The newly-christened Corsair considered that, and then she snorted. "I've got other things to worry about than deal with those idiots, Sensei! Thanks to the Doll House, I've got a whole new life to explore and I'm gonna explore it!"
"And that, my dear, is the way it should always be," the Doctor declared, the satisfaction in his voice quite apparent to both Tariko and Metron, and then he held up his hand. A space-warp then appeared, it disgorging a small wallet. With that, he handed it to her. "I believe you'll find everything to be sufficient."
Tariko took the wallet in hand, and then she opened it. Staring at the national identification card placed there -- with her picture -- she then blinked as the family name came to her. "'Tanenobu Tariko?!' Where'd you get that name from, Sensei?"
"Ah, but that would be telling," the Doctor replied, his smile growing ever so wider. "But, to be frank, I rather suspected that after your passage through the Doll House, you would desire to abandon all connections to the name 'Moroboshi.' Atop that, if your former classmates and the people in Tomobiki -- to say anything of your father and step-mother -- learn there is another Moroboshi alive and well, it would not take them long to conclude what happened to you. Then, for whatever any of their reasons, they would then either move to do everything within their power to bring you under some semblance of outside control . . . "
"Or Megane and the bastards who follow him would do their 'Ventora Ventora' trick to summon a space taxi for Uru so they could tell Lum." A frown turned Tariko's lips as she considered what might happen in a situation like that, and then she shook her head. "No way. I'm free of that bunch right now and I happen to like it very much. And if I see Lum anytime soon, I might just do something to her I'll regret later -- if it doesn't wind up starting a war between her people and Earth." A tired sigh then escaped her. "Fine! Tanenobu Tariko it is, then."
With that, she closed her wallet and slipped it into a hidden pocket inside her tunic. After giving the Doctor a thank you kiss on the cheek, she then flew off. The Doctor and Metron watched her go. "I suspect she did not fully comprehend what you just revealed about Moroboshi Kinshou," the latter then noted.
"She'll realise it sooner or later. After that . . . " A shrug. "It is her choice after all, Metron. That is what I'm striving for in the end."
"Indeed . . . "
Flying as if she was lying down on a bed, her back towards the Earth far below, Corsair arced her way on a great circle route that would eventually take her from south-western Québec to Japan. With the Jewel on her chest making sure she wouldn't accidentally run into an airliner doing a similar run between eastern North America and east Asia, she had no worries from that department. That would allow her to actually spend some time and do something she, as Ataru, had rarely done before.
Think about her future.
Moroboshi Ataru had never cared about things like that. He was a creature of the moment. Things like ancestry, culture, traditions, laws and all the mindless garbage that other people around him willingly cloaked themselves up in held no real value to someone like Ataru. To live the boring lives other people had -- as the example of his own parents so readily demonstrated to him day-in and out -- was a huge turn-off.
Considering that, Tariko then paused as an ugly thought reared itself in her mind: what would have happened if the Doctor had not come along and taken interest in Ataru? As soon as the potential answer to that question came back to her, Tariko then shuddered, a cloud of anger storming in her heart at the sheer scale of Lum's betrayal -- and yes, Tariko could easily use that word now, betrayal! -- came to her. Stupid Oni! What the hell was she thinking, keeping a secret like those Niphentaxians away from everyone she knew, especially her own 'husband?!' Did she actually think that she could keep those worshipping bastards at bay in the long term . . .?
Or were they a secret ace in the hole she kept in her bra just in case . . .?!
Tariko felt a chill warp through her as the potential conclusions of that idea began to dawn on her, and then she breathed out. Well, it didn't matter now. Lum, like all her kind, knew of the Yizibajohei -- the "Unmentionable Race" as they were nicknamed by races closest to them. Even better, Lum (no doubt because she was the daughter of Uru's leader) had been schooled in the prophecies about that world.
The prophecy of the coming of Destructo being one of them.
For a conquering race of aliens like the Onis, the concept of Destructo would be quite frightening. A being with the proverbial power of God Himself, driven with the unending desire to shatter all structures of Order imposed on defenceless people, and then he would bestow the gift of Yiziba's Crystal of Power on those suppressed by their rulers. And for a race like Lum's, that was a prospect they would never wish to face.
"Too bad," she then breathed out to no one in particular.
The stupid bitch had only brought it down on herself. If she ever did come back -- the chances were there, the Doctor had warned her -- there were the ways and means to send her back to Uru once and for all time. The government of Japan (instigated by Emperor Akihito himself, Tariko knew) would make it very clear to the United Nations that the Oni was now persona non grata in the Home Islands. Try as people like Mendou might, their precious Oni would not find a home anywhere in Tomobiki -- to say anywhere else in Japan -- ever again.
