The school was quiet. The hallways echoed with occasional movement, rustles that stood out like roars in the silence. The girl seated opposite her was the greatest culprit, fidgeting as she pretended not to stare.

Motoko made no pretense and kept her gaze fixed on the girl. Partly because she could tell it was unnerving and partly because she found those random, involuntary movements so strange to watch. Not the slight movement of the girl's heel, quietly tapping a staccato beat against the tiled floor, but the tightness in her jaw and an occasional flutter of her eyelid; the constant adjustment of muscle under skin that belied the notion of a human body at rest.

Suddenly, her vision was partly obscured by the appearance of an internal notification which Motoko dismissed almost instantaneously. She knew about the appointment, it was Shiraki-sensei who was running late—by nearly five minutes if Arai's departure had been any indication.

Motoko closed her eyes briefly, then shifted her gaze from the girl to the solid expanse of the door beside her as she turned her attention from the external scene, which had long since ceased to be interesting, to a window at the periphery of her vision. She brought it forward, splashing it across the bulk of her visual field so she could skim the latest news on the school's internal network. She glanced past headlines and articles for another 3.4 minutes until she heard movement behind the door next to her.

The windows closed with a thought, and Motoko was standing, facing the door by the time it opened. The teacher visibly started, clearly not expecting her next appointment to be waiting in the doorway.

"Ku…Kusanagi," she stammered, stepping back so she didn't block the doorway. "I'm ready for you now."

Motoko made no comment as her teacher stated what was merely self-evident, and simply walked past to take her seat. Shiraki-sensei moved somewhat slower, but by the time she seated herself across from Motoko, she seemed to have regained her composure. Clasping her hands in front of her, she leaned on the desk as though taking strength from the authoritative position it gave her and smiled thinly.

"You'll be leaving us soon Kusanagi, it's time to consider your future."

"Yes, Sensei," came the flat reply.

The teacher's smile tightened and she looked down to consult her notes. "As expected for someone of your," she paused, and her eyes flicked up to Motoko before returning to the page in front of her, "background, you have excellent scores and clearly test well. I suppose there are some advantages to automating certain brain functions." She looked down to the page again, then continued. "For most students a lack of social activities might be a detriment, but considering the circumstances, I'm sure it won't be held against you."

Motoko simply continued to look at her teacher. The woman's tendency to mix inane observations with slights had been an irritation from the outset and only worsened with time. Graduation would be a welcome relief.

The teacher looked back, clearly expecting a response or reaction so Motoko obliged by nodding and Shiraki-sensei's eyes dropped to her notes once again before asking in an overly bright tone, "Well, have you given any thought to what it is you want to do?"

Motoko tilted her head slightly. "Not really," she conceded. "I don't actually have to do anything if I'm not going to university."

The teacher's tone turned disapproving. "Kusanagi, I understand that you have some sort of trust, a residual settlement?" She caught Motoko's nod and continued. "Even so, are you sure that not continuing your studies really is the best decision?"

Motoko shrugged. "Perhaps not, but I'm not sure that university is really the place for me."

Shiraki-sensei looked directly into her eyes for the first time. "But surely if you applied to a university with a strong cybernetics research program, there'd be more students there you could to relate to."

Motoko regarded at her evenly, "I'm not interested, Sensei. I've lived with advanced cybernetics research for most of my life. I think that I need to do something else, even if that something else is nothing at all."

"Well," the teacher continued, eyes flicking back to the page before her once again. "There are other jobs for you to consider in that field. You could focus on hospital work, or possibly on counseling. After all, you bring a unique perspective that could be a great help to those adjusting to their new limbs."

"I suppose," Motoko began hesitantly, "I've done that sort of thing before. But I don't think I was very good at it and I've had my fill of hospitals."

"Kusanagi," the teacher said in an edged tone, "I'm not sure you quite understand your situation. An aimless life might seem like an appealing option, but you really do need to prove yourself and find a place in this world. Not only will a dissolute lifestyle not achieve this for you, but you'll be wasting all the research and resources that went in to giving you that life."

Motoko's eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off as the woman continued.

"The likelihood that traditional professions will welcome you with open arms is quite low, you're going to have to go where you and your kind will be not only accepted, but welcomed. In practical terms, that means working with people like yourself or else taking a position with the largest employer of. . . enhanced individuals by entering the Self Defense Force."

Shocked out of her anger, Motoko's brow furrowed. "The military?"

Shiraki-sensei leaned forward, taking up the thread eagerly. "Surely you were aware that the Self Defense Force has driven most of the research that made that body you wear possible. They have developed minimum cybernetic requirements for most of their positions, not to mention the simple reality that active duty frequently leads to the need for cybernetic replacements."

"Well, yes. I suppose," Motoko began. "But it's a bit of a leap from the raw statistics to actually joining myself." She looked down at her lap briefly, just long enough to open a window to the school's library network, and then raised her head again, confident that her teacher would confuse the distant expression of active browsing with the disinterested stare of your typical teen.

Shiraki-sensei pursed her lips and looked away momentarily. "I suppose it is, in general terms. In the usual course of things, it is extremely unlikely that I would recommend one of my female students consider the Self Defense Force as a career. For you, however, it is one of the options that you simply must consider."

Motoko determined very quickly that the school didn't have the information she needed about what she could expect from the Self Defense Force. She closed her eyes, shutting the windows as she did, then rose and opened them again to look down at her teacher; a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"Thank you, sensei," she said, her voice tinged with palpable surprise. "You've definitely given me something to think about."

Author's Note: Written for Toxictattoo in the Yuletide 2007 challenge and archived there as well. This wasn't my first choice of story to write, but it was my final and best. I need to thank bzarcher, kagurathewind, and zurizip for support and beta help.