To Cross Over Or Not To Cross Over...

Later...

\"I thought she was going to rip you girls\' heads off,\" Deunan chuckles.

\"Well, it is Satomi-chan\'s place, after all,\" Misa smirks as they ascend the stairs to the second floor of the building housing Otimtim\'s, where Tariko\'s and Satomi\'s private apartment, several guest rooms, plus the offices of Love Destiny Enterprises, are located. Both women are dressed in button shirts and panties, the unofficial \"relaxed\" dress in this buildwhenwhenever its proprietors were home and Otimtim\'s was closed for the day. \"Otimtim\'s was originally her uncle\'s place. He willed it to her. After Tariko-chan started up LDE, she had her guardian buy out the building, then she and Satomi-chan became joint owners. They make quite a tidy profit from renting the upper floors to private business schools or couples just starting out who want a cheap place to live they could renovate themselves.\"

\"Oh,\" the American nods as they step into the main reception lounge of LDE.

Tariko and Satomi sit across a low coffee table from Ryuunosuke, Lum and Mai. Misa quickly sits beside her fiancee while Deunan takes the armchair at one end. Mikki and Israa share a love seat at the other end while Benten and Ran stand behind Lum and her fiancee. Once everyone\'s taken their places, Tariko sits back, giving Mai and Misa a look. \"So you\'ve both talked to your mothers about this?\"

\"Mom\'s got no problems with this,\" Misa reports. \"Especially since it\'s you that\'s helping us, Tariko-chan.\"

\"I guess saving you from several bad spills when you were riding your bicycle did much to endear Tariko-san to your mother, ne, Anata?\" Mai coyly gazes at her fiancee, reaching over to embrace one of Misa\'s arms with her own.

Misa chuckles. \"What about your mom, Mai-chan?\" Tariko asks.

\"It\'s no problem,\" Mai shakes her head, then reaches down to her purse. \"And...\" she draws out a thick envelope, opening it to reveal a wad of 10,000 yen bills. \"I believe this will cover the standard charge for your services, Tariko-san.\"

She hands the bills to her host. Tariko holds up the wad, then her eyes glow the eerie shade of burgundy Mikki and Israa, not to mention many thousands of others around the world, knew so well. Everyone\'s jaw hits the floor as the ends of the bills flutter rapidly from Tariko\'s index finger to thumb. Once it is done, her eyes revert to normal as she sets the money on the table. \"Five hundred thousand yen,\" she announces, then gazes on the couple in question. \"Alright, I want you both to go call your mothers and tell them you\'ll be here for the next two nights. Go now,\" she waves them to the phone by the main doors, then she sighs. \"Ran-san, I don\'t like being scanned.\"

Ran jerks, the small tricorder in her hand nearly slipping from her fingers. She thought she had been as discrete as possible when it came to doing a deep DNA/RNA scan of this strange woman whom everyone else had said was the key to Lum\'s and Ryuunosuke\'s future happiness. \"Ran-chan!\" Lum gives her friend an annoyed glare, then she turns to Tariko. \"I\'m sorry about that, Moroboshi-san, but...\"

\"It\'s okay, it\'s okay,\" Tariko waves the Oni down, then she takes a deep breath. \"Your friend\'s concern for you is quite obvious for anyone to see, Lum-san. And given that you are about to make my friend\'s life a LOT better, I\'m willing to let it pass. Besides...\" a smirk crosses her face. \"If Ran-san could discover where exactly I got these powers, I\'d be tempted to give her and Benten-san a freebie.\"

The visitors from other planets blink. \"You mean you have no idea where you got your powers?\" Benten asks.

\"Iie,\" Tariko shakes her head, then wryly grins. \"I bet you didn\'t suspect for an instant that I was born a man.\"

Silence.

\"WHAT?!?!\" everyone save Mikki, Israa and Satomi exclaim.

\"It\'s true,\" Mikki nods. \"The Mendous were able to hide it very well, but it didn\'t escape our attention.\"

Everyone looks at the Israeli colonel, then turn back to Tariko. \"You were actually born a boy...?\" Deunan gapes.

\"Yep,\" Tariko closes her eyes. \"My birth name is Moroboshi Ataru. That, at Haruka-obachan\'s request, was buried very deep in the records at the National Family Registrar when she became my legal guardian. As to how I became what you now see before you, I\'m sorry but I can\'t answer that. My first memory, the one I can still recall with clarity, is of me standing nude beside the baby carrier holding my old body in the middle of a rainstorm beside the gate of the shrine where my mother left me after my father died.\"

\"Then you must be Ataru\'s twin sister!\" Deunan insists.

