Selves Inserted
Brought to you by Truly Krappy (T/K) Productions
"Truly Krappy, never half-assed."
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon does not belong to us. Slayers does not
belong to us. Trigun does not belong to us. Sensing a pattern?
We're not making money off of this. Honest. Please, for the love of
pizza and Chinese fast-food, do not sue us.
Warning: Lots of swearing happens due to being hit by a truck. Hell,
you'd swear too.
Last time on Selves Inserted: Tannim and Kagato had their first day
of school. While on his way home from school, Naru spotted Tannim
from across the street. On her way across the street, a truck failed
to stop at the stoplight, and was heading on a collision course for
the high school girl....
---
Chapter Four
---
Everything was frozen in a moment of time. Naru could see it all
clearly. As the girl neared death, her senses heightened to a state
previously thought to be unachievable.
And it irked the girl what exactly her mind decided to notice.
For instance, while she couldn't bring to mind a picture of her own
mother's smiling face, she could see in perfect clarity the face of
the driver as he barreled toward her; a mix of dull confusion, bleary
indifference, and a slight dash of dawning realization thrown in for
good measure. Her eyes flickered to a bird in flight, watching as the
creature seemed to move in slow motion, every feather visible in its
natural glory. Sounds of cut off conversations and the blaring of
horns failed to disguise from her sharp ears the sobbing of a small
child as they didn't receive the candy they wanted.
It almost seemed as if her mind was trying to look everywhere except
for the large truck that was about to kill her.
In fact, her hearing was so good she was able to hear the sound of
footsteps running at an incredible speed...
...and then she was flying through the air, away from the truck, away
from danger, rough hands tossing her away from the death she had known
moments before...
...and then the moment was gone. As if the world was making up for
lost time, it came rushing at Naru all at once. Sound pounded at her
ears as pain exploded all along the left side of her body. The once
crystal clarity her mind had attained was shattered into confusion.
After a few moments of pure confusion, in which nothing made sense,
her mind finally settled into a zombie-like state, completely
reactionary and lethargic to the world in general.
'What had happened?' she wondered, somehow not afraid, merely curious.
Naru looked up to the sight of the truck that nearly hit her slowing
down. The sound of glass shattering brought her attention to a nearby
shop's window; or at least where a window would normally be. Instead,
the gap was framed by serrated pieces of glass.
Something compelled Naru to stand up. She ignored her slight injuries
as she slowly made her way to the shattered window. It took her a few
moments to realize what her sub-conscious had been searching for: the
reason the glass was shattered in the first place.
As if in a trance, Naru stumbled into the opening caused by the broken
window. She cut her hands on a few pieces of stray glass, but ignored
the wounds. As she finally got a good look inside the store, the
picture awaiting her stopped her in her tracks. There was a tangle of
limbs so confusing that she stopped and stared for a full five seconds
before realizing that not all the limbs belonged to humans. In fact,
she could only count four. The rest were fake, belonging to the
store's mannequins.
Quickly locating the head, the high school girl pulled away several
garments of a questionable nature to reveal the face of the
unfortunate person lying in this heap.
It was Tannim.
Naru stared a few moments more at the face of her tutor, still in
shock over the recent events. It was the face of someone resting
peacefully, the kind of peace one only attains after living a good
long while in life, then finally dying, escaping the pain that life
held.
Tannim's eyes suddenly jerked opened.
"SONOVABITCH!"
The words acted as well as a slap to pull Naru out of her trance, and
she visibly flinched at the shout.
"This godDAMN fucking hurts!" cried the young man as he struggled to
sit upright.
Naru stared dumbly as the person she had previously thought dead
suddenly wake up and complain very loudly that life was still... what
where those words he had just used? "Bitingu me in ta assu?"
"Holy mother-loving shitting piles of pussbuckets!" Tannim swore as he
managed to stand up despite the numerous cuts and bruises throughout
his body. "This goddamn FUCKING hurts!"
"Sensei..." mumbled Naru through her shock.
"This goddamn fucking HURTS! It feels as if I've got a piece of glass
wedged in my side." Tannim paused to roam a hand over his left side,
jerking in pain as it came in contact with a piece of glass that was,
indeed, lodged in his body. With great deliberation he slowly
withdrew the shard, inch by painful inch. What was only three inches
seemed like an eternity of pain.
"Oh, that was very so much pain. Ever so much pain. Pain so much
hurt. Need heal." Clenching his eyes against the waves of pain,
Tannim whimpered.
Naru finally snapped into action. "[We have to get you to a hospital,
sensei! You're hurt badly!]"
Tannim's mind was a little bit fuzzy by this point, clouded by the
extreme amount of pain he was in. However, he still had the presence
of mind to realize one important fact: hospitals would be BAD.
Vash the Stampede aka the Humanoid Typhoon was not, despite his looks,
entirely human. Tannim was also currently Vash's second, unknown
brother. Even if Tannim didn't know the entire story, he knew enough
to worry about what x-rays might see, and what the doctors would say
if they found out his organs might not be in their correct places.
So avoiding hospitals is a must in any long-term survival plans; even
if he would have loved to get a generous helping of morphine.
"[No... hospital. Hospital bad.]"
Naru was extremely confused by what her sensei was saying, but didn't
question his judgment.
Sirens began to fill the air as the emergency vehicles, after
determining it wasn't a youma attack, decided to come in and try to
help those who might be injured.
"[...police bad,]" managed Tannim as he began to stagger away. He
managed three steps before nearly collapsing back on the ground, saved
only by the quick action of Naru.
The high school girl pointed toward the back door of the shop. "[That
way.]"
Tannim, too tired to argue, simply nodded in agreement.
