Chapter Text
A certain locker, in a certain (corrupt) school, in a certain city:
"Help me…" Taylor's voice weakly cried out, although she tried her best to project it as her mother had taught her. She'd been shoved into her locker, which had been filled with unpleasant things she would rather not think about, and then left there. That had been just prior to homeroom. Since then, school had let out, the janitors not doing so much as a check of the building for stragglers let alone attempting to clean anything, and the lights turned off.
She couldn't even move enough to look at her watch. With what little strength she had left, she made a final attempt to free herself. She was unable to do more than produce some weak rattling sounds before running out of strength. Just before blacking out, she had a brief sensation of being in free fall.
- - - - - - - - - -
Near Masakimura, Okayama-ken, Japan
Ryoko, for a change, had been walking back from the nearby village where she exchanged the house's sake barrels for new ones. People had long since stopped gawking at her as she made her weekly trip into town, and she actually got along well with some of the younger women and the liquor store owner (mainly because she'd convinced some punk to not rob the place).
She wondered if her life was cursed on some days, because no sooner had she turned off the main road onto the rural road to the house and started slowly flying along it than something fell on her out of the sky.
"What the hell?" she growled as she got out from underneath someone. One quick look at the girl, and her anger at being piledriven into the road vanished, because Ryoko noticed all the blood and things best left in the trashcan in the bathroom or the biohazard disposal bin in Washuu's lab, and the girl's comatose state.
Washuu! she shouted over her mental connection to her mother. Not bothering waiting for an answer, she continued. I'm coming in with a medical emergency. looks like someone got dropped into a pile of medical waste and is in a bad way!
Ok, got it, Washuu answered. Anyone we know?
Nope. She sent an image of what she was seeing.
Bring her in, Washuu instructed, and we'll see about getting her fixed up and sent back where she came from.
- - - - - - - - - -
Taylor's eyes fluttered open. She was in a room with gentle lighting and calm, cool colors. No window, though. The bed she was on was very comfortable, as was the blanket and pillow. Looking to one side, she could see her glasses clearly on a little side table, which she later realized should have warned her of things to come. Turning her head to the other side, she came face to face with something that looked like a rabbit, but the look in its eyes was far too intelligent.
"Miyaa!" the creature cheerfully stated, and Taylor reached over to pet it, which it gladly accepted, before hopping off the bed and making its way to the door, which it exited, causing an old fashioned bell hung on the door to jingle.
She took a look at herself. Everything appeared to be in one piece, no cuts or scrapes from being in the locker, definitely didn't have the bruised ribs she had from getting forced into the locker. But she was wearing some sort of hospital gown and was neatly laid out in what was probably a hospital bed. The bell on the door jingled, causing her to focus her attention on the person walking towards her.
The person was dressed in a familiar white jacket most physicians wore around the office, though the woman was possibly the shortest normally proportioned woman Taylor'd ever seen. And that exceedingly long ponytail of hair had to be a health hazard in a medical practice. She must also spend a fortune on dying it that fuchsia color.
"Hi!, I'm Washuu, and I'm the person who treated your injuries," the woman cheerfully said. "How'd you get thrown into a pile of biohazardous material, anyway?" the woman asked while checking Taylor's pulse and pupil response.
"Got pushed into my locker half filled with used tampons and sanitary napkins by my former best friend, her new sociopathic best friend, and their hanger-on," Taylor muttered.
"That's not good," Washuu stated. "Open up and say 'Ah.'"
"Ah…"
"Very good," Washuu said, satisfied with what she saw. "You have questions, I've probably got answers. I'll answer what I can."
"Where am I?" Taylor asked.
"You're in my lab, which is currently located in Masakimura, Okayama-ken Japan.” Washuu answered. "You appeared out of nowhere and fell on my wayward daughter as she was coming back from town. On that note, there's a couple of questions I'll need answered. Who are you and where are you from?"
"My name is Taylor Hebert," she answered. "From the city of Brockton Bay, Maine, in the United States. Can I call my dad?"
"That's not possible at this time, you've traveled between alternate Earths," Washuu said after some thought. "Don't worry, though; once we send you back, I'll make sure you arrive a few seconds after you left. No, it's not time travel, just a quirk of interdimensional movement. What's the last thing you remember?"
Taylor thought for a moment. "I was falling? The locker I'd been trapped in wasn't there anymore, and I landed on someone," she finally said. "I'd tried to escape one last time, and when I couldn't, I was waiting to die. Then 'poof'."
"We'll have none of that here," Washuu said with a mock-serious tone. "Besides, you're out and alive. And you've got powers."
"I've got powers? Oh, fuck, I triggered," Taylor moaned. "That's not good."
"Right now, I've got 'em turned off," Washuu explained. "They would've overloaded your mind and caused all sorts of problems. I'll be having a chat with 'em later as you continue to heal. Your other powers are still settling in. Your infections were so bad that it was the easiest way to clear them out."
"Are you some kind of trump?" Taylor asked.
"I'm assuming you're not talking about the infamous used car salesman in the US or some kind of card game, but instead about a classification of parasitic powers that alter other parasitic powers?" Washuu asked. At Taylor's nod, she continued. "The answer to that is no. I'm a scientist from what you'd consider a Clarketech civilization. I've been called the Galaxy's number one genius scientist, 'Oh god, her' and 'that fuchsia-haired quack.'
