The Summer of Her Discontent:
	To Bear What Must Be Borne
	
By John Biles

Series:  Mai Hime (future)

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

*************
	 
Dan's Tale:

	I got woken up by a phone call from Mom.  "We're 
downstairs.  We're coming up.  Hide Sanae if she's naked."

	"She's not naked," I told her.  "But she doesn't know 
anything."

	She sighed.  "For now, it needs to stay that way.  From 
what I've heard, it seems likely you won't have to worry 
about that tie, though."  

	"Come on up."

	I woke up Sanae on the couch and took a SPEED 
SHOWER.  I was halfway presentable when my parents 
arrived and I'd already closed the door to let my roommate 
sleep.

	My parents hugged me very tightly.  "Sorry to steal 
your man, but we have to take him for stuff today," Mom 
said to Sanae.

	She sighed.  "I can't come?"

	"Not this time," Mom said.  "But look...get your 
homework done; if there is time, we'll come get you and 
the four of us can hit the museum and dinner together, 
okay?  You've gotten me curious about this Babylonian 
exhibit."

	Sanae perked up.  "Of course.  Maybe I should call my 
parents, see if they want to go too?"  

	"Let's just do the four of us this time," Mom said.  "As 
we might not be able to, so best not to put them on 
tenterhooks.  We could shoot for a sixsome on Friday, 
maybe?"

	"Sounds good," Sanae said, then kissed me.  "See you 
later, dear."

	I smiled at her.  "See you too," I told her, praying 
Mom is right and I won't be putting anyone at risk.  Though 
I think I put MYSELF at risk reading that thing.  Damn 
infectious spells.

	"She's so happy with you," Mom said once she was 
gone.  "I promise you won't have to hide from us, unlike 
most of your cousins.  And I'm sure her parents will 
approve of you."

	I laughed.  "True."  I just wish I knew if this was a 
good idea.  I like Sanae, but I can't really call this love yet.  
But I'll just take it nice and slow.  "Let's go get some 
breakfast."

	"Haruka is supposed to have infinite food for us, so 
let's go," Mom said.   

	"Just remember, no nookie until you're at least as old 
as your mother was when she first did it," Dad said, 
smiling.

	"So, seventeen, then," I said, grinning.

	Mom mumbled something incoherent and Dad said, 
"Just be glad you'll be of majority before you reach the age 
I was."

	"Was Mom your first?" I asked, surprised.

	Dad mumbled something incoherent.  

	I'm not waiting THAT long.

	But I was going to wait some anyway, curious as I am.

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

Crystal's Tale:

	Eventually, I woke up; my body ached as sleeping on 
the couch sitting up doesn't actually work that well.  
However, being cuddled up to my girlfriend was nice.

	I let her sleep and stumbled off to get sort of cleaned 
up.  I wasn't sure if I should dress fancy or casual, so I put 
on a nice blouse and blue jeans as a compromise.

	Then I started making coffee, expecting Mom would 
want some.  I was excited and terrified at once.  I'd been 
waiting for this day forever, but the things I'd learned... 
yeah, Mom's exactly the sort of person to try to protect us 
by hiding it.  And that's without even knowing the real 
details of everything that happened when fighting the 
Obsidian Lord.  Marduk.  Whatever his real name is.

	Junko was still asleep when the parents knocked on 
the door.  I shook her gently and she stretched just in time 
for the parents to come in.

	Dad and Aunt Mikoto were in their workout clothes, 
which is to say as casual as Dad ever gets.  He and Mom 
both love to dress up and are totally vain about it, though 
they'd never admit it.  Aunt Mikoto, on the other hand, only 
dresses up for fancy occasions.  

	And then there was Mom.  Who was wearing a straw 
hat, a t-shirt that announced 'Lifeguard' and blue denim 
shorts.  I stared, eyes wide; Mom generally only dresses 
like that to go to the beach.  In fact, I was pretty sure she 
had on one of her one-pieces under that; were we going to 
go swim across the harbor or something?

	Then I noticed Mom and Dad and Aunt Mikoto were 
all wearing their class rings from Fuuka on their right hands 
on the ring finger.  Which they usually almost never wear.  
Was this a secret sign?

	Mom hugged me silently, looking sad, while Dad and 
Aunt Mikoto looked pretty cheerful.  "We're gonna kick 
your ass today, Crystal!" Aunt Mikoto said.  "And Junko's 
too!  I wanna see her skills!"

	"Hi," Junko mumbled groggily.

	"Mom?" I said softly.

	"All I ever wanted was for you to be safe and happy 
and able to have a normal childhood like I never had," 
Mom said to me softly, holding me tightly.

	"I am safe and happy and I had a good childhood," I 
said to her softly in reply, hugging her with all my strength.  
"But I am the daughter of the Dragon-Princess and we are 
at war and I'm ready to do my duty."  However much it 
scares me.  I hate being this scared.  Kasumi doesn't seem 
scared at all any more.  How does she do it?  I always 
thought I was so brave and now I get scared just thinking 
about all this.  

	Dad went and poured himself some coffee. "I'm 
stealing your coffee.  Want some, Junko-san?"

	"Yes, sir," she said, then came over to Mother and I.  
To my surprise, she kneeled down and said, "Dragon-
Princess.  I have sworn to keep your family secrets and to 
help defend our schools and this city from the monsters 
which plague it.  I promise you I will do my best to keep 
your daughter safe and all other members of your clan. My 
word is my honor is my life," she said very formally.  

	That must be a tradition in her family, I thought.  

	For a moment, Mom looked embarrassed, but then to 
my surprise, she turned very serious.  "Junko-san, do you 
really understand what you are getting into?"

	"Of course not," Junko said.  "But I am willing to 
learn.  I cannot unsee what I have seen or stay idle while 
others risk themselves.  Especially not Crystal."

	Mom looked very sad.  "Akane says you are a very 
skilled fighter."

	"I am rusty and out of practice but I am gradually 
relearning my skills so I can fight with my fellow students," 
Junko said.  

	"Why did you quit before?" Mom asked her firmly.

	"My parents forbade me," Junko whispered.  "They 
said it was unfeminine."  She shivered and I put a hand on 
her shoulder.

	"But you are willing to defy them for my daughter's 
sake?" Mom said softly.

	"Not just Crystal," she said softly.  "Shun and Natasha 
are my friends, and Kurauchi-sensei showed me I could be 
a woman and a warrior as well," Junko continued, staring at 
Mother's knees.  "I have gradually come to learn at Saint 
Mary's that many things my parents taught me...are not 
held outside our clan.  And I...I am not a boy, so my brother 
will inherit.  I would only serve at best.  I do not wish 
simply to cook and clean while others fight.  I want to 
make my own future."

	Dad hovered nearby, a cup of coffee in each hand; his 
was laden with junk the way I do to mine; the other was 
still black.  He handed it to Junko.  "She sounds serious to 
me, Mai."

	"Cooking and cleaning suck," Mikoto said.  "Well, 
cooking can be fun but cleaning SUCKS."

	Agreed.

	"Doesn't it scare you?" Mom asked softly.

	"Yes," Junko said.  "But I learned to rise above my 
fears long ago."  

	I thought I had.  I'm sorry Junko.  But I swear, I will 
do my best to protect you.

	"And you understand what may happen if Crystal is 
defeated?" Mom said.

	"I will not let her lose," Junko said firmly.

	Mom suddenly snapped at her angrily, startling me.  
"That kind of arrogant nonsense is half of what got us all 
crushed!  Thinking you will never lose is fine for SMALL 
CHILDREN.  Sooner or later, ALL of us lost.  Sooner or 
later, Crystal WILL lose," Mom said, her eyes ablaze.  "No 
one is invulnerable and if you go into this thinking you will 
somehow never lose, then it would be better if you left now 
before it's too late!"

	Junko looked stricken and I said, "Mom, don't yell at 
my girlfriend!"

	"I had to watch my brother and the man I love  
dissolve away into nothing because for all my power, I 
could not protect them!," Mom said.  "We've had a very 
long and successful period of not getting beaten up, but 
nothing lasts forever.  If you are going to date Crystal, 
sooner or later, something is going to happen to you.  And I 
can't even warn you what as we don't know yet!  And if you 
don't understand that and if you can't accept that, then you 
shouldn't be part of this.  The rest of us have no choice; 
we're in too deep.  But I can't accept letting you endanger 
yourself unless you convince me you really understand!"

	"Mom!  I'm sure she..." I began but Junko took my 
hand and shook her head.

	I fell silent, frowning.  Why is Mom being so harsh 
about this?

	"She's right," Dad said, sipping his coffee.  Aunt 
Mikoto wandered over to get some coffee.

	"Everyone loses sooner or later," Aunt Mikoto said 
sadly.  

	"It is hard for me to consider the consequences when 
we don't even know what they are," Junko said to Mom.  
Her voice was more hesitant now.

	"Fair enough," Mom said.  "You could die.  Think of it 
that way.  None of us realized we'd ever get our loved ones 
back when we lost them."

	"I would rather die fighting to defend my friends than 
live knowing they were being hurt or dying without me," 
Junko said firmly.  "I can't walk away from this and stay on 
the sidelines, living in fear.  You are right.  We do all lose 
sometimes."  She shivered and I wondered what she had 
lost.  "Real strength isn't never getting knocked down, it's 
getting back up when you do."

	Aunt Mikoto chugged her coffee.  "Mmm, good."

	Mom looked at me and I looked back.  "What?" I 
asked.

	"Crystal," Mom said firmly.  "Do you understand 
now?"

	"Understand what?" I said warily with the feeling of a 
trap closing in.

	"Do you think you could have let yourself fall in love 
with anyone knowing what you know now?"  Mom stared 
me in the eyes.

	"..."

	"I tried to stop myself," Mom said, looking pained.  
"To push everyone away with some crazy idea I could stop 
caring and thus no one would be at risk when I died.  But I 
couldn't.  Our love is dangerous, Crystal.  It can hurt those 
around us when we fail, and no one always wins."

	"Yeah, but the only other choice is to just crush your 
heart and let it die and that's no way to live," I mumbled, 
staring at the floor and feeling very guilty.

	"I don't like being so harsh, but you both have to 
understand this is dangerous and not just rush into it with 
the optimism of youth."  Mom looked over at Dad.

	Dad put a hand on my shoulder.  "We love you, you 
know.  You're our only child, maybe the only child we'll 
ever be able to have.  We lied to you and hid things from 
you, but we only did it because we didn't want to crush 
your youth out of you like it got crushed out of us."

	"I'm old enough to make my own decisions now!" I 
protested angrily.  "And I might not be in this position if 
you'd actually told us the truth!"

	Junko squirmed uncomfortably, still kneeling before 
Mom.

	"You wouldn't be in this position if you hadn't decided 
to lie to US!," Mom said angrily.  "Instead of hiding 
multiple monster attacks from us so we thought you were 
safe when you weren't!"

	"You were lying to us to make us think we were safe 
when we weren't first!" I shouted back at her.

	Aunt Mikoto drank her coffee and looked 
uncomfortable, while Junko carefully studied the floor.  
Dad had a very blank look on his face which really irritated 
me.  

	"Are you going to just stand there?" I shouted at him.

	He took another gulp of coffee.  "Yes."

	Dammit, I just did what I had to!  Natasha would be 
monster shit right now if I hadn't gone to her aid!

	"We didn't want you to constantly live in fear!" Mom 
shouted at me.

	"Maybe you shouldn't have kept searching us and not 
telling us why and not letting us know you all actually fight 
monsters so you could protect us if you wanted us to feel 
SAFE!  Do you know how much of a freak you made me 
feel with the body searches?  How much I worried about 
what exactly you were looking for and what would happen 
if you found it?"  Mom retreated as I angrily advanced on 
her.

	Aunt Mikoto suddenly swallowed all her coffee and 
said quickly, "Crystal's roommate and suitemates are here, 
trying to sleep."

	We all froze up.  Shit.  What the hell am I going to tell 
them?

	Mom looked like a meteorite hit her.  "Get ready to 
go," she mumbled.  "We can fight in the car where no one 
can hear us."

	Dad made a face, clearly not looking forward to 
driving with his own mobile fight.

***********
	 
Natasha's Tale:

	I dressed up fancy for this, though I also packed a 
workout outfit and a bathing suit, just in case, though I 
looked weird wearing a fancy green dress with a blue 
denim backpack.  After much arguing with myself, I got 
my nicest piece of jewelry.  It's basically a silver tiara with 
an emerald set in it with several small green gems, my 
fifteenth birthday present from Mom's boyfriend of the 
time, George.  Or was he Fred?  Anyway, whatever his 
name was, he was a redhead like Mom and I and he liked 
emeralds and other green gems and gave Mom and I 
jewelry to that effect.  He claimed it was magical, but I 
think that was just him teasing me.  

	Anyway, I almost never wear it because it's expensive 
and worth more than anything else I own.  I have my own 
box with a combination lock for it.  But I felt like prettying 
up, so I wore my only really nice dress and my headpiece 
and I was all ready to be a pretty princess.

	Fortunately, my arm bandage from where I got nailed 
worst by the cyber-panther-thing was hidden under the 
dress sleeves on my left arm.  It's healing fast, but it's going 
to be a pain in the ass for a while.  

	Mom showed up in a navy-blue suit-dress, one of the 
many she wears for work, and the glasses, which she wears 
on the job in order to look more intellectual.  She saw me, 
looked surprised, then smiled almost shyly at me, which 
was kind of freaky.  "You look beautiful," she said softly.

	"I feel beautiful," I said, taking her hands.  "So when 
do I get a ride on your crow?"

	Mom stared at the ground.  "I haven't summoned him 
in 23 years," she said softly.  "Natasha...I was terrible.  I 
was jealous and hateful and spiteful and I ended up killing 
the man I loved in order to keep him away from Mai.  He 
came back, but...but...I don't deserve to have a wonderful 
daughter like you."

	I stared.  I knew Mom and Aunt Mai had fought over 
Uncle Yuuichi and he'd basically dumped her to date Aunt 
Mai, but...killed him?  He's rather not dead.  Unless...no, 
there was no way she could be talking about my actual 
Father.   

	I grabbed Mom and hugged her tightly.  "Mom, I love 
you.  And you love me.  And that's all that matters, not 
things that happened when you were a little kid."

	"I can't even protect you because I can't use my 
powers, but if I could, I'd probably just become a hateful 
monster again," she said, sobbing onto my shoulder.  "I 
should have let Mai and Yuuichi and Mikoto take you as 
their own like they offered to.  I'm a terrible woman, a 
terrible mother and a terrible Hime."

	"You are not terrible," I said, dragging Mom back into 
my bedroom and closing the door.  My roommate was off 
at...something or another.  I hadn't paid attention when 
she'd shouted incoherently from the shower.  But I think 
my suitemates are still in bed.  

	"You are my mother and I love you.  They offered to 
raise me?" I asked her, sitting her down on the bed and 
hugging her tightly.

	"I thought about getting an abortion," Mom said, 
starting to cry.  "I couldn't stand the thought of raising that 
fucker's child.  I just wanted it to be over.  But Yuuichi 
offered to take the baby himself.  Mai was pregnant with 
Crystal and it would have been easy to pass you two off as 
twins."  I was born the day before Crystal.  

	Thinking about being raised as Crystal's twin was kind 
of surreal.  It would have been pretty different than what I 
had with Mom.  I'd probably be a very different person.  
"Why didn't you?"

	"I couldn't stand the idea of Mai raising my baby 
either," Mother said, half-talking and half-sobbing.  

	"I'm glad you kept me," I told her.  
	
	"I'm a shitty mother.  You would have been far better 
off with Mai.  More toys, more clothing, more attention 
paid to you.  Yuuichi would have loved you as his own and 
Mai would have too.  Damn her and her big heart," Mom 
said, pounding my back with her fists, but I barely felt it.  
"I can't do anything at all right.  I lied to you all those years 
for nothing, I never got revenge on that fucker for getting 
me pregnant, I can't hold down a boyfriend for more than 3 
minutes and you nearly got killed because I lied to you!"  

	She began sobbing incoherently and I just held her, 
letting her let it out.  I'm sure some of the others are pretty 
pissed with their folks over the whole lying thing, but I've 
lied too much to Mom to get mad at her for doing it for 
what she thought was my own good.  And frankly, I'm the 
one who decided it was a good idea to run off into the 
woods by myself.

	When she finally stopped, I said, "I was only in danger 
because I didn't get backup before I went investigating fight 
noises."

	"You wouldn't be so overconfident if I hadn't helped 
hide the truth from you all those years," Mom said, having 
moved on to the dry heaves.

	"I'm not mad, and I love you, and I want to ride with 
you on your crow even if you did something bad with it 
once.  I know you, Mom.  You got mad and you did 
something stupid while you were mad you would never 
have normally done.  And I'm just like you."  

	"You're better.  Much better.  My perfect, loving, little 
girl who isn't a big old ball of spite and hate like I am," 
Mom mumbled into my shoulder.  "How a fucker like your 
father and I managed to make something as wonderful as 
you, I'll never know."  She sounded utterly weary.

	"He convinced me never to date anyone Japanese 
again," Mom said bitterly.  "Japanese men are shit."

	I winced.  That's kind of unfair.  Gin's Japanese and 
he's GREAT.  And Dan and Shun are perfectly fine and 
Hayao basically exists to stick it in, I think, but he's not 
terrible beyond that.  Man, I don't know how he's going to 
manage to be faithful to Kasumi if she insists on staying 
virginal.  Taiki's an asshole, and I'm going to kill him, but 
his brother Yaten is okay.

	"Gin is not shit," I said firmly.

	"He'll probably dump you the second he doesn't get 
what he wants from you," Mom said gloomily.  I would 
have gotten mad, but I think right now she would have 
accused Buddha of being not just a pimp but kingpimp.

	"Be nice, I never badmouth your boyfriends," I told 
her.

	"You just think it.  I can tell."  She sighed, and despite 
the bitterness, she was starting to sound more like herself.  
Herself on a bad day.

	"Anyway, I love you, I'm not mad.  I just want a ride 
on your crow."

	"Why are you so obsessed with Yatagarasu, anyway?" 
Mom asked curiously.

	"Because I think riding a giant bird would be totally 
awesome.  And my Child can't fly," I said regretfully.

	"Oh, they can all fly once they got strong enough.  
Don't ask me how, but we all flew into battle together to 
destroy the Hime Star," Mom said.  "Even Midori's stupid 
looking chariot thing can fly."

	"I wish I had enough room here to summon my Child 
to show you.  Boris is really cool, even if I still am not sure 
what a pelycosaur is.  I thought these things were 
dinosaurs," I said thoughtfully.  "But apparently 
Dimetrodons are pelycosaurs."

	"It means they are part pelican," Mom said.

	"Oh, well, in that...wait, what?" I asked.  She had to be 
messing with me.

	Mom laughed.  "Got you."

	I laughed too.  I was happy to see her happy.  "Maybe 
it's the spines."

	"I am totally clueless.  I know Tyrannosaurus Rex 
means 'King of the Lizard Tyrants' but that's about it," 
Mom said.  "And I think 'saur' means 'lizard', so a 
pelycosaur would be 'something or another' lizard."

	"I'll have to look it up, I guess," I told her, then I 
hugged her tightly.  "Ready to go, Mom?"

	"No, but ready as I will ever be.  You look beautiful."

	"Thanks," I said.  "Then let's ship out."

	We got downstairs; to my surprise, Gin was in the 
lounge.  He had a wrapped painting propped up against the 
chair.  He grabbed me into a tight embrace and a kiss, to 
which I responded eagerly.

	I then broke it off.  "Sorry, dear, I think my family is 
taking me captive today."

	"I just had to see you," he said softly, holding my 
hands.  "I about had a heart attack last night."

	"You need to wander around shirtless more often," I 
told him.  "Just with me with you."

	He laughed and kissed me again.  "Try to stay away 
from snakes." 

	"I will," I said, kissing him back.

	"Look, before you go, I have a present for your 
mother."  He let go of my hands and turned to Mom.  "This 
ended up a bit of a rush job, as the play ate my time, but 
here you go."

	It was a painting of Mom in a green suit-dress, acting 
as interpreter for two businessmen in a fancy office; one 
looked European, the other Japanese.  The European one 
looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't actually place him.  
Not one of Mom's boyfriends, I don't think.  Mom looked 
looked very respectable and successful.

	Mom blinked in surprise, then smiled.  "This is very 
nice but who are these two guys?"

	"I got pictures from history websites," he said.  "The 
founder of US Steel and the founder of Toyota."

	"I think it looks great," I said.

	"I had to throw out my first idea for fear of getting 
hit."  Gin paused.  "Umm..."

	"Was I naked?" Mom asked teasingly.

	"You would have had a bikini on," he mumbled.  

	"Surrounded by cabana boys at the beach?" Mom 
asked.

	"More or less," he mumbled.  "You and Natasha 
together."

	Mom laughed.  "I can put this up in my office," she 
said.  "Thank you, Gin-san."

	"You're welcome, Shiho-san."

	I said goodbye to him and headed to the car with 
Mom, who now looked worried again.

	"What's wrong?"

	"He pays the price if you fail," she said.  "Or else I do.  
I can accept that, as I fear that if I fail, you will pay the 
price.  So that would only be fair.  But he doesn't even 
know the truth."

	"I want to tell him," I told her.

	"He can't even keep his mouth shut about fantasizing 
about the two of us together in bikinis," she said.  "You 
think he could keep this secret?"

	Ugh.  I know he'd probably blab without meaning to, 
but I totally hate the idea of hiding anything from him.  
That's not fair to him or how a love affair is supposed to 
work.

	"Is that why none of your affairs last very long, 
Mom?" I asked.

	"It's among the reasons," she said.  "Sooner or later, 
they figure out there are things they aren't being told and 
sometimes that's what drives the knife in."

	"I really love him," I told her.

	"I've thought that before and it didn't last," Mom said.  
"True love is a delusion.  Every time I've thought I found 
true love, I got betrayed."  She sighed gloomily.  "I'm sorry, 
honey. This is among the reasons we kept it all secret.  
How are you supposed to fall in love if you know it puts 
someone in danger?  That's totally not fair to you."

	It's not.  

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

Kagami's Tale:

	I woke up feeling totally wonderful.  Shun held me 
gently with his strong arms and his body was warm against 
my naked one and my hair seemed to splay out everywhere, 
trying to mix with Shun's own hair.

	After a few seconds, however, something else became 
apparent.  The room smelled UTTERLY TERRIBLE.  It 
smelled like we'd been wallowing inside an entire 
basketball teams' dirty uniforms after a big game.  My eyes 
crossed.

	I made some sort of hideous noise and Shun snapped 
awake.  "What's...ugh!"

	The dorm's air conditioning had apparently shut down 
during the night as temperatures dropped and the dorm 
cooled off down to the thermostat setting.  Which meant 
little air circulation which meant a trapped stench.

