The Summer of Her Discontent:
	The Fire Which Purifies The Night
	
By John Biles

Series:  Mai Hime (future)

Home Page: 
http://www.thekeep.org/~wombat/Stories/MaiHime/index.h
tml

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

Erica's Tale:

	Performances start at 4 and run until 10 PM; we went 
over in the morning because each team was allowed one 
on-site final rehearsal to get used to using the set up at 
Saint Mary's, where the contest would be held.  

	We got ourselves ready, then just as Mr. K was about 
to click his stopwatch and start us, we could hear the deep 
voice of Tech Lord chanting, "Macbeth, Macbeth, 
Macbeth!" and waving his hands over the lightboard, with 
Gin staring at him as if he was insane.

	"What the HELL are you doing?" Mr. K shouted.  
"Fukuda-san, open me an ice coffee."

	Fukuda, who looked very tense, did so.

	"Blessing it," Techlord said.

	"That brings BAD luck," Mr. K said.

	"You have your superstitions, I have mine," Tech Lord 
said.  "Okay, Gin, work your MAGIC."

	I tried to ignore the fact that Koyabishi-san was 
watching us rehearse, but it made me tense.  Looking at her 
made me jealous, NOT looking made me suspect she was 
kissing Dan.  Even when it was physically impossible.  Mr. 
K had sent her to the backrow to listen and make sure we 
were audible.

	"Alright, let's BEGIN!" Mr. K said, and clicked the 
stopwatch.  "Let the play begin!"

	I stumbled a few times on lines I should have nailed 
by now and Dan almost started laughing during the final 
seduction by the Brides scene.  Mr. K and Fukuda were 
both severely jumpy.  And the itchiness issue was even 
worse here than it had been at our school, though it still 
came and went.

	Finally, we came to the kiss scene, which I was 
stupidly jumpy over.  I closed my eyes and pretended it was 
Dan, though I knew this was futile.  

	I think I pretended too well, as Hayao tried to stop and 
I started to continue, then caught myself and felt like just 
throwing myself off the stage in aggravation with myself.  
We said our final lines and wrapped things up.

	"Well, we got through it with no injuries.  Fukuda-
san," Mr. K said.

	"Yes, sir?"

	"If some fool hoses down the stage with fire 
extinguisher foam and doesn't clean it, it's your job to kill 
them."

	He smiled.  "With pleasure."

	"Okay.  We're on second, at 4:50 PM.  That means 
you all are free to go after our performance once we haul 
our stuff back to school in the van.  However, you may 
wish to come back at the end, in case you get an award, as 
they give out first, second, and third place for leads and 
supporting actors, in addition to best play performance 
overall."  We'd driven a van full of our costumes, props, 
etc, though it's not that far a distance.  Too far to carry it all 
by hand, though.  "Be back here by 3.  We won't need that 
much time, but this way, if someone has problems, there's 
time to deal.  Thanks to the Moon Goddess of Mercy that 
no one injured themselves, despite Tech Lord trying to 
curse us all."

	"BLESS," Tech Lord said, grinning.  "I think we have 
the best costumes, but those idiots here at Tokugawa...Shun 
reported they were trying to make a functional fireplace 
again."  

	Oh great.  Just great.  Maybe I can burn my idiocy in 
it.

	"Hey, are you okay?" Dan asked me afterwards as we 
were about to all go change back to normal clothing.

	"I'm okay," I told him.  I'm not, but he's....dammit.

	"Okay," he said, and headed off to the men's dressing 
room.

	I sighed and went to change.

	Natasha came up to me once we'd both changed.  
"Hey, you okay?"

	"I'm fine," I said.  "Just fine."

	Natasha looked at me dubiously.  "Really."

	"Go kiss your boyfriend or something," I said and 
stormed off like an idiot.

	I went off, did some homework and got some quality 
moping in until it was time to go back and get ready to 
perform.  

************** 
 
 Crystal's Tale:

	Junko and I had eventually headed home to go sleep 
after making out at the dance; she'd said she'd come by 
today so she could meet my folks.  

	Junko showed up in a fancy red dress that was pretty 
modest, short sleeves, but it covered pretty much 
everything else from neck down to ankles.  She wore red 
high heels with it, though I could see she wasn't all that 
good at moving in them.  I just put on blue pumps and a 
blue dress that shows off my cleavage just a touch, but was 
as long down to the ankles as hers.  Short sleeved too.  And 
I put on my sapphire pendant; Junko was wearing not just 
one but two silver crosses on silver chains and a moonstone 
silver pendant.  We both had earrings on; she was wearing 
silver studs with little crosses; I put on silver hoops which 
had several intertwined loops like a braided rope.  She'd put 
up her hair in a bun with sticks and put on glasses; my hair 
is too short to do a whole lot with it, though I ended up 
letting her put a ribbon and bow in the back.  

	"I see you're ready for werewolves and vampires," I 
teased her, toying with her necklaces.

	"I hear there are vampires at Tokugawa today," she 
said, then laughed.  

	We hung out until my parents showed up; we were 
seated on the couch, watching TV when there was a knock 
on the door.  I went to the door and answered.  I was more 
dressed up than my parents, though they weren't totally 
slobbed out.  Aunt Mikoto was wearing a blue blouse and 
brown slacks and Dad had on a red knit shirt and grey 
slacks.  Mom was wearing a blue blouse also and a dark 
blue skirt down to her knees with black pumps.  She had a 
golden necklace on with a dragon pendant with little ruby 
eyes.  That made me grin.

	"Oh wow, you're all dressed up!" Mikoto said.

	"You look great, dear," Mom said, hugging me as they 
came in.  

	"Junko, these are my parents, Tate Yuuichi, Tate Mai, 
and Minagi Mikoto," I said to her.  "Mom, Dad, Aunt 
Mikoto, this is my girlfriend, Nagiki Junko.  She's a Saint 
Mary's student."

	Junko came over and bowed formally.  "It's a pleasure 
to meet you."

	Aunt Mikoto studied Junko up and down, while 
Mother bowed back to her with Father.  Aunt Mikoto then 
hastily bowed also.  "Nice to meet you, Junko-san," Mom 
said, looking approving.  "How did you two meet?"

	"We've known each other a while by the student 
dances," Junko said.  "Also, I've become one of Kurauchi-
sensei's students."

	"Oh wow, I didn't know she was taking on students 
now beyond the family," Aunt Mikoto said.  "We'll have to 
spar some time, Junko-san."

	"I'd love to," Junko said.  "I'm kind of rusty."

	I got everyone some tea and we sat down at the table.  
"So what do you want to do for a living, Junko-san?" Mom 
asked.

	"Librarian," she said.  

	She is very good at literature and pretty smart.  I didn't 
know that, though.  "I'm still trying to figure it out."  
Though I suspect my real future job will be superheroine.  I 
can see why Mom's in consulting.  It means she can just 
take the afternoon and go blow up a factory or kill monsters 
if she has to.  

	"I didn't know what I wanted at your age," Dad said to 
me.  

	"I took lots and lots of different part-time jobs in part 
to figure out what I wanted, but I was still thinking when I 
got to college," Mom said.  

	"I knew what I wanted before they did!," Mikoto said 
proudly.  "I pretty much decided to become a martial arts 
teacher once...once I got to high school."

	I wondered what she had been about to actually say.

	"My brother...," Junko began, then paused.  "Will 
inherit the brewery, most likely.  And I like to read, so I 
decided to be a librarian."

	"Isn't he younger than you?" I asked.

	"Yes, but he's a boy," Junko said.  "And I am not."

	Mom frowned.  "That's rather sexist of them."

	"I don't really want to run the brewery," Junko said, 
though her tone made me think the actual answer was 'I 
decided to stop killing myself over not inheriting a while 
back and I can't change it, so I'll say I don't care.'  

	I frowned.  "So you have to be a manly man among 
manly men to run a brewery?"

	"Yes," Junko said, as if that was perfectly natural, 
which I just don't get.

	"That's too bad," Father said.  "But then, letting the 
eldest automatically inherit is also a stupid way to do 
things."

	Junko looked rather surprised by that.  

	"People born to money tend to end up lazy and weak," 
Dad said.  "So, Crystal, we're going to spend your 
inheritance on wild partying so you won't be weak."  He 
laughed, showing he was joking.

	"I know Mom parties like a wild woman," I teased her.

	Mom laughed.

	"You should have seen the last karaoke party," Mikoto 
said, grinning.

	"It's probably best they didn't see that," Dad said 
quickly.

	Now I was curious.  "Did you all get drunk?"

	"Let's not talk about that," Mom mumbled.

	Junko smiled a little, but she said, "I understand you 
are in robotics, Tate-san."

	"The business end.  I couldn't build a robot if my life 
depended on it," Dad said.

	Junko now engaged my folks in a long conversation 
about the robotics business and other developments in the 
business world.  I could tell Aunt Mikoto was just as bored 
out of her skull as I was, but she soon had my parents 
spellbound.

	So I took Aunt Mikoto to one side.  "How are things at 
your dojo?"

	"Very good," Aunt Mikoto said.  "I've gotten them a 
lot more fired up thanks to our new rivals.  I just wish I 
could come to your practice sessions, but it's too far and I 
have to teach my students."

	"Well, we could probably spar later, given the play 
will be over before dinner."

	"Oooh, good idea," Aunt Mikoto said.  

	We talked fighting shop talk for a while until it was 
time for everyone to meet.

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

	I'd arranged to meet Mother down at the Commons.  
That way, Hayao could bring his parents, Mother and 
Father and my brothers could join us there and my brothers 
couldn't mess up anything in my dorm.

	Hayao's parents arrived first; his father, Masakuri 
Michinaga, was tall and slender, wearing a nice blue suit; 
his mother, Masakuri Sayuri, wore a tan suit-dress.  Seeing 
them was very strange, as I'd seen pictures of Sayuri...as a 
teenager.  She seemed so old by comparison.  

	I wished that I had dressed up fancier; I was wearing a 
green blouse and a long green skirt and it wasn't bad, but 
Hayao was in a suit and I felt underdressed.

	But Hayao's mother smiled at me brightly.  "It's so 
nice to meet you, Kasumi.  I went to school with your 
mother."

	"I know," I told her.  "I've seen pictures of you doing 
karaoke with Mother, in fact.  It's nice to meet you."

	Hayao's father studied me curiously as we all sat down 
to talk and wait for my family.  He didn't seem to speak 
much, though.

	"My husband is a policeman, and I teach Japanese 
literature at Osaka University," Hayao's mother said to me.  

	"Oh wow, so you're Professor Masakuri," I said.

	"And Father is Lieutenant Masakuri," Hayao said.  
"I'm not sure which rank is higher."

	"Depends on which one of us is right at any given 
time," Hayao's father said, then laughed.

	"I haven't seen your mother since I graduated," 
Hayao's mother said excitedly.  "I'm really glad she and 
Kazuya-san are still together, though."

	"First love, first marriage, all still intact," I said.  
"They're lucky."

	Hayao's father grunted agreement.

	"Well, you two weren't first loves, but you are first 
marriage too," Hayao said to his folks.  "That's nothing to 
sneeze at."

	"I am quite lucky in that regard," Hayao's mother said, 
smiling.  "So, does our boy have a big part or was he just 
bragging again?"

	"I don't brag," Hayao said, sounding frustrated.

	"He's Count Dracula, of course his part is big," I said 
proudly.  

	"Where's Taiki-san?" Hayao's mother asked.

	"He's got baseball stuff," Hayao said; he sounded 
relieved.  

	I certainly was.

	I now heard running feet and saw my brothers 
charging me, far ahead of Mother and Father; Father was 
wearing slacks and a nice green knit shirt; Mother was 
wearing a knee-length black skirt with yellow question 
marks all over it and a yellow blouse with black question 
marks.  They were holding hands; I noticed Hayao's mother 
took her husband's hand when she saw that.  It made me 
smile.

	I rose and as my brothers reached me, I grabbed one 
with each arm and spun around as they yelled happily.  
Then I put them down and watched them stagger.  But they 
seemed to like staggering and were laughing happily.  

	Hayao's father studied me curiously and his mother 
came over to them.  "Hello, I'm Masakuri Sayuri.  I went to 
school with your mother."

	"I'm Keiichi and he's Katsuhito," Keiichi said.  "Do 
you like big robots?"  He sounded hopeful.

	"They're a huge pain in the a...back," Hayao's father 
grumbled.  "Always causing trouble."

	"Mommy lets us ride her like a giant robot, but she 
can't transform," Katsuhito informed them.  "She can carry 
both of us at once now!"

	"Sayuri-san, it's so good to see you," Mother said.  
"Who is this handsome man you brought with you?"  Her 
voice was gently teasing.

	Hayao's mother smiled and his father laughed.  "The 
handsome man is our son; I'm just her husband," he said.  
He's not half as pretty as his son, that's true.  

	Looking at my parents and Hayao's, they didn't look 
like classmates; his parents had aged normally.  I could see 
Hayao's father could tell too and was surprised, but his 
mother either didn't notice or didn't care.  

	Pretty soon, our mothers were deep in conversation, 
catching up, while the fathers mostly just listened and 
Hayao and I tried to be respectable; I think I made a good 
impression, though my parents pretty much took over the 
spotlight until Hayao had to leave to get ready for the play 
and I ended up showing his parents around campus while 
they chatted with mine.

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

Dan's Tale:

	I hung out with Koyabishi-san until it was time to go 
back and get ready.  More and more of our family flooded 
into campus and I had to introduce her what felt like a 
thousand times.  Mom and Dad finally showed up shortly 
before I would need to leave.

	Mom gave me a big hug and Dad said, "Ready to 
break a leg, son?"

	"Yeah," I told him.  "Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend 
Koyabishi Sanae.  Sanae, this is my mom Midori and my 
Dad, Professor Sasaki."

	"Nice to meet you," she said, shaking their hands.  
"Mom said she liked you as a teacher, Suguira-sensei."  She 
smiled brightly.

	"Oh hoh, I didn't know you were seeing someone," 
Mom said, grinning at me.

	"It's new," I mumbled.

	"We just got together last night, but I've been helping 
him with the play," Sanae said, taking my hand.

	"Her father is one of the biology teachers and her 
mother is Suzuki Miya, who went to school at Fuuka when 
you were teaching there," I told Mom.

	"Oh, I remember her.  She was a good student," Mom 
said.  "And tall for a woman."

	Sanae and I both tower over Mom and Dad.  I'm 184 
cm tall and Sanae is just a tiny touch shorter than me.  I'm 
taller even than Uncle Reito.  Mom is only 157 and Dad is 
168.  None of us are sure how I ended up so tall.  Sanae's 
taller than her parents too.

	"So your father teaches biology?" Dad asked.

	"And mom teaches chemistry at Saint Mary's," Sanae 
said.  "I've been tutoring Dan in math some."

	"He needs it," Dad said flatly.  

	"Sanae is very good at math and science.  She takes 
the senior level biology course with her Dad, even though 
she's a freshman like me," I told them.

	This definitely impressed them.  

	"So are you going to go into science?" Dad asked.

	She nodded.  "That is my dream, though I haven't 
decided what specialty yet."

	"I'm an archaeologist and Midori is a historian," Dad 
said.  "So we're very proud of Dan's historical skills."

	"We're going to the Babylonian exhibit on Sunday," 
Sanae said.  "If you'd like to come with us."

	"That would be great," Mom said.  "I keep meaning to 
go and things come up."

	I'm not so sure I want my parents along on a date, but 
at least we aren't going to have to hide this like Shun and 
Kagami.

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

Hayao's Tale:

	I had a sudden feeling of doom and couldn't figure out 
why.  I've felt a little weird ever since about two weeks ago 
when I had this hideous nightmare about being buried alive.  
Now I suddenly felt, just for a moment, like I was being 
shoved into a coffin and buried again.  

	I looked around and saw four women; an older blonde, 
a platinum haired one, a tall (for a woman) blonde with 
spikier hair, and...HER.  The nun (I know now).  Yuuki 
Nao, psycho-bitch on patrol, aka 'Juliet'.  I would have just 
run, except that I couldn't just run with my parents, 
Kasumi's parents, and Kasumi here.  The back of my left 
hand was itching like crazy, which didn't help either.  I 
have a birthmark there that vaguely resembles a crab and 
when I get tense, it tends to itch or ache.  

	The four of them were striding purposefully towards 
us; none of them were dressed like nuns, but from what I 
have heard from Kasumi, I think that must be the bitch's 
sisters, who are also nuns.  They sure don't look much like 
each other for sisters, though.

	The platinum-haired one was looking at me like she 
was going to nail me to a wall and then use me for knife-
throwing practice.  The bitch looked ready to just gut me 
like a trout.  The taller but younger blonde was frowning at 
me.  The older, short haired blonde just looked curious.

	Kasumi, on the other hand, was now smiling brightly 
at them and when they turned to her, they all smiled 
brightly, except the platinum haired one, who looked like 
she wanted to smile but only knew what smiles were from 
reading about them in books.  It looked fake, but sincere at 
the same time.  Like someone who wanted to smile and 
didn't know how.

	"Sister Yukariko, Nao, Alyssa, Miyu, hi hi hi!" Mom 
said cheerfully.  "It's so good to see you all!  It's like a 
school reunion today!"

	Nao strode over to Mom and clapped her shoulder 
cheerfully.  "Hello, sempai.  Going to introduce me to your 
sugardaddy?"

	Mom laughed.  "This is my dear husband Masakuri 
Michinaga.  Honey, this is Yuuki Nao; she was two years 
behind me at Fuuka but we had mutual friends."

	She knows my mother.  SHE KNOWS MY 
MOTHER.  It's a good thing I don't carry a knife or I think 
I would have killed myself.  

	"It's nice to meet you; I've heard a few stories and seen 
a few pictures, but that's no match for meeting real people," 
Dad said.

	"I knew Sayuri-sempai would end up with a good 
guy," Nao said.  "It's nice to meet you too.  I haven't seen 
sempai in a million years."

	The platinum haired one and the tall blonde both 
stared at me; the former looked a little murderous and the 
latter just looked dubious.  The older blonde said to Mom, 
"It's nice to see you again, Sayuri-san."

	Kasumi now hugged the platinum haired one very 
tightly.  "Hello, Aunt Miyu.  How are you?"

	She smiled that weird pseudo-smile at Kasumi.  "It's 
very nice to see you.  Your mother says your training is 
going well."

	Kasumi rested her head on Miyu's shoulder.  "Yes.  I 
had to give up track, though."  She sighed.

	"That is a pity; it's good physical conditioning for you 
and has made you very healthy," Miyu said.  "However, 
your coach had too many students to give you the attention 
you needed, so this is probably for the best.  You should 
keep running to practice, though.  Speed can be very 
useful."  She glanced over at the tall blonde.

	The tall blonde said defensively, "I am an intellectual; 
my time is spent developing my powerful brain."

	"I'm doing my best, Auntie," Kasumi said intensely.  
"You should come see us practice some time."

	"I will," Miyu said.

	Kasumi then hugged the other three women; the tall  
blonde was Alyssa and the older one was Sister Yukariko, 
who was apparently Alyssa's mother and had been Miyu's 
guardian.  I'm not sure how the bitch fit into that.  It was 
pretty clear she'd poisoned the others against me, except 
Sister Yukariko, who seems to like everyone.  

	"Nao, this is my son Hayao," Mom said to her.

	"We've met," Nao said crisply, gazing at me with eyes 
that promised my imminent death, her head turned enough 
Mom couldn't see this.  "I'm sure he'll take good care of 
Kasumi so Mother Nature doesn't turn her wrath on him 
again."

	Mom said, "Mother Nature?"

	Kasumi put her hands on her hips.  "Aunt Nao!"

	"The bee incident," I told Mom.  She knew about the 
bees, just not why or how I ended up in the middle of them. 
Fortunately, I have no bee allergies or I would be a mess.

	Sister Yukariko said, "May I borrow your son for just 
a minute?" 

	"Sure," Mom said, and now Sister Yukariko led me 
off.

	"Are you going to hang from a tree for seven days like 
your god?" I asked nervously.

	"It was a cross and it was only a few hours before he 
died and was buried, then rose again in three days," Sister 
Yukariko said.  "I think you are thinking of Odin."

	Could be; I know little of Western religion beyond 
what you see in anime.  "Is this the 'hurt Kasumi and die' 
lecture?"

	"I'll let Miyu and Nao handle that, though yes, if you 
hurt Kasumi I probably won't be able to stop them from 
making you wish to go back to the bees," Sister Yukariko 
said.  

	"The...she seduced ME," I said angrily.  

	"You were quite eager to be seduced," Sister Yukariko 
said.  "Look, Kasumi is a very innocent girl and everyone is 
very protective of her.  I was very much like her at her age 
and even into my early twenties.  Maybe even moreso, as 
I'd never had a boyfriend or even been kissed until I was 
twenty-four."

	"Well, you are a nun," I said.  I'm pretty sure they're 
supposed to be celibate.  Which didn't stop the bitch...but 
then again, maybe pretending to NOT be celibate to lure 
the innocent into traps is okay in their opinion.

	"I didn't become a full sister until I graduated from 
college, though," Sister Yukariko said.  "And then I fell in 
love with a very charming, handsome man."

	"I guess it didn't work out, since you're still a nun."

	"I am not a normal nun," she told me.  "My old order 
expelled me, but the Magdalenes took me in because of my 
special talents.  I eventually married him but we went 
through a very rough period because I was young and naive 
and couldn't help doing whatever would make him happy 
and he was very keenly aware of his power over women," 
she continued.  "We both had to change before we could 
know what real love is like.  And you remind me of him as 
he was when I met him."

	I grimaced.  "You people don't even know me and you 
all want to judge me."

	"I hope things will go well for you and Kasumi.  But 
please, I just ask that you take this seriously and don't 
exploit her love for you.  You are right, I don't know you.  
But I know Kasumi and so do a lot of other people.  If you 
want us to know you, you're going to have to show us 
you're not what we're afraid of."

	At least Kasumi's parents gave me the benefit of the 
doubt.  I hadn't realized half the universe thinks I am made 
out of evil, apparently.  "And you're going to have stop 
treating me like shit."

	Sister Yukariko sighed and stared at the ground.  
"Don't you have family you're protective of?"

	"I don't have any siblings; Mom had to take fertility 
drugs just to produce me," I said angrily.  Then I softened a 
little.  "But I am kind of protective of Sanae.  Mandi's 
tough enough to handle anything, but Sanae's all brains and 
no brawn.  But I'm not getting all in Dan's face over them 
dating."  Even if I think she could do a lot better than the 
human doormat.  He won't even defend himself; how is he 
going to protect her?

	"When you love someone, you want them to be safe.  
And we all love Kasumi," Sister Yukariko said.  "I know 
we are very protective of her, but our family is like that.  
Anyway, I'm not here to hate you; I married a very 
charming man like yourself, after all."

	That made me feel a little better.  "I have no intention 
of hurting Kasumi," I told her.  "But if everyone pours hate 
in her ears, it's not going to help us."

	"I know, I know.  I had a long fight with my daughters 
over marrying Wateru."  Sister Yukariko said.

	She and all of Kasumi's family are so weirdly young 
looking.  Mom is the same age as Kasumi's mother, but 
Kasumi's mother looks maybe 25 at most.  Sister Yukariko 
looks a touch older than Kasumi's mother, but she ought to 
be in her late forties, I think.

	"Miyu and Alyssa?" I asked.

	"Yes.  Of course, they're both adopted, but we are 
family now," Yukariko said.  "So your mother had to use 
fertility drugs?"

	"Sanae, Mandi, and I were all born thanks to some 
stuff made by Curie Pharmaceuticals.  I won't pretend I 
know the full details," I told her.  "So we're all only 
children and we pretty much regard each other as siblings."

	"That's very sweet," Sister Yukariko said, clearly 
sympathetic, which made me feel a little better.  "Anyway, 
that's everything.  Let's go back to the others," she said.

	"Wait, how old are you?" I asked.

	"Forty-seven," she said.