---
"[Let me get this straight. You're telling me that a man across the
street managed to run so fast as to reach the girl in a split second,
then get hit by the truck himself and flung through that,]" the
officer waved his hand toward the broken window, "[over there, and
then he,]" the officer checked his notes, "['got up and walked away'
from all that?]"
The witness nodded mutely.
"[Okay, thank you for your assistance. We'll be contacting you should
we need your help or testimony in this case.]"
The witness nodded a second time, before quickly walking off.
A second police officer walked toward the first one. "[So, what's the
verdict?]"
"[Call in section forty-three.]"
The second officer looked surprised. "[But I thought this wasn't a
monster attack.]"
"[It wasn't. And if you'd like to keep your job, you don't want to
know all the details,]" said the first officer as he sighed.
"[All right, all right,]" spoke the second officer as he raised his
hands in a gesture of supplication. "[Those spooks down in section
forty-three gonna be happy with what you're gonna tell 'em?]"
"[I doubt it.]"
---
The craft hung suspended in orbit above the third planet from the sun.
Its metal surface glinted dully in the sunlight as highly advanced
technology scanned the planet below, while making sure the craft
itself was not seen by the natural inhabitants.
These creatures from another world do not speak English, or Japanese,
or any language even vaguely recognizable to anyone on earth. It was
a language filled with trills, grunts, and clicks that would grate on
the ears of the most hardened rock junkie. In fact, if one were to
actually put the words down in text, that text would most likely try
to commit suicide from the sheer awfulness of all those vowels and
consonants linked together in 'that' particular manner. For the sake
of all creatures living on that poor planet, the words of the aliens
have been translated.
"Radio signals off the charts, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir!"
To correctly give the name of the person who had just spoken seventy-
nine pages would have needed to be typed out. For now, this creature
shall simply be known as 'Beak'.
Another one hundred and eighty-four pages would have been needed to
correctly name the person who sighed in response to Beak's words, but
their name can simply be shortened to 'Talon'.
"Check for viewing crystal frequencies, like we've done a hundred
times before. Not those stupid radio signals. I don't understand why
you like listening to those ghastly broadcasts from every planet we
come to. There aren't any pictures."
"Viewing crystal wavelengths found! Putting on screen now, delta-
savage-team-coordinator-sir!"
The screen, which to Beak was referring, stood ten times higher than
the aliens watching it. It suddenly filled to overflowing with color
as it tried to show every television broadcast on the planet all at
once.
"Set to receive only in our vicinity!" snapped out Talon's orders.
"Aye aye, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir. Narrowing band to the
island we are currently orbiting."
A manageable set of squares were now displayed on the screen.
"Search for usual predators. These stupid civilizations are all the
same: once they eradicate their natural predators, they relax, and
remember their former foes through re-creations."
Hours later, a frustrated Talon slammed a limb on the consol in front
of it. "Are you telling me they have NO visuals of creatures
defeating them? All are victories? Surely there must be something
that can kill these pink-skinned creatures!"
Beak hesitated. "Sir? There seems to be an unusual energy band
coming from what appears to be a small hole in space-time. Shall I
put it on the screen?"
"Do it."
The screen now filled with horrors unimagined, even by the battle-
hardened warriors that had scoured countless worlds clean in their
quest for new planets to populate. They paled in comparison to the
previous data that had already been gathered from other worlds;
nothing they had seen was this vile, gruesome, and terrible.
Even as Talon was disgusted by the vile displays shown, he was
satisfied that their search had ended. "Perfect. Re-create the
beings and send them down for a trial run on the island we are
orbiting."
"Aye aye, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir. Replicating and
transporting underway."
Meaningless symbols flashed on the screen before the two aliens.
'Sci-Fi Channel's Horror Week.'
---
Somehow, Tannim had managed to stop the bleeding.
Naru and Tannim had stumbled their way through the back allies of the
business district as they headed toward Tannim's current abode. It
had taken the better part of an hour, with frequent rests, in order
for the duo to finally reach their destination. The building's
majestic form rising before them was ignored for simply concentrating
on putting one foot in front of the other.
The personnel on duty saw a man staggering with a young schoolgirl
toward the elevators... and then forgot they ever saw a thing.
Discretion was one of the things their residents paid for in their
admittedly expensive rents.
After fumbling for the key, and opening the door, Tannim was starting
to get the hang of the whole 'shock' thing. His face was deathly
white as he stumbled the short distance to his futon. He collapsed
onto the blankets, not bothering to even attempt to climb underneath
the covers.
Naru had taken the time to shut and lock the door after Tannim's
collapse. She checked up on her tutor; that shade of white didn't
look too good.
What were those things she had read on this kind of situation? After
a person had lost a lot of blood, they generally got cold, and needed
to heat up and make more blood. Or something. The way Tannim was
shivering like that, even unconscious, couldn't be good.
Firming her resolve, Naru figured that the best way to help the person
who had saved her life would be to help him warm up. And the best way
to warm that person up would be to climb into bed with them.
---
Tannim was dreaming.
In the dream, he had two separate states of being. One was the person
immersed totally in the dream, unaware of anything but the moment.
The other was the part of him detached from the dream, the memory that
knew who everyone was and what that implied.
In his dream the only person he was truly aware of was Hotaru. This
wasn't the Hotaru Tomoe of his memories; a young, fragile girl with no
friends and a dismal outlook on life. This Hotaru was older, more
refined. The smile came more readily to her face as she laughed at
some unknown joke he couldn't remember telling. There were others in
the background, but they were shadows, unimportant. Only Hotaru
mattered, and that is the only person the dream-Tannim acknowledged
existing besides himself.
The part of Tannim that knew what was going on without being told
realized that he and Hotaru had been friends, and were now comfortably
joking and talking as they were walking along. However, this wasn't
Hotaru, as she would be known as she was reborn. This was, in fact,
Sailor Saturn, one of the most feared people in the Moon Kingdom.
