Chronicle: Chap. Two, 'The Other Side'

“Darling!! Where are you!” Lum shouted, zooming by. “My space maker gadget is NOT for hiding hentai mags DAT-CHA!!!” As she floated nearby Shinobu’s window, she noticed her sitting at her desk and looking depressed. Lum would usually never bypass hunting down her loser non salary deadbeat boyfriend, but she felt she could spare a few moments.

“Reading manga about rabbits and doors, dat-cha?” Lum said sitting propped in the window sill. Just then she realized it may have not been the right thing to say, with Inaba missing for the last few months. Pushing aside the stack of comics, Shinobu scooted back and looked down. “Lum I know they’ve done something to him, and he’s never coming back!” her eyes tightened at the thought. “Shinobu…” she lighted herself to the floor and stood over Shinobu. “I really wish there was another way we can make a door and use that doorkn—“

“I promised him that I wouldn’t! And I don’t want to do anything to ruin the slightest chance that we still have a future.” Shinobu replied. Lum knew that there wasn’t much that they could do, recoiling back on what had happened the first time they fell upon the Destiny Bureau. “Shinobu, remember the last time we were there, in that crazy world, all those tests you both had to face to prove how you felt about each other? Your true love made that giant flower bloom at the end of the course! Even then, they did nothing to hurt Inaba. They may use morbid, sadistic techniques to put him to work or punish him, but they will never kill him. And as long as he’s alive, I’m sure this doorknob will come true dat-cha!” she said, trying to sound as optimistic as possible.

“Thanks, Lum, I hope you’re right.” Cracking a forced smile, she looked up at Lum. “SHINOBU-CHAN! That man was never right for you, he doesn’t even know how to dress!” out of practically nowhere, Ataru hugged Shinobu from behind and nuzzled her neck. “Now look at me in this sexy hapi coat ensemble, straight from my job at the takoyaki café!! Why would you want some kid with a thick animal suit when our bodies can be ONE…” before he could finish his sick fantasy, Shinobu grabbed him by the back of his hapi coat and overhead threw him straight through the window, shaping an Ataru cut-out through the glass. “DARLING!! How could you when you’re working hard to buy me a riiiiinnng dat-cha!!!”

As Lum darted out the window after him, Shinobu looked down at the giant diamond shaped doorknob on the desk, now glittering in the afternoon sunlight. "Inaba-san; as long as I have this diamond doorknob, we'll be alright…” She then went back to resting her head on the desk.

"Shinobu? You're safe..." Inaba muttered; then opened his eyes to realize he was only dreaming, but tied to a metal chair. The rest of the Destiny Dept. Bureau stood around him, arms akimbo, all looking angry as usual. "Inaba- kun," one of them started, "how dare you allow yourself to go and make a future doorknob fit to your own liking, and then giving it to that girl! NO employees are allowed to ever do such a thing!" Inaba cringed, squinting one eye. "Do you know what would happen..." (the others each repeating each other like always) "...if that future actually came true? It would mess up our entire system of possible futures for the WHOLE PLANET!! Then we would have no control and be useless!" Inaba wriggled but it was no use. He knew he didn't have any strength whatsoever, but all he could think of was Shinobu so he tried anyway getting out of the wires grip.
"You must go back to that dimension and get the doorknob so we can destroy it, then we'll deal with you later. We cannot have someone like you constantly ruining our department. Now GO." They cut the wires with a huge pair of shears and Inaba fell forward to his knees, hopping away through the colorful vortex to find the door to Shinobou's dimension. As he made his way through the gravitational maze, he caught sight of a shine out of the corner of his eye. There were doors and knobs floating about the place he was, but when he found what the shine was, he paused to take a closer look. It was a key. It looked almost exactly like the key he'd lost when he'd first met Shinobou, but it was black instead of gold w/ a red jewel on it. It was really cold. He then heard voices yelling, so he shoved it down his suit and scampered away, like a scared rabbit!

When he opened up the door, it opened up from a tree in a clearing, but a huge flying saucer was sitting in the middle of this clearing. He looked around, his bunny hood hanging back, and noticed a couple sitting on the grass having a picnic. He lowered back behind the tree from their view.
"Rei san, open wide!" The familiar girl with the fluffy fusia hair was Ran, holding a pair of chopsticks up to the cute yet large alien tiger-cow's lips which contained some sort of morsel. They continued eating, Ran gazing into his eyes when he suddenly shrank back into a human, his eyes widened as he picked up her hands in his. "Ran-chan..." she started blushing and her eyes glittered, and Rei leaned in and smooched a clump of rice off of her cheek. She threw herself into his arms, and as she was snuggling him close, he stretched his arm behind her and continued eating her share of food off her plate. Inaba sighed and looked down. "Forget them! I don't have to be a rabbit, or be a part of their twisted futures!" At that, he started pulling viciously at his suit, trying to rip it off with both hands, sweating and turning red, until after a few minutes, it was all gone, and all he had were his blue and white striped boxers on underneath. "Oops...I mean, GOOD!" He ran off, ducking behind every tree until he ended up in someone's backyard. He grabbed a pair of dark grey slacks and a tan-beige long sleeve collared shirt off of a clothes line and threw them on before someone noticed him. They were a bit large on him, but at least he was clothed. The key he'd been holding onto was now in his pocket.
(Onsen-Mark leaning out the window) "What the hell happened 'ta my clothes?!!" The grouchy teacher caught a glimpse of Inaba running away. “HEY get back here with those you g*damn thief! Damn kids stealing ‘ma stuff again!”

