Jurai no Nozomi: Snippet "Nozomi and Hanako"
Back on the Earth, Nozomi confesses her "differences" to her best friend...and a few other things as well!

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"Nozo-chan?"

Nozomi glanced up from the magazine through which she had been half-heartedly flicking, a smile lighting up her features as she registered her friend in the doorway. Setting the magazine aside, she indicated for Hanako to come in and the other girl did as she was bidden, shutting the door carefully behind her as she came to sit on the bed.

"Your mother said you were grounded." Hanako said bluntly, raising an eyebrow as Nozomi's cheeks reddened. "Well? What did you do, Nozo-chan? Spill - tell me. I want all the gossip! When I came by here last week your Grandfather said that you and your Mum and Dad and Grandma had gone away to visit family and now you are back, you're shut away in your room?"

"Well, you could say I'm in a bit of trouble." Nozomi admitted sheepishly. "Although I don't think Mother is as mad at me as Dad is, to tell you the truth. He was the one who grounded me fully - in my room and all of that. If he was home, I don't think that you'd be allowed in. But Mother is happy that we came home, so she's not been so strict on me. I don't know, Hana. It's hard to explain exactly. And very, very complicated."

"Your Dad freaked out?" Hanako's brows disappeared into her thick dark fringe. "But your Dad is one of the most laid back people ever. What on earth happened? You have to tell me, now. I can't believe your Dad would lose it about anything!"

"I..." Nozomi faltered, then, "I guess I...I sort of stole a vehicle and, well, crashed it."

It was impossible for Hana's eyes to get any bigger, and Nozomi groaned, burying her face in her pillow.

"I know, I know. It sounds insane." She admitted. "Please, Hana, stop staring at me like I've lost my mind! It's more complicated than just that...I'm not turning into a juvenile delinquent or anything. I swear I'm not."

"Well, then why did you joyride some poor soul's car? No wonder your Dad exploded." Hanako recovered herself with difficulty, placing a hand on Nozomi's shoulder. "Nozo-chan, I know you - this isn't the sort of thing you do!"

Nozomi fell silent for a moment, as she fought with herself over how best to respond. Then, at length, she sighed.

"There are a lot of things I haven't really told you about, Hana-chan." She admitted, rolling onto her back and slipping her hands behind her head as she eyed her friend hesitantly. "And when I do tell you, well, you might freak out and hate me or you might be fine with it. I can't tell which, yet. But I want to be honest with you...you've always been honest with me and I suppose I never thought of it as lying to you until now."

"Lying to me?" Hanako frowned. "In what respect?"

"You know Okaa-san is a Settler, don't you?" Nozomi began slowly. Hanako nodded her head.

"Yes, but I've never bothered about that." She said with a shrug. "She might be unusual, but I like your Mother. She's unconventional and I like that about her."

"Well, that's sort of only half the truth." Nozomi bit her lip. "What I didn't tell you - what people don't generally realise - is that Dad is also descended from Settlers. Great Grandpa - the Shrine priest - he was born on Jurai, just like my maternal grandfather was."

"Really?" Hanako stared. "Your Father too? But he seems so normal...why wouldn't you tell me about this before?"

"Father and Mother are both descended distantly from the same family on Jurai." Nozomi  twisted her hands together. "Mother's line is broken - she likes to say that it's on the wrong side of the blankets. Father, on the other hand, is a direct descendant...a descendant of the last King of Jurai."

"No way." Hanako's expression became one of incredulation. "Are you telling me that you're some kind of alien Princess? I've been best friends with a true blue royal all this time and I never even knew it?"

"Sort of." Nozomi bit her lip. "I mean, I always knew about Father's heritage. Great Grandpa left Jurai so that he wouldn't have to be crowned King, but he should have inherited the throne when the last King died. Instead it went to a cousin of my Father's - Lady Ayeka - and it was her sister, Sasami, that you met at the shrine the other day. They...they were the family we went to visit. We didn't go to Hokkaido or wherever Grandpa said we went. We went to Jurai."

