"Here you go, Shinobu-san. Just like you like it."
Shinobu perked on hearing Hiromi's soft voice, and then she watched as her host placed a cup of tamaryoku-cha, touched with a slice of orange on the edge of the cup, on the table before her. Seeing that, Shinobu smiled as she took up the cup and took a sip. "That's so good! Arigatô, Hiromi-san," she said calmly as she watched Hiromi sit down across from her, and then she glanced into the kitchen to see one of Ataru's android replicas busy himself cleaning up there before turning back to her tea.
While Shinobu seemed quite calm right now, Hiromi was quick to sense that her sister's former girlfriend was becoming a nervous wreck, no doubt provoked by what she had overheard from her hiding place by the back door of the Moroboshi home over the last couple of hours when the residents here paid host to Ataru Moroboshi's ten would-be "handmaidens" and were forced, because of that, to reveal the truth about many things concerning the events of the last year and more in Tomobiki. Especially when it came to the actions of Ataru Moroboshi and Lum Redet and how that had led the former to make the life-altering decision to transform himself into the Oni's perfect dream lover, calling herself "Tariko Moroboshi" (in private) or "Tariko Hana" (in public). And how in the wake of that, they both came to realise that if such went public, a lot of bad things could happen to them both. Especially thanks to the natives of a race Shinobu had never heard of before now.
And now wished she had never heard of.
But wishes could not change what would happen twenty-two hours from now…
"Hiromi-san?"
"Hai, Shinobu-san?"
"Is Tariko angry at me?"
Hiromi blinked. "Iie. Onê-san isn't angry at you, Shinobu-san." A sigh. "To be truthful, she's scared of you. Really, really scared of you. And not just you. But of all the others who were forced (not to mince words) to contribute to the making of this." She waved to the Book of Lum on the table nearby.
Shinobu glanced at the book in question. While Hiromi had been making tea for her, she had taken the chance to glance inside it, quickly locating the "Book of the Sinful Doubter Shinobu Miyake" near the back of the book. On reading what was written there, she had nearly screamed out in disbelief, not just at the fact that her most private thoughts and feelings had been so horribly violated like this, but that the basic themes of her transformed diary entries had been deliberately rewritten to follow the basic "party line" of the Church of Lum. The leaders of which had elected long ago to look upon Ataru Moroboshi as nothing more than "the Great Evil," the devil-figure that Lumite parishioners would be made to fear and hate, and would brook no writings from any of their goddess' "holy company" which stated otherwise. No matter what.
"I suppose I could understand that," Shinobu admitted. "Has Tariko read this?"
A nod. "The whole thing." Hiromi then sighed. "New editions come out every month or so Earth-time. I think that's when the Niphentaxian observers here, on Uru, Fukunokami and Triton all make a mass-grab of your diary entries so they can update the Book. Next edition is actually due out in a week." She then grinned. "Though the chances are there that any updates from any of Lum-san's 'holy company' here on Earth won't make it to the editor's offices in Lumukyô."
Shinobu blinked. "'Lumukyô?'"
"Phentax Two's capital city." Hiromi then giggled. "I think that in the last three centuries, that city's undergone at least fifty name changes. Previously, it was called 'New Hollywood' when the Church of Hollywood was the main church on the planet."
The other woman gaped. "Church of HOLLYWOOD?!"
A nod. "Hai."
Shinobu then shuddered. "Oh, God! I just don't want to know!" she hissed out before placing her tea down, and then she sat back, taking a deep breath to control the thumping of her heart. "When did Ataru learn of these people?"
"It was one of the first things Lum-san confessed to Onii-san just after he met Benten-san at the Setsubun celebrations the Urusians and the Fukunokami have to celebrate the years of peace they've enjoyed over the last century as well as the anniversary both unions joined the Galactic Federation." Hiromi then closed her eyes. "I hope you can understand how much those people scare Lum-san, Shinobu-san. And Onê-san, too."
A nod. "I can understand that. Five million people killed by a bio-warfare bomb just to strike back at an assassination attempt on Lum and her family because this dictator hated the fact that they sheltered a dissident from his world?" Shinobu then found herself smiling. "Did they get the dictator at least?"
A shake of the head. "Iie. The Mikado — that's his battle-name; no one knows his real name — is still in power, but now in the losing end of a civil war that should be wrapped up in a year or so." Hiromi smirked. "According to intelligence from Noukiios, this fellow was thinking of trying to strike out at Lum-san and Onê-san as a way of making that dissident — his name's Nassur, by the way — do his bidding. Once news got to Suchkyuk, the Empress sent Kyech-san to Vos to put all of the Mikado's special troops to the sword. And deliver a message: send anyone to Earth to touch Lum-san or any of her friends and the Mikado himself will be dragged to Suchkyuk and put on trial for crimes against the civilised species of the galaxy and crimes against galactic peace." A chuckle. "Not a peep from Vos ever since."
