THE KEY TO VICTORY

EPISODE 08: Cold As Ice

A cold wind blew through the streets of Tomobiki-cho, whipping through the bushes and trees, and cutting through the bodies of the people who walked through them. Shinobu grit her teeth and continued through the freezing wind, towards the home of her unfortunate boyfriend, laid up at home with a serious cold. She clutched the shopping bag full of treats and supplies closer to herself, trying to shield herself from the wind.

It had been a hard few months since Lum had come to Earth, especially for Shinobu: her boyfriend was plagued with even stranger luck than he had before, which now seemed to be throwing attractive women in his path. Oh sure, the number really might have been two, but it was starting to give Ataru an inflated opinion of himself that not even the frequent disapproval of his family, or that of the public, could puncture.

And of course, Lum herself was at the centre of it all, soaking up all the attention of the men in Tomobiki-cho, maybe Tokyo, possibly the whole world. There hasn't been more than a day that passed without Shinobu hearing her classmates lament that they were going to lose all the boys to the green-haired Oni beauty. It felt like Shinobu was going to be left behind if she didn't keep as firm a grip on Ataru as she possibly could.

The only thing that seemed to ease her pain was Lum's equally erstwhile fiancée, the handsome young Fujinami Ryuunosuke. Shinobu didn't know the exact details of how the engagement came to be - in fact, the thought of how it might have happened made Shinobu's face burn uncomfortably hot - but she welcomed the boyish girl nonetheless. The fact that it seemed to irritate Lum that she was nicer to her fiancée than to her was the main factor, of course. It definitely wasn't because Ryuunosuke liked her, was incredibly kind to everyone, and smiled in such a way that didn't make her heart flutter like a handsome male idol...

"Shinobu?"

Shinobu jerked, and turned towards Ryuunosuke, who was crouched beside a vending machine, seemingly using it as a shield against the wind. "Ryuunosuke?! W... What are you doing here?"

"Out for a walk, I guess," Ryuunosuke answered, casually. "Didn't think it would be this cold, though." She shivered as the wind picked up once more. "Damn, thought it was warmer than this!"

Shinobu stepped closer to the vending machine, hand gripped on the front of her coat. "Well... Would you like something to drink?" When she saw Ryuunosuke's eyes widen, she quickly added, "you look like you need warming up."

Reluctantly, Ryuunosuke nodded, and moved aside so Shinobu could walk up and buy a hot can of corn soup from the vending machine. She still gazed up nervously as Shinobu took out the can of corn soup and held it out to her in her bare hand.

"It's okay," Shinobu said. "Corn soup should warm you up."

Quietly, Ryuunosuke nodded, and took the can from Shinobu, her fingers brushing against her palm. "Thanks..."

Shinobu smiled, trying not to think about the growing warmth in her chest. "So... Where's Lum? I don't think I've ever seen you without her beside you."

Ryuunosuke frowned. "She's gone away for the weekend. Said she was visiting a friend on Neptune." She took a careful sip from her can of cold soup, the steam warming her face. "I've just been living alone at home yesterday. Guess I just wanted to stop myself from going nuts in there.

Shinobu blinked. "Neptune? There are..." She shook her head, not even wanting to entertain the question of life on Neptune. "So she left you alone during Winter?" She stepped closer to Ryuunosuke. "Then... Would you like to come with me?"

Ryuunosuke's eyes widened. "With you?"

Shinobu paused for a moment, before her cheeks went red. "No, not like that!" She raised up a plastic shopping bag. "I've bought some things for Ataru-kun, because he's been at home with a bad cold these past couple of days."

"Oh..." Ryuunosuke rose up to her feet. "Well, if it's just to help Moroboshi, I guess I could come along. Though I thought you wouldn't want me anywhere near that guy."

"Maybe," Shinobu said. "But I'm going to be there, and his parents would be there too. I'm sure he's not going to try anything..." She resisted the urge to try and try and take Ryuunosuke's hand, even with how cold it might have been.

"Oh! You've brought a guest, Shinobu-chan? He looks so handsome!" Mrs. Moroboshi gave Ryuunosuke an admiring smile as she stepped back to let Shinobu and Ryuunosuke step inside.

Ryuunosuke felt her face start to burn, and she started trying to think of a way to politely correct Mrs. Moroboshi. But before she could, Shinobu stepped into the house and said, "Um, actually she's a girl. Her father raised her to... Well, be as manly as possible."

