Chapter Six - Fallen Idol
Author's note : This chapter's opener features a cross-over with plot elements of one of my other story series, also posted on . Hopefully, I don't over-reference it.
April 15th, 1951
Awa found them in a geisha house, as he expected.
"C'mon! Urashima-get your back walked on."
"Yeah, pal-if a back ever needed walking on, yours does."
Awa shook his head at the two American surgeons.
"Gentlemen-my head is what's going to be walked on, if I don't get you two back to Hinata."
The one visitor who often took the lead did so now.
"Why do you put up with her abuse? What's the point of you working your tail off so she can chop it off? Sisyphus and Prometheus had an easier time of it, and they only ticked off Mount Olympus for having better fashion sense."
Awa knew that this description bore little resemblance to either Greek legend, but addressed his guest's other concerns instead of his non sequiturs.
"You two are known as mavericks. I heard you all but hang up on your commanding officer, when he called you at our hospital. Perhaps you don't understand Japan beyond those young ladies and the bars you frequent. Hinata may be a taskmaster, but I am her subordinate. That means I take orders from her, and I accept those orders cheerfully and gratefully. That sums up our entire relationship-"
Urashima gave away only a little in what he mumbled after, but for these two, it would prove enough.
"-whatever else I may wish of it aside."
The curly-haired doctor waited until Urashima was out of earshot. He smiled.
"I've always wanted to be a heart surgeon."
His dark-haired counterpart nodded.
"Let's just hope that heart is also on the other sleeve."
Back at the veterans' hospital, the two made the rounds that were part of the reason for their three-day visit.
"Listen, if you don't let them elevate your legs, they won't drain properly. You won't like what happens then."
Hinata translated for the once-young man.
"Doctor Pierce-he says that he can't grab at all the pretty flesh he sees before him when his legs are immobilized like that. He would rather lose his legs than lose such an opportunity."
Pierce chuckled.
"Tell him he's a man after my own heart. But also tell him that even before they take his legs, not having them elevated could cause a heart stoppage-and that's the end of all fanny grabs."
The patient listened and allowed his legs to be raised. Pierce seemed surprised.
"Funny. I'dve thought an outsider would be the last one he'd listen to."
Hinata saw Doctor McIntyre having an easier time with his patients, and was glad for this.
"You are an outsider, Doctor-but you are also a man. These men may call me their angel, but I am still a woman, with certain of my words forever discounted in that light."
Pierce seemed to stop and consider something.
"Ya know, I've been told I do that to the nursing staff back at the 4077th. Myself, I'll wait till one of them tells me that themselves. I guess even Awa shows you that kind of dismissal, then?"
Hinata's face showed genuine surprise.
"Awa-San is one of the only people I can always count on to get the jobs that need doing done. Doctor, has someone been casting aspersions on his performance?"
Pierce loved any opening, from the tent-hole in the MASH Nurse's Shower to the tank-sized hole Hinata had just provided him.
"My mistake. I kind of thought he must be giving you some grief-given the way you pounded on him when we first showed up here."
Though forceful, the surgeon was skillful enough to cut around what would normally be Hinata's defenses.
"I see. Doctor, unusual circumstances meant that I was underage when I took this respected position. To add insult to injury, I also looked much younger than I was. Awa-San graciously agreed to become my legal guardian. We share an apartment. We are family, and the dispute you saw boil over here-to my shame-was over some socks he failed to clean as asked."
Pierce now ventured forth into the mine-field.
"Lady, that beating was not over some boiled socks. In fact, these words we're sharing right now constitute the first kind thing-or even the first not hate-filled thing-I've heard you say about Awa. Too bad he wasn't in earshot when you-"
Hina's face visibly shifted, and she openly blushed. Pierce nodded.
"So it's as simple as that? You're sharing an apartment, and what you'd like to be sharing is a futon. How closely are you related?"
"What of this is any of your business?"
"One thing is, I'm here to observe a well-run veteran's hospital and make a courtesy report to your superiors. If I take note of something that I think will make this place run less well than its supposed to, I owe it to you to bring it up here, in private."
Hina looked bowed, despite sitting down.
"For that, I-thank you, Doctor. I would prefer that such matters be settled in this way, of course."
Pierce kept on.
"Two, I'm a Doctor, and as a certain second-in-command and shapely yet stiff Head Nurse will tell you, I'm also an inveterate, unapologetic, dyed-in-the-wool of my sheepskin diploma, card-carrying, bleeding-heart do-gooder. I see two people so obviously in pain while also obviously caring about one another, I have to butt in with this schnozz that some people think gave me my nickname. Hinata, I treated my stepmom with the kind of distance you try and keep with Awa. Now she's gone, my Dad is alone, my stepsis is back with a father who'd mobilize the National Guard to keep my Dad and me away, and I will never be able to tell a terrific lady she was appreciated-and loved."
Hinata gained a misty look.
"My own stepmother intervened with my father to reverse my banishment. I had to stop her from trying further, or else he might have sent her away as well."
"Banishment? What, you tried to marry someone he didn't like?"
"I was a child. I forged a friendship with a sailor under Admiral Perry's command, and..."
Her look became one of horrid realization, but Pierce seemed not as shocked as he should have been.
"Since I tippytoed into your life, here's some of mine. When the first wave of wounded hit our wet-behind-the-ears camp last year, we were short of critical supplies. Me and the Head Nurse spot our CO, Henry Blake, pleading with a General, who had supply trucks backed up outside the camp, to let them on through. Bottom line, Henry had to make a deal with the devil to get those supplies, and we've watched in silence as that devil collected again and again. Three Doctors and three nurses died in a way I don't ever want to describe, and we have to pretend we never knew them. A South Korean village was bombed by our side with bacilli-carrying shells whose effects we're not even sure of. Promptly covered up. Said Head Nurse and I get what are supposed to be flu vaccination shots. Of over 2000 personnel to get these exact shots, she and I are the last ones still dancing-I'm not even sure how long we have. So when I poked my Hawkeyes inside your nest-it was because Awa didn't show any scars from that pounding, and neither did your fists-and you punched a steel drawer in two."
Hinata understood.
"You thought our strange status might be connected to your conspiracy. Understood, Doctor. But Japan has secrets of its own, and its spirits, fairly or unfairly, like to remind their children not to be willful or disobedient. You see, at one point, my curse was broken, but Awa-San screwed that up for me. Yet now that I have lived as an adult, I no longer resent his saving my overlong life."
