyes, it looked somewhat like a mad scientist's nightmare, attached to a shower attachment. Surprisingly, their initial assesment of the device proved to be correct on all accounts with the exception of the shower attachment.

"And this is where I'll stand!" announced Kaolla cheerfully, pointing at the circle under the shower attachment.

"Ano... Kaolla-chan... won't you get wet?" asked a confused Shinobu.

"No! This will shower me with Red Moonlight!" replied Kaolla. "When I activate it on the full moon tomorrow, it will convert moonlight to Red, so I can grow older and be able to get a kiss from Keitaro!"

Shinobu sweatdropped.

"Hey, maybe I can get older and then Lannie Kun will want to give me everything a real woman wants from her man!" Sarah announced brightly. "OK, where do I stand?" and with that, she leapt at the machine and started to pull levers and press buttons in the hope of making it work.

It was at this point that the door slid open, and Naru and Ryuko walked in.

"There she is!" announced Ryuko, pointing as Sarah.

"Time to go, young lady," announced Naru. "Haruka-san is probably waiting for you down at the tea-house. You've been hiding in here for too long!"

She reached out to catch Sarah, and in doing so, a rather large lever was pulled.

"Not that one!" shouted Kaolla in alarm. "The moon phase is wrong!" She leapt to the machine to try and correct the problems, but a glowing, pulsating light was building inside the machine. Outside, a cloud passed over the face of the almost-full moon, and a beam of moonlight shone in through the window and straight into a funnel at the top of the manchine.

With all this shouting and chaos, Al unwisely chose this very moment to stick his head in through the door and see what the trouble was all about.

"What's that?" he asked as he saw the machine.

Then, it exploded in a myriad of beams of light, red and blue, all around the room.

---

Ryuko was bathed in a beam of blue light. As she turned to face the source of it, she felt light-headed, and the table (or other object?) next to her seemed to be getting taller at an alarming rate. Feeling the friction between her bare feet and the floor, she looked down and witnessed the pantlegs of her pajamas pooling around her ankles, until they completely slipped from her diminishing waist. Fortunately, the pajama tops were long enough that her modesty wasn't compromised when this happened. She panicked. "I'm shrinking!?" A long-forgotten, higher-pitched voice from her youth had returned to her.

When the blue light dissipated, Ryuko looked and felt much as she did when she was ten years old, and almost 35 cm shorter, about average height for that age. The dizziness quickly subsided. She rolled back her sleeves and stepped out of the pile at her feet, and was delighted to find how small her extremities had become--at this age, they didn't look too big on her yet. She also noticed that she was no longer tired, but instead felt like...playing?

Meanwhile, Ryuko was by no means the only one so affected. Naru had apparently shrunk down in a similar way, having also been the recipient of a blue moonlight beam. Kaolla, bathed in red, seemed to have changed to her adult form as she had expected.

The small blonde baby wailing on the floor was all that was left of Sarah, and the five year-old boy looking in the door (wrapped in a pile of clothes about fifty sizes too large for him) could only be Al.

Shinobu found herself enveloped by an intense beam of red light emanating from Kaolla's machine. She promptly felt the sensation of rising in her gut, like riding in an elevator. Looking down, she confirmed that her legs did indeed seem to be getting longer...but that was the least of her worries. Her blouse was becoming painfully tighter and tighter all around, and her breathing became momentarily constricted...until the garment could contain no more, and it reluctantly surrendered with the sounds of popping buttons and ripping fabric.

When all was said and done, Shinobu's dramatic growth spurt had made her about the same height as Kitsune, which was much taller than she ever expected to reach, considering that short stature ran in her family. Her new chest also seemed to rival Kitsune's. The hemline of what was left of her dress was now well above her panda-print panties, which were painfully tight but still (fortunately) more or less intact.

As realization set in, poor Shinobu was suddenly more embarrassed than she could ever remember being. Doing her best to conceal her newfound "assets" with her arms, she darted out of the room, passing between Motoko and Kitsune who were standing wide-eyed at the doorway. She ran awkwardly, as her center of gravity was now higher (and, yes, farther forward) than it used to be, and on top of that she wasn't accustomed to the new geometry of her legs and feet. As her heels were now protruding out the backs of her tight slippers, and threatened to trip her, she kicked off her footwear before racing down the stairs.