"And, while you were asleep, I implanted a rather comprehensive knowledge of Japanese culture, language, and its dialects into your mind," Washuu added. "You're speaking it right now. Sorry about that, but only four people speak English in this household: Myself, Nobuyuki, Noike, and Mihoshi. I'm usually busy, and Nobuyuki has his job and a wife. Noike is busy managing the house, and Mihoshi has her job. And since communication is important…" Washuu shrugged. "Seemed the easiest route since having everyone else learn English would take too long. Be funny as hell from my point of view, though."
Taylor actually managed a snicker at that. "I'm a guest in your country, I should learn the language. I'll deal with my outrage after I get over my gratitude for you somehow getting me out of the locker and fixing me up," Taylor snarked. Then her stomach growled.
"So now comes the important question," Washuu stated. "What Japanese food do you like to eat? While I'm pretty sure Sasami and Noike could handle making some American food, it'll take a while to get some of the ingredients here."
"That's fine," Taylor replied. "Brockton Bay's got a lot of Asian immigrants, so I've had what I've been told are the basics: ramen, miso soup, gyoza, tempura, tonkatsu, sushi, and sashimi, none of which I'd avoid eating. I might need to work on my chopsticks skills, though. It's probably as expensive at home as American food is here, so I don't have it a lot."
"I'll have Sasami bring some food in a little bit," Washuu stated. "The important thing to realize is that nearly everyone here is an alien of some kind."
Taylor shrugged. "Based on what you've already said, by most definitions, so am I." A thought came to her. "I have no identification."
"Now that I've got your name," Washuu said, "I can get that taken care of. Resident alien ID, US Passport, residency visa, bank account, the works. And don't worry about things. We've got more money than we know what to do with. Your job will be to heal, and then we'll work you into what passes for a household routine."
Washuu gestured, and her holographic terminal appeared. A few keys were pressed, and a pile of clothing appeared. "And here's something to wear. We had to burn the ones you had on, and you probably don't want to walk around nude in front of strangers. When you're feeling up to it, this room has a Western-style bathroom attached to it, complete with a shower.
"One last item before I go: I fixed your vision in the process of fixing you up. Your glasses are fakes. Sasami should be around with some food in about an hour, and Noike will check on you a couple of times before nighttime," Washuu said as she made her way to the door. "In a couple of days, you should be ready to face the world."
- - - - - - - - - -
"So how bad is it?" the young man seated on the veranda asked.
"Not too bad," Washuu stated. "She got dropped out of her dimension and into ours. I traced that back. Her world makes some of the seedier worlds in space look like peaceful gardens."
"That's less than ideal," Tenchi said. "What are your plans?"
"Right now, she's recovering and in shock about what happened, no matter how calm she might act," Noike explained. "It'll be a couple of days before she actually calms down and her powers settle. We'll move her into the guest room after that, and then we can figure out what to do next."
Washuu nodded. "She'll be with us for a while," she explained. "The next time I'll be able to send her back is in five months, our time. I'll be able to have her arrive back in her dimension about five seconds after she left." She fixed her gaze on Ryoko and Ayeka. "None of your normal shenanigans with her, please," she requested. "She's endured a couple of years of escalating harassment, and besides, she still wants to go back. Once she gets used to being here, ease her in. You really don't want to have every single insect and arthropod within three hundred meters swarm you."
"Yeah, no," Ryoko reluctantly agreed. "I've already had her land on me, and the bugs and crap that were on her are still giving me the heebie-jeebies."
"Heaven forbid," Ayeka added. "At least I can be civilized."
"As if!" Ryoko retorted.
"If you two keep it up," Sasami sternly interjected, "I'll use Washuu's lab to lock up the sake and snacks."
The demon and the princess deflated. "She's got our numbers, doesn't she?" Ryoko asked Ayeka.
"Indeed," the princess replied. "We'll try to be on better behavior, Washuu." Ryoko nodded her agreement.
"Her world sounds terrible," Mihoshi stated. "We should make sure she learns important skills so she can survive."
"Like sleeping in the sun?" Ryoko teased.
"Mou, you're a meany," Mihoshi pouted.
"Despite several bad habits, Mihoshi is a pretty good detective," Noike admitted. "She qualified for her position, instead of having her grandfather buy it for her."
"As scary as I find this," Washuu said, "I agree with Mihoshi. However, that can wait until she's recovered. Plus, she needs to continue her high school education and get re-socialized with girls her own age. Her former best friend did a number on her mentally."
"Is there going to be any problem with her eating Japanese food?" Sasami asked. "I read on the internet that a lot of Americans don't like it for various reasons."
"She said her city had a significant Asian community, and that she's had experience with what she was told were 'the basics'," Washuu said. "Though I suspect she'd probably enjoy a taste of home sometimes. We might be able to convince that American-style restaurant in Okayama to let us eat there again."
"Would probably be easier to just buy some ground beef and grill some burgers here," Ryoko added. "I mean, we did trash the joint when those guys came after Seina. And before you say anything, princess, you did as much damage as I did."
"Please don't remind me," Ayeka grumped. "Sasami does that nearly every day."
Sasami, having finished her lunch, stood up. "Noike, if you could handle cleanup for a bit, I'm going to get Taylor's lunch."
