Road Trip

A Mai Hime (Future) story

By John Biles

****************

	I still can't quite think of myself as an athlete, not 
compared to Crystal or Natasha, anyway, but I do have one 
athletic talent:  running.  

	I'm on the Rosewood Track Team, though I'm just a 
first year and a lot of people are better than me.  But I do 
my best; the team is counting on me. 

	Our real star is Misano Ayumi. She's tall and wiry and 
moves like crazy; she's one of our seniors, with short black 
hair and brown eyes.  She's also kind of mean, in my 
opinion.  But mostly she ignores me, as she's focused on 
trying to rack up 10 more firsts before she graduates.

	We're both sprinters, so I was trying to warm up for 
the 100 meter, which was the next event.  It was at that 
point I heard a shout from the stands, "GO, KASUMI-
CHAN, GO!"

	Was that Aunt Shiho?  I blinked and now I heard, 
"FIGHT FOR ROSEWOOD, KASUMI-CHAN!"  It was 
Mom!

	In fact, I could see Mom, Aunt Shiho, Natasha, and 
Natasha's fangirls up in the stands.  Natasha has a lot of 
female admirers who I think want to be her, basically, she's 
so confident and pretty.  Of course, the last thing Natasha 
really needs is a horde of people feeding her ego.  So of 
course, she has one.  

	But I felt really flattered that they were now all 
cheering for me.  In fact, I had more people cheering for me 
as I warmed up than any of the other runners; middle of the 
week matches don't get much of an audience, not even 
family.  Mom must have had a slow day for catering or 
something.  And Aunt Shiho basically sets her own hours, 
so some days she works late into the night and other days 
she lounges around with her boyfriends.

	I smiled as I stepped up to my place on the track, 
ready to run.  I had pulled all my hair up into a bun; I like 
to let it flow free normally but not when I'm running.  I 
could see Ayumi looked even more irritable than usual, like 
Aunt Shiho when she's PMSing.  

	"Go, Kasumi!" Natasha shouted.  "Fight for 
Rosewood!  You can do it!"

	For all that Natasha can be a pain sometimes, 
sometimes she's great to have in your corner.  I made what 
I hoped came off as a 'FIGHT!' gesture and not a 'Bite Me' 
gesture towards my family and Natasha's flunkies.

	I took off running, pushing myself; pretty quickly 
Yamakama High's people fell behind me and I hit the finish 
line just a touch behind Ayumi, to my surprise.  Of course, 
100 meter sprinting is over so fast that once I passed them, 
they had little hope to catch up.

	Ayumi stared at me crankily, then stormed off to get 
water.  I don't know why, given she got the first she 
wanted.  I told myself to make sure I wouldn't screw up in 
the relay, as I didn't want to mess things up for her.  

	I got a little water and waved to my family, who 
waved back, while they got ready for the 200 meter.  
Ayumi was going to be in the 400 meter without me and 
then we'd both be in the relay.  Coach wanted me to skip 
the 400 to conserve my strength, but I think Ayumi could 
probably run all day and not get tired, just more irritable.

	As we got into position for the 200 meter, I could see 
Natasha and Shiho whip out flutes and they began to play 
in unison.  I couldn't quite figure out what it was, though I 
kept trying to place it.  The flunkies began chanting my 
name to the beat.  This seemed to trigger some cat to start 
yowling off across campus.  

	I turned a little red, and Coach stared at them, while I 
quickly got ready.  I could see Ayumi looked very irritated 
and I realized she had no cheering section.  Or if she did, 
my folks were drowning them out.

	I put the thought aside and focused myself to run.  The 
starting pistol cracked and I threw myself into it.  It was 
strange, easier than usual, or maybe I was just pushing 
myself harder with everyone cheering for me.  I wanted 
them to be proud of me.

	The two hundred meter race is long enough to have a 
little bit of back and forth; one of Yamakama's people, a 
green haired girl, had joined their force and she paced me 
as I ran forward, though both of us were behind Ayumi, 
who was really pushing herself.

	"Faster, Kasumi, beat that ugly girl!" Natasha shouted.

	I winced; Ayumi wasn't going to like that.

	Ayumi gave Natasha the finger, a fatal mistake as it 
threw her off her stride just enough that to my utter shock, I 
passed her in the last second and came in first, utterly 
shocked.  The green haired girl got second, and Ayumi was 
a close third.

	Ayumi looked ready to chew steel and I felt quite 
embarrassed for her.  I could see Mother talking to Natasha, 
probably telling her to go apologize.  Aunt Shiho was 
cheering and clapping for me while the fangirls argued with 
mother.

	I waved to them and then went to get more water 
before the relay.  

	I could now see Coach go up and yell at Natasha too; I 
felt bad for her and Ayumi, and tried to pretend I didn't 
notice the ensuing shouting.

	It died down, back to cheering by the time we ran the 
relay.  

	I got into position for the relay; I was in the middle of 
the team.  I think I did okay, but it was nothing to really 
brag about.  Well, not my part.  To my surprise, Ayumi 
managed to push herself enough for us to get the win even 
though we were behind when she got the baton for the last 
leg.  I cheered loudly for her.

	Afterwards, we all went to shower and clean up; I took 
my bath and toweled myself dry and went to change into 
my civvies to go see my family, feeling really excited.

	I was buttoning my blouse when I noticed a large 
shadow over me.  "Kurauchi-san," Ayumi growled at me 
and I suddenly got very nervous, trying to button faster and 
ripping off a button.  

	"Yes, sempai?" I asked weakly.

	She looked ready to strangle me and I shrank in on 
myself, suddenly wondering if this was how Aunt Miyu 
expected me to die.  

	"Your stupid fangirls messed me up and I blew the 
200 meter!" she shouted at me, advancing on me.

	I scuttled back but found myself with my back to a 
locker.  I also ripped another button, and now I couldn't 
close my blouse all the way.  "I'm sorry, sempai!  They 
don't normally come to games and they were just trying to 
support me!"

	"They messed me up and they almost did it again 
during the relay!  You'd better tell them to NEVER come 
again!"  She hovered over me, hands clenched into fists.

	"If I tell Natasha not to come, it'll make her want to 
come!" I said desperately.  It was probably true; she's like 
that.  Contrary.  Unlike me; I'm a good girl.  

	Which wasn't helping me here.  I looked around but 
everyone seemed to have vanished.

	Where was Coach?  Should I scream?  Ayumi was just 
worked up; I'd never seen her threaten another player like 
this, so she probably was just irritated at Natasha for 
insulting her.

	I suddenly wondered if Coach was STILL chewing 
Natasha out.

	"Then I'll just have to make sure you don't..." Ayumi 
said; she looked like she was about to hit me and I 
instinctively raised my arms to defend myself, though the 
blow didn't come.

	Yet.

	"Get away from my daughter!" Mom said, striding 
towards me; she was carrying a really large carrybag and 
something wooden was rattling in it, like she'd decided to 
haul along a bunch of chairlegs or something.  Also, now 
that she was nearby, I could see she was wearing a white 
tank top and blue stretchy shorts, her usual work out outfit.  
She'd come to school in her workout outfit?  This wasn't 
some Parent's Day thing I'd forgotten, was it?

	"You all messed me up!" Ayumi said, now looming 
over mom.

	"I am very sorry about that, we just wanted to support 
Kasumi-chan," Mom said, bowing to her.  "I'm very sorry."

	"Sorry isn't good enough!  You wrecked my perfect 
record!  Now go away!" Ayumi yelled.

	"Let's go, Mom," I said.

	She nodded and we started to go.

	"Don't go walking out on me!" Ayumi yelled.

	"But you told us to go away, sempai," I said, confused.

	"Not you, her!  I'm not done with you!" she shouted.

	"Yes, you are," Mom said firmly and turned to go; I 
could hear the sound of wood on wood contact in the bag 
even louder now, as Mom seemed to have moved into 
vigorous striding.

	"Come back here!" Ayumi said and rushed at us.

	I was about to sprint, then realized I couldn't abandon 
Mom.  Not that I could really save Mom either.

	I couldn't believe sempai was actually about to attack 
us.  Not over this.  But I guess not everyone's mom puts as 
much emphasis on peaceful resolution of things.  Not even 
Aunt Akira or Aunt Mikoto would attack someone who 
apologized and tried to leave.

	I was about to try and interpose myself, yelling, "Get 
Coach, mom!" when Mom suddenly tossed the bag to me 
and whirled at Ayumi; I could see she was now holding 
wooden tonfas and with one of them she blocked Ayumi 
trying to hit her.  Ayumi aimed a series of punches at her, 
but Mom blocked them all.  "Get a grip on yourself!" she 
said, now clearly in angry mom mode, which is pretty rare.  
Pretty rare except for when my brothers are most out of 
control.  "You're a student athlete, not a delinquent!  You 
think your coach will be happy with this?"

	I've seen Mom practice with the tonfas but I've never 
seen her fight anyone, not even our martially inclined 
family members.  So seeing her like this was strange.

	Wait, she brought a entire bag of tonfas with her?  
How many did she need??

	Ayumi stepped back.  "Fine."

	Coach now came running in.  "What is... what is going 
on here?"

	Mom lowered her arms.  "This girl was threatening 
my daughter."

	"I was just chewing her out when psycho-woman here 
came after me with her fighting sticks!" Ayumi protested.

	"We were trying to leave after apologizing and she 
rushed at us," I said.

	Coach sighed.  "Alright, everyone sit, then I'll listen to 
you one at a time."

	He yelled at both of us and complained about Natasha 
to Mom, then took Ayumi off for a private chat, while 
Mom stashed her tonfas in the bag and took me out to 
where Natasha and Aunt Shiho and the fangirl army were 
waiting.

	"You okay?" Natasha asked.

	"I'm fine," I said.  "Sempai's just unhappy she didn't 
win all her matches to keep up her record."

	"She looks like an evil bitch to me," Natasha 
grumbled.

	Aunt Shiho hugged me.  "You were great!  Natasha, 
time to send your fans home; we need some privacy."

	"Okay," Natasha said and began talking to each one 
and sending them home.

	"Mom, why do you have a bag of tonfas?" I asked her.  
She'd taught me her Tai Chi, but I really wasn't into 
fighting, so she never really had tried to teach me to use 
them and it seemed to me she mainly drilled with them for 
exercise.

	"Natasha is going to help me teach you and Shiho-
chan how to fight with them," Mom said.  "We should 
spend more time together while we still can," Mom 
continued.

	"Because I'm going to die?" I half-whispered, half-
squealed.  I really shouldn't let Aunt Miyu get to me but 
that TOTALLY creeped me out.

	"You are NOT going to die," Mom said very firmly.  
"I will protect you.  And teach you to protect yourself."  I 
love Mom, but I have to say she wouldn't be my first or 
second or third choice to protect me normally.  She sighed.  
"It's best not to take any risks."

	"Why is Aunt Miyu so..."

	"Creepy?" Natasha asked.

	We started heading towards my dorm room across 
campus.

	"Why would she say something like that?" I asked.

	Mom stared at me quietly, then said, "If you think 
she's odd now, you should have known her in high school."  
She stared off into space now as we walked.

	"Oh Kami, YES," Shiho said.  "I hear the others won't 
let her hear confessions.  She's too brutal."

	Natasha said, "It's just her clumsy way of saying you 
need to be stronger, Kasumi."  She shook her head.  "You 
know how she is."

	"Freaky," I said as we reached my dorm.

	"I have mixed feelings about her myself," Mom said 
softly.  "But in the end, she is loyal to you and to me and to 
the rest of us.  She only says things like that because she 
cares about you but isn't good at expressing it."

	Mom's never as comfortable around Aunt Miyu as 
most of the rest of the family, and I've never been sure 
why.  She isn't hostile, but I get the impression there's some 
past trouble between them.

	"Mom, is this connected to whatever happened with 
Aunt Mai?" I asked her, not sure if I'd get an answer.

	"Yes," Mom said.  

	Natasha stared and so did I.  I expected something 
evasive.

	Now I was afraid to ask for fear of another honest but 
disturbing answer.

	"I..."  Natasha started to ask something, then glanced 
at me.  "I don't suppose you could tell me why everyone 
came looking for me assuming that was MY giant robot?"

	"You'd have to ask Mai or one of the others who saw 
it.  I really have no idea," Mom confessed.  

	Natasha looked frustrated and Aunt Shiho patted her 
on the shoulder as we got into the elevator.  "It's okay, 
honey," Aunt Shiho said.  "We would have assumed it was 
Crystal's fault, but it was clear she couldn't have been 
there."

	I put a hand over my mouth to avoid laughing too 
loudly.  Mom did likewise, and Natasha smiled a little.  

	"Anyway, we both...made mistakes at your age," 
Mother said slowly, then looked over at Aunt Shiho, who 
stared intently at the floor.

	"Everyone makes mistakes at any age, Mom," I told 
her, patting her shoulder.

	"I've spent the last twenty years trying to forget it all, 
hiding from it.  But I can't hide," Mom said firmly.  "I don't 
like fighting and I'm glad you don't like it either, Kasumi.  
But this world is dangerous and you have to be ready to 
defend yourself."

	"You should have beaten the shit out of that idiot girl," 
Aunt Shiho said.

	Mom shook her head.  "Not unless I had no other 
choice.  She was just young and angry and I'm sure she 
didn't mean anything by it."

	"Being too trusting is how you got hosed," Aunt Shiho 
said flatly and Mom looked utterly mortified for a moment, 
then said, "And not trusting enough...?  How did that work 
out for you, Shiho?"

	Now they were both staring at the floor.

	Natasha shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

	Then Mom hugged Aunt Shiho silently.  "Now we're 
both older and wiser, right?"

	"Older, anyway," Natasha said.

	I had to cover my mouth to not laugh.

	"Older, anyway," Shiho said softly.  "Is this elevator 
ever going to get to your floor?"

	As if on cue, the doors opened and we stepped out.  

	To my surprise, Mitsu-san was standing there.  She 
blinked, then smiled at us.  "Hello, Kurauchi-san, Munkata-
san.  It's nice to see you."  She was pushing a cart piled 
with papers stapled together.

	"It's nice to see you too, Mitsu-san," I said.  "Mitsu-
san, this is my mother Akane and my Aunt Shiho, 
Natasha's mother.  Mother, Aunt Shiho, this is Mitsu 
Kagami."

	"Ahh, Shun's car-borrowing girlfriend, right?" Aunt 
Shiho asked.

	Mitsu-san suddenly looked extremely embarrassed, 
shuffling on her feet and mumbling.  She really does look 
cute like that, but that was rude of Aunt Shiho.  "Please 
don't tease her, Aunt Shiho.  She gets enough of that from 
Shun," I said.

	"Thank you, Kurauchi-san," Mitsu mumbled, then 
gathered herself together.

	"Are you actually Shun's girlfriend, or just a friend?" 
Mother asked her.

	"We're just friends," Mitsu said, now a little stiff as 
she tried to hide her embarrassment.  

	"Well, good luck.  My nephew can be hard to deal 
with, but he's basically a nice boy," Mother said, then 
glanced at the papers.  "Do you work for the student 
council?"

	"Ring Club," Mitsu-san said, flashing her blue rose 
ring.  "I'm distributing these health flyers."

	"Shun relies a little too much on charming people into 
ignoring his idiot moments," Aunt Shiho said.  "I have to 
admit he's not what I would have expected from Akira and 
Takumi."

	"That's very good of you to help out like that," Mother 
said.  "I was too busy working to do something like that 
myself," she said.

	Mitsu's eyes widened slightly and she looked a little 
bashful.  "I'm just doing my duty to my fellow students."

	"What Akane isn't saying is how she didn't have time 
because she was busy making out with her boyfriend," 
Aunt Shiho said.

	"Oh, like you can talk, Mom," Natasha said, waggling 
an admonishing finger at her.

`	Mother looked frustrated for a moment, then said, 
"Anyway, it's very admirable of you.  You ought to rope 
Shun into it; it would do him some good."

	"I've tried but it's like roping the wind," Mitsu-san 
confessed, now looking up at Mother.  "You have a really 
big family," she said softly.

	"I am blessed with a plethora of wonderful sisters," 
Mother said.  "Even when we...fight...there's a lot of love 
between us still."  Her voice had caught just for a moment 
there.  I patted her shoulder awkwardly.

	"Do you have a large family or are you an only child?" 
Aunt Shiho asked her curiously.

	"Father thinks the world is overpopulated, so he and 
Mother stopped after having me," Mitsu-san said, sounding 
a little nervous.  "They have very high expectations of me."

	"Well, I'm sure you're fulfilling those expectations," 
Mother said to Mitsu-san.  "Anyway, we shouldn't get in 
the way of your work.  See you later, Mitsu-san."

	"You too, Kurauchi Akane-san," Mitsu said, smiling 
shyly, head bowing, and then pushing her cart into the 
elevator.  

	"Adios, Mitsu-san," Natasha said.

	"What a nice and proper young lady," Mother said as 
we headed to my room.  "I hope things work out for her 
and Shun-chan."

	"I hope her parents don't kill her over the car thing," 
Natasha said.  "Sounds like they're kind of hard cases."

	"Yeah, I think they'd probably just kill you, my dear 
daughter," Aunt Shiho said, but ruffled Natasha's hair 
playfully.

	"They'd have to CATCH me first," Natasha said, 
grinning.   

	Once Mom started the demonstration, I pretty quickly 
learned that Mom is a lot more nimble with these things 
than the rest of us, and that I'm pretty good at hitting myself 
or Natasha or Aunt Shiho by accident but not by intent.

	Tonfas seem to require you to be able to twirl the 
thing around in your hand and change your grip A LOT.  
This usually caused me to flick it out of my hands at 
someone's head.  Aunt Shiho, on the other hand, though she 
isn't very strong, seemed a lot more adept at flipping it 
about and Natasha who is strong and nimble didn't find it 
too hard either, which frustrated me.

	Blocking, on the other hand, was really easy.  At least 
for me.  I could stop Aunt Shiho from hitting me with hers 
pretty well; going on the offensive, on the other hand, 
wasn't so easy.  

	After a while, there was a knock on the door; I ran 
over and answered it and it was Natasha's boyfriend of the 
moment, Gin.  Houseki Gin, to be precise.  He's not bad 
looking but not too smart, in my opinion.  Natasha seems to 
like her boyfriends stupider than her, though.

	"Hey, Kasumi-san, is Natasha here?" he asked.

	"Yes, she is, Houseki-san."  He calls everyone by their 
first name, which irritates me as I try to be polite to others.  

	"Sweet, can I come in?" he asked.

	Since he asked nicely, I decided yes.  "Sure."

	He came in as Mom was showing something to Aunt 
Shiho, then stared at them.  Was he ogling my mother?  HE 
WAS.  I grimaced at that.

	"Hi!" Natasha said, then kissed him.  "How's it going, 
boyfriend?"

	"Pretty good, girlfriend.  Going to introduce me to 
your friends here?"  He studied Mother and Aunt Shiho up 
and down.  I think he liked what he saw.  

	You shouldn't be noticing other women when your 
girlfriend is here, I thought.  Jerk.  Especially when they're 
twice your age!!!

	"Hmm, I give him a B," Aunt Shiho said.  "Loses a 
few points for taking interest in other women in front of 
you."

	I had to put my hand over my mouth.

	Mom blinked, then said, "I'm Kasumi's mother, 
Kurauchi Akane.  And this is Natasha's mother, Munakata 
Shiho."

	Gin stared, then mumbled, "Please don't murder me."

	Natasha said, "Gin!"

	I couldn't help laughing loudly.

	"I won't murder you unless you break her heart and 
then you will die," Aunt Shiho said cheerfully.  "Yuuichi-
kun didn't kill you too hard, did he?"

	He mumbled something incoherent about pregnancy.

	Natasha said, "What?"

	"He threatened to make you pregnant?" Aunt Shiho 
asked, though I could tell she was teasing.

	"He told me that if I got Natasha pregnant, he'd show 
me how he got his Kendo awards," Gin mumbled, looking 
nervously at the floor.

	"He's really good," Natasha said admiringly, saw him 
wince more, then quickly said, "But I won't let him hurt 
you, honey. And really, he's a big softie."  She put an arm 
around him.

	"Nice to meet you, Houseki-san," Mom said.  "I'm 
afraid we're busy right now, though."

	"Does everyone in your family train to beat people 
up?" Gin asked, looking at the tonfas.

	"Yes," Aunt Shiho said.  "One way or another."  She 
grinned just a touch maliciously.

	He shuddered, then kissed Natasha.  "I'll leave you to 
your work, then.  Call me later, honey."

	"Yes, dear," Natasha said to him, then showed him 
out.

	"He doesn't seem half as terrible as your aunts and 
uncles made out," Shiho said.  "As long as he treats you 
well, I won't ask Akira to kill him."

	Natasha's eyes crossed.  "Please don't," she mumbled.

	"Alright, let's do some more drill!" Mom said 
enthusiastically.

	Eventually, we all became giant mountains of sweat, 
then took a bath and went out to eat, after which Mom and 
Aunt Shiho went home and I went to go do homework 
before the secret meeting.

**************

Crystal Said:

	I was sitting at one of the tables in the commons, 
trying to do math homework with Dan, when two shadows 
fell over us.  To be more precise, I was pulling Dan's math-
incompetent ass out of the fire while he stared at the math 
as if it was in Sumerian.  No, wait, he probably would 
understand Sumerian.

 	"Hello, Crystal-chan, Dan-kun," Harada-san said to us.  
"This is my daughter, Harada Erica."

	Erica smiled at us a little shyly, her blue eyes behind 
glasses like her mother's, her long black hair flowing down 
in a great cascade with angular bangs in front, including a 
few oddly bent hairs.  She wore a uniform like us and was 
middling in height and build, but her face was very 
beautiful.  She and Harada-san didn't physically resemble 
each other much (not surprising given she's adopted), but 
her eyes, though different colored, reminded me of her 
mother's.  

	"Hi, Harada-san," Dan said, pushing his bangs back.

	"Aunt Chie," Harada-san insisted.  

	"You can call me Erica," Erica said a little nervously.  
"Since we're family now."  I could tell she wasn't quite sure 
what to make of this.  And probably a little shy, which 
surprised me, given how her parents are.  

	"It's nice to meet you, Erica-san," I said, offering her a 
hand.  She shook it firmly and seemed to relax.  

	"Nice to meet you, Erica-san," Dan said, smiling and 
shaking her hand.

	We both sort of half-knew her in the way that this 
school is just a little too big to know everyone well but too 
small for you to not sort of vaguely know everyone.  I 
knew she had a reputation as a brainiac.  

	"You're almost as pretty as your mother," Erica said to 
Dan.  "And you're definitely as pretty as yours," she said to 
me, smiling.

	"You've met our parents?" I asked.

	"Chie-Mom showed me her photo album," Erica said.

	I resisted the urge to ask to see it; it had probably been 
censored by now.  

	"If you want to see it some time, Crystal, just come by 
my office," Aunt Chie said.  

	Had she just read my mind???

	"Did you show her the pic of Mom where she's 
karaoking while dressed up as a magical girl?" Dan asked.  
"Dad always busts a gut every time he sees that one."

	"Did they ever show you the one where he's her 
magical boy, though?" Chie asked Dan.

	I felt brain cells die.

	A big black cat half asleep under a nearby table took 
this moment to groggily wake up and yowl for no clear 
reason.  It then tried to wander off, only to smack itself into 
another table.

	Erica giggled a little, while Dan first stared, then 
laughed loudly.  

	"Anyway, I expect your parents burned their copies of 
some of these, so you should come see it some time," Aunt 
Chie said.

	Maybe I would find out something after all.  But later.  
We had plans for tonight.

	"Oh yes, don't forget to invite Erica to your secret 
meeting tonight," Chie said.  "I have to go home and do 
laundry, or I'd come too.  Ugh."

	"..."

	Dan stared.

	Erica giggled again, then said, "Don't mind Mom, 
she's kind of hyper today."

	She did seem very, very cheerful.  Rather much so for 
someone who came close to blowing up recently.  Or 
whatever had happened.

	"Anyway, I'm off to laundry world.  Have fun being 
sneaky!  See you!" Aunt Chie said, then headed out.

	How did she know about our secret meeting???

	Well, it was too late now.  The real question was 
whether Erica had any clue what she was getting into.  And 
whether she was going to spy on us for her mom.  This 
would definitely complicate things.

	I pulled out a chair for Erica.  "Has your mother told 
you what you're getting into?"  Probably not, I suspected.

	"Mom, as usual, gave me a few hints and expects me 
to figure it all out myself," Erica said.  "Which sometimes 
is fun and sometimes gets me in trouble when I didn't 
figure out the clues meant for me to do the dishes.  Luckily, 
Aoi-Mom is a lot less enigmatic."

	"Did they strip-search you yet?" Dan asked.

	"Mom interrupted me in the middle of taking a shower 
and I nearly beat her to death with my brush before I 
realized it was her this morning," Erica said.  "Why would 
they strip-search me?"  She sounded confused.

	"See, that's something we don't know," Dan said.  

	"..."

	Dan and I looked at each other.  I wasn't sure what to 
tell her, or whether I was telling Aunt Chie everything I 
said to her.  And what had happened to turn Aunt Aoi and 
Aunt Chie from friends of my parents who they didn't see 
much into members of the family circle?  Something at that 
factory must have given away the family secret... There 
was definitely something different about her now, though.

	"There's only so many things which could be on our 
skin.  A scar or a tattoo or a birthmark.  It has to be some 
kind of tattoo but why would they be worried about us 
getting a tattoo to the degree of paranoia they've shown 
about this?" Dan asked.

	Several things suddenly clicked in my brain.  "Ahah!"

	Dan looked at me curiously.

	"Tonight," I told him.  "I have an idea."

******************
		
	We'd assembled behind the science building; 
everything was quiet in that part of campus and so long as 
no one found us...and Erica didn't sell us out...but I couldn't 
leave her out at this point.  If she wasn't...I'm being 
paranoid.  I felt bad for her, really; she'd just been thrown 
into the deep end of a mystery.

	"I had almost forgotten I had this, what with 
everything I've been handling lately," I told everyone.

	Then I held up the paper with a circle and dot in the 
middle and a flechette coming out of it.  "This was the 
symbol of a cult which..." I began.

	"It's the sign of the Fuuka legend of the Battle 
Princesses," Dan said.

	We all turned to stare at him.  He already knew about 
this thing???

	"Mom has a big box full of things with that sign on it, 
part of some research project she's been doing ever since I 
was little, but never finishes.  And tries to hide," Dan said, 
looking slightly distracted as if dredging up memories.

 	What, NOW he tells us about this???  What took him 
so long?

	"But not well enough, eh?" Shun asked, leaning on the 
science building.

	"What is the legend?" Kasumi asked, sounding 
worried.

	"Long ago, the Battle Princesses were chosen to fight 
for those they loved.  But one by one they perished, until 
only the Crystal Princess remained to confront..."  Dan 
paused, staring at me, then at Natasha, who was pacing 
back and forth, tugging on her hair.  He had the look of 
someone who had never made the connection before, then 
looked totally embarrassed.  

	"Crystal Princess?" I said weakly.

	"That's IT!" Natasha said.

	"What happened to the Crystal Princess?  Confronting 
who?" Shun asked urgently.

	Erica watched us all with the look of someone getting 
steadily in over their head, but there was something about 
her eyes...did she know something?

	"Crystal Princess?" I mumbled.

	"What is what?" Dan asked Natasha.

	"Great-Grandfather's Shrine!  There's a door you're not 
supposed to open that leads to an old sunken cave and that 
sign is on the wall a bunch of times!  I got in there one time 
we stayed with Great-Grandpa for the summer!" Natasha 
said, smashing her hand into her fist.  "I just thought it was 
crazy ancient cave people scratchings but maybe it means 
something."

	We were going to have to check this out.

	"Dan, what happened to the Crystal Princess?" Shun 
asked.

	"She had to confront the Lord of Obsidian to deliver 
the world from darkness," Dan said.  

	"And?" I asked.  Surely the parents hadn't named me 
after this legend.  What the hell were they thinking?  I 
never have gotten a straight answer from them on it.

	"And?" Kasumi said tensely.

	"She beat him and there's an annual festival which 
celebrates her victory and mourns the loss of the Battle 
Princesses and their lost loves," Dan said.  "There are tons 
of local legends like this woven into local Shinto practices 
all over Japan.  I wouldn't think anything of it, 
except...Crystal, where did you get that?"

	I didn't want to drag Nagisa into this any more than I 
could help.  "I found some stuff online that seemed to 
indicate it was connected to some kind of cult in the Fuuka 
area when our parents were there, but it sounds like it was 
just a local Shinto sign.  So it's the mark of the Battle 
Princesses?"

	"Yes," Dan said.

	"What are the names of the other Princesses?" I asked 
Dan.

	"I don't know.  People tie ribbons to this set of railings 
at Fuuka to commemorate them and in the belief that 
whoever ties a ribbon there will be with their loves 
forever," Dan said.

	"Forever," I said softly.  "Without aging?"

	We all stared at each other silently, while Erica stared 
at us.  She must think we're crazy, I thought.  

	"But it can't be...I mean, remember when we tried 
sneaking into Fuuka?  That one place had ribbons all over 
it," Shun said.  "And how could tying ribbons to something 
make you stop aging, anyway?"  He stared at me, then over 
at Kasumi, then at the wall.  "Wouldn't it affect everyone?"

	"I..." Kasumi began.

	We all turned and looked at her and she shrank in on 
herself.

	"Natasha, you still have some of the temporary tattoo 
paint, right?" Kasumi asked hesitantly.

	"Yes," Natasha said.  "But what...AHAH!  Kasumi, 
you are a GENIUS!"  She grabbed Kasumi and hugged her 
tightly enough Kasumi could hardly breathe.

	"I don't get it," I confessed.

	Only to get it a few seconds later.

	"Ahah!  So we all paint fake tattoos of it on ourselves 
and then go tell them this tattoo just appeared on all of us?" 
I asked Kasumi.

	She nodded.

	"Do you know what color if any they expect?  Or the 
right size?" Erica said quietly.

	"I...no, dammit," I grumbled.

	"Assuming this is even the right sign or tattoo or...why 
would such a thing suddenly appear, anyway?  Won't they 
get suspicious?" Erica asked, adjusting her glasses.  

	"It's better than nothing..."  I grumbled.

	"Well, learning about the Battle Princesses seems a 
good start," Erica says.  "Also, I want to know more about 
Mom's escapade with my new aunts and what happened."  
She sounded rather worried.  "Mom goes into danger 
sometimes, but nothing ever blew up before."  She 
hesitated.  "I think."  

	"We all do," I told her.

	"I want to know why they thought it was MY giant 
mech," Natasha said.  "I have never once gotten into any 
trouble with robots, giant or otherwise."

	Shun nodded.

	"I think we need to find some way for one or more of 
us to sneak out and visit Fuuka," I said.

	"I think if I hint to Great-Grandpa, he'll be eager to 
invite us," Natasha said.

	"Sounds good," Dan said.  He looked over at me.  
"Cool with you, Crystal?"

	Everyone was looking at me.  "Yes, of course," I said.  
"I want to know."

	"Then it's decided.  Soon, Operation Fuuka 
Investigation II will begin!"  Shun said, then held out his 
hand.  "And this time, Aunt Fumi won't catch Crystal and 
spank her.  I hope."

	For a moment, my ass felt like she was STILL 
spanking me.  Quickly, we all put our hands on his, with 
mine on top.  "Just don't start calling me Princess," I said.

	"We exist to serve you, Crystal Princess," Shun 
teased, then turned more serious.  He looked at Erica.  
"Welcome to the family, cousin.  Now it's time for you to 
get in big trouble with us for the first time.  This is your 
initiation to a world of hurt!" he said cheerfully.

	"Chie-Mom practically trained me to get in trouble," 
Erica said.  "And Aoi-Mama trained me how to get OUT."  
She smiled a little.

	Given our past luck, we'd definitely be needing THAT 
talent.

	I was quivering with excitement.  Finally, a 
breakthrough.  I had a good feeling about the future.  

	Assuming Mom didn't blow up any more buildings.  
What is going on with her all of a sudden?

	One mystery at a time, I told myself.  Finally, a 
LEAD.  The truth would out this time, I was sure.

*************
	
Kasumi's Tale:

	It soon became clear Mom was serious about this, 
coming over every day with Aunt Shiho to train with 
Natasha and I.  I had mixed emotions about this; it was 
pretty cool to have Mom and one of my aunts lavishing so 
much attention on me; being the good kid does have its 
privileges, but my out of control brothers usually eat up all 
of Mom's time.  And I like Natasha a lot for all that she's a 
little crazy.  

	But it ate up a lot of time and made getting my 
homework done and getting my track training done harder 
and I was struggling with the special training as it required 
a lot of manual dexterity, whereas I'm a lot better at 
endurance and leg speed.  Also, IT HURTS.

	It also was somewhat annoying that Aunt Shiho was 
picking it up faster than Natasha or me, though it irritated 
Natasha more than me.  I'd never seen her even exercise, 
but she seemed to pick all this up very quickly.

	Ayumi never threatened me again; she just glowered 
at me, which was in some ways more scary as I couldn't tell 
what she was thinking beyond rage.

	Which could lead to anything.

	Crystal and Natasha ran off together every so often to 
plot the big trip to Fuuka.  They're both intensely excited; 
I'm not so sure.  Part of me wants to know, wants to 
understand why Aunt Miyu...why she said that.  And part 
of me is afraid of the answer. 

	Who did Mom trust too much?  Who did Aunt Shiho 
not trust enough?  I don't know but I think it must be 
important. I think Natasha must have forgotten the things 
they said within a few minutes, or likely Crystal would be 
trying to pick them apart word by word, but it lingered in 
my mind.

	Erica and Dan are in World History with me; I have to 
say that I wish I was as good at history as they are, though I 
can blow Shun and Crystal out of the water.  They don't try 
half as hard as I do.  Natasha could do as well as me, but 
her soul belongs to music and athletics.  

	Dan was splayed out in a chair before classtime; we sit 
next to each other; Erica is ahead and over to the right, but 
for the moment, she was leaning on my desk while I sat in 
it.  "We have a quiz today," Erica said.  "And a new 
teacher."

	"A new teacher?" I asked.  "What happened to Mr. 
Kukri?"

	"He decided it was a good idea to carry a sack of 
groceries taller than his head across an intersection without 
checking the light," Erica said, then winced.

	Dan grimaced and I sighed.  Mr. Kukri had been a 
pretty good teacher.  "Poor man, we should visit him in the 
hospital."

	"Good idea," Dan said.  "Don't you have practice with 
your mom, though?"

	"Yes, but I think I can beg off this time," I said.  I 
could use a break.

	"So did your mom tell you what's on the quiz or is she 
making you figure it out?" Dan asked Erica, grinning a 
little.

	"Just a heads up about it," Erica said.  "But I'd guess 
this probably is about Iron Age Africa, given you and I 
were the only people who talked and that usually means he 
hammers everyone with a quiz."

	I thought it about and realized she was right.  I hope 
I'm ready, I thought.

	The door opened and a man with brown hair turning 
grey walked in; he had...an afro?  An afro.  "Hello, 
everyone," he said.  "I'm Mr. Sakomizu Kaiji, your 
substitute history teacher.  Until Mr. Kukri recovers, I'll be 
taking care of you.  Everyone to their seats, please."

	Everyone now went to their seats and he adjusted his 
glasses, then studied us.  "Mr. Kukri left a quiz for today, 
so we'll start with that.  Clear your desks, it's time for a trip 
to Africa."  For some reason, he sang the final word, 
dragging it out.  

	The quiz wasn't as bad as I feared, though I could hear 
grumbling all over the room.  He then collected them and 
launched into a lecture on the Sahel area states of Sub-
Saharan Africa.  I'll spare you the details as I only caught 
about half of it, scribbling furiously to keep up.  

	Most of the way through it, Dan asked, "Are you 
familiar with the city-state of Tarak?"

	"Tarak is a myth created by the Ghana emperors as 
part of their mostly imaginary distant history," Sakomizu-
sensei said.  

	"My mother found it," Dan said.  "Well, both my 
parents found it.  Their paper on it came out two years 
ago."

	Dan used to argue with Mr. Kukri too, citing his 
parents' various adventures.  Sometimes I envy him that; 
for us, an adventure is when my brothers cover someone's 
dog with sugar.  But adventures are dangerous, which is 
why I wouldn't have tried to, say, sneak into that ruined 
factory Aunt Mai blew up.  Or at least, the others would 
have had to talk me into it.

 	Sakomizu-sensei studied Dan, then looked at the 
seating chart.  His eyes widened slightly.  "Are you Sugiura 
Dan?  Sugiura Midori's son?"

	"You know Mom?" Dan asked in surprise.

	"We taught together at Fuuka Academy many years 
ago," Sakomizu-sensei said, adjusting his glasses.   "Well, 
if she says so, I'll accept it, though I'd like to see that 
paper."

	"Sure, Mom would love to give you a copy," Dan said, 
smiling.

	I felt my phone vibrate.  It was a text from Erica.  
'Maybe he knows something about the mysteries.'

	Keep talking, distract him, Dan, I willed.  Then I tried 
to covertly text her back.  'After class, we try.'

	I hastily hid my phone just as Sakomizu-sensei studied 
me.  "Yes, sensei?" I asked nervously.

	"Is your father Kurauchi Kazuya?" he asked.

	I nodded.  "Yes, sir."

	"I taught him when he was your age.  I hope you're a 
better student than he was."

	I laughed nervously.  "I do my best, sir."

	"Anyway, I could..."  He looked at the chart, looked at 
Erica, adjusted his glasses, then said, "Wait...does your 
mother teach here?"

	"You taught her too, Sakomizu-sensei, probably.  She 
was in school with Kasumi-san's parents too," Erica said.

	"I feel like I'm in a school reunion movie suddenly," 
he said, smiling a little.  "Anyone else here with parents 
from Fuuka?"

	Ota Mandi (a short girl with short blue hair and brown 
eyes) raised her hand.  "My mom went to Fuuka..."  Her 
face squished up as she thought.  "Roughly 20 years ago, I 
think.  Her name is Ota Yayoi."

	We'd never thought of asking around to find other kids 
of Fuuka students before.  They might not be from our 
family but they might know something.  It's just...well, I 
don't know why we never thought of it before.

	Dan looked at me.  I looked at Erica.  Erica looked at 
Dan.  

	Definitely paydirt.

	"So probably when my parents were there," I said to 
Mandi.  I wonder if one of her parents is a gaijin or if she's 
just part of whatever crazy fad got Crystal her name.  
Assuming...let's not speculate. Surely it's just a 
coincidence.  And Erica has a gaijin name and her parents 
aren't gaijin.  

	"Wow.  That's kind of cool," Mandi said.  

	"Very surprising," Sakomizu-sensei said, studying his 
notes.  "Okay, let's continue."

	The rest of class went by without incident, then 
everyone scattered; unlike most Japanese schools, we don't 
all sit in one room all day; we go to the teachers instead of 
vice-versa, so you mix with everyone.  I think it's supposed 
to encourage unity among everyone in the same grade.  
Don't hold me to that.

	I also have Mandi in sixth period, which is math, so 
after class, I pulled her aside before I'd have to go to track 
practice.  "So your mother went to Fuuka?" I asked.

	"Yeah," Mandi said.  "She met Dad in college, though.  
He had to take her name because Mom's family is kinda 
snobby and he was pretty poor.  But I like Daddy way more 
than my snobby grandparents."  She kicked a rock as we 
walked along.  "I wanted to go to Fuuka, but Grandfather 
and Grandmother think Fuuka's gone down hill ever since 
the original headmaster left after the plague outbreak."

	My eyes widened.  "What?"

	"Your folks never mentioned it?  The army came in 
and shut the school down to track down some crazies who 
wanted to unleash a plague.  A lot of the campus got 
trashed in the fighting," Mandi said.  "Mom's got a photo 
book from her school days showing the mess and all the 
construction to fix it and everything.  I just wish she'd 
gotten a picture of that bridge blowing up.  It sounds really 
spectacular when she talks about it."

	"..."

	Mandi kicked another rock as we walked along.  
"Your mom never mentioned it?"

	"Mom usually focuses on things like late night card 
games and working as a waitress with Dad when they first 
started dating," I mumbled.  "Or double-dating with Aunt 
Mai."

	"Mai..." Mandi said thoughtfully.  "Wait, was that the 
woman with the giant breasts?"  She held her hands way 
out in front of her own rather small breasts.  "Are they 
real?"

	I laughed.  "Yes."

	"She's in Mom's book, I think.  Some woman with 
giant breasts and orange hair, anyway," Mandi said.  "Most 
of the photos feature Mom's two big buddies, Aunt Sayuri 
and Aunt Miya.  But there's lots of other people too."

	My nose twitched.  So her family has extended 'aunts' 
who aren't blood kin too.  Was this some kind of Fuuka 
thing?  Or were there multiple families like ours?  I studied 
Mandi carefully, trying to figure out what to ask next.

	Mandi stopped and felt at her face.  "Is something 
wrong?  I didn't mess up my makeup again, did I?"

	"Miya?  Not Miyu?" I asked, suddenly wondering.

	"Miya.  Koyabishi Miya.  She's married to one of the 
biology teachers."  Mandi shrugged.  "So your folks really 
never mentioned the bridge blowing up or the plague?"  
She sounded surprised.

	No, not at all.  And now I wondered why.  Though I 
suppose most people don't dwell on disasters; it's not 
healthy for you, really.

	"No, they didn't," I said.

	"Well, my folks may have been there before yours, so 
maybe your folks weren't there at exactly the same time.  
Anyway, if you are curious about it, I can see if Mom will 
loan me her picture book."

	"I'd be grateful," I told her.  "Thanks, Mandi."

	"No problem.  I hear you won one of the track events 
at the last meet," she said.

	I smiled.  "Yes.  To my surprise.  I'm feeling pretty 
good about that."

	"Congratulations," she said.  "I'm too lazy for sports, 
but I'm good at drawing and taking photos."  She snapped a 
shot of me.  "Want me to come photograph you running 
some time?"

	"Sure," I said, feeling flattered.  "I'd better get to 
practice."

	"See you!"

	Practice passed in a blur.  I couldn't stop imagining 
plagues and exploding bridges.  Which is why I managed to 
crash into a wall and had to go to the nurse's office.

	Aunt Aoi quickly began tending my leg; I like her, 
she's very kind and gentle, though she loves to tease.  I 
wasn't really hurt that badly, but Coach wanted to make 
sure I didn't get infected wounds or anything.

	"This will sting," Aunt Aoi said, washing my scrapes 
and small cuts.  "You need to pay attention where you are 
going."

	"Did you know an Ota Yayoi?" I asked. "I met her 
daughter Ota Mandi; she's in two of my classes."

	"Oh wow, I haven't even thought about Yayoi-chan in 
forever.  Is she as short as her mother?"

	"Tiny," I said.

	"She and Sayuri and Miya were inseparable.  It was 
very sweet."  Now the disinfectant went on and it stung, but 
I ignored it; I'm used to disinfectant.  More than I wish I 
was.

	"Just the three of them?" I asked.

	"Oh, they hung out with Chie and I and we all always 
tried to get Mai to come along, but she was usually busy 
working or taking care of her brother Takumi.  Until Akira 
took over that job, anyway."

