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Shinobu blinked purposefully, looking back and forth to each of her parents before back across the room and up at the imposing, yet strangely agreeable visitor. "Excuse me?" she said.
"Sorry 'bout that, I'm not used to such a cutie being picked. I should be more considerate when talking about fighting here, shouldn't I?"
"Excuse me?" Shinobu repeated, holding her hands up to her face.
"If you win the showdown, we'll cancel invading Earth. If not, well," the large oni man laughed.
Shinobu bit her lip, closing her eyes at the thought. As soon as she stopped, multiple people bombarded her with questions. "You're going to try, aren't you?" one of the reporters who had snuck in asked.
"You can't just give up, miss! It's our planet we're talking about," the mysterious man in the hat said.
"Of course I won't give up," Shinobu said, interrupting as more people talked at once. She closed her eyes and sighed. "It's just I can't believe a man would want to fight a delicate girl."
"Well, it is a random selection from adults, just to be fair to the planet and us," the large invader said sheepishly. "But I won't be your opponent."
"Huh?" Shinobu's eyes opened suddenly, imagining who might be fiercer than him.
"It'll be my cute daughter, Lum-chan!"
As the door slid open, it wasn't just Shinobu to turn their full attention toward the newcomer. An oni girl in a bikini with perfect proportions entered, smiling happily as she gracefully walked over to them. "Lum-chan! There you are!" the invader exclaimed.
"Hey, Dad. Is everything ready?" Lum asked.
"We've got your opponent right here."
Shinobu froze as the girl's otherworldly blue eyes turned her way, meeting her own. Lum sat down next to her, legs tilted to her side on the traditional seating arrangement as she leaned toward Shinobu, studying the earthling with a neutral, yet not at all disagreeable expression. Noting the other girl so close to her, Shinobu's heart rate began to increase, and she found herself with nothing to say. She found it hard to keep eye contact, first looking at her opponent's horns, and then supposing it was rude to call attention to them, down at the rest of her body, which was barely clothed. Shinobu blushed, putting a hand to her mouth.
Lum finally leaned away, looking back at her father as she stood up. "Alright! This should be an easy finish."
"Easy?" Shinobu repeated, the implied insult giving her cause to speak. "Why makes you say that?"
"What will my reward be this time?" Lum asked, completely ignoring her opponent at this point. "Can we have a party?"
"Whatever you'd like!" the invading oni said.
"Alright! I'd better get it planned and the invites sent, since this will be a quick finish. Who should I invite? I don't want to forget Ran-chan again," Lum took out a pen and paper.
How rude. The oni girl hadn't even greeted anyone, muchless introduced herself, and now ignored everyone. Perhaps the apple hadn't fallen from the tree, but even the brutish 'Invader-san' was more polite than her. Shinobu stood up herself, glaring at her chosen opponent. "Are you taking this seriously?" she asked.
Lum's eyes slowly moved up, meeting Shinobu's own. "So, you are?" she said.
"Of course! This is the fate of my planet we're talking about!" Shinobu replied. "Let's get this over with. I'll want a favorable conclusion right away."
Chatter and cheers filled the room from those inside and out. "Well then," Lum said, throwing the book she'd taken to the side. "Let's both give it our best."
Before long, they were on a normally busy, now blocked off street. "Is it necessary to fight out here?" Shinobu asked, looking from the many spectators to the TV cameras, and then back to her parents.
"Well," her father began. "They've told me they're broadcasting it everywhere."
"Everywhere?" Shinobu said, thinking of the many countries she may be seen in her gym bloomers.
"Well, it concerns the entire world, so..."
"Shinobu! Please, be careful," her mother said.
"Of course. I'll be fine, Mother," Shinobu said. "It's not a battle to the death, remember?"
As previously explained, the rules were that she just had to touch the girl's horns within ten days. So much for politely ignoring her obvious deformity. As the other girl walked closer to begin the fight, Shinobu fixed her eyes on the small horns. Now that she took a closer look, the appendages actually suited the alien girl. Of course, the father had them too, so they must be normal on their planet, despite the unpleasant connotations they implied here. Just having been around the aliens for this short time, Shinobu was starting to become more comfortable with their differences.
Her opponent also appeared comfortable, perhaps overly so. Unlike Shinobu in the gym outfit, Lum hadn't changed into attire better suited to physical activity. That was her choice, Shinobu supposed, but she still wouldn't take it easy on her. They moved closer to beginning their fight.
