Act XI: First Time For Everything
     
Sexual Situation Ahead

     It is 6:00. Keiji is the first awake and he seems completely energized. He observes all of
his friends sleeping soundly around him. He pulls down his keyboard. He starts searching
through the sound file database of the computer. He finds what he wants and selects it.
Suddenly, a sound similar to that of fingernails scratching a chalk board resonates within the
ship. The crew is immediately awakened with many shouts to turn it off.
     "Rise and shine campers," announces Keiji. "We are going to go visit some ‘friends'
Aritsune and I made during our stay at Deimos. I don't think the military will give us much
trouble. We have not done anything yet."
     "The keyword is ‘yet,'" mentions Munenori although no one is listening. They all climb
into their seats.
     Naitsuu talks to Akari, "Sleep well?"
     "Yes, thank you, Naitsuu-sama."
     "You don't have to be so polite, Akari."
     "Please, it's okay," Akari says.
     "Rev ‘er up!" shouts Keiji as the engines to the ship kick in.
     The ship ascends away from the moon and directs itself towards Deimos, one of the
moons of Mars. The ship does not move as fast as on it's original take off.
     Keiji explains, "I set the engines to a lower setting so they do not waste as much fuel.
Any way we conserve our money, the better."
     The group reluctantly agrees and settles down for their long journey.
     About a half hour passes. It is early still in space time, but the traffic is moderate. Tired
of waiting for the traffic to move in the zoned off plane, Keiji steers the ship above the rest of
the ships and takes a different course. It is not long before he is lost.
     "Good going," comments Aritsune. "Now we're lost."
     "Sorry."
     "Look," declares Munenori. "There is another ship out here with us. Hail them and
maybe we can get directions."
     "Okay," answers Keiji. "Hold on. Computer, open Com link to the ship at graph
coordinates 65-14."
     At first there is nothing but static, but eventually it becomes clear.
     Keiji speaks, "Excuse me, captain. We are lost. Could you notify us of where we are?"
     There is no response from the other ship, no sign of life at all.
     "Excuse me?" repeats Keiji.
     Still no response. Keiji grabs the manual controls and slowly edges the ship closer to the
other one. They make observations and inferences.
     "Maybe it is abandoned," Munenori suggests.
     "Why would someone abandon such a perfectly good ship? It is not like we are in an
asteroid belt." asks Aritsune.
     When their ship is only a couple yards away, the other ship's lights flash on and a missile
is launched from it's top hatch. A voice crackles out over the speakers.
     "This is space pirate ship 00-67, surrender your bounty!"
     Keiji immediately pulls back hard on the manual controls. The ship's nose soars up and
the entire ship heads backwards with the missile coming down from it's launched trajectory
missing.
     "What is that?" asks Munenori.
     "A mortar missile," Keiji answers. "They shoot it from the top, it goes in a high arcing
trajectory and then the alternate boosters kick in sending it crashing down on the opponent,
otherwise known as us."
     "What do we have to counter with?" asks Aritsune.
     "Well, I'm not sure."
     Keiji looks frantically around his terminal. His eyes light up, and he presses a button. The
ship is slightly pushed from the launch of one of their own mortar missiles.
     "Ha ha! Take that!"
     The pirate avoids the missile with less difficulty than they did. The pirates turns their
ship to face head on with Bikutori-Kyou. A dark green fluorescent color streams down a pole-
like fixture on the side and top of the pirate ship, collecting on the point of the nose.
     "I can guess what that is," Keiji mentions. Keiji jerks hard on the ship causing it to tilt to
one side. A large beam shoots from the nose of the pirate ship, just barely missing the belly of
Bikutori-Kyou. 
     Keiji shouts orders, "Naitsuu, Akari, you have control of the Aether chemical guns. Use
them!"
     Keiji shifts the ship so Naitsuu's side is facing the pirate ship. Naitsuu unleashes a rapid
delivery of small ball sized matter at the ship. On contact the ship's shield looks to visibly melt.
     Naitsuu shouts, "Yeah! This will cut right through their shield and then through that
metal."
     Suddenly, the melting away stops as a fresh shield is accessed by the pirate ship,
replacing the damaged one. Naitsuu's smile quickly turns lifeless.
     Keiji announces with certainty, "This will do it. Our own Vitriolic Ray."
     Keiji pushes another button and steers the ship so it's nose is pointed directly at the pirate
ship. The pirate ship's captain comes over the speakers, "Give up. You can never win."
     "Wanna bet?" calls out Keiji. Suddenly a bolt rips out from the nose of Bikutori-Kyou
striking the front of the pirate ship, shattering it in two. The ship basically melts after being shot
apart. Keiji and his crew catch glimpses of the pirate crew screaming with their bodies scolded
by the blast, just before they are sucked into space and their bodies are obliterated.
     "Huh?" Aritsune questions. "How come they did not dodge our blast? And why did it
scold them?"
     "Did you hear me?" asks Keiji. "That was a Vitriolic Ray. Vitriolic means burning. This
ship has three weapons. The mortar missile, which upon impact shatters into tons of debris. The
Aether chemical guns, which shoot semisolid matter that corrodes away whatever it touches, and
the Vitriolic Ray, which is composed of Sulfuric chemicals. Those men were burned by the
sulfur. And the reason they did not dodge it is because they could not see it clearly. Their ray
was different from ours. Their ray was hard to make out being dark green, but ours is black. It is
bright yellow once shot, but black when collecting. Theirs was dark green when collecting and
Neon green when shot."