\"There were only one set of birth records, Deunan. And that was for Ataru. You\'d think that a society like Japan wouldn\'t take notice of a twin sister being born to Moroboshi Kinshou at the Nerima General Hospital?\"

\"And you\'ve no idea how this happened to you?\" Ran wonders.

\"None whatsoever,\" Tariko shakes her head.

\"Fuck!\" Benten spits out.

\"Ran-chan?\" Lum gazes on her friend.

Ran sighs. \"I\'m sorry, Lum-chan, but Tariko-san\'s DNA pattern doesn\'t match anything our people\'ve ever encountered before. Yes, most of it is Earth human female norm, with all the modifications the Millennial Virus unleashed on everyone here. But there are some really strange modifications that...\" she shakes her head, then shuts off her tricorder, slipping that into her shirt. \"I\'m sorry, Tariko-san, but whatever power or race changed you, it\'s a race that\'s totally unknown to all the spacefaring races in this galaxy.\"

Lum takes that in, then gazes on Ryuunosuke. \"Darling?\"

The raven-haired herm returns her fiancee\'s look. \"Lum, she\'s helped thousands of people before. Her record speaks for itself. And even if I don\'t hang around with her much these days, she\'s still my friend.\" With that, she reaches into her purse to draw out an envelope like the one Mai just gave Tariko, then hands it over. \"Mom already knows about all this, Tariko-chan.\"

Tariko picks up the bundle, then telekinetically counts the bills before setting that pile aside. \"Alright, then,\" she breathes out, then gazes on Lum. \"Now, before I say \'yes\' or \'no\' to doing this for you two, would you mind satisfying my curiosity as to how you and Ryuu-chan got together in the first place, Lum-san? I mean, any girl that can get Ryuu-chan away from that sex-crazed idiot Shinobu is automatically \'okay\' in my books, but I\'d figure that news of the Virus would\'ve made your races stay away from Earth.\"

\"Hai, that\'s true,\" the Oni chuckles, gently grasping her Darling\'s hand. \"Do you want to tell this, Darling?\"

\"Hell, why not...\" Ryuunosuke smirks...

* * *

Tomobiki, three months ago...

Her eyes were as wide as saucers. The UFO kind.

Her heart hammered like the artillery barrage at Vimy Ridge in her chest.

Her loins were heating up, her cock threatening to rip out of her pants.

To believe...

The woman before her now...

Had thrown so much away...

For...

For...

\"Lum-san...\"

Was that her voice?

Lum blinked, then gazed on the raven-haired girl sitting across from her. Flanked on both sides by Ran and Benten, they dressed as she in their usual strapless bikinis with knee-length boots -ntennten is also decked out in her sash and hair chains plus loin guards and arm shields -- the Oni princess tried not to break down and weep. If she succeeded at this mission, she would personally be cut off from the familiar sights and sounds of home for a long time to come. If she failed, billions of lives, both here on Earth and on her homeworld, would be thrust into harm\'s way by a group of senile, war-mongering old fools who couldn\'t see past their horn-buds.

\"It\'s true, Ryuunosuke-san,\" the woman kneeling to Ryuunosuke\'s right reported.

Ryuunosuke\'s head snapped around to let her gaze on Japan\'s head of government, the lovely Kahoru Iroka, before she turned back to the stunning alien beauty in the orange tiger-stripped bikini and boots. \"You mean to say...\" she stuttered, then gulped, \"...you came all the way to Earth to stop your people from trying to destroy us? By letting yourself be infected by the Virus?!\"

\"Hai,\" Lum nodded. \"It was the only way to stop Dad\'s advisors from doing something so stupid...\"

She shook her head, then perked as Ran\'s hand squeezed her shoulder. \"I...!\" Ryuunosuke breathed out.

What on Earth could one say to THAT?!

\"Madame Prime Minister, could there\'ve been another way to handle this?\" the woman to Ryuunosuke\'s left asked.

Ryuunosuke gazed on her adopted mother, Morisato Yukari, then she relaxed as the older woman gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. \"No, Morisato-san, there was no other way open to us in this case,\" Iroka shook her head. \"I confirmed this several times with the WIB in New York City.\" In this, the Prime Minister referred to the \"Women In Black,\" the nickname given to the United Nations\' special extraterrestrial investigations service, the Special Committee on Alien Activities. \"Lum-san\'s father, the Emperor Shin\'nyuusha of Oniboshi, is surrounded by advisors who look on the Virus\' potential threat to every race living close to us with nothing short of mortal terror. And deep down, given how vicious the Virus was to our men when it first was unleashed, I can\'t really find fault with that attitude. While many of them would probably have not given our planet a second glance in normal circumstances, the fact now that there\'s a virus that specifically targets men for death while giving women nearly eternal life...\" she shrugged. \"Well, if some of those people advising Lum-san\'s father had their way, our planet would be nothing but a lifeless cinder and all of us would be dead. Kill the patient to cure the disease.\"

\"Gaia...\" Yukari\'s lifemate, an American from San Francisco named Christine Garland, gaped, then she gazed on the Oni princess.