	I wanted to ask about the bridge and the plague but I 
was afraid this would just invoke the parental wall of 
silence.  Or she'd pretend to know nothing.  So I didn't say 
anything about that.  "And I hear you were Aunt Nao's 
roommate?"

	"Yes," Aoi said.  "She was a constant troublemaker."  
She shook her head and put a bandage on my leg.  "It 
seemed like she had a new boyfriend every five minutes."

	"..."  And now she's a nun!  Wow, people can change.  
I don't think I've ever even heard of her having a boyfriend.  

	"I was totally stunned to find out she stuck with being 
a nun.  But I think she's a lot happier now.  So what's up 
with you and this Hayao boy, hmm?"

	I turned beet red.  I can't stop thinking about him even 
though I turned him down when everyone said it was a bad 
idea.  I guess he's probably given up, though.  I just...I 
know he's bad news but he's so cute and when he talks to 
me I just shiver and... and...  

	"That answers that, I see," Aoi said.  "Don't worry. 
Even if things go badly, you'll find more loves in the future.  
It took a long time before Chie and I got together once and 
for all."

	"Mom and Dad got lucky and married the first person 
they ever loved," I mumbled.  "I feel like..."

	"It's not your job to relive your parent's life," Aoi said.  
"Don't rush yourself; high school romances often don't 
work out.  I dated Ken for nearly a year and that ended in 
flames."  She paused.  "Metaphorical flames."

	Part of me desperately wanted to know about the 
exploding bridge and the plague.  "Did you know Aunt 
Miyu very well back then?"

	"No," Aoi said.  "She was hard to get to know and 
usually spent her time at the chapel with her father and 
Alyssa, who was such a cute, cute little kid.  And later she 
was training as a nun."  She looked lost in the memories.  
"Alyssa sang like an angel.  Does she still sing?"

	"Not too often around us, but she took us carolling last 
Christmas.  Shun's the only one of us who is any good and 
she dwarfed him," I told her.

	"Alyssa was younger than any of us except... no, I 
think she's even younger than Shiho," Aoi said.  "Okay, I 
think you're fine now."

	I didn't get up yet from the medical bed, though.  
"Did... were my parents the same then as now?"

	"Pretty much, I think.  Your mom hadn't really figured 
out where she was going in life and neither had your dad, 
but I don't think they've changed a lot," Aoi said.  "I was a 
lot closer to Yuuichi-kun and Mai-chan and Mikoto-chan 
than to them, though.  And to Miya-chan and Sayuri-chan 
and to Yayoi-chan."  Aoi pulled up a chair and sat in it.  
"Takeda Masashi, does Natsuki ever talk about him?"

	"Who?" I asked.

	"Her sort of boyfriend," Aoi said.  "Never worked out, 
in the long term, but I heard Mai found them making out on 
the beach once.  He was captain of the Kendo club," she 
continued.

	"No, I don't think she ever mentioned him.  But Aunt 
Natsuki has so many boyfriends I stopped paying attention 
a long time ago," I admitted.  

	Aoi laughed softly, then sighed.  "I actually met her 
current boyfriend a few years ago; he's very handsome and 
gracious and..."  She laughed softly.  "He doesn't seem like 
what I'd expect Natsuki to date."

	I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling.  "My 
family drives off half my boyfriends and the rest either just 
wanted sex or just... well, you know how it is."  I sighed.

	"They drive them off?" Aoi asked curiously.

	"Dan and Shun and... okay, everyone's so protective of 
me.  I mean, sometimes I want to be protected, but... there 
shouldn't be anything wrong with wanting peace."  I 
sighed.

	"There is nothing wrong.  I think violence is best 
avoided unless you have no choice," Aunt Aoi said, taking 
my hands with hers.  "But boys are like that, and your 
female cousins... well, Crystal and Natasha like to fight, I 
think."

	I nodded.  "Yes."

	"Just hold to your ideals.  And be patient with them; 
it's how people like that show they love you," Aoi said.  
"My dear wife Chie is rather like that, protective of me."

	I never did quite get up the courage to ask about the 
things I'd learned.  Eventually after more chatting, I went to 
go meet Mom.  

	"Natasha told me your history teacher got hurt," Mom 
said.

	Mom, Natasha, and Aunt Shiho had been waiting in 
Natasha's room for my return.  So much I had to tell 
Natasha...

	"Yes.  I feel really bad for Mr. Kukri, but... mom, did 
you know Sakomizu-sensei at Fuuka?"

	Mom blinked, while Aunt Shiho looked confused.  "I 
only knew him a little but he was Natsuki's mentor, 
encouraging her to improve her grades and finish school."

	Interesting, I thought.  "He's Mr. Kukri's substitute.  
Dan and Erica and I were thinking about going to visit Mr. 
Kukri."

	"We'll just go a short lesson then," Mom said.

	I took my beatings with what grace I could muster and 
soon we had assembled the whole cousin brigade to go see 
him.  "Dan, did you tell them about Ota Mandi and 
Sakomizu-sensei?"

	"What I knew.  Did you find anything else out?"

	I told them about everything I had learned as we 
waited for the bus at the gates.  

	"A bridge blew up and a plague broke out and they 
NEVER MENTIONED IT to us?" Crystal asked.  

	"Man, now I have to wonder how much your mom's 
been blowing up all these years," Shun teased her.

	"Your mom was there too!" Crystal protested.

	"I promise it wasn't me and my invisible giant robot," 
Natasha said, then laughed.

	"Don't forget the military takeover," Dan said.  "And 
the fact that Mandi's family also has non-biological 
relatives in it."

	"Well, my mothers went there and they didn't follow 
that custom until Crystal's mother blew up the factory," 
Erica said.  "And now they do.  Has to be some kind of 
link."

	"Maybe Ota-san's parents blew up that bridge with 
Aunt Mai..." Shun said thoughtfully.  

	"We have no proof it was MY mother," Crystal 
muttered.  "Is this bus ever coming?"

	"Whatever secret this family has, it's pretty clear 
something happened to initiate my parents into it at the 
factory," Erica said, tapping her pen on her notebook.  "It 
should be here soon, Crystal-san."

	A cat yowled off in the distance, and the bus now 
pulled up and we hopped in to go visit Mr. Kukri, 
speculating all the way.  

	When we got there, we found Sakomizu-sensei 
visiting him; they were discussing plans for the next several 
weeks of teaching.  "Are you okay, sensei?" I asked him, 
though it was clear that he wasn't okay.  But it's what you 
do in this kind of visit.

	"I'm fine," he said, though he wasn't.  He looked very 
happy to see us.  "It was very nice of you to come out here, 
though."

	"Hello, sensei," Dan said to Sakomizu-sensei.  "We 
didn't mean to interrupt."

	"It's okay," Sakomizu-sensei said, smiling.  

	"Would you like me to tell Aunt Natsuki you're here at 
Rosewood now?" I asked him.  Everyone studied me and it 
struck me I hadn't thought to talk about that part of it all.  

	"Yes, that would be nice," he said.  "I'm curious to see 
if she's still the same or changed."

	I was curious about that myself.

	Crystal asked, "Did you know my mother at Fuuka?"

	"I only knew Dan's mother and Natsuki-san very 
well," he said.  "But I taught all your parents at some 
point," Sakomizu-sensei continued.  "Well, except for Dan, 
since his mother was a teacher, not a student, for all she 
pretended she was only seventeen."

	"He's very good," Mr. Kukri told us.  "You're in good 
hands with Sakomizu-san."
	
	"Your mother claimed to be seventeen, Dan-san?" 
Erica asked, sounding surprised.  

	"Mom doesn't handle the aging thing well," Dan said 
as the rest of us snickered.  

	"Hey, Mr. Kukri, you have got to get well soon before 
we all flu..." someone said, coming into the room, then 
suddenly stopped.

	I turned and saw a dozen boys and girls from our 
school; Gin was there, but the one who had spoken was... 
Masakuri Hayao!  And Crystal was right here and... and...  I 
could feel my breathing speed up and I turned around to 
face Mr. Kukri trying to pretend he wasn't there.  I didn't 
know... would he be angry I turned him down?  Would he 
ask me out again?  Or...

	"Aren't you supposed to be working in the gardens 
right now, Shun-san?"  Mitsu Kagami demanded of him, 
light flashing off her glasses.  "I looked for you 
everywhere!  And you too, Crystal!"

	Crystal and Shun both laughed nervously and backed 
up.  "We... ummm... hahaha..." Shun said.

	"Does visiting an injured teacher count for community 
service?" Crystal mumbled.

	"Don't worry, I'll talk to the vice-principal for you," 
Sakomizu-sensei said.  "It was very kind of you to come 
out and visit Mr. Kukri."

	"I'm very glad to have this much company," Mr. Kukri 
said.  "Mitsu-san, it was very nice of you to organize a 
greeting committee."

	"It was Masakuri-san's idea," she confessed.  "I really 
should have thought of it myself, but it was his idea."  She 
sounded a little guilty.  

	I stiffened slightly.  It was his idea?

	"Well, umm, yeah," Hayao mumbled, then glanced at 
Sakomizu-sensei.  "We hope you get well soon."  He 
fumbled around, then grabbed two bouquets; Ota Mandi 
had one of them and... I think her name is Sanae... 
Koyabishi Sanae, maybe?  She's tall, skinny, red-haired, 
and I think her father is one of the biology teachers.  

	Wait, Ota-san told me that...she must be Miya's 
daughter.  I'll have to tell the others later.  

 	Hayao  brought them over, then said softly, "Being 
stuck in the hospital all by yourself is terrible.  I hope you 
aren't too lonely here."

	"You tell him, cousin," Mandi said.

	Cousin?  Wait...

	"You look familiar, young man," Sakomizu-sensei 
said.  

	"I... uh... I'm in third period history so you probably 
saw me earlier today," Hayao said, sounding confused.  

	I was shivering.  Why am I shaking, I asked myself.  
There was no reason to... even if he is very cute and... 
aaargh!

	"Ahh!  Was your mother named Ichinose Sayuri by 
any chance?" Mr. Sakomizu asked.

	Wait, his mother was from Fuuka too???  And Sanae 
was Miya's daughter...I wondered if their family was as 
much like ours as we were starting to think.

	"Uh, yeah," Hayao said.  "Except she's Masakuri 
Sayuri now."

	I glanced over; Dan and Shun were studying him, 
Erica was fiddling with her cell phone, Natasha was 
studying the rest of the people with Hayao and Crystal was 
looking at him as if she could kill him by looking at him 
hard enough.  

	"So what's your game this time, Hayao?" Crystal 
snapped at him.  "Trying to impress one of these women 
with your compassion?"

	"Calm down, Crystal," Dan said.  "We didn't come 
here so Mr. Kukri could watch us all fight to the death."

	Mr. Sakomizu grimaced like he'd been hit in the gut, 
then said, "Now, now, we're all here to say hello to Mr. 
Kukri, not have a fight that could hurt him more, right?"

	"Hey, I didn't come here just to impress a girl!" Hayao 
said. 

	"We all came because we like Mr. Kukri," Mandi said 
angrily.  "And don't insult my cousin!  He's a good guy!"

	Mandi attempted to get all up in Crystal's face.  For all 
that Crystal is on the short side, Mandi is just tiny and this 
was, I think, less threatening than she hoped.  It was rather 
like watching a little yappy dog bouncing around a mid-
sized one.  I kept half-expecting her to accidentally shove 
her face into Crystal's chest like Aunt Mikoto on Aunt Mai.  

	"Please don't fight," Mr. Kukri mumbled.

	"That's enough," Mitsu-san said loudly, stepping 
between them.  "The hospital staff will throw us out if you 
two have a fight!  Stand down!"

	Shun pulled Crystal back, while an embarrassed 
Hayao pulled back Mandi.  "It's okay, cousin," he said 
softly.

	"I may be small, but I'm fierce like a lion!" Mandi said 
angrily.  "You're the one who sicked those bees on him, 
aren't you!"

	"Me?  I wish I WAS the one who sicked the bees on 
him!" Crystal shouted.  "He's nothing but a user of 
women!"

	"Come on, stop it," Mitsu-san said, but neither side 
was listening to her.

	"Mandi-chan, I told you, I've never seen that woman 
before or since.  It wasn't Crystal.  She must have been 
from Saint Mary's," Hayao said, sounding very 
embarrassed.  He's so cute when he's embarrassed.  "I won't 
mind if you beat her up, though."

	I pretended to cough so I could cover my face to keep 
from looking like an idiot.

	"Enough!  Anyone who is going to be disruptive is 
going to have to leave!" Mr. Sakomizu said, glasses 
flashing.

	Everyone fell silent, though I could see Crystal 
fuming.  

	Mitsu-san took the bouquets and put them by Mr. 
Kukri's bed.  "I'm very sorry, sir," she said.  "You shouldn't 
have to watch us fighting."

	"Me too," I said to him.  "We didn't mean to cause you 
any trouble."

	"It's okay," he said.  "It all seems so much more 
important when you're that age."  He looked at Crystal and 
Hayao.  "Love is dangerous."

	"Love?  That man wouldn't..." Crystal began.  Mr. 
Sakomizu glared at her and she shrank in on herself.

	"To be human is to love," Erica said softly.  "Isn't love 
a good thing?"

	"Weren't any of you paying attention when I taught 
you about Anthony and Cleopatra?" Mr. Kukri asked.

	"We haven't gotten to Shakespeare yet, Sensei," Erica 
said.

	"Rome," Dan said.  "Which I thought was going to be 
a little later this semester."  His face was scrunched a bit 
with the effort of memory.

	"Hmm, yes, you're right," Mr. Kukri said, slightly 
embarrassed.  "You teach as long as I have and it all blurs 
together sometimes."  He stared at the ceiling for a few 
seconds.

 	Then he began his tale.  "Cleopatra was the last of the 
Pharoahs; she was forced to marry her brother, but she 
didn't want to.  Eventually, she got Julius Caesar to 
overthrow him and ruled Egypt on her own and became 
Caesar's lover.  They even had a son, Caesarion.  Thus she 
protected herself and her kingdom, keeping it free of Rome.  
When Caesar was murdered, two of his generals, Lepidus 
and Marc Anthony allied with his nephew Octavian to 
defeat those who killed him, then ruled the empire for a 
time as the Second Triumvirate."

	Mr. Kukri picked up the flowers and sniffed them.  
"But even though Marc Anthony married Octavian's sister 
Octavia, he betrayed her because he fell in love with 
Cleopatra.  It might be argued Caesar and Cleopatra were 
using each other, but the love of Cleopatra and Marc 
Anthony was genuine, strong, and true.  Never had either of 
them been happier in their life, and he cast away all his 
responsibilities to spend time with hers, and set out to 
ensure her legacy, her kingdom, would endure.  They 
would throw wild parties together, disguise themselves as 
commoners to play pranks on people, and in general, 
cavorted together as those in love do."

	"So Octavian took his revenge.  Marc Anthony had 
betrayed his duties as a leader of Rome because of his 
crush on that woman, and betrayed the wife he'd sworn 
oaths to.  He knew Cleopatra was just using Marc Anthony 
for her own gain," Hayao said angrily.  "And so they, who 
had once been companions in battle, turned on each other 
and led armies to war.  But Marc Anthony was a loser, lost 
in a haze of lust for the evil Queen of Egypt, and when she 
panicked at Actium and her fleet fled the scene, his fleet 
was annihilated.  In the end, he killed himself thinking her 
dead, and she killed herself not for love of him but to avoid 
being humiliated by the victorious Octavian," Hayao 
finished.  He sounded as angry as if he was Octavian 
himself.

	I couldn't figure out why he was so worked up over 
something that happened to other people thousands of years 
ago.  It is thousands, right?  I'm pretty sure we haven't even 
gotten to 0 AD yet.  

	"That is a little harsher than I would put it and you left 
out how Octavian murdered Cleopatra's son by Julius 
Caesar, Caesarion," Mr. Kukri said wearily.  "But it does 
convey the point.  Love does not always triumph and when 
it does, the results are not always good.  And love can turn 
us against each other."

	Mr. Sakomizu sighed.  "Well said.  Tate-san, 
Masakuri-san, if you want to fight, you can do it at school.  
Everyone can come up and say hello, and then it's time for 
our community service students to go to work... as I'm in 
charge of the gardens now."  GLASSES FLASH.

	Crystal, Shun, and Mitsu-san all paled at the sight of 
that.

***************

Crystal's Tale:

	Being stuck working in the gardens isn't that terrible, 
really.  Uncle Takumi loves to garden and I've helped him 
out a lot.  Shun and Mitsu were busy pulling up weeds 
while Sakomizu-sensei and I were pulling up some bushes 
which had caught some kind of blight and had to go.  I took 
a shovel to the roots while he pulled on them with rope.  
Hard work, but the advantage of gardening is that you can 
see results as you work, so you don't get frustrated in the 
middle for lack of progress.

	I don't, anyway.

	"I heard you were close to my Aunt Natsuki," I said to 
him as my shovel bit deep into another bushes' roots.

	He pulled hard, sweating.  I'd offered to let him do the 
planting while I shovel, but I expect his pride won't let him 
let a girl do the 'hard' work.  "She was a terrible student, so 
I took it upon myself to show her the way."

	"Did she have as many stupid boyfriends in school as 
she does now?" I asked, wondering how long she'd been 
doing that.  And why it had stopped now.

	"The head of the Kendo team liked her," he said, 
huffing and puffing.  He fell on his butt as it suddenly came 
free, then said, "But I can't think of any guys she actually 
dated."

	We moved onto the next bush; he began roping it 
while I began digging hard, shoving the shovel down with 
my foot.  Glancing over, I could see Shun lazily pulling 
weeds; Mitsu-san was going two or three times faster.  
"Work harder, Shun, don't let Mitsu-san do all the work," I 
told him.

	"Exactly," Mitsu-san said sharply.  "You talked me 
into what got me into this and now you're slacking off."

	"Don't let her do all the work," Sakomizu-sensei said; 
it was pretty clear he'd mostly forgotten they were even 
there until I reminded him.  "So your mother married Tate 
Yuuichi, then?"

	Shun just smiled and started working harder.

	"Yes," I told him.  "And I think... well, if they could 
marry Aunt Mikoto, they would."

	He blinked, then his eyes crossed.  Given how Aunt 
Mikoto is, I couldn't blame him... but it irritated me 
anyway.  "Is there a problem with that?" I asked him 
sharply.

	"I suppose they're old enough now the age difference 
is a lot less important," he said thoughtfully.

	"What?" I asked.  

	"I think she's about 4 years younger than your parents.  
But that would make her... maybe 35 to their 39 now.  
Which is a lot less extreme than 12 to 16," Sakomizu-sensei 
said.  

	"Aunt Mikoto is only two years younger than my 
parents," I told him.

	He blinked, then looked embarrassed.  "She looked 
very young when I met her.  I must be getting old," he said, 
then sighed.  

	I finished off the roots.  "It's ready, sensei.  Want me 
to help pull?"

	Sweat poured down his face, but he said, "No, I'm 
fine."

	As he knocked himself on his butt again, I tried to 
decide whether to ask him about the bridge or the plague or 
any of that.  He'd know, but if he mentioned to Aunt 
Natsuki that I'd asked, she'd know we know and I want to 
wait until I know what I'm knowing before we ask why 
they never told us about it.  "Anything exciting ever happen 
at Fuuka when my folks were there?" I asked, tossing the 
bush onto the pile of dead bushes in our wheelbarrow.

	"Your father won a lot of kendo matches his second 
and third years," Sakomizu-sensei said.  "Your Aunt 
Mikoto too."  He began looping around another bush.

	I poked a bit, found the right spot and began driving 
the shovel home.  I glanced over and saw Shun and Mitsu-
san each now had a flower in their hair.  Is he flirting with 
her again?  He needs to either follow through or stop 
flirting.  Idiot.  

	"Oh, they're both still into swords.  They trained me 
and Aunt Mikoto runs a dojo," I told him.  This bush was 
more stubborn and even a good foot shove didn't work.  So 
I jumped onto it with both feet and it sank down into the 
ground, then my weight pulled it back faster than I 
expected and now the bush flew up into the air and I 
toppled to the ground.  Sakomizu-sensei ended up with dirt 
all over him and a bush on his feet.  "Sorry!"

	"Are you okay, Crystal?" Shun said, suddenly looming 
over me and offering me a hand up.  I could see Mitsu-san 
brushing off Sakomizu-sensei with a handkerchief.  

	"I'm okay, just dirty," I said.  "I'll have to take a bath 
later."

	"Me too," he said; I could see dirt up and down his 
arms and hands.

	"Thank you, Mitsu-san," Sakomizu-sensei said to her, 
then we planted the next bush and moved down the row.

	"Dad works for a robotics company and Mom 
basically tells people how to run their companies better," I 
told him.  "You know Aunt Natsuki is a bodyguard now, 
right?  She's dating a negotiator named Roger Smith," I 
continued, kicking the shovel through more roots and 
starting to push.  This bush was stubborn.

	"Roger Smith," Sakomizu-sensei said very slowly in 
the sort of way I have come to realize usually means 
someone has just made a mental connection.  Now I was 
very curious.  "What's he like?"

	He knows something.  I could smell it.  I shoved 
harder on the shovel but the bush wouldn't come up.  Why?  
I grimaced at it, then said, "He's polite, very smart and 
cultured.  Totally unlike her usual boyfriends."

	"Not some kind of biker, then," Sakomizu-sensei said 
with an odd tone I couldn't read.  This intrigued and 
frustrated me at the same time.  He cocked his head 
slightly.  "Here, let me try," he said.

	"This is pretty hard," I warned him.

	"I have more mass than you," he said.  "And thus 
gravity gives me more power for digging with my weight in 
it."

	True, he could stand to lose some weight.  I backed off 
and let him try it.  The shovel SHOVED and now it was 
stuck in very deep.  Too deep as now it was stuck.  He 
laughed nervously.  

	"His secretary is kind of creepy, though, I've heard," I 
told him.  "Here, if we both pull..."

	This landed both of us on our ass but now the bush 
came right out.  I laughed a little and helped him up.  The 
fact that he was willing to work with us made this all easier 
to bear.  And much as I was half-wishing I could read his 
mind right now, he seemed like a nice guy.  

	"I suppose I must come off as an overprotective 
father," Sakomizu-sensei said apologetically.  "I just... she 
was never good at affairs of the heart, and I hope she's 
happy."

	"But a sudden reversal of boyfriend type worries you," 
I told him.  That made sense.  

	I got my shovel and went to work on the next bush as 
he disposed of this one.

	"It could mean she's finally ready to have a long term 
relationship," he said.  "I just hope he's not some 
golddigger after her money."

	"Money?" I asked, surprised.  She isn't that well off, is 
she?

	"She's not so wealthy as, say, Fujino-san or Suzuhara-
san, but she was pretty well off, enough to live on her 
family's wealth with no income easily, when she was here.  
I mean, when she was at Fuuka."  He rubbed his forehead.  
"I'm getting old."

	SHOVE, and the bush came up gently, letting him 
easily pull it up.  I didn't know she had serious amounts of 
money.  It really doesn't show, though I guess that's how 
she can afford to have so much lingerie.  A thought hit me.  
"So you knew Aunt Haruka and Aunt Shizuru too?" I asked 
him.

	"Everyone did.  They were leaders in the student 
government.  And constantly squabbling over everything.  
Suzuhara was the total take-charge type and Fujino was 
utterly laid back.  Totally relaxed with her own force of 
fangirls following her everywhere," he said.  "As far as I 
could tell, her version of leadership was to drink tea and tell 
Kanzaki or Tate or Suzumiya or Kikukawa to take care of it 
while she lounged about."  He shook his head.  "Hard to 
deal with as Suzuhara was once she got on a rampage, at 
least she took the job seriously."

	That's Aunt Haruka.  But I could hardly imagine Aunt 
Shizuru as being totally relaxed.  She usually seemed tense 
and haunted to me.  And trying desperately to be kind.  
Well, she is kind but... well, I don't know how to say it.  
What happened to her?

	"Wait, Dad was on the student council?"

	"Something like that.  Fuuka had a lot more powerful 
student council than most schools, and I saw your father 
assisting Kanzaki a lot," he said.   
	
	I now began pulling leftover root bits from holes while 
he got the other wheelbarrow, with the new bushes, into 
position.  
	
	Suddenly my brain clicked.  The entire council was 
made up of members of my family!  And Aunt Fumi was 
now HEADMASTER of Fuuka.  Uncle Reito, Aunt Haruka 
and Aunt Shizuru are all wealthy and my parents are pretty 
well off and...

	I wasn't quite sure what exactly my brain was thinking 
but I felt like I was getting pretty close to some kind of 
pattern.  Aunt Natsuki has money she doesn't show, I know 
Aunt Akane is pretty well off and so is Uncle Takumi and 
Aunt Akira... in fact, the whole family is at poorest pretty 
comfortable and at richest pretty well loaded.

	Was Aunt Akira really a ninja?  Or had that been a 
joke?

	They also don't age, have been dating the same people 
forever, except for Aunt Natsuki... okay, several of them 
have had various lovers, but none of those get to be called 
part of the family...

	"Are you okay?" Sakomizu-sensei asked me.  Indeed, 
all three of them were studying me as I knealt with my 
hand on a root I'd been trying to pull before I zoned out.

	"I'm fine," I said, pulling the root.

	"Okay," Mitsu-san said and she and Shun went back to 
work with weeding.  

	"You can rest if you're tired," Sakomizu-sensei said, 
looking worried.  

	"I'm fine," I told him.  "Let's start laying down 
bushes."

	We got the first one and eased it in, then packed dirt 
around it.  I hummed cheerfully, kind of wishing Uncle 
Takumi was here; he'd enjoy this.

	"So nothing very exciting happened beyond the usual 
school stuff," I said as we started on another. Was he hiding 
something or was actually unaware?  Surely he couldn't be 
unaware of all that.  But why was he hiding it?

	"Once Headmistress Fumi took over, things were 
pretty peaceful with only the usual high school hijinx," he 
said.  "Like it is here, from what I've heard."  He dropped 
another bush into place and began carefully patting the dirt.

	A clever evasion.  "Wasn't someone named Mashiro 
Headmistress when my folks got there?"

	"She wasn't very good at running the school," he said, 
sounding slightly nervous, as if he expected her to suddenly 
show up and taser him.  "And she didn't last very long."

	And she was replaced by a member of the family 
when members of the family controlled the student 
council...  My eyes crossed.  No way my parents staged a 
coup at their school.  But...

	I decided to give my brain a little while to cool down.  
"Did you hear about that factory blowing up, Sensei?" I 
asked.  

	"The Tallin Institute, you mean?" he asked.

	We started on another bush.  "Yes."

	"It sounded to me like they were very sloppy with 
safety measures, so I won't cry too much," he said.  "Also, I 
know that you three are in trouble for trying to sneak in 
there and investigate."

	I froze up.  Of course he knew.  They wouldn't just 
hand us over to him without telling him what we got in 
trouble for.  Really, we got off easy; I'm lucky Dad's a 
softie and so is the Headmaster, apparently.  

	But I had to know.  I just want to know what's going 
on.  And why they felt they had to hide it from us.  I can't 
wait two years.

	I mumbled into the bush, not knowing what to say.

	"I said it was a bad idea," Mitsu-san mumbled.

	"I only regret we didn't have time to drag the others 
along," Shun said, smiling.  

	"Well, Natsuki-san got into trouble like that all the 
time, but she was better at not getting caught," Sakomizu-
sensei said, sounding amused. 

	"I'm still better at not getting caught," Aunt Natsuki 
said, causing Shun and I to jump.

	"I thought that was you.  Just like old times, eh?" 
Sakomizu-sensei said, smiling.

	Natsuki patted his shoulder, grinning.  "Well, this 
time, I came because Kasumi-chan called me and told me 
you were here."

	That was nice of her, I thought.  Just like Kasumi.  

	"Hey, Auntie," Shun said.  "You remember Mitsu-san, 
right?"

	  "Mitsu... oh, you're Shun's lady friend with the car," 
Natsuki said, coming over and shaking her hand.  "How 
long have you two been dating?"

	Mitsu-san made incoherent noises, while Shun said, 
"We're just friends."

	Aunt Natsuki gave him a dubious look and I couldn't 
help but giggle.  Sakomizu-sensei put a hand over his 
mouth.

	"I'd like to talk to you later, catch up on everything," 
Natsuki said to Sakomizu-sensei.  "But I see you're busy, so 
I'll go harass Chie and Aoi."

	"Bye, Auntie!" I told her.  

	"See you later, Natsuki-san," Sakomizu-sensei told 
her.

	And then she was gone as quickly as she'd appeared.  I 
decided I'd have plenty of time later to try to pry 
information out of Sakomizu-sensei.  If I kept this up, he'd 
likely wonder why I was so curious about old times at 
Fuuka anyway.

***************
	
Kasumi's Tale:

	I was starving as I tried to do my homework.  But 
dinner wouldn't be served for a while yet, even though I 
was very hungry after having had track and my workout 
with the family.  The cafeteria here serves ludicrously late, 
though most days that does help me not get hungry at night.

	There was a knock and I shouted, "Come in!"

	It was, to my surprise, Aunt Natsuki.  "Hey, Kasumi, 
are you busy?"

	"Not too busy for you, Auntie," I told her, closing my 
economics book.  I didn't really like economics anyway.

	"Thanks for calling me.  I had a nice talk with my old 
sensei.  So I thought I'd take you out to dinner and over to 
Haruka's firing range."

	"Firing range?"

	"Show you how to shoot a gun."

	"..."  Have they decided to groom me to be a 
commando all of a sudden???  I don't want to die, but 
surely I don't need to master every kind of weapon either.   
"Sure, Auntie," I told her.  If they think I need that...  "Are 
we going to get Dan?  I know he likes shooting."

	"I can't carry three on my cycle," Aunt Natsuki said.  

	Oh wow, Mother normally never lets me ride on Aunt 
Natsuki or Aunt Mikoto's motorcycles.  Of course, she's not 
here to object...

	"Let me change out of this skirt to some shorts, then," 
I said.

	"Good idea," she said, coming over and sitting on my 
bed as I ran to the closet.  "I understand you had some 
trouble with one of the senior athletes."

	"She hasn't given me any more trouble," I told Aunt 
Natsuki as I hung up my skirt then went to find some 
shorts.  Though she always glares at me like she wants me 
to die.

	"Good.  Is she as demonic as Shiho says?"

	"She isn't that bad, just unhappy I broke her string of 
victories," I told Aunt Natsuki as I pulled on blue shorts.  
"If you want to see her, we have another meet in a few 
days."

	"So your mother has been teaching you tonfa-
fighting?" Aunt Natsuki asked me.

	"Yes," I said.  "Ever..."  I shivered again.  "Does Aunt 
Miyu ever tell you..."

	"That was pretty gauche even for her," Aunt Natsuki 
said.  "Come on, let's go."

	We headed for the elevator.  "She's teaching Aunt 
Shiho too."

	"Good," Aunt Natsuki said.  

	We chatted about various things I won't bother you 
with in the elevator as they'd take too long to explain to 
little point.  As we headed to the parking lot, however, I 
asked her, "I don't suppose you know much about Anthony 
and Cleopatra, do you?"  I was wondering why Hayao had 
gotten so worked up over it.

	"Isn't that the play where the two young lovers commit 
suicide in the end?" Aunt Natsuki asked. When we got to 
the bike, she handed me a helmet and helped me up onto it 
once I donned the helmet.

	Hmm, he had said they both killed themselves.  "Yes."

	"Vaguely.  You're better off asking Midori, though," 
Aunt Natsuki said.  She got up on the cycle and I put my 
arms around her waist and then we took off at high speed.  I 
could hear her humming to herself as we roared off down 
the road.

	It was just as cool as I'd always thought it would be.  
The only thing better would be doing it with a cute guy 
like... I need to stop thinking about him.  But why had he 
gotten so worked up?  And why was he so mad at Crystal?  
And what was this about bees?

	The security guards let us in at Aunt Haruka's place 
and we soon made our way to the gym, where Aunt Yukino 
was doing some kind of exercise routine with a fancy 
workout machine and Aunt Haruka was sparring with 
Mother, using a pair of maces against Mother's tonfas.  

	"Hi, Natsuki-chan, Kasumi-chan!" Aunt Yukino said.

	Haruka and Mother nodded to us but were locked in 
combat.  Mom seemed to have the upper hand which 
surprised me, as I would have thought Aunt Haruka much 
tougher.  Or was Aunt Haruka playing easy with Mother?

	"I'm going to show Kasumi some gun safety and 
basics of shooting," Aunt Natsuki said to everyone.

	"Have fun!" Haruka said, then swept Mom's legs and 
held a mace to her head.  Mother looked rueful, then got up 
and they started again.

	"Be careful!" Mother told me.

	"Father making his own dinner tonight?" I asked.
	
	Mom froze and took a mace to the head.

	"Don't stop moving like that!" Aunt Haruka said to 
her.

	"Oh dear, I'd better call him, I forgot all about it!" 
Mother said. 

	Mother forgot about cooking dinner?  On what planet 
does that happen???

	"I can have someone deliver him some food," Aunt 
Haruka said.  "You don't get to leave until you defeat me."

	Mother laughed nervously.  "He's my..."

	"I know.  But you need this.  Everyone else is too 
weak to press you hard or too kind.  But I will toughen you 
up or die trying!" Aunt Haruka said.  Then she looked 
expectantly at Aunt Yukino.

	Aunt Yukino paused in pulling metal ropes.  "What, 
Haruka-chan?"

	Aunt Haruka looked relieved, while I looked 
confused.  

	Aunt Natsuki snickered and took me back to the gun 
range, then carefully showed me how to check the safety on 
a gun, how to load and unload it, and the basics of gun 
safety.  Some were obvious, like never pointing a gun at 
someone you weren't willing to shoot.  Others, less so.  
Then she drilled me on loading and unloading.  I was slow 
but steady.  Unlike the tonfas, this didn't require manual 
SPEED.  

	I could hear the sounds of Mother and Aunt Haruka 
clobbering each other the whole time.  It was oddly 
rythymic, almost soothing.

	"Okay, now try shooting."

	I had a bullseye target to shoot and I began shooting.  
The gun kicked every time, throwing me off the mark.  I 
ended up with ten shots clustered in the upper right corner 
of the target.

	"You have to compensate for the recoil," Aunt Natsuki 
told me.

	I fired off shot after shot, my shoulders aching.  My 
shots crept down towards the lower left corner as I learned 
to compensate.  Finally, my shoulders hurt too much to 
continue, but most of my shots were hitting the middle of 
the target instead of recoiling all over.  I ached but I was 
pleased with myself.

	Aunt Natsuki looked surprised, then pleased.  "A good 
start, Kasumi-chan."

	"Not bad, though not as good as me," Aunt Haruka 
said.  "Watch."

	She called down a man-shaped target, then shot it 
through the heart 8 times and in the chest twice.  "Hah!  
Top that, any of you!"

	Aunt Natsuki called down another one, then plugged it 
nine times in the heart, firing from the hip.  

	Mother laughed softly and Aunt Haruka grimaced.  
"I'll catch up with you yet, Natsuki."

	"You're very good, Auntie," I told her.

	"That's really great, Haruka," Mother said to her.  She 
looked battered but in good cheer.  More than I feel after a 
fight, anyway.

	But shooting, I had to admit, had felt pretty good.  

	"Let's see your tonfa skills," Aunt Haruka said to me.  

	"Do I have to?  I already did this once today and now 
my shoulders hurt," I said.  

	"Okay, you can come here to practice with your 
mother tomorrow," Haruka said.  "I want to see you in 
action."

	I laughed nervously, hand behind my head.  "Wear a 
face mask in case I fumble, auntie."

	"I'm sure you'll do better than that.  False modesty 
only makes you weep, right, Yukino-chan?" Haruka asked 
Aunt Yukino.

	"That's 'weak', Haruka-chan," Aunt Yukino said, 
smiling.  "And I will have a surprise ready for you, 
Kasumi-chan."

	Now I was intrigued.  Aunt Yukino always has all 
sorts of nifty tech toys.  I can't make things like that or even 
know how they work, but I like to play with them.  I use a 
miniature recorder Aunt Yukino gave me to record my 
classes to help me polish up my notes later.  

	"Thanks, Auntie!"  

******************

Crystal said:

	I finished my library research for my boring paper of 
the week and then headed back to the dorm to get some 
sleep.  As I walked, I had a sudden bad feeling of 
impending doom. I stopped and looked around; hopefully 
some pervert wasn't loose on campus when I was disarmed.

	"Crystal-san," a man's voice said.  I knew that voice, it 
was my ex-boyfriend Iwao Taiki.  He's tall and fairly 
strong; he's on the baseball team.  Unfortunately, as I found 
out when we started dating a while back, he is BORING.  
He doesn't look boring, but all he really knows is baseball 
and bad sports movies.  

	Plus, he seems likely to grow up to basically be a 
corporate drone working for his dad.  Not because he wants 
to, but because he isn't willing to actually fight to have his 
own life.  I don't know what I want to do with my life, but 
I'll chose it for myself.  

	Though at least he's not a bastard like Hayao.  It  
would help if Kasumi wouldn't waffle about him.

	"Hey there, Iwao-san," I said.  Best not to call my ex 
by his first name to avoid giving him ideas, though I could 
tell from his tone he was about to beg me to take him back 
again.

	This would be the fourth or fifth time.  I had gone 
beyond getting angry over to this to something more like 
resignation.  I wish he would get the point, but making him 
cry makes me feel like a bitch.

	And I at least hope I'm not a bitch.  

	"How's things going with the baseball team?" I asked, 
then immediately regretted it, as I was opening myself up 
to a mountain of endless boring baseball reporting.

	"We're in the off-season, so not a lot, but thanks for 
asking," he said.  "Crystal, I..."

	I put a hand over my face.  "Iwao-san, it's over.  I've 
moved on.  Why can't you?"

	"But we..." he began.

	This was once again reminding me too much of the 
time Aunt Mikoto watched Grease over and over and over,  
with big, hypnotized eyes, until Mom finally threw the 
DVD into traffic.  

	"Iwao-san. It's over.  Forget about me.  There are 
plenty of other women; why not date one of the softball 
women?  They'd appreciate your skills."  I felt very clever 
I'd finally thought of that.

	"But I'm not in love with them," he said, staring at the 
ground.  He was about to cry, again.  I thought athletes 
didn't cry!  Unless they're Kasumi, anyway.

	"I'm not in love with you," I told him.  

	"Dan's your boyfriend, isn't he," Taiki said accusingly.  
"I saw you helping him."

	For a few seconds, I stared at him mindlessly.  "Wait... 
you think... DAN AND I..."  My jaw dropped.

	"You two are certainly pretty damn close!"

	"He's my cousin," I said, facepalming.  "Cousins don't 
date each other and even if they did, he wouldn't be my 
type."

	"There are plenty of cultures where cousins date and 
even when it's frowned on, it still sometimes happens 
anyway!" he said, pointing at me.

	I give up.

	"Fine, whatever," I said, rubbing my forehead.  "I am 
not dating Dan and he's like a brother to me, anyway.  So 
please, get this crazy idea out of your head."  

	I turned and left, leaving him rambling about 
something or another. I don't know.  I didn't want to know.  

	Thankfully, he didn't follow me.  

	I got some sleep and had nightmares where we went to 
Fuuka and discovered Taiki had camped out in the cave and 
had replaced the battle princess art with badly drawn 
pictures of me in a baseball uniform.

	Ugh.

	I ate breakfast with Erica and Natasha and Dan the 
next morning; Erica made us all breakfast which was really 
nice of her.  We ate at one of the tables in the commons 
with a nice morning breeze.  Seeing the fruits of my 
gardening cheered me up; it looked much nicer now.

	"I don't know whether to laugh or to get pissed," 
Natasha said.

	"About what?" Dan asked.

	"Shun gave me a giant robot model kit with the note 
'Next time they accuse you of having a giant robot, they'll 
be right.'"

	We all began laughing, which clearly irritated her, but 
we couldn't help it.  She grumpily shovelled food into her 
mouth, losing all pretense of dignity.

	I ate more slowly but my squid was really good.  "So 
what do you all think of what I learned?"

	"Well... there is a simple explanation for how well off 
this family is," Erica said.

	"Go on?" Dan asked between bites.

	Erica waved her shrimp for emphasis.  "Poor families 
don't send their kids to expensive private schools unless 
those kids are brilliant enough for a scholarship.  Middling 
to rich families and leaning towards rich do."

	How entirely mundane.  But rather logical.  "And the 
whole move to Aunt Fumi taking over?"

	"I haven't figured that out yet," Erica confessed, then 
ate her shrimp.

	"We need to do some newspaper research, see if we 
can find something that covers news of around that time, 
see what we can learn from the archives. I'll cover that," 
Dan said.

	"Thanks," I told him.  "News on project road trip, 
Natasha?"

	She looked up from face stuffing, licking rice off her 
lips.  "We are go for next weekend.  But... Grandpa told 
Mom and now Mom wants to go."

	I winced.  "No way to get her out of it."

	"Unfortunately, not that I can think of.  But I figure if 
one or two of us get in big trouble, it should distract her 
enough for the rest to do some sneaking and investigation."

	Well, it would have to do.  

	"Oh, Crystal, Taiki sent me a bunch of 'fuck you' 
emails full of incoherent ranting about you," Dan said.  
"Any idea why?"

	I buried my face in my hands.  "The idiot doesn't 
know how to give up.  I think he's convinced himself you're 
dating me and I dumped him for you."

	Dan stared, nonplussed.

	"I'm lucky to have a nice, sane boyfriend," Natasha 
said.  "But hey, Dan, you should be flattered."

	"I'd rather not have to deal with Taiki than be 
flattered," he muttered.

	"Well, Crystal's mother had a lot of people after her 
she didn't want," Erica said.  "I'm a little jealous."

	"You should have boys all over you," I told her.

	"I'm too smart for a lot of them," she said, sighing.  
"But really, I'm too busy studying to worry about boys."

	Ahh, the excuse of people afraid to ask someone out 
everywhere, I thought.  "Is there someone you like?"

	"Not seriously," she said.  "Anyone on your mind?"

	"Not now," I said.  Not since Hayao turned out to be a 
complete asshole.  "I've got all of this to focus on right 
now."

	"Yeah," Dan said.  "So... Is Mitsu totally in love with 
Shun or just mostly?  And will we have to whip his ass?"

	"I'm thinking we're going to have to hit his ass so hard 
it lands in China," Natasha said, looking up from her food.  
"Maybe I should give her some advice."

	Oh, this should be entertaining, I thought.

	"Hello, everyone," Aunt Chie said, suddenly 
appearing and patting Erica on the shoulder.  "Hello, my 
darling daughter."

	Erica smiled goofily.  "Hi, Momma."

	Aunt Chie passed each of us a piece of paper.  "Here's 
your intelligence report for the day and your assignment."

	Assignment???

	Dan picked up his paper and stared, mouth open.  
"Another math quiz???"

	"I'm afraid so," Aunt Chie said ruefully.  "Item 2 is 
more important."

	"Taiki is planning to beat the shit out of me at 
lunchtime.  Crap," Dan said.  "Is this Taiki by himself or 
am I going to be running from the whole ball team?"