Mrs. Moroboshi blinked. "Really? Why would someone even do something like that? That makes no sense at all!"

"My old man didn't really do things that made sense," Ryuunosuke said, entering the genkan behind Shinobu, who was already in slippers and climbing the stairs. "So I hear that a lot from people."

"Well," Mrs. Moroboshi said, "since Shinobu's going to tend to the idiot upstairs, you can come with me and help put away the shopping." She turned towards the kitchen, carrying the shopping down the hall. "And maybe you could explain to me how you came to know my son and his girlfriend."

Ryuunosuke quietly followed behind Mrs. Moroboshi into the kitchen. "I ain't got much, really. My old man brought me to Tomobiki High after..." She paused, trying to think of a good way to describe the madness of her meeting with Lum. "The week before. Me and Lum, we got put in the same class with Shinobu."

"And... Lum knows you're really a girl?" Mrs. Moroboshi asked, confused.

"She doesn't care," Ryuunosuke replied. "she'd marry me even if I'm a girl."

Mrs. Moroboshi looked oddly at Ryuunosuke for a long moment, a can of chopped tomatoes still held in her hand. Long enough for Ryuunosuke to start feeling very nervous.

However, the silence was shattered by a loud scream from upstairs, followed by a loud crash.

Ryuunosuke's eyes widened. "Shinobu!" And before Mrs. Moroboshi could react, she raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs, barrelling through the open door to see Shinobu knelt over a futon laid out in the middle of the bedroom, wherein lay Ataru... with a school desk wedged firmly in his face.

"Shinobu!" Ryuunosuke said, "Are you okay?! Did Moroboshi try it on you?"

Shinobu smiled sheepishly at Ryuunosuke, as Ataru shoved the desk off of his mangled face.

"It's not fair, I tell you!" Ataru shouted. "I've been laid up with this cold for the past couple of days, and my own girlfriend couldn't even bother to get in and warm me up! It's not like she's going to catch anything from me, is she?"

Shinobu turned towards Ataru and shouted back, "Just lay down and rest, for pity's sake! You're just going to make yourself even sicker at this rate!" She looked up at Ryuunosuke. "I'm sorry, Ataru was just being obnoxious again..."

"Yeah, I can see that..." Ryuunosuke said, before shivering slightly. "Are bedrooms supposed to be this cold?"

Ataru scowled even more. "It's been like that these past few days. Feels like it's been turning into a fridge in here, and Mom won't let me have the heater in here. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why I have this cold in the first place!"

Ryuunosuke blinked, and looked around the bedroom. "It's not like that... Feels like it's coming from somewhere..." The bedroom looked like the kind of average bedroom a guy like Ataru would have. But surely it wouldn't be as cold as it was at that moment. It was starting to feel like she was outside again, while the wind was still. But all the windows were closed, and it didn't feel so cold downstairs...

Ataru and Shinobu watched as Ryuunosuke looked around the bedroom, before coming to a stop at the closet door. "That's been stuck, none of us can get it open. Mom had to wash the same outfit three times over now, and she's not happy..."

Ryuunosuke grabbed the handle of the closet door, and pulled. Gently at first, but when the door didn't move, she pulled harder. And then she pulled harder and harder until the door suddenly slid open, and...

For a brief fleeting second, Ryuunosuke was face to face with a wall of white snow. And then, suddenly, the snow exploded out, enveloping Ryuunosuke within a mountain of freezing cold.

After a long moment, Ryuunosuke fought upwards, bursting through the sudden snowdrift. "What the hell was that?!" She looked around the room; the snow had rushed out with such speed and force that they shattered the windows, and spilled outside onto the street.

Across from her, Shinobu burst out from underneath, her eyes wide. "Ataru-kun!" She looked around the room. "Ataru-kun! Where are you?!" She climbed out of the hole and ran over to the spot where Ataru once lay, now buried in snow, and began digging up handfuls. "Ataru-kun, speak to me!"

Ryuunosuke scrambled over, and helped Shinobu dig away the snow, ignoring the numbing cold spreading over their hands. Eventually, the two managed to dig enough snow to find the cover of Ataru's futon. The only problem was that Ataru wasn't anywhere near it.

Shinobu's hands trembled as she gripped the futon tightly. "Ataru-kun..." She murmured, her voice shaking.

A soft sound floated through the air around them, a quiet murmur at first. But then it started to get louder, soft yet insistent. As it got louder, it became the sound of a young woman's laughter, light and gentle, but cold as ice.

