THE KEY TO VICTORY

a story written by

DELICIOUS GEARS

EPISODE 03: Ride The Tiger

It had been a long week for Ryuunosuke.

Scratch that, make it a long lifetime.

And it was about to get much longer.

"Darling!" Lum smiled at Ryuunosuke from around... whatever the hell was bubbling in that large stock pot. She had said that it was tonight's dinner, but Ryuunosuke wasn't sure that curries looked like something that had oozed from the depths of a volcano. It was black, which normally wouldn't be unusual, but this was more of a reddish black than anything else.

"Um, Lum?" Ryuunosuke asked warily. "Exactly what is this supposed to be?"

Lum just giggled at her. "It's pork curry, you silly billy!" She set the still bubbling pot in the middle of the low dining table, and popped open the rice cooker to scoop out a large mound of rice onto a plate.

Ryuunosuke looked around the table. To the left of Lum, her father sat, cross-legged. He seemed to be actually looking normal for once (which Ryuunosuke marked up to him trying to behave in front of Lum so she wouldn't be scared off), waiting for his curry to be served. When a dish full of still-bubbling curry and rice was set out in front of him, he nodded in what Ryuunosuke figured was supposed to be parental approval.

Lum set a plate in front of Ryuunosuke. The curry still bubbled ominously; Ryuunosuke wasn't sure if it was because Lum took it straight off the hob, or if it was naturally that way. And now that it was in front of her, Ryuunosuke noted something else: no pork in the pork curry. No vegetables neither. It just looked like a dark red slurry that was slowly absorbing the white rice into it.

Ryuunosuke's father lifted up a spoon. "Itadakimasu!"

Lum similarly picked up the spoon, and said "Itadakima-ttcha!"

Ryuunosuke grabbed her own spoon, warily. "Itadakimasu..."

And then the three started eating the curry. Or, at least they tried to.

Ryuunosuke was struck down at the first spoonful: it was like she had just poured hot oil and ashes into her mouth, setting everything ablaze. Her teeth clenched as she swallowed the mouthful, which was a mistake, as it seared everything on its way down to her stomach.

Ryuunosuke broke into choking coughs as she struggled to breathe in after swallowing the cursed curry. Her mouth was starting to go numb, and her tongue felt like it had grown several times in her mouth. Her lips were swelling up from the heat, still stinging from what little contact they had with the curry. Her eyes were watering like mad, making her vision blur horribly.

"Are you alright, Darling?" Lum asked her, putting down her spoon. She gazed down at her curry. "I tried to make it the best I could. I added in my own special touch and everything...?"

Ryuunosuke took several heaving breaths before she could properly form words again. "S-special touch?" She asked, though her words came out more like "thbethal tobth?" due to her swollen lips and tongue. "Wab thbethal tobth?"

"I brought in some of my own special herbs and spices from my home planet, of course!" Lum pulled out what looked like a small bottle from her cleavage (which made Ryuunosuke wonder for a moment if she usually kept her things in there), and raised it up so Ryuunosuke could see. "Daddy had told me that Earth food was so much blander than ours, so I thought I could give you a taste of home!" She tilted her head at Ryuunosuke. "How do you like it?"

"I can't even taste anything!" Ryuunosuke said, her tongue mercifully starting to deflate enough for her to talk legibly. "My entire mouth just went numb! I'm surprised that I managed to even survive that one spoonful!"

"Ryuunosuke!"

"Darling...!" Lum's eyes widened, and started to shimmer with tears. "You... you don't like my cooking?" She stared at Ryuunosuke in shock, obviously having not expected Ryuunosuke to act this way.

Ryuunosuke groaned as she noticed Lum's shocked and hurt expression. She quickly tried to think of an answer that didn't land her a first-class ticket to near-death by electrocution. "I don't know, do I? I'm just a stupid Earthling, so maybe make something that we humans can eat!"

Lum looked down at her curry again. "But this..." Her eyes were still shimmering, but her eyebrows were starting to crease. "I mean, aside from the spices, I followed the recipe exactly! So what if it doesn't look like it does in the picture? Isn't curry supposed to be hot?"

Ryuunosuke groaned. "Curry is supposed to be hot, but it isn't supposed to be corrosive!" She lifted her spoon from the curry, noticing that it was bending at a strange angle. "Earth curries don't do this!"

Lum sniffled softly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I was trying my best!"

Ryuunosuke was about to say something in reply, only to be interrupted by her father grabbing her by the arm. She snapped her head around to shout him down, only to freeze in shock.

Her father's face was completely and utterly red. Redder than the darkest red that Ryuunosuke could ever imagine a face getting. Rivulets of sweat ran down from top to bottom, dripping off his face and onto his pants. And his lips and cheeks were so swollen and red looking that if it weren't for the hair, he could've easily been mistaken for a red-dyed blowfish, fully inflated.

Ryuunosuke's eyes flicked over to her father's plate. Empty. Practically licked clean. Figures that he would be the one to dumbly suffer for Lum's sake. Even if that would be somewhat pointless, considering she was the one who was Lum's fiancee.

Ryuunosuke shrank back from her father slightly as he started babbling angry gibberish at her, spraying spittle at her through his swollen tongue. But her father kept an iron grip on her shoulder, trying to keep her still while he shouted at her. Ryuunosuke was left to look at Lum desperately. But Lum was tilting her head, trying to decipher her father's angry ranting.

"Did you at least enjoy the curry, Fujinami-san?" Lum asked hopefully.

Mr. Fujinami nodded, trying his best to smile at her.

"You can't even speak properly!" Ryuunosuke shouted, trying to pry her father's fingers off her shoulder. "Why are you trying to kill yourself to impress her?"

Lum looked between Ryuunosuke and her father, frowning deeply. "Could you two just calm down for one second?" Her body crackled with electricity, just enough that the bickering pair could notice. " I guess if Darling doesn't like my curry, she can just go without." Her frown softened, but was still there. "You can have the rest, uncle."

Mr. Fujinami grabbed Ryuunosuke's plate and shovelled more rice and acrid curry onto it. The he grabbed his spoon and started shovelling more of the food into his gob. Ryuunosuke sighed and grabbed her father's empty plate, heading for the sink.

Lum quietly followed behind her. "Darling...? Are you really going to stay mad at me over this?"