	We threw the window open and took the sheets and 
our clothing and stuffed it in the laundry hamper.  No time 
to wash them before Shun's parents showed up.  We took a 
shower together, laughing and kissing and touching each 
other and I felt so good.  Grown up.  It was probably just 
like when Akane-sensei and Kazuya-san or Akira-sensei 
and Takumi-san take a shower together.  Which they might 
be doing right now.  

	I giggled as Shun scrubbed my hair.  "Your parents are 
probably doing this right now."

	He winced.  "Don't remind me."

	I laughed cheerfully at that.  "I love you so much, 
Shun."  I worked on scrubbing my stomach.  

	"I love you too, Kagami," he said softly and kissed my 
cheek, his fingers working out the snarls in my hair.  "Man, 
Mom was awesome," he said, sounding very fond of her.

	This relieved me as seeing them get mad at each other 
had left me really nervous and uncomfortable.  "She loves 
you very much," I said softly, now trying to bend around to 
scrub one of my legs without messing up his work.

	He grimaced.  "Funny way of showing it," he 
muttered.

	"I..."  Now I was getting nervous again when I just 
wanted to be happy with the man I love.

	"I'm not mad at you.  If you weren't a Hime and I was, 
I'd have had to not tell you," he said, sighing.  "And you're 
new, so you're in no position to defy people.  But my 
parents had a very long time to tell me all this, so I'm not 
happy with them.  But I am not mad at you.  I love you."  
He kissed my cheek and now turned my head to rinse the 
soap out of my hair.  "But I think you'd know better than 
me that just because you love someone doesn't mean you're 
always happy with them."

	I know exactly what he means.  But I don't want him 
to go through that.  He's so close to his parents; I envy that 
but I don't want him to lose it.

	He now turned for me to start doing his hair, so I got 
the shampoo and went to work.  He has such beautiful hair.  
"I just..."

	"I promise I won't swear eternal hate, Kagami," he 
said.  "But I can't just roll over either."

	I sighed.  I didn't want...I just want us all to be happy.  
Like I was when I woke up.  But I guess perfect happiness 
never lasts long.

	"Are we going to tell them?" I asked softly.

	"Only if they ask," he said.  "If our lives are going to 
be on the line, we have the right to have as much sex as we 
want, as long as we're careful to avoid pregnancy," he 
continued, working on scrubbing his arms while my fingers 
tugged and worked over his hair.  

	That's very important to me; for all that I think Mother 
overdid it trying to restrict my social life, I agree with her 
that I don't want to get pregnant until my education is over.  
But if we stick to things like what we did last night, there's 
no danger of that.  

	But I don't want Akane-sensei and Akira-sensei to be 
disappointed in me either.  Though Akane-sensei said it 
was okay, she trusted my discretion.  I don't think Akira-
sensei is going to be happy with me.  But then she and 
Shun aren't happy with each other either.

	And I don't like that.  But what can I do?  I guess it 
will blow over but I don't like just trusting the future 
blindly.

	We finished bathing and dried off, then kissed each 
other while clad only in towels.  I'm so lucky to have such a 
wonderful boyfriend who loves me so much.  

	Time to get dressed and go meet with everyone.   

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

Aoi's Tale:

	I woke up and went out to make everyone breakfast.  
Chie mumbled something incoherent about helping me, but 
I left her and Erica still sprawled across each other.  Erica 
was mumbling about finding tasty leaves.

	To my surprise, Akira was in the kitchen with Takumi, 
already making breakfast. Further to my surprise, it didn't 
involve fish and rice, which she usually makes for breakfast 
those few times we let her.  She's not a bad cook, but she 
tends to feed everyone ninja food, which is nutritious and 
healthful but not usually very tasty.  

	In fact, they were making pancakes.  Mmm, pancakes.  
From one of my recipe books.  Keiichi and Katsuhito had 
been put to work and were busy cutting up fruit and setting 
the table.

	They're not bad boys as long as you channel their 
energy productively, I've found.  It's if you leave them 
unoccupied that they get out of hand.

	 Takumi was humming a tune to himself, while Akira 
worked quietly, but she looked very cheerful.  

	I said, "Good morning.  I see you've got breakfast 
underway."

	"You can go shower now," Akira said.  "I will handle 
this."

	"Okay," I said.  "I'll rustle up a change of clothing for 
you."  Takumi shouldn't be hard, but Akira's a fair amount 
shorter than me.  Well, I can hem something up for her for 
a blouse and with skirts, it won't matter as she can just wear 
one of my knee-length ones and it'll go to mid-calf on her.  
She tends to wear her clothing a little loose, anyway.  
"Thank you."

	"I felt like cooking," Akira said.

	"She wants to see how high and fast she can flip a 
pancake now," Takumi said, grinning.

	"Do not," Akira muttered.

	I laughed, then went and took a shower, dragging Chie 
out of bed so we could both get clean and dressed and let 
others get clean.  Eventually, the food was ready but Akane 
and Kazuya still hadn't come out.  I sat the boys down, then 
went to wake them up; they must have really gone at it last 
night.

	Or something.  I could have thought I heard crying but 
why would one of them be crying?  Well, it was none of 
my business, even if the curiosity was eating at me.

	I knocked.  "Rise and shine, breakfast is ready!"

	"Okay, be there in a minute," Akane said.  

	They soon stumbled out.  Akane seemed rather quiet, 
while Kazuya looked like he'd slept badly.  He grumped out 
to the table, sat down, and started stuffing his face.

	"Daddy, did you have a nightmare?" Keiichi asked.

	"Yes," he mumbled.  

	Everyone made a face; I could imagine what.  
Katsuhito looked curiously at the rest of us, then said, "Did 
everyone but me have a nightmare?"

	"I didn't have one," Keiichi said.

	"I slept very well," Erica said.  "I hope the couch 
wasn't too uncomfortable."

	"Don't try to jump on it," Keiichi said.  "Not that I 
would know."

	I laughed at that.  But the sofa bed looked fine, so I 
wasn't going to make a point of it.

	To my surprise, Kazuya didn't either, he just kept 
shovelling pancakes and fruit into his mouth without even 
bothering to put anything on them.

	Chie started to say something, and I said to her, "We 
need more milk, go get me some."

	She blinked, then went to the kitchen and began 
fumbling around in the refrigerator.  

	I love Chie dearly, but I expect if she tries to use 
humor to deflate the situation, it will just make it worse.  
Let him grump it out and he'll be fine.  

	I hope.

	Keiichi came over to Kazuya a little nervously and 
held out a slice of apple which he'd slathered jam onto, as 
he'd done to his pancakes.  "Here, eat this."

	Kazuya blinked, then ate it very quickly.  "Tasty," he 
said softly.  "Thank you, Keiichi."

	"Isn't it better like that?"

	Keiichi began slathering jam all over Kazuya's food 
while he stared, slightly confused.  Once he was done, he 
said, "That always makes me feel better."

	"Thank you," Kazuya said somberly, but he smiled 
and ruffled Keiichi's short hair.  "I was so hungry, I forgot."

	"I never get too hungry to forget the jam," Keiichi 
said.  

	Akane smiled and said, "Thank you, Keiichi."

	"You're welcome, Mommy, Daddy," he said, then 
went back to his chair and started eating again.

	"I can't find any milk," Chie said from the kitchen.

	This is because all the milk is on the table, but she 
never pays attention to our food supplies, so of course she 
doesn't know.  

	"Put it on the list," I said.  We were going to be out 
after feeding this many anyway.  

	Kazuya was still mopey after that, but not so much so.  
Enough he only dragged the conversation down rather than 
destroying it completely.

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

Shun's Tale:

	Kagami and I weren't sure if we should dress up, dress 
down, dress for practice or what.  So we decided to dress 
up but we packed practice clothing too.  So I put on a suit 
and Kagami went back to her room and put on a dark blue, 
very simple but pretty dress, and then we basically sat on 
the couch in my suite and cuddled while we waited.

	My suitemate, Kim Masahiko stumbled out of his 
bedroom with his stupid looking spikey pink hair.  He only 
gets to spike it on the weekends, as the school doesn't mind 
if we dye our hair, but things like mohawks, giant spikes, 
etc, are right out.  I think it looks terrible, but he loves it.

	"Hey there," he said.  "You two going to have a formal 
lunch date or something?"

	"No, just waiting for my folks for a family gathering," 
I said.

	"Hello, Kim-san," Kagami said.

	"Hey there, Mitsu-san," he said.  "You're looking 
good."

	"Thank you," she said, smiling.  "How are you?"

	"Pretty awesome.  I have a lunch date.  You won't 
believe this, but the Principal hooked me up with her  
niece."

	He was right, I couldn't believe it AT ALL.  "You've 
got to be kidding."  Masahiko doesn't get in trouble much, 
but he's not the sort of guy who authority figures like, 
either.  Even if he and the vice-principal have the same hair 
color.

	"Yeah, she's in a rock band and everything.  Totally 
awesome," he said.  "Anyway, wish me luck."

	Maybe I'm just dreaming this, I thought.  
	
	"Good luck, Kim-san," Kagami said.

	"Good luck, man."

	He sauntered out and I looked at Kagami.  "Ever heard 
of the Principal's  niece?"

	"While I see the Principal more than most people, she 
doesn't talk about her family to us.  I don't think she's 
married, but I know she has some siblings.  But the 
Principal is in her forties, I think, which I guess means she 
might still have some nieces around our age," Kagami said.  
"I think she's kin to the family who runs that robotics 
company."

	We were still speculating on why the principal would 
do this when Mom called from downstairs, telling us to 
come on down.

	We went down to the lounge.  Mom stepped towards 
me, then hesitated, looking at me, while Dad said, "Hello, 
Shun and Kagami."

	I wasn't as mad as I was yesterday but I wasn't feeling 
affectionate, either.  "Hi, Mom, Dad," I said softly.  "We 
ready to go learn more stuff you should have told us years 
ago?"

	Mother winced, then said, "It was a family decision."

	"Which we acceeded to," Dad said.  "I'm not going to 
hide it.  We thought it best not to lay the burden on you.  If 
you want to be mad, you have the right, but I think it was 
within our rights to keep our mouths shut so long as you 
were in no danger.  And if we'd known you actually were in 
danger, we would have told you sooner, but you hid it from 
us.  We can have a big pointless fight if you want, but we'd 
better save it for the car."

	I wasn't sure if I wanted a big pointless fight or not.

	Kagami looked very tense; I knew she felt guilty about 
this and I wished I could cheer her up, but we need to have 
this out so we can move on.  

	"We can riot in the car," I said.

	We headed for the car in silence.  Kagami kept almost 
taking my hand, then forcing herself to stop.  Hardly 
anyone was around; I was pretty sure most people were still 
in bed.  Or malingering around their dorm.

	Gin now came our way.  He bowed to Mom, to my 
surprise, then said, "Hello, everyone.  Off to your secret 
family meeting?"

	Mom stared at him and I laughed.  "Yes."

	"Say hello to everyone for me.  I'm going to work on 
the Tates next, sensei," he said to Mom.  

	"I'll email you more pictures," she said.  "I'd suggest 
using the older ones as embedded pictures."  

	He nodded.  "I'm still thinking about the right theme 
there."

	They talked for a little while about the painting project 
then he saluted us and headed on, and we went to the car, 
so we could have our fight.  	

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

Kasumi's Tale:

	I got up and put on a workout outfit, expecting that 
probably we'd practice at Aunt Haruka's.  Then I waited for 
them.

	The phone rang, but to my surprise, it was Uncle 
Jinnai.  "Hey, sweetie, it's me, got time to come down and 
say hello?"

	"Yes," I said, though I was surprised he came all the 
way from Tokyo at this hour in the morning.

	He was wearing a suit when I came down, and he 
looked very worried.  "Hey, I heard from your mother that 
you quit the track team."

	I stared at the ground, wondering what he thought.  
"Yes, Uncle.  Unfortunately, I'm too busy for it," I said.

	He gave me a dubious look.  "Your new boyfriend 
didn't tell you to quit, did he?"

	"No!  He'd never ask me to do that!  He felt guilty 
when I did," I told him frantically.  "I've just got too much 
stuff on my plate."

	"Couldn't hide it any more?" he said softly.

	I winced.  He'd seen me run.  He didn't know why but 
he knew what.  "Pretty much.  Lots of people thought I had 
to either be cheating or holding out on sharing," I 
mumbled.  "You didn't come all the way here just to ask me 
this, did you?"

	"I...we need to go somewhere more private than this," 
he said.  

	My room had people...  Outside, I guess.

	I took him around back behind the dorm to the very 
edge of the woods.  "What is it?" I asked.

	"Are you going to vanish like your mother did during 
the troubles at Fuuka?" he asked rather bluntly.

	"..."

	"People I talked to said she vanished just before 
summer vacation," Uncle Jinnai said.  "That's coming up, 
isn't it?"

	In a few weeks, yes.  "Soon, yes," I told him.  "But I 
think there are vague plans to go to France or something, 
not to, umm...vanish."

	He frowned, looking thoughtful.  "Kasumi, I don't 
want anything to happen to you or my brother or your 
mother or my nephews.  But just...no one will tell me 
anything, they just hint ominously."

	"I'm fine," I told him, glad that my shirt hid the 
bandage I have on my side where I have a bruise from last 
night.  Don't wince, I told myself.  "You don't have to 
worry, Uncle Jinnai.  It's going to be okay."  I felt very 
guilty having to leave him in the dark.

	He sighed.  "I just want to do something."

	"You don't have to worry about it," I told him.  "I'm 
okay.  Mom and Dad are coming if you want to say hi to 
them; I was kind of expecting it to be them calling me."  I 
paused.  "You didn't come down here just to see me, right?"

	"I had an emergency meeting," he said.  "Ms. Johnson 
is napping in the car in the parking lot."

	"What's wrong?" I asked.

	He laughed nervously.  "Now I feel a hypocrite, as I 
can't talk about it myself.  There was trouble with some 
business rivals."

	I nodded.  "I understand," I told him, feeling a little 
better.

	"So you're having a family day?" he asked.

	"Big family gathering at Aunt Haruka's," I told him.  

	I could tell he was curious, but was afraid to ask why.  
"Did the meeting go well?"

	"Yes," he said.  "Though half of it consisted of me 
listening to this tech woman spew words I didn't 
understand.  Ms. Johnson has a sister, Harmony, who 
works in the tech department of US Robots.  Her Japanese 
was good, but it was all words I never use and don't know."

	"So, like my science classes," I said, and then we both 
laughed.  

	"Kazuya has a real head for science and math," Uncle 
Jinnai said, then sighed.  "I guess maybe it was too easy for 
him to stay interested in it, though.  I'd better get going if 
I'm going to get back to Tokyo in time to do some things."

	"Thank you very much for coming," I said, and 
hugged him, remembering too late I had a bruise and a 
bandage on my side.  I tried to fight the urge to wince, but I 
can't believe I fooled him.

	However, he just said, "Give my love to everyone," 
then smiled at me and headed off.  I headed back to wait in 
front of the dorm.  

	A little later, Crystal, Aunt Mai, Aunt Mikoto, Uncle 
Yuuichi, and Nagiki-san came out of the dorm.  They all 
looked like they'd had cranky sauce for breakfast, though 
Nagiki-san looked more like she'd walked into a mine field.  
She bowed to me.  "Heir of Kurauchi, good morning," she 
said.

	Everyone else greeted me too.  I smiled.  "Hello, 
everyone.  You don't have to call me that, Nagiki-san."  I 
bowed back to Nagiki-san.  I always feel weird when she 
calls me that.

	"Waiting for your parents?" Aunt Mai asked.  She was 
in her usual beach outfit.  Were we going swimming today?  
Aunt Haruka does have a pool, but that's usually what she 
wears to the beach.  Maybe I'd better get a bathing suit too.  
Usually, Aunt Mai dresses up fancy, so this was unusual to 
see her dressed down.

	I nodded.  "Yes.  You all off to Aunt Haruka's?"

	"Yes," Aunt Mai said.  

	I wanted to ask about her outfit, but I was nervous 
about it.  So instead, I said, "Uncle Jinnai was here; he's 
worried I'm going to vanish."

	Aunt Mai looked intensely guilty.  "I should have 
known," she mumbled, then said, "No one is going to 
vanish this time.  If we have to start handcuffing people 
into pairs."

	"Kinky, Mom," Crystal said.

	Aunt Mai rubbed her forehead.  "I didn't mean it like 
that."

	"That's just for in private," Uncle Yuuichi said dryly.

	"I still don't understand how I got stuck under the bed 
that time," Aunt Mikoto said.

	My eyes crossed and I turned red.  

	Aunt Mai panicked.  "We don't...Kasumi...we..."

	Crystal began to laugh, while Nagiki-san looked 
confused.

	"Someone will pay the price, unfortunately, and we'll 
find out the hard way," Uncle Yuuichi said.  "Let's delay it 
as long as we can."

	I sighed.  "I'm already paying the price.  I had to...put 
off Uncle Jinnai.  I felt bad hiding the truth from him."  I 
don't want to lie to Hayao either.  Is it fair for me to risk 
him when I don't even know what might happen?  But then, 
I can't...I can't just dump him either.  And that wouldn't 
actually help.  It's my heart that determines who is most 
important to me.  Dumping him wouldn't change that.  
"And of course, I can't tell Hayao anything."

	Crystal made a gurgling noise and stared at the 
ground.  Nagiki-san looked at her curiously.

	"I know how you feel," Aunt Mai said 
sympathetically, taking my hand.  "We may end up having 
to tell him.  But I hope that you all will be able to live in 
peace here a while longer."  She sighed.  "Well, at least you 
have the strength to defend yourselves, if this place is no 
longer safe."  She sounded very sad.

	"I fear it probably isn't safe," Uncle Yuuichi said.  
"Let's just hope it doesn't get levelled."

	I grimaced at the thought.  So did Aunt Mai.  

	"Anyway, we need to get moving," Aunt Mai said.  
"Shouldn't your folks be here by now?"

	"I think I will call them," I said to her.  

	"We can drive you if they're having trouble," Aunt 
Mai said.  "I thought they were up at Aoi and Chie's place, 
though."

	I called Mother, who said, "I'm sorry we're kind of 
dragging around.  We'll be there in fifteen."

	"Okay, just wanted to check, as Aunt Mai offered to 
drive me."

	"We'll be there soon," Mother said.

	We said goodbye and I told Aunt Mai, so they took 
off, probably to have a fight on the way there.  I know the 
signs.

	I went up and got a bathing suit and some nicer 
clothing as well and put them all in a bookbag to take with 
me.  

	Mother and Father arrived with the boys in tow.  
Father was holding both their hands and they stuck close to 
him, looking more serious than usual.  How odd.  Mother 
and Father both seemed subdued and I was worried there 
was trouble to come.

	Mother now hugged me tightly.  "How are you?" she 
asked, smiling a little.

	"I am very good, Mother," I said.

	Father now let go of the boys and hugged me very 
tightly.  "I'm sorry," he said softly.

	"It's okay," I told him.  "I love you, Father," I said to 
him.

	"I love you too," he said.  "Ready to go?"

	"Uncle Jinnai was here," I said.  

	He stared at me.  "He was?"

	"He had an emergency meeting, so he came and saw 
me, then left again quickly."

	I glanced over at the boys and tried to indicate 'I will 
tell you later' just by my face, but instead, I think I just 
confused him.

	"I wish he'd called," Father said, then sighed.  "Let's 
go."
	
	We headed out.

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

	Mom closeted herself with Aunt Haruka, Aunt 
Yukino, Aunt Natsuki, and Aunt Yukariko when we got 
there, while the rest of us milled around the gardens being 
sociable.  Everyone kept giving Mom funny looks; given 
how she was dressed, it didn't surprise me.  I couldn't figure 
out why she'd slobbed out so much.

	Mom then went and talked to Aunt Akira for a bit, and 
then all the parents and us kids assembled in one of the 
living rooms and Dad and Aunt Yukino set up a projector 
and Mom opened a power point presentation.  Somehow I 
should have expected that.  Presentations are her lifeblood, 
I think.  I could imagine her planning the final battle with 
the Obsidian Lord.  'Slide 1:  Scouting', 'Slide 2:  
Diversion', 'Slide 3:  Main Assault', 'Slide 4:  After-Battle 
First Aid', 'Slide 5:  Karaoke Victory Party'.  I giggled 
nervously at the thought.

 	The rest of our aunts and uncles went off to another 
room.  The brats got hauled off by Aunt Haruka and Aunt 
Yukino's butler, Mr. Wolsey.    

	Mom looked weird giving the presentation in her 
beach outfit, but ran through what had happened to them at 
Fuuka in brief.  They'd all been born with the mark, but 
only developed powers when they came to Fuuka.  They 
had fought against various Orphans and then were 
manipulated into turning on each other.  Mom skimmed the 
details of that, saying it was up to our individual aunts and 
uncles to talk about it; they had put this behind them.  I had 
to wonder how easily you can put something like that 
behind you.  Knowing they'd been made to turn on each 
other made me very uncomfortable.  Mother tells lots of 
stories about work, and new teams always experience 
conflict.  It's just that conflict never involves open violence 
and trying to make each other's loved ones evaporate.  Ugh.  

	I guess people do change.  Okay, maybe not one big 
happy team like in a show for five year olds, but actually 
trying to wipe out each other's loved ones?  I couldn't 
believe it.  No wonder they hid this.

	All the rest of us looked pretty uncomfortable too.  It 
just didn't seem right.  Our family isn't the sort of family 
that does things like this.  No wonder there's the big rule to 
never fight each other seriously.

	"One of our biggest sources of trouble was Nagi, a 
servant of the Obsidian Lord," Mom said.

	Nagi...Nagisa...  "Nagi. What did he look like?"

	Mom described him to me and I suddenly wanted to 
just douse myself in gasoline and burn myself.  "Short, 
junior high...teal hair."

	"Yes."

	"And the headmistress was named Kazahana 
Mashiro," I said.

	Mom cocked her head curiously.  "Yes."

	"So if he and the headmistress had a child, the child 
might look like this?"  I had a picture of him in my phone; 
it comes up when he calls me.  I showed the picture to 
Mom and the other adults.

	They paled.  "Yes," Mom said.  "Where did you meet 
this boy?"

	"He goes to school and was helping me investigate the 
events at Fuuka," I said, burying my face in my hands in 
utter frustration with myself.  "He's probably also Kei and 
he's been totally playing me and I am going to kill him."

	"If he's the headmistress' son and she's the Crystal 
Princess, isn't he on our side?" Natasha said.

	"If he's connected to Nagi in any way, he's bad news," 
Uncle Kazuya said firmly.  "That was very stupid of you, 
Crystal."

	"If you had actually told us everything, I wouldn't 
have been that desperate!" I said.

