...Wow. It's been awhile since I updated. Years in fact. Ouch. The only reason I'm continuing is for the simple fact that some people seem to like this. Heaven knows why. Because, oh my god...it is painful. This thing might need some heavy revision...I can't believe I ever spelled things like that! Oh and, random point of view changes! Woo. It makes me weep, because I hate it so, so much.
I've already finished the story long ago, so I'm writing it directly from the finished version. My style has changed since I wrote it, of course, so don't think that this story reflects any of my current writing ability.
Miyutoko: Yup. Atoan. Naota. Ato for short. I've also realized it sounds like the beginning of Atomsk. Like I replied in an earlier review though, it would be really weird for Naota to be a dad. (rambles into her weird timeline thing) It's been twenty years since Haruko left. Ato is fifteen so fifteen of those years are spent for him to grow up. The remaining five would make Naota... seventeen at best. I am NOT making a seventeen year old (Or younger ) a dad.
Zack Anderson: 1. Okay. Instead of writing your name five times, I'll just make a REALLY long reply. No. I've exlplained this a lot. Look above for a detailed explanation (Sorta ), on a couple things.
2. And it IS Mabase which is, by Naota's words, is always the same. Nothing ever changes. Even for his reincarnation.
3. ...You weren't supposed to agree!! But you are the first person to actually say so. Nina's life is a bit of a secret. You'll find out more about her later. Promise. Back to my bad humour...how do I change it? The weirdness that goes on in FLCL is kinda hard to put into words... y'know? Oh... I guess I don't know enough about Japan... thanks for pointing it out though.
4 & 5. Well, people change. Mamimi's not seventeen anymore. She probably had to go through a lot when Tasuku left, and even more when Naota did. And having a kid that looks exactly like Naota... It's both a second chance, and a not so gentle reminder that she rejected Nao. ...I guess.
Taimoshi Raesu: Because. Then this would be like every other story where 'Haruko Returns'.
Taimoshi Raesu: Thanks!
Disclaimer: Most of the people, places, and various events are taken from FLCL. Or directly references FLCL. And I do not own FLCL.
After Haruko's comment about his performance, Ato had promptly kicked her out of his room, leaving her to sleep on the couch in the living room. This, in turn, led to her being awake at three in the morning on the lumpy furniture, her keen ears picking up the footsteps of someone trying very hard not to be heard.
They were far too quiet to be Canti, and she could hear Mamimi mumbling in her sleep from here. Which just left one person...
Just as the not so mysterious figure reached for the door leading outside she spoke, eyes glinting as they peered over the top of the couch.
"Where ya going Tao-kun?"
He froze for a moment...then promptly bolted out the door without a word, leaving a somewhat speechless Haruko gaping at the door.
It was nearly an hour later that she'd finally found him, and then only by accident. Ato was standing in th emiddle of a baseball field, the same baseball field she'd played on once. Except now it looked deserted, and hardly ever used.
Which made sense really. Only Naota's grandfather and that team...Martians was it? Only they had actually used it. Probably retired soon after she left. They had enough been that great with Canti helping them out.
What was weird though was that Ato was actually wearing an outfit that was purposefully dark, specifically colored for sneaking out at night. Long, loose black sleeve, black pants, and some type of hood. She suspected his mouth was probably covered up too. The only way she could tell it was him was from the blue guitar, carefully propped up, a couple feet away from her.
She crept closer to see what he had snuck out the house for, when she suddenly had to duck, a baseball shooting past the spot her head had just been. She glanced towards Ato to see if he had seen her but he was totally oblivious, reaching down to pluck a ball from a pile at his feet.
She shouldn't have been surprised really, Ato looked like Naota, acted like Naota...he even had robots sprouting from his head like Naota. Though, come to think of it, Naota had never actually hit any of the baseballs during practice.
With no little bit of pride, she wondered if any of the baseballs Ato hit broke the Earth's atmosphere and knocked down a satellite light years away.
...She doubted it.
Judging from the force he hit the baseballs with, Ato was a decent player, if the numerous holes through the rusty, chain link fence were any indication.
Keeping close to the ground so that she wouldn't be killed by the random flying projectiles, she crept closer until she was directly behind him.
"I didn't know you played baseball Tao-kun?"
He jumped, bright red bat clattering to the ground as he turned to stare at her.
"H-Haruko!?"
She grinned, waving at him happily.
"Heya Tao-kun!"
As the initial shock of seeing her just...standing there wore off, he felt rather annoyed. Glaring, he knelt to pick up the fallen bat.
"What're you doing here?"
She pouted unhappily, staring at him with those abnormal eyes.
"I asked you a question first Tao-kun."
His glare only intesified, and he hoped that Haruko was having second thoughts about following him.
"Why did you really come back here Haruko?"
She stared at him, confused. And he realized that he usually didn't act quite this...hostile. At her look he explained, struggling to put into words the half formed thoughts he'd been struggling with lately.
"Where's Atomsk? You left to find him. And now, all of a sudden, you're back, with no trace of him. It doesn't make sense!"
