EPISODE 7: Word On A Wing

The elder tengu servant waited nervously at the main chamber of Her Highness' spacecraft, waiting for the return of his subordinates with the new candidate for Her Highness' mate. A few hours ago, they had got a call from the Tengu who had no doubt gone off on one of his drunken benders again, telling them that he had found a perfect mate. Despite the obvious slurring from his words, the other Tengu had no choice but to retrieve the drunken sot and his candidate, because it had already been so long that Her Highness had a good candidate for a mate.

He could only hope that the candidate was worth the effort. If he turned out to be as much a disappointment as the last one, Her Highness would probably end up making him into a pie.

Eventually, a gust of wind rushed into the chamber, carrying one larger figure, escorted by several smaller ones. The figure gracelessly slammed into the floor face-first, sprawled over the metal surface like a flattened frog.

The Tengu surrounded the sprawled figure, carefully, trying not to frighten the young man away. Too many previous candidates fled from them before they could even see Her Highness' face, so they wanted to make sure to make the latest choice as comfortable in his new surroundings as possible.

"So this is the latest candidate?" The elder asked. "I'm not too happy about having to entertain one of the drunkard's selections, but tradition dictates, does it not?"

"What's wrong with my judgement?!" The drunk tengu shouted. "This man saved me when I was at my lowest! Without him, I wouldn't be standing before you right now!"

"Which can only be a shame that he did," the elder tengu replied. And before the drunkard could respond with any angry, slurred curses, he approached the large figure. "Come on! Wake up! You're in the presence of the Tengu Princess Kurama here, young man!"

The figure jerked awake, and rose upwards with shocking speed. But what was even more shocking was the young man's face, once the other tengu caught sight of it.

Ataru Moroboshi stared down at the terrified tengu. "Who are you turkeys, and what did you drag me here for?!"

The elder stared up at Ataru, stricked with horror. "We're cursed. We are truly cursed."

"Moroboshi disappeared 'round here?"

Ryuunosuke stood atop the observation tower that looked out over the small forest grove close to Tomobiki High. Whilst small by any definition for a forest that anyone might have, the forest park was one of the biggest in the Greater Tokyo Area, a sizable spot of green among the urban sprawl. As a result, it was almost an entirely plausible concept that a single person would get lost within. And when such a person was Ataru Moroboshi, the odds only got higher and higher.

"Yes," Shinobu answered from behind, her fingers worrying at a handkerchief. "I was out on a school trip with Ataru-kun last night. We were right here, watching the stars. We'd seen a shooting star, and I had made a wish, but then suddenly just zoomed over our heads... And the next thing we knew, there was this massive pillar of smoke."

Ryuunosuke looked out, seeing the familiar bikini-clad form of Lum floating above the treetops, scouting the area out. She had to admit, knowing someone who could fly sure came in useful in a situation like this. "Smoke's probably gone by now. But if a meteor's landed 'round here, it's still pretty likely that Lum can find it..."

At that moment, Lum stopped in mid-air and turned to face the tower, waving her arms. "Darling! I found something! It's... Kyaaah!"

The next thing Ryuunosuke knew, the wind suddenly changed, from a light breeze to a sudden gale. Her eyes widened as Lum was buffeted around the treetops, and spiralled down.

"Lum!" Ryuunosuke shouted, before clambering down the tower to the grass below, Shinobu following behind her. The two raced into the forest, towards where they had seen Lum fall down, a particularly thick collection of trees forming a canopy that blocked out the sun.

It didn't take them long: as soon as the two got close enough, Lum suddenly swooped from the canopy to pounce upon Ryuunosuke, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Oh, Darling! I was so scared! The next thing I knew, it was like a hand had grabbed me and threw me around the place!" She buried her face in her Darling's shoulder. "Thank goodness you were here to save me!"

"Save you?" Shinobu asked. "You were barely in any trouble!"

Lum scowled and all but yanked Ryuunosuke away from Shinobu, pulling her out from the trees into a deep crater, with what looked like a blue conch shell the size of a small house embedded at its centre. But as the three inched closer, it was obvious to them what it really was.

"A spaceship," Lum said quietly, "but I've never seen one like this before..."