Both girls raised their heads, and turned slowly towards the closet, blown open from the massive snow drift. Where there would've been a simple futon closet, there was now nothing but a passage into pure darkness, a cold wind blowing out into the bedroom.

As the two girls gazed into the darkness, another voice started to laugh with the unseen young woman. And this new voice was instantly recognisable.

"Ataru-kun?" Shinobu got to her feet. "Ataru-kun, what's going on? What's so funny?" She slowly started to approach the dark tunnel. "What are you doing in there?! Why are you laughing?!"

Ryuunosuke rose up to grab Shinobu's shoulder as firmly as she could. "Shinobu, don't! It's too dangerous! We gotta get Lum, or Sakura, or anyone, just..."

Shinobu looked back at Ryuunosuke, tears welling up in her eyes. And then she yanked her shoulder away from her grip, and sprinted into the tunnel.

"Shinobu! Stop!" Ryuunosuke quickly took off after Shinobu into the tunnel! "It's not safe, I'm telling you!" She grit her teeth as she ran, her bare feet burning red against the cold of the snow, even as she tried to outpace Shinobu's socked feet. "Shinobu!"

And then, all of a sudden, the two girls slipped, and found themselves sliding down the tunnel, a slope that grew more sharp as they fell. And then the tunnel turned into a shaft, going from a steep angle to simply straight now.

Ryuunosuke grabbed hold of Shinobu as they plummeted down the shaft. And Ryuunoukse was sure that they were gaining speed as they fell; she squeezed Shinobu tightly to her, and felt Shinobu squeeze back.

And then, all of a sudden, they were in daylight again.

"Oh dear!" Ryuunosuke heard a woman's voice call out. "Two more have come from the pit!"

"Well, grab them quickly," another voice shouted, "before they fall right back in again!"

Ryuuunosuke stared at the world spreading out from over-under?-them; a massive expanse of snow and ice, as far as her eyes could see, like the films of the North Pole she saw on the TV news. But she knew the North Pole never had a sky in shades of green and teal, with dark blue clouds hanging over.

And then, suddenly, Ryuunosuke felt a hand grab the back of her sweater, just as she felt gravity assert itself and leave them hanging in the air over a massive bottomless pit, bigger than even the grounds of Tomobiki High. Around the edge of the pit, she could see several figures, all dressed in white.

"Darling?! What are you doing here?!"

Ryuunosuke looked up to see Lum glaring down at her, her fangs poking out from beneath her lips.

Lum floated to the edge of the pit and unceremoniously dumped them in the snow, before landing lightly before them, hands on her hips. "I leave you alone for the weekend, and somehow you manage to get to Neptune!" Her eyes turned towards Shinobu, even stormier. "And you even brought Shinobu along?! I was trying to get away from her!"

Ryuunosuke straightened herself from her fall, getting a good look at Lum: suitably enough, the Oni princess was dressed in a large, thick coat of yellow tiger skin that went down to her calves. However, the coat was open at the front, revealing a tight tigerskin crop-top that exposed her belly and collarbone, and a pair of leggings so form-fitting Ryuunosuke wasn't surprised if they were painted on, with matching boots with chunky heels.

"Would'cha please explain yourself?" Lum asked. "You don't have any spaceship, and I took my UFO here. How did you three manage to get to Neptune by yourself?!"

"Please calm down, Lum-chan. I believe that this might be entirely our fault."

Ryuunosuke turned towards the new voice, and her eyes widened. Standing there was a young woman, of course. But her hair was a strange shade of bluish white that seemed to have been frozen onto her scalp and carved in the shape of a high ponytail and fringe. Her eyes were a deep red, the kind of shade that reminded Ryuunosuke far too much of blood. She wore a furisode of the purest white, but Ryuunosuke could see hints of red in the inside of her collar and sleeves.

And sitting at this young woman's feet, grinning from ear to ear was...

"ATARU!" Shinobu jumped to her feet, ignoring the cold biting into them through her socks. "What are you doing with that strange woman?!"

"Don't worry," Ataru cackled. "Oyuki-chan's a very friendly girl!"

Moments later, the four of them were bundled into a large skimmer-kind of like a sledge, but with no wheels-that promptly raced off across the snow, away from the massive pit. Ryuunosuke found herself sat in the backseat, sandwiched between Lum and Shinobu while Ataru sat in the front seat with Oyuki.