	"You don't look forty-seven," I said.

	"God's love sustains me," she said.

	Somehow I doubt that.  On the other hand, all of 
Kasumi's relatives who are older than us don't look their 
ages.  	

	We went back and I deliberately kissed Kasumi just to 
make her aunts squirm.  I'm not letting the worst nuns in 
the world tell me what to do.  At least Kasumi's mother and 
father seem to be friendly.  But as I understand it, they both 
defied their parents to get married, so they don't have much 
room to complain.

	At least I don't have to put up with Crystal's parents, 
who I expect probably ARE made of pure evil, though 
Mom seems to have fond memories of them.  

	I fended off the evil nun brigade until finally, I had an 
excuse to leave and go get ready for the play.  Kasumi was 
sorry to see me go, but I have to confess I wasn't sorry to 
get away from her kin.

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

Erica's Tale:

	I thought I was going to evade my parents, but to my 
surprise, they were waiting for me at Tokugawa when I got 
there to suit up.  I was engulfed in hug before I could say 
anything.

	"I hear you've been moping," Aoi-Mom said.

	"I have not been moping," I protested.

	"Serious moping, probably over a boy.  Or a girl.  Or 
maybe both?" Chie-Mom teased.

	"I am not moping over a boy at all," I said.  "I am just 
nervous because I want the play to go well."

	"You're so cute when you mope," Aoi-Mom said 
cheerfully.

	I folded my arms across my chest and tried to pretend 
they didn't exist.  This is hard to do when you are being 
hugged.

	"So mopey," Chie-Mom said cheerfully.

	"So who is it?" Aoi-Mom asked.

	"No one!  I am not in love with anyone!  Love is 
stupid!"  I tried to storm off, but you can't do that either 
when you're being hugged.

	"You must really have it bad if you're at the phase of 
shouting that love is stupid," Aoi-Mom said.

	"And making fun of me doesn't help!"  I finally got 
loose and stormed off into the dressing room.

	Natasha, Mandi, and Koyabishi-san came in while I 
was trying to get the fancy underwear on.  Natasha came 
over and helped me with the corset.  "You should have seen 
Kasumi at the dance," Mandi said.  "I can't believe Hotaru 
talked her into wearing that more than once.  Mind you, she 
looked great."

	I made non-committal mumbly noises as I didn't give 
a damn one way or another.  Other than vague annoyance at 
the entire male half of the species.  

	"You okay?" Natasha whispered to me.

	"I am totally fine," I said.  "I wish everyone would 
quit asking me if I am okay.  I am just fine and have no 
reason not to be fine."

	"Aunt Chie said you're pouting over a boy," Natasha 
said.

	Why is there never a monster attack when you need 
one?

	Not that I really wanted one but anything would be 
better than this.  "I am not pouting over a boy.  I am just a 
little nervous over performing in front of so many people 
and my entire gigantic family, most of whom I've only 
known for two weeks."

	"You are great," Mandi said.  "You're going to knock 
them all dead.  Possibly including Mr. K if he doesn't stop 
drinking so much coffee, but that's his own fault."

	"He will probably fall asleep during the performance, 
as he can't drink during the plays and at this point he 
usually has his total crash once he stops using stimulants," 
Koyatsu-san said.  "That's my experience of him.  He lasted 
4 minutes into our performance, then passed out last year."

	I laughed; that made me feel a little better.

	"Also, we're early and Greenwood won't screw up the 
stage," Koyatsu-san said.  "They're on first, at four."

	"Are they any good?"

	"From what I've heard, their glory days were back in 
the 80s, when our parents weren't even born yet," Koyatsu-
san said.  "They're an all-guy school, so I assume that half 
of them will be in bad drag."

	"What is good drag?" Mandi asked curiously.

	"Tokiha-san is good drag," Koyatsu-san said.  "Good 
drag is where you can't tell it's not real.  Bad drag is where 
your eyesockets catch fire.  Koyabishi-san could probably 
do a pretty good reverse-drag if she wanted to."

	"She is kind of flat and tall," Mandi said.  "Oh, I don't 
know if you know, Koyatsu-san, but she and Dan are dating 
now."

	"Good for them.  He needs someone to knock some 
sense in his head and get him to stop just drifting," 
Koyatsu-san said, finishing dressing up.

	I tried to grind my teeth subtly.  Stupid woman.  I 
would have stormed out but I had nowhere to go, so I got 
stuck listening to them speculate about Dan and Koyabishi-
san's future while I contemplated ways to go deaf.

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

Dan's Tale:

	Fukuda-san was there, trying to suit up by himself 
when I arrived, so I helped him get his hump in place.  He 
seemed to resent this, but said, "Thank you."

	"You're welcome," I told him.  "It really looks great."

	"Thank you," he said again, though he seemed to 
resent thanking me.  I don't think he likes me very much.  
"I'm going to go get ready."  He headed out and a few 
seconds later, when I was stripped to my underwear, Hayao 
came in.

	He started stripping and said, "Look, Dan..."

	"Hmm?" I asked, working on getting my suit on.  It's 
not really that much different from the one I own, so this 
was easy.

	"Look, I had this whole big lecture planned, but I'd be 
a hypocrite after getting roasted alive by your family and it 
pissing me off."  He grimaced at his pants as he put them 
on.  "I'm sure you hate Taiki and you probably don't like 
me much, but just please be good to Sanae.  That's all.  
She's the most sensible person I know and she really likes 
you.  And her being happy is really important to me."

	I laughed nervously as I put my shirt on.  "I don't 
blame her for anything.  I don't have much experience, but I 
intend to do my best," I told him.

	"Thank you.  Whatever crap gets poured on me, she 
doesn't deserve to get tainted with my brush," he said, 
starting on his own shirt.

	"Of course not," I said.

	That seemed to relieve him.  "Now I just have to calm 
down so I can act without screaming."

	"Think of the most boring thing in the universe.  Focus 
on it entirely.  Let it lull you," I told him.  "I usually think 
about poetry."

	He laughed.  "Worth a try."

	We finished getting dressed, then went out to see Mr. 
K and get ready.

	We got to watch Greenwood's play; they did 
Lysistrata.  Much as I know the Greek original would have 
been all male actors, it just doesn't work very well when 
you know everyone in it is a guy.  Though one of the guys 
playing a woman was actually pretty good at faking it, like 
Shun.    

	Their set was very minimalist and only involved the 
platform pieces. (There are standard set pieces for this—
clamps, walls, and platforms.)   Their costumes were 
actually pretty good; I have to wonder how they did the 
helmets.  Overall, though, I'm pretty sure we can beat them.  
Especially as they didn't manage their cuts well, so their 
play ended up more as 'highlights of Lysistrata'.  

	 They finally finished and cleared their set and then 
our scramble began.  We have a limited time to set up and 
clear our sets; any longer than that and it comes out of our 
time to perform.  Which can hose you.

	Fortunately, our techs and we have drilled and we can 
set everything up quickly.  We then launched into our 
performance.  

	Mr. K clonked out about fifteen minutes in, but we 
pressed on.  Erica was seriously tense, and trying to act past 
it, but I think people could tell.  But this seemed to make 
her more tense, as I expect she didn't want to mess 
everything up by being tense.

	"Anything I can do to make you feel better?" I 
whispered to her as we waited off stage at one point.

	"No," she said.

	I didn't know what to say to that.  

	I could see our family whenever we were performing.  
Mandi and Hayao's parents were clumped together with 
Crystal and her parents and Junko and Aunt Chie and Aunt 
Aoi and Aunt Akane and Uncle Kazuya and Kasumi and 
the boys.  I could see Kasumi twitching but trying not to 
every time Erica and Hayao did anything vaguely romantic 
on stage; it was pretty funny to watch her try to not freak or 
react.  Everyone else was fanned out around them.  I 
noticed Gin's parents hadn't come, and I wondered why.  I 
noticed Aunt Natsuki, Aunt Shizuru, Mr. Smith and Ms. 
Waynewright were all sitting together.  Sanae sat with my 
parents.

	Hayao looked extremely tense every time he came off 
stage but was totally relaxed on, so I snuck over to him.  
"Erica is pretty unhappy.  If there is anything you can tell 
her to help her relax on stage, it would be good."

	He went over and whispered to her for a while.  It 
seemed to help some if not as much as I hoped.

	The play went very smoothly and though I'd had some 
itching in the dress rehearsal, no itching during the 
performance, thank you, gods and spirits.  During my final 
seduction scene, I held it together; I think Mandi was 
actually a little disappointed by that.

	Erica finally pulled it together and totally slamdunked 
her final scene; the glasses tossing manuever provoked a 
wave of applause which woke up Mr. K, who started 
applauding without even knowing why.

	Greenwood had gotten some applause at their end, but 
we got a lot more.  Mind you, we brought our own giant 
cheering section.  

	We went and changed and then met the families in a 
giant tide outside the backstage doors.  Mr. K told us all to 
come back much later when it was awards time, but we 
could go off with our families until then.  I got to meet 
Fukuda-san's parents briefly; they're both lawyers, but they 
seemed very proud of his skills and lavished praise on him 
and on the rest of us.

	It had been decided to have a giant feast at Aunt 
Haruka's, then the parents would bring us back to campus 
and Aunt Chie and Aunt Aoi would drive us around to 
Tokugawa for the awards.  Hayao's parents got invited to 
come too, along with Mandi and Sanae and Hayao.

	I think we all had a good time...well, most of us.  Erica 
was still moping and I think Hayao would have preferred to 
just hide under his bed, though Kasumi and Aunt Akane 
and Uncle Kazuya all treated him well.  And everyone I 
introduced her to seemed happy to meet Sanae and were 
nice to her, for which I was glad.  

	Sanae, Mandi and Hayao's parents seemed utterly 
boggled by how wealthy Aunt Haruka and Aunt Yukino 
are; I tend to forget myself, even coming over here.  You 
just get used to it, I guess.  So watching them boggle was 
kind of amusing and I could tell Aunt Haruka enjoyed 
showing off.

	Aunt Natsuki took Erica and Sanae and myself off for 
a lesson; more precisely, she showed Sanae how to shoot 
and we all practiced, then we did motorcycles and Sanae 
just watched, which she seemed to enjoy.  

	This seemed to cheer Erica up, at least enough to be 
only a little pouty.

	I just wish I could do something to help her, but I'm no 
good at this sort of thing.

	So I just tried to act natural and avoid poking at her 
wounds.

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

Natasha's Tale:

	I'd brought Gin with me to meet everyone but also so 
he could deliver the painting he'd done.  He has another 
project but it wasn't quite finished, due to the play.  I'd 
hoped his parents would come to the play, but they were 
sick.  But I rounded up Mom, Shun, Kagami, Aunt Akira, 
Uncle Takumi, and Sanae, since she'd posed for it too.  
Which meant also Dan and his parents.

	It showed Aunt Akira in her slinky red dress leaning 
over a piano and singing as Uncle Takumi played the 
piano; the whole setting and Uncle Takumi's clothing were 
chosen to give a kind of 1930s vibe to it.

	Uncle Takumi stared in surprise and Aunt Akira 
looked approving, though she listed a dozen places for 
improvement.  However, she now took him aside and gave 
him a new project and told everyone, "I am very pleased.  
This will go up in our living room."

	Gin looked extremely happy.  "Really?"

	"Congratulations, Houseki-san," Aunt Midori said.  
"Akira is very picky with her art."

	"I'm kind of jealous, actually," Dan's father said.  

	"Well, I'd be happy to do one of you two.  Just give 
me some photos and Natasha can help me figure out a 
theme."

	Once everyone had seen the painting, he was besieged 
with commission requests.  He seemed quite surprised and I 
was extremely happy.  Gin has a real talent and seeing him 
get some recognition and goodwill from the family made 
me extremely pleased.  Especially compared to our nun 
aunts, who had apparently decided to barbeque Hayao and 
only held back to have more time to compare recipies for 
roasting him.

	I felt kind of sorry for him and Kasumi.

	But I wasn't going to stick my head in the fire when 
things were going so well for Gin and I today.


***************
	
Crystal's Tale:

	Junko and I were milling around the family gathering 
in Aunt Haruka's gardens when Junko asked me, "Is 
Kurauchi-sensei's spouse here?"

	"Yes, and their boys too, along with Kasumi," I said.  

	It took a little bit of searching, but eventually, we 
found Aunt Akira, Uncle Takumi, Uncle Kazuya, and Aunt 
Akane arguing about some international soccer 
competition.  More precisely, Uncle Takumi was arguing 
on behalf of Mexico kicking everyone's ass, while Uncle 
Kazuya tried to argue Japan had a chance and Aunt Akane 
and Aunt Akira tried to pretend they cared AT ALL.

	Time to rescue my aunts.  I walked up with Junko.  
"Everyone, this is my girlfriend, Nagiki Junko.  Junko, this 
is my Aunt Tokiha Akira, Uncle Tokiha Takumi and Aunt 
Akane's husband, Kurauchi Kazuya."

	I now noticed Junko was staring at Uncle Kazuya with 
a look of utter surprise.  I studied him, but he wasn't 
wearing anything odd, he hadn't spilled anything on 
himself...really, he looked totally normal.  After a few 
seconds, she forced herself to look more normal.  "It's a 
pleasure to meet you all."

	"Junko has been studying under me with Crystal, 
Shun, and Kagami," Aunt Akane said very proudly.  "She 
works very hard and is very good."

	Junko looked a little embarrassed.  "Thank you, 
sensei."

	"It's nice to meet you," Uncle Kazuya said, shaking 
her hand, though he studied her curiously.  She's slightly 
taller than he is, though it's only obvious this close 
together.  

	Uncle Takumi shook her hand as well.  "Nice to meet 
you, Junko-san," he said.  "Crystal's mother is my sister."

	Junko bowed to him.  "It's a pleasure to meet you, 
Tokiha-san."

	Why does he get a bow and not Uncle Kazuya?  I 
glanced at Uncle Kazuya, but he didn't seem to care.  

	"Have you figured out what you want to do in the 
future yet?" Uncle Kazuya asked.

	"Librarian," Junko said.  "Though these days, a lot of 
what librarians do has as much or more to do with 
computers as books.  Or e-books for that matter, so I'm 
planning to get into computer science as well."

	"Smart," Uncle Kazuya said.  

	Aunt Akira seemed about to say something, but 
instead said, "Given Natsuki's working with her students, 
we should probably give ours a lesson too."

	"Surely you can give them a break this once," Uncle 
Kazuya said.  

	"Oh, it's fine," I said.  "Except I can't exactly fight in 
this dress."

	Junko said, "I didn't bring my swords, either.  And I'm 
in a dress too."

	"There you go," Uncle Kazuya said.

	"But I hardly ever get to come and see their progress," 
Aunt Akira said, looking over at Aunt Akane.

	"If there has to be a lesson, then I am going to teach 
it," Uncle Kazuya said.

	I stared at him in confusion.  What?

	He pulled Aunt Akane around to face him, putting one 
hand on her shoulder, the other at her side; she smiled and 
matched him.  Then then began to glide around through a 
series of moves, spinning her around in place and around 
himself, sometimes moving side by side, sometimes her 
gliding backwards with him moving forwards facing her. 

	Uncle Takumi grinned and took Aunt Akira and began 
doing the same thing.  It looked very graceful.  I think this 
was a waltz, but I wouldn't swear in a court of law.

	Uncle Kazuya then came over and got Junko and I into 
position, though we collided when we both tried to lead, 
which made him laugh.  Pretty soon, though, we were 
circling several tables and benches with our aunts and 
uncles.  It would be easier with actual music.

	To my surprise, waltz music now began to play and 
Aunt Haruka came up and began waltzing with Aunt 
Yukino, who looked very happy.  

	More and more people joined us and soon we were all 
swirling through the gardens in a great mob of dancing 
couples.  Uncle Kazuya looked extremely happy, as did 
Aunt Akane.  

	I saw Aunt Nao dancing with Hayao's father; part of 
me is curious to see if he's as bad as his son, but given how 
much Aunt Nao was smiling, I guess not.  I had decided to 
avoid Hayao today to avoid anything that might somehow 
wreck things for the play after all the work Erica, Dan, 
Natasha, and Gin have sunk into it.  

	I could see Gin and Natasha dancing; to my surprise, 
Gin was very good.  He just doesn't seem very coordinated 
to me, but it was clear he's known this stuff a while.  

	I do enjoy sparring, but this was pretty cool.  Good 
move, Uncle, I thought.  

	Junko was quite clearly enjoying herself, dancing up a 
storm; she is good at picking up this kind of thing, I think.

	I then chased him down and got him to teach us some 
more moves.  I never realized he was this good at dancing; 
I guess I don't know Uncle Kazuya as well as I know some 
of my kin.  He clearly enjoyed teaching us too.

	Aunt Akira enjoyed the dancing, I could tell, but 
looked a little frustrated.  Sorry, Auntie, you can come kick 
our ass tomorrow.

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

Akira's Art:

	I wanted to call everyone together to discuss the 
situation with the children, but unfortunately, with Sayuri 
and her husband and her son and Sanae and Gin here as 
well, I could not easily assemble everyone.  

	It would be hard to explain us all running off and 
having a meeting with out them, even leaving the kids with 
them.

	So I circulated, quietly feeling people out.  Nao, 
Yukariko, Alyssa, and Miyu all favor telling the Children 
very strongly, given Akane and I's suspicions.  Midori and 
Professor Sasaki agree, though it's not quite as urgent for 
them, given Dan's less likely to end up with powers -  
though given that Mr. Smith is a major suspect for a 
potential powers person, we can't take that as a given.  I am 
hoping for Shun to get them, as it's too late for him to stay 
out of this, given his and Kagami's relationship.  Which has 
probably gone too far or will soon, given how they keep 
touching each other all the time.

	But I can ruminate on encouraging self-control in 
them later.  Back on topic.

	Haruka says yes.  Yukino seems reluctant.  Shizuru...I 
can understand why Shizuru doesn't want to tell everything.  
Natsuki is for revelation.  So is Mikoto.  Yuuichi will 
simply agree with whatever Mai says, and Mai is still 
opposed.  She's clinging to normality desperately, and so is 
Kazuya.  But that ship is sinking.  Chie wants to tell 
desperately and will likely blab soon just because she is 
great at finding out secrets but must then brag to the entire 
universe.  Aoi is reluctant to lay the burden on them unless 
it can't be helped.  Though I don't think she likes lying to 
Erica.  Reito seems rather torn.  Shiho is still pretty 
strongly opposed to telling until forced.  Though I can 
understand why.  It's easy for Akane and I, who have 
nothing to be ashamed of.  But we don't have to tell 
absolutely everything, just enough that they know not to 
throw themselves on easily avoidable bombs that they don't 
know exist.

	With Akane and I having changed our minds, we have 
a large majority for revelation at this point.  Mai is likely to 
be stubborn, but assuming everyone doesn't cave in, we can 
likely persuade her.  Especially if we can show the kids are 
starting to become Hime and thus need to know more.  I 
wish we didn't have to burden them, but who knows what 
kind of trouble they may get into trying to find out the 
truth.  

	Miyu agreed to come to tomorrow's practice; she can 
use her abilities to check and see if the kids are tapping into 
Hime energies while they fight.  That should be enough for 
us to get Mai to see reason.  And the others, I hope.

	I also rounded up Aoi, Chie, Takumi, Akane, and 
Kazuya.  "Would it be possible for us to stay overnight at 
your house, Chie and Aoi?" I asked.  "I'd like to go ambush 
Kagami tonight and if Akane and I are going to give them a 
lesson tomorrow, we can save a lot of money by not driving 
home just to come back again the next day."

	"Oh, that would fun," Aoi said.  "We could put the 
boys in Erica's room, one couple could take the guest room 
and the other the sofa bed.  Or maybe the boys should go 
on the sofa bed."

	"I can help you ambush them," Akane said, smiling.  

	I'm not sure if she's sneaky enough to do that well, but 
it's best she learn.  

	"Fine by me," Takumi said.  "I wasn't looking 
forwards to the drive home, really."

	Kazuya started to say something, frowned, then said, 
"Okay."  It was clear he would rather go home.  

	"If you'd rather go home, Kazuya, I can drive Akane 
home tomorrow if you don't mind taking Takumi home," I 
said to him.

	He gave me an odd look and I couldn't quite figure out 
what he was thinking.  

	"The boys had better go on the sofa bed so they can't 
mess up anything in Erica's room.  Akane and I will take 
the guest room," he said.  He nudged Akane.

	Akane looked at him, then made a naughty smile.  
"Yes, please."

	Chie grinned, while Aoi blinked, then laughed.  I 
could see Takumi smiling a little.  

	For a moment, I couldn't understand, then it hit me 
and I felt like an idiot.  "That's fine," I said.  Akane's 
probably too worn out most nights after a long drive, I 
thought.  Makes sense.

	We sealed our plans and I began figuring out how best 
to ambush them.

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

Natasha's Tale:

	We had a good time at Aunt Haruka's then everyone 
got sent back to campus.  Aunt Aoi and Aunt Chie got one 
of the school vans to drive us all over to Tokugawa.  (For 
the value of us which is myself, Gin, Dan, Erica, Kasumi, 
Hayao, Sanae, Mandi, Junko, Crystal, Shun, and Kagami.)   
Aunt Akane and Uncle Kazuya and Aunt Akira and Uncle 
Takumi and the boys all went to Aunt Aoi and Aunt Chie's 
house; they wanted to save gas since they'd be coming to 
train us tomorrow.  Which made good sense.
 
	Sanae and Dan were too cute; he gets flustered every 
time she touches him and she loves to touch him.  They 
were holding hands so sweetly.

	We got there early and watched Tokugawa do its 
version of the play our three schools were sharing. Well, 
we watched them do OUR version of the play, but with 
fancier versions of our costumes; it looked like they had 
more money to spend. That was kinda annoying, I mean to 
me, but Erica, Fukuda-san, and Mr. K really went off the 
deep end about it. They did have to modify the women's 
vampire costumes since all of them were guys; that made 
all the romantic stuff really funny.  Also, they had a 
fireplace.  I wonder if their director is a pyromaniac or 
something.  It didn't set the stage on fire, thankfully.

	The judges met and we sat around for a while, while 
many of our people groused endlessly about Tokugawa.  
Then it was time for the awards.

	The lead judge announced the awards; he was Dr. 
Kunakada from Osaka University, a sixty-year old drama 
professor.  They announced the awards in reverse order.  
"Honorable Mentions to three outstanding young ladies for 
the Best Lead Actress," he said.  "Tomimori Katsumi of 
Saint Martha's Academy for her portrayal of Ohatsu in The 
Love Suicides at Sonezaki," he began.  "Hososugi Izumi of 
Torio High School for her portrayal of Fukuoka Mariko in 
The Shattered Ricebowl," he continued.  "And Harada 
Erica of Rosewood Academy for her portrayal of Evelyn 
Blake in Sad Dracula in Snow."

	Erica's eyes widened and her mothers began cheering 
wildly, followed by the rest of the family going crazy.  She 
and the other two girls went down and got their award, 
which was basically a computer printout on fancy paper, 
but hey, it's an award, right?

	Erica came back with a very bright smile on her face 
and Mr. K said, "Excellent job, Harada-san," which made 
her smile even more.

	"We have given the third place award to Yoshiro 
Akiko of Saint Mary's for her portrayal of Evelyn Blake in 
Sad Dracula in Snow," Dr. Kunakada continued.  

	"Dammit, I got beaten by someone from Saint 
Mary's," Erica grumbled, irritated.

	Yoshiro-san went down and got her award, still in a 
fancy Victorian dress.  I wish I'd gotten to see her 
performance, as I was curious if she was really better than 
Erica, though Erica had apparently decided this couldn't be 
the case without needing to actually, you know, see it.  

	The other winners were people doing plays I didn't see 
and didn't care about.  I was surprised that Osaka Science 
Academy scored the number one with a performance of 
Juliet from Romeo and Juliet.  

 	Best Lead Actor was next.  

