[FFML] [Mai Hime, Future] Afraid to Fly, Part 1 (Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics) - Segment A

[John Biles]

Google Mail hates my really long story segments, so I have broken it
into two parts, even though this is just a segment of an even BIGGER
story, aaaaaaa.

Anyway, enjoy!

****


Afraid to Fly, Part 1:
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
	
By John Biles

Series:  Mai Hime (future)

Home Page: http://www.thekeep.org/~wombat/Stories/MaiHime/index.html

Author's Note:  This story overlaps in time with First Contact.

****************

Shiho's Tale:

	The meeting was over; I'd recorded the whole thing so I could provide
a tri-lingual transcript for everyone involved.  I have to admit it
amuses me whenever I have to translate for a meeting between Japanese
and American or European branches of the same business; we had
Italians, Germans, and Japanese all meeting to discuss car industry
matters between the various branches of Sakura Motors. Being fairly
polyglot has been a huge asset for me in this line of work.

	I work for a translation service which basically contracts me out.
Lots of companies don't need a linguist all the time, but do
occasionally need one with a good record of discretion who can deal
with specific meeting situations.  I have a *very* good record.

	My boss is Takatera Kaoru; she's about twenty years older than me and
even more talented than I am, though these days she administrates more
than translates.  "How did it go?" she asked

	"Very well, other than Mr. Kasel hitting on me," I told her.  "I
turned him down gently."  I have a boyfriend and he is MARRIED.  I
don't do that.

	She sighed.  "I'm sorry."

	"It's okay; it's the price of being as gorgeous as I am," I told her.
 I am damn good looking, if I say so myself and I do.

	We talked a little and she left me to my work.  I like my job.  It
took me a while to get to where I am now, but I'm pretty happy with
it. It's forced me to learn more self-control.

	Shut up.

	I was about to leave for our first big meeting with the kids after
the big reveal, only to get a phone call.  Mother.  Bloody hell.

	My father became a stockbroker instead of taking over the temple, and
married his secretary.  Mother has tremendous pretensions... but at
heart, she's terrified people will still think of her as the
secretary.  Father is basically an arrogant, tempermental ass.  They
both dump on me constantly; I avoid them whenever possible.  They were
never around when I really needed them; only when it would make my
life suck.  And I will likely be stuck with them forever, as my family
tends to live insanely long lives.  Great-Grandpa lived from 1904 to
2003!

	However, if I ignore this call, they will call me three thousand times.

	I answered it.  "Hello, Mother, I am at work, so I can't speak for long."

	"You should have let me leave a message and called me back later,
then," she said.

	Of course, if I had done that, she would have accused me of hiding from her.

	"I'll remember that for next time," I told her.  "Natasha is close to
the end of her semester; she's on track for three As," I told her.

	"And four Cs," she said disapprovingly.

	"Three and one B in Literature," I confessed.

	"Is she still dating the manwhore?" she asked.

	"Would you rather she wait and marry her boss?" I asked, feeling
frustrated, even knowing this would surely send the conversation to
hell.

	"Better than not marrying at all," she snapped back.  "Are you
waiting until you are too old for anyone to want you?"

	"Did you have a reason to call me or shall we just yell at each other
for twenty minutes?" I asked, trying to keep my temper.

	"We are going down to Okinawa for a few weeks," she said.  "I doubt
there will be any emergencies, but just in case, best you know.  We
leave Friday."

	"Good luck," I told her.  "It's hot but the beaches are very nice."

	"Indeed they are," she said.  "Are you dating anyone?"

	"Are you going to condemn him sight unseen?" I asked.

	The usual pointless fight ensued ending with us hanging up on each other.

	I sighed, feeling frustrated.  Dealing with my parents is just
terrible.  Thinking about it, I think Mai's the only one of us who
likes their parents, and of course, hers are dead.

	But I've basically lived without needing or wanting my idiot parents
around for many years now, so it's not like I care.

	And frankly, I have much bigger fish to fry, like being one of the
Hime.  Once I get my powers back.  If I can trust myself with them.

	I hate not trusting myself with them, but I screwed up so hard last time...

	I've ridden this recrimination merry-go-round too many times.

	I finished at work and went to meet with Akane and go see the kids.
We were going to bring them some food, and then meet with them to plan
for the last weeks of school and summer things.

	I am very glad I don't have to lie to Natasha any more; it's nice to
have it all out in the open.

	So now I just have to lie to my boyfriend.

