Takes place after Manga Ch. 48 of Volume 6 (Private Lesson - Lum enrolls in Ataru's school), but before Ch. 49.

This was inspired by 2 things:
the end of Episode 10 of the 22 remake where Lum comes back after going to renew her passport (which would have already happened by the time this takes place).
His memories of Lum in the last movie where one of them is her in class staring out the window. I loved the idea that he'd steal little glances at her from time to time.

Having Lum as a classmate was strange - not that she brought anything normal to his life. Here was this capricious, clingy girl who hailed from the stars, dressed up like one of their own and sitting at the desk beside him as if she belonged. It was enough to see her when he came home, pretending to listen as she went on about the oddities of her day (which, everything on Earth seemed to strike her as odd). Now he had to endure her presence in all situations; getting ready for school, walking to school, homeroom, lunch, the way back home, over dinner, and then in his own room before bed. She'd become his shadow, only she didn't disappear when the sun went down or clouds gathered overhead. It was a lot. At times, too much.

And yet, there were other times when he was strangely at peace with the whole setup, even finding her transition interesting. When he wasn't busy lamenting his poor fortune Ataru fell to wondering how she adapted so quickly. Besides the initial culture shock of changing shoes or cleaning the classroom, she never asked him any of the questions he might expect of someone from across the galaxy. She performed the duties of a student - homework, studying, and test taking - with the same bleary-eyed fatigue as everyone else, leading him to believe she must have encountered some type of schooling before. This was a relief, honestly, as he couldn't imagine carrying (neglecting) his usual workload on top of teaching her how to function. Lum did well enough on her own.

But there was something else about her presence to both bother and entice the hapless Ataru. Seldom, before now, had he ever been given a chance to see her behave in any fashion other than a nagging, obsessive "wife" bent on meddling in his every affair. In those bygone days he caught only glimpses. First was when she moonlighted as a new student to trick him, and again when she played the part of Otoko Kumino. Both times he'd been stunned and strangely stirred by budding emotions he hadn't quite come to terms with, or even considered, until the day he thought she'd left for good. For that horrid week his world was reduced to shades of gray, his hours emptied of joy and meaning, his nights reserved for weeping into his pillow clutching the small trinket she'd left in his care. And when she returned it revealed the magnitude of the place she occupied within his heart. How it happened, he didn't know, neither did it matter; he was powerless to remove her all the same.

Now, relegated to the role of an ordinary student alongside her place as his wife, Ataru was granted more glimpses of the enigma that was Lum. He stole them, as a thief does, when the eyes of his peers were elsewhere and there was nobody to cast a light on his actions. None of them could know how his eyes followed her, clinging to the curves of her body or the sway of her skirt any time she moved past him. In rare moments Ataru would drink heartily from the notion that she was his, and flowing with the intoxication brought on by such thought, he'd succumb to a fit of cackling he knew would likely be attributed to sordid daydreaming about other women. Fine then, all the better for him if it kept them off his trail and her still hoodwinked by his apathetic conduct. These moments were for him and him alone.

One such moment struck him just past lunch as they collectively struggled for consciousness against their teacher's unenthusiastic instruction. Onsen-Mark had made the mistake of saying something that didn't immediately click in Ataru's head, leading him to abandon the lecture in its entirety. For what was the point in listening if he didn't understand the subject? Why, it was a waste of his own time, and he had much better things to do. Ataru scanned his most immediate surroundings, finding his peers either engrossed or similarly checked-out. Most important of all, though, none of them were looking his way. Emboldened, he ventured a quick glance at Lum to check where her attention was - and paused.

Admiration shone in his eyes as he beheld the girl sitting next to him, her own gaze lost somewhere beyond the window of their classroom. Sunlight washed her pale skin in pristine ivory and glimmered in her hair as it turned the light in colored waves. A pen sat idly in one hand while the other gently cupped her chin - unremarkable for any girl afflicted by boredom. But this wasn't just another girl. This was Lum. Lum who, in this moment, was nothing more than beautiful. Not the banshee who screeched after his infidelity, nor the powerful commander of lightning, daughter to a warlord and princess of her own world. She was just Lum. Ataru forgot to mind his surroundings, forgot even where he was, and gazed at her with open admiration, which was supposed to stay hidden behind a facade of indifference or agitation (whatever the occasion called for). Not so now.

