Chapter 9

"Thank you very much for honoring me with your hospitality, Mrs. Tanaka."

Rose noticed that her new friends flinched at the way she said that, but the woman seemed unperturbed.

The woman responded that Rose honored them with her presence. Rose understood that the response was cloaked in ritual, but that Aoi's mother genuinely meant it. The woman went on to invite Rose to enjoy the snacks, including the other two guests in the invitation. She gave Aoi a significant look, which Rose's powers interpreted as "you know what you need to do".

Aoi smiled and shrugged at her old and new friends, then turned to follow her mother out of the kitchen.

Now you've done it. Maki commented.

What? Rose was genuinely puzzled.

You used the formal forms, and invoked the Traditions of Hospitality.

And that's a bad thing? Rose enjoyed being able to hold a conversation while chewing on a snack.

Not just the "stopping by for a visit" kind of hospitality. The kind that obligates them to treat you like visiting royalty.

Oh. Now she got it. By trying to be polite, she had ended up putting Aoi in an uncomfortable position, and had turned her visit into something more formal. It was annoying to recognize her own ability to screw such things up, despite the nature of her powers. Is there any way to undo this?

Not without both sides losing face. Especially Aoi. It would be a terrible insult to their family.

No way out but through, huh? Rose was becoming resigned to the situation.

"Pssst ... Rose!" a quiet voice whispered in her ear, startling her. "It's about midnight here, and I'm going to bed. I still have school in the morning. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I'm not sure I'd anything you would do, CP. Night." At a puzzled look from the others, she explained "Just a quick message from my little winged friend. It's midnight back hone, and he needs his beauty sleep."

They laughed at that, and went back to snacking.

Don't fill up too much. Maki warned. Part of the hospitality thing is feeding you. Generously.

Aoi came in in a beautiful, but very formal, dress. Her hair was neatly done up, and she had a little more makeup on. "You honor us with your visit, honorable guest," she intoned, bowing. The comment wasn't as redundant in Japanese.

Sensing that some reply was needed, she looked a question at Maki. Wing it. came the grinning reply.

"I'm honored by your generous hospitality. Thank you."

The bowing out of the way, Aoi got down to business. "May I show you our home?" she asked, still somewhat ritualistically.

"I would like that, very much."

You can relax a little now. Maki advised her. Aoi will make sure you know when any formal stuff is coming up.

Kohaku spoke up. "Mind if I use the dojo a while?"

Aoi grinned, and answered informally, "Sure. Go ahead. We might join you later."

"You have your own dojo?" Rose asked, impressed.

"Oh, yes. It has been in the family for a very long time, but they modified it to fit my powers. I'll show you as part of the tour."

Why does it always have to be a school night? Lena grumped, as she coordinated their threat response.

Tell me about it! Robin agreed. If I have to do much, I'm gonna lose my whole weekend just to make up the school day.

I'm already beat. David complained. His efforts at helping Rose and her Dad long distance had left him more than a little drained.

We'll do what we can without you. Lena assured him. After all, we have plans tomorrow night.

The emphasis she put on the "we" got his attention, all right. He was looking forward to their Friday night out as much as she was. And what might come afterwards...

None of that, mister! I'm trying to concentrate, here.

The three men were shielded, but it was a different, lower quality shield than the five dead men had employed. They didn't seem as coordinated, either. Lena decided they were locals ... well, relatively local, anyway.

Shit! The short one's a 'porter. Robin complained. And he's warming up for a jump.

Where?

Dunno yet. Probably waiting for one of the others to give him a location. Or to jump them out if they get caught.

How do they see out through that field? Lena complained. It gives me a headache just to look near it.

Want me to kiss it and make it better? David grinned.

Not ... There! Tara's room!

On it Robin was there in a flit. And invisible, as usual.

Something's wrong here. Don't do anything yet.

Robin watched as the intruder flitted in and froze for a moment, looking at Tara. Now that she could see him better, she could see he wasn't much older than her. Maybe a college freshman or sophomore. Apparently satisfied that Tara was still asleep, he moved to her dresser. Quietly opening the top drawer, he stole a pair of her panties and closed the drawer as silently as he'd opened it.

A final look at Tara, and he flitted back outside. Robin followed, and before he and his partners in crime could escape, she turned off his shield.

David and Lena both got mental fixes on him before he took hold of his accomplices and 'ported out. They helped Robin find where they had gone, and she 'ported after them.

Robin listened invisibly, and Lena "listened" as they talked about their panty raid and the old guys who had suggested it.

Get back here! Carefully! Lena warned Robin.

While Robin and Lena were dealing with the boys, as they now thought of them, David had been looking and "looking" around the neighborhood. He quickly found three men - definitely not teenagers - parked nearby and apparently discussing the raid they had just watched.

They spoke Japanese. At least, he thought it was Japanese. He really missed having Rose around, just then.

Lena confirmed that they were wearing shields, of the same sort as the dead men from the truck crash.

The men parked the car just a little way from Rose's house, and then they seemed to concentrate.

Seeing that this was not the time to mess around, Robin pulled out three of the darts David had made for her, and flitted into the car. She quickly stabbed the driver and one of the other two with the darts, when a still sleeping Tara appeared on top of her.