She got up, and Pierce did the same.
"Then what's the trouble?"
She began to tear up.
"I have never told him-he is likely my cousin Aja's descendant. I sought him out when I did because I would finally have an Urashima who could not cast me out..."
Young, lovely and defiant, and now looking vulnerable as well, she was irresistible to Pierce as he grasped her hand.
"So tell him."
"Tell him? Tell him that I have abused his bad fortune from the start, and that I knew his ancestors?"
"That-and tell him that you love him."
"No!"
Awa strode in, Trapper's efforts to delay him having finally given out.
"She doesn't have to say anything she doesn't mean, and she would never mean that."
Hinata pushed past Pierce, and looked her accuser in the eye.
"And how would a man who can't even plow a plane into the deck of a huge ship know which direction my emotions go?"
"Do you HAVE to keep reminding me that I am a failed Kamikaze?"
Pierce whispered to his partner.
"How do you fail at being a Kamikaze?"
McIntyre shrugged.
"So he missed."
"That, or Five O'Clock Charlie has Non-Korean relatives."
"There is Frank-proof of an American branch."
Hinata tried to stand firm.
"I bring it up not to haunt you, but to remind you that in the past, your judgment has not been exactly sage."
Awa also tried this tack.
"Like when I stopped you from dying?"
She shrank just a bit, almost seeming to lose height.
"I no longer consider that to be a wrong. I-may have been too hasty in seeking death. Part of me longs to confront my father's spirit over his unjust curse. But part of me loves life and seeing what each new day brings-"
"So you don't tell me this? Instead you hit and curse at me for four long years?"
She slapped him.
"Baka No Otaku Shingami!"
He pushed her.
"Onidere Yokai!"
Trapper whispered to Hawkeye.
"I wish this argument came with subtitles-or at least had a dubbed release."
Pierce shook his head.
"Nah-dubs are horrible-they never get the voices right."
The couple had reached their turning point.
"Can you forgive and accept the love of one who was once so bitter and overly prepared to die?"
"Can you?"
When that question was answered on both sides with a kiss, the American Doctors smiled.
"Trap-we done good."
"Yeah-but I still wanna know some of those curse words. They sounded cool."
Hinata held her man and looked at her intrusive visitors.
"Gentlemen-Awa and I have something to do-"
Hawkeye waved a hand in the air.
"We'll hold the fort down-but our ride is expected pretty soon."
Awa shook both their hands.
"We will be back before then-and thank you for being so-American!"
Trapper nodded.
"Just wait and see!"
Hawkeye continued.
"For an encore, we plan to reconcile Mao and Stalin."
As they raced away to the local American occupation government's justice of the peace, the couple laughed a bit at each other, and at their helpers.
"I still say they are too young as a nation, and as a people, to wield such power in the world."
Hinata did not entirely disagree.
"And yet they do. Still, some of them seem to handle it better than others."
With a license in hand an agreement to keep the marriage to themselves for the present, the Urashimas (Twice again so) returned to the hospital just as the Americans' escort arrived. He was not even as tall as Awa.
"So Henry doesn't trust us?"
"No disrespect, Trapper, but not ever unless he has to. That's why he sent me to fetch the two of you horse's patoots-his words, not mine. Did you do anything, while you were here?"
Hawkeye saw the couple smile and flash a piece of paper.
"Nah, Radar-we sinned and we wined and we dined-and we helped these nice hospital admins clear up a misunderstanding. Radar O'Reilly-meet Awa Urashima and Hinata Urashima-some folks who know how to keep compassion in the mix when the soldiers start to be forgotten."
Awa stared at Radar, and Radar at Awa. Both said the same thing.
"Nice glasses."
"Thanks."
The surgeons said goodbye to Hinata and her patients, and more than a few of the female staff. Awa would see them all again in Tokyo, during an early reunion held in December of 1954.
On those days in December of 1954, Tokyo would burn as it never had during the war, and a frantic Awa would search for his bride while an inhuman roar echoed in the fire-lit night.
March 11th, 2002 11:15 PM
PRIVATE ENCRYPTED JOURNAL, PRINCESS ROYAL KOALLA SU MOL-NE
I hate them all. They have one and all betrayed me. My brain hurts to even contemplate what they did. All their moral lessons-lies. All their talk of responsibility-a sham. All their talk of sensitivity to the feelings of others-hypocrisy.
When this day began, I had no cares at all. I had tons of sisters, and one of two brothers I love well enough to marry, available to hug and kiss at any time. It was like having a perfectly ripe bunch of bananas that never spoiled or drew too many gnats. Now, I am merely a little fool they probably all chuckle at. Why shouldn't they? They have what they needed.
Engaged or no, all I wanted was a bath with him to let our bare skin touch and feel the joy of the touch of one you love.
Now, though? The mere sight or sound or smell of Keitaro Urashima makes my skin crawl.
I wish now we had thrown him out.
8:15 AM
A splash was heard in the onsen outside. Shinobu walked in with her robe on and a wet Keitaro on her one arm.
"He fell in again?"
Shinobu seemed nervous, but Su almost felt like it had nothing to do with the intrusion.
"yeah. Sempai is lucky I took my oath never to hit him again."
She flashed a smile that seemed forced.
"After all, regardless of where his face landed, he isn't one of my children!"
"So sorry, Shinobu..."
"It's like Motoko said, Sempai. We've all seen it all by now. Just be more careful."
Su felt confused.
"Where did you fall from, Onii-Chan?"
Shinobu and Kei looked at each other and their faces showed blind panic.
"I fell from..."
"He fell off of..."
"That is to say I fell through..."
"Or he fell over..."
Su waved her hands in the air.
"Stop! I just don't get how it is you two can be so unlucky as to have this happen three times in the same morning."
Kei breathed in hard, and Shinobu again followed him.
"Three..."
"...times?"
A splash was heard in the onsen outside. Young man and young woman scrambled up the stairs like lightning.
"Huh? They didn't even run that fast when Motoko thought they had gone ahead and do..."
Shinobu walked in with her robe on and a wet Keitaro on her one arm.
"He fell in again?"
Su's mind immediately flashed to the solution for this oddity.