Why he was acting like close friends with her, the detached-Tannim
didn't know. The dream-Tannim didn't care.
Suddenly the dream turned into a nightmare.
Tannim felt the cold, sharp sensation of his neck being separated from
his shoulders. His mind idly catalogued the feeling of being beheaded
as his head flew from his body to roll and finally come to rest.
Amazingly, he had not awoken; death held no meaning to him.
The last moments of his vision were filled with Hotaru being pushed
down and held by some evil force. The detached-Tannim realized the
force was female.
"Now that your friend is dead, you're next." The husky voice
gloated over Hotaru's prone body.
Then, the world went white....
---
Through the gaps between skyscrapers, sunlight crawled its way down
the sides of Tannim and Kagato's Apartment building, eventually
shining through the formers' windows.
Kagato, not having to sleep, had spent the night out, this time
listening to the locals speak as much as possible, hoping it would
help him pick up the language faster. He'd learned a few new words,
and a couple of the more common phrases down, but these language-
finding quests would have to continue for some time. Of course, he
could probably also get some true tutoring from someone at school.
He chuckled, then, thinking it ironic to have to ask Ami or Minako for
help, as a tutor. The mirth, however, wore off when he felt Tannim
wake up on the astral plane, and the pain he was radiating.
---
Tannim jolted awake, the nightmare forcing him out of sleep in his
attempt to save Hotaru. An arm reached out in a futile gesture before
the pain registered, and he had to drop the appendage.
He tried to sit up, only to fall back down, groaning, his entire body
one large mass of excruciating pain. His side was the worst; instead
of the dull ache coming from the rest of his body, the sharp pain was
so terrible that the shard of glass might as well still be there.
Naru turned in her sleep, disturbed by the sudden movement, but not
enough to be woken. An arm came down on Tannim's chest as she moved.
The pain of the contact caused Tannim's eyes to bulge. A long hiss
escaped Tannim's lips as he tried to keep from crying out. After a
few moments, the torture receded to bearable levels.
"Owie..." Tannim whimpered softly.
---
Kagato briefly considered teleporting there to see what was wrong, but
then noticed there were two distinct figures in Tannim's bed. His
eyes widened in surprise, and his jaw dropped a bit. Then, he thought
about Tannim, and realized that what he was thinking was probably not
quite right.
Still... it was a good thing he hadn't teleported in there like he'd
intended. Kagato quickly did his teleport-shower, and appeared
outside Tannim's door.
He would just have to find out what was going on.
---
Tannim's eyes flew open at the loud knock on the door. He fearfully
glanced down at his sleeping companion, watching for any hint of
movement. None were forthcoming.
Moments later, a second, louder knock sounded from the door. This
time, Naru began to stir.
"Erk!" convulsed Tannim as Naru shifted all her weight on the arm
already on his chest. The sleepy girl looked at the form of Tannim
underneath her arm. A few seconds later, comprehension finally dawned
in her eyes.
"EEEK!" Naru screamed in reflex.
"Heh." Kagato grinned. "This... ought to be interesting." He waited
for the door to open.
Tannim groaned as Naru finally shifted her weight off his chest.
"[Please be quiet. Someone is in the door,]" he muttered in Japanese.
Naru paused for the few moments it took to translate this. "[Someone
is at the door?]" she asked.
A small nod confirmed her question.
"[What should we do?]" she asked pensively.
"[Might be Kagato,]" mumbled Tannim in barely passable Japanese,
"[open door.]"
Naru gave a nod, stood up, and walked over to the doorway. She opened
it a crack, peering out. "Ohayoo?"
Kagato's eyelid twitched. "Umm... 'oissu' or something to that
effect, I think.." he muttered, hoping she could understand the
interjected Japanese word. Then he took a closer look. "Moll...
err... Naru?"
"Hai." Naru opened the door fully. "Kagato-san, Tannim-san," she
paused for a moment, struggling to remember the English words Tannim
used to describe his situation, "goddammu fakingu herutsu is." She
turned and pointed to the prone form of Tannim.
"...." Kagato had to pause to piece that one together. When he
finally did, he started laughing. Looking at Tannim the way he could,
he could tell he'd seriously injured the left side of his abdomen.
However, looking more intently, he could see some weaker magic
(compared to what he'd seen around town) healing Tannim's wounds. He
turned to Naru. "Hai. Tannim-baka is hurt. However... he should get
better... eventually."
He turned to Tannim. "Translate that, if you could... and tell me...
how do you say 'keen' in Japanese?"
Carefully raising an arm, Tannim clenched his fist, held the back of
his hand toward Kagato, and raised his middle finger.
Kagato pulled down his eyelid with a finger, and stuck out his tongue
at Tannim. "Biiii."
Naru looked confused at the interaction between the two boys.
"Gawd, what time is it? Don't we have school today?" asked Tannim
from his position on the floor.
"Yep!" Kagato beamed. He was about to teleport, when he realized
that Tannim would be really late if he walked. But to teleport him,
he'd have to figure out what to do with Naru. He thought for a
moment, before shrugging.
"Tannim, tell Naru that she can't tell anybody about our secret
powers."
"Sore wa himitsu desu?" quoted Tannim wryly. "I don't know how to say
'secret powers' in Japanese, Kag. They didn't exactly cover that in
class."
"Himitsu?" questioned Naru.
"...okay then. When I finish teleporting, point to me, and tell her
that. So she knows what we're talking about." Kagato teleported a
couple of times around the room. Naru grew pale as he disappeared and
reappeared seemingly at random.
"Aw, fuck," muttered Tannim. He cried out, "[It's all right, it's all
right! He's a good guy!]" in hopes of calming Naru. "[That is the
secret. You know, like Sailor Moon?]"