\"Hai, it\'s true,\" Lum bowed her eyes ashamedly. \"Dad himself doesn\'t want something like that to happen. He believes that isolating Earth from the rest of the galaxy until such time as the Virus finally burns itself out is sufficient enough. But some of those...\" she spat out a word Ryuunosuke didn\'t comprehend, though the alien\'s tone clearly indicated it was a particularly nasty profanity, \"...don\'t care too much about that. All they see when they think of the Virus is a weapon other races could use against us. As if they could control something that seems to bypass every known shielding system to kill men wholesale. Atop that...\" she shook her head.

\"Your planet is run by a bunch of men who wouldn\'t have found anything too odd with the Wahhibis in Saudi Arabia,\" Christine mused.

Lum gazed on the Californian, then slowly nodded. Seeing the depressed look on the Oni\'s face, Ryuunosuke could only feel her heart ache. Crown princess and most likely heir to the throne of her particular galactic empire, Lum would have been quite the privileged child growing up. And now it was all gone, cast out forever with the speed one needed to snap one\'s fingers. Still...!

\"What\'s to stop them from trying to take you back home, then blow us up?\" she asked.

Lum stared intently at her, then she sighed. \"The fear of the Virus, of course. We watched events here fifteen years ago, Morisato-san. We saw how fast the Virus killed all the men of your planet. Our remote scan probes showed us how easy it was for this thing to get past every attempt at containment your scientists tried to raise against it. And...\" a wry smile crossed her face. \"I am the Crown Princess, am I not? There\'s no way that, even if I was infected with the Virus, Dad\'s advisors would ever prescribe anything that would directly threaten me. By my being here, Morisato-san, I, on Dad\'s behalf, have extended a \'special favour\' to the people of Earth.\"

\"Thus, if they even tried to do something against us, all Lum-san here would have to do is contact her father and those who were out to destroy us would be guilty of state treason,\" Iroka augmented. \"And, as in Russia, the punishment for state treason is quite ugly.\"

\"I\'ll bet it is,\" Christine whistled, then she gazed on the girls sitting on either side of Lum. \"What about you two?\"

\"I had to come, ma\'am,\" Benten shrugged, a devil-may-care smirk crossing her face as she placed a hand on Lum\'s shoulder. \"Someone\'s gotta watch out for this dumbass, reckless idiot here,\" she indicated the Oni with her free hand.

Giggles filled the room. \"What about you, Ran-san?\" Yukari asked.

\"Well,\" the rose-haired alien teen sighed. \"I\'ve heard a lot about how beneficial the Virus has been to the women of Earth and...\" she paused, then blinked as Lum grasped her hand, a supportive smile crossing the Oni\'s face. \"Well, I suffer from a form of empathic vampirism. Every month or so, I\'m driven by this *hunger* that makes me seek someone out to literally suck the youth right out of them. I haven\'t killed anyone with my power yet, Morisato-san, but...\" she shrugged. \"What if I did?\"

\"You poor child,\" Yukari blinked, her eyes tearing automatically on hearing Ran\'s story, then she reached over. \"Come here!\"

Ran doesn\'t resist the older woman\'s embrace. Ryuunosuke gazed understandingly at her adopted mother -- given the circumstances that brought the former Fujinami Ryuunosuke into the Morisato household, that Yukari would automatically open her heart to another suffering girl was pretty much expected -- then she turned to the woman to her right. \"Madame Prime Minister, why did Lum-san and her friends come here, then? I mean, here to our house, not just to Earth itself...\" her voice trailed off as a knowing smile crossed Iroka\'s face.

\"Well, Morisato-san, when my staff and I discussed this matter with the WIBs, we came to the conclusion that giving Lum-san here the chance to seek out a full-time companion while she lives with us here on Earth was only proper given how much she\'s willing to sacrifice on our behalf,\" the Prime Minister explained. \"Naturally, said girlfriend would have to be of the type who would stay reasonably loyal to Lum-san as well as potentially give her a child. You can draw all the necessary conclusions from that, can\'t you, Morisato-san?\"

Ryuunosuke blinked, then shuddered as she felt her member grow slightly more inside her pants as she gazed once more on Lum.

She had it all...

She just threw it all away...

All for people she\'d never known...

A society that wasn\'t hers...

Threw it all away...

She had it all...

She threw it all away...

For the women of Earth...

For her...