	Junko sat next to me quietly, looking uncomfortable.  
I'm sorry, Junko.  You hitched your wagon to a damaged 
star, I fear.  I felt like a total fool.  

	"Kei?" Aunt Midori asked.

	Kasumi explained Kei to everyone.

	"I will have to try to talk to him later," Mom said.  "He 
may well have set up that monster summoning thing to help 
keep the Silver Knight's monsters away or possibly even to 
try to push you all to manifest your powers as Nagi did to 
us."  She sighed.  "Let me finish explaining everything."

	We were all rather squirming by the time Mom  
explained how Uncle Reito had been possessed by the 
Obsidian Lord and how she and Aunt Mikoto had to fight 
each other and how Dad had fought the Obsidian Lord in a 
sword duel and how they finally defeated him and Aunt 
Miyu had freed everyone's loved ones from the pillars and 
then the other Hime had blown up the Hime Star.

	"What happened to the pieces of the Hime Star after it 
disintegrated?" Shun asked.

	"It all disintegrated," Mom said.  "There was nothing 
left."

	"So you searched the area?" he asked.

	Mom said to Aunt Midori, "It all evaporated, right?"

	"It looked like it," Aunt Midori said, then frowned.  "I 
suppose anything that didn't fell into the ocean and washed 
out to sea.  It would be gone by now."

	Shun frowned at that.  Good thinking, I thought.  

	"And blowing up the star led to your powers fading so 
they only work in high magic areas," I said.

	Mom nodded.  "Exactly."

	"But since Dan read the Namcub, now people can take 
an oath to gain access all the time," I said.

	"But it only seems possible in a danger situation," 
Mom said.  "So you five and Aunt Akane and Aunt Akira 
and Aunt Miyu are the only ones whose powers work 
everywhere."

	I have a feeling I'm going to still have to do some 
hammering to get the full story out of everyone.  Though 
now I'm not sure if I want it, given what details I do know...  
"So what happened at Primus?"

	"Primus was part of First District, the servants of the 
Obsidian Lord," Mom said.  She looked at Kagami 
extremely uncomfortably.  "They kidnapped Akane after 
she was defeated and held her for a long time, until Natsuki   
rescued her."

	Kasumi gave a small gasp at that and looked outraged.  
Uncle Kazuya stared at the floor.  Aunt Akane hugged him 
and stared down too.    

	"I..."  I wanted to know, but I couldn't ask.  Surely 
they hadn't...I couldn't imagine Mom just slaughtering 
everyone in the place.  She doesn't even like to squash 
bugs.

	Mom looked at Aunt Akane.  Aunt Akane looked at 
Aunt Akira.  She looked at Aunt Midori.  And so on, 
around the room several times.  

	Aunt Shizuru swept in.  "It is my fault."

	"Shizuru," Mom said.  "You don't..."

	"I do," Shizuru said.  "I killed everyone in Primus.  
Everyone who died.  I went mad and I killed every single 
person there I could get my hands on because I was afraid 
they would hurt Natsuki again.  I was weak and I broke 
under the strain and I became a crazed killer.  Many of 
them deserved death for betraying humanity and serving 
the Obsidian Lord for power, but some of them were 
innocent."  Her voice was calm but her face was pained.  "I 
have never used the power of the Hime since that day and I 
don't think I ever will because I don't trust myself with it.  
Everyone tells me it's not my fault, but I will be paying for 
it for the rest of my life."  She turned to Kagami, who was 
staring wide-eyed at her.  "If you want to hate me, Kagami, 
you have the right.  I...I killed so many and I didn't even 
know their names.  It's all a blur.  But if your mother's first 
husband died there, then I am to blame and I am sorry.  
Your mother is on the Primus Survivor's Fund, right?"

	"Yes, it pays my tuition to go to Rosewood and it will 
be paying to send me to college too," Kagami said softly.  
"You set that up?"

	"Yes, I did.  I wanted to ensure that none of those I...I 
orphaned or turned into widows and widowers would go 
hungry or suffer for my sins," she said, staring at the 
ground.  "Mine is the greatest sin in our ranks."  Aunt 
Shizuru shivered.  "I shouldn't be alive."

	"Don't say things like that!" Kasumi said.  "You 
couldn't help yourself.  Everyone broke under the strain."

	Aunt Shizuru winced at that.  "I want to believe that, 
but my madness..."  She shuddered.  "I would pray if I 
believed in any god who is not the enemy of mankind.  
Pray that none of you will be put to the test.  But you will.  
You possess great power which will only grow stronger.  
And power corrupts."

	Mom came over to Aunt Shizuru and hugged her.  
"Stop hating yourself," she whispered.  "We all did terrible 
things."

	Aunt Shizuru laughed bitterly.  "Some of us were far 
more terrible than others."  But she rested her head on 
Mom's head.  

	I looked over at Kagami, who was staring at the floor 
and shivering, while Shun held her tightly.  She turned and 
buried her face in his chest.  

	"Aunt Shizuru, I swear we will do our best to be 
responsible with our powers."  I looked around at everyone 
and we all stood up, myself, Kagami, Kasumi, Erica, and 
Natasha.  We put our hands over our hearts and I said, 
"This is all better than my worst fears but not as good as 
my best hopes.  But we promise, we will do our best to be 
responsible with our powers and keep the family secrets.  
We will make you proud of us and help defend everyone 
from all the gods and demons that may rise against us.  
May the Crystal Princess be our witness."  The others 
repeated what I had said, and I felt a sudden jolt in my new 
tattoo.  Aunt Akane and Aunt Akira jumped as well.  

	"I think we all need to be careful with making formal 
promises," Aunt Akane said a little nervously.

	"Oaths cannot bind in and of themselves," Aunt 
Shizuru said, but her voice seemed uncertain.  

	"That's all we can ask," Mom said.  "We're going to 
keep training you all.  If more monsters show up, let us 
know this time."  She frowned.  "Unfortunately, there's no 
easy way for most of us to be close enough to do much 
good, though Sakomizu-sensei, Aoi and Chie are all close 
by and armed for trouble."

	Really, until the rest of the family get their powers 
back, they wouldn't do much good if they were there.  
Which worried me; we'd needed Aunt Akane and Aunt 
Akira to handle the last fight, but we couldn't count on that 
all the time.  I prayed that was an abnormally bad situation.  
	
	"Oh yes," Mom said.  "One more thing."  She let go of 
Aunt Shizuru, clicking up a slide.  "The Sears Foundation. 
They possess the technology to create artificial Hime, using 
it to create Alyssa and Miyu."  She then explained in detail 
about how they are a conspiracy which at least supposedly 
controls the USA and definitely has a huge global power 
and influence.  But has been hiding from us ever since the 
Festival.  "Sears originally sent Alyssa and Miyu to hijack 
the Festival, but they failed and now they are on our side.  
They can tell you more, if they want to."

	I had an uncomfortable feeling this meant 'they 
attacked members of the family, but we eventually made up 
with them'.  Ugh.  We're not going to end up doing what 
they did.  Not if I can help it.

	But then, Mom's not the sort of person to do anything 
like that and yet she got caught up in it to.  Can I really do 
any better?

	Junko took my hand and squeezed it, smiling at me as 
best she could, which made me feel a little better, so I 
kissed her quickly and tried to still my churning stomach.

	My curiosity warred with the part of me which now 
didn't want to know more.  God, they fucked up so much.  
Can we really do better?  We have to do better.  I have to 
do better.  Or else they will have been right.  We have to 
show them we can handle this and do better than they did.  

	No wonder Shinichiro broke.  No wonder they never 
told us.  We have to do better.

	We have to.  I don't want to see Rosewood burn.  We 
have to defend it and we can't fail.  We can't fail.  

	Please, God, Buddha, all of you, help us to not fail.  I 
know I'm not very religious, but...please.  For the sake of 
all the students we have to protect.  Our world.  Help us.  

	No wonder Mom wanted to hide from all this. 

	But I still don't get why she's wearing her beach outfit.

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

Kasumi's Tale:

	We all then assembled in the backyard, all of us.  Aunt 
Mai got up in the gazebo to address us.  "Thank you all for 
coming.  You are probably wondering why I am wearing 
this."

	Several people, including Aunt Nao and Shun, began 
laughing.  Others just nodded.  I nodded.

	"I spent a while struggling with what to wear.  The 
outfits I normally wear to indicate I'm serious didn't seem 
appropriate as they reflect the life I lived while trying to 
hide from my duties as part of this family."  Aunt Mai 
sighed.  "Most of us never asked for this, and so when we 
had the chance, we ran and hid from it for as long as we 
could.  I was one of the worst offenders.  And so the burden 
of protecting our world fell on the few of us willing to 
shoulder it.  I am sorry you had to stand alone for so long.  
But as we've seen, the war is coming to us whether we want 
it or not.  So it is time for me to get really serious."

	Aunt Mai's determined gaze swept across us.  "It is the 
lifeguard's job to watch over others, forsaking their own 
fun so others can enjoy themselves.  And that is what we 
will have to do in order to protect our city, our country, our 
world.  Haruka has agreed to put me on retainer so I can 
dedicate myself to the family's needs.  I will be working to 
coordinate our efforts to find out what's going on, and what 
we can do about it.  And I will be training for battle."  I 
could tell she didn't like that, but she was determined to do 
it anyway.  "Thanks to Yukino's VR technology, I can do 
that training with her rig until I get a chance to swear.  I 
never wanted these powers, but I am not going to run away.  
And when the chance comes, I will take the oath and fight 
by everyone's side to protect our world."

	Aunt Nao looked rather surprised, then rather pleased, 
along with our other nun-aunts.  So did Aunt Mikoto and 
Aunt Midori and Uncle Yuuichi and Mother and Aunt 
Akira.  Uncle Takumi looked worried, though he smiled at 
Aunt Mai.  Father, on the other hand, seemed rather 
melancholy and Aunt Shizuru still looked depressed.  What 
happened to her is so terrible.  I felt awful, but she didn't 
seem to want sympathy.  I can't even imagine how she 
holds up.

	"Me too!" Aunt Mikoto said firmly.  "I will fight by 
Mai's side to the end!"

	A wave of affirmations swept through the crowd of 
our aunts, though I noticed Aunt Shizuru kept silent and 
Aunt Shiho was staring at the ground, holding Natasha's 
hand really tightly.  Natasha put an arm around her and I 
wondered what had happened to her.

	"I don't know how long this will last," Aunt Mai said.  
"Whether it will be days, weeks, months, years.  It seems 
increasingly likely that the Obsidian Lord protected this 
world from destruction, and now we must find a way to 
reinforce the barriers which keep out invasions from other 
dimensions, or else this world we love will fall.  I don't 
have a solution yet, but we will find one that doesn't require 
the sacrifice of innocents," Aunt Mai said, her gaze 
sweeping across all of us.  The audience nodded agreement.

 	"We must keep this a secret as much as we can, 
though, as there is also reason to believe that the more 
people know these creatures exist, the weaker the world's 
defenses will get, as nothing now maintains them except 
humanity's collective spiritual power; if humanity loses its 
faith in a world without monsters, the walls will fall before 
we can find some way to reinforce them."  She sighed.  "I 
know, I know.  I don't like it either, but we can't take any 
chances."

	Ugh, I thought.  I can't stand to lie to my boyfriend 
and I can't tell him the truth.  I hate that.

	"Still, unless we find a solution, this cannot be hidden 
forever," Aunt Mai said.  "But for now, this burden is ours.  
Now, as for the Crimson Huntsman."

	She took a deep breath.  "He appears to be imprisoned 
inside the moon.  He choses both men and women to 
become his Hunters.  There is reason to believe from the 
Black Archives that his servants grow stronger when the 
moon is in the sky and that his power is greatest on the 
Equinoxes and Solstices.  We can likely expect a massive 
outbreak of trouble in September as a result."

	"What about the silver colored monsters?" Erica 
asked.

	"We believe them connected to the Silver Knight, who 
is imprisoned on Mars," Aunt Mai said.  "We will be trying 
to find out more about him.  We know the Crimson 
Huntsman endorses Social Darwinism, the strong 
dominating the weak and crushing them into submission or 
death."

	"Technically speaking, Social Darwinism has very 
little to do with Darwin and a lot to...anyway, I can explain 
that later," Dan said, starting strong, then running out of 
steam as everyone stared at him.  But both of his parents 
grinned broadly.  

	So he wants people like Ayumi-sempai, I thought, 
then told myself to be less uncharitable.  

	"I've collated a report from everything that I've been 
told so far by our researchers," Aunt Mai said.  "You 
should have all gotten it in your email this morning.  Once 
we have enough information to put together a counter-
attack, we will strike.  But for now, keep your eyes and ears 
open and we'll keep getting ready for that day, and fighting 
defense when necessary."

	She now gestured to Sister Yukariko, who stepped up 
onto the gazebo.  "We got up early and went and examined 
the wreckage of the stone table.  It was pretty thoroughly 
smashed up and turned into a campfire pit, but we found a 
small amount of an odd reddish-pink crystalline substance 
which Miyu thinks..."  She frowned.  "It seems to basically 
be solidified spiritual  power."

	Uncomfortable whispers swept through the crowd.  

	"Someone of substantial spiritual power deliberately 
turned that table into a trap.  Further, from the report of our 
children, it would appear that the table itself was activated 
when one of the Orphans began bleeding on it.  Coupled 
with the report of the odd phenomena Aoi and Chie noticed 
at that awards ceremony, and the fact that emotions are key 
to tapping spiritual power, I suspect someone has been 
tapping emotions and connected spiritual release in some 
way at the school and used the power gained to set this trap 
up."  

	I grimaced.  Delightful.  I suddenly wondered if Kei 
was behind this.  He'd shown up when Natasha stumbled 
into this and hadn't done much, other than helping her to 
get away from the serpents...long enough to run into the 
table and spring the trap.

	I raised my hand.  I hope he's innocent, but...
	
	"Kasumi?" Aunt Yukariko said to me.

	"I think our prime suspect has to be this 'Kei'," I said.  
"Who claims to be the son of the Crystal Princess, but the 
time I met him he didn't have any proof.  He clearly has 
powers and while he did help Natasha, it ended up causing 
her to run right into the trap," I continued.  "We were 
discussing him earlier and he may well be the child of the 
Crystal Princess and Nagi."

	"Are we sure this was intended to kill?" Crystal said.  
"From what Mom said, you all basically were made to fight 
Orphans to build your strength up and force you to awaken 
your powers.  So this may be the same idea on the part of 
whoever did it."

	"Very good points," Aunt Yukariko said.

	"Nagi," Aunt Haruka said.  "Five will get you ten it's 
that bastard Nagi in disguise.  Was he eating expensive 
Italian Sorbet?  Lime flavored?"

	"No," I said.  "Why would he be eating ice cream?"

	"Ahah!" Crystal said.  "That time you came over to 
our house in the middle of the night, was that Nagi stealing 
your ice cream?"

	"Hell yes," Aunt Haruka said.  "Do you know how 
much that stuff costs to import from Italy?  You'd think a 
country with over a hundred billion people could make 
decent sorbet, but no, I have to import it."

	"Haruka, you ate that ice cream yourself," Aunt 
Yukino said.  "And Japan has over a hundred million, not 
billion."

	"IT WAS NAGI," Aunt Haruka insisted.  "This sounds 
like his MO."

	"His Mo?" Crystal asked.

	"Method of Operation," Aunt Haruka said.  "Being a 
whiny, ice-cream stealing, high place perching, lie 
spewing, trick playing, luring into danger PUNK."  She put 
her hands on her hips.  "It's definitely got to be Nagi.  I 
certainly can't believe Mashiro was desperate enough to 
have sex with him and produce a kid."

	We spent a while debating all this, then broke into 
smaller groups discussing various things to be done.  
Mother and Father now came over to me and hugged me, 
which felt very nice.

	"I'm very proud of you, you know," Mother said, and I 
blushed a little, though it made me very happy to hear that.

	"Just be careful," Father said urgently.  "And stay out 
of going anywhere remote by yourself."

	"I know," I said softly.  "I will be careful."  I sighed.  
"Uncle Jinnai is really worried about me."

	Father frowned.  "I'll give him a call.  Tell 
him...something.  I don't know."  He stared at the ground.  
"I hate this."

	"It's better he not get involved," Mother said.  "But it's 
nice to see how much he cares."

	"Jinnai's a good guy," Father said.  "I wish he'd come 
and said hello since he was in town again."

	"I got the impression he was in a hurry and had to get 
back to Tokyo for something," I told them.  "Or he would 
have, I'm sure."

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

Jinnai's Tale:

	I only made it back in time because of the miracle we 
call bullet trains.  Those things are incredibly fast.  
Combined with a cab ride, it got me to the meeting I 
needed to make.  I would have rescheduled this, but the 
man I'm meeting didn't ever call me back when I tried to 
reschedule.

	I headed into the cafe; Lemon Square is basically a 
brunch and lunch place, with really excellent desserts.  I 
could see the man I was going to meet, or at least I assumed 
it was him, as he was the only foreigner.  We had talked a 
week ago, but only on the phone.

	"Mr. Smith?" I asked.

	Mr. Smith was a grey haired old man, somewhere in 
his seventies, I think.  His nose was very pronounced and 
beak-like.  He wore a nice, but out of date charcoal colored 
suit and a red tie with grey circuit patterns on it.  He saw 
me looking at the tie and said, "One of my granddaughters 
gave it to me.  She works in electronics.  Yes, I am."

	I sat down.  "Thank you for agreeing to look into this."

	"Information is my business, Kurauchi Jinnai.  It's nice 
to meet you face to face," he said, shaking my hand and 
passing me a menu.  He flagged us a waitress and I ordered 
a roast beef sandwich and a caesar salad with green tea.

	"So what have you found out about what happened at 
Fuuka in 2005?" I said, getting right to the point.

	He smiled.  "Direct.  I like that.  Yes, I do."  He sipped 
his Pepsi, then got a file folder out of his briefcase and laid 
it out on the table, opening it.  The first picture showed a 
teenage Akane, catatonic in a bed with an IV hooked to her 
arm.  Two men in labcoats, one black and one Japanese, 
were studying her; the black man was taking a blood 
sample and the Japanese man was getting ready to put a 
fresh bag on the IV.  The second picture showed a long 
haired teenage girl beating up three armed guards at the 
same time.  The third showed her loading Akane onto a 
gurney and a fourth showed her shooting guns out of the 
hands of guards trying to stop her.  The fifth showed a giant 
metal dog with a cannon coming out of its back blowing up 
a truck and a sixth showed the teenage girl driving a similar 
truck, while shooting out the window at something.  I 
noticed the teenage girl had very odd looking guns with a 
sort of big bubble in the area where an old style revolver 
would have had its turning cartridge holder thing.  

	"An organization known as Primus Research 
kidnapped your sister-in-law during the summer of 2005," 
Mr. Smith said.  "They conducted experiments on her 
which reduced her to catatonia and she was eventually 
rescued by Kuga Natsuki, a friend of hers from school."

	An apparently very tough friend of hers, I could see.  
"What is this dog-like robot?" I asked.

	"I don't know," Mr. Smith said.  "It belonged to Ms. 
Kuga.  Her mother had once worked for Primus, then died 
in a car wreck when she was eight.  She lost a year of 
school and ended up in the same grade as Ms. Kurauchi, 
back when she was Ms. Higurashi."

	He produced two more pictures, showing the dog-
robot blowing up what looked to me like parked military 
trucks, along with a picture of Ms. Kuga beating up soldiers 
in green.  "She fought the occupation of Fuuka by those 
mercenaries who took over the school during the crisis 
too."

	"What exactly happened?" I asked.  Could this all be 
true?  But other than the dog, it fit the facts I knew for sure.

	"Fuuka Prefecture appears to have fallen under the 
near-total control of Primus Research, a subsidiary of 
Iwasaki Pharmaceuticals," Mr. Smith said.  He produced a 
series of pictures which showed an old woman in a suit 
meeting with various younger men in suits.  "This was 
CEO Nagakami Kuroko of Primus Research. These men 
include the Prefectural Governor, the Mayor of Fuuka and 
the head of the prefecture police.  And..."  He laid down a 
picture of the old woman meeting with a young girl in a 
wheelchair being pushed around by a pink-haired maid.  

 	I knew the girl from my own research.  "The 
headmistress of Fuuka Academy, Kazahana Mashiro."  
Who had somehow become headmistress at a very young 
age.  Or is one of those weird freaks who has surgery to 
look like an 11 year old because some people get their 
jollies from it.  And who totally vanished after resigning in 
the wake of the Academy's near destruction.

	Only to be replaced by the woman who in this picture 
is just her maid.  IE, the woman who was probably really in 
charge all along, using this girl as a disposable proxy to 
take the fall when everything went to hell.  I grimaced at 
Himeno Fumi.  What a disgusting woman.

	And she's still in charge of Fuuka, where my little  
niece went to two weeks ago and returned faster than 
before.  And I noticed Akane seems to have completely 
changed her usual attitude and is much more confident than 
I've ever seen her.  Since that trip.

	Something is definitely going on.

	"Any idea what the people at Primus did to her?" I 
asked.

	He pulled out another file folder with stapled 
photocopies from several journals.  "All published research 
connected to Primus concerned itself with human 
augmentation," Mr. Smith said, passing them to me.  
"Human augmentation.  Making people faster, stronger, 
healthier, and so on." 

	It suddenly struck me that ever since I finally met her, 
I had never once heard of Akane or Kazuya getting sick, 
not even the time that both their sons and Kasumi had the 
flu last year.  Other than Akane getting nauseous and 
throwing up a lot while pregnant with her sons and Kasumi.  
Which had included throwing up on me in the case of the 
sons.

	Had they done something to her DNA?  She would 
have passed it on to Kasumi and now after both of them 
visited Fuuka, suddenly Kasumi was so fast I think she 
could set a world record, maybe even shatter one.  And 
then she'd had to quit the track team...why make her faster 
unless...

	Kuga Natsuki's mother had worked for Primus.  Kuga 
Natsuki was apparently tough enough to take on adults as a 
teenager and win.  They'd probably experimented on Ms. 
Kuga as a child and then killed her mother when her 
mother tried to smuggle her out.  And then she'd declared 
war on them.

	I had a sudden feeling that this 'Kiyohime' group 
which took the blame for the destruction of Primus was 
probably either working for Ms. Kuga or at the very least 
had recruited her.  And possibly recruited Akane as well, 
after her own augmentation.  Could they still exist 
underground?  Who else was experimented on there?  

	"But you don't know specifics," I said.

	"Most of the records were destroyed when 'Kiyohime' 
wiped out everyone there.  It took me substantial effort to 
find these photos, which you'll notice are actually 
screenshots from the security cameras in most cases," he 
said.  "Here is another thing."  

