Story: First Impressions

The Benten appreciation club stared up at the sky in wonder. Bewilderment. Astonishment.

"Did that just happen?" one of them asked.

"Nope," another answered. "Shinobu was not randomly abducted by aliens from right under our very noses."

"Right. Because if that had happened we'd all be running around like headless chickens. Trying to figure out what to do and making total fools out of ourselves because unless someone here has a spaceship, there's precisely dick-all we can do."

They all looked at one another and chuckled. Then the laughter began to rise in volume and mania. One of them bent over double, slapping at their knees, and then as one they all stopped to take a deep breath. Then they screamed. Then they began running around wailing like banshees and waving their arms about frantically.

"We're screwed! Nobody will believe us! We'll be arrested! We'll be given the death sentence! We'll never get to see -"

"Benten!" they said as one and dashed out into the streets. Well, that makes it sound a bit smoother than it actually was. When they got to the door they all tried to go through it at once and became a tangled mess of limbs that totally blocked off the door until somehow they managed to push through, out into the streets where they agreed to split up and then proceeded to run in the exact same direction anyway. "She has a spaceship! She can save Shinobu!"

Despite that bout of anarchy and disorganisation they still managed to spot her. Sure, she wasn't wearing her usual clothing but don't underestimate the power of fanboys/girls! Slowly, the girl who had been pushed as their spokeswoman reached into her pocket, pulling out a picture of Benten, she held it up. Comparing the image with the reality of the woman in front of her. A picture may contain a thousand words, but none of those words did justice to reality.

The fact that she was walking down the street with two other babes didn't even enter their minds.

"Are you sure about this dress?" asked the woman known as Sakura to us, but not to the club.

"Oh yeah, definitely," Benten said, hanging back to check out Sakura's legs. "It's definitely you."

"Well, I just feel that it's showing off too much thigh."

"Oh honey," said the last of the trio. A tricky devil called Chocolate. "You can never have too much thigh."

"Benten!" the club yelled as one, rushing towards her with arms outstretched. "It's about Shinobu!"

"Huh? Shinobu?" Benten grunted. She turned around to peer over her shoulder. "What the hell do you losers want?"

The club screeched to a halt. Stared at Benten for about ten seconds. Then fell over with hearts in their eyes.

"She's here!" one cried.

"Oh my god, oh my god oh my god, how is my hair? I don't have any pimples do I?"

"Eeeeeeeh!" That one swooned. Back of their hand against their forehead and all.

"Ggkkkkkk!" went another, foaming at the mouth and pointing at Benten.

"Gosh, popular aren't you?" Chocolate asked. She pointed to the foaming guy, “He literally came from you talking to him.”

"Ignore them, they're just a bunch of perverts," Sakura sniffed.

"Wait guys! We need to calm down!" the leader of the club yelled, slapping a nearby fence. "You should be ashamed of yourselves for behaving this way in front of our beloved Benten! It's our duty, our responsibility to tell her what happened to Shinobu!"

"Huh? What was that? What happened to Shinobu?!" Benten yelled.

The leader of the club fell onto his back and began to roll around on the ground, kicking at the air. "She spoke to me! She spoke to me! Tralala, take me now I'll never be happier than this!"

Benten bashed him over the head with her fist. “Shut the hell up and stop acting like I just made sweet love to your tiny dick!”

“She hit him!”

“God I’m so envious!”

Benten threw her hands up in the air. "Gah! You guys are all nuts!"

"She insulted me!"

"Step on my back!"

"Not a chance you perve-" Benten began, then wobbled. "Woah, the hypocrisy just hit me like a meteor."

“Does that mean we get some!?” A club member asked.

“Fuck no! You’re all gross and weird!” Benten shouted, “Now unless somebody here tells me where Shinobu is I’ll, uh, I’ll get Ataru to kick your asses! He’ll do it too if I promise the right reward.”

The idea of Ataru Moroboshi kicking their asses settled into their minds and drifted out like trying to store sawdust on top of a pyramid. The idea simply didn't hold. Ataru was not known for being especially tough. Excitable, energetic, surprisingly dextrous... But an ass kicker? Ataru?

That got the club laughing and guffawing. Pounding the floor, rolling around laughing. Sakura and Chocolate barely refrained from joining in too, and had to cover their mouths with their hands.

"What the hell is so funny all of a sudden!" Benten yelled. She'd been quite sincere. She picked up the bat and began to brandish it as though about to knock someone's head clean off. "I mean it! That boy will do anything to get laid! He will destroy your asses! All of you!"