Of course, Keitaro had to choose this very moment to return home. As he reached the first floor landing and was about to turn towards his room, he found himself beholding a beautiful young woman coming down the stairs, wearing only torn clothing, and bearing a strange resemblance to Shinobu. He froze in his tracks, not unlike a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Though he was untouched by Kaolla's project, he too was finding a portion of his clothing becoming somewhat tighter...

Shinobu paused at the landing upon seeing Keitaro (and his nosebleed), her face turning a new shade of red. Suddenly she burst into tears, sprinted into her room, and slid the door shut as fast as she could.

Naru (in pajamas that were now quite baggy on her) came down the stairs just as Keitaro was snapping out of his trance. Witnessing the blood gushing from his nose, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he'd just seen.

"Hentai!!!" Naru swung her fist as hard as she could, but Keitaro quickly blocked her and kept her at arm's length by holding her forehead. "It's not fair!!!", she cried.

"Allow me," came Motoko's voice from behind Naru. The landlord barely had time to wonder what was going on, before he found himself on the less pleasant end of a spectacular ki discharge.

---

Outside the inn, Haruka uncovered her eyes as the light slowly faded away. "Well, looks like things are relatively okay, at least..." Her cigarette dropped out of her mouth, and she took a deep breath. "Huh. All of a sudden it's so much easier to breathe."

"Haru-nee?" Maho's voice seemed to verge on some kind of realization. It was more high-pitched than usual, though it took a fine-tuned ear to pick up the difference.

"Hai, Maho-chan, what is it?"

"You look... kind of different."

Haruka finally looked down at her little sister, who all of a sudden didn't really look like she fit her long jacket at all. "No kidding. So do you."

They stared at each other.

Maho rolled up her sleeves, and Haruka tightened her apron. Then they marched, purposefully and arm-in-arm, into the Hinata Sou.

---

Back in Kaollas room, a movement could be seen in the undergrowth where a particularly large red beam of moonlight had landed. As people watched, a large and particularly buff-looking older weasel ran out of the bushes. Seconds later, the bushes exploded as a giant turtle stepped out. Everyone stepped back -- this turtle was the size of a small car!

"MYUU!" came a loud, but undeniably feminine-sounding voice.

"Tama-chan?" said Naru, in a youthful voice that she didnt quite recognise. "But, hot-spring turtles shouldn't reach that size until they are at least fifty years old...."

---

Eventually, people gathered in the lounge to work out what had just occurred.

Haruka was now looking of the same age group as Keitaro. Lance had come downstairs when called, and was relieved to know that he (like Keitaro) had been unaffected by the accident. Similarly, Kitsune had risen long enough to tell them to go away and to confirm her unchanged status. Motoko had also been unchanged, and was attempting to hold baby Sarah.

However, the more startling changes had occurred elsewhere.

Shinobu was now a beautiful 20 year old, although she had refulsed to come down, no doubt due to embarassment; Maho, Ryuko and Naru had been reduce to about age 10 and Sarah was a wailing baby. Al looked like a confused five year old, being taken care of by a large weasel -- who could only be an older Dizzy.

Tama-chan was at the back, having wrecked most of the stairs attempting to fly down and finding herself no longer able to.

The only one who was unconcerned by her alteration was Kaolla, who once again was in her red-moon older form.

"So," Haruka said, crossing her arms. "How long is this change supposed to last?"

"I don't know!" laughed Kaolla. "The machine was wrecked in the explosion, and Sarah-chan had reset everything! Not only that, it's not even full moon tonight, so all the calibration was off -- so, could be permanent!" she giggled. "So... Keitaro, how about giving me a kiss, now?"

"Kaolla-chan!" shouted Naru, shocked, as Keitaro drew back.

"Enough!" shouted Haruka. "Kaolla -- you are not helping, here!"

"Okay... it might last for a long time, but it will probably only be a day, or even less." Kaolla said, temporarily thwarted in her goal. "We'll just have to wait and see. It'll give me time to get some lip action from Keitaro though!" she winked at Keitaro.

