|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Hey, Blackberry-oneechan, wake up!”
Blackberry, now sixteen, drowsily pushed her light blue comforter off of her, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She frowned disapprovingly and shot an angry glare at the girl who had so rudely woken her up.
“Okaasan said to tell you that breakfast was ready. That, and you need to get dressed or you’ll be late for school.”
“I’ll be up in a minute,” Blackberry mumbled in response as she grudgingly climbed out of bed and began to stretch her arms. As an afterthought she added, “And I told you not to call me onechan. We’re adopted, so we aren’t related at all.”
“Still…” Vanilla began, her voice trailing off as she began to spin a strand of cream-colored hair around her fingers. “What did I come to get you for again? Oh, that’s right! Okaasan prepared miso soup and she wants you to hurry and get ready for school!”
“It’s Saturday; I can skip,” the orphan responded, as she grabbed a faded black T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans from their hangers. “I’m going to go change in the bathroom.”
“But we have a test today in English,” the younger girl reminded her adopted sister, bringing the palm of her hand up to her forehead. “Shoot! I forgot to study!”
Vanilla groaned, grabbing her black school bag from her bed in the corner of the room. “I can’t afford to fail another test,” she mumbled to herself as she glanced at Blackberry and added, “Come on, you can’t miss another day, and Okaasan won’t buy any more of your excuses.”
“I’m. Not. Going,” Blackberry said through gritted teeth, tossing her clothes onto the bed across from her adopted sister’s.
“If you say so. Just don’t blame me if you get in trouble, okay? If anyone asks, I’ll tell them you’re sick.”
The bedroom door slammed shut and Blackberry was left alone to her thoughts. It wasn’t often that she got time to herself and it was a nice change of pace to have some time to herself. Sighing forlornly, she collapsed on her bed, reaching out to push aside the curtains and revealing a crowded street, filled with the cars of people on their way to school or work.
What a waste... she found herself thinking bitterly. It would be better if they’d all go away...
Kuro watched boredly as soldiers filed into the seats of the alien spaceship’s meeting room, his head rested in his hands. He was pale, a result of having lived underground most of his life, and had straight, sea green colored hair that fell just past his shoulders. He scowled, leaning back into the padded seat that served as a throne of sorts.
“Kuro-sama, we will be ready to start the meeting shortly.”
Momentarily averting his attention from the crowd, Kuro peered over his shoulder to discover the source of his voice, a young alien that appeared to be in his middle-teens. He wore a baggy pair of black shorts with two light green ribbons, the same color as his hair, hanging from his waist. His top consisted of a brown sleeveless shirt that halted about halfway down his stomach.
“Ah, good,” Kuro responded, abruptly jumping up from his seat. He gave a malicious smile and added, “I hope I can trust you to get your job done, Lime.”
“Of course, Kuro-sama.”
Several minutes later found Kuro facing a legion of soldiers, all eyeing their leader attentively as they awaited his orders. He stood, in his hands a small fragment of what seemed to be a mew aqua, although it was barely visible in the dimly lit room.
“As you know, Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto have failed to reclaim our planet,” he began, his voice loud and commanding so that it could be easily heard by all the room’s occupants. “The little bit of mew aqua they brought back was nowhere near enough to significantly improve the conditions on our current planet. With Deep Blue gone we must now make another attempt to wipe out those who have polluted out beautiful home.”
“But what makes you think we’ll succeed this time?”
Several murmurs of agreement rose from the ground as all eyes turned upon the alien who had interrupted, a girl with lavender hair, her outfit made up of a light blue robe, which was draped over a similarly colored dress. She smirked, obviously satisfied that her comment seemed to have generated some doubt among the others, and continued.
“We failed last time we tried to wipe out the humans, so why shouldn’t it be any different this time around?”
“Of course, there is always the possibility of failure,” the alien leader replied, his voice still calm and unwavering. “But this time we will be sending down more soldiers as well as employing different tactics.”
“And what will that do? Deep Blue, Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto were more competent than any of us, but they still failed.”
“Competent?” Lime spoke up from his seat in the corner of the room. “They could hardly be called that much. People who don’t know what they’re talking about should keep their mouths shut, Pucca. Kisshu fell in love with a human, and it was partly because of his betrayal that we lost.”
Snickering, Pucca stood up, turning to face Lime as she said, “And what about you? I’ve seen you trying to sneak into the girl’s shower room before. I’d give you one week, at the most, before you fall head over heels for some human girl.”
“It’s mean to pick on those who are less intelligent, Lime,” a new voice intervened, this time coming from a male alien who appeared to be in his late teens. He wore a stoic expression and ran a finger through his bright yellow hair as he continued. “And Pucca, this isn’t the time to bring the subject up. At the least, let Kuro finish his speech before you interrupt.”
He stood, facing his leader, and bowed.
“I’m sorry for the interruption. Please continue with what you were saying.”
Fuming, Pucca returned to her seat, though she continued to mutter furiously under her breath.
“The reason we failed last time,” Kuro continued, “was because of the mews. However, this time we will have our own team of mew to ensure we will be successful. Not all humans agree with the mews, and there are some who would be more than willing to help us.”
“And how exactly do you expect us to find these humans?” Pucca snorted, eyeing Kuro doubtfully.
“Simple,” Lime interjected, rather than waiting for Kuro to reply. He smirked, clearly enjoying the moment. “You, Lemon, and I are going to go down to Earth to search for people to assist us.”
Pucca stared blankly at Lime, apparently still digesting this unexpected news. After a moment, she shook her head firmly, saying, “No, absolutely not! I can’t! Not with them!”
She pointed to both Lime and the blonde alien in turn, shuddering slightly as she did so.
“Unfortunately, you don’t have a choice in the matter,” the one called Lemon spoke up, although by the disgruntled he wore, it seemed that he was just as displeased with his assignment as Pucca. However, he continued on without any note of annoyance in his voice. “Kuro assigned you to work with us, and you will do so. Unless you wish to be considered a traitor, but that’s not the case, is it?”
Pucca was on the verge of responding that she would rather be considered a traitor than work with Lime and Lemon, but instead merely muttered an almost inaudible, “No.”
“I didn’t think so.” Lemon bowed to Kuro and added, “Very well, then. We shall leave at once.”
With these words, he disappeared followed by Lime and Pucca, still swearing darkly to herself.
Blackberry sat on the living room floor, a Playstation controller clutched tightly in both hands as she mashed the square button repeatedly, eyes fixed on the television in front of her. And then…
“Oh dear…”
A young girl, from the looks of it slightly younger than Blackberry, had landed headfirst in front of the television. She pulled herself to her feet, rubbing her forehead as she surveyed her surroundings. The girl spared Blackberry a glance, and, not seeming to care that the room was occupied began to pace back and forth, muttering furiously.
“No, this can’t be right…I should have wound up with Lime and Lemon…stupid teleportation, still haven’t gotten it right.”
Once again, the girl turned her head in Blackberry’s direction, groaning as she gently slapped her forehead.
“And I let a human see me also! Idiot, how could I!”
She momentarily stopped her rambling, apparently deep in though. Finally, she seemed to come to a conclusion, and before Blackberry had time to react, she felt a hand clamp tightly around her wrist, and a moment later, both the girl and the surrounding room had dissapeared.
To Be Continued...
Notes:
Okaasan-
Mother
Oneechan- Sister
In Japan, students
have a half-day of school on Saturday.
To Be Continued...