***************

	"You think I should do it?" I asked Akane in surprise as we drove over.

	Basically, we're hoping to persuade Kagami's parents to hand her over
for the summer, so we can more easily train her and be ready for
trouble - instead of having to constantly try and sneak her past her
parents.

	"She'll respect you more than me," Akane said.  "From what I know of
her, she will see you as a fellow professional and me as the hired
help."  She sighed.

	That's kind of obnoxious, I thought.  "Most people would see you as
the respectable married woman, though.  I'm an unwed single mother."

	"I would love to host Kagami," she said.  I think she would love to
just take Kagami as her own.  "But Midori and Mai both agreed with me
that you're the better candidate."  She sounded regretful.

	I smiled at that, feeling flattered.  "Okay, I can do it.  We'll need
to know more to plan our onslaught."

	"Of course.  I'm sure Kagami can tell us more when we get there," Akane said.

	We spent the rest of the trip discussing this.

***************

Mari's Tale:

	I cook, my husband Kazuo does the cleaning - *he* has the patience
for it.  I was busy chopping carrots when he walked into the kitchen
and leaned on the wall.  "How are we going to supervise her this
summer?" he asked.

	Kagami.  I sighed mentally.  I don't know.  "With both of us working,
we don't have time for it. Unless we pack her off to one of our
relatives?"

	"They work too.  My mother hasn't got the energy to ride herd on her,
and your mother probably wouldn't keep a tight enough grip on her," he
said, frowning.

	"Oh, I agree," I told him, turning to the onions.  "We have to do
something, though."  I can hardly believe she did anything so crazy
and dangerous.  Though it's more dangerous than she could know.

	If everything Yugo-kun told me is true - and I have no reason to
think it is not (not after what happened to Primus) - then what Tallin
was doing was stupidly dangerous.  Something broke through and killed
them all.  And something happened there AGAIN the same night Kagami
tried to get in!

	I would have sounded insane if I tried to tell her.  And I can't be
sure.  Maybe Tallin just blew itself up from bad engineering.  And a
giant robot seems to have been involved.

	No one knows the things I know but me, as far as I know (though other
survivors might have been told things to their spouses or parents).
And I am afraid to tell anyone, for fear I'll be thought insane.  Even
Kazuo-kun doesn't know.

	I thought it was all over with, but now I'm worried; could Tallin
have been covertly trying to make Hime?  Or summon Orphans?

	I don't know.  And I dare not stick my head into finding out.  Kazuo
and Kagami depend on me and if I died without them even knowing
why...I don't want them to go through what I did.

	Best to stay out of it.

	"Maybe your cousins in Hokkaido would take her," I said.

	"They'd keep her out of trouble, but her brain would rot.  I think
they basically survive by watching reality TV when they're not
farming," he said.

	Ugh.

	I put the last things in the pot, and it was time to wait for it to cook.

	Past summers, we could leave her alone and assume she wouldn't just
run wild; but it's pretty clear the teenage idiocy switch in her brain
has flipped, and now we can't be sure she won't run off the second she
isn't watched.

	The way I did ALL THE TIME.  When I was her age.  I don't know how
Mother kept her sanity.  I was a wild child, always going off to do
something fun instead of doing my homework or anything else
productive.  I'm surprised I didn't end up pregnant before I got out
of high school.

	Kazuo and I tried very hard to raise Kagami so she would have
discipline and not do the crazy things I did, running around with boys
and getting drunk and having sex with anyone who took my fancy.  I was
the youngest, and I think Mother was too worn out to keep me under
control by that point.

	I didn't really get a grip until I was halfway into college and
finally buckled down; I'd gone to college partly to get out of my home
town (I grew up in a dinky town near Hiroshima, which is to say, in
the middle of nowhere) and partly to spite Mother, because she wanted
me to get married and settle down and was convinced I'd just flunk out
and college people were all arrogant anyway.  Mother's come around,
thankfully, or we'd still be killing each other.

	Too many of my siblings never made something of themselves because
they had the same attitude.  Most of them now regret they didn't do it
when they were still young enough to have a shot at it. Especially my
sister Miho, who is much smarter than I am, but has basically wasted
her intellect because she's lazy.  We fight a lot over it because
she's jealous of me, whereas she's going to be stuck clerking for
Uncle Ryouga for the rest of her life.

	My phone rang; Mother was calling.  "Hello, Mother," I said.
"Dinner's cooking, so I can't talk long, but right now I'm free."