"Really? Because I thought..." Shinobu began, before trailing off, as it occurred to her that maybe it would be ridiculous to assume that Lum knew every single possible alien in the universe. "I mean... Do you think that Ataru would be in there?"

"Nothing else 'round here for a mile but trees," Ryuunosuke replied. "There's a pretty good chance he's in there."

Lum raised herself up from Ryuunosuke's shoulders. "Well, even if it looks unique, a spaceship is still a spaceship! I can still open it up and have a look inside!" She lifted off and floated down to the embedded ship, and began searching the surface of it.

Ryuunosuke immediately cottoned on, and skidded down the crater wall to the ship, examining the sides. She knew Lum was looking for some kind of door, and the way to open it. She just figured she could've used some extra help.

When nothing seemed to reveal itself, Ryuunosuke climbed up the side of the side of the ship, ignoring Lum's cry of "Darling, be careful!" She could easily scale the side of the structure in her sleep, after all...

Ryuunosuke blinked as she noticed a small gap at the top tip (the spire) of the ship. Temptation took hold of her, and she moved her head up to peer inside.

What she saw was somewhat odd: it was kind of like looking inside of an old toy playset in the dark. There was what looked like a large throne room to her, a cavernous space, but it was so dark inside that she couldn't make it out. But she could see figures flitting around to and fro inside. For a moment Ryuunosuke thought she saw one of the figures looking directly at her.

And then the next thing Ryuunosuke saw was nothing but blinding light and the feeling of weightlessness.

Lum's eyes widened as the top of the spaceship suddenly opened out like a flower, and Ryuunosuke was pulled inside. "Darling!" She dove towards the blinding light after Ryuunosuke, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she put on as much speed as she could.

Her face suddenly impacting with a hard surface was the last thing she expected. It took her a minute for her to get her head to stop ringing, so she could properly right herself once more.

Lum quickly rose, blinking the red and blue spots out of her eyes. It seemed that she had flown face-first into the hard floor of the room they were in, which she could only surmise was the central chamber of the spaceship. It looked big and important enough to be one for Lum, so that was most likely what it was. She looked around, looking around for any other sign of life.

Nothing.

"Darling...?" Lum's voice echoed around the chamber. "Darling, where are you?"

"Oh, don't tell me," a voice piped up from beside her. "You're the girlfriend, aren't you?"

Lum blinked, and turned to look at the source of the voice: what looked like a tiny little crow staring up at her, dressed in white robes. She blinked down at the little bird-person.

"And an oni-girl, of all people," the crow said. "For your sake, I hope you make yourself scarce before Her Highness sees you. We've been desperately trying to find an alternate candidate for her..."

"An alternate candidate for what?" Lum asked.

"Why, to be Her Highness' mate, of course," the crow replied blithely.

"WHAT?!" Lum grabbed the crow roughly and pulled her up to eye level, which incidentally gave him a good view of all of her sharp teeth. "Did you say MATE?!"

"Y-yes!" The crow replied. "The current candidate is practically a washout that Her Highness would rather cut off her right wing than mate with! We need a replacement now before the ancestral law demands that she mate with him!"

"You're not making my Darling mate with whoever this woman is!" Lum snarled. "I don't care if she's royalty or anything! I'll make a roast dinner out of anyone who tries to lay their hand on Darling!"

"How barbaric." A smooth, silky voice spoke up. "To think that somebody would marry a savage such as you."

Ryuunosuke awoke in darkness.

"Hello...? Lum?" She called out. The only answer she got was an echo. And the sudden weight of Ataru Moroboshi on her about a second later.

"Ryuu-chan!" Ataru said, uncomfortably close to her ear. "You're here to save me!"

Ryuunosuke grabbed Ataru and flung him against what she presumed to be a nearby metal wall, from the sound he made on impact. "If you touch me again, I'm making sure that I'm leaving you behind!"

"Aw, come on, Ryuu-chan!" Ataru said. "You really want me to leave me in this dark pit? I can't be betrothed to Kurama-chan while shut up in here!"

