SFFAL: Love Hina Soap Opera

by Cheshire Cat5

SI The ongoing cooperative LoveHina soap opera written by the members of the SFFAL. Chapter 20 as we draw to a close. Some threads tied up, and some departures.

11. Games, chances and dreams: AGE

Games, chances and dreams: AGE

(Tuesday Night)

Haruka walked at a leisurely pace back to the Hinata Teahouse. It was terribly late, she knew. But she didn't feel like rushing. The evening's events were already overwhelming; another minute or two of reflection wouldn't hurt.

What was this new feeling that stirred in her heart?

Even as she questioned it, Haruka knew instinctively what it was. She was looking at the world through new eyes, feeling the cool air from skin that wasn't callused or weathered. She could hear her footsteps on the stone stairs down to the last grain of sand, and the light scent of leaves and cherry blossoms filled her senses. Every nerve in her body felt revitalized in a way that she hardly remembered until now.

This was the sensation of youth.

It was hard to believe that she actually had this once, much less that she was stupid enough to waste it. And who knew how long it would last, this time around?

No matter how sad it made her feel, Haruka couldn't help but smile.

---

Back in the inn, Dizzy huffed and puffed. It had taken him all night, but Alex was finally asleep.

The boy had been quiet around the members of the hinata house and had kept himself entertained by playing with the stuffed mousy (Dizzy), but once he was back in his room Alex began tearing the place apart, playing with the toys, laughing and giggling and running non-stop -- it was the most exercise he had had in years.

Dizzy had managed to get Al out of the old clothes, and using the sewing abilities that he had used to help Alex cheat his way through Home Economics, he had turned an old pair of sweat pants into a full body suit for the now smaller Al.

Dizzy opened the mini-fridge that Al had in the corner of his room and took out a soda, keeping Al from doing something to his most prized books and toys had taken a lot out of the now buff older weasel.

Dizzy looked at himself in the mirror, he had grown from a short big eyed half foot tall rodent, to a one foot tall, beefy, normal sized eye rodent.

He flexed and struck some poses in the mirror, he could get to like this.

"MYUH?"

Dizzy froze and turned around, a tama the size of a small pony was looking down at him blushing.

"Grr." Dizzy whimpered and backed away slowly, the giant turtle had more lipstick smeared on its face, and it was coming in for a smooch.

"GRRR!" dizzy jumped, right over tama and out the door.

He kept running, his mind barely noticing that he had just jumped four feet into the air and five feet across the room. He couldn't do that before.

Dizzy jumped onto the railing of the stairway and slid to the bottom, leaping when he reached the bottom.

Tama-Chan chased him, but stumbled on the stairs and rolled down them, doing about as much damage as a wrecking ball, only to continue rolling right out the front door, and off into the night.

Dizzy panted and made his way into the kitchen for a midnight snack, he raided the fridge and soon had himself a sandwich that would have made Dagwood proud.

He gazed upon his creation in wonder, over three feet tall, layered with six kinds of meat, one of them bunny meat (though why that was in the fridge no one would ever know), loaded with veggies, different cheeses and topped off with an toothpick shaped like a sword and a olive, this sandwich was the ultimate late night snack.

Someone had once told him that eating bunny meat was like murdering a celebrity. Dizzy, however, considered bunny meat to be highly tasty -- and besides, there were several celebrities that the world could well do without, in his small opinion.

He crawled back into the fridge to find a soda to help wash down this tasty treat, only to return to find that the sandwich was gone!

He searched the room, no trace of the sandwich -- and he would have heard if one of the humans had come in to take it.

He sniffed the air, the scents belonging to his and Al's friends were stale, no one had been in here for hours. The freshest scent was himself, and the sandwich.

Wait...dirt, he smelled fresh dirt, and leather? Someone else had been here, but why couldn't he smell them? All he could smell was the scent of dirt the culprit had tracked in, and leather.

Confused, angry and still hungry, Dizzy resigned himself to a more prosaic peanut butter and jelly sandwich, before returning to Al's room to sleep on this mystery.

-----

Shinobu was in bed, but she couldn't sleep. While it was true that she had many things running through her mind, her feet were also sticking out uncomfortably from both the blanket and the bed. She was just too big, and the bed much too small. No matter what position she lay in, something would be sticking out and getting cold in the night air.

But in spite of this, she felt warm and giddy inside. Tomorrow, she would ask sempai out on a date! Naru said it was okay, after all. And Shinobu didn't want to gloat, but she felt confident that with her new good looks and womanly body, there was no way Keitaro would say no. The ugly duckling finally had its day - It was like her fondest dream finally made into a reality.

But as the minutes ticked on, Shinobu's thoughts slowly became less excited. After all, there were never any guarantees in life, and in matters of the heart it was even less certain. She loved Keitaro... but she didn't want to manipulate him into loving her back. And wasn't that really what this boiled down to?

The familiar sensation of doubt crept in, and before she knew it, she was worrying. But even then she felt guilty.

It was that guy Lance. His confession the day before had left Shinobu deeply disturbed. He hadn't seemed like an abuse victim before, but now whenever she looked at him, all she could think about were those daily beatings. She knew what it was like to have parents who were separated, but for both of them to die, as well? Shinobu didn't want to dwell on such thoughts. But what surprised her the most was that Lance had experienced so much pain, and yet he was willing to shrug it off and be happy.

Shinobu realized with a pang of shame that that made Lance a much better person than she was. He was admirable from his actions and his virtue. Meanwhile she could only feel worthy of praise once her bra size expanded and her height increased.

But this was a chance! Fate had finally intervened, and now Shinobu could attempt to find true happiness with her only love. Perhaps it was wrong, but there was no other way. If she didn't act now while everything was in her favor, then what other chance did she have?

And so Shinobu curled up under the small blanket and slept the sleep of the determined.

--------

Naru slid her door open. Maho was standing outside, holding her blanket.

"Maho-chan? What's the matter?"

Maho tightly hugged her blanket, looking up at her friend plaintively.

"Just... wanted to be here." She chuckled nervously. "I'm not afraid or anything." There was a loud thump outside. Maho shrieked and ran inside the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Naru giggled. "Konbanwa."

Maho smiled wearily. "Konbanwa." She screamed again when there was a knock at the door.

"Hai!" Naru peered outside. "Who is it?"

Ryuko smiled broadly as she peeked back at Naru through the crack in the door, their eyes at about the same level.. She was still wearing the plenty-long, top part of her pink pajamas from earlier. Her hands were full, with Ryu-chan in one arm, and a big fluffy pillow in the other.

"hello, naru-chan!," her stuffed dragon emitted, surprisingly able to recognize Naru's younger self.

Naru sweatdropped.

"Got room for two more?"

------

The dance floor was empty, save for one couple in the spotlight. Sweet and soothing music filled the hall as they came hand-in-hand and began to waltz. He looked in her eyes, while she looked in his. A smile cracked on their faces, as they twirled around in time with the song. The white spotlight went with them, tracing their every move as they glided across the floor. Her long dress flowed, his tuxedo slick and clean - they looked like the perfect couple.

"You're more beautiful than ever, m'dear." he said, making his partner blush a lovely shade of red.

"As do you look handsome, Lance." she replied.

Suddenly her foot caught on something on the floor and the girl slipped. In a desperate attempt to save herself, the girl latched onto Lance's leg to hold herself up.

"Lannie-koon!" she cried. Lance blinked, loss for words. "Huh?!"

"Lannie-koon!"

Lance sat up from his futon, bleary-eyed but awake. He checked the clock on his wall. Three AM. Not a good time to wake up. Grumbling, he tried to lay down back to sleep, but he felt something clutching onto his leg. Irritably he flipped the blanket off of him, and found baby Sarah clinging onto his shin.

"Lannie-koon! Hahahahaha!"

"Sarah, what are you doing here?!" Lance hissed, trying to lower his voice. Baby Sarah just giggled and crawled off of his leg and curiously patted Lance's nose. Lance, still confused, did nothing. Sarah kept patting and patting it....until she moved her arm way back and...

WHAM!

"Yow!"

"Hahahahahaha!!"

Lance grumbled, rubbing his nose. "Alright you little brat, time for you to go."

Lance stood up to open the door so he could get Sarah to her room, but he tripped and fell onto the floor when something caught hus leg.

"Want Lannie-koon!!" Sarah squealed. Lance sweatdropped, unable to do anything at the moment.

Finally he stood and picked up Sarah, who was giggling and making drool bubbles. "Ech... alright, you can sleep here."

He took one of his blankets off and placed it on the floor next to his futon, and he lay Sarah down on it. Lance crawled into his futon.

"Go to sleep, got it?"

"ZZzzzzz...."

"...Like a baby, huh?"

-----------

Ryuko giggled, covering her mouth with one hand while pointing at the girls' handiwork with the other. "He looks like a clown!"

Maho chuckled. "You think so? Well a clown needs..." She took out some lipstick. "A big red smile!"

Dizzy growled miserably, his face covered in powder, blush, and all manner of other undesirable cosmetics. Al was sitting on the floor, obliviously constructing a tower using the tiles from a game of some kind, instead. And as long as his master was stuck here with these girls, Dizzy had no honorable means of escape. He had no choice but to endure the humiliation for as long as he could.

"Do you think he needs big eyelashes, too?"

"And a red nose!"

He didn't know how much more of this he could take. Thankfully, Naru's stomach growled noisily, interrupting Maho and Ryuko's torment. They stared wide-eyed at her tummy as Dizzy scurried under the kotatsu table, trying to hide.

"I'm hungry," Naru said simply, looking down at her stomach as if it were going to respond somehow.

"You know, I'm hungry too." Maho frowned. "What should we do?"

Ryuko smiled, yet another mischievous grin forming. "I have an idea."

"You do?" Naru looked at her hopefully.

"Hai!" She raised a finger in the air, standing up to inspire confidence. Being a prepubescent girl, that wasn't much. "Downstairs in the kitchen, I saw a mountain of daifuku (sweet cake)!"

"Daifuku?" The girls gathered around, their eyes alight with the prospect of sweets. Even Al wandered over to Ryuko's feet, despite Dizzy's desperate attempts to the contrary.

Maho smiled. "Are they fresh?"

Ryuko nodded sagely, her arms folded. "It's on a big green plate, on the kitchen counter next to the sink."

Naru stood up, her right hand in a fist. "Then what are waiting for? If we hurry, it might still be warm!"

"Yay!"

Ryuko shook her head. "It must be a covert operation, otherwise we'll get caught. And then we'll be sent to bed with nothing!" She rifled through a plastic box of art supplies, producing various-colored crayons. Naru tore out a sheet of notebook paper, and they all huddled together on the floor. Ryuko began sketching a crude floor plan as she explained the operation. "Al and Dizzy-kun will stay behind, and if there's an emergency they'll hit the wall to alert us."

Dizzy slumped his shoulders. Why was he involved in this?

"Maho, you'll be standing outside of Motoko-chan's room." She drew a happy face to indicate her position. "If she comes out, say you fell and hurt yourself."

"Hai."

"Naru, you'll come with me." Ryuko drew two more happy faces in the kitchen area, along with a star to indicate where the delicacies were. "We'll take the plate of daifuku, and regroup here. Maho, once we're safely back in the room, come join us." She looked up. "Everybody clear?"

Naru and Maho nodded. Al clapped his hands. Dizzy shrugged.

"Good. Ready? One, two, three..." She opened the door silently. Seeing the coast was clear, she whispered behind her, "Commence Operation: Wagashi!"

Elsewhere at that exact moment, Motoko opened her eyes. Somebody was up to trouble.

---

Ryuko flinched as a floorboard creaked.

"Careful!" Naru admonished. They were both holding the end of a big plate, which was practically falling over with sweet rice cakes. Just then, she bumped into a chair, which made a loud scraping noise.

"Shh!"

"There's no more need to sneak around, young ladies." Motoko was standing before them, in full warrior regalia. She was holding Maho's hand.

Naru and Ryuko sweatdropped.

"Gomen. She didn't fall for it," was all that Motoko's captive said.

Motoko cast a stern eye towards Naru and Ryuko. "Put down that plate this instant! Those daifuku were purchased with hard money from this house, and they were meant to be shared with everyone!" She was in full lecturing mode now. "Could you really eat all of those sweet cakes, knowing that you're depriving your own house sisters of a similar enjoyment? And on top of that, eating so much sugar this late at night will give you bad dreams, and your digestive system will..."

"Run for it!" Naru took the plate in both hands and dashed away, Ryuko in tow.

"Nani? Come back here!" A big dove suddenly perched itself onto Motoko's face, flapping its wings energetically. "Iyaa!"

Maho pulled away from her grasp, bowing with a smile. "Arigato, Shuuji!" With that, she followed her friends. "Mattae yo (Wait for me)!" They were standing outside, staring at something in awe. "What's going on? Why aren't you running?"

She too stopped and stared, her mouth wide open in shock.

An enormous, car-sized Tama-chan stared back down at them. Her big black eyes gleamed with a confused sort of recognition. "Myuh?" She said, though it came out with a deep rumble that made the house shake.

"Wow!," was all Maho could say. Naru nodded in silent agreement.

"Cooool!," Ryuko added.

Motoko ran outside. "Ah-ha! So your guilt finally got you to sto..." She looked up, and the colour drained from her f "I... ano..."

A moment later, the trio of girls was sitting atop Tama-chan's generous shell, as the enormous turtle padded along the courtyard looking for Dizzy. Motoko, for her part, was too busy screaming and blindly swinging a bokken to be of much use.

Ryuko popped a whole daifuku into her mouth, making her cheeks bulge like a chipmunk's. "Mmm, the red bean is warm. And it's delicious, too!" She waved cheerfully. "This is the best! I haven't had this since...my grandmother..." She trailed off, as some memory triggered within her, then she returned to the moment and happily took another piece.

Naru nodded cheerfully, as she and Maho tore into the rice cakes with abandon.

---

After stuffing their bellies with all the sweets they could hold, the girls left Tama-chan to keep Motoko busy. They returned to Naru's room, even thinking to carry with them a small piece of cake for Al. Upon arriving, they found Al had already fallen asleep on a makeshift futon. Ryu-chan was busy trying to interpret Dizzy's charades, but somehow they didn't think too much about it.