	"I just called to make sure everything is good at your end for the
family meeting."  We meet here in Osaka every so often, as we're all
scattered across the southern half of Honshu now.  It's fairly
central; my sister Ran and her husband live here in Osaka and have a
large house, large enough to put everyone up.  Ran got lucky; her high
school boyfriend, Shirashiba Gorou, became a professional baseball
player and made some pretty good money.  She never made it past high
school and is probably the dumbest member of our family; but she's
sweet and gentle and doesn't want to kill me or Miho, though she'd
have the right.  She probably should have killed us.

	Anyway, we have a family meeting coming up and Kazuo usually arranges
the dinner as he's good at that sort of thing.  And can't eat seafood,
so he has to be a little picky.

	"Kazuo's made all the arrangements," I told Mother.  "Kagami gets out
of school that Friday, so she will be there, assuming she doesn't try
and run away with those two."  The Tate and Tokiha parents have a good
reputation, but their kids have a terrible reputation for sleeping
around.  Some parents just aren't any good at disciplining their
children.  And we weren't as good as we thought.

	A boy AND a girl.  Even I didn't do that.

	"She could be kissing them right now," Mother said deadpan.

	I felt a burst of paranoia, but squelched it.  She's teasing me, but
I won't take the bait.  "She'll get in trouble if she is," I said.

	Kazuo went to go set everything in place for dinner.

	"So what are they like?" Mother asked.

	"She's never seeing them again if I can help it," I told her.
"They're pretty much sluts who sleep with everything in sight," I
added.  "Absolutely worst possible people for Kagami to fall in with.
Mediocre grades, sleeping around, basically drifting with no purpose."
I grimaced.  What could she see in those two?  I suppose if someone
was into giant breasts, the girl might be attractive; but the boy
looks more like a skinny girl than he does a boy. Not a very pretty
one, either.

	"So just like the boys you ran around with," Mother said.

	I wanted to just stab myself.  "Yes," I said ruefully.  "Except the
guys I ran around with were good looking."

	"Obviously, they must have something else going for them," Mother said.

	"I don't know and I don't care.  She's been told to stay away from
them, and she's got Kaiji-kun watching over her. I was stunned to find
out he was the one who the school put in charge of disciplining her.
But very pleased to know he was alive and had her in his care.  I
trust him to keep them away from her as much as he can."  I didn't
know he was alive; I thought he'd died.  I am very, very happy he's
alive.

	"I was glad to hear he was alive; I know he was a good friend to you
and Takahashi-san."  Mother never liked my first husband, which I
assume is why she never used his first name; he was always polite to
her.  But I can tell she likes Kazuo because she uses his name.

	"He was," I told her.  "He's a good man."

	"Is she bringing..."

	"As I said, she is never going to see them again," I said to Mother.
"It will just be the three of us."

	"Children her age are not easily discouraged," she said.

	"Don't remind me," I said weakly.  "I know, I know exactly what I was
like and how much I drove you insane."

	"That's what happens at this age," she said.  "The more you crack
down, the more she will rebel."

	"If I don't crack down, she'll ruin her life or get herself killed!
That place was dangerous!" I told Mother.  "What they were doing was
insanely dangerous."

	"Like the time you and Miki snuck out to the steel mill."

	"That place hadn't blown up!" I told her.  "Also, yes, it was
dangerous and we were stupid."  I sighed.  "Do you want her to get in
trouble?"

	"Push too hard and she'll push back," Mother said.  "You always did."

	"You didn't push me hard enough; I got away with too much," I told
Mother.  "I'm lucky I didn't end up pregnant before I was even old
enough to drive a car."

	Mother sighed the 'my child is a fool' sigh, which I know well from
having triggered it nearly a million times.  Some days, this would
make me angry; but I have other things to do, than yet another
pointless fight with Mother.

	"Food's ready," I lied.  "Everything is good for the family meeting,
so I look forward to seeing you and Father."

	"And I'm eager to see everyone," she said.  "Goodbye, dear."

	"Goodbye, Mother," I told her and hung up.

	It's probably for the best that Kazuo and I never had another child;
Kagami is as much or more than I can handle.  She's smart, but she
won't work hard unless we push her very hard.  She especially won't
work hard enough on her English; if you can't get an A in English,
with the stupidly easy way it's taught in this country, it's only
because you're not bothering to try.  It's not nearly tough enough.  I
can accept her mediocre Physical Education classes because they're a
big waste of time.  Everyone needs a little exercise for good health,
but grading people on it just drags down the grades of serious
students.

