[Episode 120454] [Episode 120454]The OSA-P was closed.
That alone was a bad enough sign. As a small, privately owned business, every bit of business was vital to its - and, by connection, its owner's - existence.
So, to be closed during the afternoon, sent a definitive signal that something was very wrong.
Unfortunately, Naru Osaka had a pretty good idea of what that was.... Herself. Or rather, her disappearance. Well, she could fix that.
She spared a glance toward her companion. Umino seemed particularly uneasy at the moment... although that might have more to do with her insistence that they store away most of their gear and equipment. Now that she thought of it, this was the first time in at least a year that Umino had willingly left his sword - the Brilliance - out of arm's reach.
Not that she could blame her lover for that... she was feeling rather naked without a bow or rod, herself. Not that either of them were at all helpless or defenseless without their weapons of choice. They both still had their magic, and Akane and Keiko had both insisted on teaching them ways to defend themselves without needing spells or weapons.
And besides, even though they had taken a moment to change into clothes that blended in better, they hadn't removed everything with magic. Umino's glasses were no longer a necessity, his eyesight having been repaired to perfection a long time ago, but were now a powerful protective relic. Not as powerful as the ribbon she herself wore, but impressively strong nonetheless. And if people thought that meant he couldn't see without them... well, so much the better.
Naru hesitated a moment before knocking. So much time had passed for them... true, they stopped aging was they started traveling with the others - and she had some pretty strong suspicions as to why that was, but had chosen not to bring it up - but it had been over a year on that first world before Akane and Keiko had found them. During that time... well, circumstances had forged two low-to-average healthy schoolkids into a pair of lean and bloodied adventurers, desperately fighting to help save a world that was not their own.
And that was before their real journey home began. Would her mother even recognize her daughter, inside the woman she was now?
She felt Umino hand fall upon her shoulder, giving his silent support. Whatever happened... he'd be with her.
She knocked on the door.
Several moments later, she heard her mother's voice, for the first time in years. "We're closed. Go away!"
Rather than reply, she just knocked again.
This time the door opened.
Yuriko Osaka had definitely had looked better. In the three weeks that had passed since her daughter had vanished, she seemed to have aged several years. First, fate had taken her husband from her... and then Naru's disappearance had broken her. She wanted nothing more to do with the world that had taken her family. She took a deep breath to yell at whoever it was that was disturbing her solitude.
Then she saw who was at her door, and screamed in a different manner.
Naru suddenly found herself embraced in a desperate hug from her mother, as though the woman feared she might turn to mist at any second. She was crying, wordless pleas to whatever powers that may be, for this to be real, and not some dream or illusion.
Naru felt tears in her own eyes, as she hugged her mother back, finally, finally realizing in her heart that she really was home. "It's okay, Mama," she whispered, "I'm here, I'm home. I'm finally back, and everything's going to be okay..."
She wondered why she'd ever been worried.
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(Posted Thu, 07 Oct 2004 03:00)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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