Cy and Ra-chan very nearly succeeded in staying together. Up until the last possible moment, the rushing of speed did nothing to part them. But, with a sudden, gutwrenching jolt, (Assuming the pair had them. It's a figure of speech.) And they were separated, though each of them promised themselves that this was a temporary condition...
***
Ra-chan awoke to a faint light tricking into some dusty blinds. Near the light source, she could make out a desk, and she was lying on a bed nearby.
There were several small pressures over her body. On further examination, she determined it was becasue she was covered in books. The titles ranged from the intellectual, (Origin of the Species), to the Macabre, (The Raven) to the Romantic (Wuthering Heights), to the...er, Shoujo (Ah! My Goddess!).
Her sleepwear was not particularly impressive. She was apparently dressed for bed in a blouse, skirt, necktie, vest and nylons. And she was surrounded by BOOKS. Lots, and LOTS of books. Aside from the tiny 'read 'n' sleep' area, bookshelves utterly dominated the little room. There were also books piled on nearly every available surface, some of them gaily festooned with post it notes reminding the writer to do various things. ("Don't forget to shower! Wash Up! Up! Up!")
Last but not least, there was a distinctly fuzzy, out of focus look to the room...
Mostly out of habbit, Ra-chan reached out and grabbed up the pair of glasses laying right within reach. It was a habbit well-known to people who wear glasses, as indeed she did, so it did not surprise her to need to do so and the glasses were right where she would have put them were this her own apartment.
But it wasn't her own apartment, was it?
Her first impressions were that of the scent. It was a familiar one; the dusty, dry scent of well-worn paper and old ink. The very familiar scent of books. Lots and lots of books.
Gasping, the woman sat up straight, blinking with her now-cleared vision as she slipped the glasses into place and casually pushed them up with her nose. A small avalanche of books cascaded down her body with the movement and instinctively she grasped at one, holding it up to her face. Maynard Solomon's Beethoven. Clasping the book to her chest, Ra-chan took a better look at her surroundings. Books. Lots and lots of books! They were everywhere! The table was covered, the desk was covered, the bed was even covered! Wall-to-wall bookcases! So many BOOKS!
I've died. I've died and gone to heaven. I could never read all these. There's just so many. This has got to be a dream. It's got to be a-
With a mental jerk, what had just happened crashed in on her consciousness and the now-petite brunette gasped and ran a hand up to her head. Long hair, very long hair. Pulling a lock foward, she noticed the dark brown colour, like her own but not. Her cloths....skirt, blouse, tie....and it dawned on her. Out of all the people she could have landed in for this crazy adventure, she had gotten Yomiko Readman.
Her joy was brief, but all-encompasing. Yomiko. She had every excuse to sit in this tiny apartment and read to her heart's content!
But what about Cy?
What about the others?
"Oh my God! Where is he? Where'd he go? We're not together!" Jumping out of bed, Ra-chan-ne-Yomiko had the thought of running out the door and into the street, searching for the others. Unfortunatly, her coordination after such a stressfull ordeal was not the best and she slipped on a pile of books and fell backwards into another stack, quickly burried once again.
One thing was for sure. She was going to have to learn to move around in a slightly smaller body.
Dust filled the air as Ra-chan was piled under books, a few notes fluttering down on top of them, dislodged from their homes on top of the stacked volumes.
The rooftop living space remained completely silent. The drawn blinds shielded any view, making the room seemingly in a void, nothing around it.
That didn't last too long though.
Apair of tentative but sharp knocks echoed towards Ra-chan's ears, muffled by the current pile of books.
"Yomiko-san? Are you awake?" a soft voice inquired, barely audible, its child-like tentativeness managing to ring through though.
Oh shit oh shit oh shit! Someone's coming! What do I do? What do I do!?
For a moment, Ra-chan froze, listening to the voice on the other side of the door. Yomiko-san, that was her! Someone wanted to talk with her! But she wasn't REALLY Yomiko! What could she say? What could she do? Would whoever-it-was see right through her?
Heart beating loudly in her ribs, 'Yomiko' tried to sort out what she was going to do. Well, she knew she needed to find Cy and the others. She knew they had to stop Chaos somehow....but if they were thrown into many different worlds, how would they find each other? And how would they meet up? What about these people's lives? What happened to Yomiko's spirit? Did it trade places with her own? Now THAT would be weird....
Suddenly she remembered the knocking and with a gasp, Ra-chan dug her way out of the books and quickly tried to smooth the flyaway hair as she slipped over to the door to answer it. Smoothing out the wrinkles in the skirt didn't work very well so with a sigh, she opened the door to face whoever it was on the other side.
"Yes yes, coming! Sorry!"
Outside the door was a young woman, smiling nervously. Her dark purple hair was cut short, a little past chin length, and held away from her face by a trio of barrets.
"Yomiko-san...it's alright," she laughed, her voice surprisingly childish for her apparent age of early twenties. She wore a simple brown coat and dark blue slacks, her hands thrust into her pockets. "You were at least awake this time."
Seeming to burrow deeper into her coat, she eyed the slightly taller woman nervously. "Mm...are you going book shopping this morning?"
"N-n-n-nancy-san!"
It was definitly Nancy, and definitly her after the accident that had left her mentally regressed. Ra-chan had to struggle not to gasp at the sound of the unfamiliar voice coming out of her mouth as well. The weirdness of the whole situation was starting to hit her, and hard. Oh why why WHY couldn't she have been dumped somewhere close to Cy?
"Books? Oh! No, I....I don't have money right now! I spent it all earlier." Which seemed like a likely enough excuse. Trying to smooth her hair down a little bit more, she gave a small, friendly smile towards her friend. "I'm waiting for another job, of course. But, come in. I'm very sorry. Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
What Ra-chan really wanted to do was get out of here and find a way to find the others, but she cared for Yomiko's character too much to just brush off one of her friends. Cy and the others could wait....for now.
Nancy stepped inside the small dwelling, glancing about only enough to note it hadn't really changed.
"Ahh, no." The woman seemed on the verge of giggling as she looked around. "Breakfast is waiting for you downstairs, by the way," she murmured, seeming a little more relaxed.
"I came up wondering if I was going to have to remind you to eat before heading out."
"H-h-heading out?" Oh shit! "What do you mean, heading out?" 'Yomiko' tried to look sheepish and rubbed a fictional bump on the back of her head. "I took a little fall and I hit my head. I'm afraid my thinking is a little fuzzy today."
Bustling around nervously, Ra-chan tried to figure out where Yomiko kept her coat and shoes and anything else she might need to go somewhere. After all, she was 'The Paper', an agent. What if she was suppose to be on a job? All she knew about the agency was what she had seen on the show! Oh man.....this was turning out to be a lot less fun.
Yomiko's coat, oddly, was draped over her desk chair, not sprawled on her bed like the show. In fact, the entire place seemed slightly tidier. Her shoes of course, were at the entrance, where Nancy stood.
