[Switch here.  Been wondering what the hell happened to that last post,
since it seemed like it got chewed up pretty good.  Hmmm... anyways...]

      Hello once again people!  Man, I'm really on a roll... I haven't
been able to stop writing yet, I wonder why?  But I bet you're all
enjoying yourselves out there, reading my rants and stuff.  I do
sincerely hope you guys like what I've been writing so far.  If you want
to comment, well, you can e-mail me care of the NFT Zu.
      Copyrights for the anime series mentioned here belong to the proper
people --- Sunrise (Shin Kidou Senki Gundam Wing), Takahashi Rumiko
(Ranma 1/2), Studio Clamp (Magic Knight RayEarth), and Gainax (Shin Seiki
Evangelion), in that order.  Please don't anybody sue me, I'm not making
any money off this, it's just a fic for crying out loud!  I'm just an
ordinary college freshman with a full complement of people inside my
head.
      Thanks to the UPLInC people for the drinking game (not sure about
the "cure" though), and to my Prophet for being.  I've already placed the
translations for the Japanese (and other languages) lines in footnotes,
but if I still got some of them wrong, please let me know.  Only no
flames, okay?
      The title just kind of tells you everything, doesn't it?

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF MY SIX PERSONALITIES
Nikholas "Katana" F. Toledo (UP 2003)

      "About bloody time you got back here - we were starting to wonder
if you two'd decided to elope."  The gray-eyed girl half-turned from the
desk in the living room, her flame-red rope braids of hair swaying
slightly down her back.  "Hope you guys got everything."

      "Yameno kudasai!  For shame, Mara, don't you see that they're both
drenched to the skin?  Come, come, you two," and the hakama-clad young
woman preceded her shivering friends into the apartment.  "Keren, will
you let Kage take her bath first?  I'll make you something to ward off
the cold, but I've got to get her out of those wet clothes first... you
know she catches cold so easily...."

      "It's all right, be my guest, Amaia."  The young man pulled off his
glasses with one hand.  He snagged the roll of kitchen tissue from the
counter with the other and polished the clear lenses before parking them
back on his nose.  "Was anything supposed to happen at the mall today?"
he muttered to himself in an incredulous undertone.  "I swear those women
were about ready to spit nails!  I've never seen anything like it in my
life...."

      "What life you have outside those blasted books of yours anyway."

      "Give me a break, PJ, I just barely managed to get out of hell in a
box with my hide intact!"  Keren glared daggers at the only other guy in
the group as he sat down in one of the chairs beside him, propping his
heels atop the table.  PJ carelessly flicked back his auburn hair and
then grinned at his friend, light purple eyes snapping with his usual
good humor.

      "Keren?  Your turn," and Kage appeared in the doorway, her short
blue pajamas clinging in a few damp places, her dirty-blonde hair
dripping little streams onto her shoulders.  "Sorry I took so long, but
your cousin insisted.  Mara," she called into the next room, "are you
still there?  Here are the things you asked for...."  She hurried out,
trailing the scent of autumn meadows behind her.


      "Hey, what are you sitting there looking like an okama for?"  Amaia
swept back into the kitchenette and regarded a suddenly speechless PJ
quizzically as she put in a fresh batch of coffee grounds.  "Earth to PJ!
Mou, I wonder how your sister deals with you?  Anata wa tottemo baka ne!"

      "That invective is way out of character for you, Amaia," and
another young woman walked in at that moment, shrugging off her raincoat
and smiling at PJ as he thoughtfully took it to their room to dry.  Pam
sat down and rubbed slender fingers over her throbbing temples.  "You
should've seen the traffic!  I swear, you'd think that midnight sale was
going to happen just once this entire year, the way people are crowding
the mall...."

      "Gomen nasai, but it's your brother...."  Amaia suddenly dropped
her voice to a whisper, beckoning her to come in closer.  "I'm sure you
already know this... I think he's falling for Kage or something!"