Shinobu shuddered. "That's sad."
"As Onê-san is now very fond of saying: 'Welcome to the real galaxy.'"
The other woman nodded as she sipped her tea. "Yeah." She then paused as she considered what had happened over the last few weeks, and then she took a deep breath. "Hiromi-san, does Tariko actually think…?" She sniffed back tears that had appeared in her eyes. "That I'm actually the same as Mendô-san and the Stormtroopers?"
Hiromi looked at her, and then she sighed. "I'm really sorry to tell you this, then," she said as she stared apologetically at Shinobu. "Remember when you first visited Inaba-san's dimension? How he allowed you to create a future you wanted?" On seeing Shinobu nod, her host crossed her arms. "Shortly after you came back, when Onê-san and Lum-san were spending time alone on her ship, one of Inaba-san's co-workers visited them to tell them about what you had wished for when Inaba-san gave you the chance."
Shinobu felt her jaw drop in shock. "But they destroyed…!" she began before a shudder raced through her as tears flowed down her cheeks. "Oh, God!"
A nod. "Hai. When she heard that, Onê-san — and I hope you can understand how she felt at the time with all the pressures she had to endure keeping up the 'mask' as Ataru Moroboshi to everyone else in Tomobiki, while at the same time trying to keep Lum-san happy as Tariko Moroboshi — came to one ugly realisation." Hiromi felt her own eyes mist as she shrugged. "She couldn't trust you anymore, Shinobu-san."
Silence.
Shinobu blinked. "I guess I goofed up really bad, didn't I?"
A sigh. "Shinobu-san, please. It's not your fault."
A shake of the head. "No, Hiromi. I have to take responsibility for my actions. Not to mention face up to my feelings for him." She paused before she breathed out. "I still love him, you know. Even now, after all the things he's done to me, all the things he's done to everyone else…" A shrug. "I still love him. Crazy as it sounds, even with my attempt at forming a relationship with Mendô-san, and then later on with Inaba-kun, I…" A sniff. "I love him, Hiromi. And now…" Another shrug. "Now that I know WHY he did what he did…"
"You don't know the whole story," Hiromi warned.
Shinobu paused, and then she stared at her host for a moment before she breathed out. "Part of it, you can't explain to me," she affirmed. "Why is that?"
A sigh. "Because it involves someone else, Shinobu." Hiromi closed her eyes. "Now, you might think that Onê-san has no right to keep those secrets anymore from anyone in Tomobiki, especially girls like yourself. In a way, you'd be right. But this other person is someone who…" A shake of the head. "Well, to put it kindly, doesn't really care at all about social conventions of any sort. In essence, she doesn't care at all about human beings whatsoever." She closed her eyes again. "And right now, I am seriously skirting close to breaking that promise. I'm really sorry about this, Shinobu. Please try to understand."
Shinobu grinned as she reached over to grasp Hiromi's hand. "It's alright, Hiromi. It's okay," she assured her. "I can understand that."
A smile. "Arigatô." She winked. "Shinobu."
Both girls gazed on each other, and then they giggled, though their hands remained clasped together on the table. After a minute, they fell silent as they gazed on each other. Sensing the burning passion deep within Hiromi's brown eyes as she focused her attention on her guest, Shinobu felt her cheeks heat, though she didn't get the urge to pull her hand back. Finally, she sighed. "Are you a lesbian, too?"
Hiromi hummed as she pulled her hand back. "Well, that's a hard question to answer." A sigh. "You must understand, Shinobu, when I first awoke in Onê-san's body, all I could feel was her passions. Which — as I'm sure you'll remember from the time Kurama-sama used an anima gun on her — made Onê-san a lesbian while a girl and Onii-san heterosexual when a boy. So it reflects on me, too." She then leaned her head into the palms of her hands as she gazed on Shinobu. "Can I admit one thing?"
"What's that?"
"Remember when the boys did their vote on the prettiest girls in the glass just after Mendô-san joined you all?"
Shinobu nodded. "Hai."
Hiromi winked. "You should've been voted number one."
