"Lieutenant-Commander…" — the first part of the woman's rank title, of course, was pronounced in the British style, LEF-ten-ant, even if the person being addressed was a native of Ontario — "…Kennison, I presume."
The brown-haired, blue-eyed woman in her early twenties, dressed quite fashionably, perked on hearing that voice, which had spoken to her in perfect English, and then she looked over to gaze on the smiling Korean woman her age standing nearby, dressed also fashionably, as if she was a tourist enjoying a pleasant vacation. "«Ne, I am she,»" she responded in the other woman's native tongue, and then she gave the Korean a knowing look. "«You're Ch'oi Sŭnghŭi-soryŏng, officer commanding the 707th Special Missions Battalion's Paranormal Operations Company, aren't you?»"
"«The observation unit in Tōkyō is quite — pardon the pun — observant, Kennison-soryŏng,»" Sŭnghŭi mused as she sat down across from the Canadian navy officer. Both were currently in the town park some blocks away from Tomobiki High School. "«So what brings the officer commanding the 33rd Specialised Warfare Operations Squadron all the way to this place?»" she then asked.
"«What happened last week, of course,»" Maria Christina Kennison replied. "«Not to mention what's currently in orbit over Earth as we speak. One of those ships was named after a famous independence fighter of your land. The one directly in orbit over the estuary of the Han-gang, I mean. A beautiful choice of name, I must confess.»"
Sŭnghŭi giggled. "Those in our world both north and south of the DMZ can't stop talking about it," she then said in her perfect English, which immediately told Maria that the Korean army officer was as powerful of a telepath as she; only people like them could teach themselves how to speak other languages with such perfect nuances in style, accent and sound. "Even though the woman who is the 'director' of this 'volunteer Earth defence force' sees herself as Japanese now and bears the spirit of an ancient Chinese emperor within her, that still hasn't stopped both the President and the Chairman from both contemplating giving Miss Moroboshi the highest awards of both Republics for her willing to count us in when she brought her remarkable fleet to our corner of the cosmos." She then smirked. "What of the Great White North, Commander?" she then asked, which made Maria's eyes widen. "Your navy's celebrating its centennial, you got Elliot's Eye back on your officer rank stripes again and now there's a starship named after your country's greatest fighting warship. I think that when the news goes totally public in a short while, there'll be celebrations."
"I have friends who are commanders of our intelligence units in-country," Maria said as she took up a bottle of orange juice and sipped from it. "They're all navy people just like psis and magicals are in the Regiment." As the Korean officer giggled, the Canadian took a deep breath. "I think all the Legion halls who have a majority of Navy veterans are getting specially-made models of the new Haida sent to them by the people at Materials Support Squadron." As Sŭnghŭi laughed, Maria sighed before she stared intently at her. «Are you here on a pure military mission?»
The Korean didn't react at the telepathic question from the Canadian. «Yes, I am,» she responded the same way. «With the blessings of both governments, of course. Struck us all as odd that the Regiment is teaming up with 'Christians in Action' on your own mission. Isn't that Stargate Command's territory?»
«The NID, of course,» Maria responded. «OBUNIT Washington has been passing on all its observations about the NID, their rogue elements and the Trust to both the Company and the Bureau for them to act on. Sadly, there's not enough 'specialised' forces in the States to deal with this sort of threat, so everyone's sitting on it.» She then shrugged. «Who knows. When everything gets formalized, maybe we can get Hiromi and her friends to deal with those people.»
A nod. «Good point. So what's your read on that girl?»
A sigh. "She just got some bad news about her brother," Maria whispered.
Sŭnghŭi blinked…
Tomobiki High School…
"Damn!" Ryūnosuke breathed out.
"So what's the worst thing that can happen?" Kumiko asked.
Hiromi sighed. All of the girls of Class 2-4 had gathered together in the school clock tower at morning recess to hear the latest news about their tōshi classmate, her brother and her plans to get transform the VEDF into an official fighting force for all of Earth. "The worst thing that can happen is that Onii-san chooses to die, Kumiko-san," she said before sipping coffee from a paper cup. "Given how badly damaged his psyche was in the wake of Onē-sama's insertion into his mind — added onto what my presence in his mind also helped to do — it's a sheer miracle that his spirit didn't automatically take flight to face King Muchach at the Pool of Reincarnation when I was fully separated from him." Another sip of coffee, and then she gazed on her classmates, all of whom now looked horrified. "Still, there is one good thing. I do not believe that either Onē-sama or Kyech-san will allow it to go that far."
"I hope not," Shinobu breathed out as she hugged herself, her eyes awash in tears.
The others grimly nodded. It had been quite a hectic time after Lum had been driven out of their lives by Nengmek'i and his fellow Great Dragons. Hearing their classmate being called "Ye of Three Souls" by the crimson dragon lord had sounded off LOUD bells in everyone's minds. The explanation for such a thing had come that very night…
The Moroboshi home, the evening after Lum's departure…
"I wish I never had you!"
Hearing Moroboshi Kinshō's shrill cry, Shinobu winced as she gave the older woman a wary look. What on Earth was her big problem? The mushrooms had been cleaned up and one of the pretty ice dragons had even gone so far as to repair all of the damage their spreading out over Tomobiki and the nearby suburbs had left behind.