	Anyway, her English grades are still disappointing, but her other
grades have kept up.  Which is why we let her move into the dorms like
she asked to, but now it seems that was a mistake.

	We just don't have the time and energy with all the work we do to
properly supervise her at home.  Especially not in the summer.

	I don't know what to do.

	And now the food was ready, so I could at least let that occupy my
mind for a while.

	She'd better not be cavorting with those two right now.

***************

Shiho's Tale:

	We went into the woods for privacy.  I would have liked privacy with
some air conditioning and a nice chair, but we couldn't take Shun or
Crystal or Kagami off campus.

	"Well, now that there is no more need for secrets between us," Akane
said as we all found stumps and fallen trees and rocks to sit on, "we
have to talk about how you're going to spend the rest of your life
lying to everyone outside the family."  She sighed, clearly not happy
to be the messenger here.

	Crystal winced at that, and Dan buried his face in his hands.
Natasha frowned, Kagami looked guilty; Erica sighed, and Shun
grimaced.  Junko simply nodded, as if used to that.

	"The clan's secrets must be protected," she said firmly.  That girl
is just a little odd, like she wandered in from some samurai movie.

	"Exactly," Aunt Akane said.  "I'm a terrible liar, but I've had to
get better at it."  She's still not good at it.

	"This is going to make physical education class difficult for all of
us," Crystal said.  She frowned and shifted uncomfortably.  "We have
to swim for the physical education final."

	"At least I'll have a perfect grade in one class," Kasumi mumbled.

	"Maybe we should get Aunt Aoi to say we've all come down with the
plague or something so we can get out of the final," Shun said.

	"Running slower than you can actually run is going to look very
strange," Kasumi said.  "I can tell you that."  She sighed.  "I assume
that applies to swimming."

	"Well, you probably can't all run as fast as Kasumi," I said.  "Maybe
we should test that."

	Finding a place in the forest we could test this without people
smacking into trees wasn't easy, but we eventually found a clearing
with a trail people could use to build up speed.  I have a stopwatch
app on my phone so I got to be the umpire, and Dan paced out the
length of the clearing.

	Kasumi went first, running like the wind.

	I did a little math.  "Wow, you can run thirty meters a second!"

	"I could run faster, but I don't have time or space to get up to full
speed here," she said.

	Everyone stared, but she looked proud.

	"Hmm, I bet I can match that," Natasha said.

	"Probably not," Shun said.  "Kasumi is a runner."

	"We'll see," Natasha said.

	She and Crystal clocked in at twenty meters a second.

	"How fast is that, anyway?" Natasha asked.

	"About twice the record for a woman our age," Kasumi said.

	Kagami swallowed nervously and ran; she was fast but even I could
tell she wasn't even close to Crystal and Natasha.  "Around nine
meters a second," I said.

	"Which is good enough to be a champion track and field runner in high
school or college, not quite good enough for the Olympics," Kasumi
said.  "Very good."

	"Wow," Kagami said, looking stunned and pleased.

	Erica, Junko, and Shun all scored around eight meters a second.
Erica looked somewhat embarrassed.  Given two non-Hime matched her, I
guess she really was slow before she became a Hime.  But then, she
doesn't look any more athletic than me.  Maybe less so.

	Dan looked around, then did his sprint.  "Twelve meters a second," I told him.

	"Congratulations, Dan," Kasumi said.  "You just won the Olympics by a
long shot."

	"And got investigated for steroid use," Shun said, laughing a little.

	Kasumi sighed and Shun winced.  "Sorry, Kasumi."

	"I'm sorry, dear," Akane said to her.  "Unfortunately, you're all
going to face that kind of accusation."

	"You and Mom need to run," Natasha said.

	"No point in me running.  I don't have my powers back yet, nor am I
getting any power from someone," I told them.  And I hate running.

	"I will run," Akane said; she got twenty-five meters a second.

	We did some other tests as well; they all (except Erica) can jump
around like crazy now.  Crystal could lift Dan over her head and twirl
him like a baton.  He did the same with her, mind you.

	"We will have to be careful," Akane said.  "Fortunately, the semester
ends in two weeks. We will train out here to avoid being seen; then
once this semester is over, we can train somewhere - like Haruka's, or
inside Akira's dojo - which lacks prying eyes."