Naru seemed to calm down at the name. "[Like Sailor Moon?]"
"[Yeah, like her,]" nodded Tannim. "[Without the schoolgirl
clothing.]"
Kagato frowned upon hearing Sailor Moon being mentioned, but trusted
Tannim not to make him out to be an idiot. Finally, when their
conversation died, he asked Tannim, "How do you say 'to school?'"
Naru perked up at the words. "Tu skuulu?"
Kagato grinned. "Hai!" he teleported from one side of the room to the
other, then pointed to her and Tannim. "To school."
He then pointed to the wall clock behind her, which said they had 7
minutes to get to school.
Finally, he pointed to the three of them, teleported, and said,
"Hayaku, to school."
Naru nodded in understanding.
"That's just dandy," muttered Tannim as he shakily stood up. "A guy
just can't catch a break, can he?" Naru moved to help Tannim stand,
but he waved the girl off. "If you could teleport me into some new
clothes, that'd be great. These are kinda covered in blood."
"...get changed," Kagato said flatly. "YOU can be a little late.
Naru can't. I'm going to take her home, so she can change, and then
take her to school. I'll be back for you in a moment."
Tannim muttered imprecations as Kagato teleported with Naru in tow.
Six minutes, fifty seconds later, Kagato reappeared. By then, Tannim
was wearing his Vash outfit, complete with yellow-tinted sunglasses.
The only change in the outfit was that the holster and gun was hidden
inside the coat, instead of being located on Tannim's right hip.
"Naru's in the ladies room near her class," explained Kagato. "I'll
get you to the closet near our desks. I'll go to the men's room, and
we'll only be a couple minutes late... sound good?"
A nod. "Let's rock."
---
Kagato's teleport was right on the money, and Tannim found himself in
the closet next to the teachers' desks. He shook his head sharply to
clear the effects of teleportation, only to receive a sharp pain
reminding him he wasn't back up to full health for his troubles.
"Shit. I hate pain," muttered Tannim as he fumbled about in the dark
closet. It took the young man several moments before realizing he was
facing the back. Silently thanking no one could see him, he turned
around and fumbled for the mechanism that would set him free from this
dusty confine.
Tannim's hand finally closed on the knob. He turned the device and
pushed the door.
It moved an entire inch before stopping.
Tannim hesitated.
He gave the door a quicker push, and heard a rattling of metal in
response. It still held shut.
Yep, the closet was definitely locked.
"Um... Kagato? Sensei? Anybody?"
Silence.
"Help?"
---
After dropping Tannim off, Kagato quickly teleported behind his desk,
waiting for those around him to turn away before silently appearing.
"Good morning!" he called out, surprising a few of the people closer
to him.
Watching the locked door of the closet, he wondered how long he should
wait to let Tannim out, before finally deciding that, despite the
hilarity that would undoubtedly ensue, it would probably make the two
tutors look bad.
Standing up, Kagato quickly crossed the room and opened the door,
waiting for the moment Tannim tried to elbow it open, so instead, his
companion stumbled out into the room.
Tannim blinked quickly at the sudden light. The pain at his side had
been receding faster than he knew what should have been possible, but
it still managed to make him wince as he caught himself from falling
down. The young man blinked owlishly at Kagato as his mind tried in
vain for something witty to say.
Turning his back to Tannim, Kagato made his way back to his desk,
sitting down and looking down at the syllabus resting there. Quirking
his brow at the kanji, katakana, and hiragana scattered about the
page, he does his best to read the English here and there, but
couldn't make too much out. Finally shrugging, he just nodded his
head as if he understood it, and sat it back down.
"You understand it all, then?" a voice asked from behind Kagato. He
started to nod before realizing it wasn't Tannim. Spinning, he
recognized Setsuna, and smiled. Still nodding, he cheerfully
proclaimed, "Not a thing!"
Setsuna's small, knowing smile froze in place as the rest of the face
seemed to melt away from the expression. "Make sure that you read the
entire book by the end of the week." She turned to look at Tannim.
"What were you doing in the supply closet?"
Tannim froze for an instant as his mind went into overdrive. Years of
experience in dodging his parents and teachers came to the fore as he
constructed a lie that would fit all the facts, yet sound convincing.
"Well, I was so excited about teaching my new students, I came to
school a bit early, but since it was still dark and no one was here I
decided to take a nap and I didn't want to inconvenience anyone by
sleeping in their space so I decided it would be best if I slept in
the closet but when I woke up it was locked and so here I am," Tannim
finished in a rush.
Setsuna gave Tannim a suspicious look.
Looking down at the book, Kagato just stared, wondering how he'd
handle learning something he couldn't read. Turning to Setsuna, he
asked "Setsuna... sensei? Umm... is there anyone here who can help me
brush up on my Japanese?"
Setsuna's eyes flashed with mirth as she looked at Kagato. "If there
aren't any injured students needing my attention, I'm free everyday
after school until five."
"All right, then. I'll... stop by." Looking back down at the items,
he flipped idly through the book, reading the few pages of English he
could find, and wondering how best to assist people with this.
---
Chapter Four End
---
Authors' Notes:
Kagato: Back from (what felt like) a thousand-year slumber, eh
Tannim? Ah well.. It's time to get that ball a rolling, once again.
Next time, in Selves Inserted, watch for some stuff to happen.. and..
umm.. go Tannim.
Tannim: Truth be told, I've been busy. Damn, I've always hated
authors who use that line to get away from writing more, but now that
it applies to me... well, lets just say I'm a bit more forgiving. I
think this is slightly larger than what we normally used to put out,
mostly because I combined a side-story I was supposed to be doing with
the actual chapter. It seemed to work out better that way. I'll also
be working on getting the first couple of chapters together and re-
written without all that pesky Japanese dialogue. Please, as always,
feel free to C&C.