Nancy watched in partial amusement, a bare hint of confusion in her expression. "Ah, hai. I'll be going to my job soon, so I thought I'd check up here..." she answered, smiling. "Just like every day."
Just like every day?
Ra-chan stopped, her mind running over the possibilities. What exactly was going on between Yomiko and Nancy? They were friends, of course, and Nancy seemed to be doing better since the end of the series. She had a job now but she had obviously never remembered what had happened before. Had Yomiko helped her get on her feet again? Was there something more going on between the two? She had no idea. And she had no idea what exactly she was suppose to be doing, if anything.
"N-nancy-san......I had the weirdest dream earlier....and....and I'm afraid that and the bump has confused me. Am I suppose to be doing anything today?"
There were many more questions she wanted to ask but she'd have to go more in-depth about what was really going on....and that just didn't seem believable, not even to her.
Nancy blinked in mild confusion, and shrugged. "No, I don't think you're supposed to be doing anything today," she replied, still seemingly oblivious to the 'minor' changes in Yomiko.
"I know you have a teaching job this Friday, and then a few more next week, but as far as I know, today was clear."
"Good! Erm, I mean, good, I can spend the day....at the library!" Laughing nervously, 'Yomiko' reached for her coat, grabbed up the little suitcase full of notecards she always had on hand and made to put her shoes on. Breakfast was forgotten, as was any situations the real Yomiko might have been having. With plenty of free time, Ra-chan knew she could go searching for the others, or some CLUE as to where the others were, and she wouldn't be getting Yomiko into trouble.
"If you need to reach me, you know where I'll be."
Well, the poor girl wouldn't actually know, but there wasn't time to be fooling around here. Who knew what could be going on with the others.
Nancy stepped to the side of Yomiko, watching her curiously. "Don't forget breakfast," she reminded gently, smiling.
"And your cell phone is on the table, it needed recharging last night..."
"Oh yes, right, breakfast."
But 'Yomiko' had no intention of eating breakfast. Tokyo was a big place and she had no idea what she was looking for. There was too much to cover and too much that she didn't actually know about this place. Grabbing up the mentioned cell phone, Yomiko slipped her shoes on and prepared to leave.
Then it struck her. This wasn't just some fantasy. This wasn't another show she was watching. This was REAL. Everything in this world was real to these people. It may have been animated in her world, but it wasn't here. Everything that happened here happened for real. What if Yomiko's body got killed here? Would it kill her spirit too? Would it kill BOTH their spirits? This wasn't some game, to be messing around with people's lives as if they meant nothing. It may be fiction in Ra-chan's world, but whatever happened here could have lasting reprecussions.
Pausing, 'Yomiko' turned towards Nancy and gave her a serious, and slightly scared, look.
"Nancy-san....if.....if something happens to me, would you be okay?"
Nancy seemed taken aback by the question, confusion and nervousness flickering over her face. "Ano...I guess so. It might be hard, depending on what happens to your building, since I live here, but I could probably figure something out," she answered, looking uncomfortable with the subject.
"Are you sure you're alright, Yomiko-san? You seem a little off today...maybe you shouldn't go to the library..." she mused, almost rambling as she looked closer at Yomiko.
Sweatdropping a little, 'Yomiko' smiled and waved her hands in a dismissive manner.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just that I read something the other day and I had the strangest dream because of it. I guess it got me thinking."
Suddenly in a hurry again, the brunette rushed for the door. "But now I really want to get to the library, maybe stop at a few of my favorite bookstores. I don't think I've spent ALL of my money yet. And you don't want to be late for work."
Trying to hurry so that Nancy wouldn't concentrate on her TOO much, Yomiko hurried out the door, coat in one hand, suitcase in the other.
Nancy laughed, giving up on nagging her friend. "Hai hai, Yomiko-san..." she answered, tiding things up in the room a little before following Yomiko out.
Outside her room, the dark haired woman found herself on the roof of a building. It was a little shorter than the other structures around it, all of which seemed a little stubby from this angle. Early morning traffic in the area was light, only a few pedestrians and the occasional car. Off in the distance, the Tokyo skyline loomed, a concrete and steel mountain range clawing upwards towards the clouds.
The enormity of Ra-chan's task settled about her shoulders, a leaden weight that dragged her spirits down. Find Cy? Find the others? What chance did she have in a place such as this? Would anyone be able to help her, even? What about Order and Chaos and whatnot? This wasn't going to be easy, not even safe. The girl didn't even know where to begin.
Frankly, she was tempted to head to the library like she had originally told Nancy-san. But then, she was struck with the thought that she didn't actually know where the library WAS. Perhaps Yomiko's body would instinctively know, being that she had probablly gone there a million times before, but there was too much the oportunity to get lost around here.
Mostly to herself, the dark-haired woman nibbled on her lower lip and mused quietly. "Now where do I go?"
Nancy seemed lost in her own world as she headed down the stairs from the roof, the metal door clanging shut loudly on its own, the ring of metal seeming to thunder in the morning's silence.
A gust of cold wind seemed to come out of nowhere, attempting to blow Yomiko's jacket away from her body, and obscuring her vision as a lock of dark hair was pushed into her face by the atmosphere.
A few blocks away, a car honked, but nothing else disturbed the world.
Gotta think about this intelligently...., Ra-chan mused. Where am I? Tokyo. Tokyo is huge, but I could never quite place the time period Read or Die was suppose to take place. There's a weird mix of old and new technology, I guess.
Brushing the errant hair away from her face, 'Yomiko' was distracted by the thought of having long hair again. She hadn't had long hair since high school, early on at that. It was weird to have so much weight hanging down her back again. It was kinda nice though. Anime characters all have such nice hair....
Aggg, no, I have to keep on track here. I'm in Tokyo. Most anime happens in Tokyo, right? So....maybe I'll run into people I know?
Sighing, the girl figured she should at least find out what was going on in this world. The apartment situated where it was, it was of course surrounded by bookstores and all sorts of places Yomiko could spend her money at. And if she could at least get a newspaper for today, she could find out if there was anything going on that she would have to watch out for.
Noting which direction Nancy had taken, Yomiko hurried over to the stairwell, pulled open the heavy, metal door and practically ran down the stairs, her suitcase clunking along loudly behind her.
Yomiko descended into a world of books. Texts of every kind were piled on every available space, seeming to engulf the rooms and stairwells of the building.
There were narrow tracks through the literary forest, just barely large enough for two people to get by each other, a winding maze built by years of unchecked bibliophile spending.
The slightest whisper of Nancy whistling came from the first floor, along with the smell of toast and eggs, and coffee.
From her position in the kitchen, Nancy could hear the door opening, and two pairs of footsteps in the main hallway of the building. Just as Yomiko arrived on the first floor, the two women heard a younger woman call out from the hallway. "Sensei? That you?"
