A pebble can cause a mountain slide. One rat can bring down plague on an entire city. A moth flapping its wings in Tokyo might cause a tornado in Iowa. The smallest thing can have massive after effects. Kasuga had heard all this during some TV program he didn't understand, but figuring that tornadoes were bad, he was in the park killing all the moths he could find before they could cause any more tornadoes. "Bad moth!" he shouted as he tried to swat another moth. As with the last four, it evaded his blows and started to flutter away. Finally, it struck him that he could simply use the Power. He gathered his will and pinned the moth in place with a thought. Even for a five year old Esper, catching something as weak as a moth was easy. He raised the broom he was carrying and brought it down to squash the moth. Suddenly it stopped, frozen in place. He struggled, but the broom wouldn't move. "What are you DOING?" Manami shouted, running over to him. Once she got close enough so that no one would hear, she said, "You shouldn't be using the Power in public!" "But if I don't squash all the moths, they'll cause tornadoes in Iowa!" he said truthfully as he saw it. She laughed. "If a moth's wings cause a tornado, what do you think waving that broom around will do?" He blanched. Nearby, a pay phone rang. They both blinked. Kazuya picked up the phone. "Hello, Godai Park phone, Kazuya speaking." The voice shouted, "You evil kid! My house just got leveled by a tornado because of you!" Kazuya paled, "You're in Iowa?" "Yes! Now stand still so the police can come take you away," the voice shouted in Japanese. Kazuya screamed and ran home. It took his mom two hours to get him out of the closet. Miles away, Grandpa Kasuga hung up the phone and laughed. His wife smacked him in the head with a broom on general principles. She could TELL he was up to something. Unknown to her, she caused a tornado in Iowa due to the changes in airflow caused by her smacking her husband around. Sometimes, Life DOES imitate Art. Abandoned and alone, the poor bewildered moth flew off a completely different direction than it had originally planned, to the extent that moths can be said to plan, which isn't very much. It fluttered out of the park and down the road, colliding with a deliveryman who wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing, anyway, because he was busy eating. Papers and boxes flew everywhere. The moth blundered off, not to be seen again in this story for a long time. The deliveryman finally straightened everything out, only to discover he had spilled soda on three of the packages and the address labels' ink had run, making it hard to read the labels. He trusted his memory to guide him to the right locations; if he went back, his boss would kill him for messing up. He delivered the three packages, blissfully oblivious to the fact that none of them got to the right address. *********************************************************** She's Got the Power by John Biles A KOR story *********************************************************** "He was doing what?" Kyousuke asked Manami. "Trying to prevent tornadoes in Iowa by squashing moths," she repeated. "Then the payphone rang and he asked them if they lived in Iowa. Then he screamed and ran off." Kyousuke sighed. My cousin is completely insane, I think. So is his sister, though. "I wish his parents would teach him to not do crazy things." "He was using the Power too, to pin the moth in place." Kyousuke sighed and sat down. "He really needs to stop using the Power like that." Hikaru suddenly hugged him from behind. He froze in place. "Darling! What are you talking about? Did you say something about the Power?" "The Power? No, no, I said he needs to stop abusing the flowers. Yes, the flowers." Hikaru giggled and stroked Kyousuke's cheek, laying her head on his left shoulder. "Silly Darling. You don't have to keep secrets from me. I know about the Power." Kyousuke twitched. "I...you...you know?" Jingoro poked his head out from under a chair, looking for Kurumi. She was nowhere to be seen, so he made a break for the porch. As usual, he found himself suddenly floating into the air. He yowled helplessly as he flew back across the room into Kyousuke's lap. Kyousuke blinked. Hikaru ran a finger along his arm. "I've known for months, Darling." The refrigerator door opened in the kitchen. The carton of orange juice flew out, and a glass flew down to meet it. The orange juice carton swiftly poured out a glass of orange juice and put itself away, then the glass flew out of the kitchen and across the living room to Hikaru's hands. She took a sip. "I love orange juice." Kyousuke did his patented wordless stammer, though for once he didn't finish by saying "A..A..Ayukawa." This was because he was playing the Hikaru variation and said, "H...H...Hikaru?" "Won't