She just as quickly rejected that solution as impossible.
JOURNAL
What a little fool I was. The answer was right there in front of me. But I told myself, and I told myself, that answer involved someone I loved doing something I knew they would never do. But he was-and he wasn't the only one doing it. In fact, only two people in all the Sou weren't in on it. One of them was crazy out of her mind, and the other was being driven that way by the first one.
9:15 AM
"So when did you come to live here again?"
Su sighed. Everyone had told her what was wrong with Auntie Haruka. That her grief over losing Grandma Hina six months ago had made her amnesiac and delusional. Her own friend, a psychiatrist, seemed to think she'd snap out of it herself.
"Just before you arrived back here, Ruka-San."
But the now very-pregnant Mrs. Seta had regressed even further back, worrying even the easy-going Doctor Kashigawa. If she didn't have a breakthrough soon, her husband and Kei might have to get her in-patient help, something no one wanted to see. Even with Naru and Motoko backing them up, the idea of trying to commit a riled-up Auntie was flatly terrifying.
"Su? Do you have-a thing for my cousin Kei?"
Su looked at her.
"Ummm-girls don't have things-except in those other magazines Kei picked up by accident. He threw them out, but I looked at them. The stories all had the same plot. The two girls are close friends, only one of them realizes she's never seen the other get undressed, and there's this sleep-over..."
Haruka burst out laughing.
"Girl, you're a treasure! By the way, who's the blonde girl I saw around here before? She American?"
Su excused herself, and did a quick swing around the perimeter. The air was warmer than a March morning should have seen, but Su wasn't paying attention to that. She landed near a set of bushes on the edge of the property line.
"Come on out. I can't believe you came all this way."
Sarah rushed out and into the arms of her dearest, closest friend.
"She's my Mom. I had to see her."
Su sat with her on a couple of stumps.
"I had a Mom. I had a Grandma, and I was going to be a big sister. Dad used to say maybe I was mean to Kei too often."
Sarah, as strong a girl as Su knew, was crying openly.
"Am I being punished for that?"
JOURNAL
I didn't know what to say. Most times, I don't know what to say. I'm glad Sarah wasn't a part of what they did. I'd like to have some good memories of this place.
Kei must have thought of part of this plan when he shut himself off. Except for that one time right at the start, I never saw it coming.
They all played it cool. Kei called Seta-Sama and told him where Sarah was, before he and Naru left for classes. Looking back on it all, their rearrangement of their class schedules to bulk up their work but leave certain days clear might have been a clue they were planning something.
But then, I would have had to believe they would ever hurt me. I didn't, back then.
11:15 AM
"But Motoko! Sarah needs me."
They had made for the local hilltops Motoko had once used as a safety against Su's escapades and the wrath of the other residents.
"Sarah needs her rest more, Kaolla Su. She sleeps soundly in Kei and Naru's room. I think the feeling of a couple's bed is giving her comfort right now."
Motoko began her lesson for that day, Su agreeing to let Kei's lesson to her pass in favor of him holding the distraught Sarah, telling her she had nothing to apologize for, and that her Mom would find her way back.
"Princess-does every month in the common use calendar have the same amount of days?"
"No. Some have thirty, and some have thirty-one."
"So all have either thirty or thirty-one?"
Su began to feel almost insulted, but kept on.
"No. February has twenty-eight days."
"Always?"
"Motoko! I know what the calendar is!"
The samurai was the picture of perfect calm.
"I am not teaching you about the calendar. Princess-does every train in the world run as fast as the elevated bullet trains we know and use?"
"No. Of course not."
"Should they?"
Su put a finger to her face while she thought about and answered this part.
"Well...ideally. But some trains carry freight, so technology would have to improve a lot to make the energy and fuel usage worth it. Some trains are meant to show off the scenery on their routes. If they went as fast as the bullet trains, you can't see as much."
Motoko unsheathed her sword.
"My clan tells stories of two foreigners, Scotsmen, who came to wield katanas made here in our own land. Should katanas be the only swords ever made?"
"Of course! You told me a lot of times how they're superior to almost any other swords."
Motoko nodded.
"So the large two-handed Claymore, a holy terror in the hands of men like William Wallace and King Robert The Bruce, is of no use, despite the many battles it won, and the many foes who lay dead around it after as little as one stroke?"
"Ummm..."
"And Dao Broadswords, deadly whirling twins of China, they should be just put aside?"
Su shook her head.
"Motoko, I don't understand where any of this is leading."
Motoko sheathed her sword.
"There are always rules, and these rules should be kept to, sometimes even at great cost. But rules are often as defined by their exceptions as their adherence. We strive for the ideal, but we are the living, and being so, liable to make mistakes or need room that the ideal often does not allow for. We should live and die by the sacred things that make us who we are. But the most sacred thing of all is life, and its protection sometimes involves that which is very much less than ideal."
JOURNAL
Was she trying to prepare me or warn me? How could she, of all people, have been a part of this? Motoko-Chan, if I loved anyone like I loved Kei, it was you. I worshipped you. Saw you as the ideal. An ideal that had no exceptions. Even when-even when you laid down that stupid rule about being my teacher cutting us off-I thought you were-
For Koichi's sake, I hope he's ready for how two-faced she can be. How two-faced they can all be.
1:15 PM
"Thanks for coming with me, Su. The others hate going to these out of the way markets."
As Motoko's lessons had ended, Mutsumi caught the pair headed back down the hill and with a smile, waylaid and drafted a tired Su into her service. Still, it was like an adventure. She just knew the best places to find stuff.
"See the odd markings on these beans? They're grown on a few acres of land in Sicily. No other beans in the world have their exact taste or coloration."
Su often found herself entranced by Mutusmi's beauty, her spirit as shown through her eyes (when they weren't closed from a sudden fainting spell) especially, as well as the more obvious things. But the things she found on this trip were almost as striking.
"That merchant said that spice was five times hotter than either wasabi or habanero. Could that be true?"
Mutsumi laughed.
"You have to speak merchant. Five times is merchant-talk for twice to three times as hot."
The day kept on, and a small rented shopping cart started to fill up.
"You bought those green beans already seasoned?"
"This blend has garlic, onions, and a sesame-olive oil mix with. It's three days old, which means everything's had a chance to really soak in. There's gods that haven't eaten anything this good."
At the next stop, Su was glad for glass jars.