	He pulled out another folder with several photos.  The 
first showed the Japanese man who had been changing the 
IV bag.  The second showed him with a pretty young 
blonde woman, clearly a fair amount younger than him, her 
long hair tied back in a pony-tail, glasses just barely 
perched on her nose, about to fall off.  In the third picture, 
the same woman was now substantially older.  She had cut 
her hair short and now it was brown, but her face was 
recognizable.  She was with a raven haired man about the 
same age as herself, but they were both with a black-haired 
teenage girl also wearing glasses.  The fourth showed the 
girl in a Rosewood uniform with a ton of other students 
being addressed by the Principal.  I knew the girl.  Mitsu 
Kagami.  "I know her."  I said, pointing to the girl.  The one 
who Akane has taken under her wing.  And dotes on so 
obviously I could tell from just watching a track meet with 
them.  

	"The woman is Mitsu Mari; her daughter is Mitsu 
Kagami and her current husband is Mitsu Kazuo.  But her 
first husband was Dr. Takahashi Yugo, one of the 
researchers at Primus.  One of his papers is in that other 
folder, a study of the genetic factors which influence how 
fast people can run."

	Now I know what goosebumps actually feel like.  My 
skin felt like ants were crawling in it.  My order finally 
came and I took a big bite of my sandwich, trying to get my 
brain in order.  "What did he say about it?"

	"I'm afraid I don't know much science," Mr. Smith 
said apologetically.  "Enzymes and genes and things.  
You'll have to take it to a real scientist; I'm just an 
investigator.  I just used a journal database and a list of 
Primus employees with doctorates."

	A very good investigator.  He'd been recommended to 
me by Mr. Robert Cooper, one of the men I work with who 
is employed by US Robots.  He said Mr. Smith did top of 
the line work and I had to agree.

	"Did Dr. Takahashi get killed at Primus?"

	"Yes.  His wife was at home, sick, and missed the 
slaughter," Mr. Smith said.  He pulled out another file 
folder.  "We know that all the girls at Fuuka underwent 
medical examination during the army occupation, but not 
the boys.  It seems rather likely to me that the whole 
'terrorists with plague' story was, in fact, an excuse to 
search for girls with certain qualities or maybe even 
specific girls."  He showed me several pictures of girls 
lined up to be checked by doctors.  "Some families 
eventually sued, but were paid hush money."

	"Could you find anything on this 'Kiyohime' group?" I 
asked.

	Another folder came out.  He likes his file folders, I 
see.  "It's interesting.  The terrorist group the US Army 
claimed was 'threatening to unleash a plague' was originally 
unnamed.  The name 'Kiyohime' somehow became 
connected to it and within a few weeks after the destruction 
of Primus, everyone 'knew' a group named Kiyohime was 
responsible, even though no one could actually tell me how 
they learned this name.  Only one man survived the actual 
massacre and he's hopelessly insane, claiming 'a giant 
squid' killed everyone."

	"A giant squid."

	"Yes, he's crazy," Mr. Smith said sadly, then took a 
minute to eat some of his own burger.  "He also has only 
one arm and one leg and it's a miracle he's still alive."

	"And they've never done anything else."

	"Never," Mr. Smith said.  "They get blamed for 
blowing up the bridge, which I think actually was some sort 
of freak lightning strike."

	"That blew up a bridge?"

	"Virtually all witnesses agree than an effect like the 
aurora borealis appeared in the sky over Fuuka, then a 
yellow bolt stabbed down, striking the bridge, which then 
exploded," Mr. Smith said.  "Some thought it a meteor, 
others thought it was a lightning strike.  But it doesn't 
sound like a bomb, whatever it was.  Or something that 
some obscure terrorist group could pull off.  I suspect 
Kiyohime was made up of people who wanted revenge for 
being experimented on by Primus and killed everyone to 
get even and stop it."

	I couldn't imagine Akane helping to slaughter people, 
even if they experimented on her.  But...

	Yet another folder came out.  "This boy, Tokiha 
Takumi, was kidnapped from the Fuuka City Hospital 
during the chaos.  The case was never solved and he did not 
press charges."  Tokiha Takumi...Akane's friend Akira is 
named Tokiha Akira.  Her husband?  "He is now married to 
Tokiha Akira, who has been working at the Kurauchi 
Bakery the last two weeks, even though she has her own 
dojo and teaches martial arts in the afternoon, evenings, 
and weekends."

	Since the trip to Fuuka.

	"Tokiha Akira, then Okuzaki Akira, was his roomate 
at Fuuka, until it turned out that she was female and not a 
male as originally registered," Mr. Smith continued, laying 
down a picture of an art show; I recognized Akira, though 
she was younger there.  "She's also a skillful artist and 
periodically does shows."

	Another picture.  I knew this woman vaguely by 
reputation, though we'd never met face to face.  "Tate Mai," 
I said.

	"Older sister of Tokiha Takumi, Fuuka student, 
currently a consultant," Mr. Smith said.  He put down 
another picture showing her, Akane, and Kuga Natsuki 
together at some kind of athletic event, cheering for 
someone.  "And still a friend of your wife and Kuga 
Natsuki."

	More pictures came out, tying Akane to various 
students and staff from Fuuka.  "Now, none of this proves 
anything," he said.  "And these are all really old photos.  
Lots of people don't keep up their ties from school," he 
said.

	But Akane had.  I'd met the children of some of these 
people.  "What does Kuga Natsuki do now?"

	He produced another picture, which showed Kuga 
Natsuki, a handsome dark haired man who looked 
American to me, a beautiful brunette Japanese woman, and 
a short, pale skinned redheaded woman who looked 
European all coming out of an opera house together.  The 
dark haired man looked familiar.  Had I seen him on TV or 
a newssite or something? The brunette looked sort of 
familiar too.  Some sort of treaty or something.  Then a 
second one showing a slightly stoned looking actress 
coming out of a movie theatre with Kuga Natsuki standing 
next to her looking aggravated.  I recognized the actress.  
Nanri Rika, star of 'Dark Vengeance', 'Love Flowers' and 
'Monte Carlo Weekend'.  A while back, she'd been stalked 
by a crazed fan.  And the third picture showed Kuga 
Natsuki punching some crazed otaku in the face while 
Nanri-san howled nearby.  

	"Who is that?" I asked, pointing to the dark haired 
man.  "I take it Ms. Kuga is a bodyguard?"

	"Yes," Mr. Smith said.  "She is.  And very good at it. 
The first picture shows Kuga Natsuki; her current boyfriend 
Roger Smith, a top-ranked Negotiator; her ex-girlfriend 
Fujino Shizuru, who was the school council president under 
Headmistress Nazahana, and who now is also a top-ranked 
Negotiator; and Mr. Smith's assistant, Dorothy 
Waynewright, who is also a skilled pianist and gives 
concerts periodically.  She has released two records.  I have 
them on my phone, in fact."  He pulled it out and played a 
short snippet.  I have little ability to really judge musical 
skill, but it sounded quite good to me.

	Part of me suddenly wondered if Akane and Ms. Kuga 
had been...surely not.  I've never seen anyone love someone 
as much as Akane loves Kazuya and vice versa.  But if it 
had been a one way crush...no wonder she was willing to 
take on an entire facility by herself in order to rescue 
Akane.  Especially if they'd both been experimented on.  
"Are Smith and Waynewright connected to Fuuka?"  I 
paused.  "You and he..."

	"Purely a coincidence," Mr. Smith said.  "Nearly three 
million Americans are named Smith; it's the most common 
family name in our mutual homeland.  Smith and 
Waynewright seem to have come to Japan and attended 
Tokyo University a decade ago, but have no previous 
presence in Japan.  Whatever happened at Fuuka, I don't 
think they're connected to it, other than now being tied to 
Kuga Natsuki and Fujino Shizuru.  Who I will note set up a 
large fund for the surviving family members of those who 
died at Primus.  She's from very old money, and she seems 
to have devoted her whole life to peace activism and being 
a Negotiator ever since college, and to some degree since 
high school."

	Something is going on here, even if I can't quite figure 
out the whole story.  Fujino was probably involved in what 
happened in Fuuka too.  I have a feeling 'Kiyohime' still 
exists, if not by that name, and I fear my brother and Akane 
are tangled up in it and...  They aren't aging.  Had Primus 
discovered some sort of aganathic?  All the way back in the 
2000s?  We have had some success retarding aging, but 
we're still working on it.  But if it only works for people 
with the right DNA...And it was clear this Fujino Shizuru 
wasn't aging and neither was Tokiha Akira and...

	What is going on here?  I felt like I was standing on 
the edge of a vast abyss and the answers were at the 
bottom, but to look further would risk falling in.

	"Anything else?"

	"One last thing."  He put down a picture of a curly 
haired man in his fifties.  Indeed, the man had an actual 
afro, which looks odd on a Japanese man.  "This man is 
Sakomizu Kaiji.  Your  niece's homeroom teacher was hit 
by a car and sent to the hospital several weeks ago and he 
stepped in to substitute for the man.  He's been teaching at 
Fuuka since 2004, until suddenly he left to be a substitute at 
Rosewood," Mr. Smith said.  He then laid down a picture 
of the young Mitsu Mari with Dr. Takahashi and 
Sakomizu-san, laughing and enjoying themselves in what 
looked like a company cafeteria.  

	"He seems to have been employed by Primus AND 
taught at Fuuka at the same time.  But he was not present at 
the massacre and went on to a long happy career of 
teaching under Headmistress Himeno until he became your  
niece's homeroom teacher three weeks ago, shortly before 
her trip to Fuuka.  Which, by the way, I checked out.  Two 
teachers, Harada Chie and Senoh Aoi, former Fuuka 
students who attended with your sister-in-law, took a pack 
of students to Fuuka, then ran around town taking photos 
all day Saturday and went to the campus and apparently 
attended some huge gathering at the Headmistress' house.  
They stayed at the Fuuka shrine, run by the Munakata 
family."

	He put down a picture of a beautiful redhead in a 
business suit, attending a meeting between some Europeans 
and Japanese businessmen.  I recognized some of the 
Japanese people; they were part of the Shinohara family 
that runs Shinohara Electronics, one of our big rivals.  
"Here she is, working as a translator."  He laid down 
another picture of a very young girl with squid-like hair 
clinging to a nervous looking teenage guy's arm.  "And here 
she is at Fuuka with Tate Yuuichi, husband of Tate Mai."

	I could hardly believe it was the same woman.  But if 
you looked carefully, you could tell.  

	"Munakata Shiho, mother of Munakata Natasha, who 
goes to school with your  niece, went around the town with 
the teachers and your  niece.  Her daughter was in the 
group, along with your sister-in-law."

	Why would teachers haul a small group of students all 
the way to Fuuka to take pictures?  This was a cover 
activitity for whatever really went down.  And they went to 
the Headmistress' house?

	This was getting complicated.  "This is definitely 
worth the money I've paid you."

	"I will see what else I can find," he said.  "I'm rather 
confused myself by all this.  It's pretty clear she's tangled 
up in some kind of conspiracy along with your brother 
though."  He looked a little envious.  "And something is 
keeping them all young."

	Kasumi, what have you gotten yourself caught up in, I 
asked.  Brother...Akane...  Kasumi knew.  Or knew 
something.  She wouldn't have looked so guilty if not.  
They must have...taken them to Fuuka for some kind of 
treatment.  But why would they do that to their own 
children?  Unless perhaps they'd come to see it as more gift 
than curse, as they must have thought when they destroyed 
Primus.  If one of them could rescue Akane from armed 
guards and take on soldiers, they probably all could.  And 
they likely had more of those robot wardogs.  Probably 
vastly better models by now.  Only a few companies could 
afford to make something like that, but if Fujino was old 
money...and Kuga Natsuki's ex-girlfriend...maybe she'd 
helped to kill everyone at Primus, then felt guilty about it 
and tried to make up for it.  Things done in rage may make 
you feel bad later.

	Akane, did you...I couldn't believe it.  

	I have to know what's going on.

	Even if I have no clue what to do about it.

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

Gin's Tale:

	I was just trying to eat lunch when suddenly a swarm 
descended upon me.  To be precise, it was Hayao, Mandi, 
Sanae and Hotaru.  "Holy shit, you're awake, Hotaru?" I 
asked.

	She looked groggy.  "Yes," she said.  "What happened 
last night?  Natasha vanished, Crystal freaked out, then you 
ran off in the woods and never came back."

	"Natasha went out for a piss, I think, then got chased 
by snakes, and then Crystal went looking for her, then I 
went looking for them and lost my shirt."  I sighed.  "Going 
to have to get a new one."

	"Snakes?  There are dangerous snakes in the woods?" 
Sanae said, frowning.  "Has this been reported to the 
principal?"

	Hotaru frowned very deeply but didn't say anything.  

	Hayao said, "You lost your shirt?"

	"Well, actually, I turned it into a torch," I said.  
"Worked pretty well; I wandered around stupidly, ran into 
Aoi-sensei and Chie-sensei who were looking for Natasha 
and some of the rest of her family found her and got her 
out."  

	"Maybe this is why they're having the meeting," Sanae 
said to Hayao.

	"Just to yell at Natasha?  Surely it doesn't take their 
whole family for that, even for Natasha," Hayao said.

	"Hey, don't badmouth my girlfriend!" I said.

	"C'mon, Natasha has even less common sense than I 
do.  She probably mistook a shadow for a snake and ran off 
in a panic," Mandi said, waggling a finger at me.

	I wished that wasn't easy to believe.  "Natasha is kind 
and generous and loving and please don't insult her in front 
of me."

	"I think the family meeting must be connected to what 
happened last night," Sanae said.  "As when we went to 
bed, there was no family meeting and when I woke up, he 
had to go to one."

	"Damn, you two are already sleeping together?" I said.

	Sanae turned as red as her hair.

	"Wow, you move fast," Mandi said.

	Hayao looked stunned.

	"I slept on his couch, because YOU were having sex 
with someone you'd just met in our bedroom!" Sanae said, 
pointing at Mandi.

	"Hey, I've known Rokuro-kun for months.  It's not the 
first time we've had sex, either," Mandi said.  "Neither of us 
has a steady, so what does it matter?"

	"It matters when I can't sleep in my own bed because 
there's a naked boy in yours!" Sanae said angrily.

	Hayao said, "Just call me if that happens," to Sanae.  
"I've got the bedroll ready to set up on our couch whenever 
you need it."

	"The fact that we already have a contingency plan for 
this shows how much of a problem it is!" Sanae said, 
gesturing wildly.

	"Hey, if you and Dan ever want to do it, just let me 
know and I'll clear out," Mandi said.  "Fair is fair."

	I looked at Hayao and he looked at me and we decided 
not to jump in the middle of this any further.  "I still can't 
see why snakes chasing Natasha would lead to a family 
meeting."

	Hotaru now drank my coke.  "So tired," she mumbled.

	"Hey, I wasn't done with that!," I said.

	"I'll get you a new one."  She headed inside into the 
cafeteria; I was at one of the tables out front.

	"Something weird is going on, though," Mandi said.  
"Their parents never told them about all the stuff with 
exploding bridges and army takeovers at Fuuka when our 
folks were there with them."  She frowned.  "Or so they 
say."

	"Their parents look younger than our parents, but are 
the same age," Sanae said softly. "We're talking a decade or 
more younger."

	"Yeah, I kinda noticed that.  Damn, there are some 
hot..."  FUCK ME, I thought.  "Umm, they're in good 
shape."

	Mandi grinned at me.

	Hayao said, "Gin-san, I strongly recommend you 
NEVER EVER go into any line of work which requires 
even the slightest, tiniest bit of hiding what you know.  At 
all.  Also, never play poker."  He was smiling at me.

	I laughed nervously.  "I am not good at gambling."

	Hayao laughed, then changed gears.    "Mom noticed 
too, but they all made non-commital statements and told 
her how beautiful she is."

	"She is beautiful," Mandi said.  "She's still prettier 
than me at thirty-nine.  Maybe I should grow my hair out 
like she does."

	"I think long hair would look good on you," Sanae 
said to her.

	"It's so much work, though," Mandi said.

	Hotaru returned with a plateful of food and drinks for 
everyone, including me.  "When the sprinklers went off on 
Thursday, Kasumi's mother, Kurauchi Akane, came to 
investigate.  Clearly expecting to get in a fight."

	"And she suddenly started acting as sensei to them 
too," Hayao pointed out.  "And now Kasumi has quit track 
in order to spend more time training with her mother."

	"And with you, you know," Mandi said.  

	"I think Junko knows something; she got sent to take 
the news of the snake attack to the rest of the family," I 
said.  "Because phones weren't working."

	Hayao frowned.  "See, that is a big part of why I think 
there's more going on here than snakes.  We have really 
great cell coverage here normally."

	Hotaru was stuffing her face, but nodded.  

	"But what could be going on?" I asked.

	"I don't know," Hayao said, frowning.  "But the 
parents won't let them tell us about it."

	"Maybe we should call Junko; I think she knows 
something.  She trains with them, anyway," I said, then 
worked on finishing my lunch.

	"I just see her at the parties," Mandi said. "I don't have 
her number."

	I don't have it either.

	"She's on the inside; she won't talk," Hayao said.  "I 
don't know why Crystal's girlfriend gets better treatment 
than the rest of us," he continued, sounding bitter.  "But 
then, Crystal's parents apparently don't care about her 
whoring around and indulge her every whim.  That bitch 
Nao the fake nun's poisoned most of the adults against me, 
but they don't seem to dislike the rest of you.  But we're all 
shut out together."

	"And why did Erica suddenly join their inner circle?" 
Mandi asked.  "It's like one day she had nothing to do with 
them and the next day, she was joining all their activities."

	"I think we need to go check out the area where the 
'snake attack' happened," Hayao said.

	I frowned. "Is that safe?"

	"I'm pretty sure there are no snakes in these woods," 
Hayao said.

	"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be safe," Hotaru said 
confidently.

	I wasn't so sure, but my curiosity wouldn't let me say 
no.

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

Dan's Tale:

	I could almost feel the Namcub moving inside me, like 
a restless bear patrolling its den at the zoo.  This made me 
intensely uncomfortable, but not half as uncomfortable as I 
feared my toughness test would.  Mind you, I asked for it.  I 
wanted to know exactly how much I could take, if the 
Namcub had made me tougher.  

	I hope it's not going to start doing this all the time; it 
seemed to get jumpy when we all got together, which it 
didn't do yesterday, so I don't see why it has to make me 
feel weird now.  

	Aunt Akira looked at me.  "Dan, are you sure you 
want to do this?"  She sounded reluctant herself.

	"No, I don't want to do it at all, but I think I have to," I 
said.  "I need to know if this is doing things to me."

	Aunt Miyu nodded approvingly.  "I agree.  I will 
monitor your vital signs."

	Knowing Aunt Miyu is some kind of walking medical 
scanner in addition to everything else makes me kind of 
nervous.  

	The others were watching when they were supposed to 
be training. They all looked uncomfortable with this, except 
for Junko, who seemed to agree with Aunt Miyu.  Which 
didn't make me feel any better.  Erica was off in the 
shooting gallery with Aunt Natsuki. I normally would be, 
but I wanted to do this.

	"Come on, let's get started," Aunt Akane said, then 
began leading the others in various drills.  I could see she 
didn't look too happy either.

	Mom was here; Dad was off in another room where 
Aunt Yukino had set up the VR gear.  Mom said, "Be 
gentle, Akira."

	"Being gentle is not the intention," Aunt Akira said, 
then frowned.  "Are you sure, Dan?"

	"Better I find out now, right?  Than in a crisis.  I know 
you're good enough to test my limits without going 
overboard, Aunt Akira."  Maybe I am being stupid, but...

	Aunt Akira closed her eyes and when she opened 
them, her face was blank.  

	Oh boy.

	Every blow was aimed at my chest and stomach, 
mostly my chest.  Probably because I have a ribcage to 
defend me there and she didn't want to really hurt me.  It 
hurt, but it hurt a lot less than it should have.  At least this 
thing is good for something if it's going to roil around 
inside my head.

	I fell down a fair number of times, and every time, 
Aunt Akira looked very guilty, then went blank again.  My 
cousins kept stopping and looked extremely uncomfortable.   

	Finally, Kasumi said, "Is this really necessary?"

	It hurt, but Taiki had hurt me more than this with 
every blow and surely Aunt Akira was stronger than Taiki 
now.  Though I really wasn't sure how much stronger.  

	"It is not necessary to the survival of Dan or anyone 
else, but I think Dan is wise to wish to know the limits of 
what he can take and what may have happened to him due 
to reading the Namcub," Aunt Miyu said.  "We will, of 
course, stop the second he asks us to."

	"Dan, you don't have to prove anything to us," Kasumi 
said, and the others nodded.

	I wasn't trying to prove anything just because I missed 
the big fight.  "I'm not.  I just need to know."

	Kasumi grimaced and stared at the floor.  "Dan..."

	"Continue," I said to Aunt Akira.

	She breathed out, then breathed in.  "You should at 
least try to defend yourself."

	"Why waste time?  I haven't much chance of that," I 
told her.  

	"I can get a better idea, since in a real fight, you would 
not just stand there and get hit," Aunt Miyu said.  

	I summoned what passes for unarmed combat training 
with me.  Dad taught me some stuff for if I got in a scrap, 
but it's hardly formal.  Unfortunately, a lot of it is stuff 
Aunt Akira would never ever fall for ever.  Not from me, 
anyway.

	She came in for a punch and I side-stepped and tried 
to grab her arm and pull her forward so she would stumble 
past me.  The side-step worked to my surprise, the grab did 
not.  We quickly established I couldn't get hold of her 
longer than about a second, but I could actually dodge 
some of the blows, though less of them as we progressed.  I 
couldn't tell if she was getting faster or if she had just 
learned my tricks and now instinctively countered them.

	I got hit less and not as hard.  Was she holding back or 
was I getting better at resisting the blows?  The others were 
now sparring, but not very well as they kept watching us.  
Kasumi was getting totally reamed by her mother because 
she kept looking over here.  "Keep your eye on your 
Mom," I shouted to her, and then Aunt Akira landed one on 
my shoulder that knocked me on my ass.

	"Dan!" Kasumi said.

	"I'm fine," I said, getting up and rubbing my ass.  That 
one had hurt because I wasn't paying attention and I landed 
badly.  

	"Isn't this enough?" Kasumi said.

	"No," I said.

	"It really seems..." Kagami said.

	"I am FINE," I said.  Which I wasn't.  I ached all over.  
But this still hurt less than when Taiki kicked my ass and 
he took a lot less blows than this to take me down.  I was 
tougher and that was reassuring.

	Shun shook his head and I glared at him, then said, 
"Fire when ready, Gridley," to Aunt Akira.

	"What?" she asked, losing the mask and just looking 
baffled.

	Mom started laughing.  SHE gets it.

	"Just a joke that died," I told her.

	"Commodore George Dewey, battle of Manila Bay," 
Mom said.  "I guess Gridley must have been the Gunnery 
Officer."