The smell of food was tantalizing and Ra-chan realized that Yomiko hadn't actually eaten in a while. It wasn't surprising, as the bookaholic probablly lost track of the time more often than not in her quest to read every single book in existence. (at least, that's what it seemed like she was doing) Ra-chan also knew it had been a while since her own body had ate, so a bit of food would have been nice.
Before Yomiko could quite get into the kitchen though, a voice distracted her and she glanced over at Nancy as she walked into the kitchen.
"Ne, Nancy-san, who is that? Someone you know?"
Nancy blinked, setting out cereal, toast, and eggs since Yomiko was in the kitchen for once. "Ano...I think that's Sumirada-san," she answered, her expression shifting to confused curiousity. "She visits to talk to you sometimes," she supplied, looking like she was getting ready to leave now.
'Yomiko' tried to look like she knew what Nancy was talking about but her expression was more lost and befuddled than normal. Sumirada-san? Who was Sumirada-san? With a sinking feeling, Ra-chan had a feeling she knew what was going on.
ROD the TV series. Shit! I knew I should have watched that! Great, now I'm utterly going to be missing something and I have no idea how to take care of this.
In desperation, Yomiko reached out and grasped Nancy's arm before she could even attempt to go anywhere. "Nancy-san! I.....I......do you absolutly have to go to work today? There's something I need to tell you!"
Nervously the dark-haired woman glanced towards the entranceway, knowing that the person out there would walk in and then it would be all over. It would help to have an ally though, even if Nancy didn't remember anything before the Beethoven incident. An ally is still an ally, no matter what.
At that moment, a girl...perhaps a woman, though she was barely twenty, walked in the door, her shoulder length brown hair held back by a yellow headband, dressed casually in a green sweatshirt and bluejeans. "Ohayo, Sensei." She greeted Yomiko with a wry smile. "Ran into someone interesting onm the way here..."
She led another girl into the room, barely sixteen, long red hair tied back in a ponytail high on her head, and dressed in a strange looking cloak...
"Ah!" Yomiko released Nancy's arm quickly and turned towards the woman, bowing low, her hands nervously clasped in front of her. "Good morning, Sumirada-san. How are you?"
Remembering her manners, the woman also turned towards the oddly-dressed stranger and bowed as well. There was something about the woman's appearance that seemed out of place in this world Ra-chan had found herself in.....something that was just different enough to give her pause. It was like.....it was like the woman was part of some strange crossover or something.
If this was a show instead of real life, I'd wonder if the woman's animation style was different or something. Wouldn't that make finding the others just that much easier? But no.....this is real now.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Yomiko Readman."
Nancy smiled, bowing to the two women who'd arrived. "Ah...if it's really an emergency, Yomiko-san, I could call in sick..." she answered, the befuddled curious expression still omnipresent.
Nenene was a bit put off by that. " 'Sumirada-san'?" She asked, a bit huffily, then turned to the red-headed girl, shaking her head. "Looks like you were right, she's the one you were looking for..."
She turned to Nancy, smiling slightly. "You'd probably better...it's better off if you know what's going on." With that, she glanced at the girl who came in with her. "That's your cue, by the way."
"Oh! Sorry," replies Carthrat, blinking. "I'm Carthrat! Who the heck are you?"
It took a full minute for the girl's name to register in Ra-chan's head. A full minute in which she blinked in confusion and her brain tried to come up with why that sounded familiar. Carthrat.....Carthrat......C-Rat! Rat boy! Having realized that, she blurted out the first thing that came into her head.
"Oh my God! You're Karthuratsu Tanewaki!"
And then she blurted out the second.
"You got a GIRL'S body?"
Then Ra-chan proceeded to practically fall over from laughing. A very un-Yomiko thing to do.
Nenene just watched, shaking her head and crossing her arms, then suddenly glanced at Ritsuko, a light going on in her head. "She was a guy?"
"*Was* being the operative word. You got a shower?" replies Carthrat.
Nenene frowned at the redhead, glancing over at the giggling Yomiko, and shook her head. "How about you and whoever's in Sensei finish the exposition first? You covered the main points, but Nancy-chan doesn't look as though she's been told anything, and I'm kind of interested in the details..."
Carthrat shrugs. "Get this loon off the ground, and I'll oblige you."
It took 'Yomiko' a little while but when she was done with her little nervous fit of laughter (it had been a stressful day), she sat down on the floor and wiped the corner of her eyes with the edge of her coat.
"Sorry about that. But of course, now I wonder how the others turned out."
A passing though that perhaps Cy had also been placed in a girl's body quickly dismissed itself and Yomiko glanced around, pushing the glasses up on her nose a bit further.
"Well, erm, introductions I suppose? Everyone calls me Ra-chan, which works good enough." Looking at Nenene, the brunette had to shrug. "I'm sorry, but I don't know you at all. My knowledge of Rea--- of Yomiko's world only extends until right after the Beethoven incident. So I believe I'm a little behind in the times."
Glancing over at Nancy, Yomiko gave the girl a guilty look. "I wanted to tell you that I'm not really Yomiko but I couldn't think of a way to do it."
Nenene raised an eyebrow. "I've known you...Yomiko since long before that. I was a senior in high school when I first met her..." She observed.
"At any rate...how do we get her back?"
"We have to go out and do something that Order- that's a deific being that's hiring us- without pay, I might add- needs done. Some kind of competition," says Carthrat. "Presumably, if we don't screw up majorly and die, all the bodies will be reunited with their proper owners.
That's a wild guess, by the way. For all I know, we could end up stuck like this."
Nancy simply blinked in confused thought as the others abntered and explained. "Well...I guess that's that," she finally murmured, half to herself, and half to Yomiko.
Smiling a little too serenely, she shrugged. "If that's how things are, there's not much else to do."
"So. Any other questions? Because I could really use that shower," says Carthrat. "And some food. And some money.
Oh. Yeah. I have a tank parked near where you picked me up, Nenene. For obvious reasons, I couldn't drive it into Tokyo, but I have to go back and see it tomorrow. Or tonight. But tomorrow is better.
As for why I have a tank, well, your guess is as good as mine."
Yomiko-ne-Ra-chan sweatdropped at Rat's attitude. Male or female, he would never change.
"I'm sorry Sumirada-san, but my scope of information lies only within the ordeal with the, erm, clones." Ra-chan wasn't quite sure how to handle this. Nancy's memory might be sparked by something said or done and if that happened, then she would have to stand trial for the crimes she committed. And she didn't want that to happen because of her. Yomiko would never forgive her.
Yomiko doesn't even know me though.....but still. It wouldn't be fair.
With a sigh, the girl shrugged helplessly and turned back towards Carthrat. "There should be a shower here...and I believe Nancy said something about breakfast being ready as well. Might as well clean up and eat, then you can explain to me about this contest. I haven't heard a thing."