"So you're Lum's new fiancée, are you?" Oyuki's eyes were fixed firmly on Ryuunosuke, crinkled with amusement. "Now that I see you, I can see why Lum would want to marry you." Then her eyes moved over to Shinobu. "Then you must be... Miss Fujinami's other girlfriend? A mistress?"

"NO!" Shinobu shouted. "I'm not anything like that!"

Ataru just snickered sleazily. "That's my girlfriend Shinobu. Though I wouldn't mind a mistress myself."

Oyuki laughed lightly while Shinobu seethed. Ryuunosuke could feel her grab tightly on her arm, hard enough that her hand was growing numb. She looked over at Lum, but she was simply leaning against her side, eyes closed.

Ryuunosuke grit her teeth and looked towards the distance in front of the skimmer. There, rising out from the horizon, she could see a large tower that looked as if it was carved out of ice, a giant rhombus balancing on a narrow shaft like an olive speared on a cocktail stick. And as the skimmer drew nearer, Ryuunosuke had to crane her head back just to be able to keep sight of the top of the inexplicable structure.

Eventually, the skimmer stopped, and several white clad women approached the skimmer, carrying zori sandals in their hands, allowing the shoeless passengers to cross the snow and enter the tower without dealing with the cold. Once they were inside, they were ushered into a massive chamber that kind of resembled a traditional Japanese-style living room, complete with tatami mats covering the floor and a sunken hearth. The high-tech machinery lining the walls and the large plasma stove that sat in the hearth were the only things that didn't match the traditional aesthetic.

Ataru, Shinobu, Ryuunosuke and Lum were sat together with green tea and crackers, while Oyuki stood opposite, surrounded by servants. "I'm pleased that more guests have arrived," she said, "though if they were intruders they would have to be set to work shovelling all the snow."

"Yeah, about that," Ataru cut in. "Why is there a portal to Neptune in my closet?"

"Oh, that." Oyuki nodded. "This planet has a lot of excess snow this time of year, so we shovel it into the Warp Gateways to transport it off-planet. It seems that maybe we might have had a slight glitch that caused one of the destinations to end up being your closet. We're terribly sorry..."

Ataru's brow furrowed. "That's all well and nice, but this is my home we're talking about. My parents were ready to let me freeze to death in my room! And I'll bet they're not going to bother about all of the snow that's just blurted out of my closet!"

Oyuki smiled, turning in place as her servants undid her obi. "Give me a moment to shed this thermal layer..." And then the furisode fell to the floor, revealing a glittering bodysuit underneath, looking for all like a one-piece swimsuit made of ice.

Oyuki sat herself languidly in front of the foursome. "So, indulge me," she said. "What is it that you need?"

Ataru blinked at Oyuki for a long moment. "Oh, I can think of a lot of things...!" He coughed as Shinobu elbowed his gut particularly hard. "Urrrhhh I mean take the portal out and clean up the mess 'cause my parents are probably going to be having an aneurysm right now."

"That can be arranged," Oyuki said. "In the meantime, I would like to offer you to stay here, with me."

And in the blink of an eye, Ataru was in front of Oyuki. "It would be my pleasure to stay with you, miss Oyuki."

Shinobu's eyes bugged out. "Wait, what?!" She jumped to her feet and grabbed Ataru by the back of his sweater. "I'm not letting you anywhere near this yuki-onna! I know what kind of things went through your mind the moment you saw her!"

"Yeah, well, you might as well take her up on that offer," Ataru replied, "unless you want to jump back down that pit again! Or are you going to ask Lum-chan for a lift?"

Shinobu's face went red, and turned towards Lum.

"I'm still staying," Lum grumped, folding her arms. "Especially with Darling here, too."

"Well, you're all welcome," Oyuki said. "Please, make yourselves at home."

Ataru slipped out into the hallways of the palace, pulling his happi coat about him. To his relief, the whole place seemed somewhat empty; despite that relief, that was part of the reason why he left his guest room in the first place. Shinobu had gone to tend to Oyuki's pet, taking some of the servant girls with her. Lum was busy maintaining her UFO, while Ryuunosuke was out helping with the shovelling of snow.

The other part being, of course, the beautiful Oyuki. He needed to find her, wherever she was. A beauty like that, he absolutely couldn't leave alone. In the words of the Great Philosopher, no ripe apple should be left unpicked.

Ataru stalked down the hallways, occasionally putting an ear to a door and listening in, or peering through open doorways for signs of ice-blue-white hair. But he couldn't find hide nor hair of her, not even any sign of the servant girls.