"Urashima... " warned Motoko, "Although Kaolla-chan may appear older, she is still a junior high student! Any perverted notions that you are entertaining should be dropped before you receive swift chastisement! You..." However her remaining tirade was drowned out by Sarah's cries, and Motoko was forced to return to rocking the baby.

"This is just too weird," Maho sighed. She trudged off, her coat dragging slightly on the ground as she walked away. "I think I'm just going to try and sleep. Oyasumi, minna."

As Ryuko watched her go, Kaolla ran over with her hands behind her back. "Ryuko-chan, I have a surprise for you." Once she had her attention, she revealed what she was hiding: a cute, stuffed dragon.

Ryuko's eyes lit up. "Kawaii!" She reached out to accept it, and hugged it tightly.

Then the dragon spoke to her, in a voice that was unmistakably Ryu-chan's, its mouth moving (roughly) in sync, kind of like a Teddy Ruxpin doll from the mid-80's.

"ryuko? you look different."

Ryuko blinked. "Ryu-chan?"

Kaolla ruffled Ryuko's hair. "I told you I'd take care of him."

While it wasn't quite what Ryuko expected, she found Ryu-chan's new form oddly appropriate. It would only be temporary, after all. "Arigato gozaimasu, Kaolla-chan!" She gave the now-taller girl a big hug.

-----

Shinobu

Shinobu leaned back against the wall beside the pocket door, the lights still off. As she wiped away her tears, she wasn't sure if she was crying more because she was scared of what had just happened to her (and was potentially still happening), or from the embarrassment of being exposed in front of Sempai. At this point, though, she didn't really care...she was confused, her heart was racing, her panties were really tight, and she just needed to be alone for a while.

She pulled off the remains of her rent clothing and curled up in the foetal position on top of her bed, and tightly squeezed the stuffed animal that had been leaning against her pillow. The sensation of its fuzz against her skin felt different now due to her expanded chest being between her and it. As an afterthought, she pulled a blanket over herself, before crying herself to sleep.

As had happened uncountable times before, Shinobu's dream revolved around Keitaro. But something was different this time... she wasn't a little girl anymore. Now she could kiss him, and he her, without it feeling awkward. She dreamed of being on a date with him once more, of being able to share a tender moment with her sweet Sempai, of him having his arms wrapped around her and holding her close.

About an hour later, she awoke upon hearing a door being shut. While she was upset at being torn from such a pleasant dream, realization set in. Her dream was possible, if she only had the courage to take advantage of the circumstances. Realizing further that she hadn't yet seen what she now looked like, she excitedly sprung from her bed and turned on the lights, then made her way over to her mirror.

The first thing to catch her attention was that she had to stoop slightly to see her face, as the mirror had been hung appropriately to suit her previous stature. Her eyes widened to anime proportions as she realized just how pretty she was, and she spent several minutes admiring it from different angles. Her hair showed several years' worth of growth, and was long and shiny. Sempai would probably like it that way, she thought. A tear of excitement rolled down her cheek.

Before the thought even occurred to her to examine the rest of her new body, she realized that Naru would be going to bed soon, and she now had something to ask her.

Shinobu hesitantly slid her door open and poked her head out. When the coast was clear, she discreetly made her way up to Naru's room wearing only a generously sized towel, and lightly knocked on her door.

Fortunately, Naru was still awake. "Who is it?"

"Shinobu desu." She surprised herself with the richness of her own voice. It was no longer the squeaky, high-pitched tone that she used to hear in her own ears. Just one more mark against her girlhood.

Naru didn't feel surprised, even though it was late. She almost felt like she expected this visit to happen, sooner or later. She parted the door, then looked up at Shinobu. This would certainly take some getting used to, she thought. "Konbanwa. Come on in."

Shinobu slipped in, and Naru slid the door shut, turning on the lights.

Even in that towel, which was very unflattering and barely enough to cover the essentials, Shinobu looked jaw-droppingly lovely. Naru felt a twinge of jealousy.

Naru walked around Shinobu to get a good look at her. "Wow, Shinobu-chan. Kawaii desu, ne? (You're cute)"

Shinobu blushed a little. "Arigato, Naru-sempai." It felt odd for her to call a little girl 'sempai,' even if it was Naru. But stranger things had happened before, she supposed.