it be wonderful when we get married? We'll have really powerful children!" She hugged Kyousuke. He quietly fainted. Manami sighed. "You're so cruel." Kasuga Akane, Kyousuke's cousin, dropped her illusion. "I couldn't resist. He is so gullible! He ought to know that if she had the Power, she'd have told him by now." "He hasn't told her yet, and they've been going out for months," Manami said. "That's because he worries incessantly about people finding out. What's the point of having Power if you can't use it? Besides, she couldn't keep her powers secret for more than five minutes if she had any. She loves him, even if he's too much of a jerk to really face up to it." Manami sighed. "They have a weird relationship." Akane eyed Manami for a moment and decided not to press the issue. Talk turned to other matters. Eventually, Kyousuke woke up. They didn't make fun of him too much. ******************************************************** The next day at school, Kyousuke was groggy. He had had dreams all night about Hikaru doing various crazy things, then turning into Akane at the worst possible time. The worst dream had been the final one where he had woken up and Hikaru was in bed with him. Right as she was about to kiss him, she had turned into Akane. Something like this had actually happened to him once, except in the dream, Madoka and Hikaru had walked in just at that moment. It was the first time he'd ever been slapped by two women at once, even in a dream. Now he felt like eighteen wheelers had been backing up over him all night. Naturally, this was the morning Hikaru sprinted into his classroom and leaped onto him, hugged him tightly, and said, "Thank you for the wonderful present, Darling!" He smiled. She had been wanting the new novel, "Raging Pirate Passion" for weeks, but it was only out in hardback. Kyousuke hadn't even been aware that tacky romance novels came out in hardback, but today was her birthday, so he had ordered the book for her through a bookstore and had it shipped to her house. "You had been..." he started to say, then yawned. She flashed a shiny gold ring with two gems set in it, an opal and a diamond, each set into some sort of colored crystal or glass so as to form a yin-yang sign with the opal and diamond as the "eyes", and the black and white crystal as the main portions of the sign. "It's so beautiful. And it fits perfectly. It's...It's...almost like an engagement ring!" Kyousuke gulped and looked around. He didn't see Madoka anywhere and let out a tiny sigh of relief. "It's not...I mean...we're too young...uhh...." She laughed and hugged him again. "I know. When we're both in High School, then we can get married!" Kyousuke stared, babbling incoherently. She giggled. "Well, I have to get to class! Bye, Darling!" She sprinted off. A few seconds later, Madoka walked in. She looked over at Kyousuke and gave him a look of warmed over death. He sighed. I've screwed up again. I never should have...wait, I didn't give Hikaru a ring! Where did that come from?" ******************************************************** At lunchtime, Kyousuke followed Madoka outside. She still looked grumpy as she sat down and started to eat her lunch. Kyousuke approached her slowly, the brilliant plan he had worked out for apologizing for what he hadn't done crumbling away in his brain. By the time he reached her, all that was left was, "Ayukawa, I didn't send Hikaru that ring! I don't know WHERE it came from! I tried to send her that book she's been wanting, but..." Madoka blinked. "Ring?" She paused. "What's this about a ring?" Kasuga briefly contemplated trying to immolate himself with the Power. "Uh...wuh...Umm..." Madoka sighed. "I take it you don't remember?" "Remember what?" That immolation option was looking better and better. Madoka frowned and said, "That you were supposed to come study with me after I got off work last night? I sat in the Abcb for an hour waiting for you." Kyousuke banged his head on a suspiciously convenient wall. "I'm sorry. We had a family crisis and then I forgot." Madoka looked up, her irritation turned to concern in an instant. "What happened?" "Kazuya barricaded himself in the closet. He thought the tornado police were coming to get him for destroying Iowa." Madoka began to laugh. "He is so funny. I guess you had better never let him see Twister then." Kyousuke laughed. "He watched some science program and didn't understand it very well, I guess." He paused, then sat down and got out his bento box. "Mind if I eat with you?" She smiled. "Go ahead. Just give me a call when things like that happen, won't you?" "Sure." They both started eating. After a minute or so, Madoka asked, "Did you order a book for Hikaru's birthday?" Kyousuke nodded. "Mad Pirate Passion Pancakes or something. You know, that one Hikaru keeps going to the bookstore and staring