Nenene growled, and smacked Ritsuko across the back of the head lightly. "I don't care if you're a teenage girl with a gun fetish, or a displaced champion of the galaxy. When you're in someone else's home, show some manners, and a little respect, chibikko!"
"I havn't heard much," replies Carthrat, shrugging (and choosing to ignore Nenene for the time being). "I do know who two others are, though. As for what the contest itself is, I wouldn't have a clue.
I don't think anyone does, really. Remember that Chaos was the one who dictates the terms of the contest? Given his attitude, we probably won't know anything until it starts.
Uh, yeah. Thanks for driving me, and all," she continues, turning to Nenene.
"The others, Ra-chan, are, um.. what were they.. oh yeah! Minako Aino, and.. Tsukuro Aoyama?
Hey, that's an idea! While I'm having a shower, you could look up Minako in a phone book or something. How many Aino's can there be living in Juuban? Don't know anything about Aoyama, though.
Oh, yeah, have you got some clothes I can wear? Less... skirty-dressy-girly stuff? These make me feel.. odd."
Nancy leaned closer to Yomiko, giving Carthrat a sidelong glance. "Is he American?" she asked, pointedly not being too quiet.
"I'm *Australian*," replies Carthrat, pointedly. "One of the polite ones, too."
Nancy looked back over at Carthrat. "You act more like the ill-mannered American businessmen I meet at work," she answered dryly. "If this is polite, no wonder I haven't met an Australian yet."
Ra-chan giggled at Nancy's reply to Carthrat's comment. Ill-mannered certainly fit the young Australian's personality perfectly.
"Actually, Nancy-san, I am American. But I agree, Rat-boy is definitly in need of some manners."
With a quiet sigh, the spectacled girl turned back towards Ritsuko. "At any rate, I recognize the name Aino Minako. I'm not sure that's in the same period as....as us right now. I'm not even sure how Order and Chaos are bridging the different universes so that we can interact. I don't think it's going to be as easy as looking up the others in the phone book."
"Perhaps we should look in the newspaper or something. Whatever the challenge is, I feel that Chaos is one who will make it as overdone as possible. He was such a show-off and a jerk."
"I found you, didn't I?" replies Carthrat. "I'm pretty sure they'll all be in Tokyo. Whatsisname- Remy told me. Said I'd be able to find people here. I figure anyone else who is from some other wacko dimension will end up here. Eventually.
One thing he *didn't* tell me was who was who. I mean, he told me those identities, but I've got no clue who they might be."
"Unless we're suppose to find a way to meet them elsewhere." Yomiko looked a little cross-eyed for a moment as Ra-chan tried to work out how the whole dimensional-crossing thing would work. She gave up with a small sigh and threw her hands up in the air.
"Anyway, perhaps we should get some food and all. As for clothing, you're on your own. Yomiko wears skirts and all that."
Carthrat sighs. "Figures.. aww, she's gotta have a pair of jeans or *something*. No matter, really."
Nenene leaned against the wall, quietly listening and massaging the bridge of her nose, a disturbed frown covering her face...
"Anyway. There's something else I need to tell you about," continues Carthrat.
"First, though, you ever watched Steel Angel Kurumi? At least, I think that's waht Remy was talking about."
'Yomiko' frowned and shook her head, pushing her glasses up a bit further on her nose. "I've only heard of Kurumi, never actually seen it. If it's terribly important, just sum it up really quick. It's a little late to be catching up with series now, isn't it?"
"I wouldn't know anything about the series, either. But I do know that one of our comrades has something to do with it, and he's in a temple somewhere around the outskirts of Japan.
Near Juuban, which is another wonderful reason we should go there.
He's like in cold sleep or stasis or something, and I don't know who he or she is. But, apparently, he's a contender, and we have to go and get him before the main event, whenver that might be.
My current plan is to find the locations of as many of us as I can, and then go hunting for this temple. I don't know anything about Tsuruko Aoyama, though, only Minako, so we better hope whoever is over there does."
Carthrat takes a deep breath.
"So, uh, best get that phone book out? I'm sorry to take up your lives in this manner, by the way," he/she continues, giving Nenene and Nancy a quick glance.
"Tsuroko....Tsuroko....that sounds really familiar for some reason." Ra-chan frowned slightly, trying to turn over the name in her head. She was never very good with names but that particular sounded really familiar. It must be from a show she had seen in the past couple of years, but which one?
When Cathrat appologized to the other two women in the room though, Ra-chan finally remembered that there were others around and blushed faintly. It was a cute look on Yomiko, though one Ra-chan had never been able to pull of convincingly in real life.
"Ah, Nancy-san, um....Sumirada-san. I'm sorry. Look, if you two wanted to stay out of this, we'd understand. I don't think the two of us understand it all that well anyway. It wouldn't be fair to drag you into something no one understands. I--OH! THAT'S IT!"
It was like a light turning on inside her head. Turning back towards 'Ritsuko', Ra-chan banged her right fist into her left hand. "Tsuroko! I recognize the name. It's from Love Hina! Hmmm, which girl was it though? I don't recognize Aoyama exactly." Mummbling under her breath, 'Yomiko' tried to work through her badly-shaken memory all the characters she could remember. "Not Naru-chan, nor Keitaro. Not that crazy, foreign-type girl or the quiet one with blue hair....Oh! I remember! Motoko. Tsuroko Motoko! Didn't she have a sister?"
And Ra-chan turned to Cathrat as if he would be able to confirm or deny her suspicions.
"I have no idea," states Carthrat. "Any idea where she lived?"
"Erm....well, I don't know where Motoko's sister lived, but I know Motoko lived at the Hina hot springs dormotories."
With a wry grin and a shrug, Ra-chan dismissed the matter. "We'll try to find Motoko, I guess. Maybe she'd be willing to help us. But you know, Rat, if we're on the move, shouldn't we assume that the others are as well? Who's to say they're not going to try to find us. It's going to be hard as hell finding people if they're moving."
"Quite possible," replies Carthrat, shrugging. "But I think our first priority is to get to this temple. Since it's near Juuban, we can contact Minako along the way."
"I dunno. What do you suggest we should do?"
Nenene shrugged simply and glanced at Nancy. "We'll help if we can...Sensei's at stake after all...just let us know what you need..." She suggested, glancing at Nancy for a moment, wondering if the other confused woman should be sheltered from the event.
"I dunno, Rat. When I got up this morning, I wasn't expected to be thrown into a situation like this. I have no idea what to do....But why don't you get showered or whatever it was you wanted to do then we can get going. We're just wasting time at the moment. Besides, Cy is somewhere out there and I'm getting a little antsy about finding him."
Nervously tugging on a strand of long, dark hair, 'Yomiko' turned back towards Nenene and Nancy. "Sumirada-san, perhaps you can help me look up the two girls. Nancy-san, you don't have to stay if you want. I'm sorry about asking you to skip work. You should go, if you need to."