Without hesitation, she rose to her feet. Everyone stared spellbound at her as Ryuunosuke began to unbutton the high-collared dark blue jacket worn by the young men who had attended Tomobiki High School in the days before the Virus. Letting that fall off her shoulders, Ryuunosuke then went to work on the white shirt underneath. That soon joined the jacket on the floor, allowing Ryuunosuke to expose her quite ample breasts. \"Whoa...\" Benten shuddered, a deep jolt of envy surging through her on seeing those beautiful mounds with their jutting dark pink tips, then her eyes travelled down as Ryuunosuke\'s hands unbuckled her pants, then with one thrust of both hands, her pants and specially-designed panties joined the rest of her clothes on the floor. \"Holy fucking SHIT...!!\" the Fukunokam jaw jaw hit the floor.

\"Your daughter is very well endowed, Morisato-san!\" Ran\'s cheeks ripened to the shade of cherries on seeing Ryuunosuke *au naturel.*

\"She is that, isn\'t she?\" Yukari beamed with pride.

Staring at the raven-haired herm standing before her, Lum was rendered totally speechless, then feeling a surge of mixed desire and determination flood her body, she stood up. Within seconds, her tiger-stripped strapless top and bikini briefs are on the floor. She gazed directly into Ryuunosuke\'s warm brown eyes. \"Oh, my Heaven...!\" Yukari gasped. \"Your friend is equally well endowed, Ran-chan.\"

\"Yeah, she is, ne?\" Ran chuckled.

Wordlessly, Ryuunosuke and Lum stepped up to the other, then the latter\'s hands reached for the former\'s waist. Ryuunosuke\'s right hand then reached out to shift Lum\'s left hand to her crotch. Feeling that hard muscle in her hand, Lum\'s cheeks suddenly ripened, then she gazed once more into Ryuunosuke\'s eyes. \"Is this...?\" she rasped, then she gulped to moisten her mouth. \"Because of me?\"

The herm blinked, then slowly nodded. \"All for you, Lum-chan. It\'s all for you...\"

* * *

Today...

\"Well, there was no way Lum was going to refuse a compliment like THAT!\" Ryuunosuke giggles, rubbing the side of her head.

\"Then she zapped you!\" Benten cuts in.

\"Excuse me?\" Tariko blinks.

Lum sighs. \"I have the ability to produce large levels of bio-organic electricity that I can fire off from anywhere on my body,\" she explains. \"When I realized how much I was becoming aroused by Darling\'s...! Ahem!\" she clears her throat. \"Well...\"

\"I didn\'t realize it until I went down to one knee and proposed to her,\" Ryuunosuke smirks. \"When she said \'Yes\'...!\"

\"*ZAP!!!*\" Ran giggles. \"Lum-chan nailed Darling right then and there!\"

\"Girls!!\" Lum\'s cheeks flame embarrassingly.

An understanding grin crosses Tariko\'s face. \"Have problems controlling your powers, Lum-san?\"

\"H-hai!\" the Oni stutters. \"Fortunately, girls on Earth are capable of recovering right away from things like that!\"

\"I see, then,\" the president of Love Destiny Enterprises nods. \"Well, when you and Ryuu-chan here go through what I can give you, you should be able to better control your zaps from then on. My abilities have helped other paranormals get better control over their powers, so...\" she pauses, then nods. \"Alright, then,\" she reaches for the bundles of cash on the table between her and her customers.

Taking one 10,000 yen bill from each pile, Tariko folds the two bills up, then slips them into her shirt pocket. She then gives the rest of the money back to Mai and Ryuunosuke. \"Tariko-san!!\" the former exclaims, her eyes widening with shock.

Tariko says nothing as she places the money back into their hands, then rises. \"Satomi-chan, would you show the girls the guest rooms, please? Mikki, Israa, I\'ll get to you two as quickly as I can, okay. I\'ll get started with the tea.\"

She heads out of the room. The others watch her go, then Ryuunosuke stares at Satomi. \"Why...?\"

The silver-haired coffee shop owner rises. \"Remember when Tariko-chan made her promise to you?\"

Ryuunosuke blinks, then slowly nods. \"I don\'t understand...\" Lum stands.

\"It\'s simple, Lum-chan,\" Satomi sighs. \"Tariko-chan has no real use for the likes of Miyaki. Being an empath, Tariko-chan can\'t avoid sensing the feelings of those around her. Especially her friends, which Ryuunosuke-chan is since we spent time at the same orphanage when we were kids. Two years ago, Tariko-chan promised Ryuunosuke-chan that she would be there to help when the day came that your fiancee finally gave Miyaki the heave-ho. Thanks to you, it\'s happened.\" She gazes warmly on the Oni. \"And Tariko-chan isn\'t the only one who\'s happy to see that, Lum-chan. I\'ll show you guys where you\'re gonna be for the next day,\" she waves them out of the room...

* * *

Later...