"Mutsumi-that cheese-its-"
"I know. Even mice run away from it. But I swear, it will make the meal when mixed in properly. Picture the best of feta, blue cheese, cheddar, pepper jack and brie all in one."
"I'd rather picture a gas mask!"
At what was promised to be their last stop, Su's stomach ached.
"All those potatoes! They must be cooking them up every way there is!"
"Mmm-hmm. Alice-San recommended this place. The Johnny Rocket's has strict ingredients, but all her other places have baked potatoes that come from here."
They sat down and ate baked potatoes stuffed with chicken teriyaki.
"I don't even usually like baked potatoes. But these are so...is this about how I hurt Shinobu's feelings?"
Mutsumi shrugged, and men noticed when she did that.
"What? I don't understand."
"Shinobu tried to make me chili-cheese fries of her own, but I told her I only wanted Alice-San's. Motoko said I should have been more grateful and at least tried them."
"Not everything is a lesson, Su. At least I didn't intend one."
Su was almost happy to hear that, having spent a couple of months on edge last year, feeling like she would never regain her footing.
"Mutsumi, you got boiled potatoes from here, and all that other stuff. What are you making?"
"I'm going to teach Shinobu how to make Otohime World Island Welcome Stew. My grandmother taught us that all the world is an island, and that in addition to the things we knew, we should throw in things from all over the world."
Su tried to do some math.
"Is this to welcome Auntie Haruka's baby? Cause it's not here yet, and she doesn't even know she's having one right now. She scares me a little."
Mutsumi took her hand and squeezed it.
"She'll be fine. No, this isn't for the baby. Kei told me a member of his family may be stopping by tonight. Could be-"
Su saw Mutsumi grow visibly nervous.
"It could be anyone at all."
JOURNAL
We had a good time. I loved getting out, especially after being cooped up during the fall and winter. Mutsumi even surprised me with a banana split sundae served inside a banana cream pie shell.
I don't want to believe that she was in on the whole thing, but she kept me out for so long.
Even I couldn't finish all that food. But someone who 'just happened by' did. I wanted to say something as she also 'drafted' me. But these people are my family.
Or at least they used to be.
4:15 PM
"Lucky thing I ran into you two."
Su struggled not to sigh or groan.
"Yeah, lucky thing, Mitsu."
Mitsu glanced at the folder she gave to Su.
"You ready to confirm some appointments, kid?"
Su did not roll her eyes, in the greatest act of self-control of her young life. But it was close.
"It's what every island princess dreams of."
Not being thrown even the barest of bones, Su decided to get a bit vicious.
"So who's coming over tonight? Kei Onii-Chan's parents?"
The look of barely-disguised panic on Mitsu's face as she turned to look told Su all she really needed to know-and desperately wished were not true.
"You-you never know who'll show up, do ya?"
Mitsu turned away.
"But then, that's life at the Sou, isn't it?"
Mitsu picked up the pace, finalizing the work she and Kei had planned for months.
"Mitsu, aren't a lot of these projects scheduled tightly into one or two weeks?"
Each stop seemed to only confirm Su's very basic math.
"Well, kid-we want it all done at once. Plus, with all those contractors around, if one doesn't have a certain tool on hand, the others will. No excuses for stopping the work, and if something or other suddenly 'just demands' to be done-most types of contractors will be right on hand."
Su at last spotted an ulterior motive she could comprehend.
"And you get to scope out all those hunky contractors, especially when they bend over!"
After a long fall and winter of hibernation, Kitsune was shining through at last.
"Welll-a girl does not live by loving nerd alone. Now that I know about my folks and my real heritage, I feel like I'm finally ready to make a certain horizontal move-maybe."
Su smiled.
"Mitsu-what exactly is your real family and real heritage?"
THREE HOURS LATER
"I'm glad you went with the short version. So Kanako and you have the exact same parents in body, but she's still only your half-sister, and your Granpa is one of the guys from Street Fighter?"
Mitsu was holding a grape ginger ale and shaking.
"Don't-don't make me describe all that again. It makes my head hurt."
Su nodded.
"I love you Mitsu. You're always fun."
The princess look became serious.
"So with that in mind, I will forgive you if you tell me what's going on, back at the Sou. Why has everyone been working like crazy to get me as far away as possible?"
A sudden downpour forced them to seek shelter, but nothing could save Mitsu from Su's glare.
"No fair using your vaguely demigod-like powers to make it rain, Mitsune!"
Mitsu shut the rain down and rubbed her temples.
"Wow, even that statement made my head hurt. Why can't I just be the product of my Mom and a dentist from Hokkaido or something?"
"Answer me."
Mitsu nodded.
"Su-what if I said that you have to trust us?"
Su pulled out her cell-phone, and dialed a few numbers.
"I'd say that trusting you all was a given-"
She bounded off the nearest wall, and all but bounced into the seat of Sarah's Mecha-Sama.
"-twelve hours ago, before you all started lying to me!"
Mitsu's eyes flashed.
"Oh no you don't, little princess!"
Five seconds later, Mitsu teleported, leaving only scant evidence that she had ever been there.
"Damn! Gotta work on that!"
Five seconds after that, she went back to collect her clothes, which had not transported with her. The girl with the odd, off-putting heritage then opted for mass transit.
JOURNAL
I didn't want to hurt them, or even yell at them. I just wanted to know why. Was this what Onii-Chan felt in Molmol? I hope this wasn't to make me understand, because that I'd resent.
I've tried so hard to take in all their lessons, to really think over some of the things they showed me. I did it for all the people I love, and for the two I loved best of all.
I wish Mecha-Sama Amyjo had broken down. Maybe then I would never have found out what they were up to.
8:15 PM
An electromagnetic field of unknown origin forced Su to land about five miles from the Su. She ran like thunder for all but two of them.
"No! Get out of my way!"
Standing firm against her passage were Naru, Shinobu, and most heart-breakingly, Motoko.
"Su-let me take you to Alice-San's for some cherry shakes and some chili cheese fries."
"I'd rather have a friend I can trust, Shinobu. Remember when that used to be so important?"
Naru held Motoko's bokken, and shook her head.
"Kei Onii-Chan asked me to ask you to stay out here, Su. Don't you love him? Don't you love us?"