"Pillow fight!," Naru declared as she swung her pillow at Maho and Ryuko.

"Ooof!" The two quickly retaliated by trapping their host under a blanket, and then resorted to tickling her feet. Naru shrieked and laughed uncontrollably, kicking to no avail, as Ryuko had her ankles pinned down. "Gomen, gomen! I can't breathe!", Naru said, gasping for air. Finally her captors relented, giggling. Fortunately, Al was still sound asleep, with Dizzy protectively curled up around him.

Ryuko yawned, cutely stretching her arms out in the process. "I'm getting pretty tired. How about you two?"

Naru nodded as she caught her breath. "You can sleep on my futon. With two pillows and two blankets, there should be enough room for all of us...if we sleep sideways."

Maho and Ryuko nodded, and they took it upon themselves to prepare the bedding, with the former fluffing the pillows and the latter straightening out the blankets. Ryuko then gathered Ryu-chan and crawled under the covers with him.

Ryu-chan sweatdropped.

Naru waited for Maho to get situated before she turned out the lights, and joined the group herself.

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

Morning

Keitaro awoke, and dressed himself. Still groggy, he'd almost completely forgotten the events of the prior evening. As he was about to leave his room, he happened to glance down at the pile of dirty clothes on the floor. He noticed a burn mark on the shirt he wore the previous evening. He picked it up and stared at it incredulously. "That was real?" He got a headache as he pondered the implications of this age-changing mess. He tossed the shirt aside, deciding to get rid of it, and picked up the remainder of the huge pile of laundry, holding it against his chest.

He slid open the door and stepped out of his room. However, his attention was elsewhere, and he didn't get more than a couple steps out before he crashed right into Shinobu. She'd been standing by his door, waiting for him to come out for a short while. Keitaro knocked her off-balance and fell with her to the floor, and of course ended up on top. "Oooof!" Though most of the wad of laundry was now between them, his hands were caught between the laundry and something soft and warm...

Shinobu's eyes widened. She didn't mind the pain in her back quite as much as where Keitaro's hands now were. She had hoped to catch Keitaro before breakfast, just not literally. Both their faces turned bright red.

Because he only got a glance at her, and she was wearing one of Naru's outfits, Keitaro assumed he'd stumbled into Naru. He quickly got back to his feet and flinched, crossing his arms before his face. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't hit me!"

"It's all right, Sempai."

Strange. That didn't sound like Naru.

Keitaro hesitantly peeked out, then lowered his arms.

"Shinobu...chan?" Now his eyes widened. Something clicked in his head. He realized this person was who he saw at the bottom of the staircase just before Motoko zapped him last night. This was the first chance he had to get a good look at her.

Shinobu's stunning, ocean-blue eyes demanded his attention, even over her generously-proportioned chest. Her lush, cobalt-blue hair was loose, and it extended almost to her waist. Two short wisps of hair hung over her face, looking quite chic. She was so unbelievably pretty, Keitaro imagined that averting his gaze would almost be a painful experience.

"Ano...won't you help me up?" She'd extended a hand upwards, and was patiently waiting for assistance.

"Gomen!" Keitaro snapped out of his trance, and reached down and pulled Shinobu to her feet. Their eyes were even with each other now, and Shinobu blushed again.

Much as he'd like to, Keitaro knew he couldn't just stare at her. Finally he asked, "Did...Did you need something, Shinobu-chan?"

Shinobu looked down, and poked her index fingers together. "Ano...I was just wondering...if...you'd maybe like to go on a date with me today."

Keitaro blinked, not having anticipated this desire any more than Naru had. He feared the repercussions of fulfilling that desire, and rightly so. It seemed that he couldn't even appear to have impure thoughts without being treated like a rag doll. How should he respond? He wanted to let her down easily. But Shinobu so rarely asked anything of him, how could he refuse this one request? "Ah..."

Shinobu waited for an answer. Why was he taking so long? Was she not desirable? She'd longed for a chance to date Keitaro, having been resigned to the idea that it would never come. Was he really going to turn her down now? Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, though with her head down, Keitaro couldn't see her starting to cry. That's the last thing she wanted him to see.

Keitaro scratched his head. "Shinobu-chan, uhm, I doubt that Motoko and Naru would go along with the idea. Yes, your body has matured..." Wow, has it ever, he thought. He tapped the side of his head, "...but you're still fourteen years old up here, right...?"

Shinobu wiped her tears and stood up straight, then ran her fingers through her hair, trying to strike a more mature pose. "I /feel/ different."

Something about Shinobu running her hand through her hair appealed to Keitaro's sensuality. What was it with him and long, lustrous hair? He could feel a nosebleed coming on. "Uhm..."

Then she tried to further justify it, without mentioning Naru's indifference on the matter. "Remember when you took me to the carnival? That was a date, wasn't it?" In not so many words, what she was trying to get across was that if it was appropriate then, it ought to be even more appropriate now. Though she had a point, she realized Keitaro might still be uncomfortable with the idea. She looked down again. "Ano...but if you don't have the time...I guess it's not that important."

Finally, Keitaro decided to throw out whatever preconceived notions he had about Shinobu's maturity. He couldn't help thinking it would still be weird, but he couldn't bear to turn her down. "I...I see your point." Somehow, he was sure he'd get clobbered for this. "I...I'd be honored to take you out tonight."

He really accepted? Shinobu's eyes lit up. "Oh! Sempai..." She looked up and gave Keitaro a tight hug. "Arigato gozaimasu!"

Keitaro felt her big, warm, soft chest pressing against his. Her hair smelled so good! He didn't want her to let go just yet. If someone saw them hugging and accused him of having dirty thoughts, well, for once they might be right. Ugh. Bad Keitaro!, he told himself.

She held on for a few seconds longer than she needed to. It felt good to hug him so easily, without having to stand tip-toed. "Ano...how does six o'clock sound? Would you mind if we went somewhere formal?"

Keitaro nodded. "That would be fine. I think I have something suitable to wear...but what about you?"

Shinobu smiled. Tears of happiness welled up, but she didn't care. "You'll see!" She turned around and headed towards the kitchen, cheerfully humming a tune.

Keitaro watched Shinobu until she disappeared behind a corner. Then he collected the dropped laundry and retreated back into his room, shutting the door behind him.

He later arrived at the breakfast table, a few minutes late, having forgotten all about his laundry.

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

Kentaro ground his cigarette butt into one of Haruka's ashtrays, cursing under his breath. He left around midnight and came back early the next morning, and still the girls hadn't returned. Not only did he have to go through the burden of closing down the shop for the night, now he had to go through the extra trouble of opening the registers and setting up the place for the morning customers.

Where the hell was that woman, anyway? Kentaro briefly considered going up to the Hinata house and finding her, but ultimately decided against it. That inn was bad luck, and he swore to himself that he would never go back there if he could help it.

Besides, at least it was quiet here. That was pretty rare in Tokyo.

When he heard steps approaching the teahouse, Kentaro straightened out his apron and stood up. "Irashaimasen (Welcome)!" He immediately relaxed when he saw Haruka's familiar apron under the entrance. "Oh, Haruka-san." He frowned. "You know, I hope I'm getting overtime for this. A manager should be more responsible about her..."

The last words died in his throat, as he finally laid eyes upon the beautiful creature that walked into the teahouse.

Even in the low morning light, she was radiant. Her skin was smooth and white like porcelain, and her hair, cut short in a very cute style, was a deep, rich brown. She appeared to be the very picture of feminine nonchalance, with her delicate hands placed comfortably on slender hips. She walked-no, glided-into the teahouse, like a moving miracle.

"I know I'm late, Kentaro-kun." The goddess smiled, a brilliant and lovely gesture. "Gomen."

At that point, Kentaro finally remembered how to breathe. He bowed deeply. "Hajimemashite! My name is Sakata Kentaro, and-"

Haruka grabbed a tray from the counter and mercilessly smashed him over the head. "Please, spare me."

"Eh?" He looked up at her in confusion. Seconds ticked by in complete silence, as Kentaro stared at the angry girl, trying to make sense of this puzzling situation. Suddenly, understanding dawned on his face. "Oh."

Haruka raised an eyebrow, relieved that he was finally getting the picture. "Hai."

"Sou."

"Hai."

Kentaro beamed. "I didn't know that the old woman had another sister! I can really see the resemblance."

She fell over. "Baka!" She shouted, hitting him again.

But once he hit the ground, Haruka finally began to reflect on the situation. What age did she look now, anyway-18? 17? Kentaro was obviously blind as a bat, but he was quite cunning back in his early days. There was no telling what he would try if he found out that she was now, at least physically, even younger than he was. Blackmail was just the start of her worries.

As Kentaro picked himself up, Haruka made her decision. She would keep up a ruse for however long this change was going to last.

"Sumimasen," she said. "I didn't mean to hurt you." Haruka was shocked to realize that the high-pitched voice was hers; she hadn't noticed it until now.

"Iya, daijoubu." the young man groaned, standing up and giving his best carefree smile. "I'm fine, see?"

"Hai, sou desu ne."

"Ano..." Kentaro scratched his head awkwardly. "Anata wa (You are)?"

Haruka bowed, fighting back her panic instinct and spinning up a name on the spot, as she straightened up to smile. "Ai desu. Amano Ai. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" She resisted the urge to sigh. This was so tedious.

As for poor Ken, he was completely under her spell. This girl was so cute, especially in the Hinata teahouse apron! But that reminded him: "Say, do you know where Haruka-san went? I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon."

"Oh! Eeto..." She thought quickly. "Ano, Haruka-san is sick with the flu. So she asked me, her... eeto... cousin, to fill in for her while she was recovering." Great, Haruka thought. I deserve an academy award for that performance.

"Sou ka." He thought for a moment. "Maybe I should visit her and see how she's doing."

"You don't want to do that!" Haruka practically screamed. When Kentaro looked at her askance, she laughed nervously. "She's very contagious right now, so they put her deep inside the Hinata Sou." She nodded. "Yes, very very deep inside."

The hesitant fear in his eyes was the money shot. Haruka congratulated herself as Kentaro smiled nervously. "Oh. Well I guess I'd better stay away, then."

"Hai, that's a good idea." She tightened her apron and made a fist. "Well, let's get to work!"

"Hai!" Kentaro smiled, all of his doubts about today forgotten. After such a long period of nothing but toiling under Haruka-san, Ai was like a breath of fresh air. The fact that she was really pretty helped, of course. Today was going to be a good day.

Haruka made her way to the kitchen, wondering with each step if this was actually going to work. There was no telling when she would revert back to her old age, and she knew it was only a matter of time before Kentaro started to ask questions. Today was going to be a miserable day.

-----------

Dizzy awoke with a start, he had been dreaming of times past, when he and Al had been captured by Al's enemies. They had been hanging upside down by their ankles, Dizzy had been crying because he was young and this was the first time he had been captured with Al.

Al had lifted dizzy so that all the blood wouldn't rush to his head. "Don't worry buddy, as long as you promise to look out for me I'll look out for you." Al had said feeling corny.

The words had comforted Dizzy and the two of them had been in and out of trouble more times then he could count.

Dizzy crawled out of his plastic castle and looked around, Al was no where to be seen!

The weasel bolted from the room, running as fast as his tiny weasel paws could move, if anything happened to Al while he was young, dizzy would never forgive himself.

Dizzy's running brought him to the kitchen, where he found a huge mess had been made, milk and cereal was everywhere, burnt toast and spilled juice as far as the eye could see.

Al sat in the corner, mixing a large bowl of oatmeal; he was covered in most of it. Upon seeing his friend Al smiled "I made brekky!" He looked proud of the mess, but he had indeed made enough food to feed the hinata house, the fact that most of it was on the walls was a detail Al did not seem to think mattered.

Dizzy sighed in relief and crawled into a drawer pulling out a dishrag, it was gonna take awhile to clean this mess up, but at least Al hadn't gone the way of his sandwich the night before.

-----------

At sunrise, Ryu-chan's internal timer triggered him to wake his owner.

"ohayo, ryuko!"

Ryuko was startled by the muffled voice, and very nearly kicked Naru in the face as a result. Somehow, Ryuko had managed to completely re-orient herself end-for-end overnight, not a trivial gymnastic maneuver considering the girls' sleeping arrangement.

She whispered back to her stuffed dragon, buried somewhere beneath the blanket. "Shhh! You'll wake up the others!"

Ryu-chan responded, "gomen."

Ryuko adjusted her posture so her head was again on the pillow, and was relieved to find Naru still sound asleep, and unbruised.

She dug around and retrieved the stuffed dragon, then held it tightly. "Wake me up in time for breakfast, as quietly as you can."

"ok, ryuko."

-----------

Upon entering the kitchen motoko felt an odd weight adding itself to her leg. She looked down confused; Al had latched onto her leg and was cheering "YAY, Silly's here!"

"Silly?" She asked, confused, "Is he insulting me?"

Dizzy shook his head and held out a photo he had found the night before labeled "Silvia".

In an attempt to learn about what Al was like as a child, Dizzy had dug up an old scrapbook that Al's mother had made him, it didn't help much, but Dizzy had learned about Al's nanny. She had been a lovely Latino woman who looked, much to the surprise of the weasel and now Motoko, like the kendo girl.

"Are you telling me that he thinks IÆm her?" Motoko asked as she attempted to pull her leg free of the blond child.

Dizzy nodded "Grr."

She finally got him off of her leg and stood him in front of her "My name is Motoko, can you say Motoko?" She asked carefully, not sure what to do around children.

"Moo moo!" Al pointed at motoko and proclaimed.

"WHA? No, not moo moo, motoko, Mo..."

"Mo..."

"To..."

"To..."

"Ko..."

"Ko..."

"Very good, now, Motoko."

"Moo moo!"

Motoko face faulted. He didn't just annoy her as a teen, and he annoyed her as a child too.

-------

Al sat next to Dizzy and motoko at breakfast, telling anyone who would listen that he made the meal, and then he would tell them again, and again, and again, until they stopped listening.

Dizzy sat and sipped his morning coffee. Today seemed like it would be a tad busy -- as far as he could tell only a few of the humans would be home today, leaving the children (including Al) outnumbering the adults that would be watching over them.