	"Honorable mentions go to Hayashi Katsuo of 
Tokugawa Memorial for his portrayal of Robert Barker in 
Sad Dracula in Snow, Yamamoto Fred of Osaka Science  
Academy for his portrayal of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, 
and Takahashi Masaki for his portrayal of Oishi 
Kuranosuke Yoshio, in The Forty-Seven Ronin," Dr. 
Kunakada said.

	They all went down to get their award, looking very 
happy while Mr. K grimaced and Shun and Fukuda-san 
patted his shoulder.

	"Third place goes to Suguira Dan for his portrayal of 
Robert Barker in Sad Dracula in Snow," Dr. Kunakada 
said.

	For a moment, Dan sat there, looking confused and 
then Sanae embraced him tightly and he turned red.  I 
slapped him on the back.  "Go down and get your award!"  
Then our whole family went crazy cheering and he 
stumbled down, looking like he came from another planet 
and didn't know what these strange earthpeople wanted.  

	Mr. K cheered wildly.  "Hah!  Way to sock it to them, 
Suguira-san!"  

	I noticed Fukuda-san didn't seem too happy about this.  
What a resentful idiot.

	Aunt Aoi and Aunt Chie now jumped for some reason.  
I don't know why, though I had another burst of itching 
myself.  

	"Something wrong?" I asked them.

	"Nothing," Aunt Chie said, though now she was 
frowning for some reason.  

	Well, I was going to revel in Dan's good luck even if 
they both just got bit by ants or something.

	Best Supporting Male Actor came up next.  No one I 
care about got an honorable mention, though I was fairly 
stunned to see someone from Tsunami High School get an 
honorable mention for playing Paddington Bear.  I had 
some of those books as a kid, part of Mom's efforts to 
ensure I didn't suck ass at English, unlike most kids in this 
country.  They were pretty enjoyable, but...a high school 
play about Paddington Bear?  Come on.  That would be 
fine if we were in SECOND GRADE.

	Third place went to some guy from Osaka Science 
Academy playing Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet.  He was 
still in costume and I have to say he was kind of hot, 
though I wouldn't say it out loud as my boyfriend was right 
here.  We're both allowed to look as long as we keep our 
mouths shut.  

	I'm better at that than he is, though.  HAH!

	Anyway, second place!  "The second place goes to 
Masakuri Hayao for his portrayal of Count Dracula in Sad 
Dracula in Snow," Dr. Kunakada said.  

	Kasumi let out a shout I didn't think her capable of, 
then kissed Hayao, while Mr. K went crazy.  Hayao looked 
like the cat who ate the canary and the mynah bird and then 
had all the pet fish for dessert.  We all went crazy for him, 
even Crystal, though she quickly stopped herself and 
slapped her forehead and pouted.  This made me laugh 
hysterically.  Fukuda cheered loudly, but then started 
pouting after that.  I guess he was hoping to win in this 
category, but he really was just a walking joke more than a 
character.  But so was I.  I had no delusion I was getting 
anything.

	Other than more itching.  

 	Hayao walked down like he was being crowned King 
of the Universe and got a lot of cheers from women from 
other schools which made Kasumi scowl, though she got 
her smile back when he got the award and said, "I couldn't 
have done this without the support of my girlfriend, 
Kurauchi Kasumi, and my director, Mr. K."  Mr. K looked 
extremely pleased, especially since Dan had been basically 
incoherent when getting his award.  

	We were all a lot less happy when Kato Shinji of 
Tokugawa Memorial got the first place as Dracula, though.  
I didn't think he was half as good as Hayao, though he did 
have a very nice, expensive costume. Indeed, Tokugawa 
had pretty much totally copied our costumes as much as 
possible, but with more money.

	I didn't get a supporting actress award, but I didn't 
seriously expect to.  I wasn't so much acting as being 
myself in a sexy vampiress outfit on stage.  Miyake 
Kohaku of Saint Mary's did get an honorable mention in 
my role, and while I didn't see her perform, she looked 
pretty hot, so I could be content.  But really, my character 
was a set of jokes more than a person, so I wasn't offended.  
I just did this for fun, especially watching Dan come totally 
unglued, which is always good for a laugh.

	To my surprise, we got an honorable mention for 
lighting, which made Tech Lord, Gin and the rest of our 
tech people very happy. He went down and got it for all of 
them, then started ranting "Macbeth!" until they forced him 
to sit down with him laughing his ass off.  I think Mr. K 
couldn't decide whether to be proud or embarrassed that 
time.

	Tokugawa scored a second place for set design; their 
fireplace was really impressive, I had to admit; I guess they 
kept practicing after last year's disaster.  Mind you, I 
suspect they performed last because of fears they'd set 
themselves on fire AGAIN.

	We got a rock.

	But we'd gone for 'sturdy' over 'innovative' or 'even 
slight risk of falling down'.  

	We got an honorable mention for Best Overall, which 
was the category that determines who goes to the next level 
of competition.  We cheered that, as it was better than most 
of us had really expected, given the circumstances.  

	"And Third Place, who will be going with Second and 
First to the Regional contest, goes to Tokugawa Memorial's 
production of Sad Dracula in Snow," Dr. Kunakada said, 
sounding faintly baffled.  

	Tokugawa's people went crazy and we all grimaced.  I 
felt my arms itch again and wondered if stress was causing 
it.  DAMMIT.  They just ripped us off!!!  And their 
vampire women were TOTALLY NOT SEXY.  BECAUSE 
THEY WERE NOT WOMEN.  Whereas Mandi, Koyatsu-
san and I were pretty much the living definition of 
HOTNESS.  Even if Mandi and I are short.  Is this 
prejudice against short people?  DAMMIT.

	Mr. K sighed.  "Well, at least we beat Saint Mary's."  
The Saint Mary's brigade looked pretty dejected.  At least 
we could make fun of them for a year.

	"Honestly, I'm amazed we did well enough to get the 
honorable mention," Hayao said.

	"You were GREAT, dear," Kasumi said, kissing him 
again.  Crystal squirmed and I laughed into my hand.  
Watching Crystal freak every time those two touch each 
other makes me very happy.

	"We would have done a lot better if Mr. K didn't keep 
casting people who flunk out," Fukuda grumbled.

	"I cast the best people for the role," Mr. K said 
irritably.  "You can do it your way when you have my job, 
Fukuda-san."  He reached for an ice coffee, but there wasn't 
one, which clearly pissed him off.  "Dammit!"

	"Well, I had fun.  Isn't that what matters?" Koyatsu-
san said.

	"You all worked very hard," Mr. K said.  "I'm very 
proud of all of you.  You did a good job of recruiting 
replacements for me, Fukuda-san.  Thank you."

	He looked surprised, then said, "You're welcome, Mr. 
K."  That seemed to mollify him a little.  "Next year, we 
will DESTROY them.  Also, I'm going to be trying to find 
out where the hell they got the money for those costumes, 
given all three schools theoretically agreed to a budget cap 
after last year, given how out of control things got."  He 
grimaced.  "Anyway, let's get everyone home.  We're done 
here.  Again, good job, and my apologies for the times I 
yelled at you.  I just want the best play imaginable, and yet 
it always seems our one act play competition plays never 
go right."

	"I'd say fourth place out of twelve isn't bad," Koyatsu-
san said.  "Especially for a cheesy comedy."

	I noticed that several other schools, like Greenwood 
and Torio were trying to drill holes in our heads with their 
hate-gazes, which made me feel a little better.  Hah!  We 
beat you!  
		
	Aunt Chie and Aunt Aoi hustled us back to campus.  
Shun and Kagami wandered off together and so did Dan 
and Sanae.  The rest of us headed to the Saturday night 
party, dragging Erica along to try to force her not to mope.

	Unfortunately, she was now moping over losing out to 
someone from Saint Mary's and moping over a boy, giving 
her double the moping power.  So instead of dancing, she 
lurked by the refreshments as if she was born to the job, 
drinking enough Dr. Pepper to kill five ordinary people.  I 
was surprised she didn't get drunk, but I guess she's not the 
type.

	Dammit, there has to be something to cheer this 
woman up.

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

Crystal's Tale:

	I was dancing with Junko, but she seemed slightly lost 
in space.  "Earth to Junko," I said.

	"My brother is coming," she said.  "Tonight, I mean.  
In theory, anyway."

	"Is that a problem?" I asked.  He'd bailed out the 
previous night on coming due to exhaustion.

	"Part of me is wondering if maybe we should 
introduce him to Erica; it might cheer her up and he needs a 
girlfriend," Junko said hesitantly.

	"Hmm, not sure if he's her type and she is moping 
over some boy right now.  On the other hand, it can't hurt," 
I said.

	I didn't think that was everything, though.  "Anything 
else on your mind?"

	"He seems so bland," Junko said, then put her hand 
over her mouth.

	"Your brother?  I must admit 'bland' is not how I 
would describe him," I told her.  Indeed, I would never ever 
call Hikaru bland.  

	"I have no right to criticize Kurauchi-san's husband," 
Junko said.  "So I will shut up."

	I blinked.  "What?"

	"Nothing," she said.

	"C'mon, now I'm curious," I told her.  Did he do 
something to offend her?

	"He's not a bad person, but...I had the impression she'd 
married a woman," Junko said, sounding disappointed.

	"Hey, there's nothing wrong with marrying a man, you 
know," I told her.  "Neither of us would exist if men and 
women didn't get married."  I like Junko, but I have to 
wonder what her upbringing was like sometimes.  

	"No, no, I mean...I mean...my parents are the opposite 
sex from each other...I don't know what I mean.  He is an 
impressive dancer and that was a lot of fun, learning from 
him.  But still...," Junko said, staring at a tree.  "Why would 
her parents oppose her marrying someone like him?  He's a 
perfectly ordinary guy.  Though a very good dancer."

	"I think her family wanted her to marry someone with 
money and his family wanted him to be a scientist instead 
of a baker," I told her.  "Plus, her family self-destructed 
somehow while she was in high school," I continued.  "So 
they both had to break with their parents."

	Junko nodded.  "I suppose I was expecting someone 
more like your Aunt Akira or your father."

	"Aunt Akane loves him; that's all that matters," I said.  
"And I think everyone liked you."

	"Mother taught me how to make good impressions on 
people," Junko said, smiling.  "She was a lot of help to me 
in becoming more feminine."

	"Well, I think you're very feminine," I told her, then 
drew her into a kiss.  

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

Chie's Tale:

	Aoi and I had felt the prickly feeling of magic being 
active several times during the award ceremony, then wink 
out, so we called in Akane and Akira and snuck back onto 
the Tokugawa campus to go check things out.  We called 
the nun brigade, too, but they were already most of the way 
home; we didn't have time to wait for them to get back. I 
had a bad feeling about this.

	We milled about the auditorium, but now there wasn't 
a trace of magic about.  

	Akira frowned.  "I can't feel anything."

	"Nor I," I confessed.  "But I did before."

	"When I called the nuns, Miyu told me that emotional 
release can build up spiritual energy in a place, making it 
more vulnerable to monsters breaking through - but that 
unless the place is already pretty weak, it won't do enough 
damage to matter," Aoi told us.  "But there aren't supposed 
to be any places like that on the campuses, right?"

	I nodded.  "Right.  But maybe someone deliberately 
weakened it here somehow, hoping the contest would build 
enough energy to rupture and release monsters," I 
speculated.

	Aoi looked horrified.  "That would be terrible!"

	"The Crimson Huntsman is terrible, from what little 
we've found on him," Akira said, frowning deeply.

	"It didn't work, though," Akane said.  "But maybe 
we'd better check on the kids, just to be sure."  She frowned 
too now.

	"We didn't feel anything during the actual play, 
though," Aoi said.

	"Probably it had to build up to the point of weakness 
and now it's dissipated," I speculated wildly.  

	"Let's go find the kids," Aoi said.  "Most of them are 
probably at that party in the woods."

	"Parents and teachers showing up by surprise at the 
party," I said, laughing.  "That should scare some students."

	"The woods," Akane said softly.

	I blinked, then realized.  "They did sweep the woods, 
right?"

	"Yes," Akira said.  "Given that I think the students 
wander through that woods all the time, hopefully it is not 
too dangerous."  She looked around the theater.  "I think 
we've exhausted this place.  Let's go."

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

Kasumi's Tale:

	I was dancing with Hayao when Ayumi-sempai and 
Iwao-san came up to us.  I did my best to avoid looking 
angry at Ayumi-sempai being here for Hayao's sake.  I 
could tell from her face she was doing the same thing.

	"Hey, Hayao, is it true you got second place in the 
play contest?" Iwao-san asked.

	"Yes," he said, smiling broadly.  "For my acting."

	Iwao-san smiled the happiest smile I have seen on 
him...well, since Crystal dumped him.  "Hey, man, that is 
GREAT."  He clapped Hayao on the shoulder.  "Did Mandi 
get anything?"

	"She had a pretty small part which mostly consisted of 
her being sexy, which admittedly comes easy for her," 
Hayao said, then laughed.

	I wish it came easy for me, even if I only want to be 
sexy for Hayao.  

	"Congratulations," Ayumi-sempai said soberly.  
"Taiki-kun tells me you have a real talent for acting."

	I kept quiet, watching her.  It was strange to see her 
this mellow.  Maybe she's normally like this and I only get 
to see her bad side.  

	"Thanks.  I can't act and keep my grades up, so 
normally, I don't, but they had an emergency," Hayao said.  
"And I could hardly pass up being Dracula when I'm dating 
a vampire."  His voice was teasing and I laughed.

	For a moment, Ayumi-sempai's face twisted up, but 
then she seemed to force herself calm.  "Well, good luck if 
you ever do it again."

	"Yeah.  I had baseball stuff or I would have come," 
Iwao-san said.  "Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate 
you."

	"Thanks," Hayao said warmly.  "And thank you too, 
Misano-sempai."

	"You're welcome, kohai," she said.  

	Then Iwao-san dragged her off to dance.

	Hayao looked extremely happy, pulling me close and 
slow dancing with me as the music changed.  "I am SO 
GLAD he is moving on," Hayao said to me.  "Hopefully, 
this means he will get his head out of his ass about Dan."

	"Ayumi-sempai hates my guts," I mumbled and his 
face crashed.  "Remember?"

	For a moment, I thought he was going to let go of me 
and go bang his head on a tree.  Instead, he just sighed and 
said, "I forgot because you always call her by her first 
name and I'm used to thinking of her as Misano-sempai.  
I'm an idiot."

	"It's okay," I told him.  "Everyone on the track team 
uses each other's first names.  Even if you hate each other.  
It takes some getting used to it."

	His hand started to slide down onto my buttocks and 
he pulled it up and I turned a little red, keeping my hands 
carefully placed in the formal positions.  We haven't done 
anything but kiss, but every so often, he starts to do 
something else and stops and it usually embarrasses me and 
him.  But he's trying to go slow and easy for my sake and 
I'm glad, as just doing this gets me really excited and I will 
probably end up touching myself in the dark again tonight 
and I can't believe I just...eeeee...

	Focus on the dancing, Kasumi, I told myself.  And the 
rest will take care of itself.

	It's strange; I can hide my powers easily when 
dancing, though part of me is curious to see exactly how 
fancy I could get.  I guess it's because most kinds of 
dancing aren't about all out exertion the way running is.

	  I could see Crystal and Junko; their dancing was 
rather more like two people crawling all over each other; it 
would not have surprised me if they just stripped right there 
and did it.  Thankfully, they did not.  

	Ayumi-sempai moved really gracefully; I could see 
she was leading Taiki, who followed well.  Like us, they 
were slow dancing formally, rather than just crawling on 
each other.

	Natasha and Gin were like Crystal and Junko; it was 
more like rutting with clothing on than dancing, in my 
opinion.  Except even more so than Crystal and Junko.  I 
tried not to look at them, but then I realized their 
movements actually perfectly matched the beat of the 
music.  They were dancing very well, in fact.  It was just a 
way that looked like they were about to have wild sex right 
here and I need to STOP looking.

	I made myself look at Hayao, gaze into his eyes.  He 
was smiling at me and I smiled at him and tried to just 
forget everything else.  This was his night of triumph and 
he loves me and nothing else matters.
	
	What were they do...no, don't look!  Hayao and only 
Hayao!  

	I finally focused myself and danced with my 
boyfriend, forgetting everything else.  This was a perfect 
night and I felt sure nothing could go wrong.

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

Erica's Tale:

	I had almost decided to just get the hell out and go 
home and sleep when Crystal and Junko approached me 
escorting a short green-haired boy.  He was in a Tokugawa 
uniform and had long hair, unusual for that school; he was 
slender and androgynous (also unusual for Tokugawa) and 
his hair was just a touch lighter than Aunt Akira's but the 
same basic shade.  He moved gracefully and I had the 
feeling we'd met somehow.  He was rather good looking, 
though I like men taller than him.  In fact, I'm taller than he 
is.

	"This is Harada-san's daughter, Erica," Junko said to 
the boy.

	"You're very beautiful, like your mothers," he said, 
bowing to me. 

	Now I recognized his voice.

	"You spied on us for Tokugawa!" I said.

	He froze up and Junko slapped her forehead and 
Crystal said, "What?"

	"Did you steal our costume designs?" I asked angrily.  
We could have had first place!

	"I...might have observed them..." he mumbled.

	"I should kill you!" I normally am not so irrationally 
violent, but I wanted very much to vent my frustration.  I 
jumped at him and he jumped out of the way.

	"I'm sorry!  It was just school competition!  Your 
cousin Shun spied on us earlier!," he said.  

	Crystal tried to pull me back, but I wrenched loose, to 
her surprise. However, he moved like greased lightning; 
becoming a battle princess has made me faster, but has 
done a lot more for my aim and riding abilities than it's 
done for my speed or strength. Thus, I was unable to hit 
him.

	"Please stop," he said. "I'm not allowed to hit women."

	"Well, that doesn't mean you can't let me hit you!" I 
said angrily.

	"Come on, Erica, this isn't like you," Crystal said, 
grabbing me with Junko's help.  "Hikaru, I am totally sorry, 
I really didn't expect this.  This isn't normal."

	I slipped out of their grasp, but I still couldn't hit 
Hikaru; he didn't seem worried at all or angry.  He just 
dodged everything.  "I would have expected better of 
Harada-san's daughter, yes," he said calmly.

	That pissed me off deeply.  "Oh fuck you," I said.  
"You're in no fucking position to judge me!"

	Crystal stared at me, mouth open.  Junko frowned, 
then ran off.

	"You people STOLE our costume designs and stole 
our advancement slot too!  All that work for nothing 
because you couldn't be bothered to do your own work!  
You are nothing but THIEVES," I said angrily.  "Why does 
everything I work for get stolen?  Because of filthy little 
thieves like you!" I said, pointing a finger at him.

	He frowned at me.  "I am not a thief, I am...I am not a 
thief!  I am the Heir of Nagiki!"

	"Oooh, you're going to inherit a brewery.  Maybe if 
you get some woman drunk enough, she'll actually go out 
with you.  But I expect you just steal other people's 
girlfriends!," I shouted at him.

	"Erica, I don't know what he did, but he doesn't 
deserve this," Crystal said to me, hands on her hips.  
"Hikaru's never stolen anyone's girlfriend!"

	"You're just defending him because his sister is your 
girlfriend!," I snapped.

	Hikaru stared at the ground.

	Crystal tried to speak, but was too aggravated with me 
to produce anything coherent.

	Kasumi now came up with Junko.  "Erica, please stop 
shouting; everyone is staring."

	"I don't care if they stare!  This spy stole all our 
secrets and helped his school steal what should have been 
our prize!  And I'm going to punish him!," I said angrily.

	I tried to jump at Hikaru and Kasumi grabbed me then 
pulled me around to where I was basically trapped in a hug 
I couldn't escape.  "You could really hurt him," she 
whispered into my ear.  "We have a responsibility not to 
start fights when we have powers and others don't," she 
continued quietly, pulling me back.  Now I felt rather 
embarrassed to go with my anger and frustration.

	"Shun did kind of spy on them and Saint Mary's too, I 
think," Crystal said lecturingly. 

	I could see Hayao drift our way a little; he then saw 
Crystal and pulled back and hovered like someone trying to 
push through a force field.  

	I don't know if I could actually hurt him; I'm stronger, 
but not as strong as Natasha or Crystal, as I was pretty 
weak beforehand.  And it's pretty clear he moves like crazy.  
Compared to me, anyway.  Though I could probably zap 
him with my vajra.  

	But I shouldn't go around zapping stupid junior high 
kids with my vajra.	 Ugh, why am I going so crazy over 
this?  I sagged.  "I'm going home," I said.  "There's no point 
in me being here."

	"I want an apology," Hikaru said angrily, pointing at 
me.  "You accused me of being a thief."

	"You are a thief," I told him angrily.  "Kasumi, either 
let me go home or take me go home if you don't trust me to 
do it under my own power."

	"He is not a thief!," Junko said; she was getting mad 
now.

	Crystal looked very frustrated.  "C'mon, Erica, he 
didn't steal anything and both schools were spying.  Please 
apologize.  He didn't do anything to you."

	"I'll take you home," Kasumi said.  She began hauling 
me off while Hikaru tried to bore a hole in my head with 
his eyes.  

	Hayao soon came over to us.  "What's going on, 
Harada-san?"

	"All men suck, Hayao," I mumbled.  

	He frowned at me and Kasumi said, "Don't mind her, 
dear, she's just in a bad mood and taking it out on everyone 
like a five year old."

	"I'm sorry, Hayao," I said.  "I wasn't thinking of you as 
a guy when I said that."

	This didn't quite reassure him.  "Great."

	"No, I mean..."  Having him frown at me was just 
another punch in the face this evening.  "I'm sorry, Hayao.  
I wasn't trying to slap you down."

	"It's okay, Erica," he said, sounding a little oddly 
nervous.  I don't know why.  I don't know why he has to 
fuzz my brain by being so stupidly good looking either.

	Kasumi continued to restrain me, though, and said, 
"I'm tired, anyway.  Want to come with us?" 

	Hayao looked a little wary but he said, "Okay, let's go.  
I'm not happy about them stealing our costumes, but it's not 
worth freaking out over it."  I couldn't tell if he was sincere 
or if my ranting had embarrassed him too much to admit he 
was angry too.

	I mostly grumbled to myself and petulantly let Kasumi 
carry me, though I had calmed down by the time we got to 
the dorm.  Hayao and Kasumi chatted about school, the 
play, and other things and just ignored me while Kasumi 
hauled me like I was a particularly unruly sack of potatos.

	They kissed goodnight at the door very quickly and 
Kasumi hauled me inside.  "What is WRONG with you?" 
she demanded angrily.

	"Nothing sucks like having everyone rub their love 
affairs in your face all night when the guy you like is off 
with someone else," I mumbled, staring at the floor.

	She sighed.  "Let's go to my room and talk."

	Her roommate was gone for the night, so we went to 
her bedroom and sat on the bed.  "I'm sorry," I said, having 
calmed down.  "I really shouldn't have ripped out his lungs.  
I'm just stupid and miserable."

	"We all screw up sometimes," she said, putting an arm 
around my shoulders.  I leaned on her.  "But we're family, 
and we love you, so forgive us when we do it and we'll 
forgive you.  So who is it?"

	"Dan," I mumbled.  I wasn't crazy enough to mention 
the insane thoughts about Hayao, which hopefully will GO 
AWAY now that I won't be kissing him any more.  

	"Why didn't you make a move?" Kasumi asked, 
sounding surprised.

	"I wasn't sure what everyone would think and...well, 
Dan normally comes unglued if he likes a woman and he 
didn't unglue with me.  So I thought I might get rejected 
and then it would be totally awkward," I told her.

	"Well, he only unglues a little with Sanae, so I guess 
he's getting over it," Kasumi said.  "I'm sorry for you."

	"Oh, I ought to be used to this by now," I said, leaning 
over on her and sighing.  "I tend to sit and watch things 
happen too much.  I'm surprised I didn't just watch that 
snake thing eat someone instead of fighting it."  I felt pretty 
low.