And with Lum gone, many people in Tomobiki would suffer the worst emotional body-blow they had ever taken. Given the way dorks like Megane acted around Lum, to have their favourite girl literally ripped away from them would be devastating. And as for Ataru's parents, it would be the death-knell of everything they had hoped would happen to them, especially in the wake of the "engagement" between Ataru and Lum on the Kashin, Invader's flagship, prior to that whole mess with Queen Elle. No more bright future, no more hopes of better jobs, no nothing.
And when Sensei's former co-worker, Doctor Melissa Phelps, finished with the autopsy of Ataru's body and released the information to the public . . .
A laugh then escaped Tariko. That would be choice revenge, she realised. The Doctor had told her about Mendou's botched attempt at trying to keep the truth of Ataru's death from reaching the general public, an attempt killed aborning by the Emperor's swift intervention and the help of Sensei's former co-workers in Canada's Specialised Warfare Regiment. And then, when Shinobu had beat the crap out of the rich jerk, actually going all the way to hospitalising him . . .
Shinobu . . .
Ataru's old girlfriend.
An alien -- a Yizibajohei of all things! -- to boot.
Tariko laughed as she then considered what Lum's reaction to that bit of news could have been. Oh, that would have been just priceless . . .!
"Maybe I should fly to Uru any way and taunt the bitch about that!" she then mused to herself before she then spoke out in an approximation of Ataru's voice. "'Hey, Lum! Did you know my old girlfriend's from the one planet your people would never want to conquer?! Did you know that those people's actual Chosen One actually wanted to pick me of all people to help him bring Yiziba's power to Earth?!" She then barked out a laugh. "Force that down your throat and swallow it, you backstabbing bitch!" she spat out. "No different from all the crap you once forced me to eat! See how you like it for a change!"
Closing her eyes, she breathed out as she moved to wrap her fingers behind her head . . .
"Hey? Going my way?"
Tariko's eyes flew open in shock as she found herself staring at the upside-down image of Miyake Shinobu's face, she gazing quite fondly at her. A glance out the corner of her eyes revealled that Shinobu -- in the costume of Rampage, of course -- was flying backwards in seiza position, her legs no doubt propped under Corsair's head. After a minute of taking that in, Tariko smirked. "I could be persuaded."
Grinning, Shinobu reached down to grab her hand . . .
Later . . .
"How'd you guess, Shinobu?"
"Tariko, I'm from Yiziba, remember? Didn't Sensei tell you about that?"
Tariko paused, and then she laughed, a hand scratching the back of her head as she remembered what the Doctor had told her about that, and then she looked around. Corsair and Rampage currently were standing in the darkened teashop once owned by the family of Fujinami Ryuunosuke's would-be fiancé, Shiowatari Nagisa. The island -- it had been renamed "Ryuunosuke-shima" by the tomboy's friends after Nagisa's restoral to life by the Great Sea Urchin -- sat in the Sagami Sea just outside the entrance to Tokyo Bay itself. "So why meet in this place?" she then wondered.
"I wanted to be alone when I met up with you again -- once Infinity came along and told me that she had sensed you passing through the Doll House of all places, and then you had been brought to Earth by Sensei." Shinobu then laughed as she sat down across from her transformed ex-boyfriend. "If anyone could go through something like that, it had to be you, Tariko. And I'm glad for it. I really am."
"I heard what you did to Sword-for-Brains."
Shinobu blinked, and then she spat out, "The fool deserved it! To believe that he was so worried about what the truth concerning your death might have ended up doing to Lum of all people!" A shudder raced through her as dark thoughts began to cloud her mind about what might happen should that Oni ever be stupid enough to ever come back to Earth. "If I ever see that bitch again . . . "
"Get in the lineup. I've got first dibs on her."
"That should be interesting to watch," Shinobu mused as she indicated the Jewel on Tariko's chest. "If even a tithe of what all my predecessors have heard about those things are true, you could turn around and zakk Lum herself with lightning. Let's see how she would like taking that!"
"Nah! I was thinking of something even more vile," Tariko mused. "Finding the type of food that would be poisonous to Lum, then letting her suffer like she made me suffer. And then when she died, force her through the Doll House, then make her -- or rather 'him' after the passover -- into my personal slave doll." She wriggled her eyebrows in amusement. "I'd be willing to share."
"That would be pretty nice!" Shinobu noted with a wink.
Both girls laughed . . .
Back on Uru, Lum shuddered as a chill with the temperature of deepest space warped through her. As if someone had decided to walk on her grave . . .
"So how are the rest of the fools back in Tomobiki reacting to this?"
"Total shock over what Sensei's friends in the Specialised Warfare Regiment did when they came to take your old body to their base to have an autopsy done," Shinobu explained. "Mendou's floozies are up in arms over my putting him into intensive care when he came to demand why I was there for you at the Hospital, but I won't put up to any of that stupidity anymore." A groan. "Jesu Cristo! I can't believe I actually allowed myself to fall for his swave act for so long!"