      Pam rolled her eyes upward.  "Tell me about it... PJ has been
driving me nuts the past few days, asking me how to win a girl's heart.
He keeps on saying it's someone else but I'm his sister, and I know
what's on his mind."  The coffee finished perking and she served both of
them before going on.  "So, you've seen it, too... now what do you think
should I do, Amaia?"

      "Am I interrupting anything, Pam, Amaia?"  Keren stepped in for a
cup, vigorously toweling his hair dry.  He watched the two girls cover
embarrassed smiles and then let out a sheepish chuckle.  "Okay okay, I
know when I'm not needed.  Phone rings for me, Amaia, I'm in our room
studying."

      "As always.  Ganbatte ne, itoko-chan."  Amaia kissed Keren's cheek
affectionately, then began the preparations for dinner.  "Ne, Pam," she
added almost as an afterthought, "do you think we should let them get
together?  Kare wa anata no ototo-kun, soshite kanojo wa shinyu desu...."

      Pam stopped in the doorway, hands poised in mid-air to take off her
earrings.  "I really don't know, but I'm willing to give it a try.  Who
knows, they might both need it."

*****

      "Great dinner, Amaia," PJ said as he put his plate in the sink.
"It tastes almost like home cooking."

      Keren let out a snort.  "That's what you always say, you bonehead.
How's that paper of yours, the one I had to help you out on?  Did you get
a good grade on it?"

      "Oh, he sure did," Kage spoke up suddenly, beaming at all of them.
"PJ was telling me all about it, and he said his prof was even going to
show it to the other sections...."

      Amaia and Pam could only trade upraised eyebrows.

      Mara Jade waited for the others to leave before clearing her throat
loudly, the sound catching Amaia and Pam by surprise.  "If you two are
planning to play Cupid for PJ and Kage, you'd better count me in.  And
with your permission, Pam, I would endorse that pair getting together...
unless you want PJ to end up with that girl who's been stalking him?"

      Pam shot her a startled glance.  "What girl?"

      "Yeah, that was my reaction, too... sure, your brother doesn't look
bad, but then he doesn't draw the attention Keren does."  Mara jerked her

thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the den.  "Okay.  There's
this one girl in his history class who's got delusions of having her
claws sunk into him.  Man, she gives me the creeps!"

      "Wai!  Warui deshoo --- if this girl scares you, then she must be
bad news all right!  Oshiete kure kudasai, Mara Jade?"  Amaia pulled up a
chair and regarded their broody flatmate with inquisitive eyes.

      Mara Jade waited for Pam to get comfortable before beginning.
"Look at it this way.  Thank goodness you guys made me watch those anime
video things, now I have some good comparisons.  Her name is Natasha, and
I'm warning you, this girl is equal parts Relena Peacecraft and Kodachi
Kuno, plus a little Alcyone thrown in for good measure.  And it sure
doesn't help that she's got the killer looks of Misato Katsuragi."  She
shuddered for effect.  "You have to keep your brother away from her at
all costs, Pam, or she'll eat him alive.  She's done it far too often
with all of the wrong people."

      "I'm not going to ask how you know that," and Pam blew an
exasperated sigh toward her auburn bangs. "But thanks for the
information, Mara.  That really helped me a lot.  I owe you one."

      "No problem, Pam, I'll collect.  Sooner or later I'm going to pull
that favor in."

*****

      "Amaia, are you still awake?"

      "Hai.  Nani o kore, Keren?"  The girl rolled over to look up
inquisitively at her low "ceiling" --- she had the bottom half of a
double-decker.  "Daijoubu desu ka?"

      Keren leaned over the edge of his bunk to look at her.  "You've
already seen and noticed this, I'm pretty sure.  But I think there's
something wrong with PJ.  Kage too, it looks like they've both got
something on their minds."