Brought to you by Truly Krappy (T/K) Productions
"Truly Krappy, never half-assed."
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon does not belong to us. Slayers does not
belong to us. Trigun does not belong to us. Sensing a pattern?
We're not making money off of this. Honest. Please, for the love of
pizza and Chinese fast-food, do not sue us.
Warning: Lots of swearing happens due to being hit by a truck. Hell,
you'd swear too.
Last time on Selves Inserted: Tannim and Kagato had their first day
of school. While on his way home from school, Naru spotted Tannim
from across the street. On her way across the street, a truck failed
to stop at the stoplight, and was heading on a collision course for
the high school girl....
---
Chapter Four
---
Everything was frozen in a moment of time. Naru could see it all
clearly. As the girl neared death, her senses heightened to a state
previously thought to be unachievable.
And it irked the girl what exactly her mind decided to notice.
For instance, while she couldn't bring to mind a picture of her own
mother's smiling face, she could see in perfect clarity the face of
the driver as he barreled toward her; a mix of dull confusion, bleary
indifference, and a slight dash of dawning realization thrown in for
good measure. Her eyes flickered to a bird in flight, watching as the
creature seemed to move in slow motion, every feather visible in its
natural glory. Sounds of cut off conversations and the blaring of
horns failed to disguise from her sharp ears the sobbing of a small
child as they didn't receive the candy they wanted.
It almost seemed as if her mind was trying to look everywhere except
for the large truck that was about to kill her.
In fact, her hearing was so good she was able to hear the sound of
footsteps running at an incredible speed...
...and then she was flying through the air, away from the truck, away
from danger, rough hands tossing her away from the death she had known
moments before...
...and then the moment was gone. As if the world was making up for
lost time, it came rushing at Naru all at once. Sound pounded at her
ears as pain exploded all along the left side of her body. The once
crystal clarity her mind had attained was shattered into confusion.
After a few moments of pure confusion, in which nothing made sense,
her mind finally settled into a zombie-like state, completely
reactionary and lethargic to the world in general.
'What had happened?' she wondered, somehow not afraid, merely curious.
Naru looked up to the sight of the truck that nearly hit her slowing
down. The sound of glass shattering brought her attention to a nearby
shop's window; or at least where a window would normally be. Instead,
the gap was framed by serrated pieces of glass.
Something compelled Naru to stand up. She ignored her slight injuries
as she slowly made her way to the shattered window. It took her a few
moments to realize what her sub-conscious had been searching for: the
reason the glass was shattered in the first place.
As if in a trance, Naru stumbled into the opening caused by the broken
window. She cut her hands on a few pieces of stray glass, but ignored
the wounds. As she finally got a good look inside the store, the
picture awaiting her stopped her in her tracks. There was a tangle of
limbs so confusing that she stopped and stared for a full five seconds
before realizing that not all the limbs belonged to humans. In fact,
she could only count four. The rest were fake, belonging to the
store's mannequins.
Quickly locating the head, the high school girl pulled away several
garments of a questionable nature to reveal the face of the
unfortunate person lying in this heap.
It was Tannim.
Naru stared a few moments more at the face of her tutor, still in
shock over the recent events. It was the face of someone resting
peacefully, the kind of peace one only attains after living a good
long while in life, then finally dying, escaping the pain that life
held.
Tannim's eyes suddenly jerked opened.
"SONOVABITCH!"
The words acted as well as a slap to pull Naru out of her trance, and
she visibly flinched at the shout.
"This godDAMN fucking hurts!" cried the young man as he struggled to
sit upright.
Naru stared dumbly as the person she had previously thought dead
suddenly wake up and complain very loudly that life was still... what
where those words he had just used? "Bitingu me in ta assu?"
"Holy mother-loving shitting piles of pussbuckets!" Tannim swore as he
managed to stand up despite the numerous cuts and bruises throughout
his body. "This goddamn FUCKING hurts!"
"Sensei..." mumbled Naru through her shock.
"This goddamn fucking HURTS! It feels as if I've got a piece of glass
wedged in my side." Tannim paused to roam a hand over his left side,
jerking in pain as it came in contact with a piece of glass that was,
indeed, lodged in his body. With great deliberation he slowly
withdrew the shard, inch by painful inch. What was only three inches
seemed like an eternity of pain.
"Oh, that was very so much pain. Ever so much pain. Pain so much
hurt. Need heal." Clenching his eyes against the waves of pain,
Tannim whimpered.
Naru finally snapped into action. "[We have to get you to a hospital,
sensei! You're hurt badly!]"
Tannim's mind was a little bit fuzzy by this point, clouded by the
extreme amount of pain he was in. However, he still had the presence
of mind to realize one important fact: hospitals would be BAD.
Vash the Stampede aka the Humanoid Typhoon was not, despite his looks,
entirely human. Tannim was also currently Vash's second, unknown
brother. Even if Tannim didn't know the entire story, he knew enough
to worry about what x-rays might see, and what the doctors would say
if they found out his organs might not be in their correct places.
So avoiding hospitals is a must in any long-term survival plans; even
if he would have loved to get a generous helping of morphine.
"[No... hospital. Hospital bad.]"
Naru was extremely confused by what her sensei was saying, but didn't
question his judgment.
Sirens began to fill the air as the emergency vehicles, after
determining it wasn't a youma attack, decided to come in and try to
help those who might be injured.
"[...police bad,]" managed Tannim as he began to stagger away. He
managed three steps before nearly collapsing back on the ground, saved
only by the quick action of Naru.
The high school girl pointed toward the back door of the shop. "[That
way.]"
Tannim, too tired to argue, simply nodded in agreement.
---
"[Let me get this straight. You're telling me that a man across the
street managed to run so fast as to reach the girl in a split second,
then get hit by the truck himself and flung through that,]" the
officer waved his hand toward the broken window, "[over there, and
then he,]" the officer checked his notes, "['got up and walked away'
from all that?]"