As long as there was one person to help them out, Ra-chan didn't exactly want to get Nancy into any sort of trouble. Yomiko would never forgive her for that.
"Don't forget Sakura," chimes in Carthrat, shrugging. "But, yeah. Don't mind me for the next fifteen minutes."
Carthrat wanders off, intent on getting cleaned, and then hopefully finding some more-suitable clothing for wandering around in.
Nenene nodded. "Tell me what you're looking for, and we can see..." she offered. "I should be able to narrow it down, at least..."
Nancy took a deep breath, trying to ingest the information that was assaulting her in droves. "No...it's alright...they don't really need me that much at work, unless there's an emergency, and then they have my pager..." she shrugged, smiling helplessly.
"But, if you don't really have a use for me, I guess I should go...?"
Nenene smiled at Nancy. "If you really want to help, I can probably use you." she offered. "But you shouldn't risk your job for it..."
Nancy shook her head, smiling. "It's no risk, I just need to call in first."
**Timeskippiness!**
About a half hour later, they resumed their positions at the kitchen table, Nenene having retrieved a laptop computer from her car, and began connecting to the internet, and Nancy having discovered a bookshelf dedicated entirely to phone books for Tokyo and it's wards.
Nenene looked to Yomiko curiously. "Alright, we're ready. Who're we looking for?"
"Minako Aino, of Juuban ward," replies Ritsuko. "Umm.. Tsuruko Aoyama, and Sakura Kinamoto. That's it. I don't know anything about the last two."
Nancy sighed, blowing a lock of purple hair out of her eyes. "Right...thank whoever invented register sorting..." she murmured, pulling up one of the thick volumes, and beginning to search...
After a few moments of entering instructions to her computer, Nenene turned to Ritsuko with a puzzled look.
"The only address I can find for any Aoyama family is a post office box in a small town in near Kyoto..." she told the girl, frowning. "I might be mistaken, but you don't really have time for that, do you?"
Yomiko was nibbling on what was left of her breakfast, a piece of some sort of bread, and leaned over Nenene's shoulder. "That's probablly where she lives, but I still don't think we can rely on her, or any of our friends, to stay stationary. Did you find the address for the Hina hot springs?"
With her free hand, the dark-haired woman riffled with a stack of index cards idly, her mind trying to turn over how to arrange all this. "We could call the place, I guess. Do they have a phone number we can contact? And we could call the Hina boarding house as well....maybe the woman is there. There's just too many options!"
"Let's look up the others first," replies Carthrat. "We'll try and find out as much as we can before delving deeper."
Nenene nodded, and turned back to her computer, glancing idly at Yomiko. "Do you want me to send an email to someone who might be where she is before we move on?"
"Sure," replies Carthrat. "Make out the sender to be one C-Rat, or at least the subject, and tell him to reply for more details, including *his* name."
"Gotcha." The bespectacled woman replied, her fingers flying over the keyboard. Within moments, she switched to resuming the search for the remaining two...
It was only a few moments later when Nancy spoke up, holding a finger on a name in the phone book. "Cell phone number for Aino Minako?" she asked the other three, looking up.
Nenene raised her eyebrows, looking to the other two women. "That sounds right to me...That IS what you said, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," replies Carthrat. "Let's give it a ring."
Nenene nodded, and pulled out her cell phone, and tossed it to Ritsuko. "Right. There ya go." She replied.
Ritsuko dialed the number, and after a moment, a soft, but decidely perky sounding female voice answered. "Moshi Moshi?"
"Uh, is this Minako Aino?" Ritsuko replied hesitantly.
The girl's voice fell into a strange speech pattern, completely at odds with the light, feminine voice. "Yeah, you've got her..."
"Oh, good," replies the Ritsuko. "Are you.. well.. not where you should be, in a manner of speaking?"
Almost audibly blinking at the question, she asks, "Uh, if you're a narc trying to get me, I'm on my way to school! Hell, it hasn't even started yet..."
"Oh. That's not what I meant," replies the Ritsuko. "Does the word 'Soulriders' mean anything to you?"
"Yeah, I know it... Who are you, and what the hell do you want?"
"So touchy," she observed. "I'm Carthrat. Who the hell are you?"
Ryder suddenly was happy... Extremely happy... VERY INCREDIBLY HAPPY... as she said, "RAT-BASTARD!!! Thank God!"
"Hah! 'Thank God', indeed.." replies Carthrat, chuckling.
"Hey, out of all of us, there are worse people that could find me first... like Kwok... and Kwok... and did I mention Kwok?" Ryder replied as she smiled to Artemis, mentioning to him, with her hand over the reciever, "It's one of the others..."
"I don't think anyone else got a list of names to search for, though," replies Carthrat, flatly. "By the way.. have you had a shower yet?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course I took a shower... it was... interesting..." Ryder replied, a bit of a blush forming at that last part.
"Interesting? It was.. educational," replies Carthrat, blushing a little herself.
"Yeah... definately..." Ryder added, still thinking about why it took her a while to finish.
"But, uh, that's not what I'm supposed to be talking about. Nonono. Ok. Ok. First, are you in one piece? Had any weird shit happen to you so far?"
"Oh, yeah... forgot to mention... If you haven't guessed by now, my name is," Ryder said before taking a deep breath, "I am known as Valetinez Alkalenela Zeehock Sushira Boherez Gombigomela Blue Stradavari Tralentrent Pierre Andre Charttenhemos E'Vonnivitchi Baldos George Doitzel Kaizer The Third... And you've already called me, haven't you Rodent-chan?"
"I'll call you Ryder for short," replies Carthrat, flatly.
"Aww... How'd you guess it was me?" Ryder replied with a hint of disappointment in her voice...
"Because nobody else speaks like that," replies Carthrat, nodding to herself. "Except maybe Kwok."
"Don't you dare compare me to him..." Ryder warned, before remembering Rat's question, "Well, besides a missing piece that I miss so much, I'm in one piece. And, I've had a couple of twisted nightmares, fell over about 20 times trying to learn to walk in heels, and have to go back to high school... other than that, it's been peachy keen."
"High school? You ain't going to school! We've got stuff to do!" exclaims Carthrat.
"I know that very much, but if I don't go, then the other Senshi will find me out, and I don't want that to happen yet..." Ryder replied, annoyance in her voice...
"Call in sick," replies Carthrat, flatly.
"Har har, that would bring Usagi over to try and make me feel better..." Ryder replied, equally flatly...
"I don't know. Make something up. Or you could just come clean with them. Though they'll probably try and exorcise you or something. Anyway, that doesn't matter just now. You seen anything called 'Steel Angels' or something?"
"No, I haven't... why?"