Tariko now relaxes in her bedroom, gazing out the window at the starlit evening now descending on Tokyo and her suburbs, a cup of tea in hand. She raises the cup to her lips, then stops as a strange twitch jolts her nervous system. \"Come in!\" she calls out.

The door opens seconds later to reveal Deunan. The American stops, her eyes widening on seeing her host sitting on her bed naked, then she takes a deep breath, walking over to sit at the end of the bed. \"They\'re all asleep.\"

\"That\'s good,\" Tariko tries not to grin on seeing her guest\'s arou \"So..So...\"

\"So...\"

\"Deunan?\"

\"Yes?\"

\"Why don\'t you make yourself comfortable?\"

Deunan blinks, then smiles, reaching down for her shirt. A few seconds later, the nude American lays down on the bed beside her host. Tariko sets aside her tea cup, then turns to gaze on her guest, her eyes drinking in Deunan\'s perfectly-shaped breasts, well-honed yet still sensuously curved abdomen, her strong yet gracefully-shaped arms, the trimmed patch of dark blonde hair over her dampening womanhood, those lovely legs, her firm yet plump buttocks, then back up to her beautifully-sculptured face. Humming, Tariko leans close to trace a finger over Deunan\'s skin. \"A little native American, probably one of the southwestern tribes. Some African. South European, maybe Greek or Italian. All mixed with a lot of central European, most likely German. The personification of the American melting pot.\"

Deunan gapes at her, then laughs. \"You got it right!\" she leans up to kiss Tariko on the cheek, then she gazes absently on her for a moment before reclining herself once more. \"Tariko? Can I tell you something?\"

\"Sure.\"

\"I want you.\"

A titter escapes Tariko\'s lips. \"I rather figured that out when you stepped in.\"

\"I guess so,\" Deunan flusters, then sighs. \"Still...\"

\"What is it?\"

\"Something\'s...! Well, holding me back, I guess,\" the American admits, then her gaze intensifies for a moment before she looks nowhere in particular, then she turns back to her host. \"It\'s you, isn\'t it? You\'re doing something to me.\"

\"Not intentionally,\" Tariko admits, shifting herself into a sitting position. \"It\'s more automatic than anything else.\"

\"Automatic?\"

\"Hai. You see, my empathic powers are always active. It\'s like a psychic \'early warning net\' to me. Any person who enters the range of that \'net\' is detected subconsciously by me. If they emanate something that might threaten me or someone close to me, that\'s when I get a conscious \'nudge\' and I go check her out with a more active empathic scan or switch to a telepathic scan,\" Tariko then points to her eyes as they glow for a brief moment. \"When I use my telepathy or my telekinetic powers, my eyes glow as a result.\"

\"You must\'ve had problems mastering those abilities if you never resorted to government assistance,\" Deunan notes.

\"Well, I didn\'t need to. When my powers first started to demonstrate themselves, Oba-chan went out of her way to find someone who could help me master them.\" With that, Tariko leans over to open the top drawer of her nightstand to draw out a framed picture.

Deunan looks, then whistles. \"Masudamasu Yoshiko!\" she takes the beautiful nude picture of the lovely twentysomething with the ample breasts, smoky grey eyes behind glasses and the black hair extending to past her waist. \"We\'ve heard of her over in my department. A lot of her studies in DNA and recombinant RNA research are considered mandatory course material for biology undergrads in the States.\"

\"Yeah, Yoshi-chan really is something, isn\'t she?\"

The American blinks. \"\'Yoshi-chan?!\'\" a knowing grin ses ses her face.

Tariko takes the picture back, then pulls it out of its frame. Turning it around, she shows Deunan the written message there:

\"Dearest Ta-chan,
\"Let me be the mother of your first child.
\"Love forever,
\"Your Yoshi-chan\"

\"Your first lover?\" Deunan wonders.

\"Iie,\" Tariko shakes her head as she restores the picture. \"Back when I was learning how to master my abilities, I looked on Yoshi-chan as the big sister I never had. My first lover, as you might now suspect, was Oba-chan\'s daughter Ryooko-chan.\"

Deunan\'s gaze turns inward as she calls up what information she has on the Mendou family. \"Oh, that\'s right! Ryooko\'s a mother now, isn\'t she? She has a girl of four. Tomiko, right?\" A pause, then, \"Is she your...?\"

\"Daughter? Iie. Tomiko-chan\'s my first goddaughter, though,\" Tariko smirks. \"Her co-parent is Ryooko-chan\'s wife, Mizunokoji Asuka. It...\" she pauses for a moment as that tumultuous year starts to replay through her mind, then she sighs. \"Like I said, Ryooko-chan was my first lover. We were both twelve at the time and...! Well, you know, getting to the time when people want to explore their bodies and what it means to have sex and all that. At the same time, though, Oba-chan and Asuka-chan\'s mother Saeko wanted Ryooko-chan to be engaged to Asuka-chan as a way of ending a feud between the Mendous and the Mizunokoji that\'s gone on since before Sekigahara. Anyhow...\"

* * *

Tomobiki, the Mendou mansion, five years ago...