He wasn't supposed to know about that. Only three people knew about Atomsk. Naota was dead and, she kind of hoped that Amarou wasn't around either.
He turned his gaze away to stare at the bat in his hands, the words jumping from his mouth without his consent. Not that he really tried to stop them.
"Ever since the scorpion came, I've remembered bits and pieces. Of...Naota's life."
He watched her lean forwards, eyes gleaming excitedly.
"You know what happened to Naota then?"
He nodded slowly, reluctantly, and he almost wished she could just figure it out without making him say it.
"Well? What happened to him Ato?"
"He's dead, okay?"
She stared at him, and he wondered if she had even heard properly. She didn't look crushed beyond belief like he had imagined she would be. He tried again, slower, making absolutely sure she understood what he was trying to tell her.
"For three years he waited Haruko... and then he left to search for you. He wandered the galaxy until he died two years later. I...I think that was when Mom came back to Mabase and had me."
She flicked at the metal bracelet she wore, and he wondered when she had stopped standing.
"He wasn't supposed to follow me...it's dangerous out there. That's why I didn't take him in the first place. He was just a kid."
An awkward silence hung in the air between them, broken only by the soft chirping of birds. It was early...
"So...did you ever find him? Atomsk, I mean?"
He was just curious now, no longer making wild accusations.
"Yeah. But just before I could get him, he ran. Straight into Medical Mechanica's clutches too. I was close...one more second and..."
She trailed off, and he practically heard the unsaid words hanging in the air.
I would have absorbed all of that power, taken every last drop for myself. Then, I wouldn't have had to come back here, to find out about Naota.
He turned to stare up at where the factory that housed Atomsk once stood, only blank space occupying the area now. No one had ever built over the rubble.
"So you need me to help you free Atomsk again...that's why you really came back. Naota, me, or anyone else...it didn't matter."
She searched for something to respond with, a plausible lie, but no words came. Then, saving whatever excuse she would come up with, the metal link on her bracelet began to tremble. She cast a glance at Ato, watching the white knuckled hand gripping the bat.
"Ato?"
He jerked away as she reached for him, the bat falling to the ground uselesly as his hands flew to his head. She frowned, retreating to a safe distance. A sharp whistle slipped from her lips out of habit, though it would take awhile for her Vespa to get there.
Ato was now doubled over, what looked like a hand reaching from his head. Oddly, it was a normal, human sized hand. Well, it wasn't forty feet high, so she counted her blessings.
The hand, beginning to take on a pale fleshy color, used Ato's head to pull itself out, a mop of white hair with pink at the edges appearing. Followed by a...womans body?
Finally a foot pressed against his head, dragging its other foot from the portal it crawled out of.
What now stood before her, next to Ato's twitching form, was an almost exact copy of herself. Her own clothing reappearing on the copy's body. For a moment, she stood speechless.
"Huh. Out of all the things that have come out of people's heads, that it definitely one of the weirdest."
Swiftly picking up Ato's disregarded bat, she held it like she would her guitar. Her actual guitar being strapped to her vespa.
"Bring it."
His head was throbbing painfully, dark spots scattering across his vision when he opened his eyes. Groggily, he lifted his and blinked to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. No, there were still two Haruko's standing there, both looking rather beaten.
"H-Haruko?"
Two heads turned to look at him, two voices echoing his name.
"Ato!"
They both began to glare at each other again, the Haruko with a nasty looking gash on her cheek practically hissing.
"How do YOU know Tao-kun's name?!"
The other Haruko, with a bruise beginning to show along her jaw, yelled right back.
"Because I'm his friend! How do YOU know his name!?"
One raised a red bat threateningly, pausing to wipe the blood from her cheek.
"Because I'm his housekeeper!"
He blinked and cleared his throat for attention, effectively interrupting their argument.
"Uh...Haruko?"
They both stared at him, slightly annoyed he'd broken up their fight.
"What?"
He opened his mouth to speak and was cut off by the rev of an engine as Haruko's vespa came flying through the field, coming to a screeching halt in front of the Haruko's. They glanced at one another then dived for the red guitar strapped to the Vespa. Each latched onto one end and began pulling, once more ignoring Ato.
Sighing, he scooped up his now forgotten bat and waved it in front of them, rather afraid to actually hit either of them with it. No matter how much he deserved the revenge.
"Listen up! One of you is not Haruko. And since neither of you are helping me at the moment, I'll decide which is real."
He trailed off, casting his gaze to the bat in his hands, while the Haruko's had identical looks of complete and total horror masking their features.
He ignored the looks.
Instead, he cleared his throat nervously, and began speaking again.
"Okay, I'll ask you each thre questions, whoever answers best is Haruko."
A quirk of an eyebrow and a muttered, "Well that's lame..." was his only response.
He glared at the two irritably, resisting the urge to just give up and go home already.
"It's that better than killing each other!"
Suddenly, they became distracted, focusing on something far above his head with a weird look in their eyes. He should've learned by now that anything that could capture Haruko's attention was probably very bad, and he should move out of that spot very quickly.
Instead, he looked up.