Dizzy also noticed that for some reason the females who had been made younger seemed to have no problem remembering things, unlike Al who seemed to have mentally reverted to the mindset of a five year old.

Dizzy sipped his coffee and pondered this -- Al was speaking Japanese, but until a few weeks ago he couldn't speak a single word of it. So, why was five year old Al speaking so well? Also, if he hadn't reverted to the mindset of a child, why was he acting like it?

These questions would plague Dizzy for the rest of the day, but he pushed them to the back of his mind and attempted to extract his new ward from the cereal box where he had gotten his head stuck in an attempt to get the toy at the bottom.

--------

Lance trudged down the stairs for breakfast the next morning, baby Sarah clung to the shin of his leg. As he sat at the table, many young and old faces looked at him weirdly. With a sigh, he lifted his leg up and showed everyone why his foot was losing circulation.

"This may look odd to you, but I would suggest looking at what predicament you have fallen into before you start to laugh." he muttered.

They blinked, as if not understanding what he had said. He lowered his leg, remembering that most of them were "too young" to understand.

"Nevermind..."

After breakfast, Lance left to the front door to leave for school, when Keitaro stopped him.

"Hey Lance, can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

"Yeah sure," Lance said, "But I hope it's quick, I don't want to be late."

"Not at all," Keitaro said, "But I was just curious how you're pulling with the rent so far. I know it's still a few days away, but there hadn't been much work for you to do around here since the repairmen are doing all of it."

"Don't worry Keitaro-san, I've got it all covered," Lance gave him a thumbs-up. "The reason I'm late a couple of hours is because I'm working at my school. The teacher pays me with some cash and high school credit, so I'd say I'm pretty well taken care- OOF!"

Sarah had unexpectedly grabbed Lance at the shin once again, causing Lance to lose his balance and fall flat on his face with a loud thud. Keitaro sweatdropped, chuckling slightly to himself.

"Well Lance, it seems like Sarah is still quite attached to you!" This resulted in a pathetic look on Lance's face.

"Why couldn't she just leave me alooooone...." Keitaro took Sarah off of Lance and held her at his side.

"It's ok Lance, I'll take care of her." Keitaro said.

With a scream, Sarah clamped her teeth shut on Keitaro's arm. He yelled and let Sarah plop to the ground, and she crawled back over to Lance and hugged his leg.

"MY Lannie-koon! MY Lannie-koon!"

Keitaro grabbed his arm where Sarah bit her, but he seemed amused. "It looks like Sarah doesn't want you to go, Lance!"

"Well that's just perfect, how am I supposed to get to school with her with me?" Lance said, annoyed.

"We can't leave her here," said Keitaro, "She'll flip and cry. I hate to say it, but it looks like you have to take her with you."

"WHAT?!" Lance screamed. "You can't be serious! I can't bring Sarah to school with me!"

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

Motoko closed the door to her room, she had her bag, her uniform, her wooden practice sword, yes, and she was ready for school. She didn't need to leave for a while -- her first class was not for a few hours -- but somehow she wanted to get out of this madhouse.

She took one step and then felt something tackle her from behind, knocking her to the ground.

She rolled over and glared at the offender -- Al was clinging to her legs again.

"Hiya Moo Moo!" he chortled gleefully. She moaned and pulled herself free.

"Listen Rush, I can't play I have to go to school."

"I'm not wush, I'm Awix." Alex said with a laugh -- what a strange person this Moo Moo was!

"Fine 'Alex', I still have to go to school, and you have to stay here with the other kids."

Alex whimpered and hugged Motoko while she was sitting awkwardly on the ground.

"Don't go Moo Moo, I wanna pway!"

Motoko felt a pang of guilt as she was hugged by the mini version of the boy who had gotten on her nerves so badly yesterday. After a moment she hugged him back and said "Ok, how about you let me go to school and then afterwards we can play all you like."

Alex's eyes shined and he cheered. "YAY Moo Moo's gonna pway!"

With a little help from Dizzy and the child distracting powers of Sesame Street, Motoko managed to get away without another hug attack.

-------

"I can't believe I'm bringing Sarah to school with me..."

"Hahahaha!"

Lance trudged down the street and towards the school, baby Sarah slung on his back with a baby carrier. She grew suddenly fascinated to Lance's hair and began patting, rubbing, pulling, chewing, and hugging it. Lance, meanwhile, had other things on his mind besides Sarah's drool.

"How on Earth am I going to survive school while taking care of a year old baby?" he muttered in a pathetic voice. "Or even more important, how will I keep her from messing around when I'm working? Aw, this is gonna be such a bad day..."

------

Sam's Morning

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

Sam paced up and down his room with a cup of coffee in his hand. He had not managed to return to sleep after his disturbing vision that night.

"What the hell did that dream mean?" he muttered to himself as he walked. "Who the hell's going 6 feet under?" He had been up all night trying to figure out the meaning of the dream, and he was feeling very weary.

"I'm far too tired to go to school," he thought to himself, "So perhaps I should just spend the day practicing my sword skills. I have not trained in weeks, I'm probably a bit rusty by now..."

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

Sam was up on the deck area, trying a few practice swings with his blade. Unfortunately, he was completely distracted by his preoccupation with the vision, and as a result managed instead to chop down the clothes' line.

"Shit ..." he said to himself as it fell, hitting him sharly on the top of the head.

Shinobu, in her new, mature form, walked up on the deck behind him with a basket of laundry.

"Ano..." she said in her new, liquid-honey voice, "Sam.. do you think swinging your sword around like that is such a good idea?"

"Not exactly," replied Sam, turning, "but..." he froze as he caught sight of Shinobu's new form for the first time. He went wide-eyed. "HOLY HELL!" he breathed, "HOT GIRL ALERT!"

Shinobu blushed a violent shade of red. "Honestly, I'm not that good looking..." she began, as Sam stood there, a weird smile on his face and drool appearing from the side of his mouth.

Sam may have been preoccupied with his problems, but he was a normal thirteen year old boy, and as a result his libido had a master override on all higher brain functions.

"Um, Samuel?" asked Shinobu again, waving a hand in front of his eyes.

It was at that point that Motoko entered, having wanted a quick word with Shinobu before leaving for her lessons. She immediately took in the scene, and noted the way that Sam was immobile apart from his eyes which seemed to be following Shinobu's breasts.

"Shinobu," Motoko said, severely, "It appears that he is having unsavoury thoughts. Would you like me to dispatch him ?"

"Err..."

"Say no more... DIE PERVERT! HIKEN ZANKUSEN!!"

Sam snapped back to reality just in time to be hit by the ki blast, and fly up into the air.

A short while later, Sam crashed right through the roof of the school, and landed swirly-eyed right at his desk. The teacher looked up at him.

"Mr Mcshannock," he said, sith a sigh, "I request that you enter my class using a more orthodox manner next time?"

------

Maho arrived at the school gates, completely winded. She kneeled on the ground to catch her breath. One of these days she was actually going to be able to walk to school, instead of waking up late and having to sprint all the time. At least this was more exercise than ever she got in London, she figured.

But as her breathing slowly returned to a normal pace, Maho began to realize something important: She was still a little kid. She was wondering why it seemed to take forever to get to campus.

"But this means..." She began pondering out loud. "Would anyone recognize me as a ten-year-old? Hmm, probably not. So I shouldn't go to school." Maho beamed as the true consequences of the age change dawned on her. "I don't have to go to school today!"

She started skipping away happily. Well, what would she do today, now that she had the day off? Maybe she could go to the arcade, or perhaps have lunch at that nice noodle stand she saw on the way. Freedom was nice.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the gym teacher, who was closing the gate to the school campus. "Urashima!" he bellowed. "What are you doing standing outside? Get in here before you're marked for being late!"

Maho turned around incredulously. "You recognize me?"

"Of course I recognize you, baka. If you think I'm going to let one of my students ditch while I'm standing right here, well then you've got another thing coming!" The teacher gruffly motioned beyond the gate. "Come on, hurry up. I don't have all day."

"H-Hai." She bowed and went inside the campus. "Sumimasen, sensei." The gym teacher grunted before disappearing inside the office.

That was odd, she thought. But just as Maho turned the corner, she bumped into the calculus teacher.

"Ohayo, Urashima-san! Hurry or you'll be late for class!" He smiled good-naturedly and walked away.

"Hai." She stared at her hands in puzzlement. They still looked like kid hands to her. So what was going on? It was as if nobody noticed her current state. Or they already knew, but just didn't care for some reason.

After a moment of trying to figure it out, Maho finally shrugged. This town was a little bizarre, wasn't it? So perhaps it was best to just go with the flow and not worry about it so much.

The final warning bell rang. She cursed and started running.

---

Maho entered the classroom and sat down. Once again, no one seemed to care that the ten year-old girl was in their midst. Everyone was too busy chatting and doing the usual morning activities. It was like a very bizarre miracle.

---

Motoko knew something was off when she arrived to class. Most of the students in the class were obviously trying very hard to be looking in their books, instead of at the wall. She looked up and saw a picture.

It was of Al and the vice principal of the school. They were quite oiled up, and to say the least, upon closer inspection it was a less than G rated picture.

Motoko growled, remembering yesterday. But rather than be mad at Al, her wrath was focused on the person who was making these pictures.

She stomped over to the board and ripped the picture down, tearing it up and dropping the pieces into the trash can before turning to the class. "I don't know who is putting up these vile pictures," she began, slamming her hand on the table. "But if they do not stop with this deceit, I will find them and personally ensure that they can never work a computer to make more of these! It's bad enough that you're making filth like this, but you're forcing the rest of us to see it, and ruining another student's reputation! I will not stand for this dishonorable behavior! I will not!"

As she said these last words the door slid open and the teacher walked in, seeing Motoko standing behind his desk.

"Excuse me, Aoyama-kun, but that is not your seat."

Motoko turned beet red as the class snickered.

"Err...I...err."

"Please go stand outside. We will discuss this later."

Motoko sighed and left the class to stand outside, for the second day in a row.

The teacher began talking, but soon Maho couldn't hold herself back. No one else was doing anything. She stood from her chair. "No, sensei!"

The teacher turned around with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, Urashima-kun?"?

"You shouldn't make Motoko-san stand outside like this. She was only trying to defend a fellow student, and to punish her for it is unfair."

He sighed. "You are not going to change my mind, so sit back down, Urashima-kun. " The teacher gave her an odd look. "Urashima, you look a little different..."

"Detsu ni (It's nothing)". She bowed and sat down quickly, before he noticed anything else. "Sumimasen." The teacher shrugged and continued with his lesson.

Maho looked out the window. Motoko was standing there, back turned against the class, her arms crossed defiantly.

Poor Motoko, she thought. Al-san isn't even here, and you're protecting him... She smiled. That was so cool.

-----

Halfway through first period, a small triangle of paper, barely the size of a thumbnail, flew in the air. It landed on Maho's desk without a sound, but she definitely saw it come from Motoko's area.

The kendo girl gave her a harsh look from across the class. Hesitantly, Maho opened the neatly folded triangle and read it.

What on earth are you doing at school, Urashima-san? Don't you realize that you're still a child? People could notice you!

Taking out a pen, Maho quickly scribbled on the back of the sheet. She folded it up backwards, and launched it with a flick of her forefinger when the teacher had his back turned. By virtue of her dexterity, the triangle of paper slid to a stop right in the middle of Motoko's desk.

Motoko gave Maho a raised eyebrow and a sideways glance. Then she opened up the paper and began to read.

Nobody seems to care. Just act natural.

She sighed audibly, as if life was playing a cruel joke on her. Then she turned for a split second and gave Maho a nod. Class continued on, in its own oblivious way.

-----

Sam was on his lunch break, lying down on a bench listening to a walkman and trying to get some rest. Unfortunately for him, he was not going to get it.

Over the other side of the quad, a group was watching him.

"There's another of those gaijin," noted the leader. "Their lack of morality and dishonourable conduct is reflecting badly on our school. We dealt with the older one yesterday, and he seems to have taken the hint and not come in today... I think today, we should convince this one to leave as well." The group walked over.

"Hey you there, new kid, hand over that walkman or we will take it from you." said one member of the group. Sam ignored him.

"HEY! DID YOU HEAR ME?"

Sam took the headphones off, irritated and belligerant. "Yeah, I heard you. I'm just waiting for you to come get them, but I ain't gonna give them up without a fight, dumbass...."

At this point, Sam pulled his sword out of a sheath that was hidden in his trouser leg. He knew he wasn't supposed to have a blade in school, but he had arrived with it due to his unintended flight. Noone was looking, anyway.

The boy saw the sharp object pointed towards him and backpedalled quickly. "Um would you look at the time..." he stammered, "I gotta go! Bye..." The rest of the group departed as well, rather than face a blade.

Sam suddenly had a feeling he should conceal the sword somewhere else, and so it was that when he was called in to the Principle's office to account for carrying a weapon to school, he could honestly state that he was not carrying one and could be searched if required.

-----

At lunch, Ryuko was notably absent.

"Does anybody know where Ryuko-chan is?", Naru asked nobody in particular.

Mutsumi looked thoughtful. "She mentioned something about going exploring. Maybe she's in the crawlspace? I wouldn't worry too much about her."

Naru seemed satisfied by that answer. "I guess you're right. She knows how to take care of herself."

Kaolla was sitting next to Keitaro, and trying to get his attention. Meanwhile, Keitaro kept glancing across the table at Shinobu. Shinobu noticed this, and blushed. Naru also noticed this, and lightly kicked him in the shin beneath the table for being so rude.

Keitaro certainly felt it, and got the message. In response, he tried to make his glances less conspicuous.

Shinobu got up to fetch something from the kitchen.

Kaolla looked frustrated. Why wasn't Keitaro sneaking peeks at her? This called for drastic measures! Feeling bold (not that she ever didn't feel bold), she leaned over towards Keitaro, and waited for the right moment.

Not long after that, Keitaro turned to face her. "Kaolla-chan, I was wondering about your machine. Where did everyone's mass--"

The jungle girl saw her opportunity, and quickly leaned over further and silenced him by kissing him squarely on the lips. At that very instant, she felt a familiar sinking feeling. Argh! Not now!, she thought.