- - - - - - - - - -
Taylor noticed as the door opened again, and the bell made its kinda clunky sound. A young teenage girl with extremely long teal twin ponytails came in, carrying a tray. The rabbit that had been in her room earlier was riding the girl's shoulder, happily meowing away. The girl had a friendly smile. She was wearing a white apron with carrot appliques decorating it, and some kind of robe she was unfamiliar with.
"Hi!" the girl said, still smiling. "I'm Sasami. I've got some lunch here that Washuu said you wouldn't mind. Miso soup, some tempura, rice, and some pickled vegetables." The girl kept up the friendly chatter while she set up the legs on the tray and made sure Taylor was comfortable sitting up.
"Err, hi," Taylor managed to get in. "I'm Taylor, but Washuu probably told you that."
"Actually, she didn't," Sasami said. "You've already met Ryo-ohki."
At that, the cabbit sat up and waved. "Miyaa!"
Taylor arched an eyebrow. "She's intelligent, isn't she?"
"Uh-huh," Sasami answered. "Ryo-chan's very smart. She's actually Ryoko's half-sister. She can talk if she wants to, but she's milking the 'I'm cute and adorable, give me a treat' thing for all it's worth."
"How does that even work?" Taylor asked as Sasami poured a glass of water for her.
Sasami gave an exasperated sigh. "The easiest explanation is simply Washuu," she explained. "Don't ask for a more complete explanation. We all did, and we immediately regretted it."
"Gotcha," Taylor acknowledged, determined to not poke the "would be a biotinker if she were a parahuman" alien scientist. With a little bit of effort, she broke the chopsticks apart. "Thanks for the food. It smells delicious."
Sasami immediately brightened the room with her smile. "You're very welcome! You really do need a window in here, it's a lovely day outside, and I think the sunshine would do you good. I'll ask Washuu if we can bring you out for that. I'll be back in a bit to clean up lunch, OK?"
Taylor nodded and began to sample the food, trying to remember how to use chopsticks to eat and mostly succeeding. The things Sasami had brought were delicious, far better than anything she'd had in a couple of the family-run restaurants in Brockton Bay's Little Japan and Chinatown. Even if she didn't know what half of them were.
"It's very good," Taylor stated before the girl left.
"Thank you very much!" Sasami answered with a genuine smile. "Washuu says you need your rest, so I'll be back in about a half hour to collect things. C'mon, Ryo-chan!" With that, the lop-eared rabbit that sounded like a cat cheerfully let out a "Miyaa!", hopped towards the door, stopped, turned towards Taylor, waved at her, then turned around, jumped onto Sasami's shoulder, and the door closed.
- - - - - - - - - -
Tenchi looked at everyone seated around the low table. There was some gentle bickering going on between Ryoko and Ayeka (which was normal), Washuu was scowling, Mihoshi appeared to be half asleep, and Sasami had returned with a cup of tea for herself, Ryo-ohki on her shoulder. Noike was just finishing getting the necessary cleanup done before rejoining them at the table. Tenko and Chiaki were having fun trying to feed each other handfuls of rice, emulating the rivalry of their mothers.
It didn't take long for Sasami to get Chiaki under control, and Tenko wobbily floated over to her father.
"How bad is it, Washuu?" he asked.
"At once worse and better than the situation with Kenshi," she answered. "This problem I'm familiar with, if only because I wiped its sorry ass out in our multiversal strand."
Tenchi raised an eyebrow at Washuu's use of coarse language, but didn't say anything.
"Ooh, must have been a real annoying problem," Ryoko added.
"Someone – not me – created an organic crystal based gestalt organism on a world that had a naturally occurring, stable dimensional tear that the planet would pass through twice every solar cycle. They had no concept of scarcity, and the population exploded. Eventually, they filled up every version of their home world and decided they needed to leave. So they fought until only two were left, drained all the energy from all those worlds – several million of them – and used that to throw themselves into space.
"That got my attention," she continued, "and before they could hit another planet, I managed to wipe 'em out. Supermassive black holes did the job quite nicely. They had no way of controlling their flight through space, so were subject to good ol' gravity." She paused to take a drink. "Our guest comes from another multiverse where I don't exist – a fascinating concept – and those things managed to get loose, mainly because that bastard somehow managed to seed them there, too."
"What do they hope to accomplish?" Noike asked. "From what you said, eventually they'd consume everything in every reality in a multiversal strand."
"The question they seek to answer is 'How do we survive the heat death of the universe?'" Washuu said.
"Even I know that's kind of impossible," Mihoshi said. "And I'm not all that great with science."
"Yeah," Ryoko agreed. "Though I'm sure the great and powerful Washuu already has a way around it," she snarked.
"Not a problem I've really thought about," Washuu admitted. "To get around the problem, you'd basically have to add an entire universe's energy back into the system."
"The big crunch?" Ayeka asked. "Before all the energy is gone, collapse everything back down to a single point?"
"That would do it," Washuu admitted, "but they'd get crunched down, too. They want to somehow survive that moment. Which would probably involve leaving and later re-entering said universe."
Sasami frowned. "That's not possible," she said. "Especially since they were created within the confines of the normal universe."
"So, that's the worst part," Ryoko said, "how's it also better?"