"The people I love would never do something like this, Naru Onee-Chan. I know what you're doing. What I can't figure out is why."
Before Motoko could speak, Su shot first.
"Was being this wishy-washy the reason Tsuruko let you run away? Don't teach me about openness and truthfulness and then do something like this!"
The battle was joined, and the girl saw her friends did not mean to hurt her physically. Their tactic was pure blockage. Shinobu's skillet only caught her foot at the flat of both, there to block her jumps. Naru held her down when she could, the force of her punches now contained in this holding pattern. Motoko literally seemed to be everywhere at once, shaking her head at every glimpsed passageway. Finally, the princess stood unsteady, and they moved in. Shinobu teared up.
"Su! I'm so sorry-but it has to be this way for now."
Knowing her speed and moves, the three moved against Su like greased lightning-only to realize they'd forgotten how wily she really was as well. Like Charlie Brown and the football, Naru, Shinobu and Motoko flew up into the air and were knocked cold as they landed.
"Bananas also have peels-ladies."
Finally inside the Su's grounds, she saw Arlo crouched down by the herb garden shed Mitsu and Mutsumi had set up.
"Psst-Su. You got past them?"
"What's going on, Arlo?"
The young man shrugged and looked scared.
"They're all out of their minds. I was going to wait it out inside the shed, and hope they return to their senses."
"Yeah-everyone is acting nuts."
Su nodded, and went in before him. Arlo breathed in, then shoved her inside the shed and padlocked the outer door.
"I'm sorry-they said it was that important. I like you, Su. Shinobu's lucky to have a friend like you-"
"You're lucky too, Arlo."
Arlo saw that he was holding the robe-gown that Su had been wearing. Su minus any garment now stood before him.
"Soooo-cute."
His nose bled for one reason, and then another as Su kicked him in the head. When he was down, Su planted a kiss on his lips before redressing.
"Now, Shinobu-you learn the lesson."
The master of this maze lay inside the house. Yet he would be easy compared to who she faced now.
"Don't fight me, Mutsumi. I'm angry enough."
She made for a room with glowing lights in it, but Mutsumi spun and turned her away with ease.
"He's gonna use it! He could destroy the world!"
Again without apparent effort, Mutsumi kept Su off her feet by trips and dodges that denied her the air.
"Is it treasure? Art work? Do Kei and Naru want to make themselves not waste three years figuring things out? I don't understand! You all told me how bad using it even once could be, and even for observation. Why would you trick me and use it when you told me not to?"
For good measure, Mutsumi nearly knocked Su out with a chest block.
"Okay-they are real. Owwww!"
Then the nearby timer alarm went off, and Su was shocked to see Mutsumi yawning.
"Oh-is it 9:15 already? Did he do it?"
Su was incredulous at what she realized about the fight.
"You were asleep the entire time?"
Su pushed past her, and opened the doors to the back room. Keitaro was nowhere in direct evidence.
"My time machine! Kei activated it! Nooooooo! Kei, what were you thinking-and how did you master it?"
He mastered it, she realized, by way of her own lessons in physics.
"Onii-Chan-used me?"
The portal through time, normally no wider than a postage stamp, was wide enough now for a man twice Kei's size.
"Something's coming through?"
Kei jumped through, his back to Su, and something held in his arms. A man not given to shout except out of nerves gave a clear cry.
"I DID IT!"
The others rushed in to join them, and at last Kei turned around. He had indeed done it.
The one in his arms woke to see the faces of those she loved surrounding her. She had perhaps expected this, but not from these particular loved ones.
"I-am-alive?"
Naru took his burden from the exhausted Kei, and kissed their oldest and newest visitor on the cheek.
"Welcome Back, Grandma."
JOURNAL
Maybe their intentions were good. But that's the whole point, isn't it? They all told me and told me that my time machine was the single most dangerous thing ever invented, and that I had to destroy it and never use it again. They showed me all these lessons about how such a powerful thing could be used for evil, or by someone who meant well but didn't realize what they were doing. I believed them, because they were my family. I accepted their judgment. The time machine was a great invention that could not ever be used for the right thing. This was their firm, unshakeable conviction from which they would never yield.
Until of course, they needed to use it for something they deemed important.
I spent an entire month last year being told how I had been callous and irresponsible in Molmol.
But I guess it's all right to be that way when I'm the target.
MARCH 17TH, 2002
Kei was at last ready to try.
"Like we said the other day, Haruka-Chan-we want you to meet someone."
She gave off a sly look.
"Is this about my snuggling up with you that night, Cuz? Because I was cold, and I'm sure Naru prefers sleeping on the floor..."
"Ruka-Chan?"
Hoping against hope that the strain wasn't too much for either lady, Kei let them look at each other.
"mama?"
The very tough, very pregnant woman ran like wildfire into the arms of her grandmother and adoptive parent.
"Mama-you came back to us."
Tears of joy and a face that showed memories coming back gave Kei a sense of unrestricted hope he would regret later.
"How?"
Hinata looked at Kei, and his hope began to waver.
"That is what I've been wondering. And I think it is time someone finally told me."
JOURNAL
I want to understand. I want to understand that for five days, they were dreadfully worried about Grandma, all holed up in her room and not responding. They were trying to prep Auntie as per Doctor Kashigawa's instructions, so they didn't make things worse.
What they weren't doing was telling me why they tricked me. What they weren't doing was saying why they had to fight me when I got too close. What they aren't doing is telling me why, when I did something they didn't understand in Molmol, it was the crime of the century, but when they do it, it doesn't even merit an explanation.
I-I want to be happy that Grandma is back. But even Grandma doesn't look happy.
Ever since I came to this place, I felt a connection that no other spot outside my birthplace held. When the other girls left just prior to Keitaro coming, I missed them but it was okay. But it was all those that were left I knew were a part of me. When he arrived, I had to start playing with him. If I had ever known I was actually causing him pain, I would have stopped. I loved feeling his beautiful face with my feet.
What if-what if-it wasn't really all done with after last year? What if they decided to just get rid of me, and part of my punishment was thinking it was all done with?
But no. Grandma's passing would have to be a part of that, and there's just no way. But what is going on? Motoko, Kei-I loved you. I loved you all. You told me not to lie or trick, but you did. You told me how dangerous the time machine was, to use even once, but you did. You told me that explaining yourself is so important, even when you mean well. They talked about me like I was some kind of bulldozer on automatic overdrive.
