This fanfic was inspired in part by the opening scene in the manga Imadoki!(Nowadays). That came together along with my wanting to write a "Togusa meets Section 9" ficcy...

Also: I've done some minor spelling editing. :smile: Bet that'll make it easier to read!

October 29, 2006: I am, once again, a freaking moron. There is no training field in Section 9. It is simply a camouflaged room. Fuck.

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Pazu was hiding outside by the chain link fence smoking (Major had been giving him black looks about it; he had decided that he had better not take chances, and took to smoking where she couldn't see him) when he heard the shout of triumph turning to a warning cry.

Leaning against the fence, he saw a peculiar shadow fall over him along with a yell of "WATCH OUT!" followed by the revving of an engine.

He looked up -- and cried out in horror as the black motorcycle bore down on him.

He could have sworn that he felt the back tire scrape his head. The land vehicle skidded sharply on the ground, and Pazu fell back onto his seat end. His cigarette had fallen out his mouth and now lay beside him. He looked at it wildly before he scrambled to his feet to face the maniac that had nearly run him over

The said maniac was hurriedly dismounting and pulling off his helmet. Wide gold eyes framed by long russet hair stared at him with horror. Behind him, the motorcycle fell over, engine still running.

"Oh God, I am so sorry! I didn't see you! Are you alright?"

Pazu's mouth opened and closed much like a fish for several seconds before he got his voice back.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU IDIOT?"

The man blinked. Then he smiled sheepishly and looked down at his black motorcycle boots. "Well, I'm going to start working here at Section 9 tomorrow -- I guess I just wanted to see what it looked like. But I came, and everything was locked up --"

"So you decided to use crap from the junk yard as an entrance ramp!" Pazu indicated the junk field that the building was adjacent to with a large sweep of his hand.

"Well...yeah." The long-haired man suddenly realized that his bike had fallen, and went to pull it back into an upright position.

Pazu stared at him. Now that he thought about it, there had been mention about a new guy...

"You're --" What had the man's name been? "Tomoe?" No, that wasn't it, it had more consonants.

The man turned off the engine and pulled out the kickstand. He made a face. "What's really annoying about my name is that no one can remember it properly. It's...Togusa." He stripped off his leather jacket and laid it over his arm, revealing a grey T-shirt underneath lettered with faded Cyrillic. "Just Togusa."

Pazu stared for a moment. Then he looked at his cigarette again. It was sputtering on the ground. He considered picking it back up and stomped on it instead. "So you're our rookie.(1)"

Togusa, now looking a little embarrassed, nodded. "Yeah. And I wanted to see if I could look around..." He seemed to be realizing that this might not have been the best move.

Maybe that tire had done more than scrape Pazu. Maybe it had actually hit him, and there was now a large tire track on the top of his skull, and he had brain damage. It would certainly explain what he said next: "I'll introduce you to the others."

But it was worth it to see Togusa's face light up the way it did. Pazu had the awful feeling that he was getting soft.

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Ishikawa's eyebrows hit his hairline as Pazu entered the (mercifully) empty Tachikoma hanger with a stranger in tow.

"Pazu?"

"He followed me home," was the short reply. The former yakuza minion retreated to a corner and lit a fresh cigarette. He started puffing on it frantically.

"I gave him a hard time," the stranger said, looking embarrassed. "I, ah, kinda ran him over when I jumped the fence to get into the field."

Ishikawa had seen that fence. It was ten feet tall and almost impossible to jump, even with help. He scraped his jaw off the floor long enough to ask "Why?"

"I'm starting work here tomorrow, and I just...wanted to see it." He tugged on a lock of hair for a moment before tucking it neatly behind one ear. "I'm Togusa."

"I'm Ishikawa. What's your family name?"

"Nobuyoshi. It's -- recent." If you could call six years recent. Togusa knew that it wasn't the best attitude to take, but he couldn't help it. After spending eleven years having only one name, he still found it discombobulating to have to add those four extra syllables in front of the original.

Well that's...nice..." Ishikawa was staring at him like he was a lunatic. Togusa could feel his self-confidence withering.

"Yo! Ishikawa! Who's the hippie?"

Togusa's mouth dropped open and he whirled around, furious. "Who are you calling a hippie?"

The two men that had just entered the hanger were as different as could be. One was slender, with black hair and a buzz cut, along with a cybernetic eye patch; the other was large, tall and muscular, and had classic creamy grey eye implants and long white hair pulled back in a ponytail. The man with the ponytail was the one that had spoken.

Togusa folded his arms. "You don't have any room to talk, you know."

The pony tailed man smirked, and Togusa knew that he had caught the reference. "Yeah, right. It's pretty obvious that you're one of those 'let's-all-hug-and-kiss' types. Me, I'm a hardened killer."

Togusa almost fell over, he laughed so hard.

The man obviously did not appreciate being laughed at. He glared at Togusa, and then at the dark haired man when he chuckled along.

The man who chuckled walked up to him and jerked a thumb at the one with white hair. "The idiot with the big mouth is Batou. I'm Saito. There's a bald guy named Boma running around here somewhere, and you've already met Major."

Togusa shuddered at the memory.

"So he's our rookie(1), huh?" Batou circled around him. "Bit scrawny, aren't you?"

"I was deprived of hugs as a child," Togusa replied with a straight face.

Batou ignored that and promptly wrapped his arms around the detective's torso. "You are cute though, I'll give you that."

Togusa automatically put his hands on the other man's wrists. Then he registered what it was that had just been told to him. "Wait, what?"

"Batou, don't tease him, he's married," Ishikawa said wearily.

"I'm not teasing him, I'm -- AUUGH!"

Batou released Togusa, and grabbed at his left wrist. Togusa smiled innocently at him and spread his hands.

Pazu, for anyone who cares, was still in the corner, on his third cigarette, and contemplating his brush with death.

"Maybe you'd better go," Saito said, eyeing the furious Batou.

"I think you're right," Togusa agreed.

So, Togusa retrieved his bike, and Saito unlocked the front gate for him.

"Oh, before I forget, could you give Pazu a message for me? Tell him to tell Mitarashi Reiji that Luipaard needs to talk to him about the business in Accounting," Togusa said formally.

Hm. Odd. Togusa had only known Pazu for an hour, Saito thought. But then he shrugged. Wasn't any of his business. "Sure thing. See you around, then."

Togusa smiled, pulled on his helmet and rolled off. When Saito told Pazu the message, the man turned white. "He...Togusa knows Luipaard(2)...but the only way he could is if..."

Pazu stared at the wall for the rest of the day in a mixture of shock and awe of his new teammate.

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(1) I think it would be fun to have Section 9 already so possessive of him when they didn't even know him...considering how scary they can get when someone makes any other move on him, when they know him well like they do in the series.

(2) "Luipaard" is Dutch for "leopard."