"Taylor's been chosen by one of the shards these things use to test their experimental data," Washuu stated. "A top-level shard in their hierarchy, and one that has considerable ill will towards the remaining entity of a pair."
"What happened to the other one?" Mihoshi interrupted.
"It wasn't paying attention and crashed into a planet," Washuu said in a deadpan fashion. "Almost killing itself. Locals finished the job with a knife."
"How do you not pay attention and hit a planet?" Ryoko asked. "I mean, even when we've been badly hurt, me an' Ryo-ohki never crashed into one. Landed hard, yes, but crash?"
"Uh-huh," Mihoshi agreed. "I mean, I'm not that great of a pilot, but I don't crash into a planet and kill myself. At least I hit my landing zones."
Noike and Washuu gave each other a look.
Ayeka said it anyway. "At least you haven't demolished the house recently." Mihoshi gave her a frown but said nothing.
"Anyway, I'm going to repair the damage done to the shard, and eliminate a lot of useless crap in its programming," Washuu continued. "Then give it an education and an introduction to morals, ethics, and various concepts it lacks. Like the actual scientific method. It likes Taylor, so it doesn't want to see her killed in the powers spawned conflict that these entities consider the height of science."
The self-proclaimed number one genius scientist in the galaxy stopped ranting and took a drink of her tea. "We're going to get Taylor healed up, both mentally and physically, then train her up so she can not only survive where she lives, but with the help of her shard, actually survive one of these entity's broken breeding cycle and not start the means they use to choose the next top level shard and spawn another pair of entities. That leading to sabotaging and eventually controlling or destroying any others of their kind is a nice bonus."
"Washuu, you mentioned she has insect control," Tenchi asked. "Does she have any other powers?"
"Whatever filth she was coated in also contained several novel strains of bacteria," Washuu stated. "Quite fascinating, if you're into bioweapons." That word had most of the people gathered around the table blanch. "Fortunately, my procedures wiped them completely out, but it also left Taylor with large amounts of dead or dying tissue in her body, some of it rather important. So, I copied Ryoko's powers and dropped them into her. Right now, only the regeneration is live, and it's handling rebuilding portions of her legs, arms, and some internal organs."
"As if one of Ryoko plus a chibi," Noike added with a smirk, "wasn't enough."
Ryoko maturely gave Noike the stink eye, which caused both Sasami and Mihoshi to giggle.
"They're turned down from the level Ryoko's powers are at," Washuu continued. "I've got a couple portions completely turned off until she's ready for them. Some of them she may never activate. That also means this." With that, she pulled out an egg-shaped object made of a black lustrous material.
Ryo-ohki clapped her front paws together. "Miyaa!"
Tenchi took one look at it and facepalmed. "The world's carrot supply is doomed."
= = = = = = = = = =
After a couple of days, Taylor was declared "mobile" and moved out of Washuu's lab and into the guest room. That also meant that she got exposed to the rest of the household.
"So let me get this straight," Taylor said, straight-faced. "You," she pointed to Tenchi, "are married to them? All of them?"
"Kinda-sorta. Like many things around here," Tenchi admitted, "it's complicated."
"I'm beginning to see that," Taylor stated. "As for the rest, we've got an ex-space pirate demon summoner and her space battleship who just happens to transform into an utterly adorable cat-rabbit thing…"
"Yo," Ryoko answered. "And we call them cabbits."
"Miyaa!"
"...Two alien princesses from a faraway planet, and space is just full of intelligent life…"
"Very true," Ayeka said with a nod. "Although 'intelligent' doesn't preclude 'stupid'."
Sasami gave Taylor an impish grin. "You get used to it."
"… Two space policewomen, one of whom is from one of the richest families in space…"
"Actually," Noike added, "Mihoshi is a detective. I was just a patrol officer."
"Uh huh," Mihoshi. "We were partners for a time, though. But yeah, my family's got some money."
Washuu's tea exploded out of its cup. "Mihoshi, that's like saying a star is warm or an ocean damp."
"...And finally, the self-admitted number one genius scientist in this or any galaxy," Taylor finished.
Washuu nodded. "That would be correct. Let's not forget the avatar of one of the beings who created this multiverse, too." Tokimi's avatar waved from where it floated.
"This is crazy," Taylor finally wound down.
"It has its moments," Tenchi said.
"Of course, I'd fit right in," Taylor ranted, "having been rescued from my own multiverse and brought here and put back together after what happened to me." She deflated, and her shoulders sagged. "I was taught to be a better guest," she muttered, before standing up and facing Tenchi. "Still, thank you for helping me and letting me stay," she said, bowing politely.
"Eh, It's not that big a deal," Tenchi said, scratching the back of his head. "You needed help, and we had the resources to do it."
"But now, it's onto more important things," Ryoko said. "Lunch!"
Everyone nodded in sync. That was one thing they could all agree on.
= = = = = = = = = =
Two Weeks Later…
Taylor was out in the woods near the house with Ryoko. Tenko and Chiaki were playing nearby, their mothers' on-again/off-again rivalry carrying over to the two girls.
"So why are we out here, Ryoko-san?" she asked.
"Washuu says you've recovered enough from the locker, and we're to begin training you," Ryoko stated. "To start that, I need to know what you're capable of now. So, hit me with your best shot, kid."
Taylor grinned, and everything her power could control within its now considerable range descended on Ryoko…
Including two nests’ worth of Asian Giant Hornets.
