[the camera swings into the Mental Library, where the trio of

reviewers

are pasting words cut out from magazines onto paper. They turn to

the

camera; all three are wearing gas masks.]

Cerina: (muffled) Konban wa, FFMLers! Sorry for the stench...

[A lavender portal swirls into existence in the center of the room,
scattering magazine cutouts in its wake. Lurker and Hikaru emerge
from the portal, and nearly gag.]

Lurker: Holy SHIT! It stinks to hell in here!

Hikaru: <gags> 

Tommy: The toliets in the dorm all overflowed last night and

maintenance

STILL hasn't been up to clean! So we're putting together death

threats for

the entire department.

Lurker: I say snipe 'em like dogs...after they fix the toilets...

	Hi!  I may not be doing this right, so don't get to angry if I

am.

Cerina: So we should get mad if this *does* get through right?

Lurker: Don't get mad...get a delete key.

This is the first fanfic I intend to post.  I'd appreciate any

sort of CO,

negative or positive.  Thanx!

Hikaru: CO? What's CO?

Lurker: Career Opportunities? How the hell should I know?

	Natsume Kyusaku stared at the old letter which had once been a
large driving force in his effort to maintain a career with his

wife at

Mishima Industries.  It had largely been a part about honor.

Cerina: Wait a sec... ain't "Natsume" Nuku-Nuku's real name?

Lurker: <shakes head> Actually, this is one place the author didn't
screw up. Natsume is Kyusaku, Ryuunosuke, and Nuku-Nuku's family
name. The name Nuku-Nuku uses out in public is Atsuko. As for her
"real name", technically it's NK-1124.

computer.  The only reason he had for taking it was sentimental

value, as

it was one of the only things left of his father's possesions.
	Nuku Nuku had been looking through the dictionary, an event she
found mildly entertaining, when she ame uopon the hastily written

letter.

Lurker: Oops, just realized this...that should be "came upon"...

Puzzling over the words, she took it to Papa-san to figure it

out.

	A promise had been made on the letter.
	A promise he had yet to enact or carry out.

Cerina: I think I know where this is going, guys....

Lurker: I think even Dr. Thinker could figure out where this is
going...

	A promise that even his bride to be, Akiko had known about, and
had signed fully and willingly, knowing what it could possibly do

to a

future child.  He had been an idiot then.  He was still an idiot

now.

God...Nuku Nuku.

Tommy: All bow to the Almighty Cat Girl Nuku Nuku!

<Lurker drops a gigantic Piyo Piyo on Tommy. Hikaru giggles, and
drops a shower of little UFO-catcher Piyo Piyos.

	The answer was simple.  He couldn't, not eve if it was a

question

of honor.  His daughter...his family was more important to him

then an

ancient, stupid promise made in college to a boy he almost hated,

but

still inately pitied and liked for the crafty geniousness.

Cerina: Genius? The man's got a brain the size of a walnut!

Tommy: You're being generous there, C-chan.

Lurker: <nods> More like the size of the *leavings* of a walnut.

Hikaru: Eeeew!

	Ryu frowned and released the paper.  Slowly, gently it floated
down into the trash can.  A nearly spent cigarette followed it a

second

later as Ryunosuke left the room to tell his daughter what was

not going

to happen.
	Slowly, the cigarette cherry lit the paper on fire.  Smoke

drifted

lazily to the cieling as the fire clowly ate at the words which

had once

been a solemn promise between two men.
		I hereby swear that if I have a child, and you have a
child, both of opposite sexes, then we 		shall wed the two in
matrimony, so that our two families will be joined, and our lives

as

friends 		will continue forever.
		I, Natsume Ryunosuke, swear and agree to this vow.
		I, Mishima Akiko, swear and agree to this vow.
		I, Saotome Genma, swear and agree to this vow.

	So much for promises.

Lurker: There's a very large, very senseless mistake in the last part
of this
thing. 

Hikaru: <nods> Notice that for this last part of the fic, she's
talking about Ryunosuke...

Lurker: ...who is Nuku-Nuku's BROTHER...Akiko's SON...

Hikaru: ...not her father, who was being talked about during the
first part of the fic.

All three: *snicker*

Tommy: I saw that one coming pretty early on, but it was still a

good

story. Nice descriptions on the emotions and descriptions.

Lurker: It would have been better had it not been for the glaring
error. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give this a 2.8...

Hikaru: Come on, it's worth at least 3.5...

<Lurker shakes his head, and shambles back into the portal, which has
remained in place all this time. Hikaru smirks, but follows.>

--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Over 1 billion swerved."
-Traffic Accident Statistics Bureau.
---
The Eternal Lost Lurker
EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/9502

Damn it man, we can't write everything.
-------------------------------------------------------------------