Keitaro sweatdropped. Everyone else turned to look at Kaolla. She was suddenly young again.

"Oh, crap," Keitaro thought. He correctly anticipated what was coming next.

Shinobu looked horrified. "Auuuuu!!!" she said, tears forming in her eyes.

Naru suddenly stood up. "Pervert! You shouldn't kiss a girl that much younger than yourself!" From somewhere, she produced Motoko's bokken and gave Keitaro a good whack with it. However, her small stature meant that Keitaro relatively easily managed to disarm her -- at which point she burst into tears and followed Shinobu out of the room.

------

After lunch, Shinobu made quick work of the dishes, before catching a bus to the city. Because of her pending date, she had a little shopping to do.

----------

"Ai-san, two green teas for table 2-C!"

"Ryoukai!" Haruka poured the tea carefully. She had done this for years, but now it seemed as if her hands were too awkward to do any of it right. It was frustrating, certainly, but it was only aggravated by the fact that there were more annoying things at hand. For instance, Kentaro was acting like he was in charge of the place while she was supposedly gone, taking all the orders and keeping her in the kitchen making everything.

She scowled as she set the tea on a tray. Arrogant buffoon.

Meanwhile, Kentaro was filling out orders with gusto, single-handedly serving the lunchtime crowd. But while he seemed so dedicated to work, he actually had to focus to keep his thoughts from drifting to Ai. She was cute, spirited, smart... Not even Naru had been this perfect! It was like he was destined to meet her today. Kentaro only hoped that he was showing Ai how confident and cool he was by running the teashop in Haruka's absence.

He smiled as he headed to the kitchen. Luck had to be on his side today.

"Three orders of iced coffee. Could you do me a favor and get those green teas out there while I warm up the coffee machine? It's a bit tricky if you're inexperienced."

"Hai." I know damn well how to warm up that machine, baka! She had to bite her lip to keep from screaming it right then and there.

"Arigato, Ai-chan."

Haruka blanched. Ai-chan? Ai-chan?

"Ano, Kentaro-kun, I don't know if we know each other well enough to be so informal..."

"But you just called me Kentaro-kun, didn't you?"

She blushed in embarrassment. She was already so used to talking down to him. "Oh, sou desu ka! Gomen nasai!"

Kentaro just laughed as he flipped the switches. "Kawaii desu ne, Ai-chan."

She wanted nothing more at that moment than to punch him in the face. But instead, Haruka forced herself to smile and walked out with the tray of drinks. There was no use in knocking him out when the teashop was finally so busy.

Suddenly, either by misstep or just plain bad luck, she slipped. Time seemed to go in slow motion as she tried to regain her balance, and failed. She began to lose her grip on the tray, and felt a sickening loss of control as gravity brought her closer and closer to the hard ground.

But she didn't hit the floor. Strong arms were holding her steady, only a foot or two above the ground.

Haruka opened her eyes. It was Kentaro.

"Ai-chan, daijoubu?" He smiled. "You should be more careful."

She could only stare at him in silence. Was it a second? A minute? She didn't know. She quickly slipped out of his grasp, picking up the cups that had fallen. "Gomen nasai. I'll make these again right away."

"Ai-chan-" Before he could say anything more, she ran back to the kitchen. He would have followed her, were it not for the sound of bells signaling the arrival of a new customer. With a dejected sigh, Kentaro got back to work. "Irashaimasen!"

As soon as Haruka was safely hidden behind the pots and pans, she slumped down, trying frantically to slow down her breathing.

There it was for a second time, that feeling in her heart.

It was much stronger.

------

Ryuko's morning

The abandoned annex stood before her, just begging to be explored.

Ryuko's youthful spirit of adventure had returned to her. She approached the structure, determined to gain entry. She was wearing some old clothes she found in Hinata's attic earlier. On her back was a backpack, with Ryu-chan's stuffed head poking through the zipper to the largest compartment.

Ryuko walked along the perimiter of the building, looking for a way in. Finally she spotted a window that looked like it could be pried open. "Perfect!" She found an old wooden barrel not far away that she was able to roll into position and climb upon.

The window was stuck, thanks to years of disuse and expansion due to moisture. Fortunately, Ryuko was stronger than the average ten-year-old and was able to overcome the friction. Once inside, it took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She retrieved the flashlight from her backpack and used it to look in all directions. Spiderwebs were draped among the wooden columns, adding to the spooky atmosphere.

"Wow, this is great!", Ryuko exclaimed. Without hesitation, she began walking towards the first item of interest that she spotted, a large gear that was partially exposed through a hole in the wall. "Nani?" She was baffled as to its purpose there. As she reached out to touch it, a ratcheting sound echoed through the room, and the gear slowly turned. The very floor shook, and dust fell from the ceiling. The door beside the gear was now opened.

Now, /that/ was certainly interesting. Ryuko wondered what set it off. Maybe it was connected to the gearing in the clock tower somehow? Whatever the reason, the door was now closing, just as quickly as it had opened. Feeling intrepid, Ryuko jumped through the opening just before it shut completely.

-----

Al's Afternoon

Dizzy watched Al play in the sand box with some neighborhood children, a girl and a boy. He was telling the boy about this magic place he had heard about called Tokyo U, and encouraging the boy to ask the little girl if she would go with him.

Dizzy sat back. He was relaxing on a bench, and so far Al had been no trouble at all to watch.

"RRRRRRRRRRRR."

Dizzy turned hearing the sound of a motorcycle. He spotted a bike tearing towards them, with no rider!

Dizzy watched, stunned, as the apparently riderless bike shot past him. Then he saw him -- rippling furry muscles, a leather jacket and a katana, it was Bismarck!

Dizzy had been wondering where his brother had been after the aborted wedding, and there he was, riding right for the sandbox -- and Al!!!

Dizzy ran after the bike, but he was no match for the speed. Bizmarck grabbed Al by the shirt and pulled him onto the bike, throwing a plastic toothpick shaped like a sword at Dizzy's feet. He then revved up the bike and shot off down the hill, disappearing into town.

Dizzy picked up the toothpick. First his sandwich, and now his best friend. Bizmarck would pay!

Dizzy whistled, and Tama crashed out of the bushes. Dizzy then hopped on the turtle's shell and they were off in pursuit of the evil twin.

----

Bizmarck laughed as he watched his brother ride his turtle steed towards him.

He had parked the bike and taken Al to the top of an old building set to be demolished at noon, and now he awaited his brother. Soon he would be rid of both his enemies, and the world would be ripe for the picking.

Long ago Bizmarck had met Al, when Al had won him in a carnival game.

Bizmarck was none too happy about the situation but he tolerated it, because he knew that someday he was meant to take over the world, and this boy would just be another step on the path.

But fortunately (or unfortunately) Al had always happened to be in the area when Bizmarck launched a plan to take over the world, and through amazing feats of luck and nothing more, had always thwarted him.

Around this time, Al had decided the best way to fight evil weasels was with a weasel, but the cloning wasn't complete. Al had meant to make a good version of Bizmarck, but Dizmarck had turned out weaker than his brother. It was only logical -- the matter used to make him had broken down and wasn't as potent as if Al had managed to get Bizmarck to stand still long enough for a proper cloning.

From that point on, Bizmarck had made it his lifeÆs goal to destroy his weaker half, and the boy who seemed destined to stand in his way from his ultimate goal.

Al was tied in duct tape and sitting on the ground near the edge, duct tape slapped over his mouth to keep him quiet. He had struggled, but now he lay still. Bizmarck had wondered if he had given in to depression.

No -- Alex had just decided to take a nap.

"GRR!" Bizmarck turned; his brother was standing at the far edge of the roof, glaring.

"GRR!" demanded the heroic weasel.

"GRR!" his brother smirked.

"GRR!" Dizzy was getting desperate.

"GRR." Bizmarck took Al and rolled him over to the edge, and then explained how in five minutes the building would be nothing but a pile of rubble, and Al with it.

Dizzy grew very pale and begged "Grr!"

His brother smirked and took off his jacket, balling his tiny weasel fists, it had come to this.

Dizzy sighed, so glad for his sudden increase in strength, and then he charged at his brother, who in turn charged.

What happened next was a melee of scratching and biting and hitting that became far too violent for the innocent to hear about, but luckily Al was asleep.

This did not however stop him from rolling in his sleep, right off the edge of the building.

The pair stopped frozen, as pale as ghosts. They ran over to the edge and looked down.

(Moments before)

Mutsumi had been pulling a wagon full of watermelons but had happened to run into Tama-Chan.

"Well hello there, do I know you?"

"Myuh."

"Oh me oh my, Tama-Chan, can it really be you? YouÆve gotten so big; you must be eating poor Kei-kun out of house and home."

Tama shook her head and attempted to explain to Mutsumi what had happened in the time she had been gone.

"Oh dear, so now poor little Dizzy is fighting with his brother? That's so sad, siblings should always get along -- like Liddo-kun in the episode where he and his sister sold out their father to the mob and later found his body in the river."

Tama-Chan sweat dropped and Mutsumi blinked, looking confused, she held out her arms just in time to stop the duct taped Al's decent.

"Well, will you look at who decided to drop in!" She smiled and pulled the duct tape off Al's mouth.

"OW, hiya, I'm Awix, who are you?"

"I'm Mutsumi Otohime, but you may call me Mutsumi." She smiled; Alex was so cute as a child.

Back on the roof, after making sure Al was ok, Dizzy returned to fighting his twin, the two grabbing pipes and rocks that came to hand. They attacked each other, doing more damage to the building then the demolition crew had.

Wait a minute -- where was the demolition crew? It had been far more then five minutes...

The pair peeked over the edge. A construction crew stood some 50 yards away, one man with his hands on a plunger.

"GRRRRRRR!" The two screamed as the man pushed down, triggering...nothing.

Everyone stared; the building did not blow up as it was supposed to.

"What the heck?" The man inspected the lines, they went in another direction, in fact, they led towards...

BOOOOM!

A large office building began to crumble, the few people who hadn't gone out to lunch diving out windows into pillows that had been placed at supposed random on the ground.

"This place was losing money, but they had great insurance, so in the long run, they'll make more money." Mutsumi explained to Al and tama as they watched the people land safely on the pillows that were apparently randomly scattered about the area.

Tama-Chan sighed. Sure, she had saved the love of her life, but did Mutsumi have to blow up another building instead?

The weasels watched in stunned silence, which was only broken by the sound of crumbling stone. Bizmarck fell -- the stone he had been standing on had given away.

"GRRR!" He cried as he grabbed the ledge with one paw.

"GRR!" He begged as his wide eyed brother watched.

Dizzy wondered what he should do. On the one hand he could end his and Al's problems with one action, but on the other, Bizmarck was his brother, and it wouldn't be right. On the other hand, Bizmarck would do the same to him, and on the other hand, Al would try to help Bizmarck, and on the other hand...no, Dizzy had run out of hands.

He grabbed his brotherÆs paw and pulled him up, saving the evil one from a nasty fall.

This was just what Bizmarck had hoped for, he grabbed his brother and flung him from the edge instead, waving as Dizzy fell from sight.

Dizzy covered his eyes, his stomach doing flip flops. This was the end, he'd never see a show on Broadway, he'd never learn to hang glide, he would never get to see if he liked Tama-Chan in that way, or if it was even possible for the two different creatures to have a romance like that he would never...wait, he had stopped.

He opened his eyes slowly; he was looking up at the calm and smiling face of Mutsumi, who was holding him in a catcherÆs mitt.

"Were you trying to fly, Dizzy-kun? I don't know if you can, you can always ride on Tama-Chan when she flies, you know."

Dizzy looked down; Al was hugging Mutsumi, "Thank you for catching my fwend."

Mutsumi smiled, and the three climbed into the wagon, Tama-Chan pulling them towards Hinata house.

Up on top of the building, Bizmarck cursed. Another fine plan had failed! No matter, someday he'd be rid of those meddling fools, and when he finally did, no amount of luck would save them.

It was at this point that the building collapsed, leaving the evil weasel to dig himself out of the rubble.

Someday...

------

Haruka's thoughts were murderous as she stabbed her chopsticks into her bowl of rice. In her mind, she pictured all the ways she could kill Kentaro once the age change wore off. A less rational part of her wondered why she didn't just do it now, secrecy be damned.

He was so quick to be touchy-feely and cute, which wasn't that different from the norm. There wasn't a day that went by when Kentaro wasn't being flirtatious with someone. But he was doing it differently around her. Gone was the obvious pomposity and silly vibrato voice, replaced by something altogether foreign.

She fumed. Haruka didn't know why it bothered her. But it did- It infuriated her.

"Taking your lunch break, Ai-chan?" Kentaro slid over to the counter where she was trying to enjoy her meal. "Ah, to see a beautiful young lady enjoying my special white rice recipe." He wiped a tear. "It fills my heart with such joy!"

Haruka's rage bubbled up, and she was just about to shout a scathing retort about exactly where he should stick the white rice. But she stopped herself just short. What was she doing? It seemed peculiar, once she thought about it-She usually wasn't this abrasive or irritable, even with people like Kentaro. Was the age change affecting her mind as well as her body?

She smiled politely at Kentaro and got up to move to a table. This would require some serious thought.

But then, for a second time, she slipped. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for it, other than phenomenally bad luck. Or maybe it was karma. Either way, Haruka could tell that she was definitely going to fall.

Kentaro's hand reached across the counter and grabbed her right shoulder, keeping Haruka steady.

As soon as he made contact with her body, her heart suddenly began beating like a jackhammer. She felt her cheeks turn warm, telling her that she was blushing. She was actually blushing, like a shy little girl, for the first time in years.

With her free hand, Haruka grabbed the phone from the counter and decked Kentaro with it. He fell to the floor, knocked out cold.

The few remaining customers inside the teahouse surreptitiously made their getaway. Haruka watched them go with a bit of disappointment. But in her mind, it was all worth it for that one beautiful hit.

She looked down disdainfully at the unconscious boy at her feet.

"Baka."

-------

Ryuko continued to scout out the old building, pausing every once in a while to amend the map she was drawing in a spiral notebook. This was awkward as she had to hold the small flashlight in her mouth, to keep her hands free to hold the notebook and pencil.