Ataru peered past one open doorway, and stopped short: Oyuki was there, reclining on a large, fully pink bed, reading what looked like a magazine. She was only dressed in her swimsuit like underwear and pretty much nothing else, her slender body practically on full display.

Ataru grinned, and snuck his way inside. "Oyuki-chan!" He brought himself up to full height, and dashed up to the bed. "Oyuki-chan, it's so nice to see you again!"

Oyuki blinked, sitting up on her bed. "Ataru-san? What are you doing here?" She sat up higher, legs beneath her. "If my servants or Bee-Bou found you, I don't even want to think about what might've happened..."

Ataru just snickered, stepping onto the bed. "Believe me, not even wild dogs would keep me away from you!" He crawled closer, squirreling into Oyuki's arms.

"Oh!" Oyuki slid her arms around Ataru's waist. "But don't you have that girlfriend, Shinobu-san?"

"Oh, Oyuki-san, I don't care!" Ataru replied, kissing along Oyuki's neck and shoulder. "More than anything else, I'm a slave to freedom! A flower petal soaring on the wind!" He paused for a moment. "I mean, like a wind floating from flower to flower..."

Oyuki poked Ataru in the side gently. "You seem to be getting your allusions confused..."

"Oh believe me," Ataru replied, "I have no illusions about anything!" He quickly swooped down and kissed Oyuki's lips, pulling her closer to him.

Ryuunosuke jammed her shovel into the snow, scooping up a large pile to toss over her shoulder, sending it into the void. She tried to ignore the approving eye of the Neptunian woman beside her, keeping watch on the other shovellers working beside her.

Ryuunosuke was somewhat surprised to see the look on Oyuki's face when she offered to do work around the palace to earn her stay, giving the example of helping to shovel the snow. Partly because Oyuki saw her as Lum's friend, who wouldn't lower themselves to such grunt work. But also because Oyuki saw snow shovelling as "man's work".

The men of Neptune, Oyuki explained, were all off-planet, pursuing all the lines of work that they could find, leaving the women behind. As such, the women recruited men from other worlds to help shovel the snow for a considerable amount of pay, not to mention all the time they can spend with the Neptunian women. Oyuki even added that, if it mainly weren't for Lum recognising him as Shinobu's boyfriend, she would have left him to work out in the snow, instead of inviting him into the palace.

Ryuunosuke didn't want to think about the other reasons Oyuki implied that she wanted to keep Ataru around. She just kept shovelling the snow, until a Neptunian woman suddenly approached her.

"Miss Ryuunosuke!" The woman said. "The lady Lum's been calling for you again! She wants you to return for dinner and a bath."

Ryuunosuke looked up at the woman. "But I still got all of this to dig out..."

"It's quite alright," the other Neptunian watching her said. "Unless, my dear, you'd rather spend your time with the other girls here instead..."

Ryuunosuke quailed at the suggestive tone in the woman's voice, and the jealous stares of the other men around her. "Okay, okay... I'll go back..." She tried to ignore the eyes focused on her, making her feel more ill at ease.

But as Ryuunosuke made her away back to the palace, she couldn't help but feel her nerves were getting more frayed. She felt like she was back at home with her old man, trying to sneak around him without him finding her.

Even so, Ryuunosuke fought her ill-ease and let herself be guided to a small suite, where Lum and the others were. When she stepped inside, the first thing she saw was Lum barrelling towards her, catching her in a tight hug.

"Darling, you're back!"

"Yeah..." Ryuunosuke hugged Lum back gently. "Where are the others?"

"Shinobu's helping with Bee-Bou," Lum explained. "She wanted me to look for her boyfriend so he doesn't end up in any trouble. He has a habit of doing that, you know."

Ryuunosuke thought back to Ataru's behaviour in front of Oyuki, and cringed. "Yeah, I can see that." She looked back towards the door. "That guy was ready to jump her bones. No wonder Shinobu's so worried about him being here."

"Of course I'm worried!" Shinobu said, shoving the door open and marching inside. "Ataru's been acting so funny, I'm not surprised he'd try and pull something like that!" She shuddered briefly, before she looked over to Lum. "We better find him and quick, before he finds Oyuki and decides to try seducing her..."

"I know!" Lum cupped Ryuunosuke's chin. "But Oyuki isn't so easy to seduce. If we keep an eye on him, this little holiday will go along great!"

And then, as if in response to Lum's words, the door slammed inwards with a loud clang. It was kicked open by a bedraggled man with long black hair and a beard, wearing a dirty white undershirt and pants.