	"He seems likely to have backup in case your cousins 
try to intervene," Aunt Chie said.  "I was thinking I could 
arrange to have you paged just before lunch and you could 
eat with Aoi and I, as I don't think he'll try anything with 
teachers watching."

	I grimaced.  "Maybe I should go chew him out before 
that so he'll be too busy crying to harass Dan."

	Dan sighed.  "No, that'll just further convince him of 
his delusions."

	Ugh.  I read over my intelligence report.  Surprise quiz 
in economics, reminder of paper due in Japanese literature 
in two days, reminder to get the leave slip I'd need to go to 
Fuuka... she knew about that???  And she wanted me to 
find out if Mamiko and Seiya were actually dating...  Is she 
monitoring every person on this campus???

	"Any idea what's on the surprise quiz, Aunt Chie?" I 
asked.  Might as well milk this for what I can.  

	"Investment things.  Which I didn't understand well," 
she confessed and we all laughed a little.

	That was enough to let me do some extra studying at 
lunch time.  "Thanks, Aunt Chie," I said.  

	She gave me a thumbs up.  "Good luck, everyone.  I 
have to go pretend to be productive now."

	I glanced at the paper again and the other papers.  I 
don't think she's pretending, really.  Though I suppose this 
isn't what they pay her for.

*******************

Kasumi's Tale:

	"Oh, Dan, I'm sorry," I said to him in class as we 
waited for Mr. Sakomizu to arrive.  "Are you sure hiding 
you isn't a good idea?  We could go back to my room or 
Natasha's or Crystal's and he couldn't follow you in without 
an escort."

	"Or mine," Erica said.  "I like cooking for groups."

	"I've got to deal with this idiot myself," Dan said.

	"So what's the plan?" Erica asked.

	"I haven't figured that part out yet," he confessed. "I'm 
good with guns but that's useless here.  And you're better at 
running than I am, Kasumi."

	"I'd offer to train you but we don't have time," I said.

	"I haven't been in a real fight since sixth grade," Dan 
said, sighing.  "Well, at... dammit, baseball players train to 
run the bases."

	Before we could discuss it more, Sakomizu-sensei 
arrived and it was time for class.  

***************
	
	There are two kinds of anticipation.  The good kind I 
call 'beforeglow', where you know something cool is 
coming and you get happily excited.  The bad kind is 
'reachback' where disaster reaches back in time and starts 
punching you before it even happens.

	This was reachback.  I had bought some pizza for 
lunch because I'd been too tired in the morning after my 
exercises to cook.  I love pepperoni and canadian bacon 
pizza but it tasted lousy because I knew trouble was 
coming.

	And you could tell others knew too; the commons had 
more people than usual at the tables or lunching on bushes.  
They wanted to see a fight.  Ugh, vultures.  

	We'd all gathered together to support Dan, who 
allegedly had a plan, but wouldn't share it, just told us not 
to intervene.  Shun looked relaxed; Erica looked worried, 
and Crystal and Natasha both looked ready to eat their own 
plates.  Erica was eating some kind of pork and noodle 
dish, but most of the others had gotten pizza like me.

	"Room for one more?" Gin asked; I noticed he had 
pizza too.  Ham and green pepper?  How odd.

	"Of course, honey," Natasha said, shoving Crystal 
down the bench so he could precariously perch on her side 
of the table at the end.

	"Animal, vegetable, or mineral?" Shun asked Dan.

	"What?" Dan asked, about to put a slice in his mouth.

	"Give us some hints of your plan."

	Dan winced.  "You'll see soon enough," he mumbled.  

	Murmering started and I turned and saw the oncoming 
storm.

	Taiki had brought ten of his teammates with him, or at 
least ten friends; they all looked pretty tough to me.  One of 
them, to my surprise, was Hayao, though I was pretty sure 
he wasn't on the baseball team.  

	I hoped this wasn't going to turn into the family versus 
the baseball team, as we were rather outnumbered.  I had 
my tonfas in my carry bag, each carefully wrapped in 
dishtowels held on with rubberbands so they wouldn't clack 
on each other all day long making me crazy.  But I don't 
think any of the rest of us were armed unless Natasha had 
the ones Mother had given her.

	Taiki strode up to the table and everyone tensed.  
"You!  And me!" He shouted, pointing at Dan.  "I'm going 
to kick your ass for stealing my woman!"

	Crystal facepalmed, then was about to shout 
something but Dan shook his head at her, so she just sat 
there, clutching the table and seething.

	"She's my cousin, not my girlfriend," Dan said.  "As 
everyone but you knows."

	"Liar!  You're not related at all!  Now, are you going 
to fight or am I going to have to make you fight??" Taiki 
demanded.

	Dan said, "Fighting like that is fine for five year olds.  
But we're not five any more."  His voice was eerily calm.  
"And do you really think that if you beat me up, it will 
somehow make her love you?"

	Shun had an odd look on his face; for a moment, I 
wondered if he was going to claim he was Dan's real 
girlfriend.  But he was wearing boy's clothing today, so it 
wouldn't have worked.  

	"Please, Iwao-san, let's not have a fight," I said.  I 
know he wanted us to stay out, but I couldn't help myself.

	"I'm not here to fight you," he said to me roughly.  
"So, you're too much of a wuss to defend yourself, is that 
it?"  He grabbed Dan and pulled him to his feet.

	Crystal started to move, but Natasha pulled her back, 
though she looked like she was about ready to kill 
something herself.

	"Ready for your beating?" Taiki demanded.

	I could see several of his friends looking 
uncomfortable; it was clear they didn't mind backing him 
up in a fight, but they hadn't come to just deliver a beating.  
To my relief, Hayao was one of them.  He's so... aargh, this 
is not the time for thinking about how sexy he is or how he 
moves so gracefully or...

	"You can hit me until I pass out, but that just proves 
you're a thug and a bully," Dan said flatly.

	"You're a thief of hearts!"  He began beating the crap 
out of Dan, who just blocked the blows as best he could, 
but was gradually getting clobbered.  

	I could feel myself shaking; I could almost feel every 
blow like it was hitting me.  I wanted to do something but 
what could I do?  What could I do?

	Crystal looked utterly mortified; she was being 
physically restrained by Natasha now.  Shun was staring at 
the table, fists clenched.  Erica was on the phone, speaking 
very quietly.  

	"We'll never get to go to Fuuka if you get in this 
fight," Natasha hissed to Crystal.  "Dan knows that."

	"It isn't fair, it isn't fair," Crystal hissed back.

	"Life isn't fair," Shun said softly.

	Dan grunted every time he got hit, slowly getting 
louder; I couldn't tell if he was holding back screaming in 
pain or if he was always like this in a fight; I hadn't ever 
seen him get this pummelled.

	Then I heard running; it was Sakomizu-sensei and the 
baseball coach, Fujiwara Michinaga, was following him.

	Most of Taiki's followers suddenly froze in place, then 
they scattered.  Hayao grabbed Taiki.  "Run, you fool!"

	Taiki, instead, clipped Dan on the chin and sent him 
sprawling.

	"Stop, immediately!" Sakomizu-sensei said angrily.  

	"Don't bother running, I know who you all are, you 
know!" Coach Fujiwara shouted at Taiki's gang.

	Crystal finally gave Natasha the slip and ran over to 
Dan, followed by the rest of us.  This wasn't going to dispel 
any rumors, I knew.

	"Very good, Masakuri-san," Sakomizu-sensei said to 
Hayao.  "You can go now.  Coach Fujiwara will handle 
him."

	I could hear more running; Aunt Aoi was coming at 
full tilt with her kit bag.  

	"Dan, Dan, why?" Crystal asked him, kneeling down 
by him.

	"Had worse in Morocco... never go off on your own in 
Morocco..." Dan mumbled.

	"Tate-san, help me carry him," Sakomizu-sensei said, 
and together they picked him up.

	"He's going to be okay, right?" I asked, shaking.

	"It's okay," Dan mumbled.  "I just need some aspirin."

	"All you vultures scoot!" Coach Fujiwara shouted at 
everyone observing.  "Team members, round up for your 
beating!"

	We escorted Dan back to the infirmary with Aunt Aoi 
and Sakomizu-sensei.  "What was that about?" Sakomizu-
sensei asked.

	"That bastard Taiki beat up Dan thinking Dan's my 
boyfriend," Crystal said, arms folded across her chest, 
looking ready to eat the furniture.  "I can't believe I ever 
went out with that fu..."  She glanced over at Sakomizu-
sensei and shut her mouth.  

	"It's okay, Crystal.  I should be fine by trip time," Dan 
mumbled, eyes closed as Aunt Aoi worked on him.

	"I don't know if Coach Fujiwara will actually punish 
him, though," Natasha said.  "Coaches tend to cover up for 
their players."

	"It's in his hands," Sakomizu-sensei said.  "Let's hope 
this doesn't happen again."

	"I expect he'll be satisfied after this," Dan said.

****************

	I saw Taiki and the others running lap after lap during 
our track practice. I'm not sure, but I think they kept trying 
to crowd me out whenever I ran; it was hard to tell if it was 
deliberate or incompetence, because they ran so poorly 
anyway, but it was enough to make me nervous. At least 
they were getting some punishment, even if it really didn't 
seem harsh enough to me.

	When I got to Natasha's, she'd already told Mother and 
Aunt Shiho the whole thing; Aunt Shiho looked ready to 
eat the furniture, while Mother just looked sad.  "Well, 
we're going over to Yukino-chan's house," Mother said.  
"She's got some kind of surprise for us."

	"Does it involve us kicking Iwao's ugly ass?" Natasha 
asked.

	"Probably not," Mother said.  

	For some reason, Aunt Shiho and Natasha played their 
flutes all the way there; thankfully they're both good 
flautists.  This seemed to soothe both of them.

	When we got to the workout room, to our surprise, 
Aunt Yukino and Aunt Haruka were both wearing black 
and green tight bodysuits and holding helmets.  They had a 
stack of them on a chair.  "Everyone change into these; take 
off everything but your underwear, especially anything 
metal," Aunt Yukino said.

	I studied the outfit.  "Are we going to learn to ride 
motorcycles or something?"

	Aunt Yukino smiled more mischevously than usual.  
"You'll see."

	We all changed, though I was a little embarrassed by 
how much the outfit clung to me; it wasn't quite the same 
as being naked, but you could really blatantly see the 
outline of my bra and panties.  "Does it have to be this 
tight?"

	"Unfortunately, yes, or the full sensory simulation 
won't happen," Aunt Yukino said.

	I put my helmet on, which seemed to make everything 
seen through the visor look green and black for some 
reason.  "Okay, now what?"

	"Artemis, Activate Program Four," Yukino said.

	The world suddenly shimmered and now were on a 
beautiful school campus, all of us clad in orange-brown and 
white school uniforms.  Haruka stared at herself, then 
moved a little.  "It feels so real!"

	"We're getting very good at this," Yukino said.  
"Artemis, trigger Sequence one."

	A dozen red balls rained down from the sky, then 
began to orbit Yukino in an elaborate pattern like one of 
those atomic symbol things.  She produced a conductor's 
wand somehow and began making them dance and as they 
danced, they emitted music.  She looked incredibly happy.

	"Artemis?" Shiho asked.  "Who is that?"

	"My electronic assistant," Yukino said.  "I have her 
configured to run the VR equipment."  

	Haruka tried touching a tree.  "It feels so real. I can 
feel the texture and everything..."

	"I can smell the flowers!" I said to my amazement as I 
kneeled down and sniffed at them.

	"Artemis, may I have a flute?" Aunt Shiho asked 
hesitantly, and now she had a flute, which she began to 
play.

	"It's amazing," Mother said.  "And it looks just like 
Fuuka!"

	"It's all here," Aunt Yukino said.  "Right now, I have it 
set to full sim; you can also drop down the simulation level 
so your movements are real world movements but you 
percieve extra information and so on.  Right now, you're 
standing stock still and just experiencing things as if they're 
real."

	"Wow, you're going to make billions off this," Aunt 
Shiho said, sounding a little envious.

	"It's too expensive and uses too much processor time 
in full sim mode for most people, but if we can get this 
ready for market soon, we will make even more money, 
yes," Aunt Yukino said.  "There's a lot of good applications 
for lower-sim modes, too.  I've already got some built into 
my glasses."

	"How big of changes can Artemis make?" Haruka 
asked.

	"Ahh," Yukino said, clearly enjoying the chance to 
show off.  "Artemis, activate 9000 mode."

	"9000 mode?" I asked.

	Aunt Shiho giggled; Mom and I clearly didn't get it.  

	Nothing obvious changed, though.  "Are you sure 
that's the right number?" I asked.

	Then Aunt Yukino did a backflip and landed on the 
rooftop, high above us.  I stared.

	Then she held out a hand.  "Everyone, join me."

	Haruka stared, then got a look of intense joy and 
leaped into the air, flipping on the way and catching 
Yukino's hand, who pulled her up.

	"Come on!" Mother said, suddenly smiling widely and 
taking my hand.  "And JUMP!"  And then we were flying 
into the air, jumping impossibly high, so high we overshot 
Aunt Yukino and Aunt Haruka, landing on the very peak of 
the domed roof which was flanked by two flatter wings; 
Aunt Haruka and Aunt Yukino were on the one to the right.

	We slid down the slope to join them.  "Come on, 
Shiho!" Mother shouted.  

	I could see Aunt Shiho staring.  She looked rather 
nervous.

	Natasha, on the other hand, looked very excited and 
said, "Come on, mother!  They'll leave us behind."

	Shiho closed her eyes for a minute, then opened them, 
then took Natasha by the hand and leaped up to join us on 
the roof.

	You could see the whole campus spread out around us, 
though I noticed it lacked people.  "Can you make people?"

	"Yes.  Too many, though, and it eats up so much 
processor time that everything lags," Aunt Yukino said.  
"Which feels really strange in full-sim mode."

	"How far can we jump?" Aunt Haruka asked, 
excitedly.

	"About fifty to seventy feet, depending on strength," 
Aunt Yukino said.  "Maybe more.  I'm not very strong, so 
I'm not sure how high the multiplier will go."

	It all felt so real, I thought.  I could feel the textures of 
the roof through my feet, smell the flowers everywhere, 
hear birds singing... wow.  "So are we going to practice like 
this?"

	"We should normally train in low-sim mode, as this 
doesn't actually work your muscles," Aunt Yukino said.  
"However, I have a special session prepared for you."

	"Wait, do you mean..." Mother began.

	"Since you four are training with tonfas, cross your 
arms in front of your chests, then say, 'Weapon A'," Aunt 
Yukino said.  

	I crossed my arms like Auntie said, and then suddenly 
high winds erupted around all four of us.  For a moment, I 
was terrified, and then I felt... it was like the winds were 
hugging me.  Or even petting me like a cat or...  It went 
from scary to exciting and then the wind suddenly 
compacted into our hands and each of us were holding huge 
golden tonfas with two long bars instead of one, offset from 
each other at a slight angle, though mainly parallel to each 
other.  Mother and I had both put our hair up but now it 
came cascading down around our neck and shoulders.  
Aunt Shiho and Natasha's hair cascaded down also.  Aunt 
Shiho stared at the weapons in surprise, while Natasha said, 
"Man, these things feel so real."

	"And for Haruka-chan..."  Yukino said, "Activate 
Weapon H!"

	Shards of metal suddenly all converged on Haruka but 
instead of impaling her, they coalesced into a mace and 
chain in her hands.  She stared at it, then grinned.  
"Alright!"

	Aunt Yukino now clasped her own arms and leaves 
swirled around her in a cloud, forming themselves into... a 
mirror?  That's an odd thing to bring to a fight.  Then she 
pulled on it and it somehow split into an orbiting set of 
many mirrors floating around her.  

	"And there's our target," Aunt Yukino said.  She 
pushed the air as if there was an invisible button and now 
we could see three giant snakes the size of buses in 
diameter and very, very long.  They were tearing up what 
looked like a gymnasium.  "Time to save the gym!"

	Mom looked over at Yukino.  "Are you sure..."

	"It's all a practice game, right?" Yukino said.

	I could sense some definite tension here, but why?  
This was just basically a video game in our heads, right?

	"THEN LET'S KICK SOME BOOT!" Aunt Haruka 
shouted.

	She took off, leaping roof to roof, charging and 
swinging her mace wildly.

	"Butt," Aunt Yukino said softly, smiling.  

	Aunt Shiho licked her lips.  "That's right, it's just a 
game," she said as if assuring herself of this.

	Okay, it does feel real, but we all know this sort of 
thing can't happen for real, so why are they jumpy?

	"Come on, Mom, we can't let Aunt Haruka hog the 
glory!" Natasha shouted and took off after her.

	"Yeah!" I said, surprising myself. I leaped, landing 
further ahead then Natasha, to her evident surprise.  I am 
pretty sure I have the strongest legs here except maybe 
Aunt Haruka.

	Aunt Shiho and Mother closed their eyes, then opened 
them, looking determined.  Then they started jumping after 
us.

	The first of the snakes reared up to strike at Aunt 
Haruka and she smacked it in the nose with her mace and 
chain, then crashed into its head and went flying off at an 
angle.  Mother leaped over and caught her, dropping down 
between two of the snakes.  Aunt Shiho landed on the roof 
of the gym and Natasha dropped down next to her.  I 
landed next to Mother as she put Aunt Haruka down.  The 
first snake was flailing about in pain, while the second 
prepared to strike down at us and the third was about to 
lash out at Aunt Shiho and Natasha.

	"Their underbelly scales are softer and less potent for 
defense," Aunt Yukino reported.  

	"I'm going to smack this one in the nose when it dives 
at us," Aunt Haruka announced, swinging her mace and 
chain.  "While it's distracted, Akane, you strike at its weak 
bottom.  Kasumi, keep the first one preoccupied, strike the 
underbelly if it gives you an opening."

	"What about us?" Natasha shouted.  

	"Keep Shiho from being eaten!" Haruka shouted as 
Mother and I moved into position and the second snake 
began to strike.

	"HEY!"  Aunt Shiho sounded angry.

	I could hear the sound of fangs and tonfas clashing up 
on the roof, while I leaped up and began running up and 
down the first serpent's back.  It tried to strike at me, but I 
was too quick, impossibly fast, leaping around crazily.  
Utterly impossible, but it felt... amazing.  My blood was 
pumping and I was moving in ways I'm pretty sure the laws 
of physics normally veto.

	The second serpent tried to bite Aunt Haruka, only to 
get a mace and chain smack to the inside of its mouth, then 
another to the nose and a third to the eye.  

	And then Mother swung her tonfas at the creature, but 
not actually hitting it.  To my shock, high winds erupted in 
visible bursts, blowing scales off its underbelly, slicing 
them off with ribbons of air.

	Aunt Haruka stared, then got swallowed and I could 
hear smashing and yelling noises inside it as she went down 
its throat.  

	"HARUKA!" Aunt Yukino shouted.

	"HARUKA!" Mother shouted and now she spun 
around, ribbons of wind slashing wildly, ripping the 
creature's underbelly open and Aunt Haruka fell out, 
covered in goo. Blood spurted wildly and the creature fell 
over thrashing.

	The first serpent tried to bite me again and now I tried 
imagining doing what mother had done; to my shock, it 
worked, though really, given this was basically a video 
game, it shouldn't have surprised me.  Streamers of wind 
erupted from my tonfas, smashing and battering and slicing 
its face and one of its eyes burst open, and I was horrified 
and fascinated at once.  I could see the second serpent was 
dissolving away into yellow motes of light, and now this 
one began to dissolve as well; I leaped impossibly 
backwards onto the third one, which had gotten its fangs 
stuck in the gym roof, while Natasha and Aunt Shiho were 
battering it in the head.  "Do what Mother did!" I shouted.

	Aunt Shiho looked uncertain, but Natasha 
concentrated and swung and ribbons of air sliced through 
the serpent's head and then it dissolved away into nothing.

	I dropped down to the ground, breathing hard, terrified 
and exhilarated at once.  It's just a game, nothing got hurt, I 
told myself.  But seeing it die like that... It had seemed so 
real.  I shivered, but I couldn't tell if it was horror or joy or 
both at once.

	Natasha, on the other hand, clearly had no mixed 
emotions.  "THAT WAS AWESOME!" she shouted.

	Aunt Shiho rubbed her forehead nervously, while 
Mother looked extremely happy.  "I did it!" she shouted.

	Aunt Haruka was trying to get the goo off herself, and 
making faces of nastiness, but her voice was cheerful.  
"Can you erase this goo, Yukino?"

	Yukino pushed something invisible in the air and it 
evaporated and the gym fixed itself.  Haruka stretched.  
"That was GREAT!"

	We all assembled on the ground by the gym, and 
Haruka now grabbed Yukino, hugging her tightly.  "That 
was GREAT!" Aunt Haruka said again, and Natasha and 
Mom both laughed.  Aunt Shiho stared up at the sky, then 
looked at the two of them and smiled.

	I could feel myself starting to calm down and I 
couldn't help but smile at them embracing.  I wonder if 
Crystal and Natasha feel like this every time they get in a 
fight, I thought.  It felt so good but also it scared me.  

	"They may be busy a while," Aunt Shiho said to the 
rest of us.

	"We should give them some privacy," Mother agreed.  

	"Someone's getting some nookie tonight," Natasha 
said.  "How about if you show us around?"

	Ooh, clever, I thought.  That would be useful for our 
trip if this is accurate.

	Aunt Haruka suddenly turned red and jumped back.  
"Ack, I'm sorry, Yukino-chan."

	Sorry?  For hugging her?  What exactly is up with 
them?

	"It's fine," Yukino said softly.  "I rather like it, you 
know."

	"I just... I have a boyfriend and he might get the wrong 
idea and... and..."  Aunt Haruka was turning red.  
"Natasha!" she suddenly yelled.

	"What?" Natasha said.  "Dammit, I don't have a giant 
robot!"  She paused, then facepalmed.

	I laughed.  

	"We aren't... I have a boyfriend!" Haruka protested.

	"So I hear, but I have yet to see him," Aunt Shiho said.  
"I could loan you one of mine if you want, though."

	Mother covered her face in her hands for a moment, 
then said, "We'd all like to meet Pierre.  We should have a 
party for him some time."

	"Alright, I'll talk to him," Haruka said, calming 
herself.

	"Shiho, he really is real.  I lost very badly to him at 
badminton last weekend," Yukino said, putting her hands 
on Haruka's shoulders and slowly kneading them.  Haruka 
began slowly to relax.  "And yes, I think a tour would be 
nice."

	"Yes, a tour!  As head of the executive committee, I 
know every inch of this campus!  Follow me!"

	We spent the rest of the session on a virtual tour; by 
the end of it I felt quite back to normal, but I could still 
remember what fighting that thing had felt like; it seemed 
so real.  But so did all of this.  

	We all took a bath together afterwards; we'd all gotten 
quite sweaty, though I didn't feel tired at all even after what 
seemed like hours of jumping about impossibly... if I could 
do that for real, I'd be the Empress of Track and Field.

	Mother hugged me very tightly when she said 
goodbye.  "You did very well, dear."

	"Well, if any giant snakes attack me at school, I'll 
know what to do," I said.  "I don't think that's too likely, 
though."

	"How did it feel?" she asked me softly.

	"Wonderful.  Terrible.  Kind of like when I'm running, 
except a lot scarier.  Running just feels good, but this 
was..."  I shivered a little.  "I felt like my mind wasn't sure 
whether to laugh for joy or scream in terror.  Even knowing 
it was imaginary."

	"I know, I felt like that too," Mother said.  "But I did 
it.  I won," she said very softly.  "I can do it, and I will."

	What was she talking about?  Do what?  "Do what, 
Mother?" I asked.

	"When is your next match?" she asked me.

	"Two days," I told her.  "We have to go down to Torio 
for it."

	"I will see if I can find time from work," Mother said.  
"And hopefully your father can get off to come too."

	"I know he's really busy," I told Mother.  And of 
course, with Mother not there, someone has to run the 
bakery or else they have to close it and give up income.  
And I know that Rosewood costs a lot and they keep my 
brothers fed and make house payments and everything.    
"Wait... who is taking care of my brothers with you up here 
all the time?"

	"Your aunt Mikoto was kind enough to volunteer to 
watch them for a few hours down at her dojo when I'm here 
with you," Mother told me, smiling.  "She really loves your 
brothers very much."

	"I bet she was just like them at that age," I told 
Mother.

	Mother seemed to stare off into space for a moment.  
"Actually, I think they're probably better behaved than she 
likely was at their age."

	I shivered, trying to imagine that.  Oh dear.

	"Anyway, she loves them to death and I know she'll 
watch over them and keep them safe, so I am very grateful 
to her," Mother said.  "I'd better get home and pick them up 
and make dinner for your father."

	I was wondering how she was keeping up on that and 
spending so much time with me.  Mind you, I'm very happy 
to see her every day.  I love Mother a lot and she seems so 
happy lately.  Even more so today.

	 But I was also glad to get home and get my 
homework done and rest some.

	I was still working on my homework when there was a 
knock at the door.  I went and opened it and to my surprise, 
Hayao was there.  "Masakuri-san!" I said in surprise.  How 
had he gotten into the women's dorm this late?

	"Hey, I thought I'd come by, see if you'd like to go out 
this weekend, Kurauchi-san," he said.

	I wanted to, but I couldn't.  I mean... I could feel 
myself shivering already.  When he smiles at me, I feel all 
gooey inside and I shouldn't, as he's just a user of women, 
but he seems like a nice guy and maybe that's exaggerated.  
No one who goes to visit a hurt teacher could be that bad, 
though.

	"I'm sorry, I'm going on a family trip," I told him.  
"And I shouldn't be wasting time on dating, anyway. I have 
a lot of responsibilities."

	"You sound like Kagami-san," he said.  "All work and 
no play makes for going crazy."

	"I'm fine.  And even if I could, I couldn't do it this 
weekend."

	He gave me an odd look, then smiled in a way that 
made my heart flutter.  I shouldn't have these feelings!  
He's a bad boy and why do I like him so much?

	"Well, maybe next weekend."  He glanced at my desk.  
"I'd better sneak out before the matron catches me."  We 
have an old lady who is supposed to catch boys sneaking in 
and make sure we don't have sex in our rooms all the time, 
but it hasn't stopped Crystal or Natasha EVER and there's 
always boys roaming loose.  

	"Good luck," I tell him. I can wish him luck, right?

	"It's not the matron you need to fear," Mitsu-san said.

	He froze up.  "Ack, don't turn me in, Kagami-san!"

	"I'll let you go this time," she said.  "Just go straight 
out."

	He bowed.  "Thank you."

	"Because you were nice and wanted to comfort Mr. 
Kukri.  Even if you then got in a fight with Crystal."

	He grimaced, muttered to himself, then said, "See you 
around, Kagami-san, Kurauchi-san."  Then he ran off.

	"He's really being persistant," Mitsu-san said, 
watching him go.

	"I think he likes me but..."  I shuffled.

	"Well, he's definitely looking to sleep with you," she 
said disapprovingly.  "Did he actually sleep with Tate-
san?"

	"I'm not sure what happened but I think she's decided 
he is the sum of all evil," I told her.  "Would you like to 
come in?"

	"Sure," she said.  "I was just coming by to say hi, but I 
can stay a little.  I need to get back to my homework soon."

	"Me too," I confessed.

	"Need help with anything?" she asked.

	"Are you any good with math?  I'm not as bad as Dan, 
but I could use some help."

	We worked on math together for a while; she's a good 
teacher, gentle, slow, and patient.  "Have you ever thought 
about teaching?" I asked her.

	"My parents want me to be a doctor," she said in a 
way that indicated the decision was made.  

	I tried to decide whether to say something about Shun.  
I really shouldn't butt in.

	Once we finished the math, she said, "Do you know..."  
She paused, staring at the floor.  "Nevermind."

	"You can ask me," I told her.  "I owe you a favor 
now?"

	"Have you ever been in love before?" she asked softly.

	"Yes," I told her.  "Unfortunately, it never worked out.  
All my boyfriends run away from my family or else they 
just wanted to... sleep with me.  Or both."  I sighed.  "I 
don't understand why I attract so many men who just 
want... want... just want sex."  Like Hayao.  But he was... 
was he different?  I'm probably just rationalizing like 
Natasha.  

	"You're very beautiful," she told me, sitting down on 
my bed as I turned my chair around.  "You dress modestly, 
but if you didn't, you'd probably have every boy on campus 
trying to get into your bed," she said.  "I'll never have that 
problem."

	"I think you're very cute," I told her.

	"My parents have forbidden me to date anyone until I 
finish my education, anyway.  Mom never finished 
graduate school because of me."  She sounded rather guilty 
about it.

	What could I say to that?  "I'm sure she loves you very 
much," I said.  Not that I had any clue.  But what else could 
I say?

	"I wish," Mitsu-san said, then looked embarrassed.  
"Forget I said that," she mumbled.  

	I trundled my chair closer and leaned to put a hand on 
her shoulder.  "Mitsu-san," I whispered, utterly wishing I 
knew what to say.  Maybe I should call Shun.  He knows 
how to make people smile.  Or I could call Natasha; she'd 
say something stupid and totally distract Mitsu-san from 
everything.  

	"I wish I had a family like yours, Kurauchi-san," she 
whispered, folding over to where she was basically talking 
to her knees and mine.  "You all love each other so much."

	I was utterly paralyzed.  What do you say to 
something like that?  How do you...  "It's not always as 
good as we make it look," I mumbled.

	"A lot of people think you're all pretty strange and 
Mother or Father wouldn't be very happy with me, but... 
but... I like you all," she whispered.  "They're so angry with 
me and it's so hard to keep up with everything and..."

	Then she started crying.

	I moved over to sit by her on the bed and clumsily 
hugged her.  "It's okay.  It's okay," I mumbled.  "I think 
you're doing a really good job.  When the fight nearly 
broke out at Mr. Kukri's room, you stepped in and stopped 
it, remember?  And you work hard for the club and Crystal 
says you work really hard in the gardens."

	"Not as hard as her.  I'm just pulling weeds and she's 
doing the heavy lifting," she said miserably, sobbing.  "I 
could train a monkey to do my job; she's doing all the real 
work while we goof off."

	"Don't be so harsh on yourself," I told her.  "You work 
really hard and I can tell you're doing your best.  But 
Crystal is twenty times stronger than either of us.  So she 
gets that kind of job, while people like us do the tedious 
work everyone else gives up on or does a half-hearted job 
on, but I can tell you throw everything you have into it.  
You are a wonderful person."

	"But you run so fast... you're much stronger than me.  
I'm so weak," Mitsu-san mumbled into my chest.  "I'm not 
good for anything."

	"Don't say that," I said.  She doesn't really mean that, 
I'm sure.  I know how I sound when I get depressed and I 
feel like everyone is better than I am.  That everyone else is 
special and I'm just the leftover weakling everyone has to 
protect.  "You just helped me a lot and you work hard to 
help everyone."  I tried again to figure out what to say.  "I 
believe in you, Mitsu-san."

	She clung to me, not so much crying as heaving 
silently, her breath labored.  

	"I could call Shun, if you want," I said softly.

	"He'd just make fun of me," she said gloomily.

	"He'd try to make you smile," I told her.  "He only 
teases people he likes."

	"You think so?" she asked weakly.

	"We're cousins," I said.  "I've known him since he was 
a baby."

	"I wish..." she said softly.

	"Go on?" I asked her.

	"I..."  She sounded very nervous and sad at once.

	I held her expectantly.

	"I wish..."  She didn't say it out loud, so I wasn't sure 
what she wished for.  "I wish I didn't have to sleep by 
myself," she mumbled.

	"Well, my roomate is off at some late night study 
session, but I'm sure she won't mind if you stay over," I told 
her.

	"Really?" Mitsu-san said weakly.

	"Yes," I told her.

	I haven't slept with someone else outside family 
insufficient bed crises in a long time, though when I was 
little, one of my neighbors used to sleep over at my place a 
lot.  

	It felt kind of nice, and she slept very quietly and 
peacefully, then headed back to her room to shower the 
next morning after thanking me, and then I went to join the 
others for breakfast.


****************

Crystal's Tale:

	Jumping backwards in time...

	 I sat in the tree, asking myself if it was really wise to 
be doing this.  Especially given Seiya is on the baseball 
team, which I'm sure hates my guts.  However, I felt 
obliged to pay back Aunt Chie for the information she gave 
me.

	I could see the two of them; Seiya is a tall, slightly 
muscular brunet and Mamiko is middling in height and 
build with long brown hair in two pony-tails.  They'd come 
out to the woods between the three schools here 
(Rosewood, Tokugawa and Saint Mary's), which usually 
meant time for makeouts.  Except they were both carrying 
bags and one of the bags had a baseball bat sticking out.  
Was this some kind of freaky makeout game???

	As I quickly found out, what it actually turned out to 
be was her pitching a baseball and him practicing batting 
and an awful lot of them running around trying to find the 
ball while I hid desperately up in my tree.

	It was kind of sweet, actually.  I couldn't quite figure 
out if they were both just friends or if they both had a crush 
they couldn't express or why they felt they had to come out 
here and hide this from everyone.  

	Eventually, I managed to sneak away and headed back 
to my room and called Aunt Chie.  "Baseball practice," I 
told her.

	"Baseball practice?" Aunt Chie asked, confused.

	"My assignment," I told her.  "They're sneaking off so 
she can pitch and he can bat."

	"..."

	I laughed softly.  "Not what you expected?"

	"She's one of those 'Oh, I am a soft wilting flower who 
can barely stand to walk under my own power, so please 
bring me that, honey' types," Aunt Chie said.  "So I am 
totally surprised.  Is she good?"

	"Better than me.  He seemed pretty pleased.  But they 
kind of chose a really bad place to be hitting baseballs at 
high power," I said.

	"Hmm.  Well, thank you very much," she said 
cheerfully.  "How did the quiz go?"

	"Thanks to the heads up, well, I think.  Thank you, 
Aunt Chie."

	"I take care of my own," she said.  "I used to do this 
sort of thing for your mother, back in school."

	I couldn't decide whether to ask about the bridge and 
the plague or not.  Erica had tried looking it up online and 
couldn't find anything; I had called Nagisa, but he had told 
me he couldn't find anything about it or the plague, either, 
though he was still looking into it.  

	"Something you want to ask me but can't decide?" 
Aunt Chie asked.

	"..."

	"I can hear your brain grinding."

	For a moment, I wondered if she could read minds.  
But how could even a real psychic, if there were real 
psychics, read a mind over the phone?  "Do a lot of people 
on this campus think I'm dating Dan or is that just Taiki's 
delusion?"

	"There's a lot of people who think our family is kind 
of strange, though some people are kind of envious you're 
all so close," Aunt Chie said.  

	'Our family'.  She says it so easily, like she's always 
been part of this.  Or has she and for some reason she and 
Aunt Aoi were under cover until now?  Erica seems to have 
just accepted suddenly having us as cousins without protest 
and plots right along with the rest of us but if she knew all 
along...

	Okay, I am getting stupidly paranoid. I'm going to 
start thinking cats are talking to me next.  

	When I caught myself looking for cats, I had to slap 
my own forehead.  There are a lot running around this 
campus, but none of them talk.

	To me, anyway.

	"Oh yes, did you remember to get your leave slip?"

	"..."

	"As you're already in trouble, so it's best you avoid 
breaking any more school rules.  Fortunately, I'm in a 
position to sponsor you all to take the weekend trip, but you 
still need to get the slip, fill it out, and let me sign it."

	"How did you find out?"  I had almost forgotten she'd 
found out on us somehow.  Hopefully, she'd tell me how.

	"Natasha's great-grandfather told Shiho, who told the 
rest of us.  Which really, you all should have anticipated.  
I'm a little disppointed Erica didn't anticipate that.  Still, 
this will be good practice for you, trying to avoid Shiho 
catching you all sneaking around.  Whatever exactly you 
have planned."

	"..."

	"Anyway, it will be a fun trip, I think.  I haven't been 
back to Fuuka in ages.  I wonder if my old uniform still 
fits..."  She sounded contemplative.

	I tried to figure out exactly when Aunt Chie had taken 
over our master plan, but I wasn't sure.  I also wasn't sure if 
she was trying to help us or just playing around with us.  Or 
both.

	"I just want to know the truth," I mumbled.

	"I know and I admire that," Aunt Chie said.  "The 
desire for the truth is an important virtue."

	"Then why won't you tell us the truth?" I asked flatly.  

	Now I could hear HER mind grinding.

	"I promised your mother to keep my silence for now.  
I can't tell you anything, yet."  There was something odd 
about her tone.  "But I have a feeling things will force an 
end to secrets sooner than she expects."  Her voice sounded 
oddly far away.  "I'm sorry.  You barely know me and now 
I've been forced on you and I can't even tell you the truth.  
But I swear, I will do my best to be a good aunt to you and 
to protect you and watch over you like I watch over my 
own family."  Her voice was very firm now.  "Just please 
give me a chance, okay?"

	"Okay, Aunt Chie," I said softly.  "I just wish I knew 
what you were protecting me from."

	"Good luck finding out.  I'll have a fresh intel report 
for you in the morning, but I will go ahead and tell you that 
you might want to make sure you're up to date on your 
reading for lit class."

	"Thanks, Aunt Chie," I told her.  I think she wants to 
tell us, but Mom won't let her.  Though for some reason, 
Mom told her after many years of NOT telling her.  It's 
pretty clear she didn't know... what happened at that 
factory?  We've GOT to go back and look somehow.

 	But with Shun and I on a short chain, that may be 
difficult.  

****************
	
	At breakfast the next morning, Natasha was so hyper, 
I had to wonder if she'd been eating Thin Mints all night 
again.  Her mother won't let her near them any more 
because she will eat an entire box in a day if not stopped.  
Then she goes even more Natasha than usual.  This is how 
we got such disasters as the time we convinced ourselves it 
was a good idea to try to teach ourselves how to ride a 
motorcycle without asking for help.  

	"IT WAS SUPREMELY KICK ASS," Natasha 
shouted, in case people on Mars needed to know.  Lots of 
people stared and I crouched down a little over my ham and 
eggs, though I knew people would stare at me anyway.

	"It was really amazing, but also kind of scary," 
Kasumi said, smiling a little despite saying it was scary.

	I glanced over at Dan, then winced for him; he still 
looked clobbered.  I hope he will get better fast enough to 
go with us.  Dan's like that; he tends to like to tough things 
out, which I think isn't the best solution most of the time.  
Then again, I don't have his pain resistance or endurance.  
Erica was fussing over him, checking his bandages.  I guess 
she learned first aid from her mother.

	"Scary?" Shun asked.

	"You totally have to BEG Aunt Yukino to let you try 
it.  And now we both know our way around Fuuka really 
well.  Aunt Haruka showed us lots of stuff," Natasha said 
excitedly.

	"It was a very nice tour," Kasumi said, looking up 
from her cereal.

	"I think Aunt Haruka and Aunt Yukino would have 
had mad monkey sex right there if we hadn't all been 
around, though," Natasha said.

	"Seriously?" Shun asked, sounding surprised.  

	"You thought Dad and Uncle Takumi were having 
mad monkey sex once and it turned out you dreamed the 
whole thing," I told her flatly.

	"Even Kasumi's mom thought so," Natasha said.

	Kasumi looked a little embarrassed and said, "It was 
rather strange but Aunt Haruka does have a boyfriend; 
Mother was talking about arranging a party for everyone to 
meet Pierre."

	"Did you manage to winkle any interesting 
information out of any of them?"

	"No, but it was so totally kickass that it doesn't matter.  
Because it was AWESOME," Natasha said.  "I expect they 
had mad nookie once we left, though."

	Kasumi's eyes crossed.  "Mom made some enigmatic 
comments about how she can 'do it' and 'I will'."

	"Do what?" I asked.

	"She changed the subject to my running matches," 
Kasumi replied.

	I looked over at Dan. "You're very quiet.  You okay?"

	"Conserving my strength for class," he said, a 
spoonful of cereal in one hand.  "Thanks, Erica."

	"You're welcome," she said.  "You did put on fresh 
ointment after your shower, right?"

	"Yes," he mumbled, then ate his cereal.  "Blessed 
Raisin Bran," Dan mumbled.

	Damn Taiki.  I need to make him pay... somehow... 
without getting in trouble... somehow.  I sighed.  And more 
gardening this afternoon.  Ugh.

	I reminded myself to not forget my permission slip.  

****************

Kasumi's Tale:

	I finished warming up and headed out with everyone 
to do some running.  We had another match tomorrow.  
	
	To my surprise, Aunt Miyu was up in the stands with 
Aunt Alyssa; they both waved, so I waved back, wondering 
what they were doing here.

	Then we started running; Ayumi kept glaring at me, 
but I did my best to focus anyway, and I think I did pretty 
well.  I was passing most of the others, to my surprise, 
though I could see Ayumi keep ahead of me, really pushing 
herself.  It was pretty incredible and Coach looked really 
happy.

	"You two have both been pushing yourself very hard," 
he said to us.  "Misano-san, I'm counting on you to anchor 
for our relay team again."

	She pumped a fist and actually smiled.  "Coach, you 
can count on me!"

	"You're one of the best runners I've ever had," he said.  
"Isn't that right, Kurauchi-san?"

	"She's incredible," I said.  It was true.  "Good luck, 
sempai."

	Ayumi-san looked very confused for a moment, then 
nodded gruffly.  "You too," she said.

	I hadn't thought it would be this easy, but getting her 
off my back made me feel much better.  If I was was lucky, 
this would be the end of her being angry with me.  

	After I showered, Aunt Miyu and Aunt Alyssa came to 
meet me.  "Am I about to be taken off to learn how to 
operate a tank or something now?" I joked.

	To my surprise, Aunt Miyu and Aunt Alyssa hugged 
me very tightly.  I don't think either of them has ever 
hugged me before.  "Aunties," I said softly, hugging them 
back.

	"Come with us," Aunt Miyu said softly.

	They led me off to a quiet spot between several 
buildings with a bench and some bushes obscuring the sight 
of us.  "I understand I have caused you some distress," 
Aunt Miyu said to me with her usual flat voice.

	"You told me I was going to die by thirty.  And I think 
everyone agreed with you."  I shivered.  "How could I not 
be scared by that?"

	"She only said it because she cares," Aunt Alyssa 
began, a little lecturingly.  

	"I can explain my own actions adequately," Miyu said 
to Alyssa.  "Though if you would rather..."

	"I'll shut up," Alyssa said, though she now began to 
hum softly to herself.

	"I was not created to be empathic; I understand Alyssa 
instinctively, but with others, I am still learning, even after 
all these years," Miyu said to me, slowly and evenly.  "I 
have not been able to be around you as much as I have my 
sisters, so I will sometimes make mistakes."

	"It's okay, Auntie," I said, patting her hand.  "I know 
you're doing your best."  But I'm still worried about why 
she thinks I will die.

	"Soon, you will be an adult and take on adult 
responsibilities.  Some of these may be very dangerous," 
Aunt Miyu said.  "If you are fortunate, you will not have to 
take up all of them, but I do not trust in luck.  If I seem 
harsh, it is only to motivate you to become stronger to 
protect yourself and those you love.  As I protect my sisters 
and Alyssa."