She was intangible (except for her finger tips), so neither of them was really harmed, but it was really unpleasant for Robin, and startled her enough to make her drop the dart.

As the other 'porter looked around at his companions, telling them something she couldn't understand, she picked up the dart and stabbed him with it. Falling into her sitting position roused Tara, and she was starting to move around. Robin went tangible, grabbed Tara, and flitted back to Tara's bedroom.

Tara woke up the rest of the way and it was not a pleasant awakening. Robin went visible, and shushed her. Using Lena as a relay, she gave Tara an overview of the events, and reassured her that everything was in hand. She suggested that Tara go back to sleep, and they would take care of the rest.

Tara, who also had school in the morning, agreed.

Lena "called" one of her police contacts, who was on duty that night. She quickly filled her in, but asked that they just take the report of the three suspiciously unconscious men at face value for the time being. She would produce the pranksters the next day. Or rather, later that day.

David slouched over and physically watched the car until Lena warned him that the police were getting close.

In the meantime, Robin flitted back to the older boys. After invisibly flitting the stolen underwear back to Tara's room, she moved in front of the boys and appeared.

"You idiots!" she yelled into their faces. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

Shocked by her sudden appearance, and taken aback by her yelling, they just sort of stammered.

"Those old guys who talked you into that stupidity? They just tried to kidnap that girl!" To her ears, the emphasis she put on "kidnap" sounded a little more shrill than she had intended. Still ... no sense in backing off. She glared at them, one at a time.

"She could have been killed. You could have been killed. They were using you as decoys, to test our defenses. If we hadn't seen through it, we could have seriously injured you. If they had succeeded, they could have killed you to keep you from identifying them. Idiots!"

She took a few breaths to calm down, keeping them pinned with her eyes. "In the morning, here is what you are going to do..."

After she spelled it out, Lena reinforced the point. Don't even think of trying to run or hide. We'll be watching you! She gave them her best overtone of frightening authority. Tell them Radar sent you. Robin was amused to notice that one of them blanched at the mention of that name, but she kept her face stern.

Spearing each of them with one final glare, she flitted back to the others.

"I don't know about you guys, but it's way past my bedtime. If there's any more trouble tonight, I'll flit back to now to tell us." She waited a moment for herself to appear. When she didn't, she yawned a good night, then flitted herself back home.

Hey, what about us?

You live next door, lazy! Kiss your boyfriend goodnight.

Lena did so, and Robin popped in, sent David to his room Flit Delivery, and went back home.

Surprisingly, after everything that happened, she was asleep within minutes of crawling into bed.

David took even less time. He kicked off his shoes, fell into bed fully clothed, and was out by the time his head hit the pillow.

Lena had to stay up a little longer, answering a few questions from the officer. But only a few.

After helping Rose settle into her guest room, Aoi began the tour with her room. By Rose's standards, the room was very small. She had somewhat expected that to be the case, from her reading, but it still took her by surprise a little. It was also very neat, another thing she expected.

On a shelf over the small study desk, she spotted a familiar looking gold and gem covered object. Her face lit up.

Aoi got nervous, because under some circumstances an object of such admiration would be expected to become a gift to an honored guest. But that egg had particular value to her.

"Hey, you have one too!" Rose exclaimed, relieving Aoi no little bit, but puzzling her. The eggs weren't really on the market yet, the last she had heard. Rose made as though to reach for it. "May I... ?"

Aoi nodded, and watched as Rose expertly opened the egg. She grew alarmed again when a look of what could only be envy crossed Rose's face.

"Is that... ?" Rose pointed to a portion of the controls. "It has to be. You're so lucky!"

Now Aoi was very worried, since she wasn't sure what it was about the egg that Rose was looking at. Until Rose continued.

"That has to be the comm functions. Mine doesn't have that. Probably my parents' idea. They keep saying I'm too young to have a full eCom." She gave Aoi a Universal Teen Look that said "Parents. What can you do?", closed the egg, and returned it to its stand.

"So, you know Step?" Rose grinned.

Aoi was puzzled. "Who... ?"

"Sergei?" At Aoi's look of recognition, she continued. "Last time I saw him, he was calling himself Steppenwolf, because of the change."

It had been a while, and they hadn't kept in touch. "The change? He got MORFS?"

"Big time. He's a wolf hybrid now, with elemental powers. How did you meet him?"

Aoi indicated the egg. "My father's company makes some of the components for that, and some of the other products of Sergei's father." The actual comment in Japanese wasn't quite as awkward, Rose noticed. Sometimes her power was like watching a dubbed movie.

They moved on, touring the more public areas of the house. Then they moved outside. Aoi indicated a nearby wooden building that looked very old, but extremely well maintained. "That is the dojo. Father had it modified for my use, and it works well for Kohaku as well."

Rose notices that the inside of the building was covered with what looked like some high tech materials - the sort that were extremely fireproof, among other things. On one wall, there was a case filled with swords and other weapons. Some of them looked more or less familiar, some not so much.