\"Should I have sex with Asuka-chan after the omiai, Tariko-chan?\"

Tariko hummed as she and Ryooko walked across a wooden bridge overlooking a small pond near the Western-style nobleman\'s mansion which served as their family home. \"Well, Oba-chan and Saeko-ojousan want you and Asuka-chan to get married so the clans could be united, Ryooko-chan. And since neither of you aren\'t herms, it\'d be okay to have it before you get married since you don\'t have to worry about having babies.\" She shrugged, then stared at the lovely raven-haired girl with the eyes of burnt chestnuts. \"I guess it\'s okay.\"

\"But...\"

\"What\'s wrong, Ryooko-chan?\"

The young heiress to the Mendou family fortune shuddered, then she sighed. \"I\'ve never done it before, Tariko-chan!\"

\"Eh?!\" Tariko blinked surprisedly. \"Not even with any of the Kuroko or the Kuromegane?\"

Ryooko rapidly shook her head. The Kuromegane -- the name meant \"Black Glasses\" -- were the Mendou Clan\'s special investigations and intelligence group, so-called because of the Ray-Ban sunglasses they wore with their three-piece business suits. The Kuroko, who dressed in the traditional uniforms of Kabuki and Noh \"invisible\" stagehands, were Ryooko\'s private troop of bodyguards. And Tariko knew well that all of them were beautiful. \"I didn\'t want to do something that might upset Okaa-san,\" she twitted her fingers, then sighed. \"Tariko-chan?\"

\"What is it, Ryooko-chan?\"

Ryooko gave her sister-in-all-but-name a pleading look. \"Please have sex with me, Tariko-chan!!\"

Tariko jolted, her eyes going wide...

* * *

Today...

Deunan giggles as the image of the young Ryooko asking Tariko to be her first plays out in her mind. \"And you did it, right?\"

\"Well...\" Tariko chuckles, rubbing the back of her skull, then she sighs. \"I didn\'t take her cherry, of course. I figured that Asuka-chan deserved the right to do that when they slept together the first time, which WAS right after the omiai. But...\"

\"She drank your breast milk, right?\"

Tariko nods. \"Hai,\" she reaches down to gently fondle one of her D-cup breasts. \"I didn\'t realize what had happened to her and Yoshi-chan never thought of giving my breasts a detailed look-over until later. But three months after the omiai, Yoshi-chan was giving Ryooko-chan an examination when...\" she shrugs. \"Whammo! She discovered that Ryooko-chan was pregnant with hers and Asuka-chan\'s baby.\"

\"That must\'ve caused a big stir!\"

\"At first, but when Yoshi-chan did the DNA test on the fetus and discovered who were the parents, Haruka-obachan and Saeko-obachan were beside themselves. You see, uniting the Mendous and Mizunokoji into one family had been their husbands\' fondest dream. And had they survived, their sons would\'ve been made to marry Asuka-chan and Ryooko-chan and unite the clans that way. Then, after the celebration died down, Haruka-obachan and Saeko-obachan wondered how it happened. So Yoshi-chan put Ryooko-chan through a bunch of tests and discovered...\"

\"That some elements of Ryooko\'s DNA had been reconfigured to match the equivalent DNA in you, right?\"

\"Hai. That\'s when Yoshi-chan discovered that somehow, my breast glands absorb stem cells from my bones, then allows me to transmit them orally into another person to change them.\" Tariko takes a deep breath. \"It doesn\'t \'remake\' a person into someone that\'s my equal in all respects, of course. Telekinetically, Ryooko-chan would only be a Class Four, I think. And she can only empathically bond with the woman who is the \'father,\' so to speak, of her baby. I don\'t know why that happens. And even more, Ryooko-chan couldn\'ss oss on her abilities to someone else like I did to her, or wound up doing with all my customers after Oba-chan and I founded Love Destiny.\"

\"You\'re bothered by it, aren\'t you?\" Deunan notes.

Tariko blinks, then nods. Slipping off the bed, she walks to the window, gazing into the starry night. \"Yeah. I mean, Ryooko-chan was happy beyond belief to have Tomiko-chan. And Asuka-chan loved it, too. But the fact that I forced Ryooko-chan to become a mom at age THIRTEEN, for Heaven\'s sake...\" she closes her eyes. \"Yeah, I could sense that they\'re grateful to me, but...\"

\"You didn\'t know the truth about yourself then, Tariko.\"

\"I know, I know. That\'s what Oba-chan told me! That\'s what Yoshi-chan told me! That\'s what Ryooko-chan and Asuka-chan told me, too!\" Tariko leans against the window, then sighs. \"And even though I\'ve loved and enjoyed bringing my gift to everyone\'s whose asked me to give it to them, that it started THAT way...\" she gazes at the American, then shrugs. \"Well, maybe sometime in the future, ne?\"

\"That\'s a good attitude to have,\" Deunan beckons Tariko back to the bed.