"Well, someone we know is from that series. Except, I don't know, she's in stasis or asleep or something, in a temple on the outskirts of Juuban.And, y'see, if Chaos or wheover gets to her first, I think she can be turned against us. Now, Remy is the one who told me this. He also told me who you were, along with a few other people."
"But I think it's absolutely crucial that we get to this person before anyone else does."
"It is important... we can't lose anyone to Chaos... Except Kwok."
"Ryder," snaps Carthrat, "Don't joke about that."
"I know, I know... Don't give me the Lunar Inquisition, alright?" Ryder replied, her serious tone and look returning...
"Right. Anyway, the first thing we have to do is *find this temple*."
"All I know is that it's on the outskirts of Tokyo, around the Juuban area."
"Look.. oh, yeah. I'm Ritsuko from.. Those Who Hunt Elves, that's it. Ra-chan is with me; she landed Yomiko Readman. The other people I know of are Sakura Kinamoto, and Tsuruko Aoyama. We're going to try contacting them, and then try and find some place to meet."
"You CAN use my place I suppose... My... Uh, Minako's parents are out of town on work related business, so we could meet here if you can find it."
"Well, you're the one who lives there. I'll get the address off you when we're ready to move."
"Look, after I've contacted as many people as I can, I'll try and get us all to Juuban so we can search for this temple place."
"Alright, that sounds like a plan O'Fearless Leader... In the meantime, I've got to try and keep myself from being found out today. I'd rather have some proof of my identity when Luna finds out..."
"Sure you'll have proof. Us. And don't you have some cat of your own?"
"Of course I do," Ryder replied as she started to pet Artemis, "But, do you honestly think she'll believe him? You watched the series, you know how much faith Luna has in Artemis..."
"Well. Actually. I didn't watch the series," replies Carthrat, flatly.
Ryder quickly whispered, "No offense..." to her cat before replying, "Oh great... well, feel lucky you've got someone who doesn't need to prance around in a CFM outfit to get her powers."
"You do have a point," replies Carthrat. "But any moron can use a gun. Only you can do what you do."
"And of all of them, I had to get stuck with the one I liked the least... Why couldn't I have been Ami or something. Then I wouldn't have to act brainless..."
"On the other hand, if we need to seduce someone, you've got all the equipment necessary."
"Har Har Rat... Go Fuck Off And Die..."
"I'll be doing that. I'll phone you again when we've got our plans sorted out...Oh, yeah. You wouldn't know anything about what's happening yourself, would you? Remy contacted me, I guess something else could've contacted you.. or something."
"Nothing contacted me... I've been in the dark, except for the post-armageddon nightmare..."
"Ok. Any questions, queries, or doubtful points?"
"I think it was my own self-esteem getting in my way... Or, maybe it was a wake-up call..."
Carthrat blinks. "Um.. nightmares? Self-esteem?"
"Sorry... just rambling a bit... No, I don't think there's anything else... Besides, of course, who's phone this is..."
"Oh! I forgot to mention. I'm with Nenene Sumiregewa, in Yomiko Readmans apartment. It's Nenene's mobile. Heaven knows how much of a bill I've put on it." She hesitated. "Here, I'll give you her number."
Ritsuko hesitated a moment, then read off a string of numbers to Minako.
Ryder smiled and replied, putting her pen back into her bag, "Good... Now, if I had actually seen RoD, that would mean something..."
"Well, no time to worry about the specifics. Try and get out of school."
"I'll be seeing you later. Hopefully."
"Yeah... I'll try and cook up something, but, it'll be hard..."
"Well. Stay safe, and all."
*Click*
Ryder closed her cell phone, and sighed...
Nenene eyed Ritsuko, beginning to smirk as the younger woman handed the phone back, having deduced at least one interesting point from the half of the conversation she heard. "What exactly WERE you doing in the shower, chibikko?"
The phone suddenly rang, saving Ritsuko from the necessity of a reply. Nenene answered, then blinked, and handed it to Ritsuko. "It's for you..."
"What? Forget something?" Ritsuko asked.
"Of course I forgot something you idiot, I wouldn't be wasting her minutes if I didn't..." Ryder-Minako answered.
"Haw haw."
"Yeah... it's all coming down this weekend, at the Tokyo Dome. It looked to me like it was something like ULTRA... Oh God, please tell me you've read ULTRA."
"Not only havn't I read it, I've never heard of it."
"OK... think... you're going to hate this... WWF with Anime"
"I somehow doubt we'll be restricted to wrestling," notes Carthrat.
"Of course... but, that's the style I think it's going in... And it's going to be TELEVISED."
"Er.. right," replies Carthrat. "Televised, you say? Well.. all we need to do is win, right?"
"After that, it doesn't matter."
"Yeah... But, now you know... Tokyo Dome, this weekend... And, we're probably going to be facing other characters we know too." Upon further rememberance, she added, "This was BS... Chaos made the commercial, and then decided to have f'n AMELIA beating me... I'm going to maul him just for that..."
"Amelia? Y'know, when you think about it, she's not all that different to a sailor senshi.."
"Except that we're alot better... the CFM suit does more than make us look like we're dying for attention. I tried it this morning... you get a nice little strength and speed boost, and there's a rush you get when..." Ryder stopped her bullet-train of thought, and added, "Rat, when you see me, make sure to slap me, OK?"
"Huh. Ok."
"I guess I lucked out. Ritsuko doesn't have any weird baggage or odd destiny traits or any of that junk."
"Check that, I'm going to slap you for bragging..."
"Whatever. Anything else you forgot?"
"Thankfully, no... I'm late, and you've probably have already figured out other people, right?"
"Er, we're working on it."
"Riiiiiiiight.... Tell Ra-chan that I'm asking her to keep you in line..."
Carthrat's voice drops to a whisper. "Between you and me, I've had just about enough of that sort of treatment."
Ryder giggled and replied, "It's all cool man... Out of everyone, I don't know who I'm scared most of, Luna or Chaos..."
"Heh. Well, be seeing you."
"Yeah..."
*click!*
Carthrat shakes her head, handing the phone back to Nenene.
"That's some truly odd stuff," she says, shaking her head.
"How so, exactly?" Nenene replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Apparently, the 'challenge' is taking place at Tokyo Dome this weekend," replies Carthrat. "And Ryder reckons it's going to be televised.
Oh, yeah. Minako is indeed one of us. Ryder Hakubi. Don't know much about him.
But. This weekend, he says. What day is it?"
"It's Monday." Nenene replied, blinking and removing her hairband to run a hand through her hair. "So that's good. You have time to figure out where this 'Steel Angel' is..."
"Yeah. And we need to do that as quickly as possible," observes Carthrat. "We know Ryder has a house in Juuban, and she told me that her parents have left on a business trip, so we should meet her there.
That aside, let's look up the last one. Sakura, it was."
"Already found." Nenene nodded to her computer. "Though, Kinomoto has several names listed, but none of them happen to be 'Sakura'..."
