Chapter Four: Confusion

They day continues with very minor events, ranging from Jura's incessant ramblings of making a child with her newly chosen man, to Hibiki realizing no matter how good it tastes… the body has limits to what it can hold down. Either way, the day soon turns to night, and the night turns into a sort of reckoning day for some.

B.C. is the first to arrive at the launch site and he begins looking over the area, performing checks on the outside parts of the ship, right after, conducting a thorough inspection for foul play or possibly just something that doesn't look right.

As B.C. is handling the inspection, Bart and Jukkai slowly come up behind him and notice what he is doing.

Bart turns to his friend and states the obvious, " Oh, B.C. must be checking to make sure that none of the hardliners for male and female separation did anything to the ship."

Jukkai nods and smirks, " Ya I figured as much. But I must say, you worded that rather eloquently Bart. You feelin okay?" Jukkai grins as he looks at his friend in a goofy manner.

Bart grumbles a bit and rolls his eyes, " Hey, I'm intelligent, I mean who developed those butterscotch coffee pills." After saying that he stands pretty straight as to show off his prowess.

Jukkai looks as though he can barely contain his laughter, " Ya, and do you see them around anymore? They were horrible… I really didn't think you were the idiot responsible for the creation of that disgusting piece of crap you called a pill."

Bart slowly slumps down and begins wallowing a bit in self-pity, something he's grown quite accustomed to over the years. Noticing his reaction Jukkai places a hand on his friend's back and smirks.

" Cheer up, everyone stumbles a bit along the way. Just a little word of advice though… just because the things taste good alone, doesn't mean they'll taste twice as good together… got me?" He smiles a bit as Bart looks up at him and musters a smile also.

" Well you'd think that things would work like that. But no… they never can. Damn tricky tastes…" He grins and stands up straight as he sees B.C. is making his way back around to where he and Jukkai are standing. So noticing this he calls out to B.C.

" Hey B.C. we're here! Did ya miss me?" said with a big goofy grin on his face, while Jukkai is just kinda shaking his head in the background.

B.C. turns to see them and can't help but smile at Bart's dumb, yet endearing qualities.

" Well honestly… it was kind of boring having no one to scold or follow me around since we left the Nirvana." His eyes narrow a bit, more in jest then anger, and his tone is obviously sarcastic.

Bart feels a small sweat drop run down the side of his head as he looks down, but before he can apologize B.C. speaks again.

" But, no need to worry, cause I know you'll more then make up for lost time once we get back to the Nirvana." He then smiles, never truly hating Bart; he just likes to give off the cold, uncaring, stoic persona. B.C. then walks up to Bart and extends his hand to him. " Good to have you back again Bart. I haven't really talked to you since we've been back on Taraak, how about we catch dinner later today?"

Bart looks at B.C.'s hand… this is the first time B.C. has been friendly towards him, or anyone for that matter. Usually B.C. was very formal, and by the books, but this… was a new side of B.C. no one has ever seen. Perhaps the prior experiences and newfound knowledge will bring out different sides in many. Yet, there is only one way to find out…

So without much more then a moment's hesitation Bart shakes B.C.'s hand blushing a bit as he tries to talk. " D-d-di-dinner? Wi-with you? Sure… umm… that would be nice" Bart obviously still has feelings for B.C. even though he knows that B.C. is a man. But on the other hand, that also makes it more of a natural occurrence. As Bart continues to stumble around trying to gather words for a sentence Barnette and Jura approach the site. And Jura being Jura, has to make an entrance.

She walks up to the three men and tosses her hair back and states clearly, " Now when we get back to the Nirvana I want to make it painfully obvious to you all, to leave Renz and I alone. We need as much time as possible to create a child. I want that to be priority number one. Got me?" The men blink a few times and give Jura a blank, are you for real kind of stare until Barnette starts talking.

" Please listen to her, the faster she gets pregnant by a man the faster things return to… well as normal as they can get." Barnette's cute face looks as if it is begging just to have people comply.

B.C. closes his eyes, nods, and then looks directly at Barnette. " Well this is obviously hard on you, so we will try and comply as much as we possibly can. But due to the fact that both Renz and Alexei are Vanguard pilots… we will need them to get accustomed to fighting with Dreads and fusing with them incase the situation may arise. But, aside from minor things like that… he's all yours Jura." B.C. grins in a rather sly way as his gaze then shifts to Jura for the last part of his statement.

" Well I'm glad we're all settled on that. Hmm… and thinking of how wonderful making a child with him would be, I can almost imagine what a Vandread fusion with him would be like." Jura's eyes then get a bit starry as a look of disgust sweeps across Barnette's face.

" Renz this, men that, baby… fusion… what the hell is your problem Jura! Who do you love more Jura? Really? Renz or me? I've had enough of it! Why is everything always about how you look… or how you feel, I mean… GOD! You are such a pain!" barely holding back tears Barnette runs off in the opposite direction from where they approached the site as Jura, just stands still, silent, awe struck, wondering why Barnette is so upset.

Everyone remains silent and stands in place looking around, at one another… trying to figure out how to respond to this turn of events. They all know Barnette as the ability to lash out and go from sweet to horrible… almost better then Jura. But this is the first time they've ever seen her blow up at Jura.

While the others are searching for words, Alexei happens to be making his way to the launch site from the way Barnette is heading. Thinking on and off about how he's going to cope with the women and living in space he looks up to see the shuttle in the distance… and an image, approaching him, at a quick pace.

His eyes squint as he tries to make out what it is. " Is that a woman?" after a few seconds of staring he can finally make out who it is, and she, hasn't looked up since she started running. As she closes in, he tries to figure out what to say… even the simple stop is kind of hard just because she's a woman.