"I now immediately regret several of my life choices!" Ryoko wailed as she took off through the air, the swarm of bugs chasing her.
"Tenko-chan, Chiaki-chan, do you have the paper bowls?" Taylor asked the two little girls, who were watching Ryoko try to get away from the swarm of insects.
Both girls, who had been giggling, brought out a stack of paper bowls. "Hai!" they brightly said, and began setting them out. Taylor then began filling them with some dilute sugar water to pay some of the insects back, whenever Ryoko eventually remembered she could teleport away from them and out of Taylor's range.
- - - - - - - - - -
Inside the house, Washuu had the chase up on the very large flat panel TV in the living room and was laughing so hard she was having trouble staying on her floating cushion. Ayeka demurely chuckled into the sleeve of her kimono, and Sasami chuckled quietly. Ryo-ohki looked like she'd bitten into a lemon, mainly because she felt sorry for her half-sister. Still, the cabbit shivered, because she didn't like bugs. Sure, they couldn't hurt her, but they could crawl around on her and make her itchy…
"Don't worry, Ryo-chan," Sasami told her friend. "We'll both have our chances to help with Taylor-san's training." The grin she had was far from a friendly one.
Washuu saw it and smirked. What she hadn't told the rest of them was that she'd looked up Taylor Hebert across a multitude of multiversal threads where the entities (she had another name for them, but it was largely unprintable in any Earth alphabet – the Gallifreyans had an alphabet that could probably handle it, though) had managed to infest.
Taylor, without her interference, in most instances perished while taking the fight to the remaining entity. However, those remaining instances had her defeating the creature. A significant percentage of those actually had her defeating the creature without wrecking the world, and was considered a good ending. And then there were the few instances where Taylor took over or became an entity, and utterly derailed their cycles.
Washuu already had her fingers in several threads already, either directly or indirectly. Despite being an inveterate meddler, she often meant well, and really, couldn't stand it when someone else tried to destroy the universe, or several threads of the multiverse. Even if they did it in a slow, haphazard, and inefficient manner.
No, this would not do. At all.
She'd dearly love to exercise her powers and deal directly with the entities, but that would break that reality, causing it to have a dimensional collapse, which would be a bad thing. She was trying to save that universe, not destroy it. Something she had a record of coming up with startlingly easy ways to do.
So, she had to act at a remove. She could provide the means for a person to accomplish the task through several mechanisms; her favorite was something people called the celestial forge. It allowed the person with access to it to save the universe with Science! She knew her sisters had done similar, giving beings access to the means to build up to save their world.
Or, she could directly empower someone, like she had with Taylor. As Ryoko had found out, mere "bug control" could be downright nasty. Ryoko would come back from her initial sparring match looking rather lumpy as her physiology dealt with a couple hundred stings from something aptly called murder hornets. Ayeka and Sasami had already encountered the insects and knew not to antagonize them.
The initial session came to a close after that, with the insects coming back to Taylor so she could pay them for their help, before sending them back to where she'd summoned them from.
= = = = = = = = = =
The training continued, Taylor being schooled in various things. Tenchi had started her out in swordplay, Sasami had worked with her on using a staff, and Ayeka against multiple foes with her drones and guardians, and Noike and Mihoshi in basic hand-to-hand and police procedure, which was common across many different nations. Surprisingly, this included small arms training. Given the fact that firearms were tightly controlled in Japan, it came as a shock to Taylor. They included lessons in the appropriate use of force and what to do if someone escalated. It was somewhat enlightening, and it made Taylor conclude that most of the rank and file of gangs were idiots.
As were a lot of the guys at school.
That had been an eye-opener. Part of her training included going to school every day. She'd managed to place well on her tests and was in a class with a group of other similarly aged teenagers in their second year of high school in Masakimura. It turned out relatively OK after the first couple of weeks. Surprisingly, the knowledge that Washuu had implanted in her brain when she arrived included reading and writing the language, which surprised her teachers. She was immediately sought out to help the teacher for the English classes.
She realized early on that this wasn't about learning, it was about socialization within her own age group. Everyone at the Masaki household was either older or younger than she was. Sasami, the youngest looking of them, was still, if you didn't count time spent in cold sleep, in her late twenties. Washuu, if you could believe her, was really old. Then you had Taylor, and then Tenko and Chiaki, who were four. And, like most four year old kids, quite the handful. Tenko especially, as she was getting better at flying and had actually started teleporting.
The two youngsters actually liked Taylor, who was different from the other inhabitants of the house. Ryoko-san and Ayeka-san also appreciated her watching them, so they could get some downtime.
And then there were chores. Everyone in the house had their chores. Taylor helped where she could, sometimes in the kitchen (which was Sasami's domain), sometimes out in the carrot fields or trying to keep the house clean. Not an easy thing with eleven people in the house. Grocery shopping was an interesting experience, at least for the first couple of trips into Masakimura, and then it became rather routine.
The trip to Asaguchi to catch a train into Okayama was very interesting. Attempts at petty theft around them were often foiled by the timely intervention of an insect. Sasami snickered at the fates of several would-be criminals, who wound up swallowing flies, getting stung by a wasp, bitten by any number of biting insects, or having a giant centipede(!) crawl up their pants. That last one had been exceptionally memorable.