	"But you didn't.  You stopped it because you're not the 
sort of person to let others get hurt when you can stop it.  
You're responsible, like me.  There are plenty of other 
guys," Kasumi said.  "We wouldn't have minded you dating 
Dan, though."

	"I'm new and I didn't want to rock the boat and I got 
the impression that 'cousin' in this family is more like 
'sibling'," I said.  Kasumi's presence was comforting.

	"It is for us," Kasumi said.  "But you didn't grow up 
with us, though I wish you had."

	THAT made me feel really good.  "Thank you," I said, 
blushing.

	"It would have been nice to have a sister with some 
common sense," Kasumi said, then put a hand over her 
mouth.  When she removed it, she sighed.  "I'm sorry, I'm 
trying to stop levying judgement on people."

	"It's okay," I told her.  "I wish I was more like them, 
though.  Natasha and Crystal wouldn't have waited until it 
was too late."

	"They'd probably be stripping Da..."  Kasumi stopped.  
"Do you want me to call Shun and Kagami?  They're 
probably still up and we could play cards or something."

	"Yes, please," I said.  

	They soon came over and we started a game of spades.

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

Natasha's Tale:

	To my annoyance, right in the middle of a good song, 
I had to go to the bathroom.  Which means going off in the 
woods some and squatting.  98% of the time, I love being a 
woman, but the other two percent is times decent bathroom 
facilities aren't available and cramps.  Thankfully, I don't 
get cramps as often or badly as I did when I started puberty.  
Anyway, I did my business, but then I heard a distant 
thrashing noise.  It sounded like someone getting their ass 
kicked.

	Curiosity ON.  I pushed deeper into the woods to see 
what was going down; to my surprise, what I found was 
four black serpents of the kind that tried to kill us at Fuuka 
having a throwdown with a silver colored creature which 
resembled a humanoid mushroom.  (Think a seven foot tall 
mushroom with arms and legs and holes vaguely 
resembling eyes, a nose and a mouth under the cap.)  Three 
of them had grappled it and were crushing it to death.  The 
fourth was looking around, clearly keeping watch.

	Holy shit, not only were monsters attacking...clearly 
they were having some kind of turf fight.  

	I got my phone out and called Crystal.  "You aren't 
going to believe this," I said to her.

	"What?" she said.

	"Four evil black serpents and they're kicking the shit 
out of a silver mushroom man monster!  It's like watching 
the Mafia and the Yakuza go at it!"

	I noticed that the silver mushroom man was gradually  
shrinking, and so was the black serpent on watch, but 
slowly the three killers were getting BIGGER.  Not hugely 
so, but I think they must have been sucking out his magic 
or his life force or something.  It looked painful.

	"Where are you?" Crystal asked urgently.

	"Off north of the party.  I can't see any landmarks I 
really recognize."  The woods has some notable features we 
use to navigate, but a lot of it is just trees and bushes and 
undergrowth and vines and more trees.  "You can only just 
barely hear the party from here."

	The watch serpent looked right at me.  

	"Shit," I said, and then my phone died.

	"If you run, you will only draw them to the party to 
feed and feed abundantly," a man said to me.  "Innocents 
will die, possibly including your boyfriend."

	I looked up and saw a red haired boy in the junior high 
uniform watching me.  It had to be Kei.  

	The watch-serpent was slowly making its way to my 
hiding place, I don't know if it was innately slow or just 
taking its time.  

	Could I fight all these?  Kasumi had kicked the ass of 
a bunch of them, but then more had come swarming and...

	But I had no choice.  By the time Kasumi and Erica 
got here, people would probably die.  But if I cut at an 
angle and drew them away...

	"You going to do something?" I asked.  "Or just tell 
me the obvious, Kei?"

	"You'd be surprised how many people NEED to be 
told the obvious," he said.  "This list includes you a lot of 
the time.  Nevertheless, I will give you a distraction-- but 
then it is up to you."

	Fair enough.

	He suddenly appeared in another tree across from the 
silver mushroom man slaughter-in-progress and yelled, 
"ALL HAIL THE SILVER KNIGHT!  Death to the 
infidels!"

	The watch-serpent turned and charged towards him, 
shedding its skin and becoming a black and purple creature 
rather like a black panther if black panthers had two 
tentacles that ended in long metal blades coming out of 
their ribcages like a fifth and sixth leg.  It was like a 
displacer beast had gone to the chopshop and gotten 
himself cyborged.  It pounced into the tree and vanished; 
the branch Kei was on got all sliced up when the thing 
smashed into it.  

	I had taken this chance to circle around them to one 
side.  Crystal Princess, if you're going to zap me with 
power, THIS WOULD BE A GOOD TIME, I thought.
	
	I didn't feel any zapping with power, but I did make it 
around to where I wanted to be.  "HEY, WATCHMAN!  
YOU SUCK!"

	The three crushers pushed harder and now the 
mushroom man came apart into silver sparkles and they 
rolled around in them, growing larger, even as the black 
panther tentacle-beast came for me.

	I took off running with them in pursuit.  "CRYSTAL 
PRINCESS, I COULD USE SOME HELP HERE!"  
Unfortunately, she didn't come to the white courtesy phone 
or something and I just had to run like a bat out of hell with 
them in pursuit.

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

Crystal's Tale:

	I have never come closer to a heart attack than that 
exact moment of losing Natasha's signal.  For a few 
seconds, all I could do was to desperately punch buttons 
like a mad mofo.  Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh 
gods in heaven help us!

	Junko looked at me.  "What's wrong?"

	I tried punching in Kasumi's number.  NO SIGNAL.

	I was breathing hard and staring at my phone and 
Junko put a hand on my shoulder.  "What's wrong?"

	Kasumi could be anywhere.  She could be in bed 
asleep by now, or kissing Hayao, or having hypocritical sex 
with him or hanging out with Hotaru or out jogging or dead 
in a ditch or oh god Natasha!!!!!

	"Tell me you can get a cell phone connection," I told 
her, breathing hard.  

	She got out her phone, then frowned.  "No."

	"FuckFuckFuckFuck," I said.  "Gin, where the fuck is 
Gin?"

	Gin was over at the table.  I ran over to him.  "Does 
your phone work?"

	He paused, about to open a beer.  "What?"

	"GIVE ME YOUR DAMN PHONE," I howled at him.

	Lots of people stared at me, though it was noisy 
enough that a lot didn't even notice.  Or just didn't care.  

	He jumped back, dropped the beer, and tossed me his 
phone.

	Nothing.  I threw it back to him.  "Gin, you...fuck, no, 
too dangerous.  Junko.  I need you to...shit, you can't get 
upstairs either!"

	They were both looking at me like I was insane.  
Maybe I was insane.  I was totally, utterly panicked.  I 
couldn't leave Natasha alone, couldn't send Junko or Gin to 
find Kasumi or Erica or....Hikaru?  No, he'd left in anger 
after the fight with Erica; he was probably all the way back 
to Tokugawa by now.  And even if he hadn't, unless he 
snuck in, he couldn't just walk into the women's dorm.  
Though I suppose he could fake being a woman pretty well 
with the right clothing.

	Definitely not his usual clothing, though.

	I looked around desperately, trying to find someone 
who was sane and not drunk and could hopefully run like a 
MADMAN OR WOMAN.  

	 "Crystal, what is wrong?" Junko asked urgently.

	"Is she on drugs?" Gin asked, backing away from me a 
bit.

	Mandi and Hotaru were here.  But Hotaru would 
probably get eaten, and Mandi is so short, she can't 
possibly run fast enough, but what if someone stops Junko 
and sends her back to her school and SHIT.

	No, no, I can't panic now.  Natasha needs me to be 
focused.  How could I ever ask to be a battle princess if I 
shit myself just trying to figure out who to send as a 
runner?

	Oh god, NATASHA.  

	"Junko.  You have to run to campus.  Take my phone.  
Keep trying to call Kasumi.  Go to her dorm and find her if 
you have to.  Tell her the black serpents are here and 
they're after Natasha.  If you see Erica first, tell her the 
same thing."  My heart was pounding.  Why am I so afraid?  
Surely Natasha would get her powers now...but what if she 
didn't?  Or....dammit!  "Gin.  STAY HERE.  Keep trying to 
call Kasumi too.  Do NOT leave here under any 
circumstances.  I'm going to go help Natasha."  If I can 
actually do anything beyond freak out, anyway.   

	"Black serpents?" Gin asked.  He sounded very 
worried.  "What the hell is going on here?"  

	"I will find the Heir and inform her," Junko said.  She 
took my phone and took off at top speed.

	"I don't have time to explain," I told Gin.  "PLEASE, 
just do what I told you."  Then I took off running into the 
woods up one of the northerly paths, hoping to intercept 
Natasha.  

	I got about 30 seconds up the trail before I realized 
this was the one Aunt Nao had taken Hayao up.  To sic 
bees on him somehow.

	I now heard the sound of angry buzzing.

	AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

Aoi's Tale:

	We parked on the north side parking lot and hustled 
across campus, heading for the west side.  Chie knows 
where the path is that leads to the usual party.  As we 
walked, to my surprise, the Principal, the Vice-Principal 
and a member of the board of regents were all out strolling 
across campus together.  At close to midnight on a 
Saturday?  How very strange.

	"Harada-sensei," the Principal hailed Chie.  "Aoi-
sensei."  She waved us over so we had to come, though 
Akira looked ready to detonate like a bomb.

	"Good evening, Principal, Vice Principal, Regent 
Kazami," Chie said and bowed, so I did likewise.  "What 
brings out on this fine evening?"

	"We've had recurring trouble with pranks at night, so 
we're just keeping an eye open," the Vice-Principal said, 
frowning.

	The Principal, on the other hand, was all smiles as 
usual; she'd let her hair down into a pony-tail instead of the 
usual bun.  "Who are your friends, Harada-sensei?"

	"Oh, these are two of my classmates from high school 
whose children go here," Chie said.  "Tokiha Akira, mother 
of Shun, and Kurauchi Akane, mother of Kasumi."

	"It's a pleasure to meet both of you," Regent Kazami 
said.  He was middling in height with brown hair.  Where 
the Principal and Vice-Principal both look rather young for 
their jobs, he looked to be in his mid-forties, maybe even a 
little older, though he seemed to be in pretty good shape.  

	"We're on our way to scare our kids by disrupting their 
illicit drinking and sex," Chie said.

	The Principal's eyes widened and the Vice-Principal 
and the Regent laughed.  Akira looked embarrassed and 
Akane mumbled something incoherent while I laughed.

	"Oh come on, everyone knows what kids get up to on 
weekends if they can," Chie said.  "Don't tell me you never 
went drinking or snuck off with a boyfriend or did some 
other thing you didn't tell your parents when you were in 
high school.  I know I did.  Which is why it's my job to 
make their escapades harder like Mom did for me."

	"True," the Principal said.  "You're just so...blatant 
about it."

	"I am made out of blatancy.  I am blatancy turned into  
a person and walking the street," Chie said.  "Oh, did you 
hear the results from the contest?  Our play got an 
honorable mention and some other awards and our daughter 
got an honorable mention for best actress!"  She sounded 
very proud.

	I am very proud too, but I don't brag.  

	"Congratulations," the Principal said.  "I did Tennis in 
high school and got some trophies myself, so I know how 
good it feels.  She must be very happy."

	"Yeah, it feels pretty good," the Vice-Principal said.  
"I did softball and basketball and we did pretty well."

	"I just got good grades and ran into a tree," Regent 
Kanzawa said ruefully.

	"I'm sorry," the Principal said to him.  "I was just 
trying to cheer you on."

	"I know," he said, smiling at her.  "Anyway, it's nice 
to meet you all, and I'm sure you have to go harrass your 
kids and we need to finish looking around for imaginary 
threats to the campus."

	"I really got yelled at, you know," the Vice-Principal 
said.

	"Have fun with your children," the Principal said 
cheerfully.  "Put the fear of school rules into them.  You 
can call us if you need to really scare them."

	We all said goodbye and went on our way.

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

Natasha's Tale:

	The good news was that these things were not very 
fast, compared to the ones we encountered at Fuuka. The 
bad news was that they were relentless and I am not a great 
runner thanks to the power of shortness and lack of 
experience.  Also, these things could just crash through the 
underbrush that tended to slow me.

	I finally emerged into a clearing; the reason it was a 
clearing is that a really huge, mostly flat rock is lying here, 
basically preventing anything growing, except at its edges.  
I think it may once have been some sort of sacred rock as it 
has the weather-worn remains of Chinese characters on it, 
and the very top of it has an engraving of someone I think 
is supposed to be Amaterasu on it.  Some sort of sun 
goddess, anyway.  I think it used to stand up and now has 
fallen down.

	I jumped up onto it, and to my surprise, I could hear 
my own voice in my head.

	Shut up.

	It was surprising because I could hear myself speaking 
an oath.  Which I had been hoping for all this time I was 
RUNNING FOR MY LIFE.  I guess the Crystal Princess 
must have gone to the bathroom or something.  With my 
luck, she was probably calling Mom on the other line to 
chat about their love lives.  Mom's currently seeing a guy 
named Robert Cooper; he works for Shell Solar.  They're 
currently working on a big project to cover buildings with 
solar panels so the whole city will be one big solar 
collector.  Anyway, he is project manager, which seems to 
mean he has plenty of time to slack off with Mom and 
gives orders to men a decade older than himself or more.

	Anyway... back to me being close to being eaten.

	As the panther-borg closed in on me, I had to wonder 
exactly why this thing looked like a panther, yet was this 
slow.  A real panther would have already eaten me.  He was 
a good jumper, but...

	FOCUS.

	I went straight to taking the oath without any further 
thought, as I prefer living as me over living as dinner in a 
monster's stomach.  "This is the oath of Munakata Natasha!  
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 will become the light that 
shines when all is darkest!  I will become the fire which 
purifies the night!  I choose this freely and of my own will!  
I will protect my mother, my cousins and all my family and 
our friends as well!  I will destroy all that threatens them!    
This I do swear!  Let this contract be sealed!!!"

	Utter darkness consumed all the light around myself, 
the rock, the panther-borg and his lagging evil friends.  
Then the light exploded out of me, leaving me clad in my 
fencing uniform, mostly red but with black trim, with the 
rising sun blazoned in yellow above my heart; my fencing 
mask hid my face behind red and black mesh. I held a 
saber.  A SABER WHICH WAS ON FIRE.  OH YEAH.

  	A name came to my mind.  "BORIS!" I shouted.

 	Ice formed on the trees in a circle around me, then 
rushed inward - a leading edge of flame converging, ice 
following in its wake. The flames melded in the center and 
formed an egg, which exploded into a long lizard creature, 
low to the ground, with green hide and huge thin spikes 
running in a line along its back. Gas jetted out of holes in 
the spines, filling the gaps between them with flames; 
creating a huge burning 'sail' on its back, arching up as it 
moved from the neck to the center, then back down to end 
at the tail. It was big enough to be ridden... if you didn't 
mind sitting right behind its head, with a huge arc of flame 
behind you; in fact, two could probably crowd in there, if 
they didn't mind getting a little hot. The air around us now 
felt unusually chilly, despite the fire; so maybe it was safe 
to ride, though your legs would barely clear the ground.

	The panther-borg hesitated at the edge of the rock, 
staring at Boris.  Probably wise on his part.  Boris now 
began sucking the heat out of him, which seemed to make 
him even slower than before.  The panther-borg was now 
slow enough he failed to react in time to me charging him 
and stabbing first his left, then his right eye, leaving him as 
a blinded, facially burned panther-borg with ice forming 
over him.  His blood fell on the rock, which began to glow.  
I felt a weird sensation like being hit by a heat wave when 
you open an oven that's set to bake.  

	He then went apeshit and began flailing at me with his 
tentacles.  I was forced to give ground as he had two blades 
and I only had one.  The more of his blood that dripped 
onto the stone, the brighter it glowed, though.  This is why 
I wish modern fencing taught you more about how to fight 
with two weapons.  However, his blades started melting 
when I parried them, so I knew if I could hold out a while, 
the blades would melt entirely and then I would have him, 
especially with him getting slower.

	Unfortunately, his buddies now were about to come 
crashing in.  One transformed into a huge black and gold 
dog which started appearing and vanishing at random 
intervals as it came towards me, as if it was in a strobe light 
or something.  A second one turned into a miniature dragon  
about the size of a cow and flew towards me.  The third one 
turned into a huge amorphous puddle of black and purple 
gunk, oozing my direction; thankfully, it was slow.  

	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

	Enter Crystal, stage-left, pursued by a horde of bees.

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

Kasumi's Tale:

	I studied my cards, frowning.  Erica and I had paired 
off against Kagami and Shun in spades. Unfortunately, 
Shun is extremely good and Kagami is...okay.  I'm okay, 
but Erica wasn't very focused.  The result was that we had 
bid seven and taken 2, while Shun and Kagami had bid five 
and taken six.  We had to take all five remaining tricks. I 
had the ace of spades and I was pretty sure Erica had the 
king, so if all went well, that guaranteed us two.  But could 
we really take five?  Erica's King of Diamonds, who she 
had counted on, had gotten killed because it had pulled my 
Ace of Diamonds.  

	I was spared deciding what to lead by my phone 
ringing.  It was Crystal, according to caller ID.  Thus I was 
rather surprised when I heard Nagiki-san's voice.  "Heir of 
Kurauchi," she said very solemnly, though she was 
breathing fast.  "Crystal tasked me to tell you that the Black 
Serpents are chasing Natasha north of the party area and 
she's gone to try to help her and to ask for your help."  She 
said 'Black Serpents' in such a way that I was pretty sure 
she assumed they were some sort of gang.  "For some 
reason, my cellphone wouldn't work until I got out of the 
woods; I'm down where we normally practice.  Do you 
want me to call the others and Kurauchi-sensei?"

	"Yes, she's staying with Aunt Aoi and Aunt Chie," I 
said.  For a moment, utter, absolute panic hit me.  Natasha, 
all by herself, trying to flee those snake-monsters.  Crystal 
stupidly running off by herself to face them.  Which was a 
good way for both of them to be eaten, unless the Crystal 
Princess empowered them.  Maybe she would.  But I 
couldn't count on that.  Only I had gotten empowered the 
first time and I don't even know why.  Unless the Crystal 
Princess prefers virgins.  Erica is a virgin like me and she 
was second. And Kagami is a virgin...and she's probably 
one of us. Which if that is true, Crystal and Natasha are in 
deep, deep trouble.

	But then, Mother wouldn't have her powers any more.  
Or any of the others.

	"Where is Gin?" I asked.

	"At the party, still.  Crystal said he would be safe 
there; I expect the Black Serpents are not numerous enough 
to take on that many people," Nagiki-san said.

	"What's going on?" Erica asked, sounding worried.

	"Nagiki-san.  I need you to call Dan.  Tell him to call 
Aunt Chie and Aunt Aoi and Mother and tell them the 
Black Serpents are after Crystal and Natasha in the woods 
between the schools and that we're trying to launch a rescue 
mission."

	Shun, Erica, and Kagami all stared at me.  Kagami 
said, "What?  Black Serpents?"

	"Oh no," Erica said, dropping her cards.  "How 
many?"

	"Shit," Shun said.  He put his cards down and stood 
up.  

	"Of course, Heir of Kurauchi, I hear and obey," 
Nagiki-san said very seriously.  This felt a little surreal to 
me, like I was a noblewoman commanding a retainer.  
"What should I do once I contact everyone?"

	"Hold your ground; our relatives will need you to 
guide them once they arrive."  If they arrive.  By the time 
even Aunt Aoi and Aunt Chie arrive, Crystal and Natasha 
may be eaten.  "And make sure Dan doesn't do anything 
crazy like trying to come into the woods."

	"Do I hav...Yes, Heir," she said, as if a conditioned 
reflex was kicking in.  

	"I know you want to help Crystal," I said softly.  "But 
there is no one else who can guide them.  The same reason 
why Crystal sent you to get our help instead of taking you 
with her."

	"What is going on?" Shun asked.

	"Shun, what is this about Black Serpents?" Kagami 
asked him frantically.

	He looked at her. "Monsters are after Crystal and 
Natasha and we need to get moving!"

	"I understand and obey, Heir of Kurauchi," Junko said 
firmly.  "I am calling him now.  Good luck, Saint 
Christopher guide you."

	"Thank you," I said and hung up.  

	Kagami's eyes widened.  "Monsters?  Here?  But I 
thought..."

	Erica stood up.  "Let's move it."  

	"Kagami, can your pet fly?" I asked.

	"My...oh, my...wait, you know I'm one of the Hime?" 
Kagami said in utter surprise.  I had to wonder if she was 
paying attention the time I trained with them, though I 
suspect she had her mind focused on Shun.  Or maybe she's 
just panicky.

	"Yes, dear," Shun said.  "The evidence piled up 
enough for us to guess.  Your strength, how quickly you 
learn, the way the family adopted you and so on."

	"My Child is Sophia, a huge metal owl," Kagami said, 
even as I ran for the window in my bedroom.  

	"Everyone follow me, onto the roof!"  I jumped out 
the window and flew up to the roof and summoned Horus, 
praying no one would see or that if they did, they'd think it 
was the power of beer commanding them.  

	Shun came out the window and flipped up onto the 
roof; I was rather impressed.  He then nearly fell back off, 
but I caught his hand.  

	Kagami called down Sophia-- a huge mechanical 
metal owl--and jumped onto her back, with Erica following 
her.  Shun and I jumped onto Horus and we took off 
towards the woods with Erica and Kagami transforming; 
Kagami's outfit was similar to mine, I noticed, though in 
different colors.  

	Only once it was too late to drop him off did I think 
about the fact that Shun has no powers and we were taking 
him into danger.  But it was too late to turn back now.

	I saw Nagiki-san down below by the edge of the 
woods, talking into her phone.  We flew on into the woods 
and I prayed no one at the party would see us, though the 
music there is so loud and it's so dark with no moon that 
hopefully only those too drunk to think we are real will 
notice. 

	Crystal, Natasha, I'm coming!  Hold on!

****************
	  
Chie's Tale:

	We were on our way to the dorms when we saw a 
giant mechanical owl and a huge white falcon appear over 
the high school women's dorm and then launch themselves 
off over the woods.  People were riding them, but we were 
too far away to make out who clearly.  

	SHIT!

	For a moment, we stood and stared, frozen in place, as 
they flew off at high speed into the woods.  

	Then my phone rang.  It was Dan.  "Dan, what's going 
on?"

	"Crystal and Natasha are in deep shit and I'm praying 
you all know how to teleport, or it may be too late.  Are 
you at home?" Dan asked.  "Please tell me you're at least 
near the school."  He sounded panicked.  

	Clearly he knew about all this.  "Dan, what's wrong?"

	Everyone turned and looked at me.

	"Monsters are stalking Natasha and Crystal ran off BY 
HERSELF to try to save her and Kasumi's going to try to 
save them with Erica, Shun, and Kagami but I don't know if 
they can get there in time and please tell me you know how 
to teleport."  Dan was breathing hard.  "And that you all 
actually have powers and it's not just us or you're not 
dependent on phases of the moon or shit I am totally losing 
it."  He had the sound of someone trying to restrain himself 
from shouting.

	"I don't think any of us knows how to teleport," I said.  
Though I wasn't sure of that.

	"Is Dan under attack?" Aoi asked, worried.

	"Crystal and Natasha in the woods, black serpents.  I 
don't know more specific than that," I told them.

	Cue panic and anger.

	"Junko knows where they are; she's waiting in the 
place where she trains with Aunt Akane," Dan told me.  
"I'm in the bathroom of my dorm room while my roommate 
is trying to go back to sleep after the phone woke him up 
and Sanae is asleep on the couch.  Also, phones aren't 
working in the forest."

	"Dan is safe," I told them.  "Junko knows where they 
are going; she is in the place behind the women's dorm 
where the kids train.  And phones aren't working in the 
woods."

	Akane simply hefted Akira over one shoulder and took 
off running.  