      "So much for secrecy."  Amaia smiled ruefully at his surprise.
"When you walked in on Pam and me in the kitchen earlier, we were talking
about just that.  Kami yo, can anyone really be as transparent as PJ?
It's a wonder that Kage hasn't picked anything up from him yet, while the
rest of us have already seen and read the signs.  And it gets worse...
Mara warned us off today about that --- that hen na onna who's plotting
to get him, and that's just gotten Pam and me really worried."

      "Oh shit."  Keren lay back in bed, more surprised by Amaia's
epithet than by Mara's information.  His serene cousin almost never spoke
ill of people, especially if she didn't know them.  He folded his hands
behind his head.  "Now what are we going to do?"

      In the next room, Pam was pondering just the same question.  PJ had
been sleeping for some time when she came in after completing some
paperwork, and she'd spent a few minutes just standing there and looking
at her twin brother.  She went through the motions of her nighttime
rituals, and then opened her diary to the current date.

      "This is getting to be so confusing," she began.  "Sometimes I feel
like everyone else in this apartment knows, except maybe for the two who
should really be involved.  Amaia's known this for some time, I think ---
she's at home the most, so she sees practically everything.  Mara Jade
just put in her two cents' worth today, and I'm sure that Keren is going

to try to talk to me about this sooner or later.

      "But should I really be doing this?  PJ is my brother and my twin,
but it is his life after all, and he has the right to live it as he
wishes.  The thing is, I don't think I can bear to see him this
tormented, nor --- heavens forbid --- what's going to happen if he
doesn't win Kage's heart.  And don't even get me started about falling
for that Natasha person Mara told us about!"

      Pam chewed meditatively on the end of her pen for a few moments and
then signed off, burrowing under her covers with an exasperated sigh.

      Kage wasn't finished with her own journal yet.  "I wonder what's
happening to PJ?  I worry for everyone here in this apartment, but most
of all for him... I can't stand seeing him just sitting there with that
strange blank expression on his face.  Somewhere here inside me, it
hurts, a whole lot, and it's like nothing I've ever felt in my life.
It's this dull aching throb that seems to get worse the longer I see him
like that....

      "I don't see why and how he should feel that way when everyone else
here is doing just fine.  Pam is thriving in her job, and I bet she's
even going to enjoy that overtime thing she has starting tomorrow.
Keren's grades are sky-high as usual, and Amaia's getting more and more
Japanese every day.  Mara's still waiting for notice about that play
she's supposed to take part in, but I've no doubt that she'll be in front
of the footlights again real soon.  And my writing's still going strong;
I should be happy myself, if it weren't for PJ... maybe I should try
asking him what's on his mind."

      Mara Jade watched through sleepy eyes as her roommate switched off
her desk light and got into bed.  She entertained just one more coherent
thought before giving in to slumber: "If none of us does anything about
that pair soon, we're all fucked."

*****

      "This game is called 'React'," Keren said as he popped open a can
of beer and took a long swig.  "It's something I learned from the people
at school... they're all bloody smart and stuff, but those guys can
really put their drinks away!  Makes for scary parties sometimes...."

      It was looking to be a long and boring Friday night, until Kage and
PJ had asked them if they wanted to rent any videos.  In a burst of
recklessness, Mara had pitched her wallet at them with the words "Forget
the tapes, just get a case of beer and a lot of junk food and let's all
get blasted!"  Everyone else had seconded the motion except for an
apprehensive Amaia, and she was easily won over by her cousin's
explanation.

      "Chotto matte, I remember you told me you were a class of
teetotalers!"  The same girl regarded her own can quizzically, then shot
a glare at Keren.

      "Only when we're in class.  Outside the classroom, they're a real 
bunch of boozehounds, including the prof."

      "I've heard of that game somewhere, but I think you'd better
explain it to me again," PJ said as he crunched down a handful of potato
chips.

      "Okay.  The first person to go asks a general question.  It's
anything goes, and no topic is sacred.  Anyone reacts in any way ---

gestures, raises an eyebrow, talks, anything --- it's bottoms up for him
or her," and Keren kicked back in his chair, grinning wickedly at them.
"I think that about covers it.  So, anyone going to play with me?"

