This was done by my wonderful Yahoo Nuriko club members for our one year anniversary! Want to join the club and the fun? Go here
 

There was a full moon that night and the sky was cloudless, the stars shinning brightly in their places in the sky. Rei looks out of her bedroom window with her hands supporting her chin as she tried to locate the 'hydra' constellation. "The Nuriko fanclub is almost a year old," she told no one in particular. "I wonder what should we do to celebrate it?"

Her first thought was of Nuriko giving her a big hug, and telling her she did a fabulous job in maintaining the fanclub. Then there'll be a party where all the members would come together from all parts of the world, celebrating the 1st year anniversary of the club. She smiled dizzy at that. "I wished I could just have one day alone with Nuri-chan. Just one single day." Rei prayed. She couldn't remember the last time she was alone with him. It seemed like ages ago, when she first met him to talk about starting the club. Since then, whenever they met up, there was always someone with them. Rei sighed deeply, knowing full well that the day of the anniversary would be much worse since all the members would be present.

Little does she know that someone had heard her make her wish. The next morning, Rei was wakened abruptly by the excited shouts coming from both Belldandy and Grace. Both of them arrived a few days ago to visit her and discuss how to celebrate the 1st year anniversary of the club. Still drowsy from last night late sleep, Rei dragged herself up on the bed and groan. It's only 7am in the morning! Staying in that position with heavy eyelids, she waited for the arrivals of both girls to her bedroom door as sounds of their footsteps climbing the stairs can be heard. "REI-CHAN!! Wake up! Wake up!" Both girls burst into her room after a brief knock and started ranting something about a letter simultaneously. Rei had to stare at them. They looked exactly like a pair of excited kittens!

"Wait a sec! Talk one by one, please." Rei pleaded, their babbling was giving her a headache. "What letter? The bill?"

"No! Not the bill." Grace groaned, waving a purple colored envelope in her hands at the same time. Bell was waving her hands as well, "Why would we get excited over the bill? Guess again!" Rei had to marvel at their ability to be so energetic so early in the morning. Gosh! The two behave like twins sometimes. Then a sudden thought struck her. Purple colored envelope, plus the two of them getting so excited over this letter.

"Nuri-chan." Rei whispered. "Bingo!" Both Bell and Grace started waving little Japanese-style fans and throwing colored paper bits around. Still on the bed, Rei received the letter from Grace and just stared at it. All of a sudden, she was afraid that the letter might not be from Nuri-chan. Even worse, he might not be coming for the anniversary. What should she do then?

"Well, go on Rei-chan. Open it!" urged Bell. "See what it says. Is Nuri-chan coming for the anniversary?" chirped in Grace, her words mirroring Rei's thoughts. Rei looked up to see determined faces on both Bell and Grace. Taking a deep breath and nodding to herself, she opened the letter slowly. Almost immediately, she becomes oblivious to her surroundings. Her whole concentration was on the letter, which she carefully spreads out with slightly trembling fingers. It read:

Dear Rei-chan, How have you been? It has been a long time since I last see you. Are you still as cheerful as before?^_^. I am fine myself...Please do not worry for me. How is the fan club going? It is coming to one year already, isn't it? Time flies. So, is there any plan for celebration? I might. Well. I might come. We'll see how things work out. But I do hope to break away and come as soon as possible.
Nuri-chan

Rei held the parchment in her hand trembling. "I hope that he comes" she said. "Don't worry!!!" echoed a loud booming voice from across the room. "If I know Nuri-chan. Nuri-chan will be here." "Craig-Kun!" said the surprised observants at once. "What are you doing here? I thought that you were stuck in Canada." "Well, My trip to Japan has had a brief stopover here. And I thought it would be nice to stop by and celebrate the first anniversary with all you guys and Nuri-chan. Oh, and I brought cake."