	"Hey, wait!"  I ran after them, but even carrying 
Akira, Akane left us in their dust.

	I got what information I could from Dan as we ran and 
I prayed the monsters were slow and sluggish and not so 
numerous as the ones we fought up in the mountains.  

	Well, at least the kids had the sense to tell us when 
monsters showed up.  At least SOME of them had the 
sense.  

	I had my pistol loaded with the ammo Haruka gave me 
which can actually hurt these things, in case they're are in a 
no-magic zone.  Though I thought the whole woods was a 
no-magic zone.

	I guess we're going to find out.

***********

Crystal's Tale:

	The only good thing about running into a clearing full 
of monsters was that when the miniature dragon (miniature 
compared to a real dragon, actually a lot bigger than me) 
breathed fire at me, I managed to throw myself flat and the 
fire vaporized the bees chasing me.  My upper right arm 
felt very strange, almost in pain.  

	Unfortunately, this left me flat on my face with a huge 
puddle of purple and black ooze coming my direction.  
Worse, the randomly teleporting dog monster now landed 
on my back briefly; fortunately, it then teleported away, 
looking somewhat frustrated, just before it could bite me.  
Natasha began laughing even as I tried to get my wind 
back.

	The giant lizard with a single wing of fire and green 
spikes now made a grunty noise and cold washed over 
everything.  Including me; I was now shivering violently.  
"No, bad Boris, don't freeze Crystal!" Natasha shouted, 
picking me up under one arm as I tried to recover.  

	I was pretty close to just breaking down and gibbering, 
but the cold seemed to slow our foes down a bit, though the 
puddle of ooze seemed to basically ignore it and keep 
coming, slowly, relentlessly.  Shouldn't it have frozen?  
Isn't it the job of slime monsters to freeze since you can't 
kill them by other means and they just keep coming and 
coming and...

	Natasha got us both onto the back of her lizard, 
crammed in between the head and the first big spike of the 
flame wing.  Fortunately, the warmth now revived me, even 
as Natasha shouted, "RUN LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER, 
BORIS!  RUN RUN RUN!"

	Boris, unfortunately, was not built for grand speed, 
though he did gradually speed up.  But he's slung low to the 
ground and my shins and feet kept dragging in the dirt, 
bouncing off bushes and in general, this wasn't pleasant.  
The insane, blinded sword panther thing chased us but kept 
crashing into trees instead of us.  The mini-dragon would 
try to fry us but Boris would suck up the fire and briefly 
speed up.  The ooze gave chase, but wasn't fast enough to 
catch even a rambling lizard.  The teleporting dog was 
faster than us and got in some shots at Boris and Natasha, 
but kept finding himself up a tree or suddenly out of bite 
range; he was going steadily more berserk and I wondered 
why he had powers he wasn't very good at using.  Though 
he was gradually getting better at it, I think.

	Then we crashed through some bushes - which caught 
fire behind us, only to be snuffed by monsters crashing 
through them -- and found the huge rock ahead of us, 
having somehow returned to our starting point.

	I could feel my upper right arm throbbing gently and I 
looked; I could see a crystalline, translucent Hime sign 
wobbling in and out of existence.  And there was 
something strange in the air, calling to me.  A voice 
whispering, asking for forgiveness of its sins.

	I'm not exactly authorized to forgive sins.  
Unfortunately, my nun aunts weren't here.  Still, I am a 
forgiving person.

	Don't laugh at me!

	It's okay, I told whatever it was.  If you've sinned, then 
you should atone for them, so everyone will know you 
won't do it again.  

	"Shit, what is this, another damn dimension bending 
trap?  I am so fucking sick of those things!"  Natasha said.

	'Another'?  There was a first one?

	"Never a wizard when you need one.  Also, Crystal, 
HURRY UP AND GET SUPER POWERS BEFORE WE 
GET EATEN."

	The ooze was now coming towards us from the 
direction we previously left, while the others chased us 
towards the center, but in the center, I could see another 
black serpent slowly materializing in front of us.  

	I will serve you in war; let me make up for my past 
mistakes, the voice asked me.

	I accept your offer, I told it.  We need your help!

	Words now sprang into my head and I hoped I hadn't 
made a big mistake.  But I had to act, not just panic and get 
my ass kicked and scream at bees.  How could I claim my 
place as the daughter of the Dragon Princess if I didn't act 
like a heroine instead of a victim?  We still didn't know the 
cost of power, but we had to act.  Or these things would 
rampage through the woods and wipe out everyone at the 
party.  Even idiots like Taiki and Hayao deserve better than 
being eaten by monsters.  Crystal Princess, guide us, I 
thought, as you guided my mother and my aunts in the 
battles at Fuuka.  

	I could feel them, the words in my mind.  I smiled like 
the promise of a new dawn.  I wanted this.  I totally wanted 
this.  Whatever the cost, whatever the price, I would pay it.  
This was my legacy as the daughter of the Dragon Princess. 
This was my ascent out of the darkness and into the light.  
"Foolish monsters!," I shouted.  "This is the oath of Tate 
Crystal!  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!  By this oath I take 
up the duties of the Hime as my mother did before me!  I 
claim this by my love for my family and my right of 
descent!  I choose this freely and of my own will!  I will 
destroy my enemies and defend those under my protection!  
I will protect these three schools and all who dwell within!  
This I do swear!  Let this contract be sealed!!!"

	The rock suddenly glowed extremely brightly and the 
glow all suddenly flowed into me and exploded outwards in 
a cascade, then crashed back in.  I was, to my surprise, 
dressed in a miko's outfit, complete with the baggy pants; 
my top was in gold with crystalline dragons embroidered 
on it and the baggy pants were made of woven translucent 
crystalline threads, with golden boots under them.  To my 
surprise, I didn't have any sort of mask or headgear beyond 
a golden tiara with a huge diamond set into it.  In my hands 
I held a huge two-handed sword with a crystalline blade 
that shimmered with the light of the rock and the glow of 
Boris' fires.         

	"MIROKU!" I shouted, holding my crystal blade 
skywards.

	Light erupted downwards around me, and then parted 
to form shadows and ribbons of light that wrapped around 
the shadows, until a suit of samurai style armor made of a 
mixture of translucent crystal and black steel, a good eight 
feet tall, formed, wearing golden robes and one of those 
conical monk's hats, and carrying a monk's staff, complete 
with those jingling rings and tipped with a round crystal in 
a rainbow of colors.  His robes were embroidered with 
glittering crystalline thread into six repeated symbols—the 
battle princess sign, a wind, a wave, a flame, a leaf, and a 
naginata blade.  His monk's hat covered a samurai helmet 
which hid his face if he had one; he might well have been a 
suit of armor come to life.  He struck the ground once with 
his staff, causing the five rings (blue, red, white, silver, and 
green) to jingle.	

	"Miroku, take care of the dog!  I will go after the false 
dragon!  Natasha, finish the panther-cyborg-thing!  And sic 
Boris on the ooze monster!  Maybe he can freeze it!"  
Surely he could freeze it this time; it just needed more 
exposure.  That's the traditional way to kill ooze monsters 
in the movies, anyway.

	Miroku went after the dog, which began bouncing 
around him, in and out.  It would teleport in, bite him, then 
get whacked in the head, let go and teleport out of range.  
He stood his ground, whacking it whenever it got within 
hitting distance.

	Natasha took on the blinded panther-thing; it forced 
her back, but her every parry further damaged its blades 
and pretty soon, it was going to lose them completely.  She 
looked very confident; fortunately, fencing has a strong 
defense component, even if Natasha tends to favor the 
attack.

	Unfortunately, my attack on the dragon wasn't going 
so well.  It was too fast for me; when I could hit it, my 
blows drew blood or ichor or whatever these things leak.  
But most of the time, my attacks whiffed in the air and it 
would try to rake me with its claws or breathe fire on me.  I 
could parry the claws, but I was wearing myself out trying 
to avoid the fire.  Everyone is going to laugh at me if I get 
my ass kicked by a dragon, given who Mom is.

	Boris wasn't having much luck, either.  You would 
THINK an ooze would freeze easily.  Instead, it just kept 
coming, covered in frost, gradually driving him back.

	Worse, the new black serpent molted and became 
something which rather resembled a classic saucer UFO if 
saucer UFOs had eye stalks and tendrils hanging down 
around the edges of it. It's main body was black with purple 
veins, but the tendrils had white suckers and its eyes were 
pure white.  It now charged towards Natasha, firing blasts 
from its eyes, which she found hard to dodge, while 
beleagured by the injured panther-thing.  

	Worse, ANOTHER black serpent was now 
manifesting, faster than the one before it had.  CRAP.

	This wasn't going to cut it, but we couldn't escape, 
either; something had bent space or some sort of 
metaphysical something to trap us.  Dammit, why couldn't 
we get wimpy losers like Kasumi had?  She'd been 
threshing serpents like wheat!

	Natasha suddenly switched to all-out assault. A 
mangled, twisted metal blade remnant smacked her left 
forearm, and she cried out in pain; but her blade pierced her 
foe's eye socket, and fire suddenly exploded inside his 
head.  His remains burned away, turning into black sparkles 
which gradually rose skywards.

	She now got knocked on her ass by blasts from the 
flying tentacle laser-eye thing.  She shouted at it, "OH 
COME ON!  COME ON!  I refuse to die at the hands of 
something this stupid!"

	Boris now turned and charged the flying thing, 
breathing fire at it, which injured it badly, but now his 
flame wing died down to a low level and he became 
sluggish in his movements.  

	Unfortunately, this left the ooze free to head for 
Miroku, who didn't seem to notice it, preoccupied by his 
ongoing duel with the teleporting dog; worse, it evaded his 
blows with increasing skill, though its own bites didn't 
seem to hurt him much.

	"Miroku, watch out for the ooze!"

	Miroku now ran to evade it, but the materializing 
serpent now formed itself into a giant poisonous toad and 
lashed out with its tongue, grappling him; he beat on it with 
his staff, but now the ooze was coming for him, while the 
teleporting dog bounced around him, biting at him.  NO!

	But I couldn't manage to take out this DAMN 
DRAGON.  Hopefully Mom's dragon is less of a bitch than 
him.  

	AND ANOTHER SERPENT WAS FORMING.

	Then two knives dove down from the sky and nailed 
the injured tentacle thing, putting out one of its eyes, 
sticking into the central hub where the eyes rose.  The 
flying tentacle thing now lost its balance and began 
crashing into trees.  I noticed, though, that the knife stuck 
in its 'head' was slowly being pushed out of its head in 
some way; the other had fallen to the ground.  

	Someone - who I guessed was Kagami, from the 
naginata - now leaped down from the sky, nailing the white 
tentacle eye laser beast thing to a tree with her weapon. It 
flailed and howled.  She shouted, "SOPHIA, TAKE OUT 
THE DRAGON!"  A huge metal owl now dive-bombed  
down towards the dragon, claws out.  Erica rode on its back 
and opened fire with a kind of golden and blue crystal 
wand thing, hurling a miniature thunderstorm at the dragon. 
It began melting - literally - coming apart as the giant owl 
seized and ate it.

	I could see Shun riding on Kasumi's Horus, a knife in 
each hand, wedge shaped with a kind of circular ring on the 
bottom of the pommel.  I didn't think he normally carried 
fighting knives.  Then again, given the monster attack last 
Tuesday, I guess he wanted to be ready.  Or maybe he's 
powered up and he can call up a swarm of throwing 
knives?  He doesn't seem to have a battle uniform, though.  
Kasumi rode in front of him, and now she shouted, "Horus, 
FEATHER MISSILE ATTACK THE SLIME 
MONSTER!"

 	Horus, who I noted looked a lot larger than when we 
saw him first at Fuuka, fired feather-rockets at the ooze, 
blowing it apart into a half dozen oozes - now smaller - 
which began all flowing towards Miroku again. 
Fortunately, a fair amount of its mass had been blown 
away. Then Kasumi struck with her tonfas at range; her 
winds sending the teleporting dog tumbling away from 
Miroku, who now turned his full attention to beating on the 
frog as it tried to eat him. The frog was large - but it wasn't 
large enough.

	The new serpent erupted into a bird made of flame and 
the rock table now glowed even brighter and TWO black 
serpents began to form.  DAMNATION.

	"HANNIBAL!" Erica shouted, jumping off Sophia 
and landing on a giant steam-powered elephant as he rose 
up out of the rock table in a wave of water and began 
spewing steam everywhere.  

	Boris now sucked in heat again and the steam turned 
to a rain of snow near him, coating Natasha in white.  

	Hannibal charged at the fire bird, Erica also blasting at 
it; it was soon in retreat and getting worn away.

	Natasha launched herself at the oozes, only to find her 
sword barely hurt it and indeed flickered as if it might go 
out whenever she struck at it; she soon was in retreat with 
the oozes in pursuit.

	I charged in to cover her; to my pleasure, MY weapon 
could hurt them, cutting them into smaller bits and burning 
away some of their black and purple gunk with bursts of 
yellow light on contact.  Now I drove the pieces back, 
whaling away at them with glee.

	Kasumi attacked the teleporting dog and shouted, 
"Horus, take out the frog!"   She and the dog began 
bouncing around, neither of them staying still for more than 
two seconds, neither of them able to hit each other at all.

	One of the serpents now unfolded into a giant metal 
bull; the other one became a tangled mass of vines with 
yellow flowers which kept puffing out bursts of pollen and 
moving unnaturally as if it was alive.  I mean, as if it was 
an animal.  

	THREE more serpents began forming.  Dammit!  

	Erica and Hannibal had slaughtered the fire bird easily 
and now turned and charged at the metal bull, firing away 
at it with her wand.  It tried to breathe a grey gas at them, 
but her storm blasts dispersed it, and then Hannibal and the 
bull went at it, tusks vs. horns.

	Boris and Natasha charged at the giant mass of vines, 
which soon found itself burning as they unleashed fire on 
it.  

	Horus was hit-and-running on the giant frog with his 
beak and claws, and it was gradually being beaten to death 
as it tried to eat Miroku - who seemed fairly resistant to its 
attacks, for which I was grateful. With the ooze bits dead, I 
charged to his aid, and began stabbing and beating on the 
frog. It began tearing open and burning where I hit it; but 
now I got purple and black gunk on me, which smelled 
terrible, and I started to feel a little sick.  

	Kasumi looked really frustrated, because she couldn't 
hit her foe. Meanwhile, Shun was still riding on Horus. He 
hadn't thrown more knives; I couldn't tell if he was picking 
his targets carefully, or more likely, had only a limited 
number of knives.  

	Crystal Princess, if you are listening in, this is 
probably a good time for powering up Shun!  Assuming 
you take men, but I don't see why not.  He certainly needs 
it!

	Miroku turned his staff and touched the gunk on me; it 
began rapidly burning away, and I felt better.  The frog 
died under my sword, coming apart into a pile of gunk, 
which burst into purple and black flame and began burning 
away into sparkles.

	Natasha's vine monster was now dead; as it burned, 
Boris sucked out the heat, and it just crumbled to ash. 

	This was just in time for the three new serpents to 
shed their skins.  The first became a weird looking black, 
purple, and white-fringed kind of winged lion with a spiked 
tail.  The second became a flying giant manta ray with red 
glowing eyes.  And the third became a black and purple 
giant human skeleton with ruby eyes, engulfed in flames.  

	And four more serpents began to form.

	DAMMIT.  

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

Akira's Tale:

	Being carried by Akane left me feeling extremely 
frustrated and panicked at the same time.  My boy, my boy, 
my boy!  I wasn't even properly armed; I only had a few 
knives on me.  I stupidly wasn't expecting a real fight.  
Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

	I was breathing hard and trying to calm myself when 
we reached the practice field.    Nagiki Junko was pacing 
back and forth, agitated.  Her fancy dress was now dirty 
and torn in several places, and she carried a stout tree 
branch in each hand, broken off to make fighting sticks.  

	She turned and stared at us as Akane came blazing up, 
then bowed to us.  "Sensei, I am ready."

	"Your poor dress," Akane said, sounding sad.  

	That's Akane all over.  The kids are in danger and 
she's sorry Nagiki-san's dress got torn.  What is wrong with 
you?

	"Junko-san," Akane now said, changed from stupidly 
sorry over a dress to very serious.  "Do you know where the 
fighting is taking place?"

	We'd lost track of the kids in the darkness thanks to 
buildings and trees blocking our line of sight.  They must 
have been flying pretty low.

	Assuming that was them, anyway.

	"I know the general area," she said.  "I am ready, 
sensei."

	Akane licked her lips nervously, then said, "Junko-
san, this is going to be very dangerous and you must tell no 
one what is going on."

	"I understand, sensei," she said.

	I frowned.  Does she?  How much has she been told?  
For all we know, the kids have blabbed everything to their 
lovers, given at least one of them has powers now.  And 
was either confident or foolish enough to summon her 
falcon where other people might see.  

	"I'm serious," Akane said firmly.  "This is the point of 
no return.  If you are in, you are in."

	"I can't stand back and leave Crystal in danger," Junko 
said.  "And if I train to fight, surely it is for times like this."  
She stared at the ground, then said, "If you think I am 
ready, then I will go.  If not, I will stay."

	"I wasn't even close to ready for my first battle," 
Akane said softly, staring off into the past.  She looked 
over at the dorm; most of the lights were out and no one 
seemed to be looking.  She closed her eyes for a moment.  
"Don't laugh if this doesn't come out the way I want it."

	I blinked.  "Don't laugh?"

	"Laugh, sensei?" Junko asked, confused.

	"Harry!," Akane said loudly and then winds engulfed 
us; Junko and I both nearly fell down and when the wind 
and debris cleared, Harry stood before us and Akane had 
changed her clothing into a white and gold version of my 
ninja uniform, right down to a gold-trimmed white domino 
mask.  She now held her giant double-tonfas.

	Junko's jaw dropped for a moment and she stared.  I 
guess she didn't know everything.  The children had some 
discretion.  Shun had told Akane not to show off in front of 
outsiders, after all.

	I prayed this wasn't a mistake.  But if Crystal has 
powers now...though if Crystal does, you'd think she'd 
come flaunt them in our face and demand answers.

	Akane looked down at herself and looked extremely 
relieved.  "It worked."

	"Why did you think we would laugh?" I asked 
curiously.

	"No reason at all," she said firmly.

	I raised a curious eyebrow, but she said, "Everyone get 
on Harry.  We have to hurry, even if it risks being spotted."

	We clambered onto Harry's back and he took to the 
air.  Junko's eyes widened, but then she smiled widely as 
the wind wipped at us.  

	The large cloud of mist off to the northwest of the 
party was pretty easy to see once we were up over the trees; 
Akane stayed close to the treeline to reduce our visibility, 
though it was pretty dark here with just starlight and a new 
moon.  Plus clouds hid some of the stars.

	"That's probably it," I said.  Looked like we probably 
didn't need a guide after all.  

	"That doesn't look natural," Junko said, frowning.

	"It's not," I said.  "Is there anything in the woods there 
normally, Nagiki-san?"

	"There's an old stone platform that has a bunch of 
Chinese characters and inscriptions.  If you brin...umm, 
anyway, it makes a clearing because nothing can grow on it 
or through it," Junko said.  

	I had thought the nun brigade went over this whole 
area with a fine tooth comb.  So either that thing used to 
have no powers or maybe it just makes a good place for a 
fight.  

	As we headed for the fog, I could hear something.  
Junko and Akane seemed fixed on the mist, but there was 
something, a voice...

	My voice.  Whispering to me.  Whispering an oath.  If 
I took it, if I said it, I would gain my powers back.  But 
there would be no release this time.  If our powers failed, it 
would mean the power of the Hime had been destroyed and 
we all were doomed before whatever god took control of 
the Earth.

	We had not chosen our destinies the first time.  Not 
understanding the path we would walk or the duties our 
power entailed.  To take this oath was the end of normal 
life.  We might fake it in the future, but it would only be 
faking, for we would not be normal.  

	I had enjoyed being normal.  Being able to just be 
myself with a loving husband and a loving son, teaching 
my students and having a wonderful family who accept me.  
I've never been very good at being a woman, but I found 
the one man who wouldn't care about that at all.  Takumi 
loves me as I am, with all my flaws.  

	I would kill for him.  I WILL kill for him.  Because 
anyone who threatens my husband is going to be destroyed.  
Or who threatens my son.

	But taking this power means risking Takumi.  We'd 
discussed this.

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

	The first night we came back from Fuuka, I couldn't 
sleep.  I wandered outside into the garden, staring up at the 
moon and the stars, leaving Takumi asleep as I wandered 
around in my burgundy pajamas.  They have little green 
frogs all over them, a gift from my sister, Mai.

	For all that I am frustrated with her desire to hide from 
all this, I love her dearly and she loves me.  I could ask 
anything of her and she would give it.  Well, almost 
anything, though I suspect if I asked for a night with 
Yuuichi, Mikoto would ask to join us.  

	Not that I would ever ask for that, mind you.  I greatly 
respect Yuuichi and his fighting skills but he's too tall and 
macho for me and I would never break my marital oath and 
neither would he.

	Anyway, they're very nice pajamas.  

	As I was busy wandering around, worrying about my 
son and his new Hime girlfriend, Takumi surprised me with 
a hug from behind and a kiss on the cheek.  I smiled, 
feeling a little better.

	"I love you, come to bed," he said softly.  "Before you 
walk on more of the petunias."

	I had trampled several of them, not paying attention to 
my own movements and felt horrified.  "I'm sorry."

	"It's okay," he said.  "The summer heat was killing 
them anyway."  He pulled me out of the middle of the 
flower bed.  "What's wrong?"

	"Takumi, I don't know what to do," I said softly.  "I 
need the power to protect you, but I can't...if I take the oath, 
if I get a chance to, it puts you in danger."

	"It doesn't matter," he said.  "I'm already in danger.  
We're at war.  I trust you to protect me."

	"The last time you trusted me to protect you, I failed," 
I said, staring at the ground.

	He kissed me again.  "Only because we were turned 
against each other.  This time, we will win."  He was so 
confident, and I felt so weak.  He has no powers, he knows 
I couldn't protect him last time, but he trusts me anyway.  

	"So you want me to take the oath if I get a chance," I 
said.  

	"I will take any risk for you.  I would take it myself 
and fight by your side if I could, but I know that's not an 
option.  So I will just support you however I can," he said.  
"Remind me to go restock our first aid supplies tomorrow."

	I turned to face him and kissed him quickly, then 
rested my head on his shoulder.  "I am too weak and you 
are so strong," I mumbled.

	"You are strong," he said softly.  "I was nothing, a 
wretched, clinging wreck when you met me, and you made 
me strong.  If I am strong, it is because you pushed me to 
become more than I am.  You taught me to be a real man."

	"I'm not good at being a man or a woman," I 
mumbled.  

	"You are my Akira, and that is all that matters.  I love 
you in all your guises, warrior and wife, teacher and 
mother, ninja and artist."  Then, to my surprise, he picked 
me up and started carrying me inside.  I was rather stunned.  
"Come to bed.  Do what you must when the time comes.  
But worrying about it right now won't do us any good."

	His voice was strained as he spoke and I said, "Honey, 
are you sure you can handle me?"

	"I am fine," he said, stumbling and gritting his teeth.  
"I am going to carry you to our bed."

	"Honey, I can walk," I told him.

	He started to sweat.  "Yes, but I refuse to give up."  

	He does do a lot of yardwork.  I didn't think he was 
strong enough to carry me this far in his arms, though.  
Being carried in someone's arms is very romantic, but it's 
not very practical for carrying adults if you can help it.  

	We have a two-story house; Shun's room and the guest 
room are upstairs; we took the ground floor bedroom so we 
could ensure he didn't wander outside when he was little 
like he sometimes tried to do in the middle of the night.

	I could feel him shaking, but he continued to move 
forward, ever slower with every step.  I kissed his cheek.  
"Better hurry, I'm starting to feel a little frisky," I told him.

	He sped up, suddenly carrying me easily, and rushed 
into the bedroom, and then we both fell over onto the bed, 
laughing.  