The witness nodded mutely.
"[Okay, thank you for your assistance. We'll be contacting you should
we need your help or testimony in this case.]"
The witness nodded a second time, before quickly walking off.
A second police officer walked toward the first one. "[So, what's the
verdict?]"
"[Call in section forty-three.]"
The second officer looked surprised. "[But I thought this wasn't a
monster attack.]"
"[It wasn't. And if you'd like to keep your job, you don't want to
know all the details,]" said the first officer as he sighed.
"[All right, all right,]" spoke the second officer as he raised his
hands in a gesture of supplication. "[Those spooks down in section
forty-three gonna be happy with what you're gonna tell 'em?]"
"[I doubt it.]"
---
The craft hung suspended in orbit above the third planet from the sun.
Its metal surface glinted dully in the sunlight as highly advanced
technology scanned the planet below, while making sure the craft
itself was not seen by the natural inhabitants.
These creatures from another world do not speak English, or Japanese,
or any language even vaguely recognizable to anyone on earth. It was
a language filled with trills, grunts, and clicks that would grate on
the ears of the most hardened rock junkie. In fact, if one were to
actually put the words down in text, that text would most likely try
to commit suicide from the sheer awfulness of all those vowels and
consonants linked together in 'that' particular manner. For the sake
of all creatures living on that poor planet, the words of the aliens
have been translated.
"Radio signals off the charts, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir!"
To correctly give the name of the person who had just spoken seventy-
nine pages would have needed to be typed out. For now, this creature
shall simply be known as 'Beak'.
Another one hundred and eighty-four pages would have been needed to
correctly name the person who sighed in response to Beak's words, but
their name can simply be shortened to 'Talon'.
"Check for viewing crystal frequencies, like we've done a hundred
times before. Not those stupid radio signals. I don't understand why
you like listening to those ghastly broadcasts from every planet we
come to. There aren't any pictures."
"Viewing crystal wavelengths found! Putting on screen now, delta-
savage-team-coordinator-sir!"
The screen, which to Beak was referring, stood ten times higher than
the aliens watching it. It suddenly filled to overflowing with color
as it tried to show every television broadcast on the planet all at
once.
"Set to receive only in our vicinity!" snapped out Talon's orders.
"Aye aye, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir. Narrowing band to the
island we are currently orbiting."
A manageable set of squares were now displayed on the screen.
"Search for usual predators. These stupid civilizations are all the
same: once they eradicate their natural predators, they relax, and
remember their former foes through re-creations."
Hours later, a frustrated Talon slammed a limb on the consol in front
of it. "Are you telling me they have NO visuals of creatures
defeating them? All are victories? Surely there must be something
that can kill these pink-skinned creatures!"
Beak hesitated. "Sir? There seems to be an unusual energy band
coming from what appears to be a small hole in space-time. Shall I
put it on the screen?"
"Do it."
The screen now filled with horrors unimagined, even by the battle-
hardened warriors that had scoured countless worlds clean in their
quest for new planets to populate. They paled in comparison to the
previous data that had already been gathered from other worlds;
nothing they had seen was this vile, gruesome, and terrible.
Even as Talon was disgusted by the vile displays shown, he was
satisfied that their search had ended. "Perfect. Re-create the
beings and send them down for a trial run on the island we are
orbiting."
"Aye aye, delta-savage-team-coordinator-sir. Replicating and
transporting underway."
Meaningless symbols flashed on the screen before the two aliens.
'Sci-Fi Channel's Horror Week.'
---
Somehow, Tannim had managed to stop the bleeding.
Naru and Tannim had stumbled their way through the back allies of the
business district as they headed toward Tannim's current abode. It
had taken the better part of an hour, with frequent rests, in order
for the duo to finally reach their destination. The building's
majestic form rising before them was ignored for simply concentrating
on putting one foot in front of the other.
The personnel on duty saw a man staggering with a young schoolgirl
toward the elevators... and then forgot they ever saw a thing.
Discretion was one of the things their residents paid for in their
admittedly expensive rents.
After fumbling for the key, and opening the door, Tannim was starting
to get the hang of the whole 'shock' thing. His face was deathly
white as he stumbled the short distance to his futon. He collapsed
onto the blankets, not bothering to even attempt to climb underneath
the covers.
Naru had taken the time to shut and lock the door after Tannim's
collapse. She checked up on her tutor; that shade of white didn't
look too good.
What were those things she had read on this kind of situation? After
a person had lost a lot of blood, they generally got cold, and needed
to heat up and make more blood. Or something. The way Tannim was
shivering like that, even unconscious, couldn't be good.
Firming her resolve, Naru figured that the best way to help the person
who had saved her life would be to help him warm up. And the best way
to warm that person up would be to climb into bed with them.
---
Tannim was dreaming.
In the dream, he had two separate states of being. One was the person
immersed totally in the dream, unaware of anything but the moment.
The other was the part of him detached from the dream, the memory that
knew who everyone was and what that implied.
In his dream the only person he was truly aware of was Hotaru. This
wasn't the Hotaru Tomoe of his memories; a young, fragile girl with no
friends and a dismal outlook on life. This Hotaru was older, more
refined. The smile came more readily to her face as she laughed at
some unknown joke he couldn't remember telling. There were others in
the background, but they were shadows, unimportant. Only Hotaru
mattered, and that is the only person the dream-Tannim acknowledged
existing besides himself.
The part of Tannim that knew what was going on without being told
realized that he and Hotaru had been friends, and were now comfortably
joking and talking as they were walking along. However, this wasn't
Hotaru, as she would be known as she was reborn. This was, in fact,
Sailor Saturn, one of the most feared people in the Moon Kingdom.