Ryuunosuke slowly turned around to see the face of her father staring at her.

"Ryuunosuke..." Ryuunosuke's father stepped forward slowly. "You don't know how much I've suffered since I've seen you last. Dropped into this frozen hell, enslaved by these... women," he spat on the floor. "Shovelling snow for hours and hours on end. Abandoned by my only son, seduced by a demon bride to be made into a woman!"

Lum's eyes bugged out as she beheld the dishevelled form. "I didn't think the warp chute would drop you here! I swore that the co-ordinates were completely random!"

"Silence, woman!" Ryuunosuke's father shouted. "Now that you're here, I'm going to punish you thoroughly for what you've put me through!"

"The hell you are!" Ryuunosuke stepped forward, fists clenched. "I'm not letting you lay a finger on Lum!"

Mr. Fujinami raised himself up, tall as he could, and let out a holler that rang throughout the halls of the palace, loud enough that Lum and Shinobu couldn't help but edge away in fear.

The holler was, in turn, answered with a deafening roar that shook the very foundations of the palace, and made the windows rattle. And that roar was followed by a jarring impact from below, as if the tower was struck by a massive ramrod.

Everyone fell to the floor from the impact, sprawled over. After a moment, Ryuunosuke raised her head up. "What the hell was that?!"

"That must be Bee-Bou!" Shinobu replied. "Your father must've frightened him with his stupid shouting!" She scrambled to her feet, picking up Ryuunosuke with her. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'll find Bee-Bou, you get away from your father!"

"I can't do that!" Ryuunosuke replied. "I got to beat him down! If I don't..." She turned to see Lum latched onto Mr. Fujinami like a lamprey, electricity crackling from her body as she shocked Mr. Fujinami repeatedly.

"Lum will take care of him!" Shinobu said. "Go on, run!"

Ryuunosuke looked between Shinobu and Lum desperately, before getting to her feet and dashing out of the room.

The crystalline hallway was long, and lined with doors that seemed so similar that Ryuunosuke couldn't tell which was which. Eventually, she decided to leave it in the hands of fate, and slammed her shoulder against a set of crystal double doors lined in gold, shoving them open and toppling inside.

"Oh my! Is that you, Ryuunosuke-kun?"

Ryuunosuke looked up from her position in the floor, and promptly decided that fate was a gigantic asshole.

Oyuki sat on the edge of a large, appropriately Queen-sized double bed, wearing nothing but a thin-looking white silk yukata. Judging from the palatial state of the bed, Ryuunosuke could only surmise that she might have stumbled herself into the master's (mistress'?) bedroom. The queen got to her feet, and walked up to Ryuunosuke.

"Dear me," she said, bending forwards. "I heard such a terrible uproar. Whatever is going on out there?"

"My old man is here!" Ryuunosuke said, trying to keep her eyes from diving into Oyuki's exposed cleavage. "He's trying to fight Lum, and he's scared Bee-Bou too! And..." Her voice faded as Oyuki's hand cupped her chin, lifting her head up.

"You poor dear," Oyuki said. Her voice was soft and sensual, in a way that reminded Ryuunosuke of Lum trying to get her into bed. "You look so hurt. I know just what you need..."

Ryuunosuke opened her mouth to ask Oyuki exactly what she meant, only for Oyuki's lips to suddenly press against hers, causing all her mental activity to suddenly come to a crashing halt. Her eyes unfocused, staring past Oyuki, even as the yuki-onna's tongue slid into her mouth to caress hers.

After what felt like an eternity, Oyuki pulled away. "Dear me," she giggled, "it seems that you're somewhat surprised by that. I thought you'd be more assertive, like Ataru-kun was..." She leant in and kissed Ryuunosuke's lips once more.

However, the combination of Oyuki's teasing words, the thought of Lum's reaction to her friend kissing her, and the thought that she was getting an indirect kiss from Ataru forced themselves to the front of Ryuunosuke's mind, and spurred her to grab Oyuki's shoulders and push her away, out of kissing range.

"No!" Ryuunosuke shouted. "We can't do this!" She raised herself to her feet, pulling Oyuki up as well. "I'm not cheating on Lum! Especially not with someone who's smooching Moroboshi!"

Oyuki blinked. "Really? Don't tell me that you're not tempted?" Her hands went to her obi, letting her yukata fall to her feet. "My dear, would you look at me and honestly tell me that you don't want this?"