at for hours." Madoka nodded. "Well, it got delivered to my house yesterday. The address was damaged, so they must have delivered it to the wrong place. I'll wrap it for you so you can give it to Hikaru at her birthday party tonight." Kyousuke gave a sigh of relief, then paused. Wait, what if someone had sent Madoka the ring...who would be sending Madoka rings...He whapped himself. I'm getting paranoid. Probably a bunch of items got damaged and went AWOL. Before he could strain his brain with too much thinking, Hikaru sprinted across the yard into sight. "Darling!" He turned and saw a veritable exercise in practical geometry. Hikaru moves from point A to point B. A stray baseball moves from point C to point B. The result: collision. Kyousuke saw this just in time to scream "Hikaru-chan, WATCH OUT!" She turned and saw the ball coming, panicked and froze in place, screaming. The ball turned out to be moving on a slightly different course than they had thought at first and missed her by a few inches. Madoka and Kyousuke ran over to Hikaru, who started crying. They soon calmed her down and got her to come sit down and eat lunch with them. "Madoka-san, look at the beautiful ring Darling got me!" Kyousuke tensed. A slapping was coming. Was it a precognitive flash? Or just knowing the likely conclusions that might be jumped to? Madoka looked at the ring, looked at Kyousuke, and smiled faintly. She winked at him. He stared back at her. I don't understand her at all, he thought. Not that I MIND not being hit. A thought flashed through his mind. Oh, SHE must have bought the ring for Hikaru's birthday. She had it sent to her house, but the packages got scrambled and it went to Hikaru's house. Yes, that must be it, he thought. Madoka smiled faintly and said, "Yes, it's beautiful, isn't it?" I can't believe Yusaku found the money for such a nice ring. I know Kyousuke couldn't afford it. He must have tried to send the ring to Hikaru and when the addresses got damaged, the delivery boy scrambled them up. Someone else probably got the music books I ordered by mail. Well, she'll find out soon enough when Yusaku asks her about the ring. Yes, that must be it, she thought. Darling is so wonderful giving me such a nice present. Too bad the card was ruined so all I could read was my name on it, Hikaru thought. "Thank you, Darling!" She hugged him again. I love Darling so much, she thought. And he loves me; he's just not good at showing it. Men are like that. ************************************************************* Yusaku ran into the jewelry store, almost out of breath. I''ve got to get Hikaru something nice for her birthday, he thought. He soon found a nice, fairly cheap heart shaped pendant. She''ll like this, he hoped, and paid for it. Soon, he was on his way. Elsewhere in the city, someone opened a long awaited package and was rather surprised and displeased to find they had recieved the 'Beatles Guitar Songbook' and 'Teach yourself Oboe'. A hunt was about to begin. ************************************************************* Naturally enough, they had the birthday party at the ABCB. Kyosuke, Yusaku, Hikaru, Madoka, Kurumi, Manami, Hatta and Komatsu were all there, as well as Kyosuke''s dad, theMaster, and Hikar'u's mom. Madoka, Hikaru's mom, and the Master had spent an hour decorating the place, which had the theme of 'Double Birthday Bash', according to the banner over the doorway. It was Hikaru''s fifteenth birthday and Kyosu'''s seventeenth birthday. There were enough presents for two small armies. Hikaru clung to Kyosuke, showing off her new ring to everyone in sight. It was when she flashed it at Yusaku that the trouble started. He stared. "That looks like...an engagement ring!" "It is rather expensive looking," Kyosuke's dad noted. Yusaku stared angrily at Kyosuke, who started to sweat. "Does this mean that..." Hikaru smiled. "Not yet!" She hugged Kyosuke tightly. "I hope you like what I got you as much as I like this ring!" Kyosuke said, "Maybe we should open presents now." "Maybe I should open your head now, Kasuga," Yusaku began. Madoka dragged him away from Kyosuke and Hikaru. "Calm down, Yusaku," she said. "Just because she thinks the ring you gave her is..." He stared at Madoka like she was insane. "What are you talking about?" "All these packages got mixed in the mail and I think the ring got sent to her instead of the book that he ordered for her birthday." "I've never seen this ring before in my life! My present to her is over there!" He pointed at the table where Kyosuke and Hikaru were busily opening their presents. Madoka blinked. Maybe the ring was supposed to go to someone else entirely. Maybe Kyosuke had bought it...but where would he have gotten the money? Now that I think about it, where would YUSAKU have gotten the money? I'd better call the delivery company. I've