      "I'm in."  Pam raised her can in salute.

      "I'm joining, if only to keep you guys out of trouble.  Shikata ga
nai," a still-uneasy Amaia said.

      "Of course I'm in, I never pass up on a challenge.  How about you,
Kage?"  PJ offered the bag of chips to the girl beside him.

      "Um, sure, I'll join you guys."

      Mara Jade just regarded them stonily.

      Keren nearly dropped his beer as he let out a loud guffaw.
"Everyone in this room except Mara take a drink," he gasped.  "That was
the first question!"

      "Hot shit, that was a good one, Keren," PJ laughed.

      "Boy," Mara suddenly interjected, "your fly's unzipped."

      He looked down into his lap.  "Hey, I don't even have a fly in the
first place, what's the big idea?"

      "It's bottoms up again for you, dear twin brother of mine," Pam
said, pointing her beer can at him.  "Your reaction."

      "My turn again..." Amaia slurred a couple of hours later.  By then
they'd managed to put away more than half of the case, just enough to
straddle the thin line between "buzzed" and "drunk".  "Kage, y-you love
PJ over there, don't you?  Come on, 'fess up, y-you can't hide from us,
o-negai shimasu...."

      "And it's the t-truth, it is," an equally blasted Kage replied,
draining her can with a goofy grin.  "I l-love him with all my h-heart
and m-mind, and with everything else b-besides.  I'd s-shout it out from
the t-top of the highest m-mountains, t-tell the whole wide world th-that
I've g-given my heart t-to him."

      "What do you say to that, dear brother?"  Pam leaned forward
eagerly, noticing as Mara's hand slid beneath the pillows again.  "She's
not the only one who's got to talk.  You have to 'fess up, too."

      "D-do the same, I would.  I s-swear, all of it." PJ finished off
his beer and promptly fell asleep.

      Kage leaned her head onto his shoulder and did the same.

      "You got everything?" Keren suddenly opened his eyes wide, raising
an inquisitive eyebrow at Mara Jade, who was grinning fit to kill.

      "Of course, I wouldn't miss hearing that for anything in the world.
It took that long to get them both to admit things?  They're better at
this than we thought!"

      "In vino veritas.  You were right, Keren, bloody right," Pam
laughed as she cleared away the cans and the junk food wrappers.  "Now
all we need is to wait for morning."

      "Itchi suru ne.  I do hope they remember things, it would be a real
bother to have to go through this again."  Amaia spread blankets and re-
arranged pillows around the couple on the couch before retiring herself.
"Ima wa nan da ka kibun ga warui ne...."

*****

      "Damn, the next time I go out drinking I'm not taking any of those
guys along," PJ promised himself as he woke, the words coming out in time
with the painfully pounding throb at his temples.  "I didn't know Amaia,
of all people, could do that!  I always knew Mara and Keren and my sister

could drink really hard but that girl...."  He tried to stretch upwards
but found his arms pinned in place by the slender body half-lying atop
his.

      Kage's brown eyes were closed tight shut, her head cradled neatly
in the curve between his neck and shoulder, and the rest of her draped
atop both him and the couch.  Her long wavy hair shone like burnished
gold in the sunlight that slanted in through the windows, almost blinding
him with its healthy brightness.

      "Then again, this is not a bad way to wake up in the morning," he
chuckled quietly.  "I wouldn't mind it one bit if I ever got to do
that... what in the world am I saying?  This is going to be another one
of those once-in-a-lifetime things, I'm sure.  Kage must've gotten as
blasted as I was last night."  He shook his head in astonishment for the
way the others had out-drunk him so casually.

      Presently the girl stirred, and then Kage smiled sleepily up at
him, almost making him catch his breath.  "Morning, PJ.  Sleep well?"
She looked at how they were arranged and then, to his surprise, blushed.
"Oh.  Stupid question... sorry 'bout this, man."