Ryuunosuke didn't even look at Lum as she washed the plate under hot running water. "Why you asking me? Why don't you stay with the old man over there." Her eyes grew harder. "Since he likes you so much..."

"Well, I'm not marrying him, am I?" Lum answered, her face full of concern. "Don't you think that I'm serious when I say that I love you?" She stepped a little more closer to Ryuunosuke's side. "Don't you think you can love me?"

Ryuunosuke didn't say anything, she just kept washing the plate. She still stared straight ahead, hoping against hope that maybe Lum would leave her alone. Maybe her dad would choke on her curry or something? Maybe something would crash into their ramshackle home made out of a storage shed outside the school. Anything, but to have to answer these questions...

The next moment, Ryuunosuke's thoughts were suddenly cut off by a teeth-rattingly loud bang in the distance.

Out on the rain-soaked streets of Tomobiki, a single figure in pink walked the streets under the shade of a small umbrella. Her mind was awash with thoughts that weighed down heavily on her, engulfing her like the constant downpour of rain washing over her.

Shinobu's head was full of worries, many worries. And many of them were because of the two new students at school.

Ataru used to be only slightly obnoxious and lecherous, and was mostly controllable with enough tough love and constant reminders. But ever since Lum transferred in, all Shinobu had heard was nothing but Lum, Lum, Lum all the time. It was starting to move from a simple irritant that Shinobu thought that she could correct, to an obsession that was threatening to shut her out completely.

Shinobu knew that she had limits, especially when it came to her patience. But she knew she was always able to get Ataru to be mostly faithful to her. But now, she wasn't even sure that she could get Ataru to even stop thinking about Lum. All Shinobu could do was hope for something to come out that'll help.

Then Shinobu heard it: a rising screech that seemed to come from above, getting higher and louder with every second. Shinobu looked up, past her umbrella, to see a blazing streak flying uncomfortably low over her head, before slamming hard into the road in front of her, tearing up concrete and metal all around.

Shinobu shrieked and dove for the pavement, hugging against the wall in order to avoid any stray pieces of stone or metal streaking out at lethal speeds. She stayed there for a few minutes, the rain leaking into her clothes, before she raised her head up again.

In front of her was nothing but dark billowing smoke. It wasn't sure that if it was from the impact, or from the smouldering remains of the burning meteor that was screaming to Earth only a minute earlier. Something in Shinobu wanted to run away, run straight for home and hide in her bed and try to forget. But it wasn't enough to quell the strange curiosity welling up in her.

Slowly and carefully, Shinobu approached the billowing smoke, that was already fading away under the torrential rain and wind. And now, she could see exactly what the smoke was hiding: it was something like out of a sci-fi TV show, the wreckage of a sleek space fighter, painted in tiger stripes. The wings were nothing but stubs and shredded edges, and what might have been engines were now in pieces, but the canopy of opaque red glass seemed perfectly intact, at the least.

And then, with a loud pop, the canopy burst open, rising upwards to allow the pilot inside to stumble out. Shinobu stared in nervous fascination as the pilot looked at her with glittering dark blue eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Ryuunosuke asked, her head turning to look at the dying light in the distance.

"Maybe it's just the lightning?" Lum shrugged, and plucked the forgotten plate from the sink to drain. She turned back to the dining room table... and suddenly shrieked in horror.

Ryuunosuke spun around to see her father sprawled over the table, his face and throat swollen dangerously, trying to eat one last mouthful of Lum's curry. He looked less like a human than a giant blood sausage with clothes and hair, but he still clutched his spoon with a swollen red hand with fat fingers.

Lum and Ryuunosuke both dashed over and pulled the plate and pot away from the walking blister, dragging it over to the kitchen. "What the hell's your problem, man?" Ryuunosuke shouted, dumping the plate in the sink. "You trying to kill yourself or something? Over curry?!"

Lum stared down at the pot, her face forlorn. "He only wanted to make me happy, Darling..." She looked up at Ryuunosuke, her face creasing. "Even if it killed him, he wanted to make me happy!"

Ryuunosuke winced. She never liked seeing girls cry, and she despised making them cry herself. It made her feel all slimy inside, as if she had failed as a person. Even if Lum couldn't electrocute her on the spot, she was still a formidable person to deal with.

"Look, how am I supposed to tell you that your cooking is literally harmful to humans?!" She said, throwing her arms up. "Any girl in a Home Ec. class would be crushed if they got to hear that." She went back to the sink, and ran the water again, scrubbing furiously.

"Would you at least show me how to cook like Earthlings do?" Lum replied, her hopeful gaze trained on Ryuunosuke. "Since you seem to know so much about cooking?" She stepped a little closer to her, her hands held behind her back, chest out, in a pose that seemed to be suggesting hopefulness. "I want to be the best wife I can for you, Darling..."

Ryuunosuke groaned, and placed the cleaned plate on the drainage board next to the other. "I keep telling you, Lum... Girls and girls can't get married here!"

"Who said that we would be getting married on Earth?" Lum said quickly, her head tilting. "On my planet, nobody frowns on two girls getting married. It doesn't really matter that much. Well, not anymore..."

Ryuunosuke stopped short, staring at Lum for a good long while. "On your planet?" Her head tilted to match Lum's angle. "You mean you have girls on your planet who..." She swallowed thickly, her throat feeling rough. "Girls who marry other girls?"

"And boys who marry other boys!" Lum said, her smile slowly returning. "You don't have to stay here brawling with your old man for the rest of his life, stuck going nowhere." She stepped right up against Ryuunosuke, close enough that her face could fill most of Ryuunosuke's vision. "I love you, Darling. Won't you let me love you?"

Ryuunosuke stared at Lum for a good long while, quickly growing aware of a growing heat under her collar and across her cheeks. In her head, all the possible answers she could have for Lum clattered up against each other, jamming her brain up, amassing one hell of a pile-up.

She knew Lum was pretty, pretty in a way that she couldn't stop stealing glances at, even if it meant that Lum might have gotten the wrong idea. She used to know girls like that, who were so pretty and liked her so much. But they were so quick to put up their defenses once they found out Ryuunosuke wasn't the boy they thought she was.