	"Yes!" he said.  "I wasn't sure if I'd make it.  I really 
need to build some more muscle."

	"Come over here and show me your muscles," I purred 
at him.

	We soon...got frisky.  Which you don't need to hear 
about.  Back to the woods.

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

	I want the power.  I need it.  But what if I fail?

	I looked over at Junko and Akane again.  Junko 
looked confident, but she clearly didn't know the score and 
there wasn't time to tell her.  Quite possibly she's already at 
risk and doesn't know it.

	Akane looked ready to kick the Crimson Huntsman in 
the groin, then dance with Kazuya on his bent over body.  
No fear at all.  Was she just overconfident from her victory 
at Fuuka?  Or was I overthinking this?

	"Akane," I said softly.  "How can you be so confident 
after all you've been through?"

	"I have the best sisters in the world to fight by my 
side, students who trust me, a daughter and two sons and a 
husband who love me, and I am stronger than ever before.  
I failed last time because I was betrayed, but this time, we 
will stand together and win and nothing can stop us.  
Nothing."  She looked so strong, as Takumi had, and I felt 
ashamed of myself.  

	I'm supposed to be strong, why do I always feel so 
weak when it's most important?  I talk about being a strong 
teacher, pushing the kids hard, but I crumple myself when 
push comes to shove.  I hate this.  I hate it.

	Junko looked at me, now worried, then at Akane and 
seemed to get her assurance back.   Hesitantly, she said, 
"Don't worry, Tokiha-sensei.  Shun has been practicing 
very hard and he is very good."

	Is it written on my forehead?  I guess so.  

	This was the moment of decision.  We were almost 
there.  If I did this, there would be no turning back.  If I did 
not, the Crystal Princess would find someone else to take 
my place.  I know Haruka is champing at the bit for power.

	But no.  I may risk Takumi with the power but without 
it, I cannot protect him.  

	I stood up and held out my hand, the words springing 
to my lips once I released them.  "This is the oath of Tokiha 
Akira!  I am the Battle Princess of Shadow, striking in the 
night in service of the light!  I accept my destiny to fight 
for this world and the ones I love!  I wield the Shadowblade 
and command Gennai!  This is my fate, now and forever 
more!"

	All the darkness of the night converged on me and 
swirled around me, then exploded outwards, leaving me 
clad in my ninja uniform in burgundy and black, my 
Element in my hand.  Junko stared at me, eyes wide and I 
wondered why she was so surprised when she'd seen Akane 
do the same basic trick before.

	We were over the fog now and Akane smiled at me 
brightly.  "Let's fight side by side, my sister."

	"As we were meant to," I said, taking her hand.  

	"Harry, take Junko down inside the mist.  Akira, let's 
go!," Akane said and then we jumped down through the 
mist to the battle below us.

	A huge ancient chunk of wall (I think) covered much 
of the floor of the clearing; it was covered with weather-
worn Chinese characters and engraved images.  Crystal 
stood on it, parrying flaming attacks from a giant burning 
skeleton while a suit of samurai armor in monk's robes, 
probably her Child given she was dressed like a miko, beat 
it in the head with his staff.  

	A manticore-like creature was attacking Shun in the 
air, firing spikes at him as he rode upon a giant white 
falcon.  However, the falcon now dove under the flying 
creature and Shun proceeded to slice at its underbelly with 
the two knives in his hands.  I smiled a little at that, then 
frowned, as it was clear he hadn't manifested powers, given 
he was still in casual clothing and all the others had on 
fancy outfits.  

	On the other hand, he was hurting an Orphan with 
ordinary knives, which wasn't something most people could 
do, so I wasn't sure what was going on.  Or were they 
ordinary?

	Kagami was sparring with a giant flying manta ray. It 
kept trying to sting her with its tail; but she would parry 
with the shaft of her naginata, then counter-attack with the 
blade.  Her Child now came around and snatched the 
creature in its jaws and began chewing on it as it flailed 
desperately.

	I looked at another of the children, who was busy 
blasting a metal bull with her wand and her elephant Child 
was busy ramming it over and over, slowly beating it into 
the ground.  I couldn't quite tell who she was at first, 
somehow, though when I concentrated, I could tell it was 
Erica.   

	Natasha and her...I have no clue what that thing 
is...her giant flame lizard were fighting against a stony 
stegasaurus-like Orphan; it was losing the fight.  

	Kasumi was locked in battle with a strange teleporting 
dog thing; there was a giant bat creature in the air above her 
about to go after Shun and the falcon.  I noticed Kasumi 
had tonfas just like her mother.    

	There was also a huge purple and black fungal 
puffball bouncing towards Kagami, who charged it with her 
naginata.  

	Right in the middle of the stone floor of the clearing, 
four black serpentine creatures were shimmering into 
existence.  This area had somehow become a magic zone 
and I suspected the stone table was somehow responsible.

	I landed on the table, shouting, "GENNAI!" He came 
in a puff of darkness; I felt much better having him here. 
It's been so long since the last time I saw him. Twenty-
three years. He looked much larger and more powerful 
now; of course, Akane and I have had a long time to build 
much deeper relationships with our husbands than we had 
back then. 

 	Akane landed beside me; above us, Harry was diving 
down with Junko riding him.  I leaped up onto Gennai's 
back and hurled the Shadowblade, my element, pinning the 
shadow of the teleporting dog.   It looked utterly confused 
when it was unable to teleport.  "Kasumi, finish it!"

	"HORUS, FEATHER MISSILE STRIKE!," Kasumi 
shouted, leaping away from it; the dog was blown apart 
into chunks by high speed exploding black tipped white 
feathers that shot like rockets from the falcon's wings.  The 
chunks dissolved into black sparkles which dissolved away.  
Kasumi, though, looked a little nauseous after seeing the 
chunks.  I certainly felt a little nauseous.

	"Harry, stop the bat!"  Akane shouted.  Harry and 
Junko and the giant bat were soon locked in mid-air 
combat.  The bat was doing better than I thought he would 
until Junko leaped onto him and began bashing him with 
her sticks.  To my surprise, this did rather more damage 
than I would have expected. 

	Erica shouted, "Go for his ears!"

	Ears?

	Junko began bashing vigorously on his ears, barely 
staying on the bat, while Harry clawed at it.  The bat now 
started flying erratically, smacked into a treetop and fell.  
Unfortunately, this also meant Junko went tumbling.

	"JUNKO!" Crystal shouted, and broke off from the 
burning skeleton - which had been losing its fight with 
Crystal and her Child - to try and catch her. 

 	Akane had the same idea, though, and was faster, 
springing upwards for the catch, then dropping lightly to 
the ground with Junko in her arms. "Are you okay?

	"Shun!" she said, pointing upwards.

	Shun blinked, turned and saw the manticore had come 
around, bleeding from the wounds on its underbelly. I 
noticed those wounds had partially closed - but only 
partially.  It was about to dive down on Horus from above...  
or more precisely, dive down and snatch Shun with its 
claws.

	I summoned the Shadowblade to my hands only to 
realize that the main light sources here were Natasha's 
burning Child and the burning skeleton...which meant the 
manticore's shadow was projected UPWARDS.  There was 
nothing up there to pin the shadow to, assuming I could 
even find it.  

	DAMMIT!

	The fungal puffball charging Kagami found itself cut 
in half as her blade cleaved it with ease, then she spun and 
cut it in half a second time.  Fungal chunks flew in four 
directions, then dissolved away, skywards.  "SHUN!"

	"Go for the eyes!," Erica shouted and aimed her 
golden wand at the the manticore's eyes.  She blasted one 
side of its head and I threw the shadowblade at its other 
eye; the blade, to my surprise, went right through the eye 
socket into the brain.  However, Erica and I were both 
surprised when its other eye survived her attack.

	Shun now whipped one of his knives into the other eye 
and Horus rolled to one side, putting itself on the side 
totally blinded.  Shun's knife dug into the eye, ruining it but 
not piercing it to the brain. I still felt very proud of him. 

	Kasumi and Akane gave huge sighs of relief, and now 
Kagami gave a howl of anger and hurled her naginata like a 
javelin.  It sliced right through the manticore's skull, 
rupturing it.  It exploded in a shower of black sparks and 
rained down, the sparks dissolving away.  The naginata 
kept going and stuck in the upper part of a tree a fair ways 
away and Kagami shouted, "No!  Come back!"  She began 
to run after it.

	Crystal hugged Junko.  "Are you okay?"

	"I am fine," Junko said.  "We must fight."

	Crystal nodded and ran back to the slow but steady 
beating her monk was giving to the burning skeleton.

	"Call it to you," I told Kagami.

	She shouted and it pulled itself out of the tree, flying 
to her.  

	The stegasaurus facing Natasha now died and 
dissolved away, just in time for the four serpents to unfold 
themselves.  One of them resembled a sort of giant purple, 
green, and black six-legged wolf thing.  The second rather 
resembled a griffon in green, purple, and black.  The third 
was a huge red and black skinned humanoid about ten feet 
tall with pointed ears and fangs in his mouth and flames all 
over.  And the fourth was a humongous silver and black 
metal centipede with blades on every single one of his feet 
and spikes sticking out of him and huge pincers.

	And now five more serpentine creatures were forming.

	This had to stop.  "Gennai!  Smash this stone floor to 
bits!" I shouted.  "Natasha, take on the metal bull!  Erica, 
break off and attack the flaming skeleton!  Crystal, take on 
the centipede!  Akane, handle the wolf!  Kasumi, Shun, 
deal with that griffon!  Kagami, reinforce Horus with 
Sophia but you help me destroy this stone floor!  Junko, see 
if you can spot Chie and Aoi, they're supposed to be 
coming!"

	It's a good thing that mist muffles sound or that whole 
party would be hearing this, I thought.  At least no one is 
likely to be wandering around through the woods.

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

Gin's Tale:

	Seeing Crystal freak out freaked me out.  Junko and 
Crystal took off running, having given me an incoherent 
message and telling me to call Kasumi EVEN THOUGH 
THEY HAD JUST SHOWN ME MY PHONE WASN'T 
WORKING HERE.

	For a moment, I wondered if someone had drugged 
Crystal, but Junko was acting weird too.

	Black serpents?  There are snakes in the woods?  After 
my girlfriend?

	I had to do something, but what?  I paced back and 
forth, trying to think of something that scares snakes 
beyond Indiana Jones.  Or was he afraid of snakes?

	Anyway, smoke...I was pretty sure smoke scares off 
snakes by messing up their sense of smell.  Or was that 
bees?

	I borrowed a lighter and turned my shirt and a sturdy 
stick into an improvised torch by soaking it in sake.  Which 
means no more shirt, but I'd rather buy a new shirt than lose 
my girlfriend.

	I then headed into the woods in quest of the missing 
Natasha, periodically trying to make calls to Kasumi, none 
of which went through.

	The air was very muggy and unpleasant, but my torch 
gave me plenty of light, thankfully.  I slowly made my way 
roughly north, trying to find Natasha or Crystal or anyone, 
smoke swirling around me from my torch.

	This repulsed a few stray bees, but I was pretty much 
blindly wandering around, unable to find anything.  Then I 
heard footsteps nearby.  "Hello?" I asked.

	"Houseki-san, is that you?" Chie-sensei asked me.

	I turned around until I saw Chie-sensei running up, 
stuffing something in her purse.  Aoi-sensei was with her, 
carrying a flashlight, and they both looked quite worried.  
"Have you seen Natasha?" Chie-sensei asked me.

	"It's me," I said.  "And no, I'm trying to find her," I 
continued.  "She's being chased by black snakes or 
something."

	"Are you burning your shirt?" Aoi-sensei asked, 
noticing my torch.

	"I can't get a GPS reading," Chie-sensei grumbled, 
studying her phone; it looked like she was using some kind 
of GPS and map program to try to navigate.

	"Why are you two here, anyway?" I asked.

	"Trying to find Natasha," Chie-sensei said, glancing 
around.

	"Well, we can search together," I said.

	For a moment, I thought they were going to say no, 
but then Aoi-sensei said, "Okay.  Let's search."

	I was utterly lost, but at least I wasn't utterly lost by 
myself.

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

Shun's Tale:

	I only had one knife left and would have to make it 
count. I was aching all over and my arms and fingers and 
my chest had this annoying feeling as if they'd somehow 
gone to sleep in the middle of the battle.  Also, I felt like I 
had gas or something, though I tried to ignore it.  

 	Mom's giant frog kept spitting a huge spinning mace 
on a chain out of its mouth and smashing up more of the 
table.  It was pretty awesome.  And man, Mom can pin 
things in place by putting a knife in their shadow!  That's 
really cool.  The five materializing snakes began to howl in 
agony.  Kagami was hacking away with her naginata, 
sending chunks of stone flying.

	This, however, didn't make things easy for my 
cousins, who were trying to fight monsters on the table as it 
was being smashed apart. Even so, the battle was going 
much more smoothly. Natasha was carving up the metal 
bull quite easily, after it had held its own so long against 
Erica; Boris was sucking the heat out of it, slowing it to a 
crawl. The flaming skeleton's fires were being doused by 
Erica's rain blasts, while Hannibal smashed at it with his 
tusks; electrical discharges came with every hit, while 
steam from his joints made it howl in agony. Harry and 
Aunt Akane did some kind of joint attack which seemed to 
suck all the air out of the area around the wolf, making it 
struggle to keep from exploding in the vacuum. Miroku 
was holding the centipede at a distance with his staff, 
keeping its many spikes from touching him; as it reared up 
to attack him, Crystal darted in and attacked its underbelly, 
her sword slicing it open there with ease.    

	I couldn't see what Junko was doing; I think she'd 
wandered into the mistdome trying to watch for Aunt Chie 
and Aunt Aoi.

	The griffon had no real hope against both Horus and 
Sophia.  Sophia latched on to him; Horus made a series of 
passes, clawing and biting. I took whatever chances I could 
to stab, though I don't think I did very much to him.  
Mostly I clung to Horus and prayed my legs wouldn't get 
too tired for me to stay on.  Kasumi flew up and joined us, 
hammering away at the griffon with her tonfas, and then he 
came apart under the assaults and dissolved away.

	The table shattered into broken bits of stone and the 
materializing serpents gave a final howl and broke apart 
into sparkles.  More black sparkles now rose up through the 
breaks in the giant slab and rose upwards, evaporating.  

	Had the snakes all been trapped under the table or 
something?

	Pretty quickly, the family took apart the remaining 
monsters, which dissolved away.  Horus and Sophia landed 
and I stumbled over to Kagami, legs sore, and hugged her.  
I could see Aunt Akane hugging Kasumi and Crystal ran 
off to find Junko.

	Kagami kissed me fiercely.  "Are you okay?" she 
asked frantically.

	My legs ached and I need to find my knives and I feel 
battered all over, but basically, I was okay.  "I'm fine," I 
said to her.  "But I need to find my knives."

	Mom came and grabbed us both, hugging us tightly.  
"Are you okay, Shun?" she asked frantically.

	"I am fine," I said.  It actually kind of hurt to be 
hugged, but that was okay.  I didn't want to worry them, as 
I wasn't bleeding anywhere.  "I may need some of that 
bruise cream stuff, though."

	Erica was feeding fallen tree branches to Hannibal; he 
would strip them of leaves and throw them in a stack.  I'd 
never seen an elephant eat before; it was kind of cool.

	"Oh, and Mom, you totally kick ass," I said, smiling.

	Mom said, "Thank you, Shun.  Nice throwing at the 
eye."

	"Yeah, but you kinda outdid me there," I said.  "Of 
course, I just have normal knives." I began to wonder if I 
hadn't powered up because I was being saved for later, or if 
this meant that I was just out of luck.  On the other hand, 
Natasha and Crystal had both powered up when they were 
totally on their own and either had to get powers or die, 
whereas I had rather strong backup.  "Did Dan call you?"

	"Yes," Mom said, still hugging us.  "We were on our 
way to see you all anyway."

	Natasha stared at the shattered table.  "Well, there 
goes this makeout spot."

	"This was a makeout spot?" Mom asked, frowning.

	"No one was making out here and got eaten," Natasha 
said quickly.  "I actually first encountered them off in 
another clearing a lot closer to the party."

	She explained everything that happened to her, then 
Crystal told the story of what had happened to her when 
she returned with Junko.  I couldn't help laughing at the 
bees chasing her.

	"Do all of your generation have matching outfits like 
that?" I asked Mom curiously.  She and Aunt Akane were 
wearing the same outfit, just in different color schemes.  
	
	Kagami looked at Aunt Akane, blinked, then nodded 
approvingly.  I wondered what she was thinking.

	"Just the two of us," Mom said.  "Though Midori tried 
proposing matching outfits one time."

	Aunt Akane laughed.  "That's Midori."  She now came 
over and hugged Kagami tightly.  "You okay?"

	"I'm great," she said.  "But how do we hide a mess like 
this?"

	Broken branches laid all over, various trees had battle 
damage, the stone table was smashed to bits, some of the 
stone had black soot on it, and now there was a stack of 
branches stripped of leaves.

	Mom looked thoughtful.  "Move the rubble to form a 
ring.  Dump all the broken tree bits in the middle.  Set them 
on fire.  Erica can then douse the fire once it burns enough.  
There won't be a good explanation how this was done, but 
everyone will think someone decided to make a really big 
campfire.  As for the rest...well, nothing we can do about 
that, unfortunately.  Shun, make absolutely certain you find 
all your knives."

	I nodded; Kagami and Erica helped me search.  I was 
able to find all of them.  

	"Shouldn't Harada-sensei and Senoh-sensei be here by 
now?" Junko asked.

	"I'll call Mom," Erica said.  "Assuming phones work."

	Her call went through, so I assume they started 
working again.  Whatever made the stone summon 
monsters probably was cutting off calls too.

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

Gin's Tale:

	Chie-sensei took a phonecall and looked relieved.  
"We're here with Gin; he's trying to find Natasha.  Given 
we got your call, I assume my GPS should start working 
again.  Where do we meet up?"

	"Is Natasha okay?" I asked urgently.

	My phone rang; it was Natasha.  Wow, just like 
magic.  Say the name and...anyway.

	"Hey, dear, are you okay?" Natasha asked; she 
sounded tired but excited.

	"I'm fine, except I kind of had to burn my shirt to 
make a torch," I told her.

	"Why?" she asked, confused.

	"So I could see when I went looking for you," I said.

	"You're okay, right?" she asked worriedly.

	"I said I was fine," I said.  "Did you get away from the 
snakes?"

	"Yes.  But now I think I'm going to be taken and 
bitched out," Natasha said.  "So I will have to see you 
tomorrow unless we run into each other on the way out of 
the woods."

	"That's not fair," I said, frowning.

	I now noticed Chie-sensei had stepped to one side and 
was whispering into her phone.  Probably chewing out 
Erica for throwing a bitch-fit at Hikaru or something.

	"I really shouldn't have run off on my own, it's okay," 
she said.  "I love you."

	"I love you too," I told her.  "I think Chie-sensei can 
get us out of the woods with her GPS."

	"Okay," she said.  "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

	"Okay," I told her.  "Love you."

	"I love you very much," she said.  "Bye, dear."

	I hung up.  "Natasha is okay," I said.  "So who is in 
charge of chewing her out?"

	"Probably Akira, as her mother is probably asleep," 
Aoi-sensei said.  "Let's take you somewhere we can get 
some decent light, so I can make sure you don't have any 
cuts that could be infected."

	"Thank you, Aoi-sensei," I said.  "I think I'm okay, but 
I'd rather not have to have any of my limbs cut off to save 
me."

	"Quite," she said and once Chie-sensei finished her 
call, we headed back.

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

Natasha's Tale:

	Erica had bandaged up my upper left arm; the rest of 
me had some bruises but was pretty much functional.  
These battle outfits provide pretty good protection.  Plus, I 
had KICKED ASS.

	We walked back through the woods in civvies; best 
not to draw any attention.  Erica guided us with her phone 
GPS and map thing.  

	"Man, I never expected to have a dinosaur, but Boris 
is pretty kickass," I said.  "I'm really glad my uniform has 
nice sturdy pants, though.  He's a low-rider dinosaur.  I 
wonder what he eats; I need to stock snacks for him."

	"He's not a dinosaur, he's a pelycosaur," Erica said.  
"They're actually closer to mammals than to reptiles, and 
they actually predated dinosaurs. They lived in the 
Permian, around 280 million years ago.  Dinosaurs were 
from about 230 to 65 million years ago, when that meteor 
hit and wiped them out."  

	I frowned.  "Pelycosaur sounds kind of retarded."

	"I have a giant frog.  Quit your complaining," Aunt 
Akira said.

	"Yeah, but you have a giant frog that KICKS ASS," I 
said.

	Shun nodded.  "You were great, Mom."

	"You should carry an xenon arc light," Erica said.  
"Then you could make a shadow whenever you want and 
pin things, even in a normally dark environment."

	Aunt Akira nodded.  "Wouldn't it tend to get broken in 
battle, though?"

	"True.  Still, some kind of source of light would be 
good," Erica said.  

	"Your Child's fog muffles sound, right?" Aunt Akira  
asked Erica.

	"Yes," Erica said.  "Hannibal can hide our battles well, 
well enough no one saw me in my first fight on Tuesday."

	Junko walked hand in hand with Crystal, seeming very 
cheerful even though her dress was about to come apart and 
leave her half-naked. Crystal mumbled something, and 
Junko looked over at her curiously. 

	I looked over too. "What's wrong?"

	"I kind of expected to do better after the way Kasumi 
kicked so much ass at Fuuka," Crystal mumbled.  "Also, I 
feel like an idiot I didn't think that we all needed to switch 
foes like Aunt Akira told us to do.  Of course you sic the 
person with water blasts on the fire monster and the fire 
person to melt the metal monster and so on."  

	Erica looked embarrassed.  "Well, I wasn't thinking of 
the big picture either."

	"All's well that ends well," Aunt Akane said.  "I 
missed the giant brawl up in the mountains, so this is the 
first time I've seen a fight this big.  Unless you count 
blowing up the star, but that was just one opponent."

	"You blew up a star?" Crystal said in shock.

	"Was it Marduk's Namcub?" Erica asked.

	"Who?  What?" Aunt Akane asked, looking confused.

	"Marduk is a Babylonian god, I think," Kagami said 
hesitantly.  "I think he got mentioned briefly in World 
History."

	Even Sakomizu-sensei can't make that class not suck 
or me stay awake.

	"The Hime star was used by the Obsidian Lord to 
control the world," Aunt Akira said.  "Most of us destroyed 
it together, while Mai and Mikoto and Yuuichi defeated the 
Obsidian Lord."

	"It must have been his Namcub's physical 
manifestation," Erica said.  

	"Does that mean Dad has powers too?" Crystal asked.

	"Not that we're aware of, other than sharing in 
whatever is keeping us young," Aunt Akira said.  
"However, he did use a special sword made by Miyu in the 
fight."

	"Can men get this power at all?" Shun asked.

	"We don't know," Aunt Akira said.  "All of our 
generation were women.  But the Obsidian Lord selected us 
because he wanted a bride.  We don't know if men are 
entirely barred or if it's just because, well, he didn't want a 
man."

	"I can't decide if Dad was crazy or super-brave," 
Crystal said softly as she walked along, holding Junko's 
hand tightly.

	"Love makes you both," Aunt Akira said softly.  "The 
more we love, the stronger our powers become.  The more 
you love and the clearer you are about your feelings, the 
stronger your powers become and the more powerful your 
Child is."

	"Child?" Crystal asked.

	"Our animal companions," Erica said.  "Right?"

	"The Child is the strange creature born of the love 
between a Hime and the person most important to them," 
Aunt Akane said.  "Be it your lover or your child or your 
parent or a beloved friend or whatever.  The stronger that 
love, the more powerful your Child becomes.  Which is 
why Harry and Gennai are so large.  Akira and I have very 
strong hearts."

	Aunt Akira looked embarrassed by that.  Shun 
grinned.  "They're kind of loud, too."