	"And you can't tell your boyfriends and girlfriends," I said. "It's
terrible, I know, I hate not being able to tell Bobby; but I had to
hide it from many boyfriends, so deal with it."  I crossed my arms
across my chest.

	"Bobby?" Crystal asked curiously.

	"My boyfriend," I said.  "I had to dump Alexander; he was too stupid.
So I've been dating Bobby for a while.  His full name is Robert
Cooper; he works for Shell Solar as a project manager."  He is smart,
handsome, and has very good manners.  Unlike Alexander; who was
gorgeous, but not too bright, and bad-mannered as I came to find out.

	"Oh wow," Crystal said.  Her parents are in business, so she knows
what that means.

	"I want to introduce him to everyone soon; I fear he'll get dragged
into this," I said, relaxing my stance.  "So best he get to know
everyone."

	"Do you have a picture?" Erica asked curiously.

	I showed them a picture of Bobby; he has a very muscular build due to
years of working out, short brown hair, very well dressed.  His face
isn't as pretty as the rest of him, but I like what's inside his head.

	"Mom, he has an ugly face," Natasha said, sounding disappointed.

	Crystal winced, and Shun said, "That's harsh."

	I scowled.  "At least he doesn't look like a cheap punk like your
boyfriend."  Gin looks like an extra from a cyberpunk movie.

	"That was pretty mean," Kagami said scoldingly to Natasha.

	"It's just, you usually go for the pretty boys," Natasha said,
suddenly aware she'd just shoved her face in a meat grinder.

	"I think he looks quite distinguished," Akane said, probably in hopes
of avoiding a general fight.  I know she likes the prettyboys like her
husband.

	But I'll confess I usually like them too.  "Exactly," I said, letting
it go because parents are supposed to be more mature than their
children.  "And if you tell him he is ugly, I will ground you until
the sun goes out, Natasha."

	"I..."  Natasha grumbled.  "It wasn't..."

	"You called him ugly.  Don't try to pretend that was a compliment,"
Kagami said.  "And Gin does look like a punk."

	"He never stole a car!" Natasha said irritably, and Kagami crumpled.

	"Enough," Dan said, sounding aggravated.  "He looks fine to me.
Let's agree not to insult each other's lovers, okay?"

	We could agree on that.

	"I would like to meet him," Akane said to me.

	"I'm sure we can arrange that.  He's been making noises about a beach
trip, so maybe a family thing," I said thoughtfully.

	I could go for that.  Once I'm out of hock here, anyway.

	"Anyway, we have to keep too many people from finding out.  So you
can't tell Gin or Hayao or Sanae or that other girl...," I said, then
tried to remember her name.  Yayoi-sempai's daughter.

	"Ota Mandi?" Crystal said.

	"Ota Mandi," I said.  "Not until we're sure they will stick around,
or there is no choice."

	"But being the lover of one of us means they could be in danger," Dan
said, frowning.

	Akane sighed.  "I know.  I know.  But we can't risk them telling
others or panicking or any of a variety of other things that could
make this very difficult.  I hope with time, we'll be able to bring
them into it."

	Crystal rubbed her forehead nervously, then Junko took her hand and
squeezed.  "I won't tell my family, of course," Junko said very
seriously.  "Your secrets are safe with me, sensei."

	"I know you won't," Akane said, smiling at her brightly and speaking
with affection. "I'm going to suggest that each of you encourage your
significant others to come train with Akira or Mikoto over the summer;
that will give us a chance to get to know them better, so we can see
if they are trustworthy enough."

	"I fear I must return to my family's home this summer, in Hokkaido,"
Junko said, frowning.

	"And I have to go home to my parents," Kagami said with a grimace.

	"Well, my folks would love to have you visit," Crystal  told Junko.

	"Shiho and I have a plan for that, Kagami," Akane said.  "We're going
to talk about it in a minute."

	"A plan?" Crystal asked curiously.

	"To see if she can stay with Shiho this summer," Akane said.

	Natasha blinked in surprise.

	"I...I would..." Kagami said, looking at Akane.  She stopped, and
said, "Why Munakata-san?"

	"I have a spare room and only one child to run herd on; Akane has
three and no spare.  Also, do you think your mother would rather you
stay with a baker, or with a linguist and translator?  Especially
since they want you to work on your English?" I asked her.  I know I'm
not her first choice, but we don't always get what we want.

	My life is one big lesson in that.

	Shun frowned.  "She ought to be staying with us."

	I laughed at that.  "In your dreams, Shun.  Kagami's mother would let
her stay the summer with your family around the time the sun goes out,
since she regards you and Crystal as practically prostitutes from what
I've heard."