Ryuunosuke was about to deliver another biting remark when she heard a tremendous CLANG and everything suddenly went white. She winced and moved back, covering her eyes from the sudden light. Eventually, she was able to open them, and see a large open door standing before her, letting in a bright, dazzling light. And in the middle of the doorway stood a small group of small figures.

Ryuunosuke blinked again, and saw that the small figures were the same as what she had seen before the ship pulled her inside: they looked like some strange melding of crow and human, roughly the size of the former, but with a body shape that was more like the latter, except for a pair of large black wings on each of their backs. Each of them wore robes that resembled those of a Buddhist priest... At the sight of them, two certain words leapt into Ryuunosuke's mind that described them perfectly: karasu-tengu.

"Right," one of them said, just loud enough for Ryuunosuke to hear. "We've got two of them under control in here, and the third can't get inside. Maybe there's a chance Her Highness might..."

"Her Highness is still recovering from laying eyes on that animal the drunkard picked for him!" Another shouted. As he spoke, both Ryuunosuke and Ataru quietly sneaked closer, as silently as they could.

"But we can't let him go!" The first one replied. "He's bound by tradition to be Her Highness' mate! Nothing can go against tradition!" A moment later, he noticed Ryuunosuke and Ataru both staring at them all while way too close, and yelped, leaping backwards in a panic.

Immediately, there was a flurry of feathers and tiny claws as Ryuunosuke fought off the tengu's panicked attacks, while Ataru just grabbed at them. The tengu were quick, but not quick enough; one found himself caught in Ataru's surprisingly firm grip, wings held down against his body.

"Alright buddy," Ataru said, glaring down at the little tengu. "I've been waiting inside this dark cell for what felt like an hour. You said you'd bring me to Kurama-chan soon enough, but for all I knew, you were probably going to leave me in there for ages! Now, are you going to bring me to Kurama-chan or aren't you?"

"Kurama-chan?" Ryuunosuke asked. "Who is Kurama-chan?"

The rest of the tengu gathered themselves in front of Ryuunosuke, on the other side of her from Ataru. "Kurama-chan... Princess Kurama is the last of the royal bloodline. She needs a suitable mate to sire an heir to carry on the tengu royal family!"

"And that's me, isn't it?" Ataru crowed, holding up the captured crow in hand. "Remember, your little friend chose me to be her mate, and I sealed the deal with a kiss! You're bound by tradition, remember?" He waved the wailing tengu in the air. "Tradition chose me!"

"NOBODY chose you!" A loud voice ricocheted about the cell. "You took advantage of me to take me for yourself!"

Ryuunosuke jerked back, quickly rolling to her feet in a combat stance, while Ataru simply was knocked out flat on his back. She turned to look at the new figures standing in the doorway.

One was instantly recognizable, even before she quickly leapt up and pounced on Ryuunosuke while crying out, "DARLING!" Ryuunosuke found herself being swung around once again. "You're safe! I thought that maybe that nasty old crow had done something to you!"

"Nasty old crow!" The other girl shouted. "Just because I spent the last thousand years in cold sleep doesn't mean I'm that much older than you!"

One of the crows nodded. "Barring the thousand-year cold sleep period, you and Her Highness are remarkably close in age..."

Ryuunosuke turned to look at the other girl: about as tall as she was, definitely taller than Shinobu or Lum. Despite having a similarly svelte figure, she carried herself with an air that was considerably more regal and refined. But the most striking thing about her was her head: the face was elegantly shaped with narrow, cold grey eyes framed with dark green eyeshadow and rimmed with dark mascara, and small bow lips that were daubed in red. All of this was framed by her hair, coloured the darkest black cut short in the feminine style, but with a pair of wings that extended from either side of her head. She wore a black leather bustier laced in the front and thigh high leather boots with tall heels that clacked on the metal floor as she stepped closer.

Ryuunosuke blinked, and looked between Lum and the girl in leather. "Don't tell me... Is that-"

"Ku-ra-ma-chaaaa~aaan!" Ataru sang as he pounced upon the girl, practically knocking her over under his bodyweight. Ryuunosuke could only stare in shock at the ensuing scuffle, Kurama and several of the little Tengu trying their level best to try to dislodge Ataru from her person, not even noticing that Lum's grip had tightened on her considerably.