	"Shun!"

	He began laughing.  "I'm just teasing, Mom.  So, I 
might or might not get powers, but the family has anti-
monster weapons for those who don't."

	"Yes," Aunt Akira said.  "And there is at least one 
person we suspect may have Hime powers who is a man."

	"The mysterious master of the giant robot you tried to 
pin on ME?" I asked.

	"Yes," Aunt Akira said.  

	"I suppose Aunt Shiho's powers flow out of her love 
for Natasha, then," Shun speculated.  "Given she goes 
through boyfriends so much, I doubt they count as the 
person most loved."

	"I would think so," Aunt Akane said.  "These days."

	"Well, I know she was hot for Uncle Yuuichi a long 
time ago," I told her.  "So what is her Child?"

	"A giant crow," Aunt Akane said.  "Yagatsuchi is his 
name, I think."

	"Sounds about right," Aunt Akira said.

	"Do monsters normally come in all sorts of colors?"  I 
asked.  

	"Potentially, yes," Aunt Akira said.  "They often 
manifest first as some sort of black shape, then turn into 
another shape."

	"Do they fight each other?" I asked.

	She frowned.  "Not unless someone controls them to, 
in our general observation."

	I told her what I had seen.  

	"I will have to ask Miyu," Aunt Akira said.  "Maybe 
they've seen something like that in their monster hunting."

	"So it's not normal," I said.

	"No, I don't think so, but I'm not sure," Aunt Akira 
said.

	"So Harry can fly?  But he's a tiger," I said.  Maybe 
Boris can learn to fly.  That would rock.  

	"You need to be very careful about flying around so 
you are not spotted," Aunt Akira said.  "We saw you and 
it's possible others did, as we ran into the Principal, Vice-
Principal AND a Regent of the School roaming the grounds 
a little earlier.

	"We were desperate to get to Crystal and Natasha 
quickly," Kasumi said.  "It was my idea."

	"Given what was happening on our arrival, it likely 
saved their lives.  But you will need to be very careful," 
Aunt Akira said.  "Fortunately, tonight was very dark and 
we couldn't even keep you in sight for long." She paused a 
moment, thinking. "So what is this 'Namcub' you 
mentioned?"

	I explained everything, from our finding the Namcub 
and Dan reading it to Erica's battle to now.  "So I guess 
Marduk took to calling himself the Obsidian Lord."

	"So Dan carries this 'Namcub' inside him?" Aunt 
Akira said, frowning.

	"I think it, at the very least, makes him heal very 
quickly.  His bruises faded far faster than is natural," Erica 
said.  "It may well have enhanced him in general, but the 
stuff we've been doing mostly would not show that off.  He 
and I have both been learning very fast to shoot better and 
drive a motorcycle, though.  Aunt Natsuki was impressed."

	"So how do you turn your powers on and off to avoid 
giving them away?" Kasumi asked.

	"We don't," Aunt Akira said flatly.  She then 
explained about magical zones, while we all boggled.

	"So the seven of us are the only ones of us who can 
use our powers everywhere?" Crystal said, eyes wide.

	"Eight with Miyu," Aunt Akira said.  "Her abilities 
work everywhere too."

	"I'm sorry, Kasumi," Aunt Akane said to her.

	"It's okay, Mother," Kasumi said.  "I've accepted it."  
She sighed.  "I should have known it was a case of no 
turning back."

	"We are all committed," Aunt Akira said.  "Shun, I..."

	"I will take the oath, if given the choice," Shun said 
soberly.  "Especially given so few of us can use their 
powers everywhere."

	"I think that thing was generating a magic zone until I 
smashed it, enabling the monsters to break through.  And I 
expect it was getting stronger," Aunt Akane said.  "Hmm.  
Shun, Junko, did either of you feel a kind of itchy feeling 
during that battle?  Like a part of your body was tingling?  
Or just a general feeling like goosebumps?"

	"Yes," Shun said.  "My hands, arms, chest all felt kind 
of prickly.  And..."  He paused.  "Well, probably not 
relevant."

	"Anything might be.  Spit it out," Aunt Akira said 
urgently.

	"Umm...I felt like I had gas, then I forgot, and by the 
end of the battle, the feeling was gone," Shun said.

	"You probably just farted without actually noticing," I 
said, laughing.  

	"Having gas doesn't mean anything I know of," Aunt 
Akira said.  She rubbed her forehead.

	"I definitely felt something odd when I was attacking 
the bat creature, a kind of itchy sensation," Junko said.  

	"I felt it most when I was attacking things too," Shun 
said.

	"Hmm, that could indicate potential," Aunt Akira said.  
"Unfortunately, we really don't know as much about all this 
as I'd like.  We do know that there are six slots, or at least 
we think we know that.  And five have now been filled."

	Shun and Junko glanced at each other uncomfortably.

	"How do you know that?" Crystal asked.

	"We'll talk about that tomorrow," Aunt Akira said.  
"But in brief, it's related to the Dragon Palace under 
Fuuka."

	We now emerged from the woods and found Aunt 
Chie and Aunt Aoi waiting for us.  They immediately 
rushed over to Erica and began fussing over her, which 
clearly embarrassed her and made me laugh.

	"Does anyone need medical attention?" Aunt Aoi 
asked urgently.

	"We're all going to need some stuff for treating 
bruises," Junko said. 

	"My legs are really sore," Shun said.

	"The nun brigade will be here soon," Aunt Aoi said.  
"If everyone is okay, I will give them a call.  Is the crisis 
over?"

	"For now," Aunt Akira said.  "Do any of you have a 
room where we can talk privately?  And we should get 
Dan."

	"I'm going to call Kazuya so he doesn't worry," Aunt 
Akane said.

	"Get him to tell Takumi too," Aunt Akira said.

	"Dan's girlfriend is asleep on his couch," Junko said.  
"I'm not sure if we can even call him without waking 
people up."

	"I can go in and get him quietly and covertly," Shun 
said.  

	"We can go to my bedroom. It would be cramped but 
if we're quiet, we can talk there," Kasumi said.

	"That will have to do," Aunt Akira said.  "Most of this 
is going to have to wait for tomorrow, but there are some 
things I am going to tell you tonight."

	"I'll go get Dan," Shun said, kissing Kagami and 
running off.

	"I'm going to call a few people," Aunt Chie said.  "The 
other parents need to know."

**************
	
Mai's Tale:

	My instinct was to go to the high ground.  So I ended 
up on the roof in my pajamas, sitting with my knees pulled 
up to my chest and staring up at the constellation of Draco.  
Crystal...Crystal...why didn't you tell us?  You could have 
gotten yourself killed!

	But I knew why.  Because we didn't tell her.  Hide 
things from your daughter and it teaches her that hiding 
things from your loved ones is okay.

	I wanted to beat my head against a wall and scream at 
her until I exploded and scream at myself until I exploded a 
second time.   She could have been killed.  I imagined her 
dying and all I could do was cry.  So brave of her and so 
foolish.  

	All I ever wanted was to protect her.  She is my 
daughter and I love her and I just wanted her to have all the 
things I never had.  Was that so wrong?

	I'd run off in the middle of a phone conversation, just 
panicked, dropped my phone and ran like a little girl.  Like 
I'd go and hide whenever I was unhappy when I was little.

	But I wasn't alone.  Yuuichi now climbed up and 
joined me.  "Hey," he said softly.  "You kind of panicked 
Aoi."

	"I'm sorry," I mumbled.  "Our daughter...she's crazy."

	"Yeah. That's how I know she's ours."  He came over 
and sat down by me, putting an arm around me and pulling 
me up into his lap.  He was topless with boxers on.  I 
leaned against him, hoping he wasn't cold.

	"You would have done the same thing, just dressed it 
up better as being responsible," he told me.

	I know.  I always felt the urge to solve it all myself, to 
take all the responsibility if I couldn't evade it.  Crystal... 
why didn't you tell us?  You weren't afraid of how we'd 
respond, were you?  How much does she know?

	"She could have died.  And I couldn't have saved her.  
What use are powers that can't save anyone?" I asked, 
shaking him.

	"If I get some, I'll let you know," he said dryly.  How 
could he take this so calmly?  Why isn't he freaking out?  
Doesn't he care?

	But the words got to me anyway.  He must feel even 
more helpless than me; he doesn't even have powers any of 
the time.  But he's being strong and I'm falling apart.  
"Where's Mikoto?"

	"Getting the news update," Yuuichi said.    "I hope 
Junko is as responsible as she seems.  She knows...well, as 
much as the kids know now.  But she did seem very 
intelligent and rational and responsible when we met her."

	"She really has it all together, plans for the future, 
pretty and smart, versed in business matters."   I sighed.  
"Crystal will probably get bored and dump her tomorrow."

	"Give our daughter some credit," he said patiently.  He 
knows that's just my frustration talking.  "She ensured she 
would have backup, which is more than you did half the 
time."

	I winced at that too.  Half the time I'd tried to hide 
from being a Hime and the other half I often tried to do it 
all myself.  I wouldn't even let Takumi do his own laundry 
or cooking.  

	The kids still should have told us everything after the 
first monster attack.

	But then, we didn't tell them everything when we had 
the chance.  When the Crimson Huntsman declared war on 
all of us.  Compared to them finding that out by ravenous 
crimson animals ripping them apart...

	We've hardly made any progress.  Learned some 
legends of Atlantis, collected some myths and legends 
about hunting gods and spirits in Japan...But nothing 
concrete.  And now more of the children can use their 
powers freely than we can.  

	Akane, Akira, I'm so sorry.  You shouldn't have to 
bear the burden with just Miyu.  

	But then, I've been piddling around, trying to hide.  To 
pretend we can deal with this in our spare time.  And what 
is the consequence?  Our children nearly get eaten, that's 
what.

	Without my powers, I can't protect them.  But with 
powers, I can't have a normal life.  I've worked so hard for 
everything.  I don't want to give it up.

	"I just was trying to avoid dragging others into my 
troubles," I said softly.

	"I know.  I'm like that too," he said, stroking my hair 
gently.  I smiled a little at that.  "This is war.  We can't hide 
from it any more."

	Mikoto popped her head up.  "Can I join the roof 
party?"

	I opened my arms wide and she came over and sat 
down in my lap.  I hoped we weren't too much for Yuuichi, 
but he didn't complain at all.  "Is everyone okay?"

	She handed me my phone.  "She's fine," Mikoto said.  
"Everyone is fine.  A little battle damage, that's all.  Junko 
beat up an evil bat with nothing but sticks.  Sticks!"  
Mikoto sounded a little jealous.  "Now I really want to have 
a good fight with her."

	Poor Junko, I thought.  She just wants to be a librarian 
and she'd dumped down in the middle of this.  "She...she 
didn't get hurt, did she?"

	"Akira says she performed very well and that Crystal 
has some new bruises and that Junko and Shun both 
seemed to be sensitive to magical energies and did a lot 
more damage to the monsters than she would have 
expected," Mikoto said, kissing my cheek.  "What's wrong, 
Mai?"

	"I...I'm scared of what they will think of us," I 
mumbled.  "If they're angry we hid so much from them, 
scared of what they know.  I'm not even sure what all they 
know or what my daughter will say when I see her."  I 
hugged Mikoto tightly.  "I love her so much and now I'm 
afraid she hates me."

	"Crystal would never hate you," Mikoto said firmly; I 
felt Yuuichi nod.  "She's probably gonna rub having powers 
that work everywhere in our face, though."

	"If we take the oath, there is no turning back," I said 
softly.  

	"There's already no turning back," Yuuichi said 
firmly.  "I could never abandon the others and neither could 
you, and we both know it."  He gently ruffled my hair and 
kissed my forehead.  "I think it's time."

	"I want to fight with Mai by my side forever," Mikoto 
said simply.  "And Crystal too and our friends and the other 
children."

	I knew she did.  I've been holding her back and it 
makes me feel guilty.  "I don't want them to suffer as we 
did."

	"Me neither," Mikoto said.  "But they won't.  This 
time, we'll stand united.  And we know that united, 
NOTHING can stop us."

	"Exactly.  I stood up to the Obsidian Lord without 
even any powers.  And if I can do that, you can do twenty 
times better, Mai," Yuuichi said firmly.  "I'm sure Crystal is 
going to taunt us some, but that's okay.  It'll be a lot easier 
to make sure they're responsible if we're able to stop hiding 
things from them, right?"

	"Yuuichi, I don't want to see you get hurt," I said, 
kissing him softly, then turning and kissing Mikoto.  "Or 
you."

	"I will protect both of you!," Mikoto said.  "And 
Yuuichi's tough, you know that, Mai."

	To my surprise, I saw Gotou Kichiro, our neighbor on 
one side, stick his head over the fence.  "Are you all okay?" 
he asked.  "I woke up and heard noises."

	"We're fine, Gotou-san," I said.  He's an insurance 
agent and a good guy.  He has a son in college, I think.  "I 
just had a nightmare."

	He laughed.  "Flooding?  Doris woke up on the roof 
one time after dreaming of that.  Then I had nightmares 
once she told me, about filling out flood claim forms."

	All his nightmares are about bureaucracy, I think.  
"Something like that," I said to him.  "I hope we're not 
keeping you up."

	"It's fine," he said.  "Have a good night, you three."

	He was on his way back to bed when I suddenly 
realized I was fondling Mikoto in public.  Our neighbors 
just think she lives with us.

	Or do they?  He didn't even seem to bat an eye at it.  
Have we not been fooling them?  Do they know everything, 
but they don't care?  How much do they know and just 
don't mention it to be polite?  Am I fooling anyone at all 
trying to pretend to be normal?

	"I wonder what he thinks of us," I mumbled.

	"It can't be anything too bad or he would have said 
something," Yuuichi said.

	"He's probably jealous there's only one person waiting 
for him in his bed," Mikoto said, kissing my cheek.  

	Yuuichi laughed and I blushed a little.  I would never 
have imagined ending up like this, but it's been my life for 
over two decades now and I can hardly remember what it 
was like to not have them in my life.  Except to know I 
couldn't stand to lose either of them.  I kissed Mikoto on 
the lips, then wiggled around to kiss Yuuichi.  He looked 
surprised, but smiled, kissing back firmly.  "Feeling 
better?" he asked softly.

	"I don't know how I'm going to do this and have time 
for my job," I told him.  But I have to do it.  My daughter is 
on the frontlines and I certainly can't make her safer by 
burying my head in the sand any longer or feeling sorry for 
myself.  "Though at least I have a pretty flexible one."

	"Maybe you can get Haruka to put you on retainer so 
you can work full time on everything," Yuuichi said.  "She 
is pretty much rolling in cash."

	"We're pretty much rolling around in money as it is 
with three of us working," Mikoto said.  "If you have to cut 
back, we won't starve.  I make more than our mortgage 
payments and Yuuichi makes more than our other expenses 
and the Rosewood tuition payments, so if you have to cut 
back, we'll still be laying money away for the future."  

	I blinked; Mikoto usually gives me the impression 
she's blissfully unaware of our finances.  I wonder how 
much else I've missed.  

	Yuuichi nodded.  "Do what you have to do, Mai.  We 
won't starve if you have to go full-time Hime."

	"Thank you," I said softly.  "If people are going to end 
up putting me in charge of things, then I need to actually be 
free to do so."  I was going to have to, much as I'd rather 
have a normal life.  I have to get serious and settle this 
before we end up with Rosewood in ashes and a giant 
horned head across Osaka Harbor.  Or whatever the 
Crimson Huntsman uses for a symbol.

	War is upon us, whether I want it or not.  And I'm 
going to have to fight.

	Mikoto now yawned widely and fell asleep.  I stroked 
her cheek, smiling.  "I think that's our cue to go back to 
bed; we've got to drive up in the morning."

	Yuuichi kissed me, picked up Mikoto, and said, 
"Yeah."

	We were soon fast asleep.

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

Kasumi's Tale:

	We just had too many people, especially once my 
aunts showed up, so we ended up going across campus to 
the Journalism classroom and sitting down there.  
Fortunately, Aunt Chie has the keys to that building, as her 
office and classroom is in it.

	All my aunts stared at each other, until Aunt Miyu 
finally took the lead when everyone else was clearly 
reluctant to speak.  "The full story of the Hime will wait 
until tomorrow," Miyu said.  "But there is an issue we need 
to cover right now."

	"The cost of our powers, right?" Erica said softly.

	"Yes," Aunt Miyu said.  "The power of the Hime 
flows from their bond to the person most important to 
them.  The stronger that bond, the stronger the Hime and of 
the Child tied to that bond.  It is not clear to us whether this 
bond can create a Child from nothing, or more likely, an 
appropriate Orphan is somehow chosen to become your 
Child.  There is reason to believe that some of the current 
Childs were bonded to other Hime in the past.  Mai's Child, 
Kagatsuchi, was bonded to Mashiro, who is now the 
Crystal Princess.  The full story of Mashiro will have to 
wait until tomorrow, however."

	"We only know bits of it, anyway," Aunt Nao pointed 
out.

	"So the Crystal Princess was originally a Hime?" I 
asked.

	"Yes," Miyu said.  "Chosen to be the Obsidian Lord's 
bride three hundred years ago.  But that is part of the story 
of the past which is going to wait for tomorrow when we 
have everyone."

	Crystal looked like she wanted it now, but to my 
surprise, didn't press the issue.

	"There is, however, a downside to this bond," Miyu 
said.  "During the war on the Obsidian Lord, we discovered 
that if a Hime's Child was slain, the person most important 
to her dissolved away into nothing."

	I stared eyes wide.  WHAT?

	Crystal's jaw dropped and everyone in our generation  
looked incredulous, then horrified.  Kagami just looked 
very guilty.  Mother stared at the floor uncomfortably, and 
Aunt Akira squirmed.  

	"It turned out that all of them were imprisoned in a 
construct of pillars down below the school and that their 
sufferings, along with those of the women who loved them, 
was feeding power to the Obsidian Lord through the Hime 
Star, a star that only Hime could see, which fell to Earth 
during the Festival and planted itself at the mouth of the 
harbor."

	Crystal looked utterly horrified, but she now got a 
knowing look.

	Mother was sitting next to me, with an arm around me.  
She now embraced me tightly and said, "I was the first to 
be defeated, and I spent most of the Festival in virtual 
catatonia from the shock."

	I hugged her back tightly, feeling the urge to cry for 
her but trying to resist it.

	"We do not know what exactly will happen now.  No 
Hime has lost her Child since the defeat of the Obsidian 
Lord," Aunt Miyu said.  "But we can expect that in some 
way, our loved ones will be on the line when we fight."

	Shun said, "How the hell could you not tell us that?"  
He sounded pissed.  Crystal looked horrified.  Natasha 
looked a little sick.  Erica rubbed her forehead and stared at 
the floor.  Junko frowned and I gave in to the urge to cry 
now, crying on Mother's shoulder.  Kagami looked guilty.  
Dan, weirdly, looked like he'd expected this.  Surely he 
didn't know before.

	Hayao, Hayao, Hayao, I'm sorry, I thought.  I'm 
putting him on the line and he doesn't even know it.

	"We stupidly hoped it would never matter for any of 
you, that you would never have to shoulder that burden," 
Aunt Akira said wearily.  "After all, none of us inherited 
this from our parents, so though we feared you might 
inherit, we hoped you could live normal lives without our 
burden."  She sighed.

	But then her voice turned angry.  "We would have told 
you if you had actually told us that you had learned about 
the family secret and that some of you were getting powers 
and taking the oath!  You could have come to us two weeks 
ago and you didn't!  You lied to us!  How could we know it 
was time to tell you everything when you hid it from us?  
We can't read minds!"

	"You lied to us first!" Crystal said angrily.  "Why 
didn't you tell us before?"

	"Because this is a huge burden and we thought we 
could spare you.  We thought the war was over and it was 
all in the past and you wouldn't have to suffer for our sins 
and bear our burden," Aunt Akira shouted back.

	But then she sagged.  "It was a mistake.  We let the 
dream of a normal life seduce us and we tried to keep you 
in that dream and we failed.  I am sorry."

	Crystal stared in surprise.

	"I understand," I said softly, forcing back my tears.  
"That's all I ever wanted, just a normal life.  I would have 
done exactly the same thing if I was the mother and Mother 
was my daughter."  I stared at the floor.  "I'm sorry, 
Mother, Aunt Akane.  I should have told you all as soon as 
I got powers.  As soon as we read the Namcub."  

	Mother kissed my forehead.  "I love you, Kasumi."

	"I love you too, Mother," I said, kissing her cheek.

	Shun was still pretty angry looking.  "What about me?  
Even not knowing about Kasumi or the others, didn't that 
put ME on the line?"

	Kagami tried to speak, but couldn't.

	"I wanted to tell you," Aunt Akira said, staring at the 
ground.  "But it was a case of tell no one or tell everyone 
and we all dithered around too much on it."  She shivered.  
"I'm sorry."

	"I wanted to tell you kids once you were old enough to 
understand.  You'd have known years ago if I had my way, 
but the parents all wanted to protect you from the truth, 
which never ever works," Aunt Nao said, sounding bitter.

	"I take it all the imprisoned people went back to 
normal once the Obsidian Lord died?" Erica asked.

	"I was able to use my dematerializer blade to destroy 
the prisons and free everyone's loved ones.  This enabled 
them to regain their strength and counter-attack, destroying 
the Hime Star and the Obsidian Lord, though I was 
disabled a second time in the process," Aunt Miyu said.  
"And Midori had to revive me again."

	"Again?" Erica asked.

	"I first fell when I lost Alyssa," Aunt Miyu said softly, 
staring at the ground.  "But Midori enabled me to get my 
strength back."

	"Nice job by Mom," Dan said.

	I got up and went over and hugged Aunt Miyu tightly, 
which seemed to surprise her, but then she hugged me very 
tightly.  

	"As it stands, we don't know for sure what if anything 
will happen if one of us loses our Child," Aunt Yukariko 
now said.  "It may be nothing, but we have to expect it will 
be something.  There is no Obsidian Lord to imprison our 
loved ones, but it may be that our enemies will be able to 
take them hostage or some other effect entirely.  The one 
clear thing from Magdalene lore is that power always has a 
cost."

	"Do you think I...," Dan began.

	"You seem to be an unusual case.  I have a suspicion 
that whatever the cost of bearing the Namcub is, you may 
well pay it yourself on yourself," Aunt Yukariko said.  
"Though another unfortunate possibility comes to mind."

	"If I die, everyone will lose their powers because I 
stand to the oathbearers as the Hime Star stood to the Hime 
during the war with the Obsidian Lord," Dan said grimly.  
"I am the new Tablets of Destiny."

	"Conversely, that may also mean you'll grow stronger 
as more Hime swear," Aunt Yukariko said.  "And the Hime 
Star was not easy to destroy."

	"Dan," I said softly.  

	"Also, you don't have a Child and your power derives 
from the Namcub, so I don't think anything will happen to 
Sanae if you are defeated," Aunt Yukariko said.  "But we 
can only speculate."

	Dan looked relieved by that and I felt better for him.

	"There is a further matter," Aunt Miyu said.  "You 
must not tell anyone unless you have no choice.  Our world 
survives, without a god sustaining the walls which keep out 
the Orphans and other invaders, because humanity is not 
aware these creatures exist.  The defenses of our world are 
decaying, but they will decay faster the more people know 
about the Orphans and the gods.  Further, we need to 
protect ourselves by ensuring our secrets and vulnerabilities 
do not leak.  This is why none of Natsuki's or Shiho's 
various boyfriends have ever been told about our secrets.  I 
know you wish to tell your lovers, but we cannot allow 
that.  Not until we can be sure they will remain loyal to the 
family and keep our secrets.  Otherwise, we risk them 
falling into the hands of the Crimson Huntsman."

	"I can't tell Hayao?" I said.

	"But...Gin..." Natasha spluttered.

	"We are fortunate," Junko said softly to Crystal, who 
was now staring at the floor.  She nodded to Junko.

	"I'm sorry, Shun," Kagami said, agonized.