Why he was acting like close friends with her, the detached-Tannim
didn't know. The dream-Tannim didn't care.
Suddenly the dream turned into a nightmare.
Tannim felt the cold, sharp sensation of his neck being separated from
his shoulders. His mind idly catalogued the feeling of being beheaded
as his head flew from his body to roll and finally come to rest.
Amazingly, he had not awoken; death held no meaning to him.
The last moments of his vision were filled with Hotaru being pushed
down and held by some evil force. The detached-Tannim realized the
force was female.
"Now that your friend is dead, you're next." The husky voice
gloated over Hotaru's prone body.
Then, the world went white....
---
Through the gaps between skyscrapers, sunlight crawled its way down
the sides of Tannim and Kagato's Apartment building, eventually
shining through the formers' windows.
Kagato, not having to sleep, had spent the night out, this time
listening to the locals speak as much as possible, hoping it would
help him pick up the language faster. He'd learned a few new words,
and a couple of the more common phrases down, but these language-
finding quests would have to continue for some time. Of course, he
could probably also get some true tutoring from someone at school.
He chuckled, then, thinking it ironic to have to ask Ami or Minako for
help, as a tutor. The mirth, however, wore off when he felt Tannim
wake up on the astral plane, and the pain he was radiating.
---
Tannim jolted awake, the nightmare forcing him out of sleep in his
attempt to save Hotaru. An arm reached out in a futile gesture before
the pain registered, and he had to drop the appendage.
He tried to sit up, only to fall back down, groaning, his entire body
one large mass of excruciating pain. His side was the worst; instead
of the dull ache coming from the rest of his body, the sharp pain was
so terrible that the shard of glass might as well still be there.
Naru turned in her sleep, disturbed by the sudden movement, but not
enough to be woken. An arm came down on Tannim's chest as she moved.
The pain of the contact caused Tannim's eyes to bulge. A long hiss
escaped Tannim's lips as he tried to keep from crying out. After a
few moments, the torture receded to bearable levels.
"Owie..." Tannim whimpered softly.
---
Kagato briefly considered teleporting there to see what was wrong, but
then noticed there were two distinct figures in Tannim's bed. His
eyes widened in surprise, and his jaw dropped a bit. Then, he thought
about Tannim, and realized that what he was thinking was probably not
quite right.
Still... it was a good thing he hadn't teleported in there like he'd
intended. Kagato quickly did his teleport-shower, and appeared
outside Tannim's door.
He would just have to find out what was going on.
---
Tannim's eyes flew open at the loud knock on the door. He fearfully
glanced down at his sleeping companion, watching for any hint of
movement. None were forthcoming.
Moments later, a second, louder knock sounded from the door. This
time, Naru began to stir.
"Erk!" convulsed Tannim as Naru shifted all her weight on the arm
already on his chest. The sleepy girl looked at the form of Tannim
underneath her arm. A few seconds later, comprehension finally dawned
in her eyes.
"EEEK!" Naru screamed in reflex.
"Heh." Kagato grinned. "This... ought to be interesting." He waited
for the door to open.
Tannim groaned as Naru finally shifted her weight off his chest.
"[Please be quiet. Someone is in the door,]" he muttered in Japanese.
Naru paused for the few moments it took to translate this. "[Someone
is at the door?]" she asked.
A small nod confirmed her question.
"[What should we do?]" she asked pensively.
"[Might be Kagato,]" mumbled Tannim in barely passable Japanese,
"[open door.]"
Naru gave a nod, stood up, and walked over to the doorway. She opened
it a crack, peering out. "Ohayoo?"
Kagato's eyelid twitched. "Umm... 'oissu' or something to that
effect, I think.." he muttered, hoping she could understand the
interjected Japanese word. Then he took a closer look. "Moll...
err... Naru?"
"Hai." Naru opened the door fully. "Kagato-san, Tannim-san," she
paused for a moment, struggling to remember the English words Tannim
used to describe his situation, "goddammu fakingu herutsu is." She
turned and pointed to the prone form of Tannim.
"...." Kagato had to pause to piece that one together. When he
finally did, he started laughing. Looking at Tannim the way he could,
he could tell he'd seriously injured the left side of his abdomen.
However, looking more intently, he could see some weaker magic
(compared to what he'd seen around town) healing Tannim's wounds. He
turned to Naru. "Hai. Tannim-baka is hurt. However... he should get
better... eventually."
He turned to Tannim. "Translate that, if you could... and tell me...
how do you say 'keen' in Japanese?"
Carefully raising an arm, Tannim clenched his fist, held the back of
his hand toward Kagato, and raised his middle finger.
Kagato pulled down his eyelid with a finger, and stuck out his tongue
at Tannim. "Biiii."
Naru looked confused at the interaction between the two boys.
"Gawd, what time is it? Don't we have school today?" asked Tannim
from his position on the floor.
"Yep!" Kagato beamed. He was about to teleport, when he realized
that Tannim would be really late if he walked. But to teleport him,
he'd have to figure out what to do with Naru. He thought for a
moment, before shrugging.
"Tannim, tell Naru that she can't tell anybody about our secret
powers."
"Sore wa himitsu desu?" quoted Tannim wryly. "I don't know how to say
'secret powers' in Japanese, Kag. They didn't exactly cover that in
class."
"Himitsu?" questioned Naru.
"...okay then. When I finish teleporting, point to me, and tell her
that. So she knows what we're talking about." Kagato teleported a
couple of times around the room. Naru grew pale as he disappeared and
reappeared seemingly at random.
"Aw, fuck," muttered Tannim. He cried out, "[It's all right, it's all
right! He's a good guy!]" in hopes of calming Naru. "[That is the
secret. You know, like Sailor Moon?]"