Evenutally, Kurama managed to get back up to her feet, one of them pinning Ataru down to the floor. "I cannot believe your impudence! And you still consider yourself to be a worthy mate?!"

"Stop fooling yourself, Kurama-chan!" Ataru's protests were slightly distorted around Kurama's sole against his cheek. "Your traditions mean I'm your mate, remember? And there's no takebacks!"

Ryuunosuke blinked. "Traditions?"

"You know, like what he mentioned earlier," Lum said. "I guess that maybe these tengu are pretty incompetent if they've got to get Kurama to mate with a guy like that..."

Kurama snarled and kicked Ataru headlong across the room. "That's why I refuse! I'm not mating with a moron like that!" She paused, and looked over at Ryuunosuke. "Not when there are better options available, of course."

Lum gripped Ryuunosuke harder, her expression turning venomous. "My Darling is not for anyone to mate with! My Darling is mine, and mine alone!"

Ryuunosuke swallowed hard, trying to ignore the strange feelings in her chest. "Now, Lum, I don't think she means me..."

Kurama glared at Lum. "Darling, of course I mean you..." She suddenly leapt back as an arc of lightning lashed out where she was, barely clipping Ataru as it hit the floor. "...once we get rid of that nasty demon clinging to your back!"

"Don't you dare call my Darling, Darling, you old crow!" Lum shouted, lightning crackling around her. "I'm the only one who can use that name!"

"Quiet, you demon!" Kurama snapped back. "I know all about your kind! Nothing but a bunch of ugly louts who loiter around the universe, squatting where they please! None of the proud poise and elegance of the Tengu!"

"Oh yeah?" Lum shot back. "Well, if you're so proud, how come I know nothing about you people?"

Kurama's face creased. "That's exactly the kind of ignorance that I'd expect from a stupid demon like you! Now get off my ship, before I make you!"

"I'll make you get off your own ship, you...!" Lum's words descended into an angry roar as she launched herself off of Ryuunosuke, and fired a salvo of lightning bolts in Kurama's direction. But her flight was suddenly interrupted as a massive gust of wind suddenly whipped around the chamber, catching Lum within and tossing her into the cell wall.

Ryuunosuke quickly dashed over and caught Lum as she tumbled down to earth. Thankfully, aside from some bruises on her face and arms, it seemed that she was mostly alright. She looked up at Kurama. "What's the big idea? You could've hurt Lum bad with that trick!"

Kurama's face was impassive. "Do you honestly care that much for that little slug? You're in the presence of one of the most beautiful humanoid women in the galaxy, the universal pinnacle of genetic stock, and you would rather stay with... her?"

Ryuunosuke's eyes hardened. "I don't know how it works on your planet, but I don't care about if someone's beautiful or not! If someone's a jerkass, I don't want anything to do with them!"

Kurama stared at Ryuunosuke and Lum for a long while. Unfortunately, it was long enough for Ataru to get up again and pounce upon her.

"Kurama-chan! Stop rejecting me!" Ataru said in between slobbering over her. "Stop ignoring me! I'm the one who's your destined mate!"

Kurama shrieked and slammed her fist into Ataru's jaw. "You're NOT my destined mate! You're an aberration picked by a drunkard and supported by morons! I'm not letting you mate with me, and nothing you can do will make me!"

Despite the impact of Kurama's fist and her words, Ataru still clung on. "Yeah? Well let me tell you, there ain't nothing in the world that's taking me away from you!"

And then, almost as if in response to Ataru's words, the sound of metal being rent apart echoed through the ship, followed by a high-pitched scream of rage.

"A... TA... RU...!"

There was a terrified silence for a moment. And then one of the Tengu turned towards the elder. "Please don't tell me that was the third person who was outside of the ship?"

Almost immediately, Ataru once again grabbed hold of Kurama. "Kurama-chan! Save me! If Shinobu finds me here, she'll kill me!"

"It seems like if this Shinobu manages to get here, she'll kill us all!" Kurama shoved Ataru away roughly. "You're even more of a bad omen than I imagined!" She looked towards her tengu servants. "Lock down the ship! Make sure this intruder doesn't leave the ship alive!"