	"It's okay," he said to her.  "You're not the one who 
kept secrets from me for sixteen years."

	Aunt Akira grimaced.  "I said it was a mistake."

	"That doesn't mean I can just forget about it," Shun 
said angrily, though not as angrily as earlier.  

	"We need to discuss one more thing," Sister Yukariko 
said.  "Then we will let you all go sleep.  Erica, you said 
you fought a silver serpent which was actually on campus, 
correct?"

	"Yes," Erica said.  

	"And you saw a silver monster being killed by black 
serpents, Natasha?" She continued.

	"Yes," Natasha said.

	Aunt Alyssa now broke her silence and said, "The 
Silver Knight is another one of the gods imprisoned by the 
Obsidian Lord.  It may be that he has broken some of his 
bonds and is trying to recruit his own 'Hime'.  The Silver 
Knight was obsessed with greatness, as embodied by 
figures such as Samson, Hercules, Achilles, and so on, 
though they all lived or were invented after his 
imprisonment."

	"Heroism in the ancient sense where it means 
accomplishing great things, but was often accompanied by 
being a drunken, lustful, murderous lout?" Dan asked.

	"Yes.  He didn't deliberately seek out drunkards and 
murderers, but it was the desire for greatness, to 
accomplish mighty, heroic deeds which drove him.  
Physical heroism, morality optional," Aunt Alyssa said 
crisply, but then sighed.  "So some of his champions were 
wonderful and some of them were terrible, but they were 
all the same to him."

	"So he wasn't good or evil, but interested in 
greatness," Dan said.  

	"Yes.  Gods tend to have their own moral codes which 
don't smoothly line up with the ones we use.  And each god 
has their own," Alyssa said.  "Valor, courage, bravery, 
defiance of the odds, these are the things the Silver Knight 
looks for.  The Crimson Huntsman, by contrast, emphasizes 
the struggle for survival and gaining power over others.  
You must either rule or submit.  Those who will not do 
either must die."

	Junko fingered the cross she wore.  "And the Crystal 
Princess?"

	"Has given this world to us," Dan said.  He now 
launched into reciting the entire Namcub of the Crystal 
Princess, then looked uncomfortable when he finished.  
"It's in our hands to reseal the prison and keep these gods 
imprisoned before they destroy the world in another Age of 
Chaos.  Anyone who has studied ancient mythology knows 
humanity is better off without the old gods.  They sucked."  
He sighed.  "I will do everything I can to help."

	"I'm not going to sit back and let a bunch of stupid 
gods trash the Earth," Natasha said.

	"I am...as ready as I will ever be," I said.  I will fight 
and fight with all my strength.  For Hayao. For Mother and 
Father and my brothers and all my family.  And for my 
world.  "We will fight."

	We all nodded in agreement, all of my generation.  We 
would do whatever we could to help.  

	"I fear this could mean more trouble here and we don't 
know who set up that magic zone or how," Aunt Yukariko 
said.

	"Wait...did black Orphans serve the Obsidian Lord?  
Who do they serve now?" Erica asked.

	"All Orphans were black in their base form until 
recently," Aunt Miyu said.  "Which probably reflected the 
Obsidian Lord's power.  I would guess that they were 
summoned by someone trying to prevent the Silver Knight 
sending Orphans onto the campus to create champions for 
himself."

	"But where are the Silver Orphans coming from, then?  
How do they get here?" Erica asked.

	"There must be a weakpoint," Aunt Miyu said.

	"The hole," I said.  "We have to take them to where 
we tracked that one from.  Is there some way to seal a 
weakpoint?"

	"Yes," Aunt Miyu said.  "Take us to it."

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

	"It has been sealed," Aunt Miyu said.  "Someone 
cleaned up here.  Probably whoever is responsible for the 
black orphans."

	Not just sealed, but someone planted a rose bush and 
some nice violets too.  And some peonies.

	"Probably Kei," I said, then explained about him.  

	"It seems likely," Aunt Miyu said.  "He may well have 
been sent to keep uncontrolled monsters away from campus 
and then Natasha wandered into the middle of things.  Or 
possibly he also was planning to use his Orphans to force 
you all to activate your powers before you could have 
second thoughts from finding out the truth."

	Crystal frowned.   "I thought his mother was on our 
side."

	"We can debate morality later," Aunt Alyssa said.  "If 
he really is Mashiro's son...well, his mother was rather a 
manipulator herself."

	"I think this crisis is over.  We had best all get some 
rest," Aunt Yukariko said.  "Let's get you all back home 
and tomorrow, the family meets to discuss it all and tell you 
the rest."

	We headed back to our dorms.  I took a shower when I 
got home and thought about Hayao.  I promise you, I will 
defend you, Hayao, I thought as I put on my pajamas.  I'm 
much stronger now and I'll do my very best.  I wish I could 
tell you, but they're right.  This might not last and we have 
to keep our secrets.  I hate this.  I hate lying to you.  But I 
will do my best for you and for everyone.  

	I just hoped that would be enough.
	
********************

Crystal's Tale:

	I felt hugely guilty about dragging Junko into all this.  
Knowing that if I screw up, she could be in trouble... 
assuming she was my most important person. I mean, my 
parents are really important to me too and so is Aunt Nao.  
And we've only been dating a little while.  I mean, I like 
her a lot, but is it enough?  Is this love?  Fighting with her 
by my side was totally awesome.  It felt so right.  Nothing 
ever felt so right with any of my boyfriends except for my 
very first one, who I thought was the greatest person ever to 
live until he dumped me.  I wonder what Osamu is doing 
right now.  Probably lying to someone and telling them he 
loves them.

	And she doesn't have any powers and there's only one 
slot left and I think Shun's going to get it and Dan's just 
going to be Namcub carrying man.  I hope the Namcub 
gives him some powers so he can actually fight to defend 
himself.  

	I shivered and Junko pulled me a little tighter. We'd 
gone back to my room and were half-asleep on the couch, 
arms around each other, blankets pulled up and pillows 
behind our heads.  Probably a stupid way to sleep but my 
roomate was crashed and I was afraid of waking her up and 
getting a head-biting.

	"You awake?" she said softly.

	"Yes, feeling bad I dragged you into this," I said.

	"It is fine," she said softly.  "I am honored that your 
clan has shown such trust in me and I swear I will prove 
worthy of that."

	"There's going to be a lot of danger," I mumbled. 
"And if I fuck up..."  When I fuck up.  Tonight made me 
keenly aware that even WITH powers, I'm not as badass as 
I thought.  Which I should have learned from nearly being 
eaten two weeks ago, but I guess I learned slowly.

	"You will not," she said.  Probably lying to make me 
feel better.  "Your Aunt Akira, is she one of the leaders of 
your clan?"

	"I'd say Aunt Yukariko, Mom, Aunt Haruka, and Aunt 
Natsuki are more or less the leaders," I told her.  "Aunt 
Akira is pretty strong-willed, though."

	The guilt hammered me again.  "I'm sorry."

	"Don't be sorry," she told me.  "I thought...I think I am 
very lucky to be your girlfriend and a part of your clan."  
She kissed my cheek.  "And I like your parents."

	I'm superlucky she is okay with this, I thought. Maybe 
it's destiny.  Please, Miroku, do your very best and I will 
too.  Aunt Nao and Junko's God, please watch over us.  I 
swear I'll protect her with everything I have.

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

Akane's Tale:

	I came back to Chie and Aoi's house, feeling pretty 
good.  Wonderful, in fact.  Being able to tell Kasumi 
everything made me feel as free as a bird.  And even more 
frisky than I usually am on a Saturday night.

	Kazuya was sprawled out in his underwear, having 
fallen asleep on the bed, one of his mystery novels lying 
open on his leg.  I carefully removed it and bookmarked it, 
then stripped down to my underwear.

	Then I woke him with a kiss.  He groggily came to 
life.  "Hello, dear," he mumbled.  "How did the ambush 
go?"

	I was bursting to tell him everything, so full of words 
that for a moment, I couldn't actually speak as alternate 
things to start with competed in my head.  "Kasumi is a 
Hime and so are Natasha, Crystal and Erica too."
	
	He snapped fully awake and sat up.  I sat down in his 
lap and he stared at me.  "They what?"

	"Apparently they got in a fight with Orphans at Fuuka, 
another one last Tuesday and a third one tonight.  Akira and 
I came to their aid.  Our daughter is fine, don't worry," I 
told him.  "She fought magnificently, and her Child is 
really beautiful, a great white falcon.  I expect she'll want 
us all to go flying with her when we get a chance."  I was 
looking forwards to that.

	"So that's why she quit track," he mumbled, staring 
down at my legs.  I looked down, but my legs looked fine.  
But he clearly wasn't happy at all.  "Does Hayao know?"

	"No, and we can't tell him yet," I said.  That bothered 
me.  It is unfair to him, but we can't afford to spread the 
family secrets to anyone we may lose.  "Oh, and Akira took 
the oath."

	"What about Shun?" Kazuya asked.  "And Dan?"

	I explained about the Namcub to him, hoping I was 
getting it right, and then said, "Shun fought very well, but 
he hasn't become a Hime.  Though it's still possible he 
might."

	He put his head on my shoulder and embraced me 
tightly.  "Kasumi," he whispered.  "She shouldn't have to be 
part of this.  Neither should you.  Didn't we already give up 
enough?"

	Just for a moment, I thought Miyu was going to come 
through the door and say "No," then lecture Kazuya on 
responsibility, but thank Buddha, she did not.  

	"Yes," I said softly.  "But I have to fight, Kazuya.  
We're at war and I have to do my duty."  I turned and 
kissed his forehead.  "Everyone is counting on me."

	"And the boys, they'll be sucked into this too, when 
they're old enough," Kazuya said, sounding very, very 
unhappy.  "They'll want to fight, whether they can handle it 
or not.  Kasumi..."

	"Kasumi fought very well," I told him.  "She is strong 
and fast and brave and she and her cousins fight together, 
not alone.  It's not going to be like last time, honey.  This 
time, we're going to fight together, and we're going to win."

	"I don't even know what will happen to me if we lose," 
he said, shivering.  "And all I can do is wait to get zapped."  
He buried his face in my bosom which would normally turn 
me on, but I could feel his tears running into what passes 
for cleavage with me.

	I pulled him tightly to me.  "Nothing is going to 
happen to you," I said hotly.  "Nothing!  I'll be fighting 
with Akira by my side and you know how strong she is."

	"She was the second Hime to get defeated!  She 
FAILED.  And she hasn't fought a monster since then 
except for blowing up the Hime Star!" he said, now raising 
his tear-stained, terrified face to mine.  "And you know her 
first concern will be protecting her boy!"

	"And my first is protecting you and Kasumi and 
Keiichi and Katsuhito," I told him, rubbing his back with 
one hand, trying to comfort him.  "But we're stronger 
together than apart."

	"And Sayuri's boy, one day, he'll just go poof and his 
mother won't even know why and neither will he..."  
Kazuya was shaking and crying onto me and now he lost 
the ability to speak.

	I made soothing noises, not knowing what to say.  

	"Hey, are you two okay in there?" Aoi asked through 
the door.  

	"We're fine," I shouted to her.  "We're fine."

	"Okay.  There's shaving stuff in the bathroom so 
Kazuya doesn't have to sport the scruffy look tomorrow," 
Aoi said.

	It now hit me that we didn't have clean clothing for 
tomorrow.  "We're going to have to borrow some clothing 
for tommorow," I shouted to her.

	"Chie's suits should fit Kazuya just fine, and I have 
plenty of stuff that'll fit you," Aoi shouted.  "You two have 
fun."

	"We will," I shouted, though fun wasn't what we were 
likely to be having tonight.

	I heard her retreat.  Kazuya had stopped crying and 
was just leaning against me silently.  

	"It's going to be okay," I told him softly.  "You should 
come watch them practice tomorrow.  You'll feel much 
safer when you see how strong they are."

	"I don't even like fighting games," he mumbled.

	"I know.  You are peaceful and gentle and kind and it's 
why I love you," I said, kissing his forehead.  Whereas, I 
think I enjoyed that fight more than I really should.  It just 
feels so natural and right to be fighting side by side with 
Akira and the children to stop those things.  To teach them 
how to fight.  I wish I knew more to teach them, but 
learning more with Akira is fun too.  I've never felt so alive 
before.  Not even before I became a Hime.  "You are my 
rock upon which I can trust.  I love you."

	"I love you too, dear," he said, holding onto me as if I 
might vanish.  "I'm sorry, making an idiot of myself."

	"You're not an idiot," I told him.  "You are my 
beloved.  Without you, I am nothing."

	"You don't need me," he mumbled.  

	"I need you.  I crave you," I told him.  "I love you.  I 
cannot go on without you."

	He hugged me silently and I hugged him back.  "We'd 
better sleep," he mumbled.

	I wasn't going to push him, under the circumstances, 
much as I wanted to...well, it could wait.  He was always 
patient with me when I wasn't in the mood.  I pulled his 
face up to mine and kissed him firmly.  "Goodnight, my 
love."

	"Goodnight, dear," he said softly and quickly he was 
asleep.

	It took me a lot longer.

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

Takumi's Tale:

	I pulled Akira away from the wall.  "Dear, don't spy 
on our friends."  

	We were each wearing a shirt and underwear and 
nothing else.  Well, she'd taken her bra off, but still had her 
boxers on.  

	"I think they had a fight," she whispered, frowning.

	"I think it's none of our business and we shouldn't try 
to listen in on them," I told her.  She knows better.  Which 
is why she was letting me drag her away.  I'm a lot stronger 
than I was when we met, strong enough to carry her if I 
have to, if not a long ways, but she's still stronger than me, 
especially now.

	"Don't be angry with me," she mumbled.

	"I'm not angry," I told her.  I turned her around and 
kissed her, then picked her up and carried her to the bed.  
She likes that.  And it's pretty easy to do it such a short 
distance; Erica's room is pretty cramped and the bed is only 
big enough for two because we're going to sleep with her 
on top of me.  

	I laid her down on the bed and then got up over her 
and leaned down and kissed her, while on my hands and 
knees.  "Or were you hoping to listen in on them getting it 
on?"

	She stared at me.  "I wouldn't do that!"

	"We could ask them to come join us," I teased her.

	"Takumi!"  

	Then I began laughing.  "You're as much woman as I 
can handle."

	"I knew you were joking," she said.  

	I think she worries a little, sometimes, that I wish I 
was like my sister, with two lovers.  But Akira is all I need.  
I don't know how Mai does it.  I kissed her again.  "Show 
me your battle outfit."

	She concentrated and I felt energies swirl around me; 
my whole body goosepimpled for a moment, and then she 
was clad in something much like her ninja uniform.  Just 
like the first time I saw her fight.  "Oh my, who is this sexy 
ninja who has snuck into my bed?"

	She laughed and put her arms around me, hands on my 
back, but then she turned serious.  "You shouldn't have to 
put your life on the line."

	"Neither should you, but I can face anything with you 
by my side," I told her, playing gently with her cute little 
domino mask.  "Is this thing actually going to fool 
anyone?"

	"No one who knows me would think I would ever 
wear something like that," she mumbled and then we both 
laughed a little.

	"Shun, he...," she said hesitantly.

	"We'll see," I said.  "From the battle report you gave 
me, it sounded like he fought pretty well with just the skills 
you taught him.  You should be proud of yourself."

	I kissed her again.  "Want to see how fancy we can get 
with your new strength and abilities?"

	She looked nervous.  "I want to, but I'm so strong 
now..."

	"You have supreme control," I told her.  "And I know 
you would never hurt me."

	"I just..."

	I got up and carried her out the door and down the hall 
into the bathroom.  

	I heard Keiichi say, "Who's there?"

	"Special ninja delivery," I told him.  "Go back to 
sleep, young man."

	Then I took her into the bathroom and found some 
shaving cream.  "Summon your blade."

	"What?" she asked in confusion.

	"Your blade.  The double-knife.  The Shadowblade."  I 
smiled a little.  I don't think any of the others actually 
named their weapon.  

	She summoned it.  "I don't understand."

	I began lathering my face and neck.  "Shave me with 
it."

	She stared at me, aghast.  "This thing could hideously 
injure or kill you."

	"But it won't, because you're holding it and I trust you 
to do a good job.  This should be the smoothest shave of 
my life."  I finished lathering.  "Ready."

	She breathed in and breathed out and then her face 
went blank and she stepped over to me and started shaving.  
My skin tingled gently where the blade touched it, and inch 
by inch, the cream and what little facial hair growth I had 
came off in unison, until my face was totally bare.  I 
splashed water on it to get the remaining soap off.  Not 
even the tinest of nicks and utterly smooth.  I brought her 
hand up to stroke along my cheek and chin and throat.  
"Perfect job, dear."

	She washed the blade off in the sink.  "We're going to 
be in trouble if this clogs their sink," she mumbled.

	"I see Mai's been influencing you," I said, then turned 
and kissed her.  "See?"

	She made her blade vanish; I wondered idly if it would 
have reappeared covered with shaving cream and hair if she 
hadn't washed it off.  Best not to find out.

	"You're not afraid at all," she whispered. 

	"I believe in you and I believe in my sister and I 
believe in our son.  We're going to come through this," I 
told her.  "Believe in yourself, dear.  I believe in you."

	She kissed me firmly, and smiled.  "Well, in that case, 
let's get busy."

	I carried her back to Erica's room and we proceded to 
deflower her bed.

****************
 
Shun's Tale:

	The parents all said goodbye when we got to where 
they would head for the parking lots and we would head to 
the dorms.  I couldn't bring myself to give Mom a hug, 
though I could tell she wanted one.  I was still too angry 
with her.  

	We all scattered and Kagami and I ended up at the 
back door of my dorm.  She rocked back and forth on her 
feet as we stood there, both of us staring at the ground.

	"I'm so sorry," Kagami said to me for maybe the 
millionth time .

	"It's okay," I said for roughly time 3 billion myself.  
"I'm not mad at you; I'm mad at them for hiding all this 
important stuff from us," I told her.  Crystal was right. We 
really needed to know this a lot earlier than we got told.  
And how can we be sure they will tell us everything?

	Ugh, I hate being angry.

	"I swear, you will be safe," she told me frantically.  "I 
won't let you get hurt."

	"Well, if I do become a Hime, your life will be riding 
on my skills, so we'll be even," I told her.  I am confident in 
my skills, but I'd rather not gamble on it if I don't have to.  
Even with the risk, I will take the oath if it is offered.  
Having seen how dangerous this can get and especially 
since most of the family can't actually fight at full strength 
if things get worse.  I'm going to need the power to take 
care of those I care about.  Even though it's probably a bad 
idea.

	Ugh.

	And that was almost certainly the tip of the iceberg.  
It's going to get worse before it gets better.  I'm certain of 
that.

	Kagami kissed me and I kissed her back and let my 
mind blank a little.  

	I'm lucky; my girlfriend knows everything.  If the 
parents insist we can't tell Hayao or Sanae or Gin or 
whoever Erica has a thing for, it's going to be hell for them.  

	Well, Natasha's probably confident she will never 
lose, but...

	"Do you want me to come up with you tonight or 
should I go home?" she asked softly.

	What I wanted was to strip her naked and make love 
to her.  To just forget everything in passion.  "I want to 
make love to you," I said hotly.

	For a moment, she looked utterly stunned and then 
terrified, and she closed her eyes, shivering.

	Dammit.  I shouldn't have said that.

	Then she pounced on me, pushing me against the wall 
of the dorm, kissing me frenetically and I kissed her back, 
forgetting everything in her kiss.  

	She broke it off.  "We shouldn't," she said softly.  "But 
you've got condoms, right?"

	"Yes," I said.  "And I know some things that have 
absolutely zero risk of pregnancy but are quite enjoyable 
anyway."

	"Then let's go upstairs and do it," she said, breathing 
hard.  It reminded me of what she'd looked like when she'd 
leaped down and nailed the freaky white tentacle beast to 
the tree, killing it.  So passionate and strong and I wanted 
her to rip my clothing off right now.  Her usual fear was 
gone and I was so turned on I could hardly stand it.

	We went upstairs and took each other until we finally 
collapsed from sleepiness and exhaustion and I slept, 
feeling wonderful.  

	I prayed I hadn't fucked up again.

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

Aoi's Tale:

	Erica came back with us to our house, even though it 
was crowded.  We wanted her with us.  Chie and I sat on 
our bed with her and I told her, "I'm so sorry we didn't tell 
you everything.  But the others insisted and, well, we're 
new and didn't want to rock the boat."

	"I understand," Erica said.

	I hope she does.  We just didn't want to mess things 
up, and...we should have just told her.  But we didn't want 
to dump a bunch of burdens on her.  

	"We're very proud of you," Chie said to her, giving her 
a hug.  "We know you'll make us proud. Just don't ever 
hide anything like that again and we won't hide either, 
okay?"

	"Okay, Mom," Erica said, and then she yawned and 
hugged us at once.  "What's your Child?" 

	I felt somewhat embarrassed.  "We share a huge metal 
cat named...umm...Erica," I mumbled quickly.

	"..."

	"We love you most of all, so we kind of named her 
that," Chie mumbled.

	Erica laughed.  "Is this like Aunt Natsuki naming 
everything she loves Dhuran?"

	"More or less," Chie mumbled.

	Erica laughed again and then said, "We'd better go 
bed."

	"Sorry to make you sleep with us," Chie said.  "I know 
you're too old for it, but I just kind of want to know you're 
safe with us."  She laughed nervously.  "I'm sorry, it's kind 
of a retarded thing to ask at your age."

	"It's okay, that's why I came back with you," Erica 
said.  "I'll feel safer too.  We're all novices at this together, 
right?"

	"Right," Chie said, taking one of her hands and one of 
mine.  "Harada family forever, right?"

	"Forever!" we all said in unison, then smiled at each 
other.

	"So...about this boy you like...," Chie said, grinning.

	"He has a girlfriend, so I'm going to move on," she 
said, but I wasn't so convinced.  

	"You didn't get a crush on Sayuri's boy, did you?" 
Chie asked.

	"I do not have dreams about him kissing me!  Or..."  
Erica put a hand over her mouth.

	"He is handsome and charming," I said.

	"But rather taken," Chie said.

	"I know!  I am NEVER THINKING OF HIM 
AGAIN!"  Erica said firmly.  "And if either of you tell 
anyone anything I will just...I will just explode."

	"I won't tell and neither will Chie," I told her.

	"But..." Chie began.

	"Neither will Chie," I said firmly, staring at her.

	"My lips are sealed," Chie said, crumbling before my 
will.  She drew a finger across her lips.

	"At least I don't have to keep my mouth shut to 
anyone I wouldn't keep it shut to anyway," Erica mumbled.

	"Yeah.  We can't give away family secrets to every 
person who dates someone in the family, but..."  Chie 
sighed.  "No wonder Natsuki and Shiho go through so 
many boyfriends."

	I am quite lucky to already be married, yes, I thought.  
"Look, there is something we have to think about," I told 
the others reluctantly.

	"What?" Chie asked.

	"If being a Hime is partly genetic, then Erica's birth 
parents must have come from a line with the potential, 
right?  Or did the magic somehow change her when we 
adopted her?" I asked.  

	"..."  Chie stared at me.

	Erica looked thoughtful, pushing up her glasses.  "The 
orphanage didn't even know, right?  As someone just 
anonymously dropped me off, right?"

	"Yes," I told her.  "I guess I could call and ask them, 
but since none of the current Hime are closely related, you 
may be from some family with no ties to us, or some Fuuka 
student who was gathered in by First District who never 
manifested.  There's the birthmark, but those aren't 
hereditary," I continued.  Erica has a birthmark, but I doubt 
it has anything to do with Hime powers, as I never saw a 
mark like that on anyone else in the family.  It kind of 
resembles a crab, though.  But only very vaguely.

	Erica yawned.  "I'm just kind of curious."

	Totally understandable.  "Let's get some sleep," I said.

	We soon fell asleep and despite my worries, I slept 
very well, feeling relieved she wasn't angry with us.