雪の下 (Beneath the Snow); WILLOW CHILD

I squared off with my opponent, crouching into a defensive stance with my fists close to my body. He mimicked my pose, although he was unable to keep his weight from shifting minutely back and forth between his feet – definitely not a full cyborg. I stared at him, remaining perfectly still, waiting for him to move.

Finally, he lunged forward, aiming a blow at my head, obviously anticipating that I'd deflect it with my hands. Instead, I dropped low to the ground, sweeping one leg in a wide arc and catching his ankle.

The look on his face as his back hit the floor was priceless.

I stood up and stepped back a few paces, waiting for him to get to his feet, but he seemed to have had enough, and crawled off to the safety of the sidelines. I sighed.

"That's all? All right, who's next?"

After a few moments of stunned silence, a man roughly the size and shape of a refrigerator charged at me with a roar straight out of a lame kung-fu movie. I grappled with him for a few seconds before turning his higher center of gravity against him and toppling him to the ground as well.

They seemed to be learning, at least - my third volunteer, instead of attacking me head-on, feinted left and right a few times before aiming a low blow at my ribcage, to which I responded by arcing my body backward and striking him under the chin with my heel. Number Four took things one step further, signaling to one of his cohorts to grab me from behind while I was otherwise occupied; sensing the other man closing in on my back, I'd ducked down and then exploded upward again, driving my shoulder into his stomach and taking advantage of his momentum to heave him bodily into his companion.

The rest of the crowd burst into laughter, and a few actually began to applaud. I turned to face them.

"Let's try that scenario again. You," I said, pointing to the face with the biggest smirk on it. "I'm going to turn around, and you're going to attack me from behind."

My victim stepped forward, looking rather nervous now that I'd singled him out, and I smiled.

"Come on. And really mean it, all right?"

I turned my back to him. There was a moment of quiet, and then I heard his footsteps pounding against the floor as he ran toward me, so loud to my ears as to be almost deafening. When he was almost on top of me, I spun quickly to one side and then back again, ramming the point of my elbow up under his ribs. Winded, he crumpled forward, and I wrapped one arm around his throat, using my weight to drag him down to his knees. With my other hand, I yanked my pistol from its holster and pressed it into his cheek.

"Now you're dead. Anything on your person can be taken by the enemy and used against the rest of your team, who are now that much weaker for having lost a member."

I relaxed my hold on his neck, then got to my feet and turned towards the rest of the assembly again.

"This is what's going to happen to you out in the field. You will be up against people with concealed weapons, who can sense you coming without even having to see you, and who haven't been asked by Chief Aramaki to please not damage the new recruits if they can help it."

The man I'd just incapacitated was stirring; still facing in the other direction, I pointed my gun at his head, and he froze.

"Yes, you'll have the ability to camouflage yourselves, and you'll be armed, but that doesn't mean you can be stupid. You are not here for theatrics; you're here to get a job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Are we all clear on this?"

There were a few scattered mumbles of assent. I narrowed my eyes.

"I may not be your instructor, or your full-time commander, but I'm still a superior officer. Now, are we clear?"

The response was crisp and unanimous this time.

"Yes, Major!"

"Thank you."

I slid my pistol back into its holster and walked towards the hallway, leaving more silence in my wake.

Batou had been watching the spectacle from the doorway - he applauded softly as I walked past him.

"So," I said, "I take it that's what you wanted?"

"Job well done. Thanks."

"Don't mention it – although I'm still not entirely sure why you asked me to come in and rough up your hand-to-hand class in the first place."

"Just wait," said Batou meditatively, surveying the group still in the training area. None of them had moved. "It'll be good for their self-confidence."

"Really?"

"Yeah. They've got too damn much of it, that's the problem." He sighed, folding his arms across his chest. "I was gonna go in and scare 'em myself, but then I figured, why not ask a true professional?"

I couldn't help but smile.

"I see. Well, any time I can be of service…"

"I'll give you a call – wouldn't mind seeing your face around the building some more, either. We miss you, you know."

"Right."

I turned and walked away, waving as I went.