It took a moment for Ryuunosuke to grasp the meaning of Kurama's words. But when she did, she roughly grabbed Lum and dashed for the door, managing to leap through just as it slammed shut. As Kurama's scream of frustration came through the thick metal, Ryuunosuke sprinted down the small hallway, towards the sounds of havoc.

The passageways of Kurama's ship, however, were twisty and confusingly similar to each other. Ryuunosuke only had the sounds of chaos to guide her, and Lum was getting more and more antsy in her arms as they moved on through. She looked up at Ryuunosuke, a nervous look on her face.

"Darling, why are you bothering with Shinobu?" She asked. "We could just make for the exit by ourselves!"

"I'm not leaving her at the mercy of these featherfaces," Ryuunosuke replied, putting on an extra burst of speed. "Besides, she's probably close to the exit herself. We'd have a better chance of getting out with her."

Lum's lips pursed irritably, and Ryuunosuke suppressed a groan of exasperation. It wasn't the best time to have another argument about Shinobu, not when all their lives were possibly at stake. But even so, Ryuunosuke pondered trying to teach her fiancee about properly sorting out priorities.

Ryuunosuke quickly rounded a corner, and then suddenly ducked a flying... school desk? She turned her head, and sure enough there was the broken remains of a school desk just sitting there on the floor.

"Ryuunosuke-kun! Lum!"

Ryuunosuke turned back to see Shinobu running up to them, another school desk gripped in her hands. For a moment, the foremost thing that Ryuunosuke could think of was, just how in the hell did Shinobu manage to bring a school desk so far from school.

"Am I glad to see you two!" Shinobu said, relaxing somewhat considerably. "From the moment I got in here, I've been harangued by this funny looking crows!" She looked between the two girls. "Um... Where's Ataru-kun?"

Ryuunosuke racked her brains for a suitable answer, one that wouldn't send Shinobu flying into a monstrous rage and tearing the entire ship apart. Unfortunately, Lum wasn't held back by such petty considerations, and promptly answered with, "Your boyfriend's in the holding cell with that harlot crow, so you'd better get a move on before he does something they both regret!"

Ryuunosuke went white. Shinobu went purple.

"I'll KILL HIM!" Shinobu shrieked, before launching herself through a wall, smashing through it like tinfoil.

Ryuunosuke stared at the ragged hole in the steel wall, before staring down at Lum. "Why did you have to say that? Now I gotta go back and get here before she gets herself killed!"

"Is that really so bad, Darling?" Lum asked.

"Yes it is!" Ryuunosuke shouted suddenly, making Lum flinched. Then she paused and took several deep breaths, before adding, "that is way too cold-blooded, even for you."

"Wha'tcha mean, cold-blooded?!" Lum replied testily, folding her arms. But she quickly folded under Ryuunosuke's intense stare. "Alright, alright! We'll go back and get them out! It's not like they can't handle those little crows by herself!"

Ryuunosuke nodded, and turned to go after Shinobu... Only to see her sprinting back towards them through the hole, promptly before a large gale of wind surged behind her and sent her screaming forwards into Ryuunosuke and Lum.

The three girls rolled back, tumbling together into a pile on the floor, Shinobu and Lum tangled atop Ryuunosuke. Before them, Kurama glided through the wall into the antechamber, landing lightly on her feet. She gripped Ataru tightly under her arm, and held a giant leaf in her other hand, and she had a withering glare in her eyes.

"Incredible," Kurama said, as she watched the girls untangle themselves from the pile. "Not only do we have a demon girl here, but there's also a zashiki girl as well."

Shinobu blinked as Kurama's gaze fell on her. She blinked again. Then her eyes widened. "A zashiki girl?! Just what kind of alien are you?"

"That's a little bit wrong, Kurama-chan." Ataru said. "If Shinobu looks like anybody, she'd look like someone like Kintaro or Momotaro than a zashiki kid..." He yelped as Kurama juked aside, dodging a flung school desk. "Hey, that nearly hit me!"

"Okay, here's the thing," Ryuunosuke said quickly, before Shinobu could throw another desk. "We're just here for Moroboshi. You give him back to us, and we'll leave you alone." She pointed at Ataru, still held in Kurama's arm.