As the sign was given for them to begin, a shout interrupted them. "Shinobu, DON'T DIE!" Shinobu felt the person who had spoken put his arm around her ankle. "Please. I won't know what to do. I won't be able to sleep. Perhaps, just one time we could-"
"Ataru, get away," Shinobu muttered, blushing as she tried to gently kick him away.
"Who's that?" Lum asked, peering down curiously at the boy pathetically attaching himself to her opponent.
"My boyfriend," Shinobu said.
"Is that right," Lum said, calmly touching a single finger to Ataru's head. "Don't interfere," she said before shocking him, causing him to finally let go.
Shinobu screamed as she was shocked as well. "What was that?" she asked.
Lum took a step back. "Well, of course I want a fair fight."
"What's fair about that?!" Shinobu demanded.
"I just wanted to make sure someone else didn't get in the way. I'll have a clean win."
Observing Lum closely, no outside weapon could be seen. Could it really be her inborn ability? Well, this horned girl was an alien after all. Shinobu moved quickly, her hands out to touch Lum's horns, before Lum moved away. Apparently, she'd still been on alert after all. Shinobu ran up to her, taking a second shot. Lum moved to the side, and then... Flew up in the air.
The alien girl giggled. "What a cute expression you have, my opponent."
Shinobu shook her head. The other girl wouldn't catch her off guard. Flying, electric shocks, no matter how the alien physiology favored their invaders, she could still be taken down. "Are you making fun of me," Shinobu said, meaning to be quieter, but her anger had gotten the better of her. "Don't take me lightly, oni!"
Shinobu reached for the first thing she could find, one of the damn video cameras watching her every move, and spun, throwing it toward the flying oni girl. As it hit her, she fell. Shinobu ran to the location, grabbing the girl's horns easily to the cheers of the audience.
Shinobu felt some pride, then relief, both emotions soon overpowered as the oni girl moved. "Ouch!" the defeated groaned.
"Oh no. Are you alright?" Shinobu said.
"Oh, so you won," the other girl sulked.
"Forget that, let's get you help! That must have hurt. You fell all this way," Shinobu said.
Leaning on her, Lum was led to where some paramedics were waiting. Neither the defeated opponent nor her father looked too concerned about the girl's state, rather disappointed in the loss. "It's okay," the invader man said, pushing aside those who would help. "I guess we'll have to go home, Lum. Fair's fair."
Lum pushed away the paramedics, ignored her father, and looked forward at Shinobu, hand on her chin. "So, you were worried about your enemy, hm?"
"Yeah," Shinobu confirmed, though it seemed silly now since Lum looked perfectly fine.
"That's dumb, isn't it?" the alien mused. As Shinobu was about to reply in anger, Lum spoke again. "I like you," she said with a smile.
Shinobu had to blush again, turning away as she imagined how many people might be watching her. "Okay, okay," Ataru's voice stood out from other as he spoke firmly, then pushed himself past the crowd, eventually standing between Shinobu and Lum with his arms out. "That's enough! You're defeated, so you go home!" he said, shooing Lum with one had over his shoulder before going over to Shinobu. "Shinobu... My hero... Our hero! Thank you so much for saving us!" Ataru hung his body around her in a hug as several in the audience shouted noises of agreement.
"Ataru, that's enough," Shinobu said. They were in public, after all.
Lum seemed to ignore them all as she stared toward Shinobu. Walking closer, Ataru got between them again. "Don't interfere," Lum said. As if trained, Ataru shrunk to the side, still next to Shinobu. "Now that our duel's done, we can just relax. Why don't we have some tea together?"
"Okay," Shinobu agreed. "You're new to the area, to Earth, aren't you? I could show the best place around here."
"Right. Let's go," Lum said. She picked Shinobu up in her arms, winking as they took to the sky. "Which way then?"
Shinobu was happy to show the way. "Over here," she pointed, directing the oni girl as they made their way above and beyond the crowd. Shinobu laughed, enjoying the wind through her hair as they went far, farther than normal to escape the eyes of the crowd. "Right here," Shinobu said, pointing to an out-of-the-way café she normally wouldn't go to, though it was quite nice. It was better to be out of the way.
"It's them!" Multiple people commented, others whispering as the pair walked in. "Please," Shinobu said to the waiter. "We'd just like a place to unwind."
"Of course," the waiter said, welcoming both girls despite their strange attire. A small TV had been on with the news in the corner, so they had to know what was going on.