 	I pushed myself, moving faster and Aunt Akira sped 
up.  She'd been holding back.  I didn't want her to hold 
back.  I need to know my limits.  But Aunt Miyu was right.  
I needed to know my other limits too.  I kept dodging and 
trying to counter attack.  My counter-attacks were hopeless, 
but I got better at avoiding being hit, so long as I pushed 
myself faster.  That had its limits too and I was now 
wearing out a lot faster than before.  

	Then she stopped.  "Kagami," she said.

	Kagami said, "What, Akira-sensei?" then Crystal 
threw her to the floor.

	"I need you to come hit Dan as hard as you can.  And 
Kasumi too."

	"I can't just hit Dan," Kasumi said, shivering a little.  

	"Do I have to?" Kagami said, sounding reluctant.

	"Yes," Akira said.  "My Hime power is more oriented 
to speed than strength.  I know Kagami is more strength 
oriented, though I'm not sure if either of you is actually 
stronger than I am now."  I wondered if she really needed 
them to try or if she was nervous about hurting me if she 
fully cut loose, which I could tell she still hadn't.

	"I will if they won't," Junko said calmly.

	Crystal stared at her in surprise.

	"I don't think you're stronger than me," Aunt Akira 
said.  "But take a shot."

	Junko walked over and bowed to me, then kicked me 
full force in the chest, sending me sprawling.  OWW!!!

	"Legs are stronger than arms," Junko said.  She then 
helped me up.  "I can take over if you wish to work with 
the others, Akira-sensei."

	"Junko," Crystal mumbled, looking shocked.

	"It's okay," I told Crystal.  "Come and get me," I told 
Junko.

	I'm pretty sure Aunt Akira must have been holding 
back some or maybe legs really are hugely stronger than 
arms.  It certainly hurt more.  But I could still take it better 
than I took Taiki.  

	However, she didn't connect as often as Aunt Akira, 
who I think is faster than Junko.  Which meant I could 
dodge more of the blows.  I even managed to grab her once 
and  throw her to the ground.  But man, when she hit, she 
hit like a hammer.

	At one point, when she was helping me up again, she 
whispered to me, "I understand.  This is your strength, to 
bear what must be borne.  A man's strength."  Then she 
backed up and went to town on me again, even harder than 
before.

	This went on a while, until finally Kasumi just ran 
over and grabbed Junko.  "That is ENOUGH," she said.  
Junko did not resist.

	"Kasumi, it's okay," I said.  "I had a lot worse than this 
from Taiki."  Though I was starting to hurt a lot.

	"Aunt Miyu, you have to stop this, please," Kasumi 
begged her.  "I can't stand this."  She sounded anguished 
and I felt somewhat guilty.  

	"Dan wants to know," Aunt Miyu said softly.  "This is 
his desire."

	"Dan, please stop," Kasumi said, taking my hands.  
"Isn't this enough?  What is Sanae going to think if she 
finds you all covered with bruises?"

	I hadn't thought about that at all.  Dammit, I'm not 
used to this.  I looked over at Junko, who was now staring 
at the ground.

	"I am sorry, Heir," she said to Kasumi.  "I just wanted 
to help."

	"Just call me Kasumi," Kasumi said to her.  "Please, 
Dan, this is making me crazy."  Her voice was wobbling 
and now I felt guilty.

	"Do you have enough data, Aunt Miyu?" I asked her.

	She looked at Kasumi, then said, "Yes."  I think she 
was lying, but it was clear she didn't like seeing Kasumi so 
unhappy.  Which kind of surprised me.  I mean, not that 
Aunt Miyu revels in sorrow or anything, but she is 
normally pretty relentless until someone reins her in.  
Which I didn't realize Kasumi was on the list of those 
allowed to do so.

	"Any conclusions?" I asked.

	"You drew Hime energy to defend yourself from the 
blows.  Not as much as, say, Kasumi, does, but enough to 
substantially reduce the impact's effect on you.  Further, 
your body is drawing low levels of energy as we speak to 
augment repair.  Further still, Junko was also drawing small 
amounts of Hime power, augmenting the strength of her 
blows, though you were tapping more for defense than she 
was for her offense.  Because Akira was holding back 
earlier, this meant she was actually hitting you harder than 
Akira did, but not as hard as Akira could without holding 
back."

	Aunt Akira said, "I have to exercise control if I am to 
not hurt my students, especially now.  I've never attacked 
someone just to see how much they could take in terms of 
damage before."

	Aunt Miyu looked thoughtful a moment.  "Hit me with 
everything you have."

	Kasumi winced.  "Can we stop with the macho 
posturing?"

	"This is a test," Aunt Miyu said.  "I need to see his 
strength."

	"Couldn't he just lift weights?" Kasumi asked.  

	"No," Miyu said.  

	"It's okay.  Aunt Miyu can take a hell of a lot more 
from me than one punch," I said.

	Kasumi grimaced and stepped back.

	I hit Aunt Miyu with everything I had, right in the 
chest.  Then I stumbled back, wringing my hand.  "OW."

	She only barely moved.  "Good.  You drew some 
power for that, though your accuracy was terrible.  Even 
the boys could not have missed me since I stood still, 
however."

	I had a feeling she wanted me to do it again, but 
Kasumi was getting more worked up and I decided it best 
to save this for another time.  "So, how?" I asked.

	"I expect the Namcub wants to protect you," Aunt 
Miyu said.  "I also suspect you could probably draw more 
power if you were less calm."

	"..."

	"Hime powers grow with our emotions for good and 
ill," Aunt Miyu said.  "Kasumi's love is strong, enabling her 
to draw a lot of power.  Yours is not and you are naturally 
prone to suppress your emotions.  Junko was hitting you 
with everything she had and was very determined, enabling 
her to draw more power."

	Kasumi looked embarrassed but smiled.  Junko looked 
pleased too.

	"I tend to suppress my emotions too," Kagami 
mumbled.  "I was taught to have self-control."

	I felt totally embarrassed with everyone looking at me 
now.  Mom said, frowning, "That was mean, Miyu.  None 
of us can know what is in each other's heart."

	"I simply tell the truth," Miyu said.  "The children 
have had far too much of us lying to them to make them 
feel good."

	"You love Aunt Alyssa a lot, don't you," Kasumi said 
softly to Aunt Miyu.  

	"I would move the heavens and the earth if she asked 
me, and die for her without thinking twice," Aunt Miyu 
said flatly.  "There is no one I love more."

	No wonder she's so powerful.  And can use her powers 
all the time too.  

	"You have died for her," Mom said softly.

	"And you brought me back and set me free," Aunt 
Miyu said to Mom.  "You know that if there is ever 
anything you need of me, anything, you need but ask and I 
will do it.  Whatever the difficulty or cost."  Sometimes she 
says such extravagant things.  But when Aunt Miyu says 
them, you can't help but believe she will bring them to pass.

	"You died?" I asked, surprised.  "And came back from 
the dead?"

	"Everyone deserves to be free, Miyu.  I knew someone 
who loved that much would do the right thing," Mom said 
very seriously.  "And she wasn't exactly dead.  Not dead, 
dead.  I can't just raise people from the dead."

	"She revived me with a machine which belonged to 
the Crystal Princess," Aunt Miyu said.  "Having found me 
broken after I fell when Alyssa was taken from me."  Her 
voice actually wavered, which for Aunt Miyu is the 
equivalent of screaming and tearing your hair out.  

	"Good job, Mom," I mumbled.

	"After which I was able to destroy the pillars and free 
everyone's loved ones," Aunt Miyu said.

	Kasumi hugged her tightly.  "Thank you for that, Aunt 
Miyu," she said.  "I wouldn't be here without you."

	I could see Aunt Akane wince.  I had a sudden 
suspicion that Aunt Miyu may have had something to do 
with Aunt Akane's defeat.  Why else would that make her 
wince?

	"None of us would," I said.  "Well, except Kagami and 
Junko."

	For a moment, I saw Aunt Miyu's eyes flicker.  She 
then hugged Kasumi back.  "That would be a great 
tragedy," she said softly to Kasumi, brushing Kasumi's 
bangs aside, then kissing Kasumi's forehead.  "Remember... 
when all is darkest, that the Lord can turn even the most 
wicked of things to his purposes.  We are all sinners, and 
even the greatest of sinners may cause something 
wonderful to come to pass, if it be the Lord's will.  For in 
Him, all things are made whole.  Even the deeds of a sinner 
like me."  She sounded very unusually remorseful.

	"You're a heroine, not a sinner," Kasumi said, resting 
her head on Aunt Miyu's shoulder.  "You've spent two 
decades fighting to defend the innocent from the things that 
hunt them in the night."

	Everyone was staring at Miyu in surprise.  I have 
hardly ever seen her be so...gentle.  

	I could see Aunt Akane staring quietly at the floor, 
and wondered what she was thinking.  She looked rather 
torn.  This seemed more evidence for my theory; Aunt 
Akane never has seemed too comfortable around Aunt 
Miyu, or Uncle Kazuya either.

	"Your mother would never forgive me if I let you get 
hurt, Kasumi, when I could have stopped it," Aunt Miyu 
said gently. "I only told you that you were going to die in 
order to push you to get stronger.  I do not wish to see you 
die."

	"I would never forgive myself if Kasumi died," Aunt 
Akane said softly.  

	"You would never let Kasumi die," Kagami said 
firmly.  "And neither would I."

	"No one is going to die,"  Aunt Miyu said.  "Though I 
would suggest Dan get some unarmed combat or weapon 
training and not just rely on surviving blows until he can 
shoot something."

	Aunt Akane and Mom both perked up.  "I should teach 
you to use an axe properly," Mom said, smiling.

	Even the wooden practice axe looks dangerous.  

	Aunt Miyu let go of Kasumi.  "You all should get 
back to practice.  I will return in a while."

	"Wait, before you go, can you study me?" Shun asked.  
"I want to know..."

	Aunt Miyu now returned to her usual calm, but it 
seemed fake to me.  "Of course.  Attack me with everything 
you have."

	Shun took a deep breath and then leaped at Aunt 
Miyu, delivering a flying kick to her chest that made her 
stagger back, then grabbing her and slamming her to the 
ground, followed by a stomp; she dodged out of the way, 
however, and landed behind him, then rolled back, 
slamming him into the ground, though he landed well and 
rolled to his feet.  

	Kagami gave a strangled cry, watching, and Aunt 
Akira frowned.

	Aunt Miyu fought back, but I don't think she was 
going all out.  Shun was, throwing everything he had into 
the attack. Aunt Miyu periodically counter-attacked, but 
she didn't press things.

	After a little while, she said, "Very good, Shun."  She 
tapped her cheek thoughtfully.  "Like Junko, your emotions 
are potent, enabling you to tap your capacity more strongly, 
though not so well as a Hime or as I suspect Dan's actual 
limits are if he was fully tapping his potential."

	I frowned at that.  I like being in control of myself.  
When I do let emotions rule me, I generally act totally 
stupidly.  

	"If there is only one slot left, how could Junko and I 
both have this capacity?" Shun asked.

	"I will think on it.  I must go," Aunt Miyu said.

	"Okay," Shun said.  "I'll go back to practicing."  

	Mom started teaching me how to hit things with a 
stupidly large axe while Aunt Miyu departed.

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

Alyssa's Story:

	I could feel Miyu's pain and anguish from the pool, 
where I was swimming with much of the family.  I 
immediately got up, got a towel and went and found her, 
kneeling by a bed in one of the guest rooms, trying to pray.  
Most people couldn't have told anything from the outside, 
but I knew. 

	I always know.

	I knelt down beside her.  "God loves us, you know, 
Miyu."

	"We did terrible things to their parents and yet they 
love us.  Love us unconditionally. They trust us.  I told 
Kasumi she was going to die and she...she loves me 
anyway.  Even more now."  She was holding her rosary 
beads, but I couldn't tell if she was actually praying a 
rosary or just needed to hold something to still her hands.

	I took mine out.  Glancing at her hands, I could see 
she was on the first sorrowful mystery.  Appropriate, I 
suppose.  "I know, I know, Miyu," I said softly to her.  
"They only know us as we are now.  They don't know our 
foolish sins of the past.  But we'll have to tell them."

	"I should," she said.  "But I cannot.  I tried. The words 
would not come.  They would not come.  She held me so 
gently and they would not come."  She quivered just a little.  
"Shizuru told them everything.  But I could not.  She loves 
me and I cannot find the strength to hurt her with the truth."  

	"Give it time," I said.  "They've had to absorb enough 
for one day or a week or even a month," I told her.  "Let us 
pray together."

	The first sorrowful mystery is the agony in the garden.  
The final temptation of Jesus to turn back from the cup of 
pain set before him.  To abandon us to our sins as we 
deserved instead of dying for us.  Not because we deserved 
salvation, but because we needed it.

	Miyu tends to linger here when we pray the Rosary.  
Myself as well, who I think she learned it from.  Even my 
sins can be forgiven.  I was horrified to be defeated, but 
Mai saved me from myself.  I will forever owe her for that.  
I was so eager for power, so convinced of my own 
righteousness that I treated everyone I met as disposable 
except Miyu and Father.  I wanted so much to impress him, 
to earn his love, to show I followed his dream...

	I was an utter and total fool and deserved to die.  

	But God loves me despite all that.  Somehow.  And I 
have done my best to make up for what I did.  So has Miyu.  

	"I know," she said.  "I am afraid to calculate their 
likely responses.  I do not want to know."

	"Let it rest, Miyu.  Be glad they love us instead of 
hating us.  And leave the future to God."  I patted her hand.  
"Pray with me."

	We worked our way through the other four Sorrowful 
Mysteries, and then the Joyful Mysteries.  As usual, I felt 
much better afterwards, and I could feel Miyu's turmoil had 
mostly died down.  "Come out and swim with me," I told 
her.

	"I love you, you know," she said to me.

	"I know," I told her, then hugged her.  "I love you 
most of all."

	"I love you most of all too," she said softly, then 
kissed my forehead.  "Let us go swim."

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

 Kasumi's Tale:

	Mother took Kagami and I to bathe with her after our 
training session; there's a billion baths and bathrooms in 
this place, it seems like, and Mother somehow got a small 
one just for us.  

	It's hard to even express how good this made me feel.  
No more need to hide my Hime mark from her.  No more 
secrets.  Everything could go back to normal.

	Sort of normal.

	Mother said, "Kasumi, I will do your hair, and then 
Kagami's."

	"Oh, it's okay," Kagami said.

	"No, no, I want to pamper you both," Mother said.

	I smiled goofily like a little kid.  I hadn't done this 
with Mother in a long time.  

	"At least let me do your hair, then," Kagami said.

	"Okay," Mother said.

	Mother scrubbed my hair throughly.  It felt wonderful.  
I felt like the hugest of huge burdens had been taken from 
me.   Everything was going to be okay now, even if the 
family is at war.

	"Where is your mark?" Mother asked me; she seemed 
to be searching my back.

	"Here," I said, peeling off the bandaid and casting it 
aside.  "Unfortunately, if I wear anything shorter than knee-
length like running shorts, it can be seen."

	"Akane-san and I have ours on our backs," Kagami 
said.  They turned and I saw they had theirs at the same 
place.  I felt a stupid burst of jealousy, but it quickly 
passed.  I was too happy right now for anything to bring me 
down.

	"I love you, Kasumi," Mother said, and I smiled even 
brighter.  "You are my strong, darling daughter and I love 
you."

	"I love you too, Mother," I said to her.  "I want you to 
be proud of me."

	"I am proud of you.  You're strong and fast and 
beautiful and hard working and kind and gentle," Mother 
said.  "And I know you will fight hard alongside Kagami 
and I."

	I heard Kagami make a happy noise, and then Mom 
made one as Kagami worked on her hair.  "Kasumi fights 
very well.  It is right for you to be proud of her," Kagami 
said.

	"You fight very well too," I told Kagami.  I'm 
sometimes jealous of her, but right now, I couldn't be 
jealous of anyone or anything.  "And we all have someone 
who loves us."

	"We are blessed," Mother said, now taking a comb to 
some tangles in my hair.  But even the jerking around felt 
good because it was Mother taking care of me.  

	"I...I have to tell you something," I mumbled.

	"Hmm?" Mother asked.

	"I like fighting," I mumbled.  "Doing katas feels good.  
So does sparring. And even actual battle was really 
exciting, though also terrifying.  I hate everyone being in 
danger, but the practicing feels really good and even the 
fighting feels kind of good.  Even though it shouldn't.  It 
makes me feel like running makes me feel."  I didn't expect 
to enjoy this.  I shouldn't enjoy it.  But it feels good to 
move around and jump and dodge attacks and just...do 
things with my body.

	That sounds like a five year old, I guess.  But I'm 
enjoying it.  I don't like seeing anyone get hurt, but I'm 
starting to see why people do things like Kendo as a sport, 
which I never understood.  

	It's fun.

	It shouldn't be fun.  Fighting is terrible, people getting 
hurt is terrible.  Seeing Dan get clobbered...I could hardly 
bear it.  But sparring with Mother is...it's really enjoyable.  
I like it.  

	"I know," Mother said.  "It feels wonderful.  Some 
time soon, I want to take you both and Kazuya flying with 
me.  It feels wonderful to fly.  But I guess you both know 
that."

	"Yes," Kagami said, smiling.  Her hands were very 
gentle with Mother's hair.  She soon finished while Mother 
was still working on me.  "We should...oh, I guess it 
wouldn't be fair of me to bring Shun when Kasumi can't 
bring Hayao."

	"Not yet," Mother said.  "If their relationship lasts, we 
will have to tell him everything.  But we have to be 
careful."

	I nodded.  That made me feel better, knowing that 
eventually I could tell him.  I hate the idea of hiding things.  
"It's okay, I wouldn't mind," I told her.  I shouldn't mind.  It 
would probably irritate me some, but I shouldn't be jealous 
her boyfriend knows everything and she doesn't have to 
hide anything from him and no one hates Shun.

	Okay, I was jealous.

	But I couldn't stay jealous with Mother pampering me.  

	Mother finished working out the kinks in my hair, then 
doused me with water and moved to work on Kagami, who 
was smiling like I was.  I began scrubbing myself before 
getting in the nice hot water nearby.  "If we died Kagami's 
hair red, then she and Shun could be Christmas color 
twins."

	Kagami laughed.  "Mother is naturally a blond, but she 
dyed it brown because she felt people didn't take her 
seriously enough."

	"So you have your father's hair color?" Mother asked.

	"Yes," Kagami said.  

	I feel bad she has to hide everything from her parents.  
That's one area I'm ahead now.  We all three of us have 
pretty much the same build except my legs are a lot more 
muscular than either of them and Mom has some muscle 
development on her arms and legs, just enough to show she 
gets lots of exercise but isn't a bodybuilder or as dedicated 
to it as I've been.  And Kagami...you can tell she didn't use 
to get much exercise.  Another place I'm ahead.

	But I shouldn't brag just because Hayao likes to kiss 
me and would probably die of joy if he could see me right 
now before I panicked and killed him.

	"I wonder what I would look like with blonde hair," 
Mother speculated.

	"Beautiful," Kagami said.  "I wish I'd gotten Mother's 
hair."  She seemed to be remembering something.  Her 
mother being pretty, I suppose.  I am curious what her 
parents look like.

	I wonder what hair color Hayao likes best.  Well, he 
likes me and that's all that matters.  

	We finished getting clean and took a nice long 
relaxing bath and I emerged feeling wonderful.  This has 
really been a good day, other than having to lie to Uncle 
Jinnai.

	We all put on bathing suits; Kagami put on a blue one 
piece cut high in front and low in the back; you could see 
her Hime mark.  I wore a green one with a red stripe down 
the front splitting it in half with an almost identical cut to 
Kagami's.  But Mother, to my surprise, put on a white 
bikini.  I didn't think she even had any bikinis.  You could 
see her mark as well and you could see mine, though it was 
not as easily noticeable down on my inner thigh.  Everyone 
was out swimming and I swam for a while, then went 
looking for Aunt Miyu.

	She never came back to the practice and I wanted to 
make sure she was okay.

	Aunt Miyu was playing tennis with Uncle Yuuichi, 
Aunt Mikoto, and Aunt Haruka (as her partner).  So I had 
to wait for them to finish before I came up to her and pulled 
her aside.  "Are you okay?  You never came back."

	"It was time to pray the Rosary," she said.  While her 
voice was blank as ever, I am not so young and foolish as 
to fall for that kind of diversion.

	"Are you okay?  I guess remembering what happened 
to Aunt Alyssa must have hurt a lot."  I took her hands with 
mine.

	"Yes," she said softly.  "It had to happen.  I know that 
now.  We had to learn the error of our ways.  It was God's 
will."  She stared at the ground.  "But it hurt."

	"I can't imagine your god would want you to hurt," I 
said.

	"You do not know much of my God.  He is an artisan 
who forges souls to perfection.  But you know what is used 
for forging?" she said softly.

	"A big hammer and an anvil, right?" I said.  Having 
one's soul hammered sounded pretty painful.

	"Fire.  Every soul must pass through the fire, so we 
will become malleable enough to be hammered into a new 
shape.  But then we must pass through the fire again and be 
hammered again.  It is a long and painful process.  But by 
it, we become perfected and we will go to be with Him in 
eternity.  One day, our souls will shine like diamonds, like 
the stars in the sky, and others will ask us to help them 
become perfected too."  Her voice sounded wistful and 
hopeful.  "It is known as the Communion of Saints.  The 
dead hear our prayers and help us as best they can by 
praying for us as well.  I am part of over two thousand 
years of those who have gone before me and who watch 
over us and one day...I hope...I will go to be with them and 
watch over the faithful in the future as well."  But she 
sounded uncertain of that.

	"I'm sure they will welcome you home, Aunt Miyu."  I 
think I understand her better now.  Why she can be so hard 
on us sometimes.  But I know she just wants us to become 
better.  And listening to her, I can tell she judges herself as 
harshly as she sometimes judges us.

	Though...

	"I shouldn't ask...but do you really think Dan's love is 
weak?" I asked very softly, feeling bad I was probing into 
this.

	"Dan holds back his emotions and tries to be a rock," 
Aunt Miyu said softly.  "And to just tough out every 
problem.  The Namcub may enable him to tap into Hime 
energy, but so long as he holds back his emotions, he will 
struggle to use it for anything useful."

	"Is he...Is he a Hime?" I asked.

	"No," Aunt Miyu said.  "Not exactly.  I don't think he 
could summon a Child even if he had Natasha's passion.  
But I do think that the Namcub will give him greatly 
enhanced physical prowness if he learns to use it instead of 
repressing his own strength."

	I nodded.  

	"His girlfriend seems nice enough; I just hope she is 
not expecting a grand passion," Aunt Miyu said. 

	"I think she wants a smart boyfriend," I told Aunt 
Miyu.