The other woman's cheeks flamed on that comment, and then she burst out laughing as she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. Soon, both of them were rolling on the floor in laughter as they gripped their stomachs. Finally, they recovered, and then Shinobu smile as she picked up her tea cup and moved to sit beside Hiromi. They gazed on each other for a moment, and then Shinobu gently took her host's hand in her own. "Tell me who you really are," she then asked before her eyes flicked to the white magatama on Hiromi's left ear. "I've heard the rumours about what tôshi actually are, but it seems so confusing to me. Fighting because you're touched by spirits from eighteen centuries ago…" She shook her head. "Who are you, Hiromi?"
Hiromi smiled as she dragged the Book of Lum over to open it to a blank page. Taking a pen from her shirt pocket, she drew out the characters 劉宏 and 孝靈 on the sheet. Shinobu gazed at them, and then she pointed to the 宏 kanji. "That's part of your given name, the 'hiro' part of it. The 'mi' is the kanji for 'beautiful.'" A grin then crossed her face. "'Great beauty.' It actually fits you, Hiromi."
A blush. "Arigatô."
Shinobu then indicated the 劉 character. "And this is 'koro.' Your actual family name, I take it." She waved to the other two characters written there. "I don't understand how that would be read, though."
"All tôshi always read their battle names using the on'yomi reading of the characters." A sigh. "In my case, my combined given and family name would be read as 'Ryûkô.' That would be seen as my 'family name' in public, especially when dealing with other tôshi. My 'given name' is the on'yomi reading of the name given to me after I died the first time, 'Kyôrei.'" Another sigh. "Shinobu, I was first born in the second year of Yôngshòu. Here in Japan, it was the twenty-sixth year of the reign of the Seimu Emperor. In the West, it was the year 156 AD." Hiromi knew Shinobu was a practicing Roman Catholic, so she used the short term for "Anno Domini" in lieu of "Common Era" in respect to her beliefs. "I was, at birth, the heir of a marquis who was also the great-great-grandson of the Emperor Zhäng of Han. And when I was twelve, when the Emperor Huán passed away, his wife, who was then made regent of the Empire, made me Emperor." A pause. "History knows me as the Emperor Líng."
Shinobu stared at her for a moment, and then she whistled. "But how did your soul survive when you died later?" she asked, and then her eyes fixed on the magatama on Hiromi's earlobe. "Oh, my God…!" she breathed out, her face paling.
A nod. "Hai. That is the same for all tôshi. Mimôko-san, for example, bears the magatama with the soul of Méng Lyû of Eastern Wú, hence her battle name 'Shimei Ryomô.' Ranma-san's lover Tsueko-san has the soul of Cè Sün, older brother of the first emperor of Wú, hence her battle name 'Hakufu Sonsaku.' It's the same with all the others, of course." Hiromi closed her eyes. "My soul was saved by the people history nickname the 'Ten Attendants.' My foster-father, Ràng Zhäng, and nine others who were my senior officials at the court in Luòyáng." She then breathed out. "And somehow, the knowledge used to save my soul in the magatama on my ear managed to get out and was spread all over China, thus saving the souls of thousands of people across all of the Three Kingdoms, not to mention all the other groups that were running rampant across the country during that period." Her eyes closed again as her body started to quake. "And ever since, those poor souls have been reborn and died again and again and again. Forced to relive lives that were never theirs. Be warped in ways I can't begin to imagine…" She breathed out as tears flowed down her cheeks as she hissed, "Unless something's done, it'll gobble up a whole new generation of people. Nice people like Mimôko-san, Tsueko-san, Shikuko-san…gods, so many…!"
Her voice failed her at that moment as she began to weep. Shinobu immediately moved to embrace her as Hiromi grabbed onto the former's arm as she moaned out her helpless frustration and her pain at knowing how many had suffered in her wake…
A few blocks away…
"My Emperor…"
Shuddering as she felt that wave of sorrow radiate through her from the direction of the Moroboshi home, Teikô tried not to drop to her knees as her brown eyes filled with tears. The door to her flatmate's bedroom then crashed open, revealing a white-faced Kenseki. As the two tôshi stared at each other, both then nodded in understanding.
"We must go to him, Kônami," Kenseki declared.
A nod. "Hai, Sekimi. We must."
With that, both immediately rose and moved to get their coats…
"Hiromi…?"
A sniff, and then Hiromi nodded as Shinobu gave her a handkerchief so she could wipe her eyes. "Arigatô, Shinobu," she whispered as the other woman drew her into her arms. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to drop that on your head."
"I've had a lot of things dropped on my head this afternoon, Hiromi. I think I'm doing pretty okay right now," Shinobu stated as she gazed into her friend's eyes.