Upon mention of cake the girl set hard at work looking for their prize. "It's Purple, Craig-Kun... And Liquid.." remarked Bell. Yup, my best cooking job yet!" This is my greatest feat of culinary skill ever!!! See??? This at least has yet to develop linguistic abilities." But soon afterwards another Knock rapped Gently on the door.

"REI!!!!!" It was deep and spooky. The door slammed open. There stood a girl with a gift-wrap roll to her mouth giggling. She was wearing a suit and tie, but she strangely looked like someone. "Its Miaka Yuuki!" Bell and Grace shouted. "No, It's the One and Only Bi-ri!" "How did you get here from Alaska?" Rei looked at her puzzled. "Sled dogs." She nodded and giggled. "I flew down silly. I know that we're having a party soon. Couldn't expect the Party animal from up north not to come. I also brought Cosplay costumes!" She hugged Rei. "Plus I'm hoping our god shows up. I want to meet him. He's the one that inspired me to cross-dress. I drew pictures for you!"

She hands Rei a folder filled with pictures and a floppy disk. Rei smiled at them. "Thanks Bi-ri." Bi-ri nodded. "Now lets get some clothes on you! I love playing dress-up. umm Craig-kun, turn please." Bi-ri Ran to the Closet and started shifting through clothes till she found something she liked and threw it to Rei. "have any dresses for Craig? I think he'd look good in blue. Everyone looks good in blue." Everyone could start to see that Bi-ri was very talkative and didn't know how quite to shut up. She shifted through the clothes holding things up to the Craig who was not looking at the dressing Rei when.. Another knock at the door along with a loud, "Ora!!" came. Craig answered the door, since Bi-ri was still tossing through clothes and dresses for him and Rei just finished putting on the outfit Bi-ri gave her. "Hey!" beamed a girl with long brown hair. "I'm Mirna Kou Chou! You can call me Mirna, though! Even though I joined the club a little while ago, I just had to come! ^.~"

"Hi. I'm Craig," he said. "Nice to meet you, Craig. I brought something for the party! *snickers*" Mirna said, with a sneaky look in her eye. Moments later, she was seen dragging a karaoke machine, fully equipped with two three-foot tall speakers. "Hee hee hee.!" she giggled as Bi-ri, Rei, Grace, Bell, and Craig sweat dropped. She started to hook up all the plugs and wires. Then, after setting it all up, she grinned at everyone.

"Well.?" she asked. "Since none of you want to sing." She put "Kaze no Uta" to the maximum. Everyone, including her went deaf. "Oooops!" she said, after putting it down half way. She started to sing into the microphone, and she was having the best of fun. Suddenly, Bi-ri came up and turned it off. "Ah?" Mirna pouted. "We have to save that for Nuri-chan," she instructed. Mirna looked like she was about to cry. "Don't worry! You can sing after Nuriko. if he decides to get off, I mean," she said, patting Mirna on the shoulder.

"Of course!!!" Mirna snapped, with huge, pumping stars in her eyes. "I. love. Nuriko's. voice. Chika-sama. I love her. I reeeeaaalllllyyy love her. I. want. Nuriko. to. sing. I. love. him, too!!" she said, breathing heavily. "Jeez, calm down!" Rei said. "I claim front row when Nuriko sings!!!!" Mirna announced, loudly. Ok, ok, ok! Just try to stand still. I mean, he's not even here, yet!" Grace said. "Oh, yeah." Mirna said, instantly looking bummed out. "Well, now what should we do?" Mutters of "I don't know," filled the room. "Maybe we should decorate!" Mirna suggested, with hope. "Yeah! That's a good idea. I had all these purple party decorations just for it!" Rei smiled. Moments later, she appeared with lots of violet-colored balloons, confetti, and anything you can think of. "You know, we should, also, start making the food." Mirna pondered out loud. "Craig, why don't you help decorate?" Bell said, pushing Craig towards Rei's party box. Mirna, Rei, and Craig were the decorating crew, and Bi-ri, Bell, and Grace were helping make the food. Rei and Mirna started to blow up the lavender balloons while Craig hung purple streamers and paper against the wall.