	"Then she chose well.  He needs to study more, but he 
has great native intelligence.  I think only Erica can match 
him for brainpower among the ranks of your generation."  
She paused, then said to me, "Which is not to say you are 
stupid."

	"No, it's fine, Auntie," I told her.  "I'm quite aware I'm 
much better at physical things than mental.  I really like 
doing physical things."  Like fighting.  I can't believe I like 
it.  

	"I can tell your enjoyment, especially when you 
practice with your mother or when you run.  Which you 
need to practice to keep getting faster," Aunt Miyu said.

	"I'd have to practice in the middle of the night," I said.  
"How fast can you run, Aunt Miyu?"

	"I am not absolutely sure, actually.  Some time we 
should measure it," she said.

	"We could go running together one night," I told her.

	"Yes, that is a good idea," she said.  "I would like to 
see how fast you can run."

	I smiled.  This should be fun.  

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

Shun's Tale

	I pretty much just wear a speedo at the pool as I am 
basically shameless about my body.  Dan wears boxer-style 
trunks and sometimes even wears a t-shirt, though not 
today.  Natasha, as usual, was in a bikini, a green one.  The 
bandage on her upper left arm looked rather out of place; I 
was glad it wasn't slowing her down, though, as she was 
busy swimming and enjoying herself.  

 	I was rather stunned to see Aunt Akane in a bikini 
(though about as modest as bikinis get) and not surprised at 
all to see Kagami in a modest one-piece acting as if she was 
actually wearing a string bikini, and therefore embarrassed 
about it.  I came over to her and kissed her and she kissed 
me back, then she mumbled something incoherent about 
bathing and then said, "I...Do you like it?"

	"It's a very nice bathing suit," I told her, then flaunted 
myself.  She stared appreciatively, then looked more 
embarrassed as I grinned.  "Ready to get wet?"

	"I need to talk to Fujino-san," she said nervously, 
staring at the ground.

	"I can come with you," I said.

	"No, no, I have to do this myself," she mumbled.

	Crystal and Junko now came out in red and green 
bikinis respectively.  Damn hot.  Junko went a-wandering, 
while Crystal jumped in the water.  

	"Okay," I told her.  "I'll be swimming.  Dunk me when 
you need me."

	She laughed.  "See you soon."

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

Kagami's Tale

	I was extremely nervous about this.  But I had to talk 
to her.  I approached Fujino-san as she was lounging out by 
the pool, after we finished our practice.  She's so incredibly 
beautiful, I just wanted to run away, especially given how 
nervous I was already.  I don't look hideous in a bathing 
suit, but my body isn't very impressive.  Even my bathing 
suit is just this solid blue thing which is totally not pretty at 
all.  

	She was wearing a one piece, pink and red, but on her 
it looked amazing.  I stood there staring at her as my brain 
chased itself in circles.  She had her eyes closed and I 
suddenly wondered if she was asleep.

	"I'm awake," she said, though her eyes didn't open.  
"Hello, Kagami-san.  How are you?"

	"I...I'm very good," I said nervously.

	Shun offered to come with me but if I can't even talk 
to her without my boyfriend helping me, I don't deserve to 
be alive, let alone a Hime.  

	"Are you enjoying attending Rosewood?" she asked 
me, eyes still closed, a little smile on her lips.

	"Yes," I told her.  "It's wonderful.  We...I couldn't 
afford it without the Survivor Fund money."

	"This is exactly the sort of reason why I set it up," she 
said softly.  "To help families like yours."

	"It kept Mom afloat when she lost Father too," I said 
softly.  "Thank you."

	"You shouldn't thank me," Fujino-san said.  "It is no 
less than your due.  It is a paltry replacement for all those 
lost, all those loving relationships destroyed, everything I 
wrecked in my rage."  She sounded sad and tired.

	"I wouldn't exist if you hadn't done that," I mumbled.  
Somehow I had never really thought about this.  I always 
felt bad for Mother for losing her husband, but...his death 
meant my life.  If he had lived, I wouldn't exist.  And I 
don't know what to think or feel about that, other than 
guilty, even though I didn't do anything.

	She fell silent and now she sat up and opened her eyes 
and really looked at me.

	"And I'm not the only one," I mumbled.  "There's 
probably dozens of kids like me, whose parents only met 
because of what happened that day." I stared at the ground.  
"I mean, not that it, I just...I don't know what I mean."

	Her eyes are a little creepy with that crimson shade.  
But her face was very kind.  "There is no reason 
whatsoever for you to feel guilty for existing," she said 
very firmly.  "The crime was mine and the responsibility 
mine.  You shouldn't feel bad about this, Kagami-san."

	"I can't help it; I was raised to take responsibility for 
things," I mumbled.

	For a moment, she stared at the ground, then she said, 
"It is good to be responsible.  But you should not feel bad 
that you are here and alive.  Let me carry the guilt; I am 
experienced at it.  I am glad you exist, Kagami-san.  And so 
is Shun, you know."

	"I know," I said softly.  "He loves me." I smiled; I'm 
sure I looked silly.  "My parents...aren't good at showing 
affection.  But he and Akira-sensei and Akane-san shower 
me with it.  I hardly can believe it sometimes.  He wants to 
touch me all the time."  I turned a little red, thinking about 
it.

	Then she caressed my cheek, and I jumped.  "Like 
that?" she said softly, looking a little impish.

	"Eee, yes, but..."

	"I know all about how to touch someone to drive them 
wild if you want me to share some secrets with you that 
you can use on Shun," she almost purred at me, giving me a 
look which reminded me of how Shun looked at me last 
night when we...

	I turned redder than Dan's hair.  "Fujino-san, much as 
I want to know those secrets, people are watching and oh 
god I said I want to know out loud!"  I had meant to ask her 
for advice on using my Element, as Akane-san had told me 
that she could do all sorts of tricks with it.

	Several family members looked our way and Kuga-
san began coming our way, looking irritated.  

	"Why don't you get Shun and we can go somewhere 
private for me to teach you?  Or maybe Natsuki is 
volunteering to be the guinea pig, hmm?" she said to Kuga-
san.

	"Shizuru, what are you doing to this poor girl?" Kuga-
san said, hands on her hips.  She was in a black bikini.  

	"I need a volunteer to be turned on by Kagami-san.  
She needs to learn some of my secrets so she can use them 
on Shun.  And of course, it'll be more fun if Shun is 
surprised.  So I need a stand-in for him," Fujino-san said to 
Kuga-san.

	I stared mindlessly.  How can she ask someone that?  
And she's totally shameless about it!  And Kuga-san has a 
boyfriend!  A really handsome one, too.

	"Kuga-san has a boyfriend!," I protested.

	"Hmm, we could ask Takumi-kun, but he's married," 
Fujino-san said.  "Ahh, Reito-san is free."

	I looked over and saw him and Sister Alyssa and 
Sister Yukariko and her husband...Ishigami-san, I think, all 
batting a beach ball around in the water.  "I think he's 
busy," I mumbled.

	"Shizuru, stop embarrassing the girl," Kuga-san said, 
hands on her hips.

	"But she wants to know how better to make her 
boyfriend go wild.  Isn't that commendable?" Fujino-san 
said.  "And if you help, you might learn a few tricks to use 
on Roger, too."

	"He does like the ear thing I learned from you," Kuga-
san said, then slapped her forehead.  "Shizuru!"

	Shizuru laughed and smiled, but I could see a little 
sadness in her eyes.

	She's trying to cheer me up and make me forget it, I 
realized.  Plus, she seems to greatly enjoy teasing Kuga-
san.

	Akane-san now came over.  "What's going on?"

	"We need a man for me to teach Kagami my secrets of 
seduction on," Fujino-san said.  "So she can surprise her 
boyfriend with them."

	"If you need secrets of seduction, I can teach you 
plenty of those," Akane-san said, patting my shoulder.  "I 
have been married to a man for many years and I know 
what makes men crazy.  Whereas, if you were dating 
Kasumi, then you would need to go to Shizuru-san."  She 
smiled impishly.

	"Just because we slept together doesn't mean I'm after 
girls," I said, then realized what I had said and wanted to 
die right now.

	Fujino-san smiled very broadly, while Kuga-san stared 
and Akane-san said, "I hope Kasumi showed you a good 
time, then," still smiling at me.

	"We had a very good time," I said.  "But it totally 
wasn't...we didn't...I mean..."  I tried to find some way to 
express I'm only into guys without slapping the two people 
in front of me who I know are into girls, though I guess 
Kuga-san drives both sides of the road.  

	"I know," Akane-san, said, putting a hand on my 
shoulder.  "Sometimes it's nice to just sleep with a friend 
and not have to be alone."

	"Yeah," I said softly.

	"See, Natsuki?" Fujino-san said.  "We can be just like 
Kasumi and Kagami-san."

	Kuga-san mumbled incoherently.

	"I actually...I know you don't want to use your powers, 
but we have the same Element, and I was hoping you could 
help me figure out how to use it better, as no one here 
studies the naginata.  I mean, Akira-sensei sort of knows, 
and Akane-san is doing her best, but..."  I stared at the 
ground.  "But I guess that would only make you feel bad."

	"I have not touched even a normal naginata in a long 
time," Fujino-san said softly.  "Though my family trained 
me with it as a child.  But I will talk to your senseis and 
help them help you some.  As for your Element..."  She 
seemed lost in thought.  "Call your Element," she said 
firmly.

	I summoned it.

	She stared at it, and Kuga-san said, "It looks just like 
yours."

	Fujino-san shivered, then held her hands out gingerly.

	I heard Akane-san swallow and Fujino-san took it 
gingerly and suddenly flowed into a complex kata with it, 
then looked surprised.  

	I noticed a fair number of family members looking at 
us.  Tate-san looked stunned, and I could see Suzushiro-san 
and Kikukawa-san looked rather nervous.

	"Take it," Fujino-san said urgently and I did.

	"I guess it's like riding a bicycle," I said a little 
nervously.

	Kuga-san whispered something to Fujino-san, who 
didn't seem pleased.

	"I will see about helping them to design a program for 
you," Fujino-san said.  "You may be able to do what I did, 
to separate the blade into chain-linked segments. I suspect 
what you need to do, though, is just to experiment 
somewhere you can afford to break things, and it will come 
to you as it did to me."

	"Thank you, Fujino-san," I said and bowed, then 
banished my Element.  "I am very grateful."

	"Now, let's find someone we can use as a guinea pig 
for my OTHER secrets," Fujino-san said, smiling.

	"You're coming diving, now," Kuga-san said, taking 
her by the arm and dragging.

	"Why, Natsuki, you're so bold!"

	"Can it.  It's time for you to fall in water, a lot."

	As they retreated, Akane-san took me aside out of 
easy earshot of the pool.  "So how far have you and Shun 
gone?"

	I was about ready to explode.  "We haven't done 
anything that could make me pregnant," I mumbled.  "We 
agreed we won't do anything that can cause pregnancy.  
We're in no position to risk making a baby."

	Akane-san studied me, then said softly, "But you have 
done intimate things which can't lead to pregnancy."

	"Yes," I whispered, totally embarrassed and afraid of 
how she would react.  I want...I need her approval.

	She closed her eyes, and I wondered what she was 
thinking.  "It's not wise to do that so soon after you start 
dating," she said.

	I felt crushed.  "I'm sorry," I said.  "I just...we just..."

	"It's okay," Akane-san said, opening her eyes and 
looking into mine.  "I said I trusted your judgement, so I 
will.  I'm not angry.  Kazuya and I... we did it for the first 
time after the destruction of the Hime Star.  But we'd been 
dating for months before we first did it.  But you don't have 
that luxury.  Shun could die.  So I can understand why you 
want to not hold back.  Just be careful, okay?"

	"I will," I told her.  "I very much don't want...to end up 
like Mother."  I winced.

	She took my hands and squeezed them gently.  
"You're an adult now, Kagami.  You may still be a student, 
but you're going to have to grow up hard and fast, and this 
is part of that.  Come with me."

	She took me over to the gazebo and we sat down 
together.  She leaned back against the swinging bench seat, 
holding one of my hands.  "The thing you have to 
understand is this.  Sex is part of a healthy relationship and 
a necessary one, but it's not a cure or fix-it-all.  Sometimes 
you need it for comfort, often you want it because you love 
each other, but it can't do the job by itself, any more than 
you can live on just tomatos, even if they are good for you 
and tasty."

	I nodded, holding her hand firmly.  

	"I expect you and Shun will have a lot of sex," she 
said softly.  "But you can't just do that.  You have to find 
lots of ways to build your intimacy.  So your love will 
grow.  Love needs a balanced diet, just like you do."

	I nodded, wishing I could take notes.  

	"Love starts with a rush, but you can't be passionate all 
the time forever.  Eventually, things will calm down.  That 
doesn't mean love has failed, it just means you can't run the 
oven at maximum temperature all the time without 
damaging it."

	I nodded.  

	"You'll fight sometimes too," Akane-sensei told me.  
"But that will pass as well.  And sometimes, you will have 
to stand your ground against Shun until he stops being 
stupid and vice versa.  I hate fighting, but even Kazuya and 
I sometimes fight."

	I don't ever want to have fights with Shun like my 
parents sometimes have.  Why can't people who love each 
other always be happy together?  It's not fair.

	"You can always come to me for advice and I will do 
my best for you, Kagami-san," Akane-san said.  "You're 
important to me."

	"You're important to me, very important," I said, 
squeezing her hand.  "You always...you always treat me 
very well."

	"And you can go to Kasumi, too.  She's very kind and 
gentle and very good at comforting and helping people."  
Akane-san smiled brightly.  "I am very lucky."

	"Me too," I said softly.  "Me too."

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

Shun's Tale:

	I went to see Aunt Haruka, who I found lounging out, 
half-asleep, on a deck chair.  Aunt Yukino was clonked out 
next to her on another one with a book on her face; it was 
about something called 'Eniac', whatever that is.

	I gently shook her awake.  "Hey, Aunt Haruka."  I was 
pretty stunned to learn she wasn't actually a Hime.  

	She sat up.  "What is it, Shun?"  She was wearing a 
fancy bikini which probably cost ten times what it's worth, 
though admittedly, she looks good in it.  It was fancy and 
frilly with a leopardskin print.  

	"Mom mentioned you have anti-monster weaponry, 
and since I have yet to manifest and may or may not, I need 
to ask you for some.  If it's possible for you to have knives 
made for me."

	"Of course," she said.  "Though you'd best avoid 
fighting if you can help it.  You're too young."

	"Well, I probably can't, since apparently monsters 
aren't just attacking our campus, they're attacking EACH 
OTHER to see who gets to."

	Aunt Haruka laughed nervously and Aunt Yukino now 
mumbled something about vaccuum tubes.  

	Aunt Haruka said, "I will see about having them made.  
If the nanomachine project works, we may be able to give 
you artificial Hime powers, but it's having some problems."

	"Causing people to mutate into hideous 
monstrosities?" I teased.  I know that doesn't ever really 
happen.

	"No, they break down when exposed to very much 
testosterone," Aunt Haruka said.  "Which means they won't 
work on most men or any women who get very much 
exercise.  Also, we still can't get the muscle development 
even enough.  And it causes hormone imbalance problems.   
And they seem to cause infertility.  So basically, right now, 
progress is slow."

	I nodded.  "Well, I seem to be able to tap a little 
myself, which could mean I'm going to manifest or maybe 
it's something else."  Though I'm not sure what.

	Aunt Haruka looked thoughtful.  "Maybe it's because 
of your link to a Hime.  We know it keeps our lovers 
young, so perhaps it provides other benefits too."  See, she 
talks as if she is a Hime.  And no one treats her any 
different, except in so far as she is, well, Aunt Haruka with 
all her quirks.  

	That made sense.  So it could go either way.

	"But Anton, where will we find lederhosen at this 
hour?" Aunt Yukino mumbled in her sleep.

	Aunt Haruka laughed softly and smiled fondly at Aunt 
Yukino.

	"Who is Anton?" I asked.  "Does she have a secret 
boyfriend?"  I won't pretend I understand what's up with 
these two.  Though if they're not lovers of some kind, I'll be 
stunned.

	"Anton Lavoisier is my boyfriend Pierre's right hand 
man and best friend," Aunt Haruka said.  "You ever heard 
of Lava soap?  It's named after one of his ancestors, I think, 
who was a big chemist who discovered conservation of 
mass, oxygen, and hydrogen.  But he got killed during the 
French Revolution when they discovered tobacco causes 
cancer and he'd been selling it."  She paused.  "I think.  
Anyway, Anton is a big sweety and very smart.  He and 
Yukino get on very well."
	
	"So when do we get to meet them?" I asked.

	"They're very busy, but if everything works out right, 
we'll be able to take you all to France for your summer 
vacation and you'll get to meet them."

	"Really?" I said.  "I know Natasha had kind of talked 
about that, but I assumed it was one of her big dreams."

	"I hope so," Aunt Haruka said.  "I want to introduce 
him to everyone, but at the same time...well, you know how 
it is with our family."  She sighed.  "I can't be fully honest 
with him yet and I hate it."

	"I understand," I told her.

	"You're very lucky," Aunt Haruka said.

	Aunt Yukino's book began to slide and Aunt Haruka 
gently pushed it into place.  

	"I know," I told her.  "Anyway, I'll let you go back to 
napping.  I hate to just ask a favor, but I need your help."

	"I'll get on it on Monday," she said.  "Good luck with 
Mitsu-san."

	"Thanks, Auntie."  I now went for a swim.	
	
************

Erica's Tale:

	I feel like an indecisive Harem show lead, except he'd 
be trying to decide between women who like him and I've 
got two guys in my head I can't possibly have.

	I am the biggest idiot on EARTH.

	Possibly in the entire solar system.

	I lounged out by the pool, trying to figure out what to 
do.  I can't stop thinking about them, even though both of 
them have zero interest in me and Hayao kisses like a 
dream and someone kill me now.

	I can't even talk to someone about this without feeling 
like an idiot.  Because I am one.

	I am stupidly stupid.  Stupid head.  Stupid heart.

	"Surprise octopus attack!" Aunt Shiho said and began 
tickling me by surprise.

	I flailed wildly, laughing and laughing and laughing.

	Aunt Shiho smiled a crooked smile at me.  "Hey, you 
want to talk to someone?" she said softly.  "I know what 
liking someone who doesn't like you back feels like."

	"Did my parents blab?" I mumbled.

	"A touch.  But mainly, I know how to read people," 
she said.

	Great, I'm broadcasting to the world.  "Okay," I said.

	She pulled over a lounge chair, then sat on it.  She is 
so totally beautiful.  My figure's decent, but she's just 
amazing looking.  I don't feel beautiful, but she IS 
beautiful.

	"I can't imagine any guy would turn you down, Aunt 
Shiho."

	"Well, very few can," Aunt Shiho said proudly, but 
then more soberly said, "But the first guy I ever fell in love 
with dumped me totally.  Then started dating the woman I 
most hated."

	Uncle Yuuichi and Aunt Mai, I think.  I nodded.

	"It hurts, I know," she said.  "But you can't dwell on it.  
I spent way too much time doing it, hating him, hating her, 
hating everything, hating myself.  Sometimes, it just doesn't 
work out."

	"I keep dreaming about him," I mumbled.  Both of 
them.

	"It'll pass with time.  Find someone else, get some 
kissyface and you'll forget.  Forget enough to get by with 
sanity intact, anyway," she said.  "I'm sure there are a ton of 
boys who wouldn't mind having a little fling with you."

	I wasn't so sure I could do that.  On the other hand, it 
was at least something to try beyond sitting around and 
being Queen of Moping.

	I've done way too much of that.  "Are you seeing 
anyone right now?"

	"Yeah, his name is Robert Cooper and he works for 
Shell Solar.  They're in a huge project with US Robots and 
some Japanese companies to put solar panels up on a huge 
scale around here.  Including some of Kazuya's relatives, I 
think," Aunt Shiho said.  "I tried to get him to come 
Saturday but he was busy."

	"Is he a businessman or a scientist?"

	"Businessman," she said.  "I couldn't keep up with an 
egghead."

	"I'm an egghead," I told her.

	"Yes, but you're my super- niece," she said.  "Please 
watch over Natasha.  She's a good, loving, kind girl and I'm 
very proud of her, but she has NO common sense 
whatsoever.  And total, blinding confidence.  Which is 
usually justified, but she needs someone sensible riding 
herd on her."

	"I'll keep an eye out," I promised Aunt Shiho.  "You 
and Natasha seem to be really close."

	"She is my everything," Aunt Shiho said calmly.  "We 
fight sometimes, but she's the best thing in my life."

	"I'm pretty close with my folks and very glad we won't 
have to hide anything any more," I told her.

	"I know how you feel.  I'm glad I don't have to hide 
everything any more.  You're lucky you have parents with 
nothing to hide."

	"I know," I said softly.  

	We talked a while longer; it was nice to have a chance 
to get to know one of my aunts better, as I don't have a 
decade and a half of experience of them like everyone else 
does.

*************
	
Gin's Tale:

	The woods were pretty much totally safe.  We 
wandered around, dodging old beer cans and makeout 
spots.  Given we had no clue what we were actually 
looking for, I'm not surprised we didn't find anything at 
first.  We couldn't even find my tracks, let alone Natasha's.

	Then we found the stone table, now ground down to 
rubble and turned into a fire pit with clear evidence of 
recent use.

	"Holy shit, what did this?" Mandi asked.

	I kneeled down and picked up a chunk of rock.  One 
side of it was crushed and smashed up and rough.  The 
other side of it was cleanly sliced, as if someone had 
somehow cut the granite with a very sharp blade.  The top 
of it was a chunk of chinese writing.  So was the bottom.

	"Hmm, a mixture of blunt force and bladed cutting 
tools," I said.  "However, it would take a diamond tipped 
saw in order to easily cut this stuff, and it would take a lot 
of work to make it this smooth."  I held it up to Sanae.  
"Does this smooth side look like anything heated it?"

	"No," she said.  "However, granite is heat resistant 
enough that nothing short of a blowtorch would do 
anything but put ashes on it."

	"You can tell what was needed to cut it?" Hayao 
asked, surprised.

	"Mom runs a gardening store, which includes selling 
things which cut things,"  I told him.  "This should have 
made a fuckton of noise too.  And we would have heard 
rumors, so it has to be recent, though I don't see how this 
could have anything to do with snakes."

	In a few places under the piled rubble, there was 
pinkish-red powder, which Sanae collected into an 
envelope, using a hair brush from Hotaru's purse.  It looked 
to me like someone had taken most of it, but there were 
faint smears and traces on some of the chunks, which 
looked to me like there used to be some kind of picture or 
runes or something.  I copied it as best I could.

	"Please tell me this isn't radioactive, Sanae," I said.

	"I have no way to tell but why would anything 
radioactive be on the bottom of this?" she asked.