I had nothing more to say. What I missed was never going to come back, and it was stupid and sentimental of me to keep wishing for it every time I ended up here. Section 9 was becoming like a drug to me – each job I took brought me the incredible high of nostalgia, followed swiftly by the crushing disappointment of reality, and always ending with a masochistic desire for more.

Ironically, my stupidity and sentimentality were what had ruined it all in the first place.

I needed to think about something else.

I forced myself to go over the evening I had planned – Kurutan had finally managed to talk me into spending the night with her and Ran, and they were going to take me to a new club they'd found recently. She was quite excited about it, although personally I was more interested in what would happen afterward, when we made it back to their apartment. Between all of our work schedules and my other commitments, it had been a very long time since the three of us had been together all at once.

I was going to go home, change clothes, declare myself unreachable for the rest of the day, and then not think about anything other than getting my girlfriends as drunk as they wanted. No more self-induced guilt – I was going to have some fun.

I had just reached my car when a transmission from a very familiar ID flashed into my cyberbrain, sending my thoughts scattering in all directions. I accepted it immediately

Speaking of other commitments…

Good afternoon, Major.

Yoko – are you all right? Usually you don't call this late in the day.

I'm fine, thank you. And yourself?

Not bad. What's up?

Oh, well…I haven't seen you in a while, and I was just wondering…if you were doing anything later.

Even though I couldn't see her face, I knew her well enough to picture the delicate flush coloring her cheeks at that moment. I sighed.

I am, actually.

Silence. She'd been expecting me to say no.

…Yoko?

…I see. Well, in that case, I'm sorry I bothered you.

Don't worry about it. I'll come visit you soon, all right?

Mhmm. Have a nice evening.

She ended the transmission before I had the chance to say anything else. I sighed again in exasperation, the suspension of my car protesting loudly as I threw myself into the driver's seat.

So much for going the rest of the day without guilting myself about anything.

The annoying part was that I had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. I'd been very clear when the prime minister and I had made our little arrangement; there were other women, and there had been for quite some time. In the year we'd been seeing each other, I had already pushed them aside for her sake more than a few times, and now it was her turn. I'd spoiled her; that was the problem.

Besides, even if I left now, I wouldn't be able to make it to Fukuoka before midnight. She'd be asleep already; I'd have to creep very carefully into her room, and then slide into her bed without waking her. She wouldn't notice me until after I'd linked up with her – she'd smile in her sleep as I entered her dreams, subconsciously moving her hand up to where I liked to rest my arm around her waist, only to realize that I was actually there with her. Her eyes would open slowly, and then…

I brushed those thoughts aside. They weren't helping.

I took the turn out of the parking deck a little faster than I probably should have. What I really wanted was to get on the expressway and just drive for a good long while until my head was clear, but this wasn't exactly practical at the moment. Instead, I maneuvered out onto the main road, and then began the slow, painful process of meandering through the city back to my apartment.

Traffic was even worse than usual. It had snowed earlier, and while nothing had really stuck to the ground, the chilly gray clouds hanging overhead were enough of a threat that the general public felt it necessary to drive well below the posted speed limits. While I recognized that snow was rare enough in this part of the country to cause some alarm when it happened, I couldn't help but think that this was a bit of an overreaction. These people needed to spend a winter in Western China, or even in Etorofu or Hokkaido; then they would see snow.

Somehow, I managed to crawl back to the complex in which I lived within half an hour. I deposited my car safely in the garage, and then took the elevator up to my apartment on the top floor. As soon as I stepped through the front door, the warm familiarity of the house Net enveloped me, and I connected to it at once; it immediately informed me that all of the security systems were still functioning as they were supposed to, no calls had been forwarded to my external message service, and that my orchids had been watered, right on schedule.

Well, all right, then. I released the connection, and then opened up a cybercomm channel.

Kurutan? You there?

The response was immediate.

Motoko-san! Hi! Why are you calling? You're not going to bail on us, are you?

The idea of wrapping my arms delicately around the prime minister's sleeping form flashed into my brain again. Well, actually…

Of course not. I just wanted to make sure I was still on to come pick you two up at seven-thirty.

Yup! Ran-chan's not home quite yet, but she just left work, so she should be here soon. I'm sure we'll both be ready by then!