"I see." Hanako frowned, digesting this carefully. "Well, okay. I guess I can deal with that. Your Great Grandpa...I'm having a hard time imagining him as anything but an old dude in priest's garb, but all right. If you say it's that way, I believe you. And so you're a lot more Settler than you are Earthling...but that's not going to make me hate you, Nozo-chan. You could have been straight with me about your Father's line from the start. I mean, well, he's a pretty normal kind of guy, really. He blends in. And as for the Priest, he gave away his claim to the throne...or isn't that what you said? So it's not like it matters all that much if you're descended from Emperors. You're still just Nozomi Masaki...you're just a bit weirder than I thought."

"It's more complicated even than that." Nozomi rubbed her temples. "Hana, Father isn't as ordinary as he seems. Actually, potentially, he's one of the most powerful beings in the Universe. It's hard to explain that bit, because I don't understand all of it myself. But there's a special kind of magic that he has which only Jurai royals inherit. And...and I have it too, Hana-chan. Not only that, I...I have some of the things Mother and Obaa-san can do, too. I've always told you that I didn't have magic - told everybody that I didn't take after my mother that way. But I...I lied. I do have it. And...and quite a lot of it, if I'm honest. I'm not as strong as Mother or Father in the things they can do, but I...I have enough."

"What?" Hanako whispered. "So you mean to say...the weird stuff your mother does, like flying or disappearing without warning - those things?"

"Yes. Those things." Nozomi agreed miserably. "I'm sorry, Hana. I should have told you a long time ago. But it was hard to know how to, really. It was difficult to explain something that I didn't understand and by the time I really knew what it was I had, well, we'd been friends a long time. So I just didn't. I wanted to fit in and be like everyone else. But the trip to Jurai - I sort of realised that I'm not like everyone else on the Earth. I mean, normal, average people don't go flying in spaceships across the galaxy to visit relatives on distant planets."

Hanako fell silent for a moment, then she jerked her head up, meeting Nozomi's gaze with a challenging one of her own.

"Show me." She ordered. "I want to see. Show me."

"Hana..."

"I won't freak out. Please. Show me." Hanako shook her head. Nozomi bit her lip.

"I'm not meant to...part of my grounding is that I'm forbidden to use my magic at all." She admitted. "I'll get into trouble if Father catches me."

"So just show me a little bit then. Please, Nozo-chan. If this is true - if you really are, well, like your Mother, I want to see it for myself."

Nozomi sighed, glancing at her hands. Then she nodded, thin fingers of light flickering around the edges as they grew and flared into an amber ball of light. Hanako's jaw dropped and she held out a tentative hand to touch it, but Nozomi dispersed the light in an instant, pulling her hands back.

"Don't! It could hurt you - it's not safe to play with!" She warned.

"You mean you could...well...kill someone?" Hanako shrank back, and Nozomi felt a pang of hurt flood through her at the apprehension in her friend's eyes. She shook her head.

"No, I couldn't." She said frankly. "I'm not that kind of person, Hana - you know me better than that."

Hanako looked contrite.

"I'm sorry." She said apologetically. "It's just...wow. A lot to take in. My friend can set fire to things with her fingers...what else can you do? Can you really fly? And, you know, teleport?"

"Yes." Nozomi agreed. "Sometimes I get home from school quicker that way."

Hanako's eyes narrowed.

"Is that why you always beat me when we race to the shrine?" She asked suspiciously, and despite herself, Nozomi laughed.

"No...I swear, I don't cheat. I just know a short cut that Father showed me when I was little." She replied. "I don't use my magic much on the Earth, Hana. Only occasionally, or when Mother is teaching me to control it. That's all. But when I was on Jurai, a huge deal was made out of it - magic seems to be really important there, and the fact I had it really mattered. It was confusing. Everyone seemed to have an agenda - I was called a Princess and there was all kinds of craziness. They wanted me to accept that I was in line to the throne, or that I was going to marry Lady Ayeka's son and be his Consort, or...or lots of things like that. I was so confused and homesick, I guess I got a bit mad myself. One night I decided I was going to leave and so I...sort of stole a spaceship."