Even more so, Lum…
Lum…
Shinobu blinked before she turned to gaze on her former boyfriend's back. He was currently seated in the living room beside the bookshelf there, one of three picture albums in his lap as he flipped one page after another, tearing off the plastic to get at pictures there and pulling them out to drop them in a pile on the floor beside him. Also in the room was Ataru's father Muchi, who was currently engrossed with the evening edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun and no doubt wanting to do anything to ignore yet ANOTHER spat between his wife and his only child over something or other. Nothing that, Shinobu took a deep breath before she gazed once more on Ataru. While she hadn't said anything about what Ataru was doing, one glance towards the young woman — dressed in a black gi — standing beside the living room table had made her stay silent. Even if she had no idea who this woman was, there was something dangerous radiating from every point on her skin. The LOOK alone on her face…
"Kinshō, either be silent or be dead."
Hearing that from the strange woman, Ataru's mother nearly choked on her breath as she turned her head to gaze on the stranger, though nothing else on her body moved. As Shinobu — who had followed Ataru back to his house after he had personally thanked the visiting dragons for what they had done — gazed once more on the strange woman, Ataru glanced over his shoulder. "Onē-san, how many times is that?"
"Two thousand, six hundred and thirty-nine."
Shinobu blinked before she looked at the stranger. "Um, what does that mean?"
Twin dark brown eyes fixed on her like twin targeting lasers. "Surely, Shinobu, you can draw the proper conclusions. What did Kinshō say before Ataru asked that?"
Shinobu stared at her, and then she perked before gazing at Ataru's mother. The older woman was shivering — but still not moving! — from her seated position beside the table. She then gazed on Ataru. "You're keeping count of how many times your mother says that to you?" she then demanded.
"Of course," he said, not looking back at her as he finished up with one album and then moved to the next. "It just reinforces the fact that she doesn't love me, has never loved me in the first place and most likely will never love me as a mother should love her child. After hearing it for so long, Shinobu-chan, I simply have to wonder why she and her husband simply didn't buy a dog if they so wanted to yell at something."
A sucked intake of breath from Kinshō, but again no movement from her. A glance to Muchi showed no reaction from him at that taunt from their son. Noting that, Shinobu blinked as a sinking feeling fell on her heart. If Ataru really thought THAT about his own parents, ESPECIALLY now, what did he think about…?
"You will have to make haste, Ataru," the stranger then said.
"I know, I know," he affirmed.
Shinobu blinked. "Haste for what?"
"To ensure the other soul Nengmek'i spoke of earlier today is given a life of her own."
Silence fell as Shinobu gazed on Moroboshi Negako…
"Would that mean that Ataru would become an Avalonian? Like you?"
Hiromi perked on hearing Momoe's voice, and then she sighed. "Most likely."
"Oh, man!" Ryūnosuke breathed out. "Why'd he do that, anyway?!"
"Do what, Ryūnosuke-kun?" Rumiko asked.
"Agree to get somethin' like this Negako chick fired into his head?!"
Hiromi sighed. "Ryūnosuke-san, Onii-san was only SIX when Onē-sama's last host came to him, dying and desperate to do anything to keep her soul alive." A shrug. "What can a six year-old boy think of when he's confronted like that? The way he was told, the man was trying to keep someone alive and needed Onii-san's help. He understood enough at the time to agree to it even if he couldn't begin to comprehend what DID happen."
Many of the girls present nodded in understanding. Learning of the fact that, for well over a decade, Moroboshi Ataru had TWO separate living souls in his subconscious mind, whose presence and overwhelming influence on a mere six year-old boy had eventually caused such damage to his very mind that his future behaviour, in all its weird extremes, became all but inevitable. And because neither Negako — a being born from a THOUSAND years of collected martial arts memories and knowledge that had been sentient for at least TWO HUNDRED of those years! — and Hiromi — the soul of a thirty-three year old man from China who had lived a life of luxury while his empire was falling apart around him — had any real way of either taking FULL control of their host's body so as to find some way to get out that mess…
And all it had taken was a dragon from a planet named Noukiios to intervene.
"When will it happen, Hiromi?"
Hiromi blinked, and then she gazed on Shinobu. "I can't say."
The others nodded…
The town park…
"That is so terrible."
"Indeed," Maria agreed before sipping her orange juice. "But understandable. Did you ever hear of what Ataru did AFTER he came back from the planet Okusei? All the awards he had been given by the United Nations and many of the member nations?"
Sŭnghŭi blinked, and then she nodded. "I do remember that. The President awarded him the T'ong'il Medal of the Order of National Security Merit because he won against Lum in the first Tag Race. Four months ago, Ataru mailed the medal back with a letter explaining that after 'recent revelations' he had just discovered about Lum's people and their allies, he felt he had no right to continue to hold an award when he never really 'saved' the people of Earth even if he won the Tag Race."
Maria nodded. "It was the same with us when he was made a companion in the Order of Canada," she explained. "Same thing with all the other awards he got from that." She then narrowed her eyes as she gazed in the direction of Tomobiki High School. "From what Hiromi has told all her classmates, I can see why he did that."
The Korean nodded. "You're right about that. But what will it…?"
"Wait a minute."
Sŭnghŭi tensed. "What is it?"
Maria then chuckled. "It appears…"
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(Posted Mon, 17 May 2010 05:39)
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