Actually, I kind of liked that.
This? This I don't like at all. It's uncertainty, and I think I could even hate it.
I think I could hate them. For real.
MARCH 18TH, 2002
Haruka sat on the couch, and held a now very much at peace Sarah as she slept, the baby she had chosen next to the baby that had chosen her.
"Su? You seem distracted."
Kaolla Su had hung close to her best friend and the only person besides Grandma who she could verify was not 'in on it'.
"It's good to have you back, Auntie. It's good to have all of you back."
Haruka felt a kick inside.
"This is so weird. I was only just showing, and then I wake up-and I'm nearly at term. I never thought I was this weak."
Su turned her head at that.
"Who said you were weak?"
"Kid, a tragedy like this hitting me I can accept. But I went out of my mind. Thought it was four years ago, then twelve or more years ago. Did I-did I embarrass myself?"
Su shrugged.
"Well, you surprising Kei in the onsen-and the shower-and while he and Naru were-"
Haruka sighed.
"Emi says the reasons I fixated on Kei was that he's safe. A man I like who would never abuse my affection. Well, that and I'm a corrupt old woman with a nephew fetish."
Shinobu walked in, looking upset.
"Su, I went to put your laundry in your room-and I found you'd packed all your things. Are you going somewhere?"
Most everyone in the Sou was near enough to hear the Princess's response.
"Yes, Maehara-San. I am leaving here. Forever. Because these past few weeks demonstrated to me that I cannot trust you, and that I am someone you hold lightly, if not in contempt."
As the shocked gasps went through the room, Su shook her head.
"Play it up. I'm not falling for this deception. You'd have to be concerned about me to be shocked, and I know the truth now. I am someone convenient to blame when stuff you ignored for years bubbled over, and convenient to use when my oh-so terrible invention was needed to suit your purposes."
She looked at the one she was angriest of all with.
"Urashima-San, you told me how dangerous the time machine was. It was like you couldn't stop telling me. But when you wanted something-somehow that made tricking me and using it behind my back alright? I wish you were the molester they all said when you arrived-I'd at least have one pleasant memory of you. Instead, you are the proof that women always want the one who's worst for them."
The tears in her eyes struck Keitaro dumb. It had much the same effect on Motoko as Su turned her fury on the samurai.
"I loved you! You were the source of light in my life when I came to this place! I found joy here, but the pains were beyond my ability to cope. Then I saw you. What happened to honor, Aoyama-San? What happened to the thought that we must always have morals, and lines we shouldn't ever cross? Did falling for him mean doing whatever he says now? Have you gone from threatening to chop his off to losing your own?"
Both targets felt the sting of her words, and the unmistakable shift from titles of affection to ones of near-indifference. The others quickly noted that she wasn't even bothering with them. Kei managed a few simple words.
"Su, we did it to save Grandma."
This did absolutely nothing to calm the frustrated princess.
"Yes. Grandma, who we all love...Grandma, who lived a long and happy life, and then left us tragically. A woman who had her time and lived every minute of it to the fullest. She was gone, Onii-Urashima-San. You put your morals aside because you couldn't handle it. A deal with the devil to save an old woman, however beloved. I hope you got some taiyaki or at least a quesadilla for your soul. What's next? If Grandma gets badly sick, will you give up Naru, too?"
"Kaolla Su-I taught you only recently that even hard moral stands must have exceptions."
"You did do that, Aoyama-San-the same morning you set all this up. I told my family the people of this land had changed-but I guess Japan still thinks people from the small islands are all idiots."
Mitsune picked it up halfway.
"You told them we had changed? From what?"
Shinobu took it the rest of the way.
"She was sent here. Molmol didn't have contact with the outside world since His Showa Majesty and President Roosevelt were kidnapped by King Jamba Lya. My Granpa and Hank-San saved them."
Still not addressing Shinobu directly, Su denied nothing.
"And if they hadn't-the war could have ended that much sooner. We are a small place, but we have worth, and hold many of the world's ancient secrets and artifacts-ummm-some of those we got through piracy, but still."
Mutsumi seemed not surprised but hurt.
"Why did you never tell us? Hadn't we passed whatever test you had-before this?"
Su proceeded to her room.
"I owe none of you any explanations."
JOURNAL
Idiots. Their soldiers ignored Molmol's natural defenses, and underestimated our soldiers, all in the name of their 'supremacy'. The American envoys were arrogant too, but at least they brought gifts and food. The first pizza in Molmol almost swayed Granpa Jamba. One of the offhand comments made by the envoys ended all talk of alliance.
Did they somehow think I wouldn't notice they were keeping me away?
I have to leave here. That I would ever want such heartless fiends to live with me in Molmol astounds me now.
I want this to be all a dream, or a practical joke. I owe Grandma a courtesy call, and then I'm out of here-forever.
MARCH 19TH, 2002
All her bags were packed, and it was a lighter load than she ever imagined. There was very little she wanted to remember of this time in her life, now ended.
"Dork."
Su turned and saw Sarah lying in her hammock.
"Yes. I guess you were always right. He is just a dork."
With Sarah MacDougal, it was a dangerous assumption to think you knew what she meant by any particular words.
"Not Kei. You."
Su angrily upended the only friend she had left in that place.
"Owww-that hurt! And you're still a dork."
Su got up in Sarah's face.
"Don't push me, Sarah! You're the only one I still like here."
"Yeah? Well what if I said I was in on it all along?"
Su's face crumpled, but she shook her head.
"You couldn't have been. Your being here actually made me want to stay closer to the Sou, when they wanted me further away."
Sarah got a wicked grin.
"Ahh, but that's how clever the plan was. I was the thing that made you think maybe there was no conspiracy. After all, if I was here, and you wanted to be near me, then how could there be a conspiracy to keep you away?"
Su looked on the verge of tears again.
"Is this true?"
Sarah hugged her.
"Of course not. But let's say I was. Would you give me a chance to explain why I did it, and maybe apologize for how I did it?"
Su pointed out to the common living area.
"None of them have offered up a single apology or explanation past saving Grandma!"
Sarah pointed at Su.
"Yeah-but have you asked them for either? You're upset, and you let them know it. But before you blow off four or five good years over one harsh day-don't you owe them and yourself to hear what they have to say?"
