“Thanks for the ride, Nakajima-san.” Teana said as she leaned back in the seat.
Shaking his head, the older man smiled softly. “Teana, please, I’ve told you that you can call me “dad’ if you wanted to.”
“It doesn’t feel right unless I was adopted or married into your family, I’ve told you before.” Teana shook her head and sighed softly, putting another round of talks about Genya trying to get more people into his family out of her mind.
“…You’re thinking about that case, huh?” When Teana nodded, Genya shook his head as he turned a corner. “I’m not sure what to tell you, myself, Teana. I thought that it was just some terrorists causing problems on less populated worlds.”
“That’s what we all thought. Things changed when there were survivors who started reporting that the people involved had weird abilities.”
“High speed regeneration among other things.” Genya knew about the reports. “Teana, I’ll be honest, I know that you’re a top-level Enforcer, but still, be careful out there.”
“Thank you.” Teana smiled softly, glad that he cared about her well-being. Still, she wouldn’t lie, the thought of finding a bunch of freaks with high speed regeneration and having to fight against them wasn’t her idea of a mission. “At least Fate-san will be there with me, I doubt that I’ll have too many problems.”
Genya smiled at her. “It’s nice to have faith in others, but don’t underestimate yourself.”
“Or others.” She added to him.
“Of course.” He smiled as he pulled into his driveway. “Just let me… Well, well…” He had a small smile on his face as he pointed to his front door. Looking, Teana let out a giggle as the two of them saw a short-haired young teenaged boy looking around cautiously, his back to them. “Looks like someone’s trying to get out before his sisters get back.”
Laughing softly, Teana shushed him as she slipped out of the car and quietly snuck up on the boy. When he seemed to relax as he looked down the street, she grabbed him from behind in a hug. “Toooo~uuuuma…” She sing-songed as she lifted him off the ground. “Just where were you off to?”
“Ack! Teana!” Touma Avenir, someone who had been saved by Subaru awhile ago, gasped as his (unofficial) older sister’s best friend hugged him from behind. “Where’d you come from?!”
“Around the corner with your dad.”
“I’m not adopted yet.” He groused as she let him go. He had a vaguely annoyed look on his face as he looked at her, before blinking as Genya walked up behind her. “Ack!”
Smirking at the boy, Genya shook his head. “I know that my girls are a bit hard to handle sometimes, Touma, but really, leaving without saying good-bye to them?”
“If I don’t leave now, I won’t be able to leave for at least a day.”
Genya chuckled softly. “I need to get something inside, excuse me a moment.”
After Genya was gone, Touma huffed at Teana. “Thanks, Teana…” He mock-pouted, slightly upset that she had stopped him from slipping out and avoiding his sisters’ hugs. Though, as he thought about it, Suu-chan and the others weren't his sisters, not yet, and he really did want to take Genya up on his offer of adoption, but he couldn't. Not until he knew who it was that killed off his village, and why they had done it. It just wouldn't leave his mind until then.
"Don't mention it, kiddo." Teana smirked, ruffled his hair and laughed as he complained and tried to smooth it out. "So, where were you heading out to? Trying to avoid your sisters?" She winked at him, knowing how clingy and pushy Subaru and Wendi could be. Nove might have hid it well, but she was almost as bad as those two were.
Teana blinked as Touma seemed to go melancholic on her. "Hey! Don't get all depressed on me." She lightly punched him in the shoulder. She frowned when she got no response from him. "And you wonder why your sisters worry about you so much."
"Ack!" Touma gasped as Teana pulled him into a headlock. "Sorry! Sorry! I was just thinking!"
Smirking as she let go of his headlock, Teana shook her head. "Don't look so down, okay?"
"I was thinking of... Before."
"...Oh." Teana knew what he was talking about, she understood what he was feeling very well, considering that until she met Subaru, she had no real family after her brother had died. "Is that why you turned down Genya's offer to adopt you?"
"Yeah..." Touma nodded with a soft sigh. "What about you? Why'd you turn his offer down?"
"I... I don't know myself. It just doesn't feel right, you know?" Even if the offer made her extremely happy, she just had some reservations about taking him up on it.
Touma grinned at her. "Probably because you're afraid it would mess your relationship with Su-chan up."
"HEY!" Teana's face turned bright red as Touma laughed. Growling, she grabbed him into a headlock and pulled him against her. "Say it!"
"No!"
"Say it!"
"ACK!" Touma's eyes bugged out as she tightened the headlock, he had forgotten that Teana was rather strong, at least for a "normal" human. "Okay, okay! Sorry!"
Smirking, Teana let go of the headlock, but kept him right next to her. "It isn't just us, you know... Einhart's still not sure about her relationship with everyone."
Touma nodded, it was different with the younger girl. It had shocked everyone when Nove practically ordered Einhart to move to a larger house just a couple blocks over. It had a benefit of getting Einhart to live with someone and it put the younger girl close to the Nakajima home. Though, Touma was pretty sure that Einhart wasn't sure how she viewed Nove personally.
"What do you think?" He asked her after awhile, getting a shrug from the orange-haired girl.
"I really wouldn't mind having you, Subaru, Nove, Einhart, Dieci, Wendi, Ginga and Genya as my family, but it just..."
"You live on your own for a while and you get used to it. Suu-chan, Ginga, Wendi, Nove, Dieci and Cinque never had to live on their own..." Touma trailed off, unsure as to how to explain it better.
"Yeah, something like that." Though, Touma was right with his earlier statement, if she did take Genya up on his offer, well, she was a bit worried about how that would affect her relationship with Subaru. "Anyway, we're getting too mopey. Why were you just trying to slip out?”
Touma blushed and scratched his cheek. “Trying to avoid being smothered by my sisters.”
Teana laughed at him. “So, who are you trying to avoid the most?”
"Ginga..." Touma scratched his cheek and blushed softly. "Though Wendi’s pretty bad too."
The two of them shared a laugh. "Ne, Teana..." He blushed as she looked at him curiously. "Even if you don't know it, you're an awesome person."
"Ack!" He fell to the ground when she punched him, lightly, in the arm, her face was slightly red as she tried to control how she was feeling. "What was that for?!"
"Sorry, you just surprised me." She pulled him to his feet, she didn‘t mean to punch him to the ground, he had just caught her by surprise like that. "But, thank you."
"Um, Teana..." Touma was blushing as he rubbed his cheek with a finger nervously. "...Can I call you Tea-nee?" His eyes widened as he was pulled into a hug by the older girl.
"Go ahead... Little brother." When he hugged her back, Teana just closed her eyes, enjoying herself. It was nice, having a brother again.
As for Touma? Well, as much as he loved his other sisters, it was nice to have one that wasn't crazy.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Philip Weigel
(Posted Sat, 17 Jul 2010 07:16)
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.