"Can you fly a spaceship?" Hanako demanded. "You can't even drive a car!"

"Well, not so much." Nozomi admitted. "I told you. I crashed it. Mother has taken me up before in her ship - in Ryo Ohki - but I really don't know how to fly one properly."

"Ryo Ohki is your cat, Nozomi."

"Ryo Ohki is Mother's spaceship." Nozomi shook her head. Hanako raised an eyebrow.

"But she curls up on your bed and eats carrots and purrs when you stroke her." She objected. "And she's tiny! How would you get inside? You're joking with me."

"How many normal Earth cats eat carrots and have long feathery ears?" Nozomi countered. "She turns into a ship when Mother wants to fly...the rest of the time she's cute and cuddly. It saves on space...that's all."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm serious. Ryo Ohki is a spaceship."

"Your family...is too, too weird." Hanako buried her head in her hands, and Nozomi laughed.

"And getting weirder by the moment." She acknowledged ruefully.

"So they wanted you to get married? Was he cute?" Hanako asked.

"Er...well..." Nozomi pinkened, and Hanako's eyes widened.

"You actually liked him, didn't you?" She demanded accusingly. Nozomi dropped her gaze to the bedcovers, shrugging her shoulders.

"We hated each other on sight." She said slowly. "He tried to stop me flying the ship from Jurai but I didn't listen, so we ended up stranded together for a while. I guess...well, I don't know. We argued a lot, but...I think I miss him...well, just a little bit. I think we sort of made friends, after that."

"You have a crush." Hanako put her hands on her hips. "The first time in all the years I've known you, Nozomi Masaki, that you've had a crush on a guy - and he has to be some alien Prince!"

"I don't have a crush!" Nozomi protested, but Hanako shook her head.

"Then why are your cheeks so red?" She asked. "You're a really bad liar, Nozo-chan. And they actually wanted you to marry him? How old was he?"

"Almost a year older than us. Going on eighteen." Nozomi admitted. "But I'm not ready to get married, Hana. And it would have meant staying on Jurai and being Princess Nozomi. I don't know if that's me. I really don't...the Earth is my home."

"Well, I'm glad about that." Hanako hugged her friend impulsively. "Weird powers and cat spaceships aside, you're my best friend and I love you. I don't want to lose you that easily."

"You're really not mad at me for not telling you all of this stuff before?" Nozomi eyed her doubtfully. Hanako shrugged.

"Well, I always did say your family were odd." She said off-handedly. "I suppose I can deal with more oddness, if that's what it takes to hang out with you. Besides, you're still Nozomi, right? And if you can teleport and stuff - well, we can have so much fun with that, I swear. Can you teleport more than just yourself? I mean, could you take me with you? Think of how much money we'd save on buses and trains!"

"I can only go as far as school...no further." Nozomi said with a grin. "But Mother can teleport all the way to Osaka...or beyond, even, if she wants to. And yes, I could take you along - I mean, I assume I could. Mother can do it, but I've never really tried. I guess with practice, I'll be able to go further. I can only go to places Ive been already, though. Else I don't know where I'm aiming for."

"That's still all right. We can still make it work." Hanako said thoughtfully.

"You're forgetting that I'm grounded."

"But that won't be forever, right?" Hanako eyed her friend hopefully, and Nozomi shrugged.

"If Dad has his way, till the end of the summer." She said sadly.

"That sucks." Hanako looked sympathetic. "But what about your Mother? Did you say she was on your side?"

"Yeah...well, she hates Jurai." Nozomi responded dryly. "And she wasn't in favour of us being there in the first place. She was mad at me to begin with, for making them worry. But I think she realised what I did was the kind of thing she would have done to escape an awkward situation, when she was younger. So she isn't really too mad. She hasn't interfered in Dad's grounding, yet, but I think for once she's more sympathetic. I guess when it comes to Earth things, Dad is more lenient. But when it's alien stuff, Mom's better."

