Author's Note:  This fic might need some explaining for some... the
explanation is at the end.
PM Productions Presents
A Phillip Masters Fanfic
Strange Events
Part One

     "He was too!"
     "Was not!"
     "Was too!"
     "Was not!"
     "Was too, too, too!" he screamed, then pushed the taller boy.
     The taller, and more important, older boy obviously did not take
well to being shoved, and pushed Toshi back.  He fell over completely,
kicking up a small cloud of dust on the playground.  When he stood up
again he glared at the boy.  "I saw him flying!" he yelled at him, then
turned and ran off.  
     Toshi walked down the vacant halls of the school, lost in thought.
He had seen that man flying, he knew he did.  He may have fallen when
the car had gone by, but before he had seen him fly.  Toshi chuckled
lightly as he remembered how the man had fallen and carrots had spilled
everywhere.  
     When he had asked his mother how the man had flown, she just
brushed him off by saying, "Don't play around in the car, when we get
home you can have a popsicle."  He didn't want a popsicle, he wanted to
know how the man flew!
     Toshi was so involved in his thinking that he didn't notice Yuri
until he had run smack into her.  She squealed as she fell forward, and
barely stopped herself from crashing into the wall by throwing her arms
in front of herself.  When she straightened herself out she whirled on
the person who had the gall to shove her.  She came face to face with
Toshi, who looked for all the world like he wanted to be anywhere but
right there.
     Toshi wanted, for all the world, to be anywhere but right there.
Yuri was known for her particularly brutal way of dealing with those who
pissed her off.
     "Why don't you watch where you're going?" she screeched at him.  
     "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Toshi replied, bowing until his neck began
to cramp.  
     Normally, Yuri would have exacted her revenge by that point, but
something stopped her that day.  Reason.  She glanced up and down the
hall, noting that no one was around.  She looked back at Toshi, who now
looked awed at the fact that he was still standing.  "Why did you run
into me?"  She pointed down the hallway.  "There's no one here!  Weren't
you paying attention?"
     Toshi's eyes widened a little.  He hadn't really heard Yuri talk to
anyone before, and it was amazing that it was him she decided to begin
with.  He was only ten and in seventh grade.  She was twelve and in
ninth.  She would be taking her test for High School soon, some called
her a prodigy.  Of course, some also called him that.  "I was thinking
about something." he said quickly, remember he had been asked a
question.
     "What could have occupied you so much that you didn't see the only
person in sight?" she asked, exasperated.
     Toshi looked at the floor as if it was the most brilliant example
of modern architecture in the world.  "Uh... well..."  He couldn't quite
bring himself to tell her the truth.
     "Uh, well... what?"  She tapped her foot a few times for emphasis.
     "I was thinking about what I saw yesterday near the Masaki Shrine."
His voice had dropped to almost a whisper and his face was heating up
slightly.
     Yuri laughed lightly.  "You're blushing!  Have you been staring at
those girls who live up there?"  She grinned, "Finally hit that age,
huh?"
     Toshi looked up, his face now beet red.  "No!  I mean... no!  I...
I was thinking of the man I saw flying down the road!"  There, it was
out, now she could beat the piss out of him for being so immature.
     He was enormously surprised when he felt himself being pulled into
a nearby storage closet.  What?  She didn't want to publically flog him?
Worried she'd get into trouble?
     "Promise me something." she began in a small voice.
     Toshi raised his eyebrows.  Yuri the "conqueror" had just asked
something of him in the most pitifull tone imaginable.  "What?"
     "Promise you won't say anything I tell you here to anyone else."
She stared at him with all seriousness.
     He was so taken aback by her demeanor that he simply nodded, now
amazingly curious as to what she was getting at.
     She looked at the now locked door and then back to him and started
to talk in a low tone, "It was last summer... I was exploring the woods
outside of the Masaki Shrine one day, like I usually do.  No one ever
goes out there, most say it's haunted... that a demon is buried in a
cave there.  Well, this one day I broke out of the woods into a
clearing, and I found the cave!"  She breathed a few times, as if
compiling her thoughts, and continued, "When I went inside it was like
any other ancient cave, filled with old relics from the shrine grounds.
An odd part of it was a rock that was tied together with vine... and it
seemed to not have happened very long ago.  Naturally, being the idiot I
sometimes am, I pulled the vine off the rock.  It split into two parts,
and the wall behind it followed suit."
     Toshi's eyes widened, but he didn't interrupt, the story too
interesting.
     "When I looked in through the crack at the new part of the cave I
was awed.  The ground sloped downward, but too perfectly, as if someone
had carved it.  This was just made easier to believe by the intricate
shapes in the floor that were most definately not natural.  I backed out
of the cave as fast as I could, not wanting to know what was down in the
new chamber.  When I got outside, I ran into something, something I
never want you to tell anyone about... ever!"
     Toshi nodded vigorously, the suspense almost killing him.
     She waited another moment before continuing, "When I stepped to the
mouth of the cave something was flying by it... a giant log!  I pressed
myself against the cave wall for dear life... I didn't know what the
thing was going to do.  However, it simply glided on by as if out on a
daily stroll through the woods.  At the time I thought it was my
imagination or something, but now, I know it really happened!  What you
saw confirmed it!"
     He nodded slowly, but furrowed his brow, "But, what I saw was a
*person* flying."
     Yuri grimaced, then smiled at him.  "Come on, genius... two people
of high mental standing seeing strange occurences at the same shrine,
both dealing with flying?  It's enough to prove, in my mind, that
something strange is going on at that shrine."  She turned to the door
and began to move toward it.  "And I'm going to find out what."
     Toshi walked her walk away for a second, then firmed his resolve.
If a girl could do it, so could he!  "I'm going too!" he shouted, and
marched up beside her.
     They opened the door and stepped back out into the world proper,
now two students on a mission.
     The bell rang.
     But first, they had to finish class.  They waved to one another and
shot off in opposite directions, blending back into the crowd.  The rest
of the school day would prove to be a long and boring one, anticipation
tends to do that.
END PART ONE
Well, like I said, this may need some explanation.  Where did the
inspiration for this come from?  OVA number Nine (I believe, where
Ryo-ohki become humanoid).  Anyway, near the beginning, Ryo-ohki lifts
Tenchi into the air and carries him for a bit.  Then, he has her drop
him as a car drives by... they briefly show a child looking out of the
back of the car at Tenchi... this is never expanded on.  Well, make that
kid a little older and male and you have Toshi... thus how this story
was spawned.  Please give comments for this one... I like it, and it's
fun, but tell me if the characterizations need word or something (cause
I think they're good).  Also, give opinions on where you think this
should lead... I have ideas, but would like to hear public opinion.
Thanks for reading,
PMasters (4-30-98)

"I'm only holding back the rain.  So many raindrops, so many pains.  I
want to find my train someday.  As seasons go past the station." - Tokyo
Babylon OVA 1
/ E-mail at:  PhilMasters@webtv.net /
Web page pending use of a computer!
"...has anyone ever used something alive for a coat of arms?" - The
Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea (Mishima Yukio, 1965) / 
"You see, what you call a cat, we use as armor." - Londs (El-Hazard,
1994)