	Crystal grimaced, looking angry, and Shun kicked a rock.  "She
doesn't even know me," Shun said angrily.  "And she treats Kagami
terribly."

	Kagami kissed his cheek.  "I'd love to stay with your family, but
Munakata-san is right."

	"Anyway, we'll talk once we finish the general announcements," Akane
said, then turned to me.

	"I'm going to start giving everyone English lessons each day," I told
them.  "Best you improve your skills in case we have to go
international."

	Crystal nodded.

	"So you think we need to scout out Mandi too?" Shun said thoughtfully.

	I blinked.  Why had he brought that up now?  "Yes," I said.  "As I
understand it, she, Hayao, and Sanae are pretty close, right?"

	"They're like us," Dan said.  "So yes, I think if any of the three
get told, they'll all know soon."

	Akane got everyone busy training, then we took Kagami and Shun aside.

***************

Kagami's Tale:

	"We plan to sell this to your mother as me giving you an immersive
English environment in which your skills will improve; using it
extensively is the way to make your skills grow," Munakata-san told
me.  "Not this ludicrous half-assed..."  She paused, making a weird
face.  "The pathetic programs most schools have.  Further, Haruka has
offered to arrange you an internship with Woods Research Institute,
her medical and biological research company.  Your mother would like
that, right?"

	"She would totally love it," I said.  "I'm not sure if she'd let me
stay with someone she didn't know, but the internship would make her
happy.  It makes ME happy," I added, smiling.

	"Sounds cool.  I will likely be waitressing again," Shun said.

	"Don't you mean waiting?" I asked.

	"Waitressing.  More money," Shun said, grinning a little; my eyes
crossed for a moment.

	Munakata-san laughed.  "Amen to that.  I did well as a waitress, back
in the day." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm hoping I can
play the 'I had a surprise baby and survived to become a thriving
professional' card with your mother."

	"She will probably be more impressed by that than running a bakery,"
I said reluctantly.  I don't want to hurt Akane-san's feelings, and I
would like to stay with her.  "But I do think she'd like to see me
with a family like yours, Akane-san, and Kasumi has very good
character, so she wouldn't fear I was hanging out with bad girls."

	"Crystal and I are very naughty girls," Shun teased.

	Munakata-san and Akane-san and I all laughed.  "Anyway," I said.  "I
think the internship would go over well, and maybe we can convince her
to let me stay with one of you.  I would like to."

	They both smiled at that.

	"I'll put a proposal together," Munakata-san said.  "But I need you
to tell me everything you can about your parents."

	I started with Mother; there was a lot to tell them, but when I got
to Mother's time at Primus, I got nervous.  I hate to ask, but I have
to know.  "Akane-san, do you remember... anything from your time..."
I couldn't bring myself to say it.

	"No," she said.  "I remember Kazuya dissolving away," she said
softly, distantly, staring off at the others busy training.  "And then
I remember him coming back to me.  And that's all.  I get flashes in
my dreams sometimes," she continued, turning to look at me. If
Takahashi Yugo played any part in whatever they did with me, I don't
know what it was.  I don't even know what - if anything - they did."

	That made me feel better.  "I know he worked on genetics relating to
muscles, so I don't know if he would have had anything to do with
you."

	"Possibly," Akane-san said.  "How did your mother avoid being killed?"

	"She was sick and her husband made her stay home," I said.  "Mother
hates to miss work, even when sick.  Which sometimes drags out the
sickness."

	Akane-san sighed.

	Shun looked thoughtful, then frowned.

	"What?" I asked.

	"Maybe he knew trouble was coming," Shun said.  "If he knew about
Aunt Natsuki rescuing Aunt Akane from Primus, then he may have feared
someone would come for revenge.  Also, it's possible your mother knows
about the existence of Hime."

	"But she never said anything," I said.

	"Neither did my mother, even though she WAS Hime," Shun said,
waggling a finger.  He sounded rather irritated about it.

	"Mother has a great deal of respect for Fujino-san," I said.  "And if
she knew about the Hime, wouldn't she have recognized the name
'Tokiha'?  If she knew about the Hime, I think she would have moved us
to another city by now."

	"She might only know about me," Akane-san said, frowning.  "She was
only a lab assistant, so she likely wasn't privy to a lot of secrets."
 She sighed.  "I tried to read one of her husband's papers from an
online journal archive, but my brain exploded after the first page."
She sounded embarrassed.