Lum was here, right in front of her. And she knew Ryuunosuke was a girl, and she didn't care. And she still loved her so much, even though they knew each other barely longer than a week.

And Ryuunosuke couldn't even figure out what to do, or even how to respond.

All Ryuunosuke could do is look over to her father, now sprawled out on his back, and say, "You think we should worry more about him? He looks like he might be dying." And then she'd hope that maybe Lum would stay away from the question long enough to let her think about it a little while longer.

Because, even more so now Lum coming on so strong, Ryuunosuke couldn't help but keep thinking about it.

"Shinobu!"

Ataru hung by the gate of Shinobu's house impatiently, kicking the toe of his shoe against the pavement. Usually when it comes to mornings, Ataru would be finding Shinobu waiting for him at the gate when he arrived. So when he found the Miyake residence strangely quiet as he got there that morning, it didn't take long for Ataru to think of something suspicious going on.

"If you're not out in the next ten seconds," Ataru called out, "I'm going on ahead without you! Maybe Lum-chan would be nicer to me than you are!"

At that moment the door opened, and Shinobu quickly stepped out in her uniform, bag held tightly to her chest. Ataru grinned and raised a hand to greet her.

"Finally, we can get going now..."

But then Ataru trailed off as another person followed behind her. A tall young man, dressed in a strange tiger-striped looking jumpsuit with a high collar that was open at the chest. Short green hair, piercing eyes, and devastatingly handsome.

Ataru's jaw hung open as the young man followed behind Shinobu down the garden path, passing him by. Shinobu tried her best not to look at him as she passed, or the young man following behind her.

"Don't ask," she said through gritted teeth, "just please don't ask."

Ataru stared after Shinobu and the stranger as they walked down the street together, towards school. He stayed that way for several seconds, gobsmacked, until he remembered that he needed to get to school as well, and quickly dashed down the street after them.

Ryuunosuke groaned as she stirred out of sleep, the morning light shining in through the window of the little storage shed. She could feel a strange weight on her, something she couldn't place... Until she remembered her unwanted wife.

Ryuunosuke's eyes snapped open. She quickly craned her head down to look below, lifting her head up slightly for a better angle. And sure enough, the weight that she was feeling on top of her was Lum, clutching tightly to her under the comforter. A blissful smile was on the green-haired girl's face as it pressed against her chest. Almost immediately, Ryuunosuke could feel her cheeks starting to blaze as Lum nuzzled in closer.

"Darling..." Lum said dreamily, the grip of sleep still tightly on her. "Darling, don't be so rough... I'll let you do anything you want..." She pressed her face in further against Ryuunosuke, soaking her pajama top with drool.

Ryuunosuke's face burned even further, her lips curling back with embarrassment and anger. "Lum, wake up!" She prodded Lum's cheek with her finger. "Get up! You're making my pajamas all wet!"

"Oh Darling," Lum crooned softly, "pajamas just get in the way..."

"GET UP!" Ryuunosuke shouted, trying to wriggle out of Lum's grip. She yelped as Lum instead clung tighter, her arms wrapping tightly around her. And she yelped again as Lum sent errant currents of electricity through her body. "GET UP!"

A sudden hand came around and smacked Ryuunosuke in the back of her head. "Shut up, boy!" Her father bellowed. "My head still hurts from that abominable mess that your fiancee made last night!"

"Yeah?" Ryuunosuke asked, her head throbbing from the impact her father's fist made. "And here I thought you were enjoying that curry! Were you just trying to lie to her, then?" She looked down again to see Lum's eyes wide open and looking back. Wait, when did she...?

"There is one thing you must know about ladies, my boy." Her father looked at her with his 'serious face' on, which looked no less ridiculous than his more usual expressions. "If you want them to do anything you want, you must make them think that everything they do is the best thing ever." He looked over at the still bubbling pot of Lum's curry. "Look at that abomination over there. I wouldn't use it to tar a roof! But because she made it for you, I would say it was the best curry ever. I know she would eat that kind of swill right up!"

"Why would you even do something like that?" Ryuunosuke asked, trying not to notice the crackle of electricity in her lap, coursing through her body. "What could you even get out of lying like that all the time?"

Mr. Fujinami quickly rose to his feet. "Because of love, my boy. Because they'll love you all the more, and they'll give you more of themselves in turn. And you don't even have to give up anything for them yourself." He cackled loudly, arms crossed. "Just say you do, and they'll believe it!"

Lum slid off of Ryuunosuke, quickly letting her go. Slowly, she got to her feet, her body still electrically charged. "Is that what you really think of my curry?" Her blue eyes were hard, and Ryuunosuke was sure that they might have been glowing. "Is that what you really think of me?"

Mr. Fujinami spun around to face Lum, his eyes wide. It was entirely obvious from the look on his face that he wasn't expecting Lum to be awake when he spouted out his little spiel. Haplessly, he looked towards Ryuunosuke, his lips tightly sealed.

Ryuunosuke just sighed and turned away, heading towards the rice cooker. Lum had refilled it and set it to cook during the night, so there was probably some rice waiting, nice and warm. "I'm going to get some breakfast..."

She knew she was going to need it.

After a quick breakfast, Ryuunosuke and Lum made their way to class. Lum was still crackling with energy, even after frying Mr. Fujinami until he looked barbecued, so Ryuunosuke was sure to give her a wide berth. Ryuunosuke didn't feel like wanting to engage with Lum any further than necessary, anyway. She could still hear the questions Lum asked of her rattling around in her head.

When Ryuunosuke pushed open the door to the classroom, she was rather surprised to see all of the girls crowding around some of the tables, speaking to each other in hushed whispers. Many of the boys stood around them, some of them trying to see inside the wall of girls, while others stood away, scowling at the little gathering.

"Um... What's going on?" Ryuunosuke and Lum walked up to the crowd, trying to see inside. But it was incredibly hard, as whoever it was inside the circle was sitting down, while the circle itself was too tightly packed to see past. Inside, the girls still talking, occasionally giggling or sighing happily.

Lum rose upwards above Ryuunosuke, her head nearly brushing the ceiling, to try and get a better look. She moved closer, peering into the circle... And gasped as she noticed a familiar head of green hair, with a pair of yellow horns sprouting from the crown of his head.