She decided to take a break, and sat down, pondering something from the day before. She retrieved Ryu-chan and held him such that they faced each other. "Ryu-chan, do you remember the last time we played /twenty questions/?"

"yes i do, ryuko. we played six days ago."

"Nani? We played just yesterday. Don't you remember?"

"i'm sorry, ryuko."

"Hmmm. Well, do you know anybody that has a crush on me?"

"i'm not aware of any such person."

Ryuko raised an eyebrow. "You're lying! You were just trying to get me to guess who it was yesterday!"

"i cannot lie, ryuko."

She looked at the stuffed dragon for a moment, considering this. "I suppose you're right, Ryu-chan. I'm sorry I doubted you. You must've found out just prior to the game, then you forgot everything..." She gave the stuffed dragon an apologetic hug.

"So, Ryu-chan. How do you like being stuffed?" She played with his ears, folding them back and forth, giggling.

"i cannot distinguish between this form and my prior one."

"Well, I think I prefer you stuffed. You're more huggable that way."

Ryu-chan sweatdropped. "ryuko?"

"Yes?"

"how do you like being a child again?" It was a decidedly fair question.

Ryuko seemed surprised to hear it from Ryu-chan, though. She quickly answered, "I prefer being a kid. I wish I could stay this way."

"why is that?"

"I don't know. I guess I feel more energetic and less inhibited."

"did you feel inhibited before?"

"Well, in a way, yes. As an adult I never really had the time to do all the things I wanted to do, and I was expected to behave and be serious all the time..." She gave Ryu-chan a funny look. "You sound like a psychiatrist."

"i'm sorry. i didn't mean to pry."

Ryuko shook her head. "No, it's okay. I've always felt I could tell you anything."

"why is that?"

"Because I trust you, silly. I created you..."

Suddenly, a distinct scurrying sound caught Ryuko's attention. She dropped Ryu-chan and sprang to her feet. Frantically she swung the flashlight around, looking for the source of the noice, then finally she noticed a swarm of purple lights on the floor, coming towards her. She took the flashlight and tilted it down towards the floor.

She shrieked! A hoarde of mecha-tamas was converging on her!

-----

Right after school, Lance rushed to Yamasugawa's classroom, Sarah slung over his back. Instead of expected to burst into his classroom and bowing an apology, he ran into Yamasugawa right in the hallway in front of his lab. He was holding an acoustic guitar, with a couple of strings broken and scratches all over it.

"Ah Lance-san, good to see you... here..." Yamasugawa stared blankly at Sarah, who was messing around with Lance's hair again.

"Yeah, about that..." he said. "This is Sarah, one of my neighbor's daughters. She had an emergency this morning and I had to take care of her, and I can't afford to miss school. I hope you don't mind me bringing her, Yamasugawa-sensei?"

"No problem, my young friend!" he replied, smiling. "I have a son just her age. There's a couple of things in the lab she can occupy herself with while you get to work."

"Toys? In a laboratory?" Lance asked, almost concerned.

"It's nothing dangerous, it's nothing she can break or use it to break other things."

"But sir, she already managed to push down a bookcase in the library, tears pages out of everyone's English books, start a small food fight during lunch, spit gum on a girls hair, AND make a laughing stock out of me whenever she clings to my leg."

"Nothing at all, Mr. Waymire. I've got just the thing that could calm her down..."

Ten minutes later, Sarah was in the corner of the lab, inside a primatively built "crib" and holding a copy of Lance's school I.D. She drooled over it and hugged it, keeping herself quiet. Meanwhile Lance and Yamasugawa were looking through a microscope and taking notes of the specimen, while Amy and Kyoji were working on their own projects.

"Yamasugawa-sensei, what was with the guitar you had earlier?" Lance asked in the middle of taking notes.

"It's just something I found near the dumpster earlier today," he said as he looked through the microscope again, "It didn't looked ruined and it can be fixed up pretty easily, but I have no one to give it to."

Lance beamed. "Sensei, I can take it! I used to play guitar all the time back in the States, and I can fix that up like nothing!"

Yamasugawa-sensei smiled and went back to scribbling notes. "Sounds good, I'll hand it over at the end of work. Meanwhile, have you gotten a sketch of the specimen done yet?"

-----

Motoko opened the door, returning home from school, only to be tackled by Al once again.

"YAY, MOO MOO'S HOME!"

Motoko blushed slightly, she had been dreading this. She had never babysat before, so she had asked her friends for advice -- it seemed to conflict somewhat, but she figured that one of them had to work.

Motoko attempted to drag herself up to her room with Al in tow, and then spent three minutes explaining to him why he had to stay outside while she changed out of her school uniform; she then gave up and told Dizzy to guard the door.

She changed and the three of them went downstairs to "Pway." as Alex put it.

"So um... what do we play?" Motoko asked, unsure of what children did at this age. Her childhood had been spent training, and she had had no time for games.

"Ummm, tag!" he poked her leg and then took off running down the hall.

"Alex, wait, you'll get hurt if you keep running like that!" she chased after him.

Alex turned a corner and climbed onto the railing, sliding down the stairs, where he hopped off and looked for Motoko.

She reached the stairs and leaped, sliding down the railing as had Al and dizzy, only she did it while standing, to come to a landing in front of Alex.

She smiled and poked him in the head, "You're 'it'." she then took off out the door, at a slow enough pace that Al could keep up. This was a fun game, after all.

Al chased her outside, but then spotted Dizzy and leaped upon him, "TAG, YOU'RE IT!" he laughed as he left the squashed weasel in his dust.

Dizzy stood up and growled, spying Motoko who was trying to hide her amusement at the childish game; he darted over to her and tagged her before running in a different direction.

Motoko felt the adrenaline pumping into her body; this was entertaining! She would have said it was stupid had Urashima or someone else been playing, but this was quiet enjoyable.

She ran after Alex, who ran, but tripped, falling to the ground. When she stopped short and looked at him, he was whimpering. He pulled up his pant leg, and upon seeing his scraped knee, began crying.

"What do we do now?" Motoko asked Dizzy, the display catching her completely off guard.

Dizzy shrugged "Grr." he suggested.

"WHAT!?! I refuse! You can't make me!"

But Al continued wailing until she couldn't take it anymore, "ALRIGHT ALREADY!"

She took his legs, and leaned in slowly; she pecked the wound on his leg and then quickly slapped a bandage on it and moved away.

"There, I kissed it all better."

Al sat there for a moment, and then stood up and poked her "Tag!" he then took off running again, a satisfied expression on his face.

----------

After about an hour of running, Al had finally run out of energy and the three of them went inside where motoko, following the advice given to her by one of the girls who followed her around, sat Alex in front of the T.V.

She went into the kitchen and was getting herself a drink of water when she heard a tiny scream and saw Dizzy shoot through the kitchen being chased by the giant Tama-Chan.

"Guess I'm watching Alex by myself." Motoko drank her water and returned to the front room.

"Wha...wha...where...is...he?" Motoko grew very pale -- Al was gone!

She took a deep breath. OK, no need to panic, he can't get into too much trouble, he could barely reach the doorknobs.

She began searching the room for him. 'He must think we're playing hide and seek or something,' she thought to herself as she searched.

----

Motoko sighed; she had finally found him hiding in a freshly laundered clothes hamper.

"YouÆre good at dis game." Alex smiled and held out a daisy with a clump of dirt still attached to the roots. "I got you a pwesent."

Motoko looked at the flower, it was grimy and she knew that now someone would have to do the laundry all over again, but it was so sweet -- she was not used to such things. Could this in fact be the very first flower she had ever been given?

"T...thank you." she got down on a knee and hugged Alex. If only he was a little more like this when his normal age, she sighed.

------

Half an hour after leaving the school, Lance was back home and his guitar was stashed in his room until he could fix it later. He felt real fortunate to finally get his hobby back, he practically grew up with a guitar back home. He was a good player too -- he had tried to start a band but there weren't enough people in his neighborhood who could play any instrument whatsoever. What's sad was that he was in San Diego, the nerve center of punk rock. He sighed, deciding to see if Motoko could take care of Sarah for a while to give him a bit of a break.

Maho walked up the stairs to the Hinata Inn, just as the sun began its near-unnoticeable dip toward the bottom of the sky. After school had ended, she took her time in walking home. It was irresponsible, she knew. But she needed the time alone.

"Tadaima!" Maho called out to the house as she went up the last step.

Motoko was standing outside the entrance. She was holding baby Sarah in her arms, wrapped up in a bundle of blankets. As she cradled the sleeping child, she looked up at the new arrival.

"Urashima-san." The young woman looked up at the sky. "It's a little late to be just coming home."

"Hai, gomen." Maho smiled apologetically. "I took the scenic route."

"Do you not understand the situation we're in, or do you simply refuse to acknowledge it?" Motoko frowned in disapproval. "You can't waltz around at midnight, go to school, and wander around town as if nothing's wrong."

"Hai." Maho thought for a moment. "By the way, did you find any more of those pictures, Motoko-san?" She could tell by the clenched jaw and burning gaze that the change in subject worked.

"Fortunately for whoever's responsible, I did not."

"Ah, youkata, ne?" Motoko suddenly stared at Maho curiously, which made the other girl a little uneasy. "Nani?"

"Your accent. I didn't notice it until now." She looked down at Sarah for a moment as she talked. "Are you a Tokyo native, Urashima-san?"

"Oh." Maho hadn't realized that her accent had returned. She'd worked for years to get rid of it, so it was probably another side effect of the age change. "Gomen. Is it strange to you?"

"Not at all."

She smiled. "I lived outside of Tokyo, actually. But I guess I picked up a lot of things from oka-san without meaning to."

She arched an eyebrow. "I don't recall Grandmother Hina having a Tokyo accent."

Maho shook her head. "Not Mama. Oka-san."

Before Motoko could inquire, Sarah stirred and began to cry loudly.

"I think she's hungry," Maho suggested. "I bought some applesauce a few days ago. It's in the fridge, so go ahead and give it to her."

Motoko nodded. "Arigato, Urashima-san." Shaking baby Sarah lightly in her arms, the warrior girl-turned-nanny walked into the house.

As soon as she was out of sight, Maho sighed and sat down on the ground. Motoko was awfully good with children, she thought. It wasn't apparent right away, the way she carried herself all the time. But there was a real gentle side under that hard exterior. She would probably make a wonderful mother, once the time came.

No wonder Al liked her.

"ARRRRGH!" Lance heard a familiar scream from down the hall, and upon running towards it, he discovered the source of the voice. Motoko was dragging Al from her room, which looks as if a hurricane had hit it, swords and scrolls lay scattered, and it was impossible to tell where the destruction ended and the room began.

"What happened, Motoko?"

Motoko sighed, "I took some advice on babysitting from a friend and gave him coffee flavored Ice cream, and then the little monster ran off and trashed my room!"

Lance blinked. "You gave a child coffee?"

"SHE SAID KIDS LOVE ICE CREAM!" Motoko cried as she began to pick up her ruined scrolls, having first passed a joyous Sarah back to Lance's arms. Sarah immediately climbed up to Lance's back and began chewing on his hair again.

Lance sighed and picked up Al, hoping that it would help Motoko while she attempted to clean her room without interruption.

"Geez, this kid is heavy for his age..."

Al smiled at the newcomer. "Hiya, I'm Awixander, but you can call me Awix."

Lance smirked. "Damn it, if I only had a camera...." Lance looked over Al and asked Motoko, "You sure you don't need any help?"

The door slammed shut leaving lance, Al and Sarah outside. "Help by keeping him busy!"

Lance blinked. "Okay...."

Sighing, he set down Al. "Let's go, then. I know where a Chuckle Cheese is you guys wouldn't mind making a mess in."

"Yay!" Chibi-Al cheered.

The door then slid open and Dizzy was flung out. "And take this rat with you!"

Al snatched up Dizzy "kitty!"

Lance sighed. Clearly this day wasn't destined to be his. He hefted Sarah up on his back some more and said "Well, now that everyone is here, let's get going."

---

After what seemed like the longest cabride in history, where Alex asked "Are we there yet no less then 500 times, they arrived at Chuckle Cheese, home of giant talking mice that aren't owned by Disney, and badly made pizza.

The cabby was so happy to see them get out he didn't even charge Lance for the ride

Lance waved the cab off as it skidded away in a hurry. "That was sure nice of him. Well let's go kids, I should have enough cash for a pizza and some drinks."

After ordering and sitting down at an almost clean table, Al took mini-Sarah and the two of them wandered off to get lost in the play place, leaving Dizzy and lance to watch the none too impressive animatronic animals sing on stage.

"Well Dizzy, I hope this doesn't last too long." Lance took a sip of his Pepsi.

Dizzy sighed and took a swig from a root beer he had ordered, the whole day had been long for him.

Lance looked on to the two children as they rolled around in the ball bin. "Still, can't help to think they're kind of cute."

Dizzy nodded, and told of why Al and Sarah got along so well, due to Al having a younger sister at home, he said all of this with a single "Grr."

Lance frowned "So would his sister ask him to help capture the object of her affections?

Dizzy shook his head "Grr."

"Nah I guess I'm not still mad about you two chasing me on Sunday, I mean, he did help me in the end...kinda.

Dizzy nodded and then went over the day's activities with Al

"Meh, it happens." The pizza arrived and Lance called Al and Sarah over to eat, grabbing a slice of his own.

Dizzy took a slice and munched it, and then snorted in laughter as Sarah attempted to feed Lance the pizza

The boy didn't appear to have much experience with babysitting, it seemed.

"I used to babysit my neighbor's baby, but he wasn't anything like Sarah." Lance grumbled as a chunk of Pizza was shoved into his mouth. Al laughed and began blowing bubbles in his sprite

Lance took the pizza from her and grabbed another slice, feeding her this time while Dizzy attempted to force Al to stop, which resulted in the spilling of the drink all over the poor weasel.

Lance chuckled, grabbing napkins and handing them to Dizzy, Meanwhile, Sarah grabbed hold of Lance's Pepsi, which he took out of her hands. "Don't be getting any ideas, Sarah. You've already caused enough problems today." Sarah laughed and took another bite of pizza.

Al finished his pizza, and then without asking his weasel or human babysitters, darted off to the play place again, disappearing in the tunnels.

"Well, he's a fast eater." lance muttered watching the boys quick departure.

Dizzy nodded and chewed on a particularly rubbery piece of Pizza. "Grrr."

"What's my story? Well I've got many, what do you want to hear?" Lance took the Pepsi away from Sarah again, causing another giggle fit.

"Grr."

Lance sighed, "That my new furry friend remains a mystery. due to her young age, I would say that she also regressed mentally because she isn't reaching for... parts she shouldn't. She's grown so attached to me in a child's sense, that I couldn't leave her at home. So she went to school with me.... and you should know what happened after that."

"Grr."

"Not exactly. It was more weird looks and utter confusion than anything. There were some complications.... but if I give her my school I.D card, she'll hug it and stay quiet."

Dizzy nodded and expressed his wonder at why Al seemed to mentally regress when the ten year old girls didn't. After all, he was speaking Japanese and Al couldn't do that as a child.

"Su's machine did have flaws right in the beginning, so who knows what happened. But look at you though, you can't exactly say you hadn't changed." Sarah finished her pizza and crawled off to join Al.

Dizzy grins and hoped onto the floor, picking up the chair with lance in it, being older and buff was so much fun.

Lance's eyes grew wide as he tried to keep himself in his chair. "Alright, I get it! I get it!"

Dizzy set down the chair and climbed back onto the table "Grr."

"Just be glad you're still small and Tama grew dramatically. It's easier for you to hide." One of the automated animal machines started to spark and stutter.

Dizzy stared, hoping that Al has nothing to do with it, he heard Al's laugh from somewhere in the ball pit and returned to his drink

Lance scanned the play area. "Wait a minute, where's Sarah?"

His question was answered by a girly giggle, Sarah was sitting on the back of a banjo playing bear and pulling on it's head, which was now shooting sparks

"SARAH!" Lance clambered out of the table and ran to Sarah, yanking her off of the bear. "No, bad Sarah! You don't do that to machines!" Sarah just giggled.

Dizzy snickered, but was stopped short by a rumbling, he turned, Al was standing looking at the wall of the ball pit, he had a screw in his hand and the wall was shaking

Dizzy ran and pushed Al out of the way, as the wall fell and the ball pit poured into the rest of the restaurant, flooding the entire building

Lance yelled a curse and shielded Sarah as the balls pelted him, soon ending up having him up to his waist in balls.

He looked up to the customers who were clambering their way out. "Dizzy! Al!"

Dizzy and Al were floating in the rising ocean of plastic balls, Dizzy holding Al's collar, swimming for the floating tables

Lance hefted Sarah up (who was holding onto a ball and trying to eat it) and trudged through the ocean of balls to meet up with them.

Dizzy watched as the flood rises to it's full hight of 4 feet and then began rowing the table towards the door with a plastic spoon.

Lance caught up with the table, placing Sarah on top of it and pushing the table towards the exit.

------

The Date

Keitaro waited for Shinobu in the commons area, seated on one of the sofas. He was wearing a white shirt with a blue tie, black slacks, and a black suit jacket. Dressier than usual for a date. He hoped it didn't look too over the top, but he wanted Shinobu's date to be special. She deserved that much. He was somewhat nervous, and fidgeted with his thumbs.

"Are you ready, Sempai?"

Keitaro snapped to attention and looked up. Shinobu was standing before him, wearing a pretty, cherry-red dress that revealed a bit of cleavage. Her hair was done up in a French braid, with a long ponytail. Modest gold earrings adorned her small ears. She was holding a pair of velvet black dress shoes in her hand, but they had low heels, since she didn't want to be taller than her date.

Keitaro's eyes widened. She looked even better than before! "You...you look great, Shinobu-chan!"

Shinobu blushed. "Arigato, Sempai. You look pretty sharp yourself!"

He stood up and offered his arm to her, then realized something. "I didn't know your ears were pierced."

"They...weren't." Somehow, she was surprised that he'd noticed. She gladly took hold of his arm.

Keitaro sweatdropped. "You didn't have to, just for me..."

"Ano...It was no big deal, Sempai."

"And your hair. When did you learn to do that?"

"I had help." Actually, she had it professionally done. She hoped he'd stop asking questions, so she asked one of her own to change the subject. "So, where are we going tonight?"

Keitaro smiled. "It's a surprise. Come on, let's go."

-----

The Annexe

The mecha-tamas advanced on Ryuko, forcing her into a corner. There were dozens of them! She managed to kick some of them away, but they quickly returned, even more determined than before. They grabbed her legs and were beginning to climb her!

"Help! Ryu-chan! Do something!"

Ryu-chan recognized that Ryuko was in danger, but it wasn't immediately apparent what he could do to help. He couldn't move, after all. "i'm not sure what to do, ryuko!"

Ryuko screamed as the robots piled on top of her. She could barely move or breathe as she was almost completely covered, and the weight was more than she could bear. "I'm too young to die!", she screamed.

Then, Ryu-chan had an idea. It had a slim chance of working, but it was worth a shot.

Ryuko continued to struggle in vain, with just one hand still visible. Then, gasping for air, she passed out.

Ryu-chan knew he had to act quickly when he saw Ryuko's hand fall limp. He concentrated on reverse-engineering the coded radio signals the robots were using to communicate back and forth.

Suddenly, the mecha-tamas stopped moving! They remained paused for a moment, then slowly backed away from Ryuko. After arranging themselves into a neat array, they began /line dancing/.

But Ryuko was still unconscious.

------

Keitaro and Shinobu stepped off the bus in downtown Tokyo. Keitaro took his date by the hand, and led her a short distance further. With her dress, Shinobu stood out a bit on the busy sidewalk, but she didn't seem to mind the attention.

Finally they stopped outside Maison Rouge, a famous French restaurant known for its live music as much as for its food. Shinobu's eyes seemed to light up as she realized where they were going. "Oh, Sempai, I've always wanted to go here!...but isn't it really expensive?"

Keitaro raised a palm and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I've got it covered." Truth be known, it would put a dent in his finances. But given the circumstances, he thought it was worth it. "Urashima, reservation for two," he announced to the well-dressed host.

"Bon soir. I am Henri, your host for this evening. Please follow me to your table." They were led to a dimly-lit corner booth with a round table and a semicircular seat. Partitions on two sides afforded a certain amount of privacy from the main dining area. A candle in the center of the table added to the romantic atmosphere.

Keitaro gestured for Shinobu to sit down first, then he scooted himself in beside her.

The host waited for the two to get comfortable before proceeding. "Here is tonight's menu. You'll find our entrees in the front, and our house wines and other beverages listed in the back. Antoine will be your server, and he will be with you soon to take your order."

"Thank you," Keitaro said as he accepted the menu. He opened it up so both he and Shinobu could look it over. Henri left, probably to return to the front desk.

"Ano...there aren't any prices in this."

"Yeah, I know. They do that for a reason. Don't worry about it, Shinobu-chan. You can have anything you want!"

"Really, Sempai?"

Keitaro nodded.

Shinobu was impressed. She poured over the choices for several minutes. "I think I'll have special number three, with a tossed salad. How about you?"

Keitaro re-read the description of Shinobu's choice. "I think I'll have the same. And to drink?" Keitaro flipped the menu over to the back. "If you want to try some wine, I won't say anything."

Shinobu hesitated in responding. While drinking wine might make her look more sophisticated, it would probably add a lot to the cost of the meal. On top of that, didn't she promise Naru that she wouldn't indulge? She couldn't quite remember. "Ano...if it's all right with you, I think I'll just have water."

Keitaro raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Well, then, in that case I'll just have water, too."

Shinobu smiled a bit. She knew that despite the cost, he was really abstaining just to make her more comfortable. "Arigato, Sempai."

"Hmmm? What for?"

She leaned towards him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Just for

you being you."

Keitaro tilted his head and looked into Shinobu's eyes. They were so pretty and innocent that they defied description. The background noise of the restaurant seemed to fade away. A moment like this probably wouldn't come again, he thought. He had an overriding desire to kiss her, and he built up the courage to do it. As she lifted her head from his shoulder, he leaned towards her. She seemed to recognize the moment too, and she closed her eyes in preparation.

Just as they were about to kiss, however, they were startled by a string quartet that had just arrived at their table and begun playing without any warning. Their privacy now gone, the mood was lost.

/This can't be happening,/ they both thought at the same time. They reluctantly sat back and listened to the piece, while waiting for the server to return to take their order.

Shinobu sighed.

---------

Back in the annexe, Ryuko opened her eyes. An elderly woman, with gray hair, rosy cheeks, and a rounded belly was leaning over her with a cheerful smile on her face.

It only took a moment for recognition to set in. Ryuko blinked, and rubbed her eyes in disbelief. "Grandma Yoshikawa?!"

"Shhh. It's all right, Ryuko-chan. You need to rest."

Ryuko sprung up and hugged her tightly, burying her face in her grandmother's apron. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Grandmother patted Ryuko on the back. "I'm sorry. Only your mother knew. I couldn't bear to tell you anything that would wipe away your smile."

Ryuko couldn't help but cry. Seeing her after all these years brought a torrent of memories to her. "But I didn't get a chance to say goodbye!", she protested.

"It would have been too painful. Please forgive me. I'd already told you almost everything that I wanted you to know."

They spent a silent moment together, with Grandma wiping away Ryuko's tears.

"You were always my favorite, Ryuko-chan...so exuberant and full of life. I often wondered whether you had three spirits within you, all crammed into one. Every time you came to visit me, all my worries would dissappear. I miss seeing you that way."

Ryuko continued crying. "Nothing seemed to matter as much after you died. I didn't have anyone to turn to after that. Dad was never there for me."

"I'm sorry I left you at a bad time...but I didn't have much say in the matter. I know you've had your share of adversity. But you need to move on. You shouldn't keep your emotions all bottled up inside you."

Ryuko was getting her grandmother's apron all wet, but at least she managed to calm down.

"I'll...I'll try. I guess I'd forgotten how I used to be."

Grandmother smiled. "You promise?"

"Hai."

Ryuko remembered where she was. "Oh, Grandma! I found the special place in the photo!"

Grandmother looked around the dimly-lit room they were in. "Yes, you did, didn't you? I'm afraid it's seen better days. You know, you really shouldn't have come here until you'd found the person you were certain you wanted to spend the rest of your life with."

Ryuko pouted. "What if that day never comes?"

"Oh, it will. Trust me. But coming here on a whim can have dire consequences. This building can make your life miserable just as easily as it can help to make it joyous."

Ryuko looked confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"You'll understand when you're older."

"But I am older! I'm almost twenty!"

Obaasan squinted. "You look more like ten to me."

Ryuko sweatdropped. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Oh, I almost forgot! Did you find the key hidden in my journal?"

Ryuko shook her head.

"Look for it."

"What does it go to?"

Grandmother smiled. "I could tell you, but it would be more fun for you to figure it out on your own. I have to go now. I love you, Ryuko. Now be a good little girl!"

"Wait!", Ryuko called out. "There are so many things I want to ask you! Will I ever see you again?!" But Grandmother was gone.

"I love you, Grandma."

Ryuko continued dreaming, but for some reason her thoughts were filled with visions of dancing turtles. "Nani?"

It must be because of all that daifuku I ate, she thought.

At some point, Ryuko realized she wasn't dreaming. She rubbed her bruised forehead while looking around in disbelief.

"ryuko! are you all right?"

Ryuko turned and spotted Ryu-chan on the floor beside her. "I think so. What happened?"

"i made the robots stop attacking you. i think you passed out."

Ryuko picked up the stuffed dragon and hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Ryu-chan!"

Ryuko stayed seated and watched the mecha-tamas for a while as she rested.

"Um...can you make them stop dancing?"

"of course i can!"

Ryu-chan sent another radio command, and the mecha-tamas ceased all movement.

"Thank you." Ryuko reached over and picked up one of the robots. "I wonder where these came from. Maybe Kaolla-chan would know." Then a thought occurred to her, and she looked at Ryu-chan mischeviously. "With a little bit of work, maybe we could rebuild one of these into a more permanent body for you, Ryu-chan."

"that would be neat, ryuko!"

Ryuko tucked the mecha-tama into her backpack. "Come on, let's finish mapping this place and go back. I'm starting to get hungry!" Somehow, she had a renewed glint in her eyes.

---------

In the restaurant, Keitaro and Shinobu were still having a wonderful time.

After their meal, Antoine returned to the table. "Is there anything else I can get you this evening?", he inquired.

Shinobu and Keitaro looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Very well then, here is your bill. I trust you enjoyed your visit, and hope you will come again soon!" The server then walked across the room to tend to some other customers.

Keitaro turned to face Shinobu. "How did you like the food, Shinobu-chan?"

"It was delicious. Thank you for bringing me here, Sempai."

Keitaro nodded. Still, he didn't think Shinobu seemed like her cheerful self. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Sorry, I guess I was just sad that it was all over so soon."

"I understand. Well, we don't have to go home just yet." Then a thought occurred to Keitaro. "Maybe we could get some ice cream at that place by the park?"

Shinobu's eyes lit up again. "Ooh, that would be perfect!"

Keitaro always loved to see that kind of reaction in her. He sipped the remainder of his water while opening the bill. Then he spit the water, his eyes bugging out.

"Ano...is something wrong, Sempai?"

Keitaro sweatdropped. "No, nothing at all."

--------

An hour after they had left the inn, Lance and the younger children return to the Hinata house, Sarah chewing on a ball she stole, and Al rushing off to give his stolen balls to Motoko.

Lance smiled as Motoko met them at the door, holding the plastic balls and smirking. The ball that Sarah had been attempting to eat was now being smacked onto his head.

"Sorry about the balls... did you get everything done in your room?"

She nodded, trying to pry Alex off of her leg, "Yes, and I've done some work so that he can't get in, unless he can pick locks."

"Well he was able to make the entire ball pit flood the building, so I wouldn't sleep too soundly tonight." Sarah dropped the ball and goes for Lance's hair instead.

Motoko smiled "Thank you Waymire-san, I needed a break, this childcare thing is harder then it looks"

"No problem Motoko, I've got some experience under my belt so if there's anything else you need, don't be afraid to ask." Lance waved to her and walked back to his room, with baby Sarah in tow.

After a hectic dinner, Lance trudged upstairs to his room with Sarah on his back. His muscles were sore from all the carrying, his head was still stung from all the tugging, and his leg is wet with drool.

Before stopping in his room, Lance sighed. "I should take my bath..."

Sarah giggled as she played with Lance's hair some more. "Maybe I can find someone to take care of her while I take one. But who would want to do that?"

Without anyone to think, he began wondering the building for anyone who would be willing. He passed by Kitsune's room, but the sound of snoring inside made him think otherwise. He finally found himself walking up the stairs and to the deck, where Motoko was training at the far end. She was thrusting her sword down in precise timing in strength, it made Lance a little scared. Oh well. Maybe his past mistakes can be made up.

He walked to Motoko, who had not noticed his arrival. "Excuse me, Motoko?"

She stopped, and turned to Lance. "Yes, Waymire-san?"

"I came to ask if you could take care of Sarah while I take a bath," he asked with a pleading smile. "It's been quite a long day for me. But you may have had enough trouble with Al already, so maybe now isn't a good time..."

"Oh no Waymire-san, there's no problem," said Motoko, putting her sword down. "I'm just glad enough that Al isn't here, and it would seem fair since you took him away for awhile. I will watch over Sarah for you."

Lance bowed (causing Sarah to slide over his back and into Motoko's arms), "Thank you so much Motoko! I promise I won't be long."

As Lance left the deck, Sarah reached her arm out to him screaming "Nooo, Lannie-koon! Lannie-koooon!"

-------

Lance washed his hair with a towel, scrubbing down to the scalp and washing out the drool. He grunted, "She has got to stop messing around with my hair...."

After his bath, he picked up Sarah from Motoko (who were still on the deck, Sarah practically hugging his leg to the point of no circulation) and went to his room to prepare for bed.

His guitar lay untouched under the window, still in need of repair. But Lance was too tired to work on it tonight. Maybe he could wake up early and work on it, maybe even get as far as tuning it. But his muscles were sore and his spirit wavering, all he wanted now was sleep.

Sarah was set into a small bunch of sheets and blankets next to his futon, and her eyes were instantly closed. Lance smiled. "Well, can't help to think she's a little cute."

He turned off the lights and rested on his pillow, slowly slipping into sleep.

-------

The Tea-house

"Ai-chan?"

"Nan dai (What's up)?" Haruka pretended to be too busy mopping to turn around.

"About earlier today..." Kentaro tried his best to not sound as awkward as he felt, though he realized with a sense of dread that he didn't really have anything to say. He just wanted to break the oppressive silence that filled the Hinata Teashop. "Ano... You're not hurt, right?" So lame.

"No." She set her mop into the bucket with a sigh. "I'm fine. Arigato, Kentaro-kun." As if on cue, Haruka's foot hit a wet spot on the floor, and she immediately tripped. This time, however, there was no one to catch her. She hit the ground with a painful thud.

"Ai-chan!" Kentaro immediately dropped his cleaning rag and ran to her side. "Are you okay?"

"Itae..." She rubbed her elbow. This was the third time she had slipped today.

"Here, let me take a look at that." Before she could protest, Kentaro took Haruka's arm gently. He carefully examined it. "Looks like you're going to have a nasty bruise later. You really should be more careful!" He smiled. "Do you want me to bring you some ice?"

Haruka stared at him. Slowly, a scowl formed on her face. "I don't need your help." She pulled her arm away roughly.

Kentaro immediately backtracked. "Gomen, gomen! I didn't mean to..."

"Shut up!" She snapped. "Just shut up!"

Once she began, she found that she couldn't stop, even if she wanted to. All of the pent up frustration from the day poured itself out in a flood of anger. She started pushing him, and hitting him with her fists as hard as she could. It obviously hurt him, but she didn't give a damn. "I'm sick of you always being around me! Why do you have to try and be so helpful all the time? Why do you care so much about every stupid thing I'm doing? Why can't you just leave me the hell alone??" Soon Haruka ran out of energy, and there was no sound except for her heavy breathing. Her hands were still balled tightly into fists, but they lay still and unmoving at her sides.

There was a moment of complete stillness. Kentaro took a deep breath. It shook lightly with uncertainty.

Then, without a word, he leaned over and kissed her.

It was just a quick peck on the lips. Before she knew it, it was already over. Haruka stared at him wide-eyed, in shocked silence.

Kentaro looked away. "This might be forward of me... but I think I'm starting to fall in love with you." He smiled, his expression sad. "Gomen, ne?"

She frowned. "You're sorry? What do you mean, you're sorry? Don't you know... Don't you know how stupid you sound right now?" She scoffed. "It's only been one day, and you're already telling me that you love me!" It was Haruka's turn to look away. "You're out of your mind."

"Hmm. Well, maybe you're right." He scratched his head. "It does seem a little crazy."

Haruka sweatdropped. "Then why did you bother kissing me in the first place?"

"Opportunity knocked." He shrugged. "I figured I might as well."

She blushed, though whether it was from shyness or rage it was hard to tell. "Nani?? Baka!" She reached out to slap him, but Kentaro held her arm with a firm grip.

Haruka could have easily beat him with her other hand. She wanted to scream at him until his eardrums burst. But the warmth of Kentaro's hand made her breath catch, and everything suddenly seemed to come to a stop. They looked into each other's eyes, both knowing that breaking the silence would ruin everything.

Once more, they kissed. It was longer this time, fueled by passionate romance and the complete and utter absurdity of the moment. Haruka placed her hands on Kentaro's head, and Kentaro wrapped his arms around her, gently pulling her into a deep embrace.

And amid the panic, in the midst of all the conflicting emotions and thoughts, Haruka felt it again.

She felt her heart stir.

---

Keitaro and Shinobu stood in front of the ice cream shop, reading the list of dishes. Compared to the other customers in line, they were quite overdressed.

"Kaolla-chan says the banana splits are delicious," Shinobu commented. "But I don't think I could eat a whole one."

"How about if we share one, then?"

"That sounds good to me, Sempai." Actually, it sounded romantic, somehow.

After ordering their dessert, they sat down on a park bench and began enjoying it together. Between spoonfuls, they watched some little kids across the walkway, who were wading in a large water fountain and splashing each other.

"Mmm. This is good, isn't it?"

Shinobu nodded. Sharing it with Keitaro made it even better, she mused.

After they finished, Keitaro scooted himself closer to Shinobu. "Shinobu-chan?"

"Yes, Sempai?"

"If you could choose to stay as you are, or go back to being fourteen years old..."

"I'd choose to stay like this in a heartbeat," Shinobu quickly answered.

Keitaro adopted a concerned expression. "But why? You'd miss out on so many experiences. And even as an adult, you'd still have to go through high school."

Shinobu pondered this. "Ano...do you ever make decisions with the heart, instead of thinking them through? It's kind of like that." She propped her elbow on the back of the bench, to rest her chin in the palm of her hand as she looked at Keitaro.

Keitaro nodded. "Is it because of me?"

Shinobu blushed a bit. "Maybe."

God, her eyes are beautiful, he thought to himself. He leaned towards Shinobu again, as he made one of those decisions with his heart, albeit a small one, at that very moment...

Shinobu parted her lips slightly, and moved her arm out of the way.

But fate protested, and Keitaro and Shinobu got splashed in the face by the kids playing in the fountain. They both paused and stared across the paved walkway. "Hey! Watch it!", Keitaro shouted out. The kids seemed to ignore him.

Shinobu sighed. Another ruined moment.

Keitaro offered Shinobu a handkerchief to dry her face.

"Arigato."

"Let's start heading back, before it gets dark."

Shinobu nodded, and stood up, then had an idea. "If you don't mind...there's one more thing I'd like to do before we go home."

"Sure, Shinobu-chan. What did you have in mind?"

Shinobu reached up to straighten Keitaro's messed-up hair. "We have to add to your collection." She smiled, and gestured towards their next destination.

"Oh! Of course!" Keitaro wondered why he hadn't thought of that. This would make a rather unique addition!

--------

Back at the inn, Motoko was arguing with Dizzy.

"Grr."

"No I refuse, you can take him in by yourself!"

"GRR!"

"I don't care, it's the men's night, I will not be joining the two of you in there!"

"GRR!"

"NO!"

Dizzy trudged away defeated, it was left to him alone to control Al in the hot springs. Motoko refused to help in any way.

Dizzy and little Al sat, Dizzy instructing him to wash his face, and shampoo his hair -- and much to the weasel's surprise, Al did it perfectly, no problems, and he even climbed into the hot springs and just sat, relaxing, floating in the water and every now and then batting at a rubber duck he had brought in with him.

Dizzy was amazed. Little Al was bathing just like big Al! Was he really regressed mentally? If not, it might explain why he kept hugging motoko.

----

Shinobu felt more frustrated than ever before in her entire life. Each opportunity that Keitaro had to kiss her this evening had been interrupted in one way or another. It seemed as if some force was deliberately working against them. And now that they were almost home, she knew she didn't have much time left.

As they climbed the steps leading to the Hinata house, Shinobu looked up to heaven for an answer. To end the day like this was just too agonizing. But as fate would have it, she had a sudden moment of clarity. Before the idea was even fully formed in her mind, the words came tumbling out of her mouth. "Sempai, would you like to watch the sunset with me?"

"Sure, Shinobu-chan. But where's a good place...?"

"You'll see!" Shinobu took hold of Keitaro's hand and ran furtively around the perimeter of the building. Shinobu knew where the workers had placed a ladder earlier, which led right to the rooftop. Fortunately, it was still there, and the workers were gone for the day.

Shinobu went up first, inadvertently giving Keitaro a glimpse up her dress that would have probably resulted in violence, had Naru been present. He found it necessary to pinch his nose for a moment before reaching the top, when he realised that her dress was not the only new article of clothing which Shinobu had bought that day. Shinobu quickly found a spot to sit, a privileged perch with an unobstructed view. Keitaro seated himself beside her.

The sun was a brilliant red orb, slowly sinking beneath the horizon as the sky transformed from light blue to a deep shade of purple. Normally, Shinobu would have enjoyed a view like this. But today it was only a painful reminder of how quickly time was slipping away from her grasp. She pulled the ribbon from the end of her braid, and shook her hair loose. Maybe Keitaro would notice, and take more of an interest?

"Isn't it beautiful, Sempai?" she said, hoping she didn't sound too forced.

Keitaro nodded obliviously. "I haven't seen the sky so colorful in a long time."

At that moment, a cool breeze picked up, causing Shinobu's beautiful, long blue hair to dance about her. She shivered, though it wasn't very cold at all.

Keitaro noticed. He hesitated for a moment, and then wrapped an arm around Shinobu, much to her delight. She felt as though she could melt on the spot.

"Sempai?"

"Yes, Shinobu-chan?"

"I wanted to thank you for today..." She blushed. "I had a lot of fun."

Keitaro smiled. "I had a great time, too. I'm just sorry it wasn't as good as it could have been."

"Oh, that's not true!" She raised her hands in protest. "Today was wonderful!" She looked down at her lap. Her next words were almost inaudible. "It was nice to have you all to myself. Even if it was just for one day."

Shinobu continued watching the sun as it disappeared over the trees. Keitaro, on the other hand, was taking a moment to ponder Shinobu. It was hard for him to comprehend that this was the same person as the young girl he'd come to know. If and when she went back to normal, how could he ever think of her the same way again? She had always been humble, compassionate and innocent. But now she was also confident, and /mature/. On top of it all, she was stunningly beautiful.

Shinobu was perfect. The realization alone filled him with a profound sense of wonder. He leaned towards her in one deliberate motion.

She saw this in the corner of her eye, and the anticipation of what was coming sent a shiver up Shinobu's spine. Her heart was pounding faster and faster. She tilted her face up towards Keitaro's, closed her eyes, and unconsciously braced herself.

As he edged ever closer to her, Keitaro's mind was asking a thousand questions, screaming a chorus of a thousand doubts all at once: What was going on? Was this actually happening? What about the Promise Girl? Did she suddenly not matter because of a sunset and a beautiful girl? Shouldn't he stop this? Wasn't Shinobu still fourteen, no matter how he tried to justify it? Didn't that make this wrong? Why wasn't he stopping this? Why wasn't he doing anything?

He felt her lips brush against his, and suddenly none of it mattered any more.

Though their kiss was brief, Shinobu was elated, and she wished this perfect moment could last forever. Finding an unprecedented surge of confidence, she reached up and ran her fingers through Keitaro's hair, then pulled his head towards her for a second go around.

Keitaro was surprised, though he wasn't complaining. The warmth of Shinobu's face against his felt so incredibly right. He hadn't felt this comfortable in a long time, perhaps ever. For a fleeting moment, a strange thought entered his mind: Was this what it meant to be truly happy?

Halfway through the kiss, sparkles of light began appearing all over Shinobu's body. Keitaro's eyes widened, but he didn't dare speak.

Shinobu didn't need any words; she could feel her body starting to change. There was the sudden weakness, the way her heart was beating faster and faster. She realized with a growing sense of horror that she was becoming smaller with each passing moment. She wanted to cry, to scream to whoever would listen that she needed more time. Just one more minute, one second, and everything would finally be perfect!

But this was it. The clock had finally struck midnight, and it was time for Cinderella to leave the ballroom.

Their lips parted, though they still had their arms around each other. As Shinobu continued shrinking back to her 14-year-old self, she hugged him tightly. As her voice slowly became more and more familiar, she desperately whispered what she'd been waiting to say her entire life.

"I love you, Keitaro-sempai."

Keitaro was startled by Shinobu's declaration as much as her sudden regression. He felt as though she was being torn from him, as quickly as she had just consumed his heart. He was breathing faster, his expression betraying his combined sorrow and panic. But no sound would come from his lips.

He could only watch in silence as the dream came crashing to an end.

When the light faded, Shinobu was in tears. She choked and hiccupped, wiping her eyes with her arms like a child. But somewhere, in the midst of sobs, Keitaro heard the words that finally broke his heart:

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

When she looked up, Keitaro was gone.

"Nani?" Shinobu looked about frantically. She had to assume that Keitaro fell off the roof when she wasn't looking. "Sempai!", she called out. "Where are you? Are you all right?" There was no answer. She began to panic. "Sempai?"

Shinobu pulled her loose dress up a bit and held it tight so she could climb down the ladder, and continued holding it to preclude tripping over it. She walked around the house and also checked the courtyard...but there was no sign of him.

Might Keitaro's dissappearance have been intentional? Shinobu worried that she might've made him uncomfortable. If that was the case, could she ever forgive herself?

Shinobu resolved to talk to him in the morning.

-------

Sam's Evening

Sam was sitting up on the deck area with Mutsumi, as they continued their informal training. He couldn't quite work out what she was trying to get him to do -- sometimes she would tell him to concentrate more, sometimes she would tell him not to try so hard. He was also worried about his vision from the previous night -- which he had yet to tell her about.

"One thing you must never do, Sam," Mutsumi was saying, "Is to let people know about our particular ability. You were really lucky so far that noone noticed it -- probably because you were suppressing it..."

"Why not? It can help out -- at least, if I can get it under control..."

"Because there are people out there who are looking for people like us! I know the government has a secret department of precognitives... they would happily make you 'disappear' and start working for them, and you'd not be able to refuse! Also, there are crime syndicates that would just love to know the outcome of gambling before the event. This is why you must never, never be obvious about things, like I told you before. Give hints and encouragement, and nudge things..."

"You mean, not only do I have to put up with horrible visions, but I'm in danger too? Well, no worry, I'll spot them coming, and I can beat them up if I have to!"

Mutsumi sighed. She'd expected this overconfidence, and knew that Sam was in more danger now than ever.

"Haven't you realised that they have these powers too? You won't see them coming, and they'll use other ways to get to you. Also, you already know you can't rely on your powers -- if you try to use them deliberately, they just mix up. Remember school on Monday?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"So, the best defense is to be secret! Appear to be just ordinary, and unremarkable... if people get the idea you're just some watermelon-eating ditz, then no-one will be a danger!"

Mutsumi took a big bite of watermelon, and gave Sam a big vacant smile and a wink.

-------

Motoko sighed -- she was tired, Alex had kept her playing all day, and it was now nine thirty.

Alex had finally become tired as well and had fallen asleep on her futon in her cleaned up room.

She looked to the door, and back to Al. She didn't want to carry him all the way to his room, her legs felt like they were going to fall off she had been chasing him so much all day.

She sighed and pushed him aside, before lying next to him and closing her eyes. He was just a child, nothing wrong with letting him sleep there tonight.

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

Maho woke up when she heard the sound of footsteps. She had fallen asleep at the entrance to the house, where the warm sunlight radiated onto the stone floor. She looked up to see Naru sitting next to her.

"Looks like the age change hasn't worn off yet." Maho rubbed her eyes sleepily and stared at her friend, who was still very much a kid.

Naru smiled, just a little. "It did for you, though."

"Hm?" She looked down at herself. "Oh. So it did." Maho stretched luxuriantly, feeling a distinct pain in her neck. She wouldn't be doing any more sleeping on the ground for a while. "Sure was a strange day, wasn't it?"

It took a moment to recognize that Naru was sniffling. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, sparkling in the fading daylight.

Maho frowned. "Hey, what's wrong Naru-chan? Why're you crying?"

Naru sniffed stubbornly, rubbing her eyes with her sleeves. "I'm not."

She smiled, positioning herself so she could look directly at Naru's face. "Are you sure? Those look like tears to me."

"Well, they're not." The child crossed her arms. "Why would I be crying? I'm not a baby."

"Hai, hai." Maho sighed theatrically in defeat. "You're right, Naru Hime." She pulled out three long green sticks from her coat pockets. "Hey, could you do me a favor and hold these for me?"

"Huh? S-Sure." Naru took the sticks in both hands. She gasped when, with a loud popping noise, each of the sticks transformed into beautiful rose blooms.

"Oh, well what a surprise!" Maho feigned shock. "I guess they just couldn't wait to see you, Naru-chan! With a pretty face like yours, I don't blame them."

Naru giggled.

"Ah, but that's not all." Maho placed her hands over the roses. "Watch carefully." After a few seconds of concentration, she made her hands into tight fists. This would have crushed the flowers instantly... except they appeared to have disappeared into thin air.

"Huh?" Naru looked at her hands, puzzled. "Where did they go?"

"Hey, that's strange. I wonder..." Maho smiled, pointing at Naru's hair. "Oh look, there they are!"

Naru looked up, and touched her hair. The roses had somehow been neatly placed there.

"I think it suits you." Maho stood up, producing three silver orbs from her other pocket. She started to juggle while doing a little dance. As a grand finale, she threw all three balls into the air, and caught them with her mouth one by one, swallowing all of them with a dramatic effort. "Ta-daa!"

Naru beamed and clapped her hands in delight. Maho bowed graciously.

"Arigato gozaimasu." She knelt down, one hand extended. "Now would the lady like a piggyback ride?"

"Hai!"

"All right, then let's go!" Maho picked her up and started walking briskly around the courtyard. As she clung to her back, Naru felt a deep sense of warmth, which was noticeably missing from her spirit ever since the day began.

She knew that Keitaro and Shinobu went out on a date today. Even when she woke up alone, and spent the entire day on the Hinata grounds with no one to keep her company, she thought it was okay. This was just temporary, after all. There was no need to get worked up over nothing.

But when Naru saw Keitaro and Shinobu kissing on the roof, it felt like something inside her was dealt a deathblow. She wanted nothing more than to lie down and die right there, no matter how much her mind tried to rationalize what she saw. As soon as their lips touched a second time, Naru couldn't stand it. She ran away, not caring where, as long as she didn't have to see them any more. Her feelings threatened to swallow her whole.

A piggyback ride had a way of bringing things back into perspective, though.

In the split second before Maho's strength finally gave out and the two girls crashed gracelessly onto the floor, Naru realized two very important things. First, she was finally back to normal. And second, she was significantly heavier than Maho was.

"Itae!"

"You think you're the one in pain?!" Maho gasped. "Get off of me!"

Naru groaned as she rolled off, lying next to her incapacitated friend on the ground. "What a scene." She smiled despite herself, and despite everything.

-------

Common Room

"So, how did your fortune cookies turn out?" ask Mutsumi of Sam later that evening.

"Hah, I aced that one!" replied Sam, confidently. "Err, except for Keitaro's and Shinobu's, althought I think they're coming out now. And Maho's was a bit obscure. Ano... maybe it will be a bit clearer in a day or so..."

"Well, I think you did fine!" smiled Mutsumi. "Anything else?"

"Well..." Sam hesitated. Should he tell her or not? But, it was just too much worry otherwise -- he had to spill the beans. "I had another vision last night... a bad one. Saw a couple of graves up here, where Hinata-sou should be."

"Oh my..." said Mutsumi, shocked. "What time was the vision?"

"Last night."

"No! I mean, when is it going to happen? What was the date and time in the vision?"

"How should I know?!"

"You should pay attention to it! Tell me, what exactly did you see?"

Sam recounted the vision, as best as he could remember. Mutsumi looked thoughtful.

"Not much to go on... but, you say you saw grass up here, and Hinata-sou was gone? It must be a long time in the future, then -- grass takes time to grow, and Hinata-sou will be here for many more years yet. I don't think you really need to worry about it! It could be just seeing something fifty or eighty years into the future. You didn't see any names, or people?"

"Nothing... it was peaceful, but..."

"Don't worry! But, if you have another, remember -- details! You must note all you can to work out when, how, what, where, and who! Then you can work out what to worry about and what not to. Watermelon helps your memory: when is now, how is eating, what is watermelon, where is here, and who is us! Have a slice?"

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

Lance's Room

Later that night, Lance woke to a strange movement that happened beside him. What the heck could it be?

He yawned, and as he did he felt an arm slung over his side. Now he KNEW something wasn't right. He turned over, and his jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

Eight-year-old Sarah McDougall's grinning face met his eyes.

"Hello, Lance-kun... looks like you've finally got me where I want you, hmmm?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Lance's shriek of abject terror attracted Naru, who reacted predictably.

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

Motoko's Room

Moonlight filled the room with a creepy white glow, Al awoke with a start, his whole body tingled.

He looked to his side; he felt an arm against his, and then his face grew very hot; he was lying next to motoko, in her futon, in her room.

He didn't remember having fallen asleep -- he had played all day, deciding to make a vacation out of the age change, but now he could no longer pretend. The familiar weight of his body, the fact that his eyesight had returned to it's previous dreadful state... he was 16 again, and now he would have to once again accept his responsibilities.

Speaking of which, it was about time he moved, before Motoko woke up and decided he wasn't as cute as he had been this morning.

Alex slid off the futon and stood up slowly, and then looked down. His sudden growth had caused him to rip right out of the jumpsuit that Dizzy had made for him, and so now he was in what could possibly have been the worst possible situation: he was buck naked, standing in Motoko's room, and she looked like she could wake up any minute.

Alex tip toed towards the door at full speed, opening and shutting it as quickly and as quietly as possible.

-----

Al ran as quickly and quietly as he could, covering himself with his hands, this was not good any minute now someone would see him. In his panicked state, heforgot his sense of direction and accidentally turned left rather than right.

"Well what do we have here?"

Al froze, the color draining from his face. He tried to stop, but was too slow and CRASH! next thing he knew he and Kitsune were on the ground, his face in something soft, and too fimilar.

He shot off of her as if she were spiked and looked for somewhere to hide, but no dice.

Kitsune moaned and stood up, her head throbbing. She had wacked it on the floor. She glared at him, then seeing he was in his birthday suit, she began to giggle.

"Oh, please don't tell anyone about this!" Al begged the girl, helping her to her feet, while still trying to hide himself.

She giggled and opened the door to her room, coming back with a large fig leaf made of felt.

"Here, this should cover you, now the question is, how do I handle this?"

"Um, forget it ever happened?" Alex asked, as he strapped the odd leaf on. It was embarassing, but it hid him at least.

"Not a chance, though for some extra booze dough I might forget."

"B..but I'm broke, I barely have money for lunch tomorrow!"

"Well let's see here, I'll have to sleep on it then. I'll find something, after all, nothing's quite as tramatic as having a naked man tackle you."

"You are a cruel fox."

"I know."

-----

Al's Room

Dizzy looked up. He had been drowning the sorrow of losing his muscles in a bottle of coke when Al opened the door, walked in and shut it, dressed only in a large fig leaf that kept himself from being totally exposed.

"Don't ask." Al said as he quickly dressed in his pyjamas and climbed into his own bed, trying to not let the perverted thoughts over run him. He had been laying naked in the same futon as Motoko! That was either great luck, or bad luck -- he wasn't sure which.

But he was alive, and she didn't hate him anymore, so he knew at least that was good luck.

-------

Shinobu's Room

Shinobu had returned to her room. Somehow she'd managed to do so without being seen, which was fortunate for her, as she would've been quite embarrassed if caught wearing the now-oversized clothing from her date. As she changed into one of her favorite outfits, she wondered how long it would be before that beautiful dress would properly fit her again.

Her mirror was at just the right height for her, as it used to be. The reflection was just as it should be: plain, 14-year-old Shinobu. But if she gained anything from her experience, her self-esteem was much greater now, and it showed in her big, blue eyes. For a moment she considered letting her gair grow long, as it had been half an hour ago, but that would take many months.

Grabbing her diary, Shinobu flopped onto her bed. But her mind was filled with so many thoughts, that she couldn't possibly express herself with mere words. After mulling it over for what seemed like half an hour, inspiration finally struck.

Shinobu opened her change purse, and removed a very special sticker. With all the care in the world, she affixed it to the blank page in her diary.

It was a photo-booth sticker, that she and Keitaro had gotten just before returning home this evening.

Shinobu didn't care that it was so small; she couldn't have asked for a better memento. She drew a heart shape around the sticker, and smiled to herself.

-----

Sam's Room

During the small hours of the night, as Sam slept he again began a dream that was more than a dream...

Sam walks up the steps leading to Hinata-sou. Up ahead of him, he can see the darkening sky, and the trees silhouetted against it. However, there's a strange and ominous red glow against the clouds, coming from ahead of him...

He runs faster up the steps, now -- splashing through the last few puddles of the morning's rain -- with a growing fear as to what he may find when he reaches the top.

In the distance, he hears the first wailing of sirens.

He reaches the top to find Hinata-sou ablaze. Flames pour from the lower floor windows, and several of the residents stand outside looking in. As he waits, Keitaro exits, coughing, with Naru and Kitsune, to join the others. Sam looks around frantically -- is everyone here?

Cracking sounds come from the Inn's structure. The blaze has really taken hold quickly, and surely the structure cannot last much longer.

A piercing scream sounds from above, as Shinobu looks desperately from an upstairs window. The other residents shout to her to jump, but she shakes her head fearfully, trapped between two terrors.

Finally, Keitaro turns to Naru. Taking her hand in his, he stares into her eyes. "Aishiteru, Naru-chan" he says quietly, and then, as Naru and those nearby stand in shocked amazement at his confession, he turns to look up at Shinobu. "I'm coming!" he shouts to her, before running back into the blazing building, his handkerchief pressed to his mouth.

Everyone looks on fearfully, the seconds dragging as the flames roar higher.

Naru stares fixedly at Shinobu's windows, and so it is that she spots the moment he arrives in the room. She is staring into his eyes as, with a loud crack like a death-knell, the inn finally collapses to the sound of Shinobu's last, despairing scream of terror.

"KEITARO!" Naru screams, fighting to run into the inferno as Motoko and Haruka hold her back, tears pouring down their faces. Kitsune stands frozen, her eyes now fully open, staring at the flames as if -- despite all possibility -- she somehow still expects to see Keitaro walk out, unharmed. But the flames continue their hellish dance, mocking.

The other residents sit or stand, dazed. Some are weeping silently, some impassive or in denial. Sam turns, and sees Mutsumi, looking directly at him.

"Why didn't you prevent it?" she asks, in an accusing tone.

"I didn't know! I didn't..."

"NO!" Sam shouted as he awoke.