"That makes sense, I guess." Hanako rested her chin in her hands. "All right. So back to this Prince. He was cute, and you liked him...did he like you?"

"I'm sure he was glad to see the back of me...I got him into a fair bit of trouble with his parents, too." Nozomi sighed. "Like I said, we called a kind of truce. But really, they don't need me any more. Not to marry him or any of that. It was only because he hadn't worked out how to use his magic. When we were stranded, he used it to defend me. So then he had it, and I was surplus to requirement."

"He saved your life?" Hanako's eyes became round with curiosity. "That's so romantic!"

"Hana! You're not helping!"

"What? It is!" Hanako defended herself. "Not only did you find yourself a Prince over the summer, he put himself out to rescue you?"

"Shut up." Nozomi rubbed her temples. "I'm on Earth, I'm grounded and Jurai is in the past. I doubt I'll ever be welcome there again after what I did, and besides, this is my home. So forget about it, all right? Shigure is nothing important and you have to stop teasing me about him."

"Shigure, huh? That's his name?" Hanako looked thoughtful. "It could be worse. It even sounds kind of, well, distinguished. Princely, even. What's his last name?"

"Imada Jurai." Nozomi responded wearily. "Are you done?"

"Nozomi Imada Jurai." Hanako tested the name out. "It has a nice ring."

"Hanako!"

"Well, it does." Hanako said unrepentantly. Nozomi glared at her. Then she relented, shaking her head.

"It doesn't matter. Princesses of Jurai keep their names when they marry." She said simply. "I'm Nozomi Masaki Jurai...and I still would be, even if I married him. Lady Ayeka is still Ayeka Kamiki Jurai, even though her husband's name is Imada. And he's Takeru Imada, not Takeru Imada Jurai, because he's not a Prince. Shigure kinda has a combination of both, because he's a Prince but he takes his father's name."

"Am I meant to understand all of that?" Hanako pulled a face at her friend. "Haven't I told you about opening your mouth and spewing out nonsense?"

"I was just saying. I'd still be Nozomi Masaki Jurai."

"Jurai makes you a Princess, huh?"

"Yeah. Its a quick way of saying "Of the Royal House of Jurai." Nozomi agreed. "Father is really Tenchi Masaki Jurai, and Great Grandfather is Yosho Kamiki Jurai. But Dad's always dropped the Jurai from his name when he's on the Earth, since he grew up here. And Great Grandfather changed his name completely to Katsuhito Masaki when he married my Great Grandmother. Grandfather did the same when he married Grandmother - keeping the shrine name in the family, although Grandfather isn't an alien. He's a true blue Earthling - the only one of us who actually is, if I think about it properly."

She shrugged, sighing heavily.

"I guess I am better suited to being Nozomi Masaki, anyhow. Not Nozomi Masaki Jurai." She added. "I really know nothing at all about being a princess, Hana - and that's the honest truth."

"I think you must have made a pretty one, though." Hanako eyed her critically. "I keep telling you you could do a lot more with yourself - did they make you dress up?"

"Yes, and then some." Nozomi slid off her bed, moving across the room to her wardrobe and pulling back the sliding door, rummaging around inside. At length she found what she was looking for, pulling out the royal gown that she had worn her first night on Jurai and Hanako let out an exclamation, coming to touch the delicate, expensive fabric.

"It's so beautiful!"

"I suppose." Nozomi sighed, glancing at it, then shaking her head. "But it's not really me, is it?"

"It could be, if you bothered about your looks more. I can see you as a Princess." Hanako nodded. "And that dress is just amazing. You have to let me try it on - I'm serious. It's amazing."

"Sure, just don't rip it. I don't want to be in any more trouble than I already am." Nozomi agreed, holding it out. "Be my guest. The chances of me ever wearing it again are pretty slim, anyway - the last place in the world I'm ever going to be welcome again is the planet Jurai!"