	"You made it sound so dangerous, though. I mean, 
most people get to thirty without dying.  These days."  I 
know the past could be pretty dangerous.  Didn't most 
people only live to 40 even a century ago?

	"You are not most people," Aunt Miyu said, taking my 
hand and studying me up and down.  "You are special.  All 
of you."

	I could feel my breathing growing faster.  Was she 
about to tell me the family secret?  "Even my brothers?"

	"They are too young; their time has not yet come; I do 
not know if it will," Aunt Miyu said.  

	"Let's hope not unless they mature a lot," Aunt Alyssa 
mumbled.  "Little kids can be very bratty."

	Then Miyu gave her a look and Aunt Alyssa turned 
red and stared at the grass.  

	"Your mother has coddled you too much.  She was 
always weak," Aunt Miyu said flatly.

	"She's not..."  Okay, she's usually not a pillar of 
strength, I fear.  But I love her anyway.  "She's my mother, 
don't talk about her that way," I said sharply.  "I won't 
tolerate that from anyone, not even one of the family."

	"Good," Aunt Miyu said to my confusion.  "You must 
find that fire and stoke it.  Both you and her.  The times 
comes soon for both of you to fly."

	Whatever that means.  "Does that mean we're being 
trained to help Aunt Mai blow up factories or something?" 
I asked.

	"It was a research center, not a factory," Aunt Alyssa 
corrected me.  "And it was Natsuki, I believe, who is most 
directly responsible for the explosion."

	"The world has bigger problems than evil factories," 
Aunt Miyu said.  "You must release the limits you've put 
on yourself, so that you can achieve your full potential.  
Find that fire within you and fan it to a full flame.  Don't 
you envy Natasha because she throws herself whole-
heartedly into everything she does?"

	"No, of course I..."  I sagged.  "Yes," I whispered.  
"Erica is so smart and Dan is so tough and Shun is so clever 
and Crystal is so strong and Natasha is so free..."  I stared 
at the ground.  "And I'm not very special at all, unless being 
well behaved counts."  I sound just like Mitsu-san did last 
night, I thought, feeling frustrated with myself for thinking 
this way again.  

	"Manners are what seperate us from nature, red in 
tooth and claw," Aunt Alyssa said, taking my other hand.  
"And do you think any of the others can run like you do?"

	"No," I said softly.

	"Or cook as well as you?"

	"I hear Erica is a good cook," I mumbled.  "But I am 
pretty good."

	"Or avoid getting in pointless trouble as well as you 
do?"

	I had to laugh a little at that.  "You really think I am 
special?" I asked her.  I know Aunt Alyssa is special.  She's 
so smart and sings so beautifully and she's a bride of a god.  
I think that's what nuns are.  I wonder what that is like.  

	"You are special.  All of you," Aunt Miyu said, 
squeezing my hand softly.  "Unleash your full potential and 
together, nothing will be able to stop any of you.  And 
together, you will be invincible.  The future is in your 
hands, to make a golden future for everyone."  

	I leaned over and hugged Aunt Miyu tightly; she 
stiffened a moment, then relaxed, embracing me back.  
Aunt Alyssa hugged me from behind.  "Thank you, Aunt 
Miyu," I said, hugging her as tightly as I could.  "I'll do my 
best to become stronger so you don't have to worry about 
me.  Or Mom."  Me, making a golden future?  But Aunt 
Miyu... if she thinks that, maybe it is true.  She doesn't 
make false promises or threats.  

	"That is all I ask of you.  All I have the right to ask of 
you," Aunt Miyu said softly.

	I put an arm around Aunt Alyssa too.  "You have the 
right to ask more than that.  We're all family and we love 
each other, right?  Isn't that what family is?" I asked them.

	"Many families do not love each other so well as they 
might or ought to," Aunt Alyssa said softly.  "Some parents 
don't take good care of their children or show them much 
love."

	Like Mitsu-san's family, I thought, feeling sad.  "Well, 
we're lucky our family is special," I told them.  "So, ready 
to confess the family secrets?" I teased them.

	"I see you have been secretly replaced with Crystal," 
Aunt Miyu said, lips quirking just a touch into a faint smile.

	"I had to ask," I told her.

	"You will know soon," Aunt Alyssa said.  "Whether 
by turning eighteen or by it needing to be revealed sooner."

	"Do I get strip-searched now?" I mumbled.

	"Let us bathe together, just to be sure," Aunt Miyu 
said.

	We went back to my place; Aunt Alyssa is pretty 
skinny and Aunt Miyu is fairly skinny, except having 
middling sized breasts like I do.  I carefully washed myself 
and looked to see if I had any abnormal marks on me or 
whatever they're looking for, and I helped Alyssa do her 
huge pile of blonde hair.  I couldn't see any sign on them of 
any whatever it was.  

	Maybe it's the Battle Princess mark... but why would 
we have it on our bodies?  Unless they fear the cult still 
exists and wants to recruit us for some crazy cult reason...

	"Kasumi, are you there?  Are you ready to go?" I 
could hear Mother call out.

	"Yes," I shouted.  "I'm taking a bath with Aunt Miyu 
and Aunt Alyssa!"

	"You are welcome to join us," Aunt Alyssa said.

	"Honey, you're going to need another one after our 
workout," Mother said to me.  "I'm clean right now, thank 
you!"  Her voice wobbled just a touch.

	"We will finish soon and then you may take her," 
Aunt Miyu said.  "We just came to watch her practice."

	"Your father says he will try to close up the bakery 
early enough to see you go up against Torio."

	"Thanks, Mother!"  Dad getting to see me run?  That 
made me very happy.

********************
	
Crystal said:

	Splattered in mud, I know that's how I like to spend 
MY afternoons.  I have to say, being as goody-goody as 
Kasumi does have its appeal when the alternative is this.  
Though Sakomizu-sensei is interesting to work with. The 
fact that he works with us makes this less annoying.

	Watching Shun flirt with and tease Mitsu-san, on the 
other hand, makes me a little crazy.  Maybe after the road 
trip, I'll have time to look for a decent lover.  Given my bad 
luck with men of late, maybe it's time to try a woman.  

	"Can you two flirt later?" I finally snapped as I 
trimmed a bush, accidentally taking out a branch I didn't 
intend to.  

	"We're not flirting," Mitsu-san said, turning bright red.
	
	"We're both hard at work, too busy for flirting, 
obviously," Shun said.  
	
	"Less flirting, more working," Sakomizu-sensei said.  
"How is Sugiura-san doing?"

	"Better," I mumbled, feeling very frustrated.  
"Dammit, what happened to him isn't fair at all."

	"We have to make our own justice," Sakomizu-sensei 
said.  "The world won't make it for us, no matter how we 
beg."

	I've certainly learned that over the years.  

	But at least I remembered to get my slip signed, and I 
made sure everyone else got one too, so it looks like the 
trip is go... though having the chaperones will make it 
harder.

	As I continued trimming, Erica came up to us all.  
"Hey, Mitsu-san, Crystal-san, Shun-san, would you three 
like to eat with me tonight?  My roommate's gone out with 
her boyfriend and I will end up with extra food."

	"Sounds great," Shun said.

	"I won't be a burden, will I?" Mitsu-san asked 
nervously.

	"No burden at all; I like company," Erica said.

	"Thanks," I said.  "I'll be ready to eat a horse."

******************

	Crab!  And Shrimp!  And Squid!  It was a seafood 
frenzy at Erica's room and I loved it.  Mitsu-san was 
squealing with joy which I found incredibly cute and Shun 
stuffed his face like crazy.  I don't know how he can eat so 
much and stay so skinny.

	I glanced up and noticed a very strange doll along with 
several others on a shelf.  It was an elephant wearing a 
crown and a suit, walking bipedal.  "What's that?"

	"King Babar," Erica said.  "He's from a series of 
French novels for kids.  Aoi-Momma gave me a bunch of 
books and dolls of him when I was little, as she thinks he's 
cute."

	"I still have my favorite dolls on a shelf too, even if 
I'm too old for them," I said.

	"I still have my hordes of lego men in a box," Shun 
said.

	"Oh, I have a ton of legos," Mitsu-san said.  "I loved 
to build things."

	"I loved to build things, then have palace intrigues 
wreck it all, leading to it collapsing in fire," Shun said.

	Mitsu-san's eyes crossed.

	"Not literally, though, as I got spanked the one time I 
was dumb enough to try to use real fire."  He shook his 
head.  "Little kids are crazy."

	I stretched, then got another helping.  "Thanks, Erica-
san.  This is great."

	"So what's this road trip you're taking?" Mitsu-san 
asked.

	"We're going to Natasha's family's shrine to see it and 
to see our parents' old school, Fuuka Academy," I told her.  

	"To search for family secrets," Erica added, smiling.

	I facepalmed.  Let's not advertise it to the world, 
Erica!

	There was a knock on the door and Erica went to 
answer it.  

	"Sometimes it's better for things to stay secret," Mitsu-
san said a little nervously, then looked up at the doll shelf.  
"What if it turns out to be something that drives people 
away?"

	"I have to know," I said.  

	"I want to know too," Shun said.  "I have to take that 
chance."

	Mitsu-san stared at him a few seconds, then turned 
back to her food, eating delicately and with grace, unlike 
most of us.

	"Oh, hi, Akiko," Erica said to the blonde at the door; 
she was tall and middling of build with her hair elaborately 
curled.  "Want to eat with us?"

	"Ugh, it's the freak brigade," Akiko said.  "How can 
you hang out with these violent maniacs?"

	"We're not violent!" I said, then forced myself to not 
bang the table for emphasis.

	Mitsu-san turned red and mumbled.

	"At least none of us milk our lovers for all the money 
they're worth, then dump them," Shun said sharply to 
Akiko, who flushed, looking embarrassed.

	"They are my kin," Erica said softly to Akiko.  "They 
are not freaks.  If you insult them, you insult me."

	I widened my eyes a little.  A lot of people... stupid 
people... would kill to hang out with Akiko, who is pretty 
popular, but she chose us instead.  I felt flattered and 
determined to stick up for her.  

	Akiko grimaced, then said, "I'll see you later, then," 
and left.

	Erica sighed and closed the door and came back, 
sitting down looking depressed.  "Sorry about that."

	"It's not your fault," I said firmly.  "Some people are 
just idiots."

	"I don't think you're all freaky," Mitsu-san said softly.

	"Thank you," Shun said, touching her hand.  She 
turned red, though if he noticed, he showed no sign of it.  "I 
don't think you're freaky either."

	Mitsu-san mumbled something incoherent, then 
looked up at the doll shelf again.  I looked up. Babar, a 
cow, a turtle, an owl, a... some sort of battered, messed up 
vaguely human doll with a staff, and a bear... a bear 
wearing pants and a hat, armed with a shovel???  How very 
strange.  "Erica-san, does the bear have a name?"

	She blinked.  "Bear?"  She cocked her head slightly, 
then her eyes widened and she looked a little embarrassed.  
"That's Smokey.  He's an American bear god who is the 
patron of their forest service and fights fires, they say.  I got 
him when we went to Yellowstone last year."

	I laughed a little and Mitsu-san smiled.

	Erica said, "Night Owl is the owl.  The turtle is 
Kameko and the cow is Henry."

	"Aren't all cows female?  Male cows have horns," 
Mitsu-san said.

	Erica laughed.  "When you're four, you don't realize 
that."

	"Is that a monk doll?" Shun asked curiously, pointing 
to the messed up one.

	"That was made for me by grandmother when I 
panicked around age 7 and thought the world would end.  
So, she made Miroku, the Buddha of the Future, to 'protect 
me'," Erica said, now half-lost in memory.  "Unfortunately, 
our neighbor's cat got at him when I was ten."

	"I'm not sure if I'd want a meditating monk to protect 
me," Shun said.  "Though he's less fat than most Buddhas."

	"Fat Buddhas annoy me," Erica said.  "Buddha was a 
member of the warrior caste who then became an ascetic.  
He was anything BUT fat.  I always thought of Miroku the 
same way, a warrior who got tired of carnage and so retired 
to become a peaceful monk who only used his skills to 
protect others.  He'd team up with Babar and have 
adventures."

	"So he was a martial arts movie lead," I said.  I kind of 
liked the image of the reluctant warrior who fights to 
defend others.  Looking, I could tell he was handmade now, 
but that just meant he had gotten lots of love.  Good luck 
protecting her, I thought, then laughed at myself.

	Erica blinked, then laughed.  "I suppose so."

	"I..."  Mitsu started to say something, then stared at 
her food and took a bite.

	"Is something wrong?"  

	"Are you sure it's safe to go to Fuuka?" Mitsu-san 
finally asked.

	"Safe?  Why wouldn't it be safe?" Erica asked.  She 
sounded confused.

	I could see Shun stiffen, his usual lazy smile now a 
frozen mask.  This was not a good sign; he's usually better 
at faking than this.
	
	 "I guess it was over twenty years ago," Mitsu-san said 
nervously.  

	"What?" I asked.  

	"Terrorists massacred an entire research facility where 
my Mother's first husband worked," Mitsu-san said.

	We all stared, eyes open wide.

	"Killing Mother's first husband," Mitsu-san said 
nervously.  "Mother moved to Osaka, eventually met 
Father, got married again, and had me."

	I shivered.  How terrible.  "Was this... the year of the 
plague threat and the exploding bridge?"

	"Yes.  First the bridge blew, then they had to close 
Fuuka because of the plague and then the same terrorists 
wiped out everyone at Primus Research, where my 
Mother's first husband, Takahashi Yugo, worked," Mitsu 
said.  "But I haven't heard any disaster stories about there in 
decades, I guess.  Mom's still scared of the place, though."

	She fiddled with a ring she was wearing.  I blinked, 
having not noticed it before.  It was the blue rose ring of the 
Ring Club.  I guess I don't pay enough attention to things.  
"Wait, you're in the Ring Club?" I asked.

	"Yes.  So I try very hard to take care of the other 
students and our campus."  She stared at the table and 
mumbled something.

	"Well, I'm sure we'll be fine.  We have chaperones and 
everything," Shun said.

	"I just feel like... umm..."  Mitsu fiddled with her food 
with her chopsticks.  

	"Don't worry, Mitsu-san, we'll be fine," Shun said.  "I 
promise I will run away from any terrorists who might 
show up and so will the rest of us."

	Mitsu-san looked at him, then stared down at her food.  
"It's my duty to make sure students don't get hurt," she 
mumbled.

	"It's okay," he said.  "You don't have to worry about 
us."

	"You're right.  I'm just being paranoid," she said.  
"Enjoy your trip, everyone."

	Was she trying to get an invitation?  If this was just for 
fun, I'd invite her, but this is family business.  I just hope 
we find out something worth all the effort.

**************** 
	 
Kasumi's Tale:

	The next morning, I was on my way to the gym when 
I heard shouting coming from the administration building; 
we all got to skip most of our classes today in order to go to 
our Track Meet at Torio; it's a fair distance from here.

	However, I could hear the distinctive sound of Dan's 
father, Professor Sasaki, losing it.  This doesn't happen 
easily, and I ran inside.  I shouldn't pry, but I couldn't help 
myself.

	I found Dan pacing nervously in the secretary's office, 
while the Secretary tried to focus on typing (and failed).  
From inside the Principal's office, I could hear angry 
Professor shouting and incoherent noises from Aunt Midori 
and the ocassional undulating noise that might have been 
the Principal trying to get a word in edgewise.

	"Wow, I haven't heard your father this angry since the 
time we accidentally burned the mummy," I said to Dan.

	"Since Natasha accidentally burned it," Dan mumbled.  

	"You feel any better?"

	"I'm good to go after your match," Dan said.  "Still 
hurting some but I can handle it.  Assuming the Principal 
doesn't just kill me after this."

	"Why is your father so mad?"

	"He's angry I got hurt and the staff didn't stop it in 
time," Dan said.  "I didn't mean to call him in, but Mom 
called and asked about my day yesterday and now she's 
trying to keep Dad from comitting murder."

	"Good luck," I told her.  

	He laughed nervously.  "Good luck to you too, okay?"

	"Thanks!"   

	I hung out on the bus, chatting with my friend June; 
she's a short skinny blonde freshman runner like me.  We 
gossiped about various people and talked shop to while 
away the long drive.  

	Mother, Father, my brothers, Aunt Mikoto, and Aunt 
Shiho were all there to watch me; I was surprised to see 
Aunt Mikoto, but happy to see her.  I could see she was 
herding my brothers, though I was surprised they weren't in 
school.

	The meet went well, though it posed me with the 
problem of what to do when I was faced with Ayumi-
sempai.  I didn't want to make her lose and get angry with 
me again but I couldn't just throw the match.  I had 
promised Aunt Miyu I would become stronger.  And really, 
wouldn't it be an insult to Ayumi, saying she couldn't win 
unless I cheated on her behalf?

	She took the 100 meter because I was still going 
around the block in my mind, so I got fourth behind two 
Torio people.  Having focused myself, I poured on the 
speed in the 200 and just barely inched her out.  She glared 
at me and I tried to glare back at her as my family cheered 
and shouted in the stands.

	We stood there glaring until coach pulled us away 
from each other.  I walked off to wait for the relay, while 
she ran in the 400 meter.  Stupid woman, I thought to 
myself. 

	I did my very best in the relay as my family cheered, 
which was a big morale boost.  Unfortunately, the next of 
our runners tripped and though Ayumi did her best, our 
foes won.  I could see Ayumi yelling at the unfortunate 
Meiko and tried to decide whether to stick my head into it.  
Instead, I got Coach and went to go get clean.  

	 I got lots of hugs, even from my brothers.  "Wow, 
you're fast," Keiichi said.

	"Do you run away from bullies a lot?" Katsuhito 
asked.

	"No, I practice running every day," I told them, lifting 
them up to hug them.  "And do homework and work out 
with Mom and Aunt Shiho and Natasha."

	"You did great, honey," Father said, hugging me and 
my brothers, then passing them to Aunt Mikoto.  "Jinnai 
ran track at your age; he was really good."  Jinnai is 
Father's elder brother. He's blood kin to me, but he's not 
part of the family secret, I think.  He's a good uncle, but I 
think he can tell he's not privy to something, so I don't see 
him as much as I'd like.  And he's aged a lot more than 
Father; whatever is going on with us, he's not part of it.  

	"I wish you could come with us," Mother said to 
Father, looking a little worried.  

	"It's okay," Father said.  "Mikoto will take care of the 
boys so I can work.  We've got to keep the bakery running."  
I could tell from his tone he wasn't happy about missing 
this.  

	"And I'll cook too so you don't come back and find us 
all starved to death!" Aunt Mikoto said, taking Keiichi and 
spinning him around as he laughed.  She really loves my 
siblings.

	"Honey, are you sure this is a good idea?" Father 
asked Mother, sounding worried.

	"It's fine, honey.  We used to go take trips when we 
were in school together, right?  And we didn't even have a 
chaperone."  Mother wiggled her eyebrows at Father, who 
cheered up, laughing for a little, before he got sober again.

	"It'll be fine, Father," I told him.  "Natasha's never 
gotten hurt any of the times she visited her great-grand-
father except in ways she'd hurt herself anyway."

	He buried his face in his hands a moment.

	"I will ensure Kasumi's safety, Kazuya-san," Aunt 
Shiho said to father.  "And make sure your wife only 
lightly samples the dancing boys."

	Father's eyes widened.

	"Shiho, don't tease my husband," Mother said to Aunt 
Shiho, though she sounded amused.

	"I just..." he began then glanced at me.  "But that was 
long ago, I guess," he said.  "I'll miss you, dear."

	"I'll miss you too, my sweet little Kazuya," Mom said, 
then kissed Dad softly.

	"You can just imagine Akane and I bathing together, 
slowly scrubbing each other's soft skin and..." Aunt Shiho 
began, her voice mischevious.

	"And eating cookies and ice cream in the bathtub!" 
Keiichi said.

	Aunt Shiho's hair all flew up for a moment as she 
remembered two ten year olds were listening.

	Aunt Mikoto said, "Oh man, I never get to bathe with 
you two.  Now I'm jealous!"  She had her hands on her 
hips.

	"You can bathe with us, okay, Aunt Mikoto?" 
Katsuhito asked.

	"You're too old for that," Father said hastily.  "But she 
can tell you bedtime stories and tuck you in."

	"Yaay!"

	Aunt Shiho mumbled something incoherent.  

	"Let's go, Auntie, before you embarrass yourself 
again."

	She grumbled as I led her off.  

*******************

Crystal's Tale:

	FINALLY.  I hauled my suitcases down to the parking 
lot; to my surprise, Dan's parents were there with him 
stashed in one of the back seats of his Dad's open top jeep.  
Aunt Chie had pulled her car around next to them and she 
and Aunt Aoi were loading Shun and Erica's luggage into 
the back while Shun and Erica helped.  "Hi, Prof, Aunt 
Midori!" I said.  "What brings you here?"

	"I had to kill some people in the administration," the 
Professor said.  "For not protecting my boy."

	I felt guilty.  "Sir, I..."

	"I know you would, but my stupid son decided being a 
punching bag was the best solution," the Professor said.  
"I'm not mad at you, Crystal."

	I looked at Aunt Midori, who struck a pose which 
said, 'I'm not getting in the way of THIS rockslide'.

	"I can make my own decisions, Dad," Dan complained 
from the back of the jeep.

	"How about if you ride with us?" Aunt Midori said.  
"Shun and Erica can ride with Har... Chie-san."  Hmm, 
interesting, I thought.  It doesn't come as naturally to her as 
the others.  Of course, she was their teacher, not a student 
with them.  "And I know Shiho-chan and Akane-san will be 
bringing Kasumi-chan."

	"But what about Natasha?"

	"We can haul her if she ever shows up," Aunt Chie 
said.

	"Sorry I'm late!" Natasha said, running up with Gin.  
He was carrying her luggage, which she tossed in the trunk 
of Aunt Chie's car, then turned and kissed Gin.  "See you 
on Monday, dear."

	"So I can't come?  I was hoping for a getaway," he 
said ruefully.

	"Sorry, dear, family only.  Shun didn't get to bring his 
girlfriend either," Natasha said, then kissed him again.

	Dammit, I need a boyfriend, I thought.  Watching 
them get snuggly was irritating me.

	"Aww.  Okay," he said.  "I'll see you later, okay?"

	"Yeah.  I'll call you once we get there."  KISS.

	I think they kissed maybe 12 more times before finally 
Shun simply hefted Natasha and stuffed her in the car.

	I put my stuff in the jeep and got in.  "You two are 
coming?"

	"The shrine is HISTORICAL.  Here's my chance to 
show you that history doesn't suck!"  Aunt Midori said.

	"Fighto for history!" the Professor said, then laughed.

	"You'll see," Dan mumbled.

	"You okay?" I asked softly, leaning over to him to 
check his injuries.

	FLASH!  

	I saw Kiwara Hitomi, a girl of middling height with 
long brown hair and brown eyes, almost as stacked as I am, 
but most known for her camera and her gossiping.  
Everyone in school would probably have a copy of me 
leaning affectionately over Dan by dinner time.  Possibly 
everyone on Earth would.

	Dammit!

	The fact that she was pointing and laughing didn't 
help.

	Uncle Professor driving the jeep through a mud pile 
and splashing some on her-- that helped a little, though.

	I love riding in their jeep; having short hair is an 
advantage for it as my hair whips around wildly.  And Aunt 
Midori tells great adventure stories. So the drive felt much 
shorter than it actually was.  

	Even if she couldn't convince me history was fun.

	We roared through the countryside and stopped at a 
gas station.  The Professor pumped gas and I went inside 
with Aunt Midori to get some sodas.  As we walked up to 
the counter, the manager stared at us.  "Sugoi-sensei, is that 
you?"  He was a middle aged man, going bald with short 
black hair he'd tried to comb over it.

	"It's Sugiura-sensei, but yes," she said.  "Been a long 
time, Ishida-san.  I'm surprised you remember me."

	I studied him carefully, wondering if he was there 
when my parents were at Fuuka.  Unless maybe she taught 
him somewhere else.  

	Then it hit me; looking at them really shoved home 
how unchanging our aunts and uncles are.  He clearly 
looked twenty or so years older than Aunt Midori.  I 
shivered slightly, feeling strange.

	"You haven't aged a day!" he said.  "Tokiha-san, is 
that you?" he asked, studying me, sounding surprised.

	"This is Tate Crystal, Tokiha's daughter," Aunt Midori 
said.  "She and my son Dan go to Rosewood Academy.  I'd 
invite him in to meet you but he's not feeling too good."

	I bowed.  "Nice to meet you, Ishida-san!"  I bet he'd 
know about the bridge and the plague.

	"I'm kind of surprised to see you here," Aunt Midori 
said.

	"My dad died of a heart attack when I was in college 
and I had to come take over the family business.  I own 
four of these now.  This one's been prospering ever since 
they FINALLY fixed that damn bridge."

	BINGO, I thought.  "Bridge?"

	Aunt Midori looked frantic a moment.

	"Yeah, a meteor hit the bridge down that way."  He 
pointed off the way we were going.  "You know how slow 
road work is.  I think the first few years, they refused to 
even admit it got hit, then they took forever and a day but 
the last five years, I've gotten good business from this 
store," Ishida-san said.

	Bless you balding man, I thought.  Aunt Midori can't 
say no to me probing into it now!

	"Yeah, that wasn't the best of years."

	"I'm surprised they fixed all the damage.  What with 
the crop circles and the big fire and the underwear theif and 
the 'vampire' and a nun getting PREGNANT and..."

	Aunt Midori was vibrating.

	You are the best bald man ever to live, I thought.  
Bless your run on mouth.  A nu... duh, Aunt Yukariko and 
my rarely seen by us cousin Shinichiro.  Shinichiro was 
concieved when my parents were still in school so he's a lot 
older than the rest of us and we don't see him much.  He 
lives in Hokkaido.  He's twenty two or so, I think, and a 
school teacher of art and math.  

	You know, I don't know if he knows the secret, though 
he's not sharing if he does.

	"Well, let's not frighten Crystal, okay?" Aunt Midori 
said.  

	"I'm sorry.  It's really been very safe since that year, 
but oh what a mess that was.  But I got laid four times from 
girls wanting co..."  He paused and punched himself in the 
side of the head.  "Just forget all that, okay?"

	"We have to pretend perfection in front of the kids, 
remember, Ishida-san," Aunt Midori said, clearly amused.  

	"I can pretend perfection, alright.  So did your mother 
marry Kanzaki-sama or Tate-san, Crystal?" he asked me.  
"Oh wait, Sugiura-sensei told me that you're TATE Crystal, 
so I see.  Did Kanzaki-sama and Fujino-sama shack up, 
then?"

	Say WHAT?  Uncle Reito and Aunt Shizuru?  
SHACK UP????  I think I literally staggered at the idea, as 
Aunt Midori put a steadying hand on my shoulder.  "I... 
they... what?"

	"I guess you probably don't even know who they are," 
Ishida-san said, sighing.  "Except for Nancy and Miki, I 
don't see most of my school friends very often.  Cherish 
your friends while you have them, Crystal-san.  You'll find 
it's harder to keep such close friendships when you're 
older."

	Aunt Midori looked sad for a moment, then said, 
"Yeah, I should call Youko."

	Youko is one of Aunt Midori's old college buddies, I 
think.  I haven't seen her in a good while, but I think she 
does research for some company in genetics or something.  
She's not part of the family... unless it's now recruiting 
season or something, anyway.

	"You should," Ishida-san said, and sighed.  "I'd give 
up half my stores to see some of my old friends."

	"Call them, email them.  I'm sure you can find them 
online," Aunt Midori said.  "If you're busy, make time."  
Her voice was urgent now.  "There's always more time to 
make money, but friends may not last until you have more 
free time."

	"A final homework assignment, sensei?" he said 
softly.  "You're right.  I can't just wait for things to 
happen."  He stared off into space for a moment, then 
smiled.  "It was good to see you again, sensei."

	"Good to see you too," she said, then paid for our stuff 
and we went back to the car.

	"A student?" I asked her.

	"Yes," she said.  "He had a lot of potential."  She 
sighed.  "But family comes first."

	"So what's this about a meteor strike and the bridge?" I 
asked, making sure Dan could hear.

	"Something descended from the heavens and 
destroyed it," Aunt Midori said, getting into the van and 
tossing a chocolate bar to the Professor as he finished 
gassing up.  "It made leaving a lot harder."

	"That was right in the middle of some festival, right?"

	"Yes," Aunt Midori said.  "Scared everyone at the 
festival a lot."

	"And they just now fixed it?" I asked, surprised.

	"As you age, you will come to know the true power of 
bureaucracy, unfortunately," the Professor said, closing up 
the gas tank and getting in once he got his reciept.  "I'm 
glad it's repaired; I didn't even think about whether it might 
still be trashed."

	"So Aunt Mai didn't blow it up?" Dan asked.

	"Your Aunt Mai's ferry sank on the way to school, but 
she didn't sink that or blow up the bridge," Aunt Midori 
said.  "And the bridge got smashed; it didn't explode 
because metal doesn't explode, it just melts or breaks."

	"It got hit by a meteor?" Dan asked, surprised.

	"Remember the time we found that meteor strike in 
the ruins of N'kambe?" Uncle Professor reminisced.

	"How could I ever forget.  That poor Pharoah, he 
never knew what hit him."  Aunt Midori shook her head 
ruefully.  

	She then launched into a long story of a Pharoah who 
had died by meteor strike when inspecting his future tomb.  
I have to admit, it was pretty funny.

	The bridge seemed perfectly normal as we drove 
across it; it crossed a bay to get to Fuuka, which is on the 
north shore of Shikoku.  It's a very beautiful bay and a very 
beautiful area.  We could see the bridge could be raised to 
let ships pass it; the giant ferry was trundling across the bay 
as we raced along at high speed.  There really didn't seem 
to be much traffic.

	"Oh, does Aunt Fumi know we're coming?"  Given the 
parents had somehow totally taken over our trip, at least we 
could say hello to Aunt Fumi.

	And her delicious cookies.

	Oh god, THOSE COOKIES.  

	I had to force myself not to drool at the thought.

	"I'm sure she'll come by," Aunt Midori said.  "She 
doesn't get to see you all as much as she would like."

	Given Aunt Fumi controls Fuuka, I keep wondering 
why they wouldn't send us there where she could watch 
over us.  And now this thing about Primus Research...

	Which I couldn't find online any mention of it.  Or of 
the bridge.  Or the plague.  Or anything. Someone covered 
everything up.  But who?  And how?  Or do I just totally 
suck at the internet?

	"You okay, Dan?  You're very quiet," I asked him.

	"Just resting," he said.  "Meditating like Mom taught 
me."

	It's hard to imagine Aunt Midori meditating.  That's 
something Aunt Nao or Aunt Alyssa or Aunt Yukariko 
would do.

	"Feeling okay?"

	"I'm fine," he said firmly, then grunted as he shifted in 
his seat.

	Yeah, 'fine'.  I sighed.  I'm sorry, Dan.  

*******************

	As we approached the edge of Fuuka Town, I 
suddenly felt a small stab of pain on my leg.  "Oww!" I 
said.

	A second later, Aunt Midori said, "Oww!"

	A second after that, Dan said, "Oww!  Oww!"

	We all looked expectantly at Uncle Professor, but he 
just glanced at us quickly, then put his eyes back on the 
road.  "What's wrong, honey?" he asked.

	"My leg," I said.

	"My leg," Aunt Midori said.

	"My leg," Dan said.

	We all looked at each other.  "Where?" she asked.

	I had a little red bump there now I realized.  "I think I 
got ant bit."

	"Me too," Dan said.  

	Aunt Midori leaned over the seat dangerously, given 
we were going full tilt.  "Show me," she said with a 
commanding voice.

	I bent around to let her see.  She licked her lips 
nervously.  "Dan?"

	I looked at her, then looked at the bump and then 
began looking around.  "Ants."  I pointed.  They were 
coming from... the trunk???

	Aunt Midori gave a sigh of relief.  "Pull over, honey."

	We quickly found part of an ant mound had somehow 
been dumped into the trunk.  "How'd they sneak past us," 
Aunt Midori pondered.

	"The flash," Dan said.  "It was a distraction."

	"Very good," Uncle Professor said.  "I will 
congratulate them on their cleverness when I introduce 
rhino beetles to their bed."  He sounded quite irritated.

	It took forever to remove or squash all the ants, but we 
finally got on our way.

***************

	Natasha's Great-Grandfather is pretty spry for a man 
of his age; he must be in his eighties by now, I think, but 
he's still healthy, mobile, and in good shape, though he 
certainly looks very old.  "Professor-san, Midori-san, 
Crystal-chan, Dan-chan, it's good to see you all!"

	"It's good to see you too, sir," Uncle Professor said to 
him.  "Are we the first?"

	"Harada-san called from the town, said she was going 
to pick up some dinner for everyone," Great-Grandfather 
Munkata said.  "Everyone come in.  I've prepared one room 
for the girls, one for the boys, and some for the adults."

	We soon got squared away, by which time Aunt Chie, 
Aunt Aoi, Shun, and Erica had arrived.  Once they got 
squared away, Aunt Fumi arrived, dressed elegantly in a 
suit as usual.  She speaks in a weirdly childish way, but 
otherwise, she's always like Mom is when Mom is in 
business mode.  "It's a pleasure to see all my lovely neices 
and nephews," she said, then hugged each of us until she 
came to Erica.

	"You must be Erica," Fumi said.  "Would you like a 
hug?"

	"Yes, please," Erica said, looking a little embarassed.  
"Nice to meet you."

	"Nice to meet you," Aunt Fumi said, hugging her 
tightly, then letting go.  "So you make nine."

	"I make nine?" Erica asked in confusion.  "Nine 
what?"

	"The ninth member of your generation.  Shinichiro is 
the oldest, then there is you and Kasumi and Natasha and 
Dan and Shun and Crystal, and then Katsuhito and Keiichi 
who are younger than you all."

	"Oh, I see," Erica said, looking thoughtful.  "I... never 
mind."  She looked more embarrassed.

	Aunt Chie cocked her head curiously at Erica.

	"Were you going to say you expected me to be in a 
maid costume?" Aunt Fumi asked, smiling.

	MAID COSTUME????

	I could see Dan and Shun and Natasha were just as 
confused as I was, which was reassuring.

	Aunt Chie slapped her forehead.  Aunt Aoi giggled.

	"No, I... yes," Erica mumbled, now very red.  "Mom 
has several pictures of you in it."

	"If I'd known, I could have gotten it out of storage, 
just so you could see," Aunt Fumi teased Erica gently.

	I cannot imagine her in a maid costume.  She's a 
professional educator, not someone's servant.  I can't even 
see her serving tea to someone and... making cookies.

	My eyes crossed.

	"I think Chie would like that very much," Aunt Aoi 
teased Chie.

	"Honey, I... Umm... ahaha."  Aunt Chie said, 
flummoxed.

	"Maybe tomorrow," Aunt Fumi said, then looked 
around.  "Aren't Akane-san and Shiho-chan and Kasumi-
chan coming?"

	I frowned.  What was keeping them?

****************

Kasumi's Story:

	I stood around being useless while Aunt Shiho and 
Mother argued over how to change a flat tire.  I need to 
learn, though I can't drive yet.  "Maybe I should..." I tried 
asking a fourth time.

	"Alex always cranks it like this," Aunt Shiho said, 
demonstrating.

	"It'll break the frame," Mother said.

	We had gone through this roughly 3 billion times, I 
think.

	A car now pulled up nearby and two men in suits got 
out, both wearing sunglasses.  "Are you ladies alright?" the 
first one asked.

	Aunt Shiho now struck a kind of helpless pose.  "Oh 
dear me, I can't figure out how to change this flat tire and 
neither can my poor sister.  Can you help us, please?"

	I've never actually watched Aunt Shiho stalking new 
prey before.  It scared me a little.  

	The man stared at her, up and down, then said, "I'd be 
happy to, ma'am."

	Pretty soon, Aunt Shiho had them fixing the flat while 
she methodically flirted with them and while Mom just 
stared; I think like me, she was in awe.  

	The two men got it done quickly and they each got a 
kiss on the cheek from Aunt Shiho, who was laying it on 
thick.  We soon got on our way and they on theirs.  

	"I can't believe you did that," Mother said to Aunt 
Shiho.

	"They were going to help us anyway; I just made it 
nicer for them," Aunt Shiho said.

	"Who were they?" I asked.

	"You know, I never got their names," Aunt Shiho said.  
"They looked like salarymen to me, though."

	I decided not to worry about it; nothing was missing, 
so they must have just been kind to strangers.  Sexy 
strangers, anyway.

	Aunt Midori called us on our way from there and I let 
them know what had happened.  We got there just in time 
for dinner, which was a huge amount of chicken and rice 
and mushrooms and other vegetables, which was fine by 
me; I was starving.

	Great-Grandpa told us a series of stories after dinner; 
they were all local legends about heroes and commoners, 
spirits, gods, demons, and curses and blessings.  He's a 
good storyteller and I really enjoyed it.

	I thought about asking him about the battle princesses, 
but I was afraid that might give up the game... we don't 
know if this has anything to do with the family, but they'll 
probably hide the evidence and clam up if we ask.  That 
seems to be how it works.

	"Great-Grandfather, can I ask you about a local 
custom?" Crystal asked.

	The adults all turned their gaze on her; I felt bad; 
being stared at isn't fun.

	"Sure," he said.

	"I have heard that if you tie a ribbon with a person's 
name on it in the well room in the main hall of Fuuka, your 
love for that person will last forever and theirs for you.  Is 
that true?  I mean, is that a real custom?  Is there a legend?"

	"It worked for me," Mother said, smiling a little.

	"Doesn't work," Aunt Shiho said.  "You can't rely on 
silly customs."  She grimaced, then sighed.

	"It is a real custom," Aunt Midori said.  "Can you tell 
us about the Holy Tree?"

	"Oh, let me answer Crystal first."

	The adults looked tense and Crystal looked like my 
brothers do when they just covered a cat in applesauce.

	Great-Grandfather tapped out and refilled his pipe, 
then said, "It's connected to the Festival of the Battle 
Princesses.  They tied their headbands to that railing, they 
say, in order to remember those they loved and fought for.  
But one by one they died, until only the Crystal Princess 
remained.  She triumphed over the evil, but never 
returned."

	I winced.  That's awful.

	"If they all died, why would anyone follow their 
practice?" Shun asked, confused.  "It's like emulating 
lemmings or something."

	"We all die in the end, remember," Great-Grandfather 
said.  "They left behind something to remember them by.  
And we honor their sacrifice."

	"The ribbon symbolizes a commitment and a bond 
between two lovers," Aunt Fumi said.  "And a circle is a 
symbol of perfect infinity, with no beginning or end.  By 
tying the ribbon, you make it part of that infinity."

	Shun nodded.  "See, that makes sense, symbolically."

	Distantly a cat yowled to the moon and Great-
Grandfather smiled and puffed at his pipe.  "Don't worry, 
we do get some wild animal noises, but it's perfectly safe if 
you stay inside and don't wander around outside in the 
dark."

	"So a whole lot of people tie these ribbons," Natasha 
said.

	"Tons of people.  Mikoto-chan tied one for just about 
everyone she knew," Aunt Aoi said.  "From Mai and Tate 
to Chie and I."

	We all glanced at each other.  There had to be 
something to it...  But it did seem lots of people engaged in 
the custom without special effects.

	"Love has its cost and so does power," Great-
Grandfather said.  "One way or another, you must pay and 
work at it.  It is not an engine which goes of itself."

	"I wanted to show you my boyfriend Gin, Great-
Grandpa, but everyone else vetoed it," Natasha said, then 
sighed.  "I miss him."

	"Ahh, young love," Great-Grandfather said, smiling.  
"Do any of the rest of you love someone?"

	"Kasumi wants to steal the guy Crystal refuses to 
admit she finds attractive, Masakuri Hayao," Natasha said, 
grinning.

	"I am not out to steal him!" I protested.  Crystal turned 
him down so he's fair game.  Not that I should be thinking 
about him.  

	"He's an ass!  You'd better stay away from him for 
your own good!" Crystal said to me.

	"He doesn't seem like a bad guy to me," I said.  "He's 
so cute and the way he moves and... eep."  I put my hand 
over my mouth.

	Mother looked at me curiously and I wanted to die.

	"Someone's got it bad for this fellow," Aunt Shiho 
teased me.

	"Well, Shun has a girlfriend but neither of them can 
admit it," I said, desperate to change the subject.

	"Mitsu-san is not my girlfriend!" he protested.

	"See, he knows who we speak of WITHOUT US 
HAVING TO SAY IT.  BUSTED," Natasha crowed.

	"I think she wanted to come with us and hoped Shun 
would invite her," Erica pointed out.

	"I... you think so?" Shun asked, surprised.

	"Short of punching you in the face and saying 'TAKE 
ME WITH YOU,' she hinted pretty hard," Erica said.

	Shun grumbled at the floor.

	"How about you, Dan dear?" Aunt Midori asked him.

	"Maybe when I hurt less."  He grunted.

	"Do you need some aspirin or anything?  I brought my 
first aid kit," Erica said quickly.

	"I can help you," Aunt Aoi said.

	"I'm fine," he said.

	Dan can be very stubborn, like Crystal.  

	"Are extended families like ours common around 
here?" Crystal now asked.

	"A lot of the students stay close later in life," Great-
Grandfather said.  "Any marriage prospects, Shiho-chan?"

	"Marriage sucks," Aunt Shiho said flatly.  "I'm not 
getting married any time soon."

	Great-Grandfather sighed and took a few puffs of his 
pipe.  "You need to find a husband before you get old like 
me."

	"Mom's got a boyfriend, that's enough for anyone, 
right, Mom?" Natasha asked.

	"Exactly," Aunt Shiho said.  "Can you tell us some 
more stories?"

	He was happy to do so and we listened into the night.  
One of the stories was about how Fuuka was the place 
where the gods first came to Earth; the mother temple of all 
Shinto once stood here, though it was destroyed long ago.  
So many, many areas here are sacred to the gods.

 	Eventually, the parents began clonking out and soon 
ordered us to go to bed.  But we already had planned for 
this.

	Once they were all sound asleep, we slipped out of our 
rooms and assembled to creep outside.  Shun slipped aside, 
vanishing into the night; he's the sneakiest of us.  

	We lurked just inside the front door, waiting for him.  
Crystal was eager, while Natasha looked 
uncharacteristically worried.  Dan was pretty calm, but I 
could see him wince when he thought no one was looking.  
Erica looked mischevious and I think I was about ready to 
have a heart attack for fear of being caught.

	Shun now returned.  "Aunt Akane is outside, drilling 
with her tonfas and staring at the night sky.  I would guess 
they suspect our intentions.  It's a full moon, which would 
help us get around in the dark, but will also help Aunt 
Akane spot us."

	Distantly, an owl hooted, causing a cat to yowl, so the 
owl hooted again.  I began to wonder if they would keep 
this up all night.  

	"And there's no other way to get to the storage 
building?" Crystal asked, frowning.

	"Well, if we could jump roof to roof like in Aunt 
Yukino's video game... then yes," Natasha said.  "We could 
try going out the back door, circling around and trying to 
crawl over to the building.  If she's looking up, she might 
not see us."