Ataru blinked, and looked up at Ataru. "Well, you're not gonna go against all those centuries of tradition just to ditch me, are you?" When no answer was forthcoming, he rubbed himself against Kurama's side like an oversized cat.

The next moment, Ataru found himself sailing through the air, to land literally face-first at Shinobu's feet. He quickly pulled himself up again, only to see Kurama flit away, disappearing into the ship.

"What are you doing?! You have any idea what you-" The slam of a school desktop against his skull interrupted his protests, and he flopped to the floor, finally unconscious.

"Alright, so it seems that maybe we've started off on the wrong foot on this planet," the Tengu elder began nervously, "but we'll be sure to iron things out soon enough. Who knows, maybe Her Highness will see reason and..." He shrank back at Shinobu's icy glare. "Though on the other hand, our ancestors might be willing to look the other way. Just this once, of course..." With that, he and his entourage turned around and followed Her Highness further into the ship.

Ryuunosuke sighed deeply as the Tengu disappeared, only for Lum to pounce her once more and hug her tightly.

"You did it, Darling!" She crowed. "You managed to scare them off! You're wonderful!" She paused, and looked back towards Shinobu and Ataru. "And I suppose you saved that guy as well... But still..." She nuzzled in against Ryuunosuke. "Let's get out of here, before she decides to get the weapons out." She began tugging Ryuunosuke along, in the opposite direction of where Kurama and the Tengu went.

Shinobu sighed and lifted Ataru up onto her shoulders, carrying him along as she walked up beside Lum and Ryuunosuke. "I can't believe you'd go this low, Ataru-kun. You and your wandering eyes... I just wish you would just look at me sometimes..."

Ryuunosuke gave Shinobu a concerned look. "You mean you're used to this sort of thing from him?"

"I suppose," Shinobu replied. "But it's honestly never been this bad. At least..." She stole a glance at Lum, who frowned and clung tighter to her Darling. "Before she came along."

"Yeah, maybe," Ryuunosuke said, hanging her head. "But, like, it's not just Lum that's the problem, isn't it? A guy like that doesn't just need someone to get worse. Even if it's someone like Lum."

Lum frowned and pinched Ryuunosuke's cheek. "What's that supposed to mean, Darling?" She pulled roughly, making Ryuunosuke nearly lose her balance. "Stop making me look like some kind of bad-luck monster!"

"I suppose you're right," Shinobu said, watching the other two girls. "If anything, Ataru is the sinkhole of bad luck. You're just getting pulled into it with him..." She sighed, and hauled Ataru further up on her shoulders. "Come on. Let's go home already..."

Ryuunosuke nodded, and followed Shinobu out into the forest.

"Are you sure you don't want him, Your Highness?" The Tengu said nervously. "We really don't want to upset our ancestors by flouting the traditions with such impunity..." He yelped as Kurama turned to glare at him, and shrank back with the other Tengu.

"Didn't you spend more than a day with that freak?" Kurama asked. "And you're still insisting that he can still be an ideal mate for me? She paused for a moment, placing fingers to her lips. "On the other hand... That girl, the zashiki girl who came for him." Her eyes went far away for a moment, looking into the distance. "To think that a girl like that would risk her life for a man like that. He must be something to have a girl like her so devoted to him."

The Tengu elder carefully approached the princess. "Does that mean you might try and accept our bridegroom after all, Your Highness?"

"Something about men who are coveted by beautiful women makes me want them," Kurama said, before she flopped roughly on her bed, overstuffed with sheets of the softest cotton. "But the other one... That black-haired youth... So handsome and strong... Despite that rough exterior, I could still see a beauty there, so much like Papa... "

The Tengu looked amongst themselves. "I think we might have a complicated situation developing here." One of them said, finally.

The other Tengu simply nodded, and left their Princess to fantasize by herself, while they plotted their next move.

NOTES:

How long has it been again? Too damn long.

I guess I could say that life just kept getting in the way. But I figured I could at least put out another chapter out there... It's a bit uneven, because honestly, I couldn't really find any drive or energy to do this Kurama episode. But nevertheless, I've put something out in a shape that I'm satisfied with, and which I can publish here. I hope that it's good enough to keep me going.