"You were pissed off at me for all the crap I was doing," Tariko noted. "You wanted some sense of security in your life. And you didn't remember being Rampage." A shrug. "It was inevitable, Shinobu. Besides, look at it this way!" She then winked. "When Sword-for-Brains marries Mizunokooji Asuka, what do you think their wedding night's going to be like?"
Shinobu stared askance at Tariko, and then she laughed. Granted, the androphobic Asuka had accepted Mendou Shuutarou as one of her "onii-samas," but to go so far as to having sex with the man, especially given her own superhuman strength . . .! "He would definitely deserve that!" she then declared with a wink of her own.
More laughter filled the room. "What else?" Tariko asked.
"The news about the Book of Lum and the Niphentaxians' invasion of all our private lives is slowly getting out," Shinobu replied. "But that's butting up against all the shock and anger everyone's feeling now at Sensei's scaring Lum off like he did last night." A finger was raised in emphasis. "And after he compared their devotion to Lum to the way the Nazis venerated Hitler . . . "
"Ouch!" Tariko barked out, and then she paused as she considered the point.
"It's no wonder so many people called them 'Lum's Stormtroopers.'"
"I never remembered that, to be honest with you," Tariko then admitted, she moving to stand up and walk to the doorway to gaze onto the sandy beach in front of this abandoned venue of the Fujinami Hamachaya. "Never remembered much, to be honest with you. Never really could remember much . . . "
"Excuse me?"
Tariko closed her eyes, she now quite surprised that she was able to actually think this way. Still, after what the Doctor had told her, Shinobu deserved to know. "I think Mendou might have known -- or at least suspected -- something was medically wrong with me. Given the amount of connections he's got, it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't try to do everything he could to mass up enough evidence so he could use it in some vain attempt to break Lum and I apart."
"What are you talking about, Tariko?"
"The autopsy on my old body," Tariko said as she gazed at her companion. "I might as well save you the suspense of waiting for Phelps-sensei to finish with the autopsy and release the news. She'll discover that parts of my brain were damaged before I was in kindergarten. It was an accident with Mom and one of her kitchen knives; you know how she loves to flash them around to get her way."
It took Shinobu a moment to take that in. "Your brain was damaged?"
"Exactly," Tariko replied. "I don't understand all the technical terms behind it, but from what Sensei told me, the injury wrecked the part of my mind that controlled the release of all the hormones which governed my sex drive. In effect, as soon as puberty hit, I was perpetually horny. And when that started affecting the rest of my mind . . . " A shrug. "He called it 'acute hypersexual disfunction disorder' or something like that."
Shinobu's jaw dropped as that information crashed into her mind, and then her hand came up to her mouth to cover her gaping look. "You mean . . .?!"
"I couldn't in the long term think of anything else other than having sex with every pretty girl who crossed my bow," Tariko admitted. "And the more of them I met, the more I wanted. And with Lum trying to reign me in, my mind basically took that and I started to subconsciously equate her abuse to some weird type of foreplay. My willingness to go after all of you, even when you all made it pretty damned clear you didn't want to have anything to do with me, was the very same thing." A pause. "Oh, yeah, there were times when I actually could control myself, but they were few and far between. You know that, don't you? And because of that . . . " She then shrugged. "Well, it was definitely a cause for a lot of the weirdness that rocked into town, especially after Lum showed up." She then closed her eyes . . .
Before Shinobu's arms wrapped around her, she pressing herself into Tariko's back. Hearing her companion starting to cry, the latter then breathed out as she placed her hands on the former's. "Hey, cut it out, huh?!" she soothed. "It's over with!"
"N-no . . . " Shinobu moaned. "Jesu Cristo, to believe . . . "
"Shinobu, please?" Tariko pleaded.
Silence fell as Shinobu continued to weep, and then, with several sniffles, she moved to pull herself away from her transformed ex-boyfriend. Tariko turned around, she reaching out to gently draw Shinobu into her arms, allowing the latter to rest her head on the former's shoulder. "It's okay now," Tariko stated. "I'm free of that whole bunch. I can start all over again and don't have to worry anymore about them trying to dictate my whole life to me. And once Phelps-sensei breaks out the news about what Sensei found out about me, then all of them are gonna have ramen across their faces. Especially Mom." A shrug. "Too bad, so sad."
Shinobu laughed as she reached up to wipe her eyes clean. "Yeah, that would be pretty poetic in the long term, ne?" she mused before she turned up to gaze into Tariko's eyes. "I have to admit something, though."
"What?"
"I really like the new look."
Tariko grinned, and then she leaned down. Shinobu remained still as their lips gently touched, and then she allowed the kiss to deepen. Their grip on the other tightened as the feelings they had for each other, seeded when they were children, began to flower. After a moment, they slowly pulled apart so they could take a deep breath, and then . . .
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(Posted Sat, 23 Sep 2006 17:38)
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