	"I'll go distract her while the rest of you go to the 
shrine," I said.  

	Crystal shook her head.  "We've come this far; we'll 
all go."

	"But how are we going to get past her?" Natasha 
asked.  

	"Maybe if we somehow throw a rock, lure her into the 
woods just long enough..." Dan mused.

	"What was she looking at?" Erica asked.

	"Tsuzumi boshi," Shun said.  "It is an easy 
constellation to find, but I don't know why she'd be staring 
at it nervously."

	Then suddenly we heard running and we all ran and 
hid.  Mom came running in and went to Aunt Midori's 
room; soon she'd woken up Midori and Uncle Professor.  
"There's a red star in the sky," she said.  "But I can't feel 
anything."

	"What?" Aunt Midori said.

	While I can't pretend I'm great at science, I'm pretty 
sure there's an entire class of red stars.  And one day the 
Sun will turn into one and eat the Earth.  Or blow up.  
Maybe both?  I saw it on TV, but it's been a while.  

	So why would Mother care?  It's not like any other star 
but our own can eat the Earth.  

	Right?

	Aunt Midori frowned.  Uncle Professor raised an 
eyebrow but went outside with Mother.  They either didn't 
see us or pretended not to.  I could see them pointing and 
then Uncle Professor said, "I'm sorry, Akane-san, but that's 
Betelgeuse, which has been red for all of recorded history."

	Aunt Midori laughed softly, while Mother looked 
frustrated.  "Sorry, Akane-san," Aunt Midori said, then 
yawned.  "You want me to take over a while?"

	"No, I'm still drilling.  Have to get my hours in," she 
said.

	"Good for you.  Wake me when it's my shift," Aunt 
Midori said.

	"Have fun," Uncle Professor mumbled, then went 
back to bed with Aunt Midori.

	Once they were gone, Erica said softly, "Betelgeuse is 
the upper left star on Tsuzumi boshi," then scrunched up 
her face in thought.  "Why would she worry about red 
stars?"

	"Red skies in morning, sailor take warning," Shun 
said.  "Red skies at night, sailor's delight."  Everyone 
looked at him.  "Old saying."  He shrugged.
	
	Dan peeked out the window.  "Don't stars moving 
towards Earth appear more blue and those moving away 
more red?  It's some relativity thing."  He frowned.

	I racked my brain.  "I could try calling Mitsu-san.  
She's good at science."

	"She almost always goes to bed by 11, even on a 
weekend, unless someone keeps her up," Shun said.

	We all looked at him and he wilted slightly, mumbling 
something about homework.

	Distantly, an owl hooted, followed by more cat, then 
more owl.  Mother looked a little frustrated, and clearly 
was trying to ignore the sounds of nature, especially when 
we started hearing frogs getting in on the act.

	"I think I can make it to the woods and try to draw her 
away so the rest of you can get past her and then I'll join 
you," Shun said.  

	"Alright," Crystal said.  "Unless anyone has a better 
idea?"

	We didn't, so soon he was off making noises in the 
woods to lure her away while we slipped through the 
courtyard and headed for the storage building which would 
let us get to the cave Natasha had told us about.  Soon, 
Shun joined us and Natasha led us to the back and past the 
'evil ward' fixed on the door.

	We had to jump a short distance down to the floor; 
getting out of here was going to be annoying, I could see.  
Crystal and Dan had flashlights and soon we found the wall 
writing.  It was made up of odd chicken scratchings which 
didn't look like Japanese at all to me; also the 'Battle 
Princess' symbol was mixed into the mess fifteen times.  

	"What the hell?" Dan said, staring.  "This is Sumerian.  
Cuneiform, anyway."

	"What?" Shun asked.

	"Maybe Aunt Midori got in here and erased all the old 
art and replaced it with this to hide whatever secrets it 
held," Crystal said, sounding frustrated.

	"Also, there's only supposed to be twelve battle 
princesses," Dan said.  "One for each month.  Or something 
like that.  You know, if it's lunar months, it could be 
thirteen.  Which isn't enough, still."

	Crystal stared, then flicked off her light. "Kill yours, 
Dan."

	Dan killed his and now I could see one of the signs 
glowed in the dark.  "Hey, one of them glows," I said.

	"I see three glowing," Crystal said.

	"One for me," Dan said.

	"One for me," Shun said.

	"Two for me," Erica said a little nervously.

	"Two for me," Natasha said.  

	"Maybe it's by breast size," Shun speculated.

	"Hey, my breasts are bigger than the guys!" I 
protested.  "Can we get some light?" I asked.  "This is... 
wait, how can each of us see a different number?"

	Dan turned his flashlight on.  "Everyone point at the 
ones which you saw glowing."

	 Nine out of the fifteen were glowing when we turned 
the lights of.  No one had any overlap EXCEPT Natasha 
and Crystal both pointed to the same one as one of theirs.

	"Can you read any of the writing, Dan?"

	"Some," he said.  "But I'm much better at Aramaic.  
Also, we know more Aramaic; all we know of Sumerian is 
what we've deciphered from things like walls."  He began 
copying the whole wall inscription carefully down in 
sections into a notebook while we all looked around the 
cave.  "Marduk has fallen; the Spawn of Tiamat are free.  
The Dragon Princess has shattered the Namcub of Marduk 
Tiamat-Slayer and freed the Princesses from its power," 
Dan said.  "Marduk?  But Marduk was a Babylonian god 
integrated into a mythology inherited from Sumeria..."

	"And?" Natasha asked.

	"See, the Babylonians wrote in cuneiform, which is 
what this.  But spoke a totally different language known as 
Akkadian, which died out when Aramaic became popular," 
Dan said.  "But I think this is written in Sumerian."

	"Just make with the translation," Crystal said.  "We 
can figure out if this is your mother's idea of an obscure 
history joke later."

	"It's been here a long time if it is," Dan said.  "You can 
see where the slow cooling and heating of the rock over 
time has cracked it in places."

	"What is a Namcub?" I asked.

	"It's a verbal incantation which causes things to 
happen by speaking it; by predicting something will 
happen, you cause it to happen, as the words themselves 
compel the universe to obey," Dan said.  "Marduk could 
draw upon the authority conferred to him by the Tablets of 
Destiny to command the other gods to obey him.  Marduk 
was the last of the gods to appear, but was chosen to defeat 
Tiamat, the goddess of Chaos and the Sea and her chosen 
champion Quingu and Tiamat's divine followers.  He 
wrested the stolen Tablets of Destiny from her, the tablets 
being a sort of magical contract which spoke the universe 
into existence and conveyed rulership of the universe on its 
holder.  He thus held the title of 'Bel' or 'Lord'.  The world 
as we know it was made out of the remains of Qingu, 
Tiamat, and her servants and children.  Marduk's most 
powerful servant was a dragon he made from some of the 
bits of Tiamat.  And he came to be seen as the creator of 
Eridu, believed to be the first city by the Sumerians and 
Babylonians."

	"Obviously the Princess cult must have written all this 
stuff," Crystal said.  "Read more; it might give us some 
clues even if it's all ancient myth gabble."

	Erica nodded.  "What people believe can tell you a lot 
about them."

 	Dan nodded.  "The Dragon Princess has shattered the 
Namcub of Bel Marduk Tiamat-Slayer and freed the 
Princesses from its power, but with its destruction, all its 
deeds are undone, for good and ill.  For though he ruled 
demanding absolute obedience, he also brought absolute 
safety from the Children of Tiamat.  Who will protect us 
now?"

	I rubbed my forehead.  This sounded rather bad.  
Dragon Princess... was this the pet dragon Dan had 
mentioned earlier?

	"Many headed Tiamat stirs in her watery grave, and 
her six children from which the world was made, once 
mastered by Marduk's all-seeing eye, now squabble to see 
who will rule in the world to come.  And many, many other 
pretenders to the throne of Heaven come forth.  The age of 
Chaos begins."

	I shivered.  Definitely this sounded bad.  I glanced at 
the others.  Shun looked confused, Erica was busy... texting 
someone on her phone???... Crystal was frowning deeply, 
and Natasha was watching Dan very intently.

	"Go on," Crystal said tensely.

	"The call has sounded against the daughters of the 
Crystal Princess.  The Crimson Huntsman rides again 
through the wild places, leading his Wild Hunt.  He will 
cull the weak and reward the strong.  For he knows that 
might makes right and only the strong survive in a world of 
predator and prey."

	"That's NASTY," I said, outraged.  What a horrible, 
horrible person.

	"How very Nietschean," Erica said.

	"Actually, it's closer to Spencer and Social 
Darwinism," Dan said.  "Nietszche would have some kind 
of anti-rational thought rhetoric if he was an evil god.  And 
it would say something about Christianity and the 
Bourgeoise all sucking ass."

	"Is there more?" Crystal asked tensely.

	"As Chaos rises, the old rules fade; those with the will 
may forge their own Namcub and make their own destiny, 
may seize power with their own two hands.  Others may 
join the powers that be, strengthening them for the battle to 
come.  But even in the age of Chaos, power has its price 
and its risk, so few will do so.  In the hands of those who 
do, the future will be written.  The elements will answer 
their commands, their noble robes will protect them, and 
their children fight by their sides.  But remember, to grasp 
the rose, you must risk the thorns and these thorns bite 
deeply."

	Dan paused and frowned.

	"What's wrong?" I asked.  The air was heavy with 
something and I could feel my nerves jumping.

	"My Sumerian isn't nearly this good.  But I can read 
every word.  Also, I don't even know any Akkadian and... "  
He was starting to sound very worried.

	"I don't know.  But we need to know.  They may have 
already figured out we're missing," Crystal said.  "We have 
to know.  Even if this is your parents playing a practical 
joke on us."

	"If this is a practical joke, then I must apprentice 
myself to Aunt Midori, as it's the fanciest one I've ever 
seen," Shun said.  "Please continue."

	"Just read it, Dan.  We can figure out when you 
learned Sumerikkadian later," Natasha said.  She was 
shifting nervously on her feet.

	"Read it, no one else can," Erica whispered.

	"I have to know how it ends," I said, staring at the 
wall.

	He continued to read, but now the air seemed to grow 
thicker with every word and I found it hard to breathe.

	"The future will be written in battle, the new Tablets 
of Destiny written in blood and tears and terror and hope 
and love and hate.  You stand now within the circuit of the 
First City, beautiful Eridu, where the Gods came to Earth.  
And in your hands is its future and that of the world, as 
they come again.  Marduk created humanity to serve him, 
but now this world belongs to you.  If you can keep it by 
the strength of your right hand and the wisdom of your 
left."

	I could hardly breathe; I was sweating and the air was 
hot and close.  I could tell everyone else wasn't feeling too 
good either.

	"Remember, love is both a weapon and a balm; it can 
both heal and slay, unite and divide.  The wise Knight 
knows the utility of both and wields their love wisely 
instead of it weilding them and surrendering to Chaos."  
Dan's voice sounded labored now, almost as if the words 
were speaking themselves through him instead of him 
speaking them.

	I felt terrified and paralyzed at once, wishing to flee 
and unable to move.  Everyone else looked panicked as 
well, which actually made me feel a little better; I'm 
normally the one who panics.

	"This is the Namcub of the Crystal Princess.  As it is 
spoken, so it shall be.  By the speaking of these words, the 
contract is sealed and the prophecy made. The Prison is 
broken, but you are the hope to seal it once more.  I wish 
you all luck, my children, my grand-children, and all the 
foundlings you have or will gather in.  My time in your 
world has ended, but your time is just beginning.  Power 
has its price, but without power, you can only watch and 
trust to others to save this world. Together you must forge a 
new First City or all that is and has been will perish in fire 
and ice and thorns and blood and steel and terror."

	For a moment, all fifteen of the 'Battle Princess' signs 
flared and then the air suddenly cleared and we could all 
breathe again.  Dan peered at the writing again, nervously.  
"Well, dammit, now I can only make out bits and pieces of 
it."

	"What?  Didn't you just read it to us?" Natasha asked.  
"And is it just me or does it feel like someone finally turned 
on the AC in here?"

	Crystal said, "You can't read it now???"

	"I will copy it all and try using dictionaries later, but 
yes," Dan said.  "Also, I feel like I just scrubbed my brain 
with steel wool or something."  He winced.

	"So this cult believed that the end of the world was 
coming and they'd have to fight for a better future," Erica 
said.  "Or possibly they hoped by writing this on the wall, 
they'd force it to happen.  As you said a Namcub was a 
kind of magical incantation, right?"

	"Yes," Dan said.

	"So with Marduk gone and the future uncertain, they 
hoped to force it into a path they could control," Crystal 
said thoughtfully.  "And Dan apparently now speaks in 
tongues."

	"Hey, that is what it said!  Even if I... umm... 
somehow can't read it again."  He trailed off until he was 
staring at the floor.

	"Well, if it's real, I think we just activated it," Shun 
said.  "But surely it can't be true."  He said this with the 
same tone he uses when he denies Mitsu-san is his 
girlfriend.

	"Whatever it is, this isn't normal," I said.  "Either the 
parents are going to jump out now and announce we're on 
Japan's Humiliation Videos or else something very strange 
is going on."
	
	"Let's look around some more," Dan said.

	Looking around quickly revealed that in fact there was 
a tunnel leading deeper into the ground from here, along 
with a lot of very enigmatic pieces of primitive looking art 
incorporating the Battle Princess symbol.  Even Dan 
couldn't make heads or tails of it.  

	"I... is it safe to go deeper?" I asked.

	"This isn't some video game where monsters lurk in 
caves," Crystal said.  "We have flashlights.  As long as we 
avoid things like chasms, I expect it's safe."

	I wished I could be as confident in our safety as 
Crystal seemed to be.

	The slope led downwards to a room with a large 
underground pond in the center; the room was wet and 
humid with stalagmites and stalagtites and various kinds of 
mold and fungus growing in it.  The water of the pond was 
crystal clear, like a mirror.

	Except that none of us reflected in it.

	I jumped back nervously in shock and the rest of us, 
except for Crystal, drew back from it.  She just stared at her 
lack of reflection, then slowly kneeled down and reached to 
touch it.

	"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked.

	"No, but I am wondering if this is fake water; maybe 
it's actually very clear plastic or something made to look 
like water," Crystal said.

	Her hand touched the surface of the water and then 
vanished when she reached down into the water.  Crystal 
screamed, causing me to scream, causing everyone else to 
panic.  Dan pulled Crystal back... but she still had her hand.  
It was just dripping wet.

	"The hell???" Dan said.

	"Holy shit," Natasha said.  She tried it herself and her 
hand vanished and then reappeared when pulled out.  "The 
hell???"

	Erica pulled out a piece of candy and threw it in; the 
second it hit the water, it sank out of sight... without 
rippling the water.  She then reached in and fiddled around 
a bit and pulled it out.  "Somehow this doesn't reflect or 
transmit light."

	"But it's not dark.  You can see the floor near the 
edges," I said.

	"Man, maybe I'm dreaming all this," Shun mumbled.

	"I'm going to stick my head into the water and see if I 
can see anything underwater," Natasha said.  

	I looked around nervously, wishing I had my tonfas, 
just in case.  

	Dan kneeled down by her and helped Natasha stick 
her whole head in the water without falling in.  After a little 
bit, he helped her pull up.  "Did you see anything?"

	"Man, I really want to swim in this thing," Natasha 
said.  "It felt great."

	"..."

	"We didn't bring bathing suits," Erica said.

	"Aunt Mikoto would just strip naked and jump in," 
Natasha said.  She sounded kind of admiring to me.

	"Aunt Mikoto is strange even for our family," Dan 
said.  "Are you trying to propose we all go skinny dipping 
in a cave together?"  He sounded rather dubious.

	"Man, now I'm imagining Aunt Akane catching us 
doing that," Crystal said, laughing.  "Did you see 
anything?"

	"It looked about what I'd expect underwater in a cave 
to look like," Natasha said.  "Man, I could really use a 
swim."

	"It would be kind of nice," Crystal said.  "But we don't 
have bathing suits and who knows what kind of stuff has 
oozed down here."

	I suddenly felt an odd feeling, like I was a string that 
had just been plucked.  "Did anyone else feel that?"

	"Feel what?" Dan asked.

	"I don't know," I said.

	Shun fell over, but I think he was faking it for 
dramatic effect.

	I concentrated.  It had felt like a gentle tug.  I tried to 
follow it, but it just led me to a wall, so I began fumbling at 
the oddly smooth wet rock.  

	Everyone else came over and began looking.  "What is 
it?" Crystal asked.

	"I'm trying to... I feel this tugging."

	"Perhaps you're being summoned to Narnia," Shun 
said.

	"Ha, ha, very funny," I said a little sourly, though I 
actually like those books.  

	"You know, I bet that Princess cult used this pool for 
bathing," Natasha said, studying it.

	"Natasha, this isn't a good time for one of your 
obsessions," Dan said.

	Crystal and Shun felt along the wall where I was.  
"Maybe there is a secret door here," Crystal said.

	If there was, I wasn't sure if finding it was a very good 
idea.

	The tugging shifted slightly, but not much.  I walked 
back and forth, trying to pin it down, but then it ended.  As 
I moved, though, a couple of times, I thought I saw 
shadows on the floor moving.

	Then my hand touched a rock formation and a section 
of the wall slid open.  A strong breeze now blew in my 
face; I found it rather refreshing.  

	"That breeze probably means that tunnel leads to the 
surface," Dan said.  "I think."

	I was willing to trust his word for it.

	"Let's explore," Crystal said.

	Dragging a still-swim-desiring Natasha with us, we 
made our way through a long tunnel up to a small natural 
cave which deposited us on a small plateau further up the 
mountain.  You could see the shrine and Fuuka Town and 
the school, all glittering in the night under the full moon.

	I could also see the shadows moving oddly again.  I 
rubbed my eyes, then pointed.  "What's that?"

	Dan saw the moving shadow and shone his flashlight 
on it.  It didn't vanish.  Instead, it suddenly sprouted 
glowing eyes, as did several other shadows, which now 
rose up like great serpents with glittering ruby eyes.  They 
rippled like a struck pond, as if made of a black, oily liquid.

	"Holy fucking shit," Natasha said.  

	For once, I totally agreed with Natasha.	

	"Snakes sense movement," Dan said.  "Don't move... I 
think."  He was trembling.

	I didn't need any help not moving; I was too scared to 
move.

	For a few seconds, we all stood frozen

	Then one of them tried to lunge and bite Natasha.  She 
jumped out of the way, only to smack into a tree, though it 
did miss her.  "I should have brought my sword!"

	"Run for the caves!  I know Uncle Professor is armed 
at least," Crystal shouted.

	"Chie-Mama has a gun too!  But shouldn't we run 
down the mountain?" Erica asked.

	"We'll just get hopelessly lost in the woods!" Crystal 
shouted.

	So we took off running and got into the cave with me 
in the lead; I am the expert runner.  Then I heard Natasha 
yell as she ran into a tree while looking back.  I stopped and 
ran back to her as the others piled into the cave.  As they 
realized Natasha was in trouble, they turned back to help; I 
reached Natasha first, helping her up.  But now the snakes 
had moved in, cutting us off from the others, who I could 
see wavering.  They didn't think they could fight these 
things but they could never just abandon us to them, either.

	"There is one good thing about this," Natasha said as 
they slowly approached.

	"There is?" I asked.  I wasn't seeing it.

	"We may not have super powers like in Aunt Yukino's 
game, but at least these things aren't dozens of feet tall like 
in Aunt Yukino's game, either.  Maybe we can break off 
tree branches and fight our way out," she said, but it was 
the tone I know she uses when she's trying to talk us into 
something she knows is foolish but can't help trying 
anyway.

	These things weren't natural; they felt wrong to me, 
like they'd crawled out of some ancient pit of darkness.  
They hungered for our blood, our life.  Just looking at them 
terrified me.  But if I panicked, I might get us all killed.  

	Oh god, no wonder Aunt Miyu thought I was going to 
die, I thought.  All I'm really good at is running and even 
that gets me in trouble sometimes.  No, be strong, I told 
myself.  I promised Aunt Miyu I would be stronger and I 
keep my promises.  I always keep my promises.  

	Distantly, I heard a bird cry, and I felt a gentle breeze 
begin to blow.  

	"Kasumi?" Natasha asked as the creatures crept closer; 
they were clearly savoring our fear. I must have tasted like 
a five course banquet to them.

	I didn't want to be a banquet for evil oil snakes who 
probably work for some nasty polluting oil company.  I 
didn't want to die.  But what could I do?

	Crystal picked up a rock and hurled it at one of the 
serpents. Its head exploded, but then the liquid all flowed 
back together and it hissed loudly.  She stepped back, 
looking pissed.

	"Fuck me," Natasha muttered.

	There was only one thing I could think of to do.  
Crystal Princess, tell me what to do, I prayed.  If you're 
listening, if you even exist, if there was something more to 
that wall inscription than some crazy old cult that isn't 
around any more, just tell me what to do!  I'll do anything 
to save my family!  Anything!

	I heard Dan's voice reading the inscription in my head.  
"As Chaos rises, the old rules fade; those with the will may 
forge their own Namcub and make their own destiny, may 
seize power with their own two hands.  Others may join the 
powers that be, strengthening them for the battle to come.  
But even in the age of Chaos, power has its price and its 
risk, so few will do so.  In the hands of those who do, the 
future will be written.  The elements will answer their 
commands, their noble robes will protect them, and their 
children fight by their sides.  But remember, to grasp the 
rose, you must risk the thorns and these thorns bite deeply."

	I didn't care.  I'd risk any thorns to save them. Even if I 
paid for it with my own flesh.  I'm an athlete; I'm used to 
injuries even if I don't like them.  They're the risk you have 
to take to achieve greatness on the field.  "I'll do it!" I said, 
suddenly stepping forwards.

	Everyone stared at me.  The words suddenly boiled up 
inside me, straining to speak themselves through me.  But 
only with my permission, I sensed.  I had to choose this 
freely.  

	And I chose freely.  I would risk myself to save the 
others.  I would be strong, as I had promised Aunt Miyu.

	"This is the Namcub of Karauchi Kasumi!" I said 
loudly.  "As it is spoken, so it shall be.  By the speaking of 
these words, the contract is sealed and the prophecy made. I 
will pay the price and take the risk of power, power to fight 
the coming of the Age of Chaos!  If there are to be thorns, 
let them tear my flesh and if there is blood to be lost, let it 
be mine!  I choose this freely and of my own will!"  Winds 
began to whip around Natasha and I at high speed while 
she stared at me, while everyone stared.  And the oily 
serpents hesitated, staring at the winds.

	With my every word, the winds grew stronger.  "I 
promised Aunt Miyu I would become stronger!  I want to 
be strong enough to protect my family!  My friends!  
EVERYONE!"  I shouted over the howling winds, barely 
making myself heard.  I could hardly see the snakes or my 
family, but I could see Natasha staring at me, mouth wide 
open.  I felt a tiny bit of probably perverse pride making 
her freak over my actions for once instead of vice versa.

	Instinctively, I held my arms out to my sides, angled, 
almost like wings.  Leaves and dirt and small rocks and 
other debris orbitted me in a great storm of wind with 
Natasha and I standing in the eye of the storm.  "This I do 
swear!  Let this contract be sealed!"

	And then I felt a sudden burning sensation on my leg.  
On my right thigh to be precise.  It was the mark of my 
Namcub, I sensed instinctively, of the contract I had made.

	But what had I contracted with?

	I would have to figure that out later.  The wind howled 
around me and now I felt my clothing explode off my 
body; for a moment, I was utterly embarrassed, but then the 
wind collapsed in on me and I found myself clad in new 
clothing.

	I had on white boots with black laces, and white tights 
covered my legs and my lower torso up to my waist.  
Above my waist, I had a fairly tight white long-sleeved 
blouse with winds embroidered on it in black, though you 
couldn't see most of it, as over it and over part of my tights, 
I now had on a long white surcoat, fringed in red on which 
was embroidered images of falcons and gusts of wind; the 
surcoat was held close to my chest and back by my black 
belt, then flared out below the waist like a divided skirt.  I 
wore a domino mask in white on my face with a nose guard 
that flared out a bit to resemble a beak.  And in my hands, I 
held two pure white tonfas that looked to have been carved 
from ivory, though the three ends of the weapons were 
ringed by slender circles of onyx.  

	"Man, this is the most fucked up dream of my life," 
Natasha mumbled.

	I stepped forward, and swung my tonfas as I had in the 
virtual reality game and winds erupted from them, slicing 
the oil serpents into pieces; the serpents scattered and I 
pursued them relentlessly.  I was laughing like Natasha 
now; I felt so powerful I could hardly believe it.  Serpents 
tried to climb trees and I cut them in half; they tried to use 
bushes for covers and I blew the bushes away.  I'm sure I 
was shouting something, but I'm not sure what; I was lost 
in motion the way I am when I run. I danced through the 
mob, ripping them apart into bits, then scattering the bits 
into tinier bits.  

	A few times the creatures tried to strike at me, but this 
only got them shredded by my winds, though I did have to 
parry one lucky one who got close; the mere touch of my 
tonfas caused him to shatter into droplets.

	The surviving ones sank down into the ground, 
soaking into it, and leaving me unsure how to proceed.  It 
left me with a bad feeling, though.  

	"Is it over?" Crystal asked, warily coming a little 
closer.

	I held out a hand, palm perpendicular to the ground.  
"Not yet, they might come back."

	Erica began texting again.

	"This is probably not the best time for a phone call," I 
told her.

	"I'm just taking notes.  This thing has a ton of 
memory," Erica said, then pointed at the ground, where 
there was now a huge serpentine bulge making its way 
towards them.  "RUN!"

	I ran towards it; my family ran towards Natasha.  
Natasha snapped off a tree branch and ran towards my 
position.

	I wind-struck the ground and now a huge fifty foot oil 
serpent erupted out of the ground, striking down at 
Natasha.  I ran, grabbing her, and jumped out of the way.

	And stayed up.

	I'm flying.

	I AM FLYING!  I soared down and dropped Natasha 
off with the others.  "Watch for more!" I told her.

	My kin began grabbing rocks and tree branches, 
though Shun seemed to have chosen this moment to close 
his eyes and meditate or something.

	Let me help you, a voice whispered to me.  Call my 
name.

	I felt his name inscribed within my heart.  "HORUS!" 
I shouted.

	And now a great white falcon the size of a horse with 
black and red fringed feathers and light red eyes plunged 
out of the night sky and plucked out one of the eyes of the 
giant serpent.  I dodged its counter assault and Horus 
wheeled around and plucked out the other eye.  Purplish 
black goo was now oozing from the wounds and I soared 
around and struck at the empty sockets with my winds.

	Winds rushed into its liquid skull, which now 
exploded from the inside out, showering us all in purple-
black goo, but the goo began to fade away into purple-
black sparkles which rose to the sky even as it hit us, and 
the creature itself caught purple-black fire and burned away 
into rising motes of purple-black light.

	I landed and Horus landed next to me; I could see he 
had a black ankh on his forehead, and I hugged him around 
the neck as best I could.  "Anyone, umm... have a sugar 
cube or something?"

	"I think falcons only eat meat," Erica said weakly, 
then snapped a photo of me with Horus.

	Horus rubbed his head against my body, and made an 
encouraging sort of noise, then spread his wings and took 
to the sky; as he flew, he faded away, but I knew he would 
return whenever I called his name.

	Natasha ran over to me.  "Holy shit!  How the hell did 
you do all that?"

	"It just kind of came to me," I said, rubbing my 
forehead as the others came over too.  

	"I got some photos of those things, whatever they 
were," Erica said, then looked me up and down curiously.

	I couldn't resist the urge to rise off the ground and 
hover just a foot above it, grinning wildly.

	Shun touched my surcoat, running his fingers along 
the edge of it.  "It feels like cotton."

	"It's very warm and comfortable," I said.  "And 
decent, thankfully."

	Dan said, "Did it feel like the words spoke themselves 
through you?"

	"I let them," I told him.  "But yes."

	Dan frowned, then stared off into the woods.

	"So how do you turn back to normal?" Shun asked.

	I thought about it.  "Everyone turn around; I think I'm 
going to end up naked again."

	Everyone turned around, and I concentrated.  Another 
whirlwind erupted and my clothing turned back to normal... 
after first exploding off me and then reforming again.

	"Okay," I said, feeling rather tired now.  I yawned.  
"So no clue what those were?"

	"Not a clue," Crystal said, looking at the woods and 
frowning.

	"Nothing like that EVER happened any other time I 
was here," Natasha said.  "Something must have escaped 
from a genetics lab."

	That made sense.  Though if what I did worked, the 
other stuff in that inscription could be true.  "That doesn't 
explain what I was able to do, though." 

	"Let's head back," Dan said.  "I think this is more than 
enough trouble for one night."

	"Amen," Natasha mumbled and we headed back to the 
tunnel.

	I had to keep forcing myself to slow down so as not to 
outpace everyone.  

	Shun said, "Kasumi?"

	"Yes?"

	"So you said it felt like it spoke through you?"

	"Yes," I said.  Hadn't Dan already asked me this?  
"But only because I invoked it.  I asked for help."

	"Asked who for help?" he asked softly.

	"The Crystal Princess." 

	Everyone stared at me.

	"Well, I was desperate, okay!  What else could I do 
but beg Heaven for help?"

	Erica rubbed her forehead, mumbling something about 
theism.

	Natasha closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate.  
Then she opened them.  "I got nothing."

	"Don't just pray to gods who may or may not even 
exist just because Kasumi did!" Crystal said to Natasha.  

	"I certainly didn't feel anything different," Natasha 
said.  "And how are we supposed to figure this out without 
experimenting?"

	"Probably it only works when there is real danger," 
Dan said.  "But what is the price?  Remember, assuming we 
can trust mysteriously readable then unreadable wall 
inscriptions that don't make sense due to historical issues, 
they said, 'But even in the age of Chaos, power has its price 
and its risk, so few will do so.'  So what is the price and the 
risk?"

	"I don't know," I confessed.  "I was too desperate to 
save everyone to think about that."

	Erica rubbed her forehead again.  "Signing a contract 
you haven't read isn't very wise."

	"Would you rather we all got eaten?" I snapped at her.  
"I didn't exactly see you do anything to stop us getting 
eaten!"

	Erica jumped back in shock, then stared at the ground.  
"Thank you," she mumbled.

	"I'm kinda envious," Natasha confessed.  "Only 
activated by danger, hmm..."

	"Don't be stupid," Crystal said to Natasha.  "We'd best 
not go running off into danger just because maybe it will let 
us bind ourselves to something we don't even know the 
terms of."  She took a moment to breathe.  "Or whatever 
exactly happened."

	I paused, suddenly realizing something.  My thigh, I'd 
felt something.  "Guys, turn around."

	"What?" Dan said.  "Going to transform again?"

	"Just do it," I said and they did.  Then I lifted up my 
skirt enough to look at my right thigh.  I now had a small 
tattoo, about the size of my thumb past the topmost 
knuckle.  It was the battle princess sign in white.  

	Natasha, Erica, and Crystal knelt down by my leg.  
"Five will get you ten this is what the parents keep looking 
for on us," Crystal said softly.

	"What is it?" Dan asked as he and Shun stared off 
down the tunnel, fidgeting.

	"Kasumi has a new tattoo," Natasha said in her 
annoying sing-song I'm tattling voice.  "She's got a white 
battle princess tattoo."

	I pulled my skirt down.  "But I..."  Well, I had hardly 
known what to make of this before; one more question to 
be answered.  

	We kept on speculating until we reached the pond, and 
I glanced at it... and saw my reflection.  "Hey, look!" I said, 
and stood closer to the pool.  Everyone stared at it and 
Natasha said, "Hey, now you reflect in it!"

	Crystal stared at it.  "Dammit, where's an all-
explaining wise man when you need one?"

	We all laughed at that, and Dan said, "He's in the other 
castle," which got more laughs.  We needed a little tension 
release.

	"So is it time to confront the adults?" I asked.  "They 
must know something about this."

	"Not yet," Crystal said.  "We need to go into that 
confrontation knowing as much as possible or they may 
still try to keep us in the dark."  She frowned.  "For some 
reason.  They've done it too many times."  She sounded 
pretty angry about that.

	Dan frowned, but didn't say anything.  Shun seemed 
rather uncertain and I couldn't tell what Erica was thinking.  
Natasha...I'm not sure if she was fully paying attention as I 
had a feeling she was trying to think of some way to power 
up herself.  

	"But what if more of these creatures come back?" I 
asked.  I can't be everywhere at once.  Was this really wise?

	"Either they know these things exist and have hidden 
it from us for some reason I want to find out, or they don't 
know, in which case there's nothing they can do about it," 
Crystal said.  "If they do know, I expect they've taken 
precautions."

	"Or possibly we freed the things by me reading that 
wall inscription," Dan mumbled, staring into the pool.

	"How could that work?" Crystal asked.

	"I don't know, how did Kasumi suddenly get super-
powers and a new tattoo???" Dan asked, sounding tired and 
jumpy and irritated at once.

	"Calm down.  I think," YAWN, "that we've better get 
some sleep," I said.  "Or the folks will know we were out 
all night."

	I stopped by the wall inscription, then pointed.  
"Look," I said.

	There was a sixteenth battle princess mark on the wall 
and it was white, unlike the others.

	I shivered and everyone stared.

	"Okay, this is officially... what the fuck," Natasha 
said.

	Crystal slapped her forehead.  "AHAH!"

	 "What?" I asked.

	"What happened just before Aunt Aoi and Aunt Chie 
joined the family?" Crystal asked.

	"Aunt Akira, Aunt Natsuki, Aunt Mikoto and Aunt 
Mai went to a factory to help Chie-Mama investigate the... 
place... where they did experiments to tap into other 
dimensions!", Erica said, growing steadily more excited.  
"Mom must have done the same thing Kasumi did!  And 
became a battle princess!"

	"Hah!  I bet she summoned the giant robot!  HAH!" 
Natasha said.  "Man, and then they tried to pin the blame 
on ME."

	"I think someone else must have summoned the giant 
robot," Dan said.  "As they didn't know whose it was, and 
they thought you knew.  Whoever summoned it... I don't 
think they're part of the family.  But they know the family.  
Or else had a common interest in the factory," Dan said.  

	"What about Aunt Aoi, though?  She wasn't there," 
Shun pointed out.

	"Well, Aunt Aoi and Aunt Chie were both sick at the 
same time Mom took a day off from work..." Crystal said.  
"We're going to need to do a news search to see if anything 
exploded that day."

	"So you accept your mother is the queen of 
explosions?" Shun teased Crystal.

	Crystal grumbled, then suddenly slammed her hand 
into her fist.  "Mitsu-san!"

	Shun blinked.  "What?"

	"Her mother's first husband was killed along with the 
entire staff of Primus Research, here in the Fuuka area.  
Dan, Primus is Latin, isn't it?"

	"Yes, it means 'chief' or 'first'," Dan said.  "Wait... 
First City... First Research..."

	"What if they were doing the same research as Tallin?  
And unleashed creatures from another dimension?  Like the 
oil snakes?"  Crystal said, growing more animated.  "What 
if those creatures ate them all and it was covered up with 
stories of 'terrorist attack'? But someone was stupid enough 
to duplicate the research..."

	"We need to find out who owns Tallin and if the 
leadership of it has any ties to this area," Dan said.  

	"Ahah!" Shun said.

	"What?"  Crystal asked.

	"I bet the symbols we see glow in the dark are those of 
our parents who are 'battle princesses'!" Shun said.  

	"Wait, that would mean my DAD is a 'battle 
princess'." Crystal said.  "He's not a woman!"

	"Well, you know how 'man' is sometimes used to refer 
generically to women and men? Well, this could be a 
female equivalent," Shun said.  "Where some of them are 
actually battle princes, but the default assumption is a 
woman."

	"That would have to mean Natasha's father is a battle 
prince, but then why isn't he around?" Dan asked.  

	"Maybe HE is the guy with the giant robot and they all 
think he's dead and he's trying to stay hidden for some 
reason," Shun speculated.

	"I always got the impression Dad was alive, but 
Mother wanted to never see him again," Natasha said.

	"Oh wait..." Shun said.  "Natasha and Crystal SHARE 
a common glowing mark up there."  He pointed.  "Which 
either means Uncle Yuuichi is both of you's father, or this 
unknown guy impregnated both your mothers."

	"There's no way either of those could be true," Crystal 
insisted.

	"I wouldn't mind having a YOUNGER sister," 
Natasha said.  "But there's no way Uncle Yuiichi and Mom 
ever had sex.  She'd rub it in Aunt Mai's face constantly."

	I had to agree with that.

	"It's not measuring simple blood-kinship," Erica said.

	"What?" Crystal asked.

	"I'm not blood related to either of my parents or any of 
you to my knowledge, but I think my two must be my 
adoptive parents.  So it has to be something more 
complex," Erica continued.  She yawned.  "I think we 
should go get some sleep.  We can try collating a list of 
possibilities tomorrow.  But if we stay here much longer, 
we'll be so groggy tomorrow they'll know we stayed out all 
night.  Trust me, I speak from experience."

	Crystal nodded.  "I think we've made a real 
breakthrough.  If we're lucky, we'll finally know what's 
going on soon."

	"I'm sure they just want to protect us," I said.  "If 
they're dealing with things like that all the time, we'd just 
be a liability.  Also, Natasha has a big mouth, so..."

	"I do not have a big mouth!" Natasha fumed.

	Crystal held out her hand.  "Let's all promise to keep 
this a secret until we know what's going on.  THEN we can 
talk to the parents, okay?"

	We piled our hands on each other; this time I got to be 
on top.  We promised each other and I prayed I wasn't 
going to regret this.  

	We snuck down and thankfully, Mother wasn't out in 
the courtyard, so we all crept inside and went to bed.  I 
spent a while wondering if we'd made the right decision.  
Did they all have powers like mine?  Why were they hiding 
it from us?  Surely they couldn't have thought monsters 
might attack us... then again, the monsters were off in an 
area we weren't supposed to go to, so maybe they'd 
assumed we wouldn't run off into danger.  Then again, 
maybe Mother had been patrolling to guard us.  But that 
hadn't happened any other time Natasha was here.

	Had Dan unleashed ancient evil by reading that 
Namcub?  Certainly mine had done things.  I spent quite a 
while wondering what I'd gotten myself into.  But it was 
too late to back out now.

 	Finally, I slid into slumber and I had a wonderful 
dream about riding Horus across the skies.  Hayao was with 
me, riding behind me, his arms around my waist as we 
soared.  I was beet red but very happy.  It was a beautiful 
dream.

***************

Akane's Tale:

	I felt like a complete idiot after the whole Betelgeuse 
thing.  I also wasn't sure if there was much point in me 
being out here on guard duty since our powers didn't work 
here inside the shrine.  I'm working on my fighting skills 
but I have a long way to go.  But I can't just let Midori and 
Professor Sasaki do it all.

	After what seemed like forever of staring off into the 
woods on the off chance of trouble and trying to listen for 
the kids finding trouble, I spotted some kind of shadow in 
the woods.  Having the full moon shining down was a big 
help for seeing things like this.  

	"Hello, is someone there?"

	I could see her now, a dark haired girl... was that the 
Mitsu Kagami girl?  Here in the woods?  And why was she 
running?

	"Come back!" I said, running after her.  

	She kept running, so I called Midori and told her to 
take over guard duty while I ran this girl down.  

	Suddenly I felt something, was it... I could faintly feel 
my tattoo and my eyes widened.  A magic zone this close 
to the shrine?  Nestled here in the woods?  It was strange, 
one minute normality and then that subtle different 
feeling...

	I didn't call my element yet to avoid having to explain 
it to Mitsu-san, though I was very tempted.

	Finally, she stopped in a small clearing and I saw 
something.  Moving shadows...

	Moving between Mitsu-san and I.  I summoned my 
element and jumped up into a tree to try to figure out what 
to do.  Had she been running from them all along?  I didn't 
think so; she hadn't screamed or anything.  Though she'd 
looked panicked.

	The shadows were a crimson-black in color and they 
spoke.  Or one of them did.  "Say it.  If you don't accept her 
help, you will die and then we will devour your precious 
love."

	Mitsu-san paled, poor girl.  I was shivering myself.  I 
haven't fought a monster since the day we destroyed the 
Hime Star.  Part of me wanted to charge in and save her 
and part was terrified that I had run into a trap.  'Her help'.  
Was this an effort to lure me out, to try and destroy my 
Child again?  I'm the weakest of all of us, the biggest 
failure.  I don't want to be.  I want to fight for my love and 
for my friends.  But... on my own... I was a failure.

	I couldn't protect Kazuya.  Trying to protect him just 
sent him to be trapped in a pillar.  My precious Kazuya.  
This was a trap.  They wouldn't be talking instead of killing 
if it wasn't.

	"What if he hates me," she whispered.  "I'll never be 
normal again, I know that much.  Whatever the dreams may 
say.  He probably wants a nice normal girl..."

	I knew that fear; I'd wallowed in it before I finally 
embraced my destiny... and got cut down for it.  This had to 
be a trap, playing on what happened to me last time...

	They drew closer to her, snapping at her, herding her 
back towards a huge tree so she'd have no room to escape, 
like wolves working a cub away from its herd.  That poor 
girl, I thought.  "Do it.  Or you will die and then we will 
devour him.  Call her!  Call her now!"  The full moon 
shone down on her like a spotlight being used by the police 
to interrogate someone.  

	"I... what will everyone... what am I thinking?" she 
said, and suddenly she went from terrified to angry.  "My 
reputation isn't more important than Shun's life."  She 
slapped herself.  

	A light began to shine from her back, illuminating the 
tree with weird shadows and I suddenly realized it.  She 
was one of us and they wanted her to summon her Child so 
they could destroy it.

	Like happened to me.

	Oh god, this was a trap for her!  She was going to 
suffer like I did!  Shun would dissolve away and she'd 
become nothing but a shattered shell.

	"You want this?  You want it?" she shouted.  "I won't 
ever let you hurt Shun!  NEVER!  Fine!  I'll say it! This is 
the oath of Mitsu Kagami!  As it is spoken, so it shall be!  
By the speaking of these words, the contract is sealed and 
the prophesy made!  I will pay the price and take the risk of 
power!  Power to fight the coming of the Age of Chaos!  I 
make of myself a shield for the defense of others and a 
weapon to smite my foes!  I choose this freely and of my 
own will!  I will protect those I care about, whatever the 
cost!  I will defend the students of Rosewood Academy, 
whatever the cost!  This I do swear!  Let this contract be 
sealed!!!"

	And then the ground erupted up around her as blades 
exploded out of the ground and enfolded her in a complex 
pattern of interwoven weapons of every kind, so long as 
they were sharp and pointy.  Then they collapsed in on her 
and exploded outwards at once.  

	She now had on black boots with green laces and 
silver pants with black and green trim covered her legs and 
her lower torso up to her waist.  Her upper torso was 
covered by a black jacket with silver images of weapons 
and shields embroidered into it, though it was trimmed with 
green thread.  The bottom of the jacket below her waist 
flared out like a skirt in all directions.  She wore a shining 
silver domino mask with glass lenses which hid her eyes 
with tiny weapons worked into the rim of it in jade.  In her 
hands, she held a silver bladed naginata with green traceries 
of vines worked into the brown wooden hilt.  

