"So is it true?"
Chōjō perked on hearing that question, and then she smiled as she gazed upon the images before her. All of the Ten Attendants had laid out special magical monitors at each other's house as a way of watching each other's backs in case an outside threat moved in on one of their number and the one being threatened didn't detect the attack in time. It also allowed news to travel between each of their homes swiftly. "Hai, Chūko, it's true," she said as she gazed on the mystical image of Chōchū, who was currently at her private apartment in Chiba City. "Reitei-sama has finally returned."
"Kaku sure doubted it," Kōran noted from her home in Yokohama.
"Of course she doubts it. She'll doubt anything that doesn't go along with the flow of 'destiny' that is meant for us all," Sōsetsu said from her apartment in Kimitsu, close to the Nan'yō Academy. "Atop that, she doesn't like the idea of her current lover earning such disrespect from the ranks. Not that he ever DID deserve respect."
The other Attendants all nodded in agreement, several of them laughing. "So what do we do, Yuzumi?" Fūsho asked. Among the Attendants, she monitored events concerning the tōshi of Yoshū. "Hiromi-sama does have our best intentions in mind if what she did for Kyoko-san was any sort of indication. Where is our place in all this?"
"Our place is always where it must be, Satoiko," Teikō stated. "At the Court."
Many of the other Attendants nodded at that. Like many other tōshi, the various reincarnations of Zhāng Ràng and his cohorts over the years had evolved in quite interesting ways than how their original lives had been lived out before the death of the Xiàolíng Emperor and the downfall of the Hàn dynasty in earnest. In this generation, for instance, when it was expected that Chōjō and her counterparts (when they were attending Rakuyō) would all be killed before they graduated, such never happened. In this life, the Attendants had decided to play a conservative game when it came to dealing with potential rivals. They rallied all the Seven Schools against Chōkaku's rebellion against the tōshi way, keeping the ranks unified as friendships and even families were ripped apart when over a thousand of their number took up the golden rebel banner of the Kōshi Kasshi. That had earned the Attendants a level of respect they had never enjoyed in previous incarnations, thus guaranteeing they would not only graduate from Rakuyō and head on to university, but would assume a sort of "elder statesmen" role among the younger generation of tōshi.
"As it always will be, Kōnami. That you for reminding us of that," Chōjō stated.
"So what do we do? How do we approach Hiromi-sama?" Dankei asked.
A sigh. "You've heard the recent announcements from various national governments concerning the ships Hiromi-sama brought with her to Earth last week?"
Nods all around. "The Ministry of Defence has officially commissioned Yamato as a unit of the Maritime Self-Defence Forces," Kakushō stated. "She's being crewed mostly from veterans of the Mirai, that destroyer that went through that time-and-dimensional warp to a parallel world back in the 1940s during the Greater East Asia War a year ago. Haida's captain is, in fact, the son of two of the War Hawks and the godson of Major Raeburn herself. Arizona's captain is a famous fighter pilot in the American Navy and supposedly is a close friend to one of the senior officers of that mysterious Air Force unit based in Colorado that people in our circles have spoken of from time to time." By that, Kakushō meant the hazy grey world between the normal and the paranormal. "And all the ship crews are being heavily scanned by telepaths from the Canadian Specialised Warfare Regiment to ensure malcontents don't take advantage of Hiromi-sama's gift. It's already proving to be of benefit when dealing with the more conservative Islamic societies such as Saudi Arabia and Iran."
"But where does Hiromi-sama fit into that?!" Kenseki demanded. "She's the one who BROUGHT all those ships to Earth! They can't just throw her aside and…!"
"Calm yourself, Sekimi."
The beautiful brown-eyed girl with the rich chocolate hair in high side ponytails jolted on hearing Chōjō's words, and then she bowed her eyes. "Forgive me."
"Forgiven."
"Still, Sekimi has a point," Kakin advised. "They can't just cast Hiromi-sama aside."
"And they won't, Atsuko."
Eyes locked on Chōjō. "What's your proof?" Sōsetsu demanded.
"It's simple gratitude, Setsumi," the leader of the Attendants stated. "Hiromi-sama, somehow, some way, brought FIFTY starships — larger than any alien craft that has EVER visited our world since the start of the Tag Race last year — to defend our world against alien attack. We all sensed how powerful those ships were when Yamato, Arizona and Haida went to Tomobiki to remove that cobalt bomb these Niphentaxians left behind, didn't we?" As the other Attendants nodded, the blonde university senior smirked. "Then it's quite simple to conclude. The militaries of Earth are — save for a few exceptions — totally clueless concerning how to operate these ships. Hiromi-sama, in her quest to protect all of Earth from alien invasion, is forcing a literal QUANTUM LEAP in technology on the whole planet. The leaders of the world won't be foolish in THAT respect. They'll have to keep close ties to her to understand how these ships should be operated."