As the Japanese woman reclines herself beside her guest, Deunan reaches over to draw her close, allowing their nipples to gently rub against each other as Tariko\'s hands press down on the American\'s buttocks to allow their bodies to gently caress the other\'s. They stare into each other\'s eyes, then share a warm kiss before Tariko slides onto her back, Deunan partially draping herself over her. \"Tariko?\"

\"What is it?\"

\"Do you think there\'re others like you out there?\"

Tariko sighs, closing her eyes as she reaches down telekinetically to draw a quilt over them. \"Maybe. It would seem kinda odd that I\'m the only one like myself running around the place, ne? But still, I guess it would be nice to be friends with people like me.\"

\"Just \'friends?\'\" Deunan\'s eyebrow arches.

Both laugh, then Tariko flicks off the light...

* * *

EPILOGUE

Tomobiki High School, four days later...

\"Ohayou, Ryuunosuke-sa-...!! WOW!!!\"

Gasps and cries of delight echo across the front yard of the quaint high school as the eyes of other students and teachers lock on the lovely form now walking through the front gate. Given the radical revolution in cultural, social and sexual mores since the Virus first struck Japan, the uniform standards of Tomobiki High had changed from a drab dark blue seifuku to a white button blouse with red-and-blue bowtie, a navy blue vest with the school crest over the left breast, and a pleaded, red-trimmed blue skirt that most girls left cut only a centimetre below the crotch. The drab bloomers girls once wore to protect their modesty in the old days have long been banished to the recesses of gym class and it was even odds that girls would be wearing any sort of underwear beneath their skirts, windy day or not.

\"My, Ryuunosuke-kun, what a delightful change!\" the new school nurse, Mitsuki Shizuka -- having just transferred in from Uzuki High School in one of Metro Tokyo\'s more rural sections, she had no idea of Ryuunosuke\'s true nature -- chuckles admiringly as she walks past the raven-haired teen and her fiancee. \"Looks like Lum-kun there\'s finally getting you to show off much more of yourself than you did before!\"

\"I...!\" Ryuunosuke flusters, then laughs, rubbing the side of her head. \"Y-yeah, she did, Mitsuki-sensei!!\"

\"Hey, Morisato! Great-looking ass!!\" another girl heckles from nearby.

\"Take it off, Ryuunosuke-chan!\" yet another girl whoops. \"We want to see it all!!\"

\"Give us a joint strip-tease, Lum-chan!!\" still another girl challenges.

A chorus of wolf-whistles echo those words, making the couple in question blush even more, then Ryuunosuke jolts on hearing a shocked shriek from behind her. Spinning around, she and Lum stare at a slack-jawed Miyaki Shinobu, her eyes about to shoot out of her skull as a shaking hand flips up and down from Ryuunosuke\'s face to her crotch. As an incomprehensible stammer escapes the lips of Ryuunosuke\'s former fiancee, several girls gather around the raven-haired teen and her present fiancee. \"What the hell\'s with her?\" Shindou Reiko, a former Uzuki High student who transferred to Tomobiki about the same time Shizuka had changed jobs, wonders.

\"Oh, I dunno, Reiko-san,\" Ryuunosuke shrugs. \"Somehow, Shinobu-san got it into her head that I was a hermaphrodite. Don\'t ask me why, though; we\'ve slept together for Heaven only knows HOW long. That is,\" she leans over to kiss Lum, \"...until I met a REAL girl!\"

Questioning hums escape some of the other women present, then Reiko shrugs. \"Well, what can one expect from a girl who keeps six-to-ten girlfriends on the go all the time, ne?\" she turns head inside, then stops, looking back. \"Ryuunosuke-san?\"

\"Hai?\"

\"Ryooko-chan...\" -- Reiko refers to her girlfriend, Kano Ryooko, who still attends Uzuki High -- \"...is going to be coming down this weekend to do some painting. She told me she wants to do one of you and Lum-san together as a wedding gift. Interested?\"

Ryuunosuke and Lum exchange looks, then both grin. \"Defini!!\"!!\" they answer as one.

\"Alright! See you in class!\" Reiko waves, then heads off.

