That same child turned and looked saddened. "But Mom...."
"No 'but Mom'. You know that things can get really crazy around here. You could...."
"'Get hurt'. I know...."
"Then what are you supposed to do, Yoko?"
"Keep where you can see me.... But it's so great now that we don't have to worry, right?"
"You're right about that, kiddo," commented a new voice as a hand came down to ruffle the little girl's hair.
"Daddy!"
"How are you doing? Giving your mother a hard time?"
"Of course not. We were finishing up shopping! Mommy really wanted to make certain that we got lots of good stuff for dinner."
"Really into this 'housewife' stuff, isn't she?"
"Uh-huh!" Yoko agreed happily with a firm little nod.
Naomi shifted her shopping back straps on her shoulder and scowled at her daughter and husband. "I'm not that bad."
"Of course not," Ross replied as he looped his arm around wife, and gave a wry grin. "It's just hard to think of the 'terror in hot pants' that I remember wanting to join the PTA."
"Now, things are different."
"Yeah. Then you were alone, and now you have us."
"Ross...."
"You know, everyone at school says that it's good to see that I've got parents that really love each other," Yoko commented.
"They do, huh?"
"Yup."
"Then you must be really lucky, huh?"
"Yeah!"
Ross smiled at both of the females in his life. "Well then, let's get you two little ladies home so that we can have dinner, okay?"
"'Little'?!" his wife growled.
"You are shorter than me."
"But I am tougher, 'big man'...."
"Oh... I didn't mean to...." he trailed off.... before two men in the middle of a fight took stumbled between a pair of stalls and headed right for Yoko.
Never even stopping to think, Naomi shoved her bag at her husband, and moved. She put herself over her daughter's body, and got between the men at the same time. Shoving one of the men away, she sent a high kick at his head that sent him flipping into a pile of empty crates. The other one blinked before his feet were knocked out from under him, and he was bodily thrown back the way he'd come. But she never gave them more than a glare after that, as she knelt and looked her baby girl over. "Are you okay?"
"Because of you, Mom," Yoko replied, half in admiration, and half in dissipating fear.
"I'm glad...."
"Dumb broad.... Why'd you get involved?" groaned the man in the crates as he tried to pull himself to a standing position.
Reaching down, Ross grabbed the fighter by the collar of his shirt, and dragged him up to where he could look him in the eye. "That 'broad' is my wife, and you nearly trampled our daughter."
"I didn't mean too..."
"Good, because I wouldn't want to think that you had."
"That's enough, sir," commented an authoritative voice, which, when Ross looked up, he saw was belonging to a woman in a police uniform. "My partner and I will take it from here."
The other cop, who looked to be a cyborg of some sort, was standing behind the other combatant, who was now handcuffed, and looking rather displeased by his situation. "We can handle it."
"Fine by me," Ross said, letting the man go, which let the fighter drop back into the crates. "He's all yours."
"Thank you, sir."
"Are you okay, though?" the policewoman asked.
"It wouldn't do if you were hurt by these guys," the cyborg agreed.
"Thanks for your concern," the tall man told them, "but I think that other than a bit of shock, we're okay."
Both of his 'ladies' nodded, and Naomi looked disgusted. "I'd just like to know what they thought that they were doing."
"The one that the policeman is near was mad because he thought that he was getting 'stiffed', and so he wanted to hurt the other one. But the one that Daddy was talking to was mad since he thought that the other guy didn't know what his 'place' was," Yoko informed them, making all the adults stare at her.
One of the policewoman's brows rose. "Is that so?"
"It's all that I remember, since I was really scared for the rest."
"Nice how you remember that much."
"Well, she's got a photographic memory," Ross told the woman, as he rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "What can I say? Our kid's special."
"I'd say that she is. But don't worry. We'll just take your statements, and be on our way."
"Thanks...." he said, and let his lips tighten in concern once he saw his wife frowning. "What is it? Concerned about Yoko?"
"Well.... There is that," Naomi admitted, but her tone said that there was more.
"Then...."
"It's nothing."
"Come on...." her husband said, and followed her gaze over to the two cops. "I see. You regretting not joining up?"
"No, not really...."
"That could have been us."
"That was us. But they can do it openly. Be what they are. We couldn't back on Mars."
Gathering his family up in his arms, he sighed. "And now we can. We can live how we want."
"I know that. It's just...."
"What?"
"I can't help remembering what it used to be like for us," his wife murmured.
"I know. But we can be happy."
"Besides, we've always got each other," Yoko piped up.
Giving a small smile, Naomi rested her head on her husband's chest, and lightly stroked her daughter's face with one hand, while:
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Mon, 07 Nov 2005 00:40)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.