	"Wait!  It's a trap!  They want you to call your Child 
so they can kill it!" I shouted.  

	"Karauichi-san?" she asked.

	"But I won't let you fight alone!  This time, we're not 
going to be picked off one by one!  NOT THIS TIME!"  
My fear had turned into anger and I leaped down to land 
beside her.  "We'll fight them together!"

	"Karauichi-san, I don't think mundane weapons will 
hurt these things, whatever they are, if they're like the 
nightmares I had," Mitsu-san said.

	"These are called Orphans and I don't just have 
mundane weaponry."  I'm going to do it.  Whatever the 
risk.  I won't let what happened to me happen to her.  "I'm 
just like you, Mitsu-san.  I'll do it!"  I shouted.  "I won't be 
fooled again and I won't FAIL AGAIN!"

	"Go ahead, fool.  We know how weak you are; we will 
feast on what little strength you have, to grow and to thrive.  
The weak die and the strong survive.  And the stronger 
your prey, the more she will sustain you and make you 
strong.  Not that YOU will ever know what strength is," 
one of the shadows taunted me.  They resembled flying 
manta rays, undulating along as if the very air was water.

	"I won't lose again!  THIS I DO SWEAR!  We will 
defeat you and protect those we love!  FOR I AM THE 
BATTLE PRINCESS OF THE WIND STORM!  AND 
TOGETHER WE WILL DEFEAT YOU!"

	I felt a tremendous surge of strength and shouted for 
joy as the winds erupted around me, flinging the creatures 
back.  I felt my clothing explode off me as my tonfas 
appeared in my hand, but I didn't care.  I was free of fear 
and I was going to save this girl from my old cursed fate.  I 
was FREE.

	My clothing exploded back into place, but I was too 
busy going to the offensive to care about it.  "These are 
only minions to make us overconfident, Mitsu-san.  The 
real boss is hiding, waiting to try to destroy our Childs.  
This is a trap, but we're going to spring it.  ATTACK!"

	I moved left and she moved right and I unleashed a 
storm of destruction upon them; to my surprise, my attacks 
easily ripped them apart into pieces.  I leaped about, 
dodging their tails and slicing them into bits with my 
winds; I had to fight to keep my common sense and not get 
overconfident.

	I could see Mitsu-san had a harder time of it; her 
naginata easily sliced the creatures, but she had no combat 
training and the creatures wove up and down and around 
her, making it hard for her to hit them, though her long 
blade kept them at length.

	She'd killed half of them; two got blows in on her but 
they bounced off her jacket, just knocking her around a bit.  
Probably armored, I thought.  Maybe I should talk to 
Haruka about some armor.

	I aimed a wind blast and killed another one.  Wow, 
these things die easily, I thought.  Or I've gotten a lot better.  
Mitsu-san took out another and I blew up the last one.  
"Good job!" I told her.  "However, there's probably a boss 
who is hoping to force us to summon our Childs."

	"Child?  Do you mean..."  She began.

	"If you say his name, he will come," I said softly.  
"Which is what they want, though we may have no choice."

	She blinked and stared at me.  "I... I'm not dressed like 
that, am I?"  She looked down at herself.

	I paused and looked at myself.  I had huge armored 
shoulderpads and a white and blue bodysuit on with white 
and blue boots. But the bodysuit had two huge diamond 
shaped cutouts showing my cleavage and my stomach and 
was pretty tight.  I had a belt around my waist with a tiger 
fur pattern, the two ends trailing in my winds to either side 
of my waist. And I had long white and blue gloves.  
Something... I touched my head and felt along the thing on 
my head... was I wearing some kind of hairpiece with... cat 
ears???

	I was still staring mindlessly at myself in utter shock 
when a much huger manta ray now flew out of the shadows 
and rammed me from behind, then tried to sting me.  I 
barely blocked it, rolling through dirt and sticks, even as 
Mitsu-san stabbed it with her naginata, though it only 
barely cut the creature.

	It knocked her to one side and turned to face me.  
"You may know this is a trap, but if you die, there will be 
no one to stop me from killing everyone anyway. I can 
survive within that shrine long enough for that, since none 
of you can use your powers there.   You cannot hurt me."

	He was about to say something else when Mitsu-san 
swung her naginata in a wide arc and knocked three trees 
down on him.  This knocked the wind out of him and then 
we both unloaded on him, me blasting him with wind and 
Mitsu-san in a stabbing frenzy.  

	At first, I thought we had him, but then he suddenly 
swept his tail, knocking me into a tree and knocking Mitsu-
san down.

	I concentrated and my belts extended up like grappling 
lines, pulling me up into a tree so his follow up charge 
passed under me.  "We're going to have to risk it," I said.

	"But you said..."

	"I know. But together, we're stronger than alone.  
When he makes another pass, drop more trees on him and 
we'll call our Childs."

	She nodded.  "Yes, Karauichi-sama."

	-sama?  No one has ever called me that.  Especially 
not in an outfit like this.

	It came back around and charged towards me, stinger 
ready.  But I pulled myself out of the way and once more 
the trees came down on it.

	"HARRY!" I shouted.

	"SOPHIA!" she shouted.

	Harry erupted out of a whirlwind as he had the last 
time I summoned him so long ago.  He was still a giant 
gleaming white tiger (well, sort of like one, anyway).  But 
now he was substantially bigger, big enough to catch the 
giant manta in his jaws as his winds worked it over.  

	There was a creaking noise and the flapping of wings 
and metal on metal, and now a giant metallic owl which 
moved with stiff, jerky, mechanical movements, flapped 
down and began to harry the manta ray, even as Mitsu-san 
and I renewed our attack.  I suppose it shouldn't have 
surprised me that my blows did more damage than hers; I 
am older and have... well, a touch more experience.  And 
Harry looked so strong now...

	The creature came apart, dissolving away into 
streamers of crimson light which burned away.  If 
something had summoned these things, it failed to make an 
appearance.    

	"We won?" Mitsu-san said nervously.

	"We won!" I said, high-fiving her.

	She smiled softly.  "Shun's safe." And then she 
collapsed, utterly exhausted, falling into my arms and 
turning back to normal.  "I came all this way to keep him 
safe, and he is..."  She smiled a little.

	I tried concentrating and thankfully this... outfit... 
turned back to my normal clothing as my element vanished.  
I gave Harry a hug and then he faded away as did Sophia.

	I did it, I thought.  I DID IT.  We did it.  Together.  
Thank you, Mitsu-san, I thought.  You gave me back my 
courage.  I can face this now.  

	I just hope I don't end up looking like that every time 
now.  Though I bet Kazuya-kun would think the ears are 
cute...

**************

Crystal's Tale:

	I couldn't sleep.  Or possibly I dreamed I couldn't 
sleep, which I do sometimes; it makes me crazy when that 
happened as I always end up totally fucked up the next day.

	I got up and started pacing around, then decided to go 
outside to get some fresh air, my brain in chaos.  
Something I couldn't understand or explain had happened.  
I had a strong feeling that our parents knew something like 
this was going to happen?  So why hadn't they told us?  I 
couldn't think of any good reason and it was making me 
paranoid.

	I found Aunt Midori pacing in the courtyard, looking 
around and periodically yawning.  "Hey, Crystal, can't 
sleep either?" she asked.

	"Tell me about Marduk," I said.  I didn't mean to say 
it.  But I couldn't help myself.

	Aunt Midori blinked.  "Marduk?" she sounded utterly 
confused.  Which made me more confused.  Did they not 
know about this stuff at all?  But in that case, what the hell 
are they hiding?  "You want a history lecture on Marduk at 
three am?"

	"Yes," I said firmly.

	"Wow, I must have fallen asleep after all," Aunt 
Midori said.  "But hey, seize the day and all that!  Okay, 
Bel Marduk, lord of the gods whose name means 'Bull Calf 
of the Sun', was the patron god of Babylon.  As it rose in 
power, he eventually was elevated to the position of ruler 
of the gods in Mesopotamian mythology, until displaced by 
Asshur when the Assyrians whipped everyone.  He 
gradually assimilated more and more portfolios as time 
passed, but was especially connected to living things, 
magic, and judgement in his role as king of the gods.  He 
created humanity to serve the gods; the Babylonians very 
much operated on the old pagan model where you have to 
pay off the gods so they don't kick your ass.  He got his job 
by defeating Tiamat and her servants, a triumph of Order 
over Chaos."

	I got the feeling she didn't know any more than Dan 
did, unfortunately.  "I suppose the Babylonians would have 
claimed he built their city?"

	"Actually, they asserted Sargon of Akkad built it.  
Marduk stole the title of builder of the first city from Enki, 
who originally was said to have created Eridu, the first city.  
Which actually is not as old as, say, Jericho, or a few other 
neolithic cities," Aunt Midori said.  She ushered me over to 
a bench.  "Much as I would love to talk about this until the 
sun comes up, why are you suddenly curious about 
Babylonian mythology?"  She sounded very confused.

	Aunt Midori cannot lie worth a damn.  So I knew she 
couldn't have read the Namcub of the Crystal Princess.  Or 
whatever that thing was.  Or else she'd almost certainly 
know, as we knew she'd been in that cave.  But if she'd 
been in that cave, how could she NOT have read it?  

	For that matter, what did the sign on Kasumi signify?  
It looks like she's a battle princess, but why that sigil?  And 
why is hers a different color?  

	"I had a really weird dream," I told her.  "So was he a 
good god or a bad one?"

	"It's hard to label ancient gods.  Most did some really 
good things and some terrible things.  Marduk defeated the 
Queen of Chaos and protected humanity from monsters and 
evil, but he expected to be paid in sacrifice or he would 
stomp you flat.  So I guess it was a case of suffer a little 
pain to avoid a lot worse pain.  Depends on if you think 
safety or freedom is more important, since he was an 
absolute monarch."

	Aunt Midori looked up at the sky.  "There."  She 
pointed up at the sky.

	I could see something where she pointed, but I don't 
know much astronomy.  "What's that?"

	"Jupiter.  Zeus and Marduk were both associated with 
it by their cultures and of course, Jupiter is the god the 
Romans thought equivalent to Zeus.  The Babylonians 
called it Nibiru.  Marduk was said to have ordered the 
heavens, creating constellations for the major gods and 
taking the 'wandering star' Nibiru for himself.  And the 
Constellation of Draco commemorated his great enemy 
Tiamat," Aunt Midori said.  "Draco... Draco..."  She began 
searching the skies.  "There we go.  Next to the Big 
Dipper."

	"I'm surprised they thought he'd put up a memorial to 
his enemy," I told her.

	"She was an enemy, but it was a way of exerting 
power over her too, to keep her subdued.  He made the 
world out of her and her army, according to myth," Aunt 
Midori said.  "So you dreamed about Marduk?" she asked 
me.

	"Very strange, yeah," I told her.  Dare I risk using the 
word 'Namcub', I wondered.  Her suspicions weren't up, but 
what if I raised them by that?  If they... they'd have to know 
the word, right?  Or could you somehow... contract... with 
whatever without having to know it?  

	It couldn't just be any prayer, either, or the world 
would be overrun with people with powers like Kasumi's.  
So there had to be limits.  But what kind?

	They had to have been waiting for this to happen.  But 
why not tell us?

	I was starting to repeat myself, never a good sign.

	"Aunt Midori, I..."

	And then Aunt Akane came out of the woods, carrying 
Mitsu-san over one shoulder; they were both covered in 
bits of leaf and dirt and a few bits of branch clung to them.  
"Mitsu-san?" I said in disbelief.

	"Hello, Tate-san," Mitsu mumbled, sounding utterly 
drained and exhausted.  "Is Shun-san okay?"

	"He's fine," I said, coming over with Aunt Midori, 
who picked up Mitsu-san while I began brushing her off 
and Aunt Akane brushed herself off.  I noticed she had her 
tonfas tucked half in and half out of her purse.  "What are 
you doing here?"

	"I just had this terrible feeling that something terrible 
was going to happen to you all and it's my duty to help 
watch over everyone so..."  She sounded like she'd been 
running for hours.

	But if she'd run here, she would still be somewhere in 
the countryside, unless she can run dozens of miles an hour.  
Though if she took a bus to the city, then tried to walk out 
here...

	"It's okay," Aunt Midori said.  "No need to justify 
yourselves to us.  Crystal, come help me," she said.

	I went in and helped get a futon and laid Mitsu down 
next to Erica, who I now discovered had brought Babar 
with her and was hugging him in her sleep; it was very 
cute.

	I then snuck out with Aunt Midori and found Aunt 
Akane had come inside and gone to get herself some water.  
"What happened?" I asked.

	"She took the bus out here, then tried to find the 
shrine.  Then when she finally found it after wandering the 
woods forever, I spotted her hiding and watching and I 
spooked her and she ran and I had to chase her forever," 
Aunt Akane said.  

	She was hiding something, I had a feeling.  She wasn't 
making eye contact.  But what?  "She really has it bad for 
him."

	"Him being Shun?" Aunt Akane asked.  The sense of 
hiding something was gone.  Probably I was being stupidly 
paranoid.

	"Yes," I said, then yawned.  "Ugh, I just can't seem to 
sleep but I'm tired and want to."

	"Here, come and have some blackberry tea," Aunt 
Akane said.  "It will help you sleep."

	In fact, it helped me sleep so much I think I fell out of 
my chair, though when I woke up, I was in bed with the 
other girls, except Mitsu was gone; I saw signs of her 
previous presence, though.

	I got up and wandered to the kitchen where Uncle 
Professor and Great-Grandfather Munakata were making 
breakfast.  Smelled like hash browns, ham, some trout, rice, 
and scrambled eggs.  Yum.  It'll probably kill us by fifty, 
but what a good way to go.
	 
	"Where's my aunts?" I asked.

	"Bathing with Mitsu-san," Uncle Professor said.

	"Can you help us cook?" Great-Grandfather Munakata 
asked.

	"Sure," I said, and they put me to work fixing fruit, 
which I was content to do.  "I hope Mitsu-san isn't going to 
get in trouble again; I get the impression her parents came 
down hard on her."

	"Harada-san told us that fortunately, the appropriate 
paperwork to come on the trip was filed for her two days 
before you left and it's properly chaperoned by two of the 
school staff, so she won't be in trouble at all; she'll actually 
get some credit for this," Great-Grandfather Munakata said 
as he fried eggs on a skillet.

	"..."

	"I understand you'll all be going to town today to 
conduct a photography project," Uncle Professor said.  
"And she'll be critiquing your work.  Chie-san, that is."

	No doubt intended to keep us unable to get in trouble.  
But that's okay, I could use some extra credit and some 
photography advice.  And it'll save Mitsu-san's ass, which 
is nice.

	"You coming with us?"

	"I'm going to laze around uselessly and trade stories 
with Munakata-san," Uncle Professor said, stirring the 
pork.  "So tell me about this piece of shit..."

	"This unfortunate lad," Great-Grandfather Munakata 
cut in.

	"This piece of shit unfortunate lad who attacked my 
son."

	I was still ranting when Mitsu-san came in, wearing 
some of Aunt Midori's clothing, which was too big for her.  
She wasn't wearing her glasses for once and she looked  
even happier than when she and Shun flirt with each other 
when they're supposed to be working.  She looked bright 
and cheerful like she had no worries in all the universe.  
Her soft brown eyes, which I now realized are the same 
color as Aunt Akane's, were virtually shining with life for 
once.  

	I had to envy her that.

	"Thank you," she was saying to Aunt Midori.

	Aunt Midori affectionately ruffled her hair and Mitsu-
san blushed slightly, then retucked her shirt into the shorts 
she was wearing.  "We take care of our own.  Want me to 
sucker punch Shun so you can just drag him off?"

	Mitsu-san blushed more.  "You're such a tease, 
Suguira-san."

	"You could just go climb into his bed; I bet he's still 
malingering," I teased her myself.

	She looked like we'd boiled her now.  She had her 
hands on the side of her face and squealed slightly.  "Now 
you're teasing me too."

	Aunt Akane walked in.  "I can he... oh, hi, Crystal.  I 
was going to come help, but I see you have it in hand."  She 
looked at Mitsu-san.  "Kagami-san, you look like you could 
use some fresh air.  Why don't I show you around?"

	"I should help Tate-san cook," Mitsu-san said.

	"It's okay," I said.  "You take a tour.  It's my turn to 
cook."

	"Okay, Tate-san," she said.

	"Come on, Kagami-san," Aunt Akane said.  "And you 
can call me Akane-san, if you like."

	Holy shit, what the hell happened in the woods with 
them?  Had they ever even met before this? 

	"I shouldn't be so informal with you, Kurauchi-sama," 
Mitsu-san said, starting to go with her.

 	-sama???  What the hell happened?

	"So, where can I pitch in?" Aunt Midori asked.  "I 
could eat a horse."

	"Can you punch out a bull and make some steaks?" 
Uncle Professor asked as Mitsu-san and Aunt Akane 
vanished out the door.

	"No, but..."

	"Make us some lemonade," Great-Grandfather 
Munakata said, thus saving us from Aunt Midori's cooking.  
As even she can't screw that up.

	I hope.

	After a while, Shun drifted in.  "Man, I must be half-
asleep," he said, still drying his hair.

	"What?" I asked.

	"I could have sworn I heard Mitsu-san talking to Aunt 
Akane," he said.

	"She was worried about you and came all the way here 
to make sure you were okay," I said, folding my arms 
across my chest.

	"..."

	Dan came in.  "Hah!  I told you it had to be her.  We 
couldn't both hallucinate the same thing."  He had clearly 
just taken a bath.

	"She... but how..."

	"She used deep, powerful magic," Aunt Midori said.

	"What??"
	
	"The magic called... train and bus," Uncle Professor 
said.

	"Holy shit, that's some determination," Dan said.  "I'm 
pretty sure she's allowed to send you to Hokkaido to 
wrestle a bear and steal its salmon now."

	"She really came," Shun mumbled.

	"Go set the table," Great-Grandfather Munakata said.  
"Then we can prepare for your ritual suicide."  He was 
clearly teasing.

	"Yes, sir, Great-Grandfather," Shun mumbled then 
stumbled out.

	"The girls are in the baths," Dan said.  "Crystal, why 
don't you go bathe and I'll finish helping here?"

	"Thanks!" I said and ran off to bathe.

	I was soon naked and scrubbing myself; Erica and 
Kasumi were already in the hot water, but Natasha was 
working on her long hair, so I helped her out.  "Did you 
hear?" Erica asked.  "Mitsu-san is here."

	"Yeah, I know.  I'm stunned," I said.  "That's 
dedication.  If Shun fucks this up, we're going to have to 
beat him up."

	"Most definitely," Natasha said, working on the rest of 
her body as I did her hair.

	"Mother seems very fond of her," Kasumi said.

	"Yeah, she actually invited Mitsu-san to call her 
'Akane-san'."

	Kasumi stared at me.

	"Daaaamn," Natasha said.  "Did she die of 
embarrassment?"

	"Yes."

	"Mother took her in to bathe with our aunts, too," 
Kasumi said.  

	There was a sudden silence.

	"If I bathe with any of our elders, they may notice 
my... tattoo," Kasumi said slowly.  She ran her fingers 
around it slowly, studying it nervously.  

	"Yeah, but how can you hide it?" I asked, finishing 
Natasha's hair.

	"I don't know, but we'll need something, though once 
we go back to school, it may be a good while before they 
have a chance to see it," Natasha said.

	Erica looked thoughtful but silent.

	"My running team!  We shower together.  Aaargh," 
Kasumi said.

	"We'll figure out something," I said.  "We've got a lot 
to look into.  And if we can somehow sneak out and scout 
out the ruins of Primus tonight before we have to go 
back..."

	"I think it's too far for us to sneak," Erica said.  "But 
Kasumi could probably fly there."

	"Is it safe for her to go alone?" I asked.

	"Which one of us is a monster-slayer now?" Erica 
asked.

	I grumbled and began washing myself as Natasha 
rinsed off and got in the hot water.  

	"I'm sorry," Kasumi said.

	"It's okay."  Though if we stay away from anything 
dangerous... well, we don't know if it's danger or something 
else that triggers the powers.  Or if it's a good idea to want 
them.  They seem to have a cost, but what is it?  Whatever 
it is, it's not obvious yet.

	Which worries me.

*************

Kasumi's Tale:

	We all got cleaned up and went to eat breakfast.  Shun 
looked like he might suddenly explode or run screaming at 
any moment.  I wasn't sure why; everyone else was 
perfectly relaxed.  I'd already been eating a little while 
when Mother and Mitsu-san came in; I could see Mitsu-san 
was wearing a pink t-shirt and blue shorts borrowed from 
Aunt Midori.  They were too big for her.  

	"Hello, Mitsu-san," I said, smiling.  "Hello, Mother."

	A tide of greetings flowed in, leaving Mitsu-san 
looking rather embarrassed.  

	She came over to Shun, who was very fixedly trying 
to eat and looked wobbly.  "Shun-san," she said.  It 
suddenly struck me that she always uses his first name.

	"Hi, Mitsu-san," Shun said, not looking up and 
sounding oddly nervous.

	She leaned down close to him, then suddenly kissed 
his cheek and ran away around the table to find a seat.  This 
triggered a general wave of applause and hooting that 
caused Shun to fall backwards, looking stunned and Mitsu-
san to look ready to die.  But when she sat down between 
Mother and Dan on the far side from Shun, she said, 
"You're so cute when you get flustered," then smiled at him 
brightly.

	More laughter ensued, while Shun laid there looking 
half-dead and frozen up.  Finally, Aunt Chie and Erica both 
snapped pictures of him and he sat up.

	"Harada-san, thank you very much for helping me 
out," Mitsu-san said to her.  

	"It's okay, Mitsu-san," Aunt Chie said.  "Taking care 
of students is part of my job."  She idly twirled her own 
rose ring.  

	"Chie-san is very clever, Kagami-san," Mother said.  
"As you will learn."

	Shun mumbled into his food, stuffing ham and hash 
browns into his mouth and chewing rather loudly.

	"Well, kids, we're going to have more fun than you 
can possibly stand.  We're going to take enough photos for 
a small army and I'll show you all our old haunts, including 
where Akane-san, Midori-sensei, Mai-san, and Miyu-san 
all were waitresses together in our school days,"  Aunt Chie 
said.

	"And where I met Kazu-kun," Mother said.  She 
whispered something to Mitsu-san which made her eyes 
cross.

	"I met a lot of boyfriends at Linden Baum myself," 
Aunt Shiho said.  "We can see about getting Crystal one 
there."

	Crystal laughed.  "Auntie, a boyfriend this far from 
school wouldn't do me much good."

	"True," Aunt Shiho said.

	We eventually finished breakfast and headed into 
town, though Uncle Professor stayed with Great-
Grandfather Munakata.  Aunt Midori pointed out points of 
interest as we drove down to town; we had to ride around a 
while until Aunt Midori found somewhere for us to park 
long-term, then we headed out into the city, finding good 
places to take photos.  

	Mitsu-san had put her glasses back on, and Mother 
posed a lot of shots with myself, Mitsu-san, and herself for 
the others to take, along with encouraging Shun and Mitsu-
san to pose together. I could tell that Shun seemed kind of 
out of it, though.

	Eventually, I took advantage of our lunch break to pull 
him aside.  "Are you okay, Shun?" I asked.  "Are you... I 
mean... You're not mad at Mitsu-san, are you?"

	He took a deep breath.  "I don't know how... I mean..."  
He stared at the ground.  "She really, really likes me."

	"You've had girlfriends before," I told him.

	"It was all for fun, none of it was really serious," he 
said, staring at the ground.  "I don't do serious well.  I'm a 
joker, not a... serious person.  I don't want to hurt her."

	"Shun, do you like her?" I asked.

	"Yes, but... I can't... I think her feelings are a lot 
stronger than mine and I don't... I don't want to fuck this up 
and hurt her.  She has a pretty rough life and shitty 
parents," he said.  "They're going to hate me with the 
blazing atomic hate of 5000 suns."

	"Just give her a chance. Be yourself.  That's the person 
she likes.  I think she's too happy to even realize right now, 
but I'm sure she wouldn't want to worry you."

	"I keep wondering what made her so happy," Shun 
said.

	"Best not to question happiness; it's fragile enough," I 
told him.  "Just calm down, relax, be yourself, flirt a little.  
You don't have to rush it, just be good to her and give it a 
chance."

	"The fact that everyone is rooting for us so hard is 
kind of confusing to me, too," he said.  "Usually the folks 
hate all my girlfriends."

	"Well, your parents, like mine, were first loves.  And I 
think they're both a little disappointed in us we didn't get it 
right the first time. I know I totally was."  I sighed, 
glancing inside at everyone eating.

	"I think your mother is contemplating assassinating 
Mitsu-san's parents and just taking her to adopt her," Shun 
said.  

	"..."

	"Okay, I exaggerate, but they just... Don't they look 
like your mother looks when she's doting on you?"

	I couldn't quite tell as I've never observed myself and 
my mother from a distance at the same time, but they 
certainly seemed to have bonded extremely quickly. I was a 
little jealous.  But only a little.  I'm not that petty. Usually, 
anyway.

	And after everything Mitsu-san told me, I couldn't 
begrudge her some time with Mother.  

	"It's fine. She needs some love," I said, looking at him 
meaningfully.

	   "Everyone needs love, but it's not always good for 
us," Aunt Fumi said, causing both of us to jump into the air.

	She smiled at us, wearing a very nice red and black 
suit dress with her hair elaborately done up as usual.  "It 
can make us into monsters as well as angels, 
unfortunately."  She sighed, then patted our shoulders.  "It 
is good to see you again, Shun-san, Kasumi-san.  You're 
both growing up so fast."

	I hugged her tightly and Shun patted her back.  "We 
have to introduce you to Mitsu-san," I said.  "She's one of 
our classmates."

	Shun mumbled incoherently.

	"Should we go in?" Aunt Fumi asked.

	"We're done talking, so yes," I said.

	We went inside and got hit by a wall of hellos, to 
which Aunt Fumi replied courteously to everyone.  She got 
a chair and some food and joined us.

	We gossiped and teased each other while the adults 
caught up with Aunt Fumi.  To my surprise, after talking to 
Erica-san for a little while, she stole Mitsu-san for a private 
conversation while the rest of us went back to photo-taking.  

	After an hour or so they rejoined us; Aunt Fumi 
looked very thoughtful, and Mitsu-san was, if anything, 
even more cheerful than before.  

	"Why don't we do some photography on campus?" 
Aunt Fumi said.  

	"Oooh, I want to see if it still looks like Aunt Yukino's 
VR game," Natasha said.

	It suddenly hit me that I had fought something in the 
game similar to what I'd fought to save everyone.  But 
surely Aunt Yukino couldn't... but I even had the same 
power, just no Horus, in the game.  And my tonfas weren't 
quite the same in the game.  Still, close enough to...

	I shook my head.  There was no way Aunt Yukino 
would send monsters just to awaken my abilities.  

	You know, if the adults in our family are the Battle 
Princesses, then Aunt Haruka must be one of the strongest.  
She fights so well and so bravely.

	I wish I could tell Aunt Miyu, I thought. She'd be 
proud of me.

	We were on our way back to where the cars were 
parked when we started to hear four men singing in the 
distance.  Aunt Fumi blinked, and our Aunts all cocked 
their heads.  Then Aunt Chie said, "Is that the Fuuka Fight 
Song?"

	"The real question is whether or not that's Ishida-san 
singing the Fuuka Fight Song," Aunt Aoi said grinning and 
looking at Aunt Chie in a teasing way.

	To my surprise, Crystal said, "I think I do hear Ishida-
san," causing Aunt Chie to stare at her in utter surprise, 
then hide behind me.  

	"Auntie?" I asked in confusion.

	"I am not here," she hissed into my ear.

	"Hey, Ishida-san, is that you?" Aunt Midori shouted.

	Four middle-aged men came around the corner; three 
of them were balding, in jeans and very old-looking t-
shirts, while the fourth had long hair, slacks, and a white-
knit shirt. They were all carrying tennis gear, one of them 
bouncing a ball on his racket. Three of them were singing 
the song - whatever it is - very loudly, while the fourth one 
looked ready to die of embarrassment.

	The first of the balding men waved to us.  "Suguira-
sensei, Tate-san, good to see you again!"

	We all stared at Crystal; how did she know some 
balding middle-aged guy in Fuuka Town???

	Crystal waved as if this was perfectly normal.

	"Senoh-san! Kurauchi-san!  Good to see you both 
again!" the second man said.  

	"Hello, Kajima-san," Mother said.  "I see you kept up 
with your tennis."

	"Yeah, Ishida-san just called us up out of the blue for 
a game, so we're on our way over to the courts for a game 
or three," Kajima-san said.  

	"This is my daughter Kasumi," Mother said, pulling 
me up.

	I bowed.  "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kajima-san."

	Mother introduced me to all four; the other two were 
Hajime and Ieyasu.  Pretty soon, a massive storm of 
introductions ensued with Aunt Chie doing her best to hide 
behind all of us.

	"I'm kind of surprised to see you without Harada-san," 
Ishida said to Aunt Aoi.

	"Oh, we got married," Aunt Aoi said.  RING FLASH.  
"But she had a major fit of cowardice and ran off to hide 
from someone she hasn't seen in twenty years."  Her voice 
was very cheerful despite the barbed comment.

	"Oh man, who would scare her that much?" Ishida 
said.  "She always struck me as someone afraid of no one."

	His three male friends rubbed their foreheads 
nervously in unison.

	"So you two got married?" Ishida asked ruefully.

	"Yes.  This is our daughter Erica," Aunt Aoi said, 
pulling her up.  "I'm the school nurse at Rosewood where 
she attends."

	"She's very smart like Aunt Chie," Crystal said, then 
paused.  "I mean, not to say Aunt Aoi isn't smart..."

	"It's okay," Aunt Aoi said.  "I'm not as smart but 
definitely braver."

	Aunt Chie had her hand over her mouth but looked 
like she was just ready to die now as she hid behind us.

	"That's too bad she's not here," Ishida-san said.  "Well, 
I hope you two will be very happy together."  He turned to 
the others.  "We'd better get going so we still have time to 
play."

	Crystal gave him a thumbs-up for some reason, then 
said, "We'll see if we can roust out Aunt Chie from her 
special safety place to come round and say hello to you 
later."

	"Thanks, Tate-san.  Say hello to your folks for me," 
Ishida said.

	"I will!"

	They moved on and so did we.  Aunt Midori now said 
to Aunt Chie, "You do realize that unless he's gone blind, 
he almost certainly saw you."

	Aunt Chie mumbled into her hand until Aunt Aoi 
pulled it loose.  "I just was hoping to never see him again."

	"Why are you so afraid of this man?" Dan asked 
curiously.

	"It's just... he was totally obsessed with me senior 
year.  I just reached the point where I couldn't deal with 
him any more."  She glanced back down the road.  "Of 
course, it didn't help when Aoi kept 'accidentally' revealing 
me."  She stared over at Aoi, who laughed.

	"It's for your own good, dear.  You have to face your 
fears to overcome them."

	"Amen to that," Mother said firmly, and Mitsu-san 
nodded in virtual unison.  

	I wondered again what had happened last night.

	"How do you know Ishida-san, Crystal?" Aunt Chie 
asked her curiously.

	"We met at one of his gas stations on the way to here," 
Crystal said.  "He really doesn't seem obsessive; he didn't 
even mention you."

	"Funny how someone might move on after twenty 
years," Aunt Aoi said, glancing at Aunt Chie, who 
mumbled into her hand again.

	Aunt Chie decided to mope the rest of the way to the 
car and was still moping when we reached the campus.

	"This place looks a lot better well-lit," Crystal said, 
looking around.

	It looked totally like the VR reconstruction Aunt 
Yukino had done of it.  It's an incredibly beautiful campus.  
Students milled about everywhere, though they didn't have 
to wear their uniforms on an off day, so everyone was in 
civilian clothing.

	We headed for the domed building first, following 
Aunt Fumi's lead.  Inside, we found Father, Aunt Mikoto, 
and my brothers.  Aunt Mikoto was trying to show my 
brothers how to tie ribbons to the railing around the giant 
well, while Father was having a discussion with a middle 
aged black haired man in a kendo outfit.  

	"I'm kind of stunned you two of all people got 
married.  But your boys look very healthy and strong for 
their age," the black haired man said, apparently oblivious 
to our approach.

	"I make sure they get lots of exercise so they'll grow 
up big and strong," Mikoto said cheerfully, then turned to 
Katsuhito.  "No, you do the knot like this."

	I could see Keiichi was busy tying his hand to the 
railing.

	Mother stared at the kendo man and Father, eyes wide, 
while Aunt Midori began to laugh.

	"No, no, we're not married," Father said frantically.  "I 
married Akane.  Who I'm not sure if you remember her, 
but..."

	"You married Akane but you have two children by 
Minagi-san???  What kind of man are you?" the angry 
middle-aged man said, hand on his sword.  "I ought to 
smite you in Heaven's name!"

	Aunt Fumi strode forward. "There will be no smiting, 
Takeda-san," she said firmly.  "Mikoto-chan is just helping 
to babysit the kids.  They're not hers."

	"I wouldn't mind, though," Aunt Mikoto said, not 
helping at all.

	"Aunt Mikoto is the greatest!" Katsuhito said.

	"Help, the railing attacked me!" Keiichi said.

	Mother now ran forward.  "Hello, Takeda-san," she 
said, then started untying Keiichi.  "Don't take yourself 
hostage, dear," she said to him.  "What brings you here?"

	"I teach here," he said proudly.  "We've been national 
champions three years in a row!"

	The rest of us now milled forwards.  "Hello, Takeda-
san," Aunt Shiho said.  "I'll make sure to tell Yuuichi-kun 
that."

	Takeda stared at her; he looked old enough almost to 
be her father.  "Shiho-chan, is that you?" he said in 
disbelief.

	"It's me, all grown up," she said, grinning, clearly 
enjoying having an impact on him.

	Another wave of introductions ensued, and Crystal 
said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Takeda-san.  Father still 
talks about you sometimes."

	"I'm glad to know that.  Have you studied any 
Kendo?"

	"She and Natasha are geniuses with a blade!  I'm very 
proud of them," Aunt Mikoto proclaimed with a grin, then
added enthusiastically,  "Hey!  Let's spar like in the old 
days, Takeda-san!"

	"You really haven't changed a bit," he said a little 
ruefully.  "But how can I refuse a challenge from an old 
friend?  Come!  I will show you the honor of Fuuka 
Kendo!"

	We soon ended up in the Kendo Hall, though I noticed 
Aunt Midori and Mitsu-san stayed behind in the well room 
at first, though they soon caught up to us.  Takeda-san was 
a really top notch fighter, especially for a man his age.  I 
wasn't sure if Aunt Mikoto was really going all-out, though.  
I've seen her faster than this.  She was winning, but he was 
giving her a very good fight.  Some of his students had 
been here practicing, but they were now staring in awe.

	"What brings you here, Father?" I asked him as Aunt 
Mikoto slid under a blow. 

	"Fumi-san called and asked us to come join you. I 
think she has a surprise planned."

	"Kick him in the balls, Auntie!" Katsuhito yelled.

	Father rubbed his forehead, and Mother said, "You 
shouldn't say things like that, Katsuhito."

	"Okay, I'll get Keiichi to say them," Katsuhito said.

	I laughed softly.  "This is an honorable fight where no 
one kicks each other in the groin, brother," I told him.

	"Oh, a boring fight with rules," he said.

	I wasn't sure what to say about that.

	"Only nasty people fight with no rules," Mother said 
to Katsuhito.  

	"That's why nasty people win," Katsuhito said.

	"That's not true at all," Mitsu-san said.  "If we fight 
without rules, we become monsters."

	"And if you do, monsters eat you," Katsuhito said 
sagely.

	Keiichi was trying to fish around under the bleachers; 
I pulled him out before he could get stuck.

	"An honorable warrior will always triumph over a 
monster," Mitsu-san said firmly to Katsuhito.  

	"Whether you win or you lose a fight, if you fight 
honorably, you have the right to be satisfied," Mother said.  
"If you win by cheating, you become as filthy as your foe."

	"But you still win," Aunt Shiho said.  "Would you 
rather see something eat Katsuhito than fight dirty, 
Akane?"

	Mother looked mortified.  "I wouldn't let anything eat 
my son!"

	"Aunt Mikoto would save me when Mommy gets 
eaten, but I'd cry for Mommy," Katsuhito said.

	"Big sis, let go of me, I think I see candy down there," 
Keiichi said, squirming.  

	"Be respectful of your mother," Father snapped at 
Katsuhito.

	"You should have more faith in Mother," I told them.

	"But we're not supposed to worship Mommy," 
Katsuhito said, confused.

	I rubbed my forehead, while Dan laughed, then put his 
hand over his mouth.

	"Your father and I will always protect you, dear," 
Mother said to Katsuhito, picking him up and putting him 
in her lap.

	Aunt Mikoto now laughed cheerfully as she knocked 
Takeda-sensei's sword into the air, then tagged his shoulder 
and caught the falling sword with one hand.

	"You're even better than you used to be," Takeda-
sensei said ruefully.

	"You're better too!" Aunt Mikoto said.  "Let's do it 
again!"

	They started going at each other with swords again.

	"See, Aunt Mikoto's a super-badass.  She'll save us all 
while you save us from being killed by Aunt Mikoto's 
cooking," Katsuhito said to Mother.  I suppose this is what 
passes for trying to be concilliatory with him.

	"Let go of me!" Keiichi said.  

	I tangled him in my arms.  "You'll get your head stuck 
again," I told him.

	"I saw candy!"

	"You should respect your mother," Mitsu-san said 
sharply to Katsuhito.  

	He stared at her, then said, "Make me!" and stuck his 
tongue out at her.

	"Nyaaah!"  Keiichi stuck out his tongue at Mitsu-san; 
her glasses now seemed to almost glow and you couldn't 
see her eyes, just reflected light.  

	I looked over at Mother, who was pretty clearly angry 
with them.  For a moment, I was worried she'd say 
something like 'Fine, you can go live with your Aunt 
Mikoto.' Or spank them.  Mother and Father never spanked 
me, and I don't think it's a good way to discipline kids.  I 
came out fine without it.  But my brothers are worse 
behaved than I ever was, and out here where there's no way 
to make them go to the corner or to take away the toys they 
didn't bring with them, I didn't know what they'd do.

	I had to do something.  

	Before I could quite figure out what to do, Shun stood 
up in front of us and pulled some candy out of his pocket 
and waved it in the air in front of my brothers.  "Loook... 
candy..." he said in a slow, droning voice.

	My brothers stared at it, then tried to rush the candy.  
However I held Keiichi quite firmly and Mother restrained 
Katsuhito.  Which wasn't easy; you wouldn't believe how 
hard a boy who wants candy can wiggle.  

	Distantly, I could see Takeda-san was breathing hard, 
but he managed to bat Aunt Mikoto's sword aside and tag 
her shoulder.  His students cheered and Aunt Mikoto 
laughed happily.

	Shun then turned and handed it all to Mitsu-san.  
"Because she's nice and you're not, she gets the candy and 
you get NOTHING."

	My brothers both looked like they'd been punched in 
the gut, while Mitsu-san smiled a goofy smile.  

	"No, I'm not bad!" Keiichi wailed. 

	"You're a bad boy who insults his parents and their 
guest and so is your brother," Shun said firmly.  "Come on, 
Mitsu-san, let's eat all the candy and not give them any."

	My brothers were still wailing and flailing when Aunt 
Mikoto finished the match and Takeda-san had to sit down, 
plopping down by Aunt Shiho; they began trading info 
about people they knew from school.  

	Aunt Mikoto bounced over to us.  "Anyone else want 
to play?  Anyone?"

	Aunt Fumi checked her watch, tapped her earring, 
frowned slightly, but then perked back up.  "I will."

	I stared.  Aunt Fumi was going to swordfight Aunt 
Mikoto?

	"You will?" Aunt Mikoto asked, then she smiled.  
"Wow, this is my lucky day!"

	I could see Natasha's jaw drop and Crystal stared.  
Dan was talking to Aunt Chie and didn't seem to be paying 
attention, Erica looked curious, and Shun was completely 
focused on Mitsu-san and candy at the moment.

	Aunt Fumi sent a runner to her office who soon 
returned with... a wooden scythe?  She keeps a wooden 
scythe in her office???

	Aunt Mikoto grinned.  "It's been a long time, Fumi-
san."

	"I don't have a spoon, so this should be a fair fight," 
Aunt Fumi said, smiling, and Aunt Mikoto looked rueful, 
which for her, is rare.

	Then they charged, giant wooden scythe against 
sword, dancing about each other and jumping over, around, 
and under each other.  I could see how much Aunt Mikoto 
had been holding back before; she'd been holding to the 
rules of Kendo, but this was more like a martial arts movie 
fight where anything went.

	Pretty soon, more students were showing up and I 
could see observers calling their friends.  Takeda and his 
students were cheering for Aunt Fumi; I cheered for Aunt 
Mikoto and my brothers kept shouting things like "FINISH 
HER!"  

	Aunt Mikoto tried to sweep Fumi's legs after ducking 
under a broad scythe sweep, but Aunt Fumi simply jumped 
up, back flipping and using her superior reach to tag Aunt 
Mikoto in the shoulder.  "One."

	Holy cow, I'd never seen ANYONE get the first blow 
in on Aunt Mikoto.

	"Hah hahahaha!  Nice one!" Aunt Mikoto said, then 
charged, battering the scythe aside and forcing Aunt Fumi 
back, round and round the room in a circle, moving at high 
speed.  Until Aunt Fumi reversed the scythe and struck 
Aunt Mikoto in the side while she was recovering from 
having an earlier blow parried.  

	Aunt Mikoto now ducked under the follow up and 
struck Aunt Fumi in the legs.  "One!" she said 
determinedly.

	At this point, I saw Aunt Yukariko, wearing a long red 
dress and a silver chain in her hair, ringing her head, 
coming our way, followed by Uncle Wateru and... Cousin 
Shinichiro!  I haven't seen him in FOREVER.  Uncle 
Wateru and Cousin Shinichiro were carrying large brown 
leather cases that looked basically identical.  Aunt 
Yukariko looked worried and when she arrived, she said to 
Mother, "What on Earth is going on?"

	Aunt Fumi now jumped over Aunt Mikoto and tried to 
smack her in the butt with her scythe, but Aunt Mikoto 
jumped over the blow and spun to land a solid blow on 
Aunt Fumi's shoulder.  "Two!"

	It was hard for me to hear anything with so many 
students shouting.

	"Sister Yukariko!" Mother said, now finally smiling 
again.  "What brings you way out here?"

	"Fumi-san called us yesterday and asked us to come 
down so my husband and my dear son could paint you all," 
Aunt Yukariko said.  

	"She was very insistent," Shinichiro said.  
"Fortunately, I have weekends off."  He laughed nervously.  
Shinichiro has dark black hair like his father, and blue eyes 
like his mother; he's a lot more athletic than either of his 
parents and kind of cute but not really what you'd call 
handsome.  Like his father, he wears glasses, and I now 
guessed he and his father were carrying some kind of 
painting kit.  His father was in a suit, while he was wearing 
a knit blue shirt and jeans.  