got a bad feeling about this. I'll tell Hikaru tomorrow. Let her enjoy it for tonight. Yusaku frowned. That bastard Kyosuke was getting credit for something he didn't even do. His thoughts were interrupted by Hikaru coming over and saying, "Thank you for the necklace, Yusaku. It's very nice." His brain glazed over and he smiled dumbly. "Thank you!" The whole affair flew right out of his head. ************************************************************************* Kyosuke walked Hikaru to her front door. Everyone else had gone home. He had a bad feeling...Madoka had been giving him funny looks all night, then claimed nothing was wrong the whole time. Another alarm bell went off in his head. She's going to want a goodnight kiss...And I can't do that. I mean...I could do that, and it would be kinda nice, but I shouldn't do that. Hikaru smiled, fingering her new ring and holding Kyosuke's hand tightly. For a moment, she heard a word in her mind, 'kiss'. Ohh, that would be nice, she thought. The realization struck her that in two years of dating, she and Kyosuke hadn't kissed very many times. Surely he'll kiss me tonight, though, she thought. The image of him kissing her filled her mind, and she smiled. I love you so much, she thought. I hope we'll be together forever. They were at the door. Kyosuke looked down and saw her smiling up at him. He smiled back, unable to resist the happiness in her eyes. I should break up with her, he thought. I really love Madoka, but I don't want to hurt you, Hikaru. I wish I could love you. Hikaru could hear his voice in her mind for a moment. "...love you.." She smiled. I know I'm just imagining things, but it is true. She gazed up at him and smiled. Will he kiss me? The silence hung quietly as they stared at each other. Maybe I should kiss her, Kyosuke thought. It is her birthday. One little kiss won't hurt and it would make her so happy. Without quite thinking, he had made up his mind already. He leaned forward and saw her smile even wider. She closed her eyes and they moved closer. He began to wrap his arms around her. He is going to kiss me, she thought. She leaned upwards when suddenly he went limp and fell on her. She blinked and opened her eyes. Yusaku was standing next to them. "Kyosuke, don't you DARE!" he shouted. "Seducing the pure, innocent..." Rage swept over her. Why can't you just give UP, she thought. "YUSAKU!" She slugged him and he went FLYING down the walk to the street, farther than she'd ever slugged him before. Of course, she wasn't normally this angry. He was stunned. Kyosuke began to recover. "I...I'd better go. Happy birthday, Hikaru-chan." He turned and ran. Dang, she really socked Yusaku one good. Hikaru sighed. Happy Birthday to me. She went over to make sure Yusaku wouldn't harrass Kyosuke anymore. This happened last year too, she thought. I wish he'd just give up. ************************************************************************** That night, Hikaru dreamed she was standing on the roof of her house. The bright stars were shining down on her, and despite the fact that the night air in mid-November should be frigid, she felt warm and happy. She looked up at the night sky and saw the stars form Kyosuke's face. "I love you," she said to the stars. "We'll be together forever, won't we?" Suddenly, she was standing in a chapel, dressed in a beautiful wedding dress. Her darling stood by her side in a handsome tuxedo. He smiled at her. Their families and friends were seated nearby. Her bridesmaids were headed up by her chief bridesmaid, Madoka, and Kyosuke's grooms were headed up by Hatta. They were in the middle of their vows. The minister said, "If anyone has objections, let them speak, or forever hold their peace." Suddenly Yusaku stood up with a gun and fired at Kyosuke. "I can't let you have Hikaru!" Hikaru screamed, "NO!!!!!" She could see the bullet coming in slow motion. Off to one side, she could see Madoka pulling a guitar pick out of her garter and trying to intercept the bullet with it...well, Madoka isn't quite THAT good. If Yusaku had thrown a skateboard or something...Well, anyway. The dream cut back to the rooftop just before the bullet could hit Kyosuke. Hikaru began to cry desperately. "No...no..." Her mother, in the dream, wrapped her arms around Hikaru. "Don't you wish you could protect him, Hikaru?" She buried her face in her mother's chest. "One of these days...oh, why can't Yusaku just give up on me and stop tormenting my darling..." She sobbed without words for a long time. Finally, she opened her eyes and saw her hand was glowing. To be more precise, the ring on her finger was glowing. She looked at her mother, who had vanished and been replaced by a tall beautiful fairy woman with shining gossamer wings. "I'm your fairy godmother, Hikaru. I've blessed your ring so it will help you use your love to protect your darling. Don't ever lose it or let it be taken away..." Suddenly, something grabbed Hikaru and began to shake her. ************************************************************************** Hikaru woke up with her mother gently shaking her. "Are you all right, Hikaru? We heard you screaming something about guns." She breathed heavily. "Just a dream, mom. Just a dream." She stared at the ring on her finger. I wish it was magical. I wish I did have powers to protect my darling. I'm just a silly school girl with silly dreams. Soon, she was back asleep. The rest of the night went well. *************************************************************************** Kyosuke looked at the note again. "Meet me after school at the park. It's important.--Madoka." He had a bad feeling about this. Did I say something stupid at the party, he wondered. Maybe Yusaku told her I kissed Hikaru or something. He started when Madoka tapped his shoulder. "Kyosuke, did you get Hikaru that ring?" "I have NO idea where it came from." Here's where she doesn't believe me and I get slapped. "Hmmm. Well, you see, the delivery company has no record of it." Kyosuke blinked. "What?" "To make matters worse, someone seems to have tampered with their records. All the ones from that day are gone." "So we have no way of finding out where it came from. Maybe we should advertise in the paper." "I gave them my number. I'm sure someone will call. But this means we have to convince Hikaru to give up the ring." Kyosuke sighed. "She won't like it." Madoka nodded. "Well, it'll all work out for the best." Luckily, Madoka does not prophesize for a living. *************************************************************************** Hikaru sat at her desk, trying to study. Yusaku hadn't come anywhere near her today, which made her happy, but her geometry exam, on the other hand, didn't. She tried to work out the sample problem, but it was making her head hurt. Then her pencil broke. She frowned and reached for another one. She couldn't find one. "Where are all my pencils?" She started searching everywhere. The realization suddenly hit her. She distinctly remembered leaving her pencils in her desk so she wouldn't forget them for the test tomorrow. She could see herself doing it as if she was there at this very moment. The desk, full of pencils, hung in front of her, taunting her. I wish I hadn't left all my pencils there, she thought. Everyone's asleep and I don't know where Mom's moved them to this month. She imagined how wonderful it would be to have a pencil. Despite this, she was quite shocked to suddenly find herself holding a pencil. She nearly leaped out of her skin. She laughed nervously. "Silly me. I was holding one the whole time!" With effort, she got rid of the memory that she had certainly NOT had a pencil before and went back to work on her geometry homework. She was still writing at the desk when sleep took her. *************************************************************************** Kyosuke and Hikaru walked through the park together. They stopped at a bench and sat down. It was a beautiful spring day. The warm sun shone down on them, and a bird sang merrily nearby. Hikaru leaned over against her darling. "It's such a beautful day, isn't it?" Kyosuke leaned down and kissed Hikaru. "It's a beautiful day." He then kissed her again. They were still busy smooching when suddenly, Kyosuke was yanked out of her arms. She blinked. It was his cousin Akane, who had Kyosuke slung over her shoulder. She sang off key. "Going to the chapel, and we're gonna get married...going to the chapel of love." Hikaru got up. "You can't marry him, you're his cousin!" Kyosuke beat on Akane in a futile fashion. "Help me, Hikaru!" She ran after Akane and slugged her as hard as she could. Akane laughed and swept her feet out from under her with an idle kick. "My grandfather trained me tougher than you'll ever be." Hikaru began to cry. She had always tried to be tough like Madoka, but deep down, she knew she wasn't very though. She did her best though. She tried to grab Akane's feet, but Akane just kicked her away. "Pathetic little girl. You're too weak for him. He needs someone strong like me." Akane turned to walk away. Hikaru cried more and got up to run after her. Suddenly, she remembered the voice from her dream..."I'm your fairy godmother, Hikaru. I've blessed your ring so it will help you use your love to protect your darling. Don't ever lose it or let it be taken away..." If only it could be true. If only I could protect Darling with it. She looked down and saw it was glowing. Maybe...Maybe I can. "DARLING!" Kyosuke was being hauled off into a porta-chapel. "Help me!" She pointed at Akane. "STOP!" Akane froze, unable to move. "What?" Hikaru ran forward, then slugged Akane into low earth orbit, grabbing Kyosuke away from her as she did so. Akane shouted, "Curse you and your little dog, Toto, too!" as she rose out of sight. Hikaru hugged Kyosuke tightly. "Are you okay?" "I'm always fine when I'm with you." As he leaned down to kiss her, she woke up. ****************************************************************** Hikaru sat up groggily at her desk. "What a weird dream." She got up and staggered over to her bed and quietly collapsed. She slept deeply, with no more dreams. ****************************************************************** Kyosuke, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. His dreams were haunted by nightmares. He ran through the snow to to his house. It blew up, and he saw Hikaru flying out of the wreckage. She tossed his sisters aside like dolls. Desperately he caught them with the power, "NOO!!!!!!" The dream shifted. He was at Grandpa's, with Madoka. They were eating dinner, and suddenly the wall crashed open. Hikaru lept through the breach and started strangling Grandpa. When Kyosuke tried to help him, she casually flicked him aside and began to laugh. He screamed. The dream shifted again. He was kissing Hikaru fervently, as they lay side by side on his bed. Suddenly, the door opened and Madoka walked in. She glared at Kyosuke with cold anger, then stormed out. He tried to leave, but he couldn't move. Hikaru smiled at him. "You've got me, Darling..." A sudden scream cut through his sleep and woke him up... ********************************************************************** Kyosuke and his father both ran into Manami and Kurumi's room at the same time. Kurumi was crying. Furniture was flying everywhere in a whir, and poor Jingoro kept get smacked into the ceiling lamp. "Everyone died...everyone..." Her sister, her brother, and her father held her and comforted her as best they could, as well as praying she wouldn't accidentally crush their skulls. Finally, she calmed down and the furniture stopped flying. "I had a really bad nightmare where someone tried to kill us all! It was horrible!" "Don't worry dear. No one is going to kill us all," her father said, with a soothing voice. "No one is even going to try." Eventually, he calmed her down. Kyosuke, on the other hand, stayed awake for an hour, trying to convince himself that all his dreams had just been dreams too. ************************************************************************** Madoka, on the other hand, simply dreamed about starting her own band, 'Hearts of Fire', and going on a world tour with Kyosuke and Hikaru and her parents. It was the world's first rock chamber orchestra. She had just gotten to the part where they were performing for the emperor when her alarm went off. She piled out of bed and stretched. She quickly dressed and ran downstairs for breakfast. The answering machine was flashing. She hit the button and let it play as she quickly poured herself a bowl of cereal. There was a call from her mother, reminding her to send her father a birthday card. There was a call from some telemarketer's computer message that got cut off halfway through it. Finally, there was an incoherent call from Kyosuke. Something about nightmares and was she okay. She laughed. Just like Kasuga-kun to have a bad dream and call me about it at 3 am. She idly dialed his number as she finished getting a banana out of the refrigerator. Manami answered. "Hello, Kasuga residence." "Can I talk to Kasuga-kun, please." She sat down and poured milk in her cereal. "Hello, this is Kyosuke." "Hello. I got your message." "Did you, uh...have any weird dreams?" Time to yank his chain just a little, she thought. "I dreamed about Hikaru growing three hundred feet tall and rampaging through the city breathing fire like Godzilla. Then she picked you up and climbed the world trade center and..." "Hey, don't make fun of me!" She tried hard to not giggle. "Did you run to your mommy too when you had your bad dream?" Okay, I'm overdoing it a little, she thought. He snorted and hung up. She blinked at the phone in surprise. I guess I'd better apologize to him when I see him at school today, she thought. *************************************************************************** Kyosuke sat and ate his lunch, moping. Yusaku stomped up to him. "Kyosuke, you..." He sighed. "Whatever. Beat me up. See if I care." Yusaku blinked. "..." Hikaru ran into the yard. "There you are, darling! What's wrong?" "Nothing." Kyosuke ate quietly as Hikaru glomped him. Yusaku frowned and shook his fist, then stomped off. Hikaru frowned. "Did you have a bad dream, darling?" He blinked. "Did you have a nightmare?" "I dreamed your cousin tried to marry you." "Well, that qualifies." I guess everyone had a bad night. Except Madoka. He fumed a bit more, then got it all out of his system. **************************************************************************