Ryuunosuke's eyes widened, and she jerked away from Oyuki. "I... I... I don't fuckin' know!" She squeezed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth, trying to turn away from the vision of beauty in front of her. "I didn't even know girls could like girls in that way a few months ago!"

"Of course," Oyuki said. "I know all about Earthlings and how strange their values are. I get enough of them shovelling the snow, you know."

"Even so," Ryuunosuke said, "I ain't cheating on Lum! That's not what I want!"

Oyuki stared at Ryuunosuke for a long while. Then she smiled softly, and padded towards Ryuunosuke. "Ryuunosuke..." She murmured, reaching out to rest a hand on Ryuunosuke's cheek. "Ryuu-chan. Look at me."

Hestiantly, Ryuunosuke opened her eyes, and looked at Oyuki.

"I love that you love Lum so much, that you're willing to let yourself be the one for her." She smiled almost imperceptibly, but Ryuunosuke could see the smile in her eyes. "You're a noble soul. Lum would be so happy to have a bride like yours."

Ryuunosuke stared at Oyuki, feeling her heart rise up into her throat. It was the last thing she was expecting her to say. And it made her feel so happy, she didn't notice the punch coming in until it was far too late. Instead, Ryuunosuke was slammed into Oyuki, knocking both of them onto the floor. Ryuunosuke found herself sprawled on top of Oyuki, in classic suggestive fashion.

"DARLING!" Lum screamed from her position latched onto Mr. Fujinami's back. "What are you..." She squeaked as Mr. Fujinami grabbed her by her hair and yanked her roughly off, flinging her aside.

"Now I see this woman practically offer up her body to you on a silver platter, and you pass her up!" Mr. Fujinami's face turned red. "How shameful that my son has fallen so low!"

Ryuunosuke scrambled to her feet, standing over Oyuki. "I ain't cheating on my fiancée! And for the last time, I'M A GIRL!"

Mr. Fujinami bellowed once more, and sprang forward to attack his daughter. Unfortunately for him, his advance was stopped by the sudden entrance of a gigantic fist bursting out from the floor beneath his feet, followed by twelve feet and five hundred pounds of fur and muscle.

The massive hulking brute turned towards Mr. Fujinami, large eyes blazing, fangs bared. "WHADDYA WANT WITH MY PRINCESS?!"

Mr. Fujinami stared up at the gigantic creature for a long moment, before jumping to his feet and dashing off. A second later, the monster barrelled after him, smashing through the door on the way out.

"Oh dear," Oyuki said. "Bee-Bou looks really upset. I should go deal with him in a moment..."

Ryuunosuke blinked. "That... was a Bee-Bou?"

"Oh, forget about Bee-Bou!" Lum shouted. "Darling, what were you doing with Oyuki?!"

Ryuunosuke's head snapped towards Lum. As she stared into that angry face, the image of the position she had when Mr. Fujinami barged in with her on his back returned to her: on top of Oyuki, in a perfectly suggestive position. And then two words popped into Ryuunosuke's head.

Oh shit.

"Darling!" Lum repeated. "What were you doing with Oyuki! Answer me!"

Oyuki slowly got to her feet, picking up her yukata. "I was trying to seduce your fiancée, Lum-chan." She slid the yukata back on. "However, it seems she's not really receptive to my advances. Now, could you please calm down?"

The words, Oh shit started scrolling repeatedly through Ryuunosuke's mind.

"What do you mean, calm down?!" Lum said, seething. "I saw Darling mounting you..."

"Well, that oaf did knock us over," Oyuki replied.

"STOP TRYING TO MAKE EXCUSES!" Lum roared, electricity sparking from her body. "Get away, so I can punish Darling!"

"No," Oyuki replied, her red eyes flashing. A moment later, Lum was sealed within a block of ice. "I should have asked you before I made my advances, sure. But that's no reason to go off like that."

Ryuunosuke stared at Oyuki in silence for a long while, but the yuki-onna simply smiled.

"Maybe we could meet again, when Lum-chan is more agreeable." Oyuki turned towards the smashed doorway. "But for now, I have to go find Bee-Bou and stop him from making things worse."

She glided through the doorway, the very picture of an ice princess, and out of sight. A second later, Shinobu poked her head in the doorway.

"Ryuunosuke-kun," she said slowly, "do you... need help with defrosting Lum?"