	  "Oh wow, Shinichiro came out of hiding!" Aunt 
Midori said.  

	A general chorus of greetings ensued, which clearly 
embarrassed him a little.  Shinichiro is oddly shy, given 
how outgoing his parents are.  His dad only gets shy when 
Yukariko is affectionate to him in public, which is 
admittedly often.

	"I haven't been back here in ages," Uncle Wataru said.

	"Or I," Aunt Yukariko confessed.  "Why are they 
fighting?"

	"Aunt Fumi volunteered to play with Aunt Mikoto," I 
said.

	"Oh, okay."  Aunt Yukariko relaxed.

	Aunt Mikoto finally tagged Aunt Fumi a third time, 
and then we all got dragged to the gardens around Aunt 
Fumi's house, which are beautiful.  Uncle Wateru and 
Cousin Shinichiro lined us all up on some benches and then 
we had to sit still for a long time while they painted on a 
huge canvas. 

	"We should have just invited everyone and had a 
really gigantic family portrait," Crystal said.

	"Well, this isn't exactly a family portrait; it's a portrait 
of everyone on your trip, which is why Mitsu-san is in it, 
but neither I nor my husband nor my son is in it," Aunt 
Yukariko said.

	That made sense.  

	But why not just take a picture?  It would be a lot 
faster.

	"Is Aunt Nao coming?" Crystal asked.

	"And Aunt Miyu and Aunt Alyssa?"  I asked.

	Aunt Yukariko looked at me curiously a moment, then 
said, "At least in theory, yes."

	"In theory?"

	"They ought to be here by now," Aunt Yukariko said.  

	"I'm sure they're fine," Aunt Fumi said.  She was 
sitting on another bench, working on a laptop while the 
painting went on.

	"Are we keeping you from your work?" Mitsu-san 
asked, worried.

	"It's fine," Aunt Fumi said.  

	Aunt Mikoto squirmed. "This is so slow," she 
grumbled.

	Shinichiro said, "I'm sorry."

	"Don't apologize," Uncle Wataru said.  "This is slow 
but it's also special, unlike a photograph."

	"Hey, photographs can be special too!" Aunt Chie 
protested.  

	The ensuing argument seemed to last 3 million years; 
during that time, I could see a helicopter flying back and 
forth around the school, as if it was lost.  How strange.

	Eventually, however, it landed and Aunt Yukino and 
Aunt Haruka stepped out.  "Hello, everyone!" Aunt Haruka 
said, striding over.  "Campus is looking good, Headmistress 
Fumi-san," she said to Fumi.

	"Thank you," Aunt Fumi said.  "Can I get you two to 
help me bring something out?"

	They left; we were still being painted when they 
returned with several covered trays and some tables, 
followed by a lot of tea.

	Once the painting was done, we feasted on cookies 
and tea.  Aunt Fumi's cookies are just incredible.  I ate way 
too many, and had to help Mother and Father keep my 
brothers from totally glutting on them.

	Aunt Nao, Aunt Miyu, and Aunt Alyssa, all in full 
regalia, unlike Aunt Yukariko, now arrived.  "Hello, 
everyone," Nao said, grabbing some cookies.

	Aunt Miyu said, "Good day, everyone," then got 
herself and Alyssa some tea.

	Aunt Alyssa grabbed several cookies, then choked on 
the first one as she turned to greet us.  Erica darted 
forwards, grabbed her, and pounded on her back, causing 
her to cough up the cookie.

	"Very good, daughter," Aunt Aoi said, smiling.

	"Thank you," Aunt Alyssa mumbled.

	"Anyone else coming?" Dan asked as Crystal went to 
talk to Aunt Nao.  

	"In theory, everyone," Aunt Fumi said.  "I have 
prepared a formal dinner for everyone."

	I hope she didn't have to cook it all herself.

	The rest of our family drifted in gradually as we 
moved in an ever growing mob around campus, taking 
pictures and getting instructed by Aunt Chie on 
photography while the adults gossiped and reminisced 
about old times. I expect Crystal probably tried to spy on 
everyone at once, but I was mainly focused on the 
photography. I really wanted to talk to Aunt Miyu, though I 
didn't know what to say, given I couldn't tell her 
everything.

	I do have to wonder what the students made of us.  

	Finally, we ended up sitting around the garden while 
some of the parents helped get everything ready to serve.  
To my good fortune, Aunt Miyu was sitting quietly by 
herself, sipping tea and watching the campus, while Aunt 
Alyssa was inside helping to set up.

	"You busy?" I asked Aunt Miyu nervously.

	She studied me for a moment, then patted the chair 
next to hers which Aunt Alyssa had abandoned.

	I sat down beside her.  "Aunt Miyu, I... I've been 
trying to get stronger, like I promised.  I think I've had 
some success."

	"You should speak more firmly, instead of hedging it 
all with 'trying' and 'I think'," Aunt Miyu said.  "Your 
language conveys weakness."

	"..."

	"This is why your brothers fail to respect your parents; 
they are too gentle and don't convey strength," Aunt Miyu 
continued.

	"..."  Did she know about the earlier incident?

	"I have made a suggestion to your Mother about that, 
but I do not know if she will follow it."  Aunt Miyu sipped 
her tea.

	I sipped my own nervously, afraid to ask what it might 
be.  I really, really wanted to tell her about my new 
abilities, but I had promised to keep quiet and I knew she 
would tell everyone.  Or I assumed.   

	How am I going to hide this tattoo, anyway???

	"I have heard about you training with your mother and 
your Aunt Shiho and Natasha.  I think it's a very good idea 
for all of you," Aunt Miyu said.  "I hope it's not hurting 
your studies, though."

	"It's hard for me to do this and track and my 
homework, but I'm okay so far.  I go to bed tired a lot, 
though," I told her.

	"It will help you to sleep soundly," Aunt Miyu said.  
"You run very well."

	"Thank you, Auntie."

	"So what is it you really wish to talk about, but are 
not?" Aunt Miyu asked.

	I froze up.  It's like she could see right through me.  
"I... Auntie..."   

	She studied me in silence while I writhed.  I knew 
she'd feel less worried about me if I told her, but I couldn't 
tell her.

	"Do not be afraid.  God forgives us all our sins, if we 
but ask.  But you must ask," Aunt Miyu said. 

	"I haven't... sinned..." I said, squirming. I should have 
just waited. I can't just...

	"Everyone sins," Aunt Miyu said sadly.  "We are all 
flawed, no matter how we were made.  And we often do not 
think of our sins as sins until it is too late."

	"I promised not to talk about it," I mumbled.

	"So why did you approach me, then?" Aunt Miyu 
asked curiously.

	"I just wanted to reassure you that I was following 
your advice," I mumbled.

	She reached over and took my hand, clasping it 
between two of hers.  "Thank you for trying to reassure me.  
Continue to do well and practice hard and you will make 
me happy."  As usual, this was all in a monotone; I could 
see her trying to smile, but she's not good at it. 

	I suddenly remembered bathing with Aunt Alyssa and 
Aunt Miyu before... they didn't have marks, but surely they 
were among the Battle Princesses... so why did I have a 
mark and they didn't???  Or does it fade after a while if you 
haven't used your abilities lately?

	Then Aunt Alyssa came out with a pot and a ladle and 
began banging away.  "Dinner is served!"  

	So we headed inside.

*****************  

Crystal's Tale:

	I really wish I could tell Aunt Nao everything.  I 
pulled her aside before dinner to talk off in one corner of 
the garden, though I had the problem I couldn't ask her any 
of the things I was most curious about.  "You have any idea 
why we're having this giant family dinner?"

	"I think Fumi-san wanted to see everyone; you know 
she can't get away from here often."  I could tell Aunt Nao 
was being at least somewhat evasive.  "We don't get to do 
this so often.  But with you all coming here anyway, it 
made it easier," Aunt Nao said.

	"Aunt Nao, do you have a sword on under your 
robes?" I asked, noticing how the outfit gathered in one 
place.

	"..."

	I laughed a little.

	"Yes," she said, embarrassed. "It's got a saint's finger 
worked into it."

	Why was Aunt Nao carrying a sword with a saint's 
finger in it???  "I..."

	Aunt Nao looked around, then said, "Look, Crystal..."

	I tensed, wondering what she was going to say.  

	"Look, I... I suppose you've never looked up my 
order."

	Actually, I had.  "The Magdalenes work with the poor 
and especially protect women trapped in prostitution, 
right?" I asked.  "Oh, I suppose that's for self-defense if a 
pimp comes for you."  Though if she is a battle princess 
like Kasumi, what good is a sword with some dead guy's 
finger going to do?

	"We're exorcists.  We get rid of things which aren't 
supposed to be in this dimension.  Your Aunt Midori and 
your Uncle Reito and Professor Sasaki help out too 
sometimes."  Aunt Nao looked around nervously.  

	Was she expecting something to attack? Or was this 
one of the things we weren't supposed to be told?

	It had to be.  Being Battle Princesses would make 
dealing with that kind of thing a LOT easier.  

	Oh man, what happened at Tallin... that had to be one 
of their cases.  And she probably joined the Order because 
of something that happened when the monsters killed 
everyone at Primus Research.  When our parents were in 
school.

	That's got to be how they all gained their powers, 
having to save the school from the invading monsters.  No, 
wait, the business with Primus was at the end of the whole 
mess.  Still, there must be some kind of connection.   I 
shivered and Aunt Nao looked mortified.

	"Look, you're perfectly safe here and at school," Aunt 
Nao said.  "I never talked about this before since your 
mother was afraid you'd want to come help."

	I laughed nervously.  "I guess I am an open book."

	"Promise me you won't go rushing off into anything 
because I told you this," Aunt Nao said.  "And don't tell 
anyone.  Or at least no one who will blab to your Mom and 
thus cause trouble.  I'd have told you a long time ago, 
but..."

	I had to ask.  "Is Mother the head of this family?"

	"Yes," Aunt Nao said.  "She's not an absolute 
monarch, but she carries a lot of weight with all of us."  She 
stared at the ground.  "Your mother is the strongest of us, 
even if she refuses to admit it."  Aunt Nao sounded very 
frustrated.  "This is all bullshit.  We should have told you a 
long time ago.  Though I can also see..."  Her hands were 
clenched.

	I stepped up and put my hands on her shoulders, "It's 
okay, Aunt Nao.  I grew up with Mother; I know how 
stubborn she can be sometimes," I told her.  "So these 
monsters..."

	"Can't live long in most places, but some places are 
very dangerous.  Crystal, promise me, if you encounter 
something... terrible... you'll run away and call us to deal 
with it.  I couldn't..."  Aunt Nao was shivering.  "I wish I 
could arm you all, but this gear is for order members and 
lay allies only.  You're not old enough."

	"I promise you I won't try to fight anything I can't 
handle," I told her.  I'm not that crazy.

	I hope.  

	I took her hands and held them.  "It's okay, Auntie."

	She closed her eyes a few seconds and then she was 
back to normal.  Or faking it, anyway.

 	"Auntie, you trained to become a nun here at the 
chapel, right?" I asked her.

	"Yes," she said.

	"Do you think you could show it to me after supper?  
I'd like to see where you and Aunt Alyssa and Aunt Miyu 
all became nuns."

	"Sister Yukariko will want to come too," Aunt Nao 
said.

	"That's cool," I said.  

	Then Alyssa summoned us all to dinner.

	It took a huge amount of space for us all; I was 
surprised Aunt Fumi had enough tables and food, though I 
suppose Aunt Chie probably called her once she figure out 
about our now completely not a secret at all trip.

	So they knew about monsters but not the whole 
Marduk thing.  And yet, they had to be the Battle 
Princesses.  So what was going on?

	I glanced around the dining area at the gathered 
family.  If Battle Princesses really were all women, then 
Mom's generation had... Mom, Aunt Mikoto, Aunt Nao, 
Aunt Miyu, Aunt Alyssa, Aunt Yukariko, Aunt Fumi, Aunt 
Akira, Aunt Shiho, Aunt Akane, Aunt Chie, Aunt Aoi, 
Aunt Haruka, Aunt Yukino, Aunt Midori, Aunt Natsuki, 
and Aunt Shizuru.  Which meant... but I have 17 aunts and 
there are only fifteen Battle Princesses plus Kasumi now...

	Adding uncles would make it even huger.  So who had 
powers and who not?  I had to guess Aunt Midori, Aunt 
Miyu, Aunt Nao, Aunt Alyssa and Aunt Yukariko if they 
went around deliberately seeking out monsters continually.  
Though if Aunt Nao had to carry a sword...

	Aunt Chie, Aunt Aoi, and Mom definitely. That's how 
they became aunts and Aunt Nao gave away Mother was 
the strongest... so is she the Dragon Princess?  Maybe.

	After watching Aunt Fumi fight, I suspect she has to 
be one and Aunt Mikoto too.  

	But... what exactly does qualify for the family, 
though?  If only some have powers... or maybe it's just 
KNOWING about the powers...

	Which means Aunt Chie and Aunt Aoi may just know 
about the secret... Or maybe Aunt Chie has it and Aunt Aoi 
gets in by marriage, since Aunt Aoi didn't go to the 
factory...

	Wait, why didn't they call in the professional monster 
hunters for the factory?  Maybe to try to avoid giving it 
away to Aunt Chie...

	I'm just tying myself into knots.

	I glanced over and saw Mitsu-san and Shun flirting 
again as they ate dinner, though Shun still seemed kind of 
flustered.  Whereas, Mitsu-san had his usual confidence, 
and was playing with his long hair and whispering to him.  
For a moment, I wondered if they had somehow body-
swapped with each other.

	Aunt Akira and Uncle Takumi now sat down opposite 
them.  "Shun, won't you introduce your friend to us?" 
Uncle Takumi asked.
	
	Mitsu-san now turned red and froze up.  Shun said, 
"This... I... you..."  He stuffed crab in his mouth and started 
chewing.

	"That's an interesting name," Uncle Takumi teased.

	Mitsu-san now rose up and bowed deeply to both of 
them.  "I am Mitsu Kagami, a member of the Rose Ring 
Club and a classmate of your son, Takumi Shun.  I am 
blood type A, I am 167 cm tall, I weigh 61 kilograms, my 
measurements are 91-81-98, my favorite food is chicken, 
and my grade point average is 3.96!  It's a pleasure to meet 
you both!"

	A few seconds later, she seemed to realize what she'd 
said and collapsed in on herself like a black hole.

	"She's very smart," Shun mumbled to his food.

	Aunt Akira studied her curiously, while Uncle Takumi 
smiled at her.  "It's okay," he said.  "I promise I won't bite."

	"That is my job," Aunt Akira said, which only caused 
Mitsu-san to unravel more.

	"Mom, please don't scare Mitsu-san," Shun said.

	Aunt Akira now plucked an ice cube from her drink 
and casually flicked it at Shun to my total surprise.  What 
the hell?

	Mitsu-san lashed out and caught it as Shun stared in 
surprise.  "You shouldn't throw ice cubes at Shun-san," she 
said in a lecturing tone, then suddenly shrank in on herself.  
"I mean, my parents never threw ice cubes at me..."  
Finally, she stared at her food.

	Aunt Akira said, "Nice catch, Mitsu-san."

	Shun said, "Please don't throw ice at me, Mother."

	Uncle Takumi looked at Aunt Akira, who looked back 
at him; I had to wonder if all married couples can 
communicate like that or if it's special to our family.  Uncle 
Takumi said, "I'm sorry, Shun, Mitsu-san.  So tell us how 
you two met."

	They drifted off into anecdote land, while I ate and 
watched the various proceedings.  

	"Earth to Crystal," Dad said and I jumped, suddenly 
realizing my parents had sat down opposite me.  Aunt 
Mikoto seemed to be lecturing Keiichi and Katsuhito, who 
definitely deserved a tongue lashing for being such little 
bastards to their own parents.  

	Mind you, I could understand some of the sentiment, 
but even at my worst moments, I wouldn't tell my parents 
something like that.  "Those kids should be glad I'm not 
their mother."

	Mom said, "What?  Oh, you mean Keiichi and 
Katsuhito?"

	"How did two nice people like them produce evil little 
demons like that?"

	"Oh, boys are a real handful until they start to mature," 
Mother said.  "Just remember what they were like at age 4."

	I've managed to blank most of that out, thank the gods.

	"I was a handful myself when I was a kid," Dad said.  
"We're lucky you weren't that bad, though," he continued.

	Mom began breaking crab legs and picking out all the 
meat, which she piled up; Mom always eats crab like that, 
while Dad just eats it as he goes along.  "Aunt Mikoto 
really gets on with them, though," I said.

	"Aunt Mikoto was raised more like a boy than most 
girls," Dad said.

	"I think she's still in touch with childhood more than 
the rest of us," Mother said.  "She was never as bratty as 
them, more of...well, she had an odd family."

	Uncle Reito seems pretty normal, but they never talk 
about their kin and I don't know why.  I glanced over and 
Keiichi and Katsuhito looked pale as Aunt Mikoto lectured 
them. "Wow, she's really letting them have it.  I can't think 
of any time she got that cross with me."

	"I wish her luck," Mom said, glancing over at them 
and shaking her head, then returning to crab shucking.

	"Aunt Nao's going to show me the chapel with the 
other sisters too, after dinner," I told them.  "You want to 
come?"

	"Sure, if you want us to," Mother said.

	Why would I ask them if I didn't want them to???

	Dad laughed softly, possibly thinking the same as me.  
"That should be fun.  It's a very peaceful place and very 
pretty too."

	We chatted about school stuff and various family 
gossip for a while, and then it was time to head to the 
chapel.  Cousin Shinichiro and Uncle Wataru ended up 
coming with Mom and Dad and me and Aunt Nao and 
Aunt Yukariko and Aunt Alyssa and Aunt Miyu.  

	I once again made a valiant attempt to talk to Cousin 
Shinichiro, even though he's not easy to talk to; he always 
seems kind of distant and he's unusually shy for this family.  
"How's your teaching going?" I asked him.

	"Pretty well.  Unfortunately, the summer beauty art 
project turned out not the way I wanted as most of the boys 
did art of women in bikinis, which was not actually the 
idea."  He sort of half-talked to me and half to the invisible 
imaginary goblin over my right shoulder.  "Several of 
which were girls in the class who got mad about it."  He 
shook his head.  "And a student got a crush on me and I 
couldn't figure out what to do about it."

	"Call the parents as soon as possible so they don't 
decide you are a pervert, that's what," Uncle Wataru said.

	Aunt Yukariko rubbed her forehead; I got the distinct 
feeling they'd had this argument a few dozen times.

	I decided to change subjects.  "Thank you very much 
for painting us."

	"I really shouldn't have come, but Aunt Fumi was very 
insistent, and I lost the staring contest," Shinichiro 
confessed.

	"You need to see your family more often," Aunt 
Yukariko said to him.

	He gave her an odd look and now she carefully studied 
the trees and we walked along in silence, which I found 
kind of depressing.  Mother was busy talking to Aunt Nao, 
and Dad was talking business shop with Aunt Alyssa, who 
really knows a remarkable amount of such things for a nun.

	I desperately tried to think of something to say to 
deflate the tension.  "I got busted at school, so I'm lucky to 
be here."  No, dammit, I don't want to have to try and 
justify myself to a teacher!  Me and my big mouth.

	"I heard," Cousin Shinichiro said, lecturingly.  You 
could tell he's a teacher.  "You're lucky you got to come 
here."

	"I am assisting Aunt Chie," I said.

	"So she's Aunt Chie now," Shinichiro said quietly.

	"Yes," Yukariko said, sounding a little worried.

	"Now, son, a little professional rivalry is good for 
you," Uncle Wataru said.  "It pushes you to improve.  We 
must prove our field is the best, superior to merely catching 
photons in flight with a machine.  There is a real heart and 
soul to painting that no photograph can convey."

	I didn't think he even knew Aunt Chie.  But the news 
definitely depressed him.  Why?  Suddenly I wondered if 
he'd once had a crush on her or something.

	"Honey, life isn't always fair," Aunt Yukariko said to 
Shinichiro.  

	"I know," he said, now staring up at the sky.

	Uncomfortableness levels were rising.  I had to do 
something.  This is where Shun would say something witty 
and everyone would laugh, or Natasha would do something 
retarded and everyone would laugh.  But I wasn't sure what 
to do.  

	"Do you see something?" Aunt Yukariko asked softly.

	Uncle Wataru now looked up.

	"No, and I never will, as you both know," he said.

	What was he talking about?  Wait...Aunt Akane had 
been panicking over a red star...but why would a red star 
matter?  There are lots of them, right?

	I looked up at the sky, spotting the constellation of 
Draco and the Big Dipper and the Pole Star and Tsuzumi 
boshi and lots other constellations.  I tried to remember... 
there's a galaxy somewhere in Tsuzumi boshi but I can 
never remember where...  "Never see what?" I asked.

	"Nothing," he said.  He was definitely in a snit.  And I 
definitely didn't know what to do; neither did his mother. 
Uncle Wataru either couldn't tell or was determined to 
ignore that.  "Son, sometimes you have to accept the things 
you can't change.  Rebellion is noble sometimes, but 
sometimes, it's like rebelling against gravity."

	"Humanity rebels against gravity all the time," 
Shinichiro said, frowning deeply.  

	Next time, I just ask Aunt Nao to take me.  I don't 
know why Shinichiro gets so crabby sometimes, but he's 
totally impossible to deal with once he gets in a snit.

	I tried to draw on my inner Shun to see if I could find 
something, anything  to defuse this before my whole trip to 
the chapel exploded like an atomic bomb.  Why had Aunt 
Fumi insisted on him coming anyway?

	I hope I'm not that cranky at his age.

	I sidled over to Aunt Alyssa and Dad.  "Aunt Alyssa, 
you need to reboot Cousin Shinichiro."  She always seems 
to know how to handle him.  They grew up together, I 
think.  

	"Is he moaning about how no one understands him and 
the world is cold and uncaring again?" Aunt Alyssa asked.

	"It's coming."

	Indeed, by the time I got back, he was complaining 
about how they never listen to him and how his students 
didn't like their art projects and how human creativity was 
withering on the vine from too much CGI.

	Aunt Alyssa walked up to him and whispered in his 
ear and he suddenly cringed.  "Sorry, big sister," he said, 
staring at the ground.

	"There are people who have it infinitely worse than 
you, brother," Aunt Alyssa said.  "Your parents love you 
and you have a nice job which is exactly what you wanted 
to do.  And you're free to make all the art you want, without 
duties you cannot escape hanging over your head.  So quit 
your bitching or I will give you something to cry over, little 
brother."  She folded her arms across her chest.

	Cousin Shinichiro looked utterly embarrassed now.  
"I'm sorry, big sister," he mumbled.

	"Now, come talk with me and your uncle," she said, 
dragging him off; he looked slightly trapped as he now was 
caught in the middle of Dad and Aunt Alyssa talking 
business shop.

	I giggled a little, and Aunt Yukariko smiled.  "She's 
grown up to be a fine young lady, hasn't she, Wataru?"

	"Yes, she has," he said, smiling at Yukariko.  They 
now clasped hands, which I thought was sweet.  

	"Was she a good kid?"

	"Very stubborn, sometimes," Aunt Yukariko said.  
"But basically very well behaved and she really is a good 
big sister to Shinichiro.  She understands him."  She sighed.  
"Probably better than me."  Aunt Yukariko shook her head.  
"I tried my best, but you know how he is."

	"I am very proud of his skills," Uncle Wataru said.  
"But at least we can be glad he isn't like I was at that age."

	Aunt Yukariko says, "We both had a lot of growing up 
to do."

	He smiled ruefully.  "Do you have a boyfriend these 
days, Crystal?"

	"No, I dumped Taiki, who I think has now gone 
insane, and I was interested in Hayao, but he's a skank and 
a half and I think he's after Kasumi, so I may have to kill 
him.  You know how she is," I told them.

	"I know a little too well," Aunt Yukariko mumbled, 
while Uncle Wataru stared off at the trees.

	Wait, were THEY like that?  

	"Look, give the man a chance to grow up and stop 
being an idiot.  Some people just take longer," Uncle 
Wataru mumbled. 

	"Kasumi is commendable for her kindness and 
gentleness and her ability to comfort others," Aunt 
Yukariko said.  "You shouldn't pass judgement on her love 
life."

	"You weren't a skank, were you, Uncle Wataru?" I 
asked, surprised.

	"I was a skank who was very good at hiding it until I 
got what I wanted."  He sounded ashamed of himself.  
"Whoever this boy is, he will eventually grow up.  And 
hopefully become a better person like I hope I have."

	"Yes, but we can't wait that long," I told Uncle 
Wataru.  "He just toys with women's hearts until he gets 
what he wants, then discards them."

	Uncle Wataru stared uncomfortably at the ground.  

	Dammit, can't I open my mouth without causing 
trouble, tonight?  I never... he isn't... I don't see him too 
often, but he's always been kind to me and he's utterly, 
totally devoted to Aunt Yukariko.  To the point of being her 
little bitch, really.  

	"I'm sorry," I mumbled.  "Maybe I should take an oath 
of silence for the rest of the night."

	Aunt Yukariko kissed Uncle Wataru's cheek.  "That's 
the past dear.  It's gone and forgotten and the Lord has 
forgiven both of us long ago.  So let's not brood like 
Shinichiro."

	Now I see where Shinichiro gets his brooding from.

	"You are going to take an art class, right?" Uncle 
Wataru asked, rebounding.

	"I was thinking of photography, actually.  Aunt Chie 
teaches it and I had a lot of fun taking photos together."  I 
was half serious and half trying to lighten the mood by 
letting uncle have one of his art rants.

	That kept us busy all the way to the Chapel, which 
was really beautiful.  Aunt Yukariko explained all the 
saints and holy images in the stained glass windows and to 
my surprise, it had a painting which looked just like Aunt 
Yukariko.  "Wow, this looks just like you, Auntie."  It was 
some woman holding a baby.

	"That's the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus," Aunt 
Yukariko said fondly.  "With Shinichiro and I as the 
models.  And your uncle painted it."

	Wow, that was pretty cool!  "Is this where you two 
met?"

	"Here at Fuuka," Aunt Yukariko said.  "Was it here in 
the chapel?"

	"I think so," Uncle Wataru said.  He stared over at one 
side of the chapel and looked very sad and distant for a 
moment.  I noticed Aunt Yukariko doing the same thing.

	"We should pray together," I said.

	Aunt Yukariko looked flattered, then we all kneeled at 
the edge of the dias and started praying.  To my surprise, 
pretty quickly everyone else joined us, praying silently.

	I really need to sit down with Aunt Nao some time and 
get a clearer idea of what exactly she believes in.  And my 
other nun-aunts.  I've never been very religious.  But I did 
my best, praying for him to protect and guide us and asking 
for help in figuring out the wall inscription and what was 
going on and asking him to please get the parents to tell us 
the truth, as it's increasingly looking like it's dangerous for 
us not to know.

	I could see Aunt Yukariko and Aunt Nao both using a 
rosary, slowly thumbing their way through it, and to my 
surprise, my mother had one too.  I dimly remember Aunt 
Alyssa giving her one but I don't think I'd ever seen her use 
it.  Shinichiro was praying very fervently, and Aunt Alyssa 
and Aunt Miyu seemed to be listening to something only 
they could hear, their lips moving silently.

	I tried to think of what I did know about Jesus.  He 
had been a carpenter before he became a boddhisatva.  I 
think.  His birth father was a god, which must have made 
things really uncomfortable between him and his step-
father, Mary's husband.  Joseph, I think.  

	I suddenly thought about Uncle Wataru and Shinichiro 
and Aunt Yukariko.  Wait, Aunt Yukariko was a bride of 
her god and... surely Shinichiro could't be...

	I rubbed my forehead.  No way.  Surely Uncle Wataru 
would be more uncomfortable about it.  Still, being the 
mortal spouse of the bride of a god and having a possibly 
divine son would have to be uncomfortable for anyone.  
Though if Shinichiro had any divinity in him, it was a god 
of angst.

	And what exactly had Shinichiro been being bitter 
about earlier?

	I forced myself to pray some more, running through 
the family and its problems and praying for guidance in 
figuring out what to do.  Please show me what's going on, I 
prayed.  I just want to know the truth.  

	Was that really too much to ask?

****************

	Later, we were back at the headmaster's house, 
listening to music in the garden while the parental 
generation had a big meeting inside.  Which for some 
reason had required Mitsu-san's presence, but not ours.  
Which was fine by me, as it let us discuss family things.  
As I had a big bomb to drop.

	" I got a confession from Aunt Nao."

	Everyone turned to stare at me.

	"She and the other nuns are professional exorcists 
slash monster hunters.  She said there are places where 
things break through and cause trouble and then they go kill 
them," I said.  "She's got a sword with a saint's finger in it 
right now, in fact."

	"The Sword of Saint James?" Dan asked in surprise.

	"Yeah," I said.  I think.  "You know it?"

	"It was lost centuries ago.  I guess Aunt Nao found it."

	"Uncle Reito, Aunt Midori and Uncle Professor work 
with them too as lay... lay something or another."  I 
continued.  "I'm going to guess this means Aunt Yukariko, 
Aunt Midori, Aunt Miyu, Aunt Alyssa, and Aunt Nao are 
five of our fifteen battle princesses."

	"If they can only be women," Dan said.  

	"And Aunt Nao didn't actually SAY Mom is a battle 
princess, but she pretty much hinted really strongly," I said.  
"And I can't believe Aunt Haruka isn't."

	"And probably both of my mothers," Erica said.

	"And probably Aunt Mikoto and maybe Dad," I said. 

	"Probably not Aunt Shizuru; she's a pacifist.  Maybe 
Aunt Akane, but she doesn't really usually act like a 
magical warrior might," Dan said.

	"I think we have to assume that at least one parent of 
each of us is a Battle Princess, assuming those lights meant 
anything at all," Shun said.  "That would give us Mom, 
Aunt Midori, Aunt Mai, probably Aunt Mikoto, Aunt 
Akane, at least one out of Aunt Chie and Aunt Aoi and 
probably both given Erica's glows, and Aunt Shiho.  That's 
somewhere between six to eight.  Add in four nuns, that's 
ten to twelve.  Leaving us three to five to account for."

	"Aunt Natsuki, I bet," I said.  "Aunt Haruka.  She's got 
to be one.  Remember, we know she tried to take on a tank 
with her bare hands."

	"Good point," Kasumi said.  "Aunt Yukino probably 
just helps out by coordinating fights the way she did in the 
VR game."

	"Was it a game?" Natasha asked.

	"What?" Kasumi asked, confused.

	"Remember, we now suspect everyone in that game of 
being a battle princess and you got EXACTLY the same 
power set, you just didn't get the super outfit, in the game.  
Maybe she was hoping it would awaken both of our 
abilities."

	Kasumi's eyes widened.  "Wouldn't we have made a 
mess of their house, though?"

	Natasha frowned and looked thoughtful.

	"I still want to know why they won't tell us," Dan said.

	"Given we're the same age they were when this all 
started, it's not like we can't handle it.  They handled it," I 
said.  "Their parents didn't make them wait until they were 
eighteen."

 	"Aunt Mai's parents were dead, Aunt Akira's parents 
seem to have cut her off after she went to Fuuka, Aunt 
Midori was over eighteen whatever she may claim, Mom 
was on really terrible terms with her parents at the time, 
and Aunt Shiho was the only one with parents nearby.  For 
the most part, their parents were not in much of a position 
to do anything," Kasumi pointed out.  

	I grumbled a little.  Okay, so the situation is a bit 
different.  

	"Well..." Dan said.  "You know, if they told Shinichiro 
at eighteen, that's about when he went totally into King of 
all Emo mode."

	"Okay, I can kind of understand them being afraid 
we'd all turn Emo," I told Dan.  "As I just suffered through 
one of his fits of being pissy earlier."  I rubbed my 
forehead. "I thought people were supposed to stop being 
Emo after college, though."

	"Goethe was Emo For Life," Dan said.  "He was the 
eighteenth century KING of Emo.  The Sorrows of Young 
Werther is distilled, pure Emo in book form."

	"I can guess why he turned Emo," Shun said softly.

	We all looked at him.  

	"If it's true that only women can be Battle Princesses, 
then he may well have gotten Emo over basically being 
relegated to the sidelines for life," Shun said.  

	I suddenly felt horrible for Dan and Shun. I somehow 
totally hadn't thought about that at all.  How do the guys 
cope with it in our family?  But we couldn't be sure that 
was the case.  Why would it only be women?  Especially 
given that the Namcub of the Crystal Princess used Dan as 
a voice and if you contract to make it happen... why 
couldn't a man do that?

	Dan said, "Well, I promise not to dress in black and lie 
around moaning."

	Natasha said, "I expect it has to be something else.  
Lots of people go Emo without anything like our family's 
situation.  And surely he'd get over it after a while."

	"Some people just wallow in their misery.  Which is 
more or less what Emo is," Shun said, briefly faking an 
expression of intense anguish, then laughing.  "Anyway, I 
don't intend to wallow in my own angst either, whether or 
not I get powers."  He frowned just a little, sincerely this 
time.  "Though I won't like seeing everyone going off 
without me either."  

	"Well... they have been searching you guys too, 
right?" Kasumi said.

	"Yeah," Dan said.

	"Dad's checked me a few times, but I got the 
impression they were a lot more serious about it with you 
girls than us guys," Shun said.  

	"Ergo, it must be possible for men, even if it does 
mess up our attempts to guess who is a Battle Princess," 
Kasumi said.  "Why bother searching them otherwise?"

	"I wonder why they... wait, do they have Cousin 
Shinichiro in there too?" I asked.

	"I think he left," Kasumi said.   

	"So why do they have Mitsu-san in with them?" I 
asked.

	"Probably this is to determine whether Shun gets to 
date her or whether the family scares her off like everyone 
always does to my boyfriends," Kasumi said a little bitterly.

	"Hey, Hayao is BAD NEWS," I told her.

	"Whatever," Kasumi said, leaning back and looking 
up at the sky.

	I'm just trying to protect you.  You always seem to 
attract the worst men, I thought.

	Mitsu-san now came out, looking very pleased.  She 
walked over to Shun.  "Hi, Shun-san," she said, then held 
out a hand to him.  

	"Hey," he said softly, taking her hand.  

	"Come with me, please," she said.

	"Okay," he said nervously.  

	The rest of us all grinned, even Kasumi.  I wish them 
luck.  Just don't screw it up this time, Shun, I thought.

*****************
	
Shun's Tale:

	I let her lead me along, wondering why she was so 
incredibly happy all the time now.  Not that I MIND, mind 
you.  I prefer this smiling face of hers to her usual 
unhappiness, which is one reason I like teasing her, to make 
her come out of that shell. 

	She took me around the house to the other side, over 
to a gazebo, then sat me down on the bench, then to my 
surprise, sat down in my lap, putting an arm around me.  
"Shun-san," she said softly, hesitantly reaching towards my 
chest with her other hand but stopping just short of 
touching me.  She closed her eyes for a moment, while I 
felt my brain trying to explode.  

	When she opened them, she said, "Your mo... I mean, 
your Aunt Tate-san told me, that if you... if you..."  She 
closed her eyes again and took off her glasses, stowing 
them in her shirt pocket.  Her soft brown eyes were hard to 
see in just moonlight, but I could see her face clearly, 
shining so brightly.

	Hmm, so it's just Kasumi's mother she is now 
addressing by first name, I thought.  I was very curious 
what had happened to them.  

	I glanced around just for a moment to see if anyone 
was spying on us, but they were either too good for me or 
else we really were alone.  

	"Shun-san, why are you looking around?" she said, 
looking around.

	"Because the others may have followed us here and 
are likely spying on us," I told her.  

	For a moment, she froze up, and then opened her eyes, 
looking determined.  It made her look oddly like Aunt 
Haruka looks all the time.  She said, "I want you to call me 
Kagami."

	I had to fight the intense urge to face-fault and fall off 
the bench.  

	Her hand landed on my chest now and started to slide 
up and down my chest and I could feel myself getting 
turned on.  Was this her way of confessing love?  It 
couldn't just be what it was on face value, you don't start 
caressing a man's body while asking that normally.

	Okay, I could see Natasha doing that, but normal 
women don't.  

	"Okay, Kagami-san," I said.  "I'd be happy to."

	She smiled even more brightly, then closed her eyes 
and leaned in close.  I knew what was coming, so I closed 
my eyes and kissed her, putting my own arm around her.  It 
was a rather clumsy kiss; I could tell she hadn't had much 
experience.  But there's plenty of time to learn that.

	I adjusted my position slightly and kissed her back 
until finally, she pulled her head back; she was blushing a 
little and her eyes were wide.  "And I want you to take me 
out on a date next Friday," she said firmly.  "Even... if I 
can't tell my parents."

	 "Can't tell your parents?" I asked.

	"It has to be a secret. They told me I can't date anyone.  
I shouldn't break their rule, but... but..."  She closed her 
eyes again, then opened them and said, "I want to be with 
you.  You're so kind to me even when I'm harsh.  And your 
family... is so kind and accepting like you.  I even like 
getting in trouble with you by my side."  

	"Well, if you're looking to get in trouble, I'm a good 
person to hang out with," I said, tickling her chin.  "I like 
being with you too."  

	She kissed me a second time, as clumsy as the first, 
but I could feel the beating of her heart as she pressed 
against me.  I raised my hand to stroke her upper back, 
around her left shoulderblade.  She started for a moment, 
then relaxed and brought her other hand around to stroke 
my back.  

	We made out for a little while; I could feel myself 
getting more turned on.  Which feels very good but I was 
only a few dozen feet at most from over 2 dozen adults, all 
of whom would likely beat me to death if they caught us 
going any further than this.

	Well, Aunt Shiho would probably start giving us 
advice...

	Which would probably actually be more embarrassing.

	Please, kami-sama, don't let anyone be watching us.  I 
tried to see if I could hear Natasha snickering, but all I 
heard was the distant sound of the radio and some song 
about loving someone as much as an elephant.  As an 
elephant?

	"Shun, is that you?" a woman's voice asked.

	I froze up; a second later, Kagami froze up as well 
with one of my hands on her back and the other on her butt; 
her hand went rigid on my chest.

	"Who?" a guy's voice asked.  "I told you someone else 
would already be here, plus I think they're having a party."

	"Shun?" the woman asked again.  I know this woman; 
it was Tamura April, one of my old girlfriends.  She's 
blonde and on the lush side, though not as lush as Crystal 
(more like Natasha).  She was wearing a very pretty blue 
dress today.

	The guy with her was fairly good looking in a 
conventional way, a little on the tall side with short brown 
hair and brown eyes, wearing black slacks and a white 
dress shirt.  A blue tie half-dangled out of his pocket.  I had 
no clue who he was.  He looked to me like someone easy to 
lead around if I was dressed as a girl, though.  

	April and I had dated for several months; we'd slept 
together, in fact.  However, her parents weren't fond of me 
and April wasn't doing as well as they wanted, and I think 
they blamed me, so they transferred her to another school.

	Which it suddenly struck me was the kind of thing I 
could easily see Kagami's parents doing if they found out 
about us.  I don't want to go through that again; April and I 
broke up because we knew we'd probably never see each 
other again at least until college, but it hurt a lot.  

	I gave Kagami one final kiss.  "Hi, April, it's me," I 
said.  "April, this is my girlfriend Mitsu Kagami."  I moved 
the hand on her butt up to her back and took her left hand 
with my right.  "She's the Queen of Rosewood."

	"I'm not the Queen," Kagami mumbled, a bit flustered; 
her face was red now.  "Just a member of Ring Club."

	"This is my boyfriend, Hayasaka Shigeru," April said, 
putting an arm around him.  "He's the captain of the 
basketball team."

	"That's a good sport," I said.  April plays women's 
basketball, so I'm not suprised she ended up dating 
someone from the men's side.  

	Stupidly, irrationally jealous, yes.  Surprised no.  
There's no reason I should feel jealous of this man; we both 
agreed to break up and I have a girlfriend now.

	Unfortunately, humans are pretty stupid sometimes.

	He was staring at me in stark disbelief.  I could tell he 
was surprised April had gone out with someone like me.  
Or that I had another cute girl in my lap when I looked so 
feminine.  I couldn't decide whether to try to be innocuous 
or flirt with him to see if he freaked out.  Normally, I'd do 
the latter, but I don't want to hurt Kagami's feelings.  And it 
would likely ruin April's date.  I assume they're on a date, 
anyway.  

	April sat down on another bench facing us with her 
boyfriend.  They held hands, but she didn't get into his lap.  
I'd be stunned if Kagami had gotten into my lap with 
anyone watching, though.  "Mitsu-san, did we have some 
classes together when I was at Rosewood?  You look kind 
of familiar, but I'm starting to forget everyone I knew 
there."  She sounded embarrassed about that.

	"I've heard of you and I think we did," Kagami said, 
concentrating.  "Didn't you play basketball or something?"

	"Yes," she said.

	"She's one of the stars of the women's team," 
Hayasaka-san said proudly.  "That's where we met, at one 
of their games."

	April smiled goofily and I felt the jealousy knife in my 
gut.  "He came up after the game and asked me out on the 
spot."

	Which is what I did.  STAB.

	"Shun, are you okay?" Kagami asked me.

	Could she tell?  I was doing my best to just smile 
brightly and not show it.  "I'm fine," I told her.  

	"So what brings you two all the way to Fuuka?" April 
asked curiously.

	"We just needed a new place to make out," I teased.

	Kagami turned more red.

	"Actually, my aunt is the headmistress," I said.  "We 
basically all came out here to party with her."

	"I'm suprised you don't go here if your aunt runs the 
place," Hayasaka-san said.  He was still eyeing me 
strangely while trying not to let April see it.  

	Don't flirt, I told myself.  I have a girlfriend.  

	I'm kind of surprised myself that they didn't send us 
here. On the other hand, we've never been attacked by 
monsters at Rosewood, so I have a feeling that's why.

	"Our family wanted us closer to home.  We're a good 
ways away at Rosewood, but not hours away like we'd be 
here," I said.

	I heard movement behind me and suddenly rose to my 
feet, hopping away from the bench.  Too late, Mother 
advanced on our old position, a straw in each hand.  "Very 
good," she said.  "I see you've kept up your drills even if 
you forgot how to obey school rules or to keep other people 
out of your trouble."

	"Hi, Mom," I said.

	"Hello, Tokiha-san," Kagami said, embarrassed.  

	"Hello, Tokiha-san," April said, rising and bowing to 
Mom.  Confused, her date did likewise.  April tried hard to 
get Mom's approval, but Mom was never satisfied with her.  
I hope Kagami doesn't have that much trouble.

	Mother half-bowed to them.  "I am glad to see you 
well," she said to April.

	"Hi, April," Dad said, coming out of the darkness 
himself now.  "Good to see you again."  Dad liked April, 
but then Dad usually likes almost anyone I date or befriend 
or just save from getting rained on.  If I ever dated someone 
and Dad didn't like them, I'd be stunned.  If he hates 
anyone, I don't know who it is.

	"Hi, Tokiha-san," she said.  "This is my boyfriend, 
Hayasaka Shigeru.  He's captain of the basketball team."

	"We both graduated from Fuuka," Dad said.  "I was in 
the gardening club and Akira was in the painting club."