Right before they collide Alexei managed to get her attention. " Barnette!" all he could form was her name, but it was enough to get her to stop dead in her tracks and look up at him, her pretty eyes filled with tears as she then buries her head into his chest and holds onto him tightly.

" Oh Alexei… Jura… she doesn't care about me. She's only obsessed with Renz. What's so wrong with me?" Slightly muffled but understandable through his shirt as he searches to find words. Unaware of why she's just opening up to him and why her being so close doesn't feel wrong to him, just weird… very, very weird.

"Well… it seems like she wants a child with a man. And… well… you're not a man."

Barnette looks up into his eyes her own still filled with tears as she sniffles a bit before speaking. " But… that never mattered before. Alexei… this will sound weird… but please answer." After a slight pause she finishes, " Do you think I'm pretty?"

A slight 'eep' can be heard from his mouth, as his face then turns a shade of red that can't even be matched by Dita's hair color. " P-p-pretty? Umm… well, I guess you aren't bad looking, for a woman that is."

Barnette smiles, and almost as if it's a female reaction to joy she quickly kisses Alexei on the lips. Realizing that she's kissing a man, she backs up a little as her eyes seem to smile and she blushes a little.

" Thank you Alexei… and now I can see why Jura talked about kissing Renz so much." She smiles brightly and takes his hand. " Let's go… before we're late." Alexei, in a state of shocked and confused, the likes that no man has ever experienced before, takes her hand and follows. The group is still standing around the shuttle at a loss for words aside from basic comments about the day, or about someone's outfit, notices Barnette and Alexei approaching together.

" Well… that's an unexpected pairing…" Bart says rather plainly in a dazed sort of manner. Seeing the new pair arrive, Jura walks up to Barnette and glares at her.

" What's this Barnette?"

Barnette smiles as she kisses Alexei on the cheek. " Oh… nothing. What? You think you're the only one that likes men Jura?" Barnette gets a mischievous but very attractive look on her face. The entire time though, Alexei is just standing there, blank stare, and stiff posture, looking much like a zombie. Overcome with the happenings of the past few moments Alexei just, in a sense, shut down to process the information.

Jura's face contorts in a malicious… not very attractive way as she quickly turns on her heel in a huff and walks back towards the shuttle.

Alexei finally starting to come back to the real world smirks as he catches Jura's frustrated exit and says, " Serves her right, you constantly cover for her, and she just treats you in a rather hot and cold manner." Barnette looks up at Alexei and smiles.

" Ya know, for a man, you're pretty sweet and caring. Not like Renz at all. And you know what? I really like that." She smiles and nuzzles Alexei a little. Alexei is still highly confused by what all of these reactions mean, but, he doesn't mind them, in fact, he enjoys them… so, no complaints from him.

While all of that is going on Duelo and Renz begin making there way towards the ship as they just happen to run into Meia along the way. Meia, still holding the magazine looks up and sees Renz and begins to blush as Renz gets a bit of an embarrassed look on his face as she approaches the two men.

" Renz… I believe this is yours…" She says in a rather shaky, shy, unsure way as she holds the magazine out to him.

Before Renz can grab it Duelo notices what book it is and grins. " Now Renz… I thought you were studying for Jura, what would urge you to share your knowledge with Meia?" Duelo gives his friend a cunning and suspicious look as Renz grumbles a bit and slowly takes the magazine from Meia.

" Thank you Meia." He manages to say that in a straight, unwavering way. Which is odd, because to Renz, Meia is the most attractive of the women he's met so far. So the entire event was weird, yet satisfying. But before continuing any conversation, let alone thoughts with Meia involved, he addresses what Duelo said.

" It fell out of the other book when we accidentally collided shortly after I saw you yesterday." Duelo smirks to this knowledge as Meia then speaks.

" Oh, well, it's an interesting book Duelo. Would you… perhaps, have any more? The entire action really intrigues me. For I still don't see how men and women got along, let alone procreated long ago." Both Renz and Duelo react in a fairly shocked way to Meia's statement as Duelo scratches the back of his head and nods.

" Well, yes, I have a few back in my room on the Nirvana, Parfait and Paiway were interested in the act themselves… so when I left I told them where to find the books. So I'll be sure to get you one or two Meia." Duelo nods and looks at his watch and smirks. " Well I have to hurry to the site, you two know where it is right?" Meia and Renz nod as Duelo smiles, obviously setting them up, because even though he's not an expert on male and female mating procedures, he can tell they have an unusual energy together. " Then you don't need my guidance, and can get there together. See you both later." Duelo walks off as Meia and Renz are left standing there pondering what exactly urged Duelo to run off like that.

Renz, in his normal way, breaks the silence with an interesting remark. Cause even though she's a woman, he needs to learn how to talk to them. And what better chance then now. " So, what was your favorite description?" He looks directly at her, and her beautiful emerald eyes looks at him intrigued and unsure but she answers him anyway.

" Well honestly, the number description… I think it was called sixty-nine, because it seemed to be enjoyable to both the man and the woman. What about you?" She tilts her head a bit as they resume walking towards the launch site.

Renz smiles and nods slightly, " Ya that is an interesting one… but then again, I didn't get to read as much of it as you did." He smirks as he eyes shift over to her. And before anything else can be said, all too familiar voices interrupt them.

" Well I didn't expect to see you guys together. Jura's not gonna like that." Hibiki grins after he said that as Dita stays comfortably next to Hibiki grinning and making curious faces over towards Renz and Meia.

Renz shakes his head and groans," Here we go…"

To be continued…