Suddenly she turned to him, and their eyes met. Ataru froze, unable to take his eyes from her while a slow tide of embarrassment rose up around him. Then just as unexpectedly Lum stared straight ahead and winced. Now, this caught his attention, but he had no time to react as an eraser pegged him square in the temple with such force it may as well have been a brick. His head slung back from the blow, and given a second to recover, Ataru was keenly aware that all eyes were on him. Most were curious at best, except for one - Kosuke - whose face was twisted with a smirk his hand barely covered. Ataru sucked in a quick breath and flushed - oh shit, he saw! Never mind Onsen-Mark who was hollering full-throated at him for not listening, someone had spotted him!

For once in his life Ataru was glad to stand alone in the hallway. Although, it had the unwanted side-effect of providing him with plenty of time to sulk over being caught unawares. He simmered and steamed, embarrassment churning into agitation that boiled over by the day's end. Ataru was quick to pack up his things (he'd started before dismissal) and fly out the door the second he could. Lum was hot after him, of course, which only agitated him more. He scowled and stomped to no avail; she was forever his shadow. How dense, he huffed. Well, maybe that was a good thing. After all, she hadn't yet asked why he was looking at her.

Even so, none of this would have happened if she hadn't enrolled in Tomobiki High.

"So why do you have to go to my school huh?" Ataru snapped finally. "Don't you have your own school to go to or something?" There was simply no way a civilization as advanced as hers - ignoring their brusque physique and brutish temperaments, not to mention their archaic exploits - did not have its own set of institutions.

"Nope! Our education system is different."

"Oh really?" He stared askance at her quick response, "what's different about it?"

"Well," Lum took a moment to teeter on the edge of a fence while she gathered her thoughts, "when we're all young we get a universal education, but once we graduate at 13 the rest is up to our home planet."

"Right." Ataru wasn't sure what sort of answer he expected. And he'd be lying if the idea of a school comprised of interstellar bodies wasn't at least a little intriguing. Plus, it answered his unspoken question regarding her speedy adaptation to their school system. Nevertheless it hardly satisfied his driving question, and instead planted the idea that perhaps her planet wasn't as advanced as she'd have him believe. "And I'm guessing Oniboshi doesn't have any schools."

If she said yes he wouldn't be surprised; Lum was borderline feral at times.

Lum tossed a curious glance his way as she abandoned the fence in favor of floating beside him.

"We're warlords, what do we need school for?"

"Well that makes sense." As he suspected, they were no better than animals. Animals that somehow managed to master the intricacies of interstellar travel, light speed, and all manner of gadgets he'd seen Lum pluck from the unexplored chasm of her bra. He leaned his head back against the crossed section of his arms and studied the sky, knowing her ship was up there somewhere. Beside him Lum continued her explanation.

"The most we have to learn is traditions, and how to operate machinery, weapons." A heavy sigh left her as she lamented further, "It's all pretty boring, which is why I like studying other things on my own time. Even earth subjects are pretty interesting." The topic had never come up, but Lum chose to learn Earth's language (several of them in fact) of her own volition. Once the planet had been selected for conquest, she'd done some research on the strange little blue ball and found herself inspired by Earth's biodiversity and plethora of unique cultures. She'd planned to rule this world herself, but fate had other, better plans in store.

Ataru sneered at the dreamy expression Lum wore as she reminisced.

"Hard to tell with how often you stare out the window." He quipped, oblivious to the implications of his statement. Lum, however, caught on immediately and stared at him with a coquettish grin and playful glimmer in her molten eyes.

"Darling, do you look at me during class?"

Caught again!

"What!?" Ataru sputtered, his footing failed him, and he nearly met the floor. "No!" He snarled. There was no way she didn't know that's what he'd been doing before. No doubt she was just teasing him, feigning ignorance to mock him! Well he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.

"I just happen to like looking out the window and your dumb head is right there!" Ataru straightened up, adopting a mock indifference to her wild suggestion that he'd ever do anything as ridiculous as steal glances when she wasn't looking.

But his resistance was met with laughter, a clear sign Lum didn't buy into his arguments. See, she truly hadn't realized what he was doing earlier. Lum leveraged her suspicions on his poor choice of words alone. "Hey!" Ataru barked for her attention, which Lum avoided giving as she floated ahead of him. "I'm being serious!" His pace quickened yet she kept pace ahead of him. "Stop laughing!"

The sun rode the western horizon as they dashed through shadows stretched across the narrow street toward home. A familiar sight to many, and familiar to him as well. For this had become Ataru Moroboshi's life, his lot and his burden, but also his greatest joy – to play this endless game of tag with an Oni from outer space, who he pretended not to love