	"You never told me your kin ran this school," April 
said. "Whose sister is the headmistress, if I may ask?"

	"She is mine," Mom said.  "We don't look much like 
each other."

	"That's so true," Kagami said, then put a hand over her 
mouth, embarrassed.  I was still holding her.

	"You can set her down, Shun.  I promise I won't 
attack," Mother said dryly.

	April scooted her boyfriend over and I sat down next 
to them with Kagami still in my lap.  Hayasaka-san looked 
distinctly uncomfortable and I couldn't help smile at that.  I 
shouldn't mess with people's heads, but sometimes I enjoy 
it too much.  Now if I was sitting next to April, the 
temptation to mess would have been even higher.

	April...  I told myself to focus on the present, on the 
woman I was holding in my arms.  I kissed her cheek to 
remind myself to be good.

	Mom and Dad asked April about the things she'd been 
doing at Fuuka, shared a few recommendations on things to 
see in the area, then Mom said, "Shun, Kagami, we need 
you to come with us."

	"Okay," I said, standing up and letting Kagami down, 
though I held her hand.  "Nice to see you again, April.  
Nice to meet you, Hayasaka-san."

	"Nice to meet you," he said, shaking my other hand, 
rather tentatively as if afraid of being infected with 
girliness.  That would probably just make April like him 
more if I could spread it with a touch.  I'm kind of surprised 
to see her with a guy like that.

	But that's probably my jealousy talking.  

	"Nice to meet you both," Kagami said to them.

	"Remember, he needs GENTLE guidance," April said, 
then laughed.  

	"I will be gentle," Kagami said, smiling.

	Mom and Dad led us into the antechamber of Fumi's 
house and we went to a parlor; I could hear the distant 
drone of conversation.  

	"What's up?" I asked softly.

	"You two sit," Mom said to Dad and me, so we sat 
down on a couch.  

	"Hit me," Mom said to Kagami.

	"What?" she asked in confusion.

	"Hit me," Mom said.

	"Shouldn't we go to a workout room or something if 
we're going to be hitting each other?" I asked.

	Dad grinned a little.

	Mother said, a little evasively, "Yes."  Shen then put 
on her carefully blank 'I am not hiding anything really' 
look.  

	She ran off, then came back and led us to Aunt Fumi's 
workout room.  One side had exercise equipment; the other 
side was open enough for sparring or weapon drills.  Aunt 
Fumi's weapon selection, however, entirely consisted of 
wooden scythes.

	Mom didn't bother with weapons, though.  "Hit me," 
she said to Kagami.

	Kagami rushed at her; Mom didn't bother moving until 
the last second and darted out the way.

	Kagami chased her around for a while, Mom parrying 
or dodging the blows with ease.  This went on for a while, 
not surprising me at all.  Kagami's spent her life studying, 
not training.  Mom's better than me and I have done a lot of 
training.

	"Are you going to hit me or am I going to die of old 
age?" Mom asked.

	Kagami grimaced and began swinging with more 
power but even less control, wild swings I'm sure even Dad 
or Aunt Shiho could dodge or block.  

	"Make her come to you," I said to Kagami.  "You've 
got a little more reach than her, if not a lot."

	Kagami nodded and stepped back, now imitating what 
I think is supposed to be a boxing stance.

	"Don't interfere," Mom said.

	Nevertheless, I got up and demonstrated my usual 
stance and Kagami now copied it.

	"I said, don't interfere," Mom said, and now said to 
Kagami, "Hit me."

	Kagami advanced cautiously, now trying to punch in a 
manner clearly imitated from martial arts movies.  I 
glanced at Dad.  Dad glanced at me with his blank face, 
which is usually the face which preludes him tricking me 
into making an idiot of myself to teach me a lesson.  
Dammit.

	I demonstrated how to throw a punch.  Kagami tried to 
imitate me, but of course, Mom easily blocked it.  "Shun, 
sit down," Mom said.

	I looked at Dad.

	Blank face.

	I demonstrated again.  To my suprise, Kagami did 
much better this time, though certainly not good enough, 
still.  I showed off a kick.  

	Mom blocked Kagami's copy easily, but the second 
time, Kagami did better.  "Shun!  STOP!" Mom yelled.

	I looked at Dad.  

	Blank face.

	Heh.  I had a pretty good idea which way the wind 
was blowing.  I went for something a little fancier, a side 
step and a spinning kick.  Kagami didn't get that right either 
the first time, but the second was better and the third better 
than that.  I grinned as Mom yelled, "Shun!  I mean it, stop 
showing her moves!"

	I stuck to just a couple of moves; too much would 
only confuse her at this point.  Kagami relentlessly 
hammered at Mom, imitating me and picking things up and 
then doing them over and over.  Which is what you need in 
martial arts, is to drill like a crazed drill seargeant until you 
can do the moves in your sleep and your body moves 
instinctively.  

	Dad was starting to crack and grin as Mom kept telling  
me to stop and I kept showing Kagami what to do.  Even 
though she still hadn't managed to connect solidly with 
Mom, she wouldn't give up and kept trying.  She had the 
same utterly determined look on her face as she had when 
she told me to call her Kagami-san and I have to admit it 
gave me a thrill to see it.

	Studying the fight, I could see, curiously, that Mom 
had a lot easier time dodging Kagami than blocking her 
attacks.  Kagami must be stronger than I realized.  Then 
Kagami finally connected with a kick and to my surprise, 
Mom went sprawling on her ass, looking surprised herself.  

	Mom sat up.  "That's enough, Kagami-san.  Good 
job."

	Kagami nodded.

	"Shun...," Mom began.

	"If you REALLY had wanted me to stay out, then Dad 
would have told me to stop.  What you really wanted was 
to see if I would keep helping Kagami even if you told me 
stop," I said.  "Right?"

	Dad began laughing loudly.  "He's getting too old for 
the easy tricks, dear."

	Kagami said, "What?"

	"You wouldn't have just kept saying stop and not 
doing anything about it.  And you wanted to test Kagami's 
will to not give up when it became obvious she didn't have 
a chance of hitting you yet." I said.  "Did we pass?"

	"Yes," Mother said.  "Kagami, you have a LOT to 
learn."

	"I know," Kagami said softly.  "You're very good, 
Akira-san."

	"I am," Mom said.  It wasn't bragging, just a statement 
of fact.  "I only have one son, Kagami.  I have to know you 
understand what you are getting into.  The responsibilities 
you are taking on.  And the problems you are going to face.  
I am going to work you like a dog until you become good 
enough to fight me and win.  You are back in kindergarden 
for this training.  Do you understand?"

	"I will do my very best," Kagami said, straightening 
up; she now looked as she did when talking to a teacher.  "I 
will practice every day until you can be proud of my skills, 
sensei."  She looked very determined.  I like her smile, but I 
like it when she looks so unbreakable too.  

	"I am going to be training Kagami to fight," Mother 
said.  "And working on your training, too, as best I can with 
you both being grounded to the school.  And as best I can 
since I still have my own students to teach who I don't want 
to leave high and dry.  Which means you're both going to 
have to work with Akane most of the time."  She sounded 
frustrated by this.

	"I'm sure she will teach us well," Kagami said very 
seriously.

	Trained by Aunt Akane?  Well, she has been teaching 
Kasumi and Kasumi totally tore the hell out of those snake 
monsters and...Aunt Akane has 23 years of experience on 
Kasumi.  Holy shit, she must be death on a stick...in which 
case Mom...  My eyes crossed.

	"Respect your Aunt," Mother said sharply to me.  "No 
eye games."

	"No, I...Yes, Mom," I said.  

	"You will respect your aunt," Mother said firmly.  
"And any of the rest of your aunts who come to help.  And 
I will give her exercises for you."

	"Yes, Mom," I said firmly.  

	"Neither of you can leave campus under your own 
power.  Fortunately, we have a teacher in the family.  This 
means that Chie or Aoi will have to do the paperwork any 
time you want to date and it will have to be supervised by 
one of them or us," Mom said.

	I nodded firmly.  "Yes, Mom."

	"And I expect both of you to keep your grades up," 
Mom said.  

	"Of course, Tokiha-san," Kagami said.

	"You may call me Akira and my husband Takumi, 
since you are dating Shun," Mom said.

	Holy shit, none of my other girlfriends ever got to use 
her first name.  They really like her.

	"You flatter me," she said, turning a little red.

	"You're the first one of my girlfriends they ever said 
that to," I told her.

	Now she looked really embarrassed, which is to say, 
super-cute.  I kissed her softly.  "It's an honor."

	"I respect Kagami-san's intellect and discipline and 
expect her to instill some of those in you," Mom said.

	"And Kagami, Shun will no doubt teach you all about 
getting in trouble," Dad said, smiling.

	"Honey," Mom said.  "Don't encourage him."  They've 
had this argument a few thousand times, I think.

	I grinned.

	"Remember, any time you two think you can have sex 
without us catching you, I could be anywhere at any time. 
In the ceiling, in the floor, in the closet, the walls, under the 
bed...  And you know what happened the time I caught you 
with April," Mom said to me.

	I winced.  "Yes."  It hadn't stopped us, but it did stop 
us for a while.  And then her parents had stopped us 
anyway.  

	Kagami mumbled something incoherent about parents.

	"I think that's everything," Dad said.  "You two ready 
to go back to your cousins?"

	"It's not everything," I said softly.

	My parents now both looked very nervous.

	"Kagami, I..."  I stared her in the eyes.  "Am I really 
worth defying your family for?"  No one's ever thought I 
was worth that.  I know Mom defied her family and threw 
away everything for Father.  And Aunt Kazuya and Akane 
did that for each other.  But...in the end, though April loved 
me, she couldn't defy her family.  I have defied my 
family...sort of...but not so much so as they did or as 
Kagami is going to do.  I like myself, but I never thought I 
could be as lucky as my parents.  Not once my first few 
love affairs all blew up one way or another.

	"Yes," she said simply, then pulled me into a kiss.

	That filled me with simultaneous joy and terror.  
Could I really love her back as much as she deserved?  
She's so beautiful to me and I love to see her smile and be 
happy and I can tell my body wants her, but do I really 
deserve this?

	And my parents...well, of course they approve.  They'd 
be hypocrites not to.  And Aunt Akane left her family 
too...no wonder she feels sympathy for Kagami.  But can 
we really hide our relationship?

	Or am I going to fuck this up in spades?  Please no.  I 
don't want to.  I just want to feel joy like I do right now.

	I've never had so much blessing from my parents for a 
relationship.  But that also gives me more to lose if I do 
screw up.  

	Please don't let me screw up.

	I broke off the kiss.  "I will do my best to be good to 
you," I said softly.

	"I know you will," she said confidently, smiling at me 
so brightly.

	"Okay," I said.  "Let's go back and tell everyone."

***************  

Crystal's Tale:

	"Maybe we should check on Mitsu-san and Shun," I 
said to the others as we hung out on the porch listening to 
music.  "They've been gone a long time."

	"They're probably doing it like weasels," Natasha 
speculated.  "Mad weasels."  She grinned as if she was 
helping.  

	"You always think that," Dan stated dismissively, 
splayed out in a deck chair.  

	"I don't think Mitsu-san would jump right into bed 
with Shun," Kasumi argued.  "She has more sense than 
that."
  
	"I was a little more worried about black oily snakes," I 
confessed.  Those things had scared the hell out of me 
yesterday.

	"Surely Aunt Fumi would not have snake monsters 
attacking people in her gardens," Erica said.    

	"I'm sure Aunt Fumi wouldn't WANT snake monsters 
in her gardens.  I also doubt they'd ask permission nicely to 
come eat people," I countered.

	"They're probably kissing and that's all," Dan said, 
sounding perhaps just a touch jealous.

	I was just a touch jealous.  I don't want to kiss either 
of them, though I have kissed both boys and girls in the 
past.  Mostly boys, though.  I've never actually dated a girl, 
but I have kissed at parties and kind of liked it.  But then, 
so does Mom.  

	I am starting to feel the lack of a lover.  But I don't 
have time to try to find one, really.  And I can't really date 
someone until I stop being confined to campus.

	And make sure everyone stops thinking I'm dating 
Dan.

	Mitsu-san and Shun now came around the side of the 
building.  Mitsu-san looked like she could power half of 
Japan with her smile.

	"I see you two had a good time," Natasha said, 
grinning.

	"Wonderful," Kagami said.

	"Kagami-san and I are dating now," Shun said.  
 
	"I..."  Mitsu-san suddenly looked nervous.  Then she 
straightened up.  "Please, everyone, call me Kagami.  I 
hope to be closer friends with all of you now, both as 
Shun's girlfriend, but also as me.  I...I hate to ask this of 
you, but my parents can't know that Shun and I are dating 
and we'll only be able to be fully honest with you all.  I 
know that's a heavy burden to lay on you all, so I'll 
understand if you can't promise me that," she said urgently.  
"But please.  I beg of you."

	"Hah!  That's an easy promise to keep, given none of 
us have ever met your parents and aren't likely to any time 
soon," Natasha said.  "We'll keep your promise, Kagami-
san."

	"Of course," I said.  Man, she's defying her family to 
date Shun.  Now I am jealous.  

	Everyone else agreed as well and she relaxed.  "Your 
family is so kind and...and loving.  Thank you for 
welcoming me in."  She bowed to everyone.  

	I bowed back, as did the others, then came over and 
took her other hand.  "Welcome aboard, Kagami-san," I 
told her.  "And good luck to both of you." I squeezed her 
hand and released it.

	We hung out for a while, chatting about school stuff 
and eventually went back to the shrine.

*************** 
	
Akira's Tale:

	I stared at the silent block of stone which had once 
produced the soul-trapping pillars which held our loved 
ones.  There was nothing left of the pillars but stumps.  
Everyone was asleep back at the temple or in a hotel or 
staying at Fumi's mansion, but I couldn't sleep, so I was 
down here, brooding.

	We don't know what, if anything, will happen to us if 
our Children are slain this time.  At first, we thought all our 
Children were dead, but they seem to have been restored by 
Miyu's destruction of these pillars.  Are we free now?  Or 
do we accept the risk of the loss of our loved ones every 
time we summon them?  The fact that our powers work 
only in fairly limited areas and that so far, we've been very 
lucky, has kept us from finding out.  But those areas are 
slowly spreading.  And so far as I can tell, I think soon we 
will have to abandon the lives we've carved out for 
ourselves and fight.

	I'm not sure what to make of that.  I was raised to 
fight.  To be a true man.  But I haven't fought much the last 
two decades, other than training people in martial arts.  I've 
hardly seen Gennai in all this time.  I have grown attached 
to this peace, if not so much as Mai.  

	But unlike Mai, I know fighting is sometimes 
inescapable.  If the Crimson Huntsman seeks us out, we 
must fight or die in our homes.  And I do not intend to die.

	And yet, if I fight, it may be I must risk Takumi. Of 
course, if I ask him, he will tell me to fight without 
hesitation or thought for himself.  As he did before.  He is 
kind and gentle and still more naive than myself.  But the 
thought of losing him... He is still, after all these years, the 
one I love the most.

	But Shun... Takumi knows what the consequences of 
my return to the fray may be.  He experienced it.  And yet 
he doesn't hate me for it; he loves me more for our shared 
sorrow.  But Shun is a child as we were.  He doesn't know 
what he is getting into.  It's quite clear he is Kagami's most 
important person.  Which means she may be risking his life 
every time she goes into battle, and he doesn't even know.  

	Or maybe not. But she knows the risk.  The possible 
risk.  She is determined to do her best to protect him.  She 
has shown me that she will fight to defend him and is 
willing to learn.  But she is so young and her skills are so 
few, yet.  

 	And we still don't know enough.  I need answers.  

	I press deeper into the caves, searching for answers, 
though I already know they aren't here.  I feel a change in 
the air and I summon my element.  Though most of Fuuka 
Academy is now a null zone, this holy place retains its 
power.  

	We could settle it... some of it... by taking the kids 
down here.  But then we would have to explain everything.  
I feel no shame for my role in the Festival. I avoided 
hunting my fellows until I had no choice and I fell 
honorably.  But some among us did horrible, horrible 
things, and I fear if I had been a little luckier, I would have 
been one of them.  I do not wish the children to hate 
Shizuru for her succumbing to the madness brought by the 
Obsidian Prince or Shiho for succumbing to the base 
impulses of childhood, or Mikoto for being loyal to her kin 
or even Yukino for being weak and a pawn.  I was raised to 
kill without regret or pity and I fear that as the power of the 
star grew, I might have become far more terrible than even 
Shizuru did.

	And I do not wish to lose my son, not even 
temporarily.  Kagami-san is a good girl; indeed, in many 
ways she's exactly what I want for Shun, but now my son's 
life is in her hands and she is hardly trained to fight at all.  I 
pray the training will be enough.  That we've started soon 
enough.  That Rosewood will remain a refuge for them.  

	The tunnel leads to the shore of a lake, which is not 
new, but what lies beyond, is. Two things catch my eye in 
the starry ceiling; the constellation of Draco and... a reddish 
something.  Not the Hime Star, but my knowledge of 
astronomy is not good enough to see what star it is.  A great 
fungal garden now arises on the shores of the island beyond 
it, a riotous profusion of colors which glitter under the stars 
high above.  In the center, the great stone massif still rises, 
but now staircases allow easy egress to the top, though 
from this angle, all you can see is a giant ziggurat up there. 
A ziggurat???

	Fumi hadn't mentioned this.  Then again, does Fumi 
know?  What reason does she have to come down here 
often?

	I was torn between my solitary instincts and the 
feeling I shouldn't enter unknown territory alone.  I could 
call Gennai... but that might just play into a trap like the 
one set for Akane...  Though this time she sprang it safely.

	I contemplated my options, and then suddenly Fumi 
said, "Hello, Akira."

	I did my best to conceal my surprise.  "Hello, Fumi," I 
said.

	"Welcome to the Dragon Palace," Fumi said.  "Come 
with me."  She wore neither her maid outfit nor her 
business outfit, but instead was wearing sturdy denim jeans 
and a multi-pocketed green blouse.  Only her hair remained 
the same and her element looked the same as ever.

	"Fumi-san," I said, following her.  "What has 
happened here?"

	"The Obsidian Lord is dead and the Crystal Princess 
has bequeathed this shrine to us, the Hime," Fumi said.  
She reached the water and struck it with her scythe.  
"CHARON!"  The water rippled and a shadow rose out of 
it, a flat image, which then took on depth and became a 
black robed figure, a skeleton made of light blue crystal, 
the same which had once imprisoned the Crystal Princess; 
he had coins in his eyesockets which glittered copper in the 
starlight.  He struck the water with his scythe and a boat 
now appeared.  He moved to the front, his scythe becoming 
a pole of black metal with stars shining in it, leaving seats 
for both of us.  

	Fumi hopped on and I followed her nervously.  
Charon began to pole us across the water; I could see the 
stars reflecting in its surface.  

	"What is he?" I asked softly.

	"He is my Child.  He will come to bear across any 
Hime who strikes the water with her Element."

	"Wait... did your Child not return to life?" I asked, 
concerned.

	"My Child... required Mashiro-chan to work 
properly," Fumi said sadly.  "Like Mikoto-chan, I was an 
unusual case, standing to the Crystal Princess as Mikoto did 
to the Obsidian Prince."

	I studied Charon; he looked oddly like an effort to 
make Death cute.  Which fitted Fumi, I suppose.  

	"He is the Guardian of the Threshold, as am I," Fumi 
said, studying the fake night sky.  "Anyone entering the 
Dragon Palace is under his protection and mine."

	How much does she know that she's not telling us, I 
wondered.  She hadn't mentioned these changes at all. On 
the other hand, no one thought to ask.

	I followed her down a path through the fungus; 
Charon and his boat dissolved away into the water behind 
us.  The fungus grew in all sorts of shapes; at times some of 
them seemed to have been shaped to form crudely the 
shape of various of the Children.  Fumi led me on silently 
to the base of the massif; I could see three staircases; one in 
front of me, and one to either side.  I expected there were 
likely three more to match beyond.  This one was made out 
of steel with two huge side rails all the way up. 
	
	The one off to the right was made of red sandstone 
and the one to the left was made of wood.  I followed Fumi 
up the stairs.  "Interesting art design."

	"I did not create it; it recreated itself over the years, 
slowly," Fumi said.

	We reached the top and I could now see the other 
staircases:  There were two more on the far side:  a 
staircase of pure white ivory and staircase made of 
sapphire. I stared at it, wondering how much it was worth.  
There was a sixth, a spiral staircase of transparent crystal 
that descended into the massif; images flickered within the 
crystal which vanished when I tried to look directly at 
them.  

	A great stone ziggurat rose upwards beyond the 
staircase; there was a pool of water on the other side of the 
ziggurat from us.  Heat shimmered from it... a hot spring???  
The ziggurat had simple brick stairs leading up to the shrine 
on top.  Twin dragons flanked the entrance to the shrine.

	"There are quarters for each of us and empty quarters 
as well, within the massif, as well as stores and a kitchen," 
Fumi said.  

	Pretty defensible, I thought.  I wouldn't want to fight 
my way in past angry Hime.  Though way out here in the 
middle of nowhere, not so useful to us.  "And the shrine?"

	"I cannot open the shrine," Fumi said.  "But I think I 
have an idea how now."

	She took me up the stairs to the double doors which 
had six Hime signs on it; a translucent one in the middle of 
constantly changing colors and ringing it were five:  white, 
blue, red (a lighter red than that of our marks), grey, and 
green.  "These marks were just colored circles on my 
previous visits, but now they are colored Hime signs," 
Fumi said.  
	
	"And Kagami-san has a grey mark," I said softly.  
"What happens when the shrine is opened?"

	"I don't know," Fumi said.  "But where the Festival 
demanded only one winner, I think this requires six people 
to cooperate."

	That didn't sound so bad.  "That seems rather easy."

	"Too easy," Fumi said.  "Power always has its price, 
and this seems too simple.  On the other hand, it may do 
something terrible once opened."  She sighed.  "I will 
continue my research.  Unfortunately, most of the Book of 
Fuuka remains obscure to me.  And pieces of the text seem 
to be missing."

	"Missing?" I asked.

	She produced the book from somewhere and opened 
it, counting pages.  "Here on page six..."  She paused and 
stared.

	"It looks like... some kind of writing," I said, staring at 
the wedge shaped script.

	"This was blank the last time I looked.  Not that I can 
read it," Fumi said.  "Oh dear."

	Oh dear indeed.  Though perhaps Midori or Sasaki-san 
can figure it out, I thought.  

	I studied the other door; the constellation of Draco 
was upon it with fifteen stars represented by rubies.  "This 
is Draco, right?"

	"Yes," Fumi said.  "It is the constellation of our power 
now."

	"But there's only fourteen Hime... fifteen with 
Kagami-san.  If more Hime bearing the colored marks 
appear..."

	"I think those over there are for the new Hime to 
come," Fumi said.  "I am not sure how we number fifteen, 
though perhaps Alyssa counts for this.  All is new and the 
old lore often does not apply."

	"What I want to know is what is the price of our 
power now?" I said.  "Am I..."

	"The Festival was designed to produce crippled, 
despairing Hime whose overflowing tears would feed the 
Hime Star," Fumi said.  "This is why our loved ones were 
drawn into the pillars, to link us to them so they could feed 
off us.  The Festival has ended; there is no Hime Star; now 
we share an entire constellation.  I do not think our loved 
ones will be absorbed into the pillars again, but what price 
will take its place, I am not sure.  But as our childs are born 
of the link between us and our loved ones, I think they will 
share that price with us, in some manner."

	I frowned. "So Shun..."

	"May be in danger.  If he is her most important 
person," Fumi said.  "And I think he is.  But the prophecies 
within the book have turned unreadable.  I think with the 
Obsidian Lord dead, there is no single destiny; rather, 
competing ones.  And we will be the ones to determine 
which one wins.  And for that..."

	"We must fight."  I said flatly.

	"There is no one else who stands for humanity in this 
war.  The world is ours now, but we must defend it, if 
humanity is to achieve its dreams." Fumi said, now gazing 
off across the cavern.  

	"The children aren't ready to fight... assuming this is 
their destiny."  I stared alongside her, wondering how they 
would handle it.

	"I know.  But we will have to make them ready," Fumi 
said.  "I must stay here and guard the Dragon Palace.  But I 
will aid you however I can."

	All of this and only Akane and Kagami can use their 
powers anywhere, it seems.  Two fragile reeds to hold up 
the ceiling of our hopes.  

	I had to see Akane now.

***************
	
Kasumi's Tale:

	I woke up in the night and went to the bathroom, then 
decided to test something.  I slipped out of the shrine living 
quarters and looked to see if anyone was on watch.  It was 
Mom, doing drills with her tonfas.  She moved swiftly and 
fluidly, faster than I'd ever seen her move before, striking 
invisible foes as she flowed through a series of katas.  It 
was hypnotic to watch.

	And it kept her busy enough for me to slip out and 
down the stairs to where I could find some level ground 
long enough for what I wanted to do.  I turned my watch to 
the stopwatch function, then got into a ready position.

	And I ran.  I ran, kicking up dust and pouring on the 
speed, careening down the road which leads up the 
mountain to the shrine.  I poured on all the speed I could, 
running with everything coach had taught me, letting my 
watch run.  I ran what I hoped was a kilometer, then back 
and checked my time.

	80 seconds.

	80 seconds.
	
	I JUST RAN TWO KILOMETERS IN 80 SECONDS.

	I did it again, just to be sure.

	Then I realized I wasn't even really tired after doing it.

	The women's high school track record for the 400 
meter race is 50 seconds, roughly.  That's about 8 meters a 
second.  The adult record is only 46 seconds or so.  I just 
ran 5 times that distance in less than twice the time.

	For a moment, my mind was full of images of glory.  I 
would be the most famous track star ever.  I had just buried 
the men's record in the dust.

	Except I couldn't do that.  I couldn't show my full 
capacity.  I had to hide it for the good of the family.  It 
would draw too much attention.  It was clearly, utterly, 
blatantly superhuman.  And I couldn't possibly explain it.  

	That made me feel rather depressed.

	But if I ran slower but good enough to improve my 
times some...maybe I could do that.  But could I do it 
without looking fake?  

	I would have to figure that out.

	Hope and fear warred within me and then I decided it 
best I get some sleep before my absence was noted.

	I made it back up the stairs, but now I could see 
Mother still drilling, but now winds kicked up with her 
every move and she leaped about impossibly, showing an 
agility I'd never seen her demonstrate before.  It was like 
she was someone else, a graceful, dancing athlete who 
could have easily taken any Olympic gymnastics event she 
wanted.  

	I slipped up to the house unseen and into the door, but 
I peeked out, unable to stop watching.  It was hypnotic.  I 
wanted to tell her everything, my new powers, show her my 
Horus, share it all with her.  

	But I couldn't.  Not yet.  I prayed we weren't making a 
mistake.  But it wasn't worth getting yelled at.  Yet.  If 
everything goes to hell, I'm running to Mom, whatever the 
others may think about holding out.  Seeing her move...I 
wonder what her animal is like...something that flies, I'm 
sure.  Graceful.  A swan maybe or an eagle.  

	She looked so happy.

	I had to do something.  I opened the door loudly, 
enough to alert her someone was coming back and faked a 
yawn, coming out.  "Hi, Mother," I said, not even sure if I 
was about to confess to everything or what.

	"Hello, Kasumi," Mother said, dropping her tonfas 
onto a bench and coming over and hugging me tightly.  
"How are you, my darling daughter?"

	"I'm good, Mother," I said, hugging her back tightly.  I 
wanted to tell her everything, show how fast I could run.  I 
wonder if she can run that fast.  But I think being a battle 
princess enhances what we have.  I might well be the 
fastest battle princess.  Which would be really cool.  All 
that training would pay off even more.  "Are you standing 
guard against the oni?" I teased.

	"Kasumi," she said softly.  "Nao told you about the 
monsters, right?"

	"Yes," I said nervously, unsure what she would say 
next.  

	She stared into my eyes, and I gazed back at her.  Her 
eyes were full of love, but also regret and a touch of fear.  
She pulled me to her tighter.  "You believe in me, don't 
you?" she asked softly.

	"Of course I believe in you, Mother," I said softly.  "I 
love you."

	She rested her head on my shoulder and I couldn't see 
her face, just feel her pulling me tight with strength I didn't 
know she had, but I could take it and I hugged her tightly.  I 
felt so strong and Mother was so strong too.  

	"Kasumi," she said softly.  "You are a brave, strong 
girl.  Soon, you will be a brave, strong woman."  Hearing 
her say that gave me a surge of joy.  "You're very 
responsible and hard working and kind and gentle.  I am 
very proud of you."  

	"Thank you, Mother," I whispered.

	"Kasumi, I wanted...I wanted to protect you from the 
things that wrecked my childhood.  I was able to protect 
you from most of them.  I like to hope I am a better mother 
than my mother was ever able to be.  That you wouldn't 
have to reject your family like I had to mine."  There was 
old pain in her voice now and it made me hurt to hear it.

	"Mother, I would never reject you," I promised.  
"Because you've never rejected me.  You always loved me, 
even when I was bad."

	"You were never very bad, Kasumi.  Even when you 
were bad, you were good," Mother said, laughing a little.  
"You'd even fink on yourself, sometimes."

	I don't remember that at all, but I've heard all the 
stories.  

	"Kasumi, you are very responsible.  So I know I can 
ask a favor of you, though I don't want to lay this burden on 
you.  But there's no one else I can ask, as you're my only 
dear daughter."  Her voice was heavy, and I wondered what 
it could be.

	"Kasumi...you know about what happened with my 
family, right?" Mother asked me.

	"Of course I know," I told her, my head now on her 
shoulder.  "How could I not?"

	"I had to leave behind everything to marry your father.  
Even just to date him.  Some of my siblings still talk to me, 
but my parents...they don't talk to each other and they 
pretend I don't exist."  Mother pulled me even tighter.  "I 
did it all for love."

	"Mother, I'm sorry," I said softly.

	"Don't be sorry.  I wish you'd found a love like mine, 
but I was so lucky.  I know that now.  And I know that in 
time, you will find someone who would sacrifice anything 
and everything for you.  Who will love you more than 
anything else in the world," Mother said assuringly.  

	I hope so, but it gets harder to believe with time.  
Maybe I'm just impatient.  But I'm still hoping.  I like 
Hayao, but can I trust him?  Everyone looks down on him 
so much, but he's kind to me and charming and...maybe I'm 
fooling myself again.  

	"When that happens, you will find a power within 
yourself, you didn't think you had.  You'll be able to do 
things you never thought you could do.  Be able to face 
anything without fear or despair.  Love will make you 
strong," Mother said.

	"But strength can be used to kill as well as to heal," 
Aunt Akira said flatly.  "It can make us into monsters as 
well as angels.  People kill for love every day.  Or at least 
what they convince themselves is love."

	I could hear Dan's voice in my head.  "Remember, 
love is both a weapon and a balm; it can both heal and slay, 
unite and divide.  The wise Knight knows the utility of both 
and wields their love wisely instead of it weilding them and 
surrendering to Chaos."

	I like to watch this soap opera; I shouldn't, it's 
extremely naughty and gives me bad thoughts, but I can't 
peel my eyes away from it.  It gives Dan and Aunt Midori 
fits; it's called the Diadochi, and it's about Alexander the 
Great's successors and how they fight each other and 
seduce each other's wives and mistresses and gay lovers 
and how their kids and their bastards fight each other.  It's 
an hour long train wreck and I cannot stop watching it.

	And if it has a theme, that theme is 'love makes you 
crazy'.  That and 'a throne is worth killing for'.  Neither of 
which ought to glue me to the screen, but I can't help it.

	"Doesn't your love for Takumi make you strong?  I've 
always admired your relationship," Mother said softly to 
Aunt Akira.

	"It makes me who I am.  Without him, I would be a 
very different person," Aunt Akira said softly.  

	"Come here," I said to Aunt Akira.

	She came over and I took an arm and hugged her 
tightly, as did Mom.  She turned a little red in the face and 
looked surprised, but then she relaxed and put an arm 
around each of us.  "It was worth it, wasn't it?" Mother 
asked Aunt Akira softly.  

	"Yes.  I have no regrets for that, only for the times I've 
failed him," Aunt Akira said softly.

	"I know you did your best," I said to her.

	"Sometimes, your best is not enough," Aunt Akira 
said.  "Sometimes your best is still failure."

	"I know," Mother said softly, her voice full of pain.  "I 
know."

	I wondered what they were both talking about, but I 
just hugged them tighter.  "But you both learned from it 
and got better, right?"

	"Yes," Mother said softly.  "We did."

	"Yes," Aunt Akira said softly.  "But we want you all 
to do better than we did."

	Which would be easier if you weren't hiding the past 
from us, I thought.  Taking on the parents head on will only 
make you crazy, though.  Unlike Crystal, I know when to 
simply work around their stubborness instead of acting like 
I am Judge Dee.  Relentlessness sometimes just means 
repeated failure.

	"Kasumi, I hate to interrupt your talk, but I need to 
talk to Akane right now," Aunt Akira said.

	Right now?  At 2:30 AM?  "Okay," I said, and went in 
and went to sleep after giving them both a goodnight hug.  

	Only in the morning did I remember that Mother never 
did actually ask the favor she said she was going to ask of 
me.

***************** 
	
Akane's Tale:

	"Fire away," I said, letting go of Akira and sitting 
down on a bench with her.

	"Do you have any regrets?" Akira asked me. She 
didn't have to say about what.

	"No," I said, then contradicted myself.  "Yes.  Of 
course I do.  In my perfect world, my parents would be 
together, my family would still be happy and Kasumi and I 
would be standing guard together over everyone.  And I 
wouldn't keep finding Optimus Prime in my sock drawer 
for some reason."

	"Find what?  Oh, wait, one of your boys' robot toys, 
right?" Akira asked.

	"Yes," I said.  
   
	"You shouldn't put up with their crap," Akira said 
flatly.  "If you disciplined them properly, they wouldn't 
make messes and say stupid things."

	I resisted the urge to snap at her, because I knew she 
had something more important to say than criticizing my 
raising of my boys.  

	I hoped.

	"Are you having trouble with Shun?" I asked softly.

	She carefully studied a nearby bed of violets.  "If she 
loses, my boy evaporates.  Or goes mad.  Or whatever 
happens now."
	
	"We don't know if anything happens," I said softly.  

	"We can't count on that," Akira said hotly.  "We can't 
count on that."  Her fists clenched.  "And I can't even 
protect him in most places.  She will do her best," she said.  
"But she is like a baby in combat.  A novice.  Shun at eight 
fought better than her.  Her parents taught her nothing.  
Nothing."

	"I didn't teach Kasumi much in that regard," I said 
softly, patting her shoulder.  "I thought it was over, that 
those days would never come again.  But I was wrong."

	"You should have been teaching her from her youth, 
as I did with Shun," Akira said hotly.  "She ought to be as 
good with those tonfas as Shun is with a knife or his fists."

	"I'm not as good as Shun is, without my powers," I 
said softly.  "I mainly did it for exercise all these years.  I 
could not have taught her as well as you taught him.  You 
taught him very well, Akira."  I could tell she was only 
yelling at me because she couldn't yell at herself.  She's so 
worried about Shun.  He's a good boy at heart.  And 
Kagami loves him very much.

	"I have to teach you, so you can teach him.  And her.  
And the rest of them.  You have to be my hand," Akira 
said.  "Do you know how much trust I am putting in you?"  
She sounded frantic.

	I put an arm around her.  "Sister," I said softly.  "I 
know exactly how much trust.  And I promise, I will move 
the heavens and the earth to be worthy of your trust.  I will 
do everything within my power to make them stronger, able 
to bear the burdens we must bear."

	"Will you?" she asked.  "You are kind and gentle and 
forgiving.  You have to push them.  Don't let them accept 
limits.  You have to break those limits.  Shatter them.  
Force them to find the strength inside them.  Have you ever 
sculpted, Akane?"

	"No," I confessed.

	"Inside every block of stone is a sculpture waiting to 
be set free.  That is what Michelangelo taught.  The 
sculptor does not create the sculpture, but through the wise 
use of force, the subtle art of the hammer, he chips away 
everything which is not that thing, until only the art already 
inside it remains.  You have to be that sculptor.  I will do 
everything I can for Shun and Kagami and for the other 
children too.  But I cannot be there as much as you can."  
Her voice was both fervent and agonized.  

	"I will give them my all," I promised her.  "That is all 
I can promise you."

	For a short time, she was silent, though she now put an 
arm around me.  "Do you think he will get the power?" she 
asked, sounding haunted.

	"We can't know, but I think so," I said.  "Isn't it 
hereditary?  Which is why they could make Alyssa?"

	"Being genetic doesn't necessarily mean a boy can do 
it.  Shun can't bear children and I can," Akira said.  "He 
needs...Do you want Kasumi to inherit your powers?"

	"Yes," I said.  "I would have said otherwise even a 
few months ago.  But we can't escape it.  And if we can't 
hide from it, then our children NEED the power.  Even at 
cost.  We need their strength and they need the power to 
protect themselves when we cannot.  Children have to fly 
free in the end, even if their parents love them, right?" I 
said softly, giving her a gentle squeeze.

	"Maybe we should just wake them all up, march them 
down and search them," Akira said, staring off into the 
woods.  "I want to know.  Even if it means telling them 
everything.  Our failures, our betrayals, everything.  Even if 
they hate us.  I want to know if my boy is going to be a 
hostage and a vulnerable point his whole life or if he's 
going to have the power to fight back."

	"Takumi isn't just a hostage and a vulnerable point to 
you, is he?" I asked softly.

	"He is the man I love.  He is never a weakness to me.  
He is my strength, now and always," Akira said hotly.  "I 
do not regret I left my family behind and married him."

	"Even if Shun doesn't have the power, I think he too 
will find his role," I told her.  "But I think he will.  I think 
they all will.  But where we started dispersed and seperated, 
they will start together, with a family that loves them 
watching their back.  Whatever may come, I think they will 
make us proud."

	"How can you be so optimistic?" she asked me.

	"When all your dreams have come true, how can you 
not be optimistic?" I asked her.  "And I have you and others 
in the family to anchor my fluffy dreams to the Earth."

	"I will do my best," Akira said after a little bit.

	I let go of her and rose.  "Harry," I whispered.

	With a great rush of air, he appeared.  "Climb on," I 
said.

	"What?" she said in confusion.

	"Climb on," I said.

	She clambered up and I leaped lightly onto Harry's 
back.  He's so large now, it amazes me.  "Fly," I whispered 
and he took off, soaring into the skies.  Akira clung to him 
nervously, while I flew high into the sky with her and him, 
laughing for the joy of it.

	I never got to do this before, to just cut loose with my 
Child and enjoy myself with my friends.  I fell so swiftly 
when I first dared to spread my wings.

	But I am not afraid now.  I moved to position myself 
to catch her if she was in danger of falling and moved 
Akira up so she could see.  "The city is so beautiful at 
night," I said softly.

	"Yes, it is," Akira said softly, smiling a little.

	"You should paint it," I told her.

	"I should," she said softly.

	We flew around for a while, enjoying the view and the 
wind in our faces.  "We'd best go back," Akira said.  But 
she sounded more at peace with herself now.  "If I don't get 
some sleep, I'll drive off the bridge or something 
tomorrow."

	We headed back and I gave her a hug and went back 
to my guard duties.

	Good luck, Akira.  I hope you find peace over this. 

**************

Kasumi's Tale:

	I woke up to find a ninja standing over Kagami-san 
with a finger to her throat.  I grabbed my tonfas and rose to 
my feet.  "Get away from Kagami-san!" I demanded 
loudly.

	The others started to stir groggily.

	Then I realized it was actually Aunt Akira.  What was 
going on???

	Crystal stirred and Natasha mumbled, "What?"  Erica 
rolled over, showing she was hugging her camera in her 
sleep.

	Aunt Akira said to me softly, "Very good, Kasumi, 
though I was trying not to wake everyone."

	"Hi," Kagami mumbled to me.

	"Oh kiss me, Kyoko, you're so sexy," Crystal 
mumbled and began kissing her pillow.

	"..."

	Kagami and Aunt Akira stared blankly at her too.

	Natasha sat up, rubbing her eyes.  "Are we having a 
surprise night party?" she mumbled.  "And is Crystal eating 
her pillow?"

	"I was attempting to ambush Kagami without anyone 
else waking up," Aunt Akira said, sighing.  "Kagami, you 
were completely vulnerable."

	"I will do better," she said very seriously.

	Is Aunt Akira going to be ambushing Kagami all the 
time now?  I'm glad we're not roomates.

	"You never ambush me," Natasha said, sounding a 
little jealous.

	"I can arrange that," Aunt Akira said.

	"Cool.  I'd like to test my skills against yours," 
Natasha said.  "Anyway, shouldn't we all be asleep?"

	"Yes," I said.

	"Come with me, Kagami," Aunt Akira said to Kagami.  
"I am very sorry, everyone."  She led Kagami out and I 
flopped down to go to sleep.

	Though having Crystal mumbling on and on about 
how cute Kyoko was didn't help.  

	Kyoko?

	I dreamed of Crystal riding a giant whale named 
Kyoko, trying to swallow Horus and I whole, but she was 
too slow and I was too quick and they couldn't catch us.  

**************

	"She's just a movie star," Crystal mumbled.  "I was 
talking in my sleep?" she looked very embarrassed.

	"Yes," I told her as we bathed.  

	Natasha, Crystal, Erica, and I bathed together; Aunt 
Akira had dragged off Kagami and Shun for early morning 
training.  I wonder if she ever sleeps.

	We then had breakfast, and headed back to school.  I 
rode with Mother, Aunt Shiho, and Natasha; Crystal's 
parents took her and Shun and Kagami and Erica all rode 
with Aunt Chie and Aunt Aoi.  "Did my stupid brothers 
ever apologize?" I asked Mom.

	"Sort of," Mother said.

	"You should spank them," Aunt Shiho said firmly.  "If 
you put up with them, they'll just continue being retarded."

	Natasha said, "You've got to convince them you can 
and will protect them."

	"By what?" I asked.

	"Dunno," Natasha said. 

	"Hmm," Mother said thoughtfully.

	They discussed ways to do this while I tiredly zoned 
out and wondered what the future would bring.  Would the 
others get powers like me?  Or was this a coincidence.  
Surely not, not when our parents had the big secret.  And 
some of them were monster hunters.  No wonder they 
started giving me fighting training.

	I'd rather not fight, but if it's going to happen, I want 
to be ready.  Especially now that I'm going to have to 
protect the others until their abilities happen. 

	I was back at school and Mother had left when I 
finally remembered Mother never had asked that favor of 
me.  But if it was important, she'd remember and call me, 
right?

	Anyway, I had a TON of studying to catch up on.  So I 
would worry about that later.  I would put my concerns 
about being a battle princess and the duties it entails to one 
side and do what I have to do, right here and right now.  

	  And from what Aunt Nao said, Rosewood was really 
safe.  So I'm not likely to have to fight anyone any time 
soon.  But I will be ready when Mother needs me.  When 
everyone needs me.

	I am the eldest of the seven of us and the eldest child 
is always the responsible one; the younger ones can afford 
to play freely because we're watching over them.  So I will 
watch over them and keep them safe.

	That's what elder sisters do, right?