     "Where did you pick all this up?" Naitsuu asks.
     "Partly experience, partly from reading most of the ship's manual, and mostly just a
moment ago. School in early childhood taught me some things."
     "Your school was that advanced?" Aritsune asks.
     Keiji chuckles and leaves their questions unanswered. No one bothers to push the subject
further, they are just happy to still be around.
     Keiji continues, "Anyway, their ray came close and caused slight damage to our first set
of backup engines in the back. We need to find a place to stop and fix it."
     "Fix it with what?" questions Munenori. "We have no money."
     "Oh yes we do," says Keiji with a glint in his eye as he stares between Munenori,
Munenori's weapon belt, Akari, and Akari's pack.
     "What do you have in mind?" Naitsuu asks.
     "I think that Munenori and Akari should demonstrate their awesome abilities thanks to
their ancestors for show and make us some money on the street."
     Keiji, Aritsune and Naitsuu all stare at Munenori and Akari for their response.
     "Well, as long as I don't have to hurt my cousin, I'm okay with it," is Munenori's
answer.
     They turn towards Akari. "Ah, whatever."
     They direct the ship in the opposite direction they were heading. Eventually they find
their way back to the moon and land on pad 784.
     The group quickly organizes itself. They find their way to a more colorful part of the
moon settlement. Akari pulls her weapon out of her pack and Munenori pulls out his. The two
immediately set to sparring with each other. To the group's hopes, they catch attention
immediately. The people are interested in these weapons they have not seen before and of how
fluidly Akari moves hers, and how rapidly Munenori moves his. Not to mention an interest in
Chuuwa and Yamaneko. Naitsuu sits nearby collecting money. Somewhere along the way Keiji
and Aritsune leave the crowd.
     The two walk and find themselves actually enjoying their conversation together for once.
Keiji pulls out his last bit of change and purchases a small food item for Aritsune. They sit
together on a park bench enjoying looking at the stars from this side of the moon. They slowly
find themselves getting closer. Finally, they decide they better go and check to see how the
others are doing. They continue their conversations on the walk back. Eventually they reach
them.
     Naitsuu, Akari, and Munenori have stopped for the day. They all look happy as Naitsuu
shows all the money the gained during the day to Keiji and Aritsune. With mood uplifted they
head back to their ship pad, and set the order to fix their ship.
     Munenori decides he wants to see the operations. The two haburi kedemonos decide to
take a rest and stay inside the ship. While they do that, the other four choose to wander the
streets.
     Somewhere along the way they split again. Naitsuu and Akari go off on a walk of their
own. Keiji and Aritsune choose to stay together and walk in a different direction. About an hour
passes.
     "I think the dome is getting colder," mentions Aritsune as she rubs her arms.
     "Okay, but the ship is not going to be repaired yet. The noise will be disturbing. I know
the haburi kedemonos won't mind. And neither will Munenori, he is used to construction. But
you and I will."
     "Well, let's find someplace warm to spend awhile. How long is the ship going to be
out?"
     "I believe we will have to make arrangements somewhere for the night. Naitsuu gave me
some money from today's sparring. He said it will be cheapest to get two rooms for two people
than one room for four."
     "So, it looks like we are spending the night together, huh?"
     "Guess so."
     The two of them find a relatively cheap, but sanitary, motel. They pay at the desk and
head to the room. Once inside, Aritsune stretches her arms out.
     "Ah! Feels good to get in from the cold."
     "Yeah."
     She leaps onto the bed.
     "Hey! There is only one bed," complains Keiji.
     "Aw, come on. It is big enough for both of us. And I'm clean."
     "I'm not doubting how...clean you are, just-"
     Aritsune jumps up and puts her finger over Keiji's lips and says in a quiet tempting
voice, "I think we will manage."
     She turns away from him and goes back to lying on the bed. Keiji takes off his coat and
sets it on a stand near the door before lying down next to her. Keiji notices her eyes are already
closed. He slowly moves until his head is propped up by his arm over her head, he leans down
and lets their lips touch. Aritsune's eyes shoot open, but she does not resist. Her eyes relax and
makes the kiss more definite. 
     Aritsune sits up on the bed, and so does Keiji. They stare into each other's eyes for a
moment. They both move and embrace each other as they kiss again. Keiji reaches behind
Aritsune and slowly undoes her obi. While continuing to kiss, she pulls Keiji's shirt over his
head. He slowly removes her yukata. They continue to kiss as Aritsune places her hands on his
shoulders and gently pushes him so that his back is on the bed. She runs her finger down his
chest and stops at the top of his pants.
     She slowly undoes them and removes them partly down his legs. She then places herself
on him. They begin to rock as one being. Keiji pulls himself up in an embrace of Aritsune. They
continue their feverish kissing. Then while still embracing each other, they rest their heads on
each other's shoulders.
     Keiji whispers into her ear, "So you give yourself to me tonight?"
     And she answers him, "Yes, my love."
     Their gentle motion continues as their love has flourished. They have given themselves
to each other and have bonded together in mind, body, and soul.