Hiromi laughed, and then she wiped her face before blinking on seeing a cup of mugi-cha sprinkled with red powder on the surface. Blinking, she then gazed up as Ataru smiled at her. "Here you go, Onê-san. This will calm you down."
She smiled as she took the cup. "Arigatô."
"It's no problem. Shinobu-chan, would you like some more tea?"
Shinobu perked, and then she smiled. "Hai!"
"Just a moment, please."
He headed back into the kitchen. Shinobu watched him go, and then she shook her head. "That is so strange." As Hiromi stared at her, the other woman shrugged. "To believe that underneath all that, he's just an android."
"Oh, he's more than just an android," Hiromi admitted. "They all are like that. I'm rather glad that Lum-san turned to Chara-san to create them."
"But why twelve of them?"
Hiromi chuckled. "Cheaper to buy in bulk."
Shinobu jolted, and then she broke out laughing. By then, Ataru had returned with a fresh cup of the green tea from Kyûshû that Shinobu — whose family actually came from that part of Japan — had always loved. And sure enough, a fresh orange slice had been included. Nodding her thanks, she then gazed on what the android had served Hiromi, and then she sighed. "Can I ask you something, Ataru?"
He stopped. "What is it, Shinobu-chan?"
"What is that in your sister's tea?"
A chuckle. "Red chilli pepper powder." He then winked. "Rule number one when you deal with Noukiites, Shinobu-chan: their love of spicy food is just as great as an Urusian's. When Onê-chan and Lum were on Okusei, Kyech got them hooked on the local tea, which is ALWAYS served with ground red pepper powder to spice it up."
Shinobu perked. "Who's Kyech?"
"K'ekhech-dono."
Her eyes then widened. "Oh, her. What is that name to her anyway?"
"Her childhood name," he answered as he sat down across from them. "What her adopted parents called her when she first woke up in this life."
Shinobu's eyes widened. "You mean Kyech-san is like Hiromi?!"
"Exactly like me," Hiromi affirmed as she placed her cup on the table. "Shinobu, most tôshi — including the girls who helped me come back to life with Onê-san's help — have been through at least fifteen reincarnations between the Three Kingdoms era and today." A sigh. "The Flower Youth of Noukiios — all those alive today — have only endured one reincarnation between their first lives three thousand years ago at the start of the Tri-Kingdoms period there and today." A smile. "And it was because of one particular circumstance of their rebirth that Onê-chan, Ranma-san and I hope that we can save all of those like Mimôko-san and Tsueko-san from being reincarnated in the future and going through all this again."
Shinobu blinked. "How, Hiromi?!"
A knowing smile. "Shinobu, the Niphentaxians have a dirty little secret they've done everything in their power to keep from all outside view. And if they don't see reason when we cut them off from all of you on Earth and elsewhere, we're going to paint that secret BROADSIDE across the galaxy!"
The other woman took that in, and then she giggled as she winked knowingly at her new friend. "I suppose you can't tell me this right now, ne?"
"Not yet, but you WILL learn this, Shinobu! Trust me on this one!"
Both women laughed, and then they tensed on hearing a doorbell ring. "I'll get it," Ataru said as he moved to stand.
"Go to the kitchen," Hiromi ordered him. "'You're' already out on the streets on a date with Mimôko-san, remember?"
The android caught himself, and then he blushed. "Sorry, Onê-san."
"It's alright," Hiromi said as she rose.
As Ataru quickly ran into the kitchen to hide himself and Shinobu turned back to enjoy her tea, Hiromi made her way to the door and opened it — to get two typhoons of very vibrant university students to nearly bowl her over with hugs. "HEY!" Hiromi screamed out before she gasped on recognising who was hugging her.
"My Emperor! Are you alright?!" Kenseki pleaded before she jolted. "Eh?!"
Silence fell as Kenseki and Teikô pulled back from Hiromi, their eyes locked on her chest, which was currently covered by a button shirt with an underlying tank-top T-shirt over a pair of stylish jeans. Both visitors blinked several times as they took that in, and then their hands reached over to gently squeeze their reborn emperor's quite ample breasts under that shirt. Hiromi shuddered as she resisted the urge to yank out a mallet from hyperspace to smash them down for being so brazen with her person unbidden, and then she glared at them. "Ladies, why are you squeezing my breasts like that?" she frostily asked.
Both tôshi jolted, and then their eyes rolled into their heads as they dropped to the genkan floor in a dead faint. As Ataru and Shinobu peeked around the corners to see what was actually going on, Hiromi sighed as she rubbed the back of her head.
"They took that pretty well, ne?" she mused as we…
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