CHAPTER 11:
Movies & Heroes

When Friday came, Joan Carter was full of energy. After the students were released from their classes, she was chatting excitedly with Umi about the movie while being oblivious to everything else around them. The young Japanese woman only smiled at her friend's complete enthusiasm.

"If this movie is as exciting to watch as you are to talk about it, everyone will love it!" she smiled with a twinkle in her eye at Joan.

"I hope so," the older woman gushed. "I'll just check in with everyone else so they know to meet us at the right time."

"Good idea," she nodded.

"It's almost like a triple date," Carter stopped to laugh. "I haven't done anything like that since I was in high school!"

"I never did anything like that," Umi smiled softly. "My closest friends were shy and didn't have boyfriends in high school."

"Some people find the love of their life when they are very young," Joan said. "You do have Scott, after all, and I am still single after all these years."

Umi considered that before giving her friend an encouraging word. "Tonight, you have a date, and you are surrounded by friends. Now go get ready!"

Joan laughed with a salute and went to chat with the other four while Umi went to her living quarters to change from her work clothes into more casual attire.

She eventually chose sneakers, jeans and a loose t-shirt that she tucked into her jeans. Around her small waist she put a thin golden belt of some springy metal that only emphasized the slimness of her hips. Then Umi took her hair out of the French braid she had worn for work and let it fall in free waves about her shoulders. The look was entirely of comfort and ease.

After changing her clothes, she waited somewhat impatiently, sitting on her sofa and leafing through a glossy magazine. Finally, a few minutes before it was time to leave, Umi walked over to the van that Joan would be driving into town. Not one else was waiting there yet, so she stood beside the vehicle where she got an unhindered view of Harry and Jessie coming from the main building where he lived. He walked with a cane, and Jessie was near him for support if he needed it when he walked. He stumbled on a step and she instantly slid her arm around his waist.

The helping gesture made Umi bristle with something she didn't want to acknowledge as jealousy. Given that she and Harry had almost kissed yesterday before being interrupted by Scott, her fiancé, she had plenty of thoughts and emotions that she wasn't comfortable acknowledging. Included in the confusing mix now was how good she thought he looked, even if it was Jessie's arm around him and not hers.

A pair of hands covered Umi's eyes then, and she knew it was Scott sneaking up on her once again. She clasped her hands over his and turned around to hug him. He was taken by surprise when she give him a deep kiss as if to work off all the frustrations she had been having.

"Thank you," he said with his eyes still closed for a moment after the kiss ended. He looked like he was trying to savor the kiss and permanently imprint it into his memory. "We could skip the movie and go do more of that if you like," he finally said.

"We'll be having none of that here," a voice sternly admonished before she could answer. Umi and Scott turned to see Steve, who was hiding something behind his back.

She blushed, turning her face away and covering it shyly with her hand. By that time Harry and Jessie had made it to the van, but there was still no Joan.

"Where's the woman of the hour?" Scott asked them all.

"I'm here!" she said within seconds as she jogged over to them. Joan looked radiantly happy. She wore a simple dress and strappy sandals.

"My lady," Steve said with a low bow, taking the flower from behind his back and handing it over to his date.

"Where did you get this?" she asked in surprise.

"I have my ways," she said before offering her his arm. "Shall I walk you to your door?"

Joan laughed at the chivalrous attention as he walked her to the driver's side door and opened it for her. When she was belted in safely, he walked to his spot as the others loaded up into the vehicle. Umi and Scott sat with each other at the rear of the vehicle with Jessie and Harry in the middle and Steve beside Joan in the front of the van. Efficiently she drove the vehicle away from the ranch, and the group went into the town for the classic date of dinner and a movie.

Because the movie was in Japanese, Joan decided that their evening meal should be Japanese, too. She took them to a small restaurant with homey offerings. When one friend asked Umi after the meal if she could prepare dishes like the ones they had eaten, she reminded them that her specialty was baking cakes. Scott then tried to tell an amusing story of Umi almost setting the kitchen on fire one time when she tried deep frying some doughnuts.

"Hot oil is dangerous, and I tried to put out the fire with water," she said to defend herself.

"Umi!" Jessie howled in laughter. "You should know grease fires can't be put out with water."

"My first reaction was water," she said weakly. She had been the Magic Knight of Water; it was what she knew best and her first choice in most any situation.

"Well, anyway," Scott interrupted the tale, "I came in and put it out with flour…"

"And I haven't been back to the kitchen since except to bake a cake for Harry," Umi finished before taking a dainty and ladylike drink of sake.

"Thank you," he whispered appreciatively, to which she acknowledged with a nod.

The group finished their meal and walked to the movie theater. Umi was in her own world while Joan was telling Jessie about Takeshi Kaneshiro, the star of The Returner. The men were silent while she happily described his looks.

"He's got these high cheekbones and these eyes…" Her hands were hovering around her face while she described his, and her purse jauntily bounced on her shoulder. "He's so gorgeous. It's no wonder he was a model."

Jessie laughed and threw her own purse over her shoulder. "You sound like one of the ranch girls with a crush on her favorite celebrity!"

Her voice dropped as she answered. "A person is never too old to notice when someone else is good looking."

It was in that moment of the two women leaning together talking about something innocent that a mugger tried to take advantage of them. They were lining up to buy their tickets, and there was a disguising crowd of people both in front of and behind them. Out from the center of the people near the ticket window burst a young man wearing baggy jeans, a black hoody and a black beanie. He looked like any skater on any asphalt street in America, except this one was headed directly for Jessie and Joan.

While the two women were wrapped up in discussing the good-looking star of the movie, the would-be mugger snatched their purses off their shoulders and ran away from them without a backward glance. He did not get very far because it was then that Umi and Harry acted as one unit without forethought to save the purses of their friends.