A few minutes later, Bi-ri, Bell, and Grace came out of the kitchen and were walking toward the door. "Ara? Where are you guys going?" Mirna called, tying her balloon. "Did you make anything, yet?" They all muttered, "No." As Bell opened the door, Rei looked up and asked, "Where are you going?" "The grocery store . for already made food." "Oh, ok." Craig said. A little while after they left, with a there was a loud shriek from Mirna. "WHAT?!" Rei said, who jumped at the random yell. "I just got the GREATEST idea!!!" Mirna beamed, yet again. "What?" Craig asked, rubbing his ear that he was having trouble hearing out because Mirna yelled so loud in it. "Gomen, Craig!" she apologized. "But, you'd shriek if you just had this idea!" "Well, what is it?!" Rei said, not being able to wait any longer. "Well. I'm going to see if I can get Sakamoto Chika to come!" Mirna said, getting giddy. "How?!" the other two asked in unison. "Uh. I dun know! It was just a thought!" she said with a nervous grin. The other two went back to their previous states. Mirna pouted. "Maybe when Nuriko comes, I can ask him!! He should know his own voice actress!!!" She said, with more enthusiasm and possible hope. "I'll just wait until it's my turn to confront him. he's so beautiful. pretty. I love him. and Chika. and Yaten." She went off into her la-la-land and dazed out, as always.

After twenty more minutes, the "decorating people" were restless. "Where are they?! Why are they taking so long?" Craig blurted out, breaking the silence. "I know! This is so boring!" Mirna whined. "I hope someone new comes. I wanna meet other Nuriko-junkies." she mumbled, when the door bell rang. Mirna went t answer seeing a girl standing there with longreddish hair. "Hi! I am known as rikosgirl at the club but you can call me Michi!" "Hi Michi!" Mirna said pulling Michi in the room. Hellos were said all around. Grace, Bell and Bi Ri arrived back from the grocery store with bags of groceries. Everyone started to help unpack the groceries at once.

"Ahhh I hope Nuriko hurries up and gets here!" Bell said sighing. "Me too!" Grace agreed. "I want to hug him first!!" Mirna said. "No me!" Michi said. "No Me!" BI Ri said. "Girls Girls.. calm down!" Craig said as food starting flying between the girls! Soon there was food flying everywhere. Everyone forgot they were fighting and just had fun lobbing food at each other. Rei sent a glob of frosting flying just as the front door opened and in walked Nuriko. The frosting hit Nuriko's chest and he looked at the scene before him in surprise. The fan club members were standing there covered in frosting, cake, cookie dough.. you name it.

Nuriko opened his mouth and said.. "Well Rei-chan... it looks like you started the party without me..." he chuckled as the frosting began to melt and drip off of his chest and onto the floor. "Hello everyone!" he surveyed the messy room..."That's an awful lot of food...Did you guys invite Miaka and not tell me?" Everyone started talking at once, they were all so excited to see Nuriko. But, almost immediately they were interrupted by a female voice outside the door...speaking loudly, quickly, and with an odd accent.

"Rei? Geez! I hope I have da right place DIS time!! Dis t'ing weighs a FREAKIN' TONNE!" Everyone turned towards the door to investigate the racket and Craig Kun laughed- he knew a Newfoundland accent when he heard one. They were greeted by the sight of someone bent over and backing into the room dragging a large steamer trunk behind her.

The new arrival stood up, turned around and said, "Yup! Dis is da right place alright!" she waved, "Hi B'ys! Whadda'ya'at? I'm Teegahlah from the fan club...call me Stef if ya' wants. I heard dere was a party here...and...well...Student Loans will have me in debt forever... so why not tack on a widdle trip half way around da world?"

She winked and gestured to the trunk, "Cookies n' cola for da young'uns and ...well...every kind of liquor I could find. Dem guys in Customs t'ink I got a real problem, but on da off chance Nuriko decides to show up, I wanna find out what he puts in d'ose 'Nuriko Special's'!"