"Okayama should have what you're looking for," Sasami told Taylor. "There's at least one American-style grocery store there."
"I've seen what the people around here call American style," Taylor stated. "Should you ever visit, you're going to be disappointed with the reality. Even more when you see what Americans tend to think of as Asian style dishes."
"And what were you expecting to see in Japan?" the impish princess asked.
"I never expected to visit. But based on popular media, I have yet to see any ninja. Though if I did see them, they probably weren't very good ninja. No giant robots, martial artists duking it out in high schools, and no shonen protagonists devouring ramen by the kilogram."
Sasami laughed. "You'll want to go see some of the spring and summer festivals," she finally managed to say after the laughter subsided. "Himeji has the castle there, and there are the museums. Most of the festivals are in Fukushima. The Shingen ko is in April. But you're right; if you could actually see any ninja, they're not very good." She clapped her hands together. "Let's see if we can get all the ingredients you need to make your Italian lasagna for the weekend."
= = = = = = = = = =
"So, do you miss your father?"
The question came out of the blue, from the very hard-working Nobuyuki. He normally lived in Okayama with his wife, Rea, but he came out to the house every couple of weeks, mainly to oversee construction in the village.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't," Taylor answered. "It's kind of odd that while I'll be missing him, he won't even know I'd gone anywhere."
"What kind of man is he?" Nobuyuki asked. "What's he like?"
"Dad's in charge of the Dockworkers where I live," Taylor answered quietly. "Hard working, keeps his people busy. He's managed to keep the place open despite all the problems our city has.
"In at least one way, he's like you," she continued. "Mom died in a car accident, and he's still mourning and feeling the loss every day."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Nobuyuki answered. "Yeah, losing a loved one, it never stops hurting. Eventually, you realize they'd want you to move on and get on with your life."
"That sounds like the voice of experience."
"Indeed it is, young lady. I lost my first wife to a wasting disease, and it devastated both me and Tenchi," Nobuyuki said with a sigh. "Rea stepped in to help, and is the mother he remembers. Took me long enough to move on and remarry. Anyway," he said, clapping his hands together, "It's time for an abrupt change of subject! What can you tell me about your house? I'm an architect, and I like learning about buildings in other countries…"
Taylor grinned as she described the houses around Brockton Bay, and the conversation took on a lighter tone. Still, he'd given her a bit to think about.
= = = = = = = = = =
"So what are you going to name your cabbit?" Ayeka asked.
Taylor looked up from where she was patching holes in her work clothes. "Honestly," she said, "I haven't given it much thought. I probably shouldn't be the one to do it, because I'm terrible at names."
Ayeka politely chuckled. "You and me both, I'm afraid," she confided. "Ryoko's not much better, either."
"I heard that, Princess!" the aforementioned demon shouted from where she was lounging up in the rafters.
"You were meant to!" Ayeka shot back.
"So, how is Ryo-chan doing?" Taylor asked,
"Washuu says she's resting comfortably, and the triplets are doing fine," Ayeka answered. "Tenchi and his father have been getting the nursery ready for them. It's going to make for a busy household."
"I don't know how you guys manage to make this arrangement work, but you do," Taylor stated,
"It helps if you're slightly crazy," Ayeka said demurely.
Ryoko decided to join them, blinking into the room from her rafter. "Also filthy rich," she added, settling down on a couch with a slight bounce.
"Well, yes, that's a given," Ayeka stated. "Between the Jurai Royal Family and Mihoshi's family, there's no lack of funds. But we appear to have gotten off track."
Ryoko nodded. "Yeah, naming a cabbit," she said. "A very important task. Still, it doesn't have to be name-oh-ki. Seina's got Fuku, Kirche, D and Miki."
"Knowing me, I'd name her something like Fluffy or Flopsy," Taylor groused. "And how'd Yamada-san wind up with four?"
"Those're better names than Sake, Midori, Suntory…" Ryoko admitted, much to Ayeka's chuckling. "And the short version? Someone tried to clone Fuku. Didn't quite work, but Washuu took pity on 'em, fixed what they messed up, and they all decided to stay with him."
Ayeka nodded. "The long version of the story you'd have to get from Seina-san," she said. "Fuku doesn't like to think about it, though she adores her sisters. Amane, Kiriko, Ryoko, and Neju will defer to him on the matter."
"Yeah, I think I'll pass," Taylor admitted. "This side of the lake is merely crazy. The other side of the lake is insane."
= = = = = = = = = =
"So, how is she doing?" The speaker was a tall woman, pale green hair, violet eyes, and loose-fitting robes of magenta, pink, and white.
"Eh, pretty good," Washuu admitted. "She's more than capable, having adapted to not only her own power, but the ones I gave her so she could live through what the trio put her through." There was pause as she refilled the teacups from the pot on the floating tray between them. "She's had a chance to blossom a little bit without those three pounding her down. Having boys her age trying to get her attention has done wonders for her self image."
Seto nodded. "At least we didn't need to put her through what we put Kenshi through," she admitted. "Though Taylor has a ruthless streak."
"Oh yes," Washuu said, cackling. "She's also leveraged her knowledge of where every single creature she's controlling is into knowing where her opponents are and where their weapons are pointing. The number of times she's popped Ryoko in the head is astonishing, along with avoiding Ayeka's drones and Guardians, Sasami's staff, and even Noike's attempts at takedowns, all from 'mere' insect control."