      "It's all right," he replied, amazed that his voice wasn't cracking
under that sudden strained feeling in the pit of his stomach.  "One thing
I do know for sure, my head hurts like hell and my guts are in major
upheaval.  I swear, I'm never going to drink with those guys ever again!"

      At his words, Kage pushed herself easily off him and went into the
kitchen.  "Wait there a minute, 'kay?"  After about ten minutes she came
back laden with two steaming mugs and a tray of bread.  "Best way to get
rid of a hangover, my friends always told me: get something nice and easy
into your stomach as soon as you're able to.  Settles you down right
quick, and gets rid of the bad breath, too.  It's worked for me every
single time I went out with my girl friends, believe me.  You may think
everyone else here drinks like horses, and so does Keren's class, but
those girls do 'em all one better."

      "Anything else you didn't forget, Kage?"  PJ leaned back easily
into the cushions, toasting her with his mug.

      She blushed again and suddenly found her coffee more interesting
than him, the fingers of her free hand worrying at a small chunk of
bread.  "Um, about last night?  I wasn't as drunk as you thought, I heard
and remembered everything we all said...."

      PJ lifted an inquisitive eyebrow.  "And?"

      "You don't remember anything from last night?  None at all, are you
sure?  Good," and the girl turned away without waiting for an answer.
What looked to be a long-held pain aged her features in the space of a
heartbeat.  "You'd best not remember."  With that she swept up her
makeshift breakfast and left the room, leaving a very confused PJ in her
wake.

      "Now what the heck did I do to her now?"  He scratched absently at
his scalp and then cleared up his own breakfast things, wondering what
he'd said to set her off so badly.

*****

      It was a long and strange Saturday for PJ; as he was clearing up he
found no less than four notes on the kitchenette, propped up between the

breakfast dishes.  Keren had left to meet some classmates; Amaia had been
called to the hospital by one of her wards.  His sister had gone shopping
with some friends; Mara had answered yet another casting call.  Kage
didn't go out of her room for the rest of the day and that left him to
his own devices.

      Again and again he replayed his memories of the previous night,
fighting to recall what he'd said during the long and seemingly endless
rounds of "React" questions.  "I reacted twice, to Keren's first question
and then to Mara when she told me my fly was unzipped.  Kage asked me
somewhere in the middle if I'd ever cheated on any of my exams, and then
I didn't react for about seven questions.  Shit, this is harder than I
thought."

      He glanced for a long moment at the locked door that stood between
the two of them and wondered just exactly what she was doing.

      "Chicken," Kage muttered angrily at herself, the sound muffled by
the pillow that she'd buried her face in.  "I'm a harpy and a fool and a
big yellow spring chicken!  But I can't tell PJ what he told me last
night.  I can't!  I can't do it... I can't lose him, not like this, not
this way, I'm too scared!

      "You've always been the brother I never had, PJ," she said out
loud, testing the words against the previous night's truths.  "I thought
you were so nice and everything, seeing as I was a whole lot closer to
Pam... but who invited me here?  You introduced me to Mara Jade and you
made me feel right at home as soon as I came.  Sure, you did the same for
Amaia when she and Keren moved in but that's because you were raised that
way!

      "Then you stole my heart away and I hated you and me for it --- you
for being what you were and me for being so blasted romantic!  I told you
I loved you last night but you never heard a thing, and now I'm in too
deep, way worse than head over heels...."

      PJ caught his breath as he stood there outside her door, one hand
poised to knock.  Slowly, he dropped his arm and then staggered back
against the wall, bracing himself in the corner.  "I didn't know, Kage, I
swear I didn't know... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

      Inside Kage's room, his litany of apologies was really little more
than a persistent, low-pitched susurration.  Some time later, the girl
was prompted to go out and find out what --- or who --- was effectively
joining her in her crying fit; she cracked the door open and then drew in
her breath quickly.