Lum quickly dove for the ground again, crouching low, and dashed over to Ryuunosuke's side again. She whimpered as she looked back at the circle of girls, hoping that the boy inside hadn't noticed her. Her eyes were wide and frightened, like nothing Ryuunosuke had ever seen on her face before.

"Lum, what..." Ryuunosuke said, only for Lum to grab roughly and pull her down. "Hey, what's the-?!" A hand quickly clapped over her mouth, muffling her shouts. Lum huddled in close as she kept Ryuunosuke quiet, shushing her.

"You have to be quiet!" Lum hissed at Ryuunosuke. "There's a man in there who's from my planet..." She looked back at the throng of girls. Thankfully, only a couple seem to have noticed them, and neither of those girls seemed to care.

"You know that man, Lum?" A voice came from above them.

Ryuunosuke and Lum both looked up to see Shinobu staring down at them, arms crossed. Ryuunosuke swallowed hard as Lum gripped her uniform shirt, trying to drag her away and out of the classroom.

"Uh, Shinobu..." Ryuunosuke said, her voice quavering. "How's your morning been?" She reached out and grabbed a desk to try and keep herself in the classroom. "We've been having a difficult morning, y'know..."

"I know," Shinobu said bluntly, "I've had my hands full since last night with our new guest..." She pointed towards the gaggle of girls, and the man inside. "He just fell out of the sky, and he's been following me this morning... He kept babbling about you, Lum..."

At the mention of her name, Lum all but took off, yanking at Ryuunosuke's shirt and nearly pulling it open. "We have to go now, Darling! Before he notices..." Ryuunosuke tried her best to keep a tight hold on the desk, even as it screeched against the floor.

And then a voice called out from amidst the throng of admirers: "Lum!"

Lum froze, and turned around to see the girls part, to reveal the green-haired, incredibly handsome looking young man, wearing a tiger-striped jumpsuit. Quickly, she let go of Ryuunosuke and bolted for the door. But the man was faster, grabbing hold of her ankle before she could make it out.

"No!" Lum cried out, kicking the man in the face. "I'm not going back! No!" She twisted around in the air, trying to break free. "I'm not going, I'm not! Our engagement is over!" Tears streamed down her cheeks and flew into the air as she thrashed around.

Ryuunosuke quickly rose to her feet, using the desk to keep her steady. "Hey! Let her go!" When the man looked at her, Ryuunosuke was somewhat taken aback from the way his dark blue eyes glittered as he stared at her.

Around her, some of the girls sighed in rapture, and some of the boys gibbered, overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of this stranger's face. Other boys shrank back in terror, the sheer threat of the stranger's handsomeness bringing them low.

"Lum." The stranger said, still keeping his grip on Lum's ankle.

Ryuunosuke scowled at the man. "Yeah, okay. You got her now. Now can you let go before she or me make you?" She stepped forward, reaching out to grab at Lum's shoulder.

The man stared at Ryuunosuke quizically for a good long moment, before answering with one word: "Lum."

Ryuunosuke stared at the man, who stared back. The rest of the classroom stared at the man, who still stared at Ryuunosuke. Even the teacher stared at the man, who was still staring at Ryuunosuke.

"Haven't you even bothered to learn Japanese, Rei?!" Lum shouted at the man, breaking the silence. "She's asking you to let me go!" She started to struggle against him once more, trying to get her ankle free from his death grip. "Can't you at least say anything other than my name?"

Rei still stared at Lum for a moment. And in turn, the entire classroom stared back at him. And then Rei looked down, as if he was deeply pondering something to say next.

After a moment, he looked up again and announced, "Hungry."

Everyone collapsed to the floor, knocked down by the weight of such a statement. Even Lum fell to the ground, landing flat on her face, her ankle still in Rei's hand. Rei himself just stood there blinking, wondering what all the fuss was about.

"Still hungry..." He murmured to himself, his eyes narrowing.

Rei looked around the classroom curiously, in search of something that could hold his interest better than the people trying to confront him. When he noticed the dropped bento box on the floor, he quickly made his way over, dragging Lum across the floor with him.

Ryuunosuke reached out a single, trembling hand to grab the top of a desk next to Rei, before hauling herself onto it like a beached whale. She groaned as she tried to get to her feet again, the shock of Rei's stupidity still weighing down on her like a large millstone made of depleted uranium. But as Rei popped the top off the bento box and popped the various foodstuffs inside his mouth, along with handfuls of rice, all she could do was stare in a mixture of disgust and shock.

"What the hell are you doing...?" She quietly approached Rei, slightly wary of the way he savaged the bento box. "That's not your lunch!" She pondered trying to take it off from him, but thought better of it. She didn't want to lose an arm to that all-consuming maw.

"Of course not!" Lum said, finally managing to slip away from Rei. "He probably wouldn't even care, anyway. That's just like him!" Her eyes were still streaked with tears, and her face was slightly grimy from her trip to the floor. "He's just so incredibly tacky, I can't stand him!"

"That's really a shame," Shinobu said as she picked herself up again. "He's a really handsome guy!" She quietly walked over to Lum and Ryuunosuke. "You'd probably be better off with him over Ryuunosuke-kun!"

Ryuunosuke just snorted and turned her head away. "Yeah, right..." She crossed her arms, leaning against the desk. "He might be good-looking, and he might be a real dude. But he don't look like a good catch to me!"

"Ryuunosuke-kun, you've forgotten one other thing." Shinobu said quickly. "He's from her planet, too! So he definitely is a better match!"

Lum glared at Shinobu. "And I suppose that you're the best judge of men, are you?" She looked pointedly over at Ataru, who had gotten back to his seat, pulled out his own bento, and started eating under the cover of a book. "Why don't you look at your own boyfriend? He's started chowing down on his bento, and it's not even eleven yet!"

Shinobu's cheeks started to redden. "What my boyfriend does is none of your business, Lum!"

Ryuunosuke quickly stepped forward, trying to head off any potential violence. "Alright, alright! Can we stop arguing over boyfriends, and just concentrate on getting rid of that dude so we can study in peace?!" She shrank back as both Lum and Shinobu stared at her.

"Lum can get rid of that glutton by herself!" Shinobu said hotly. "And she can get rid of herself along with him!"