Aoi disappeared briefly behind a screen. Rose watched Kohaku apparently throwing small lightning bolts at a small metal target on a stand near one corner. Aoi reappeared wearing what rose recognized as a ghi.

"Want to see a great trick?" Aoi asked. Across the room, Kohaku stopped what he was doing and grinned knowingly.

"Sure." Rose agreed.

Aoi selected what seemed to be some kind of practice sword from the cabinet. Rose noticed that there seemed to be a small channel along the blade.

Aoi struck a pose. "Hai ya!" The blade was surrounded by a ribbon of flame. Aoi held the sword aloft, and the flames grew bright and hot. As she did so, Rose could feel the heat from several feet away. Aoi turned, and swung the sword through what looked like some sort of log sitting across a couple of saw horses. A slice off the end fell neatly to the floor, leaving behind a thin trail of smoke which quickly dissipated. The smell pleasantly reminded Rose of campfires, as though from a distance.

Aoi extinguished the flame, then moved the blade to her side as though sliding it through her belt. She looked at Rose, expectantly.

"That was ... fantastic!" Rose enthused.

Aoi grinned, then put the sword away. "I have a pair of daggers I can do it with, as well." she explained. And I'm working on doing the sword without a physical blade."

"Like a light saber." Kohaku grinned, relishing the ancient reference.

Rose recognized the reference, and just smiled. "There's no question about it," she thought to herself, "boys are boys, wherever you are."

"I've been trying something similar, but I just can't get the hang of it." Kohaku griped.

That gave Rose an interesting idea. "Can you shape the path your electricity takes?"

"To an extent. Why?"

"I just wondered if you could make it go in circles."

"I don't see why not." Then his eyes widened in understanding, and he grinned. He turned toward a small piece of steel that he had been using as a target, then sent out what looked like a low powered lightning bolt. It snaked and bent for a moment, then formed a circle perpendicular to his hand and a few inches in front of it. The circle briefly got a little more intense, then seemed to vanish. It was clear that something was still happening, however.

After a moment, his target jumped from its stand and smacked into his hand. "Ow! Sonuva..." He shook his hand, sucked on his knuckles a moment, then grinned. "I would say that worked. Thanks for the idea." While he would never be a magnetic elemental, this opened up some interesting new possibilities.

"This is all fantastic, but can you two do anything practical with your powers?"

Aoi and Kohaku grinned at each other. "Shall we?" he asked.

"Let's." Aoi nodded.

They went to a cabinet in the corner of the room, and pulled out what looked like leather aprons. While Kohaku put on a pair of leather gauntlets, Aoi brought a pair of very dark goggles over to Rose. "You'll need these."

After the two of them put on face shields with dark visors, they went back over to Kohaku's target. With a barely visible grin, Aoi pointed her finger. A small flame sprang into being in front of her finger, bright at first, then somehow dim and intense at the same time. Using her other hand, Aoi took hold of Kohaku's target and moved her flame across a part of it - neatly cutting off a corner.

Kohaku, with what looked like a very thick wire in one gloved hand, took the severed piece in the other hand, and held it next to the metal stand. He brought the wire close to the two, and a very bright spark briefly arced from the wire to the metal. He pulled the wire away, then brought it to the other end of where the corner adjoined the stand and repeated the process. He let go of the corner, and it remained in place.

He went to the cabinet, put down the wire, and picked up a spray bottle. He sprayed liquid on the corner, and it sizzled and evaporated. He repeated the spraying until the reaction was no longer violent.

"Ok. You can come look, but it's still very hot." he cautioned. As Rose approached, she could feel the heat radiating from the piece. She carefully looked, and each place he had touched with the spark was neatly welded to the stand.

"I have to admit that's practical. And impressive." she grinned. She looked back and forth between Aoi's hands and Kohaku's gauntlets. "But why... ?"

"With my power," Aoi explained, "things can get very hot without bothering me."

"No such luck, for me." Kohaku said, ruefully.

"Voice of experience?"

"You have no idea." he replied, rubbing one gauntleted hand over the other in memory. "It doesn't seem fair. She can heat things up and hold them no problem. I warm something up just a little too much, and I'm branded for life!"

"Don't be such a baby," Aoi shook her head. "Yuko fixed the damage."

Kohaku tried on his best hurt victim look "But you have no idea how much it hurt, until she got around to it."

"Yeah, all of a minute and a half." Aoi laughed. She turned to Rose. "Can you imagine a wimp like that surviving childbirth?"

Rose smiled, but shuddered slightly. "I'm still not sure I can imagine surviving that myself." she replied, ruefully.

They all laughed.

After returning the welding accessories to the cabinet, Kohaku excused himself and left.

While he was putting the things away, Aoi slipped behind the screen and changed.

When they got back to the house, a well dressed man was waiting there. Aoi introduced him as her father. Rose gave him a slight bow and formally thanked him for his hospitality. He nodded politely, then looked meaningfully at his daughter.

"You have been showing her the dojo?" he asked, with a somewhat complex overtone. It seemed to convey something improper, but that the act of showing the dojo was not the improper part. Rose guessed that it was something to do with Aoi's less than perfect appearance.