Seto shuddered. "And to say nothing of the intelligence gathering capabilities of the girl."
"I've also repaired the source of those powers," Washuu continued. "That shard is pissed at the entity that ripped parts out of it and made it barely able to function. Learning that 'lesser' races had developed better ways to study and solve problems made it determined to catch up at least. It is, however, quite taken with Taylor and her as yet unnamed cabbit. That remaining entity won't know what hit it."
"And that's a good thing?"
"By the time the shard's done with it, he should be able to be fishbowled," Washuu stated with a malicious grin.
"There are times I'm glad you're on our side," Seto admitted. "I'd just rather kill him cleanly and be done with it."
"Oh, I have plans for that little idiot."
= = = = = = = = = =
They all watched the glossy black egg as it rocked back and forth in Washuu's lab. Nearly everyone was there except Nobuyuki and Rea, who were in Tokyo. Front and center was Taylor, with the other cabbits (Ryo-ohki, Fuku, D, Kirche and Miki) as humanoids and Ryo-ohki's three daughters as cabbits.
Cracks began to form as the rocking got stronger, and then pieces of the silicate shell began to fall away, leaving a grey and black ball of fluff that looked tired and utterly adorable. It blinked a couple of times and looked around, finally settling on Taylor. "Mrow?"
Carefully, Taylor picked the cabbit up and snuggled it.
"Mrow!" the cabbit stated, and began snuggling back.
At the back of her mind, she felt another presence, this one curious, loving, affectionate. The two presences in her mind noticed each other, and began mentally sniffing each other, sizing the other up.
[mrow?]
[Approval]
And then everything was good.
"So, do you have a name for her?" Washuu asked.
"Yes," Taylor stated. "Yes I do. Her name is Nova."
Washuu grinned. "I like it. Hello, Nova!" With that, the galaxy's number one genius scientist gave the new cabbit a scritch under her chin.
"Nova," Mihoshi added. "From the Latin novus, meaning 'new.' Also refers to the term used for an exploding star, and in Spanish will mean 'doesn't go' if split into two words."
Everyone turned to look at her. "What? I'm not stupid," Mihoshi stated. "I just have problems."
"OK, Mihoshi's unexpected scholarship aside, it's time for the first lesson in the care and feeding of your cabbit," Washuu said.
With that, Ryo-ohki gave Nova a carrot. "Miyaa!"
Everyone took a step back as Nova devoured the carrot with a sound reminiscent of a wood chipper mulching branches.
"Mrow!"
= = = = = = = = = =
The end of the spring term had come, and it was time for the summer holidays. It also meant that Taylor's time in the Masaki household was coming to an end. Sasami and Noike had put out quite the spread for Taylor and Nova, and it was both a happy and sad occasion.
"You give 'em hell, kid," Ryoko bluntly stated. "You may not have those murder hornets over there, but I'm sure you can think of something!"
"And if that doesn't work, you can make a strategic withdrawal to re-evaluate the situation," Mihoshi added, making everyone look at her. "What? Galaxy Police regulations, chapter nine, paragraph three states that if you are in over your head and have no backup, withdraw and re-evaluate."
"There are times I wonder how your mind works," Taylor gently said. Otherwise Mihoshi would turn on the water works. "However it does, that's good advice. Thank you."
"Thank you for all the recipes," Sasami said. "They were really good! I'd never had something like lasagna before, and I'm looking forward to making it on my own."
"We all decided to give you some going-away presents," Ayeka said. She reached under the table, pulled out a small box, and gave it to Taylor. Upon opening, there was an ornately carved wood ring. "That ring can swap your clothes for your costume," she explained. "The first time you use it, you'll have to twist it to store whatever you're wearing, then you'll have to put on your costume, and when you twist it back, it's stored. After that, a moment's concentration is needed to swap back and forth."
"Thank you very much," Taylor replied.
"Just don't do it here at the table," Ryoko added.
"I have no plans to do that." She closed the box without removing the ring.
"Anyway, I got together with Washuu, and we came up with a pair of phones, one each for you and your dad," Ryoko continued. "Don't know how, but they'll never run out of juice, and they'll work with any phone network and have ridiculous range anyway." The Demon of Okayama shrugged. "Washuu came up with that bit, I don't know how that works. And don't ask her, either. She just might tell you."
"Aww," complained Washuu. She still had a shit eating grin on her face.
"I know we didn't talk much," Rea said, "but I managed to get you some replacement clothes like the ones you were wearing. I actually had to go to Tokyo to find them. I've also got some new shops to browse in the future, so thank you."
"And I got you a book on traditional Japanese architecture," Nobuyuki added. "Since you found the old buildings in Okayama neat and cool."
"Thank you both," Taylor answered. She wondered how she was going to explain being at school in one of the school uniforms she had for going to classes here.
"Tenko and I drew you a picture," Chiaki said quietly. "So you'd remember us."
"Uhuh," Tenko responded. "You wanted to give her the picture, I wanted to give her something cool."
"She already has a cabbit," Chiaki shot back. "You can't get much cooler than that."
"Yeah, that was the problem," Tenko admitted. "So, picture it is. Gonna miss you, Taylor."
"Gonna miss you two, too," Taylor said as she gave the four year olds a hug.