All right. See you.

Bye!

I closed the channel, dragged the palms of my hands slowly down the length of my face, and then stalked off toward the bathroom to shower.

From an emotional standpoint, I thought as the jet of hot water pounded against my forehead, it was probably healthy to take a break from one another ever now and then. After all, it seemed like I was driving out to Fukuoka every other week, which was far more often than I'd ever intended. If I spent some time away from the prime minister, with other people, I'd appreciate her all the more when I went to see her again.

I finished my shower, toweled the moisture from my hair (in spite of the manufacturer specifications, it had always reacted badly to being blow-dried), and began to dig vigorously through my closet for fresh clothes. Once I'd found something suitably provocative, I dressed, gave my hair a final comb-through, and headed back down to the garage to collect my car again. It was only quarter to seven, but I had nothing else to do, and unless the traffic situation had improved drastically within the last hour, I'd be lucky to reach my destination by the time I was supposed to anyway.

Besides, even if it had, neither of my girls was likely to bother me about being early for once.

I arrived at their apartment at close to twenty after; judging by the way she tackled me, Kurutan seemed to have been waiting by the door for me to get there since I'd called her. She was wearing a backless, Lolita-esque frock in black and pink, and I could hear the heavily starched underskirts crumpling as she collided with my body. I sighed and patted her on the head, straightening the cat-ear headband that had been knocked askew by the impact.

"Hey, you."

She pulled away from me at once, mashing the palms of her hands into her hips.

"That's it? You haven't even so much as come over in months, and that's all you have to say to me?"

"Well, what do you want? You should know by now that you're never going to get an apology, so if that's what you're after…"

"Hmph!"

She folded her arms across her chest and turned away from me in a graceful pirouette. I smiled and set my hands on her shoulders.

"I'll make it up to you – I always do, right?"

She sighed. "I guess…You'll have to be extra-nice to us tonight, though, or else I may not forgive you this time."

I squeezed her shoulder affectionately. "Brat. C'mon, where's your better half?"

"Still getting dressed. Ran-chan!" she called, marching over to their bedroom and sticking her head through the doorway. "Would you hurry up? Motoko-san is waiting for us!"

"I know, I'm almost done," said Ran.

"What are you even doing right now, anyway?" said Kurutan, disappearing into the bedroom.

The explosion was immediate.

"Hey! Cut it out, all right?"

"If you needed help, you should have asked me!"

"Well I don't, so I didn't! Let go!"

"That's really all you're going to do with your hair? Jeez…at least let me put it up for you…"

"I said let go, you psycho! Do you want to get out of here at any point this evening or not?"

After a few more seconds, they both tumbled out into the living room. Kurutan's cat ears had become dislodged again, and Ran fixed them somewhat irritatedly before turning to me. She'd chosen to dress more conservatively, at least compared to her girlfriend, sticking to a simple pair of black leather pants and a sleeveless red top.

"Hey. Long time, no see."

"I know," I said. "Everything all right?"

"For now," said Ran, rolling her eyes at Kurutan. "How's your continued state of national emergency or whatever treating you?"

Ran was the shrewder of the two, and had long since figured out that I was seeing someone else, although it didn't seem to bother her too much. Kurutan was the one who'd probably be the most disappointed - we had an unspoken agreement that she was never to be enlightened about the situation.

"Driving me crazy," I said, not untruthfully.

"Well, let's see if we can't distract you for a little while, huh?" she said, her eyes sparkling.

I smiled. "Sounds good to me."

The club was small, dark, and very crowded, although we managed to secure some space in a nice, secluded corner. I sat on the low sofa with Kurutan draped across my lap and Ran sitting at my side, each of them alternately catching me up on what they'd been doing in the month and a half since we'd last gotten together. As I chatted with them, I tried desperately to give in to the atmosphere of the place - between the colorful laser patterns flashing on the ceiling, the tangle of attractive men and women moving together on the dance floor, and the music, so loud that I had to use my lip-reading analysis software to understand either of my companions when they spoke to me, I was honestly impressed at my own inability to just shut my brain down and stop thinking. I might have had an easier time of it if the copious amounts of alcohol we were consuming had any effect on me whatsoever, but that couldn't be helped.