Lum sat in the chair across from Shinobu, folding her legs and eyeing the other girl. "There's all kinds of surprises with you, even with your plain appearance, isn't there?"
"Plain?" Shinobu protested. "I'm not."
"You are," Lum said. "It's alright. Sometimes plain is better. That is, when you don't need anything to distract from what's already there."
"I guess," Shinobu said. She looked up and down. "I know I'm not as pretty as you."
"So you think I'm pretty," Lum said.
Shinobu swallowed nervously now that Lum had shifted the conversation from vague competition to mutual admiration. She looked away awkwardly, not sure how to respond.
"When did you first notice?"
"Anyone would notice," Shinobu said, wondering why the oni girl was making her be so direct.
"Well then, thank you," Lum said.
The tea they'd ordered soon came. "So, you can fly, and produce electricity?"
"Yes," Lum confirmed.
"It's a natural skill, isn't it?" Shinobu asked.
"Yes," Lum said again.
"How did you get it?"
"It's just normal. Don't you have special skills on this planet?" Lum asked. "Can't some of you use fire, or something like that?"
"If we could just use fire naturally, we wouldn't have progressed much as a society. We'd still be functioning like a bunch of... Oni..." Shinobu suddenly lowered her voice as she realized the implications.
Lum just laughed. "That's funny," she said. "You're really interesting, Shinobu."
It was the first time the girl had used her name, and Shinobu felt her heart rate increase. "Thanks for being such a fun invader, Lum-san," she said.
"Of course!" Lum said with a smile.
"That's enough, that's ENOUGH." Ataru had entered, slamming his hand on the table.
"Ataru! How did you get here?" Shinobu said. Funny his determination never helped them out when it counted.
"What is it?" Lum asked, slightly annoyed.
"Shinobu," Ataru began in a whiny tone, looking toward his girlfriend. "You aren't really swinging this way, are you? With this oni girl?"
"Ataru, that's enough," Shinobu said. Lum wasn't really an oni of legend, just an alien. And for alien invaders, she and her family had actually been quite nice.
"Hm," Lum said. "How annoying."
"You have something to say?" Ataru said, clenching his jaw as he looked Lum's way.
"Shinobu, I learned myself with my last boyfriend -- sometimes a pair just isn't right," Lum said, gently tapping the other girl's hand. "It's better to move on quickly."
"You think so," Shinobu said. With how he'd been acting lately, maybe this advice applied. Shinobu admitted to herself she'd thought about it more than once.
"What's that? What would you know?" Ataru demanded. "You're just here trying to start trouble, aren't you? You lost, and now you want to rip up Shinobu's heart and leave her high and dry, don't you?"
"Ataru, that really is enough!" Shinobu said.
"Why won't you listen, Shinobu! This all stinks!" Ataru said.
Lum calmly stood up, moving her chair closer to Shinobu before sitting down again, gently putting her hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Of course I wouldn't do what you say," she said, briefly glancing at Ataru before looking back at Shinobu.
"How can you prove it?" Ataru asked.
"You know," Lum began, brushing her hand on Shinobu's arm. "It's not uncommon on my planet to marry a challenger who's defeated us."
"You're joking! Two women can't marry. Especially not from two other planets!"
"Don't be tiresome. Of course we can," Lum said, her eyes closed in annoyance. "My family would definitely approve. There's lots of benefits to bringing a strong husband -- or wife into the family. Building alliances and all of that." before she put a smile back on her face and looked Shinobu's way. "So? How about it? Should we get married?"
"Stop! We know you're not interested in a plain Earth girl!" Ataru said.
Shinobu scowled. "I think it's fine too," she agreed. "I'll do it."
Ataru's cry echoed through the air in reaction, but it wasn't the only strong reaction. Lum hugged her tightly. "That's wonderful! Let's go and announce it!"
Though Shinobu had said it to annoy Ataru, as a preview to dumping him later, Lum's overjoyed reaction pleased her.
"You're joking! You're joking! I know you're joking!" Ataru said.
Of course, they'd have to be, Shinobu knew. After all, cultural differences aside, as well as the attraction she was feeling, the two of them had just met that very day. It was far too soon for anyone to consider marriage.
"Oh no," Lum said, smiling seriously. "We take marriage proposals very seriously on my planet. They're sacred."
Shinobu's eyes widened as Lum grinned at her. Perhaps she'd just switched one set of obnoxious circumstances for another.