	"I think Crystal looked up one of those, or maybe it was one of Aunt
Natsuki's mother's papers.  Or both," Shun said, trying to remember.

	"And she never searched Kagami for Hime marks," Munakata-san pointed out.

	"What reason would she have to think Kagami could be a Hime?" Shun
asked.  "Also...would Sakomizu-sensei know?  He knew her and her
husband, right?"

	"Yes," Akane-san said.  "Hmm, we should call him."

	"I will," I said nervously.  "He gave us his number since we're under
his supervision."

	I called him, wanting to know and afraid to know.

	"Hello, Kagami-san," he said.  "How are you?"

	"I...I have to ask you something," I told him.  "Did Mother know
about the Hime?"

	"She was not supposed to know.  Her husband worked on Hime-related
matters; but she worked for a different department, and didn't know
anything of the secrets of Primus," he said.

	I winced.  "Did he...was he one of the..."

	"He probably did study Akane-san," he said softly.  "But I was not
privy to the details, just that she was being held and studied."  He
sounded guilty.

	I frowned.  "So she might know everything or nothing."

	"It's pretty clear that at most she only knew some things," he said.
"She might have known of the Hime; but probably only that Akane-san
was one, and not who the others were.  Unless Yugo-san broke the rules
- which is possible - she knows nothing of the Hime beyond that."

	"Thank you," I told him.

	"You're welcome," he said.  "You should ask her to come visit some
time; I'd like to see her."  He paused.  "Her husband isn't likely to
get jealous or act irrationally, is he?  I've known some guys who
freak out when old friends of their ladies show up."

	"Oh, Father would be happy to meet you, I think," I told him.  "He's
not like that."

	"Good," he said, sounding relieved.

	"Anyway, I just needed to ask you," I told him.  We said our goodbyes
and I told them everything.

	"I think we should assume for now she doesn't know anything,"
Munakata-san said.  "So how did she meet her current husband?"

	"Mother met Father while working as a lab assistant.  She made enough
to survive, but not enough to go to graduate school - and Grandmother
wouldn't help with that."  I sighed.  Grandmother's changed her mind,
but she really wasn't very supportive of Mother's efforts to be a
modern woman at first.  But without Grandmother, I probably would have
been aborted.

	I shivered at that.  "They fell in love and got married, but then
Mother got pregnant with me and school fell by the wayside." I paused
a moment, getting up my courage. "Her birth control failed; Iwasaki
Pharmaceuticals went down in flames, after that happened to a lot of
people.  So she ended up continuing as a lab assistant; she still does
that for Father."

	"And what about your father?" Munakata-san asked.

	"His name is Mitsu Kazuo. The weird thing is, he grew up only about
20 miles away from Mother, but they didn't meet until many years
later. Grandfather was a salaryman for a steel company, at their local
plant; it went broke and he fell apart, and eventually died in a car
crash while drunk.  Which is why Father doesn't drink," I told them.
He wants to be sure I don't drink either, but we've never fought over
that. Getting drunk is for idiots.

	"Father had to work to supplement the family income after that, but
he stayed in school and graduated as his class's valedictorian.  Then
he went to college and eventually got his Ph.D.  And he helped his
siblings go to college," I said.

	"But not his wife," Aunt Shiho said, frowning.

	"Once I was born, the money went into me existing," I said, then
sighed.  I pretty much wrecked Mother's dreams just by existing.
She'd probably be happier if she hadn't had me at all.

	Munakata-san said, "I put myself through college as a single mother.
Frankly, I think she's afraid to try for fear she won't cut it."

	I frowned.  "Mother is very smart."

	"Let's not fight over things we could only settle with mind-reading,"
Akane-san said firmly.  "Go on."

	"Father has a huge work ethic, and he's very careful with his money
because he remembered what happened to his Father.  And we have a pool
table and dart board because he loves bar games, but doesn't drink and
won't go to bars."  I smiled a little at that.  Father's co-workers
always tease him about it.

	"I like pool too," Shun said.  "Man, I bet Natasha is hell on wheels
at pool now."

	I squeezed his hand and smiled at him, then said, "Mother likes to do
embroidery in her spare time.  We have lots of nice embroidered
pillows and things as a result."  I tried to think.  "I can't think of
anything else that isn't kind of trivial."

	They squeezed some more information out of me anyway, then we went
back to practicing.  I couldn't help but wonder if Mother knew about
the Hime.  But there's no way I can ask her that.