The other girls all blinked as they took in that message, and then Kōran smirked. "She literally has the world within her grasp."
"Hai, Miroku, she does," Chōjō said, nodding. "But no emperor can possibly rule something so vast without people to help her."
"And much more level-headed people than Sōsō," Dankei snarled.
Chōjō's blue-grey eyes narrowed. "Exactly," she icily breathed out before she sighed. "Come here within an hour," she then ordered. "We'll all go to Tomobiki and present ourselves as a group to Hiromi-sama. Prepare yourselves, girls."
Nods all around. "What about them?" Chōchū asked.
A smirk. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, Chūko."
The others nodded…
"Release me…!"
Hearing that hissing voice as she stepped into the basement storage room of her private home, Chōjō could only grin as she focused her attention on the younger woman now strapped down to the table, embossed with many ofuda and other charms to keep the captive's enormous power at bay, in the middle of the room. "Tell me something, Mioko-chan," she gently teased as she walked over to gaze closely upon that pretty face, though it was now twisted into an angry sneer. "You can't control yourself…"
"MY HUSBAND LIVES!" the blue-haired, brown-eyed, bespectacled high school sophomore roared as her whole body began to glow with energy. "I KNEW ATARU-KUN WAS HIM ALL ALONG! HOW DARE YOU KEEP ME AWAY FROM THE MAN I LOVE?!"
"Pity your 'man' is now a woman!"
The raging tōshi chained down on the table jolted on hearing Chōjō's words, and then she stared in wide-eyed shock as the ki burning around her dissipated. "Wh-what…?" she eeped in a normal voice as the colour drained from her face.
A smirk. "I was quick to sense the truth behind Moroboshi Ataru when we first met just after that whole thing with the world's oil and that space taxi," the leader of the Ten Attendants said as she reached over to gently caress the other woman's face. "Three souls in one body. In one point of view, four souls; the original soul had been nearly split asunder when the spirit of the Black Death was forced into his mind when he was six and most of the last links binding the two parts of the host body's soul were finally torn when Reitei-sama's spirit merged with that body shortly afterward." She then gestured with her free hand to create a magical hologram. "And here, Mioko-chan, is what your reborn husband now looks like. Meet Moroboshi Hiromi."
The younger girl turned, and then her eyes widened on seeing the image of the tomboyish girl with the glittering silver magatama hanging off her earlobe, portrayed in her normal Tomobiki High School blue seifuku. "My husband…"
Chōjō then smirked. "Don't worry, Mioko. You'll be seeing Hiromi-sama soon enough. We'll be presenting ourselves as a group to her in a very short while. You'll be allowed to come with us. But don't do anything stupid. I can now sense that the part of Ataru-kun's mind still within his own body has mated with the spirit of a dragon. I don't think it'll go too well if he was made to remember how close you came to RAPING him a year ago!" She pulled back as she drew a new ofuda from her pants pocket to slap down on the younger girl's head. "Now behave! I'm going to check on your sister!"
The younger tōshi gasped as the magic in the ofuda overwhelmed her brain, and then she passed out, her head sinking into the pillow which was the only nod to comfort Chōjō had allowed the woman who was known among her peers as "Kataikō" (as any future incarnation of the Xiàolíng Emperor had not appeared among the ranks of tōshi over the last eighteen centuries, the battle name given to the resurrected Empress Hé marked her as a dowager empress) and was born as Izuku Mioko seventeen years before. Noting that she was now under control, Chōjō then nodded before she turned to face the door leading to an old cellar that had been used as a food storage place back in the days before refrigeration and food preservatives were commonplace in Japan. With a wave of her hand, she dispersed the many-layered wards that kept the current occupant of the room inside locked away from the outside world. "Konnichi wa, Susuko."
A grunt escaped the chained woman — she was Chōjō's age — there. Pain-filled brown eyes turned to gaze on the leader of the Ten Attendants, and then a wry smile crossed her face. "Heard her yelling from in here," Kashin Suikō groaned out. Like her younger sister, the woman born as Izuku Susuko also had many ofuda and other magical guards plastered over her nude body, which didn't hide the strange black dragon-like tattoos etched into the skin of her arms, legs, buttocks and back. "What's got her so upset now, Yuzumi?" she asked as she stared weakly at her former classmate.
A smile. "Reitei-sama is fully restored to life."
Silence.
"What…?!" Suikō gasped.