"That's right, she's like twelve or something," replies Carthrat, thinking. "Ra-chan, you have any idea where she lives? Or who her parents are, even?"
Nenene frowned. "Ahem..." She interjected. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but...there seems to be some urgency here, right?"
"Absolutely," replies Carthrat. "I planned to get moving once I was done here."
During the long conversation, Yomiko was suppose to be looking up information on the whole Aoyama angle, but she had been slightly distracted by the conversation between the two 'guys.' At the mention of showers, she just rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath as she stared down at the phone listing on the table.
"Boys.....sounds like somebody needs to get laid or something."
But the conversation dragged on....and on......by the time the others had acknowledged her again, there was no response. Had any of the others looked around the large stack of books the woman had sat behind, they would have found Yomiko 'Ra-chan' with her head on the telephone directory, sound asleep.
Nenene leaned back in her chair, glancing around the pile of books on the desk at Yomiko, smiling slightly. "Just like her..." Shaking her head, she turned back to Ritsuko.
"Well, we have one address already. Why don't you go find her...or him." She smirked, having overheard the phone call, "And we'll wake up...uhm...Her, and look into the Kinomoto angle, and we can meet up later?"
"Sure, but I gotta get to my tank at some point today," replies Carthrat. "It's important.
But yeah, I can get to Ryder's place. You'll need to give me some money for a train, or just drive me down. They don't have metal detectors or anything on the subway, right?"
Nenene gave Ritsuko a baleful look. "You don't want much, do you?" she said, and eyed the girl. "No, there are no metal detectors, but a teenage girl without her bellybutton showing is somewhat out of place." she commented wryly as she dug in he pocket and pulled out a thousand yen bill, flipping it to the redhead. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. Where's the station?" replies Carthrat, pocketing the yen. "What line should I catch?"
Nenene gave her a sharp look. "Do NOT go to the train station. Take the subway. There's a station just outside the district, on the west side. And get a map. Next?"
"Yeah. Give me your mobile number," replies Carthrat, producing a notebook and a pen from somewhere. "In case something happens and I can't get to Ryder."
Nenene nodded, and rattled off a number. "Though, that has a fairly short range...if you can't get ahold of it, call my apartment, and leave a message." she added, and rattled off another number.
"Right," replies Carthrat, pocketing the notebook and grabbing her backpack. "I'll be going, then. I'll call you when I get there. Ja!"
"Ja." Nenene replied, waving as the girl left. Smirking slightly, got up and walked over to where Yomiko had taken her impromtu nap, and shook her gently. "Sensei...? Or Ra-chan...?"
At Nenene's touch, the dark-haired girl jerked upright with such force that she nearly fell backwards in her chair. Her eyes were wide, still caught in some dream or rememberance.
"I WASN'T SLEEPING ON THE JOB! I'll get right on it! I-!"
Blinking, Ra-chan looked around, the dream fading and the reality of her situation coming back to her. She picked up her glasses, which had dropped off her face at the sudden force of her awakening, and repositioned them on her face once more.
"I'm sorry! I was suppose to be looking up something, wasn't it? It's just that before this whole mess I had an early shift at work and I was yanked rather preemptively out of that and I'm still quite tired. I think most of the other guys had more rest than I had....maybe." Taking a deep breath, "Yomiko" glanced around, then back down at the book she had slept on, rubbing her face in a distracted manner to remove the red splotch on her cheek.
"You know, I know a bit about Yomiko-chan and Nancy-san, but I'm afraid I hardly know anything about you. Before we continue, could you at least tell me how I should refer to you as? I don't even know your given name...."
Nenene smiled, and shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. I can imagine that this is something of a strange situation." She perched on the desk corner, and folded her arms under her breasts, a slightly sardonic look on her face.
"And...as for what to call me, it doesn't matter, really. Sensei and I were good friends, but she has a deep rooted respect for authors, and wouldn't call me anything but sensei...and when we first met, she was a substitute in one of my high school classes...so I called her Sensei, too. We never really got out of the habit. You can use my name, though, if you like. I'm Sumirada Nenene. What should I call you?"
"Ahhh, you can call me Yomiko if that makes you feel better. I'll get used to responding to that soon, hopefully. But my name in my universe is Rachelle, or Ra-chan for short. The guys also knew me as Inuyasha-chan, but that's a long story."
She grinned faintly and tried to smooth down the long hair, which had gotten rather mussed from her unplanned snooze. "I might just call you Nenene, but I can try for sensei too. We'll see. Anyway, now that we have that cleared up, I guess we should be heading out. Where did Rat go?"
"Either's fine." Nenene said easily, then nodded at the door. "She went out to meet up with the person she was on the phone with...you and I and Nancy need to look up someone...quite young."
The brown haired woman slid off the desk, and ran her fingers through her own hair. "Is there anything you know about this 'Sakura Kinomoto' that will make looking for her easier?"
"Sakura? Card Captor Sakura?" 'Yomiko' gave Nenene a wide-eyed look for a moment, then shook her head and held up her hands defensively. "The only things I know about her is that she's a Card Captor. I never actually watched.....studied....whatever. My knowledge of her is limited. But I DO know what she looks like, if that helps. I know she has an older brother as well, but that's about it. I'm not sure if that helps.....unless perhaps you cross-reference what names and addresses you might have with any sort of weird happenings in the area. I think that would be the best way to narrow down choices, don't you think?"
Quietly, to her self, Ra-chan was sincerily hoping that Cy wasn't the one who had ended up in Sakura's body....
Nenene frowned. "That...could work. But we'd need a general idea of where she lives to start from Juuban and Nerima are full of weird happenings, too." She tapped a finger to he lips absently. "Hmm...Is she elementary school aged? Maybe school records..."
"Yes, she's elementary school. Hmmm, she has this friend too. Tomoyo or something like that. I don't recall the family name though so that's not going to help you out much."
With a frown, Yomiko started to chew lightly on a lock of hair. "Have you gotten anything at all? Anywhere to start?"
Nenene smiled reassuringly, and sat back down at her laptop. "It's not the most solid lead, but it's a place to start." she agreed, typing quickly. "I take it this 'Tomoyo' is in her class?"
"They should be. They're really close friends. Damned if I can remember Sakura's brother's name though. Sorry."
As Nenene tried to follow the leads, Yomiko idly flipped through the book she had fallen asleep on, her mind going back to Cy. Where was he? Was he okay? They had been seperated at the last minute. Already two of their allies had been thrown into women's bodies, well, three actually that she knew of for sure. Had Cy suffered the same fate? Had ANY of them been put into male bodies? There were some very powerful allies in anime that were men....but then, the women were pretty powerful to.
Face it, Ra-chan. You don't know jack shit about what's going to happen....all you can do is wait.
And with a sigh, she did just that, wishing there was something she could do the whole time.