*****************

Shiho's Tale:

	I hate exercising.  But in addition to getting beat up every day,
I've started working out with Bobby on his home exercise equipment; I
can see results already.  If not very big ones yet. I've also learned
Bobby really loves exercising with me, and it tends to make him hot
for my body.

	And that's a very good thing.

	Right now, though, I was working on my arms while he was cooking
dinner.  Bobby likes to cook, which is a huge plus, as I hate it.
Also, he usually shells out for good ingredients and things which are
expensive, like Kobe beef.  Mmm, good stuff.

	"That smells great," I said; the exercise gear is on one side of his
living room, the dining table and TV in the other end, with the
kitchen just past that end.

	"Chicken primavera," he said.  I could smell the onion and the
parmesan cheese.  Oh this would be good.  "And mizu-yokan.  At least,
I hope it is at least vaguely like mizu-yokan."

	I couldn't see it from here to judge.  "I'm sure it will be great, Bobby."

	"Thanks, Shiho."

	Ugly.  Stupid daughter.  Bobby is very attractive.  Not so pretty in
the face, but pretty boys tend to be idiots anyway.  The rest of him
is delectable and he's very kind.  And he COOKS.

	And I have to lie to him constantly.  I hate that.  He's never lied
to me that I know of.

	Bobby's phone rang.

	"Can you get that?" he asked me.

	"Sure," I said and ran to it, then answered it.  "Cooper residence,
Munakata Shiho speaking."

	In English, a woman hesitantly said, "I'm Bobby's mother, Charlene.
Are you his girlfriend?"

	I switched to English nervously.  He's already told his mother about
me?  What did he say?

	"I am Shiho Munakata, a linguist and translator and Bobby's
girlfriend," I told her in English.  "It's very nice to meet you."
	
	"It's nice to meet you too," she said.

	Bobby said, "Who is that?" in English.  His English is much better
than his Japanese, but his Japanese is pretty good for a foreigner.

	"It's your mother," I told him.  To her, I said, "Bobby is being a
sweetie and cooking me dinner."

	"That's very nice of him," she said cheerfully.  "You work as a
business translator, right?"

	"It's how we met," I told her.  "I did some work for his company."

	"How is your daughter, Natasha?  She goes to a private school,
right?" she asked.

	I smiled.  "Very well; she's too rude for her own good but she's
working hard."

	"Oh, at that age, all children are too rude," Bobby's mother said
ruefully.  "Bobby was very hard to deal with for a while.  It's worse
with boys than girls, I think."

	"So tell me how you tamed him," I said, smiling, and Bobby snorted.
That made me laugh.

	"We had to make him aware of adult things," Mrs. Cooper said.  "Kids
are so sheltered from the things adults have to do, they usually don't
appreciate that their lives could be MUCH worse.  He was easier to
deal with once he saw the whole picture."

	"I hope you're right," I told her.  "Here, let me get Bobby.  It's
nice to meet you."

	I had to hold the phone so he could talk while he cooked.  It was
your basic 'catch up with your child' talk, but it felt good to have
talked to his mother.  And I'm pretty sure she liked me.

	I shouldn't feel so good about that.

	"Oh, she's working out while I do dinner," Bobby said to his mother
as I went back to working out.

	He listened for a moment, then nodded. "That's why she still looks so
good," he said.

	I smiled brightly as I went back to making my arms ache pulling cords
connected to weights.  I think that's how this thing works.

	"I'd be happy to bring her to meet you, except you're in Colorado and
I'm in Japan.  I'm not that loaded to casually hop home for a weekend.
 It's 8000 miles or so."

	I did the math in my head.  Thirteen thousand or so kilometers, I think.  Wow.

	That's a third of the circumference of the Earth, I think.

	"You always say that, Mom, but then it never happens," Bobby said.

	They talked a while longer and then Bobby said goodbye.  "Mom is
talking about flying out here to meet you, but I think once she looks
at the cost, she'll scream and abandon the idea."

	"..."

	"She's afraid I'm going to be alone forever if I don't get married
RIGHT THIS SECOND," Bobby said, then shook his head.  "This isn't a
great lifestyle for marriage.  Found that out the hard way."

	I know he's been married and divorced, but I'm not sure of the
details.  I shouldn't pry.  "So what did happen with your marriage?"

	He sighed. "We fell in love in college, got married my sophmore year,
and had a grand time until I had to do graduate school to get my MBA.