Su half-smiled.
"You're growing up."
Sarah nodded.
"And I'm gonna have a rack the size of Alaska!"
They walked into the living area, and one and all bowed to her. Mitsune spoke first.
"We apologize for deceiving you."
Shinobu.
"We apologize for keeping you in the dark about the plan."
Naru.
"We apologize for opposing and attacking you as you came back home."
Mutsumi.
"We apologize for thinking we could truly outwit someone as savvy and smart as you."
Motoko.
"We apologize for not realizing that such an undertaking could leave you with doubts about our love for you."
Keitaro went last of all. He touched her cheek.
"And now we wish to explain ourselves."
Su shook her head.
"You already did. It was all for Grandma."
He sat her down, her defenses disarmed enough for them to talk.
"But you have questions about it all, right?"
Su started her assault logically.
"Let me see your math while you talk."
Keitaro never even questioned that she could listen to him and check his calculations at the same time. He set up Naru's laptop, a Christmas present from her parents, and inserted the Data CD.
"What's your first question?"
It was blunt, and like Su herself in good times and bad, struck near the heart.
"Why didn't you use the time machine to stop all the bad things that happened, last September 11th?"
Keitaro moved her search through the disc to a set of documents.
"I calculated that. But each thing we could have tried would have actually made things worse, if not on that day, then down the road."
Su actually seemed equally intrigued by both the narrative and the data that seemed to confirm it.
"Wow. But wouldn't just informing someone that an attack might happen that week have helped?"
Naru sat down with them.
"Information about a possible attack was floating around. But the different parties that had it failed to let the others know, or they weren't supposed to reveal it. The thing that changed that was the day itself-which is, unfortunately, usually what it takes."
Kei nodded.
"Subtle hints of an attack wouldn't have gone anywhere. Direct information would have been discounted or-in some cases, led to the discovery of the time machine-not always by groups with the best of intentions."
Su looked at Shinobu.
"You-you have a friend whose mother died when one of the Towers collapsed. Why not save her too?"
"Sempai said that finding her in a building that big, especially in a panic, led in his scenarios to either getting hit in the collapse or too many people trying to get out, collapsing the portal."
Su glanced at more data, her wide-eyes coming back a bit as she did.
"Mitsu? What about your Marine friend?"
"Bad thing is, kid-the US Military isn't big on revealing details about certain operations. I think Joseph died during one of the first attempts to take Tora Bora. But he could have died en route from sniper fire, his convoy could have hit a mine-I don't really know the hows and whys enough to help him."
Mutsumi glanced at some of the data as well, but began to swoon and pulled back before speaking.
"That is quite an eyeful. Su, in the end, only Grandma's fate met the criteria for not making things worse and knowing almost precisely when and where it happened. Even with that, the height and speed of her plane had to be calibrated against."
Keitaro nodded.
"There were still two wild-cards to calculate. One, just whose body did they find in that plane? That still needed to happen. Two-was you."
Su looked up from her data feast.
"Me?"
Motoko opened her arms, and Su did not hesitate to run into them.
"Sweet princess-all of our moves and reactions could be calculated, after a fashion. But not yours. Never yours. For that reason, you were in danger. Kei realized that you might, after all our high-sounding lectures, try to stop this, whether we told you or not."
Keitaro pulled up one final document.
"With the dangerous forces that machine can unleash if disturbed suddenly, my calculations took a horrible turn."
The readout on-screen said it plainly : If present at activation threshold, probabilities run at 79.663 percent that this will result in the accidental death of Kaolla Su.
Su looked at them all with new eyes. They still needed to apologize, just as they had. But now things were clearer.
"So you kept me away to save me?"
Motoko shook her head.
"We also knew that, after telling you the machine was dangerous, we would look like hypocrites-and I suppose we are, results aside. But I think I speak for us all when I say, better the scorn of the living Kaolla Su, than the memory of her as she was lost while we tried to save another that we loved from oblivion."
Keitaro looked at her.
"We have explained ourselves, and we have apologized. Now-will you forgive us?"
Su hopped up, kissed him on the cheek, then headed like a rocket for the room she kept the time machine in. Before they could react, it lit up, shut down, lit up again, shutting down once more when Su emerged. She was smiling.
"I used it one last time, then slagged all the circuits. If it could tempt even my family into tampering with time-then it really is too dangerous to exist."
Keitaro realized he had not a leg to stand on, and so asked his next question carefully.
"One-last time? On what, Su?"
"Uh-uh! Me first, Onii-Chan."
At hearing himself called that again, Keitaro acquiesced.
"Go ahead."
She pulled him close, till their foreheads touched.
"You're smart, but not that smart. Naru Onee-Chan is smarter, and so is Mutsumi. But you did things with the time machine even I hadn't thought of yet, and I built it!"
Keitaro gave in on this one as well.
"Sometimes, brainpower isn't so much about how smart you are, as how determined you are. About a century ago, what is now called Urashima Bakeries was still up and coming, and my mother's ancestor faced an important bake-off without adequate protection for his hands. He invented a technique of shutting off all normal pain and emotions, so that he could grab the hot pans and tins. He won the contest and began our fortune, but he was now a blank slate. Incredibly efficient, but cold and distant. Only his daughter's unrestrained tears brought him out of it."
Shinobu winced a bit at that story, but said nothing as Su responded.
"So you just used that to make your brain able to do things you can't normally?"
She kicked him in the head.
"Stupid Onii-Chan! We could have lost you to that! Don't ever do that again!"
As the foot came back for another hit-Keitaro grabbed it-and began to tickle.
"I ALWAYS wanted to do this."
Su exploded in peals of laughter.
"Noooo-don't-unless you really mean it!"
Keitaro blushed.
"Mean it?"
Naru leaned over.
"Didn't you read that book I gave you on Molmolian customs?"
Su's grin was a bit wicked, and Kei began to look like he was melting. Sarah smiled.
"Finally! Something I can recognize in this place! Back to normal."
Those who dwelt in the Sou had long since learned to not trust the passing of a storm until it was a sure thing. This proved to be a wise foresight, as Haruka emerged with Grandma Hina.
"Kei-Grandma wants to say something to you."
When his always-loving but not always-expressive Auntie pulled him close for a hug, Keitaro knew something was up.
"Grandma?"