"I went and got authorization to get you one of these" Noike said, pulling out a box to give to Taylor. "A standard issue GXP stun baton, for when overkill isn't necessary."
"Overkill is always necessary," Ryoko snarked.
Taylor wasn't going to rise to the comment, because Ryoko's enthusiasm for the use of her powers was well known, and some areas around the lake bore the scars of her more enthusiastic training sessions.
"Thank you," Taylor said as she took the box. "Where I live, I'll probably need it."
"I had to work with Washuu on this," Mihoshi said as she handed Taylor an envelope. Within the envelope was a debit card and the instructions for use. "It's tied to my account, though I did get my mother's permission to add you to it. Be careful how much you use at a time, OK?"
Washuu sighed. "There's a daily limit I'm sure you'll get nowhere near, Taylor. In a year's worth of spending. What they consider a rounding error in their accounts is actually quite a lot of money. Just don't go crazy with it and buy a yacht or something."
"Why would I need a yacht?" Taylor asked. "I've got a cabbit."
Ryo-ohki nodded sagely, her three daughters happily nomming on carrots. She then handed a box and a basket to Taylor. "Miyaa!"
Unsurprisingly, the basket was full of carrots and was actually for Nova. "Mrow!"
Inside the box was something that looked like a snow globe, except it had a diorama of the Masaki household plus guests enjoying the cherry blossoms during the early part of her stay. The floating flecks resembled falling petals instead of snowflakes. "It's very nice. Thank you, Ryo-ohki."
The cabbit woman blushed and smiled. "Miyaa!"
"And that leaves me," Sasami said, and hauled out a book. "Since you were nice enough to share your recipes with me, here's mine, along with Earth equivalents of Seto-sama's recipes." The book was substantial and made a rather solid thud when it was set on the table.
"That's a lot of recipes…" Taylor said, looking at the size of the book.
"You'll have to do the conversions from metric to whatever you Americans use, though," Sasami commented. "I could never get the hang of those."
"Not all of us are uneducated barbarians," Taylor replied facetiously. "Half of my mom's recipes are in metric."
"Nova should have no problem storing them for you," Washuu explained as the party began winding down. "I've also included copies of all your textbooks and belongings that all that filth ruined."
Taylor sighed. "At least the school won't charge me for replacing them," she said.
"I also found several things in the spaces above and below your locker. I'll leave them as a surprise." At Taylor's stink eye, Washuu put her hands up as if to ward herself from all the bugs. "It's nothing bad, you'll like it, really!"
"Why do I have trouble believing you?" Taylor deadpanned.
"Practical experience?" Ryoko interjected from where she was helping clean up.
"Most likely," agreed Ayeka. "Oh dear, we actually agreed on something!"
The two shared a laugh as the night wound down.
About an hour later, Taylor was back in Washuu's lab, and the rest of the extended Masaki family was there as well. Taylor stood there in clothes exactly like those she'd arrived in, her Washuu-modified glasses, a backpack containing her recreated belongings, plus a cabbit.
"I'd like to thank you all for your hospitality," Taylor stated, bowing properly. "You took me in when you didn't have to, and gave me time to heal."
"Eh, it's not that big a deal," Tenchi answered. "That's how most of this group got here."
"We're gonna miss you!" Tenko, Chiaki, and Mihoshi all wailed, rushing in to give Taylor one last hug before she left.
"I might be back," Taylor admitted. "Washuu didn't say it was an impossibility."
"We're going to have to break in another babysitter," Ayeka said in an amused tone. "Take care, Taylor."
"Give 'em hell, kiddo," Ryoko added.
"Oh, I plan on it," Taylor replied, her grin matching Ryoko's.
"'Bye, Taylor," Sasami added. "I'll miss the help in the kitchen."
"Hopefully, Tenko or Chiaki should be able to help soon," Taylor said, giving the older (if younger looking) woman a hug.
"OK, the dimensional and temporal axis are aligned," Washuu announced. "I was able to exploit some observational loopholes to do better than dropping you into an empty school. You'll be arriving three seconds after they locked you in the locker. Fortunately, I'm going to drop you in the hallway behind the trio, and not in the locker. I've also included a couple of documents. One should get you excused for the rest of the day, and the other are your credits that apply from the school here. Should help you transfer into something other than that hive of scum and villainy."
"Again," Taylor said as the transfer field began to power up, "thank you for everything." She gave a deep, formal bow, and then vanished.
"And that's that," Washuu stated. "I've added a Brockton Bay channel to the TV, so when we get tired of Kenshi getting chased by an entire school's worth of girls, we can watch Taylor put the boot to some idiots…"
= = = = = = = = = =
The scene was just as she imagined it. Sophia, Emma, and Madison standing outside her locker, with attempts at verbal barbs and jeers as she was trapped in it. Even the gathered onlookers didn't notice her. She walked up behind the trio silently.
"So," she asked, startling all three of them and causing the other onlookers' jaws to drop, "who's in the locker?"
While their jaws hung open, Taylor walked past them and down the hallway towards the school's office. Before their brains restarted, all three could've sworn that a rabbit poked its head out of her backpack, stuck its tongue out at them, and gave them a raspberry before Taylor turned the corner.
"What…" Sophia started to say.
"...the…" Emma continued.
"...Fuck?" Madison finished.