I was no stranger to refusing requests for my company; I'd done it to Kurutan every other week since we'd met. The prime minister had called me, and I'd told her I was unavailable. I'd even done it politely – why couldn't I just ignore the situation and move on? My behavior was completely irrational.

Not that the word 'rational' could really be applied to this relationship in the first place.

I ran my hand lightly over Kurutan's bare shoulders. She always got mad at me when I turned her down, but it was never for more than a few hours, if that. She'd go complain to Ran, who'd cuddle with her until she felt better, and by the next time she saw me, she'd've forgotten about the previous incident entirely.

That was how the three of us had managed to maintain this thing for so long; there was always someone else there to act as a buffer.

With Yoko, there was no one else. When she needed someone to hold her and calm her down, she turned to me.

She had actually called me this time, too.

I should have gone.

Ran sighed and leaned against my shoulder, reaching down to give Kurutan's hand an affectionate squeeze and receiving what was almost a satisfied purr in return. We'd been there for a little over two hours; it was probably time to close out my tab and then take them back home for the night.

Tomorrow I'd make the trip to the prime minister's residence, and I'd stay for however long she needed me.

I arrived back at my apartment before midnight; although I'd intended to spend more time with my girlfriends, both of them were so drunk that they'd barely lasted for another half an hour after we'd gone back to their place. We had spent some time linked, of course – once I took on a job, I saw it through to the finish – but after a while, the images being generated in our shared memory became so muddled that I had disconnected and just let them sleep.

They were so cute when they were curled up together.

When I got home, I put a pot of water on for coffee, then went to my room and stripped down to my underwear, pulling on a t-shirt as sort of a seasonal afterthought. I had considered going to bed myself, but I'd slept for about fourteen hours over the past two days and didn't feel any particularly urgent need for more. I was just going to curl up on the daybed with my coffee and go diving for a while, and if my brain decided I needed to sleep at some point, it was more than welcome to let me know.

I'd decided not to call ahead and let the prime minister know I was coming; I wanted to make it a surprise.

Almost exactly twelve hours later, I was in my car, heading for Fukuoka. It had started to snow again just as I left Niihama, although like yesterday, the snow seemed to be melting away on impact, not that I was complaining. By the time I came within sight of the city, the sun had set and the snow had turned into a fine, drizzly rain.

Out of idle curiosity, I called up the prime minister's current location on the IR system. She was travelling along one of the outer expressway loops on the opposite side of the city, probably heading back to her office.

That was good; if she'd been out during the day, she'd be more likely to go to bed early, and I wouldn't have to wait quite as long for her.

Just as I was about to release the map, the marker representing the prime minister stopped moving, and then began to blink slowly. The connection had been lost.

Maybe she was still mad at me and didn't want me to be able to spy on her.

If so, that was a hell of a lot of talent she'd been keeping hidden from me for the past year. I opened up a channel.

Yoko?

No response.

Yoko, what happened? You had better not be ignoring me because you're sulking…

Nothing.

Perhaps it was just a network error, or she'd somehow tripped something in her cyberbrain that had sent her into autistic mode. I tried reaching her bioroid assistant, who was certain to be in the car with her.

She was offline too. When I pulled up the ID of the vehicle and searched for its location, I found it stopped by the side of the road.

I reconfigured my route, and then punched down on my car's accelerator; this was getting strange. I wanted to check it out. My GPS had my travel time at only 40 minutes; given the speed at which I was driving, I'd make it there in about half that.

Suddenly, the first marker stopped blinking, and then disappeared altogether.

The Prime Minister of Japan had vanished.

(A/N: And we're off! This chapter went through about five different incarnations before I finally found one that worked - it's like I have to get the Major annoyed about something before I can start writing her correctly, and sending her back to Section 9 for a bit seems to do the trick. Pesky human emotions, always getting in the way...

This is going to be a longer, more action-y story than what I've been putting out recently, although I don't think it'll get anywhere near as long as GENESIS and UNINTENTION. Still, I hope you all enjoy reading, and don't forget to review!)