She ran a hand through her chin-length, strawberry blond hair and belatedly noticed Nuriko standing next to her...still dripping frosting. She grinned widely and dragged a finger through the frosting. Popping the sugary goo into her mouth she winked and said..."Hmmm....sweet....Why am I not surprised Nuriko-chan. "Finaly" the others said "Hi!" Chirped Rei. "You're here! You're here!" "Ahhh, yes... I already know you Rei..." Said Nuri-chan... "And I imagine the one in the Blue silk Dress and matching high heels must be Craig..." "Don't mind me" retorted Craig... "This is Bi_Ri's doing..." "Nice choice of colours there Bi_Ri... But we still need to work on the make up... Maybe later we can go get his ears pierced...Bi_ri blushed when complemented by Nuriko, and stood in silent awe... "And you... Yes the Newfie... I'm afraid I don't speak Canadian... You'll have to have Craig translate for me... Do you mind Teegahlah?" "Naah, I cun barely underand mes'lf some days there eh?" "Well, OK... I'll take that as a 'Yes'"

But just before Nuriko could introduce himself to everybody else, there was a loud honk & an equally loud "CRASH" outside the house. Almost immediately, 4 men rushed into the house looking flustered and nervous. Before anyone could react, the tallest 3 men each grabbed Rei, Bell and Grace! What is worse, they had guns...

"Hey, what the heck is this? Let GO of them!" Nuriko's bracelets started to change as he spoke. But he hesitated in his actions for fear of hurting the girls in the process because of his great strength. Whatever more, Rei, Bell & Grace are at gunpoint.

"Blame it on your bad luck that our car had to crash in front of your house." Sneered the shortest guy who seems to be the one in charge. "Now, nobody move! Or their heads will blow." He jerked his finger towards Rei, Bell and Grace whom struggled fiercely in the grasp of the other 3 but to no avail.

At this moment, they heard police sirens coming towards their way that was becoming louder at each passing second. "Shit! They're here!" The man grabbing Bell swore. "Boss, what should we do?" The one holding Grace hostage broke out in cold sweat and glanced around nervously. "Shut up!" The Boss snapped. "I'm trying to think!" Suddenly the Boss grabbed Rei out of the 3rd man's hold, "Rex, give her to me and keep an eye on the others." He instructed and dragged Rei with him towards the window.

"Nuriko..." Rei cried. "Rei!" Nuriko wanted to follow but was stopped by Rex. "Back off," Rex warned with his gun pointed on Nuriko's forehead. "all of you, back to that corner over there!" For the safety of Rei, Bell and Grace, the other club members had no choice but to obey.

Outside Rei's house, a lot of policeman, police cars and reporters gathered there. A voice boomed through a loudspeaker. "Griffins, we know you are in there. Surrender your weapons and come out now. I repeat, surrender now!" Inside the house, everyone heard the police's statement clearly. The Boss pushed Rei against the window to show the police that he had hostages with him. "You want to catch me? Try rescuing her first!" The Boss challenged the police and went on and on cursing them.

The Club members were forgotten in their corner. Now they whispered fiercely to each other. "I remember now!" Craig looks like he hit on something suddenly, "Griffins, that's him all right." "What do you mean?" Nuriko asked. "I saw his photo before on the net." Craig explained. "He is a drug dealer. Responsible for many major drug deals. The police has put up an international arrest warrant." "But why is he here?" Mirna whispered. "That doesn't matter. What's important now is to save Rei, Bell and Grace first. We'll talk about the rest later when this is over." Michi whispered back firmly. "You are right." Nuriko agreed. "And the two of you are...?" Nuriko paused and looked apologetic. "I'm Mirna," Mirna smiled. "And I'm Michi, aka Rikosgirl." Michi added in. Nuriko smiled and said, "I'm sorry the celebration turn out like this." "It wasn't your fault, nuri-chan." Bi_ri protested and everyone nodded. Then Bi_ri continued, "So what do we do now?"