	"I don't know."  Please don't let this turn out to be 
crack or something.  

	"What is all this engraving on this tablet, anyway?" I 
asked.

	"Chinese," Hayao said.  "I can't read it, though; too 
archaic."

	"Dan would know," Sanae said.

	"Yes, but we can't ask Dan," Hayao said.  "Dan is 
inside the secret and we are not.  He won't tell us."  He 
frowned.

	Hotaru ran her fingers across it, studying it.  "I would 
not be surprised if this thing was left over from the early 
Heiian period, maybe even the Yamato period."

	"Perhaps it was once part of some kind of land marker 
from the divisional allotments made during the Taika 
Reform," Hayao said.  "Or even part of Emperor Kotaku's 
palace, which I think he actually built in Osaka in its early 
years.  Or an old shrine."

	I took my pencil and pad and took a couple of 
rubbings, not that I was sure who could possibly translate 
any of this for us.

	Something now struck me.  "Sanae, you know botany, 
right?"

	"Yes," she said.

	I took her around the edge of the clearing.  "Is it just 
me, or are there burn marks in some places and smashed up 
branches and stuff around the perimeter?  But that's not a 
botany question.  This is.  What the hell are these 
mushrooms?"  I pointed to some purple mushrooms which 
now bloomed around the edge of the clearing.

	"It's not just you," she said frowning.  She pulled up 
two of the mushrooms, putting them in a small bag.  "I can 
try and look these up."

	Hotaru turned in a circle studying this and frowned 
deeply.  She touched several of the damaged trees.

	Mandi frowned.  "There are broken branches in the 
edge of the woods, but the damage doesn't go far from the 
clearing.  And everything that might have fallen on the 
table is cleaned up.  They probably burned some of the 
evidence."

	 Something strange had happened here. 

	Hotaru cocked her head.

	"What?" I asked.

	She frowned.  "Nothing but silence."

	"Should we be hearing something?" I asked.

	Sanae frowned.  "You're right, it is quiet."

	"Should we be hearing something?" I asked again.

	"That is kind of eerie," Hayo said.

	"Will someone answer my question?" I asked.

	"There should be some animal noises.  Not a whole lot 
as nothing very big lives here," Sanae said.  "But instead, 
total silence except for us.  These trees are usually full of 
small noises."

	"We didn't see any animal corpses," I said, "so they 
can't all be dead."

	"Isn't dead silence normally the prelude to some 
monster or a spring-loaded cat jumping out at you?" Mandi 
said.

	"We're not living in a horror movie," Hayao said.  
"And even if we are, we won't actually die until we split up 
so we can be picked off one by one."

	"Also, none of us are doing drugs or having sex right 
now, so that increases our survival odds," Mandi said.  
"Though if this is a horror movie, Hotaru and Sanae will 
likely survive while the other three of us die."

	Hotaru said, "If this was a horror movie, I'd turn out to 
be a real vampire."  She grinned.

	"Well, in that case, Hayao and I are already vampires," 
Mandi said, laughing.

	"Probably the fight here, whatever exactly happened, 
scared off everything," I said.   "Man, this tree has blast 
marks on it," I said, studying its bark.  It was charred pretty 
badly in spots.  So external flame, but brief contact, as it 
didn't ignite.  The tree felt too damp to burn easily.

	"And look here," I said.  I'd found a tree that looked 
like someone had driven a long, narrow blade through the 
tree from one side to the other.  There was a stain around 
the cut on the side facing the clearing.

	Sanae studied it and frowned, then got another bag and 
took some of the bark off, putting it inside.

	"Why would anyone smash this thing up?" Hayao 
asked, studying the new firepit.

	"Well, maybe next weekend we can take it down to 
Osaka University and find someone who can read the 
rubbings," I said.

	"Yeah."

	Something more than snake chasing was going on 
here, but what?  

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

Dan's Tale:

	I jumped into the water again without enough 
foresight and ended up diving right into Junko.  We flailed 
stupidly, then rose to the surface.  "I'm really sorry," I told 
her.

	"It's okay," she said.

	"Thank you for helping me earlier," I said softly.  
"You shouldn't feel bad about it; I needed to know."

	"I understand completely," she said softly.  "I know 
what it is to...I understand men better than most women," 
she said.  "I am still adjusting to how different your clan is 
from ours.  It must be hard to..."  She struggled for words.

	I have to admit I am curious about her clan.  By what I 
know of her and Hikaru, they seem to have a rather old-
fashioned view of gender roles.  But then, how did she 
become such a badass?  She'd kick the shit out of me in a 
real fight.  

	Junko was still flailing to find the right words.  "You 
would be respected in my clan for that," she said finally.  "I 
know it must be kept secret, your limits and abilities.  But 
my family...my brother...would be proud of you.  Though 
they would not have stopped until you passed out."

	"That would have been fine," I said.  "Though Kasumi 
was right, going further would make it even harder to 
explain to Sanae."

	"She should be proud of your strength," Junko said 
firmly.  "But I appreciate the need for secrecy here.  I wish 
you luck with her.  I know virtually nothing of her, I'm 
afraid."

	"And good luck with Crystal.  She...umm...  Good 
luck."  I can't just say 'her affairs burn brightly and end fast' 
to someone who has risked herself for Crystal and now is 
committed to our cause.

	"I have known Crystal for a while," she said.  "Though 
I see much of what I thought I knew was merely the 
iceberg's tip."  She stared off across the pool area towards 
where Kagami, Aunt Akane, Uncle Kazuya, and Shun were 
playing around with a beach ball.  I was surprised Kasumi 
wasn't with them, but then I saw her surface halfway across 
the pool and vanish again.  

	"Aunt Akane is training you, right?" I asked.

	"Yes," Junko said with a bright smile.  "I am very 
grateful to her.  You train with Kuga-san, right?"

	"Yes," I said.  "She's a good teacher, though a little 
rough."

	"A teacher must be a little rough.  Sometimes a lot 
rough.  I am not used to a teacher like Kurauchi-sensei," 
Junko said.  "But it seems her teaching is bearing fruit and I 
have learned that many things I grew up with are not the 
only way to do things."  She continued to study the others.

	I wondered what she was looking at, though given she 
likes women, maybe it was just Kagami and Aunt Akane in 
bathing suits.  

	She finally shook her head, and said, "Can you 
introduce me to your sensei?"

	I took her over to Aunt Natsuki, who was sitting 
sideways on a deck chair with Shizuru; Uncle Yuuichi was 
sitting on a chair opposite them, pontificating on some 
subject.  They fell silent as we came up and smiled at us.

	I saw Junko had suddenly shifted stances from looking 
kind of macho and dangerous to a very serious but non-
violent kind of posture.  I'm not sure how to describe it, but 
it was kind of how Mom and Dad look when they teach.

	She bowed to them and I said, "Uncle Yuuichi, Aunt 
Natsuki, Aunt Shizuru, this is Crystal's girlfriend Nagiki 
Junko.  She wanted to meet Aunt Natsuki."

	"I guess the rest of us are just chopped liver," Uncle 
Yuuichi said dryly and Junko looked embarrassed.

	"No, I want to meet everyone in your clan, I just 
specifically wanted to meet the woman who trains Dan," 
Junko said hastily and bowed again.  "My apologies."
	
	"I was teasing," he said cheerfully.

	"It's nice to meet you," Aunt Natsuki said, studying 
Junko curiously.  "I'm Kuga Natsuki, a bodyguard," she 
said.  "I'm teaching Dan and Erica to shoot and ride 
motorcycles."

	Junko nodded and bowed again, making me smile a 
little.  

	"I am Fujino Shizuru, a Negotiator," Aunt Shizuru 
said.  "And this is Tate Yuuichi, who works for Shinohara 
Electronics and Robotics."

	"We've met," Uncle Yuuichi said, smiling.

	"Tate-sama and I have met," Junko said very 
seriously.

	"-sama," Aunt Shizuru said teasingly.  

	Junko mumbled and I grinned a little.  

	"She is going to be a librarian," Uncle Yuuichi said.  
"Conan the Librarian, I think."

	Junko soon ended up discoursing on the state of 
libraries and the need for more librarians which turned into 
a general debate on education which I found interesting but 
you probably would not.

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

	Seeing Junko relentlessly beat the shit out of Dan had 
been kind of creepy.  Seeing him perfectly happy with this 
had been MORE creepy.  What is he thinking about?  
Though I guess it was good to find out he won't be helpless.  
Now I have to wonder what else may happen to him. 

	I had decided to take Aunt Miyu's advice and go talk 
to Aunt Mikoto about my Child, though I'm not sure why.  
But best to find out, right?

	I pulled Aunt Mikoto away from her tennis and over to 
the gazebo.  She was wearing a black one-piece with little 
white jaggedy marks like claw marks on it.  "What's up?" 
Aunt Mikoto asked.  We'd sparred during practice but I had 
forgotten to ask then.  

	"Aunt Miyu said to tell you about my Child," I said to 
her.  "Though I'm not sure why."

	"Oooh, yes!  She said he's some kind of giant robot 
monk?"

	"His name is Miroku," I said.

	Aunt Mikoto's eyes widened and she jumped back 
onto the railing.

	"What's wrong?" I asked.

	"I...really?" she asked.

	"Aunt Mikoto, why are you freaking out?" I asked.

	"Miroku...was the Child given me by the Obsidian 
Lord," Aunt Mikoto said.  "Mai had to kill him."  She 
stared at the gazebo floor, then said, "I suppose it must be a 
coincidence."

	"He said he wanted to repent his sins," I said.  

	She stared at me, then stared at the ground.  I shifted 
about nervously; this is not really normal for her.

	"Well," she said softly, then looked at me, then a tree, 
then turned back and said, softly, "I wish you luck with 
him, then.  He served me well.  Tell me about the big 
fight."

	I sat down on the bench with her and told her all about 
it; she quickly grew excited again and I felt better.  I 
normally would have pressed her, but at this point, I felt 
uncertain I wanted to know

	"I wish I'd been there," Aunt Mikoto.

	"Me too," I said.  "Is it normally that ugly?"

	"We usually only had to fight one or two at a time," 
Aunt Mikoto said.  "These must have been weak, or you 
guys are more powerful than we were."

	"I'll be happier when everyone has their powers back," 
I told her.  "I mean, we'll do our very best, but we have 
school and I'm grounded and...everything."  And we nearly 
died without Aunt Akane and Aunt Akira.  I shivered.

	Natasha still isn't scared.  But I am and I hate it.  I feel 
like such a coward.  Junko doesn't seem afraid of anything 
and she doesn't even HAVE powers.

	Aunt Mikoto hugged me tightly.  "You did great and 
you will do great.  I'm very proud of you and so is your 
mother."

	"She bit mine and Junko's face off," I said miserably.  
"What was I supposed to do, just let Natasha die?"

	"She's just terrified for you.  Remember, she had to 
watch her brother and her boyfriend dissolve away into 
green shiny dust which blew away, during the Festival.  
She's afraid you'll get hurt  and she's probably doubly afraid 
for Junko, who went into fighting Orphans with no powers 
at all," Aunt Mikoto said, patting my head.  

	Yeah.  "This wouldn't have happened if you all had 
come clean with us before."  I tried to muster some outrage, 
but it wasn't very strong.  

	"Then you would have just known monsters could eat 
you at any time while being helpless to stop them," Aunt 
Mikoto said.  "We just hoped you'd never have to face it."  
She sighed.  "I'm sorry."

	That made me feel better.  I doubt Mom will ever 
apologize, given she's convinced of her invincible self-
righteousness.  Even though she sat on her ass for over 
twenty years and let others go get in trouble instead of her.  
"It's okay."  I can see why they didn't tell us.  It's just...  
Aaargh.

	I guess I'm lucky.  Junko knows everything.  Nothing 
to hide from her.  Unlike the others.  Well, Shun and I are 
lucky.

	I glanced off and saw Junko, deep in discussion of 
something with Dan, Aunt Shizuru, Aunt Natsuki, and Dad.  
She was in what I now dub 'parent face' mode of being very 
serious and even in a bikini, she stood with the stance of an 
adult.  I don't know how exactly to describe it, other than to 
say she stood like a professional, not like some teenager 
hanging out at the pool.  

	God, she's hot in that bikini.

	She's a complex person.  But that's okay, as I find that 
interesting.  And she knows where she's going and what she 
wants, and I like that too.

	So it's up to me not to screw this up.  But I'll do my 
best.

	Then, as Kagami was playing some kind of ball game 
in the water with Aunt Akane, Uncle Kazuya, and Shun, 
Kasumi suddenly rose out of the water and yelled "PROXY 
AMBUSH," grabbed Kagami and pulled her under.

	"..."

	Uncle Kazuya flopped back and sank himself and 
Aunt Akane dove for him, leaving Shun laughing his ass 
off before suddenly he sank underwater.

	"I think they need our help," Aunt Mikoto said, taking 
off.

	Help.  Hehe.

	I followed her in.

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

Kasumi's Tale:

	Aunt Haruka and I were crushing Shun and Kagami at 
tennis when Father came up to me and pulled me aside; he 
was wearing white boxer trunks the same color as Mother's 
bikini.  I suddenly wondered if they'd color-coordinated 
today.

	"I'm sorry," he said softly.

	I blinked.  "Sorry for what, Father?" I asked in 
confusion.

	"Not telling you the truth.  That you have to get 
involved in this.  That you had to quit track."  He sounded 
as guilty as if he'd forced me to quit it.

	"It's okay, Father," I told him.  "I was meant for bigger 
things.  I'll be running races with tornados and comets.  I 
didn't ask for this, but I'm going to do my best.  It's not your 
fault."

	Father stared at the ground.  I looked down but it just 
looked like grass.  "Tornados and comets," he mumbled.

	"Well, figuratively.  I can only run about ninety 
kilometers per hour right now," I told him.  "If I get up to 
full speed."

	He continued to study the ground.  "I see," he 
mumbled, then looked up at me; I could tell he was rather 
unhappy and I felt terrible and I didn't understand.

	"What's wrong, Father?" I asked.

	"Nothing," he said, then hugged me tightly.  "You 
know I'll be cheering for you."

	"I know you will, Father.  I love you," I said, feeling 
bad he was unhappy.  But I still didn't understand why.  

	"I love you too," he said softly.  "Just remember 
everything we taught you when you're out saving the 
world."

	"I wouldn't be able to do this without you and 
Mother," I told him.  "Everything I am, it's because of you 
two."

	That seemed to make Father feel a little better.  "Be 
careful."

	"I will."  

	He let go of me.  "That's all.  It's all I...it's all."  He 
stared at the ground a moment, then smiled at me weakly.  

	"Is everything good at work?" I asked.

	Though it couldn't be work, as Mother looked totally 
care-free as she and Aunt Mai and Aunt Natsuki and Uncle 
Yuuichi engaged in some very strange game that seemed to 
involve kicking a small bean bag in the air with the side of 
your foot.  I've seen them doing this before and it always 
looks very odd to me.  "What is Mother doing?" I asked.

	"Hmm?  Oh, they're playing hackeysack," he said.  
"Do kids not do that any more?"

	"Not at all," I said.  It looked kind of like jianzi to me, 
which is a - I think it's Chinese - game that involves 
keeping a shuttlecock in the air, though.

	Mother kicked the hackeysack a little too vigorously 
and it flew into the air and came flying down at us.  Father 
intercepted it, kicked it into the air, turned, kicked it up 
again, then nailed it a third time, sending it flying back 
towards the others, where Aunt Natsuki caught it with her 
knee, bouncing it back into play.  Father looked a little 
surprised, but pleased.

	Mother and Aunt Mai both clapped.  "Nice save, 
Kazuya!" Mother shouted and Father smiled.  

	He bowed to them.  "Here, let us in.  We have to show 
Kasumi how to play this."

	"Come on in," Aunt Mai said and Mother smiled at me 
and I headed over with Father to learn something new.

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

	Later, before we left, Mother took me aside.  "Kasumi, 
you and Hayao haven't..."

	"No, no, we haven't gone beyond kissing and 
hugging," I said, a little panicked.  

	"Good.  You shouldn't rush things," Mother said.  "It's 
best to ease into things."

	I nodded.  "I will."

	"Okay," she said.  "I just had to check."

	I wonder what brought that on.  

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

Sanae's Tale:

	Unfortunately, Dan's family kept him too late for us to 
go to the museum.  Fortunately, it wasn't too late to go out 
to eat for dinner with his folks.  So we hit a Korean 
barbeque which was pretty good.  

	Dan seemed a little down, so I gave him a kiss which I 
think made him feel better, though he still didn't revive all 
the way.  He kept giving me an odd look when he thought I 
couldn't see.  Kind of guilty looking.  This made me 
curious and worried.  Maybe it's just because he can't talk 
about what happened last night.  This made me even more 
curious.

	We chatted about the future; Dan and I both have 
pretty clear plans for college and beyond.  I expect we'll 
both end up in academia and so Dan's parents had lots of 
good advice and interesting stories for us.  It was a very 
good conversation.

	Afterwards, they dropped us off and we wandered 
around campus, hand in hand.  Eventually, we ended up in 
the middle of the gardens and I pulled him into an embrace 
and a kiss.  I could tell he enjoyed the kiss, but he felt very 
tense.  "What's wrong?" I asked softly.

	"Unarmed combat training, my torso is kind of 
tender," he mumbled.

	I pulled his shirt up, which caused his face to turn a 
little red, which was totally cute.  He had a bunch of mostly 
faded bruises, but he looked pretty roughed up.  "What 
happened?" I asked, worried.

	"I'm a lot better at taking getting hit than avoiding 
getting hit," he said, grimacing.  "Junko hits really hard 
with those kicks."

	I grimaced.  At least this meant he was trying to learn 
some self-defense so we wouldn't have a repeat of the 
beating Taiki gave him.

	I could hardly believe that.  I mean, Taiki's never been 
a pacifist, but giving someone a brutal beating like that is 
totally unlike him.  I really gave him a piece of my mind 
but it didn't work.  We've all tried, but it just doesn't seem 
to get through his anger for very long.  Hopefully, Ayumi-
sempai will make him feel better.

	On the other hand, she seems to be a bundle of anger 
herself, so they may feed on each other.  Ugh.

	I let his shirt down.  "You're cute when you get 
embarrassed," I said.

	He mumbled incoherently.  I took his hands and kissed 
him again.  

	"So why did Junko get to go and I didn't?" I asked.  "I 
got to go yesterday."

	Dan stared at the ground, mumbling something about 
kicking.

	"I can kick someone if you need me to," I told him.

	Dan was about to say something, then he frowned.

	I followed his gaze; it was Taiki and Ayumi-sempai 
and Fukuda-san and Kiwara Hitomi, our school gossip, 
having some sort of excited conversation.  Then they all 
fell silent and stared our way.  If looks could kill, Dan and I 
would have caught fire and died.  Or more precisely, Dan, 
as they all were aiming their gaze at him. Though Kiwara-
san looked more contemptuous than angry.

	"I think we'd better leave," I said.

	"Let's go the library," he said.

	Much as I like our library, like studying, and like 
learning, I do not consider it a site for romance.  But there 
couldn't be any trouble there. 

	I hope.

	We went into the library; to my suprise, the study area 
up front actually had Natasha and Gin hard at work on what 
looked like math.  "Hey, need any help?" I asked.

	"Please," Natasha said.  "I can't continue Vaguely 
Final Fantasy XXIX until I get this stupid homework 
done."

	"I hid her FunBox where she can't find it," Gin said.  
"It's a hostage until her math gets done.  And mine."

	"Dan likely needs help too," Natasha said.

	"I don't have my..." Dan began.

	"Paper.  Pen.  Pencil.  Duodecahedron," Natasha said, 
setting things out.  

	I stared at the twelve-sided plastic geometric solid, 
numbered one to twelve.  "Is this a die?" I asked.

	Gin took it.  "Yes, but it's not relevant to this, I think."  
He cocked his head at it.  "Maybe.  Unless there's 
something on random numbers hidden in here."

	I helped them out, feeling good.  I want good relations 
with Dan's cousins, as I know they are to him as Mandi and 
Hayao are to me.  And as Taiki was, except now he seems 
to have gone axe-crazy on us.  I don't understand.  

	At the same time, I think they're keeping secrets from 
us and I don't like that.  Especially since I couldn't find 
those mushrooms in any of Dad's reference works in his 
office or in my usual online databases.  They glow in the 
dark, but I couldn't figure out why.  

	And if I understand the test I ran, I think they cause 
hallucinations.  So I'd best go root them up before they 
spread and some idiot eats them.  Later.

	We finally finished.  "You are a life-saving miracle 
worker," Natasha said.  "Why'd you come to the library, 
anyway?"

	"Taiki, Fukuda-san, Kiwara-san, and Ayumi-sempai 
were having an anti-Dan hatefest in the gardens, so we 
evacuated," I said.

	Natasha grimaced.  "I think it's way overdue for me to 
give that fucker some payback."  Then she smiled in a way 
that disturbed me.  

	I started to say something, then remembered Gin was 
right there.  I couldn't just say 'let it slide he beat up your 
boyfriend', but I didn't want this to turn into an endless 
cycle of retaliation.

	"Just let it slide," Gin said.  "He's not worth your time, 
Natasha.  You can put all that energy into just taking me 
now, right here on the table."  He grinned.  

	"Oh my, Gin, you're so bold," Natasha said with a 
kind of weird lilt, clearly imitating someone.  Dan began 
laughing loudly.  I felt confused.  

	"Well, not quite now, as I don't think Dan and Sanae 
want to watch and I surely don't want the librarians 
watching," Gin said.  

	"But seriously, I want to give that fucker some 
payback," Natasha said.  "I can't let him get away with it."

	"So would I," Gin said.  "But given stabbing him is 
out, I doubt either of us can take him.  Maybe not even both 
of us."

	Natasha grinned confidently.  "Oh, I don't know about 
that."

	"I don't want to see you get punched out, honey," Gin 
said.  "We can just dump ants in his room or something."

	"Please don't dump ants in his room," I said to them.  
"If you retaliate, this will just go on forever."

	"I'm pretty sure I..." Natasha began.

	"We have responsibilities," Dan said to her very 
seriously.

	She winced.  "He attacked my boyfriend and called 
me a whore!"

	"He beat me down and I let him so he wouldn't mess 
things up for us," Dan said, still serious.  "I hate his guts 
and if he got hit by a car, I wouldn't cry," Dan said, 
grimacing.  "In fact, I'd ask the guy to back up and do it 
again.  But we can't just go around beating people up."

	I winced.  Knowing my boyfriend hates an old friend 
of mine is not fun at all.  Why is Taiki being so crazy?  
He's moved on to another woman, so it's not just the 
Crystal thing.  All she did was dump him, anyway.

	That's not worth freaking this much over, is it?

***********

Shun's Tale:

	"How was your date?" Kagami asked my roomate.