      A welter of flowers bloomed riotously outside her door, shades of
yellow and blue predominating to nod gaily at her.  Assorted ferns and
grasses swayed gracefully alongside the blooms, giving the impression of
a wildflower-filled meadow.  The folded paper propped up against one
particularly large sunflower was directed to her, and she picked it open
with trembling fingers.

Kage, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.  I should have told you this a long time
ago, but I couldn't say a word before because you were only someone I
knew as Pam's best friend, someone who helped us adjust to life away from
home.  You'd lived in the city for practically your whole life and we

relied so heavily on you while we were still getting used to things.

So when did I fall for you?  I think it was during that couple of weeks
when both Pam and Mara were out of the city, business and theater work
things, shortly before Amaia and Keren moved in.  I finally found out why
my sister loved you so much, almost as much as she loved me.  I finally
got to see firsthand why she always spoke of you in glowing terms --- and
you know that sometimes she's just so hard to please!

Could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me for what I've put you
through without even noticing?  I should have paid more attention to what
was going on around me.  But if there's any way I can make it up to you,
please let me know, and I swear I'll do everything in my power to fulfill
it.

I don't know if you still want to know this, but I do love you, Kage.  I
always have and I always will.

Autumn flowers will always remind of you.  PJ

*****

      "Now what?" Mara Jade asked as Pam steered her car, a battered but
serviceable royal-blue sedan, into the apartment complex's parking lot.
"I don't really think coming home this early is such a good idea.  What
rights have we to barge in on PJ and Kage?  You never know, they might
still be talking things out and when we come in... do you have any idea
of how awkward that's going to be?"

      "Iya, watashi wa soo omowanai.  That's exactly why we're doing
this."  Beside her, Amaia fiddled with the cuffs on her powder-blue
shirtwaist and nodded.  "Actually, if it were up to me, we'd have been
home hours ago.  We've got to help those two straighten things out.  I
won't have anyone crying tonight, ne?"

      "I still say we should leave the two of them alone.  I've been
around both of them long enough to have a good idea of what should be
done."  Pam killed the engine and then crossed her arms over her chest,
frowning at the two girls in the backseat.  "We shouldn't be here yet!"

      "Well, we're home already," Keren said from the shotgun seat.  He
adjusted his glasses and then opened his door, going around to help his
cousin with her bag.  "It wouldn't make sense for us to go out and take a
drive.  Besides, I think Mara's right, Amaia."

      The four of them took the stairs at a snail's pace, and stood
together on the third floor landing, seemingly rooted in place.  Finally,
Amaia shook her head, walked forward and resolutely grasped the doorknob.

      "That you, sis?  We were starting to wonder where you guys had gone
off to," and PJ looked up at them with a grin.  The newspapers were
spread out around him on the floor, where he was leaning against one of
their armchairs.

      Kage was draped side-wise across that same armchair, her chin
resting on one arm and her free hand resting casually on PJ's shoulder.
As soon as she saw them there she sprang to her feet and headed for the
kitchen.  "Do you guys want anything?"

      Pam's face broke into a big grin and she playfully punched Keren in
the chest.  "I told you guys everything was going to be all right!
Damn," she laughed as she went to her room to change, "I should've made a
bet with you guys!"


      PJ watched her go, one fine eyebrow turned upwards.  "Is my sister
all right, Mara?  Oh, wait, maybe I should be asking you that question,
too."

      Mara Jade threw up her hands.  "I'll never figure you guys out!"
she yelled over her shoulder just before her door banged shut.

      "I agree with her again," Keren chuckled as he accepted a tall,
frosty glass of iced tea from Kage, then retreated into their little den.

      "Hai, soo da ne."  Amaia re-tied her hair into place and went to
take her usual place in the kitchen.

      Once they were alone again, Kage and PJ exchanged smiles.  "I'll
never understand the rest of them either," he said as he drew her close,
"but you and I are going to be a different story altogether, okay?"

      "Whatever you say, PJ," and Kage reached up to kiss him.

Owari 
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