Silence resumed. By now, Griffins had stopped his cursing and was talking to Rex with his arm still around Rei's neck. The other two men were still holding Bell and Grace hostage. But they were sweating heavily. A sign of nervousness. "I've got an idea." Nuriko began giving instructions. "Craig and Bi_ri, you'll tackle the man holding Bell. Mirna, Michi and Stef, the three of you will handle the one holding Grace. These 2 men are nervous, they cannot hold out for long. I will take care of Rex and Griffins. Got it?" Nods of understanding went around the circle. "All right. We'll act on the count to 3." Everyone got ready, their eyes locked on their target. "1... 2......3!!"

The Club members lunged for their indicated target in unison. Their actions caught the criminals by surprise. Grace's captor panicked and was overwhelmed immediately. Teegahlah had him pinned down on the floor and Grace, Michi and Mirna were virtually sitting on him. Bell's captor was a little harder to handle. He put up a struggle. But somehow, Bell managed to elbow him real hard and as he doubles over in pain, Bell turned around to give him a punch on his face! Together, Bell and Craig manhandle him while Bi_ri made sure the gun was well out of his hands.

Griffins had just enough time to shout. "Hey! What the!?" as Nuriko came up to him ready to grab Rei out of Griffins's hold. All of a sudden, Rex appeared from out of nowhere and placed himself between Nuriko and Rei with his gun aimed directly at Nuriko's chest. "BANG!" The gun in Rex's hand smoked. "Ha! No matter how strong you are, you're no match for my gun." Rex sneered. "Oh yeah?" came Nuriko's voice. He had his arms cross over his chest. He's not hurt! "Thanks to the bracelets that Taiitsu-sama gave me. Not even your bullet can make a dent in it." "Shit!" Rex swore. "Now its your turn." Nuriko said firmly. In the next second, Nuriko came up behind Rex, lifted him off the floor and threw him out of the window. Rex crashed through the window and rolled out onto the grass outside, unconscious. The police seeing that the situation had changed, charged into the house and handcuffed Bell's and Grace's formal captors.

Nuriko dusted his hands, turned to Bell and Grace and gave them a hug. "I'm glad the two of you are not hurt." "Nu...Nuriko-chan..." Bell stammered. "Nuri-san, thanks." Grace said weakly. Both Bell and Grace were blushing furiously. After all, Nuriko hugged them! "Hey, I want a hug too!" Mirna protested. "Me too!" chirped in Bi_ri and Michi. The Club members started to argue who should get the hug among themselves. "Err..." Nuriko looked troubled and sweat drops appeared on his forehead.

Suddenly... "Cut that out, all of you! What about me? Help me Nuri-chan!" screamed Rei. Goodness, they have forgotten all about Rei and Griffins! By now, Griffins had retreated to the second floor of the house with Rei still in his hands. "Rei!" Nuriko rushed up the stairs after Griffins followed by the Club members. Nuriko and the Club members cornered Griffins on the balcony. By now they could see that the surrounding place was packed with policemen.

"You better give up, Griffins. There is no way you can escape." Nuriko warned him. "Stay back, or I'll throw her down!" threatened Griffins. "NO!" all the Club members shouted. Teegahlah added, "Its pavement down there. There's nothing to break her fall." Nuriko thought hard and fast. He had to save Rei, she's too important to him. This balcony looks sturdy but I'm confident that it'll collapse under my strength. If I could just grab Rei before the balcony collapse... I wouldn't want to try this if I can help it but he has a gun, and this seems like the only way... what should I do...

While Nuriko struggled with his decision, the other Club members were all very worried for Rei. However, they didn't dare to do anything rash since it'll cause the life of their beloved Club president. So all they could do was wait for Nuriko. Grace suddenly thought of something. "Nuri-san, I've got an idea!" Upon hearing it, all of the people crowded around Nuriko and Grace. Rei and Griffins could only look at them from afar. Griffins was getting impatient. "What are you guys doing? Don't even think about saving this girl unless you prepare a car for me to get out of here."