Naru seemed to calm down at the name. "[Like Sailor Moon?]"
"[Yeah, like her,]" nodded Tannim. "[Without the schoolgirl
clothing.]"
Kagato frowned upon hearing Sailor Moon being mentioned, but trusted
Tannim not to make him out to be an idiot. Finally, when their
conversation died, he asked Tannim, "How do you say 'to school?'"
Naru perked up at the words. "Tu skuulu?"
Kagato grinned. "Hai!" he teleported from one side of the room to the
other, then pointed to her and Tannim. "To school."
He then pointed to the wall clock behind her, which said they had 7
minutes to get to school.
Finally, he pointed to the three of them, teleported, and said,
"Hayaku, to school."
Naru nodded in understanding.
"That's just dandy," muttered Tannim as he shakily stood up. "A guy
just can't catch a break, can he?" Naru moved to help Tannim stand,
but he waved the girl off. "If you could teleport me into some new
clothes, that'd be great. These are kinda covered in blood."
"...get changed," Kagato said flatly. "YOU can be a little late.
Naru can't. I'm going to take her home, so she can change, and then
take her to school. I'll be back for you in a moment."
Tannim muttered imprecations as Kagato teleported with Naru in tow.
Six minutes, fifty seconds later, Kagato reappeared. By then, Tannim
was wearing his Vash outfit, complete with yellow-tinted sunglasses.
The only change in the outfit was that the holster and gun was hidden
inside the coat, instead of being located on Tannim's right hip.
"Naru's in the ladies room near her class," explained Kagato. "I'll
get you to the closet near our desks. I'll go to the men's room, and
we'll only be a couple minutes late... sound good?"
A nod. "Let's rock."
---
Kagato's teleport was right on the money, and Tannim found himself in
the closet next to the teachers' desks. He shook his head sharply to
clear the effects of teleportation, only to receive a sharp pain
reminding him he wasn't back up to full health for his troubles.
"Shit. I hate pain," muttered Tannim as he fumbled about in the dark
closet. It took the young man several moments before realizing he was
facing the back. Silently thanking no one could see him, he turned
around and fumbled for the mechanism that would set him free from this
dusty confine.
Tannim's hand finally closed on the knob. He turned the device and
pushed the door.
It moved an entire inch before stopping.
Tannim hesitated.
He gave the door a quicker push, and heard a rattling of metal in
response. It still held shut.
Yep, the closet was definitely locked.
"Um... Kagato? Sensei? Anybody?"
Silence.
"Help?"
---
After dropping Tannim off, Kagato quickly teleported behind his desk,
waiting for those around him to turn away before silently appearing.
"Good morning!" he called out, surprising a few of the people closer
to him.
Watching the locked door of the closet, he wondered how long he should
wait to let Tannim out, before finally deciding that, despite the
hilarity that would undoubtedly ensue, it would probably make the two
tutors look bad.
Standing up, Kagato quickly crossed the room and opened the door,
waiting for the moment Tannim tried to elbow it open, so instead, his
companion stumbled out into the room.
Tannim blinked quickly at the sudden light. The pain at his side had
been receding faster than he knew what should have been possible, but
it still managed to make him wince as he caught himself from falling
down. The young man blinked owlishly at Kagato as his mind tried in
vain for something witty to say.
Turning his back to Tannim, Kagato made his way back to his desk,
sitting down and looking down at the syllabus resting there. Quirking
his brow at the kanji, katakana, and hiragana scattered about the
page, he does his best to read the English here and there, but
couldn't make too much out. Finally shrugging, he just nodded his
head as if he understood it, and sat it back down.
"You understand it all, then?" a voice asked from behind Kagato. He
started to nod before realizing it wasn't Tannim. Spinning, he
recognized Setsuna, and smiled. Still nodding, he cheerfully
proclaimed, "Not a thing!"
Setsuna's small, knowing smile froze in place as the rest of the face
seemed to melt away from the expression. "Make sure that you read the
entire book by the end of the week." She turned to look at Tannim.
"What were you doing in the supply closet?"
Tannim froze for an instant as his mind went into overdrive. Years of
experience in dodging his parents and teachers came to the fore as he
constructed a lie that would fit all the facts, yet sound convincing.
"Well, I was so excited about teaching my new students, I came to
school a bit early, but since it was still dark and no one was here I
decided to take a nap and I didn't want to inconvenience anyone by
sleeping in their space so I decided it would be best if I slept in
the closet but when I woke up it was locked and so here I am," Tannim
finished in a rush.
Setsuna gave Tannim a suspicious look.
Looking down at the book, Kagato just stared, wondering how he'd
handle learning something he couldn't read. Turning to Setsuna, he
asked "Setsuna... sensei? Umm... is there anyone here who can help me
brush up on my Japanese?"
Setsuna's eyes flashed with mirth as she looked at Kagato. "If there
aren't any injured students needing my attention, I'm free everyday
after school until five."
"All right, then. I'll... stop by." Looking back down at the items,
he flipped idly through the book, reading the few pages of English he
could find, and wondering how best to assist people with this.
---
Chapter Four End
---
Authors' Notes:
Kagato: Back from (what felt like) a thousand-year slumber, eh
Tannim? Ah well.. It's time to get that ball a rolling, once again.
Next time, in Selves Inserted, watch for some stuff to happen.. and..
umm.. go Tannim.
Tannim: Truth be told, I've been busy. Damn, I've always hated
authors who use that line to get away from writing more, but now that
it applies to me... well, lets just say I'm a bit more forgiving. I
think this is slightly larger than what we normally used to put out,
mostly because I combined a side-story I was supposed to be doing with
the actual chapter. It seemed to work out better that way. I'll also
be working on getting the first couple of chapters together and re-
written without all that pesky Japanese dialogue. Please, as always,
feel free to C&C.