After a wait of nearly an hour, with Nenene letting her computer work, and making idle small talk with the other two women, the little laptop beeped suddenly.
Nenene hurried back to the machine, and examined the results. "Got her!" she beamed. "A friend of mine checked the school records. A Kinomoto Sakura attends Tomoeda Elementary, and has a Daidoji Tomoyo in her class. Sound like enough to look up?"
"Sounds perfect! Let's get going."
Yomiko closed the book she had been reading in between idle chatter and waiting (Some things would always stand true; both with Yomiko and Ra-chan) and stood up, ready to get going, to DO something. She wanted to find Cy as quickly as possible and this next person was just one more out of the way.
"Is it very far? How are we going to get there? Shoot! I should take the suitcase of notecards, just in case."
Then it struck her. Ra-chan didn't know how to use Yomiko's powers. I mean, it came naturally for the girl, didn't it? But.....she hadn't even tried yet.
"Nenene! I haven't used Yomiko's powers! I don't know what I"m doing!"
Nenene blinked at the sudden flurry of activity, and grinned as she stood up, and blinked again at Yomiko's sudden worry.
"Well, why not experiment before we leave, then?" she suggested, passing over the other questions for the moment.
"I.....I guess." Opening up the suitcase, which had been shoved into the corner when all the ruckus had begun, Yomiko pulled out a single notecard and looked at it, turning it over in her fingers.
"I don't really know what I'm suppose to be doing here....is it just a force of will? Yomiko always seemed to do it without trying.....like instinct."
Nenene shrugged, laughing a little. "I'm no Paper user." she said apologetically. "But Sensei usually spoke about...feeling the paper. Telling it what she wanted it to do."
Yomiko's face screwed itself up in an uncharacteristic guesture of annoyance and humor. "Well, if that's all there is too it...."
With a self-conscious laugh, the girl looked at the paper in her hand, turning it over and over in her fingers, thinking about how she was going to accomplish this minor feat. Somewhere in the back of her (well, Yomiko's) mind, she could sort of feel what Nenene was talking about.
Feel the paper, huh? I guess I can do that. But I want the paper to feel as if it were steel....
Concentrating with all her might, 'Yomiko' ordered the paper to act like a small, sharp knife and with a single, fluid movement, threw it at the wall.
At the moment when Yomiko's thoughts passed through her mind, she could feel the card shift slightly in her hand, the customary floppy stiffness replaced by unyielding firmness.
The card flew from her fingertips like an arrow...and thudded hard against the wall...and fell to the ground.
Nenene blinked at that, and looked to Yomiko. "That sounded like it was going to work. How come it didn't stick?"
Blinking, the girl just shrugged, the new feelings rumbling around in the back of her head an odd experience for her. For a brief moment, she had felt the paper change; she could feel her will working on the molecular structure of it. It was vaguly disturbing but also rather empowering.
Yomiko walked over to the notecard and carefully picked it up. It was heavy...much heavier than she expected, and had a sort of metalic feel to it. She tapped against it with her fingers on her other hand and grinned at the clunking sound the action made. She held the card up so Nenene could see it.
"I think it understood the metal feel I was trying to give it. I wanted it to act like a knife....it got hard, but not sharp."
Concentrating her thoughts again, this time Yomiko visulized one corner of the card as being sharp, while the rest of it held it's metalic feel. Hoping it was going to work out better this time, she stabbed the paper at the wall, as if it were a dagger.
Even though the side she was touching wasn't the part that she had commanded to sharpen, Yomiko could feel -something- shift, and when the paper impacted the wall, it sand deep into the gyprock and insulation, with startling ease...
"YIKES!" Jumping away as if burnt, Yomiko grinned sheepishly at Nenene and held up her hands. "Well, I think I know what I'm doing now.....It's not that hard."
Glancing around the room, the woman closed up the suitcase and grabbed her coat off the chair where she had laid it down earlier, sparing a quick but longing glance around. Oh, how she would have loved to spend her time in this apartment full of books....it would have made her most happy, if only for a bit. And Cy would have loved it as well.
Speaking of Cy....
"I'm ready to go, Nenene-san. Shall we leave? We've wasted enough time already."
Nenene smiled and pointed to Nancy, who, like Yomiko earlier, had dozed off while reading. "We should do something about her, first...She'll be upset to wake up alone without an explanation..."
Yomiko glanced down at the snoozing Nancy, made a few quick decisions in her head, then shook the woman's shoulder.
"Nancy-san, wake up.....we have to get going."
She couldn't just leave Nancy behind. The real Yomiko wouldn't like that at all, even if this was bound to be dangerous. It might be dangerous enough as it was to leave Nancy here alone, with as much as she knew now. Who knew if Chaos was planning on using any of their friends or allies against them. It was impossible to say.
Nancy grumbled softly as Yomiko shook her, slowly beginning to push away from the table. She hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before, Yomiko's book reading being nearly contagious, even if her reading abilities were not.
"Hai hai Yomiko-san..." she muttered, blinking in confusion as she straightened, beginning to stretch. "Ara, who...oh, right." Nancy laughed sheepishly as memory returned, standing and closing the book in front of her. "Should I head to work now, or something else...?" she inquired of the new Yomiko, glancing almost nervously around the room.
"Nenene-san and I were going to search out one of my allies. You don't have to come if you don't want to. It could be dangerous." 'Yomiko' paused, then smiled down at the slightly befuddled woman. "I don't think the real Yomiko would want you to endanger yourself, but if you want to come, you can. If not, go to work and I'll try to call later, okay?"
Nenene smiled faintly. "She might not be around much, depending on what she has to do, Nancy. If you'd prefer not to go along, and you'd like company while you wait, would you like to stay with me? I've got a big place, and I wouldn't mind the company...?"
Nancy bowed, smiling sheepishly. "Thank you, Nenene-san, I'd like that very much," she answered, almost meekly.
Nancy turned to Yomiko, nodding. "I'd like to come with, but I'd just get in the way if something happened," she shrugged, smiling. "I guess I should go to work in that case..."
"Thank you, Nancy-san. I'm sorry for the problems."
Ra-chan was not much of the hugging type but she did toss a thankful smile to the woman. "You should go to work, so that you're not terribly late. If anything happens, we'll contact you."
Turning back towards Nenene, 'Yomiko' grabbed hold of the suitcase and guestured towards the door. "We should get going, Nenene-san."
Nancy returned the smile, nodding and grabbing her purse and gloves while she headed for a back door. "Good luck, Yomiko-san," she called before ducking out the back door, and heading off to work...
"Right." Nenene agreed, and tossed Nancy a friendly smile as she left. "I'll pick you up after work, okay?" she called, waving as she led Yomiko out.
OOC: Woot! Continued in Card Captor Shukuen! After my nap. *Zzz*
"Right!" Nancy called back, faint now from the alley as her footsteps clicked softly on the road, fading into nothingness as she disappeared from the area.