"It's true," Chōjō said. "In essence, Mioko-chan was ALMOST right when it came to Moroboshi Ataru. He DID possess our rightful emperor's spirit within him. But he had his own spirit as well as the spirit of the Black Death within him. Mioko-chan's encounter with him a year ago wasn't the right time to reunite your sister with Reitei-sama. But now that the Emperor has her own body to use…"
Suikō jolted. "'Her?!'"
"Hai, her," Chōjō confirmed. "The others will be here in a short while so we can all go to Tomobiki together to present ourselves to Hiromi-sama; that is Reitei-sama's chosen name in this life. So you better cooperate and make sure your sister behaves herself. I can sense that Ataru-kun has also been touched by the power of an alien dragon, but he has much better control over it than you do the power you possess." Her eyes then narrowed as she moved to start undoing all the restraints. "Don't push your luck, Susuko. I won't hesitate to kill you if you become a threat to anyone, ESPECIALLY Hiromi-sama." A smirk then crossed her face. "In our first lives, she was your brother-in-law. She was my adopted SON in that life! I won't see her hurt!"
A smirk. "All to keep the power you had, you mean."
"And why not?" Chōjō asked. "You need to catch up on some things, Susuko. Wait until you see the full extent of Hiromi-sama's power. Then you'll understand why she needs all the tōshi under her control. Even those such as you and I."
Suikō blinked, and then she sighed. It sometimes — when her mind wasn't being flooded with images of alien vistas, it drunk on a power she didn't BEGIN to understand — struck her as ironic how much perceptions of events eighteen centuries ago had changed. Back then, she — as Hé Jìn, the Dà Jiāngjūn of the Imperial Army that had been raised to put down the Yellow Turbans — had fought hard to destroy the influence of the Ten Attendants and burn away the rot that had dragged the Hàn Dynasty down for so long; he had, in fact, been killed at the order of Zhāng Ràng because he had gained so much support among the nobles of the realm in his drive for reform. But as the incarnations passed, the personal viewpoints of all the parties evolved softened and were romanticised to the point where Izuku Susuko would gladly trust Haru Yuzumi with the task of keeping both her and her sister restrained when the power of the alien dragon that had come to them when they were but children threatened to go totally out of control, making the Izuku sisters a deadly threat to friend and foe alike.
"Yuzumi…"
A smile crossed Chōjō's face. "Patience, Susuko. The time will come."
The brown-haired tōshi nodded…
Tomobiki High School, sometime later…
"So you believe that by doing this, whatever influence Chūei-dono still possesses among the tōshi would be eliminated, thus allowing whatever I have planned concerning everyone to progress ahead without any major interference, correct?"
"Hai, Hiromi-sama," Chinkyū Kōdai said with a nod as she knelt before Hiromi. The two, along with a good portion of Class 2-4 as well as Kyech, were in the school library, having taken over one of the desks at the corner of the room so they could converse in peace. "Regardless of what the actual rules say concerning the Imperial Seal and whoever wins the right to possess it at the end of the Big Fighters Tournament held every year, it's clearly obvious that the moral authority Tōtaku had over the other tōshi had vanished long before you came on the scene. That, as you know, is what provoked the original coalition against Dǒng Zhuó in the first place. That sort of coalition had actually been formed sometime ago among the leaders and prominent warriors of the other schools." She indicated the reborn emperor. "But now, THIS time, you HAVE come back to us. Many of us — both within Rakuyō and elsewhere — know you are trying to save us from our fates. And that has made many of us gladly accept the idea Torusuke-sama put forth about holding a separate Big Fighters' Tournament under your patronage here at Tomobiki High School. With the doors opened wide for all to participate." A sigh. "Including the Kōshi Kasshi."
"So what will giving this Seal to Hiromi ultimately do?" Ran asked; Class 2-7 had their study hall during this period and she had come here at the mental summons of both Ataru and Lum when they learned of Hiromi's visitor. Ranma and Akane were also present, as were Bachō Mōki and Koshaji Enjō. "You said that the Seal is given to the final winner of the Tournament. Hiromi hasn't participated in any Tournament. And while Darling did have Hiromi's soul within him last year, he hadn't come close to fully waking up to what was going on in his own mind. Isn't giving the Seal to Hiromi cheating?"