Hinata looked at her grandson, a man who had risked and planned a great deal to rescue her from certain death. The slap she struck across his face was hardly the worst he'd ever felt, but no blow his 'sisters' had ever struck hurt worse-even to Shinobu's one-time ambush. Its sound though light seemed to echo right through the floorboards.
"I thought you were finally ready to walk as a man. But you are nothing but a willful, disobedient child, seeking to undo what Heaven has ordained."
If she had been anyone else, Hina would have then faced the fury of several young ladies. But she was Grandma, so only Kei's muttered response struck back at her.
"I-did it to save you, Grandma."
"And who asked you to? I have lived my life, and I am prepared for the time that it will end. What of all the others lost to that horror?"
"We-we calculated that trying to undo September 11th would lead to the world's governments not taking security measures that-"
Another slap came, and this time only a look from Kei kept the ladies back.
"Excuses! Weak-kneed excuses! Why is my life worth any more than any of the countless fallen, including those who will now die in a war in a land no power on Earth has ever been able to conquer? Why would you fail to accept that an old woman who has lived her time-and more than her time-will now pass away? You are not fit to run this place that bears my name!"
She pressed a yen-note into his hand, one of a small denomination no one else could make out. Kei looked at it in horror.
"You're invoking it?"
"As is my right! And don't look at me like that-it is you who have violated the terms of that agreement."
Keitaro looked down.
"As per the agreement, I accept this note and relinquish ownership of the Hinata-Sou back to you."
The shock that went through the room was like a simultaneous punch to their collective stomach.
"Grandma, am I still a part of this family?"
"That will be decided later! Do not push me any..."
As her hand lashed out again, this time it was caught by Naru, and the other held firmly by Motoko.
"Don't. Not even you get to do that again."
"So say we all."
Naru went flying over Hinata's head, and Motoko found herself kicked through a doorway. For all that, the old woman barely seemed to move. Shinobu dropped a skillet she hadn't even realized she held. Mitsu plainly forgot any hidden heritage and fought to keep her bladder control. Only Mutsumi and Su seemed to be plotting a next move, but none came.
"Anyone else?"
Haruka stood between her cousin/nephew and her grandmother/mother.
"Yeah. Kind of. You've had your say, old woman. And don't scowl at me-I know you want great-grandchildren, so don't you so much as mark me."
Hina pointed at her in fury.
"You-ungrateful-do you know what he did for you?"
Haruka was again unimpressed.
"Yeah. I do. Do you know what he would think of you, right now?"
Hinata withdrew with a frown. Haruka told Sarah to fetch her things for the trip back to Seta's house.
Keitaro looked around.
"I can't stay here. Not after this. Naru-will you come with me?"
She punched him in the face.
"Sorry, Honey. I didn't quite hear that question."
She then pulled him close.
"She'll get better, Kei. She's just shaken up right now."
"She's never hit me before, Naru. Never."
Shinobu had been about to protest Naru's punch-then realized that Kei really had asked a dumb and insulting question of the one who loved him best of all-maybe.
Mitsu shook her head.
"My debt is owed to the Kei Urashima management. Where you two go, so do I. And Grandma Slappy gets to deal with all those contractors."
Mutsumi looked very sad.
"She's in torment right now-but I can't forgive her dragging Kei into that torment-so count me in."
Motoko sighed.
"I still have so far to go. Yet even Tsuruko could not have taken her in combat. To take the grandmother, I'd best keep sparring with the grandson. I am there."
Shinobu felt warm, despite the chill in the air.
"Arlo is attending therapy sessions with his Mom sometimes. I still want to see him-but leaving all of you is not in me."
Keitaro was glad they had already reported and explained Hina's 'recovery' to the various proper authorities. Doing it after the fight would not have been in him.
"I appreciate the show of support-but just where are we going? Housing at Todai is out during the break, and that's likely to be extended because of the post-Winter repairs on the campus-the storms were pretty bad. We could be away for almost a month."
Su stood up.
"I know! See, I got this telegram from my cousin Tirama in America. She was sent there, just like I was sent here. She wants me to stay with her awhile, and I can bring all of my friends. She and her friends live in a place near Harvard University in Massachusetts."
Assent for this, especially in the wake of Grandma's anger, was quickly reached and universal. Naru chuckled.
"Watch-my guy here will end up pulling off Lady Liberty's robes."
THAT SAME MOMENT, IN A SMALL TOWN NEAR HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Keith Ulster looked at his fiancée.
"Tirama did what?"
Natalie Natterman shrugged.
"She invited her cousin who lives in Japan over-apparently with a bunch of her friends in tow."
On the nearby treadmill, Molly Ayers shrugged at the man who had literally fought her for her admiration. He lost, of course.
"Sorry about that, Ulster. I swear, if I could find the means to contain Tirama's energies, I'd not only win the Gold Medal, but solve the fuel shortage as well."
Missy O'Timothy, meditating on the couch, smiled.
"New friends...new vibrations to take in."
Kathleen 'Kitty' Connor laughed as she did their house taxes.
"No thanks-you vibrate enough. Umm-are they gonna pay their own way? Budget's kind of tight."
Sherry Maher checked the cupboards.
"We bought all those supplies when those false alarms about a blizzard kept coming through. We have enough either way. Mister Ul-errr, Keith?"
"Yes, Sherry?"
"Are we really ready for these people? Japan is just so different from America."
He laughed the gentle laugh that made the young girl love him from early on.
"Well-it is different. I'll bet their fella doesn't get hit as much. But who knows? I welcome visitors here to the Hilda Inn. Maybe in the end, we'll just find out that our strange visitors are more like us than we could ever have imagined."
While walking over to Sherry, Keith slipped and fell.
"But-uh-someone get on Tirama about these banana peels?"
SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001
Twelve seconds remained until the plane would impact with the New Jersey Palisades.
Hinata heard what sounded like her husband's voice, and then felt arms hook beneath her own, and pull her out of the seat. As she was held, she heard Awa's voice saying 'I DID IT!' - but it was not Awa's voice after all.
Inside the empty plane, eleven seconds remained until impact. Above the pilot's seat, a light appeared, and someone dropped through another portal in time. They only heard a girl's voice say 'It's What You Deserve' in Japanese before the portal closed up again.
While that person will remain unknown for now, rest assured the girl spoke truly and justly.
NEXT : LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE!