And still others deciding to do something about it after finding out…
Ichi Rivalsan-Ichinohei sat at her desk, filling out forms, and doing what every other corporate executive of a multi-billion dollar company did during office hours. She had settled down since her young adult years, and about all the excitement she got these days was from sparring session with her pupil. Although Ichi knew that she couldn’t be rushing off to stop alien invaders from taking over the world with 50 foot monsters anymore thanks to her responsibilities as both an executive and –more importantly- a mother, it was days like this that she wished something akin to what she was used to in her younger years would pop up. Nothing too dangerous of course, just something to break the dull cycle that her life had become.
“Sensei! Sensei!” Looking up from her desk Ichi saw her student Bento Katana rush into her office with Ichi’s secretary behind him a few dozen steps.
“Your next training session isn’t for another hour and a half,” she told him. “If you’re so urgent to workout then start warming up now and go though the forms I taught you yesterday, you’re still a little off balance after the third jump.”
“I’m terribly sorry Rivalsan-san, he ran past me before I could do anything,” Ichi’s secretary apologized.
“No teacher it’s-hands off me woman,” Bento cried before breaking the grip of the hand trying to grab his wrist. “It’s outside, you gotta come see this! It’s… it’s…” Bento cut himself off as the picture of the artistry in the sky came to the front of his mind once again. Unable to help himself he chuckled to himself plenty as a dazed smile appeared on his face.
Turning to her assistant, Ichi reached over to grab the empty coffee mug on her desk. “Could you refill this while I see what’s got him acting like this? Oh and… get some paper towels too, for the drool,” she added as a afterthought upon seeing Bento’s state.
“What about him?” the woman asked.
“I’ve got it taken care of,” Ichi said before prepairing a technique she hadn’t used since her youth. “NOW GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF!”
*WACK*
A second later Ichi tossed her mallet to the side and picked up the flattened figure of Bento Katana before shaking him a few times to get his attention. “Now what the heck’s gotten into you?”
“It… the… the window, look out the window,” Bento told her while pointing towards the left wall of her office. Then after dropping the boy onto the ground, the world’s richest female ninja walked to where her student was directing her, and blinked half a dozen times at the picture Bento was pointing to… at least till he started acting all weird again.
Up in the sky was a picture of a half naked girl with a pageboy haircut taking her shirt off… with no bra underneath.
“Well… at least it’s not alien invaders this time,” Ichi mumbled to herself before smacking Bento on the back of the head without looking.
-A few minutes later-
“Lendo! Lendo you better be at your desk with a nose in a book right now,” Ichi yelled as she stormed into her husbands office to see him at work with half a dozen RNC men standing around him.
“Ah Ichi, I see you’ve looked up the newest addition to the Tokyo skyline,” he said with a smile. “But not to worry, I didn’t do it.”
“Oh please, even during your worst days you could never have pulled of a stunt like this,” she told him. “By the way, are the children…?”
“At a movie,” Lendo assured her. “I sent them off soon as I saw.”
“So-”
“What is it?” Lendo finished for her, not noticing Ichi’s frown. “It’s a holographic projection coming from a satellite in a low Earth orbit. From, what my people tell me it’s too close to Earth to be seen by anyone except here in Tokyo. The person being shown is a girl, obviously, by the name of…” Lendo stopped for a moment to grab one of the many folders on his desk and opened it up. “… Nabiki Tendo, age 18, lives in the Nerima district of Tokyo.”
Tendo? Ichi thought to herself with a frown. Why did that name sound vaguely familiar?
“But here’s the strange thing,” Lendo continued, not noticing his wife’s reaction. “I had one of out own satellites do a flyby to give us a quick scan of the projector. At first we didn’t find anything too out of the ordinary. The construction wasn’t up to usual standards, and from what the scientists tell me the satellite looks like it was almost constructed in one day with household materials. Just your usual thing your usual super genius would cook up. At least that’s what it looked like till they examined the power source and basic design.”
“Get to the point dear,” Ichi told him.
“It’s Salusian… a little crude all things considered, but definitely Salusian,” Lendo said.
“That’s it!” Ichi exclaimed, snapping her fingers as the back of her memory finally relinquished the information it was holding out on her.
“Huh?” Lendo replied as he blinked.
“Tendo! Now I know where I’ve heard that name before,” Ichi said. “I got a call from Asrial a few days ago…”
(-A Few days ago before Kassy’s arrival-)
After finishing her report on the new Vol-Mart inventory, Ichi reached over that had been ringing on her desk for a few times already. It looked like another one of those days where she’d be swamped with work, and requests from the other offices. “Ichi here, go ahead.”
{Ichi, it’s me Asrial}
“Asrial!” Ichi replied, her tone changing from one of utter boredom to a bit of exciment. “It’s been ages since we last talked. What’s up?”
{Well, not much, for me that is, but I’ve got a little favor to ask you. You see, I’m sending my eldest daughter Kassy to Japan for a semester of school and-}
“You want us to look after her?” Ichi asked with more than a little bit of fear in her voice and on her face. “But last time you all came here… Look, I’d be delighted to watch my niece no matter what. It’s just we’re still not done cleaning up that mess in-”
{Nonononono, you misunderstand. I’m sending Kassy to Japan, but she’s not going to be staying with you. You see, every time Kassy gets in trouble there’s always someone there to bail her out. Just last week when Leeana came to visit she and Lexus, well… let’s just say the only reason they weren’t being charged with attempted assassination and damage to government property is because she decided to give them a break. Paaru knows she never listens to me when I try to lecture her, and I’ve never been good at punishing my own kids. I think it would be good for her to be placed somewhere that she will get in trouble for her actions, but not enough that it causes an intergalactic incident.}
“Well I guess that makes sense,” Ichi replied. “But, if you don’t want me getting her out of trouble if she gets too deep, why are you calling?”
{Well, the place were sending her doesn’t seem to be too bad. But, just incase Kassy does get into too much trouble… or causes it… could you…}
“Make sure nothing bad happens?” Ichi asked. “Sure, no problem.”
{Thank you. I’ll fax over all the information abou where she’s staying, and going to school. Just uh, watch the news reports for anything… out of the ordinary.}
(Rivalson Building-)
“… and Tendo is the name of the family she’s staying with,” Ichi finished. “Although this does seem a bit more… meaner than her usual MO. I wonder what happened?”
“So we’re going to Nerima?” Bento spoke up as he popped his head through the doorway.
“We?” Ichi asked with a frown.
“Yeah. I used to go there every week when I first started training, so I know my way around,” he told her. “It’s got a good amount of dojos, probably the most in all Tokyo… even if most of them are pretty weird. So I can show you around.”
“I know the Tendo’s address,” Ichi said.
“But what if she isn’t home sensei?” Bento asked. “You’re so busy, and I know you can’t just spend the day waiting outside someone’s house.”
For a moment Ichi stood there frowning, then walked up to grab Bento by the arm and drag him behind her. “Fine, but no side trips if they are home and… STOP LOOKING AT THAT THING!” she shouted to the giddy boy as they moved down the hall towards the elevator.
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(Posted Tue, 24 Aug 2004 20:14)
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