"Don't do anything to her!" Nuriko shouted, his face set in a grim expression. "We'll prepare the car for you." Turning to Mirna, he nodded to her. Understanding what it meant, she raced off in the direction of the stairs. "I've already sent someone to get the car for you." "Hurry up, I want it as fast as you can," Griffins said. He didn't realised that some of the Club members have disappeared but Rei saw it. She prayed that whatever they're doing, that they do it fast since she could feel the impatience building up in Griffins.

Suddenly, there were a lot of fireworks up in the sky and smoke started appearing out of nowhere. Griffins was surprised when he saw all the smoke directing to him. Soon, smoke had covered the entire area until he couldn't even see Nuriko anymore. Panic swept through as he tried to get rid of the smoke in front, at the same time looking for Nuriko. Griffins started walking backwards, dragging Rei with him. "Where are you? Stop hiding!" Griffins shouted to no one. "Don't try me, I'll really throw her down."

"Oh no you wouldn't," a voice said behind him. "What the-" Griffins didn't even have the time to finish his sentence before he was sent crushing to the floor. He had loosen his hold on Rei and Nuriko took the chance to pull Rei away from him. Using his strength, he twisted Griffins hands behind his back and did the most complicated knot the he knew of with a string he took out from his shirt.

Before he knew it, Rei was by his side, clinging onto him, crying on his shoulders. All this was too tramatic for Rei that she couldn't take it any more. "Hush now," Nuriko said softly, gently stroking Rei's hair. "it's all over now."

"Rei-chan!" A group of voice shouted. Both of them turned around to find all the Club members racing to them. Rei was suddenly engulfed by a sea of swarming hugs that nearly choked her. Craig just stood on one side with Nuriko, not wanting to join in. The 2 guys could only look at each other and sigh. "Girls." They must be thinking. While the policemen cleared and arrested Griffins, the rest of the Club members and Nuriko went back to their party. "Aw... too bad we used up the fireworks just now," Rikosgirl said. "or we could see them right now." "But it was a good distraction," someone else added. "or we wouldn't be able to be here with Rei-chan."

"Come on you guys, let's really start the celebration now!" Bell announced. Cheers could be heard all throughout the room as everyone started eating the food that was left and dancing to the music of Mirna's Karaoke singing of "Kaze no Uta". Rei looked on from her seat by the window at Nuriko who was surrounded by a few of the Club members. When they walked away, another group would approach him. Sighing to herself, she looked out of the window. The sun was starting to set and was making a beautiful picture in front of her. Rei wished Nuriko could see it too.

Bell and Grace saw Rei sitting alone by herself. Looking at each other, they nodded and walked over to where Nuriko was. After dispersing the members that were virtually clinging on to him, they whispered something to him. Nuriko smiled after listening to what they said. Leaving the girls who were grinning widely, he approached Rei. "Rei," she heard the unmistakable voice of Nuriko. "Nuri-chan?" she said, "you're free?" "Hey, I can always be free for my favourite club president," he replied, smiling warmly at her. Rei could feel her legs turning to jelly. Luckily she was already sitting down. "So, why aren't you joining the rest?" Nuriko asked. He looked out at the direction of Rei's pointed finger and saw the sunset in front of him. "Beautiful isn't it?"

"I know a better place to watch this," Nuriko said, turning to her. Before she said anything, Nuriko grabbed hold of her hands and both of them disappeared from the room. Bell and Grace who was watching them all this while high-fived each other. "Well, at least she got to spend some time with Nuri-san," Grace said. Nodding her agreement, they look back at the room. "We'll think of something to say to the others later."

On top of the roof, Rei and Nuriko were watching a beautiful sunset...

Authors:
Mirna Kou Chou
Belldandy
Bi-ri
Rikosgirl
Craig-Kun
Grace
Teegahlah