Umi unlatched the belt coiled around her waist and used it as a whip to strike the man around his neck. She surprised him, and he reached for his throat. That left the thief open for attack from Harry, who used fast reflexes the others didn't even know he had. The man took his cane and struck the mugger at the ankles, sweeping his feet out from underneath him. With another tug of Umi's impromptu whip and a strike of the cane aimed near the young man's kidney, the two easily brought him to submission on the ground.

The event happened so quickly that the thief and the people around them were stunned. He looked up at both Harry and Umi in shock. Together their blue eyes were flashing down on him in anger unlike anything their four friends had yet seen.

"I believe you have something to give back to the ladies," the lavender-haired man finally said in a deadly low voice. When the thief did not reply, he jammed the end of his cane into his stomach.. "Isn't that right?"

He nodded weakly while Umi bent to take the purses away from him. "Thank you. Now leave," she ordered him before nodding at Harry to remove the cane.

The man stumbled to get up and ran away into the alley with the pair watching him vigilantly until the man was completely gone. The tow turned back to find their four friends staring at them in wide-eyed wonder.

"Oh, man! Where did you learn that?" Steve finally asked them both. To Harry specifically he said, "Have you been holding out on me during physical therapy?"

He didn't respond because he didn't know what to say. The idea that someone would violate his friends had made him angry enough to act. Seeking some explanation, he went for the humorous. "I've been watching Jet Li movies with Derrick and Will."

"Well, Jet," Jessie said to him as she slid her arm around his waist to give him a long embrace, "you can save me any time!"

"That doesn't explain our Umi," Joan interrupted from her position standing close to Scott.

The young woman blushed. She had learned that skill from the princesses of Chizeta, but she fell back on something else she could tell them. "I was the captain of my fencing team, you know. I learned how to act quickly in a tough situation."

"I guess you did," Joan said with her voice full of respect and awe.

Feeling more subdued after the near-successful mugging, they walked together up to the ticket window to buy their tickets and quietly sat down to watch the movie.

"I liked that movie," Scott announced on the drive home.

It had been quiet in the van, partly because it was late and they were tired. The two couples had traded places, and now Umi and Scott were sitting in the middle seats while Jessie and Harry were in the rear. His talk started to liven things up for them.

"Joan was right about Takeshi. I want one of those men, thanks," Jessie giggled.

"I thought it was supposed to be a Japanese movie. How come I saw so many things from American movies?" Steve asked.

Both Umi and Joan tried to answer that, but Joan ended up declaring with authority that, "Many Japanese movies and anime ideas have been borrowed, without credit, I may add, by the American entertainment media. So they borrowed something back. It still worked, didn't it?"

"I like it," Scott repeated. "It was just fun. Almost getting mugged wasn't fun, but that movie was."

"Yeah, mugging," Steve said as he turned in his seat to look at both Umi and Harry. "You two were an amazing team. If I ever go into a seedy neighborhood, I know who I want watching my back. So, do you think you'd be my bodyguard, Umi?"

A gentle laugh rippled through the van, and he turned back around in his seat to watch the road as Joan drove them home.

After more drive time had passed and they were nearly back to the ranch, Jessie decided to make another move for a date with Harry.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue," she thanked him again with a smile.

"You're welcome," he replied with an embarrassed laugh. They'd all made too much about it. He didn't want anyone hurting his friends; that was all. Of course, the fact that Umi had helped him so closely gave him food for thought, but he had been trying to keep her out of his head.

"Listen," she suggested as she licked her lips, "since we braved the movies and won, would you like to do something else together?"

He looked at her curiously. "What do you have in mind?"

"I thought we could see a video together. I really want to see the Jim Carey and Kate Winslet movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I haven't seen it yet, and it reminds me of you a little bit."

At that, he had an interested expression on his face. "How so?"

"It's a love story, and there's a major storyline about memory loss. Maybe you'll identify," she said, hoping he'd accept her offer for another date.

Harry thought about what she said. He did not have a concrete reason to refuse her because he did enjoy spending time with Jessie. He could have told her, No, I think I'll stay by myself and brood about Umi, but that would not have gone over too well, especially not with Umi and her fiancé sitting right in front of him.

"Yes, thank you for asking me," he said to Jessie, whose expression became very excited.

"Great!" she exclaimed as she took his hand in hers. "How about next week in the lounge? That will give me time to get the movie for us, and it won't interfere with other school night responsibilities."

"I'll be there," he said with a warming smile.

Steve was quietly observing them from the front of the van. It was not unusual for Jessie to express her interest because that was something she had done from the start. She was an honest sort of woman, not one of those who had ulterior motives. It was Harry that concerned him.

Though he considered the man a friend, Steve knew the amnesiac suppressed feelings for Umi. He thought he'd noticed something between them before, and yesterday at supper he saw it again. While he could have passed it off, it was their comfortable and somewhat unique teamwork that made him realize something was underfoot. His resolution was to watch him more closely to find out just what it was.

After the hour's drive was over, Joan pulled into the ranch and parked the vehicle. The six of them descended from the van and did some various bits of stretching.

"Thank you, Joan," Harry replied with a sleepy yawn.

Jessie smiled at him and walked him back to his room while the rest of the thanks was said. Scott followed Umi to her door and stood there in a proprietary fashion until she let him inside. Steve had been watching both couples trying to observe as much as possible.

"That leaves us," Carter replied languidly, interrupting his thoughts.

"That's right," he answered as he turned his head slowly to her. "Would you like to join me for some hot chocolate?"

Joan looked at his offered arm and took it. They were the last pair to disappear into the night.