The next thing Ryuunosuke knew, Lum had launched herself forward and grabbed her roughly around the waist. "But I don't want to go with Rei! I want to stay here, with Darling!" She clung to Ryuunosuke tightly as the other girl started to twitch. "Darling won't ditch me for food anytime! Won't you, Darling?"

Almost as suddenly as Lum grabbed her, Ryuunosuke felt another pair of arms wrap around her. "Lum, you really have to reconsider this!" Ryuunosuke looked up to see Ataru's face, now forced into a mask of dead seriousness. "You're a woman, and Ryuunosuke is a woman. You can't force yourself to love another woman, that just goes against the way of the world..."

Shinobu stared at Ataru for a moment, dumbstruck. But quickly, sudden shock would turn into brilliant blazing rage, and she stomped over to Ataru to grab him by the arm and all but wrench it out of its socket trying to drag him away.

"Is it the way of the world to put your paws on another girl in front of your girlfriend?!" Shinobu shouted angrily as she tried to pry Ataru from Lum and Ryuunosuke.

"I don't care about your repressive Earth customs!" Lum cried out as she clung to Ryuunosuke even tighter. "I don't want to go with that man, and that's that!" She pressed herself against Ryuunosuke, even as Shinobu and Ataru were practically tearing her away.

Ryuunosuke, for her part, was taking less and less notice of the argument brewing around her, as she had caught sight of Rei's face again. Her heart had practically stopped for a moment as she saw that Rei's eyes were fixed on her.

But it wasn't just because Rei was looking at her: as they remained fixed on Lum clinging onto her, those eyes were going from large and blue to a bright yellow. His lips curled back with anger, showing two large rows of sharp, curved teeth. His horns were growing out from little stubs into long, thin, bony spikes, like the horns of a bull. It made Ryuunosuke think of a beast, and that didn't sound good to her at all.

Ryuunosuke felt like she was a rubber band, being pulled in all directions by several hands. And like all rubber bands, when they get stretched too far, they have a tendency to break. And when rubber bands break, they hurt like hell for the one still holding it when it snaps back on them.

And Ryuunosuke was quickly being stretched to breaking point. And really, she didn't want to snap back on Lum or Shinobu. Lum didn't deserve it that much, and Shinobu was the only person talking sense. And Ryuunosuke didn't want to snap back at Rei, because he looked like he was capable of destroying the whole rubber band factory. So when Ryuunosuke snapped, her target was the only one close to her that was in anyway deserving of being snapped back on.

Ryuunosuke roared in as loud a voice as she could manage, and shoved Lum and Shinobu back, before whirling around to clap Ataru hard on the side of his jaw. It could barely be called a punch, more like a palm strike, if the fingers hadn't been properly closed in on impact. When Ataru staggered back, she shoved him back over the desk behind him, sending him ass over kettle to the floor.

And then she whirled in on Rei. "Get the hell out of here!" She pointed at the Oni boy. "You hear me, you sack of shit?! Take your bento and clear off!" She held the pointer at Rei for a good long while, breathing heavily from the exertion of shouting so loud while her lungs were being squished in by tightly wrapped cotton.

The entire classroom was silent. Everyone stared at Ryuunosuke, retreating a good couple of steps away from her. Even Rei had lost his savage expression, reverting back to his usual handsome face.

"That's not his bento, though..." Shinobu protested weakly. She was promptly silenced by a cold look from Lum, her lips thinning into a tiny line.

Silently, the teacher, having been ignored for so long, checked the clock. Class should've started ten minutes ago. But he knew that nobody had noticed, and he was sure that nobody would've even cared. He wasn't paid to deal with invaders from Planet X, after all.

Ryuunosuke sighed, and looked over at Shinobu. "Listen, Lum doesn't wanna go back to Rei, okay?" She kept her voice low, looking at Rei out of the corner of her eye.

"You're letting Lum stay?" Shinobu asked, her brows furrowed in confusion. "Why? Haven't you been spending the past week vowing up and down that you didn't want to be married to Lum?" She glanced over at Lum, who was busy hovering up by the ceiling, out of Rei's reach. "If you let her go back to Rei, then you'll be free..."

"Even if Lum's been nothing but a pest to me," Ryuunosuke said, "she doesn't deserve to be married to a four-star cement block like him!"

"Why?!" Shinobu said, "Haven't you noticed how handsome he is?"

"Yeah, so he's good looking." Ryuunosuke turned to give Shinobu an icy look. "What else?"

Shinobu's brow creased even more. "What do you mean, what else? His looks are pretty much all he has going for him!"

"I never expected you to be so shallow, Shinobu!" Lum couldn't help but smile as she looked at Shinobu, wrapping her arms around Ryuunosuke's waist. "Not when your own boyfriend is such a prime catch himself!"

"Don't you dare bring Ataru-kun into this!" Shinobu said angrily, bringing herself up nose to nose with Lum. Or nose to forehead, as Lum was still upside down. "It's your fault that he's been obsessed with you so much! We all would be better off if you just went home!"

"I'm not going home!" Lum righted herself again, and darted over to Ryuunosuke's side. She wrapped her arms around Ryuunosuke's arm, gripping it tightly. "I'm carrying Darling's baby!"

A terrible silence descended on the classroom.

Ryuunosuke's eyes bugged out, and she stared down at Lum. "Uh, Lum..." Her voice was shaky, and the blood was quickly draining from her face. "Could you run that by me again...?"

Shinobu had a similar expression, her jaw hanging loose.

"I'm carrying Darling's baby!" Lum shrieked triumphantly, her sharp teeth bared in an animalistic grin. "Me and my Darling made a baby just this morning, when we slept together!"

Ryuunosuke's face was starting to turn an interesting shade of blue. "How?" Her eyes turned glassy and unfocused, unable to do much else to stare straight ahead. In fact, it was practically impossible for her to think, her mind grinding to a halt.

"How is that even possible?!" Shinobu shouted. "You're both girls!"

Lum cackled loudly behind her hand. "Why Shinobu, I would've thought you would have been aware, what with you having a boyfriend and all: the power of love makes anything possible!"

Shinobu was about to make a retort about how Lum was obviously lying, but was interrupted by a disturbing high-pitched growl that chilled her to the core. Her head turned to face the source of the noise, and found Rei, eyes wide and bloodshot, staring at Lum.

"Look!" Lum shouted, pointing a finger at Rei. "Now the beast has revealed his true face!"

"So what if he looks like that when he's mad?" Shinobu said, through gritted teeth. "I've seen you make faces like that every time I've seen you at school!"

Ryuunosuke stepped back a little bit further from Rei, who was starting to swell up like he was stung by a thousand bees. "I don't think he's stopping." She swallowed hard, quickly grabbing Shinobu and pulling her back with her as Rei started to not only swell out, but also grow in size. The effect was starting to remind Ryuunosuke of the time that she and her father watched An American Werewolf in London when she was eight years old, which led her to have nightmares for weeks.

In the span of several minutes, Rei had not only grown four extra feet, but had gained a couple of hundred pounds in bulk as well. His jaw stretched outwards, becoming more like a muzzle with rows of razor sharp teeth, and his ears turned from pointed human like ears to something more feline. His horns grew out too, turning from pointed stubs into long curved horns that jutted out in front.

The other classmates quickly made space for Rei as he continued to grow, a thick coat of orange fur growing all over his body as his jumpsuit disintegrated. Even most of the girls, who had previously all lavished him with adoration, were huddling against the far walls in terror. When the giant creature that used to be Rei stomped across the classroom towards Ryuunosuke and Lum, practically everyone else broke for the door, including the teacher, swarming around the walls to squeeze out in blind panic.

Only Shinobu stayed by Ryuunosuke, mostly because Ataru was still unconscious, sprawled out on the floor. Lum pressed against Ryuunosuke as Rei approached, shrinking back in terror as his monstrous face lowered down to glare at the three of them.

"You still think that he's a good catch, Shinobu?" Ryuunosuke asked, pure adrenaline keeping her from screaming in a blind panic like the others. She felt a discarded chair by her feet as she backed up further, and an idea quickly popped into her mind. Ryuunosuke grabbed Shinobu and Lum by their waists, and hooked the chair with her foot, then whipped it out at Rei's face.

To Ryuunosuke's satisfaction, the chair smacked hard against Rei's eyeridge, making the beast's eye snap shut on reflex. The beast flinched enough for Ryuunosuke to lift Lum and Shinobu up and sprint for the door, easily clearing the classroom by the time Rei recovered.

Thankfully, Lum was naturally light enough that she could just slide out of Ryuunosuke's grip and latch onto her back, arms around her neck. Shinobu quickly found herself hauled up into a bridal carry position, her arms wrapped around Ryuunosuke's shoulders.

Behind Ryuunosuke, Rei yowled like an angry cat on steroids, his anguished shrieks carrying on down the school hallways. Seconds later, Ryuunosuke heard the sound of wood splintering and glass shattering, and quickened her pace. She could hear Rei's paws thudding on the floor behind her as she leapt her way down the main stairwell, so quickly that Shinobu didn't even have time to scream when they fell.

Ryuunosuke could still hear Rei hot on her heels as she dashed out of the school into the courtyard, not even stopping to change shoes. When you're being chased by a murderous looking horned tiger monster, you didn't have time to deal with any kind of etiquette.

Ryuunosuke quickly rounded the corner around the school building, and slammed her back against it, panting heavily. Shinobu quickly got to her feet, pressed against the wall beside her. "Is he still following us?" She quickly leaned around Ryuunosuke to peek around the corner.

Lum's eyes bugged out as Shinobu peeked. "Shinobu, what do you think you're doing?!" She grabbed Shinobu's arm roughly. "We've lost him already, let's just go home and leave him be!" She squeaked as Shinobu jerked her arm away, before peeking again.

Ryuunosuke sucked in a breath as Shinobu peered around the corner, hoping that she wouldn't suddenly be grabbed by giant slavering jaws or something. But after a few seconds of peeking, Ryuunosuke found herself seized with a sense of curiosity.

Silently, Ryuunosuke peered around the corner, followed by Lum, trying get a look herself. Rei was out in the courtyard, bent over what looked like the struggling body of some poor bastard that got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Shinobu winced, muffling a squeak of terror. She shrank back, grabbing Ryuunosuke's shirt, wanting to bury her face in the other girl's chest. Ryuunosuke swallowed hard, and peered around the corner again.

"Is he...?"

Lum shook her head. "Rei isn't the kind of guy who has a taste for humanoid flesh. If anything, that guy must have some snacks on him or something..." When Rei rose back up on his hind legs, Lum pointed at what looked like a ramen bowl gripping tightly in his paws. "See? He was just after the ramen!"

"He must've been here for Ataru-kun..." Shinobu said in disgust. "I've seen him phone for ramen before school before..."

Ryuunosuke turned away from the corner. "Let's get out of here, while he's still distracted..."
Quietly, the three girls made their way to the Fujinami's little storage shed home, and crept inside. The house was still as desolate as it was when Ryuunosuke and Lum had left it that morning. The pot of curry that Lum had made the night before sat by the kitchen sink, still bubbling away, even after almost an entire day away from any source of heat. Shinobu asked about the bubbling pot, but the only answer she got was Ryuunosuke's "Don't ask."

Despite the further insult to her cooking skills, Lum still huddled close to Ryuunosuke, gripping her shirt. She rested her chin against Ryuunosuke's shoulder, eyes closed, and murmured soft affectionate words to her reluctant fiancee.

"You could have just let Rei take her home..." Shinobu said quietly, earning a dirty look from Lum. "You didn't have to step in like that." She was sitting on her knees at the low table, gazing down at the mug of tea that she made herself.

"He didn't deserve her," Ryuunosuke said firmly. "He didn't even care about her when he was looking for food to eat. I couldn't let him take her back to wherever just because he had a pretty face."

Shinobu didn't protest this time, and Ryuunosuke wasn't sure if it was because she couldn't find a counter-argument, or because she knew that Ryuunosuke was right. So she kept gazing down at her tea, the steam rising up from the rim of the mug.

Even Lum was thankfully silent. She didn't even try to get in another jab at Shinobu's own love life, probably because she had no ground to stand on herself. Not while her ex-fiance was out attacking ramen delivery boys.

Ryuunosuke's father rose shakily from the corner that Lum and Ryuunosuke had deposited him in, trying to fight off the hours of Oni-style curry induced delirium he was under. "Ryuunosuke! What are you and your girlies doing here?" He pointed at quivering hand at Ryuunosuke. "Isn't it still schooltime for you?"

"Class finished early today," Ryuunosuke said, "because Lum's ex-boyfriend was busy wrecking the place and scaring people shitless. And Shinobu's here because she's safer here instead of out there."

Shinobu flushed deeply. "And I am not anybody's girlie! Especially not Ryuunosuke-kun's!" She turned away from Ryuunosuke and her father with a sniff of distain.

"She'd better not be," Lum added, a touch of ozone to her words. "Not if she knows what's good for her. Or for Darling, too."

Ryuunosuke scowled at Lum. "Are you always this paranoid over other girls around you?" She turned back to Shinobu again. "Look, we're waiting out here until that thing out there is gone. Then we'll find your boyfriend and your shoes, and then you two can get out of here..."

Ryuunosuke was interrupted at that moment by the door to the shed sliding open. She whipped her head around to stare at Ataru, standing at the front door, grinning his dumb grin.

"So that's where you got to, Shinobu!" Ataru said, stepping inside. "I thought you might had already gotten out of the school!"

Shinobu rose to her feet in panic, frantically shushing Ataru. Lum clung tighter to Ryuunosuke, her nails digging into her shirt. Even Ryuunosuke's father shrank back from the entrance, sweating even more than he was already doing before.

Ataru's stupid grin faded from his face. "What? What's going on?" He didn't notice the growing shadow behind him, blocking out the light over the screen door. "Why's everybody looking so scared?"

In the next moment, Rei's large orange face burst through the screen door, sending splinters of wood scattering over the floor. Ataru was sent flying across the room, slamming on his face on the floor in front of them. He scrabbled across the floor as Rei approached, trying to both get to his feet and get to the far wall, but failing at both.

For a moment, the three girls stared at Rei in numb terror, unable to move or even think as the creature drew closer. Ideas and plans of escape ran through their heads, desperate to try and think of something.

Lum was the first to think of something, her eyes widening, before she turned to Ryuunosuke. "Darling! The curry! Use the curry!"

"Oh, wonderful!" Shinobu said sarcastically. "Maybe we can poison ourselves before he kills us!"

"Not for us, dummy!" Lum shouted. "Rei eats anything that's set in front of him!"

Ryuunosuke didn't need Lum to say anything else. She turned and leapt for the pot of curry, whipping the lid off. She tried to ignore the choking fumes that rose out of the pot as she dashed back, making her way in front of Lum and Shinobu, holding the curry out in front of her.

Rei swiped the curry pot from Ryuunosuke with one great paw, opening his great big mouth wide, before tipping the entire contents down his mouth. His great thick tongue stuffed itself inside the pot, scooping out the last vestiges from the pot, licking the entire thing clean.

After a few moments, the tiger monster suddenly froze in place. His eyes bugged out even further than they were before. And then Rei reared back on his hind legs, staggering back out of the storage shed, and started to wail and yowl as it staggered about.

Ryuunosuke stepped forward, peering out of the hole made by Rei, watching him stagger drunkenly about. Lum, Shinobu and Ataru peeked around her shoulders, watching in muted horror as well.

Eventually, Rei collapsed to the ground, toppling over like a massive tree that was just cut down, a large cloud of dust kicked up around him from the impact. And as he lay there, Rei slowly shrank down, smaller and smaller, until he was somewhat the size of a very large cat.

Lum breathed a sigh of relief. "He's done for now... When Rei eats too much, he ends up stuck like that for quite a while..." She wrapped her arms around Ryuunosuke's waist, resting her chin on Ryuunosuke's shoulder. "I knew I could count on you, Darling. I love you so much..."

Ryuunosuke groaned, turning her eyes to the sky as Lum cuddled closer. Behind her, she could hear her father groan silently, still weakened from Lum's curry. Silently, she hoped that maybe something better could come down from the sky than vengeful, greedy ex-boyfriends.

"Darling..."

Ryuunosuke grit her teeth and stared straight ahead. She didn't want to look anywhere near the direction of the futon that Lum had laid out. She didn't even want to turn her head away from the TV, which was playing some late-night variety show. She didn't even like these shows, but it was still better than having to see what was going on behind her.

"Darling, come to bed already." Lum's voice drifted out from behind Ryuunosuke. "You must really be sleepy..." Something landed behind her with a soft thump, probably cloth. Did Lum just...

"I won't wear my bikini to bed, Darling..." Lum giggled softly, her voice soft and inviting. "Come to bed, already..."

Ryuunosuke's eyelids were incredibly heavy, only being kept open out of sheer perseverance. She didn't want to share the bed with Lum, despite all of the cajoling and such that Lum had been trying on her. Even though Lum didn't care that she was a woman, Ryuunosuke couldn't bear to think about it.

Every time Ryuunosuke thought about turning around, all she could see was the smile of triumph on her father's face, as she became the man he always wanted her to be. The way that he nearly burned out his throat eating her cooking to get into her good graces. The fact that he nearly sold the Earth to some strangers so they could live on Oniboshi. The face of her father was always there, in spirit if not in body, every time Ryuunosuke looked at Lum.

"What are you even watching?" Lum's voice came from right beside Ryuunosuke's ear, and Ryuunosuke flinched away from Lum like she was on fire. Lum could only blink as Ryuunosuke scrabbled away from her, trying her best to look away.

"Don't do that!" Ryuunosuke shouted. "You nearly made me jump out of my skin!" She pulled herself back to a sitting position, looking at Lum. "I'm not feeling sleepy, alright?! I don't want to sleep at all!"

Lum stared at Ryuunosuke for a long while, her eyes starting to become glossy. "Darling... What's wrong?" Her face creased up, the telltale sign of tears gathering in her eyes. "I'm trying to make you happy here!"

Ryuunosuke gave Lum a look. "It's not you, alright?" She sighed heavily, bowing her head. She was silent for a moment, as she tried to gather her thoughts. But before she could, a sudden impact smashed against the back of her head, slamming her face into the tatami.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?!" Ryuunosuke heard her father shout. "You're supposed to be a man, aren't you? Would any man refuse such a woman giving herself to you?!"

Ryuunosuke could feel the rage bubbling up already. She wanted to get back to her feet again, and remind her father that she wasn't a man, and therefore, didn't have to do shit. She wanted to smash that horrible face into as many pieces as she could manage.

But then Lum's voice rang out, clear as a bell. "Why do you keep calling Darling a man? She's a woman!" Ryuunosuke could see Lum's feet step closer, standing right in front of her eyes. "I'm starting to really get sick of you sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong, you know..."

And there was the smell of ozone again, the crackle of electricity. "Especially when you keep hurting my Darling! Nobody does that but me!"

Ryuunosuke pressed her body flat to the tatami again as Lum leapt over her, the sound of lightning and screaming behind her. Around her, she could see stray lightning bolts strike the walls and the floor, leaving black singe marks and wafting smoke in their wake.

Eventually, the screaming stopped. And Ryuunosuke turned around to see Lum, panting with exhaustion, kneeling on the floor over the prone body of her father. He was blackened and smoking, like the walls and floor around him, laying unconscious but with his eyes still open.

Lum looked up at Ryuunosuke again, the anger melting from her face. "Darling..." And then, before Ryuunosuke could stop her, Lum quite literally flew into her arms. "You're still okay. I was worried for a moment that a lightning bolt might've hit you or something."

Ryuunosuke swallowed hard, remembering how painful that first electric shock was. The ones that Lum ended up giving her by accident weren't as painful in the least. "I'm okay, now. Don't worry about me, alright? I can take care of myself."

Lum pulled away from Ryuunosuke to gaze up at her. "Now are you coming to bed with me?" She wrapped her arms around Ryuunosuke's waist gently. "I'll make sure that nasty old man won't bother you tonight."

In truth, there was still a part of Ryuunosuke that wanted to say no, and go back to watching TV. But as Lum's hopeful blue eyes gazed up at her, Ryuunosuke knew that part of her was fading fast.

When Lum woke the next morning, it was still dark outside, and she was still in her Darling's arms. The little digital clock radio she set beside bed read 2:45am, in a dull green glow. Her Darling was still fast asleep in the futon, still holding her tightly to her unbound breast.

Lum giggled softly, and wriggled out of Ryuunosuke's arms and out of the futon. After a moment outside so she could do her business-wondering if she could make some upgrades to the storage shed to install proper indoor plumbing-before returning to the bed and snuggling in.

Lum gazed down at her Darling's peaceful face, lost in a quiet sleep. Lum was surprised how different her face looked at that moment, different from the rage and grumpiness that was usually on her face whenever she was awake. At least she seemed to be less grumpy about Lum, which was definitely a good thing for their relationship.

Over the past week, Lum had been shadowing Ryuunosuke, watching her as she went around her day. Respectfully, Lum kept her distance, something that was pretty easy when you could fly. She watched her Darling while she ran the school store, attended class, fought with her father and generally went about her day, occasionally followed by a gaggle of young admirers, both male and female.

Lum didn't like that so many girls and boys seemed to follow Ryuunosuke around. It was like Ryuunosuke attracted attention, no matter how much she tried to ignore them. Her father didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to be pleased about Ryuunosuke's admirers in a way that made Lum think of Shinobu's obnoxious boyfriend. No wonder Ryuunosuke hated that old man so much.

And then, there were her classmates. Lum didn't like how all the boys seemed to be admiring her, chasing after her, trying to steal her away from Ryuunosuke. Lum could tell it from the way the talked amongst themselves: they were so sure that because they were both girls, the fact that their own masculinity could somehow draw her away from Ryuunosuke.

If Lum had her way, she would take her Darling, hop in her UFO, and leave planet Earth and never come back. She'd rather have Ryuunosuke be among the Oni than spend another minute among all these nasty Earthlings out to take advantage of them. Ryuunosuke was definitely strong enough to be an Oni, after all. The Tag Game proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. And she was sure Ryuunosuke would rather be with Lum's own parents instead of her father.

But she was already homesick after a week on Earth, and she missed sleeping in her saucer and being able to work on her science projects and everything else. She missed her mom's cooking, and she missed bounding over the pastel-coloured plains of Oniboshi. She was thankful for her saucer letting her still travel off-Earth.

But if Ryuunosuke was made to leave Earth, what then? Would she miss Earth the way Lum missed Oniboshi? Would she miss Shinobu the way Lum missed her own parents? The beach and her little Hamachaya, which her father was desperate to build again? Well, maybe not anything to do with her father...

Lum felt Ryuunosuke's arms wrap around her shoulders, and hug her tightly. Softly, Lum smiled to herself. Ryuunosuke had been bombarding her with questions and doubts all the time over the past week, since the engagement formally started. Lum answered the best she could, but most of the answers she had was really just more questions.

Ryuunosuke wanted to know how come Lum was still in love with her so much. Lum wanted to know why Ryuunosuke was holding herself back so much. Maybe Ryuunosuke was right about Lum falling in love with her too fast. But then again, maybe Lum was right about Ryuunosuke being shackled too much by her father's words and the judgement of everyone around her.

Maybe Ryuunosuke had a couple of points, at least. Lum did find Rei incredibly handsome, at first. She accepted the engagement without question, at the very first meeting between them. That lasted maybe less than a week; Lum had dumped that tacky doofus not long afterwards.

On the other hand, Ryuunosuke genuinely cared about her. She cared enough to defend her from Rei, and keep him from taking her back. Even after Ryuunosuke swearing up and down that she couldn't possibly be in love with Lum, she never gave her up to Rei.

Lum curled in tighter against her Darling, her heart thudding in her chest at the memory of that moment. She loved her Darling so much, and she could tell that her Darling loved her too. She just needed to admit it to herself first.

"Darling…" She murmured under her breath. "I'll never ever let you go."

As the dark skies slowly started to lighten up, Lum slipped back into a blissful sleep.

to be continued

NOTES: Yes, I'm still doing this.

I think the best thing about this series is that I've realised that I don't have to exactly fit canon around the story concept. I admit that there's a lot about UY that I don't really like that much, but I can just ditch that stuff by the wayside, and just do my own thing. And the challenges I get from writing Ryuunosuke and Lum's relationship just make the whole process a bit more interesting than usual.

So I guess I'll be saying that there's gonna be a bit more coming, soon enough.