"Some could — and most likely WILL — perceive it that way. But there's the spiritual factory away from the bounds of the Tournament to consider. In essence, it will mark Hiromi-sama as she was in her first life, Ran-san. The one true Emperor that we see ourselves (even now) bound to, even if she doesn't have a physical empire of her own." Kōdai took a deep breath. "I realise this won't make sense to you people, but for all of us, we find it very hard to see ourselves as loyal to those things people like yourselves are loyal to. That's how much the influence of the magatama weighs down on our lives. That's where we get ideas like 'conquering' all of Kantō and all that." As many of her hosts held back smirks on hearing that, the warrior from Rakuyō shrugged. "Like many, I often find it hard to balance my life as Noberu Miyako with my life as Chinkyū Kōdai. Try as we might, none of us have been able to find a way over the incarnations and the generations to break us free of that." Her eyes then fixed on Hiromi. "Until you came back, Hiromi-sama. This is a sign that we can be truly free of our fates. Giving you the Seal will mark that and help you in your quest."
Hiromi stared at her as she considered that, and then she took a deep breath. "Do you believe, Kōdai-dono, that my possessing the Seal will win support among our peers?"
A nod. "Hai, Kyōrei-sama. It will."
"Very well," Hiromi then breathed out. "You may inform Joei-dono that I agree to your plan and she may proceed as she sees fit. But make sure this doesn't cause any problems with the other factions at your school. I will not see a civil war break out inside Rakuyō just because there are those who may disapprove."
A deep bow. "Hai, Kyōrei-sama. If you'll excuse me for a moment."
Hiromi nodded her permission. As Kōdai headed to a corner of the room to get out her cell phone and text a message to Joei, the others all stared at the reborn emperor. "Are you okay, Hiromi-chan?" Shinobu asked as she squeezed the other woman's shoulder.
A sigh. "Just a weariness I feel, Shinobu-san. I thought what I swore all those months ago would be simple to execute." A shake of the head. "How foolish I was."
Ranma smirked. "There're always loons out there ready to toss a wrench into every good idea, Hiromi. You should be used to it by now."
"Hai, you are correct, Ranma-san…what the…?"
Hiromi tensed on sensing something wash through her from the direction of the main school gate. As she stood up and looked around, other people began to tense, too. Especially Kyech. "That's not possible," she breathed out.
Eyes locked on the Dragonspeaker. "What's wrong?!" Lum asked.
The crimson-haired free warrior blinked, and then she summoned her battleaxe polearm from hyperspace before she marched smartly to the door, causing several students to duck on seeing the intensive look on the Noukiite's face. As she left, Hiromi took a deep breath, and then she moved to follow. Others soon got to their feet and trooped out of the room. Noting that, Kōdai blinked in confusion, and then she finished her text message before racing off after them, catching up to the end of the procession as they made their way to the main floor and out onto the front lawn.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Hearing that icy demand from Kyech, Kōdai blinked, and then moved herself to a position to the side of the group before she gasped on recognising the blonde twenty-something at the head of the group. "Chōjō-sama!" she cried out in disbelief before her eyes then locked on the two other women with the Ten Attendants. "Kashin-sama?! Kataikō-sama?!"
Gasps filled the crowd. "Holy shit! You mean they're…?!" Ryûnosuke demanded.
"Hiromi-chan's wife, her old brother-in-law and her attendants!" Shinobu exclaimed.
Silence fell as Hiromi gazed on Chōjō and the others, all of whom had happy smiles on their faces. Immediately, the Attendants all clasped their hands before their faces, and then they bowed their heads in reverence. At the same time, Kashin Suikō went to her knees and saluted her reborn emperor with right fist to left hand. Seeing that, Hiromi then nodded in understanding. "It is good to be with you all again."
"HUSBAND!"
A surprised cry of shock escaped Ataru as a blue-haired typhoon nearly bowled him over, and then he blinked in confusion as he felt Kataikō's lips press hard against his own. As people watched this, Lum and Ran then came up to gaze intently at the reborn empress before they turned to Ataru. "Um, Darling, who is this woman?" Ran asked.
Ataru gasped as he pulled his face clear of Kataikō's lips before he stared apologetically at his lovers. "To be honest…HEY! CUT THAT OUT!…I've never met this girl in my life!" A yelp then escaped him as he felt hands that were NOT those of his current set of lovers reaching into his pants. "HEY!"
A finger then tapped Kataikō on her shoulder. She paused, and she turned to look into Kyech's face. "That is not your husband, Mioko. Hiromi is right there," the free warrior then said as she indicated the reborn emperor nearby.
Kataikō blinked, and then looked over at Hiromi, quickly seeing the silver magatama on her left ear. "Husband…?" she asked before blinking, and then she turned back to gaze into Ataru's face. "Husband…?" she asked again before blinking once more, and then she moaned. "WHO IS MY HUSBAND?!"
As everyone fell flat on their faces at that panicked cry, we now…
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:04)
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.