Ryuunosuke sat in the bath, staring at the frozen body of her fiancée. It was slightly difficult, considering that it was a large goemon-buro that had water just hot enough for her to bathe in. Even then, it felt like she was getting close to being cooked. Shinobu helped Ryuunosuke push the heavy block into the bath, before she left to find Ataru and hitch a ride back to Earth on Lum's UFO.

Through the ice, Lum stared back. The anger and frustration on her face had mostly melted away, and now there was nothing but a look of... concern, maybe? It was still hard to tell, considering the ice was taking a while to melt.

The silence dragged out longer and longer, only occasionally broken by the sound of the ice cracking from the hot water. Despite the hot water flowing from massive pipes into the bath, it was still slow. It was slow, that was, until the cracking suddenly multiplied. In a matter of seconds, the ice block splintered, and Lum tumbled into the bath. Ryuunosuke quickly got up and pushed the ice blocks aside, pulling Lum's body up from the water.

"Lum, are you alright?"

Lum curled in against Ryuunosuke. "I almost forgot how bad it was, being frozen like that." She looked up at Ryuunosuke's face. "Darling, you waited to help me out..." She wrapped her arms around Ryuunosuke's shoulders. "I'm so happy..."

"Well, I couldn't leave my fiancée as frozen goods, right?" Ryuunosuke tried to paste on a bright tone, but her voice still quivered. "Look, about Oyuki..."

"That's why I went alone," Lum murmured. "Neptune gets awfully lonely, and the women get ideas. If strangers end up coming across, they risk, well..." She looked up at Ryuunosuke. "You didn't... Did you?"

Ryuunosuke shook her head. "She kissed me, but all I could do was think about you." She hugged Lum a little tighter. "And I think she's already tried it on with Moroboshi, too. It got easier after I realized that."

Lum frowned. "Darling, don'tcha want me? Won'tcha give me the same kind of attention?"

Ryuunosuke blinked for a moment. "You... You want me to do that kind of thing?"

Lum's frown faded, replaced with a smile. "What kind of thing, Darling? Won'tcha show me?"

And Ryuunosuke, not wanting to back down from her fiancée's challenge, decided to do just that, by learning forward and kissing her lips deeply.

Lum parted her mouth, pushing Ryuunosuke's lips apart, and pushing her tongue in to gently play with hers. Like Oyuki, she explored her Darling aggressively, swirling around inside, entwining and caressing. She squirmed against Ryuunosuke, undoing the catch on her top and pulling it off, tossing it into a sodden pile on the floor. She pushed Ryuunosuke back, leaving a pair of parting pecks on her lips, before leaning back to peel off her leggings. "How far do you want to go, Darling?"

"I dunno..." Ryuunosuke's voice was soft. "It's kind of like my first time, right? What am I supposed to be doing?"

"Just do wha'tcha think comes naturally." Lum casually tossed aside the leggings into the same pile as her top, and lay back to show off her naked body to Ryuunosuke. "Maybe you're worried that someone would wanna come in and have a bath here? Wouldn't wanna end up scandalizing someone, right?"

"You mean Shinobu?" Ryuunosuke asked nervously.

Lum's smile widened. "But Shinobu's already going after her Darling, and Oyuki is helping soothe Bee-Bou. We've mostly got the place to ourselves." She squeezed Ryuunosuke's middle gently. "Enough time to go as far as you like."

Ryuunosuke's eyes dimmed for a moment, before she leaned forward and kissed Lum's lips once more. "I just wanna go slow, okay? I kinda like it like this, just you and me."

"I'll let you do whatever you want, Darling." Lum kissed back lightly, reaching up to rake through Ryuunosuke's hair gently. "I love you so much. And I know you love me too. So please, let me love you. I'll make you forget all about Oyuki and Shinobu. Just think of nothing but me."

Ryuunosuke didn't say anything, she just kissed Lum deeply, hugging her close. Lum wrapped her arms around Ryuunosuke's shoulders, kissing back aggressively, and pressing her body against her Darling. Around them, more hot water came rushing in to fill the bath, melting the surrounding ice floating on the surface.

NOTES: Surprise!

Yeah, I've managed to put out another chapter. Though to be honest, this was something I had percolating for a long time. This chapter was written long before some of the chapters I had posted, but it had taken time before I could make it into something I thought was good enough for posting. Mostly because of this, I wanted to kind of nudge into the direction of where I want these characters to be at eventually. Even if that means Ataru doing one big boneheaded move, if you'll excuse the phrasing. Be assured, he'll be paying for that move for chapters to come.