Tomobiki High\'s star couple watch her go, then gently grasp the other\'s hand. \"Lum?\"

\"Yes, Darling?\"

\"When it really starts to show, we\'ll get Kano-san to do another portrait of us. Okay?\"

Lum stares at her, then gushes. \"Hai!\"

Both head into school, ignoring the still-sputtering Shinobu, who remains rooted to the ground by the front gate...

* * *

Nearby...

\"Another satisfied couple.\"

\"You really liked seeing that girl humiliated, did you?\"

Tariko blinks, then stares at Deunan before shaking her head. \"No, not really. Shinobu\'s got her good points, Deunan. Many of them in fact. But the simple fact is, she and Ryuu-chan weren\'t couple material. After all my experiences with real couples, seeing what was going on between Shinobu and Ryuu-chan just got to me at times.\" She takes a deep breath. \"So it\'s back to Washington for you, eh?\"

\"Yeah. I guess Dana misses me or something like that,\" the American shrugs, then looks down. \"Tariko?\"

The Japanese girl gazes intently at her for a moment, then smiles. \"I\'ll be seeing you soon, Deunan-chan.\"

\"Eh?!\"

A knowing laugh escapes the boy-turned-girl. \"Several senators and distinguished ladies of the United States Congress, representing the Commonwealth of Virginia, have asked me to consult with them on some personal matters as soon as I can arrange to fly over to Richmond. That\'ll be next month; I\'ve some more pressing business in Kitakyuushuu, Fukuoka and Pusan to take care of, first, then after a break, I\'m flying over to Europe to do some business in Berlin, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. I\'ll fly to Washington right after that.\"

Deunan blinks, then smirks. \"I\'ll have some money ready when you come across the pond,\" she winks.

\"I\'ll be willing,\" Tariko touches two fingers to her lips, then blows her new friend a kiss...

*** The End ... For Now ***

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WRITER\'S NOTES:

This story, like the other times I\'ve written \"add-on\" stories to another writer\'s work, came out of repeated readings of Jim\'s \"RanPorn World.\" While I\'m personally not a big fan of \"pure-lemon\" stories in general, \"RPW\" did draw my attention. In fact, one of the underlying themes of Jim\'s work -- the main underlying theme -- is what got my muse going to eventually produce what you\'ve just read.

As those of you who\'re familiar with my other stories will no doubt guess, a certain diploid monogender alien race from a water-bound planet far away from Earth, a race I first created for my first fanfic series \"Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year,\" are the ones responsible for the transformation of the Moroboshi Ataru of the \"RPW\" universe into Moroboshi Tariko. As to why Tariko is not aware of her true origins and the motivations behind his/her Crossing Over, that will be explained in the future. There are more story ideas in this line which are churning now inside my mind as I write this now. Pending Jim\'s final nod -- it IS his universe that I\'m writing this story in after all, of course! -- you\'ll be reading about Tariko\'s future adventures, not to mention the adventures of others like Tariko, soon enough.

And while I\'ll do my best to keep to the spirit of \"RPW,\" I will warn you now that things might get moody. Not violent, of course; as far as Jim is concerned, that really has no place in the \"RPW\" universe and I respect that. But there\'ll be some angst. Count on it.

As for a meeting between Tariko and the main stars of \"RPW,\" especially a certain blue-eyed redhead, that is also possible, but it won\'t happen right away. I will admit that one of the things that first prompme tme to put fingers to keyboard on this story was a general concern that started to echo in my mind about the way the Ranma of \"RPW\" was being treated by everyone else, botose ose who have direct contact with him/her and those watching him/her from afar. As to what this concern might be, I won\'t say right now. But if I have the chance to talk about it -- and if it gets the nod from Jim, of course -- it\'ll be addressed in these stories.

Other than that, any constructive suggestions are always welcome.

Cheers and enjoy!

Fred Herriot
25 March 2003

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Translations and explanations:

Nihon e youkoso ... Welcome to Japan
wantan-men ... ramen with \"won ton\" dumplings
Irasshaimasen ... Be welcome here (greeting given by restaurant/bar owners when customers arrive)
cocovi ... warmed milk served with whipped cream and candy shards
Anata ... Dear (wife\'s address to her husband/lifemate)
hachijuuhachi ... eighty-eight (88)
gingi ... redhead (Hebrew)
Knesset ... the unicameral legislative branch of Israel\'s government
Ojou-sama/Ojou-san ... Lady, Mistress (very formal mode of address to a young woman)
Sekigahara ... the battle in 1600, fought west of modern-day Nagano, that unified Japan under the Tokugawas, launching the Edo Dynasty
omiai ... a formal meeting between prospective life-mates, arranged usually via their parents
Kabuki ... traditional Japanese stage theatre, originating in the 1600s, known for its lively performances
Noh ... the oldest form of Japanese stage theatre, renowned by its simplicity and the masks worn by the lead actor (shite)