"Well how do you feel?"

"I was scared at first." Shinobu allowed herself a small smile. "But now that I've had some time to think about it, I kind of like it. Ano..." she looked down at Naru. "Naru-sempai, you look really cute too." She backtracked. "I mean, if it's okay for me to say so. Sumimasen (Forgive me)."

Naru smiled, glad that Shinobu wasn't taking the situation badly. "How about we get you some clothes, Shinobu-chan?"

She looked down at her 'clothing' and blushed. "H-Hai. That would be nice."

Naru proceeded to dig through her wardrobe, and retrieved a few garments, which she handed to Shinobu. "You can borrow these for as long as you need. If they don't fit, you might try asking Kitsune. Her clothes might be..." she paused to reflect on the right way to say it. "They'll probably be more comfortable up on top."

Shinobu happily accepted them with a bow, ignoring or just failing to understand what Naru just said. "Arigato gozaimasu, Sempai. But what about yourself?"

Naru was still wearing the top part of her pajamas from earlier, which was sufficiently long to cover up everything by itself. "I might end up borrowing something from Sarah-chan, we'll see. I guess we'll all be staying home tomorrow anyway, right?"

Shinobu nodded. "Mmhmm. Actually, sempai..." she was about to say, then stopped.

"Hmm? What's on your mind?"

"Ah, nandemo nai (it's nothing)..." She blushed a deep shade of red.

"Come on, Shinobu-chan. You can tell me anything."

"Well, you see... there's something I'd like to ask you before I go." She took a deep breath. "I don't know how long we're all going to stay like this. But I just wanted to know, I mean if you'd approve... if I did something. If I did something I normally couldn't try."

Naru's face took on a concerned look, as she imagined all sorts of scenarios Shinobu could get involved in, now that she could pass for legal age in every way that mattered. "Do you really want to experience such things, Shinobu-chan? You're a nice girl, and I don't want to see you caught up in drinking, or smoking, or even being with men..."

Shinobu shook her head, blushing harder at such wild suggestions. "Oh, no! It's not like that at all!"

Naru breathed a sigh of relief. "What did you have in mind, then?"

Shinobu hung her head low, and began fidgeting with her hands. "Ano... I know you like Sempai... but... ano..." She finally said it all in a rush. "Would it be all right if I got him to take me on a date, just once and never ever again, I promise?"

Naru sweatdropped. She hadn't expected this possibility. She had mixed emotions about the idea, thinking about it. But she wasn't willing to admit to anyone, least of all herself, that she had any interest in Keitaro. And it seemed to mean so much for Shinobu, just one little date. "You don't need to ask for my permission, Shinobu-chan. There's nothing between Keitaro and me."

Shinobu clasped her hands excitedly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you, Naru-sempai!" She reached down and gave her a tight hug, then grabbed the clothes she was loaned and went back to her room. "Oyasumi!"

"Mm." As soon as Shinobu was gone and there was nothing but silence once again, Naru let out a deep sigh and sat down on her futon.

----------

Sam

In a darkened room of the east wing of Hinata-sou, Sam twitched in his sleep. He kicked sharply, shaking off the covers, as his mind dragged him into a vision more vivid than any normal dream.

He walks up the steps outside Hinata-sou, and the wind blows softly through the trees. It is quiet, peaceful... and when he looks up at his destination he is confused -- surely this is Hinata, but where is the inn?

As he reaches the top of the long flight of stairs, he sees ahead of him just an open grassy area, with the faint sound of water coming from the springs.

Some distance ahead of him, a woman is walking towards some rocks. No... they aren't rocks, they are too neatly cut. As he walks closer, he sees her stoop, and her long hair swings down (why can't he see her more clearly?), obscuring her face as she places the flowers she carries in front of what he now realises are two grave markers...

He tries to call out, but his voice sticks in his throat. The woman walks away, her head hung sadly... Who is she? Why doesn't she turn around? he thinks to himself, as he finally reaches the markers, and turns to read the names -- but the shadow of a cloud passes over, and the first drops of rain hit his face ...

Sam woke up, with rain blowing in through the open screens onto his face.

"Oh shit..." he said, horrified.