	"Great," he said, then yawned.  "We're going out again 
next weekend."

	"Cool," I said.

	"You guys have fun with Shun's family?"

	"Yes," Kagami said, smiling and kissing me softly.

	"Good," he said.  "My homework is done, so I'm going 
to bed."
	
	We soon got ours finished and went to go to bed.  
Kagami took a shower and then I did.  She was sprawled 
out in bed by the time I came out in my pajamas.  

	I love having her hold me all night long.  It helps me 
sleep better.  

	She rolled onto her side and let me get in and pull up 
the covers over us, then she laid down on me and kissed me 
slowly, her arms wrapped around me.  My hands roamed 
up and down her back, and one of her hands slid down onto 
my butt.  She smiled shyly at me, and I kissed her again.  "I 
love you," I said softly.

	"I love you too," she said, then slumped down and 
closed her eyes. 

	Mom's not happy about this, but too bad.  I need it.  I 
deserve it.  We both do.  We could die at any time.  Though 
I am pretty optimistic.  But Mom pretty much lost the 
moral high ground here by lying to us all those years.  

	"Does Aunt Akane know?  She isn't mad at you, is 
she?"

	"She told me I'm an adult now and to be careful," 
Kagami said, eyes still shut.  "And gave me some advice on 
relationships and how to make you go crazy."

	"Good crazy, I hope."

	She smiled.  "Yes.  I'm saving it for a special time.  Or 
at least one where I'm less tired."

	"We're very lucky," I said.  "Kagami, what are we 
going to do if Junko gets the last slot instead of me?"

	"Suzushiro-san will arm you with her special weapons 
and we'll fight together anyway," Kagami said confidently.  
"Like Dan's parents.  I'm sure you could beat Professor 
Sasaki in a fight and he's got decades of experience.  It will 
be fine."

	I hope she's right.  But it's true, he has been handling it 
and I could hand him his ass.  That made me feel somewhat 
better.  I just want to be useful, not a liability or a hostage.  
Knowing Kagami wants me by her side whatever happens 
feels good.

	I slid off to sleep, as content as I was going to get. 

***********

Natasha's Tale:

	I was headed to join the others for breakfast on 
Monday when I passed Kiwara Hitomi and her friends.  
Hitomi said, "Yeah, from what I hear, Natasha got 
hammered again, got lost in the woods, totally panicked her 
whole family and told a story about being chased by a 
snake to cover it up.  But that's about what you can expect 
from trash like that."

	"If you want to see what trash is like," I said, 
pounding her table, causing the trays to jump, "I would be 
happy to introduce you to the inside of a garbage can."  If I 
don't stop this now, people are going to be crapping on me 
all day.

	"You want to go join your cousins in detention?" 
Hitomi asked.  "Go ahead, attack me with a billion 
witnesses."  She got her camera out.  

	"Natasha, she's not worth it," Kasumi said.

	I half-jumped out of my skin.  She'd been a good ways 
over at our usual table when I came over here.  "Hey, 
Kasumi," I said.

	Kasumi gently began to pull me away.  "She's just 
jealous because you have a sexy, gentle boyfriend and she 
has to make love to her photo collection."

	I stared at Kasumi, eyes wide.  Did she just call my 
boyfriend sexy?
	
	Hitomi spluttered in shock.  Her friends stared, eyes 
wide.

	"But a catty liar like her will never know the sweet 
kisses of a boy who truly loves them," Kasumi said.  "Like 
Gin loves you.  So what does it matter what she says or 
thinks about you?  He knows the truth, and that's what 
matters, right?"  Just for a moment, she touched my chest 
over my heart.  "He sees the shining star that burns inside 
you, the light to always guide him back to you.  He knows 
the fires that burn inside your heart, that gently warm him 
on a cold night."

	Hitomi yelled something at us as Kasumi led me away 
with a gentle hand on my back.  But I didn't hear.  Well, I 
heard it, but it didn't register as anything but noise.  
Because I started crying and crying and crying because that 
was the nicest thing Kasumi had ever said to me, and I 
wished Gin had said it, though he would have if he'd 
thought of it before she did and I thought...

	She understands.  She understands how I feel about 
him and why I ache to avenge him and how I love him so 
much.  It burns inside me like a star, like she said.  And he 
loves me.

	Our love is going to shine like the sun.  Stuff Romeo 
and Juliet.  They're going to be making movies about US.

	Kasumi held me gently as I cried on her shoulder.  
She's a touch taller than I am, but that just makes this 
easier.  Crying shouldn't feel good, but weirdly, it did.  She 
held me until the storm blew out.

	Finally, I let go of her and said, "We should have a 
double-date."

	"Sounds good to me," Kasumi said.  "We can flaunt 
that we're not grounded."  She had an impish smile.

	"We're the good girls who didn't get in trouble," I said, 
laughing.  That's a weird category to be in for me.

	"Now come get some breakfast. Love makes me 
hungry."

	I laughed.  "Me too."  

	I don't focus easily; like a cat, I sometimes pounce at 
anything that moves.  But I've got to focus on what's 
important.  My boyfriend and my family's war.  And not let 
stupid people get to me.

	Kasumi thinks my boyfriend is sexy???  What?
	
	What planet am I on?

***********

Erica's Tale:

	I had lunch with my parents in Aoi-Mom's office / 
clinic.  Chie-Mom and I were stuffing our faces while Aoi-
Mom was busy replenishing my first aid kit with supplies.  
I'm going to need it.  We all took rather a beating, though it 
seems to be healing abnormally quickly.  A benefit of being 
a battle princess.  

	I dreamed about both of them last night.  Despite my 
efforts to 'change the channel'.  I am going to go crazy if 
this keeps up.  

	But I'll get over it.  I haven't had two people on my 
brain at once before, but I'm...I can't believe I'm going to 
take Aunt Shiho's advice.  I need some kind of fling to get 
them out of my head.

	Mind you, I haven't decided on a target yet, but that's 
where having a mother who tracks the romantic status of 
half the school comes in handy. 

	I can hardly believe all this is real, sometimes.  Three 
weeks ago, Chie-Mom introduced me to my new cousins.  
Since then, my world has totally changed.  I have a new 
family and new responsibilities.  

	I hope I can handle them.  That battle royale was 
exhilarating and terrifying at once.  I think I did pretty well, 
but we still had to have Aunt Akane and Aunt Akira save 
us.

	I just hope I can keep my grades up so I don't end up 
like Natasha.  

	"Penny for your thoughts," Chie-Mom said.

	"You don't have any pennies," I said.  

	She laughed.  "Seriously."

	"I don't know if I can handle all this," I told her.  "This 
is so...nothing prepared me for this."

	"I know exactly how you feel," Aoi-Mom said, closing 
my box and pulling her meal out of the microwave.  Beef 
stroganoff.  Mmm, good.  "But it's too late, Chie's gotten us 
in over our head again.  But that's the price of love.  It'll 
make you strong, but it also means hitching your wagon to 
the stars of those you love."

	"Quite literally," Chie-Mom said, looking embarrassed 
as she ate. She had microwave sphagetti with meatballs; I 
had chicken, rice, and vegetables.  Mmm, good.  We are all 
adept in the ancient art of microwaving boxed meals.  
Though actually Aoi-Mom is a great cook and Chie-Mom 
can keep us alive.  "The idea that I'm getting power from a 
star makes me boggle."

	"It's just hard to believe it's all real."

	"It's not so hard for us because of the things we saw at 
Fuuka, but it's strange to be inside it, living it, instead of 
watching it from the outside," Chie-Mom said.

	"Yeah," I said.  But I can't just watch; I have to act.  
To be a heroine outside my dreams as well as inside them.  
I just hope I can do a good job.

	And stop thinking about kissing Hayao, even if his lips 
are so...

	AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

***********

Crystal's Tale:

	"Ryota-san is TOTALLY into me," my suitemate 
Noriko said.  "I put him off three times before that double-
date and he just kept on coming back, oh yeah."  She 
looked triumphant.

	Mary looked up from her desk.  "Haru bought me 
flowers, Ryota gave you a box of raisins, I win," she said.  
"Also, he's nice and strong and Ryota looks like a 
beanpole."

	"At least Ryota is tall enough to ride with the big kids 
at the amusement park," Noriko said a little testily.

	Noriko and Mary, my suitemates, were arguing over 
whether Ryota (who is after Noriko) or Haru (who is after 
Mary) is better looking and likes them more.

	I was at my desk, trying to pretend them and their 
inane prattle didn't exist.  In theory, I was trying to do my 
reading for biology.  In practice, I was slow-roasting 
myself over the fire inside my head.

	I was such an idiot, being suckered by Nagisa.  I had 
pretty much trusted him implicitly, but he'd pretty much led 
me around by the nose.  Even if I couldn't figure out 
exactly what he was trying to accomplish or why he did it 
that way.  Though from the things I knew now, his mother 
and his likely father were both manipulators.

	All the cuts and scrapes I got on my legs from riding 
through the woods on Boris have already faded as if they 
happened weeks ago; you can barely tell they ever 
happened.  But my body aches all over.  The nausea also 
served as a reminder that even with powers, I was not 
nearly as badass as I expected to be.  Aunt Aoi had given 
me some drugs, but my body is still recovering from 
whatever that gunk was the frog got on me when it died.

	"I guess if you want someone bloated like a parade 
balloon, Ryota is the way to go," Mary said.  "How hard 
did he hit when he tripped and fell on you?" she said a little 
nastily.

	What an entirely retarded fight, I thought.  More 
monsters could show up and eat them right this minute and 
they're busy bickering over whose boyfriend is sexier or 
chunkier or whatever the fuck they're arguing over.  Gods 
are on the march to conquer our world.

	And I can't even tell them or it'll help our world get 
conquered.  So they'll just keep on bickering stupidly while 
the apocalypse grows closer.

	I should be drilling right now, but I've got all this 
stupid, pointless homework and I don't even know how 
much use I actually am.  Aunt Akane and Aunt Akira 
totally had to save our asses.  

	They were starting to get pretty mad at each other and 
I couldn't take any more of this crap.  "My girlfriend could 
kick the ass of both your loser boyfriends and she's better 
looking than either of them," I snapped.  "But I frankly 
don't care which of you is dating more of a bloated pig or a 
shrivelled midget!  Can it, I'm trying to study!"

	Pretending to study.  

	"Who died and made you princess?" Mary sniped at 
me.  

	"Yes, your highness," Noriko said angrily.  "We'll get 
on that right away after we finish kowtowing."

	"And if you ever again have an incoherent screaming 
match with your parents when I'm trying to sleep, I will 
make you regret it," Mary said, folding her arms across her 
chest.  "What the hell was so important you had to bellow 
at five in the morning?"

	It wasn't five in the morning.  "None of your 
business," I said angrily.  "That's between my parents and 
I."

	"Then don't make me listen to it!  All I could hear was 
some sort of twaddle about monsters but most of it was 
muffled through the door," Mary said.

	"Yeah, what was so important you had to shout about 
it?"

	"Nothing," I muttered.  Not that either of you could do 
anything useful if I did tell you.

	"Did your cousin Munakata really get drunk and 
wander the woods on Saturday night calling people and 
telling them snakes were chasing her?" Mary asked 
curiously, but with a nasty edge to it.

	"Did she really vomit on her boyfriend?" Noriko 
asked.  She didn't bother hiding the malice.

	I stared mindlessly.  Vomit on Gin?  How did people 
get that idea in their head?  "Natasha didn't call a bunch of 
people about snakes chasing her."

	"Well, I'm just saying what I heard," Mary said.  "It's 
not hard to believe that drunken whore did that."

	"Be fair," Noriko said.  "Ota-san is twice the whore 
Munakata is.  Even if Ota-san has a respectable mother and 
Munakata's mother is a whore."

	"Aunt Shiho is NOT A WHORE, she's a translator!  
You've never even met her!" I said angrily.  What is in 
them tonight?

	"Only a whore has kids out of wedlock, then never 
marries," Noriko said as if this fact was written in the stars.  
"She's trash."

	"My cousin is not trash," I said angrily.  

	"Poor grades, sluts around, runs drunken around the 
woods yelling about snakes, that's trash," Mary said flatly.

	It would be so easy to just summon my sword and beat 
the shit out of these damn liars.

	A second later, I realized what I'd just thought and felt 
utterly horrified with myself.  I was so angry, but we 
swore...I can't do anything like that.  And I shouldn't.  You 
shouldn't respond to words with violence.  Unless you want 
to be that fucker Taiki.

	It would be so easy.  They couldn't possibly resist me.  
They probably couldn't resist me if I just punched them, as 
I get lots of healthy exercise and they both diet fanatically 
because they're too lazy to even just ride a bike.  Mary 
would probably blow away in a stiff wind.  Noriko might 
be solid enough to take a few hits, but I wouldn't even feel 
her counterblows.

	Oh fuck me, I'm thinking about hitting them again.

	"She'd probably run around half-naked if we didn't 
have a uniform and a dress code for after hours," Noriko 
said.

	"I expect her boyfriend will start pimping her out once 
she's in college and is old enough to sleep with adults," 
Mary said, nastily.  

	I stared.  That was such an utterly hateful thing to say.  
And it PISSED ME OFF.  "SHUT UP!" I shouted at them.

	They both jumped back, looking surprised.  They talk 
about my cousin like that and they they have the GALL to 
act surprised?

	"Do I talk smack about your relatives?" I demanded 
angrily.

	"No," Mary mumbled weakly.

	"Then stop talking shit about mine!" I screamed.

	"Stop yelling at us!," Noriko said, now prety angry 
herself.  "And you know it's true!  The woman is an out of 
control slutty piece of trash!  She'll be pregnant and 
abandoned just like her mother if she isn't careful!  And we 
both know she won't be!"

	So easy to just...

	NO.

	I trembled with rage and fear at the same time.  No 
wonder our aunts got manipulated into fighting each other.  
I can't believe I'm getting this angry.  What is wrong with 
me?  

	Does Taiki feel like this?

	I can't believe I'm experiencing sympathy for Taiki!

	Mary was retreating, but Noriko stood her ground. 
"Are you going to throw a hissy fit?" Noriko demanded 
angrily.  "I'm not going to put up with your crap just for 
telling the truth."

	"For LYING," I said angrily.  "Fine, I can't study with 
you two spewing bullshit at each other, anyway."  I 
grabbed my book, notebook, and pen and stormed out of 
the suite.  

	One...

	NO.

	I trembled.  This is stupid, I've dealt with them in crap 
on everything mode before, I shouldn't get this angry.  

	I should be angry at me for being such an 
overconfident dumbass, not them for just being petty stupid 
little high school girls with nothing to do but gossip and 
talk trash about people.

	But instead, I can think of too many ways to kick their 
ass.

	I went to Kasumi's room and pounded on the door, 
praying she was there.

	She was, and she answered the door. There were 
books all over her table and Hayao was there, scribbling on 
a piece of paper.  He didn't see me yet.  If he hurts Kasumi, 
I am going to kill him.

	Shit.

	"Crystal, what's wrong?" Kasumi said, looking 
worried.  I don't know what I looked like, but it can't have 
been pretty.  

	Hayao now looked up at me, blanched, and 
determinedly turned back to his paper.

	"Privacy," I mumbled.

	For a moment, she stared at me blankly, then nodded 
and took me back to her bedroom.  "Sorry dear," she said to 
Hayao.  "Crystal needs me."

	"I see," he mumbled.

	We sat down on her bed and she put an arm around me 
and pulled me over to rest my head on her shoulder.  I'm 
just a tiny touch taller than Kasumi, who is about the same 
height as Mom.  "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

	"My idiot suitemates were talking smack about 
Natasha and accusing her mother of being a whore," I 
mumbled.  "And I...just for a moment, I thought about 
kicking their ass.  Which I totally could."

	I'm sure being able to kick my suitemates' collective 
skinny asses will be oh so useful in saving the world.  
UGH.

	"I think about kicking Ayumi-sempai's ass more than I 
should," Kasumi confessed.  "But we can't do that."

	"I know," I mumbled.  "I know. I swore...we all swore 
an oath to be responsible with our powers.  And Mom... 
Mom really pounded into my head we should never attack 
normal people with our powers either."   I don't want to be 
the kind of violent maniac who gets so mad from words I 
hurt people.  That's not me.

	It's not me.

	It's not.

	"We will be.  And you won't hurt anyone, Crystal.  
You fight to defend others, not to hurt them."  Kasumi 
ruffled my hair with her other hand.  "You just got worked 
up because you love your family so much.  You love all of 
us, even when we're hard to deal with."

	"You're not hard to deal with; I'm the prickly one," I 
told her, leaning on her, wishing I had Junko here.

	Then I thought about Junko pummeling Dan and 
shivered.  That had kind of scared me, though the fact that 
Dan was all 'Thanks for kicking my ass, Junko' was more 
disturbing.  I like sparring with her, but that was just...

	I guess I'm being a hypocrite.  And Dan certainly isn't 
flimsy and that's good.  But I'm just...

	My brain was all awhirl and I'm scared of myself and 
everything and I'm such a failure.  I thought I would be all 
awesome and I wasn't.  And there's so much I was counting 
on them to know and they don't.  I hate being in the dark, 
but they're in the dark too.

	No wonder Mom hid this all these years.  

	Kasumi held me quietly while I broiled inside my own 
head.  Slowly, the mental storm subsided and I relaxed.  
"When did you become the strong one?" I mumbled.

	"You're stronger than I am," she said softly.

	Yeah, right.  I was an overconfident idiot.  And now 
I've lost my overconfidence and I don't know what to do.  If 
we'd gone to Tallin without getting caught...probably Shun 
and Kagami and I would be dead if our plan had worked 
well enough to get us there.  Or the Crimson Huntsman 
would be using us as hostages.  Or worse.  

	What a shitty heir to the Dragon-Princess I am.  

	No wonder Mom got so mad at me.

	"I don't feel stronger," I mumbled.

	"You will," Kasumi said confidently.  Of course she 
feels confident.  She saved mine and Natasha's ass from our 
own stupidity.  She looked so awesome diving down on 
Horus.  

	I just don't know.  If I hadn't gone, Natasha would be 
dead.  But I wasn't much use, really.  The others had to 
save us, and then Aunt Akane and Aunt Akira had to save 
us all.

	"How can you be so confident?" I asked weakly.  
"You're so strong and I'm so weak."  I stared at the floor.  

	"You're not weak," Kasumi said.  "I felt just like you a 
week ago.  Exhausted, overwhelmed, lonely, frustrated.  
And now I feel like I could do anything.  Anything at all.  
You just have to get used to this."

	I hardly even noticed how she felt.  I felt very selfish 
and small.  She went through this hell all by herself and we 
were all so busy with everything, we didn't do anything for 
her until it was too late.  I was too busy fantasizing about 
how awesome I was going to be to notice all the stress she 
was under.

	I suck.

	"I don't know how," I mumbled.

	"You have to decide what is important to you and 
focus on that.  You'll find your center.  And then you'll be 
even stronger than before," she said confidently.  "Don't let 
them get you down.  You weren't made to gossip with girls 
who are jealous because Natasha is prettier than they are,  
and more boys like her than like them.  They think Aunt 
Shiho is a whore because they're jealous of her too and it's 
a way to bring her down so they can feel superior to her, 
even though she can speak a half-dozen languages, maybe 
more, and has more freedom than they'll ever have.  
They've caged themselves and they're jealous because Aunt 
Shiho and Natasha fly free."

	"I thought..."  I always thought Kasumi kind of looked 
down on Aunt Shiho for not being a 'good girl' like her.  

	"I know," Kasumi said, sounding guilty.  "But after 
what's happened with my boyfriend and everything...I'm 
too judgemental.  It's really easy for me to put people down 
and act like I'm superior.  But Aunt Shiho...she raised 
Natasha all by herself.  She wasn't even out of college yet.  
She worked hard and learned a ton of stuff.  I can't even 
speak English very well and I've been studying it in school 
for years.  Aunt Shiho writes love poems in French and 
English for her boyfriends.  Neither of us can do that.  I 
can't even write a decent one in Japanese," Kasumi said.  
"But none of us ever give her any respect.  And I feel guilty 
about that."

	That's true.  I never really...I hope I haven't been 
dissing on Aunt Shiho.  Though my ideas about sex are a 
lot closer to hers than they are to Kasumi's.  Unless Kasumi 
has changed her mind.  Maybe she's riding Hayao like a 
hurricane.

	I felt my stomach churn.  Fuck you, body.

	"You two haven't..." I said hesitantly.

	"Wait, what are you talking about?" she asked, 
confused.

	Of course not.  Kasumi wouldn't change that much.

	Would she?  
	
***********

Kasumi's Karma:

	The next day, Mom and Aunt Shiho arrived with 
Natasha to take me away to Aunt Haruka's house.  I'd 
changed into my workout outfit and had my tonfas ready in 
my purse.  I came over and hugged Aunt Shiho tightly.  "I 
love you, Aunt Shiho.  You know that, right?"

	She looked a little embarrassed, patting my back 
clumsily.  "I love you too,  niece," she said.

	Natasha was grinning.  Mother looked surprised, then 
she smiled.

	"I've always been jealous because you're so good with 
other languages and I sound like a five year old when I try 
to speak English.  Maybe not even that good," I told her.  
"Do you think you could help me?"

	She looked utterly stunned, but then she smiled 
confidently.  "Of course I can."

	"We're likely to all end up going around the world to 
stomp on monsters and gods and demons and whatnot, so 
we need to at least all speak passable English, since it's so 
widely used," I said.  "And you're even better than Aunt 
Mai at that."

	"I am," she said proudly.  "And I speak more 
languages than her.  And I would be happy to help you 
improve, Kasumi."

	Mother smiled at me and said, "That's a good idea, 
Kasumi.  We should all work on that.  My English is 
terrible too."

	"We can start by speaking English in the car on the 
way there and back," Aunt Shiho said.  "I will put a plan 
together.  English is a difficult language, but like all 
languages, you open up entire new worlds once you learn 
it.  Once you master English, we can try French or 
German."

	That may be a while.

	She chattered excitedly as we headed down to the car, 
and had talked herself into tutoring the others as well by the 
time we got there.  Aunt Shiho looked very happy and that 
made me happy.   
	
	"When that happens, you will find a power within 
yourself, you didn't think you had.  You'll be able to do 
things you never thought you could do.  Be able to face 
anything without fear or despair.  Love will make you 
strong," Mother said to me at Fuuka.

	I've found that power within me.  I'm ready now to 
face whatever comes.  I am Kasumi Karauchi, the Hime of 
the Swift Wind, who rides Horus the Avenger into battle.  I 
am the eldest of the younger Hime, and I am ready to fight 
for my world with my family and my friends.  I am ready to 
race with comets and tornados and the stars in their 
courses.

	My name is Kurauchi Kasumi. 

	And I am no longer afraid.