"Thank you so much! That's the best laugh I've had in years!" the leader said between big gulps of air taken in so he could get the proper level of guffaw out of his system. "Ataru Moroboshi? Holding his own in a fight? Oh, that's rich!"

"Yeah! It's great!" said another. "Oh man! After that alien kidnapped Shinobu I never thought anything could cheer me up again!"

Suddenly, the laughter ended. There was only silence. “Oh yeah. Shinobu got kidnapped, we needed to tell you that.” One of them said.

“M-maybe we should have said that first.” The spokesgirl said.

“You should have! Aren’t you a spokeswoman?” The leader snapped.

“T-that’s just because you didn’t want to be beaten up by Shinobu!”

“WHAT ALIEN KIDNAPPED SHINOBU!?”

<hr>

Needless to say but this was not how Kurama had expected her first day awake to go. That girl, she was terrifying beyond belief. The crow princess still had goosebumps imagining it, that pose, that facial expression and those little wriggling fingers... It was too much. Too much! Never again, never again!

"Emergency escape pod is now landing safely within a populated area," the onboard computer announced. "It was nice to get to meet you, your highness. Please consider staying. It gets so lonely in here."

Kurama ignored the computer's requst.

"Waaah! Please don't go! This is the one and only time I'll be useful!"

"Shut up! Who the hell programmed you to react this way?!" she yelled, knowing full well that it was one of her idiotic, drunken crow servants. Though come to think they should have at least got someone with fingers to do it, how the hell did they pull this off with feathers and talons?! "Just let me out onto this planet so I can at least try to find a suitable mate!"

The pod opened up, and she was greeted by... a walking doll peering in at her. A pretty face, innocent and wide eyed with long flowing curly hair and a cute charming smile.

"A suitable male mate," Kurama grunted, shuddering at the ideas that earth girl had put in her head. "Hello human! I am -"

"A crow person," the human girl interrupted with a titter. "Oh my, oh my. You're a long way from home. Aren'tcha?" She tittered innocently, though Kurama thought if sounded... Empty of any real genuine joy. "Oh you, landing here of all places and <b>interrupting my time getting to know my long lost twin!</b> but oh, li'l Ran - who's half human, by the way - shouldn't hold that against you. No, no, no. After all how could you have possibly known?"

Well. She'd never been addressed in such a manner before. Kurama actually found herself lost for words! She climbed out of the pod - Ran offering a helping hand - And looked around. Not much to this planet. The tech level was about where she expected, though pollution levels were a little lower.

"Ryu wanted to meet up with some friends," Ran tittered. "But it sounds like those <b>lousy stinking ingrates abandoned my adorable twin! They shall pay dearly for this injustice!</b> Won't they, Ryuunosuke?"

"Yeah, it was kinda rude of 'em to invite me and then ditch me," an extremely masculine voice sniffed. Kurama turned around and... Now, her opinion on sex was still the same. It was a disgusting process. A sick act, only necessary for one purpose and one alone. That's what made the idea of two women doing it even more disgusting to her.

But she had no problems with looking.

That back. That profile. Those arms. Those legs. Here was a man among men. She could tell at a glance. Those eyes, they were piercing and brave and masculine. Suddenly Kuruma wanted to be cradled in those powerful arms. Yes, yes, here was the future father of her children! Not that perverted girl! She just needed this… “Ryuunosuke” to kiss her! Then she could begin the proper mating procedure! The only problem was... how to go about doing this?

<hr>

This may be hard to believe but Chocolate was having fun. Lots of fun! Dashing after a pretty alien and a smoking hot priestess wearing a very leggy dress... Ooh, it was to die for!

"Ya don't need to come with me," Benten had protested. But...

"As a priestess it is my duty to help those in distress," Sakura said. "I'm more concerned about why you are coming along, devil."

"I just want a front row seat to the action, darling!" Chocolate leered, keeping her eyes like lasers on Sakura's figure. "And to see the reward our damsel in distress gives the hero."

They were aboard the ship in no time flat. Ooh, but it was tempting to do something to mess with all this advanced tech. But, no. Best to let it play out. She'd watch for now, that seemed like it would be more fun for the time being.

"Target set... Got it!" Benten said after a rather wonderful moment of leaning over the console. "Located an alien craft close to Earth! That'll be them, no question!"

The alien ship she had located was -
The escape pod.
Kurama's ship
The don's club
Lum and Oyuki coming to Earth.
Some other alien group we didn't know about yet.
Or we could focus on something else for now...