'Now to find Shinobu,' he thought. He looked for hours, but couldn't find her anywhere. Finally, he came to a crowded street where everyone was gathered around a car. When he nudged people out of the way and came to the middle, his heart dropped. Shinobu was laying in the street, her back facing up. "She was hit pretty bad, but why would she be wandering into the street?" he heard amongst the murmuring crowd. Inaba clutched his hair with his hands and ran off. "WHY oh why did she have to get hurt?!!" just then something grabbed his collar from behind and pulled him in. By the time he looked up, his front collar was being clutched rather tightly by an angry looking rabbit above him, two red mad eyes looking down at him. "INABA- KUN!! Just because you're not in your suit makes you think you can hide from us?!" He slammed Inaba into a door, then hurled him into the clutches of another rabbit. "I bet you liked that future we made especially for Shinobu, and now it's your turn!" Trying to breath, he couldn't get out of the rabbit's strong grip, so he kneed him in the gut, and the rabbit let go of him, holding onto his sore spot. Inaba then fell down, down through the darkness, since he didn't have his special suit on to help him maneuver around.
He felt cold air whisp around him then suck him into another dimension of the department, somewhere he'd never been to before. Lightly, he floated downward until he was able to stand up. Ahead as well as behind him was a long, dark and dank hallway of metal doors. They all had locks on them. His bare feet were cold on the smooth concrete floor. "I wonder if this key goes to any of these..." he took the black key out of his pocket, and then stood in front of one of the metal doors and stuck it in. It turned. When the door opened a deep red glow lit up the hallway. He tried to step through it, but felt a shock and it wouldn't let him in.

"If these aren't future doors, then..." figuring it out, he stepped backwards into the door and went inside. When he turned around, he was on a playground, and it was late afternoon. The sky was reddish orange and the singing of birds had died down. It seemed familiar, however it wasn’t the same place that looked like where Shinobu and the others lived. There were only two people there in the sandbox, a small child crying, and a man crouching next to him, somewhat comforting him.
"It's okay, Inaba-kun, we'll take care of you. Always remember how much your mom and dad loved you, and we'll love you just as much. And one day, we will find them, I promise." The small face looked up from his tear soaked hands. Inaba gasped and jolted back. 'It...it can't be! Is that me?' The little blonde boy wiped his eyes and the same brown eyes looked at the man. "I miss them so much...I want to be alone right now." The man gave him one last hug. "As you wish, Inaba-kun. Just try not be out here too long, we don't want to lose you, too." When the man walked away, the little Inaba child started tearing up again, when something strange happened.

"I know what pains you so, small one..." Inaba recognized this being, hiding behind the slide on the playground. It was one of the rabbits.
"Who...who are you?" the kid said, looking up at the giant rabbit.
"I can control futures and the past. If you come with me, I can help you get your parents back so they never disappear." the Inaba kid stopped crying.

"I don't believe you, you're not real!" he yelled, scooting back from the rabbit. Then the rabbit snapped his fingers and a door appeared on the grass. It opened up and the kid looked inside. He saw himself and his parents all laughing together. "Isn't this what you want? To be back with them?" the kid wiped his eyes again and muttered, "Yes."
"Then come with me." the rabbit reached his paw out and they started through the door. Inaba couldn't do anything as he saw the truth of his past act before him. He knew he couldn't do anything; it was destiny. Something he actually *worked* for. Everything was a lie, being told he was always a rabbit, the reason for working for the Destiny Bureau, everything. He stared down as his fist tightened. Wiping a tear from his eye on his sleeve, went back through the door. "Everything here is twisted. All they want is to control everyone on earth! And I've been working for them...I'm so ashamed!" For the first time, Inaba realized that the future is something one creates them self, not hand made by rabbits in some parallel world. "If I want a future with Shinobu then I can have one! Forget the doorknob and this place!"

But how was Inaba to get back to the other world without the suit?

As she lay in her room for many, many nights with nothing but her fond memories of him, Shinobu often had softly and sadly cried herself to sleep. “At least…” she sobbed, “at least I can try really hard to dream about him, only then I can be with him.” She then shut her eyes and filled her thoughts with his image.

“Shinobu!” She jilted her eyes open to a familiar voice. She saw none other than Inaba in front of her, but he was behind a glass door . As she felt a cold wind about her, she looked down to realize she was floating in the dark air of the Destiny Bureau. Not caring about sense or time, she pressed her warm hands to the glass door staring longingly at Inaba on the other side.“Miss Shinobu…I am so sorry I ruined things for you.” With a sad look as he put his hands overlapping hers on the glass, Inaba used up whatever seconds he had to tell her how he felt.

“What do you mean? You’ve done nothing less than be the perfect man I’ve always wanted! What’s happened, Inaba-kun? Why can’t I go to you?” she yelled. Not even her strength could get the door open.“Believe me, Miss Shinobu, if I could go back and change the past, I would have made sure nothing could ever go wrong. Oh, Shinobu, I….” As her hands started to slide downward, Shinobu began to fall through the endless darkness, and just as she thought she was about to slam into a door, she jolted awake on the floor of her room.

Inaba kun wiped a tear from his blurred vision, he began to recognize familiar sights of the reminiscent dark realm with doors. He rubbed his eyes and quickly sprang to his feet.

“It couldn’t have been me. I don’t remember my parents, nor do I remember anything happening to them. In fact…where am I originally from?”

All the doors surrounding him had already had their own doorknobs, and the doors themselves appeared to be worn and old. Just then, the key he had been holding crumbled in his hands and fell into the cold air like dust.

“Some doors are not meant to be open…” a deep, boisterous voice echoed through the air, freezing Inaba in his tracks. “…but now, dear Inaba, what to do with you…”